RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

Hi,

You reconsidered your aim to head for the Library, with Skallia dragging her heels out of exhaustion (and groaning from new discomfort when she couldn't stifle it with meditation) and Narak unsure why she was going with you now, and with Fraud + Miguel in poor shape. So you struck out back southwest rather than northeast, and Boamund easily found Jett's scouts, so soon you were back at their new camp.

Jett called you to meet, and Maugis joined in. News of the struggle with Seshnela was not great- the enemy had been slowed in its import of reinforcements but had been slowing anyway, with plenty of troops now here and a strong presence from Squid Point to Humbertsville, including the inland/northern regions. They had avoided much conflict with the Sottogh but there was tension, as their forces were now patrolling that border, too, and news of the Giranois bounty was widespread. Jett warned Ahappi that he was now sought all over the seas (and land) here, as was Miguel, and that the Shadow was sought too but was safe in Oradaros (you could catch a boat there from New Arv when you wanted). The Quinpolic League had sent some warships to defend Giraine's area from the meagre Seshnelan navy and that was helping. There had been isolated skirmishes with the Baron's forces (guerrilla raids) as both pushed into the “no man's land” between them. The Inquisition/army is now roaming the lands behind the frontier south of New Arv, but have not established a foothold-the Big Gunge swamp is impeding them, as is the lack of settlements (except for some farms they have burned).

So, a sort of stalemate continues but it will not last, everyone is sure. Jett reassured you that there are plans to confront the foe head-on, yet also urged you to find new advantages to help the cause. Boamund gave a very brief update on your activities over the past two weeks and Jett was interested but asked few questions. You had a “long leash” now, and there was an air of desperation, as if Ron's commanders were all ready to try anything that might give them a keener edge in the fight.

Maugis had been helping with the local efforts and the poor Dronari caught in the struggle. The refugee crisis was terrible, and adding to it was a resurgence of the World of Losers Movement: the Dronari heresy (despised by all!) that the way to Solace is through intense suffering (e.g. flagellation) and little else. That heresy had been devastated by the Inquisition at Humbertsville but now was spreading again. Maugis saw that Skallia was suffering and offered to take over her care; and Jett arranged to have her brought to Fort Mudlark to rejoin Embullian once she was recovered. Miguel and Shaven headed immediately to rest.

But Maugis saw, as Narak had suspected, something extra awry with Skallia: with his Sense Sorcery incantation and private investigation, he learned that she'd been urinating diarrhea (ugh!) and bleeding internally, with the cause traceable to magical “fumes” that connected to the crystalline object that Ahappi wore on a cord about his neck. Indeed, it was a (Brown) Vadeli curse akin to the Yellowskin, and Maugis took that crystal and crushed it with his staff, leaving a bubbling fluid that hissed and sank into the earth. You were all a bit surprised that he hadn't seen this before; perhaps its power had intensified. Now some of the abdominal discomfort others such as Miguel had experienced over prior weeks made more sense; at least you had caught it before someone died. Skallia did recover soon enough- the curse was clearly stopped.

Indeed, [GM aside: I forgot this in-game] you'd learned more about the Perfecti during your time together with Skallia, when she had the energy to speak. Like much of her kind on Giraine, she felt safe enough to openly discuss her “heresy”, which eschews secrecy. The Perfecti on Giraine are all “The Perfect”-adherents to the heresy that have reached its goals, of both abandoning and embodying all castes at once, and of denying the physical world as an evil conjured by Makan (! This is heretical! They don't revere the Invisible God but rather an even higher power, purely of magical essence!). In doing so, they must abandon all magics except their heresy's one blessing, to Refute the Physical World, and they must abandon their former professions (even skills) to focus on meditation and other practices. The Perfect have the comfort that they are guaranteed Solace once their fragile mortal shell dies, and so they do not fear it (nor do they seek death, though; suicide is still sin!). This is why Oyesteria Major was always so vulnerable, even though it had a few hired non-Perfecti guards/hunters; they had no worry for protection, because death from violence would send them to Solace early. As extreme ascetics and egalitarians beyond compare in the West (maybe even in all Glorantha), by now the Perfecti's views shock you and you can see why they are so persecuted. Their heresy threatens even the Hrestoli kingdom of Loskalm now. But some of you might respect their dedication; even if it burdens those around them. Skallia confessed embarrassment that she had not been eaten by those wolf-toads; she had been too spiritually weak to shrug off her ties to the mortal world, and so she used her skills to survive until you saved her. Now she could meditate on that sin. [end of GM aside]

Anyway, Fraud Shaven took a week to rest, while the rest of you patrolled and trained. Fraud was haunted by these Luathan nightmares that gave way to more personal ones as the terror faded. He probably did not confide in you, but his personal nightmares were vague ones in which he saw his brother Lynistor Shaven's rotting face, with worms where the hair should be.

Narak rejoined her small group of Mraloti and they would wait here until you came back; then would go with you to the Big Gunge and an introduction to Cjake of the Cjed family before they settled in to their new home. She was happy to return to her “sounder” but you'd made a new, stronger relationship with her.

As time approached the middle of Storm Season of 1622, you were finally ready to leave for the Library. You chose a more northern route that deviated around the “bad place”, and this would take you almost three days, you supposed. Early on the first day, a lost Seshnelan Horali came into view. He didn't spot Miguel scouting him out, nor even you as you came up close behind him and hailed him. He was ruddy, ginger-haired, bearded, and in his mid-20s; a standard soldier but far from his forces, and having lost most of his gear except a dagger. His name was Gerald, you learned, and he'd been on a strike force that had pressed this far inland but he'd been separated from them and ended up wandering in circles. He still had some spite in him for you colonists, cursing venomously at Boamund with much disrespect, and he expected you to kill him but you let him go, directing him back west toward Jett's forces.

That afternoon you came to a ridge where three wooden inverted Death-rune crosses bore three dead Dronari (two men and a women; unrecognizable and dead for days) who had been stabbed and slashed and left to bleed out and rot in a prominent place. Heretic runes had been branded on their foreheads-the Inquisition had Put Them to the Question. This fuelled new hatred of the Rokari, who surely had done this (was that Gerald involved perhaps?). You burned them and their crosses and made haste away from here, taking a route through canyons that would keep you out of sight as the smoke would surely draw attention for miles around.

But that was not the only smoke visible. As you continued on the next day, after camping that first night as a rainstorm passed through, you caught a glimpse from your higher ground down onto the south/eastern lowlands. The stark, ashen plateau of Burnt Priest's Hill was visible. New fires burned there, and Boamund's keen eyes could spot dozens of Giranois roaming that area.

Around midday you entered a badlands canyon thronging with pterodactyls, which were very noisy but then suddenly fell silent, watching your party pass through… There was a tense moment, and then they spoke- in Seshnegi and in unison: “Silence! Silence will fuck us all! It is the curse of mortality. Worms eat the tongues of the meek and mighty alike. Heed the Lofty One's lesson. Mend it on its lofty perch. Bring sound back to the silent lands. Go not into silence, or find damnation worse than any arsehole's.” Then they made coughing sounds and went silent again, watching until you left that strange canyon. You interpreted this very weird event as a message from them or their ?relative/master? the giant, wise pterodactyl named Star-Thief Roundtip, who had once helped you much, and had some connection to the Night Dragon, but over the past year or two had changed, from first being unable to communicate (seeming frustrated, doing a dance and making choking sounds) even when you saw him, to total absence. You had first met him atop St Granno's Mountain so you figured his “lofty perch” would be found there once you visited the Huru clan.

On the second night you camped in sight of the former Wizardwood (Maggotwood now), and a Giranois family came to visit you at twilight. They were the Gratt (a once-proud clan, now just 10 people including some children), and their one war-leader named Shrett was familiar to you from your visit here to the Library years ago. But he, like you, had changed-he was still remarkably burly, short and stout, for a Giranois, and had a characteristically deep voice, but he was now bald and scarred (burns?), uglier than ever. He still bore a fine sword that Ahappi had gifted him with. Shrett was wary but came with a strong intent to communicate. A summary of his lengthy discusssions with you follows:

“I have followed you, Thralls of Granno, for years now; gathered every tale that came my way. I never forgot that you came to Yomilstone against our warning, that you awoke Yomil, and that now quiet Wizardwood that my family guarded for centuries is now evil Wormweald; violated and vile. So Yomil has gathered his hellish hordes and it is not safe to enter what you wall-men call Maggotwood. And now it seems you return to Yomilstone, and now Sharde tell me to do nothing to prevent you. But I will try to entreat you with simple words not to return. Do not add your corpses to Yomil's slaves. You are great heroes but greater heroes have failed before. You must become greater.”

The Gratt clan once knew the original Thralls of Granno- the four saints. They opposed them and Yomil, staying unwaveringly loyal to Granno, and have lived in this part of Giraine ever since. They love Granno more than any over clan/family, or so they claim; they ignore the Old Gods. Shrett explained that, while the Giranois know little about the saints (except that they were foreign sorcerors who Granno abandoned after working together for a while against common foes), they know plenty about Granno. Granno had imprisoned Yomil's power in the Library- keeping the sorceries of undeath and demonic conjuring locked up there, after he had fought Yomil and thrown him into the Fosnoir (and thus into Hell) at Chuck Em' Off Point (near the Sottogh clan today). So if anyone knew how to defeat Yomil and the Library, Granno did-but none of the living Giranois had knowledge of that power. Granno was still weak. (And you surmised that uniting the clans and the Old Gods' magic would bring that power back?)

Shrett knows more about the Wormweald… “Go inside and you will find what I have seen: there are endless bands of hungry undead or demons, and even a seasoned traveller is easily lost in that frigid dead forest. I will never return– but when monsters tread out here, it remains my task to hunt them down and ensure they do not get far. But some do slink past us in the night. Many do, in fact. Horrors I have seen are beyond telling. But surely you have seen some of them. They have gone as far as wall-mens' lands, I hear. They will continue to; it is Yomil's plan of conquest that you opened like mad sorcerer opens book of damnation.”

The Giranois know the Library (call it Yomilstone), of course. The Sharde protect it but live far away; they watch via network of Giranois, frogs, spirits and more. The Giranois have always known where the gates are but had long said they were “but a faded nightmare, a shadow of the past, that Granno left as a reminder of the doom that befalls sorcerers. There was nothing real there but memories. But it is a forbidden place of evil omen and imprisonment, and we are sworn to kill those that go there; trespassers will fade away or worse. Yet Sharde elders say to let YOU pass and none others, so we will do that. Either you will fade away or you will be victorious… or we all will lose. And so I will step aside and watch you go on your way if you must.”

Shrett was clearly conflicted. He didn't want you to go to Yomilstone; it made him very afraid what would happen. But the Sharde willed that you go there, at least to find out what was going on with Yomil's re-awakening and the fate of the Rokari you'd left there. Shrett slumped his shoulders, cursed under his breath, and pulled a frog out of jerkin and stroked it silently. He knew you'd go but wanted to give you advice, since you couldn't easily be deflected from your path. Something needed to be done, and you needed to decide what to do. Clearly, if Yomil was left to his own devices things would only get worse, and at least your alliance needed information with which to plan future efforts.

He handed Boamund a cord strung with bits of bone and beetle shells, forming a death rune: this is a gift from the Sharde elders; once (last Library visit) a talisman like this was given to you (in symbol of disapproval/bloodfeud) because you would surely be slain and become undead. Now this is given to Boamund to ward him from undeath; the curse has been made as a blessing . “But go too far and it will do you no good. Yomil's power is greater than Gratt's or Sharde's. If you can return, bring trophy proving you have slain some of Yomil's slaves, and news of what you saw. Elders would approve of that. Not even I know what happens in Yomilstone, but bad things.” Shrett had an air of exasperation and defeat about him, handing the talisman over with a sad sigh, as if it were an ineffectual gesture.

Shrett continued to talk with you into the night, being a remarkably competent and talkative Giranois. It reminded you how his folk tended to all be rather incompetent (poor skills; very little magic; etc) and yet they had survived here for centuries somehow, without heroes of your caliber. The Hero Wars had brought not only troubles from colonists but resurrected/unresolved troubles from their past…

Once Shrett returned to his family's campsite nearby, you had a long discussion of what to do. Maybe you should heed Shrett's warning and not venture into the Library now? Wait, go elsewhere and grow stronger first before returning here? Or just go for it? What was your goal if you did go there? You considered the viewpoints that Shrett had presented to you, feeling as confused as he was, and agreed that the best strategy was to try entering the Library quietly and peacefully, see what was up there, and make it out alive before the shit (inevitably) hit the fan. If the Library was like your last visit, you might be allowed to request some books to inspect there, and those books may give key insight into what Yomil was up to, or the saints' past follies, or the Giranois/Granno's origins and actions, or…? What had gone wrong last time was that Vicar Rupert (the Rokari) had conjured light-magic from his Rod of Plain Witness and this had brought the undead and demonic hordes down upon the Library; with the Knights of the Order of the Vengeful Word (akin to the Inquisition's more famous Order of the Golden Lance) breaking in and making things even worse. You'd escaped, and so maybe you could escape again, or even avoid a ruckuss and just leave peacefully… but things inside may be different now. Fraud Shaven did NOT look forward to meeting his brother again, but Ahappi relished the notion of squaring off with Sir Not someday-both surely are undead slaves of Yomil now.

With your goals agreed [GM opinion: yes it was long but I liked the roleplaying and it was healthy to have a detailed discussion of what they heck you're doing before rushing into a potential TPK situation!], on day three of your journey the Gratt family had already departed as you decamped and crossed down into the rough lowlands outside of the Maggotwood. It was quiet here, with little life visible, and the rotting forest looming ahead. You crossed a rocky grassland where the vegetation suddenly grabbed violently at you, but Ahappi dove out of the way, and Miguel and Fraud (dragging Boamund with him) used their path-clearing magics to create a safe way for them out. That was easy.

What was not easy was girding yourselves to re-enter the Maggotwood. It has changed! Empty of non-plant life entirely. The former Wizardwood forest remains; decayed and coated in frost. Once a vibrant green, the wood is now brown and stinking. It is silent, no wind; still; choking with cold, dripping, rotting vegetation at its edges, and colder still within. Foreign plantlife (some conifers, other northern trees) is all that exists- not like elsewhere on Giraine, nor of Tarinwood or any forest nearby. Surrounded by hilly, rugged terrain- gullies, creeks, screes - the Maggotwood is an island within an island. It was daytime when you entered but almost immediately it became like night, with only the most pale, diffuse light to see by (those without Dark Sight can see no more than 10m ahead, at best), and poor line-of-sight with all the trees. And the trees! You were sure they had grown taller since you last were here, but they are all dead. You made your way amidst the towering throngs of frosty, rigid trees, seeing no path to follow but plenty of signs of things passing through-mostly bare footprints, but some Things that were surely not human. You passed familiar Old Seshnegi bits of rubble (brick masonry); surely in the Second Age there was more infrastructure here than just a Library, but that had all crumbled.

Then, out of the dark, clammy mist, they came. A horde of a dozen frozen blueish zombies moved quickly toward you in a half-circle, and above them flapped the shadow of some winged demonic thing holding a bow and squawking hideously at the undead horde as it rushed you. They had come so close with no sound or warning, and so now danger was upon you!

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