Session 23: Beneath the Runestorm Report

General Summary

Previously

After having returned to Grantz from the moon with their prize, and spent a day or so resting and planning, the party decides to take the shuttle, leaving the Surprise and the crew there under Ralgir's command (such as it is). Before leaving, they thank Rylan for his help, and give him a token of their appreciation, one of the minor bits of technology they recovered from the moonbase. After that, they depart, with the intention of flying directly to the runestorm, and landing just outside of it, to minimize travel time and potential complications. 

Session Notes

 

A Rough Landing

  As the shuttle approaches the area, the massive runestorm fills their view, a chaotic mass of multicolored sheet lightning, with jagged forks of raw magical energies that appear and disappear. One of the bolts suddenly lashes out, striking one of the engines on the shuttle, which starts to spin out of control.    Alarms blaring, Windellian struggles with the controls, channeling his deep knowledge of flight, trying to bring the shuttle in for a safe landing, while the rest of the group do what they can to help. Jessa focuses on rerouting power to re-engage the thrusters, while Windy C provides a soothing crème brulee from the replicator. BN Sue gives Windellian a pep talk, and then a quick shoulder massage to keep him as relaxed as possible. Zayer casts Becalm Ship, which slows down the ship, but also makes it less maneuverable. Working together, the party supports Windellian in bringing the shuttle in for a safe landing, cushioned by an enhanced Armor spell cast by Zayer.  

Under the Runestorm

After doublechecking the systems and securing the shuttle, the crew step out. The area under the storm radiates an orange light, and appears to be cloaked in a fog that extends down from the runestorm above, composed of yellow and orange vapor. Here the mist roils, there it flows, and in some places, short-lived whirlpools form. The fog sometimes thins to reveal the silhouettes of strange structures, trees, or even creatures, until they vanish moments later. The same thing is never glimpsed in the fog twice.   As the Electric Monk instructed, Jessa employs the Reality Comb (which the party obtained from the planar research station, along with the Planar Stabilization Device). This device helps the user attempt to understand and find a particular dimension when traveling between dimensions. The Monk provided instructions on the necessary frequency to guide to Agaddon, which should help them enter the area. With trepidation, the party follows the path Jessa charts, and steps into the fog.    They find themselves on a vast plain of dark stone under a sky smothered in low, whirling orange clouds. Ghostly moving images are visible in the distance. Nearby, what appears to be the translucent images of a raised train track (a monorail) is visible, stretching ahead, and disappearing into the fog they just entered through. To Zayer's planar expertise, this realm feels like a transitional space between places.   The Reality Comb directs them straight ahead, in the direction the tracks are headed, towards the ethereral images. The party presses ahead, and ainsubstantial   Eventually, they enter a (ghostly) larger town, and within the town square, they see (off to the side) a hut on chicken legs, with an ugly old woman smoking a pipe and apparently watching the ethereal images intently. Several of the group recognize this as the legendary Baba Yaga, and are inclined to give the old woman and the hut a wide berth.    However, as their intention is distracted, the creature that had been stalking them attacks, and suddenly creates several near-copies of itself as it does.      The party is horrified by these odd creatures, but the combat is brief. Jessa entangles the remaining enemies, and then BN beats them to death (as the rest of the party averts their eyes). However, this has brought the attention of Baba Yaga, who has approached the party.     The party is VERY respectful and mostly avoids asking Baba Yaga for any favors. She is curious about them, and tells them that she comes here because she likes the quiet, and finds the images soothing to watch. Oddly, she seems somewhat bored and chatty. (She also mutters something about respectfully   Windy C asks Baba Yaga if she knows what the brass-like contraption he grabbed on the moonbase is. She examines it, then examines Windy's arm (which she somehow pops off him without warning). She muses and mutters, and eventually says she would need to take it back to her workshop. Windy respectfully declines, and asks for his arm back. Baba Yaga seems to consider for a moment, taking a look at her current staff (which is topped by the arm of a creature like the one the party just fought), as if contemplating an upgrade, but then pops Windy's arm back on.    The party eventually eases away from Baba Yaga's presence, somewhat awkwardly as the old woman seems inclined to chat. They continue their way out of town, but along the way spying a skeletal figure in rich but tattered robes, blue lights burning in the eye holes of its skull, apparently hiding in an alley. When the creature notices them noticing him, he silently holds up a finger to his bony teeth, gesturing for quiet. The party happily obliges, and walks faster.   

Through the Rift

For the next few hours, the party continues on their way, warily looking out for any attackers and studiously avoiding interacting with any of the ghostly images in any way. The rest of the journey passes uneventfully, until the party arrives at another foggy barrier, similar to the one at the edge of the runestorm. Based on the Reality Comb, they believe they have reached the rift beyond which Agaddon should lay.    Carefully following Jessa's lead, guided by the Reality Comb, the party steps through. After a moment of disorientation, they find themselves elsewhere. The air is thick, smelling of pollution and smoke. Up ahead, a railway crosses their path on a raised berm, and they can hear the sound of a train approaching from the right. Climbing the berm, they watch the train pass. Unlike the ghostly images outside, or the high tech they have seen elsewhere in this system. the train is a traditional steam engine. Some of the well-dressed passengers notice them as the train steams by, and shake their fists at the party (for no obvious reason).    Beyond the tracks, the party sees a wasteland of rough ground, and apparently long-collapsed structures mostly overgrown with sickly plants. Far beyond that, they can see a towering metropolis in the distance, and two more smaller urban areas--one to the right, and one to the left. In all three, they can see tall towers in the apparent centers, which are regularly struck by bolts of jagged lightning erupting from the raging runestorm up above.    The party suspects that the center of the rift will be the large metropolis ahead, and that they will need to take the planar stabilization device there. But first they need to talk to someone and get the lay of the land, and so they start walking alongside the tracks to the right (in the direction the train was headed), towards one of the smaller (but still towering) cities.