Month: October 1995

Well, the game was mostly uneventful, but here’s the basic idea:
Arriving at base camp on the 20th of August 2173, we healed up to send a
group back for Tesla’s body (we had scryed and knew the body was there). I
went in this group with Dari’s cloak and along with me, Ceydric & Theo were
invisible, spell immunitied, protected, and aided when the time came to go
in, and Faranyn, Jerem, Letier, Darkeye, and Xavier. When we approached the
doors, a bell went off and quickly Ceydric and Theo went in and Faranyn and
I, with help from Xavier and Jerem, held the doors. Though they took four
lightning bolts, they escaped with Tesla’s body and we weakly headed back to
Middle.

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Well, as for the current score:
GO 4
SS 1
A note that the hydra we killed could be construed as a second point.
Fortunates of the SS:
Cassana is raised. (Subtract a GO point?)
Unfortunates of the SS:
Aria, Bluebear, killed instantly by the first lightning bolt.
Tesla, killed instantly by the second lightning bolt that hit him twice.
Even more unfortunate:
We could not recover Tesla’s body. (Snakedom abounded).

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Score: Great ones: 1 (out of 21 party members)
Party 1 (out of 3 GO)
In spite of the destruction of one Great One, We will have significant
trouble progressing. If they were not aware of us earlier, they are now.
The defenses of the castle will be ready for us. The GO may work together
in their defense. We cannot attack two at the same time- we are not strong
enough.

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The First Step in the Inevitable Defeat of the Great Ones
———————————————————
PART ONE
The Stone Soules returned to base camp on 17 August 2173 bearing a heavy
burden. The mashed body of Cantstin, the elven archer who joined the S.S.
after we defeated the killer of his parents, Molehill, was sadly deposited
at the campsite while the party discussed important strategy for dealing
with the Great Ones in the wake of the panther-beast’s attack. At long
last, tactics discarded and discussed, the Men-at-Arms rode away towards
Middle with Xavier, the treasure recovered from the panther-beast, and
Cantstin’s body for Reincarnation.
Before daybreak 18 August 2173, the Men-at-Arms arrived, with Ceydric
arrayed in full armor and Henry bearing his banners and Tesla at his side.
As camp was struck, the Behir-scouters set out ahead, and the S.S.-at-large
headed towards Tan-El, while discussing final strategy points and hand
signals. Nym and Henry were left in charge of the Men-at-Arms at base camp.
The scouters decided that the Behir had not recently passed. They returned
to the main force outside of Tan-El, near the archway. The S.S., in force,
entered Tan-El via the cutbacks and, lead by Ceydric and Faranyn, approached
the transporter, or Tan-El Constable Dispatch. With a usual flurry of
attack-and-defense movements, Faranyn and Ceydric cleared the way for the
party and checked the side rooms. Ludo did the trasporter routine, and
before long we were in the room facing the castle bailey. We exchanged our
last loud remarks and headed silently (or at least not loudly) into the
bailey and approached the large bronze doors….

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OK… So this is the full extended version, for party members, so we all
know what happened.
First let’s review… It was midnight, and we had just finished the
commune. We had a ton of questions, namely what to do about the LE force
and how to take them on. So we talked for about another hour and finally
decided on a course of action. We decided that we would launch a recon
mission of invisible characters (or darn close to invisible characters) to
find the best way to get into the castle. Everyone agreed with the idea,
so we decided who this party would consist of. After a short time we
finally decided that it would consist of Ludo, Dari, Canstin, Duke Charles,
Eli, and myself. We figured that these people could hide pretty well (Eli
and Canstin could be invisible in the shrubbery surrounding the castle, and
Dari is a thief… the other three of us would be invisible. Finally we
turned Duke Charles invisible, and we all went to bed.

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[note that summaries are hereafter numbered according to their order from the beginning of the great SSOULES listserv, though there are obviously many adventures that occurred before the listserv, given previously and in the old Stone Soules “logs”. –Kyle]
2173
August 9th: (cont’d) We went to the Temple of Kor in Tan-El.
Letier observed that the South and West windows were still
intact, a fact he was not expecting after 3500 years.
We discusses plans for their recovery but agreed that since this
was the best place to cast divination from, the Temple could not
yet be decommisioned. Letier cast a ceremony to look at the Scroll
Library, which had been removed safely, showing that the
inhabitants had left relatively slowly, since they had time to
remove it. 2 pock-marked metal boxes were removed.
We travelled until nightfall to reach Middle, so we could sleep in
our beds once again.
10th: Copper coins inside boxes bore this legend: “Tan-El
(symbol of the city)
Hail Khahoatep”
We agreed to purchase the coins for their possible
interest. Scrying revealed bugbears in nice armor
(‘Spawn servants) in the Theatre. We looked in the next
couple of days to see the door we had entered through to
get to the Theatre in our ambush was boarded up crudely. I
took a sketch of the board placement.
We sent Eli & company (with Star) to Bec the sage in End.
Eli purchased _Feather Fall_.
[sketch]

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[This message contains materials mailed 4 August 2173, Middle. The date of arrival at the New World Repository and subsequent forwarding or pickup will be decided by Edwin. –Kyle]
Dear friend, 4 August 2173
Less than a week after your departure from Middle-of-the-Road, several new adventurers came to the area seeking help in exploring the ruined city of Tan-El and we agreed to take them on as helpers and fellow adventurers for a trial period. Perhaps you remember the exploration of Tyner’s tower and the very interesting things that were encountered there. We decided that there were loose ends that needed to be tied up, and for that reason we entered the city.
Foremost on my mind, was the fact that the high-magic stain on the rug had in fact never been analyzed to make a determination of its contents — or whether it had in fact dripped through the ceiling!! We crept into the city with our new comrades, and convinced the doorknob once again to let us in. After various explorations my concerns panned out. Indeed, the black stain originated from the inaccessible floor above us. The addition of a continual light bead to the floor above through means of Ludo’s great dexterity proved the existence of a room above but little else, other than that a space below the stairs above was where it originated from. After no secret doors were revealed, we thought maybe it might be machinery leaking or whatever, and took a sample for the alchemist to examine. He determined that it was the pure essence of a being of “vast evil” contained in some sort of tar or paste. We have not determined further what it may be, since our time has been limited in other ways.

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