Author: kyle

[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]

Continue reading “Stone Soules Summary I: An adventure in Tan-El, Before the Great Ones”

[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.

Continue reading “Stone Soules Summary: Alegra’s Letter to Gram”

The game on 29 September 1995, proceeded as follows:
Info. on location of the Capital City of the ‘Spawn is determined to be “Southest of Port Elizabeth, beyond the “Great Rock.””
Info. on lesser spawn tactics are much as we have seen them, though it is worth noting that at the height of SMART’s interference in Tan-El, there were about 15 ‘Spawn. In the “final battle,” both sides admitted defeat and withdrew. SMART left the area.
Also, apparently, Tabor’s barony ideas (Tabor was a young, powerful knight with a magic lance) ended when he went to the GOC, with many helpers, and was never heard from again. Two days later, the settlement was destroyed in explosions, flames, flashes of light, etc. that were witnessed by children thrown into a latrine. Nothing but the Tower remained. The town looked as if it had been “crushed.” Bec’s (the Sage’s) personal opinion is that Tabor attacked or provoked the Behir and thus caused the destruction of city, though remember the Sphinx’s commented that the old guy hadn’t been scratched in over 100 years…. (20 years ago, after the attack, there was a corridor stretching from Tan-El to the site of Middle, ala Behir).
The Alchemist said the sample from Tyner’s tower contained the “pure essence of a being of vast evil, contained in some sort of tar or paste.” He gave it back to us in a lead box.

Continue reading “Stone Soules Summary: Tan-El, the Demonspawn, and Us”

This adventure was mostly information gathering, with one exciting incident to end off things.
Scrying — We were concerned with the encounter we had had in the city and not knowing what exactly we had run into, we decided that information gathering would be our next best step. To this end Dari agreed to do several scrying’s at different locations in the city. During the course of the adventure she scryed on:
the Barnaire Theatre — nothing unusual
the bell room in the castle — nothing seemed changed
the altar room in castle — nothing changed/altar still broken
the stairs and arch to city — nothing
the hexagonal area — swinging around saw two dead bugbear bodies which looked half burnt and at least one had two holes pierced through the chest. The head of one was bitten or ripped off. (mmm.. yumm!)

Continue reading “Stone Soules Summary: Loose Ends… Bugbears and Lesser Ones”