Zhiyu-Ji Djinn, Campaign Notes
Episode 13
Sunlight shone upon Thorns. Pain erupted in our heads, forcing us to our knees. We saw images of our past lives. We saw a dæmon talking to a Deathlord – a vision of First and Forsaken Lion becoming Infernal.
We decided we had to go back… to the future!
We returned to the titanium walkway we had left to travel to the past. At the end of the walkway was a door. We had little choice but to go through it.
Control room beyond, for operating the time machine. We were back in a technological building.
We received a message from Kalis over the message boards, saying that Mask of Winters had come to the City of Five Manses to talk with us. He began to construct a message board for MoW to use. Until this could be done, we continued to explore the facility. There was a huge library, a couple of miles in length and a mile wide, with shelves that disappeared off into the sky – the wisdom of ages was here. There were machines that moved about and cleaned the room.
Theo found and quickly read the journal of a Dragon-Blooded in which people and place names had been erased. It discussed the machinisation of the Realm and an archaeological dig at the Imperial Mountain that the author was involved in, which had unleashed some horror.
There were other journals, from other parts of the world – the south and the west. Endless Brine found the autobiography of First and Foremost of the Pride, real name Valus Wavebreaker, written in Riverspeak about 20 years ago.
There were reading rooms off to the side in which were laid out maps of Thorns, and the monastery where Past-Kino had come from – clearly where they had planned their mission.
On the far side of the library was a room with machines constructed from all magical materials (not just titanium) and a corridor that took us to a workshop in which machina-men were busy at work constructing other machines – computers. We snuck past them into a factory that was like unto one of the ones we had been in before, on our way down into the bowels of the mountain.
There were Prætorian Stalkers patrolling, which we avoided by ducking into a side room. There we conducted our textual conversation with MoW. He informed us of the immunity of the Deathlords and their Deathknights to the change in history, so F&FL sold out to the Infernals when his plan went wrong, which means they are now stronger than the Deathlords and their territory extends further north – up to and beyond Rathess. Oh, and Gem was destroyed. 600 years ago, by a second time-travelling mission.
Episode 14
Before we could travel back in time we first had to work out how to make the machine work for us, rather than just jumping in and travelling to whenever (and wherever) it would take us.
We puzzled over the room of maths for days attempting to make sense of the alien logic. Eventually we had calculations that were (we hoped) accurate to within a day and 100 miles. Then we moved on to the computer room and inputted our data. The time portal (or “dimensional rift”) was opened and 20 Prætorian Stalkers pursued us down the metal corridor. They dropped a bomb into the room but too late! We had gone back in time.
We arrived at a deserted, barren farm, near a village, which we headed into. Most of the villagers only spoke the language of the south, but EB could communicate with some in the tongue of the sea. An old man directed us to the road to the coastal city, upon which we met a Guild caravan.
Four days on the road took us to a town (though it called itself a city) where we arranged passage on a ship to the island we wished to reach, Viyashi – home of Valus Wavebreaker, the future F&FotP.
There was an inland town, Black Ash, and a coastal village, Silversand, with a few hundred people. Valus (according to his book) lived/lives outside the town, where he was/is a protector of the people. We went into the town and found the inn, “The Twisted Barrel,” where our man was behind the bar.
We found menial jobs in and around the town. The locals, again, spoke primarily Seatongue, so this proved something of a barrier. I thought my skills might be best suited to helping out with the part-time town/island guard. I met with a northman called ‘Bear,’ head of the guard, and was assigned to the day shift. I worked closely with Bear and demonstrated my skills to him in an attempt to be assigned to the night shift (where the more skilled guardsmen work, and the time when attacks are more likely). After about a week I was indeed transferred to the night shift, where I partnered with Valus. We traded tips and I got to know our man better. He recommended I use a cutlass – better for fighting on the water – and gifted me one forged by the local blacksmith. I wore it alongside the blade I had taken from the Crimson Guardsman (some 20-odd years in the future).
The first signs of the plague were when a number of people visited the town doctor with a condition he couldn’t diagnose. Theo reported it was the plague we anticipated; a terminal illness. At my request, Carlos looked for the spirit responsible and, upon sighting it, talked with it. It was composed of two elementals that had been bound together as one and corrupted by sorcery. Theo attempted to banish the elemental.
Meanwhile, the rest of us went to visit Valus at his home. Bear was there. We told them we had expected the illness because of the book and brought it out. Valus compared it to his own diary. EB revealed her Caste Mark. Bear showed himself to be a, er, um, yeah…
(OOC: A Sidereal)
I eloquently explained to Valus the terrible fate that awaited him as the first of the Deathknights and begged him that, whatever befell him, he not accept the offer of F&FL. Bear gifted him an orichalcum Wavecleaver Daiklaive and he left to fetch the magical Yassal crystal that Bear hoped would contain the plague.
Theo achieved partial success with his sorcery – he slowed the progress of the disease in those afflicted and prevented anyone else from catching it, but he could not cure those already stricken.