Author Topic: The Drift Lands (Read 1858 times)

Rhizome · « **on:** July 12, 2005, 09:32:00 PM »

This is a thread I am starting to enable players to discuss events pertaining to the series of quests entitled "The Drift Lands." Use this thread to discuss quest elements as well as to determine the make-up of the party before hand. Please try to use role-playing conventions when posting here and keep as much as possible in character.
Thank you. This should be an exciting series. I'm looking forward to Sunday nights for the next month or so.
Respect,
Rhizome

KageKeeper · « **Reply #1 on:** July 14, 2005, 04:48:00 PM »

I have just, for the first time, had a visit to the Drift Lands. I was in the company of Rhizome, who was born in Saudiria.

I was awed by the sights and sounds traveling through that expansive desert and I would very much like to further explore the surroundings. Having always been a Forest dweller, seeing other sides of Nature can only help me be closer to Her.

If any should be traveling to this area in the near future, I would very much like to accompany them. While I may not be a strong sword wielder, or an awesome spell weaver, or even a great healer, I can do a little of all these things. However, I can also listen and speak with Nature and her creatures, thus providing perhaps a bit of insight on that facet.

As in all things, Balance is required. Should a willing group accept me as a worthy traveling companion, I shall strive to insure that Balance is maintained.

I look forward to being contacted should further exploration be deemed appropriate.

May Nature's Balance guide your steps.

Chuckles_McChuck · « **Reply #2 on:** July 15, 2005, 01:39:00 PM »

*a bunch of letters are sent amongst the arcane alliance*

The expedition is not over yet, we found out alot but we are sure there is more to this mystery, I advise wizards amongst our ranks come and join us to further this task we started. Connor, I would like to meet with you, I have something that I wish you and some students under your teaching of science to look over for me. I'll give you details when we meet.

Andrexea · « **Reply #3 on:** July 16, 2005, 05:25:00 PM »

*Walk's into Az'atta's temple to pray and speaks with the priestest, after awhile she menchens the adventures who were searching for a entrance under the temple*

Hrmm, mabby I will see if they would like to have another ranger along.

Vyris · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2005, 04:31:00 PM »

*Bidwick sits in the wild surge inn, nursing the last of his final mug of ale for the night, he overhears a convesation in the booth behind him*

*voice* .... Oasis 'roun... wouldn't believe what we ..... thar!
*voice 2* Eh? ye be daft, 'er ain nussuch thang
*voice* I'm telling ya, ... can't believe it, come .. ... wit' yer own eyes!
*voice 2* Aye, ah'l haul meself te 'em drift lands, ut if'n ye ain' straight 'ehl pound ye mesself...

*Bidwick sets down his mug and fishes a pair of coins out of his purse and sets them on the table as he stands up to go home, thoughts turning in his mind, 'Saudiria eh... never heard of an Oasis out there... maybe Gulnyr knows...' the thoughts mull over in his mind as he walks home through the night and in the morning he determines to set out for Saudiria*

Vyris

orth · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2005, 04:47:00 PM »

Plenarius is nestled on a tree branch with Barrett just outside their home in The High Forest reflecting on many recent events. He takes Barrett in his arms and floats to the ground, placing him on his feet and taking his hand as he returns inside.

"Brissy, we're back!" he calls out and pokes a head into each room looking for her.

"Oh there you are" he smiles as he notices her applying some dye to another outfit.

"Hello love, how was your climbin' Barrett?" she says with a smile.

"Faster than Daddy!" he exclaims and bounces off to his toys.

Plenarius smiles as he watches him bound off and looks to Brisbane. "Bris love, I was thinking we should visit the Anuroch again, we have unfinished business. Something draws me there and I can see it in your eyes as well. Although I think the allure in your eye is what draws me." he laughs a little.

"I know you long for a little more understanding love, are you ready to travel there once again with The Mother's eyes by your side?"

She smiles and nods. "My roots seem to compel me to that area, I need to know what lies deeper...perhaps we can accomplish more this time..."

Plen smiles and takes her in his arms a moment. "I'll let Legodia know we're going to need a little help with Barrett then"

Bris holds Plen in her arms and plants a sweet kiss on his lips then turns around and holds up some clothing "Thanks love, should I pack my new swimsuit?"

miltonyorkcastle · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2005, 05:42:00 PM »

"Fifteen *CRASH*... sixteen... *SLICE* seventeen... *RIP* OW!!!..... eighteen giants... Damn! the only thing more numerous than them giants is bloody sand! Where could they possibly find enough food in this bleamin' desert te support so many freakin' giants?"

-Cole Norseman, upon his first solo journey through the deserts of Dregar.

Rhizome · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2005, 07:38:00 PM »

Just after you enter the gates of Saudiria, you spy a bulletin board. It looks like it is erected periodically when the need arises and is taken down when the need subsides. As you walk closer to the bulletin you see a notice. It reads:

Wanted: Undercity Steward

Pay by commission. Benefits negotiable.

Loners prefered

All interested report to the Chief's Council

Rhizome · « **Reply #8 on:** July 22, 2005, 11:00:00 AM »

The Drift Lands event on the 24th of this month has been cancelled.
Thanks for your understanding.
Rhizome

Rhizome · « **Reply #9 on:** August 12, 2005, 03:05:00 PM »

Well, this series seems to have waned, what with all the cancellations. But I'm not going to let it go. This Sunday we will be running the quest. I also intend to put a few sessions on the weekday nights, if the players involved can participate then. I'd like to get this thing moving again. So, please post below regarding which weekdays in this upcomming week and next will work for you.
Thanks. Talk to you soon.
Rhizome

Gulnyr · « **Reply #10 on:** August 13, 2005, 05:33:00 AM »

I don't think I'll be able to make the quest Sunday. My sleep schedule has changed recently, so being awake to begin a quest after midnight is pretty much impossible. Since any weekday quests are likely to happen at or near the same start time, I'm out on those, too.

Sorry.

Chuckles_McChuck · « **Reply #11 on:** August 13, 2005, 08:57:00 AM »

Ugh.. unfortunately for me this quest started at a bad time and like I said I would love to have Lia see this whole thing through, but my sailing schedule until november 15th will make it hard, I have the full schedle for you know though Rhiz. this month I will only be able to play on Layonara on the last 2 weekends. September I'll be sailing the last 2 weeks (starting on the 19th). and in october I'm sailing after the long weekend up to the 15 of November, after that there should be no sailing till around mid next year when we may be going to the gulf.

KageKeeper · « **Reply #12 on:** August 13, 2005, 11:52:00 AM »

Any weekday nights are fine with me for the most part.

I start work on Monday, but I work in the afternoons (start at 12:30pm) so staying up late is not really an issue for me.

D Blaze · « **Reply #13 on:** August 13, 2005, 11:36:00 PM »

I can make just about any time, and day, i'm always up at weird hours for myself anyway.

Rhizome · « **Reply #14 on:** August 14, 2005, 07:25:00 PM »

//It's been a while since our last installment of the Drift Lands series. I figure I'd try to refresh a few memories by posting the contents of the journal found in the underground river the party found by treking beneath Saudiria. Ralinda found the journal and Ozy read it aloud, as well as made a few copies, so everyone would have some recollection of this material.//

When you pick this journal up in your hands, it doesn't exactly feel like leather or paper. Rather, it is coated in some sort of crystalline substance, that seems to have grown there slowly after many years of neglect. When you try to open the book, some of the pages break off and some crumble in your hand.
Still, there are a few you can barely read through all the shimmering crystals.
Novlar 12, 1011
I feel like Goran has directed my attention to this desert for some reason. I've heard the rumors about Anuroch, of course, but this is something more. It feels like some great discovery of the past could propell my inventions in the future. And that's something I just can't pass up, even if it means leaving my loved ones behind. I just hope I can return to them soon and proud of what I've accomplished.
Decilar 1, 1011 My first attempt at erecting an expedition camp was a disaster. The desert storms pummeled it to the ground. The huge scorpions didn't help either. I think I should look into those creatures...
Decilar 13, 1011 I came across a scorpion nest. I brought them to a druid wandering around the desert area. He wasn't easy to track down and the people in Saudiria didn't seem to care for him much. In any case, he said the eggs were exactly the same, only smaller, than other more natural scorpions found in the desert. It seems that something over a long period of time has granted these creatures amazing growth potential. It must be something in this area, I think, because they don't seem to be found elsewhere. At least not yet.
Janra 3, 1012 Our third attempt at a topside camp failed. Best to stick to the caves. We'll build a few huts and trek out into the desert from here.
Janra 12, 1012 We found it! The carved cliff face we've been looking for. It was just as I saw it on those diagrams in the Pranzis Library. Nobody knew what a treasure these drawings were. Yet, they do no justice to the magesty of the actual carvings. Tomorrow we'll clear away what we can and see if we can find an opening.
Janra 18, 1012 After a few days, we cleared away the mounds of sand and debris. And we found an entrance. The foyer was magnificent, even though most of it was burried from some sort of cave in. We also found a few golems which were in very bad shape. They just clicked and whirred at us. I think I'll drag them back to the camp and try to repair them. Could make good guards later on.
Janra 28, 1012 There must be a passage beyond the debris in the foyer. There must be. I'll use the golems I rebuilt to help did it out. I hope they hold together. My assistant isn't going to be much good here. He's getting lazier by the day.
Febra 14, 1012 No progress.
Mar 25, 1012 No progress.
Jular 20, 1012 We've been excavating the foyer cave in for months now. We seem to be making no progress. How can that be possible? Every day we dig our hearts out. And every morning we return to find a wall of earth more formidable than the day before. The golems have broken many times. And I've had to stop for days here and there to repair them.
Jular 22, 1012 Well, my helper is gone now. I can't really blame the Yaley boy, as I'm loosing heart now too. Still, there must be a way! On that same parchment with the drawing of the cliff face it shows some sort of a counterweight contraption. Something that is certainly not in the foyer. It also talks about a key. Yet there are no doors.
Augra 1, 1012 I'm all alone with my golems. Nothing is working. I don't know what to do now.

Rhizome · « **Reply #15 on:** August 15, 2005, 12:20:00 AM »

Here is what the tablet between the two magically flaming braziers looks like:

The tablet has three sections to it and seems to contain a different form of writing on each of them. They appear to be three different languages. But why would such a thing exist in the ruins beneath the Anuroch desert?

Rhizome · « **Reply #16 on:** August 15, 2005, 12:21:00 AM »

Here is what the last portion of the middle section of the above tablet looks like:
We all build our lives on one foundation. The perfect foundation is thus the key to perfect lives. The way to this perfect foundation is to chisel through the layers to find the pure base. This pure base is the universal groundation. It can be molded, refined, and mixed to into pure power. When forms are revealed, the power can be grasped. When the power is grasped, the way is revealed. When the way is revealed, our pillars of pure substance will extend to the heavens. Then the travesty of time will be reversed and the celestial will become subject to the terrestrial.

After being translated by Ozy, after many hours of exacting work and some source material found in the nearby library, the text is translated as the following:
We all build our lives on one foundation. The perfect foundation is thus the key to perfect lives. The way to this perfect foundation is to chisel through the layers to find the pure base. This pure base is the universal groundation. It can be molded, refined, and mixed to into pure power. When forms are revealed, the power can be grasped. When the power is grasped, the way is revealed. When the way is revealed, our pillars of pure substance will extend to the heavens. Then the travesty of time will be undone and the celestial will become subject to the terrestrial.

Rhizome · « **Reply #17 on:** August 15, 2005, 12:22:00 AM »

When you look at the top sectoin of the tablet above, the writing is much different. Rather than hieroglyphic type letters, the symbols are more like pictographs. There are far less of them than there are in the middle section and they are about twice the size. You look at the portion of the top section which seems to correspond with the symbols above. The very last bit of those pictographs, which you think are linked to the last sentence above, look like this:
8× 88888 § O

? ?

Rhizome · « **Reply #18 on:** August 15, 2005, 12:57:00 AM »

The glyphs which are on the short stone pillar in front of the door in the room with the trapped chest look like this:
To witness buried past now found, pay homage to the worshiped ground. Of four one pure and lock undone, with ancient substance, hand or tongue.

And after translated it says:
To witness buried past now found
pay homage to the worshiped ground.
Of four one pure and lock undone,
with ancient substance, hand or tongue.

Rhizome · « **Reply #19 on:** August 15, 2005, 01:00:00 AM »

And the glyphs on the upstairs column read as following:
ORDERS: Stop here. Await further instructions.
Which translated read:
"Orders: Stop here. Await further instructions."