WORK IN PROGRESS

THE CIRCLE CALLS FOR AID

Professors Cornelia Chol and Thaddeus Grimm of the Circle of the Enlightened Mind would be particularly grateful for the swift response of experienced heroes willing to undertake a rescue operation in the Wastes. Applicants should report to the Circle without delay.

• Garrek - Alex
• Sabrina - Ellie
• Sato Cross - George
• Marius - Mat
• Monty - Michael

The party follow Cornelia Chol's directions into the Wastes toward Thaddeus' base camp, whetting their blades on mutant snakes. Thaddeus explains the situation; three scouts, Natasha, Beatrix and Sirius, have been lost in the canyon they were scouting. Following a breech of the camp by dogsbodies being shepherded by deep ones, Sabrina performs a ritual to trace the thread of connection between a locket and Natasha, the leader of the scouts.

Descending down a narrow, crumbling path along the canyon wall, the party encounter a number of strange pebbles which scuttle around on millipede legs and give Sabrina a nasty bite. At the bottom of the canyon, they find Sirius, being accosted by curious critters intent on learning secrets. Sato attempts to placate them while everyone else opts to simply cut through them, learning a number of interesting things such as “Beatrix is trying to kill me” and “there's a paladin behind the wall”. Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that Sirius isn't in his right mind as he attacks the party, clearly convinced that they are monsters. The party knock him out and return him to the base camp.

With one scout safe, the party return into the canyon. The ground rumbles beneath them and out burst the mole-like dark and young ones, who scatter more of the pebbles in their wake. The fight goes badly. Garrek flees with the incredible speed of the hare and is lost in the twists of the canyon. Sabrina farlinks to him to make sure he isn't lying, bleeding out somewhere. Monty, Marius and Sato are left to flee the moles and pebbles by themselves.

By the time it's over, everyone but Garrek have been bitten by the pebbles. Monty finds himself separated from the party and heads back to base camp. The others manage to meet up and together press on, following the thread of connection. Strangely, the thread seems to come to an end in empty space in a place where they find a group of Marius' friends, the Forest burning and a puzzle only Sato can solve. Garrek, meanwhile sees none of this but can clearly see the dead body of Natasha where Sabrina says the thread ends. He convinces everyone else of the corpse's existence by hitting them with it and the happy visions fade away. The party comes to the conclusion that something is affecting their minds and collectively decide to trust only what Garrek says is true.

Further on, they find they seem to be in some sort of pentagonal tower room with views out the windows of the districts of Rastaban, each with the spires of the Imperial Palace in the distance. In the room is a grand feast, attended by a number of notable people including Grand Magister Isabella, Master Commissioner Alexis Telemova, Jeremiah Stingelhelm, Grandmaster Leymoon Wen, Cornelia Chol and Sabrina's sister, Marissa. Garrek assures them that none of this is real but the party spend some time testing the limits of the illusion, finding that it seems to be a shared hallucination drawn from their collective knowledge and subconscious beliefs.

Having discerned what they can, they proceed onwards. Unfortunately, a small pile of pebbles fall on Garrek from above and he finds himself seeing the same things as the rest of the party: a twisting bush of savage thorns with a person trapped within, hordes of moss poppets, a former friend of Marius who has turned on him and a shroud paladin trying to destroy evidence of a two-headed skeleton. With the arms torn off Marius' imaginary ex-friend, the thorn bush ripped open, the moss poppets slain and the shroud paladin almost certainly defeated and not just hiding somewhere, the party press on.

Actual debrief to come later. For now, just adding the cipher puzzle so my lovely players can continue to try to break it if they want.¹⁾

(Note this is in what seemed the generally accepted orientation. That doesn't mean it's definitely the right way round.)

And the poem found in the Visions of Atreus the Seer, with the clue “Visions 26:8”.

• +2 Favour
• Strong Mind Affliction: Susceptible to any hallucinations created by psychotropic pebbles.

• +2 Favour
• Strong Mind Affliction: Susceptible to any hallucinations created by psychotropic pebbles.

• +2 Favour
• Strong Mind Affliction: Susceptible to any hallucinations created by psychotropic pebbles.
• Queen of Pebbles: You are the accepted leader of a fairly sizeable number of psychotropic pebbles which will follow your commands to the best of their ability. You can be assumed to always have one or two following you around or on your person unless you specifically send them away. Once per adventure you may call upon greater numbers of pebbles to achieve an impressive feat. They are unlikely to directly aid in combat but can be used for building temporary structures or weighing things down, for example.

• +2 Favour
• Strong Mind Affliction: Susceptible to any hallucinations created by psychotropic pebbles.

• +2 Favour
• Strong Mind Affliction: Susceptible to any hallucinations created by psychotropic pebbles.