Genasari Has Fallen

The Myste-Hass Calender

23/01/2024

Adventurers follow up on a notice board request, heading out to a farm at the southern edge of the north woods. Harris Farm appears to specialise in dairy cows and cattle.

A short man, skin deeply tanned answers the painted door. He looks as though he may have had a stroke at some point because only half of his gappy-toothed face moves.

The man, Kirwin Harris, invites the adventurers in and asks about the skills of those applying for his notice. His task involves sending the group north into the mountains to locate a magical device. A friend of his is keen to find the item. He presents a sketch of the device, but he seems unsure what it actually does or the exact proportions and description of the device. He knows that it should be found beneath the ground in a cavern. The artifact is magical, but he has no clear picture of what it does.

The device is lost in an abandoned settlement, Genasari, that was one of the first to fall to Morthel's attacks. The man draws a map that offers a rough guide to find the abandoned settlement.

His friend, Ben, was badly mutilated by Ravaran. He is the one looking for the device. Ben was a magic user, but he no longer has hands or a tongue limited all his arcane abilities. Harris informs the group that Ben has been doing a lot of sketching since his mutilation, but the quality is very poor at best.

The group are offered the reward of one-hundred gold between them. But, Harris claims that there is a lot more available if this item is located. Jim asks for more, and Harris offers him a cow - Buttercup.

Whilst the man goes off to find a lantern for the group, Bellatrix searches his house and eats some of his bread. He offers ale when finding her helping herself to the food.

The man provides the group with a map.

In the past, fires rage throughout the city. For two days, the troop of escapees rest on a mountainside above the forest, watching their home ransacked. They can see little detail, but the screams carry on the wind and they know the destruction wrought by the wizards, gnolls and hobgoblins when they ran.

Your group discuss going back, Gurda is desperate to return to her family, but before the first night is through half of the group are wracked by fever.

Dreen's body hurts in a way he's never experienced. It’s as though all of his muscles have been stretched then shrunk back into place. His neck hurts to move. His eyes water uncontrollably. He's nauseous and thoughts feel foggy.

Only Lucius and Phoenix find themselves untouched by the illness that ails their fellows. Lucius is wearing that slither of the Genai Stone that all Scourers are granted on completing their training. Phoenix is not, but he does not pay much heed to his apparent immunity at first. There is still an orange glow that lights the sky as Genasari smoulders, and his nightmares are reawoken as he watches that flame stricken city.

By day two, Lucius agrees to share his Genai Stone necklace with the group. They take turns wearing it for a few hours, feeling their bodies return to their normal strength. By this time, the city has grown quiet. The Genai monument is gone, and though Phoneix wears the necklace, it doesn’t seem to help the trauma you feel. The flames have died down. But smoke still pours into the mountainside.

Dreen watches with careful eyes, noting how foliage that was once tirelessly kept at bay from the surrounding area of the city has poured through the huge gaps in the wall. They've faced those vine chokers before, and the level of greenery that now blankets Genasari is a frightening concept.

On the third morning, the city is quiet and your troop has regained enough health to scope out the damage and look for survivors.

Dreen is wearing the necklace as the group head back into the city via the sewer entrance that leads to the House of Arcana. Whilst moving through in the darkness, the distinctive smell of soap and bleach becomes apparent.

Eventually, Dreen and Phoneix discern that its a particular ooze developed by the House of Arcana to clean the sewers system, combating the strain placed on the hygiene system by the enclosed system. Noticing large roots hanging from the ceiling, Dreen attempts to leap up and affix a rope to one of the tendrils. When he leaps up the vine, wraps around his wrist, tearing the ceiling out in a crash of plant life and rock.

Three years later, stand on the mountainside having completed their journey north. TO the south, they say a one-hundred and fifty pyramid being excavated, the granite monstrosity looking over hundreds of smaller tools. To the north, the ruined walls of Genasari sit blanketed in dead plant matter. The dwarf determines that the stone work was mined more than one-thousand years ago.

Moving inside, the adventurers determine that rain is on the horizon and they should move inside one of the buildings that is less damaged for rest. They head to a collapsed building that was once painted, now faded.

Inside, the group discover it was once a shop. They look around exploring the mostly cleared shelves, finding a bunch of wands, orbs, rings and a closed cabinet. The cabinet has a few potions inside.

The adventurers spend some time trying to work out how to get to the upper floors, to no avail. They then rest for the night, taking turns watching through the night.

The morning arrives, the air tainted by a slight drift of rotting vegetation on the air, the night's rain evaporating.

The group heads towards the statue in the centre of town, where silver wires stretch into the sky where some part of this monument has been removed. Beyond, towards the ruins of the House of Arcana they cross uneven floor to a staircase that spirals into the darkness. At the bottom, the worked walls transition into natural cavern. There was clearly a number of passageways which have now collapsed. The centre of the chamber is devoid of debris though. Into the centre of the chamber, they see a flat stone that is something akin to an altar.

The altar has silver wires worked into the floor. It has an inscription marked into the sides of the stone, the top stained with a deep brown.

Meanwhile, the ranger notices something glinting on the floor in one of the following passageways. It looks like a shiny flat surface. It's a person, clear stone entwined with flesh. They are extremely malnourished, unconscious, but alive. The dwarf heals him.

Dreen wakes up, his clothes rotted away. He points the group in the direction of Phoenix. Phoenix is not malnourished, he actually looks quite well. The group talk, trying to discern what has happened in the time these two have been unconscious.

They investigate the altar, Phoenix determining that the arcane sigils indicate some kind of siphoning ritual that purifies blood magic for some purpose, channelling the harvested energy through the silver wires.

The group then heads up to the surface to assess the city. They go to the ruins of Radley Rook's House of Rarity. Phoenix identifies the wands as a minor enchantment item - they stir themselves. The rings are mood rings. The remaining potions are acid (greenish yellow), some amber liquids, some that are layered in different colours and a silver potion.

Dreen shoes the group that you can get to the upper floors by standing in the teleportation circle in the corner. It brings the group to the third floor, which is now open to the elements. Dreen then breaks into the second floor through lifting the ruined floor boards and dropping down.

The dwarf finds a small box that makes the contents cool and a firm orb with a soft texture on the outside.

26/03/2024

Tom's Code - 62626