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.

Eventually, they head to the Scourer's Hut and Dreen is consumed by a shambling mound that has been consuming the dead vine chokers. The creature is defeated

26/03/2024

Tom's Code - 62626

The group, Dreen, Kharoon, Phoenix, Jim and Elrand awaken in Radley Rook's House of Rarities. They set off to the House of Arcana. Jim notices movement on the outskirts of the city, he hides but Pallor sees him.

The others search the House of Arcana finding a classroom on the far left, a locked office in the centre, a raided alchemical supply closet where Elrand picks up two muslin wrapped packs of mushrooms.

Kharoon recognises Pallor from his Wildwood dream.

Dreen takes a wax-sealed map case with music inside and a signet ring with an E marked on it on the desk. Phoenix takes the most recent dated book of a series of journal.

Dreen notices with a detect magic that silver wires coming from the Genai Monument give a faint aura of evocation.

The group head down into the chamber and look at the alter again. Phoenix discerns the alter gives off a evocation aura, with a faint feeling of divine. It takes blood and refines the messy magic, turning it into arcane. The scripts give a strong sense of arcane magic, not divine.

Kharoon deduces that the wires go out in a eight-pointed star, running energy to all areas of the city. He suggests that the city once had been protected by some magical force. Each of the lay lines leads towards a exit of this underground chamber. The southward chamber, where phoenix and Dreen was found, completely collapsed. The western passage is also locked. The others open into darkness.

The rise again, heading towards the scourers hut. Inside, Dreen notices that all the dead vine chokers are reaching for a cabinet. It's locked, but Dreen opens the cabinet. Inside are eight drained Genai Stones that hang on a bar. Dreen takes all of them.

Upstairs, Dreen and Phoneix dress in more functional clothing. Jim finds a locked chest with 67gp in Myste-Hass gold inside.

Pallor then finds a large trap door. When opened, it reveals a stone staircase. It's square and wide, twisting and turning to base level with a croidoor that goes left and right. To the left there is a large door that blocks the coridoor. To the right continues into the city. Dreen unlocks the door, hearing a squeaking on the other side. He pulls it open and little rat eyes appear in the darkness. Combat ensues, but the rats are easily killed. The smell of bleach, and a potential cleaning ooze, causes some fo the group to flee upstairs and others to head forward to the ladder. Kharoon determines that its a sewer grate with four dots of light.

Dreen leads the group into the darkness of the natural tunnel, turning, twisting, rising, fattening, shortening, always heading south for miles and miles, beneath the mountain path, moving towards the Pyramid.

Eventually, the group discuss heading back to Genasari, start turning around. Kharoon tells Phoenix that he is undead. He runs to Dreen to speak with his friend. It comes out to everyone.

Pallor notices that Phoenix's skin looks abraded.

Back in the Scourer's Hut, Dreen takes a bunch of the map etchings, including one that shows the path beneath the Scourer's Hut - with a fork far to the south that goes in three directions. One heading south east for a small direction (to the crypts by the pyramids), one to the south (to the coast outside Myste-Hass) and one very far south west (to an island off the coast).

The group clear the Scourer's Hut of arrows and bolts, basic equipment and animal traps. They take as much of the equipment as they can carry, storing it safely on the hidden second floor of Radley Rook's House of Rarities. They move towards the palace.

The eastern wing of the palace has collapsed. They explore the kitchen, family dining room and wine cellar, opening the secret door to find a secret stash of wine from outside city walls. One of the bottles is Myell Entii Forr.

Dreen identifies on his map that the room there in has a passage down, then a passage that goes towards the outside, then one towards the centre of the town where it foes around the central area where the alter was.

They leave, closing the secret door and leaving a hidden mark with floor by the candle stick lever. Elrand suggests putting flour on the handle of the wine cellar to mark it.

The coach house looks abandoned, the servants quarters relatively intact - but, they do not explore these areas.

Phoenix spots the glass woman fallen in the eastern part of the city. She has fallen on her bed from the floor above. Her glass eyelashes are still intact, despite falling through the ceiling, medical equipment surrounding her.

The groups sweep the rest of the house, finding only two magical short swords and Jim smashes a glass frame and steals a map of Tempress. Otherwise, the expensive state rooms are just furnished with very nice linens and furniture, but nothing more of magical value.

Evaluation of the map indicates it is detailed of Tempress, including Gilcas and Genasari.

Returning to Radley Rook's House of Rarities, the group rests and identifies their findings. The two short swords are very fancy +1 weapons.

The group settles for a long rest, planning for the next day with plans to go below and work out where to go, identifying where the tunnels lead below the town form Dreen's maps.

Finally, Phoenix reads from the journal he picked up.

11/04/2024

Tom's Code - 061294

The adventurers wake to thick mist blanketing the city. Moving towards the palace, the group notices a figure stood amongst the ruins of what was once the Temple of Bin. It is motionless, made from flesh sewn together with just a loin cloth on. Surrounding it are dead bodies, some burnt and others killed by rock fall, all long dead. They look as though they were here when the city fell.

Jim and Dreen clear the trap door and expose it. A large tunnel beneath leads south out of the city and towards Myste-Hass, to Grey's Undertakers and the Scourer's Hut.

The body has three tattoos, part of an anchor, a slither of the Bronze Sword symbol and a tavern insignia of a star and moon.

The creature doesn't move at all. Even when its extremely neatly threaded sewing is inspected to reveal that the whole body has been imbued with magic. It has no pulse or breath, but its cool skin shows signs of magical life.

Heading onward to the palace, the group go into the wine cellar and use the secret passage south to reach the central chamber. With careful diligence, Jim climbs the chamber with pitons and looks up through a small chamber in the ceiling.

There above is the magical device, a cylinder with a ball floating beneath and silver wires inserted above. Dreen comes up and reaches for it, feeling blood sucked through his body towards the device, but his mitten of cloth protects enough to allow the ball to slot back into the device with a loud clunk, deactivating the device.

Dreen's body is bruised, marked with hickey like scars on his arms and face, when he returns to the ground.

The group head into the House of Arcana and goes back to the office to look at the journals. Phoenix gets the group to skim through searching for references to - changeling, Tamara and anything weird.

Between them they glean that there was a Helvettian facility in Brindle funded by Brittanicus, who wanted a perpetual realm. Mages of extremem power tried to fuse flesh with Genai Stone's, but something went wrong attaching Tamara's heart and it created a vampiric sickness where the mages became undead changelings.

The Genasari mages were researching curing Genai sickness, where people become crystal fused.

The books also mention that the magical device changes the power of blood magic through evocation into divine magic. Furthermore, there were two cases where people came from being dead - an old man, and a younger person who had heart failure.

The group travel through the military quarter which is completely destroyed, then through the wealthier segment of the city. They find tit bits, including five different coloured diamonds which are each worth two-hundred gp and two pieces of art - a painting of Ardanath Cross and a sketch of a public beheading.

Collecting the books, the group carries them back to rest at Readley Rook's. Jim cuts himself and allows Phoenix to drink it. The flavour is familiar, but he keeps his head.

Meanwhile, Elrand notices a trickle of clear fluid from the top of the Genai Monument. He collects up the magical substance in a cleaned out jam jar. The jam is damson jam. The liquid is refined blood, formed into a divine fluid.

Dreen begins collating a proper map of the underground passages. The Genai stone in his chest glowing a very faint purple.

Phoenix notes that the magical device is designed to clean and refine, distilling blood.

Jim uses the liquid to heal his injured hand and drinks some - it tastes like blood.

Collecting up the relevant pages from the Genai stones, the group head out of town. Dreen picks up two of those small purple flowers from all that time ago.

When they cut across the North Woods, they see a medallion and a show on the ground. There is bone marrow and a gravestone with markings that say John Roberts, husband and father of three, serves Gilcas well.

Dreen sees a ghoul in the bushes, then they attack.