Session 10
Tanya, Rob and Rebecca were the players for this session.
I used the Carcosa supplement this time. My plan was to run them through Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer.
Tanya's elf (Ra'thel), Rob's elf (Adam DaVine) and Rebecca's hobbit (Roscoe) had all been contacted by Simon Edgington about possible employment. He told them that he had heard of a strange incident on the Isle of Man and he wanted them to investigate. He would pay them 100 silver each just for basic information and more if they brought back deeper knowledge. Simon had heard that someone had found a massive steel object that was buried underground. He wanted the PCs to check it out.
Below is part of the text that I sent to the players a few days before the session.
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You leave on an uneventful journey to the Isle of Man. You follow Simon's directions to a small village next to a large hill. From the locals you find out that a herdsman uncovered a strange bit of metal on the hill. You go to the spot and find the metal thing that had been exposed. You dig out some more of it and find it be one big thing made of steel and you find some strange buttons on it.
When you experiment with the buttons a strange light emanates from the object and the dirt and rock that covered it seems to evaporate like water out of a steam pot. At that point, you now see that it is a large steel object whose shape is much like that of a disc or saucer about 20 yards in diameter. What seems to be a door slides open to reveal a fascinating interior of seats and panels. The group goes in and the door closes behind you. A strange voice emanates from the wall speaking a language you have never heard. You spend some minutes looking around at the interior seats and panels that have strange lights. The voice repeats itself but you have no way of knowing how to respond.
The voice rings out a third time and then the entire object becomes suffused with a soft glow. Some of the panels seem to become transparent and now act as windows. You can see outside. The disc begins to rise in the air and you see the ground receding away from you. Soon you are so high you can see the curvature the Earth. It seems your speed increases with each moment. You leave the bounds of Earth and speed past the Moon. As you go by it you realize you are the first people to see the far side which is partly in shadow. Somewhere in that shadow you see a bright gleaming spot as if there was an illuminated city on the Moon.
You leave the Moon behind and your speed away from it increases with each moment. Soon you fly past a planet that looks to be covered with a red desert except for icy poles. Perhaps it is Mars. Soon you see the Sun as a mere bright speck.
At that point, there is a shudder in the disc and a horrifying feeling like reality has pulled itself inside out. Whereas the windows had been showing you a vast blackness with pinpoints of light that are the stars, now things are different. You see a vast field of whiteness and it is filled with pinpoints of black. These black dots speed past you for more than an hour. Then, there is another lurch and the color scheme of the cosmos goes back to its familiar pattern.
Through the windows you see that you are approaching a star whose color is a little different than the Sun that you know. After some minutes you approach what you realize is a planet with two moons. Parts of it have a purplish color and parts are brown or beige. As you approach, you see two ice caps at the poles. There are vast seas of blue water.
Your craft moves through the air and past clouds. Unlike your world, the vegetation seems to come in various shades of purple. The saucer comes down gently in an area of vast grasslands. You saw a desert immediately to the North. Some distance to the West there was a large lake with an island in the middle. It seemed like there was a city on the island. To the East you saw vast purple prairies extending as far as you could see. As the craft descended you saw a tall plateau to the South with the top covered in ice.
A panel opens in the interior revealing some strange objects. The door to the outside opens then all the lights are extinguished and there is silence from the craft.
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That's where we started the session. One of the objects was somewhat wheel-shaped (and had some buttons) and one was roughly apple shaped (and had some buttons). They played with the wheel and got a green button to illuminate. Eventually, they learned that it was a universal translator. They made guesses that the other object was a grenade.
The saucer had landed in hex 2005 of the Carcosa map. In regard to the detailed map of that hex, they had landed in sub-hex 1224. They encountered and befriended the lone wanderer but I decided he would be Green rather than Brown. They used the universal translator to communicate. From the long conversation that followed they learned about the various humans of the world and the "gods" that plagued and tormented them. They learned about the Grey Ones who made the spacecraft. They asked their new friend if he could knew how to use the saucer. He indicated that he did not. They asked about the Grey Ones and he told them he thought they were many days to the West. They asked if anyone else might know about the saucer and he told them a sorcerer might know and that there was one across the desert to the North. They asked the Green man to guide them to the sorcerer's cave and he agreed to do so.
They made their way North and into sub-hex 1220 where they encountered the dinosaur riders. The riders questioned them about what kind of beings they were and what they were doing in the area. The party simply told them the truth about these matters. The Red Chief offered them jewels if they would bring the Bone Sorcerer to him after the PCs had gotten the sorcerer to help them go back to Earth. They party agreed to the deal. The Chief sent to riders to escort the party to the edge of the desert.
The enlarged group went North and made their way into sub-hex 1506. A small number of the yellow cannibals attacked but were easily routed.
The group got close to the cave then made camp for the night. The riders left in the morning. The PCs and their Green friend approached the cave mouth. They found a small stream (just a trickle, really) flowing into the cave mouth. They entered and found lots of fungus growing along the stream. Admittedly, I did not describe the place as so full of fungus as the book does.
They went some distance in and ignored the first tunnel to the left. They went forward and found the Bone Cave. They walked around the perimeter of the cave to find its size then went back to the stream. I had decided that the stream would flow into the Mere in room 8. They decided to follow the stream and wound up in that chamber. The hobbit peered into the pool of murky water and was attacked by the Lake Monster. After a couple of rounds of fighting the hobbit was pulled down into the depths never to be seen again. The two elves fled back to the Bone Cave.
They made their way to the Cavern of Bats and I completely forgot about the bats so they did not encounter them. They moved down the tunnel leading to the apprentices and of course they were heard coming before they got there. One apprentice told them to halt before they could see him. They halted and began to parley. The apprentice told them to wait and he would fetch his master. Many minutes passed and the Bone Sorcerer and his apprentices walked down the tunnel and into view. The party saw that he had a pistol that looked like it was made by the Grey Ones. Some negotiation followed. Eventually, the two groups agreed that the sorcerer would go with them to the saucer and try to figure it out. If successful, he would take them back to Earth and keep the saucer.
The party camped outside and the following morning the sorcerer, one apprentice and 10 of the White Lotus zombies came out to begin the journey. The PCs decided the travelers should veer to the East in order to avoid the dino-riders. They wanted the sorcerer to live long enough to help them. Eventually, they got to the saucer. The sorcerer had brought tomes about the Grey Ones. He worked for more than a day but was able to get the saucer working. He took them back to Earth then went to his home planet.
The PCs went back to London and recounted their story to Simon who was much interested. They got some bonus money.
Last edited by Solon (2016-12-30 23:16:42)