Saturday, March 20, 2010
Session 17: The Journey to and arrival at Purgatory
(This is my notes for the journey as Alice and Samuel journeyed to purgatory, as far as format.)
There were originally four entryways into an old temple in or around the pre-rifts city of Cleveland. Only one still stands. The roads from your exit point from Dwoemer to that location are full of all manner of creation that would rather destroy you than talk to you. You will most likely be under continuous attacks for your journey to the gates…a journey that must be taken on foot. Part of the journey of discovery is the actual trip there. That means it must be taken in this manner. Cleveland is the home of a Hellmouth-an entry way into a dark dimension. You will want to avoid the Hellmouth and instead find the remaining gateway and enter. You will be transported to the temple. There you will have to work your way through the temple. The challenges inside are many, but the rewards can be great. You will gain in experience, riches, and will be in the employ (at your and their desire) of the Lords of Magic.
The gate you are given dumps you out near a small community known as Palestine.
The town of Palestine is rebuilt from the ruins of a Pre-Rifts town bearing the same name. It is a very small settlement holding barely a hundred people. There are many humanoid D-Bees and humans living together. The area the town is on is small- .2 Square Miles. It is a very tight-knit community. However, it is open to travelers, many of whom come through as representatives for the Three. You will find an opportunity to shop for food or very basic supplies if you wish, but there is very limited other items for purchase in this small village.
For the journey itself-The Three gave you a basic location. The citizens of Palestine are able to point you in the correct direction. You will basically be traveling over solid land (little to no water passages to worry about) in a northeastern direction. They again warn you that the journey will be dangerous, and that you should keep your guard up. The average friendly encounter on the journey (which takes an average of 2-4 days) is .34 per day. The average hostile encounter is 8.3 per day…and an encounter can be anywhere from one individual to a horde. Because of this you will need to practice constant vigilance on your travels.
The wilderness has really grown up in this area. The beginning of your journey will be through areas that feature plains and small hills. The weather, however, has turned much colder, and you will be battling the elements as well. To highlight this point, the first snowflakes of the season begin to fall shortly after you arrive at Palestine. They estimate that there will be 2 inches by morning…and it will not be letting up. The next week or so there could be snow, with the accumulation eventually being measured in feet as opposed to inches. If there is a time to begin the journey it is now, before the weather gets too bad.
The journey: roll up random encounters for every 3 hours of time at random.
0-15 Single minor malicious threat
15-19 No Encounter
20-35 Single major malicious threat
36-44 No encounter
45-70 Band/pack of 1d6 threats
71-85 Band/pack of 1d10 threats
86-89 No Encounter
90-95 Extreme Threat
96-100 Friendly encounter
15-19 No Encounter
20-35 Single major malicious threat
36-44 No encounter
45-70 Band/pack of 1d6 threats
71-85 Band/pack of 1d10 threats
86-89 No Encounter
90-95 Extreme Threat
96-100 Friendly encounter
Slowed by encounters (which are hard-to-impossible to avoid) the trip will take 5.5 days. At the average, this will be 20-25 encounters by the time they reach Cleveland/the gates. The gates are located on the ground where the Cleveland zoo once stood. The “gates” are an old stone arch that is slightly crumbling. Writing in runes on the gate changes as you draw closer and magically in a language you can read becomes “Gates to Purgatory.”
Upon entering the gate you find yourself falling through full impenetrable darkness. No sound reaches your ears-no light reaches your eyes. Your hair is blown behind you and your clothes flap in the wind as your journey continues down into what appears to be endless darkness. It is impossible to judge the speed of your descent, as there are no markers you can judge the falling against. You begin thinking about your life and the decisions you have made that have led you to this point. You seem to fall for so long in this silent darkness you lose track of how long you have been falling. Days? Weeks? Years? As you begin to give up any hope that you will ever escape, you see a pinpoint of light below you. As it rapidly grows in size, you realize you are falling at an extremely rapid pace directly at this area.
You are briefly blinded as you fall into the lighted area. As your eyes begin to adjust to the sudden light, you see you are high above the ground and still plummeting. Below you there is a large mountain range, and on the mountain directly beneath you there is a large red temple. The design of the temple seems to be a mix of various Asian, Latin American, and Egyptian designs. After a brief glimpse of the outside of the temple you find yourself suddenly standing in a octagonal courtyard with a different colored door on each side. The doors follow the color spectrum-Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. The final door is black. In the middle of the courtyard is an obelisk (about 20 feet high) with runes matching the ones you saw on the arch before you entered.
As you approach the obelisk, the writing again changes to where you can read it.
“Around your world eight doors do you’ll see
A choice of emotions shall await thee
Enter any at risk of your life
Each hold various forms of strife
Choose quickly what your fate shall hold
Be you fearful or brave and bold
However, your choice you must make quickly
Or the choice shall belong to me”
A choice of emotions shall await thee
Enter any at risk of your life
Each hold various forms of strife
Choose quickly what your fate shall hold
Be you fearful or brave and bold
However, your choice you must make quickly
Or the choice shall belong to me”
30 seconds after you read the description the obelisk rises in the air, spins a quarter turn, and drops one foot into the ground. Five seconds later it does so again. And again.
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