Dear Anya,

I hope when you read this that I am there so we can discuss these strange events.

We’d spent the last few days getting to know Reginald (and this planet) as we transport him from the mountain ranges to his home – some place he refers to as Swansea. He fills us in on the alignment of the planets, discusses his time machine experiments (though a little vaguely) and tells us a great deal about this planet and its customs. Apparently, this is a planet of only humans. And his little corner of it is more insular than most, so even though I am human, I will stick out somewhat. As will Melchior and the Captain. We have to disguise Kenari and tell our non-human crew to stay below decks.

This…Swansea…is a grey and desolate sort of area. It appears to be perpetually raining or about to rain. Not to mention it’s filthy and has…a smell. The people stare rudely and speak in some sort of dialect that is barely understandable. Reginald arranges for our transport from the docks to his house. As he’s doing so, Kenari attempts to pick his pocket and relieve him of the crystal that powers his time machine. In a (rare for her) fumble, he manages to catch her. Needless to say, despite all of her protests that it’s for his own safety, he is pretty angry and ends up tying the stone on a string around his neck. It takes us about an hour to travel by buggy to Reginald’s house. The machine is unloaded and stored in his lab, which was a rather large building separate from and immediately behind the house. Kenari asks Reginald about some of his equipment and about the crystal. Apparently, it’s just a common quartz – so it must be the cut or something that powers the machine.

We decide to stay there for the night as the Captain has decided that protecting Reginald is our priority.

Ef Utan finds traces of ambient magic across the house and down the street, so Kenari and I decided to go investigate. We don’t come up with anything at the crossroads where the first flicker was, but at the second spot…. Well, we had to climb up to a second floor cornice and squirm about, but it was a perfect view straight into the lab and a clear shot.

We were joined that evening by a friend of Reginald’s. A man who called himself Abraham Van Helsing – he arrived late at night with a large case. And, oddly, wearing magical items. Apparently, Reginald had communicated with some of his friends who might be interested in meeting us. I wasn’t really sure that I approved of this – but it wasn’t my house. As Kenari sets traps, Ef Utan and Lenata talk to Van Helsing about hell and goodness and angels. Lenata takes a moment to go angelic and Van Helsing is rather taken aback. Amusingly, during this conversation Van Helsing keeps randomly flipping holy water on Ef Utan (who is pretty annoyed) because apparently Ef Utan just seems evil.

We set up watches and disperse throughout the house to get some rest. I took third watch with Fyn and Melchior. As we are keeping watch, Fyn spots the faint purplish light that signals a traveler from an alternate world arriving. The purple portal belched some yellow smoke and Fyn and Melchior barely spot a figure diving out of the smoke. Melchior and Fyn try to intimidate whoever it is as I run in for a quick tackle, missing terribly.

I paused and saw the figure clearly for the first time. It’s a Shou woman, slender, wearing a plain gi, carrying a sloshing wine skin, carrying nunchucks. She looked at me and laughed, “I didn’t expect the hair do.” Melchior and Fyn move and she flies upward, little bat wings popping out of her boots and barks – hey, I came to talk to her. Melchior and Fyn back and she comes back down. She goes into a pouch and pulls out a short mace with gold sheathing, shallow spikes and tosses it at me. As I’m looking at it, Fyn calls out “hey, that was my brother’s.” And I recognize it…it was the Captain’s Impossible Mace. I look at this woman and ask – how do you have this? The woman tells me that the Captain left it in her care when he passed away 10 years ago. He had been told by a gypsy that I would come from far away to get it. She and I chat for a bit – I don’t know why – but she is really familiar to me. She tells me that the Captain “fell in the ocean from a hole in the sky.” When he died, he told her that his spirit was going home to watch over “them.”

As she’s relaying this to me, I realize – with total shock – that this is me. Another me. From somewhere else. And I’m…a drunken master? Seriously? To be perfectly honest Anya, that takes me a few moments to process. It’s not every day you meet yourself. Especially not the ragingly rude, drunken master version of yourself.

I ask her about the Captain and she says she was with him when died. I thanked her – I had always wondered Anya if your father was alone when he died. It is a comfort to me (and I hope to you) to know otherwise. I ask drunken me if she’s been here before and she denies it. Seems fairly strange that she would know – to the minute – when to find me here. She tells us about Department 7 – that there are analogs on every world and the members of Department 7 are aware of the other worlds. As we were talking, her bracelet lit up and gives a high pitched ping. She looks at it and tells us “shit is about to go down” and recommends we leave before she uses some kind of device to disappear.

We head back in and I wake everyone up, relaying the night’s events. When I get to the part about drunken master Etsuriko – I have to say – I’m a little disappointed as everyone seems to think a drunken me would be better somehow. Lenata has heard about Department 7 and even says that there is rumored to be a secret level of the Seekers called the 7th Circle.

Things go horribly sideways here Anya. It was (and is at this moment) massively frustrating. We lose Reginald, we lose the time machine and we even lose Van Helsing. We foolishly dilly dally over breakfast. Have a rather long conversation regarding the purple light effects of shifting and conclude that the Illithids are “probability” shifting rather than plane shifting…which is all very interesting and intellectually stimulating, but not exactly teh smart thing to be doing at this moment. We eventually include Reginald and Van Helsing in this conversation and they let us know that this planet has a Department 7. Apparently, they are mostly Americans. (And, if you ever end up in this place, America may be a better bet – as this side of the ocean seems a bit stuck on itself.) And your Uncle (that man, I swear) decides to refer to my alternate me as “Fun Etsuriko”. So when he says something about it, just remind him that I am “Saves his ass Etsuriko”.

And then all hell broke loose. As I said it would, apparently. Someone throws a device through the window. We dodge, mostly. Some of us get hurt. Melchior is shooting at something in the sky only he can see. Turns out that thing is another Ef Utan. Kenari hears something in the lab and teleports out back – I run right behind her and we see the other Ef Utan and an Illithid lord piloting the machine away. Lenata is trying to heal everyone and casts a circle against evil, but as she does she and Fyn are attacked somehow (probably psionics) and Reginald and Van Helsing disappear. And yes, as I mentioned before. Epic fail. And we are all angry and irritated and being shown to be completely inept and it doesn’t help when I realize that we probably should have stolen the damn machine and kidnapped Reginald (which unsurprisingly was your Uncle’s plan). Kenari does find a mini-time machine…which maybe works, but it’s certainly not large enough to take us anywhere.

Melchior spots a weird shape in the sky and we realize it’s a Spelljammer. We are ready to go attack it but…well, we are an hour away from our ship. Fyn and Melchior announce that they are going across the street to steal some sort of horseless carriage and it’s been a really rough morning (and I’m not proud of this Anya) but I agree that it’s a good idea and off they go. Now, I didn’t see all of this – but your Uncle and Melchior relayed a good bit – and I have Kenari and Lenata’s word for the finish. And let’s just say – it may have been a mess. They were chased by the authorities, caused a few carriage wrecks, crashed through a plate glass window (that was being carried back and forth across the street for no apparent reason). Your Uncle then caused a human stampede by flinging gold pieces into the air… According to Kenari they slid into the dock on a tide of sheep manure. And your Uncle, well – you know him as well as anyone. His clothes were ruined and off they went over the side of the ship.

I missed all this, waiting with Ef Utan and the Captain at the house. We take Van Helsing’s vampire killing kit and I find two books on what this planet calls “Epyptian” history. And we wait impatiently for the ship to come get us.

01/15/2021 GAME NOTES

“Were you with the Captain at the end?” Yes. "Thank you for making sure he wasn’t alone. It was quite the journey to make it here. She stowed away on a tramp steamer coming out of NY.
“How many times have you been here?” “Never been here before, the Welsh can’t cook.” – Etsurikos.

“Some of us know about all the ridiculous worlds out there. LOOK FOR DEPARTMENT 7 or an analog. There’s a parallell in almost every world. If you’re going to find people that know what’s going on to help, that’s where you’re going to find it.”

There’s a high pitched PING and the gem on one of her bracelets lights up green then turns bright red. She looks at it, takes a drink “If were you all I’d get out of here, shit’s about to come down.”
She pulls out a cylinder, fiddles with it, then takes a step and dissolves into purple smoke.

Etsuriko wakes us up and fills us in as Kenari laments she didn’t get to meet drunk Etsuriko.
Lenata knows of a secret level of the Seekers called The Seventh Circle that she’s hear of from the Seekers and the Elven Fleet.

Illithids usually appear due to a purple effect. The Drow had a purple effect. Etsuriko had a purple effect. The Time Crystal is purple. IS there something similar to them?

Finn recognized the purple smoke before from transitioning between worlds. Lenata and Vedis – Probability Travel was the phrase used before planeshift.

Melchior keeps watch but sees nothing but stray animals, rats, etc.

Everyone wakes up and Kenari downs a cup of coffee after we come to terms with battening down the fort. Finn asks Reginald about Department 7 explaining about Fun Etsuriko vs. “The One Who Saves Your Ass Etsuriko”

Ef wakes up Van Helsing by splashing him with water (joke) as he curses in Austrian.

Reginald has heard of them as they approached him about his machine. Van Helsing says they’re an indespensible resource. Why do you want to talk to them?

REALLY? says Finn. LOOK AT US! I do have connections, in Paris, London and New York. He doubts our goodness and I explain how we’re practically alternate reality versions of Divison 7.

Van Helsing calls them Mind Flayers after we explain the Illithids to him (he rolls out his tools and asks what we’re fighting).

We’re talking around 6am when suddenly someone chunked a rock or brick through the window. Melchior looks up and sees a flickering of air around something in the air. A human sized outline flickers as it throws something round and black 2x the size of a pool ball through the window.

Everyone dodges but Ef Utan as explosion happens and he takes 16 points of shrapnel damage. Van Helsing and Reginald are hit.

Lenata tends to Helsing and Reginald as Ef armors up and hops out the window. Melchior shoots at it 3 times and hits twice. He hears a crackling sound when he hits and the cloaking shield cuts out completely for a moment allowing him to see a humanoid in a black body suit (ala SHIELD) with a heavy metalic belt and boots with flames coming out of the boots. A cluster of round objects hanging at the belt. Familar face = ALTERNATE EF UTAN. He pulls out a wand and disappears in a puff of purple.
Melchior curses and stomps on his hat. TARNATION. DAGNABIT. You haven’t heard the last of these six guns! YOSEMITE MELCHIOR. MELCHIOR SAM.

Lenata cures Van Helsing as he crosses himself.

Vedis hops out and she and Ef and Melchior discuss his doppelganger as Vedis hears something around the lab. Might be a cat? They run through the room to warn us and I dimension door back to the lab.

I see a purple light eminating from the time machine. The time machine fades out and with a figure in the chair (OTHER EF UTAN) while one hangs on the rails (7 1/2 ft tall Mind Flayer with 2 extra tentacles slightly longer than the rest)

Damn it! Did the Illithids dominate another version of us?

The others follow except for Lenata and Finn who stay in the house. WILL save. Finn is knocked out. Lenata is hurt and bleeding from the ears.

Lenata casts circle of protection while Reginald and Van Helsing disappear in a flash of light.

Etsuriko – How could the machine disappear if Reginald had the crystal? Maybe they had their own. Etsuriko goes to check on Reginald while Kenari searches the lab. Etsuriko – The one time I told Finn he shouldn’t have stole the machine he should’ve stole the machine!

Melchior keeps watch outside and sees a little distortion high up the size of a small or midsized spelljammer. He goes back to the main room to tell people.

Vedis sees that Len and Fin have been attacked psionically. Etsuriko tells everyone as she cleans Finns face angrily.

Vedis = KITTY! THEY TOOK THEM! GET LENATA BACK ON THE SHIP!

As Kenari digs through the lab she finds a small burned area on the floor a few feet away from where the time machine was. Underneath a work bench smaller than a shoe box I find a small model of the time machine. When I pull the key out it sparks purple. I wrap it up and put it in my Haversack.

Should we attack the cloaked ship with flight/porting? Finn and Melchior “borrow” a horseless carriage while the rest of us plan our attack.

We step outside but it looks like the ship is gone. Finn is determined to still steal the car. Melchior is no help whatsoever and makes it worse for Finn, who is determined to believe that he can start the car.

Vedis checks the compass. It’s pointing towards Kenari so I show them the miniature time machine while Ef Utan mends the window. Lenata says it’s not magically reduced, this is just a working scale model.

Ef Utan – could we hook the time machine model into the Helm of our ship? Could we build one based on the model?

Len – what about Division 7? Kenari checks his stuff to see if we can find any info but only finds his Vampire Hunter Kit.

Vedis touches the compass to the scale model time machine. WILL SAVE. For a moment she sees a vision of towering buildings all in flames and crumbling. Purplish sky with lightning and then she’s back.

We decide that we need to head back the ship and Lenata needs to hold the model while she’s on the Helm.

Finn fiddles around more and manages to start the car for a moment as it sputters.

More Adventures in Car Theft with Finn and Melchior. Melchior shoots in the air yelling people to GIT VARMINTS while they roll down the street avoiding a collapsed fruit vendor and people in the street.

Takes out a mirror, scrapes the side, almost hits a horse drawn hearse, then two guys with a pane of glass between them. Right after they go through the glass the car stalls.

Finn books it towards the docks and Melchior follows him. They make their way through the crowd around the docks. Mel better than Finn. Sheep everywhere in the street as they’re being driven down the docks.
Melchior loads a flare round “You are ready to run right?” He fires off flares to scare the sheep. Sheep scatter everywhere. Mel takes 5 damage from old shepherd in olive drab military gear who smacked him upside his head while calling him a terrorist (in Welsh).
Mel apologies profusely and tips his hat as he backs away. Finn runs past yelling “Money solves everything!!” as he drops 4 gold pieces.
Old man goes for gold as Finn makes a Ref save to not slip in sheep shit. He tries to slide and lands on his back as he slides.

Kenari sees flares and hears screams and sheep in distance. "Are you sure you don’t want to go help them?
Etsuriko “I’m going to kill him!”

Cop sirens in the distance. Horse drawn cart full of police arrives at other end of block behind him. THERE HE IS. GET HIM!

Kenari finds that notes were recently removed from the lab. Etsuriko finds victorian pornography in his bedroom. Ef searches Van Helsing’s room but only finds clothes and toilitries and a Bible.

Kenari teleports Lenata back to the ship to get it started up. Ef loots the house for valuables and they eat while waiting on the roof for their ride.
Etsuriko raids the books. Scarab on the spine, books labeled EGYPTIAN HISTORY.

Cops run after Finn and Mel as they make their way through the docks to the ship. I port to them, throw a Thunderstone at the cops which knocks over some of them, and port back to the ship.
They run to the ship and the ship takes off out of the water to everyone’s amazement.

Cops: I didn’t see a thing, did you? Nope, not a thing.

Finn strips and throws his shitty clothes overboard as we take off and struts back to his room while the girls clap and hoot.

Anya,

The next morning Fyn and Kenari report having horrible nightmares. All each can remember is loud ripping noises. The descend to the dining area to have breakfast and discuss our next steps. Kenari laments that she doesn’t “know what to do because everything here is horrible.” If the food is any indication, she’s right. Kenari, Fyn and the Captain all cringe simultaneously, as they can apparently feel the dimension shifting around us.

While eating breakfast, the waiter (a kid, really) keeps staring at Melchior. Finally, Melchior asks the kid “Can I help you, son?” The kid bolts, looking terrified. But he must be the only waiter in this place, because he eventually comes back out. Ef Utan asks the kid why he’s so nervous. The kid starts stammering about another group of adventurers who were in the area about two months ago and are rumored to be the ones who killed Strad. He describes a group of five men, and says that one of them could have been Melchior’s twin. He says the group called themselves “the Chendl Five”. And Melchior tells us that Chendl is a large trading city in someplace called Veluna. In Greyhawk, apparently. Which is where Melchior is from. And Anya, as an aside…you have to meet Melchior at some point. He has the most fantastic manners.

As we are settling the tab (ok, as Fyn is settling it) the barkeep tells us that he got word that a camp of Vistani have settled at the base of the mountain. As we were thinking of heading up the mountain anyway, this is rather serendipitous. As we approach, openly – we are here to talk after all – a group of kids spot us and run off to warn the camp. We are met in a clearing by a rather large man, wearing a yellow sash who asks us our business. Kenari tells him that the last time she and some of this group were here, they met Madame Eva and can we speak to her again? The man is clearly confused, but leaves – asking us to stay where we are. Eventually, we are brought into the camp and directed to a campfire at which sits an extremely elderly lady. Kenari asks “by any chance, do you remember me?” To which Madame Eva replies “you’re early and you brought friends.” This causes a great deal of consternation – as apparently the Captain, Ef Utan, Kenari and Lenata had been here before – but in this woman’s future. [Anya: time travel can be tricky and I don’t really recommend it.] We confer briefly and Kenari says we should tell Madam Eva everything. But as we are conferring, Madame Eva looks at Melchior and pulls out her Tarokka cards, inviting him to sit in front of her. She deals three cards face down in front of him and invites him to flip them over. He flips the first. It’s a gray, swirly picture and the caption says “Mists.” Madam Eva says: “The mists turn all enemies into the shadows of doubt.” The next card has a pair of crossed swords and is named “the Paladin.” Madam Eva says “The blade of the righteous burns bright.” To which Melchior replies “Merlin’s will be done.” The final card is red bordered and named “the Monk.” Madam Eva says “the strongest armor is the resolution of the heart and mind.” Melchior asks if the card has anything to do with him. Madame Eva taps the table…and Melchior stares at her. The Captain whispers “money”. Ef Utan comes to Melchior’s rescue by swiftly depositing a large stack of gold coins on the table (which disappears as swiftly). Madame Eva tells Melchior “Yes, he’s related to you. That’s your grandfather.”

There is a large quaking, shifting feeling – we all feel it this time – like something is being ripped apart. I ask Madame Eva what it is and she tells us all “That is change and it is coming very rapidly. Coming with Lord Strad.” At this point, everyone wants to go investigating and it takes a little bit of talking to get them to agree with Madame Eva, that maybe we should not be here right now. Kenari and Lenata teleport back to the ship (which Kenari tells us later felt horrible) and they find the ship’s crew barely hanging on.

The rest of us leave the camp and start walking back towards the river where we were dropped off – to catch up with the ship. When we find the ship, we can see it has been damaged and it turns out four crew were lost. Ravenloft is having a horrible effect on the haunted ship. As we board the ship, Ef Utan, Kenari and myself are all hit with negative energy that causes a fair amount of damage. The crew tells us that they tried to pull out of the mists, but they couldn’t breath. As we are shifting away, we hear hoofbeats and distant musket fire.

We go back through the mists and the haunts erupt. We have space shark ghosts – at least a dozen – trailing the ship. Lenata flies us through – avoiding lightning and we make it to the other side.

We shift with the planar sails to the ethereal plane, then back to the prime. As we shift, your Uncle Fyn falls off the ship (Ha! It wasn’t me this time!) and Ef Utan casts a quick fly spell and jumps over to grab him. (he’s fine, don’t worry) I see a large wicker basket with a giant balloon over it (and no Anya, I am not drunk) that has three human figures in the basket – 2 men and a woman in a rather poofy, impractical dress. Ef Utan flies over to the balloon and talks to the people. They tell him we are over someplace called “Turkey” and call Ef Utan “a bloody American.” None of us are at all sure what that means." The compass is pointing again – to a spot at the base of the mountains. We can just make out a couch sized machine and a man sitting in it – actually on the couch – wearing a brown suit and holding an umbrella.

Lenata pilots the ship closer and Kenari and I “door” down. We sneak over to get a better look at the guy. He seems to be pretty ordinary really. Short, dark hair. An oversized mustache. All at once, I am struck with an agonizing pain in my head and the start of a really ferocious headache. I run over to the guy, pull my sai on him and demand to know what he’s doing. He’s pretty startled at our sudden appearance – especially by Kenari – and tells us that it’s a device for traveling up and down the time stream. As Kenari questions the man, the slips a glowing crystal out of the back of the device. We signal for the ship to come down – but the man has realized that she has his crystal and demands its return. Kenari keeps talking to the man, trying to come to some kind of terms and he goes on a long explanation about his machine…lots of math. We teleport back to the ship and Ef Utan arranges for the crew to load the machine onto our ship.

Fyn takes over the talking part (Anya, your Uncle is really good at this stuff) and offers to give the man a tour. The man’s name is Reginald Lethbridge. Which is good to know. As we are loading the machine, the mist turns to black boiling smoke and clears – but now where Borovia was is an empty valley. Reginald is not certain how he is going to get home and given our interest in his machine, we volunteer to take him there. Fyn has that look in his eye he gets when he really wants something and he keeps talking about “mounting it on the prow.” I think he means the machine and so I almost feel sorry for Reginald. But then, this man is nothing special and would only be a danger to himself and others, wandering the timelines unchecked – so maybe relieving him of this device would be a good deed? We show him the map room and realize it’s going to take at least 3 days of travel to reach his home. So we set off and Fyn and Kenari keep working on Reginald. Reginald asks a lot of questions about Kenari’s jewelry and talks about someplace called Egypt – describing gods Kenari knows from other realms, but including some that she has not heard of. It may be that the Illithid have managed to interfere in this place, but we are not sure how.

Dear Anya,
I have always intended that this journal was for you – I should be better about writing, but events have been moving quickly and I have found it difficult to find the time. I hope, Anya, that you won’t mind as I gloss over the strange events that unfolded in The City of Horus and move along to the events in Barovia. It was a strange and wondrous thing, being there for the birth of the demi-plane Ravenloft. But I get ahead of myself.

After fleeing the City of Horus on Prime 193 via the ship’s planar sails, we found ourselves over an unfamiliar world. We had tried to return home, but the planar key had changed somehow and instead of our home plane of 19, we are in 7. We decided to land along the coast of a large continent and some islands – avoiding the city we could just make out. We don’t see any other flying ships here, but plenty of sea-bound ships and small cities dotting the coastline. We make for an isolated cove. Lenata decides to perform the ritual with Kenari and Ef Utan assisting her. At the end of the ritual, Lenata is holding a compass. It doesn’t turn towards the North – and the Captain thinks it may be pointing us towards rifts. It is currently pointing across the ocean, so we decide to follow it.

We pass a set of standing stones that make me think of Druids at the top of a hill on a beautiful green island. We pass over further landmasses and ahead we see a mist…and a castle on a cliff. As we near the cliff, the compass needle starts swinging about wildly. We all agree that we have arrived where the compass wanted us to be, so we decide to go investigate. As we are discussing disguises and cover stories, your Uncle suggests that we tell everyone we meet that we’re gods. I’m never sure if he’s kidding or not. But no one else takes that seriously, so it seems to be a joke. We head to the village. I sneak in with Kenari – staying to the shadows and the rooftops. The rest of the group heads straight for what appears to be the only inn in this town. Frankly, it’s a small and poor place this town, gray and beaten down. All of the buildings have heavy doors and large, heavy wood shutters around the windows.

Your Uncle makes his usual grand entrance and the barkeep immediately refers to him as “Lord.” Kenari and I take a separate table, but this village is so small that it’s pretty clear we are with the main group. Fyn goes to work and gets a great deal out of the barkeep. We learn that we are in Barovia, The desmene of Lord Stad Varvonovich – which we all realize means we are, in fact, in Ravenloft. The demi-plane of dread. Fyn continues to grill the barkeep, asking about the Veskani (a group of gypsies, apparently) and about the current power structure. The barkeep says that Strad is dead and Lord Adam is in charge. Apparently, Adam is an awakened, advanced flesh golem. Or, no one to trifle with.

We end up taking rooms for the night as the barkeep is insistent that we don’t want to be outside in the dark. I’ve always wanted to fight a werewolf, but maybe today isn’t the day. Bigger fish and all that.

Uerthspace Planets – Listed from Primary outwards
Sol (primary star)
Mercury
Amtor
Uerth
Barsoom
Asteroid belt (formerly a planet)
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Proserpina
Nemesis

Madame Eva of the Vistani Zarovan Tribe did a 3 card tarokka spread for Melchior. She also identifies the monk from the party that defeated Strahd as Melchior’s grandfather.

Major Arcana: The Mists
“The mists turn all enemies into the shadows of doubt.”

Black Suit : 2 of Swords – The Paladin
“The blade of the righteous burns bright.”

Red Suit: 1 of Glyphs – The Monk
“The strongest armor is the resolution of the heart and mind.”

Alternate E193

While docked in the City of Horus the ship is attacked by a group of illithids. After a furious melee in which Lenata gets to field test her fireball and Ef Utan breaks out his new fly spell, they drive the mind flayers off. The mysterious, mace wielding drow appears mid combat, weighing in on the party’s side and demonstrating Jaunter abilities into the bargain. Five of the mind flayers disappear in wisps of purple smoke after taking vicious hits, but the sixth one gets decapitated leaving its head and body behind.

A dominated mob wielding torches approaches along the docks screaming “Blasphemers! Heretics!” as they approach the ship. Ef Utan flies down and retrieves the head and body of the mind flayer, while Lenata prepares the ship for takeoff. Ignoring the laws of the city she takes the ship 100’ straight up. After a confab among the command crew, they decide to go into orbit. As the leave the atmosphere they find themselves surrounded by Aegyptian and Roman spelljammers. Capt Valentine gives the command to shift back to their home reality.

---

Alternate E07 Uerth

The ship comes out of transition above an unfamiliar earthworld rather than the Prime they know. Flyovers of the northern continent reveal cities and railways but no airships or spelljammers. They find an isolated area of the ocean to set down and proceed to perform the ritual to find the time rifts. Using the enhanced compass the ritual creates they are able to find the latest rift on the other side of the planet. Following the compass, they reach a valley embedded in the mountains and surrounded by a barrier of mists. Flying though they find the mists are several hundred feet thick before breaking through into the valley.

Lenata hands over the helm to Aspodel and they find a town. The Nomad sets down to let the command crew off, and then hides 100" up in the mists pending contact from the Captain. The command crew make their way into the town, taking in a view of the cliff and castle rising above it.

Arriving in town in the afternoon they find the locals taciturn until Fynn turns on the charm and pulls out the gold. Upon discovering that the town is named Borovia Kenari remembers coming her before when the Spelljoined first met. Fynn manages to get a bit more info – that until recently the area was ruled by “that devil” Strahd Von Zarovich who was recently replaced with someone named Lord Adam. Meanwhile Kenari tries to remember as much as she can about their prior visit years ago.

Being told it is unsafe to wander after dark, which Kenari backs up with tales of werewolves and flesh golems, they rent a pair of rooms for the night and retire to plan their next move.

We start walking back up the stairs, but it’s been a ridiculously long day. Our time in the dreaming felt like 12 hours at least.

Kenari is still ridiculously excited about this gun. She tries to show it to Melchior, but it reacts poorly to him – apparently the thing is psychically linked to Kenari now and only she can use it. I’m thinking about guns though and how it’s probably time I start training seriously with them. That Crocodile fight would have been better if I hadn’t had to keep jumping ON the stupid crocodiles.

We explain to Lenata and Melchior what happened while we were in the dreaming. Lenata tells us she tried to walk the line again and got nothing. Melchior tried – but apparently got a bit singed. He’s still smoking a little. But at the end he had a vision of his homeworld, Oerth, and of a huge metal cylinder slams into his planet – it was recognizably his home world – but different – like a future vision apparently.

We start heading up the stairs and as we go we discuss our next steps. We decide to try to get to Rempha. Kenari finds a tuning fork partway up the stairs…for planar traveling but to where and who dropped it? The stairs start creaking and then crumbling. Kenari jumps over the gap. Ef Utan tries, but falls. Kenari quick swaps places with him and then dimension doors herself back to us. This is taking forever and I am ridiculously tired, so I step to the top of the stairs and start tying a line just in case. As everyone gets to the top the blue sparks that had been all over us die out.

As I’m at the top, I realize the green people are gone – and so are their lizard mounts. Our ship is gone! Holy tablets – is that a Nautiloid?? My hands drop to my weapons as I watch the ship flying away. There are tracks all over from the Shobhads. I jump to higher ground to keep watching the Nauiloid. It’s heading SW and moving farther away. Lenata scries and talks to Aspodel who reports she took off as soon as the Nautiloid appeared. Aspodel says she will start heading back our way.

We search the area and Melchior and Fynn find something…not a person – chopped in half. It’s about 2 feet wide by 12 feet long…it’s all tissue with a single black eye and 3 claws around its eye. Lenata says the whole body is just nerve tissue and Ef Utan christens it a “nerve worm”. Someone else notices that the tuning fork we found has the numbers “193” on it.

The Nomad eventually returns and Lenata takes the helm – piloting us into the crevasse. Fynn operates the planar sails as we shift into the ethereal to go through the rock. Kenari spots a bright light in the distance and we had that way. The light coalesces into 8 forms – crap – angels again – these guys are always in the way – and these are warrior angels holding maces. There’s only 8 though, so I’m thinking this is doable. Lenata gets off the helm and comes out to speak to the angels. The Angel tells her “Turn away.” Fynn notices that they have the symbol of Mertion (the 4th Heaven) on their belts. Lenata implores the angel to let us through, but the Angel tells her “You will retreat. We will report to the authorities.” I’m seized with an irrational sense of total fear. We decide to leave and seek the other end of Rempha – hypothesizing that if this is Mertion, maybe we can come from the other way. So we retreat.

Fynn swaps the keys and we are suddenly back on the Prime. The ship is falling & spinning out. As usual, I fall off the ship – but quickly step back to the deck. The deck and the mast crack and there’s a giant hole in the ship now. Somehow, Lenata gets below decks and gets Aspodel off the helm. She pulls the ship up about 100’ away from the ground. We make it back to the crevasse and Ef Utan starts mending the ship. Apparently, it’s going to take at least 10 hours to repair the ship, so we decide to get some rest.

The next day…night….what day is it anyway? We decide not to tangle with the angels and use the tuning fork we found to shift. I tie off just in case. I’m kind of tired of falling off the ship. It feels strange compared to our usual transitions. We are now orbiting a different planet. Where a moon would be is a pyramid the size of the Rock of Bral. we see a number of spelljamming barges – Barges of Ptah mainly. The stars here are unfamiliar to all of us and there is lots of greenery. Also, the desert is more yellow than red. Where are we? Lenata notes that the Priests of Ptah compare to the Celestians in their enthusiasm for space travel. We decide to fly a white flag and a feather flag.

Kenari notes 3 ships heading towards us from 1 direction as I spy 3 Roman triremes approaching from the other.

Out of nowhere, Ef Utan mentions that if you cross math & magic – 193 is a prime number.

The barges of Ptah arrive and a human man in a jaguar cloak and another man in a feather cloak come over on a floating disk with some soldiers. Kenari tries speaking to them in mulan, the language of Mulhorrand, and offers parley. The dialects are different – but apparently, everyone can understand one another. They tell us that they are Igyptos and that this planet is Nile. They want to check our ship for Romans and contraband, which the Captain gives them permission to do. Ef Utan asks what year it is and one of the warriors replies that it is the year 5847 of the 153rd Dynasty, the reign of Emperor Ral Ada Hotep. We are told that we may dock in the water only, and to strictly obey the laws as the primary punishment is enslavement. Honestly, I’d like to see them try. We would make horrible slaves. But laws are laws and docking in the water really isn’t an issue. We are told to check in with customs and given a pass of some kind. Kenari secures all of the planar keys on her person and as she does so, she notes that the one for the Prime, our old one, now says 19.

We are escorted to a dock in the city of Khemet-Aladria. This city looks like none of our visions…so what is this place and if the Illithid dropped that tuning fork – what are they interested in here?

As we are still in bottom of these ruins, contemplating the path – I start thinking about the vision we all shared when Lenata walked the line. Something is bothering me about the city we saw and the crest on the uniform of the armed man….it’s from Toril in Realmspace? I’m just not sure what city. I share that with the group and Fynn mentions that the battlefield at the end is the Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, the edge of the Blood War. Kenari notices that Lenata and I are still sparking from our walk on the path. The Captain decides to walk the path next and as she does a new white thread appears with the words “God Mind”. As she’s walking, the whole room shifts subtly and we are apparently in the dreaming now. Lenata and Melchior don’t make the transition with us.

We see a figure standing in the doorway. Female, thin and dressed in tight black leathers with strange equipment. She has long hair and Ef Utan says “she looks like Lenata.” Apparently, this person knows someone the group had met up with before I joined. Someone (some person – that is not male or female??) who calls themselves Falak-13. This woman’s name is Melisande. She is excited to learn that we know Falak-13 and is asking where they went – apparently after leaving us – they never went back to…. Ok, I’m lost. The future?

The Captain is thinking aloud and wondering if the dream and time fractures are rubbing up against each other? [Wait, there’s a dream fracture?] Melisande notices that the floor pattern is changing when we aren’t looking at it and that while it was divination and electrical magic before, now it is dream and divination. So maybe it’s changing based on who the walkers are.

Kenari is going bananas for Melisande’s guns and Melisande is strangely excited by our magic items – so they actually make an exchange. Gun for a scroll. Kenari’s fur is practically standing on end she’s so excited.

Fynn proposed that we have a full exchange of knowledge to see if each of us knows anything that can help the others. He sums up where we are and what we’ve learned to date. Melisande shares that her team has been investigating the time rifts and while doing so they have been running into the cult of Vecna. On her side of the timeline there is a “Gap”. A period of time is missing for them…it is 320 years in Melisandre’s past. The Captain theorizes that the Gap is a sign of some kind of success….but it could be equally a sign of some kind of failure. I guess either way it doesn’t matter. There should not be a gap in the timeline, right? So that needs fixing.

Melisande mentions illithids – but she doesn’t really know anything about them. They practically don’t exist in her time, so we fill her in…between the group of us, we know quite a bit about that race. Melisande also mentions that besides the cult of Vecna there is another cult, of “Grandmother Rat”, and that the Vecna group has been trying to poach from the Rat group – as they are similarly aligned (secrets, shadows, etc.) and so that has been causing turmoil too.

The conversation goes all over the place really and I’m having a hard time keeping up. The drift, the Gap, history & time. Eventually, Melisande walks the path. At the end of the 3rd arc of the path, it terminates in a ball-shaped pattern – she sees a vision of a monolith that is projecting Falak-13 – the Monolith has a symbol of the Starfinder Society (who is?) and apparently it’s some kind of “AI” (which Melisande explains but I’m not getting – a mechanical brain/entity of some kind?) Melisande speaks to the AI and the display starts flickering through various forms – at the end there is a pattern of circuitry – kind of like what’s in Fynn’s hand, then a burst of white light, then fades…Ef Utan and Melisande see some of the patterns are tesselating in the arcane and some other different types of energy and then a burst and then there is only one kind. Melisande tells the group that in her time there is only one kind of magic. This information sets us all back on our heels.

Ef Utan walks the line next. He sees the dreamscape sculpting itself into a network of threads, some in clusters like weaving patterns. He sees Geldaneth in Mulhorond – but it’s worn down looking. He sees familiar faces but they are all 15-20 years older – there is a ripple of purple flames 100’s of feet tall that rips through the landscape destroying everything – only a few survivors. A vision of what happens if we fail, perhaps?

Melisande uses some of her “tech” to scan the small flask that Kenari found. Its blood. Very, very, very old blood. It should be dust by now but is not. And it has planar energies…what if this is god blood somehow?

Kenari decides to walk the line, but in Kenari fashion, she steps onto the path and then dimension doors to the end. Her vision is a time-lapse…a city of pyramids, Gheldaneth again, that fast forwards into a vast city with technology we can barely comprehend – massive warbirds fly over the city posting EIN colors. Are these competing visions? Depending on what happens, does Mulhorrond turn into this or a blown apart waste?

Fynn walks the path last. He has a vision of what he calls the “Gamma World”, then a jungle landscape of some kind, then another planet that gets hit by a meteor, then a horrible, large alien city…it’s indescribable – twisting and flesh and metal all at once…. his perspective pulls back and it’s a loom – with fate eaters on the other side eating the threads. And then it’s not threads, it’s the circuity and the same thing is happening – bits of the circuits are being eaten.

Fynn was injured by the line as he walked and Melisande uses some sort of tech to heal him. She has neat toys, that is for sure. We start to shift out of the dream and I realize Fynn isn’t shifting with us, so I grab him as the Captain grabs Kenari. We shift back to the real and we are still in the room. It’s a little different though – the air is now dry and musty…

Lenata and Melchior are there and are relieved we are back. They say we were gone about 90 minutes.

We arrive at Akiton. It’s a dusty, red, dry looking planet – except for the ice caps at each pole. We know the contemplatives live in underground caverns and decide to look for them in the titanic basin – a long gorge running across the planet like a giant scar. Before we head that way, we decide to circle the mesa. It takes the better part of a day. Kenari keeps lookout and Fynn and Ef Utan assist. A few hours in, they see a caravan – about 75-100 with huge pack lizards heading SW towards the crevasse. After that, we hear Kenari yelp in surprise. She’s spotted a 1000’ tall pyramid with a metal cap at it’s topmost point.

Lenata decides to fly in to get a closer look. She hovers about 75’ away from the pyramid – going slow and pausing on each side. On the east side we see the sun symbol of Ra. On the west side we see the glyph for Anubis. Lenata lowers the ship and we get off about 50’ away from the pyramid. This side has a huge doorway that’s been bricked off and sealed. Kenari starts studying the language on the front, as I’m read it. Honestly, sometimes I forget about this ring and so I’m looking at something and then realizing I’m reading whatever I’m looking at – even when it’s languages (like this) that I have never heard of before. This writing is a spell – some kind of invocation and a summoning of dark forces from the space between. I decide to NOT read it out loud. Ef Utan casts detect magic and tells us that it’s some kind of seal. Fynn reaches out to touch and is blown across the sand. Once he recovers, he tells us he had two visions: in one the pyramid door is open and there are ranks of Mulhorandi guards standing in front of it as black tentacles emerge from a giant portal. In the second vision, he is looking out from a balcony at an ancient city crowded with demi-humans of all kinds – a panoramic view of a thriving city with red desert all around.

We decide to not open the door. I’m surprised, because usually Kenari is all for opening the doors. We get back on the ship and head into the crevasse. About 5-10 miles down we start seeing what can only be balconies. There are holes going into the walls on the north side on a human scale and extremely delicate stonework all around. We come upon three large balconies and decide that this is probably where we should disembark. Way back in the cave, we can just barely see three large stone obelisks way in the back of the cavern. The Captain reaches out psionically and says she can detect something way at the edge of her reach. Lenata gets off the helm and we jump from the ship to the balcony. Fynn and Ef Utan fall and quick as a blink, Kenari swaps places with Fynn. Ef Utan levitates himself back up using a scroll – muttering about how he really needs teleporting boots. He does. That’s true. Now that we are all there, we follow the cat down the hall. Fynn complains about a non-specific “weird” feeling as Kenari senses….something. A giant brain with a tiny vestigal body floats down the hall towards us. All at once – the Captain goes sparkly, some kind of light blooms in Fynn’s hand and sparks shoot back and forth between Melchior and the brain. Melchior is apologizing profusely…apparently he has trained to resist psionic forces and the reaction is automatic. The brain casts a spell so it can speak to us rather than using psionics. The Captain tells the brain that we are there to find Rempha. As she does so – I find myself locked into a mind link with this entity – against my will – my mind goes back to the moment in Sigil – after we defeated Vecna – when the Lady of Pain spoke. The brain asks: “You really heard the Lady’s voice?” Absolutely, I say. The brain says out loud for all to hear – How may we assist? I tell the brain “As my Captain mentioned, we are looking for Rempha.” The brain shows us a map to the ruins that we are looking for. He tells us the Osiriani built “a great gate to the Golaron” 7,000 years ago.

We thank the brain for it’s help and leave. We head straight to Rempha following the directions we were given. We are about 50’ above the sand over the ruins. We can see the bones of a dragon and the outlines of an old wall. Kenari sees some of riding lizards tethered to a building and one of the 4-armed Shobhad ducking into the ruins of a building. Lenata swaps places with the other pilot and wait for her to regroup. When she’s ready, we jump down in force and line up on the wall. We see one of the shobhad and Leanta calls out greetings. A third shobhad walks out – he has a rifle and a pair of swords on his back – he and the Captain begin speaking and as they do – we can see that more shobhad are taking positions. The Captain though – and I am impressed – negotiates with their leader and ends up offering 5 barrels of water for the right to search the ruins. The leader wants any treasures we find, but we’re not really here for treasure so who cares. Once the leader tastes our water, he agrees and we seal the deal with a tea ceremony. Kenari introduces these guys to hobbit weed. That cat is a bad influence in any part of the galaxy. After the ceremony, we start exploring the ruins. Concerningly, Fynn’s hand is erupting into blue and silver circuits. He says this is from something that was imprinted on him that they used to run another ship – but he doesn’t know why it’s reappearing now.

The ruins are….dirty. And filled with ancient graffiti – which I can read – and it’s all trash. We go room by room, heading northwards. We find a room with a large drain in the floor – it’s enchanted with some kind of destructive magic. We decide to head down (really, we go to the nicest places) and after about an hour of walking down we come to a room with a stone door that has been sealed, but not trapped. Kenari gets it open and we head into a 50′×50′ room with a musty tomb smell. The floor is laid in tile work – six interweaving bands of colors with Osirion writing: Archmage, Champion, Guardian, Hierophant, Marshall, Trickster. Ef Utan notices the faint hum of magic all around us. Kenari finds a secret compartment and discovers a reddish-brown, opaque flask sitting on a small purple pillow. Lenata says that it’s magic. As we are arguing about the paths and which of us is which archetype – I set off on the path. My boots spark as my heels hit the ground and I tingle all over. The pattern shifts before and after me as I walk. Ef Utan tries to get on, but a harsh spark knocks him off. As I get to the second wall, I get a vision of an underground city in a tubular subterranean cavern – and a huge cylindrical tunnel that ripples through the universe and comes out Merion, the 4th heaven – there’s a rippling distortion field and I see the plane of time. The city is populated with celestials and a modron in a purple toga. This looks like some kind of portal – Rempha, Celestia and and one in time. I’m not really clear on what I’m seeing, but as I see it I try to describe in detail so everyone knows. I ask the line, where is Rempha and clearly get – that it’s 100 miles down beneath the great plateau. There is no entrance. Ef Utan postulates that if the use the ship’s planar sails and go thru the plane of shadows we could get there.

Lenata starts walking the line and asks “Where are the chronomancers?” We are all hit with this vision

- a githyanki female trapped in an Illithid ship – and an Illithid putting a worm thing in her eye. The scene jumps all over the place – Githyanki on red dragons attacking the Illithid ship – the battle rages from one planet to another – humans – a large city (that’s Oerth in Greyspace), then to an icy barren planet and then finally into a hellscape where hordes of red-skinned demons are attacking illithids… It’s a jumble and I resolve to meditate on it when we get back to the ship so I can see the details more clearly in my mind.

We know that Vecna has been banished to Ravenloft since his fall from Sigil – his followers have their own power, but not his. Fynn gets Lenata to ask – are the Illithid using Vecna to bring back the Overmind? YES.