Wild:52 Mother Tells Us A Story

Starring: Bo, Fuelwen, Brilla, and TskTsk
Guest Starring: General Linaeus, Zerbrer "Mother" (Cycloptic Dragon)
Challenge: Advanced Ambush Drakes, three medium and one large; Shout, Greater trap
Location: North of the Do Good River and lake; Mother's gold cave
Date Played: 08 Dec 2010 & 11 Jan 2010

The Situation among the Islands

Brilla: The islands are on a collision course that no one can stop. Killibron wants to stay to watch it, but we decide it is better for him to take the inn and put it into its demi-plane. He is going to wait until the very last minute, but it will be better than having the inn destroyed in the chaos of the impact. I just hope he blinks it away in time.

Fuelwen: I'm taking a risk with my tavern. We may or may not be able to find it again, but for now it rest in its pocket dimension. That's safer than sitting upon colliding islands. Cataclysms are an opportunity, however, and right now, we're standing at the center of the world. Even over great distances, I know that I can strengthen my position with proper action.

Ambush Drakes discovered prior to ambush

Brilla: Further searching led us north along one of the river banks. We noticed some reptilian footprints and realized these could belong to the draconic signs we noticed earlier. Tsk'Tsk took the lead and scouted ahead. He returned a good while afterward and warned us he was being followed. No sooner after he did that we were jumped by some drakes. Their breath slowed us greatly and one of the larger ones made their escape.

Amazingly none of the soldiers died in this attack. The elf was left for dead by the captain, but proved to be the most effective out of the lot of them.

Fuelwen: Ambush drakes are more successful when they are able to ambush. Tsk'Tsk's scouting abilities proved handy.

TskTsk: I am satisfied that I outmaneuvered such fearsome predators.

Bo resigns from death

Brilla: Our travels continued further north and the strangities did not abandon us yet. Tsk'Tsk scouting turned up another creature, but it was more inquisitive than frightening. When it got led back to us, we were a bit shocked to see a furry dragon. It wasn't good at speaking too many languages and it refused to speak celestial even though it understood what we were saying.

It came with a letter stating that his celestial host have gotten his resignation. This seemed odd and at first I was questioning if he quit his shamantic duties but instead I was shocked to find out that he quit death! Is that even possible?

Bo told us that he can still die, but he won't pass on. Evidently he will rely on strength of will after death to forge his own path to immortality. It sounds very interesting and akin to what my ancestors do so that we may call upon their power.

Fuelwen: Tsk'Tsk's scouting did take a comical turn, however. We found the tracks of a dragon and hints of Tsk'Tsk nearby. The obvious conclusion: Tsk'Tsk decided to pick a fight and had been eaten. We tracked the dragon and found that, no, it had not eaten Tsk'Tsk, and in fact, Tsk'Tsk was on his way to warn us about the dragon.

The dragon had a message for Bo- apparently he has a key portion of his immortality guaranteed.

TskTsk: Scouting ahead of the rest, I encountered yet another draconic creature. I successfully remained hidden but it was able to track me by sound. Apparently the beast has keen ears. Since it did not appear to be tracking me for an attack, I tried out several languages and determined that it understood Celestial. This revelation was of no use, as it replied, "I am not permitted to use such language." At that moment I knew it was in the Milding to seek out Bo.

Bo: Spiritual creatures seem to have there own tongue. Likely its an old joke from not having been taught in a temple. After puzzling through the barrier of tongues it was revealed that the dragon was a messenger from the Celestial Court. After a quick charm against explosive runes I read the scroll. Apparently the inevitable had done as asked and my petition to be removed from the lists of departed souls was accepted. Having resigned from death has moved me closer to immortality and is sure to be surprising. Now I won't be consigned to the boredom I saw on the outer planes and can look forward to the rapid change of the wilding. I'm sure that a path to extend my lifespan will be shown me now or in a future incarnation.

Find the origin of the river, part ways from Linaeus

{{Brilla)): Thought the journey was long and treacherous, we finally made our way far enough north to see where the Do-good river formed. I guess to Linaeus and his soldier it was a majestic sight, though to us I believe our travels have left us jaded.

We offered Linaeus and his men to come further north with us, but their sense of duty kept them on their trek back south. I enjoyed the company that they provided, though I will admit that it is nice to get rid of the worry that I carried to the less trained troops and their wellbeing.

Fuelwen: It is such a little thing, the source of the river. Compared to the grand, lazy swath it cuts through the Allswell Empire, it's remarkable. Focus on the small things to perform the great ones.

TskTsk: The origin of the river is a simple natural spring, which is now fed by an enchanted spring that Bo planted.

Bo: The source of the Do-good river seemed fragile. A small spring might go a long way to providing potable water to those of the milding. Linnaeus and his men parted from us. A shame we could not make them look more heroic. Greater heroism does tend to inflict greater losses making the general's decision more prudent.

Explore the north, discover nomadic cloud giants

Brilla: With our party back to normal size, we picked up the pace and headed further north into the unknown. All we knew is that we were entering giant country; a country slightly less dangerous than bat country.

During one of our nights we decided to travel late and came across a bonfire in the distance. There was some debate on what to do when I decided to go forward and investigate the people that started the fire. Tsk'Tsk decided to stay off on his own in the distance while Fuelwen and Bo followed me, though Fuelwen decided to stay at the edge of the wood-line in case they were wary of non-human looking people.

We were surprised to see a group of well meaning giants; cloud giants to be exact. They retreated from the mountains to the north, though some of their family and friends were taken by the hill and fire giants from where their homes once were. Though the cloud giants are more powerful, the sheer numbers and ferocity of the lesser giants overtook them.

They warned us of the heavily populated zones in the mountains and we told them of the giant and her children that traveled south and were under the limited protection of the humans of the neighboring village. I was actually a little shocked that Fuelwen didn't try to talk them into making a village outside the mouth of his dungeon for a little extra protection.

Fuelwen: We broke bread with giants, and they warned us of far less friendly giants to the north- the direction we wanted to head. The grand cycloptic dragon was in that direction. They had seen tell of a large dragon- but were unsure if it were a cyclops.

TskTsk: In addition to our negotiations with the giants, we spotted numerous fey in the mountains. They avoided us as we avoided them, which was fine with me. I recall how crazy Fuelwen was the last time we encountered such creatures!

Bo: The giants were very helpful. It would be pleasant to journey with them for a time. Maybe another incarnation will have the stature to stride amongst them. Traveling to the great dragon we avoided giants and fey avoided us. Far too orderly.

Update from Killabron; Splat returns

Brilla: The collision happened and there was a good bit of destruction, but nothing that was too worse for wear. Evidently the war was kind to Splat. He learned how to teleport and soon met back up with us.

Splat: So, okay. F. went all, "Whee, I'm over here," and I got totally bored. So I went to find my bio-dad, and found him and was all, "Yo dad, sup?" And he was all, "Nuttin. You're all strange. But hey, you're part Archon, and you should totally rock that Archon self." "I like rocks." "Cool." And then I teleported to F. SWEEET. My head hurts. And I don't even have a head!

Fuelwen: Splat has returned. It seems… more potent somehow. It also, however, seems more devoted than ever to fighting evil and darkness and saving the world. This may be a problem later, but as it stands, we do live in this world. If it were destroyed, it would be most inconvenient.

TskTsk: Splat returns to us quite suddenly. Some warning would've been appreciated.

Meeting with Mother

Brilla: We were lucky and avoided any encounters with the malicious giant of the north on our way to where we believed the dragons cave was.

We eventually came to a mouth of a cave that looked like a reasonable size to house a dragon and decided to follow protocol and let Tsk'Tsk go ahead of us. He didn't go too far when he triggered a magical trap that summoned a magical mouth in a rock that yelled as us to tell us to turn back. The shout was so powerful that we bled from the ears and were deafened for a shirt while.

After recuperating we yelled into the tunnel that we were here to see the mythical cyclopean dragon and to ask a few questions. Soon some floating lights appears and pantomimed a path for us to follow. At appears that they were having a bit of fun with us by making us do unnecessary twist and turns.

We were led to a cave with filed with tons and tons of coins. Needless to say, we found the dragon's cave. We spent some time looking around, being careful not to enter too far in.

After a few minutes I encountered a hair raising event. Literally, hair raising. The dragon was behind me pulling upon my hair, holding me rigid. We then heard a spell being cast that was one of shrinking. I have expected to become as small if Firebird but instead I felt the tug on my hair become slack. We were soon greeted by a cyclopean prismatic dragon named Zerbrer, though it preferred to be called Mother.

She took a liking to us because we neither attacked her from first encounter, tried searching for her despite the fact we couldn't initially se her, and we didn't pillage her hoard. Good thing treasure isn't on the top of our list for things to get.

Fuelwen: The dragon, Zerbrer, was mischievous and a bit… well, it showed its great age. But it was a gracious host.

TskTsk: Zerbrer was an excellent hostess and granted us a boon that few ever do—straight answers. In addition to learning more about the world, it turns out that she is the mother of my hated opponent, Daudir. This gives me a bit of a psychological edge for when our fight comes.

Monologue

🎲 DM I didn't read it exactly as this and I changed a few details in her delivery. These were my notes for her speech to you.

"I fear that it is my time to move on. The age of reigning
dragons on this world ended long ago, and few dragons are
left. You see, we do not breed well. Your world, the Wilding
is the natural state of this plane -- normally far removed
from the multiverse. We created the original "Milding" to
have a place where we could breed without our bloodlines
being lost.
"What happens when you breed a half dragon with a human? You
get a slightly empowered human. One or two more generations
and you couldn't see any hint of draconism. Now breed a dog
and a human. You'll still see extra hairiness, a long face
and all of the like for generations to come. That's why.
"We wanted a place where we could survive. Sadly, we enlisted
the help of the Celestines to create this. They grew powerful
with our help and wealth, and they moved on. They also drew
attention of outside forces.
"You see, initially we were nearly entirely isolated from
the rest of the multiverse, like few other realms. In that time,
Celestines revered the flow of time -- aging and wisdom. It was
only later that they learned of her other aspects. They learned
a way to penetrate this barrier. They created portals everywhere
and so on. Now everyone in the multiverse wants us. I spent my
life protecting against the largest threats -- which always came
in cycles according to the great ring's movements. One is now,
where the lower planes especially move about freely. But something
different happened. Devils invaded. I usually see demons. I don't
know why. But, devils. Well, they managed to out-manouver me and
here I lay, dying."

"The first thing you have to do is to slow down the motions. I
have a second cousin, within the Celestial Bureaucracy. They can
slow anything down to a crawl. He lives within the Fan empire,
always hidden away. Taikaishi Tsi.
"Then you need to get the big beacons of planar travel and remove
them from here. Not everyone. Just the big guys. Make it so they
can't come back for a while. While they're here, they anchor the
connections.
"Then you need to go to the Celestine temple and perform a
ritual there. I've preserved it in many copies throughout the
world. Check my library in Doo-Wap."

"Sealing the portals permanently? That's the best way. I have no
idea how. I've never had time to find out. Do you know where
the rest of the non-farmed Celestines went? My dung pile is that
mound over there."

Everyone asks questions

Brilla: We took our turns asking questions; mine being how to open up the arcane spark now in me. Mother told me that the ancestors are not really mine, but just powers posing as them. She also said that I am to defy and make them hate me to rid myself of them.

Knowing that the dragon has a penchant for trickery and games, I'm only taking it's advice at half value. I now have a plan working out in my head, and it is quite good if I do say so myself. I'll be bending rules, not breaking them, and finding loopholes where I can. I just need to buy Bo some silver dust for some special binding circles. I can't do this alone, but it is my path. I have a feeling a little bit of essence of dead deity may be just what I need to finish things at the end.

Fuelwen: I need to go the astral and use my token to summon a whale and kill the Whale constellation. I knew this, but Zerbrer confirmed many of the details.

TskTsk: My questions were related to Daudir. His history, weaknesses, fighting him.

Bo: The celestines didn't mess up the wilding as badly as feared. Recruiting heroes to restrain planars from accelerating our islands seems better than severing the portals. The portals present so many opportunities that can only strengthen future generations. Might not the wilding speed up the planes if we travel out there? Certainly the portals allow for wonders.

Giant shark with laser eyes

Brilla: Fuelwen is just so popular! Well, perhaps not. All of his companions seem to bite back a bit. This one is a giant flying shark with laser eyes. He earned this one for being the last worshiper here in the Wilding. It is here to keep him on task. What this task is, I don't know. With it involving Fuelwen I can only expect it to carry blood, destruction, and conquest.

Fuelwen: When a dragon tells you that there is a flying shark outside that wants to talk to you, it isn't going to be a good conversation. And it wasn't. The shark informed me that I am the last worshiper of Sekolah in this world. My god has tasked me to solve this problem. And his avatar is here to ensure that I do so successfully. I confirmed the avatar's words by having my village scryed- it is destroyed, and the Sea Elves frolic in the wastes. This proves that my people were weak, but I must wipe the squeaking contagion from our seas, I must convert some of the strong to Sekolah's worship, I must change the alignment of the planes by banishing every extraplanar creature in this world, and I must complete my quest.

It's going to be a busy day.

TskTsk: Fuelwen has a guardian angel with sharp teeth and laser eyes. I wonder if this guardian is there to protect Fuelwen? I would hope, because if it's known that he is the last worshipper in the world, I'm sure that he will be hunted.

Bo: There is no shark with laser eyes. Disbelieve it.

Rewards

Wiki update reward:

• Fuelwen, Brilla, TskTsk: +1 rank in a non-maxed knowledge skill.
• TskTsk +400gp for two NPCs (Mother and Lady of the Lake) CLAIMED.

Gold gained from Mother's hoard: Handled/claimed.

Note: level up Splat on Wiki. Remy has this on paper.