So... First of all, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make Thwak disappear--I don't even know how to do that. I didn't want to hurt him, either, just to prove that I wasn't useless. What Happened: I was arguing with Thwak over whether elementalists and mathemagicians should be near the front or not. I got really angry at his insinuations that small elven people were less useful and important than big troll people with arrows. He taunted me one too many times, and so I shouted at him "I AM USEFUL IN COMBAT" and lit him on fire. I was going to extinguish the fire right after I lit it, it's just that he vanished. Then, Zero was trying to cast a spell on me, apparently to reassure and calm me down, but I noticed him trying to cast it, was *really* jumpy, and so buried him up to his neck in dirt. Then, Donk came over and picked me up, so that I couldn't do anything else, which was probably justified, really, but when he threw me to the floor, I (being already battered and bruised and with some pretty awful wounds from the mecha-guardian) fell unconsious and started bleeding. At the same time, *Steven Mandrake the Wizard* showed up, talked to Zero who was busy trying to cast spells on me, and was set upon and questioned at great length by the other members of the party. Apparently, while I was sleeping someone bandaged me, Maura did some magic healing, Monali made shoes, Zero went through my backpack and notebook, SOMEONE ruined the embroidery on my robe, and Steven gave some lectures on "frostbite" and other "snow" and cold-related issues, and Gilad decided that he was the Leader and that we were going to go searching for the City of Camrish as soon as the "blizzard" let up. We set three watches, during which nothing teerribly facinating happened. We set out in thr direction of the city with 5 orks. We found the ruins of a road-house, and a sign along the road which conveniently said "Camrish" and pointed one way along the road. It was *realy* cold... my toes hurt, and my ears, too. We followed the road next to a big ditch that Steven said was a frozen river, until we got to the walls of the city. Wow, those were impressive walls... We walked through the gates, and surveyed the city. Most of the buildings seem to have burned down or rotted long ago, though about 20% of them were well-built stone, and seem like they'll be good shelter for our orks. There were some Impressive buildings, notably one with writing in a strange language and stone-lion guardians, one labelled "City Hall" and a building which looked familiar from a dream--12 marble statues of various characters who seem to iconify certain ideals (Justice, Bravery, etc). There was evidence outside of large animals, and of a place where the river ice had been chopped through to get water. We started in the City Hall, wondering if we might find the "Book of Tomorrow" that was left outside. Steven commented that "The Book of Tomorrow is a trap made by Leng to assert influence after the Scourge. Even if you find it, don't open it!" Inside City Hall, there were departments. One, the Department of Public Works, had a map in stone of the city, with networks of crystal that converged on one building, a nexus of pipes at roof level going to the domed building, and a lot of controls for the fire-cannons and such. It looked like it would be possible to control the defense systems and all other city systems if we could get the power on. Zero showed me a scroll that had had a blue seal, written in Elven. It was some kind of spell, that Steven id'd as a Wizard spell. We moved on to the Registy of Deeds: there were all sorts of books, some nearl dust, some in better shape, but all with about 300 years of wear. We tried to figure out the dating, but realized we don't really keep that calendar, and neither does Steven--his community started their calendar with the opening of their caer. Apparently many of the caers were opened because someone "knocked" and said "It's ok now", but some opened themselves. Anyway, K'shrik, Steven, Gilad and I all wrote things down ion blank deed-entry pages in the registry and we moved on to explore the rest of the building. Nothing terribly interesting was in the Courthouse or the Permits and Misc. room, so we moved on to the collapsed-dome building. Inside were twelve statues, that many of us remembered from a dream. Steven called them "Passions" and told us their names: ******************************************************************** Astendor -- an elf with a lute and a ribbon Chorrolis --A fat dwarf with a sandwich in one hand, and a bag with gold disks at his feet. Erindid -- an emaciated human with papers and contracts Floranuus -- a human with flames on his arms and at his feet Jaspree --a centaur with an owl on his shoulder and a stone door behind him Garten --a grandmotherly troll with a plate of cookies Lochost --An ork with broken stone manacles, and intact metal ones Mynbruje --an elderly tskrang with balanced scales, and an executioners' axe be hind him leaning on a chair. Only one side of the scale had anything visible on it. (did anyone think to look astrally who can?) Rashamon --A troll with a deer-like snout, a crown, and a sword Thistoneous --a windling (not on the same scale as the other statues) with a ba nner, armor and battle wounds Upandal --a dwarf with a hammer and forge Vestrial --a human jester, with a jester's cap, and a wand with a jester-headpu ppet. **************************************************************************** Maura commented, after meditating for a few moments, that "They're watching. They're very far away, but they're watching" apparently referrin to the spirits represented by the statues. Then, Zero handed Steven a Red scroll, which was some sort of blackmail. Then, they tried a Black-sealed scroll. Apparently it was protected by a very strong set of spells: one that compelled you to keep reading, and another that lightning-bolt-ed you and the people near you when you stopped reading. All the scrolls are written in Elven. People were arguing about the manacles on the ork--gilad wanted to remove them, but K'mrade didn't want to change anything, for fear that the spirits would be upset. Zero, Gilad, and Monali removed the manacles (well, Zero cut them, with some Mathemagician-fire spell) Apparently the broken links then gained mobility and were trying to run away, so the three of them laser'd and threw knives at them. I got a vision of danger from the statue that Steven called Erindid, and then turned to see a drop of blood fall onto the contracts in his hands. I tried to gesture to the others that there was danger, and a few people followed, but about half of the party stayed in the building. Maura said "It's coming, very very fast. Here." about the spirit whom she associated with the Erindid statue. From outside the building, we heard ominous music in G-minor, as dark and threatening clouds formed over the building. Lightning poured in through the roof, and 12 differently-colored balls of light/energy, about 1.5 ft in diameter each went into the building. The lightning lasted about half an hour and created a whirling vortex of wind and clouds and lightning. K'mrade tried throwing one end of a rope into it, in the hopes that it would allow our friend s to escape, but it was spinning too fast and he lost the end, and got rope burns for his troubles. After half an hour, the clouds broke, and the lightning stopped. The building was sparkling white, and the roof was entirely repaired, as if it had been built-anew by very talented elementalists. Gilad described what happened inside: the statues stepped down from their pedestals, exchanged places and attributes, and Named themselves as they returned to pedestals. (Assuming that the names match the attributes, not the creatures) Astendor -- I am Beauty Chorrolis -- I am Wealth Erindid -- I am Order Floranuus -- I am Motion Jaspree -- I am Growth Garten -- I am Mother Lochost -- I am Freedom Mynbruje -- I am Justice Rashamon -- I am Purity Thistoneous -- I am Valor Upandal -- I am Craft Vestrial -- I am The Mask (also changed appearance--the wand no longer is a puppet-head, and the mask is a full-face mask, instead of just a strip of cloth over the eyes, and the cap is gone. **************************************************************************** Some people offered something in the bowls, as I remember doing in my dream. Some of the offerings disappeared, some remained, and K'mrade's paper had a drop of blood fall on it. We then moved on to the Lion-statue building. It had big brass doors, still on their hinges. We knocked, and, since the only response was an echo, we went in. This was the building where the control-grid/map had shown the nexus of living crystal. In the *huge* hall, which really looked more like a natural cavern, there was living crystal everywhere: on the walls, and networ ked across the floors, in places coming together in nodes like tree trunks with their network of roots. It looks like you would need some magic to really navigate in here--flying, wall-climbing, the ability to walk through things. We didn't really stay there long, as we would have easily gotten lost had we gone much farther, but moved on to the other nexus building. This one looked from the outside --a big crystal building, clear but thick-enough that it distorts light so you can't see the inside clearly. We went inside, and saw that the floor was covered with large circles and symbols that I've seen before in my master's books. The circl es and symbols are connected by a really complicated mechanical track-and switch system. It's obvious that you could control *something* by connecting the symbols in certain circles--maybe some sort of group magic? We left there, promising to return and study it more later, and went to near the gates. A huge mass of something, that turned out to be big animals that Steven called "horses" Gilad managed to shoot one, and Steven gave me the Names of some cooking herbs to season the meat. Monali got the skin to make things from, and everyone else gathered wood. We made a nice big fire in one of the buildings near the gate and started to warm back up and eat. ################################################################ Things we need to pay attention to: 1) This "frostbite" thing... IT"S COLD OUT HERE!!! We should keep a fire going all the time (I am working on learning to make fuel-less fires, but really they aren't practical for long periods of time) in the place where we are now, and until we get warmer clothes, we ought to come back here every few hours to get warm so nobody gets hurt. I know my ears and toes and fingers hurt a *lot* from the cold... 2) Don't throw people! Be careful and watch out for people like K'shrik and I who are recovering from injuries. One of the ways we can "be a more cohesive party" as Gilad says, is to start caring about each other and making sure that people who are cold go back to the fire, people who are hurt rest, and so on. 3) We ought to plan for more of those "blizzard" things. I get the idea from the amount of snow on the ground, that they are not uncommon, and we really have no defense against them right now. Until we get warmer clothing we ought to plan to stay in Camrish for a good long while. Exploring via day-trips is a good idea, but I really thing that longer than that might want to wait until it gets warmer. Maybe we ought to ask Steven how long that takes... 4) Returning to the caer may and may not be a good idea. We, again, might want to wait until we can really say "look, it's safe!" and that won't be true until it's not so COLD! E'leia Anora