Session Notes for 2005-03-18

Mad Dog feeds his dog. The dog looks happy, but somehow seems rougher, more feral, almost wolf-like.

Mad Dog says something and everyone looks to the entrance of the alley. There is a hedgehog scampering about. Mmmm, food. I prepare to throw an axe at it, but Anna stops me. Odd. The hedgehog escapes.

It feels disquieting as I head northeast, deeper into the alley. I turn around and head back the way we came. Mad Dog's dog growls northeast. Huh. Onward.

Stepping out I look around. The clock tower west of us draws my attention. The glowing face draws me in; I feel threatened, yet drawn in. I take a few steps toward the tower. Atop the tower are flag poles. The flags flap violently in the wind. Odd, there is no wind at ground level. Must be windy up there, up with the malevolent glowing clock face.

Meanwhile, Mad Dog sees the hedgehog again. He approaches it and it waves to him. It then heads off to the north.

Jack notices some robed figures heading from the clock tower toward a temple-like building further west. It's a double line, ten in each column. They are all holding a rope down the center of them all. A man in front is leading them. All but the leader are cowled. Jack catches up to them.

The church is surrounded by iron fencing that reaches down to the pool. The cowled figures pass through open gates. They head around the side of the church. Jack hears two things, possibly in his head. One is a history of some sort. The other is a scripture, a list of rules of behavior. Things like, "The lowest may be tolerated, but not obeyed. The masses of the chosen races are blessed above those who are not. They shall obey those who are appointed above them. Those who are appointed must obey those who are appointed by God to rule. Those who rule must obey those who are appointed by God."

The clock tower is maybe 100 feet tall, there is a two story building attached. There is a barred porch in the middle. I approach the main door on the left. The door is locked or barred. I kick the door, but it doesn't open.

The gate to the barred in section of porch is similarly locked and resistant. Anna slips through the bars. Good idea. I try to squeeze through, but can only get my head through. Anna unlocks the gate. I yank my head out. Ouch. Through the gate.

Inside the gated area are windows, but they're above eye level. I drag over a flower pot and stand on it. I peer in. The glass is rippled. Inside is a hallway, running left and right. The walls are wood paneled. There are pictures on the far wall, but through the rippled glass they're hard to see. One might be a full body portrait, another has a gilded frame.

I try to climb up the wall to get to the windows, but it's tough going.

Meanwhile Jack knocks on the front door. "Police, open up." Voices inside say that this is church property and they don't have to open up. Jack feeds them a story about checking locks, claiming that there is an escaped criminal with a penchant for high locations.

My headache is starting to subside. I notice that people are starting to make sense.

I climb up to the window. I leap through the window. It gives me some minor nicks and scratches, but nothing of note. People scream and run off to the left.

Glancing to the left I see someone run by. The room nearby (the main entrance) is filled with writing desks facing blackboards. There is a balcony surrounding that room.

To the right is a black curtain.

In this room are two pictures. One is a priest in red dress robes. The other is a strange diagram. It looks similar to the odd chalk drawing on the floor where I awoke, but with lots of text. Stupid writing.

I glance into the larger room. A far door swings shut. That seems interesting. I follow. (Oddly, the compulsion is now gone.)

Each desk has a small covered pot, a cup of sand, and feathers (quills) clipped to the desk. The pot is full of some black liquid. Smells acrid. I pour it onto the desk. Black stuff. Oh, ink! I faintly remember that.

Looking up, the balcony edge is surrounded with bookshelves.

Anna unbars the front door, letting Jack in. I recognize those people. I wander over to them.

Sen heads through the curtains. There is a large square room beyond, the walls covered in black curtains. Curved benches face a pedestal. Sen peeks under the curtains, finding only stone wall.

Jack opens the middle door. It's a medium sized carpeted room. Under the carpet is wood. A fire fills the far fireplace. There is a padded chair and cushioned stools near the fire. The walls are decorated with portraits and papers with writing. A teapot hangs on a rod near the fire.

Jacks doing interesting things, so I follow him. The next room over is a big room. At the end are stairs both up and down. Jack notices someone heading through a side door. He gives chase into the tower. Inside stairs spiral up. Everyone gathers around the door. Whatever. I head in.

A voice above calls out. "Is there anybody out there? Nobody home." The voice continues to say strange things. "You little shit, you're in it now. I hope they throw away the key."

"The hell," I mutter. Mad Dog and his dog climb up the walls. Double the hell, magic. Most of the group heads up the stairs.

"You better run all day and all night," the voice says.

Mad Dog reaches the near the top. He says the sound is just a bird. Strange bird, that.

Stairs and platforms alternate, heading around the circumference of the tower. Above, along the south edge is a large mechanical mechanism.

Jack heads under the stairs, finding someone hiding. Jack says he's on his side, warning the hider that we're the escaped prisoners. He asks about Glitterstore.

We get high enough to see the bird. Sure enough, it's talking. "They're gonna send you back to mother in a cardboard box. You better run." "Have you broken any homes up lately?" "She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing." I fling an axe at the stupid bird, but miss as it flies further up. Now I gotten get my axe. "Wild staring eyes *squawk* and an urge to fly, but I got nowhere to fly." Stupid bird.

Jack continues talking to the man. He says he's the caretaker. He's an older man. Jack suggests that the man leave, warn others. As the man turns around, Jack attacks him. The man runs down the stairs, but falls. The old man runs down the stairs to the basement. Jack finds the man laying on the stairs. He's breathing but not moving. Jack drags the man up the stairs, then tosses him down again. This time the old man stops moving.

I continue up, finally arriving at the clock mechanism. There are lots of large gears, springs, and a pendulum. I can't reach it. The stairs end in a trap door. The parrot is waiting here. It waits as a I approach. I've got the stupid bird now. But as I prepare to attack, the trap door bounces open and the bird flies through. Some strange winds above? I head up. The trap door vibrates in the wind. I open it.

While the rest of the group heads down, Jack gets worried and heads after me. He notices that the inside of the tower seems a lot taller than the outside.

I climb up and out onto the roof. The wind whips by. I'm too high. I'm on a huge spire, way too high, hundreds of feet up. The five flagpoles are here, one near the trap door, four at the corners. At the corners are red and black pennets. The one near the trap door is taller and bears a dull silver circle around a triangle on a black background. Inside the triangle is a hammer.

The stupid bird is still here. I take one more attempt. This time I hit it with my guisarme, slashing through its wing. I grab the bird and head back toward the stairs.

Suddenly a large winged creature flies up over the edge. It has four wings and a huge beak. Oops. The bird slams into me, pushing me back. I try to run for the trap door, but it snaps at me. I am almost quick enough, but it barely grabs my arm with its beak and claws. Crap.

Jack arrives at the top and sees the situation. He shouts a warning down to the group. Jack does something and the giant bird squawks.

The bird drags me of the edge and drops me. I try to grab it, but fail. Aaaaaah! I claw at the building, but it's going by too fast. Aaaaaaaaaaaah!

Jack heads back down.

Mad Dog turns into a giant bat and crashes through a window in the tower. There is a thick fog. As he flies out he starts feeling ill. He flew up, saw the giant bird and turned around. He flies down to the fog, then climbs down the side of the building. The others head down inside.

Mad Dog finds me laying on the ground. A slender, almost ephemeral woman with gauzy wings stands over me. She's kissing me.

I come to. I feel like too much air is being forced into my lungs. A figure above me blowing into my mouth. I push back, she is almost made of mist, but she falls back. "Dueg dead?"

"Dueg yet lives this night. I have brought you back to finish the quest you have been sent on."

5

The pole arm is broken. Blast.

1 "Batty McDireTiger"

The woman says I must complete the task or her sister will be irate.

Mad Dog approaches and speaks to the woman. She says that her sister is the guardian of the pool. "Albunea" is the mistress of the pool and was before "this place" came to be. She says that Glitterstore is a merchant. He has been gone for some time. We have only until midnight or her sister will kill us all. Solving some riddle will make our quest easier.

After answering some questions, the woman fades away.

I'm sore, but not "just fell off a building" sore. Mad Dog does some magic and my injuries feel better. Mad Dog says I'm not breathing. Nonsense.

The others arrive. They also say crazy things about me not breathing.

We head back into the building. The last room on the second floor is a stores room. The upper level of the desk room is full of books, over a thousand. The others say its mostly religious.