shifty louts

Antarctica Campaign Session 7 - The Amber Ribbon & Professor duBoig

Players

Summary

The group returns to Nalid and asks for shelter. Xabier says some went to the Ribbon but haven’t returned, seeking to prove themselves worthy of joining the Warrior Society of Salagrono; their houses lay empty for weeks. They can find shelter in Edur’s home. Xabier tells them they should wear Nalid's dress so as not to arouse suspicion. There should be additional garments: skintight orange bodysuits and harlequin-patterned red-and-blue bodysuits as well.

Xabier bids them farewell as the group rests within the black metallic cuboid home of Edur.

In the preceding week, Down Wind can heal; however, his ankle is still mangled.

The group has learned more of the Amber Ribbon; four weeks ago, a sinkhole emerged in the valley between the two halls, and from it, this form emerged. Since then, every hour, it emits a long, body-rattling drone.

amberribbon

The form has not attacked. Travel and trade continue unabated, but the area around the form has begun to crystallize, and the spread of its amber is engulfing the fields of potato, maize, and quinoa the sister halls share.

In the morning, the Axolittan Down Wind is joined by his Pocete compatriots, the Dog Shaman Xixili Jambon and Makatza Esgrima.

The group learns that the Duke isn’t receiving an audience and the Aparist Guild seems to have his ear. The group decides to check out the Amber Ribbon and needs armsmen. Down Wind convinces five to join; they wave payment as they seek out what has happened to those who traveled to the Ribbon and haven’t returned

The group is still short of money and decided to bring their Martian Weed to the Herbwoman Barlena to sell. She wonders at the herb, its red color reminding her of the colors of Cholachni Hat, Serpent Head, and Red Helmet, while it smells of Cinnamon Upper. Such a strange sight within the Cordillera

She asks what the herb does, and the group makes a Builder Knife-wrapped blunt. The group smokes only for most to become paranoid and anxious, except for Xilixi, who receives a vision of Chakus, the God of Sleep Who Left.

Barlena buys five doses for 60g, believing it will be useful against enemies to make their guard weak.

With armsmen and religious visions, the group sets out from Nalid towards the Amber Ribbon. They notice the ground becoming engulfed in amber. It crunches underneath their feet as they approach.

A jagged, angular, crudely hewn shape of amber. Its form like a fluttering ribbon, frozen in time, dotted with amethysts, almond-shaped plates, and a leering skull. It stands 50’ in a sinkhole of 100’ diameter.

Ropes have been staked into the group, and a clear descent has been made into the sinkhole. The group sees torn and battered corpses and decides to plunge forth into the sinkhole.

As they descend, another loud drone rattles them, and two of their armsmen fall to their deaths. They make it down and find the structure is warm and, when hit, rings like a church bell, followed by another drone.

The group waits another hour, and it is greeted by another drone; however, mace-like tendrils emerge from the Ribbon and begin to rotate around the Ribbon itself.

Makazta fires off a laser rifle shot, but it harmlessly bounces off it; Xixili gets clubbed in the head, while Down Wind lassos one of the mace-appendages only to get pulled by the force.

The group retreats and makes their way back to the foot of the mountain of Nalid. Camping underneath the stairs to the hourly droning.

The group returns and speaks to an apiarist named Phormos who entreats them to an audience with the Duke later in the day.

They meet the Duke, who at first seems rather annoyed that they didn’t arrive and introduce themselves as envoys of a Shrubland fief. He absent-mindedly licks honey while interrogating the group’s motives, more interested in who they represent than what they have to say.

The Duke is shocked to learn they serve a Goat-Lord, intrigued by the Axolittan in his court who speaks of the optimized shape of the hexagon, such is the brilliance of the bee, and uninterested in their Martian Weed for the time.

The group describes their encounter, and Xixili Jambon asks if there are any magi and learned individuals in Nalid. The Duke says that a “Professor duBoig from a Southern Tower”1 arrived shortly after the Ribbon emerged, but has since left for Fort Salagrano some three weeks ago.

The Duke comments that the Professor is the most learned man of a high station, or so the warriors and their families have ascertained. They say he isn't either a storyman or herb woman, yet knows more than both.

The group sets off from Nalid and, during their descent, encounters some sixteen knee-height humanoids who mark trees with scratching. Their ears twitch, and inhuman eyes glower red from deep sockets like the last gasps of an ember. They speak in a manner that sounds of flutes playing, piping, and warbling.

The temperature seems to plummet around them as trees and metal groan due to the coldness. The group uses the boulder fields of the mountain as cover to escape and find their way to an alpine river at the foot of the mountain.

During the evening, Xixili is awoken as six reptilians with white, bark-like skin, each with six eyes and crested dorsal fins, surround the camp. They speak the language of the Second Creations in barked, phlegmy voices. Hissing threats.

wyvern

They want what is already theirs, but hasn’t been given yet. Xixili attempts to trick them with Martian Weed, but their low cunning sees through Xixili’s ruse.

Xixili tries to club one, but misses, accidentally killing Down Wind2 in their sleep (perhaps a kinder fate), as Makatza’s laser rifle slices a chunk of another clear off. However, the reptilians tear apart the two and leave with what is theirs, now forcibly taken.

In the morning, Uhin Deluse the Alien Hunter, Xixili Esgrima the Psychoanalyst, and Egiarte Diamante the Black Magus discover the mangled corpses, remaining bundles of Martian Weed, and a missive from the Duke of Nalid, Deunoro od Nalid.

Uhin believes the droning and the corpses to be the work of aliens and decides to take their missive to Fort Salagrano to find out just what these dead people were about.

There they are met by warriors who allow them into the stone ring fort and seek out an audience with Professor duBoig.

The warriors escorted them to the Professor's hut, a simple beehive-like stone hut, and meet the Professor.

He wears a tunic with a bright red collar and a white and black checkered pattern along with the pink glass of Cholachni.

Introductions are made, and theorems regarding the nature of the Amber Ribbon are exposited.

Uhin believes it's aliens who are behind the Amber Ribbon; Xixili believes Uhin's ego is projecting its violence upon the land itself, while the Professor thinks it's been some sort of telluric being, whether extrasolarian or of magikal variety is unknown.

The Professor did measure that the Ribbon grows hourly at 1.2cm for every drone. By his calculations, it's grown three feet in diameter since its emergence.

His hypothesis would require an interview with a Red Magus (who are most attuned to elemental energies) to understand the source and reasoning for the drone.

However, such travels are dangerous in the Cordillera, and for protection, the Professor will pay 100gp for any town or city and 25gp per village visited.

The group obliges the Professor, eager to see more of just what this strange learned man knows.

Aftermath

Treasure Found:

Foes Encountered:

Rumors:

Deaths:

XP Awarded:

Notes

  1. Professor duBoig has been an ongoing reference in the Antarctica Campaign for months now. The group popped for the name drop and the opportunity to finally meet such an enigmatic figure.↩

  2. Arduin critical fumble table once again with the kino!↩

#aaj