Rainbowland Chronicles: Accolades to the (Dungeon) Master

Luka, our amazingly creative DM, has a fantastic blog. Before I joined the game he wrote about the story of the party, in this post. He also creates some great sketches, and shares them on google plus.

Rainbowland Chronicles: The Guardians of the Void

Dougal blinked not quite sure how to respond to the wall melting away in front of him. Seeing the door he opened it on reflex. It revealed a small library and alchemy lab. He noted the excellent equipment of the lab as he passed to regard the library. The books of the library were coded into the seven colours of the rainbow and octarine. Curious Dougal picked up an octarine book, expecting exciting secrets. As he picked up the book a great flutter of pages rose as the library and the books and pages lifted from the shelves. They gathered into three swirling shapes and attacked.

Sir Boring had just reached Dougal to stop his reckless curiosity, in the background Grungar cursed. Facing a formidable foe Dougal fled, after all he is a fisherman not a fighter. Once at a safe distance he cast some fire down upon the literary wraiths. Grungar and Sir Boring faced down the infra-dead and ultra - violent shades of linguistic anguish. Yolo caught the blue wraiths attention and lead it into the machine. There he outmanoeuvred it and locked it in. He emerged just to see Boring being struck down, his flesh spelling out something in the forbidden script of the black city. He rushed over to revive the paladin with a healing potion. As Boring came to Grungar dispatched the red wraith but was struck down by the violet one. Similar writing appearing across his skin. This time Molly had to resurrect the warrior. Together everyone took down the violet wraith.

Realising that this dungeon may kill them our heroes decided it was time to depart. The escape however was foiled by the wraith guardians below. The fixed the group with icy stares "What have you unleashed in the machine? We feel it's presence, you cannot leave until it is destroyed."

Forced to choose between fighting a dozen undead abominations or one pile of blowing paper, we decided the paper was the safer course. Once again we descended to the machine, steeled ourselves, and opened the vault. A furious flutter of papers attacked the group. Outnumbered and it only downed Yolo before being destroyed. Yolo regained consciousness, and the group set off. This time the wraiths were ready to let them pass but counciled us that the chambers of the machine could be used to restore the party. Yolo, trustworthy as the young hero he was, entered the machine. The first chamber killed him, the second brought him back ... to undeath.

Sensing the life essence of his companions near by the undead Yolo attacked. The party was at odds what to do, but Molly raised the symbol of the Orange god. The devine presence drove Yolo away, and his incorporeal self slipped through the cracks in the walls. Morning the loss of their comrade the party moved to leave this accursed dungeon. They carefully approached the wraiths in the machine chamber to negotiate their departure. The wraiths were unhappy with the abomination that the party had created in the machine. So we deliberated on how to get past them as a muscular man lept into the middle of the wraiths. His impossibly far jump into the middle of the wraiths revealed that his savage was wearing nothing but a tattered loincloth underneath this fur cloak. Two bear paws, almost part of the cloak, pinned it to his shoulders like the pauldrons on an officer. His loincloth was held in place by an animal skull protecting his private parts. He landed on the machine with a massive thunderclap, and the wraiths were scattered across the room. Given this opportunity, half the party fled the other attacked.

Credit to Luka

In the pitched battle the wild man was knocked out, attacked from all sides after his impressive entry. The party managed a retreat after most of the wraiths had been dispatched. Sad about letting the heroic man die by the hands of the undead Dougal decided to retrieve him, and whatever the party left discarded in their flight. He used his magic to shroud himself against sight and sound. Then started flying back through the machine chamber. There he found the barbarian, and created a magical force to lift him slowly away. One remaining wraith stirred at the motion. Thinking quickly Dougal created some ghost sounds on the other side of the room. As hoped the wraith was distracted allowing Dougal to effect a silent escape.

Licking their wounds the party returned to the wizard tower they had rested in the night before. Here they made a fire and settled in for the night, but found only fitful nightmares and no rest. They beheld disturbing visions as they tried to sleep as the corners of the room warped into incomprehensible geometries. Something threatening was lurking in the non-euclidean corners of the tower.

Exhausted after a restless night the group tried to think what they may have taken that was such a problem. In the end resolving to take all the looted items from the tower, burying them in the desert, and returning for more rest. Still their visions returned, and they could find no respite. Unable to deal with the situation, the group packed the loot and gear and made for the Oasis of Laurence. The travel back nearly ended our travels but we managed it with the last reserves of our strength.

The group spoke with the paladins of the rainbowgods who had arrived at the Oasis after our reports in Pueblo di Mesas. The paladins suggested that the things lurking in the corners were demons unleashed to take those who had disturbed the borders between the planes. These demons were the guardians of the infinite void. Fortunately there were a group of heretics to be executed, so the paladins suggested the with some ritual the demons could be tricked into taking the heretics instead of our heroes. Grungar and Sir Boring went with this plan, spending the night in a ritual circle with the heretics crowded into the corners. After some time the heretics screamed and disappeared, lifting the curse from Grungar and Boring.

Molly and the wild man, whom the party had gotten to know as Thulsa, could not stomach the idea of sacrificing people in this way, so they sought the shaman Greeta's advice. She agreed with the paladins, but proposed to take Thulsa and Molly on a spiritual journey. They sat together and smoked a pipe leading them on a vision quest. They followed their spirit animal, defeated a riddling blue sphinx, and finally defeated their own images in combat. After this they were granted an audience with the demons that were hounding them. After explaining the circumstances of their quest with the dread machine the hounds agreed to let them go if they held a great feast to appease them. So it came to pass that Molly and Thulsa hosted a greatest outdoor roast festival of the Yellowlands. One hundred baby oxen were roasted and been and wine flew freely for a couple of days in the desert about the Oasis of Laurnce.

Greeta's smoking herb left Thulsa seeking ways to expand his consciousness in similar ways. In this way he became too meditative and curious about the void beyond to seek out his wild anger.

Rainbowland Chronicles: The Dread Machine

After our journey through the canyon and desert we stood facing the closed gates of a singular dungeon. The etire structure was clearly ancient, slowly being swallowed by the desert. It was a wonder that the doors were out of the sand at all. A large room welcomed us into the dungeon. In an alcove to the far right we found a mysterious swirling vortex. It had an eerie interplanar feel about it, so we decided to test it by throwing all matter of stuff in there. In the name of science.

Our studies found that inanimate objects would return, though brittle and with much lower density. Animals thrown into the vortex would be truned into machine simulacra, almost capable of performing as their organic cousins once did. After satisfying our curiosity we set about exploring the place further. There was a railing covered in slime. The slime was very reactive upon contact, but with cunning use of mage hand and mason jars we captured some of it. For now we left the railing untouched.

Opposite to the vortex we found a wynding staircase guarded by a statue. We recalled similar statues from the quest through the old dwarven mines. With some apprehension Yolo made his way up the stairs. After wynding his way up he stairs, close to the final door he heard a creaking in the walls. Wanting to depart from the stairs quickly he made for the door. He battered down the door the same time a metal statue broke throughthe wall behind him. Yolo lead the statue on a chase throughthe hall above and downthe stairs where grungar crushed the metal machination.

With the way free the party proceeded up the stairs. There we entered into a chamber housing a great engine. The engine was guarded by a host of undead priests and paladins. They bode us to stay away from the machine. We spotted a hallway next to our entrance and a ladder upwards next to the machine. Fearing what an undead intelligent enough to have a conversation, albeit a short one, we headed down the corridor. The locked door at the end of the hallway lead into a comfortable sitting room. An unnatural fire crackeled happily in the hearth. The walls covered in bookshelves made the place feel comfortable. Along a wall stood a one handed man, he seemed to be both owner and target of our six fingered compass. He introduced himself as the artificer of the hated pretender and gracously accepted our gift of his hand. In return he lend us the help of his ghoulish thralls to fight the priests and paladins outside. Not being too comfotable with the unsavory nature of either sidew e were happy for the combat and immediately backstabbed the ghouls. The one handed man was unhappy about that, but whatever we feared from him was cut short by Grungars sword slicing right through the man. Our actions earned us the trust of the intelligent undead by the machine, and thereby passage to the next level.

Before venturing onward we looted the single handed bandit's rooms. There we found another tablet of the dread machine. Next to it Dougal found a transparent orb , gazing into it he lost hs mind for a spell. He beheld a vision of a lone traveller in the desert. Sensing Dougals ephemeral presence the wanderer turned and asked, "What is my name?"
Dougal found that Benjamin befitted the traveller in the desert.
"Yes, Benjamin, that is may name" agreed the hated pretender.
Having answered a question Dougal saw it fit to ask "And where arey you travelling, Benjamin?"
"I ... I don't know. I was looking for seeking Alice. She lifes in the swamps i think."
And so Dougal emerged from his reverie with news for the group: The hated pretender is called Benjamin, and he is heading for the Blue land marsh to find the woman called Alice.

After this revelation we moved on to the chamber above the engine. This crowded storage room had a wall made entirely of glass. It overlooked a great hall. The hall housed a massive machine, the dungeons namesake. A door to the left opened onto a landing leading down i to the machine room. Curious about the poweful arcane forces at work here Dougal quested forward. On the landing he found a small shrine. Where you would expect a statue to your god, saint, spirit, orther deific creature there stood a cylinder of gold. It was machined and preserved with inhuman precision, clearly defining the unit volume and weight. Dougal could not resist picking it up. Sir Boring rescued Dougal from the expected trap, and Molly healedthe two.

Venturing into the depths of the machine room we found an access hatch on the face of the machine. A set of stairs opposite to the machine lead downwards. The wall by the machine was made of steel and covered in alchemical symbols. Dougal pinched the Iron and Mercury symbols, effecting a transformation of the wall into liquid. The liquid dissapeard through grating in the floor opening the way to a hidden door ....

Rainbowland Chronicles: The Oasis of Laurence and the Living Stone

The few day journey from Pueblo di Mesas to the Oasis of Laurence went by uneventful. This could be because Yolo. The fighter turned Zookeeper now enjoyed the company of a four-tusked, wooly mastodon and a baby chimera. Those two must have discouraged wondering monsters from approaching our camp. Though keeping those two alive and tame is a full time occupation. Once we arrived at the Oasis of Laurence Yolo chose this as a good location to stop and train the two.

Dougal, the wizened wizard, immediately made a romantic connection with the local shaman. She turned out to be Grungar's great aunt. This made Grungar a bit grouchy around Dougal. With her as a willing ally though we learned that our six-fingered hand was pointing towards a known dungeon of evil denizens about a weeks travel into the desert. It was rumored to be the home of some dreadful machine. The week long trip would first take us along a river canyon. Beleagued by bandits the journey was dangerous only to be followed by a trip across the desert. After a few days in the desert we should arrive at the dungeon. We were also advised to be on the lookout for ambulant cacti, who at the slightest provocation would fire their stingy spines at passerby.

Knowing that we had a long trip ahead of us we stocked up on provisions. We also learned a bit about the aggressive, migratory, local fauna. Prepared for a long journey with set off. The travel along the river was pleasant. The ancient path crossed the river at three places. Here strange stone bridges conveyed us across the rapid river currents. Curious how such ancient constructions could remain in perfect shape lacking all maintenance Dougal investigated further. The bridges were clearly magical, and at the second crossing we found the bridge destroyed. It had been affected by some necromantic magic, so Dougal deduced that these bridges were clearly made from some sort of "Living Stone". He set out to learn the secrets of Living Stone. At each of the other bridges he spend significant time studying the material.

We found an ambush set by the river bandits: the way was shut by a hedge of ambulatory cacti. We investigated carefully to avoid a battle. With some cunning combination of invisibility and minor image, Dougal managed to fool the cacti into believing he was one of them. His ploy was interrupted as some bandits approached. They noticed the party and sent the cacti after them. Dougal pretended to be the lead cactus to warn our group. In our studies at the Oasis of Laurence we had created a serum that would repel the cacti. Using our reserves of this material we warded of certain spiky doom. I don't exactly recall what happened after that, maybe the cactus repellent was mildly intoxicating, but we seemed to hit it off quite well with the bandits. The robbery had apprently been a misunderstanding and they were happy to let us take shelter in their camp for the night and buy more provisions. So we set off again after a good nights rest. The next morning we were on our way following the six fingered hand.

At the last river crossing we found the bridge crippled, some massive blow must have been struck here in the past. Its few remaining arches hung over the river from each side. Our pondering was interrupted by a group approaching the other side. Brave as we are we hid to assess the scene: A gathering of town folk were following a priest. The priest lead a child dressed up for sacrifice a child to appease the desert gods. After some discussion about freedom of religion, we decided that even if this child wanted to be sacrificed it had clearly been indoctrinated and needed to have a proper education before reconsidering her options. Spurred by the humanitarian spirit we leaped into battle: Bloodthirsty, Grungar ran straight for the battle. While he ran through the churning river below I cast a web between the arches under the bridge. The child sacrifice was thwarted by this web as the priest threw her off the bridge. This let Grungar focus on what he does best.

Grungar pacified the townsfolk with his treatment of the priest. This opened ear their ears to hear Mollies teachings: party and be merry. No sacrificing children. On account of being much more fun this new belief structure was quickly adopted by the townsfolk. Hopefully their lives now involve more parties and less sacrifices. Dougal, his old bones too weary to climb up the bridge, and wanted to rescue the child. He relied on his magic to levitate down the chasm from one side, pick up the child and land safely by the townfolk. Celebrating our rescue of the child, more importantly that we managed to do so without murdering the town population, we trudged onward through the desert.

After a days journey (or so) we arrived at a lonely wizard tower. Since I was missing for the session I don't recall what happened here. To my knowledge wizard towers have an uncanny ability to host monsters and/or villains. I am sure there was a fun encounter here. After a good nights rest here we arrived at the dungeon of the Dread Machine ...