The Great Trees Session 2

PC's:

Feylor - Tree Native - Became very popular in his younger days but when his people tried to make him their leader he had to change the way they thought of him.  He is now mostly thought of as an entertainer. An Intelligent Jack who Controls Gravity

Alivia - Tree Native - One of the villages best hunters.  Her right arm has been replaced with a mechanical arm. A Swift Glaive who Hunts with Great Skill

Natan - Found in the ruins buried beneath the Great Trees. Many refer to him as the mechanical man but he is actually a blob of liquid metal controlling the mechanical man from inside.  He has a great deal of knowledge about the human anatomy.

A Mechanical Nano who Talks to Machines

Corbin - Brought to the Great Trees to be a bodyguard for a nano that was going to assist in the exploration of the ruins below the Trees. Corbin brought with him his animal companion Gar.

A Rugged Glaive who Controls Beasts

Corbin's Little Buddy Gar

Elif - A wanderer. He is always on the look out for more numenera to fuse with his flesh. 

A Clever Jack who Fuses Flesh with Steel

New character introduction

Elif had been living in the forest, away from people.  He was tired of being around people that judged him just because he has mechanical parts.

He knew people lived in the huge tree nearby but he avoided them like he avoided everybody else but when he saw their tree fall he had to go see what he could do... and find out what could knock over a tree that big.

When he arrived at the Fallen Tree he saw that one of those huge jiraskar was trying to get to the tree people who were hiding among the branches of their downed tree. Elif was at a loss at how to help without just meaninglessly sacrificing himself.

A few hours later a group of people came onto the scene and launched an attack at the beast. They used numenera, one of them was flying, and the woman had a mechanical arm. And one seemed to be completely mechanical!

This looked like a group that could accept him for who he was.

 Session 2

Corbin stood next to the jiraskar filled with disappointment that it had died before he could even reach it.  It gave a little death twitch and Corbin kicked it to help relieve his frustration.  That was when the Tree People came to see what had happened.  They believed they saw Corbin kill the beast that had been trying to eat them for the last several hours.

(GMI:  Corbin is described as not being a people person)

Corbin was swarmed by grateful people. They congratulated him on his skill in beast killing.  He denied being the one to kill the thing but they just appreciated him more for being so modest.  He was their hero and they loved him for it.  Everyone had to thank him personally, shake his hand, pat him on the back...

The rest of the party was looking into something very different.

When the jiraskar fell it became suddenly very quiet... except for the sounds of trees falling.  From Feylor's vantage point in the sky he could see trees falling on the other side of the Great Tree.  Feylor could also see a long, wide swath of fallen trees.  And he saw that if you follow the path of tree destruction you could see that it was headed right at the Fallen Tree and would continue directly toward the Twin Trees.

They went to check out what was knocking the trees over. It was on the other side of the Fallen Tree and getting there was not an easy task.  The Trees may be easier to climb on their sides but were still taller than half a dozen people standing on each others shoulders.  When they got over the Tree they found a large thing slicing through the forest at a very slow pace.  It floated barely a foot off the ground, was about seventy feet wide and was less than three inches thick.  (Kind of like a large flattened out boomerang)

Natan's mechanical affinity allowed him to "talk" to this huge piece of numenera.  He found that it's programming was repeating "Pull" over and over. He tried to get it to stop but it required a specific control device to change it's directives.  He did find out that since it's most recent hard reboot the distance it had traveled and that it's direction of travel had been altered twice.

Natan also did a quick bit of calculation and figured that at it's current speed this thing would reach the Twin Trees in approximately 22 days.

While Natan was getting information from the numenera Corbin came over to join them and was followed by all the surviving members of the Fallen Tree clan.  They explained that they were planning on heading out to the Twin Trees this morning but the jiraskar kept them trapped until Corbin came and rescued them.  Feylor stepped in and told them they would be well received and wrote them a letter of introduction to show when they got to the Twin Trees.

Elif walked up to the group and introduced himself. They mistook him for one of the Tree people.  He let them know he was not and that he wanted to join their group because he felt they had some things in common. He revealed to them that was partially mechanical himself. He told them that he had been spending time away from people because of poor treatment from those who didn't understand or approve of what had been done to him. Feylor let it be known that he didn't approve of such short sighted thinking. Followed by, " You look trustworthy, why don't you join our group."

The party immediately set out with their new member in search of where the devastating tree cruncher came from.  When they got to the spot where the last direction change was programmed in it was getting very close to nightfall.  Alivia being the party tracker had a look around to see what she could find out. (Rolled a 20)

Alivia - The only PC we actually have a pic for

There were four sets of boot prints, three male one female.  The boots were well made but well used.  Two of the males stayed in the center of the "path" while one of the males walked a hundred paces to the north and the female the same distance to the south. (The path of downed trees runs mostly east and west)  The two that spread out came back and joined the others and they all walked back the way they came.  One of the men that had stayed in the center walked with a bit of a limp like his left knee was bothering him.

It turns out that Feylor is the only one that knows that Natan is secretly a couple gallons of liquid metal controlling the mechanical humanoid from inside. It also turns out that Feylor is quite the practical joker and he has an oddity that changes the color of any liquid poured through it.

They camped for the night. The only protection they had was the force dome tent they had borrowed from the merchant and it barely held four people but they were now five. Feylor and Natan decided to leave the mechanical part of Natan outside the dome but bring the liquid part of Natan inside the dome, just in case.

Feylor, with his infinite power of jest, decided it would be hilarious to use his oddity for changing the color of liquids to change Natan... pink.  Feylor waited until he felt everyone was asleep though he realized that he wasn't sure if Natan even slept.  He decided to go for it anyway.

It turns out that Natan does not sleep. He was very confused as to what was going on. When he figured it out he was not happy. There was a large wrestling match in a confined space.  When the commotion woke the others Feylor assured them everything was alright, just one of his tricks getting a bit out of control. Really.

The next morning they continued following the trail of fallen trees.  When they got to the end, or the beginning, of the trail they found a nearby valley or large ravine.  The footprints led that way so they followed them in.  They soon noticed a door on one side of the valley.  It looked like someone had taken a metal door off of something, complete with surrounding metal wall, and used it to block the entrance to a cave.  Whoever it was then built a wall of very primitive clay bricks around it to hold it in place.

Elif checked the door and didn't find any dangerous contraptions attached to it so they cautiously opened it and entered.  Inside they followed a quiet dark tunnel. It began as dirt and stone but shortly the floor became a metal grating. A short while later the walls and ceiling also became metal. They walked along a passage in another ruin but this one was very different from the one under the Twin Trees.

The Twin Trees ruined facility was metal but a cleaner shiny silver metal. It also sections of wall that were another white material that the outsiders called synth. In the ruin they found in this valley the metal seemed to have more of a dull orange cast to it.

Ahead they could see the hallway lead to an open area with what appeared to be a large storage tank in the middle with a catwalk around it.  There was definitely a long drop off over that catwalk.  As they approached the railing to have a look at how deep the ruin was Elif sensed the danger as three orbs detached from the walls and headed toward them.  They shot bolts of red light that burned.

Corbin and his best buddy Gar attacked the first one but managed to run into each other and fall to the floor. (Free GMI)  Feylor decided that this would be a good time to use his Extra Time cypher. 

(He chose to take all three additional actions, all attacks, one on each orb thus taking 9 points of damage) Feylor, seeming to move at super speed, severely damaged the first orb, missed the second orb and missed the third orb so wildly that he fell over the catwalk railing (Free GMI)

Natan stepped up and spoke with machines (Rolled a 20)  and told the gazers that the test drill was over and they were to return to their ports and one demerit for the one that was damaged.

Corbin went to check on Feylor's fall over the railing and found him floating up from the darkness below thanks to his gravity powers and thanks to the fall being far enough that he had a chance to recover his wits in time to activate it.

They proceeded to climb down several flights of stairs. Each level was mainly just a catwalk around the huge tank in the middle until they got down about five levels. It was there that they a much larger open area with a poorly constructed house in one corner. As they looked at it trying to decide how to proceed a bird-like humanoid stepped out.  And without any apparent communication a group of the birdmen rushed out of the house and they charged.

The Foul Fowl - Murden

As the birdmen approached the characters brains became confused and irritated by some kind of mental static. ( They all failed their saves)

(And I failed by having them roll their Intellect Defense every round)(Not too big a deal)

Natan found the wavelength that the mental static was on and was able to jam the frequency in his own head. (Rolled a 20 - Immune to murden static in this facility) As combat progressed Feylor (Free GMI) was surprised by two more birdmen, though he handily avoided their surprise. This impressed Alivia who had previously been unimpressed with Feylor.

After the birdmen were defeated Elif decided to check the feet of these birdmen.  He found that their shoes were all fairly new and definitely not the shoes that made the tracks they had followed to this valley.

This area of the ruin had a fair amount of light.  There was window in the side of the large tank here and light and heat were coming through it. Near this window was a bunch of tools, mainly hammers, and a makeshift anvil. The window was large enough for anyone to climb through if they wanted. Natan, curious about what was in the tank, stuck his head through the window. He experience a very rapid increase in temperature. So rapid that melting metal seemed a definite possibility.  He pulled his head out pretty quickly.

The back wall of this room looked like a huge panel had been made from scraps and was jammed up against the wall and held in place by poles and large tree limbs.  It looked like the panel was blocking a doorway, a hallway or something was being held in another room... possibly.

They searched the house and did not find anything they thought might control the thing knocking down trees.  But they did find some cyphers and an artifact... and 5 shins.

The Great Trees Session 1

The Great Trees:  These are rare, huge trees within  the Ba-Adenu Forest.  They are generally about ten times the size of the surrounding trees.  Most have entire villages living within their branches.

The Twin Trees:  The Great Trees generally grow very far from each other.  However there is a pair growing close enough together that the villagers living in them have built a bridge between them.

Starting place for the adventure

The Facility:  Beneath the Twin Trees are the ruins of an ancient facility.  The villagers believe it to be a medical facility of some kind. They have found many types of medications and a mechanical man who knows a lot about healing people. And, of course, the facility waking up to replace a woman's lost arm helped this conclusion along.

PC’s:

Alivia - Tree Native - One of the villages best hunters.  Her right arm has been replaced with a mechanical arm.

Corbin - Brought to the Great Trees to be a bodyguard for a nano that was going to assist in the exploration of the ruins below the Trees.

Natan - Found in the ruins buried beneath the Great Trees. Many refer to him as the mechanical man.  He has a great deal of knowledge about the human anatomy.

Feylor - Tree Native - Became very popular in his younger days but when his people tried to make him their leader he had to change the way they thought of him.  He is now mostly thought of as an entertainer.

NPC’s of note:

Margus - the leader of the village within what is known as the Twin Trees.  He is a good and well respected leader who is pleased that Feylor does not want to be leader.

Jarvin - a trader from outside the Ba-Adenu Forest.  He has an artifact that keeps him safe as he travels through the dangerous forest.  He is the only trader that makes regular trips to the Great Tree people.

Session One

Corbin and Natan both noticed that the people who had grown up in and around The Great Trees seemed grumpy and irritated.  When questioned most claimed to have no idea what they were talking about. A few knew they were on edge but couldn’t figure out why.  Along about mid-day the irritation changed to intense sadness.  This time everybody agreed they were feeling the sadness but didn’t know why. 

There was a sudden scream on the east side of the trees.  When people arrived to see what the scream was about they noticed on the eastern horizon one of the Great Trees was falling.  This was an unimaginable tragedy.

The Twin Tree's leader, Margus, quickly grabbed Feylor and asked him to take a small group of people over to find out what happened to make that Great Tree fall.  Out of habit Feylor immediately launched into his denial that he was any kind of leader that he was just a simple entertainer. 

Margus quickly cut him off with, “ We both know that’s not true but we don’t  have time to debate this.  We need to find out what’s going on. And take the mechanical man.  His healing skills may come in handy.”

While Feylor was gathering Natan, the mechanical man, Alivia and Corbin realized what he was doing and volunteered to join the group.

On their way out they find Margus talking to the trader Jarvin.

Margus states, “We know you have some way to survive the nights in the forest and we need to borrow it. It’s important!”

Jarvin looked like he had just been asked to give up his favorite possession.

Corbin was well aware of the force field dome tent that Jarvin used.  He had traveled here with Jarvin and had slept in it a number of times.

After a few moments of indecision Jarvin gave up his tent for the good of the mission.

The party headed off to what was going to become known as The Fallen Tree.  The journey would take approximately a full day.

When Natan was found he was ruminating on information he had just referenced from the computer system that had "repaired" Alivia.  There were many words and ideas from the language of computer's creators that didn't have any correlation in the human tongue.

He had found out that the repair system could have replaced or regrown Alivia's arm but it didn't have the proper "stuff" to do it.  The system needed animal material as differentiated by Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral.

As they traveled toward the fallen Great Tree Natan was explaining this to Alivia and Corbin came up with a very apt analogy.  "Put in a pig get an arm out."

This gave Alivia a great deal to think about as they traveled.

A few hours of travel later - First Combat

A large number of creatures were fleeing the commotion caused by the falling of the  Great Tree. Three hungry carnivores tired of running thought the party would make a timely meal.

Gorgeous art from Kate Pfeilschiefter

Natan had never been in or seen or even heard of combat. So when unfamiliar creatures ran up to them, Corbin and Alivia pulled out some of their possessions and Feylor floated up into the air he did the first thing that came to mind.  He turned on his oddity.

Suddenly there fish swimming all around the combat.

This caused a bit of confusion on both sides of the combat. So it all evened out.

The party defeated the meal-seekers with only minor wounds and continued on.

As night fell the party made use of Jarvin's tent artifact. The force field dome that covered them was opaque and apparently camouflaged from the outside view because nothing bothered them throughout the night.  They did notice that off to their north was some randomly moving and flickering blue lights.  In the morning it was decided that investigating the blue lights would have to wait since they were on an important mission.

About mid-day the party approached the area of the Fallen Tree. They could hear a great deal of noise from a very large predator.  Corbin had heard stories about these huge beasts before him but he had never actually seen a Jiraskar before.  It was trying to get into the branches of the Tree. They could hear screaming and yelling from the people trying to escape it.

Feylor had a cunning plan.  He had a cypher that would make a wall of intense cold.  He floated up into the air upwind of the jiraskar and let the wind push him toward the beast. He dropped the cypher so that the creature would be standing in the damaging cold. The instant the wall came on the jiraskar seemed to know exactly where Feylor was floating.

While the Jiraskar was trying to figure out how to get the tasty morsel in the air Alivia fired an arrow which also had cold related cypher on it.

Between the cyphers and attacks from range and the damage that had already been done to it by the people hiding in the trees, Corbin ran up to the jiraskar just as it died.  His disappointment was immense.

We start our adventure in a tribal village that lives in the branches of one of the tallest trees in the forest.  There are not many more than a dozen of the giant trees.  Their inhabitants call them The Great Trees.  These Great Trees can exceed ten times the size of the average trees around them.  Some of the people living in the Great Trees actually worship their Trees. They claim they are their protectors.

Our starting village is actually a pair of the Great Trees. Most of the Great Trees are far apart sometimes taking days to travel between them. But these are close enough together that a bridge has been built between them hundreds of feet in the air.

This bridge was built using very strong cables found in an ancient ruin beneath the Great Trees.  This ruin was found when the Great Trees roots tore it open. Over the course of a few days there were very loud sounds of big things breaking beneath the ground. When things quieted down a hole in the ground was found that led into the ruin.

The worshippers of The Great Trees ranks swelled.

The ruin seems to have been a medical facility of some sort. They have found numerous types of drugs and one of the villagers got her arm replaced by the machinery. 

The worshippers of The Great Trees ranks swelled.

An Intelligent Jack who Controls Gravity - Feylor

Grew up in the Trees. Has become an entertainer mainly because he enjoys being into the public eye but does not want to be named village leader.

Connection: Was trying to impress a girl and tried lifting the newly found mechanical man but inadvertently dropped it from the Tree.

A Mechanical Nano who Talks to Machines - Natan

Was found in the facility below the Trees.  Is actually a sentient blob of liquid metal that is inhabiting a mechanical humanoid.

Connection: Finds that 'Gravity Man' has a terrible relationship with machines.

A Rugged Glaive who Controls Beasts - Corbin 

Was brought to the Trees by the one trader from the outside world that has been able to visit the Great Trees.  He was originally hired as a bodyguard for a nano that was brought here to study the facility under the Great Trees.  But that foolish nano managed to get himself killed just three days after arriving.

Connection: His animal friends find the mechanical man disturbing.

 A Swift Glaive who Hunts with Great Skill - Alivia

Grew up in the Trees. A very good provider for the tribe. She's fast. She often will run down her prey until it is exhausted making for a safer easier kill. Or she may let a carnivore chase her with the same result.  She recently lost an arm in a bit of a hunting accident. When she was placed on a bed in the ruins the area started working and replaced her arm... with a mechanical one.

Connection: Feylor once saw her seem to specifically kill a carnivore that was about to pounce on a, often referred to as, cute herbivore. The cute herbivore would have been thebetter meal. Alivia fears he may harm her tough reputation by revealing her soft spot.