Numenera in the Trees Session 4 

When they left the birdmen's lair, now referred too as their new home base, they searched again for tracks suspecting that they had been led here as a diversion. They were right!

No attempt had been made to hide the tracks that had led to the Murden cave (their new home base).  The tracks that had been covered up led on through the ravine but before they came out the other end they found a huge dead animal laying in their way.  The carcass had a bunch of blue flowers growing out of it.

As they approached the carcass the blue flowers launched into the air at them. The "flowers" attacked everyone but Natan, as he had no flesh to attract them. The flowers were venomous making the fight much more brutal on the party.

Natan

As they were trying to recover from the flower fight they noticed at the top of one of the ravine walls was what appeared to be a hooded tall man draped all in black robes.  He seemed to be just standing there possibly watching them.  Corbin took a closer look with his sphere of seeing things far away.  It was difficult to tell anything about the robed figure but looking at the cowl trying to see a face revealed only what looked to be a panel of black glass.

Feylor opted for a face to face confrontation.  He levitated to the robed figures height and allowed himself to drift towards it.  They all watched closely for any reaction.  There was nothing at first but as Feylor got close  he heard it say, "Greetings Harbinger, how are you feeling?"

Up to this point it hadn't moved in any way but once Feylor tried to respond it turned to face him directly and told him, "I wasn't speaking to you. I was addressing your companion."

This caused Feylor no end of confusion, even looking around to see if anyone else was around.  When he tried to get clarification all he got was, "The roses will bloom in 432 days."  Feylor is now counting the days.

Feylor had continued to drift with the wind but the robed figure did not track with him.  Feeling confused but unthreatened, Feylor landed beside the robed figure. It turned toward him and said, "The reason for your troubles is wood."  It then disappeared into thin air.

Feylor went back to the party and discussed all that had happened.  There was much confusion all around.  Elif asked if it had left any tracks.  Feylor floated back up. The only tracks he found were where he had landed.

Elif

(rude-mechanical.tumbler.com)

In time they continued following the tracks. They led them on through the ravine and back into forested area where they found another section of trees that had been knocked down.  So they followed the path of fallen trees.  They followed it for another four days before they noticed a familiar sound.  The sound of trees falling. They found a second device being used to cut a path through the forest. A second device capable of knocking down the Great Trees.  This one was being used to widen the already cut path through the forest.

They followed the double wide path for two more days when they heard the sounds of saws and axes.  Corbin saw a chance to use a cypher that he had been carrying for some time, Eye in the Sky.  He sent a camera high up into the air to show him what was going on in the area.  He saw a dozen men chopping and cutting the fallen trees.  Most of the pieces were being thrown to one side but the best logs were being pulled away by very large domesticated beetles.

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There were also five guards spaced out among the woodsmen.  After watching for a time it was determined that the guards were protecting the woodsmen not forcing them to work.

Feylor combined a pair of cyphers to help him get more information about what was going on.  He had a Faraway Ear cypher to which he attached a device enhancer that would turn him invisible when the Faraway Ear was activated.  As he moved in closer he saw one of the guards from the outer ring of guards approaching the guard in the middle area.  Feylor thought this was opportunity to hear something.

Female guard from the outer ring: Jachek!

Lead Guard:  What is it Vandra?

Vandra:  We are being surveilled from above.

Jachek: What!?!  You're sure?

Vandra:  Yes, started just a few moments ago.

Jachek:  Damn. Jarvis said we would have more time.  Okay, let the others know. I will tell The Tender.

Jachek then started walking toward a portable building that had been set up in an already cleared area.  Feylor gave up on his listening device as it focused on one spot but he was still invisible and that would be a great asset in helping him find out what this Jachek and Tender were going to talk about.  Since Jachek was walking toward the building Feylor ran to get there first and try to sneak in behind him.

It worked perfectly but instead of seeing who The Tender was Jachek opened a chest and pulled out a small device and spoke into it.

Jachek into device:  Zade.......  Zade!

Zade: Yes!  I'm here. What is it Jachek?

Jachek: Tell The Tender that we are being watched.  There is some kind of surveillance from above.

Zade: I will let him know immediately.

Then Jachek tucked the numenera communication device back into the chest and walked back outside.  Feylor grabbed the communication device and took off to meet back up with the others.

There was a great deal of discussion about what was learned:

1. The loggers had a women, obviously a nano, that could detect numenera 800ft over her head and could tell what it was doing.

2. Jarvis the trader that had been coming to see them for several years was involved.

3. Alivia pointed out that Jarvis traded for wood carvings, specifically wood from the Great Trees.

4. The guards were reporting to someone called The Tender.

When Feylor told them he took the communication device Corbin asked if he had grabbed any paperwork that could help them figure out what's going on. No.

Feylor decided that he didn't want anyone realizing that their communication device had been taken so setting fire to the hut was the next course of action. Since his invisibility was gone he needed a distraction.  He had Corbin and Alivia attack with nonlethal arrow fire from far away from the cabin while the rest of them used a cypher rigged to burn to set the fire to the building.

When the arrows flew the guards reacted by immediately charging in that direction except for Vandra who started escorting the woodsmen to safety.  While distracted Feylor searched for and grabbed some papers in the hut then threw down the firestarter and ran.  The lead guard Jachek ran at Corbin and Alivia's position and pulled out a cypher and threw it as hard as he could toward them.

When it hit the ground the cypher blew up into a larger gout of steam out of which charged a full grown completely uninjured Jiraskar! 

Numenera in the Trees Session 3

PC's:

Alivia - A Swift Glaive who Hunts with Great Skill

Corbin - A Rugged Glaive who Controls Beasts

Elif - A Clever Jack who Fuses Flesh with Steel

Feylor -  An Intelligent Jack who Controls Gravity

Natan - A Mechanical Nano who Talks to Machines

Session 3

The party decided that they needed to see what the bird men had blocked off behind their makeshift wall. They could see that there was a bright light somewhere behind it.

The wall section turned out to be heavier than they expected. They attempted to lower it quietly but failed.  It fell with a loud booming crash.  As the boom faded they waited for something to come attack them attracted by the noise.  But all just became quiet again.

Beyond they found a corridor that led around a corner. The light was coming from around this corner. Along with the source of the light, which was a large section of wall that was replaced by bright swirling energy, they found a roundish four legged mechanical thing.  It did not immediately advance on them so Natan tried talking to it.

Vortex Maintenance

He found out that it maintained and protected the "vortex portal" that they now stood before. It did not know where the portal led only that they would need protection to go through it and they could get the protection in a room farther down the hallway.

Natan also accessed files to see when this portal had been used last. He scanned through years and years of logs but gave up looking after he found that it had not been used for thousands of years.

They decided that they wanted to see where the portal led so they headed off to acquire the protection.  They found a room with a ramp that led to a pool of something that definitely wasn't water.  Feylor deduced that you had to dunk yourself in the pool. So, without any discussion with his companions he ran up the ramp and jumped into the pool.

The others saw mechanical arms extend out of the ceiling as Feylor neared the top of the incline. After he jumped the arms stopped moving then receded back into the ceiling.  When Feylor stepped out of the pool he had a complete coating of stuff.  They assumed that this was the protection that they needed so they each decided to use the pool. However, the rest of the group walked up the ramp and let the mechanical arms pick them up, dunk them in the pool and then put them back on the ramp.

When they returned to the vortex portal room Natan checked with the portal guardian and found that they were indeed protected and were allowed to use the portal.  So they stepped through.... with a bright flash they were some where else.  This facility was very different from the one they just left. This one's walls were all green and there were no sharp angles, everything was curved.

Moments after their arrival they were contacted mentally by someone calling themselves Aerridomos.  Aerridomos welcomed them to the Citadel of Radiance and begged them to come find him as he needed their help.  They tried to think back to Aerridomos but got no response.

In their search for Aerridomos they found a storage room in which most of the stuff had decayed away over the years but a few odd things survived. They also noticed that there was a small red light flashing in the ceiling.  No one could recall if it was flashing when they first came in.

They traveled down a curved corridor with many large round windows that let in a great deal of very bright light. Along this corridor a small room was found with control panels in one wall.  A button was pushed. Shade screens slowly proceeded to cover the windows blocking most of the bright light.  There was much relief... until the screens started malfunctioning!  They jerked to a stop and a loud grinding noise started.  They could feel the grinding as well as see cracks forming in the floors and walls.  There was intense panic as they worked at turning the screens off.

Not long after they stopped the shade screens from destroying the facility they saw a mechanical guardian coming toward them.  Natan thought to try to talk to it but it sprouted a sword made of some kind of energy and advanced aggressively. 

Feylor was sorely wounded by the time they defeated it.  Natan disassembled it arm and took the energy sword for his own. Elif took the shield.

Guardian in the Citadel of Radiance

At the end of the hallway they found Aerridomos. It was actually some kind of artificial intelligence that had never known anything but this place and it had known this place for a very long time.  It told them that the Citadel floats in the sun and was built to send energy to complexes on the planets within this solar system.  The Citadel of Radiance still  mostly continues doing just that but it is decaying and the party's presence here has made things worse.  Aerridomos begged them to free him.  It did not want to be destroyed when the Citadel collapses. It told them of a panel that would allow them to transfer it's essence to a complex on one of the planets. It knew nothing about where it would be sent but anything should be better than destruction.

They decided to free Aerridomos. In return Aeridomos told them that a very powerful device, some called the Wishing Well, was in a nearby room.  It might be able to help them in some way. It might even be able to fix the Citadel. But Aerridomos wanted to be gone before they tried it, just in case. They sent Aeridomos on to where ever it went  then went to have a look at the Wishing Well.

There was a great deal of experimenting with the controls for the Wishing Well. They found that Natan was best suited for using it.  His first experiment with the power at his disposal was to heal Feylor, which was quite successful.

When they were first told of the Wishing Well their first reaction was to let it be destroyed because they felt that it sounded much too powerful and it could fall into the wrong hands.  However, after Natan got familiar with it he found that it has some severe limitations... and it could be useful to them.  They also discussed the possibility that there were villages and cities built up around places were this power was being sent. The power suddenly stopping could ruin the lives of many people.  They decided to try to fix the Citadel. (A great deal of XP was spent on making sure this worked)

Natan needed a long break after his work with the Wishing Well.  They calculated the time they had left on their protective suits and let him rest as long as they dared. They then returned home to their home planet.  Upon their arrival Natan checked with the portal guardian to see if anything had happened while they were gone.  There had been only one incident. A birdman had stuck his head around a corner, looked things over for a minute then left.

With a quick check around the same corner they saw that the murden were in the process of lifting their makeshift wall back in place.  If successful they would be trapped!  They made a headlong run at the wall and jumped on it hoping to crush the birdmen beneath it.  Their ploy was mostly successful though several rolled out of the way and there were a couple leaders standing back watching over the proceedings.

In the fight that followed one of the leaders threw a cypher at Feylor but missed. (Feylor now carries it with a note; Throw at enemy.)  The other leader "changed." He grew a couple feet taller and more savage. He ended up being the last of the murden to fall.

Mutant Murden
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There was only one more level to search below them.  They found more living spaces and a common eating/living area.  They also found a pile of cyphers and about a hundred shins in a finely carved box.

They then left the facility realizing that this place had nothing to do with the thing that was knocking down trees but someone sure wanted them to think it did.  And sure enough when they got back outside and had a look around they found bits of tracks that had been mostly wiped away.  These were left by the people that had the well worn, sturdy boots that Alivia had tracked here.  These people had made no effort to hide their tracks until after they had led to the murden hideout.  Someone was definitely manipulating would be pursuers... and the murden.

The tracks led through the ravine so they followed them. As they neared the far end they saw a large beast laying dead in their path. Oddly this dead beast had large blue flowers growing out of it. Or so they appeared.  As they neared the "flowers" launched into the air any flew at them.

The end of session 3