On Stratospheria
Falling through the floor of the back office on New Arbanes, they found themselves inside a large glass globe hanging below an enormous structure floating in the sky. Lady Kitabu regained consciousness. She realized that she was free and kissed Mina. Sturm released her. Uther presented the chest. She put her hand on it, but nothing happened. She said that Prince Calias had trapped her, and he had hired the Raven Legion to stop the tram.
She identified their location as on Stratospheria… and they were falling through clouds. They could only tell because the structure above rapidly shrank from view.
The casket indicated that there was a local destination for the Last Walk. It was a large structure below them to one side.
Uther asked Lady Kitabu what her instuctions from Calias were. She relied that she had been told to retrieve the casket. She assumed Calias would find her once she had it. She did not have any personal feelings toward the casket, its contents, or the ritual. She was concerned more about falling into the Dwimmerlaik vault rumored to be in the center of the gas giant than plummeting to her death.
Cyra tried to mold the globe into a vehicle, but got push back from both Eidolon and Umbra, preventing her from affecting any change. Mena tied to mold Eidolon and the globe was pushed harshly by a wind.
Uther asked Lady Kitabu if she was familiar with the defenses of the domain that they found her in. She replied that Calias had set all that up.
Cyra scried a location and then teleported the seven of them to an unoccupied docking port on the structure as the globe they had been in entered a storm and was burst into pieces.
On The Raft
Lady Kitabu identified the structure as The Raft, the lair of sky pirates on Aerion Prime, a gas giant. Mena asked her if she wished to accompany them on the Last Walk. She replied that she could go home if they found a Door and they could open it. Wayfinding identified two Doors in that world: the one they fell through, and one far below.
Lady Kitabu told them that there was a war going on between Eidolon and Umbra in the habitable zone known as Stratospheria. She also mentoned the Deep Gods, who were beings that existed in the deep pressures below the habitable zone. Mena and Sturm embraced their forces and noted that they were much stronger than normal.
Uther’s steered the team in. The direction the casket indicated, and a motley crew of pirates appeared before them. Jane informed them that they were looking or an acquaintance of Tsian. One of the pirates was about to throw and EMP grenade. Sturm disarmed him (arm and grenade) and threw the pirate off the platform. The others backed away.
Uther noticed that his artifacts were not working properly. The Wrighting was not working on this world.
They followed the path indicated by the casket. It led to a hydroponics winery. Deeper into the winery. They found a sealed box of bottles labelled Ophelia Blue. The label was written in English rather than the local language. There were also ren codes spelling out Jaeger Zane.
Uther touched the casket to the wine box. The casket indicated to go up. They went to follow the trail, and the attendant demanded identification. Uther asked who he was. He said that it was prepared and prepaid by Jaeger Zane for some one to pick up some day. Uther signed for it. It was the favorite wine of “a Lifer on Skymax 616.” William purchased a couple bottles of wine for each of them.
Uther went back to the platform and checked the casket. It still pointed up. They would need to steal an airship. They saw a sky pirate ship and another kind of ship. Lady Kitabu said that it was a Raptori Flyer which was a high-performance vehicle capable of escaping the gravity of the gas giant. The theft prevention device was already disabled, so it was probably stolen.
They took the Raptori Flyer with William driving and Uther navigating. Once clear of the gas giant, they noticed that it was surrounded by a large asteroid field caused by an ongoing battle that had destroyed several moons. Skyrim 616 was just beyond the asteroid belt. Mena perfected a cloaking device.
Sturm noticed that anything getting within a kilometer of Skyrim 616, it was destroyed by a weapon of some kind. The battle was between some technological force and some organic ships. One was radiating Eidolon and one Umbra. Cyra perfected shields. William suggested getting close and teleporting into the prison.
Cyra identified five super-human presences in the prison. It was automated and controlled by an AI with a Psychic presence, so there were four other meta humans on board.
On Skyrim 616
William docked the ship to an airlock using the standard protocols. The laser cannons and plasma generators pointed in their direction, but could not see the ship. Mena opened the airlock door with her Warden powers. There was a robot on the other side that was confused by the breach.
Cyra interfaced with it and attempted to reboot it, bit did not affect it. She fried its circuitry with Sorcery, but it repaired itself. It swung its staff at inhuman speed. Sturm caught it. The robot shut itself down.
They followed the Way the casket indicated. A seven year old boy in a black suit appeared and demands that they bow to him, the Emperor. Sturm grappled him. Uther determined that he actually believed that.
They came upon a dozen cryogenically frozen. Women, who the boy said were his disposable brides. They continued on.
Up ahead, they heard the sound of large machinery. Rounding the corner, they came upon a hastily assembled vault door. They opened it and were set upon by armed guards. They were all hit by kinetic projectiles. The boy’s head exploded. They dove for cover and Uther closed the door.
Sturm was hit. Uther was hit twice. William and Jane were hit three times. Cyra was hit four times, and Mena five times. Mena and Cyra were seriously wounded. Mena and William healed themselves. Cyra cast a heal spell. Jane summoned the dragon. Sturm attempted to throw the EMP grenade.
Several of the guards reached the door and engaged the team. One grabbed for Sturm’s grenade, but the hand came off, hitting Uther in the face, breaking his nose, and then the grenade went off. The guards fired their rail guns ineffectually, the robot guards collapsed, and the door closed. The dragon was not amused. It ate the Emperor and then his brides.
Mena healed Lady Kitabu and then Uther. William healed Jane. Sturm reformed himself. Jane instructed the dragon not to breathe fire. Cyra recognized that the systems would be restored in about six minutes. William ensured that the robots would not recover.
The casket was still pointing toward the door. They took cover, put the dragon in front, and gave it an Eidolon shield. Upon opening the door, they saw a robot down the hallway blocking access. They proceeded toward it. It introduced itself. It identified them as unassailable and suggested a compromise. They said that they should be allowed to speak with the prisoner. For whom the package was destined. It agreed. Jane unsummoned the dragon.
They ultimately found their target. There was a cryogenic chamber with two video game consoles where a blue skinned, four armed woman was playing video games against herself. Uther announced that they delivered the wine. She was pleased. They said they need her signature, and she touched the casket. The thread disappeared. She revealed herself as Ophelia Blue. She had helped Jaeger Zane to escape in exchange for six bottles of wine.
Removing the Curse
The casket led them to the Door, which was the same door they passed through to enter the glass sphere. Cyra created atmosphere on the other side, they opened the Door, and appeared in the Back Office of the New Arbanes. Jane asked if Lady Kitabu needed their assistance or could find her own way. She elected to go back through the Door and proceeded in the other direction.
The casket asked indicated three threads from that point. One went to an unknown destination, one to Planet Fiction, and one to Nexopolis. They elected to go to Nexopolis. Uther identified four paths to some one who could remove his curse. None of them coincided with the Last Walk threads. The nearest was Shatterlight. They went there.
A guard greeted them and inquire as to their purpose. William informed him that they needed to get Uther’s curse removed. The guard asked who had laid it. They replied Prince Calias. The guard said that he would see if Vala was available.
Vala examined the curse and said that it would only last until Uther’s fourth generation. But she said that it could be removed using his True Name on Finastere with Eidolon, Umbra, or Sorcery. Calais could also remove it, if he were the one who cast it. Vala said that Calias was welcome on Shatterlight. Mena attempted to contact him though his icon, but Calias did not answer.
On Nexopolis
They elected to go to Nexopolis, crossed the hall on the Grand Stair, and stepped in. Willa met them at the door. They said that they were on the Last Walk. The casket led them to a large black man with dreadlocks who was writing. Finian touched the casket and the thread disappeared. They asked Finian about the Raven Leagion contract, but he refused to comment.
Mena asked if Calias was in Nexopolis. Finian said he did not know. Uther asked if he would inform them of any Dwimmerlaik. Finian said that if there were any, he would send someone to take care of them. He also said that he thought the team would prevent another Dwimmerlaik war. The team took a suite of rooms to recover and reequip.
They went to a waterside restaurant. A man carrying a tray of Old Milwaukee accidentally dumps it on Uther. The food was very good. They spent the night recovering and replacing equipment.
After breakfast, the resumed the Last Walk through the Free Trade Zone into the Shacks. Suddenly the casket changed directions. And then it happened again. Sturm used his icon to contact Mother Girl. She was not amused that he was on the Last Walk. He informed her that the destination kept moving, and she agreed to let them come to her.
Sturm led them to Mother Girl. Uther took the casket to Mother Girl. She asked whose casket it was. Mother Girl was no amused. She asked about the circumstances of her death. She asked what was on the other side of the Void Gate that she had come though. They said that they did not know and that it was closed as well as the ones that the Erebi had come through. They told Mother Girl that she had summoned them through a blood ritual as they were trusted agents of her husband.
Mother Girl touched the chest. It glowed for a moment. The she thanked them for bringing the chest to her, and that it had it been anyone else, she would have kept it. Mena said that she had died trying to prevent a Dwimmerlaik incursion. Without proof, Mother Girl recommended quitting the Last Walk.
Across the Sea
The casket indicated a new direction. The returned back to the Free Trade Zone and to the docks. The casket indicated a destination across the sea. There were four fishing boats available: the Passing Wind, She Got The House, the Unsinkable II, and the Trap. They rented the Trap.
They travelled about an hour before the land disappeared. The current increased to faster than the boat’s motor. They noticed something jumping in front of their wake. It was vaguely dolphin-like with three horns and four flippers. Jane noted other similar creatures with different mutations. One jumped out of the water, sliced a seagull, and then returned to the water and ate it.
Later, a pod of two headed killer whales with razor sharp dorsal fins surrounded the boat. They eventually swam on. A strangely mutated giant whale swam near the boat but moved on.
On the Homeland
As the sunset, they came upon the radioactive beaches of the Homeland, the last surviving continent. Mena perfected the beach so as to not be radioactive where they landed.
They came upon a half-buried shopping mall. The casket led them down the escalator while Mena cleaned up the radiation where they went. It was an underground mall beneath the city. The casket led them through various sections of the mall to the jewelry section and a watchmaker. A large mutated lion with four arms and two legs was asleep in front of the shop. They crept past it into the shop and it ignored except Sturm, who it grabbed and through out the rotunda window.
Mena put up an Eidolon shield. Cyra cast Stun. Then the lion through Jane and Cyra through the Rotunda onto Sturm. Uther held onto the lion’s arm when it tried to throw him. It ignored William and Mena. William created a perfect cat toy, but the lion was stunned.
Sturm had landed on a giant mutated larva nest. Then Jane and Cyra landed on top on him. Sturm grabbed Jane and Cyra and leapt back down to the others. The giant hornets flying by see them, but do not pursue them. They landed on the lion’s head. Cyra cast a Sleep spell on the lion to knock it out for a few hours. It falls to the floor, knocking over a perfume cart that spills all over Uther.
The casket led to the back of the jewelry shop to a pocket watch. It was the target. William repaired the watch. The casket pointed back in the direction that they had come. The watch was inscribed “to Baudemagus from your wife.”
The wind started picking up, even underground. They teleported back to Nexopolis and commanded the boat to return by itself. Uther fell off the pier into the water.
Mena contacted Baudemagus, who pulled her to him. She returned the watch to him. And he was very happy. She returned Mena to the others.
The Team:
- Sturm von Krieg the warrior (Joab)
- William Edwalton the scientist (Greg)
- Jane Edwalton the explorer (Jenna)
- Mena the traveler (Stephanie)
- Uther the gatherer (Dave)
- Cyra the sorceress (Mike)