To New Horizons(2nd ed game, game thread)

[Kazilan]

Bas was silent. This was not unusual, except that his silence was combined with a deep frown. After speaking to the bird he did not know how to proceed. He had thought connecting with an animal would give him direction, but instead it only created more questions. Perhaps this was because it was domesticated, he wasn't sure.

Now throw this map into the mix and even more problems arose. A map to where? He looked it over as Anne held it. While Bas had no desire to travel into large settlements, it might give him a better sense of the balance in this place if he found beings interacting with nature.

He thought back to his training in the forests he called home. "Start small, focus on what's in front of you." Bas looked around the clearing, took in the lake, village, lizardmen and bird. Everything from the giant lizard brain to the bird lost in the woods seemed wrong, and he needed to find out how he could set things right. And he would need help to do it. A realization struck him as he looked at the bird.

"Tamora, which do you think would yield more information. Following the bird's trail back to the beginning and observing the senders, or continuing along to the end and observing the receivers? While I'm not ready to deliver a message that may order the start of a war, I do want to find out who is behind this and observe their interactions with the environment. I'm already heartened by the fact that they can train an animal to act without harsh treatment or restraints."

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath concentrated hard at the brain, trying to think of at least one more question for it. He considered the state of the world and how they arrived, and began getting curious. "Are there any other portals on this planet besides the one by which we arrived? If so, where are they and where do they go?" That would probably be enough. His companions would hopefully fill in some other holes about this world.

[Encard]

Evon took only a few moments to think over the last batch of answers before asking more questions, as curious as a child learning about the world for the first time. "Can you tell us what great events are taking place in this world? And of what there is at the cliffs of Drriam - how would they teach us much of this world, and are those the ones you say we should tell our companions of?" He restrained himself before a hundred other "and's" bubbled up, but was excited and happy and eager - in the poor light, with a big smile on his face, he looked like a hungry ghoul with less pointy teeth.

[Armen]

Tamora

Tamora looked at the map in Anne’s hands. She had never seen or used or indeed needed a map before but she could see what Anne meant about the lands around them and the bird had thought he had come from the northwest. “It seems close to the picture I had”, she responded, “although I am surprised that neither the river or the giant canyon that Jonas spoke of is shown. But then I know little of maps.”

Tamora listened intently to Bas’ spoken thoughts and his question. “Learned One”, she answered deferentially, “I do not know the answer to your question. I do not even understand how the sender of this animal expected it to find it’s way across this terrain still less how it was supposed to survive.”

She looked again at the map. “What do these triangles represent?” She asked, seemingly talking to herself. Fundamentally, she didn’t know what to do. If she were alone she would probably spend much time in the forest, maybe learning from the lizardman hunters if they would have her but she was not. If the Learned One needed her assistance she would surely offer it. But, she finally realised, she had no objectives on this world apart from to travel, to see and to learn - although if she was honest she had no pressing desire to travel through a swamp such as had been described to them in the southwest.

Finally she turned back to her companions. “I don’t think we can judge which end of the trail would be most interesting to see. We do know that the bird was hunted on it’s’ journey here so that could be a reason to go the other way. I would like to see the mountains and maybe we could head due east and see if we can identify what the triangle might mean.” She pointed to the map indicating the triangle just above the cross that marked then end of the marked trail. “I wonder if the line marks an actual trail on the ground – if so we could use it but only with caution”.

She smiled and spread her hands. “I am not used to choices. My life has been one of solitude and duty. Learned One, I will go where you bid but should we consult the others once they have finished their communication?” A sudden thought occurred to her. “The wizard might be able to read the writing on the scrolls so we can judge better whether to deliver them”. She looked over to the fire and back to Anne. “Do you think they’ll be long?”

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Gan Vahnsen

It was a long time before Gan answered, allowing his companions to ask first. He mused over this new information; in his own way just as excited as Evon. So much to ask... yet what to ask that was relevent? Finally, he spoke, "Great Sage, would you have any maps of the area, of the worlds, you would impart to us? Projected from your mind into me." he specified, and paused another moment and a wry smile touched the corners of his lips, "Finally, I would ask... are there any questions I should have asked that I have not? I would also thank you for your insights again. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

[PurpleXVI]

Gan, Lorath, Evon, Ulik

"None of which I know," was the Sage's short reply to Lorath, "But if one is possible, then it would not be madness to speculate that others could be created."

The Sage made the mental equivalent of a nod towards Evon, "Your assumption is correct, I do indeed feel that your friends would benefit from a visit to the Cliffs of Drriam. I do not know the details, perhaps it is all superstition, but the locals say that there is an ordeal to be weathered there, and anyone with the strength of body and spirit to do so will be granted wisdom. Additionally, they tell me that there was once a gathering of druids there, though they vanished for reasons unknown to me."

It's reply to Gan was the last: "I am not a cartographer, and if you do not have the wisdom to think of any more questions, you do not have the wisdom to make use of any more answers."

"This has been a fruitful conversation, but I tire, and I must digest what your minds have shared with me. I hope you intend to return when you have seen more."

The lizardman who had so far been remaining silently in the background reached out and grabbed the brain, pulling it away from their touch and wrapping it in cloth again. Without a word, he then left, leaving the group alone by the dying fire.


Bas, Tamora, Anne

Some of the lacking features on the map could perhaps be put down to cartographical error and lacking geographical knowledge, judging for example by the exaggerated size of the lake, assuming it was the one they were at, whoever had made the map had likely never seen the area himself, probably making it based on the descriptions of travellers or a view from afar.

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath brushed his hand off on the inside of his robe and stepped back. "Well, that was... enlightening," he said, and looked around. He wondered what the others had been up to, and it was just then he really noticed Ulik standing there, since he had been concentrating on the brain. He jumped with a bit of a startle, then extended his hand. "Sorry, I didn't realize we had another person here with us. I'm Lorath, and you?"

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Gan Vahnsen

"Agreed." Gan answered Lorath and shrugged, "But now I think its time to rest. I'll take third watch." If the others were agreeable, he'd rest. Otherwise, he'd share information - if they were willing. Otherwise, he'd just sleep anyway.

[Armen]

Tamora

Tamora returned to the fire and sat down as Lorath was asking Ulik who he was. As she was more than a little interested in the answer herself she waited for Ulik’s reply before telling the others all that they had learned from their patrol and from the big bird. She passed round the map and gave the scrolls to Lorath. “Can you read this writing?” she asked, “Maybe through your magic? And what happened during your contact with the floating brain?”

[ 02-01-2007, 09:29 AM: Message edited by: Armen ]

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Lorath looked at the scrolls closely, turning them every which way looking for a familiar phrase. "Well it's not in Common, Elvish, or Gnomish," he muttered as he thought out loud. His investigations stopped for a moment as he cast a Read Magic spell to see if that helped. Again he turned the scrolls in various directions, but still couldn't find anything. Finally he tried looking at it with infravision, but again came up with nothing. He handed the scrolls back to Tamora and said, "Well, I can't make anything out of it, but it's definitely not Elvish, Gnomish, or magical in any way. Also it doesn't appear to have a message in the infrared spectrum." When he was finished explaining that, he told her all about what the brain had told them.