The Pen and Paper Game

#### Avianna

*She grew up to find a home among the priests, clerics, and monks who tend to Great Mother Mitera. Hers is the ability to summon upon the power of Mitera, be it thwart chaos or boost her allies. Her devotion to the Great Mother has granted her the boon of Ascended Wings, bright luminous wings instead of her old dull white ones.*

#### Matthaeus

*He grew up to do war and battle. His is the armour that protects Pyrkagia, and his trusty two-handed hammer is the weapon that drives away those who would hurt the Great Mother. As part of his upbringing, he has been molded for war, and while he likes to consider himself a strategist, he isn't exactly the brightest mind. His devotion to defending the faith has granted him wings of purest light, to announce to all: Here goes a servant and a warrior.*

#### Basilia

*She grew up to hunt and to survive. She was to travel out and bring back news of possible conquests, but on a journey she found a small creature, a Pitsi. Now her favoured traveling companion, she is ready to travel away from the mountain on which Chiari lies, and bring back whatever discoveries she may happen upon in distant lands.*

#### Ihlmar

*His is the knowledge of magic, the fire and metal sorceries of Pyrkagia his to command. He has barely begun the path of sorcery, but his devotion to the power eclipses all. His is the way of the trickster, stealing away with thievery and magic, that the Mother may be kept alive.*

#### Ugluf

*He ran away to pursue justice, after hearing rumor of children used for slavery. Above all he values justice, but honestly is also dear to him. And he has the strength of arms to never compromise on his morals, and when possible he aids those in need.*

## First Story: A Gift for Mother

### Intro:

*Four of the Aven of Pyrkagia are summoned to their great Mother, the Mitera Teryga. Her masters beckons for them to descend from the capital on their first true journey, imploring them to investigate the old caves of the kintrolls in search of wealth, and while they are there, drive away the Barathrumian peasants that have illegally settled nearby.*

### #1 Session:

The four Aven stand in waiting to see Mitera Teryga, their first real encounter with the molten phoenix ruler of Pyrkagia. Before they enter, each of the five masters give something: Master Raakel gives them rare feathers, Master Callias gives all but Matthaeus a small silver wing as a badge of service, Menodora grants Matthaeus the closed silver wing of war, Zophyros grants them a kind word, and Theocritus returning from his long journey gives Avianna a book in Barathrumian.

They approach the Mother, bow and in a moment bask in her glorious heat. Then Raakel takes them outside, suggesting that they visit the old kintroll cave for any leftover wealth, and if possible scare some Barathrumian peasants out of Pyrkagia's lands.

Arriving at the kintroll cave they go down, and with great strength Matthaeus breaks apart old kintroll corpses to claim their heartstones. While doing so, he reveals a hidden chamber of strange statues and a sarcophagus. Each statue is a four armed humanoid, where each hand melds together over their stomach, while their legs part in grasping webs over the floor. They take the valuable metals from the sarcophagus, and even pry it open to peer inside. There is no body, but a mosaic of six colorful birds in flight, casting 6 great shadows upon the land.

A broken hallway bars their path down, but the agree to return at a later point to clear the way.

Arriving at the three stone houses of a new Barathrumian village, they find strange signs that the peasants were brutally murdered. One was cut down by the bridge, another was killed by a monster appearing from under the bed, and a third was mutilated in a makeshift closet. However, all three bodies are gone, and if anyone else was in the village they saw no sign of them. Basilia finds the tracks of the monster that seemingly killed the peasants, and the track it back towards Chiari.

During the night a strange shadow like creature draws close, but Ihlmar awakens the others. Much to Matthaeus' satisfaction he gets into a combat with the beast, only to have it disperse before he can truly kill it - after throwing his hammer into it and headbutting it into the ground.

They return to the cave, only to find it beset by a creature of illusions that easily overpowers Matthaeus and Avianna. Only through Ihlmar's intervention does the illusion break, and they are free to drive it off. The creature looks strangely familiar, and they realize it looks like the statues from the uncovered room.

Feeling safe they dig down, avoiding kintroll traps and looting their homes. They try to break into the troll vault, but fail setting off the security lock after Avianna falls in a a pit trap hurting herself.

They return with their offerings to Mitera Teryga, only to be stopped and inspection by Master Theocritus. Somehow the kintroll heartstones are corrupted by chaos, and Master Theocritus is forced to contain the party until a priest can vouch for them not being corrupted. Avianna uses her Divine magic to test the others for corruption, but cannot read Matthaeus for some reason. They submit to capture, when a priest arrives and claim that they are all afflicted - and will die soon. Therefore he banishes them from Pyrkagia, and says for them to wander Petra Barathrum until their days end...

After the dreadfully slow descent from Chiari in a cage, a group of Barathrumian bandits seek to capture them for slaves, while the Pyrkagians have yet to release them! They break out and fight off the bandits, killing two and letting the leader live ... for now at least.

### #2 Session

The heroes await for more guards from Chiari to arrive, so they can hand over the wounded and unconscious guards that fell to the bandits' onslaught. Even after their gesture of goodwill, the fear of chaos makes the guards drive them away, and they travel North into Petra Barathrum. There they come across Ugluf, a Pyrkagian from their own generation, engaged in a duel against a brutal looking Barathrumian. Ugluf is wounded, and his opponent unfortunately escapes. He explains to the others that he came here to hunt Morovan - the man who just escaped: A psycho that terrorizes the village by slaying parents and forcing their now-orphans into service in a hidden mine.

Together they strive to find Morovan and bring him to justice, but he is nowhere to be found. Finally they hear rumours of Torgova, a beastman of considerable size who lives nearby - and is seemingly working as Morovan's right hand man. The villagers will tell them no more however, and the guards are not very helpful. Unless they bring proof, the guards cannot act, and the fear of Morovan chokes the little society.

Retreating to the inn Ugluf approaches a strangely hooded man with a nausea-inducing smell, questioning him about Torgova. The stranger agrees to aid him and lead him to Torgova's living quarters, but onyl if he promises to help deliver a message to Pyrkagia afterwards. Ugluf agrees, and the stranger leads him to a dirty hut outside of town. There Basilia and Ihlmar hide, waiting for Torgova to return. The stake out his house the entire night, and come morning follow him to a tunnel entrance. Not knowing what is in the tunnel, they return and a strategy is made. The guards agree to ransack both house and cave should they find proof, and Torgova is not considered a citizen, nor welcome in the city, and the guards let slip that they care little for his fate.

An ambush is made, Ihlmar and Basilia hiding, while the others stand awaiting in front of the shabby house. As Torgova returns, combat ensues and they struggle to bring him down, until finally he is bloodied and throw to the ground. Matthaeus binds him with an iron chain, and they interrogate him for information. In a disturbing discovery they realize that the Torgova has been helping Morovan because he been supplying him with youngling meat. Deeply disturbed Ugluf takes it upon himself to deliver justice, and the interrogation comes to the natural conclusion of Torgova's face being bashed in with Ugluf's shield.

The give proof to the guards who then assemble to raid the cave. It turns out to be a valuable cave filled with the Barathrian glass, but it is not being mined as expected. Instead they find an altar seemingly belonging to the Cult of Brothers - whoever they are. They also come into contact with the Earth Sorcerer Galgar as he helps free the captured girls, as only the male children had been sacrificed on the altar. Morovan is nowhere to be found, but they still fully intend to hunt him down.

Returning to the surface they lick their wounds, Ugluf furfilling his end of the bargain with the strange emissary from a foreign land. After delivering the letter they return to seek work while looking for Morovan, traveling to a trade station and the home of a lesser Guildmaster. There, the guard captain informs them that a monster is prowling the wilds, and he would greatly reward anyone who killed it. Furthermore, they are informed that the monster killed some scouts and the citizens of a Southern city, and remember their earlier find... The speculate as to the nature of the monster, and how they can kill it, and travel out finding the body of one of the scouts, dead from paralyzing fear. During the night, the instrument of one of Ugluf's trusty followers, a harp starts playing on its own, and the bard panics, believing that all will know his shame - that he cannot actually play his instrument, but that it is magically enhanced.

When the night is over, they come to the conclusion that it was the illusion effect of the monster, and they travel back to Galgar to find out how they can slay the monster. There they find that the book Theocritus granted Avianna is a bestiary written by the famous scholar-poet Elazar, and as he looks through the book, he finds that the monster may be related to the people of Veshtisa - who once swore away their names and bodies.

They go out hunting again, certain that a yellow eyed elf is hiding somewhere and summoning the monsters, and true enough, he and his beast attacks. They slay the master and the beast, but not before it can release a dose of chaos influence into Ihlmar and Avianna. Ihlmar's muscles rearrange, making him incredibly flexible, but also somewhat of a anatomical oddball, while a horn grows out the back of Avianna's head and she undergoes multiple strange changes. Worst of all, the chaos infliction has cut off her access to Mitera Teryga, and she is now a priest without a faith, a chaos being of the sort she despises so.

Returning to Galgar, they find that he has received more information, and that the beast is a Veshtisan Witch-Beast. A beast that takes the appearance one would most expect upon encountering it, and as such has appeared as deadly creatures in the night and living statues deep underground.