VoidfarersTM
by Tom K. Loney and
Christina
Lea
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Chapters
Prologue, by Tom K. Loney
On
the swords and sorcery world of Elder, strange moving stars have been
seen by the astrologers and star-watching trolls in the Frostwall
Mountains of the west. They do not follow the paths of the noted
planets nor appear with any sort of regularity. A group of wizards, the
Stargazer School of the Citadel of Tinkerology, are not only curious
about the "random stars," they are determined to find out what they
are. Under the leadership of the venerable astromologist Coppernik,
the Stargazers have set up observation posts all over the northwest
continent and even placed two scrying stations into the Void beyond
their sky – the Crystal Ball and the Looking
Glass. These "void-craft" were placed using revolutionary
wisp-phase magicks - teleportation - devised by the great sorcereress Fye
Thagarus.
Using
cantrips devised by Coppernik called "scry-glasses" the Stargazers of
Elder can view the cosmos around them in great detail with amazing
magnification. The Crystal Ball is a magically
crafted sphere of perfectly fused crystal, made not for humans and
humanoids, but daemons and elementals. The daemons use the cantrips to
watch the stars while the elementals make the sphere comfortable for
them. The larger and more ambitious craft, the Looking Glass,
is a 30 bow-shot long by two bow-shot wide cylinder made of brass
corridors spinning to provide "planet-pull" and equipped with enough
elementals to make the craft habitable to mortal beings. The outer-most
layer of the vessel's structure has a permanent invisibility spell on
it to allow cosmic observation by "Voiders," space explorers, using
"scry-glasses." The Stargazers were very happy with the wealth of
knowledge they were receiving on the universe surrounding them,
including images of far-off places and even hints at what might be
other-world crafts.
But
the observation has stopped, and the voiders cannot be wisp-phased back
up to the Looking Glass to see what has happened.
So the school needs to send up hardy adventurers using very
experimental means developed by the dwarf magician Arkimedes known as a
void-ship, using propulsion and not teleportation. Not any dungeon
delvers will do, but three in particular - the ones who defeated the
daemon Maelitesh Verximirexrev in his worldly lair nearly a decade
before. Why? Because he is the most powerful daemon aboard the Crystal
Ball ... and the most likely suspect if there has been foul
play aboard the Looking Glass.
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