The Cave of Worlds Campaign Blog, Session #18

[This is another fill-in writeup created a year after the fact from memory. And, unfortunately, it probably means the end of my one-writeup-per-day streak. Because for the life of me, I can't remember what happened next! I've asked our campaign recorder what her notes say, but it seems unlikely that I'll have another writeup by tomorrow. I'm also going to be rather busy that day. That said, I will be putting up new writeups frequently over time. And I'm continuing to create new ones for the ongoing sessions, of course. If you want to subscribe to the current feed, as well as getting background information that the players can't access, email me!]

At the end of the last session the party had fled the world of Glorantha, just ahead of a large military force which had been sent to arrest or kill them all. Gib, the boy they'd originally been searching for when the campaign began, was returning with them - along with his granddaughter and great-grandson (a small matter of a difference in time-flow between worlds). He'd also brought along eight of his people. He wasn't sure they'd make it through the passageway out of Glorantha, but he wanted to try.

Gib (now Gar-El) was able to make it through with no effort. His family members had only slightly greater difficulty. His retainers had a considerably more difficult time getting through - they had to struggle and push, and described it as being like walking against an incredibly powerful wind, or through "thick air". But eventually they did make it through, and the group found themselves back in the Cave of Worlds.

As always, the Cave had changed a bit. The stalagmites and stalactites seemed somehow different, and the horned bear skeleton was all but gone. They noticed, too, that there were circles of darkness throughout the perimeter of the cave, and even some on the cave roof; most were outlined by glowing fungi and lichen. The circles themselves seemed odd, somehow not exactly like rock. Could they all be portals to new worlds?

Finding out would have to wait. Gib, his family, and most of the party headed back towards the pathway to the Valley of Peace. Gormuz had to stay behind, of course, because of his banishment; Gib had some of his people stay behind, too, to keep an eye on things in the Cave.

[Whoops! Once again, there's something I left out from an earlier writeup. While in Glorantha, Gormuz had gone a-traveling, alone. On his trip, he'd met a flirtatious female Great Troll blacksmith, and purchased a full suit of armor from her in exchange for some fabulously valuable captured Lunar magic items.

He also learned something of troll society in general in Glorantha. They're much more violent and crude in some ways, but have a far greater variety of types and culture. In a troll "city", he purchased four slaves: Gibby and Gobby, a pair of trollkin (one was a "value" trollkin, the other a "fighter" one), an animalistic cave troll named Grrgrr or Graggur, and a Dark Troll that he'd met before; the party had met him on the road during a previous visit to Glorantha, and he'd claimed to be a human enchanted into a troll body. Since he hadn't aged as much as would be expected, there did seem to be something to his story. On the other hand, troll society had judged him insane - which was why he was now a slave. The slave-dealer threw him in for free. Gormuz soon let him go, as he was whiny and annoying.]

Back to the "present" - in the Cave, Gormuz ordered the cave troll to start eating a ramp out of the rock ledge in the Coffin Cavern. Trolls can eat rock, and cave trolls are particularly good at it, so the monster started in gladly.

The rest of the party and most of the NPCs went back to the Valley. There, Gib had a strange reunion with his mother; he'd left her about a year before as a boy of fifteen, and now he was an old, bearded man with a granddaughter and great-grandson! He asked his mother to take care of his great-grandson, and she agreed; the boy was willing, too. Gib's dranddaughter, however, was not willing to stay. She insisted that she was going to rescue her husband, and would be heading back to the Cave forthwith. Gib sighed and signaled his men to restrain her. He would not, he explained, allow her to go get herself killed. And the few days that they'd already spent in the Valley meant that decades had probably passed in Glorantha (a bit of an exaggeration), so she needed to accept the fact that her husband was dead.

In the meantime, the party was catching up on things. Reznia (Gormuz's pregnant wife) met with his mother, the high priestess of Hera. The others saw family, and spent some time with their various teachers and mentors, and arranged for a group of carpenters to come to the Cave; they wanted a bridge to be built over the icy stream in the Cave (Ophelia, having been dunked twice, was particularly in favor of this).

The Valley elders pondered the issue, and gave assent. But they were somewhat distracted. A new red star had recently been seen in the sky, and some thought that it seemed to have gotten bigger recently.