Johannes Luxos, a minor trader in curiosities and antiquities, is looking to hire a group of adventurers to escort a caravan of mana crystals into the into the Deep Desert. Rumours amongst the merchants of Acryn are that he has acquired an ancient prophecy which he believes brings great business opportunities, although most think he’s either insane or trying to cover up his true motives.
A simple 39-Riel caravan guarding mission, perfect for starting adventurers.
The PCs head out, following the map provided. They run into some bandits who seem intent on stealing their cargo, but dispatch them easily enough. The meet Johannes's factor in the village of Vilna and prepare to move on to the tower. While there, a few of the party speak to a “seer” who tells them that they will face an unstoppable enemy which they must not fight and must bow to, a prophecy which goes badly for the party.
When the party reach the tower they are assaulted by large man-sized bee creatures. A number of the party suffer from serious stings, and it appears that something has been laid inside them. Batts deals with the issue by converting himself to goo, inside him remains an infestation of larvae in the shape of his skeleton. Other members of the party also affected are not thrilled by the discovery.
Inside the tower the party meet some of the residents. There is some hint that treatment for those infested with bee-larvae may be available further up the tower. It also becomes apparent the tower has recently experienced the upheaval, meaning everything is in a state of disarray. This also means that the people who would usually arrange the purchase of the mana off the party are also further up the tower, rather than awaiting them on the ground floor. Heading up the tower, the party find themselves in the flux and are attacked by bizarre metal orbs. A number of the party are dropped, and discover strange metalic patches on their skin. Senta seems to be more strongly affected than the rest, appearing completely metalic from her experience and reacting slightly strangely to the attempts of other party members to cure themselves.
Slightly further up the tower, the party meet the tower's militia. The militia eventually allow the party to continue on their way once they have sworn an oath to the Empire. The party continue upwards, passing through feral tower people, some mages, and a bunch of automaton. The party finally run into people who appear to have some authority, which a group of Mages and some Militia arguing over how a star which has crashed into the tower should be dealt with. Given the mages seem capable of treating some of the party's conditions, they immediately support the Mage's plan, leaving a number of the militia suspicious. The two party members suffering from bee larvae are treated my one of the mages, although they feel strange afterwards, having had their marrow consumed by the larvae.
The party head into the star with a magical device they have been provided, with the intention of finding the heart of the star and activating the device. The aim being to force the beings of the star to play by the rules of reality. When the party run into some residents of the star, they quickly put into action 2 plans: Emma uses a smoke grenade and runs past, while the remainder stop and kneel. This leaves Emma alone and defenceless as the residents beat her into the ground. Things become very confusing as Batts is also dropped and the rest of the party flee. Senta develops a plan to bring a “prisoner” and retrieve the device that was dropped in the confusion, however the device is now in the hands of the residents and the retrieval does not go well. Eventually the device is retrieved and activated, forcing the residents to operate under the rules of reality. Unfortunately, several members of the party had been captured and modified by the residents, and reacted poorly to their newly restored nature.
Eventually the remaining residents are defeated, at which point the party have a huge falling out over what to do next. Eventually deciding that they would not provide the heart of the star to the mages, instead claiming it was still somewhere inside the star. The party convinced the mages and militia that the best next step would be to bring up the mana still in the base of the tower and use it against the remaining residents of the star. Once on the ground floor, they took the opportunity to flee.
Once back in Acryn they convince Johannes to Pay them 39 riel each, more to be negotiated after factor returns. Each of them provide fake addresses, with the exception of Batts.
Batts takes the heart of the star and performs a Consumption ritual to re-empower those who had been affected
Both the Man of Many Means and Tristan Holt go to the Faculty of Inadvisable Experimentation, providing samples.
Batts talks to people's college about the Tower's travel through time, collisions with stars, broken dragon gates, that they believe the Empire still exists, and suggests talking to Johannes. They are very interested. He also talks to Johannes, telling him all about his compatriots and what really happened in the tower.
You are suffering from exhaustion and seem to be getting every illness doing the rounds. Your condition only seems to be getting worse, and without some sort of intervention your condition will likely be terminal.