Events of 2 March 1019
First Expedition into the Gi Portal Metaplane
Agent 37 of the Subtle Thread and her assistants have been probing the Gi portal since we took control of it a year ago. Their research concluded that the portal contained a multitude of protections which would hinder or incapacitate anyone who attempted to pass through it. But by using a Zaubermeld, one could manifest the wards on the portal into a metaplane, where they can be more easily controlled and dismantled.
Additional studies found that extended exposure to the metaplane imposed a risk to one’s health (in the sense that one might be lost in the Metaplane forever). The statistical likelihood of a safe return to the Prime Material Plane decreases dramatically after ninety minutes, so it was immediately obvious that the mission to disengage the magics of the Gi portal would require a divided force.
Warlord Saka put out a call for willing adventurers to assemble three teams of ten individuals. I personally commanded the first such group with the goal of gathering as much information as we could about the magimechanical properties of the metaplane for the subsequent groups. We were successful in our scouting mission. Here is what we know:
There are four known chambers of the metaplane which are all connected by a small nexus room. The door to each chamber must be unlocked by assembling a set of tangrams into a shape pictured on the door. A door only remains open while the tangrams are assembled correctly, so it is logistically feasible to have more than one door open at a time. Further investigation may reveal that two doors may be opened at once through efficient assignment of tangram pieces; however, I find that possibility unlikely. Aside from the doors, the nexus contains a slate of grayish material which had several shaped holes in it. Some of the holes were filled by solid pieces of the same material.
Each of the four chambers represent a set of wards on the portal. They are: Divinity, Macro Magic, Material, and Health. All of the chambers contained numerous locked boxes, small wood-like cubes with a letter on one face and a shape on the opposite face, various items bearing a four-pointed red symbol, and some number of black tabards.
The Divinity chamber contains a bardic stage, a card-based set-matching puzzle, and a large panel containing unknown and unseen substances. There is also a small altar next to the stage which may or may not interact with a specific object from another chamber. A heavy book exists somewhere in the metaplane and contains a series of scripts for plays which should be performed on the stage. The scripts call for a cast of ten characters, and we believe that the black tabards are costumes corresponding to each character.
The Macro Magic chamber contains a light golem construct, a pit, a wall-mounted dial with four positions marked by colored points, and a grid set into a box containing tubes of some kind. The colors of the tubes are identical to the colored points on the dial. The golem also seems to carry another tube (of one of the four colors). The exact configuration of the room depends on the position of the dial; if the dial position is changed, the chamber configuration (along with the weapons wielded by the golem) will be slightly different when the door to it is next opened. Falling into the pit is not recommended. As it seems to be effectively bottomless.
Of the remaining two chambers, I do not exactly know which is which, but I believe both were defeated by the groups that followed my first team. One chamber contains a Void construct which will engage an individual in a spoken exploration simulation. There are various objects around this chamber which seem to relate to particular scenes in that simulation. This chamber also contains several logic puzzles and a paddle which likely is related to the wood-like letter cubes.
Another chamber contained a magical pit (not bottomless - falling into this “pit” returns you to the nexus) along with several stepping stones. Several bones appear to float on top of the pit, and another bone is chained to the wall near the door. To the right of the door are several sculptures of metal. Far to the left of the door is (was?) another possible void construct. Reports from the third group suggest that this construct is named “Luc”.
The two groups that followed my scouting group each managed to defeat one of the chambers in the metaplane. With the help (yes, genuine help) of Thoril --- along with Cressida and Clove, I was able to project my presence into the metaplane to make contact with the third group. The exact methodology of this process was crude, but could prove to be a useful tool in future expeditions.
Conclusions:
More work is required to render the Gi portal completely passable. Most magics and magical artifacts are still blocked by the remaining wards, but physical passage is now possible. I do not know how the portal has been effected on the Gi side. I am increasing security around the portal to protect against anything that might come though it to Gi and will begin making plans for a reconnaissance team to enter Gi from our side for the first time.
Attachments:
Report from Squire Kara regarding the second group
Report from Lord Temorse regarding the third group
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Captain Orion Mars, Chimeron Militia
Sworn Member of the Azure Guard
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Attachment 1: Report from the Second Group
With the notes that were provided to us from the previous team, we were able to get into the material room pretty easily, so thank you to those who took the time to help us stay informed when in there. The material room took a bit out of us though, so some of us went to figure out how to get into the other rooms. This lead to what can be summarized by this image:
Also, huge shout out to Jack for sitting down to focus on the puzzle box so we could keep the material door open! All in all, our group primarily focused ourselves in the materials side of magic, such as magic weapons and silver. By the time we had finished, I'd say we had maybe 5 minutes left. All in all, it was a fun 90 minutes of puzzles with some combat, and I'll gladly go at a another attempt should the opportunity ever present itself.
-Squire Kara Nithisdottir
Attachment 2: Report from the Third Group
We were the third party to enter the magical nexus tied to Gi. Our party consisted of Loken of the Northern Alliance, and Killian, Kaelkatar, Grindin, Umbra, Caleal, Raynor, Shader, and myself of Ashenmark. We received a solid groundwork of intelligence from the previous parties ahead of time, as well as an astral communication from Captain Orion. When we arrived we were able to open a gateway to a micro-plane that requires us to move stones across a void. Kaelkatar, Killian, Grindin, and Loken undertook that endeavor, aided by a man they met there know as Luc. While the first team began unraveling the mysteries of this micro-plane, Shader, Caleal, Raynor, Umbra, and myself began to investigate the next one. We encountered a clockwork being who we defeated. We were able to return to this micro-plane again, and again, each time gaining a little more ground on stripping the ward of its power. While we were not able to complete our goal of stripping this ward power fully we did reconvene with the first group who had completed a ritual to strip the ward in the first micro-plane, apparently reducing the effects of natural diseases to those traveling to Gi.
We are thankful to those who came before us for the intelligence they provided, as it helped to ensure our success in destroying the first ward, even if we did not succeed in doing more.