Downtime between Machodor Sessions #94 and #96: Chaos Windows and the letter from Cthugarak to the Fire Giants.

Introduction

In the last two sessions the adventurers of Machodor discovered or obtained things that were ripe for downtime investigation. In session #94 it was strange windows of chaos. During session #95, last session, in the first rooms of the Hall of the Fire Giant King, the heroes surprised a merchant party preparing to depart and managed to kill them after a tough battle. On one of them was a map and a the other a letter, but both of these were damaged by wine from the giant's broken wineskin. Sever brought these back to Minas Mandalf and tasked Pointdexter, his magic-user henchman, with getting them repaired by obtaining a casting of Macho Mandalf's Greater Mending.

I didn't have the whole thing ready to go when they got it last session, hence the *water damage* was just a device to give me a bit more time to come up with the details. It is always a good idea to come up with ways to give out partial information to players and say if they are at all interested before locking in the details.

Downtime Report

Macho Mandalf's Greater Mending is a spell that can be cast by various magic-users in Minas Mandalf, but attentive readers will recognise that it has not yet been published on the blog. I am still tweaking the exact rules for it, the spell will be published when I've finished, but for now it works to allow the map and letter to be restored.

Map found on a dead Fire Giant and repaired in Minas Mandalf

In a similar way, the letter that was with the map could also be restored, and later read using comprehend languages.

To the Honour of the Basalt Gate-Fort
and the Watchful Eyes of the Temple Flame,

Let it be known that on the turning of this lava-cycle, there comes to Cthugarak a delegation of our lava-kin, the Fire Giants of the upper slag-lands, under the lead of Gorvak Ironbrand, Scion of the Black Anvil and sworn vassal of the Fire Giant King.

[repaired water damage]
The first of their kind to do so, know them by their red hair and great height and strength. I have provided a map showing the route from their domain to the causeway gate tower where they must check in before entering the city.
[repaired water damage]

By this letter, I, Captain Sszharrek Flame-Scale of House Blazenewt, commander of the western tunnel-scouts, bear witness that Gorvak Ironbrand and his chosen warriors come not as raiders, but as traders and honoured guests. They bring tribute in heavy iron and dark ore, to be weighed and judged in our forges.

They seek in return:

• Alchemical flames and munitions fit for giant hands.
• Chains, cloaks, and arms sanctified to the Lord of Fire.
• Counsel with those Houses whom the Temple deems worthy.

At the command of the Eyes of the Inferno, three Ignisalam brooches have been granted for their persons, marking them as pilgrims under watchful flame. Let these be respected at the Basalt Gate and within the main avenues, subject always to priestly inspection and the justice of Lord Inferno.

Further, six pendants accompany this letter, to be hung upon their lesser attendants and interpreters as your officers deem fit, that no honest servant be taken as stray slave through ignorance of our customs. I charge the Gate-Tower to see these marks properly placed, and to correct any error in their wearing with firmness, not haste.

I request that:

1. The giants be granted provisional [repaired water damage] heat-cloaks for all who bear a pendant for the span of their first stay, to protect their weaker servants from the heat of our great city. [repaired water damage]
2. They be escorted from the Basalt Gate-Tower [repaired water damage] to the Foreigner Quarter unmolested, there they may find such lodging as is available at the time. [repaired water damage]
3. Any offence that springs from [repaired water damage] ignorance of our laws be first laid at my feet, that I may answer for the teaching of foreign allies. [repaired water damage]

Should Gorvak or his kin betray this trust, let this letter stand as my seal that Blazenewt will answer blow for blow beside the Gate-Fort, as befits those who guard the causeway.

By scaled hand and seared oath,
under the gaze of Cthuga's Sacred Flame,
Captain Sszharrek Flame-Scale
Shield of the Causeway, House Blazenewt

Chaos Windows: Gurt's Story

You return to Minas Mandalf and seek the guidance of Chrysogonus, patron of the Planar Corps of Machodor, telling him all you can remember of recent events in the underground river system. His expression grows graver as you speak, describing the chaos windows—the way the edges shimmer like oil on water, the impossible geometries that twist behind the glass, the faint, eerie sounds that sometimes drift through them.

He exhales slowly.

“Those are no mere planar rents,” he says. “You have seen true Chaos windows—such as those described in the old tales of Melniboné and the Young Kingdoms. When such windows appear in numbers, it means the balance is tilting. The Lords of Chaos are preparing to reshape the board.”

He steps closer, lowering his voice though no one else is near.

“When Chaos grows bold enough to manifest these windows openly, a terrible bargain is offered to mortals. He who fights Chaos directly—he who confronts its champions, closes its gates, or slays its greatest servants—may claim dominion over the newly formed lands that Chaos intends to birth from the wreckage. Victory does not merely preserve the world; it carves fresh principalities from the stuff of unformed possibility. Macho Mandalf himself has been one such victor, divesting all of Machodor from the great ship of space and becoming part of this world. Only the very wise can perceive the borders between the two."

Chrysogonus’ eyes search yours.

“Why the windows have appeared now, in the Bandit Mountains, so close to the fire newts and their dragon-lord? I conclude that Lord Inferno and his Fire Order have weakened the barriers. Chaos smells opportunity. If the windows spread—and they will, the entire region could become a crucible. Whoever stands against the tide and prevails could walk away with a kingdom of their own making… or lose everything to the entropy that follows failure.”

Chaos Windows: Sever's Story

The bard Fico (former henchman of Prince Barin and now freelancing in Minas Mandalf) offered this cryptic interpretation to Sever.

― Fico, Bard of Arboria ―

In caverns deep where rivers run through stone,
You spied the fractures, Sever, windows thrown
Open to the formless dark that waits —
Not wounds in Law, but doors the Chaos gates.
No random tear, no crack from storm or quake,
But invitations cold, for mortals' sake.
When these appear in numbers, stark and bright,
The balance trembles on the edge of night.

The Lords of Chaos muster, press the veil,
Their hunger swells where mortal hopes grow pale.
Yet hear the bargain whispered through the flame:
He who meets their chosen, bears the name
Of victor, claims the lands they mean to birth
From ruin's womb, new realms of solid earth.

Macho Mandalf walked that path of old —
Tore free his realm from void's unyielding hold,
Anchored Machodor here where once it sailed
On ships of starless dark. The border failed
Only to the wisest eyes; the rest see plain
A single world, unscarred by ancient pain.

So tread those depths with open eye and blade,
For windows watch, and they are never sated.
Fight, and win, and kingdoms may be made —
Or falter, and the dark will claim its due unpaid.