Introduction

Another place, another time, and another campaign instance. I have 5 players this time although only 4 were present this evening. As a result of this I cut the number of "spare" attribute sets to two, which with my 2 NPCs meant 9 parties for the auction. The auction order, by random draw using a pack of playing cards, turned out to be Strength, Endurance, Psyche, and lastly Warfare!. All bidding was done by secret ballot and I'm not revealing the results yet.

The auction proved to be interesting especially given the previous reactions of the players to the concept. The auction for strength set the tone somewhat, and endurance got interesting, but the real humdinger was Psyche, even though one of the opening bids was 60 and remained the highest bid throughout.

The tendril the players see - read the Thirteenth Hour character intro - is sent by the Living Logrus to summon the Children of Amber into its presence. Each character is grabbed in turn and pulled across shadow in the grasp of a tendril until they find themselves approaching a huge tower, on top of which sits a huge Blue crystal. The tendril pulls them through the walls of the crystal and they now find themselves in a pentacular prism with 100m long walls, 60m high. In the center of each wall is what appears to be a blank 50mx40m picture frame. In the center of the floor is a geomantic construct. The construct consists of 3 concentric circles spaced 7 and 49 cm apart such that the inner circle has a radius of 21m. Inside the inner circle is constructed a 5 pointed star, forming a pentagram at its center. Between the Outer and Middle circle are 5 sets of seven symbols. Between the Middle and Inner circle is an inscription. In the center of the pentagram is a huge shifting thing of energy, deep blue in colour which is shot through with deep reds and sky blues that ripple across its surface and out along numerous tendrils like the ones holding the players.

About 30 seconds after the players arrive (they all arrive within the space of about 15 seconds), one of the tendrils flashes and intense bright blue and vanishes. A further 30 seconds pass, and there is a blinding flash and the players are unceremoniously dumped on the floor. When they recover their senses, there is a silver haired female figure in a vibrant green dress and black knee length boots lying unconscious in the middle of the pentagram. 

The first character to react is Allanon who without thinking crosses the outermost circles. When Isocrates, shouts something unintelligible, he stops and turns to see Isocrates gesturing at him. Working out where he is, and that he's in some magical construct he retreats back out of the circle. The characters then look about the room until Isocrates and Fane, seeing nothing had happened to Allanon cross into the circle and approach the figure. Initial shaking of the figure yields no results but after a few minutes she starts to come round. Whilst Fane tries to  extort answers from her Isocrates helps her to sit and then stand.

Once she recovers her senses she introduces herself as Dierdre. She then tells them rather briefly of the reality of their inheritance and, when questioned about escaping a war and saving their cities/realms tells them that they're in a far bigger war, and that to save their cities/realms they need to restore the Pattern. A sort of mini question and answer session follows where she tries to provide them with enough information to try and do what they wish. With the Thirteen hour running rapidly to a close she says she can send them to someone who may be able to help them, although she doesn't have time to explain who.

Having not slept properly for 72 hours, and having had to block one Logrus tendril already, and then having four people appear at the ends of Logrus Tendrils in your cramped 25ft x 20ft survival shelter does nothing to aid one's temper. So when the PC's are deposited into such a setting things could have got interesting. However faced with a figure in heavy armour carrying, what even those unfamiliar with the concept of guns managed to work out was a heavy weapon of some description, they chose to be polite and make no sudden moves.

After a certain amount of asking pointed questions, the figure in question who eventually introduces herself as Cordelia, manages to extract sufficient information to know they were telling some semblance of a version of the truth about what's happened to them and the events of that evening, and they are most likely 'cousins'. Given there were now four body guards about she decides to get some sleep. Whist Isocrates tries to make sense first of the coffee percolator and then the cooker, Kohaku decides to make use of the shower without first checking whether there were any towels available. Isocrates ignores her completely.. naked women were not an uncommon site in ancient Greece.

Whilst Isocrates continues to explore the nature of this strange environment, Fane retires under the table  to get some rest, and Allanon sets to mediating before to falling asleep.