I've been running an ongoing campaign since 1992, which has split into multiple story lines. This is a summary of one of them. If anyone enjoys this and is interested, I'd be happy to share the full (120 page) campaign journal. The setting is Spelljammer, mainly around Archin and Pirtelspace, originally drawn from a couple of Dungeon magazine articles from way back. It also drawns on the Anvil of Time Dungeon article, the Desert of Desolation modules from way back, Star Trek, and many other sources. Enjoy.
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Archin is an ocean planet in the sphere of Pirtelspace, which consists of 3 major powers (Noccolante, Quarinaron, and Hasturia) and two minor powers (the Sea Elves, and Skyport, and an orbiting independent city-state & trading center).It has largely been cut off from any intersphere trade for 3 centuries by the depredations of Blacklight, an vicious radiant dragon.
While en route to Darkspace to fight T’Laan, the Gwynneth party discovers a Drow/Illithid plot to darken the sun of Pirtelspace and dominate Archin, with the aid of a lost colony of Drow from the ice-planet Century and mercenary frost giants. The party is defeated, but their Noccolante ally, Chateauneuf, returns home to warn his Pharoah.
Upon recovering consciousness, Chat. Reports his information. He learns Skyport is in panic, because it found out about the impending fleet, but the surface powers are distracted by an uprising of the sea elves which has crippled their navies, supposedly in response to a massacre perpetrated by a Hasturian warlord.
At the mention of the Dark Sun device by Chateauneuf, the High Priest of Ra breaks a millennia long secret, and reveals the Archin was settled 7 millenia ago by refugees from Thothspace, which was destroyed by rivalries between worshippers of Thoth, Ra, and Set, and who accidentally created the first Dark Sun, whose shards were spread through the universe, and have been since found by T’Laan and the Drow. About a millennia after the landing, civil war erupted between the groups, leading to the present separation.
Based on this information, the pharaoh decides to send an expedition to the Valley of the Ancients, the holy desert in the center of the vast Noccalante island, to attempt to find any ancient information which might counteract the Dark Sun device or help defend Archin. To help ensure success, he decides to try to overcome ancient rivalries with the Quarinaron, and invite them to join the expedition, since their knowledge might prove useful. The Quarinaron Council agrees, and send Encyclos and Webster to join. While in the Quarinaron capital, the devastating consequences of an illithid sneak attack are undone by Seiko.
The expedition sets off, united in their desire to discover knowledge to help Archin, but also cautioned by their leaders to avoid doing anything which might give the other power a strategic advantage. The expedition travels to the mountain pass, meets up with their guide Malek at the SkySea Oasis, takes a Sandskate to the far side, and then travels to the Gates of Fire, the pass which is the entrance to the Valley of the Ancients. En route, they see the sun darkened. In the Valley, they travel to the ancient ruined city of Rahkmet, once the capital of Noccolante.
They learn that a mighty river once flowed through the Valley of the Ancients, but it disappeared due to the magical war during the Time of Troubles. It was later restored by the pharaoh Amun-Re II with the magical Waters of Athis, but its flow was stopped by the dying curse of Amun-Re.
There, despite the interference of a zealous abbot, they enter the ancient pyramid of Amun-Re II at the prompting of his ghost, fight an ancient, mad, undead priest inside, and retrieve the Staff of Amun-Re, freeing his ghost and restoring the flow of the Waters of Athis. His released spirit informs the group that if they travel to a lost Temple of Thoth in Andril, and find the Fire Gem there, they can affix to the Staff and cast it into the sun to reignite it. During the climactic battle, Rolex disappears, along with the injured monk, Abarran.
Along the way, they discover that the nomads which live in the valley have started worshipping dark gods, including Set, and that a group entered the pyramid before them, and retrieved the Book of Set, which is reputed to give great power and allow the reader to raise a dark army.
After a short journey, the part finds the lost city of Andril and discovers the Temple of Thoth, guided by Webster’s faith in his god. From documents and divine guidance, the party is directed to find the Anvil of Time and the “Future Land of Fire”, and pieces together a secret history of Archin, including two sackings of the Anvil of Time. Once was in 457 BA. Later, the priests of Ptah restored it in the year 25, and were later sacked by the forces of Amun-Re.
Surviving various traps, the party is reunited with Rolex within the Anvil of Time, an ancient complex built by the priests of Thoth to study the nature of time. They are attacked by barbaric lizardmen, and saved by a future version of themselves. During their exploration and subsequent use of the Anvil, the party in general, and Rolex in particular, experience strange effects due to the temporal magics. They meet a party of mystical time travelers from Victorian Earth.
After experimentation, the party uses the Anvil to travel back to the 3rd Age, in the year 25 AA, during the second sacking, where priests of Ptah battle soldiers of Ra. There they meet Timex, a future version of Rolex. Chateauneuf is mistaken for Amun-Re by his guards, and Rolex superages Amun-Re before the party flees back to the future. There, they find the timeline has been changed, the sun is shining, the river Athis is flowing, and the priests are unable to sense the presence of Ra, Ptah, or Thoth. Rolex contacts Seiko, who is very disturbed by this turn of events.
Party travels back to the 2nd Age, where they find a version of Grimbald, Al and Aragorn after their escape from the Test of Ancient Yesterday. This is the version of Al and Aragorn that Rolex met in Victorian earth (in his past, their future). The party combines forces with the civilized lizard men of this era to defeat a blue dragon who has taken up residence in the Anvil, using an iron golem to attack it. During the battle, Al and Aragorn disappear, apparently sent on their way through the multiverse. Party retrieves various treasure, including a Crown of Stars, Spelljamming Mines, and an Orb of Dragonkind and a scroll with 3 copies of Create Major Helm(which Grimbald later absconds with). Party also meets a ghost of Rolex.
Party travels to the 3rd Age again, where they convince the soldiers of Ra of their intention to restore Amun-Re. They find that Amun-Re’s unscrupulous, unpopular brother Sakarr is due to be crowned Pharoah in 2 days. With the help of Amun-Re’s queen Nefekari, the party manages to foil Sakarr’s plan and restore Amun-re to health in a public spectacle, in which Rolex praises the glories of the mighty god Seiko, much to the party’s consternation. They are aided by Paeta, a member of an order of Ptah from the future, dedicated to preservation of the timeline, who helped foil the plot of Balen, an agent from a similar, rival organization from the altered timeline, in which the Hasturian empire rises to interstellar domination.
The party travels back to the 5th Age to confirm the timeline has been restored, and then travels to the 2nd Age to enter the Elemental Plane of Fire through the Temple of Thoth, where they believe the Fire Gem can be found. There, they are captured by an Efreet, and forced to fight in gladiatorial contests for his profit and amusement. They distinguish themselves, and are rewarded with the Fire Gem and their lives.
Party returns to Rahkmet, where they discover a ruined temple bears symbols of Seiko, not Ptah, as it originally did, and murals which relate a Seiko-skewed version of the restoration of Amun-Re. Returning to the Temple of Ra, the Abbot Senasik reluctantly provides them with an ancient Barge of Ptah, which they christen the Ancient Light. Rolex and Pnoh both search the temple archives for information on the cult of Seiko and any other historical changes. The party flies off towards Noccopolis.
Gathering intelligence at the garrison at the mountain pass and at the Skysea Oasis, group learns that Skyport surrendered without a fight, apparently with the complicity of its leader, Grandmaster Azure, and that the Drow & Illithids have ordered all spelljamming ships grounded. Noccolante continues under the siege of the sea elf attack. Party travels overland from the Oasis, and hear further rumors that the ice elves are landing in Hasturia. After their arrival in Noccopolis, the Pharoah confirms the rumors, and agrees to use his fleet to create a distraction while the Ancient Light leaves the planet to journey to the sun. Rolex does further research on the Cult of Seiko, and gets into an altercation with the priests of Ptah. Returning to the Oasis, the party leaves Archin without interference.
The Ancient Light avoids a Tradesman in pursuit, and repels an attack by an illithid, frost giant, and ice elves. As the party approaches the Mor Wak, T’Laan, using Keriacus’ crystal ball gate, sends Shadows and Bionoids to attack, but the party is once again victorious. As the party threads its way through the asteroid field, they are visited by Encyclos, who has spent his time searching for a way of contacting Thoth. Two of Encyclos’ senior students remain behind: Flindar the Bard and Corinth, priest of Apollo. The ship encounters the ghost ship Sky Ranger, but decide not to follow it. They find the wreck of a Noccolante ship, but avoid it, fearing a trap. The party encounters Blacklight, who takes a liking to Rolex, and flies off with him in her claws. Upon reaching the sun, the party hruls the Staff of Amun-Re and the Fire Gem into it, reigniting the star.
Beginning their journey back to Archin, Encyclos appears again, and tells them he rescued the Noccolante sailor, Ra’Heb, from the wreck, and learned from him that the Illithids use the ice elves and frost giants to maintain order on Skyport. The ship was part of an expedition to defeat Blacklight, now an obstacle to Drow/Illithid domination of Pirtelspace, using the Radiant Dragonslayer sword recovered fron Century. This followed an earlier mission to bribe Blacklight to buy her aid, which was lost without contact. The expedition failed, and the lead ship, a Drow Man-of-War, was taken by Blacklight back to her lair.
Meanwhile, Rolex, carried back to Blacklight’s Lair, learns that the Sea of Sorrows is a magic-dead zone where ships are stranded, and learns of the bribe ship and the later attack, that the ghost ship was created from the dying fury of the Sky Ranger’s crew (early victims of Blacklight), and is then stranded on a derelict Scorpion ship. Rolex begins firing the catapult, to slowly push the ship out of the Sea of Sorrows.
The Ancient Light, on its return voyage, encounters and follows the Sky Ranger ghost ship, and is led to the Sea of Sorrows, where it is briefly trapped. After their escape, they recover Rolex, leave the Scorpion ship to drift, scout further, and then journey back to Archin.
Returning to Archin, they find the return of sunlight has lifted the Illithid/Drow blockade, but Noccolante and Archin still suffer attacks and the siege of the sea elves. Ships continue to ferry ice elves to an island in northern Hasturia, where the local warlords have sworn their fealty (or been killed). The Pharoah and the Quarinaron Council plan a join attack to retake Skyport, and ask the party to go on a covert mission to disable its defenses. Scraping together a fleet (damaged by the drow & illithids, as well as the sea elves) will take several weeks. The group is honored for their brave deeds, in Noccopolis and Quarinadad. During this time, Pnoh is given the task of overseeing the repairs & rebuilding of the Ancient Light, while Web, Chat, and Malek focus on planning the attack on Skyport. Rolex uses the time to explore the cities.
Party gets a military briefing on the situation, and decides to investigate the sea elf problem, starting with the site of the supposed massacre.
After consulting with Ganthet, a mage familiar with many aspects of the sea elves, in particular their female anatomy, they convince him to accompany them in exchange for Rolex’s youthing him. En route to the site of the massacre, they drop messages into the ocean in an attempt to contact the sea elves. At the trading post, they learn that the soldiers who perpetrated the massacre seemed to be acting almost mechanically, that numerous dead dolphins have been found, and that sea elves attacked a ship, aided by sharks. Using various spells to interrogate a dead dolphin, they learn that it was killed by sea elves “that didn’t smell right”, and get undersea directions to a community of normal sea elves. The party investigates the undersea outpost near the trading post, in an attempt to capture one of the abnormal sea elves. They successfully capture one sea elf, killing two others and some sharks. After repelling an attack by sea zombies (from the sunken ship), they return with their prisoner to Quarinadad. There, they leave Ganthet to examine the prisoner and decipher the dead dolphin’s directions, recommend that a delegation be sent to the good sea elves, and decide to return to the Sea of Sorrows.
After piecing together what information they can on Blacklight and the Sky Ranger, they consult with Encyclos. He has begun building a base on an asteroid near the Sea of Sorrows, using Dimensional Folding to access it. The party takes a longboat with a crew of 6 sailors, and is gated to the edge of the Sea of Sorrows by Encyclos’ Dimensional Folding spell.
After several hours skimming the edge of the Sargasso, the party spies a ship near the edge. Investigating, they find it to be a derelict Neogi Mindspider. The party spends a day affixing a pairs of nonmagical engines to it, and send it back to the asteroid, crewed by two sailors. The party presses deeper into the Sargasso, and finds a large (60 ton) but strangely built ship, apparently of Gnomish design. Boarding the ship, they find curious gnomish artifacts, but are forced to flee by Black Puddings released by a trap, accidentally setting fire to the ship in the process. Not long after, the party finds a Wasp ship, where a Bionoid forces them to surrender their longboat. They spend 12 days adrift, until they steer themselves to an elven flitter using a harpooned scavver. They immediately fly to the edge of the Sea, after investigating a Shrikeship, and return to the asteroid base.
Returning to Archin via Encyclos’ gate, they learn that the mindspider and crew they sent back was captured by another mindspider, crewed by neogi. The party resolves to return to the Sea of Sorrows to try again. There, they find an overgrown Elven Man-of-War. Due to engine troubles, they drift uncomfortably close to the center of the sea, where they see a gargantuan ship orbiting the central Black Sphere, which they recognize as the lost ship from P’noh’s vision of the ancient colonization of Archin. They eventually manage to return to the asteroid base, where they protect the craft while its being pruned. Encyclos will captain the ship, flying it to a position approximately a day from Archin, while the party enters the Sea of Sorrows for a third foray.
In the Sea of Sorrows, the party heads directly for the center, ignoring a tradesman they encounter along the way. Blacklight approaches, and the party fearfully interact with her, learning that she is upset about her missing ships, and has been hurt by the bionoids aboard the Nautiloid, who have slain their illithid overlords, and have now obtained NEIFs from somewhere. Blacklight flies off, and the party decides to continue.
Ignoring a few other ship en route, they approach the Colony Ship at the center. Within, they find Blacklight's lair, as well as a section of the ship untouched by Blacklight's ravages. There, they find evidence of the high level of techno-magic achieved by the people of Thothspace, and areas of the ship dedicated to Thoth, Ptah, and Ra, which were apparently used to run the ship. On the bridge, Chat finds a golden throne, presumably the helm. In a theater, the party learns the history of the voyage and the accident which diverted the ship and killed the crew. In the visual record, they learn that liches took the ship for their lair, and were later confronted by Pirtel, the wizard-explorer who built Skyport. In that battle, the dark sphere, named the Lich's Tear, at the center of the sargasso was formed, and Pirtel and the surviving lich were catapulted to an unknown realm.
They also find a message, apparently from Ptah in the distant past, instructing the party to use the Anvil of Time, and to explore the Colony ship in a time seven millennia ago. The party disengages the helm from the Colony Ship, but an attempt to use a Dimensional Fold to return to Archin without encountering Blacklight goes horribly awry, due to the tortured nature of space around the Lich’s tear, and the party is catapulted to an unexpected destination.
Traveling through the portal, the party finds itself in a world of high technology in the year 2240, ruled by science, with no concepts of magic or religion. The world, Batrinn, and the interstellar confederation it leads are at peace, but it has a long and bloody history of wars, occupation, and disaster. After 24 hours, the gate reappears itself, and the party departs.
Next, the party finds itself in another world of technology in the year 2140, and witness an air raid by Gorn against a battered city, the crash landing of a Gorn fighter, and the human soldiers attempt to recapture him. The party holes up in an abandoned hotel until the portal reappears 24 hours later.
Next, the party finds itself in the same hotel in the year 2030, but it is now filled with people. After hiding in the office for a while, they decide to get a room, but are horrified to find that the Gorn are apparently running the planet. The party is fortunate enough to be found by the resistance, who helps the escape the Gorn, and are kept in a safe house until their next jump.
Next, the party finds itself in an immaculate warehouse in the year 1920. When Pnoh attempts to pray, he receives a vision of a Death’s Head god. They are discovered by Ace Rimmer, Space Ranger, and taken to see Dr. Nikodemus Vesla, the most intelligent scientist in the world. Vesla recognizes the party, and says that he met them in 1793 as a young astronaut, part of the expedition from Wandros to Batrinn. The party learns more history, and Vesla agrees to help them by traveling back in time, in an attempt to recharge the temporal charge of their helm, which appears to be fading. Vesla’s assistant Max questions Rolex closely about their interactions with other times, and provides them weapons.
Next, the party finds itself in a humid jungle in the year 1793. They fight off mutant creatures and meet the young Vesla The old Vesla arrives, charges their throne, and then is knocked unconscious by his assistant Max. Max reveals himself as an agent of the Time Patrol, locked in a temporal war with DarkTime. He praises the party for their restraint, thanks them for the positive changes they’ve caused in the timeline, and then disappears. Their helm rockets through the portal on its next jump.
Next, the party finds itself in a barren winter landscape in the year 1700, and seeks shelter inside what later appears to be a missile silo. They find a map of the world, which looks like Archin, leading them to believe they are either in the distant future or a parallel universe. Chat is engulfed by a horde of cockroaches. The party is surprised when the temporal portal opens after only 9 hours.
Next, the party finds itself in the control room surrounded by mutants apparently worshipping “the Bomb” and Set in the year 1610. The mutants have mental powers which they use to dominate the party, but stowaway cockroaches distract the mutants, allowing the party to escape and hide until the temporal portal opens, 4 hours later.
Next, the party lands in the year 1523, the year of the nuclear war. The computer which runs the complex has gone amok, killed most of the crew, and started the countdown to war. The party helps a young officer prevent the conflagration. Max the Time Patrolman appears again from the now-altered future, and asks the party to once again inspire Vesla in 1793 to create the World of Tomorrow, in an attempt to salvage as much of the future timeline as possible. In return, Max will take the party back to the year 150, which is the earliest the Patrol’s machines can reach.
The party then jumps repeatedly, approximately 100 years every 24 hours. In 281 OE, they find a lost time patrolman, Danthor Dras, who apparently traveled back too far in time and is unable to return. They agree to take Danthor with them, at the urging of Rolex. After a series of progressively shorter jumps with longer durations between them, the party becomes concerned the helm is losing its magic. In a time period of low magic where Danthor’s timebike functions, the group uses it to travel to the ruins of Rahkmet, where they locate the ancient Temple of Seiko, and use the portal there to enter the Anvil of Time.
Apparently charged by the Anvil’s environment, the helm jumps 500 years back to 987 OE, 7925 by the old calendar, a mere 1200 years after the party’s time. Through the Crystal Globe, the party sees two Illithids. They decide to change the gate setting to the desert arch, even though this will create a paradox (since the party will be unable to enter in the future). Unable to find a suitable code, the party waits until the helm jumps again and again, eventually ending up 700 years before their own time. Rolex feels the temporal paradox create a disruption, but is unaware of the consequences. The party discovers that Danthor strongly resembles Rolex, much to everyone’s dismay.
Now, early in the 5th Age, the party’s codes work, but they are out of sync with their own time. They visit the 3rd Age well before their previous visit, and then the 2nd Age, only to find it still occupied by the priests of Thoth who built it. The priests aid the lost time travelers. The party decides to return early, to 6 weeks before their time, so that they can visit the 2nd Age, loot the colony ship, and still return for the attack on Skyport.
Returning to 310 BA in the 2nd Age, they explore the ruins of the original Rahkmet, but are unable to find a suitable craft. Next, they investigate the Desert Arch, and decide to explore a previously unknown lost city, apparently dedicated to Set. A tablet describes the city as the last resting place of the Book of Set, and that Ra laid a Curse of Light upon the metropolis. The city, bathed in eternal light, populated with strange noises, grasping tentacles and abhorrent temples, proves too daunting for the party. They uncover a barge, fight off an attack by the scarred inhabitants of the accursed city, and pilot the barge to the coast.
Ascending into space, they are attacked by a Syllix scout ship. They are boarded, but manage to defeat the crew in a desperate battle. Reaching the Mor Wake, they manage to find the Colony Ship, which is mysteriously phasing in and out of this plane of existence. After landing aboard, they find it is inhabited by a crew of mummies. Chat, P’noh, and Webster are captured and entombed. They escape, meet a warrior of Set stranded on the ship, are attacked by strange, otherworldly creatures, and see ghosts or images of the colony ship’s original crew.
While battling the mummy pharaoh-captain on the bridge, the party accidentally destroy the console on which they found P’noh message, thereby wiping out this timeline and catapulting the campaign back to the point where they first explored the bridge, in the current time. In a flash of temporal dissonance, the party realizes the timeline was changed, and precisely retrace their steps until they once again arrive at the Colony Ship in the 2nd Age. There, they meet Grimbald, recently come from the Spelljammer and excited to finally find Chandos, the Realmspace planet he accidentally made disappear.
The party meets Setau again, defeat the pharaoh-captain in an epic battle, and are locked in a temporal loop which oscillates between the two timelines. They eventually break out of the loop and retrieve some weapons as well as two healed crewmen from the colony ship. They return to Archin and the Anvil, where the crew and Setau agree to return to the future with them.
In the Anvil, the paradoxes of changing the portal settings in the far future, as well as the party’s saving themselves, are resolved, and the party travels to the 5th Age.
More changes occur, as Danthor disappears in an hourglass-shaped flash of light. Then, Rolex leaves with two men who had apparently been repairing the ancient Temple of Seiko. Chat seeks help from the Abbot Senasik, who is enjoying the thousands of pilgrims flocking to Rahkmet since the river Athis was restored. The Abbot is very enthusiastic about providing anything that will get rid of Chat more quickly, and prepares a caravan to leave that very evening. After an uneventful trip through the desert, the party returns to Noccopolis.
There, they see a Vodoni delegation, meet with the pharaoh, attend a reception in their honor where they meet with Lord Chumsley, the idiot-bigot Noccolante ambassador to Skyport. The next day, they are briefed on the situation, discuss plans for retaking Skyport, and Setau sets off to forge an alliance with the Hasturian warlords.
After Setau returns with potential allies, the party sneaks aboard Skyport. There, they have difficultly sneaking inside, due to frost giant guards and an unexpectedly busy port on the underside of Skyport. Chat sneaks into the port and detonates several fireballs which, with the help of Webster’s spells, destroy the 70 ton Octopus ship which carries the Elder Brain. Setau is incapacitated in the attempt to sabotage the bay doors, but P’noh and Malek succeed. tThe Brain survives the destruction of the ship. Webster makes a valiant attempt to destroy it, which results in his capture, while the Illithids focus on sustaining the injured brain. Malek, Pnoh, and Chat make their way deeper into Skyport.
The group fights its way past numerous opponents, and frees Azure who provides vital aid and information, but who is unfortunately later recaptured. Azure breaks free, attempts to attack the brain again, but is injured trying to escape. Chat is later captured, and Malek makes his way into the Spur. He gains unexpected help from a Drow Priestess who seems none too fond of the Illithids, and she and her fellow Drow use a Dimensional Fold to travel to an underwater base being attacked by Ganthet and Sea Elves, and defend the web gate there. Malek is then knocked unconscious in an attempt to destroy the Helm Detector as the attack begins. The illithids pry vital tactical information from Webster’s brain, and P’noh makes a valiant attempt to take out one of the defending ballistae.
The injured Azure’s Contingency spell teleports him to the Temple of Thoth, where he is healed. The Allies decide to use the Eye of Ra, an ancient artifact that the Abbot Senasik recovered, to turn the tide of battle, along with the help of the Hasturian warriors, the Neogi, the Vodoni, and the Sea Elves. The illithids retreat, taking their allies and prisoners with them, including most of the party.
In a mysterious interlude, Malek, Chat, Webster, and Pnoh are recruited by Azrael, the once and future Lord of the Undead, to stop his earlier self from stealing the mystic powers of dead gods at the Mausoleum of the Gods, thereby gaining the power to destroy the universe.