Wonderland Double Feature (Sessions 4 & 5)

So I totally forgot to do a write up of Session 4, and then we had Session 5 this week.

In Session 4, the group was visiting an "island" inhabited by monks living in a monastery. The monks were extremely polite and friendly, rising the group's paranoia. They eat dinner and go to bed for the night, where the island effectively "rolls up" for the night.

The clown and Alistair don't sleep but somehow don't see their boat being taken by the monks and hidden. When the group wakes, they discover the boat is missing, and are invited to go to "service", where they learn more about the Twin Gods and the overall beliefs of the world.

The group stops the revered leader after the service to find out where the boat went and why the monks are trying to stop them from leaving. A larger discussion begins, and the group finds out quite a lot, much of it through observation.

There's a revelation that the TwinGods are off doing something important that takes a while, and somewhere the notion that they are having a baby comes about. While this conversation is happening, the leader of the monks begins to reverse his aging process almost in front of their eyes. As the leader learns, he becomes younger. His encounter with the group seems to reverse his age by a decade, if not more. This process continues throughout the rest of their conversations with him.

The group discovers that the monks came from somewhere else, and moved to their current island to escape the distractions of anything other than studying the TwinGods. They've forgotten what women are like except in a theoretical sense so the presence of the "pretty lady" has them somewhat baffled.  They have also lost sight of the instructions given to them by the TwinGods and the revelation that they need to follow all THREE of the rules laid down is a big deal.

The monks reveal that they left some men and a large contingent of women and children on their homeland, and that they don't remember where their home is, but it's "that way".

The group decides to try to find the monks's homeland if for no other reason than it must be full of women. They set off to the general area closest to where "that way" is, and they prepare to embark out into TheVoid.

that ended session 4.... Session 5 started with the group getting on their boat, trying to get back to the "land of the women ladies".

Two members of the group were absent again, and a new member joined up (but not right away).

The group is on their boat, deliberately trying to get to the place where the monks came from. Their previous routes were hindered by a lack of direction, but this trip is overwhelmed by too many places to go. There are sights, sounds and scents bombarding them on their way, rocketing them around in the "waves" of the Void, rocking them to and fro. The Captain (Sir Epperson the III) is a stalwart dude, and keeps pressing on, despite pretty serious boat sickness and continued overwhelming attacks from the Void.

The boat lands on an island of muck, a giant mire of crud and ick that doesn't want to let them go. While there, the ghost (Ling) is accosted by another entity like himself- his insides are groped and squeezed by some unseen force.  Ling is very upset by this and tries to get away. The group decides that they don't like this place and work hard to get free of the sticky, thick gunk that makes the island.

After they get free of the bog, they get somewhat turned around and the group has to work very hard to get a consensus of people concentrating on going to the land of the women. Several of the members of the group have void sickness and  are confused, frustrated or otherwise not at their best. The stalwart captain pushes onward with "finding the women" heavy on his mind.

They wind up on an island that is a very nice, if boring, rest stop. They find beds and latrines and a weird "vending machine" of sorts that pops out treats that vary according to who is buying them. They wander around and discover another waystation on the other side of the island.

They walk along and decide to move off the "sidewalk" and head onto a footpath. While exploring, they discover a new person. who has been stranded at the island, but not for a very long time. Her name is Tennessee and her group recently "shipwrecked" and she has been stuck on the island since.

The group invite her to go along with them on their adventures and she accepts. They discover that she is from Medira, the land of the women, and so the group is very keen to get back to exploring to find her homeland.

They set back out on the boat and get going, but while they are traveling, the sights and sounds of the Void are barraging them again, and they hear voices screaming for help while they travel. Tennessee hears voices from her past party members and Alistair hears voices from his past; all desperate for help. Sir Epperson III wants to be the stalwart captain and press on, but Tennessee convinces him to go look for her friends.

The GodSeekers (as the group has now dubbed itself) all concentrate on going to where the voices are coming from. Their landing place is a beach covered in glittery mist, and the voices are even louder.

They move up the beach slowly and carefully to see a group of people piled together, all of them apparently screaming and going crazy, begging "make it stop" repeatedly. The pile is fairly vague and non-specific. and as the group comes nearer, one of the people turns and looks at Sir Epperson III- with wild eyed hunger.


We cut for the night here, and hope that the missing two members can be here next time.