Session 4.15

1629, Sea Season, Fertility Week, Clayday

Dramatis Personae

Events

The session began with our intrepid heroes still below ground, in what appeared to be a dwarf-made site. After continued discussions about directions, they set off in a westward direction, entering a room with some dodgy-looking mushrooms. Maalira spotted rat-dog droppings and warned the party, but despite evidence of them here and there, the vermin did not make an appearance.

To the south, there was a large L-shaped room with a mosaic floor that depicted some sort of mathematical proof. The room was lined with sarcophagi and images of circles within circles. Irillo got carried away with explanations, leading Varanis to get carried away with boredom.¹In her defence, there were mysterious levers on the walls and she was bored. The Vingan discovered a latrine, but Berra was pissed off by her carelessness and stormed off towards the north.

North of the mushroom room, there was a large round room that held a 400-year-old representation of the skydome. The room to the west had an enormous bronze table with a relief map of Dragon Pass. Irillo decided that this needed to be his. Everything beyond the mushroom room was flooded with mud, water, and old sewage. Given there was no way around, Varanis scooped up Lenta and carried her towards the next door, only to give up and set her down in the mud when it became obvious there was no end to it.

Beyond this, there was a long hall and once again, Varanis got impatient.²Irillo was delaying things with his investigation of the table. She wandered off, just by a few steps. And then a few more. Everyone else stopped to consider the large bronze door with its intricate locking mechanism. There was an interesting room that seemed to have something shiny in the middle. Varanis went for it and the ceiling fell on her.³It’s possible she deserved to die in the filth, but lucky for her, she mostly evaded it. Mellia cleaned her up and healed her from the damage as best as possible, given the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Lenta was listening at walls and heard grinding noises and odd chittering. Berra decided they’d best regroup at their starting point to make sure that things were still clear. Back at that room, they realised that there was still one more passage south they hadn’t explored. 

They headed that way, with Berra in the lead. At one point, the Humakti decided they all needed to be connected by rope for safety.⁴ Given the pit traps and falling ceilings… it was probably good that one of them showed some sense. They found themselves in a massive chamber with a raised dais. On it stood a large humanoid figure with raised arms. Maalira and Mellia worked out that the figure was probably Mostal. The rest room was full of boxy metal shapes in various states of disrepair, and when Mellia offered Mostal some magic, one of the figures came to life for a moment. This led to others offering Mostal magic and several machines activated for brief flashes. One flung steel blades (no one was wounded and later Irillo collected these). Another blew smoke in Varanis’ face, causing her to choke and cough. 

Berra spied some kind of glow from beneath the altar, but Maalira and Mellia sensed it was something to do with Chalana Arroy. Lenta and Irillo worked out a way to shift the altar just enough that Lenta could slip through. Inside the chamber she found a bell jar containing an enormous moth, which reacted poorly to her handling of it. Mellia sanctified a space above and when Lenta freed the moth, it flew to Mellia and settled on her like a cloak, though she could not communicate with it.

This seemed like the cue to depart, so everyone made their way back to the troll portion of the complex. Irillo took care of the negotiations with the troll king and at last, Mellia had the spirit who would hopefully one day soon become the wyter for her hospital. Irillo has plans (and agreements) about coming back for more of the dwarf-made materials below. 

• 1
  In her defence, there were mysterious levers on the walls and she was bored.
• 2
  Irillo was delaying things with his investigation of the table.
• 3
  It’s possible she deserved to die in the filth, but lucky for her, she mostly evaded it.
• 4
  Given the pit traps and falling ceilings… it was probably good that one of them showed some sense.