Category: Graveyard of Empires: The Islands of Curabel: Session Summaries

Session 95

29th Faurilden, 10:10am

The party sits at the Engineering portal, watching Thorfus direct one of the monkeys through the Pathogen labs. He reports seeing the one group of creatures get shocked in response to breaking the window, though the others seem unable to damage the window at all. The monkey is now at the edge of his range however, leaving us unable to see more.

We pause to consider the next move, wondering about the defences, and whether a third portal could dial in at all whilst we held this connection open. Thorfus moves closer to the portal on our side to extend his range, allowing the monkey to look around the nearby corners. Doing so seems to trigger the lighting in the area to turn on, although it appears flickery, indicating possible power problems.

To the east, the corridor turns north east,  with a door sitting in the middle of the north-west wall, appearing to be locked. The south-east wall is still entirely glass holding back the ten oozing humanoids we can see, and there appears to be an electrical hoist sometimes visible beneath their feet. Behind them, another glass wall reveals another corridor, and a pair of door beside them.

Chuq asks for a closer look at the creatures, and the monkey reveals them to be seemingly naked humans, or perhaps elves, of both sexes. Thier skin is rubbery and gives way quite easily, as evidenced by thier blows and whenever they collide, and it seems that whatever the bone structure they may have would be dislocated by our standards. They seem quite mindless, only intent on getting through the glass.

Thorfus directs the monkey to continue down the corridor, it first turning north, then north-west, as if circling the portal room. The lights seem to follow the monkey, activating ahead of it and deactivating behind. Another glass room to the north-east is devoid of occupants, though there is another electrical hoist present.

Whilst this is going on, Chuq sends Socrates through the portal to triangulate his location with Finkleworm. On return, the owl relays that Finklemur believes that we are closer than our previous location, and potentially able to arrive within a day. We tell him to start digging, though Socrates says the wizard is distracted, and apparently having trouble perceiving time. As far as we can tell, when the owl returns, there has been no ill effects of being on the other side.

As the monkey continues round, another glass chamber to the north-west is revealed, this time filled with humanoids covered in fungal growths. The lights coming on seem to waken them, and like the others they press forward and begin beating on the glass.

Continuing the circuit, the monkey passes yet more windowless locked doors. The south-west room now however is empty beyond its cracked glass. There are no signs that the doors or hoist within have been used, but the monkey’s senses show picked up nothing of the bony creature’s egress. We guess they went south.

The south-most room still holds the four necrotic humanoids, some sitting, some standing, and completely reactionless despite the door remaining open this entire time.

Whilst we consider what to do next, Edan question Kalgunn on what he thinks of the creatures in the facility. The sword-dwarf guesses that the four in the southern room are dwarven researchers who succumbed to disease at some point, unlike the others which were obviously test subjects, though he doesn’t know much more than that, as it wasn’t his area. Razumin was the administrator of the facility, and he doesn’t really know where his office would be, except that the facility has layered defenses and it would be undoubtedly be beyond them.

Agreeing to keep scouting as best we can, and potentially find more suits, we close the door to the south, and move to check each of the cardinal rooms. The east reveals a 60ft long hallway with nine doors some locked and some unlocked. Thorfus has the monkey check the closest room to the north, revealing a familiar looking set of residential quarters.

Closing the area and heading north reveals a square room with a tall ceiling that also contains a balcony, with familiar furniture to the southern room. Three infected creatures react as the doors open from up on the balcony, two rubbermen and one bony creature. The leap off of the balcony, the bony creature falling badly, and charge forwards, but the monkey is able to shut the door in thier faces. As it retreats however, the door quickly reopens, so Thorfus has the monkey retreat back south around to the west.

He opens the western ‘airlock’ to the portal, and steps through. The banging from before starts up from the one-way glass on the south-eastern wall. The three creatures charge down the corridor, stopping at the doorway, seemingly aware in someway. The bony creature seems restless even, and eventually moves out of view, but none of them want to enter the room. As the monkey watches, it can see the remnants of white cloth that may be similar to the robes from the bioforge.

Thorfus has the monkey reach for the button, which elicits a slight recoil from the creatures, speaking of some intelligence. He presses it, and the door closes, causing the metal globes to hum louder momentarily and scan the monkey, before the mist is released once again. After a moment, the door to the portal room enters.

Inspecting the slag piles reveals them to be made up of various metals, some precious, and Thorfus has the monkey drag them into the portal room, as some of it may be retrieval and worth something. He repeats this for the north and eastern ‘airlocks’.

Once done, the monkey is sent back through the south again, once more getting sprayed. Entering the corridor, he runs right back into the creatures again, so it retreats and presses the button again.

It seems we are trapped, so with the helmets from the enviromental suits and Chuq’s natural resistance, the two dwarves and the monk head through the portal. We ready up in the south room with ranged weapons. We get misted, and there is nothing there when the door opens, but with a shout, Axel draws the bony creature back to the door. It is met with arrows and daggers, and Axel’s second shot is able to bring it down.

As it falls, one of the rubbermen appears. Chuq sets his spear for a charge, whilst Axel and Thorfus continue to fire, though thier arrows seems to bounce off, seemingly harmlessly. Thorfus also has the monkey charge and attack the creature. The rubberman ignores the monkey and instead leans down and lifts the bony creature, then throws it at the pedestal as if trying to hit the button.

It misses luckily, and Axel retaliates with a well-placed firebomb, the oil splashing over both creatures. They recoil, their flesh melting slightly. Thorfus charges in alongside his monkey, and his sword manages to hurt the second creature, and we all move up into melee. We kill the one and hurt the other, but it steps back away from the door. We follow it out, continuing to draw ichor from it with every blow.

The creature falls back even further, hitting the button to the southern room and retreating within. Rather than follow it into the four creatures within, we elect to continue shooting it, which forces it to hide. The monkey gives chase, attacking it in the corner of the room, and the rotting creatures finally react, surrounding and attacking the tiny automaton.

It gets dismantled by a rain of rotten blows, so after another firebomb is tossed into the room, Chuq closes the door and Thorfus locks it. Thorfus turns around and pushes the rubberman corpse into the airlock, pushing the button with a ten-foot pole and incinerating the two corpses.

After that, we decide to head north to the room with the balcony. As we pass, Chuq’s ESP picks up a mess of confusion, hunger and the desire to destroy. In the north room, we decide to head through the door to the east, which opens into a hallway. The hallway curves around to the north, heading up some stairs and into a smaller room with double doors to the north and south. The tops of each wall have moving murals of double helixes combining and recombining.

In the centre of the room, a hologram shows a creature with a polyhedral head, cyclindrical body and six stringy tails, though there is no obvious projection point.

We check the southern door, revealing the now empty balcony, and lock the door, then repeat the action with the western door after confirming a corresponding staircase. The north double door is next, where Chuq senses a presence he describes as ‘a lot of crazy’.

Leaving that for now, we head down the west stairs, seeing the fungal creatures beyond a glass wall at the bottom. We decide to check the second door at the base of the stairs, which is locked. Chuq still senses crazy, and we can’t hear anything over the ambient humming. After a second of considering the facility’s layout, Axel realises the door opens directly into the creature’s pen.

We head back out into the circling corridor and try the door on the north-west interior wall. We hear nothing, and opening it reveals the other side of the mirrored walls of the ‘airlocks’. Several displays show the views from the domes, as well as access listings, noting the monkey’s usages of the doors. A pedestal holds a holographic display.

We check the pedestal, which displays some unknown language made up of odd icons, which at best we recognise a commonly recurring symbol that looks like an eyeball. Chuq mentally relays the symbols to Edan who confers with Kalgunn, who says it’s malfunctioning in some fashion. He recommends use of a PAS key, and in doing so, the pedestal flips over to Ancient Dwarven instead, with the following options.

-Review Readouts of Recent Beings in Cleansing Chamber

-Security Footage

-Manual Activation of Defences

-Door Lock

The logs correspond to the north and west airlocks, which mainly show the access of the monkey at several points, then the unauthorised access of a number of non-dwarven entities, which were destroyed, then more entries of passing dwarves. Both airlocks are the same roughly in logs, but northern has six dwarves enter the facility before the monkey but after the non-dwarves.

We head out to check the logs in what we presume are other rooms in the ring, stopping only to check the western door first. Scouting with the circlet, Thorfus picks up eight large automaton presences below us, which are four armed, treaded automatons plugged into the walls.

Thorfus takes control of one and sends it east, entering a long hallway with large number of various types of the humanoid creatures within. They retreat at the sight of the automaton, although Thorfus cannot detect any weapons on it. Checking with the automaton, it reveals itself as a ‘grappling unit’, designed to grab test subjects. We instantly begin planning how best to utilise it to our advantage.

Meanwhile, the Grappler is sent west, revealing the hall surrounds the central bay. Thorfus directs it to the south-west hoist, though it cannot get out of the pen there, so it gets redirected to the north-east hoist, where we can open the door safely, though there we realise it is too wide to get through the door.

We decide to test its grappling abilities, sending it down into the creatures below, and manage to catch one of the rubber creatures. We have the Grappler bring it up to us, and Chuq suggests testing thier odd intelligence by attempting to communicate with it. It recognises Thorfus’ Ancient Dwarven, but that seems only to focus its anger. Realising we’ll get nothing from it, Thorfus apologises and ends its life.

Session 94    February 2, 2016 

During the week Pons is training.

Kalgunn and Edan negotiate a deal. Kalgunn agrees to trains Edan on how to construct an Electrical Sphere Autonotom in exchange for historical tales of the Isles of Curabel. They assemble one but need a control cube to activate it. Kalgunn also suggests that if he was taken to one of the functioning flying scrying devices (about 200,000 feet) he might be able to locate the Conclave in Exile’s base. From this unknown location, he might be able to restore the entire network of scrying devices.

On the 28th of Faureldin, messages have returned from Midmark confirming Ryker’s identity. Canon Alaric Winterbergh from Midmark has arrived to vet Ryker, the two spend all their time debriefing. Marchmain then sends us a message that the patrols in the under city have been canceled and that Dorea he has asked the leadership in Xenilum Khel to allow the SilverThrone to guard and the Brotherhood of the Forge to administer the cultural treasures of Xen Khel.

Edan asks Kalgunn to help recover the chief engineer’s deleted records. Kalgunn confirms they are not accessible. He does explain that if one were to set the power controls for the engineering facility to overload, the entire facility would be lost to the molten earth depriving all the dependant facilities of all power. Anyone who did so could escape via the portal system, so long as their first destination had access to the outside. 

The Committee for Portal Reconnaissance Feasibility decides to shroud the Engineering portal room in Darkness then send an autonotom via the portal to the Bioforge Research Facility. The surface Boys gather our band together and head from the estate to the high peak temple. Several militia ask Thorfus if there might be a final libation before they ship out. Thorfus’ agreement is met with cheers from the blokes milling about. The sentry at the temple is now only five guards watching the sun drift across the sky. 

Collecting Derich, we all meet in the engineering facility. Our plan is enacted without casting darkness, instead we shroud the one strobe light in the portal room but the portal for D does not activate. Thorfus reactivates the power to D so that we can proceed. Our first look shows just a little damage to the octagonal room. Thorfus commands the monkey to step through the portal to look about. The monkey is greeted by a docile undying that invites the monkey to follow it westward. Thorfus keeps the monkey within control range which annoys the undying. It undoubtedly wants the monkey to follow to Marinthala’s office. 

When the monkey turns to leave, the undying utters ‘wait’ and the two stare at each other for some time. Eventually a pale islander holding a banner enters the hall way. His appearance is familiar to Thorfus. Noticing the open portal, he rushes towards it yelling at someone unseen that the portal is open. Thorfus has the monkey encourage him to enter so that we can capture him. Chuq’s mental probe is interrupted as the Islander stiffens. The islander speaks in ancient dwarven to the monkey asking who it serves. He asks if it serves the chief pathologists, engineer, botanist. Stating it doesn’t serve the same master, Thorfus looses control of the Monkey. Chuq then shuts the portal down as Thorfus rushes to the engineer’s office to deactivate all power to the Bioforge research.  

Now we open the portal to the Pathogen Research facility and send a single monkey to reconnoiter. The monkey exams doors to all cardinal points. Since the rooms beyond are all occupied by mounds of molten slag but the southern room, we instruct the monkey to enter the southern room. It is carpeted with ash. An arrhythmic pounding is heard from a mirrored wall to the west. The money presses the single button on the only pedestal, which causes the northern door to close, a shower to sprinkle followed by a burst of air. Then the southern door opens.  

Beyond is a 10’ wide corridor running perpendicular to the west & east. At either end are wall sized windows that become visible as lights in the corridor light. Behind the windows are mutated creatures throwing their bodies against the windows. The bony creatures to the west are fracturing their window. The monkey examines the opposing door to the south and sees beyond it another room with furniture, doors to other areas, plant boxes and four flesh sloughing humanoids loitering. What other secrets are hidden in this hell hole?

Session 89    December 30, 2015 

18th of Faurilden, 4:00 pm

Thorfus and Edan are healed before we searched around for traps and other nasty surprises. Feeling safe, we pocket the plans and turn our attention to the closet in the south. Within the closet we find a series of shells connected by pulley and chains. We collect a trove of precious gems from the shelves.

Mixed with the gems, we find two peculiar backpacks and 60 small metallic slugs. Play with a backpack shows that one actually becomes a pair of wings. It also looks like it needs one of the batteries we have for the power armor. The other backpack has a tank connected to a wand a hose. The packs are made for dwarves but the straps look long enough for a human, elf or power armored dwarfs to wear. The packs are stowed with the party gear without any further experimentation.

The slugs spur us to examine the cylinder robot that hurt our leader and our health. The robot has as many levered doors as the number of slugs we found. Confident the robot is safe without the slugs loaded into it, Edan pockets both cylinder robot and slugs in his gear.

We move further down the corridor to the east. The last south facing door opens easily. In the room there are a bed, a drafting table, foot locker, an information pedestal and closet in the south. The table and bed are empty. The door leads to a water closet with running water. 

The footlocker has a red light that turns green when Thorfus passes his platinum PAS key by it. Confidently, a robot monkey opens the foot locker’s lid causing the room to be bathed in darkness. At the same time, Boris falls away from the floor slamming into the ceiling above our heads. We hear the sound of breaking crumbling stone above us. Chuq brandishes his continually lighted Starchie Boyz badge. The darkness and the badge cancel each other, so that we can see by the light of our magic weapons and/or infravision. 

From the floor, we see Boris, the monkey, the footlocker and a Gargoyle sitting on the footlocker on the ceiling. The Gargoyle is belligerent, but not for long. It’s head shatters as Edan slaps his pommel against it. At it’s demise, the objects above fall back to the floor. 

The footlocker is locked again. We decide to play with it later and turn our attention to the information pedestal. The display above interactively tells us of the power connections from the Engineering sections with the other underground labs. It is implied by the schematic that the Engineering section is far below the others. We learn that “There is a power failure in the Bioforge Research area, maintenance needed”.  The other labs have stable power. A blinking point on the display refuses to give details. We are stymied by this message : “Information on this area not available without special clearance, please contact Xen Khel administrative for required permission” Thorfus’ platinum PAS key fails to grant us permission. 

Thorfus and Axel now take a few minutes to review the contents of the 13 different information cubes we have collected. Eventually they come upon a cube that reports on the occupants of the cells in the bioforge research lab. To our dismay, we learn that all the cells are empty and have been synchronized. Our failure to rescue them stings deep for some of us. We also learned the synchronization controls have failed, there is physical damage to the cells. Thorfus activates the reptile area pacification system several times, getting a kick from potentially shocking anonymous victims!

Thorfus uses his PAS key to change the footlocker display light to green but whenever we try to open the locker, the light turns red. Chuq suggests we find the last whereabouts of the Engineering Administrator deducing the necessary PAS Key would be on his person. 

After speaking with some autonotoms, we search to the west and find the Chief Engineers office after meeting several patrolling autonotoms and seeing a large open space occupied by a immense multi limbed robot repairing other regular sized autonotoms including undying. The Chief Engineer’s corpse rest here, sitting next to a desk similar to the Bioforge Chief’s desk. The desk allows us to deactivate the ‘Swarm’, view personal recordings, control the shutters & the master power! Grasped in his cold hand is another platinum PAS key. True to form, Thorfus ensures the PAS key goes from the dead hand directly into his.

Searching the desk, we find a some loot. One item of note is a wooden box that gives Edan the willies when he handles it. Later we learn the box is enchanted to rattle when a lie is told. We also find a glowing dagger, a wrought gold head band and a pair of bracers. Later these items secrets are also learned. The head band negates mind reading and sending for the wearer and the ‘My Fortress’ bracers keep the wearer protected when the embossed golden runes are traced by a finger. Chuq pockets the bracers and Edan keeps the headband on his formerly bare head.

Thorfus uses the new platinum PAS key to access the chief engineers desk controls. We learn the ancient dwarven letters for the various Xen Khel research areas:

D – Bioforge Research Facility

C – Mechanical Research Facility

F – Engineering & Power Facility

G – Pathogen Research Facility

X – Special Research Facility

For each letter, we can cut off power completely, set the power to a percentage or cut off power completely from the desk.

He then reads the remaining recordings of Kalgun Thrust. The recordings tell the story of Kalgun’s last days during the rebellion. He ensured the rebels would not learn anything if engineering fell to them by deleting all but his last recordings from his desk and information reliquary. He set the counter measures that incinerated anyone that enters the facility. He expresses his surprise and disdain of the rebels (‘former slaves’) elementary use of Tran spatial energy. Realizing engineering was woefully isolated, he tooks steps to ensure power to the other facility wass maintained indefinitely to so that they can continue their work well after he and his staff pass away from hunger or more nefarious reasons.

Now we want to know where engineering is located in relationship with the other underground facilities. We extinguish all light sources and cover ourselves so that we may open the shutters and view our location without revealing ourselves. Our prep was for naught, the vista we see is totally unexpected. Instead of the giant mushroom forest cavern we see a hell-scape of magma lakes and erupting lava geysers. The base of the mountain is alive with molten rock (continental drift be damned). Realizing the engineering facility is a death trap for the unsuspecting Finkelworm, Chuq advises So Krates to alert his master to halt his downward tunneling. Obviously we are far below the Bioforge and what we suspect is the Pathogen facilities. 

We debate the merits of severing the power to the last know location of the Dark King’s forces, the Bioforge facility. It is decided to do so, hoping that if anyone is forced to escape into the mushroom cavern, the trip would be very perilous to them. Thorfus does a quick strobe for shits and giggles and shuts the shutters. We lock the door as we leave with Chuq’s silver PAS key.

Returning to the trapped foot locker, it opens without incident after Thorfus uses our new platinum PAS key. Within are broaches, headbands, gems, jewelry, scroll case (summons an elemental) and a glowing long sword. Feeling the scroll case is not trapped, Edan determines the scroll within summons an elemental. Edan dons the new headband and Chuq can no longer read his mind. When Edan swops the new for his other band, his mind is legible to Chuq. Noticing the new long sword glows brighter than swords in his possession, Edan draws the new sword aversively. He feels the sword try to probe his mind. In ancient Dwarven it telepathically asks to his identity, asking for a Kalgun. 

We discuss who among us can endure an intelligent sword and realize the only candidate is Edan. The sword switches different tongues until it begins speaking an archaic version of Elvish. The two begin to converse in earnest. Though insulting and condescending, Edan strokes the swords ego into sharing much about the ancient dwarves. We learn the soul is that of the Chief Engineer’s grandfather, also known as Kalgunn, the ancient empires greatest engineering mind (as he styles himself). Surprised to hear of Marchmain Sithis notoriety in this age, we learn Kalgunn regards him as a rival. He blames the fall of the Empire to hacks like Marchmain, his grandson and Merinthala. 

Edan mentions that Dragons have not been seen in ages which prompts Kalgunn the Elder to hint that one can be found in area X, the special project area! Confirming what we already suspect, he also states we need all four administrator access stones to gain entry to area X where we might see ‘her’ (!the dragon emperor consort!).

Sheathing the sword, we discuss how best to use Kalgunn’s knowledge – realizing Edan can not compel him to cooperate. Edan adopts Kalgunn as his primary weapon (tacitly blessed by our malevolent Overlord). When asked, Kalgun says he is designed specifically to defeat magic and enchanted foes. Their second conversation drifts from early magic users (originally only the dwarves) to the fall of the Crystal Tower. We learn the rebels had “burned away” Xen Teler’s mind. Also, Xen’Khel was their first settlement and that all the dwarfs ultimately are from Xen Teler. We don’t comprehend his actual meaning since he is evasive on the subject. Kalgun is fascinated by the fact that some magic users claim to derive their powers from ‘deities’.

Kalgunn has answered many questions but mostly he taught us we know very little. We sit down to catalogue what else we want to ask him…

Session 93

20th Faurilden, 7:00am

We return to the party, haggling over our spoils with Marchmain, opting only to not sell the solitary pearl, as Axel and Edan believe it might work as a spell component.

Of particular note is his reaction to the information reliquaries, appearing almost excited. We feign ignorance at thier contents, only knowing what they were due our experiences in Midmark. He even presses us to reveal the names of who we might’ve sold the Midmark ones to in the past. We don’t, out of professional courtesy, but eventually sell them for 500 gold each to the eager dwarf.

We hint that we might have an ‘eyewitness’ for seeing the Naga leaving the Lower City, and will be returning to the city ‘officially’. We check in on Idony in the mean time, though nothing has happened in regards to Jagger.

The Sleeping Collossus is the next stop, and Thorfus is greeted quite happily by several of the guards. Svelnid is quite happy to see us, and sits down to talk to us about Vargan. She has a guest who arrived last night, sleeping upstairs after a trip from Midmark, asking after ‘Baldric’s Boys’. She noted he had a grey cloak.

He gets woken up and sent to us. It is indeed a young man in a grey cloak, Vane Pottak, sent to by Perette. He double-checks our identities by asking how we first met Perette. We ask a little about Vargen, which has apparently had some monetary boon that is being poured into building up the city’s fortifications.

He mentions an accident has happened, and it has cost Desric his life. Some explosion destroyed his entire shop and home, and he was here to see if we knew anything.

The next piece of news is a bit more sensitive, regarding Alain Grell. During his raid on Seabreeze, he specifically targeted the home of a Midmark Naval Officer, gaining the plans to a secret base on Curmidden. Said secret base was being used to test a new propulsion system for thier ships, and he destroyed it and stole the technology.

They emplore us to assist in tracking him down before he can cause too much more damage or give away the secrets and advantages of the technology, originally designed to stave of the Empire.

We discuss our options at length, Axel at least desiring greatly to go and chase down the younger Grell for his crimes, but eventually decide it may be far too much trouble trying to leave and come back, to say nothing of what the Silver Throne could do in our absence. We do have some leeway in time to deal with him though. The navy is pursuing him anyway, and it will take time to return our answer to any way, as the grey cloak is heading to Xenilum’Khel first.

We then fill the greycloak in on events from our side, the dark elves in Newton, and the Dark King to the north. Jager and the slavery ring, and how we have a potential ally that could provide for enough information for a raid on his property. Chuq takes the time to ask after his Grand Master, Master Dain and others of his order. Also the murder of Katin Alerio.

We spend the rest of the day poring over the plans for the Warrior, Monkey and Undying automatons, teaching the non-Ancient Dwarven speaking members also, allowing us to better combat them in the future.

We set watch that night, giving Thorfus’ clan men time to rest. Chuq and Pons take the first watch, and Chuq approaches Pons with the idea of becoming a full time henchman.

The next morning, we see Vane off of the mountain, then head up to the city entrance. There’s a dwarf militiaman sitting one of the bridges. He seems to be looking for Belroar, whom we haven’t seen for a little while, apparently still quite upset with him. Chuq’s ESP suggests the dwarf is looking to rough him up a little.

We’re greeted further up by Doree and four of Thorfus’ cousins, who are the assigned accompaniment for our trip down. Edan sends off the message to Ryker. Thorfus’ cousins introduce themselves as Glorimdur, Ginmonlim, Nadreat and Krargaeth. It’s a little awkward, one announces that his cousin the other ‘Lord Ironhand’, sends his greetings.

Down below, Ryker is attacked by one of the monkeys, still under Thorfus’ orders to grab any metal from anybody moving below. He tries to fend it off with his morningstar, eventually managing to send it away with a Command spell of ‘Sort’.

Back with the party, Thorfus begs off a little to pull on the circlet, and Chuq sends Pons to cause a distraction, who decides to ‘find’ Naga tracks. Whilst we look for measuring sticks we don’t have in the cart, Ryker runs into the hall calling for help.

After a pointed look at Doree. Thorfus meets him, and they begin the agreed up on discussion. The bluff seems to be working. After Ryker pretends to faint, Doree has him woken up and begins questioning him. Ryker begins telling him the story he told us of what happened in Newton and how he came to be underground.

Doree still seems to be skeptical that the naga has truly left, but announces we should take Ryker up to the surface and speak to Hakuun. Ryker at least is inordinately pleased to be back on the surface. Naturally our quick return and the new human cleric sets the mountain abuzz with rumours, and we’re quickly brought to Marchmain and Hakuun.

After some discussion, although the dwarves are disappointed at not having a trophy, they know that there is not much to be done since the naga has obviously left the lower city. Ryker is obviously telling the truth, and is also a cleric of the Ark, he has some weight to what he says. The Ironhands in the room reluctantly agree with the idea, as it makes too much sense.

Marchmain manages to convince Hakuun that the militia are no longer needed on the mountain, and they decide to finally leave. We decide to put Ryker up in our estate so he can readjust to the surface. Doree sends messages off to the Xenilum’Khel embassy and the Ark in Midmark.

The Ironhands leave grumbling, but obviously still don’t trust Thorfus one bit. They all but spit in his face though, and reveal they only supported us due to the other Ironhand clan’s dealings at the Lonely Isle.

All in all the plan was a success though, we got rid of the pressure of the militia on our necks, and resecured our rights to exploring the Lower City. The plan now is to wait a week to hear back from the Ark, allow Pons to train up and generally prepare to go back down into the City.

SESSION 92: 2016-01-20

Ferelden 19

After discover the other robot. The team returns to the lower level to mend Thorfus’ wounds and make repairs to the Mechanical Monkeys and rest up a little.

During his watch – Chuq notices that one of the Undying Workers is a non-dwarf; a human, native islander – remarkably in good shape without decay of any kind. Chuq indicates this to Axel, Edan and Derick who were awake during the watch.

By the time Edan & Derick have rested and have prepared their magic the Mechanical Monkey have managed to repair themselves back to working condition – somewhat worse for wear- but functioning.

Chuq suspects that there may be another entity at play here and requests that Thorfus speak with the Repair Sentinel and ask about the non-dwarf. How he got here and when.

The Repair Sentinel replies that the “non-engineer” arrived at the power facility 8 days ago, about the same time as the Dark Elf we found earlier. Further inquires tell us that other non-dwarves have been to the facility recently.

Based on those answers – Thorfus and Axel decide to open one of the locked rooms – which turns out to be a control room of some kind.

The control room shows recording of recent arrivals – a wounded Dark Elf came in first, hid then was followed by the Islanders and two Undying. It seems that the Dark Elf was being followed by the Islander. After some hesitation and frustration the Islander and Undying leave the entry hall and was then followed by the Dark Elf. Control room seems to control the facility defenses.

The then explore the remains of the this level of the facility – basically a mirror image of the rest of the facility. Kalgun warns us that going up to the top scaffold would result in damage to him – he also ads that bringing the sphere would result in damaging it and preventing it from being used to revive XenoTel.

The Boys finally decide to take care of the remaining automaton. Kalgun recommends a way to disable the automaton. Thorfus first attempts to communicate with the automaton with the bioforge key. After a brief conversation, Thorfus steps out and faces the automaton and it tell him to remove his armour and weapons before approaching. Further conversation with the automaton indicate that there’s only one “resident” that she or he is being taken care of and does not require food or water.

Chuq removes his weapons in order approach the automaton after Thorfus tells it that Chuq is his slave. He walks by without issue and examines the rear of the automaton – then looks at the remaining rooms and notices a body on a bed with a glow somewhere in the room. The glow is actually a jury-rigged a Cook Automaton into a Surgeon Automaton that seems to be plugged into the wall. The glow emanates from a panel on the automaton.

With an image in his mind Edan asks Kalgun what the jury-rig may be, he’s surprised and says that it’s seems to be a Stasis Unit of some kind.

After searching the rooms, Chuck grabs the Information Reliquary and returns to group who then head back down to the Rec Room in order to read the Information Reliquary.

The cube’s two entries tell the story of how the Chief Engineer’s Assistant (Nolmeda Durra’hin) and some remaining engineers orchestrated a counter measure to the Chief Engineer’s harvesting order – she managed to acquire the stasis unit and jury-rig it in order to save her child when she realized that they were doomed to starve to death.

After careful consideration – the Boys decide to leave the baby in stasis (it’s safer there than with us) until they can figure out a proper plan to retrieve the baby safely.

The party then decide to head back to base in order to sell some gear and create a plausible story to make the Silver Throne believe that Luppa has left the area using Reiker to spin a tale about being trapped in the city after she left through a tunnel she then collapsed.

Using the mask, check checks the situation above and finds nothing out of the order. Then activate the portal and move through.

After checking for patrols they head back to Luppa’s new hideout. After some book-keeping, they fill in Luppa with recent events.

Leaving Reiker with a communication broach (Edan has twin), the ancients, Kalgun (the sword) the Boys head back to the Manor. Thorfus ordered the Mechanical Monkeys to help with widening the tunnel.

Upon returning to the Manor news is gathered – but nothing much seems to have happened in the last 48 hours. Since it’s very late they team opts to rest and then go see Marchmane in the morning.

The meeting with Marchmane goes well. He informs us some potential issues back in MidMarck – one of their enemies and the Boys sell a good amount of gear for a tidy profit.

SESSION 91: January 13, 2016

We found that the elevator would only ascend one floor, but we had access to the two lower levels.

Level 1 had something moving and the level appeared destroyed through the eyes of the monkey automaton used to scout.

The two lower levels were in decent shape and the water worked. One of them had a functioning cleaning automaton. The scouting monkey found many gems and identified a lot of gold. We then visited the two lower levels and found a lot of gold and a few other items to go with the gems.

Before leaving the lowest level, Thorfus directed the cleaning automaton to clean the rooms that had been locked with red lights.

We tried going up to one level and the security automatons were conflicted. When Thorfus told them to disregard the chief engineers orders, they resumed focus on defending the engineers and had pure anger towards us.

We pulled back and formed our plan to use the 7 monkey automatons as a wall. Chuq shadow stepped Thorfus and Axel behind the two security automatons, and Edan ran to the room on the left.

The monkeys took the brunt of one automaton from a frontal assault and all but one of the 5 assaulting it were dropped, the remaining is severely damaged (1hp). The other two automatons were unscathed as they were “behind” the other automaton that was focused on Axel, Thorfus and Chuq.

Thanks to magic missiles from Edan, he sped up our defeat of both security automatons. Thorfus was able to deal the killing blow to each.

Thorfus had the surviving monkeys gather up the remains of their comrades and put in a large sack for later repair. Thorfus also had them gather the control cubes from each of them.

We then searched that level and gathered up many more gems, some jewelry and more gold.

The top level eastern hallway had collapsed into the fist level eastern hallway. Thorfus had a monkey pass through the rubble and gather up the valuables from the rooms in the eastern hallway.

Thorfus then had a monkey go to the top level and scout and recover all the items from all but the last two rooms. Again, more gems, jewelry and gold.

The last two rooms near the elevator are guarded by a security automaton. Thorfus sensed watchfulness, endless patience, and pride from it in its duties. We surmise that the “surviving” engineers were dragged to these two rooms to be guarded. The monkey came up to it and it aimed its weapons at the monkey and spun them up, but did not fire. When the monkey left, it spun down its weapons.

We will address what to do with this remaining automaton and final two rooms before we do further exploring of this facility, and then leave.

Healing sounds like a good idea….

Session 90

6:40pm, 18th Faurilden

We spend a long time standing around asking Kalgunn questions and musing over the things we learn.

Revelations as to the PEPs origins have us go into a little test with Axel’s suit regarding the Voltaic Converter, but there doesn’t seem to be a safe way to do so and the danger is too high. It would be possible in this area, but the dead PEPs are just that, as we need power in the battery to even activate the Converter. Worst case is that the battery is destroyed, rendering the armour unusable. Realistically, the wearer would be unharmed, but it has been 2000 years, and the Converter is only just an emergency option. The next subject is the portals, and how we can possibly alter the connections, access new keys, and potentially even Xen’Teler.

We ask Kalgunn about the scrying mask. He asks in return if the network was still in operation, blanketing the planet, though we only have access to view locations in Curabel. We ask if it is possible to repair it at all, and he banters back about skill and such. We do learn however that the mask, and others like it, connect to multiple orbital relays.

Next, Edan relays an image of our portal keys, and we ask if it is possible to modify the key so we can access other portals on Meidia. He tells us that this is the standard key, which makes sense why we can’t access the special labs.

Feeling that he had answered enough questions, Kalgunn announces he would like to confirm the situation for himself, and does so with startling alacrity.

 “Fact One: You or one of your companions – possibly an Ironhand or Rhom’Khul dwarf — carries a Possibility Sword with limited charges and a Control Circlet of indeterminate (but not platinum) authority.”

“Fact Two: You or one of your companions fears being dominated by someone possessing a Control Circlet of greater power; it is also likely that this same threat has a force of Undying Warriors in his service.”

“Fact Three: Despite your limited knowledge of my people’s empire, including the Crystal Tower itself, you know of Marchmain Sivis even though he died with his greatest construction a long time ago.”

“Fact Four: Although by your own admission it has been millennia since XenoTel was destroyed, you think there may be some way to restore him and you fear this possibility.”

“Fact Five: Xen’Khel’s secret lab was tasked with reverse-engineering the Dragon Emperor’s Consort’s weapon in order to restore Xen’Teler.”

“Conclusion: Your group of grave-robbing friends has done very well for itself – so well, that you have come to the attention of someone much better versed in dwarven technology than anyone alive has the right to be. Marchmain Sivis would fit that description incredibly well, but he should be dust now given Xen’Teler’s destruction at Heaven’s Fall. However, you also specified it is approximately two millennia since the rebellion … which is … an interesting date, to say the least. It leads me to believe that perhaps XenoTel’s demise was reported in error, even if he was severely wounded during the rebellion. If so, it would make sense that Marchmain Sivis would be chosen to be the agent of XenoTel’s restoration since the Architect’s failure with the Crystal Tower marked his downfall. He would, quite logically, focus his attention on the labs of Xen’Khel where the last of my people’s engineers were working on the weapon that brought about that downfall – labs that have apparently lain untouched since the rebellion by your admission.”

“So, how accurate are my extrapolations? Please keep in mind that I am working from a data set that has been deliberately (if amateurishly) limited on purpose to obscure the truth of the situation.”

We then ask what Kalgunn’s opinion of Marchmain is. He says he is not surprised that Marchmain would’ve chosen as XenoTel’s agent for restoration, but also that he didn’t earn his position entirely on his own merits, more who he married, even if he was an engineer of some talent, it was oestentatious, as evidenced by the tower, which had a crucial weakness.

As to his continued existence, that would support the idea of XenoTel’s demise being misreported, though his body at the time would likely be lost. He also did not recognise the Marchmain we know, though would be able to verify that with a short conversation with Marchmain, as he was known for his honeyed words.

Kalgunn reveals that XenoTel had the ability to recreate bodies for dwarves, and it would be possible to retrieve his essence from the sword and return it to a body of his choosing. XenoTel also had the ability to ‘recall’ a person perfectly. (This is would explain the Thorfus clones Chuq witnessed in the dreamscape).

We ask about the 22,000 mile distance to the nearest location for PEPs. He explains that the fastest way of getting there would be by ship, and not by ocean, but by going straight up. The only faster way would’ve been the Crystal Tower.

When asked his feelings on Marchmain restoring XenoTel, he answers that it wouldn’t really affect him overly much, as he wasn’t one of the favoured, and would have very little information of use to XenoTel about the current time.

He asks more about the current date. Our answer of the current dating scheme of 525 after the Imperial Occupation is useless to him, though we have to inform him a little of the islands history, as it made no sense that the Emperor would occupy, as he was a native himself.

Thorfus checks the Bioforge Warden’s information cube to help ascertain the true date, as he sees some 2000 years passing as auspicious. If Marchmain is working to restore XenoTel, then it’s odd that nothing has been done, or has succeeded up until now. We begin to wonder if there is a time a limit, and if this tied into the Dragon Emperor and his consort at all.

Araquiel is able to to confirm that it has been 2000 years since the Rebellion, give or take a decade. His people viewed the Empire’s occupation as a transient threat, and that the Devilfish’s primary concern was continuing to make sure all traces of the Ancient Dwarven Empire remained destroyed and buried. Araquiel himself was unhappy when the Dragon Emperor originally left Curabel, as there was still work to be done regarding the dwarves.

Oddly, this gives us another pattern, whereupon every 1000 years since Heaven’s Fall, the Dragon Empire as returned in someway to Curabel, though it’s hard to draw intentions from the actions of the Emperor.

The mission of XenoTel was to colonise the planet, and we ALL  come from there, implying that all races do. Xen’Teler, is simultaneously a place and the thing that resides there, and he would like to return if given the chance.

We decide to be a little more transparent with the sword, and explain how we came to meet Marchmain and the task he presented us with. Kalgunn can help us with that, but perhaps we shouldn’t hand the sphere over to Marchmain, as there ‘won’t be any glory left over for us’. He agrees with Axel’s distrust of Marchmain, but obviously takes pleasure in denying any glory to him.

The sphere we seek is reportedly an antidote to repair the damage done to XenoTel, the second problem would be reaching Xen’Teler to utilise it, though if Marchmain has indeed returned there must be some way of reaching it, despite the Tower’s fall. It becomes apparent, that by whoever’s hand XenoTel would return, it would mean bad news for the non-dwarven peoples of Meidia.

Kalgunn himself seems in favour of that, being of an older time where the dwarves were the higher race, but largely seems out for his own ends.

It comes down to what our party believes and desires. Originally, the idea was to destroy the sphere, as we believed XenoTel was merely an evil deity, but now it seems there is a promise of glory and power, but at the cost of the world and freedoms as we know them.

Personally, I think this solidifies my desires. The Ancient Dwarves were a powerful and technological wonder, and the proliferation of that ability would be amazing, but I am a modern dwarf, and everything aspect of the my ancestors society I have witnessed thus far has appalled me. I have never been a religious dwarf, I believe in the power of my axe-arm and a good sack of gold. I have lived my life seeking adventure beyond the walls of Xenilum’Khel, amongst not only dwarves, but humans, elves and other races.

My goal, and I think Chuq for certain stands with me, is to continue to prevent the return of Xeno’Tel.

The party continues to talk and debate for hours, even over dinner, and eventually beds down for the night. We experiment for some time with the fortress bracers, eventually realising we can just ask Kalgunn what they were. He reveals that they were a gift he received. If you touch the letters on them, they activate for ten minutes, then will not work again for a day. They are designed to protect you, but at the cost of being able to hurt others.

We ask about the other items from the chest. The box contains his father’s bones and detects lies. The circlet with the gems blocks ESP. The braided circlet belonged to Kalgunn the younger, which he used to improve his coordination. The yellow potion is some kind of metamorphosis potion. The black cards are as we thought, are Personal Account Cards, and with passcode allow access to the owner’s personal hoard, which works via trans-spatial energy. The golden brooches are a pair, and work as communications devices, without the weakness of the mental circlets.

The party beds down for the night, setting a customary watch, which is uneventful. We proceed to finishing our exploration of this area, heading north in the eastern wing. The first door we came to seems to be a games room of some kind, with round tables and holograms. A number of games lie around, as well as coins and gemstones. We gather up everything, our pockets and carts becoming rather full.

The door at the top of the room opens into what appears to be a shower room with a small pool or bath at the rear. The water is crystal clear, and a humanoid creature is lying next to the pool. It is headless, but with dark skin. Something is in the water below it, looking to be a round stone on a chain, similar to our keys. There is an empty water skin next to the body, but no sign of its head. Oddest of all, the body appears to be at best a week old, though battered.

Chuq is able to fish the key out of the pool with his spear, and as we examine it to our elation, it is marked with the letters a,d,c,f,g and x! Going through his belongings, we get some more currency and stones. Chuq is also able to replace his sun-damaged dark-elven gear with new stuff. Asking the automatons about the corpse reveals he arrived five days ago, alone, and was processed as extraneous meat.

We head further up the corridor. Thorfus picks up an automaton to the north, doing nothing but waiting in darkness. The door opens to a hallway, with doors to the east and north. The first room is L shaped, holding a bed, a footlocker, a bureau and another door. The bureau hold rotten clothes, some gold and some jewellry. The footlocker hold more rotten clothes and jewels. The door is just a restroom.

The next room is locked, and Chuq can hear a loud drumming noise that disappears when the door opened. Within is a similar room and items, with more gold and jewels. Chuq has an idea and fetches Pons to check for secret areas within the room, but is met with little more than jokes.

The north-most room holds the presence Thorfus found earlier. It is revealed that the automaton within is similar to the chef-types we previously found, except optimised for cleaning. It asks if there any cleaning to be done, and has not been used since the rebellion at least. It once shared the room, a utility closet, with a security automaton, but it has been gone a long time.

Back in the main corridor, the last door head south. It is a smaller 10′ by 10′ room, with a panel of five buttons, b1, b2, f, f1, f2. Clearly an electrical hoist. Kalgunn explains that they would lead to the engineer’s personal chambers. Each floor would hold two suites similar to the ones we had just been in.

Session 88: Silent Running or Reiker Beams Aboard

18th of Ferenden, Mid Morning

Chuck, Axel and Thorfus leave the Colossus head and make it back to the gear chamber after asking it questions (see last session).

After ordering the mechanical monkey to complete the repairs of the Colossus the group decides to head to the portal. We stop at the end of the Wyrm-created tunnel while waiting for the Dwarven troops to leave for their shift change.

During the wait, they hear noises coming from the room near the tunnel’s opening. Edan cloaks himself and investigates. It turns out to be a man scuffling around – smelly, beaten up – and hungry looking.

Edan reports back and Thorfus and who goes up and confront the man with Edan following. The man seems confused and explains a rambling story and introduces himself as Curate Reiker of the Church of the Ark – a friend of Galran a former member of the Starchy Boys :

So, then, here’s the rest (briefly): Your cleric was sent along with several clerics and paladins of Baldric Evenkeel to rescue the town of Newton from an undead plague. Everything went horribly, though — far too many undead (more than could be accounted for from such a small village). You persevered to the end, though, making a valiant last stand against the creatures with a young paladin named Galron and his squire, Kilmar.

In the brawl, you and Kilmar were hit by undead and felt your muscles freeze up — the last thing you saw before the wave of undead crashed over you was Galron, screaming in anguish as Kilmar fell.

Neither you nor Kilmar were dead, though. The undead carried the two of you back to a rift in the ground, inside of which was a mass grave and an elven priestess with dark skin and white hair controlling the undead and commanding several similar-looking elven warriors. They loaded you and Kilmar onto carts along with several other captives and sent you down into the depths via winding tunnels.

After several days of travel (or so it seemed; BTW, let me know if you take Elven for a language), the prisoner carts reached an underground river crossed by an ancient dwarven bridge. While crossing, the strange elves came under attack by dark-skinned gnomes, who threw darts from cover on either side of the rushing water. In the chaos, you freed yourself and plunged into the frigid underground river – leaving Kilmar and the other captives behind and not seeing the conclusion of the elves battle with the strange gnomes.

Eventually, you washed up in some abandoned tunnel alone and freezing with only your holy symbol. All hope seemed lost, but you soldiered on regardless — using your light spell to find your way and creating food/drink to keep yourself alive via prayer. Many weeks of wandering ensued, until your travels in the Underdark brought you to what appeared to be an abandoned dwarven mine. Following the tunnels upward, you eventually came to a chamber with a large hole in the floor and piles of gears and springs scattered across the floor …

No problem — since you know elven, you would have been able to understand your captors (their accent was odd and many of the terms and phrasing archaic, but otherwise understandable). From their talk to one another, you know the captives were bound for their city somewhere beneath the island where they would serve as slave labor. There was also some talk about selling some of the captives to the “Hidden Ones” who were paying a premium for laborers to excavate some ruins elsewhere in the Underdark. The mass grave the elven priestess was using as a source of undead also seems to be connected to these Hidden Ones.

He had no idea how he got here – wherever here is.

After feeding and giving drink to Reiker – Chuq requests permission to probe Thorfus’ sword in order to test a theory. He believes that Marchmain may be tracking us using Ancient Dwarven technology like Thorfus’ Probability Sword. Results are inconclusive.

After loaning Rieker some gear, the Boys wait for the shift change and dash to the portal and dial in to “Engineering”. Transporting without incident except this time the group was scanned as they cross through – but thanks to Axel’s security passes we were not harmed by the site’s defenses.

Entering into an hourglass shaped room, the team quickly gets ready. Chuq (ESP Helm) and Throfus (Command Circlet) scan for threats – Alhough Chuq senses no intelligent threats, Thorfus senses Automatons to the north and can see through their eyes. After some self inspection it seems they are all Undying. Further scans find many more Undying all around the facility – including one room which is a “factory” for making or repairing Undying.

Above the chamber, Thorfus senses a group of flying spheres preoccupied with keeping everything running.

After some discussion – the group decides to heads to the south. The door opens to the engine room. Large machines being tended by Undying, all oblivious to our presence. The Boys decide not to interfere with their work.

The team files through a door to the east, leading them into “Mood” rooms our lounge with glowing stones on tables and a transparent ceiling – showing all who look the sphere Thorfus sensed earlier tending to more machinery. Edan collects one of the “mood” stones for study and the rest are dumped into a bag – they may be worth something.

The Boys decide to explore an area to the South East where they sensed “stored” undying. There they found a corridor with rooms on either side filled with 4 undying each. Locking the doors as they travel to the end of the corridor where a door leads to a repair droid area equipped with what looks like a portal. The Repair Automaton seems inactive, but when a mechanical monkey tries to reach pedestal it’s grabbed by the Automaton and is examined then placed back next to pedestal.

Thorfus has the mokey place his control key on the pedestal and confirms that the portal works.

As they leave the machine grabs a monkey and “upgrades” it making it impossible for Thorfus to control. Apparently automatons must be set to work maintain power.

Next, the Boys turn back and check the Cafeteria, through the a door opposite the corridor they just explored. There a monkey tries take the platinum utensils but are stopped by the “drones” – using his circlet, Thorfus confirms the Drones say they need the utensils, but we take them anyways.

Further down another adjacent corridor we find two more locked doors. The first is a workshop filled with schematic plans and mechanical parts. Edan and Thorfus move to collect all the the plans, but as they touched the center table they trigger a devastating trap – nearly killing Edan (again) and barely annoying Thorfus – thanks to some quick healing Edan survives, but the plans on the central table were destroyed.

Session 89’s Recording for you guys: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8WR3haKt47GNWdzOE1YMkdhWm8

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8WR3haKt47GNWdzOE1YMkdhWm8

Session 87 – Of Worm Robots and Monkey Business

18th Farilden at Dawn

During the two weeks, we discuss the viability of having Lupaa cast Glyphs of Warning to deal with any hangers-on. Possibilities include holding them, putting them to sleep and blinding them, but it will be difficult to get them if there are multiple hangers-on. We bring up to Lupaa, and she opts to place a Glyph to Cause Fear to protect the entrance to the gear area irregardless of our plans.

Axel continues to ensure the supply cache at the end of Raptor Tunnel. Thorfus’ commands to the automonkeys seem to be bearing fruit as the contraptions attempt to steal the armour of any adventurer wandering to close the tunnel entrance.

Early in the two weeks, Finklemur requests we head down to the worm chamber. Chuq shadowsteps the wizard, Axel and Thorfus over and we head to the tunnels. We hear a single source of banging when we arrive, similar to the gorilla automaton’s hammering. We check it out, and see two automonkeys working on plates to modify the suit of power armour we found in the labs. Leaving them to it, we head over to the gear chamber and meet Lupaa.

The naga instantly knows what Finklemur plans, the thoughts so obvious in his mind. She doesn’t attempt to stop him, and even approves, as do the monkeys. Finklemur casts Protection From Evil on himself and approaches, Thorfus, Chuq and Lupaa all listening intently in a mental capacity. We say goodbye, and he steps forward, giving permission for the worm to take hold.

The old man instantly feels pain, and but for a stroke of luck comes close to dying. He does pass out from the pain though, as the worm bodily removes his legs and attaches cables all over his body. The monkeys begin singing in thier strange whistling fashion. Eventually he awakens again, weak, but able to begin to move his new body. His old body itself is still vulnerable, but ensconced within the worm safe enough. Derich and Lupaa heal him up again, the former a little appalled, but congratulates him on being brave enough to turn the enemies weapons upon them.

Before we leave, Thorfus sets the automonkeys several new tasks, repair a bag full of monkeys and build an exo-suit to bolster Chuq’s abilities.

We leave him to get used to his body, Finklemur entrusting Socrates to Chuq for now, allowing us to communicate from above using the familiar connection. It takes him a couple of days, but is finally ready by the 13th. In order to enact our plan of Finklemur digging his way into the bioforge, we decide to attempt to bring Socrates down into the still-safe engineering section so he can find it easily with the familiar bond.

The dwarves and monk sneak down again, being sure to avoid the Silver Throne group below, and head to the temple. We open the portal, Axel stepping through first to deactivate the defence mechanism. Once through, Socrates is able to communicate his location to his master, and Finkleworm begins digging. Unfortunately, as fast as he is, Finklemur believes it may take a couple of weeks, even with the five day headstart on our return to the lower city.

The night before we are officially due to leave, there is a knock at the door from one of Marchmain Sivis’ personal guard, the dwarf himself has come to see us. Chuq is quick to scarper, looking for some place to eavesdrop out of sight. Marchmain shows up with Reinhold and a pair of Silver Throne militia.

He makes note that our work below needs to remain unimpeded, though he surprised that one of us has been noted to have been throwing rocks at a hawk. He hints that any sudden disappearance of our party would undoubtedly be us heading back to Vargen to look at hiring more hirelings. It seems obvious that he knows about our newly uncovered tunnel.

We posture the value of having control of the bridge automatons to him, and although he maintains finding the sphere remains priority, he does not think it would be a bad idea. He would pay for any information.

Marchmain also offers to look into ancient records regarding the standing of the Ironhands when Thorfus brings up stories of Xen’Khel from his family.

We ask after the number of patrol groups being sent down into the lower city. Reportedly, Dorea has only been sending a single party of around fifteen down at a time.

He leaves after this, and the next morning the Starchy Boys head to the lower city via the Raptor Tunnel, and make for Lupaa’s holdout. When we arrive, the newer, upsized power armour is complete. The Midmark armour looks to have most of its locomotion parts removed, but the monkeys are keen to get Thorfus to wear it regardless. He passes for now, but gets the monkeys to pack it into a sack. Oddly, despite repeated commands to sort gears, at least five monkeys keep getting into the sack and insist on whoever is wearing the circlet wear the armour.

Further checks show pegs on the inside, but nothing that could cause any harm to the user. As time goes on, a pair of monkeys begin hugging his legs. Eventually, he relents and lets the monkeys place it on him. We all watch apprehensively has they adorn him, standing to attention around him. Once worn, they leap, crawling into the armour and wrapping around him.

Once done, they go silent, but when Thorfus begins moving, they allow him to lift his arms. The monkeys are functionally acting as the suits locomotive mechanisms. One of his arms involuntary raises, the gauntlet flying off like a missile. When it lands, a monkey runs out to retrieve it and reattach it. He is able to replicate it with the other arm. He calls a sixth monkey, and it wraps around his shield arm, holding the shield for him and leaving his hand free. Eventually, he decides he will retain his magical armour, much to the automonkeys disappointment.

We decide to go and see what we can do about the crystal within the collossus. We head up, and with the monkey’s assistance make it up to the crystal platform. As before, the complaints of pain in the left leg remain. Thorfus touches the platinum key to it, and actually gets a response asking; ‘Who is there? There’s someone else.’

Thorfus begins conversing with the voices, who reveal themselves to be the Western Bridge. Only they are in pain, and need repairs. Chuq is able to see images of gears with his skullcap. The other bridges are all in working order it says, seemingly it is able to communicate with the other collosi, and this one is last, as the ‘little ones’ have been repairing them. Their function is to protect Xen’Khel.

They ask again who we are, and how many, noting that we carry keys, though they seem to glean some answer from surface thoughts perhaps. We learn that was once many other similar bridges around the the Empire. They ask if we have brought the ‘little ones’ too finish repairs, and will respond to our command, and have spoken to nobody else recently but Axel on our last visit. We can speak to this crystal and activate all the bridges at in Xen’Khel, though this would kill all upon them, but they are willing to do so at any time.

Thorfus asks some further questions about the crystal’s abilities and the Rebellion, they are aware of the Crystal Tower’s destruction. When he asks if the bridges would listen to anyone else in the Upper City, they reveal that they would respond to the Architect (almost undoubtedly Marchmain Sivis), who has been present for months perhaps, and was last here before the Rebellion.

We ask after Bryce, remembering hearing her name last time, but the bridges do not know who that is, and reckon it’s unlikely we would’ve heard the name.

Chuq announces he can smell flowers again, but at this we have nothing else to accomplish here, unless we can think of any more questions, and begin thinking of our next moves.