Category: Graveyard of Empires: The Islands of Curabel

Session 80 – The ‘I Bet You Thought I’d Forgotten Again’ Edition

Having spoken to Lupaa, and gotten her support should we choose to return the overrun bioforge facility, the party considers what to do next. The task of retaking the area is a tall order, especially with our suspicions of what dwarven technology they possess, in addition to the literal horde of Undying at their disposal. Our best method of attack would be to replicate the crown-stealing-shadow-step-assault trick, but the surprise of that method may have been spent if the crowns were truly connected in a hierarchy.

We also learn what the event of ‘Heaven’s Fall’ actually constituted. The name seems to be bit of a misnomer, as it wasn’t just the Crystal Tower that fell, but the very land, forming the archipelago we know today. This admission puts the entire party in shock, as the forces required to such a thing seem unimaginable. The power the Dragon Emperor’s Consort must’ve had, as it was her plan are frightening.

Lupaa reveals that her and her sisters were installed as guardians here by a large number of people, including the leaders of the rebellion, the Dragon Emperor, and if her glance at Kottar meant what I think it did, the Devilfish. That final one might go a way to explaining the effects of Heaven’s Fall at least.

Turning back to more immediate concerns, we address the problem of the monkey-automatons running around the place. Lupaa has been able to hunt down and kill several, but confesses that there a more in place she simply can’t access, and apparently often hears machinery working in the distance. We encourage her to continue her hunts for now, but Chuq suggests she should be careful not to give away her lair, especially since we’re also leaving the Derich’s people with her.

We pile-up most of our pilfered magical weapons in Lupaa’s chamber, as we don’t feel like selling them to the Silver Throne for obvious reasons, only taking a few to appease them and prove we’re still working towards the goal. We also leave all of our rations for Derich’s group, as they’re likely going to be in the Lower City a while. As usual, I also leave my Power Armour in the chamber, as well as the new suit we’ve found.

As we head back to the surface, we see an Automonkey dragging a gear as big as himself cross our path. Before Thorfus can suggest following it, I throw an axe at it, which is swiftly followed by Chuq’s daggers. It’s damaged, and drops the gear and turns to run. Chuq runs after it. Thorfus attempts to follow, partially for mapping concerns, but loses them quickly as they leave the civic area on a general south-western heading. Realising he is getting far beyond the party, Chuq makes one final attack with his spear, mananging to kill the thing.

Retrieving its body, he returns to the rest of party, spotting another shape at the edge of his light at one point. He meets Thorfus and Belroar part way, and they chalk-mark the tunnels so we can follow them later.

The rest of the trip to the surface is uneventful outside of some distant hammering. At the top, we’re once again greeted by the dwarven guards. They ask after the naga, but we wave them off by saying we’ve come to blows with automatons, which is a distraction. The guards send a runner, a decide to lead us right to Marchmain to report in.

Chuq slinks off in the meantime to avoid Marchmain. Edan seems to be trying to hide amongst the party for now. We are shown in with respect as normal, ushered into the meeting room and offered drinks.

When Marchmain enters, he takes a moment to scan our party, remarking on Chuq’s absence and noticing Edan. Thorfus smoothly feeds the dwarf our cover story, which details a rescue from automatons that also caused the deaths of several of our number. This handily covers why we still hadn’t slain the naga. He does little to hide his disappointment though. They do act in shock when they realise Talon was amongst those slain, reportedly being fans of the books.

We turn to selling our artifacts, and begin with the magical and elven items to start big. They note the oddity of the manufacture of the elven gear, being similar to adamantine, but wish to confer with a smith, so one is bought in. From this it’s just a case of showcasing our various items and haggling, but all in all the party comes out with yet another huge number of gold and gems.

With our transactions complete, we decide to take our time on the surface to get in some more training, especially as it will be a few days before Marchmain can gather all the funds. Before we leave however, he asks if he can talk to the group alone.

He admits to having not been totally forthcoming, and explains that he didn’t know if he could trust us, as there are many forces arrayed against the dwarves and Curabel as a whole. Apparently he was even aware of our dealings with Talessin and Desric Threehorn. There are ongoing skirmishes between the Empire and the Silver Throne Company, where the former are subverting, sabotaging and stealing from the latter, and he brings up our own dealings with an Imperial Dervish and Inquisitor Jardin, although he thought there could be a chance we were working for the Empire, which is why he didn’t initially trust us.

He confirms our suspicions that the leader of the Empire is the same shapeshifting dragon that led the rebellion against the Ancient Dwarves, and explains that the Emperor’s war on Curabel is no longer just. It is believed that the Emperor is suffering from some homicidal madness from the war. Marchmain explains that this is why he wants our help, to find the sphere, free Xen’Tellar and put an end to the Dragon Emperor. To continue Bryce’s task.

I’m sure that the rest of the party mirrors my wariness in what Marchmain is telling us. Whilst everything the dwarf is saying is true, in at least interpretation, there is no telling how much he is omitting in talking to us, even with this odd amount of transparency. It’s clear that he in unaware of at least some of knowledge, namely that we have been talking to Lupaa, and the true identity of the entity trapped within the sphere he seeks.

Thorfus questions Marchmain about the Silver Throne’s other operations, who passes off the slavery ring as ‘unsanctioned’ and working with Imperial Agents. The company’s relationships with the two dwarven churches is uncovered as being only minor, due to poor information sharing, and again is blamed on Imperial influence, this time because of potential mind control to explain their amazing persuasiveness.

Marchmain is being quite persuasive here, saying that the end goal is to ensure Curabel remains free forever. Quite the politician, as obviously we cannot disagree that repelling the Imperial invasion is a good thing. Marchmain’s plan as a whole is to cut the Dragon Emperor off from ‘whatever he put in place of our God’ and reduce his power so they can then cut off the head, hopefully ending thier obsession with the islands.

We learn that Marchmain’s group, specifically focused on Ancient Dwarven technology was initially just a small faction of the Silver Throne, took over the company when they began to learn more about the old empires. They believe they’re currently excavating the base of the Crystal Tower on the Lonely Isle. Marchmain also confirms the existence of an ancestor with the same name as his, who was noted as not being very nice.

We bring up Alain Grell’s current piracy in the bay, and urge him to do something about it. Marchmain explains that he already has a bounty on his head, and the Midmark Navy is gunning for him.

When we make note of the growing Automonkey activity around Vargen, he wonders if they’re connected to the growing activity of the Dark King to the north, but says he doesn’t know much more, although agents are working on it.

During this whole thing, he inquires repeatedly after Chuq, our ‘monk friend’. We tell him he had things to take care of, but he seems dismayed by that, planning to mention something to the guards.

The meeting leaves us with much to think about, with how long we can keep putting off the tasks he put to us, the Silver Throne’s intentions and the ever looming Imperial threat. We all leave to find our seperate trainers.

Session 85 – The Actually On Time Edition

2:40AM, 2nd of Faurilden

The party is stood around the now motionless worm-automaton, in a huge cavern filled with countless gears. Edan and Boris are waiting at the northern exit to the cavern, and reporting back that they can see the rear of one of the huge collosi holding up the bridges of the Upper City.

For the first time in a while, we can feel wind, and even for us dwarves, its nice to be close to the outside after fighting in the tunnels for so long. Belroar is pretty beat up, so we look to Derich to patch him up

Six automonkeys appear in the eastern corridor to the east, almost imediately after we posted guard, so I run over to meet them whilst Thorfus tries the circlet again. This time, he manages to not pass out, and at his command, five of the stop. A second command stops the now group of eight, As a test, Chuq suggests to have them hop. A ninth is still three, and Edan report a further two appear from a door in the collosus.

Three of them to the east start moving again, and yet another halt stops them once more. I feeling quite antsy to start smashing, but Chuq suggests we can distract their partial autonomy by commanding the group to sort the gears in the cavern.

(Thorfus feels some happiness in this moment, and also learns that he can only command eight at a time. He also feels some presence within the worm.)

(Chuq’s own empathy picks up a desire to been in this room, along with curiosity and some sadness.)

We begin looking at the worm, wondering about the presence within it, especially as a lot of the worm could still be buried deep within the piiles of gears. Thorfus attempts to command the worm, wondering about the presence within it, small commands that won’t disturb the room too much, without success.

One of the automonkeys starts moving again, and steps around me as I try to block it. I call a warning, and Thorfus tries the sort command. The monkey pauses, looking at the worm, but heading towards the gears. After a moment, he commands the rest of them to the east to help, and they all pause for a moment to look at the worm.

Thorfus tries to question the monkey, but it just looks at him. When I wonder out loud if it wants to fix or dismantle the worm, the monkey seems to repsond to the word ‘fix’. Thorfus commands it to repair the worm, and it instantky scurries over and starts working, After a while of working on the external parts of the worm, it begins scavenging for parts around the room.

Chuq scans the east for further company, but notices nothing, so we merely watch the automonkeys.

Myself Chuq and Edan decide to scout out the collosi, and I decide to lead the way. The interior is full of machinery, including a lot of spare parts, and even the floor itself was metal, and I could see far below and above myself. Everything is pristine within, some of it apparently quite new, at least within a few months for some of it by my reckoning.

Stepping forwards reveals railings to either side, open to cavernous spaces either side, and the only means of exiting to others parts of the collosus seems to be automonkey-sized tunnels. Looking over the edge of one side just shows more machinery, pistons and motors. I can tell this isn’t the entire breadth of the collosus, and wonder if there are rooms we aren’t seeing, and ask Edan to look around. The half-elf is pretty certain that there aren’t any hidden compartments.

Chuq begins to consider climbing, so I help him out by letting him read my mind whilst I look around to the edges of my vision, but it seems as if the machinery closes in around 30 feet away both up and down, with only maybe spaces enough for automonkeys to pass through.

Chuq begins climbing up the northern wall, heading upwards, and scales the first 30 feet fairly easily, securing the rope there. He reports potential energy in the machinery, much like what we felt in the bioforge. Above, the top is a tangle of cables and pipes, and though there is space he could possibly crawl through, it doesn’t seem to be an intended access point.

Unfortunately, he falls at this point, though he manages to slow himself and stop just short of the platform the rest of us are standing on. He climbs back up, and squeezes through into another 30 by 30 chamber, centered by a 15 foot hexagonal platform. Two windows are in the northern wall, so it’s easy to presume this room is within the head. The holes reveal the canyon beyond. A large crystal is mounted on a pedestal in the centre, with plenty of tubes running off of it. The crystalt itself is almost as big as Chuq himself, and actually appears to have been broken off of something else. As he looks at it, bursts of light appears within it.

Seeing it’s relatively safe, he invites us too join him. I decline as I don’t fancy the climb, but Edan takes the rope up to join him. This room seems to be as functionless and unmarked  as below. Chuq tries his helm, and picks up a presence within the crystal, multiple in fact. speaking in many languages. The voices seem to be timed with the flashes,

Recognising some Ancient Dwarven phrases, Chuq shouts down to me to see if we can discern anything from them, but all I can make out is mentions of pain and injury of all things.

Chuq keeps Edan from touching the crystal, and instead tries the silver key he possesses. A light grows in response, but to Edans point of view, he freezes, only to snap out of it when Edan taps his shoulder. The glow fades away, though Chuq apparently didn’t see it. Oddly, Chuq can smell flowers and fresh grass, which nobody else does.

Back in the worm room, Thorfus notes that the monkey repairing the worm is incredibly happy. He tries asking one the monkey’s a location to recharge batteries, but it just stares blankly back at him.

In the mean time, I decide to climb up and help out. The copper key garners no reaction but a glowing grows again, and Chuq picks up a burst of thought, hearing more voices. Questions of ‘who are you’ and what sounds like Brice’s voice. More complaints of pain and injury, this time centered on the ‘left side’. Passing the key again only repeats the message of pain and damage once more.

Edan decides to check out the left side of the statue, and I lower him down to see, but nothing of obvious note jumps out at him. He returns to the lower platform, and ties his own rope off to lower himelf down to check out the lower left interior.

Misfortune befalls him however, and he falls, snapping the rope in the process. In desperation, he casts web below himself, narrowly managing to catch himself within what we believed to be in the left leg, seventy feet down, and close to what would’ve been certain death. Down here at least, he sees the first signs of wear and tear, the machinery not as clean and repaired as the rest of the collossus.

We look down at the sounds of the scream, and Boris reports what happened to his master to Chuq, so we climb down so we can help him back up, where he reports his findings to us. Once he has gotten over his near-death experience, we lower him down the right side to ascertain if this side was in a similar state of disrepair, but it appears to have been worked on, lending credence to the idea that the ‘injury’ is that of the collosus’ rather than anything else.

Meanwhile, the worm-repairing monkey wanders over to Thorfus and looks at him pointedly. Ordering it to repair the worm is met blankly, so Thorfus assumes it is done, amd instead sends it to sort gears with its companions. He instead looks to the worm, ordering it to straighten up, which elicits a shudder from the worm. Stepping closer to inspect the worm causes the harness to begin sluggishly reaching for him, so he steps back quickly.

At a loss, we regroup with him in the cavern, trying to decide what to do. There is a big chance that the crystal is connected to Xena’Tel in some way, given Chuq’s reaction and the mention of Brice.

We also need to decide what to do with the automonleys, even if they’re currently distracted. Thorfus also considers repairing the broken automonkeys we had collected earlier. Chuq suggests setting them long-term tasks, such as searching for treasure, though the gear sorting will definitely distract them a while.

During our talk, a monkey takes my hand and tries to lead me towards the worm. When I don’t move, it reaches up behind the backplace of my armour and causes the whole suit to open up. Thorfus sends it back to work, but a little while later, another monkey tries to get Thorfus to the same.

We realise the worm’s residual intelligence may be affecting the monkeys, but even attempting to get it to stop only causes the harness to reach for Thorfus more. Instead, he reinforces the sorting command on all the monkeys but one, which he gets to follow us, and we decide to finsh exploring this level.

Whilst we pass, the two dwarves steering well clear of the worm, Edan steps closer to the worm. The appendages momentarily pause, seemingly parting to let him pass. Unknown to the half-elf. the presence within the worm starts asking him if he wants to join, though only Thorfus can hear it through the circlet. Edan continues curiously deeper into the worm, stopping where it’s body goes vertical below the ground, but only sees the internal crushing mechanisms.

We decide to head north first, as its the closest unexplored passage, and learn here that the monkeys can sing in groups by modulating hisses and rumblings between them. After that, Thorfus sends the one ahead to scout for us, but the passage is just cut across by the chasm. Instead, we head back down across the rope bridge to check the unexplored door to the west.

An open room holds an inactive forge and a gorilla machince, as well as the ends to two of the confirmed monkey tunnels we had previously blocked. Chuq hears nothing on the other side of the door, so Thorfus has the automonkey open it. The room seems to be another forge room, similarly inactive with another gorilla.

We leave it, and decide to head east now, making for the junction with the pillar. Past that, we see the ledges Edan had previously seen, still in shadow, but there is sunlight here, as it is morning. The final junction here runs north and south, with the southern route sloping down and north merely linking to the caved in tunnels previously explored.

We head south to an area where the tunnel widens, checking the doors there. There is noise behind the eastern one, an odd type of breathing, which Thorfus reveals to be a pair of monkeys working some belows. The room is merely another forge room however, so Thorfus merely commands the monkeys to follow. The western room is much the same but for an extra monkey tunnel.

Passed the rooms, it slopes back up, and we find another intersection. The south and east tunnels are collapsed, so we go west, passed another blocked south tunnel. The tunnel west ends in another forge room down some stairs, with another tunnel going north. Thorfus collects the three monkeys from this room as well. North merely returns us to the pillared intersection, and its clear we’ve explored everything we can in this area.

We take some time to decide what to do next. We think about stopping off at the surface, dropping off a sack of monkeys to Marchmain to keep him happy. Leaving a bunch sorting gears, Thorfus decides to keep a small troop of automonkeys with us to do various tasks. We consider testing whether they can do anything for our deactivated power armour and batteries back in Lupaa’s lair.

In the end, we decide to head back to Lupaa to hopefully get answers about the crystal in the collosus. We reset our trap as we pass, and follow the long tunnel back.

At Lupaa’s lair, we fill her in on our exploits. She hisses her displeasure at the mention of Brice, but tells us the purpose of the crystals was as the collossuses brains, as part of the mechanism to move the bridges, sabotaged during the rebeillion. She purports that Brice’s name would have either come from Chuq himself or a higher power. Neither seems exactly good.

She tells us what she knows of the worm, explaining that typically the controllers would be a goblin rather than a dwarf, as building was thier role in Ancient Dwarven society.

After that, we leave the ancients with Lupaa again, and make to head back to the surface. Before we leave, Thorfus sends off a monkey with a dead battery to charge it, instructed the rest to fix the three suits of power armour and also the fountain. Edan makes sure to stow his boots and cloak as well.

Session 84 November 25, 2015

After healing we have Deric rest so that he can do another round of healing. 

During our first watch, Edan decides to scout to the north and is surprised to see a flaming cart hurdling south. A monkey rides above the flames with something clutched between it’s legs. As it rushes by him, the monkey drops into the flames within the cart’s bucket. Upon striking our barricade, Belroar is close enough to reach into the cart but only fumbles futilely after the object the monkey had held in its legs. A roaring explosion occurs. Belroar and part of our barricade are damaged by the blast. 

Badly damaged, we do our best to patch up Belroar. Thorfus prepares for the next monkey incursion by changing the nearest track switch to send a cart away from our camp site. We also move our barricade further north lay a derailing pole across the tracks even further north. Edan continues to scout north as Chuq stands guard nearer the barricade. 

After Edan returns to report his findings, we use a heal potion on Belroar then wait for Deric to rest & memorize his spells. After healing up, we explore the first forge room to the north. A single gorilla autonotom is still in this room. He doesn’t respond to our explorations. After some debate we decide to leave him after we have stuffed material into the monkey bolt hole in the east wall. For good measure, we spike the connecting trapdoor to the west of this room. 

While we move our barricade north, we decide to secure a ladder bridge spanning an underground chasm to our north guarded by two monkeys. Chuq shadow steps with Edan and Thorfus behind the monkeys, attacking with surprise. When these two are defeated, a hidden pair of monkeys ascend the southern chasm wall then sever the bridge tie downs on that side. 

The three Boyz “stranded” to the north watch as Axel and Belroar confront those two. Edan and Thorfus try to help with several missiles with mixed success. Actually little success if one asks Axel the hedgehogs side of the story! Belroar repairs the ladders bridge’s southern connection after the second pair of monkeys are defeated. 

Shortly after, a third pair of monkeys enter stage right, pushing an empty mine cart along the tracks directly towards the Boyz south of the ladder bridge. A fight ensues, Sturloc is laid low by this third pair. A quick group shadow step outflanks them, allowing us to render aid soon enough to save his life. 

While we recover from the mayhem, Belroar and Edan successfully activate the mining cart’s drive motors and decide to go for a ride. They disappear to the east. When next we see them, their cart is hurtling westward along the cart tracks to our north. A short round to the north over a vast open space brings their ride to a halt at a terminus guarded by – you guessed it – another pair of Monkeys! Bathed in moon light from a short tunnel to the north, they duel blades versus fists. 

The mountain shakes, a rumble surrounds us, the floor shakes and dust rains from above. Something BIG is happening.

Valiantly, Thorfus pursues the Thugee cart at his best sprint speed. Running along the elevated cart tracks, he joins the melee as one of the monkeys scampers over the edge near the terminus. Thorfus scurries after the Monkey, descending down to a floor carpeted with various metal gears, cogs and machine parts. The other Boyz collect themselves and follow northward.

As both monkeys are slain, another deafening thunder shakes the mountain. A giant shape burst from the gear strewn floor, casting a lunar sized shadow over the gawking Thorfus. The shape rises, rises and rises. Through the dust we can all see from our different places a undulating giant mechanical tower swaying over the tiny Thorfus. The immense snake like machine is capped with three arms tipped with spinning giant spiked wheels. Behind the spinning rock crushing wheels, we can see what look like an ancient dwarf fused into the mechanic. An abomination similar to the Bioforge research chief engineer. We can see a control circlet on the head of the ancient dwarf! 

From the north and the east, the Boyz array themselves for the struggle to come. Thorfus does the same by pressing our favorite button. Cheers reverb about the chamber as we see twenty different versions of our leader slash or lunge or thrust the construct’s flailing head. A head that has flailed it’s last this day. 

As is our way, we swarm about the construct trying to divine its secrets. Belroar extricates the ancient dwarven fused into the machine. Curious, no one bothers to offer the corpse any last rights. The machine itself is made of the same special metal as the portal control chairs and library cube pedestals. We consider dismantling some pieces to sell to Marchmain but decide against it. We’d rather find a way to use the construct ourselves. Hoping to do so, Thorfus dons the control circlet the corpse had worn. He immediately faints!

He recovers quickly after we remove it from his brow. Belroar offers to give it a try. Variously, we remind Belroar that the dwarves have first, second and only access to ancient dwarven artifacts. Demurely, he acquiesces. 

Edan explores the moonlight to the north and discovers the cavern exits at the southern Colossi supporting the western Xen Khel stone bridge.