1/8/1472 – 21:45 – 3/8/1472 –
01:30
The lava pit is easily crossed by
Shnecke, who threads ropes along the burning stone walls to allow his
allies to skip over to the tunnel from which issue the desperate
cries. Thatari almost comes to a grisly end when he slips, and the
rope holding him catches fire in the scorching air, but he is dragged
over the edge, howling, before he can plummet to his doom.
Moving along the tunnel, who's walls
bear the same grotesquely clashing swirls and spikes of colour as
those before, the stench of sulphur and burning air is quickly
replaced with the base stench of caged humanity. The air grows
cloying with the reek of faeces and fear, and soon the group find
themselves looking down into a shit smeared pit, 25' deep and 20'
across, who's upper lip is spiked with downward set megalodon teeth.
Within this pit, squirming with dread
and hope, are eight Aurymites; five men and three women. All are
almost naked, and covered in their own filth. Several bear recent
amputations, the wounds swollen and dripping with infection and
inflammation, and all are lousy with lice. Several corpses, badly
bloated with decomposition, and leaking putrid fluids from their
swollen lips and eyes, their inflated arms raised as if ready to give
a hug, lie in the chamber – prisoners for whom the pit was too
much.
A rope is thrown to them, as the group
decide to only rescue those able to leave the pit. This is explained
in tradespeak, and at once a horrible scramble ensues as the
desperate but weakened prisoners try to climb the rope. Only four
make it, and the effort almost kills them.
One of those to make it out the pit is
an amputee, his left leg missing from midway below his calf. Seeing
it bloated with infection, Grigori moves to apply a poultice, and
notices at once that the damage has been inflicted by human teeth.
“They've been eating each other.”
He exclaims in horror.
The man confirms that this is true,
weeping openly and shaking, stating that the monster never gave them
anything to eat, and non of them could bring themselves to feed on
the rotting corpses already in the pit. Sobbing, he begs the group
for forgiveness, before devolving into a mass of weeping and babbling
in his native auric.
The survivors are told that they may
accompany the group, but that they will have to make their way around
the lava pit's walls by themselves, as the party have no way to
apport them over. This leads to an argument in the party, as several
members state that the prisoners will be nothing but a hindrance to
them, and so, should be simply given rope and allowed to make their
own way out. The rest of the party (lead by a vociferous Varracuda)
argue that they have a duty to the prisoners to see them safely back
home.
In the end, the first plan is the one
that gets used, and the weeping survivors are left, shaking and
wretched, with 100' of rope and instructions on how to find the
Ravager.
Meanwhile, the rest
of the party turn their attention to the chamber that lies directly
across the lava pit from the gas spore room – bare apart from the
garish decorations and a large, Xareth'Chelde sized hole in the
ground, which shimmers and glows with shifting lights of various
colours. Thatari invokes a dark power to become less than real, and
slides like a shadow through the stone between the corridor and that
far room. Emerging from the wall, he is joined moments later by the
assassin, who teleports across in a burst of coiling darkness. Ropes
are once again secured to the rocky walls of the lava pit, and the
rest of the group carefully crawl across, trying to ignore the
seething pond of molten rock several hundred feet below.
Jaeger gives the
hole (the entrance to another vertical shaft) a close inspection for
any mechanical traps, whilst Thatari and Varracuda scan for any
dangerous dweomers or spell triggers. None are found, and soon the
group are peering into the shaft.
It drops down about
35', before exiting into a cavern roughly 20' deep. Bright points of
coloured light lance up from an unseen source (reflected by numerous
polished pieces of metal and pyrites) creating brilliant patterns on
the stony walls, their paths picked out by the clouds of opaque mist
that belch from some unseen source, filling the lower half of the
chamber. Jaeger sniffs the air, and states that he feels the mist to
actually be some kind of spore, whilst Grigori surmises that the
lights could be the product of certain unusual crystals reacting to
local radiations, citing a number of uses for said crystals, should
the group obtain them.
Shnecke (somewhat
reluctantly) agrees to be lowered down the shaft, into the spore
choked chamber, and soon the rest of the group are grunting as they
slowly hoist him downwards. Within the room, the undead Ulnyrr spies
a number of unusual objects.
Firstly, set into
one wall, are a number of small wands of prismy crystal, each of
which blazes with clear, coloured light, throwing out the straight
beams that paint the walls with their shifting, delicate patterns.
The “smoke” is indeed some kind of spore, belched continually
from the pores of a huge, sack-like fungus that pulses wetly at one
end of the chamber, its upper skin scarred and marked by constant
abrasion (the group soon realise that it served Shumeth as a bed, and
Jaeger identifies the fungus as a “Deep Cushion”, a species that
is usually harmless, though varieties with soporific spores do exist
in some corners of the deep earth).
As with the rest of
the lower complex, the walls are covered in horribly clashing colours
and sharply angled designs, all apparently painted to appeal to the
deceased aberrations' alien tastes. However, the group (who, having
been told by Shnecke that the room is safe, quickly join him),
struggle at first to determine what the purpose of the dozen holes,
bored directly down into the floor - 1' in diameter and about 15'
deep - are for, at least, until Grigori shines his lamp's light down
them, and reveals that each holds a treasure.
“This must be
where he stored his treasures.” Muses the priest, “Using his
telekinesis eye to remove them.”
Shnecke grunts and
gasps as he tries to reach into one of the tiny holes, having spotted
a potent looking hammer far below.
“Tooo.....*ugh*....bloody....narrow.”
“How the hell are
we going to get them out?” Wonders Lia aloud.
“We could smash
'em out.” Growls the Ulnyrr, rubbing his bruised shoulder, his
attempts to reach the treasure forgotten.
Everyone laughs,
but Shnecke refuses to join in, instead leaping up and towering over
Grigori. Eye teeth briefly flash as the barbarian grabs out, his
meaty paws fastening around the handle of an enchanted pick Grigori
retrieved from the hands of a dead enemy back in their early travels.
Ripping it free, he
turns round, and begins to swing it at the stony floor, the room
immediately resonating with the painful clang and ding
of its enchanted head biting into the rock...
“You see?” He
snarls, “We dig, and eventually, we get the treasures. I didn't
come all this way to go home empty handed!”
...All in all, it
takes just over 24-hours for the items to be rescued from the tubes,
though the entire party feel the efforts worth it when they are
examined, and their incredible power realised. Grigori uses ritual
magic to make the crew of the Ravager aware that they are
alive and well, but will not be back in the allotted time, and asks
them to make the ship ready for immediate launch on their return. He
also harvests the glowing crystals, giving Lia five, and keeping five
for himself, recognising them as able to boost powers that utilise
radiant energy.
The hammer is a
thing of Dwaerdorin manufacture; forged from some kind of less than
real metal, and imbued with the energy of death. First to be
recovered, it's energies are transferred by the priest into a spare
rapier carried by the assassin, and Jaeger becomes the proud owner of
a rare Trueshadow weapon.
An amulet that
bolsters its bearer against poisons is brought up next, followed by
an ancient bastard sword, who's heavy metal blade bears a killing
edge, undulled by its clearly great age. A fabled Ring of
Protection is brought up next, and given to the genasai, its
potent protective powers felt to be of benefit to him, whilst a tiny
shard of pink, luminous crystal – a planar ioune stone, attuned to
physical health and stamina – is brought up next. Rare beyond
words, and far more potent than those sometimes found or awoken, it
is soon orbiting the head of the Ulnyrr, granting him a great boon to
his constitution as it resonates with his lifeforce (or unlife force
in his case).
The last item to be
brought forth is also an item of legend, though all – save Thatari
– are a little nervous of it. Seemingly a thick, stoppered bottle
of iron, its top carved with runes of binding, its stopper secured by
drizzles of platinum and lead, it is identified as a prison of sorts,
which can, in conjunction with the right ritual, be used to trap and
hold an extradimensional being for eternity. Almost certainly
pre-dating the start of the Second Age, it is a thing of terrible
power, which the warlock muses, may hold a dread entity right now.
More than a few feel a shudder run down their backs, as they reflect
on how much it resembles the vial that held the soul shard of dread
Jantherak...
It is retained by
the priest, who states that the group may one day seek out the ritual
needed to open and activate it.
3/8/1472 – 01:30
– 04:00: Having rested, and entirely unaware of the time on the
surface, the group take their leave of the foul chambers that lie
beyond the Cheldean altar, and make their way slowly back to the vast
cavern, within which lies the black metal finger, and the way back
out.
Before leaving,
they decide to examine the finger a little more closely, and
Varracuda quickly discerns that there is a hidden compartment within
the nail of the massive digit. Whilst Shnecke strains to open this
up, the swordmage does some quick calculations, and comes to the
conclusion that if the statue that bears the finger is of human
proportions, it must stand roughly 500' or more tall...a truly
incredible construct.
With a grunt, the
nail of the finger folds in half, a cloud of glittering green dust
billowing out to coat the sputtering barbarian. Everyone rushes forth
to peer within the hoary objects interior, and are disappointed to
see it holds nothing more than several crusty piles of the dust.
However, worked
into the underside of the folded nail are a series of strange,
utterly alien sigils, which correspond to no language known that
anyone can call to mind. Their curved, conjoined lines suggest an
exotic and strange source, and with excitement, Grigori sets to work
enacting a translation ritual...
...It is not a good
idea.
The meaning of the
words is burned with terrible force into his mind, his sanity
snapping in an instant as the gravity of their portent slams into his
psyche. Reeling, he tries to clutch at the images which flash like
sputtering lightning across the screen of his mind, desperate to take
something solid from their meaning. He fails, and drops to the floor
in a fit, twitching and convulsing as the potent words arc through
his mind.
When he comes
round, he knows one thing – a series of coordinates which can be
used in a Linked Portal ritual, which lead to...he has no
idea.
