The platform raced down into the darkness and cleared a breach, and the party descended into a large chamber. It was overwhelming: the crazy screaming free fall into the darkness; attacked from both above and below by undead creatures born from the vines of unholy, demonic adversaries represented by barbarian totems, buried deep in the mountain; the uncertain fate which awaited everyone at the bottom of the Pit!
Llewellyn cracked, feeling the fear overtake him! He was frightened, and his hands began to tremor. Yet, at that moment, Tamroohk felt a sense of peace and calm befall her; that, regardless what was happening, a sense of serenity. And Siegride, busily engaged in bloody battle against the marauding onslaught of ghasts, could hear the sound of the sea roil in her head; could feel the crashing waves; the pounding surf; the anger and might of an ocean building within her! And all of that energy was being channeled into wielding the might of her Goddess against these creatures.
Along the ceiling, the white vines stopped their crawl and simply protruded from the opening. They traveled no more through rock and stone.
When the pseudo dragon returned to Ma'yah, the party could see the ground rapidly rushing up to meet them! The platform had to be stopped or it would run headlong into the earth below! Tolman bolted to the central control and shifted the leaver to the center "hold" position and the platform jolted to a halt, and many of the party lost their balance and slammed to the surface of the platform, prone.
In the direct light of the sun, the ghasts' skin boiled and they exploded, leaving only silence. They were no longer being pursued by the ghasts from above or below.
Vongur - the enchanted amulet of a Dwarf's head - was quick to note that the party had emerged from the hole above into a large lava tube. Strewn on the earthy floor here were debris from former construction attempts: large timbers, twisted steel, large cogs and gears. And in the rubble, the bones of long-dead dwarven miners who met their fate falling into the pit only to die here. It was a cold and desolate place.
Further, Ma'yah - prone on her back - noted that there was lettering written on the side of the wall but it was too small and too far away to be legible. Immediately, the pseudo dragon leaped from its perch to fly across the expanse and land beside the lettering. It arched its back and craned its neck, looking back towards Ma'yah. "Do not be alarmed," Ma'yah could hear an accented voice, but it came from inside of her head. The pseudo dragon was communicating with her telepathically. "The writing is Dwarven. Scrawled in blood. It reads, 'Tanelorn'."
When Ma'yah recovered from the shock of using telepathy, she revealed what the pseudo dragon had told her to the rest of the party. Instantly, Siegride nearly buckled, feeling the intensity of emotions like anger and frustration and a sense of deception overcome her; Isthmeira was not amused.
Realizing that they were relatively safe and that the attack had ended, the party investigated their surroundings, healed their wounds, and discussed their options.
In their searching through the rubble, the party had recovered the former possessions of the miners:
- Small statues and holy symbols: Berronar Truesilver, Claggedin Silverbeard (smiling, bald, bearded dwarf, bearing an axe).
- 4 500 GP Gemstones (1 Alexandrite, 1 Topaz, 2 Acquamarine)
- 1 5,000 GP Gemstone (Ruby)
- 17 50 GP Gemstones (Bloodstones, Quartz, Moonstone)
- 627 Golden Dwarven Doubloons
- 1 Potion (steel vial, cold to touch, unknown); 1 Belt (unidentified); 1 Ring (black opals, ravens, unidentified)
Ma'yah cast Detect Magic on the recovered items and learned that the potion, belt, and ring all exuded strong dweomers of magical energy.
Aside from tools, oils, ropes, and other possessions, the party also found grated landings that could be fitted as extensions to the platform as to reach the wall of the Pit.
In the meantime, Tolman noted a new entry in his Diary of Correspondence. It was from Twyst.
Greetings friend Tolman.
I do hope my correspondence finds you in good health. Mine, astonishingly, persists.
Facts: the countryside is littered with refuges and half-man, half-ogre (hideous creatures) patrols who’re apparently under order to slay males and retain females, for whatever insidious reasons; corpses litter the roads; refuges are scavenging for food and shelter; at night, the skyline is riddled with fires. My entourage and I steered clear of regular trails.
Rumors: I hear Rhackdalia still stands but the Queen will let it fall; I hear the Pastore Wood, Hills, and Highland are enslaved; Shyn-Levenson still retains order and flies the Forethian Flag; Shyn-D’hnare has mounted an adequate defense.
In Shyn-Bhokerdown; all order is lost here; the Magistrate has fled; the armor is undisciplined and aiding only in its corruption; it’s at best a tent city of panicked thousands fleeing the island; passage on remaining vessels are going to highest bidders; scoundrel captains and quartermasters selling standing-room only passage to Sphant, Floreth, or Shyn-Valour.
It will take time to identify a trustworthy mariner or tradesman. Until such time I’ve taken a modest room in the back of the Rusty Hook.
Good travels, friend.
The party explored the lava cave, traveling both to the east and west. To the west, the lava tube descended into further darkness and apparently went on for at least three miles before the party turned back; to the east, Vongur proclaimed that the party was traveling uphill and gaining elevation, and in another 3.5 miles, that fresh air could be felt on their skin and faces. The party eventually found that the lava tube exited from a concealed cave to a cliff-face. Experiencing fresh air and wind for the first time in nearly a week, the party looked over the hills and snow-covered terrain that would eventually lead them back to Rhackdalia.
But Tamroohk and Siegride - they weren't done yet and they weren't ready to leave. They convinced the party that the totems embedded in the rock represented a growing, festering seed of evil that - if left unchecked - would unleash a garden of horrors. It needed to be destroyed, and in the same fashion that the totem in the White Stands was destroyed: dug up, chipped into fine pieces, and burned with oil. Tamroohk was sure of it: these totems (representing a Mosquitto, a man with a frog in his mouth, a Wolf, and a Raven) needed to be destroyed, and she wasn't going anywhere until that was attended to.
Returning to the platform, they affixed the steel grates to the edge and began their work. The party dug out the totems and chipped the wood, causing the sinister white vines to wither - which was good because fresh ghastly embryos were forming and sprouting from the vines. They chipped, chopped, and dropped pieces of the totems to the bottom of the Pit, where other members of the party created bonfires to torch their essence. The effort took nearly a cycle, and on the 1st of Bloom, the party emerged from concealed cave along the cliff-face and left the mountain side.
The party spent about a day and a half traveling through the wilds and avoiding Preen Pass, as suggested by Twyst. The party could see evidence of the siege upon Rhackdalia and encountered some of its grizzly consequences: the dead corpses of unprepared civilians who attempted to flee towards the mountains but died from exposure. Attending to their bodies, the party pushed on, only to encounter the outskirts of the Fens and to witness the distant wall of Rhackdalia. What they saw took their breath away.
Most of the Fens had been cut back and burned away by an army creating a distribution and supply chain straight to the walled city of Rhackdalia. Fires littered the horizon and black columns of smoke were everywhere. The party could make out battalions of organized army consisting of half-ogres and ogres moving, storing, and distributing supplies, rations, and siege equipment, flanking six sides of the walled city. They could make out lines of much smaller, defenseless humans who were likely taken prisoner by the half-ogres, being herded away from the siege zone and towards Preen Pass. They witnessed many dead bodies, crushed horses and wagons - victims who attempted to flee, bargain, or otherwise plead with the army with no success. And commanding those battalions were enormous, 15' tall blue-skinned humanoids with wiry white hair - their bodies thin and emaciated from possibly decades of malnourishment.
Vongur, Gorbash, and Tamroohk confirmed that those were Frost Giants, and possibly part of a clan lead by a Jarl on this island. Some of the party members recalled Ma'yah talking about the book she borrowed from the Overreach on the Frost Giants of Rhackdalia, which described their traditions, history, and customs.
Realizing that there was no way that the party could hope to sneak into Rhackdalia without attracting the attention of the army, Tolman volunteered to sneak in by night to investigate the situation, using the secret tunnels the party had encountered in their bouts with the shady characters at Fenwater Abbey. The iron gates that had once protected those entrances and exits had been torn away, and by the looks of it, those who had tried to use it had been slaughtered as the subterranean corridor was stained with blood.
On the inside of Rhackdalia, Tolman found that nearly all of the city was boarded up and evacuated; stores and shops looted; those who had the means and ability to escape already had, whereas those who stayed (the infirm, the weak, diseased, elderly, the poor) were all that remained; they formed long lines for food and other resources. The beautiful library was burned down; the stone buildings of the Commercium and Croupier had been locked and sealed; the gates to the Mhorovia District and its castles (the home of the infamous Houses of Mhorovia, Morley, M'lahn, and Witherdew) had been sealed. Some clerics of Widetree Abbey appeared to have remained and tended to the grief-stricken. Tolman found a sizable defense force of trained soldiers along the wall of Rhackdalia, but their only grace was the wall - their numbers would never stand the might of the army on the other side. Patrols of women soldiers were in the streets, and Tolman overheard their desperate conversations ... they believe that the Queen is sending reinforcements and that a flotilla of Florethian ships will appear on the horizon at any minute, and that more soldiers will come flooding in to the city from the harbor, and that they will be saved ... Tolman saw no ships in the harbor and an eerily-still sea.
Tolman returned to the party describing what he had found. It was the evening of the 2nd of Bloom, Rose: 47, and the party remained hidden in the foothills to the Fens, wondering what next to do ...
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