From the Ashes
Upon leaving the Purple Orca, Brin immediately wanders away from the party. Nim pulls Kor aside and reveals what the psychic told her.
She tells him the party needs to keep an eye on Brin, who apparently has “a darkness following him”.
Brin makes his way back to his family home, still dressed as “Hanne”, and talks to his sister, Felicity. He seems very upset, and gives her the fancy dress and 151gp, to help if she needs to escape town. He promises he’ll write, then leaves to spend some time alone before returning to the party.
Prytania is still recovering from the festival; people appear groggy and hungover, decorations are haphazard, and stalls have already begun to disappear. As the party makes their way toward The Cragg, their surroundings take a decided downturn. This area was clearly added on to the city, cobbled together and floating houseboat-style over the water. As they move, Kor clocks a child with messy reddish curls watching them, following somewhat discreetly. Brin rejoins the group, wearing a different dress.
As they approach the area of Guillhart’s house, they see a series of broken-down row houses, weathered and ramshackle. One door in particular, which they suspect is Guillhart’s, has a sign which reads “Reclaimed by Prytania Due to Debts Incurred”. Brin finds this especially odd, given the extreme poverty in this area.
Kor attempts to wriggle down the very narrow alley (“par-Kor!”), but is unable to fit. Ikki flies overhead, but the buildings are so close together, it’s difficult to get a good view. Dango eventually just opens the front door and walks in. The house appears to be deserted, though there is an old man squatting in the front rooms. He claims the house has been empty for years, and he doesn’t seem to know Guillhart.
The main rooms are picked pretty clean, either by looters or others seeking his inventions. Behind some rubble and furniture, the party finds a door to an office. They investigate the desk and bookshelf inside, but there is nothing useful. Though much of the decoration has been torn down, there is a wooden map of Tempris mounted on the far wall. Kor recognizes the map as identical to the party’s map of Tempris, and when they look, they see their map was indeed painted by Guillhart. Upon stepping closer, Nim feels a draft coming from behind the wall. The top of the wooden map is engraved with “V.O.X. D.E.I”. The party quickly realizes it’s a puzzle, and by pressing indentations on the wooden map that correspond to marked places on their map, they trigger a secret door.
Behind the wall is a fairly cramped, dark tunnel. The party files in, and quickly recognizes a pressure plate trap in the floor. When they are unable to deactivate the trap, Kor just throws Toulouse over and jumps across himself. After she’s shrunk via magic, Dango throws Nim over, as well. Brin successfully jumps across, and immediately forges ahead in the darkness. Dango attempts to jump across, and nearly makes it, but her boot catches the edge of the trap, and it opens beneath her. Toulouse uses magic to slow her descent, and the party pulls her back up out of the hole. Ahead of them in the tunnel, Brin carelessly triggers another trap, getting shot with a poison dart. The rest of party manages to avoid that trap.
At the end of the tunnel, they find a door. After several attempts to open the door, including mage hand, fire, lockpicking, and kicking, Nim finally just blasts it open using Thunderwave. Behind the door is a dark, dank bedroom. There is a grimy skylight overhead, illuminating a room full of belongings. After searching, the group finds: a partially-burned schematic drawing for what appears to be a ring in the ashes of the fireplace; a letter from a woman named MEGARA; and a letter from OVERSEER ILYA AMBERFORGE at the HORNE OBSERVATORY in PAL’MORA, and a page from a journal. Brin also finds a BAG OF HOLDING (which he keeps), a POTION OF CLIMBING (which he gives to Dango) and a SUPERIOR HEALING POTION (which goes to Nim).
Beneath the rug, the party discovers a trapdoor leading into a cavern below. This is apparently Guillhart’s secret laboratory; there are several tables, overflowing with rusted equipment and machine parts and moldy books and papers. Brin senses magic coming from a particular pile, but when he reaches for it, it is revealed to be a magical metal goliath. It comes to life, along with two smaller metal creatures, and all three attack.
ENCOUNTER: The party eventually defeats all three metal creatures. Upon defeat, the creatures were rigged to explode; the smaller creatures were completely destroyed, but the larger one left its body behind to be explored.
Within the mangled body of the largest metal goliath, we discover a magical box. Inside is a round object that opens like a compact and radiates divination magic. There are symbols of mysterious constellations that hover over its surface, and a needle that spins, like a compass. As the group is examining this item, Dango suddenly remembers where she’s seen the ring from Guillhart’s schematic before: Bianca!
~ end of session ~
random notes
- Currently, our party is the 303rd year of the Great Peace.
- Nim, as she’s being thrown over a trap, dwarf-in-the-LOTR-style: “I’m a folk hero, this is bullshit!”