Session One Hundred and Twelve (Graveyard of Empires Summary)
Session 112
10:20am, 25th Jourilden
Experimental Ship Wreck, Deck
Having noticed the circling sand shark in the waters, Chuq has a moment of realisation as he and the shark recognise each other. Calling Chuq ‘Swimming Walker That’s Not Completely Dumb’, Carchus, the shark he previously spoke to at Kalligan had arrived, explaining that he had answered the call for the bravest champion of shark-kind, which he claimed to be after braving the ‘bad waters’.
The call had gone out a long while ago, at least two moon cycles, though he had arrived a lot more recently. He was also wounded, having been attacked by ‘Dagon’s people’, green-black underwater humanoids with sharp teeth. Chuq gets a better picture of this with his ESP helm, pausing only to prevent our hireling longbowmen from firing on the shark.
Carchus explains that Dagon had put out the call so another patch of bad-water could be fixed, and the shark believed that Chuq could help with that, since we had done so previously. The location is underwater to the north-east, and Carchus says he will head south-east to bring help to resolve the issue.
He also explains that the Weeping Ladies are still in the cove, beneath the water and feasting. Chuq tasks Jory Tregoning to take a longboat and several hirelings to report this to the Bitter Horse.
In the meantime, Edan leads a small group below decks to inspect the engine room. Below deck is a bit of a mess, though devoid of much of the detritus normally present aboard a ship, there is some water. The aft of the ship is taken up by large hulk of machinery and a number of barrels, some of which are broken and likely the source of the water inside. Inspecting the barrels, Canis finds labels denoting as ‘Property of the Temple of Merendur, Consc. Water’, and he can tell that is extremely pure, and not naturally so.
Edan inspects the machine in the meantime, noticing a funnel that would allow something to be poured into the machine. The rest of the contraption has a number of pipes and various other unknown parts, but it seems apparent the water is some kind of fuel source. There doesn’t seem to be any obvious controls, just a number of gauges and a wood stove.
Above, Ronan inspects the sword used to destroy the power source within the control box, but finds nothing special about it. There is a number of copper-like shards lying in an around the box. He takes the time to gather up some of the components of what remains of the sphere.
Chuq has managed to retrieve the corpse of the man responsible, the act not only taking off his arm, but burning much of that side of his body. He seemed to be well-dressed, and upon being inspected by Thorfus, it looks quite close to one of Grell’s lackeys from the time where we prevented him making off with the baker’s daughter. We decide to retain the body and his sword.
Leaving the ship for now, we remove the barrels of water for safe-keeping until it can be unbeached and repaired, and return to the Bitter Horse. We decide to leave a pair of Hirelings along with Peter the Repairman at the Experimental Ship begin repairs. As we return, we can see bonfires along the beach and sailors working to move the bodies still strewn about.
Reporting to Dyconson and Evenwode on everything we’ve learned so far, they are able to confirm the sword is an heirloom from Evenkeel’s time, belonging to the Hynderwells. Thier son was a known college associate of Grell who had gone missing. They admit to being aware of how the engine works, and explain that the Consecrated Water as fuel was an idea of Desric Treehorn’s. Reportedly, burning off the water left behind a kind of energy. They also impress on us that what we’ve seen should remain a Midmark naval secret.
During the conversation, we hear a horn blast. Looking out with spyglasses, we see the sailors running around and waving, perhaps having seen something in the water, though we can’t make anything out.
They decide to send over several shipwrights to help with the salvage whilst we investigate the beach, Thorfus grabbing his sacks of monkeys in the process. We notice nothing on the way over except a floating body missed during the cleanup and a lot of seaweed. Asking the sailors on shore what had happened, one claims he may have seen a head amongst the seaweed, but since it’s been a short while since the sighting, he assumes it was nothing but another corpse. He does admit to feeling a little queasy at the sight, which is uncharacteristic of the man.
On shore there are roughly seventy sailors, thirty from the Javelin, the rest from the Footpad, present to work on clearing the beach. We send a pair of longbowmen to the tower to keep watch, and suggest that the sailors set a watch along the shore every twenty feet.
We then head back to the octagonal tower, and the hole within. Gathering around the hole, Thorfus brings out his monkeys, allowing Ronan to see them for the first time. As they’re activated, they line up precisely as Thorfus praises the little creatures, then he directs them to head down the hole in front of him. One stops and holds out his hand to Thorfus beforehand, displaying five bugs arranged in size order.
Preparing some rope, we then lower Thorfus down after them. He is lowered into a domed room with a single passageway leading east. The centre of the room has a pile of broken, rotten bodies, and south of it is a pedestal with an information reliquary slotted into it, and beyond that several lockers. Seven posts ring the centre, made of the same material as the pedestal, with rounded tops, and the east holds to large metal boxes.
Pulling out his sword for light, he can also see that there seems to be some tracks leading east. Spreading out the monkeys to keep watch, the rope is returned up to allow Ronan to come down, and Thorfus inspects the bodies. About twenty in all, and mostly men aside from several women marked and shaved in the usual fashion of Grell, he recognises none of them.
Thorfus inspects the pedestals for runes or other writings as the rest of the party begins descending. All of them have a rune for the letter ‘L’. They appear much like the ones from Xen’Khel, lacking a holograhic interface. He tests out one of the platinum keys, but they do nothing, and his circlet picks up no other automatons.
Ronan looks at the cart, which looks to be a specialised minecart with five pairs of seats within, and what looks to be a small cargo area. The door he can see does not seem to have any way of being opened and closed. Whilst there, he can see that the boxes seem to be engines of some kind, filled with gears and the like. He explores partway into the tunnel, noticing that it mostly is a straight line as far as he can see, though there more doors in interval that could come down to block the tunnel.
The other party members arrive, fanning out to properly explore the room. Edan tries to more thoroughly inspect the pedestals based on what he learned from Kalgun, believing that they are currently lacking power. He also retrieves the reliquary.
Chuq checks the lockers for traps, noticing them to be similar to the ones we found in Bioforge. The first one holds two metallic cylinders, 2.5 feet long with valves on one end, with flexible tubing attached, and a staff with two tines on one end. Via Kalgunn, Edan is able to confirm that the cylinders are underwater breathing apparatus. The second locker holds a three more cylinders and another spear. The third has two more cylinders and a third bident.
Thorfus and Edan bring Kalgunn over to the boxes, and are able to work out that they are for powering the cart, which he calls a tram. They seem to be powerless, though he warns them to be careful as there may be residual power. Thorfus questions the use of the pedestals and it is explained that the central disc is an electrical hoist, and they pedestals would be part of a security system.
We call down our Henchman, deciding to leave everyone else above to stand guard. We decide to bring the water-breathing equipment and clamber into the cart, having the monkeys push us along. As we are gathering, we can distantly hear a horn blowing, and our spearman report something on the beach, old ladies riding green-scaled creatures.
Realising that the quickest way up is magically, Edan decides to cast levitate, though Thorfus takes the lead being carried by his monkeys. Edan, Ronan and Chuq all go up via levitation, leaving Canis behind to begin climbing the rope with the Henchman.
Reaching the surface, the party can hear shouts and the sounds of combat, and even sobbing. Our hirelings seem to be assisting from the upper floor of the tower, but the creatures on the beach are cutting a swathe through the sailors. The creatures are huge, ten foot tall humanoids, swatting at the sailors. Feminine creatures, hags, are riding on thier backs, using saddles and reins made of seaweed. They appear to be fighting in a group, the hags staying hidden behind the backs of thier mounts.
The party prepares for ranged combat, the monkeys gathered defensively. Chuq begins shouting for the sailors to retreat, a few of them beginning to head our direction. We set up a spear line between the buildings as the creatures begin to chase the fleeing sailors. In the chaos, several sailors fall to friendly fire. They reach us however, passing through our ranks to relative safety, even as the creatures get to our line.
Whilst the party keeps firing, Canis attempts to use thier reins against them, casting Entangle, holding one in place and impeding the rest. As he does, we notice that the wounds the creatures have suffered are being healed by water being secreted by thier hag riders. Ronan steps forward and slays the monstrous creature trapped by the spell, brushing off the effects of the Hag’s gaze even as a Monkey finishes it off.
The Automonkeys begin attacking the ankles of the nearest creatures, allowing the spearmen to begin poking at them in an attempt to keep them at bay. In response, the creatures lash out, smashing into the ranks of monkeys and spearmen.
Edan returns to surface, preparing a powerful bolt of lightning. Canis casts Faerie Fire to attempt to make the mounts easier to bring down, and the party lays in, managing to land a number of wounding blows. Struggling against thier bonds, the creatures are unable to retaliate as quickly, and Edan unleashes a massive bolt of lightning across thier line, Chuq narrowly jumping aside before it hit.
The bolt courses through the creatures, heavily wounding all the mounts and dropping one of the hags. The other two hags seem to brush it off entirely, seemingly possessing some magical resistance. Not wanting to be outdone, and without time to cast his own lightning magics, Canis charges in and brings his hammer down on the skull of one of the creatures.
Thorfus shoots out the eyes of another, dropping its rider down to the ground, where it is swarmed by monkeys and brought down. The final Hag, it’s attention caught by Ronan, gazes in his direction, only to get caught up in its own vision as he held up a shard of the copper automaton. At that, the final creature attempts to flee, only to be brought down by the spears and monkeys of our battle line.
As we survey the end of the battle, the party takes a moment to put out the fire caused by Edan’s magic. None of the wounded seem to have lived past the battle, except our hireling Weswynelle, who suffered a heavy wound to his leg, so the party rummages through the creatures, finding a small sum of gold. The saddles we find to have been made of coral, whilst Canis settles down to begin harvesting the scaly skin of the Hag’s mounts, which on thought resemble tales of Sea Trolls.