Session Ninety-Four (Graveyard of Empires Summary)
Session 94 February 2, 2016
During the week Pons is training.
Kalgunn and Edan negotiate a deal. Kalgunn agrees to trains Edan on how to construct an Electrical Sphere Autonotom in exchange for historical tales of the Isles of Curabel. They assemble one but need a control cube to activate it. Kalgunn also suggests that if he was taken to one of the functioning flying scrying devices (about 200,000 feet) he might be able to locate the Conclave in Exile’s base. From this unknown location, he might be able to restore the entire network of scrying devices.
On the 28th of Faureldin, messages have returned from Midmark confirming Ryker’s identity. Canon Alaric Winterbergh from Midmark has arrived to vet Ryker, the two spend all their time debriefing. Marchmain then sends us a message that the patrols in the under city have been canceled and that Dorea he has asked the leadership in Xenilum Khel to allow the SilverThrone to guard and the Brotherhood of the Forge to administer the cultural treasures of Xen Khel.
Edan asks Kalgunn to help recover the chief engineer’s deleted records. Kalgunn confirms they are not accessible. He does explain that if one were to set the power controls for the engineering facility to overload, the entire facility would be lost to the molten earth depriving all the dependant facilities of all power. Anyone who did so could escape via the portal system, so long as their first destination had access to the outside.
The Committee for Portal Reconnaissance Feasibility decides to shroud the Engineering portal room in Darkness then send an autonotom via the portal to the Bioforge Research Facility. The surface Boys gather our band together and head from the estate to the high peak temple. Several militia ask Thorfus if there might be a final libation before they ship out. Thorfus’ agreement is met with cheers from the blokes milling about. The sentry at the temple is now only five guards watching the sun drift across the sky.
Collecting Derich, we all meet in the engineering facility. Our plan is enacted without casting darkness, instead we shroud the one strobe light in the portal room but the portal for D does not activate. Thorfus reactivates the power to D so that we can proceed. Our first look shows just a little damage to the octagonal room. Thorfus commands the monkey to step through the portal to look about. The monkey is greeted by a docile undying that invites the monkey to follow it westward. Thorfus keeps the monkey within control range which annoys the undying. It undoubtedly wants the monkey to follow to Marinthala’s office.
When the monkey turns to leave, the undying utters ‘wait’ and the two stare at each other for some time. Eventually a pale islander holding a banner enters the hall way. His appearance is familiar to Thorfus. Noticing the open portal, he rushes towards it yelling at someone unseen that the portal is open. Thorfus has the monkey encourage him to enter so that we can capture him. Chuq’s mental probe is interrupted as the Islander stiffens. The islander speaks in ancient dwarven to the monkey asking who it serves. He asks if it serves the chief pathologists, engineer, botanist. Stating it doesn’t serve the same master, Thorfus looses control of the Monkey. Chuq then shuts the portal down as Thorfus rushes to the engineer’s office to deactivate all power to the Bioforge research.
Now we open the portal to the Pathogen Research facility and send a single monkey to reconnoiter. The monkey exams doors to all cardinal points. Since the rooms beyond are all occupied by mounds of molten slag but the southern room, we instruct the monkey to enter the southern room. It is carpeted with ash. An arrhythmic pounding is heard from a mirrored wall to the west. The money presses the single button on the only pedestal, which causes the northern door to close, a shower to sprinkle followed by a burst of air. Then the southern door opens.
Beyond is a 10’ wide corridor running perpendicular to the west & east. At either end are wall sized windows that become visible as lights in the corridor light. Behind the windows are mutated creatures throwing their bodies against the windows. The bony creatures to the west are fracturing their window. The monkey examines the opposing door to the south and sees beyond it another room with furniture, doors to other areas, plant boxes and four flesh sloughing humanoids loitering. What other secrets are hidden in this hell hole?