Session Sixty-Seven (Graveyard of Empires Summary)

Once we’d, or rather Thorfus’ magic sword, dealt with the giant bloody lizard that had eaten it’s way through a window to get to us, everyone’s thoughts had turned to setting up camp for the night.

We checked out the area. More skin scraps and lizard dung mostly. The odd smell had gone, replaced with one of rot, reptiles,and most tantalisingly of all… nature.

Back within this strange compound we can hear the undead wardens, still muttering and cursing. It sounds like they’d begun to feast on the corpses of thier dead.

What worried me was the whatever power this place ran on seemed to be waning. The lights flickered, and the incessant humming faded in and out intermittenly. It worsened the more we used the lift, the entire contraption would shudder and slow occasionally.

We find the southern entrance does indeed lead to some unknown area of jungle. The reptiles are no longer within sight, which is relieving to say the least. Oddly, insects we can see in the jungle don’t seem to want to enter, even with the bounty of a freshly slain carcass.

I approach with Thorfus, Chuq, Uthruk and Derich, and we take the time to test it, wary of traps. First we send one of our poor chickens. The poor thing damn near had a heart attack when it thought it could escape into the jungle. Eventually, Derich steps through, though we were all sorely tempted, just for the chance to be outside again. He’s able to return easy enough, and I take the oppurtunity to step out myself.

The door is more of a portal. A door way with no frame, literally a hole in the air. Wondrous to be sure. It’s night, and I take the time to look at the stars. They are as I’ve learned them to be, meaning we’re still somewhere in Curabel. Derich looks too, remarking they’re different for him. More evidence of his long slumber if I understand it rightly.

Thorfus joins us with his strange mask, wavering a little as he stepped through the portal. He stands for a short time, muttering commands to it. He gets no signal from our current location, but to the east and west are Xen’Teller and Xen’Khel respectively. We dicuss for some time our potential location, and I strongly suspect our place to be somewhere in Curmidden’s jungles.

It is during this conversation Derich reveals that the Lonely Isle was the location of the Crystal Tower, and that ‘we’ destroyed it. I’m intruiged but we move on.

Derich himself wants to take his leave here, but we convince him to stay. Not only do we need him for his knowledge, but he could barely speak to us, a group fairly educated. The outside world, the modern world, would be difficult for him.

I caught Uthruk giving the jungle some longing looks too, but he joins us.

During dinner, that sinister, rasping breathing sounds throughout the compound again. It says in the language of my ancestors that it is unfortunate that we live, and the portal is not under thier control, so we should escape whilst we can. We may have found a personal access stone, but slaves that don’t serve end up dead.

We set up watch for the night. Bedding within the lower chamber and locking the door. Most of our ranged fighters sleep upstairs, using the cart as a barricade should the larger reptile return.

During the last hour of my watch with Kottar we begin to hear the undeniable sound of drums, distant and rhythmic. I watch the jungle looking for light and wait. As it gets closer, I can hear shouts and chants, and eventually see lights through the brush. I wake up the other fighters.

We watch as a group of tribal islanders enter the complex in a procession. Their leader is a big, imposing man, clad in intricate, dwarven-made armour and wielding a glowing dwarven sword. He has an old man in robes and chains as a prisoner. Following them is a female priestess with a large feathered headdress, accompanied by an honour guard.

The group pauses, shocked at the sight of one of the raptor corpses. We listen to them converse, they use an odd dialect of common. The prisoner is pleading; ‘a god is dead’, ‘the offerings are missing’. Apparently he failed the tribe in someway, and will be a new offering. The prisoner is dragged forward and chained to the reptilian statue in the centre of the room, and more shocked stares are directed at the larger reptile corpse.

The chief prays to the east, the raptor cell, asking the gods for protection from thier gods, to leave them in peace.

Soon after, the procession leaves, the drumming slower, but eventually bursts in to something more jubilant as they disappear into the jungle again. We wait for a while, before heading down to speak to the old man.

He gets scared at the sound of the door opening, but it turns to confusion when he sees the two dwarves and two humans approach.

We exchange stories, though the man is baffled that those who speak like city-folk can kill thier immortal gods. That myself and Thorfus were the same race as this place’s creators didn’t help much.

Apparently the raptors, thier gods, awoke at regular intervals, and it seemed our actions had awoken them out of time. They’d attacked the man’s, Shaman Haranth of Aramark, village killing several people. He’d been disgraced and replaced by his apprentice Shera.

We learn that we’re on Midland, about a week’s travel north of Midmark, deep in the Skarnwode. The Dark King is far to the west, unseen apart from scouts. We learn some more about the area, an intriguing ghost village included.

We test him, utilising Chuq’s mind-reading hat, we’re ascertain how much we can trust him, and his lack of understanding of the dwarven language. Finklemur attempts to charm him, but fails. He passes it off as another test.

We unchain him and return to bed for the final watch, taking him with us.

The next day, we decide to try and enter the admin area using the gold key. Returning to the portal room, we set a guard at the broken lift.

Thorfus successfully gains access, then Uthruk passes through the doors to ensure the code still works, before Thorfus leads a group through.

I wait for a while as they scout the intersection beyond. Chuq seems to disappear into the shadows as they look north. Moments later, Finklemur begins casting, and Thorfus pushes a button, eliciting a loud burst of static even I can hear. He shouts something.

Fitz and Haranth retreat back through to us, and I and some of the other fighters step through to assist, but we are slowed by the door system. Belroar has run north, whilst Thorfus fights one of those floating lightning orbs, getting shocked in the process. I see Finklemur blast at them with magic, and round the corner to see Chuq fighting a dwarf in power armour. It is more intricate than the set I possess… and operational! It is straining against one of ol’ Fink’s magical webs.

I see Belroar down a second orb, then Brice and Derich attempt to turn the dwarf with different methods but to no effect. Chuq hands out spears so we can safely attack it within the web, and I charge, Chuq, Thorfus and Belroar at my side. It doesn’t react to our blows, and breaks free of the confining magics.

I toss down the spear, drawing my glowing longsword, and plunge the blade between seams in it’s armour, feeling steel bite into decaying flesh. This attack causes it to falter. Taking the cue, Belroar utilises his scimitar, scoring another hit, and Thorfus is able to finish it off, bringing the hulking dwarf to it’s knees.

The battle over, my thoughts turn to deactivaring the armour so as not waste whatever power might remain in the power box. It seems Chuq was unable to remove it from the back. I remove the helmet, the armour colder than it probably should be, and the reveal the interior to be frosted over.

We all breath a sigh of shock and relief at that, myself especially. The dwarf within was a Wight. I resist the urge to scratch at the scar on my chest, still oddly cold from my last run in with such a powerful creature.

As I fiddle with the armour, the others loot it’s equipment, a magical multi-purpose axe and most importantly, a copper key.

Now it seems we can leave, most thankfully. But it also means we can more easily get around this place. I suspect, due to the louder humming, we can access whatever powers this place to the south. Perhaps we could find more power boxes there, or at least a recharge point. It would be nice to get that suit moving, and now we had two.

However, there is also the mystery of the voice, and whatever mysterious power has been working against us down here.