Session Thirty-Four Summary (Graveyard of Empires: After the Fall)

Session 34, March 3 2021

Introduction

We continue at 3:00PM on the 22nd of Tenrilden with the party having just rejoined Rallion in Malgrim's Undermarket after escaping the Cloaker ambush. The group is in search of healing potions and a place to rest before heading to the Silver Throne embassy to see what has DVLs and archmages interested in the place ...

Larry's Summary

Bili goes off to locate a private residence for us to rest. Lungmold and Dirtcrust check out the market. Kauri, Velkin, and Brendil seek healing potions and find 10 normal ones and 4 supercharged ones, a root that enables one to fight until the limit of death, and a sleep potion. Also five doses of the extra ingredient for healing potions.

We go to the household of Primila Nachak and give her a 100 gp gem for the night and a meal.

We drink healing potions and rest. At 8:00 pm Rallion heals Oskar who freaks out, but we tied him up and Druul played a song to calm him.

Primila wants to play cards.

We train Velkin on shadow stepping.

Velkin tries shadow stepping with the ring that Lungmold found and Druul recognized it from a Dwarven story that he heard amongst the pirates.

We sell the four sets of drow chainmail and head up to the Dwarven embassy.

We come to a celebration on the bridge at the mid-level of Milgram. We see a patrol of the Hidecki guards and blend into the procession and cross the bridge. Velkin shadowsteps across since a drow would be out of place.

We find blood on the gates to the embassy and the lock is broken, but we can't open the gate.

Velkin climbs up and lowers a rope.

Jax killed his two hirelings and used their blood to power a dwarven warrior automaton and it went wild once it crossed the threshhold.

Dwarven magic (DVLs) seem to be involved.

Kauri still has his silver control circlet and senses a DVL presence.

Rallion finds his platinum lenticular device (key).

The party and Jax cross the threshhold where we hear a message: "The Necropolis Uplink is broken, please wait here and security will be here shortly. The Silver Throne thanks you for your patience."

Lungmold's Recollection

After talking with the yellow hat about the dwarven embassy. we found Rallion in an ally, Billy went off to secure a place to a needed rest. and it was decided we need to buy up all healing potions we can. I(Lungmold) decided to go a different rout with Dirtcrust through the market,then the other group. I wanted to scan people and get a general feel. there was a musician on the balcony playing away. and I (Lungmold) caught a though from a small gnome fellow. looking for targets to steal from. well I threw some thoughts around to the patrons to check there pockets. *chuckle. it caused a scene that I walked away from.

so I found a vendor that had these cool clear crystal hand made necklaces. I bought a bunch for the group so we fell.......ummm. connected. like home. I do miss Home terribly....and we need to go take care of that. but first we will go to the embassy to see what might help us.. anyway. I was looking through the vendors and came across a weapons vendor selling old dwarven weapons that use to be magic. so I though I wonder if I could reach out and feel if there is magic near,i seems to be very important to the rest of the group. I think it would bring us close together if I were to find something useful. and well I got a feeling that there was something here. i started tio rummage through and was stopped . and asked if I was one of the contacts. seeing how the others in the party tell little white lies to get information I decided to do the same and answered yes, so this gnome vendor went to his chest and pulled out a small bag. made a low spot in the weapons and slightly opened it. it was a RING!. a Magic Ring!. wow I thought, how much. and he told me 6000gp. well I tryed to hagle and didnt get very far so I paid the 6000.

So billy returned and we went to the location to rest. and wow we felt so much better. it was needed. so come to find out the ring hides you from outsiders. I guess people like the yellow hat. so the group squabbled a bit on who might benefit from this ring. I mean I thought it will bring us together not cause frigtion. so I decided to make it community property. if you need to use the ring just ask..... that settled that. well Velkin and Rallion wanted to test the ring. by doing this shadow step thing Rallion did on the sky car. very helpful trick. but you always get visitors that follow you out. so i gave Velkin the ring (To use) he put it on and Rallion described on how to shadow step. I looked into their thoughts and learned the process as well. I don't now if ill try it or if it will work ,but now i know. so Velkin ran into a wall on his first try. But on the second try he went from one end of the alley to the other. with no Tag a longs coming through. Great it works.

so after that we had billy show us where the embassy was.and when we get there we notices the front gate was broken. but we couldn't open it..some kind of magic...but how there is no magic, anyway. Velkin shadow stepped up the the balcony and tied off a rope. i scanned the area and found someone nearby in the embassy, so i warned the group. one by one we climbed the rope and all got inside. and there at the next gate was the humans called Jack's, he turned and laughed. then talked to Rallion. i got the feeling they knew each other and he mentioned that Rallion was responsible and that he should help to get magic back.whatever that means. so he explained he couldn't get through the door. he used blood to fuel the machine inside that seemed to stop working. but there was power on inside.somehow that was strange. then a voice sid some thing from inside. and after a few moments Rallion produced some kind of key....and now we move forward.....

Velkin's Scrolls

The Velkin Scrolls

Tenrilden 22

3pm

Kauri, Brendil, Oskar and I go into the Undermarket to find healing potions to help restore ourselves after the Cloaker ambush. We find a few alchemists and acquire a bit more than healing potions. Kauri drops 3700gp on basic healing potions at Spiwyn’s general store. And I spend 3150gp spread among Salrik and Sajin on healing potions, Lizard Luster for Oskar the Tea Maker and acquire some superior healing potions along with the recipe and enough additional ingredients to augment 5 of the normal healing droughts that Kauri can currently concoct. We found Carrion Crawler infestation curing ointment and acquired that recipe as well. Hopefully we’ll not find those dire creatures anytime soon. Their paralyzing exudate is quite handy though, as Brendil has proven. We replenish our expendables as flaming oil has proved quite successful in dispatching opponents.

Lungmold acquires a magical ring Druul identifies as a Ring of Obfuscation from Outsiders. It was created by a dwarf to hide from the Outsiders he’d angered. It’s most immediate and useful aspect is it will allow one to shadowstep without complication. There is some discussion on who should wear it as Lungmold has no fingers. Lungmold brings back a set of matching crystal pendants to give to the party as a sign of unity. I wear the crystal.

I entreat Rallion, Kauri, Lambertus and the rest to allow my full acceptance into the party along with their stories, history and knowledge gained throughout their adventures thus far. I give up the majority of my share from selling the golden topaz to show my solidarity along with the money spent at the market for the benefit of the party. They seem satisfied with the arrangement. Rallion is less cagey than usual after our talk. I suppose material sacrifice isn’t enough for him. I’ll give it time.

Rallion teaches me Shadowstepping and Lungmold allows me to wear the ring he acquired while I test myself and the ring’s power with the understanding that he considers it community property and will pass it to another if the need is greater. I practice Shadowstepping and after some false starts, I perform it successfully with nothing creepy following me out. I believe I can put this ring to very effective use combining it’s abilities with my superior infravision and Lungmold’s telepathy for scouting. The more direct benefit is to more easily put pointy things into the soft parts of our opponents by surprise. I hand him his ring back after the practice session.

Bili located an out of favor gnomish woman who’s a weakness for gambling and debts to pay that will let us stay at her place. We pay her more than she asks and rest safely for a couple lanterns. We stay in a small room together and are quite cramped, but safe as far as we can tell. No one attacked us…

We sell the suits of adamantine armor before leaving the Undermarket.

We’re heading to the Embassy of the Silver Throne where Rallion gathered Jax was headed. A previous Archmage. What stories he might tell…

As we approach the bridge it becomes clear that me being part of the group might draw more attention to us. There are increased patrols of Higaki guards along the way. Lungmold gives me the ring and I cross via shadowstep and wait for the group to cross by mingling with a large procession making it’s way to the other side.

The area around the Silver Throne Embassy seems to be pretty much abandoned. Bili says no one wants to be close to this place.

The lock on the gate has a smear of blood and won’t open, we think it’s wizard locked. I drop a rope down from a nearby balcony and see Jax crawling around near the front doors which have been smashed open. He notices us and starts laughing when he sees Rallion and they converse for a bit. Jax has apparently used an automaton fueled by the life force of the two that brought the palette up here for a short time as it lies dormant. I almost shadowstep with the ring Lungmold has passed to me again to attack the Jax fellow. After he and Rallion speak, I hold for now.

There’s a blinking red panel near the door. There’s a voice coming from a hemisphere in the center of the ceiling in the entry room “Necropolis link cannot be established, please wait and security personnel will be with you shortly.” A faint humming emanates from the walls. Jax and the rest don’t understand how things are working as dwarven technology was fueled by DVL enslavement. Kauri states the power station seems to be working and Jax complains that the entire Lonely Isle was shut down. Kauri pulls out a cube which powers up somehow, then he steps in the room and a flash of green light comes from the hemisphere in the ceiling. Kauri uses the circlet he’s wearing and says that there is something on the other sided of the double doors. Rallion digs around in his pack for a while finally finding a golden lenticular ‘key’ he calls it and 4 platinum ones.

Mysteries abound.

After the downtime and information overload of last night’s look into this party’s underwear drawers. I’m sure I’m in the right place. Restoring magic I feel is the only way any race left here on Meidea will have a fighting chance against the invasion of the outsiders if there’s anything left by the time we figure it out. We’ve already lost almost a month, the Elves of Curanost are the subjects of Belial and who knows what other major and minor demons infest the lands above. They’ll come to the Underdark in time.

Lloth protect us.