Session Twenty-Nine Summary (Graveyard of Empires: After the Fall)

Session 29, January 27 2021

Introduction

We continue at 1:30AM on the 20th of Tenrilden with the party having reached the fault-line rift north of the Drow trading post. They are perhaps halfway to Lungmold's village, which has apparently come under attack ...

Larry's Summary

The fault line passage is unstable with falling rocks. A large rock falls and cracks open to reveal a large yellow crystal larger than a human head that we retrieve.

We encounter a party of drow with three saber spiders, and surprise them, Velkin and Druul step forward and nearly convince them we are his slaves and heading to Malgrim. The priestess seems to know who he is and they attack. Spiders and drow bolts cause damage.

Party members attacked by the spiders fight back and Kauri casts lightning bolt and kills all the drow. Lambertus loses his hold person as there are no more persons standing.

We kill two of the three spiders, but the third left.

We gather loot from them.

Soon we have a large rumbling and a large rock narrowly misses Lungmold and Gath is unable to dodge one coming at him. He is knocked down and Lambertus uses his last curative spell.

We cross a mechaworm passage.

Then we see patches of a creamy substance that causes numbness. Dirtcrust tells us there is a many legged creature with tentacles on it's head.

We come to a large sabre spider stuck to the wall unconscious. Lungmold probes its mind and it wakes up but can't move.

Worm trapped it.

We rescue it and it agrees to follow Velkin as far as Malgrim.

We travel to get past the signs of the territory of the worm creature.

There is another huge tremor and an enormous hunk of rock falls away and catches several in the party.

We elect to rest 8 hours.

We then decide to move fast and only have minor tremors and get to the river but Dirtcrust's raft is missing.

We decide to look around and see how we get to Lungmold and Dirtcrust's village.

Do we risk travelling the river, or go back to the fault line and head to Malgrim, or seek materials to make a raft.

Entry in Velkin's Scrolls

Tenrilden 20 1:30am

Faultline rift north of Malgrim-Vilgram trading post heading toward Lungmold’s village that’s been attacked by what we think is a member of the Silence.

The travel is treacherous, periodic tremors send stones falling. After such an event, a large yellow crystal, larger than a human head is found when a stone cracks open after crashing to the ground.

We encounter a Thule patrol led by a priestess. I step forward and try to talk our way through without incident, however it seems our time away from Vilgram has aged my knowledge and I haven’t focused on considering consequences of what has happened thoroughly enough. The priestess and I speak for a few minutes. She’s been tasked with finding Aubrey Grotecop and a group of companions led from Vilgram by myself and Druul. Aquil’s complicity with the group was revealed and he was executed. She also says that this group has likely acquired Lloth’s prize that Jherlanna recovered from the surface. This I’m quite surprised at. Either the box the Troglodyte or the Magic User carries may be the item, but I’m not completely certain. However the news has me troubled. The priestess asks for me to step aside, which I physically do, however I’m not certain that I’ll not meet the same fate as Aquil so I aid the group in dispatching the patrol, hoping to wipe them out so news of my association does not cause further blemish to our House. Kauri wipes out the party of Thule warriors with a lightning bolt spread… The power of the party continues to surprise me. However one of the Sabrespiders from the patrol did escape. News of this encounter is likely to make it’s way to Vilgram.

We search the patrol for useful items, however the power of Kauri’s magic destroys any papers that might have been helpful. I pick up a few more vials of sleep poison and replenish my bolts while the party gathers anything that may be of value.

Further on, a passage crosses the fault which we determine to be a gigaworm tunnel. An area with a creamy numbing substance coating the walls is encountered, a sabrespider is encased in the goo and we release him. He agrees to accompany me and leave my ‘slaves’ alone until at least Malgrim for releasing him. I gather 2 vials of the substance, maybe it’ll come in handy. Some others do as well.

Another collapse and a cloaker falls to the ground. We subdue it in hopes of gathering some information on what it’s objectives are. Assassination, or acquisition. The creamy stuff quite nicely incapacitates an opponent when struck.

Another collapse in the fault and the group gets hammered. We find a side passage and rest for a period. Afterwards, we set out again at a faster pace than before. We make it to a river and are about to do a little scouting to see if there’s anything we can use as a raft to move upriver, or go around and through Malgrim to get to Lungmold’s village… Neither option is ideal.

The time is about 930am Tenrilden 21.