Session 45 - Exploring The Ruined Tower
Meeting another band of Hillfolk, how will go?
Soren seems to remember the beaded fringes on their shoulders means they are members of the badger paw clan who he has seen occasionally but never here. Their territory is down in the steplands. The camp is eerily silent all of a sudden and they hear people moving around them. Rua waves energetically at them and nudges Soren saying "You know the hillfolk, do something!" Soren steps forward and says "Hello the camp! We were about to make camp nearby and saw your fire smoke and wanted to introduce ourselves." Some heads peek up over the strewn rubble, then an older woman steps around one of them. She has lank stringy hair and her left arm is missing at the elbow but looks at us with a keen eye as we approach. Not the most physically menacing but it looks like the others look to her for direction.
She beckons for them to step forward and Soren introduces himself and says they are from Stonetop to explore the tower. They saw their fire and wanted to introduce themselves, not stumble upon them in the dark. "You can come to the fire and we will talk. There is a path here you can get your horse in and out." She leads the group towards a large fire burning in the centre, but clearly something is not right. All the people look young or old, not many fighting age people and Esme assumes they are refugees. As they sit around the central fire Soren offers some of their supplies for the communal stew, it is a tradition with the Hillfolk for travelling groups to pool their rations on a chance meeting. "If you are here to explore the tower you are kind, but foolish. Hopefully one day we will be able to return the favour." The lady says "What do you mean foolish? What is wrong with the tower?" Rua asks. "Our first camp was in the stone ruins closer to the tower, but we quickly found that if you sleep near the tower you are plagued with dreams of terror. We moved out here to the berm and morale has been much better." "What are these nightmares about?" Rua asks with curiosity. "My dreams were of being chased through a series of stone tubes with no sign of exit. Others dreamt of chasing as well, but they are loathe to speak of them."
Once they are settled around the fire, each with a bowl of stew, Soren asks what brings them to the area. He knows the Badger's Paw Tribe is from the south. "This is all that remains of our tribe, war has driven us from our ancestral homeland. Our warriors stayed behind to fight and find some assistance while we fled for our lives." "Curse that Mael" Esme says and she spits into the fire. "We have no spirit talkers and few warriors but we have been managing here. There are aurochs aplenty on the plain, though we have few horses and those to ride them for hunting." "Where is your village? Is there something we can do to help?" Rua stands up and draws his sword, eager to fight whoever required. "It has been 12 days since we left, and have had no news since. The time for help has since come and past. It was a slow journey. But where are my manners, my name is Ilar." Rua introduces the rest of the party to her as well. Ilar's eyes follow his hands as he does, and it is clear our names are engraved in her memory.
Esme hears her warning but says "Unfortunately we have things we need inside, so we must go forward regardless." "I am glad it is necessity that drives you and not adventure. One of our young warriors, Suli, thought he could go into the tower's tunnels and he has not returned." Esme promises to keep an eye out just in case we find him, bring him back or at least a memento. "If you are set upon braving the tower, at least spend the night here." They gladly take her up on her offer, Soren spends some more time chatting with Ilya and anyone else around about his time living with the hillfolk, trading stories. Esme spends her night swapping songs with some of the other older hillfolk, it makes for an entertaining way to pass the time and lifts the spirits of the hillfolk a little bit. As the fire dies down they each lay out their bedrolls, with the hillfolk laying out hide sheets between horses for temporarily shelters.
In the morning as the sun rises the camp is already moving. The main activity is gathering the long grasses and setting them out to dry to then build things with later. Esme can clearly see that they are quite adept at this, the elders weaving the grasses easily while idly chatting. She talks quietly to the group about possible inviting them to come live in Stonetop. Soren and Rua agree, but say that the biggest hurdle would be convincing them to settle down in one spot. She nods, and says maybe after they find Suli. They then agree to head out, taking their leave of the Badger Paw tribe.
As they closer to the tower its size grows even more complete. The ruins get larger and larger, turning from piles of rubble into standing walls or even half a second story still standing but no full buildings. There are shards of pottery and rusting iron littering the ground, with large holes and craters indicating excavation but no signs of habitation.
As they pick their way through the crumbling ruins Kiva notices that three magpies are sitting on a wall near you watching her intently. Their heads are following her as she moves, and she swears she hears one of them talk and says "Wingless". Kiva stops, turns to them and says out loud "Did these birds just roast me?" The birds look back at her, then one of them stretches her wings open and says "Give shinies!" Kiva is taken aback, looking around for support and now the whole group heard it. As she looks around she sees even more magpies gathering, alighting on the ruins around them. In just a few moments a couple dozen have arrived and they can hear them muttering "Stupid. Clumsy. Give shinies! Selfish!"
Rua rummages in his pockets finding a handful of coppers and moves to lay them out on the rocks. However, the moment the sun touches the coins the magpies erupt, fighting each other to get at the coppers and some are snatched out of his hands before he can even set them down. Several of them fly away with coppers in their beaks, others chasing them. Soon enough the group of birds surrounding them is much reduced but still present.
Shocked by their aggressive behaviour the group decides not to give them any more. The magpies keep shadowing them and they can hear them muttering on the wind "Selfish. No shinies. Bad nest. Stupid." As they go Esme starts to sing a song about a trickster magpie getting the better of humans, playing tricks and stealing their shinies. The birds stop their chattering while she sings. After a little while some of them are picking up the words and singing along. As they walk towards the tower one of them will occasionally land on her shoulder, look curiously at her, then taking off again. One of them is more curious, or perhaps reckless, than the rest and Esme names it Zarra.
They make it to the top of the ridge and the ruins have deteriorated again and not a single stone sits on top of another, strewn with rubble and still ponds and it is poor footing, taking them an hour to get to the rim of the crater. It looks like some massive force scooped a hole out of the ground next to the tower a hundred meters across. There is some standing water in the bottom, but they skirt the edge and get to the base of the tower. What remains of the tower is made of corroded metal, coming off in large flakes and some of the tallest structures look like they may fall any day though the base remains solid. There are large rents in the side, easily large enough to walk through. As they step inside there is a sudden cave-like darkness and coolness. There are scattered sunbeams coming through holes in the wall illuminating the remains of the some interior walls. The rent where they came in, it looks like they stepped into what was once a partially flooded room that once had a floor, but the floor is now covered in mounds of guano. They look up and see many, many tired bats cling to the ceiling 20 feet in the air. So many bats it appears the ceiling is moving.
Rua tilts his head, listening if the bats can talk as well. He pauses but doesn't hear any speech from bats, if they are talking it is well outside their range of hearing. Soren lights a torch, saying "If there are bats living here surely there can't be anything that...bad..." His voice peters out as he looks down and there is a puddle of rainwater, and in the water is a hand sticking straight up out of the water, fingers spread as if its reaching for something. They step closer, its clear it has been here for a long time, covered in grime and mold. Rua says "I am going to pull it out, Soren hold onto my legs!" He leans down, grabs the hand and pulls with all his might. He heaves but the hand doesn't budge at all, but his efforts scrape some of the grime off it, revealing it to be made not of stone but a murky glass substance. He looks to Kiva, asking if she knows anything about this but she just shakes her head and says "This is some fucked up shit."
They continue into the hallway, it is choked with rubble but enough to move around it and there are many passages leading off to the side. Esme asks Zhiwa to speaks up if he notices anything. He says "I have never seen a glass statue, it would be a great labour for a glassblower to make." He looks over his shoulder uneasily at the hand, saying "Clearly this is a place where terrible things have happened. Hopefully it all remains in the past." Soren has been keeping an eye out for muddy tracks or scraped rust and sees tracks of soft leather boots through the mud. He peeks his head and torch into some of the rooms they pass. One of the them seems to be a parlour with many stylized friezes on the walls, sculptures carved into rock. Much faded, some have been vandalized and scummed up by bird nests. They depict scenes of tall towers floating in the air with majestic humanoid figures, clearly carved to impress upon on the viewer how important the owners are. Soren calls Kiva over to check it out, he and Rua are awed by the display. She looks closely, checking for runes or markings to decipher. She can't see any, but the friezes have been carved with a central figure, a tall woman holding a large sphere, but her face has been smashed to be unrecognizable.
She knows there are stories of the Tempest Lords moving entire cities with their magic, and it is said The Ruined Tower was their last bastion to fall when they met their end. These carvings may have been what this city looked like before it destroyed. Soren remarks that he thought it was the Makers that made the tower. Kiva has studied the Makers extensively, saying there are 5 kinds of them. Stone Lords, Tempest Lords, Forge Lords, Green Lords, Rime Lords. She runs a hand over the central carving, a name emerging from the depths of her memory from old books with similar drawings. In our tongue it would be Storm Catcher, she was said to be one of the greatest of the Tempest Lords who raised this tower from the earth single-handedly. Soren listens to her story in awe, impressed by her knowledge.
As the move about they can hear the sounds of magpies chattering outside, and wind sometimes makes twanging sounds as it moves through the empty halls. They keep exploring this floor, finding a couple other interesting rooms. In one it seems someone built a small camp. A fire circle with cold ashes, rumpled and moldy bedrolls and discarded sundries, a knapsack that is clearly filled with mold. The tracks they are following enter this room then leave again, no sign they stayed here at all. The find a great hall that takes their breath away, larger and more intricate than even the halls of the Stone Lords. In places the floor is visible beneath the grime and it is an endless mosaic and a long stone table runs the length of the hall. The ceiling looks like the night sky, totally dark but with pinpricks of light like starts shining, even though outside it is late morning. They stand in wonder, Esme exclaiming wordlessly at seeing this wonder. Eventually they look away and keep following the tracks that lead out of the room towards a 30 foot wide circular shaft that extends down into darkenss and also up into the levels above. There is a human-sized staircase extending both up and down, and the footprints lead downwards.
The stairs looks in surprisingly good condition, though they are muddy and likely slippery with rainwater and dew, but physically sound. "Maker roads, Maker stairs, they sure built things to last." Rua remarks. "Indeed" Zhiwa replies "It seems like they don't have much support, but indeed they are still standing." They all move to go down the steps, taking care not to slip on the stairs. The main level had streaks of sunshine casting illumination, but the darkness is much deeper down the shaft. Soren has his torch and Stella her lantern shedding light around the party. As the stairs wind around the central shaft it is a bit nerve-wracking, only a thin railing between them and a seemingly endless fall. Eventually they come to another large chamber like the one they saw above. It has a lovely mosaic of a pheasant on the floor. It is huge, a larger footprint than the entire Public House at Stonetop. There are 3 archways leading out of the room but one appears to be destroyed like something caused the stone above the arch to collapse. Rua is listening for any noises but it is smotheringly quiet. Even the sounds of dripping water has died away, and all he can hear now is the echoes of their footsteps as they walk around the room. The quiet is unsettling so Esme starts humming quietly to fill it.
There is a layer of dust on the floor, and the tracks they have been following lead all around the room. They clearly spent some time here, wandering around and inspecting the room. It looks like it may have been some monumental entryway to impress visitors. The arches at 25 feet tall at the apex and the floor by itself would be a priceless piece of art if it could ever be removed. Soren goes to one of the arches, it seems there are tracks going in and also coming back out. He heads to the other and it seems there are only footprints going in. He calls for the others and they move into it and the ceiling gets rough, more like a cave than a hallway though the floor stays level and paved with flagstones. As they walk forward they see what looks like a figure laying on the ground, facing away from them. Soren calls out "Suli, is that you?" His voice echoes down the hall with no response. They get closer, and as they do the light of his torch flashes from the surface of the body. Clearly this is another glass sculpture, it seems to have fallen over and broken its left arm and leg. The face is a perfect carving of a glass face, mouth open like they were shouting something.
The tracks seem like they lingered here for a moment before moving on. They keep following them, finding another mound of glassm this one smashed beyond all recognition. The tracks go past this heap of glass into an intersection. In the ceiling there is a crack and occasional drips of water can be heard as it runs down the curved ceiling. Around the spilling water there are mushrooms growing around the wet areas. Kiva takes a close look and is pretty sure this is not any edible kind, and she knows not to eat mushrooms she isn't sure about. She also knows that hillfolk Spirit Talkers make concoctions of mushrooms to expand their minds. Soren pulls out Garnuss' skull and asks him "Hey Garnuss, do you recognize these mushrooms?" His appartion appears, kneeling down next to a group of them and says "Oh yeah, these will definitely give you a good time. They are not only used for ceremonies, but I would not recommend eating them now. This is not the kind of place you want to be expanding your mind the world around you." Soren nods and pulls out an empty sack to start collecting all the mushrooms he can fit.
Once they have harvested a good amount they look around. The room is hexagonal with 3 other exits. The stone glitters with inlays of metal in their torchlight. The ceiling is 20 feet up and the inlays run along the walls and up to the ceiling. Esme inspects it closely and it appears to be aetherium. It is not corroded, and has the same kind of sheen as the bit they saw Cutha had. Rua looks around for the tracks, but they are getting really hard to find as the dust is thinner here. Clearly some of the veins have been messily gouged out but plenty still remains, possible even the full 10 pounds they need. Esme says they should prioritize the rescue mission, but Soren takes the time to pry a thumb-sized piece of aetherium from the walls and pockets it. While he is doing this Stella brings her light close to the ground, trying to follow the faint tracks. With the help of the light she can see traces of mud that Suli tracked down here, she is pretty sure they went through this room and out the other door.
While she is inspecting the ground they hear a slight scraping noise off in the distance. Its hard to tell how far because of the echoes. Rua says "It might be the missing guy, lets go!" Soren agrees and they proceed through the door Stella indicates. The next room is an empty chamber where the walls are perfectly smooth onyx, their lights reflecting back at them. There are places where it looks like people have defaced the walls where people have scratched their names and others where the walls have been gouged in big jagged scrapes. There are a couple different doors out of here, but the trouble is much of the center of the room appears to have collapsed. There is a hole that leads into darkness, there is stable floor on the other side but they will need to cross this 20-30 foot chasm to get to the other exit. There is one thing that looks out of place and it is a rope that has been tied to the jagged edge of the broken floor where a steel strut pokes out. It dangles down into the darkness. Soren steps close to the edge and holds his torch out but he can't see the bottom of the pit. As he holds out the torch it reflects off two more glass statues that look like they were fighting. They are posed like they were holding the door closed against something though the stone doors themselves lay shattered on the floor.
Rua pulls on the rope and finds that it is just dangling, it is not attached to anything. Soren takes a stone from the floor and drops it down the hole. After a couple seconds it hits the bottom, he estimates its 40 or 50 feet. The sound of the rock hitting the bottom echoes back, and then a faint breathy sound can also be heard. "I think there might be someone down there?" Soren says, and Rua shouts "Hello! Is someone there?" It takes a moment for the echoes to dissipate, and when they do a faint whispering sound comes back. Rua says he is going to climb down, but before he does Stella consecrates her torch and causes it to dance from her torch, directing it down the hole to illuminate the depths. It appears the ceiling of the floor below caved in, its a pile of rubble on the floor of a long hallway. There is what looks like dried blood on the rubble, not a lot but a definite stain. The light also reveals the rope goes all the way and is coiled on the ground.
They decide to climb down the rope, going one at a time with Rua first. Kiva slips halfway down, but Rua is paying attention and catches her. Stella starts to panic at the top, and Zhiwa unwraps his turban and uses it to make a loop, dropping it down to Stella to help support herself. Once they are all down they can see next to the rubble there is a streak on the ground where someone dragged themselves away. There is some sound coming from there as well, so Rua takes off running and the rest follow. As they go about 60 feet they find a Hillfolk man leaning against a wall. His leg is clearly broken with a compound fracture, his eyes are vacant and his hand is pressed against the wall, letting water collect in his palm. He makes so sign that he notices them approach. Esme calls out to Suli, and his head moves fractionally. "...so....hungry" they hear from him. Rua says he has some food and grabs a strip of jerky from his bag, holding it out for Suli. As his hand gets closer Suli suddenly lunges, trying to grab Rua's arm and bring it to his mouth to bite it. Rua quickly snatches his hand away saying "No! I'm not food, here this is food." and he tosses the jerkey to the floor next to Suli. Suli just moans "So cold...so hungry..."
End of Session!