Session 46 - Rua tells it like it is (back to the ruined tower)
No notes. I'm sick. Bleeeegh <-- Garett
When we left off, the young Hillfolk warrior -- Suli -- was attempting to devour Rua. He's in a hallway that's much wider than we're used to. There's a faint thrumming noise down here, coming through the stones under our feet.
Soren keeps an eye on the surroundings while the rest of us help Suli. Stella casts some magic to stabilize him. The light drifts out of Stella's lantern, bobs in front of Suli, then looks away as the terrifying power of Helior overwhelms him. When the light fades, the bone is no longer protruding. We give him food and water, but he remains famished. Esme gives him a hug.
He's been eating mushrooms. They touch the mind. He felt like he was in two places at once -- lying on the floor in the hallway, and being somewhere else -- dark, cold, hungry. He can hobble a bit.
Soren pulls out some whiskey and shares some with Suli. We decide to get him out of the tower and back to the Hillfolk. Stella risks her sanity to summon some dancing lights to help Soren climb back up the rope. He checks for ambush, gives the "all clear", then Rua climbs up.
The shuffling noise returns! I'm sure everything is going to be perfectly fine. Maybe it'll be the second Suli -- the one trapped in the dark, cold and ravenous. Soren keeps an eye on things while Rua helps folk up.
Soren and Rua attempt to help get Suli to the top of the rope using Struggle As One (Charisma). Dennis gives it to Soren, not Rua. DM favouritism! We rolled shockingly poorly for once, but Esme's advantage and our various modifiers give us a decently mid result.
Soren: [Inspiring speech about teamwork.]
Rua: Whatevs. Let's go.
Stella: [silence]
We make it out of the tower. It's slow going, bring Suli back to the Hillfolk camp, but we make it back in the early afternoon.
Esme tells them they're welcome to join us in Stonetop, if no better option occurs. As is, they'll likely head to Stonetop to trade sometime in the near future.
Rua asks for some more info about the World Serpent dude, with an assist from Soren. Dude wasn't from their village, but he was from another village in the same clan. We let slip that we visited their base in Three-Coven Lake. They warn us about it--many people died there, and trouble may follow us from it.
Mael: Apprenticed to a spirit talker. Strange child. He left on a journey, and he returned wrong. All could see by his words, actions, and (rumoured) forked tongue that something was different about him. Dude started pushing for power, authority, violence. His master was "Annak"--perhaps her name might throw him at a critical moment.
Another night passes. Stella feeds us.
We head back to the tower. First, Esme asks Suli for info, but he doesn't remember what happened and what he dreamed.
We find Zhiwa at the ruins, entertaining the magpies. Esme teaches them two new verses to her epic. It begins to rain.
Inside: We go down the stairs. Esme puts Stella on the spot to decide where to go. She chooses to explore a new area off the shaft on the upper level. There are remnants of corpses turned to glassy chunks spread across the room. Stella decides that they're cloudy because they were deemed impure by Helior. There's a door with claw marks trying to get in.
Seek Insight: This was a reception room intended to impress. Stella thinks the glass bodies might've been soldiers or guards. These people made a stand against something (a beast?), were defeated, and that something tried to get through the door.
Rua gives it a knock. There seems to be space on the other side. Rua gets the vibe that there's magic going on.
Zhiwa pokes at the door. He thinks the magic is just on the wood of the door, but not the hinges. Rua, using Soren's mattock, works the pins out. He pushes the door down with glee.
It looks like some people were sheltering in here before the glass curse hit everyone. There's a glowing security gem that zaps Esme. She and Rua concoct a terrible plan to grab the gem. Esme's about to take a zap, when Rua rushes up, grabs it, and it hits a glassy limb instead. Kiva and Esme manage to wrap it up in a cloak. Future ray gun?
We find another door, in better condition than the last. We mutilate a glass corpse into a battering ram and smash the door down. We're monsters.
There are double doors -- ajar -- leading to a larger chamber that's much less ordinary. The far wall of this large room is a solid white slab of stone, with runes inlaid in a circle with some sort of metal. There are stairs leading up, and ruins of concentric rings on the floor leading up to it.
Kiva's going to need an hour to study it. In the meantime, Rua looks at the furniture for inspiration. Art deco,
Esme find's a cabinet that could be used to stash the gem, but it'd be too heavy to carry.
Kiva. The runes on the floors are wards. They'll release a bunch of energy onto the dais. The circle of runes on the wall have something to do with transportation. Kiva doesn't know how it works, but she believes it connects to another similar circle. It's redonk complex.
Kiva asks the Mind Gem. It reveals the gesture to safely go on the dais: hand over your heart in peace, not carrying a weapon.
END OF SESSION.