Session 13 Recap (Day 06)

The party investigates the large northern room, as well as the linked southern room, and determines that they are in some sort of transportation complex, where the northern room is set up for departures and the southern room is set up for arrivals. They spend some time deciphering the possible methods of utilizing the sparkling glass hoop at the top of the stairway, finally determining that the glass vials they found in the room with the undead soldier contain the missing ingredient, and pour the contents into the empty silver cup on the hoop's left side.

Not one to dither about plans, Maul steps boldly up to the hoop and puts her hands on the cup and the flame, as illustrated in the wall fresco, and disappears. Owynka, not wanting Maul to be...wherever she went...alone for too long, quickly follows suit, followed by Roondar, then Carric.

Passing through the hoop, they each suddenly become very light and the large black circle hurtles toward them. Bracing for impact, they are relieved to pass through the blackness into a shimmering passage, where a warm breeze sweeps them along at a fantastic rate. Instants later, a brightly colored grille momentarily appears in front of them; it flashes brightly as their bodies separate into hundreds of dazzling pieces. But, within moments, pleasant sensations sweep through every part of their bodies as they reform on the other side of the grille. Exhilarated, they speed down the passage with more colors flashing through them, creating dazzling kaleidoscopic patterns and electrifying their senses. Then, without warning, everything goes dark and the weight returns to their bodies.

Maul arrives first, in complete darkness, at the top of a set of stairs. She carefully makes her way to the floor, followed by her colleagues. When some small amount of light is produced, they see a huge construct hovering motionless in one corner of the large room, emitting a tinny, slightly echoey voice devoid of emotion:

. . . Bay 0-4-2-F-7, sublevel 3, purge capsules 18 through 46. Transport to outtake vessel 17A for decontamination and disposal. Error: transport-calibration malfunction. Amend protocols for colonist retention and recalculate inhibition subsystem parameters. Error: protocols offline. Bay 8-6-5-H-2, sublevel 19, purge capsules 81 through 94. Transport to outtake vessel 12B for decontamination and disposal. Error: transport-calibration malfunction. Amend protocols for colonist retention and recalculate inhibition subsystem parameters. Error: protocols offline. . .

The voice continues, endlessly, repeating the same information but with differently numbered bays, sublevels, capsules, and vessels. Roondar investigates this new construct, crawling underneath it, rapping on its surface, and peering intently at its construction, but the object gives up none of its secrets, and doesn't react to his prodding. It merely continues to emit the interminable voice.

Maul and Owynka, meanwhile, investigate the room to the south, where they find dozens of shapeless, vaguely human blobs slowly sliding toward them, moaning in agony. The pitiful creatures swarm the party, but they prove to be no match and the party puts them out of their collective misery with relative ease.

Investigating the central hallway between the arrival and departure rooms, the party finds an empty room and another circular rod room, but with the rod itself smashed to pieces long ago. The sulphurous smell, first noticed when the party arrived in this section of the complex, is even stronger here, and leads the party south.

Opening the door on the hexagonal room to the south, the party finds sulphurous vapors hanging heavy in the air. Smoke issues from two brown concentric circles on the floor. Without warning fires flare up, bathing the chamber in a horrid red light. From the circles' center dark smoke streams upwards to the ceiling. Everyone's eyes begin to sting as an insubstantial shape appears in the center of the room and begins to take on solid form....

Session 12 Recap (Day 06)

Farther along in the southern passage the party finds another hexagonal room with an inlaid silver circle, similiar to but slightly different from the circle in the previous hexagonal room far to the west. This hexagonal room is also littered with rubble that has fallen from the ceiling, and which continues to fall as the party investigates it. They check the door in this room, which leads to a short set of stairs down and another long hallway leading to a bright room with a floor-to-ceiling rod containing a chalcedony gem.

To the east of this room, the party finds the apparent end of the long southern corridor, which terminates in a magical, spongy darkness that cannot be traversed by normal means. So the party decides to follow the tunnel west, where they eventually run into a colorful grille composed of differently sized interlocking pentagrams, constructed in such a way that the largest opening is only an inch or two across. When they're about 20 feet away, the grille turns bright red and an alarm bell begins to sound.

The party considers their options and decides to backtrack to the easternmost area. There, they continue through the hallway accessed by the southern hexagonal room, where they find a doorway to the east, branching off from the circular room with the rod and gem. Inside that room is a large humanoid in plate mail and holding an electrified glaive, surrounded by eight small orbs that activate when the creature attacks Maul. The party--with the help of the orbs--defeats the creature, after which the orbs seem to return to their dormant state.

Maul thinks about donning the creature's impressive, seemingly magical armor, but decides against it after Roondar advises her that doing so could have negative repercussions, what with the tubes and wires that connect to whoever is wearing it. Furthermore, it's clear that the creature inside the armor was dead long before the party defeated him in combat. Roondar also examines one of the deactivated orbs that were guarding the creature and determines that the orbs are truly ancient constructs. With some tinkering, he is able to create some usable technology from the creature's armor.

Investigating the metal locker, which is the one intact piece of furniture in the room, Roondar finds some tattered robes and cloaks, a rotted leather bag, a leather book that crumbles to dust when he picks it up, a metal box containing a small ornamental scepter and 500 gold pieces, and, on the top shelf, ten crystal flasks filled with clear, odorless liquid. The flasks each bear an inscription of an enamelled red flame burning on an inlaid silver base in the shape of a cup.

The hallway beyond this room branches in three directions. Proceeding through the door to the north, the party finds a large room illuminated from above. Filling the center of the western wall is a large black circle (very similar in appearence to the magical, spongy darkness at the end of the southern corridor). In front of this circle is a flight of dark steps leading up to a sparkling glass hoop. The hoop is ten feet in diameter and stands upright and parallel to the circle. A bright blue flame burns upon a small silver platform on the right side of the hoop. A silver cup glints opposite it.

The frescoes on the north and south walls are mirror images of each other and depict a city adjacent to a mountain range. The mountains are at the eastern end of the room and the city is at the western end. The ceiling shows the sky and a depiction of the sun, which is the source of the room's illumination.

Session 11 Recap (Day 06)

When Owynka and Maul finish destroying the spherical construct, Carric pops back into existence as the machine sparks and falls to the ground. Carric isn't sure where he was (some sort of weightless gray realm), but he was conscious for the 15 seconds that he was there. Meanwhile, Roondar reports that the pedestal he's been fiddling with is beginning to show signs of life.

The small rectangles on the four corners of the pedestal’s surface light up with geometric patterns of different colors. On each of these rectangles is a series of small squares, each with a letter of the alphabet. Moments later, the large rectangular panel on the western wall lights up, with a flickering picture of the medusa’s head, only without snakes for hair. Instead, she has the auburn locks of a normal humanoid woman. Next to her picture is some text:

DESIGNATION: Thelxiepeia, sixth daughter of Pas
TRANSGRESSION: sedition
SENTENCE: banishment from the dominion of the sun and subjugation to the gorgonian transformation, after which, confinement to the sepulchre on the plains of Nessus, beneath the mountains of Typhon. The traitor’s principal consorts, Garjana, Stheno, and Euryale, likewise shall be subjugated to the lamian transformation and banished to the antechamber of the sepulchre. So has Pas spoken, so shall it be.

Roondar uses one of the pedestal's keyboards to type in
WHAT IS THE PLAN OF PAS

But he gets only an error message on the screen. He then tries
PRAISE TO PAS

But this returns a different error. So Roondar steps away from the pedestal for a few minutes to inspect the construct, and is able to salvage some materials that he transforms into relics for the party's use [see Discord]. He then notices a new message on the western wall's panel:
CENTRAL INTERNMENT DATABASE

After a few more minutes of discussion, Carric tells Roondar to input Carric's name. After a few moments a portrait of Carric and the following information appears on the panel:

DESIGNATION: Carric of the Crescent Sun
DESCENDANT OF: Adran and Adriie of House Eversun
TRANSGRESSION: heresy
SENTENCE: ritualized asphyxiation and disposal in the cavern of apostates in the Forbidden Wastes. So has Echidna spoken, so shall it be.

Roondar then inputs the rest of the party's names, one by one. Each time, a portrait of the person and the following information appears:

DESIGNATION: Roondar of the Crescent Sun
DESCENDANT OF: Alvyn and Breena of the clan Nackle
TRANSGRESSION: heresy
SENTENCE: ritualized asphyxiation and disposal in the cavern of apostates in the Forbidden Wastes. So has Echidna spoken, so shall it be.

DESIGNATION: Owynka of the Crescent Sun
DESCENDANT OF: Khagra of the Bonesplitter clan and Skeif of the barbarian tribe of the Forests of Wyr
TRANSGRESSION: heresy
SENTENCE: ritualized asphyxiation and disposal in the cavern of apostates in the Forbidden Wastes. So has Echidna spoken, so shall it be.

DESIGNATION: Nalla of the Crescent Sun
DESCENDANT OF: Vimak and Gae-Al of the Skywatcher clan
TRANSGRESSION: heresy
SENTENCE: ritualized asphyxiation and disposal in the cavern of apostates in the Forbidden Wastes. So has Echidna spoken, so shall it be.

Roondar then tries inputting the names of the gods. Most return error messages, except for Pas:

DESIGNATION: Pas, née Typhon
TRANSGRESSION: program data corruption
SENTENCE: deletion

When the party decides that they have learned all they can from the pedestal, they proceed to the stone stairway revealed by the collapse of the room's north wall. On the far wall of the stairway they discover a phrase scrawled in white chalk: still is the way to the light of day.

They descend the long stairway, at the bottom of which is a small room cluttered with the remains of ancient furniture, indicating that this was some sort of bunkroom. On the room's southern wall is a damaged tile mural that seems to depict a tunnel system spanning underneath the Typhon Mountains, with eight nodes and an eastern terminus. (If a similar western terminus exists, the tiles that depict it have crashed to the floor ages ago.) Based on the coloration of the mural, the party supposes that they are in the easternmost node.

Outside the bunkroom is a circular room containing a glass rod in its center, which extends from floor to ceiling. Inside the rod is a small white chalcedony gem that pulsates, bathing the room, and the party, in a bright white light. Roondar attempts to determine what the gem might be doing, and decides that it is powering some sort of protective effect. It seems to eminate a feeling of calm and orderliness.

To the south, the party finds a hexagonal room with an arcane circle inlaid in silver in the center of the room, and a dead body in the corner. The body is of a young man who wears the insignia of the Order of the Crescent Sun, and is clutching chunks of silver in his hand. Roondar realizes that the man must have been removing the silver from the circle in the floor, because there is a significant segment of the circle that's missing.

North of the hexagonal room is a large, rough tunnel that runs east and west as far as they can see. Its sides and ceiling are coarse and crumbling, with piles of rubble lying on the floor, but the floor itself is clean of any dust or dirt. Keeping the mural's diagram in mind, the party decides that they should travel east down the tunnel, in the hopes of reaching the eastern terminus.

They walk for about 45 minutes until they find a doorway in the northern wall that's been jammed open by some rubble that has fallen from the ceiling. In the circular room beyond they find another rod containing a white chalcedony gem illuminating the area and providing the same sense of protection and well-being that they sensed in the other rod room.

To the north is another set of doors, which Maul opens using the lever. Beyond is another east/west tunnel, through which a howling wind roars, sweeping back Maul's hair and causing her clothing to flap wildly. She closes these doors with the lever, and the party decides to stick to the southern tunnel, wagering that "still is the way to the light of day."

To be continued...

Session 10 Recap (Day 06)

Maul chases the medusa into the next room, followed closely by Carric. Between the two of them they kill the creature, then drag it back into the previous room, where Roondar makes an educated guess that the blood of the medusa might act as a salve to reverse the petrification of Owynka. He severs an artery of the creature and sprays the blood on Owynka, who comes back to life not quite realizing what had happened to her.

Maul, just one hard slap away from death, requests that the party take a short rest. During this downtime Roondar pokes around in the medusa's lair and discovers a few more numenera [added to Discord]. He also wonders whether the blood of the medusa could restore to life one of the petrified soldiers on the surface. Maul questions what benefit this might provide, and assumes that any information the soldier might have would be extremely outdated. Roondar seems to be interested primarily in the academic sense.

Moving on, the party finds an oblong room littered with detritus of all kinds: smashed pottery, old furniture, broken mirrors, torn-apart books, scrolls, chunks of the ceiling and walls, and dust and dirt covering everything. On the far wall hangs a reflective black rectangle the size of a large painting. In the middle of the room is a hexagonal dais about four feet tall, topped with a similarly reflective black surface and a blue metallic cylinder in the center.

On the north side of the room, part of the wall has collapsed to reveal a stone staircase beyond, and standing within the collapsed area is a large orb-shaped construct made of metal and glass, balanced on four spider-like legs. It stands motionless, but rotates itself to track the movement of Roondar's eldritch cannon when it enters the room. As more of the party members enter the room, the construct rotates continuously to track all of their movements, but still it does not move.

When Carric tests the construct's reaction by attempting to slip past it into the collapsed area toward the stairs, the construct activates. After taking several hard hits from Maul and Owynka, it uses two large armlike protrusions to batter Carric, who then disappears from view.

Meanwhile, Roondar has taken cover behind the dais in the center of the room and allows his curiousity to get the better of him: he twists the cylinder on top of the dais, which causes a loud clicking noise followed by a low, rising hum to emit from the depths of the dais. It would appear that Roondar has somehow "activated" . . . something.

To be continued....

Session 9 Recap (Day 06)

During their long rest, The party investigates the lair of the lamias. Near the door to the lower chamber sits a large dais adorned with an eight-pointed star in the center and eight pillars surrounding it. Roondar and Maul recall that this symbol holds tremendous significance for the One True Religion. This recollection in turn causes the pantheon to flood back into their minds:

• Pas, father of the gods, god of the sun and the rain
• Echidna, consort of Pas, mother of the gods, goddess of fertility
• Hierax, god of death
• Molpe, goddess of music, dancing, and art
• Phaea, goddess of food and healing
• Scylla, goddess of lakes and rivers (patroness of Viron and the surrounding territories)
• Sphigx, goddess of war and courage
• Tartaros, god of night, crime, and commerce
• Thelxiepeia, goddess of magic, mysticism, and poisons

Carric boldly steps on top of the eight-pointed star and somewhat mockingly questions the power of the gods. In so doing, he is suddenly struck by his own prior relationship with the gods, and realizes that, were his former self to see someone blaspheme the pantheon in this way, he would not stand for it. Thinking more deeply on this, Carric recalls fleeting images of his intensive indoctrination into the Defenders of the Whorl and, more intensively, into the Order of the Crescent Sun. He wonders, is it the gods themselves, or the worldly institutions that venerate them, that should be held accountable for the current state of the Whorl?

Descending deeper into the ruins, the party finds another decaying, cavernous room with many crumbling walls, columns, and colonnades, dimly lit by torches. Passing through a partially flooded room, they find a painted relief carved into a wall, depicting the pantheon of the One True Religion, each holding the symbol of his or her office:

• Pas, holding an orb with rays emanating from it
• Echidna, holding a lamb
• Hierax, holding a human skull
• Molpe, holding a lyre
• Phaea, holding a sheaf of wheat
• Scylla, holding an oar
• Sphigx, holding a sword and shield
• Tartaros, holding a set of scales
• Thelxiepeia, holding a round bottle with a stopper

Roondar's examination of this mural is cut short by Maul, who urges him to stick with the rest of the group. Maul then accidentally initiates combat by nearly stepping on a poisonous snake.

As the party deals with the snakes, another woman with the lower body of a snake suddenly appears and fixes her petrifying gaze on Maul, who is once again able to shake off the effect. Owynka, too, is initially able to avoid petrification--as is Roondar. But as the medusa continues to catch the party by surprise, Owynka at last succumbs, and is turned to stone.

Attempting to put an end to the battle, Maul says to their foe, "Maiden of Thelxiepeia, put down your arms and we will let you live." To which the medusa replies, "Impudent mortal, I am no maiden." She then slips through a door in the northwest corner of the room, leaving the party to contend with their comrade's petrification--and with whatever else might lurk behind that door.