Session 16 Recap (Day 07)

Several Creator-Friends gather up the creature's body and take him to the back room of the complex, where they begin repairing him. Asked what they're doing, the Creator-Friends say that the Creator should be operational again in one to six days. Roondar asks whether the Creator-Friends can tell him how to stop the imminent meltdown, but they seem unable to provide additional information, or even to comprehend what Roondar is talking about. But they assure everyone not to worry: the Creator will fix it.

The party searches the various subrooms branching off of the main room, but find nothing that hints at how to reverse the impending meltdown. Roondar does his best to understand the complex machines in this room but eventually determines that the technology is beyond his ken. Carric notices that a few of the computer terminal tables--though filthy and apparently unused for a long while--are still active, displaying information that could be of use. On one, the screen is filled with static and flips continuously, but can be read with a bit of concentration:

EAM Transcript // 5752.82.116 // 651.00.208 // Dropkick: incoming transmission from Skyking. Break. Break. // Structural collapse of control rod complex Eight-Eight-Alpha-Zero imminent. // Stand by to verify emergency protocols. // Evacuate personnel, reset conn terminals to substation frequency 446E-6. Abort auto-restart and report to Spire Island, Bay of Viron, for immediate debrief in Radial Hub Star Control Center P.A.S.001. // Clearance unrestricted, authentication code: 6624-0020-1895-6A. // Verify. Verify. // Dropkick, acknowledge.

Another terminal has a red blinking light and displays a map of the Whorl, including a "minimum safe distance" circle centered on the Whorl Engine and the location of the Radial Hub Star Control Center P.A.S.001.

Another terminal displays what appears to be an old engineering log:

Engineering Log H009-110-5693-A. Mission Date +999.07.28. Chief Engineer Madarit ap Crovan’s report on structural integrity of Tower 8-8-A-0: Principal Engineer Bartok ot Evrid reviewed the findings of the technicians who inspected the cracks in Engine 8-8-A-0b control rods X4, T6, and L9 discovered by Director Hipolit ad Zelek on +999.07.27. Preliminary findings indicate subatomic repair of fissures will have a 97.06 percent success rate. Radiation leak danger minimal. Engine 8-8-A-0b remains fully operational. Effect on Whorl engine network array’s power-conversion capabilities remains negligible.

And a fourth terminal lists several readout values:

Fuel rod cumulative efficiency: 64.229% // Mean circuit velocity: 66000 mph // Logistic amplitude: 81000 Kv // Middeck H2O consumption: 160 lps // Service and cooling umbilical ports: inactive // Reaction Control System pods amplitude: 42 rtps // Ingress/egress hatch lever: locked // Elevon seal panel array: venting // Support bulkhead housing pressure: nominal // Auxiliary turbine: active // Injector cooling unit: active // Auto-restart: enabled

As the party debates staying to try to fix the problem or fleeing, an alarm klaxon begins to sound. This seems to make the decision for them and they run for the door. Maul attempts to grab a few of the Creator-Friends on her way out but they slip through her fingers, so instead she shouts at them to leave immediately. Back in the entry shaft, the party finds that the pitch-black darkness from below has been replaced by a searing white light that is growing steadily brighter. As they rush up the stairs the white light intensifies alongside a deep thrumming until they can see nothing but this harsh white glow and the bass note fills their ears to the brink of madness. Just as they can take it no more, they fall unconscious.

The intense white light is replaced with darkness, as the party awakens in the Valley of Petrified Soldiers. Within moments, they realize that their memories have returned.

As if waking from a horrifying dream, they now see the Defenders of the Whorl for what it is: an organization designed specifically to oppress the citizens of the Whorl through intimidation, manipulation, and murder. They recall now, through the haze of years of indoctrination and brainwashing (both subtle and not so subtle) inflicted upon them by their superiors, that they believed wholeheartedly in the Defenders’ cause. But they can see now that they have been serving as the clergy’s unquestioning instrument of death for many years.

Lying on the grass underneath the dim sun, Corric realizes that Cora Brushgather, the halfling he befriended in Old Tyndale, is kneeling over him, attempting to wake him up. Likewise, Roondar sees Endir Greengrass, his "little Liebchen" (a young halfling who ran errands for Roondar in Old Tyndale and helped him gather stories from the village elders) kneeling over him. Corric asks what happened, and Cora conveys to the party that she and Endir--the village's only survivors, thanks to Corric--were hiding in Old Tyndale when they saw a bright flash to the northeast. This didn’t alarm them, because this spectacular display occurs every few years (and is one of the reasons why the halflings always kept their distance from the Typhon Mountains). But then, minutes later, they saw a golden shaft of light coming from this direction, followed by a creature with angel’s wings rising into the sky. They rushed to this spot and found the party.

The party begins to compare notes regarding their restored memories. Roondar thinks back to their encounters with Jude Blackstone, and remembers that the charismatic priest deftly changed the party's mind quite quickly--easily turning an impending arrest into an alliance. But otherwise, his recounting of their initial meetings jibes with Roondar's own, newly restored memories (i.e., Jude was telling the party the truth when they last met him).

Owynka recounts her own strongest recent memory, which is that she did indeed see an angel as Jude had reported. It told her to "commence the Plan of Pas and deliver the peoples of the Whorl unto salvation."

Carric considers the veracity of the so-called Plan of Pas, and determines that there are two versions: the corrupted version sold to the masses by the church clergy, and the authentic version referenced by Owynka's angel, but still cryptic to the party, as they don't know to what the plan actually refers.

Maul, meanwhile, begins to walk purposely to the south. When the party realizes she's leaving, Owynka--calling her "Nalla"--attempts to stop her. Maul turns on her friend and tells her not to call her that. Owynka, understanding, asks Maul what's wrong. Maul refuses to speak of it at first, but Carric and the others, who are all experiencing the shock of their memories, and the uncomfortable truth of who they were before they'd lost them, tells Maul that they all feel a sense of shame and anger at their past selves. Carric says that they've all done questionable things, but that they need each other to finish their mission.

Maul reveals that Owynka had confided in her after Owynka saw the angel Cahethal, and that Maul had subsequently told Bishop Valencourt (papal emissary to the Order of the Crescent Sun) about Owynka's vision. She believes that this breach of trust may have led to the party's death sentence.

Before the party can discuss this further, Carric hears the sound of horses approaching from the south. Several mounted barbarians arrive as the party hides--except for Maul, who enlarges herself and taunts the newcomers. Crying out that they are here to avenge Thelxiepeia's death, combat ensues.

Session 15 Recap (Day 07)

Climbing down to the base of the ruined city, the party approaches the small creatures busily scavenging the blasted pieces of metal and loading them onto tiny carts on the edge of the wasteland. Roondar calls out to the creature nearest to him and introduces himself. The creature is friendly, but distracted by its task and says that it has no time to talk. It is busy collecting material for the Creator. It refers to itself and its companions as "Creator-Friends" and to the party members as "Creator-Friend-Friends."

Talking to the creature for a few minutes, the party attempts to gather some information. Maul and Owynka help it carry one of the larger pieces of metal to one of the carts. Roondar asks about the tower in the distance, which the creature refers to as the Creator-Home. It confirms that it and its fellow Creator-Friends live there with the Creator, who "does not like visitors."

Unfortunately, the party isn't able to gleen much more from these tiny creatures and, when they learn that the creatures will continue scavenging for the next three days, the party decides to head to the tower on their own.

It takes a few hours of traveling through the sand dunes to reach the tower, which is coal black and pockmarked with age or some kind of corrosion. The walls creak continuously, a scraping sound of varying pitches that give the party pause before they decide to enter the gaping archway that leads inside. Just below the chorus of grinding, clanking, and scraping high above, they hear a deep, thrumming bass note coming from below, as if the tower has a massive beating heart buried deep in the earth. Giant, faded characters are stenciled vertically above the door:

8
8
A
0

Inside, the tower appears to be hollow, with a single set of wide, descending stairs that ring the tower's walls, leaving a seemingly endless pit in the tower's center. Arriving at the first landing, the party finds a thick metal door. On the other side is a large room filled with machinery, a cacophany of metallic sounds, several Creator-Friends running around, and a strange-looking humanoid figure apparently working on one of the mechanisms close to the door.

When Roondar makes himself known and attempts to engage in conversation, the humanoid shouts over the clamor that they must leave immediately, referring to the party repeatedly as "unauthorized personnel." Upholding party tradition, Maul responds to this command by whacking the humanoid over the head.

A battle ensues, with the humanoid conjuring a poisonous cloud that sickens Carric, Owynka, and Maul. The humanoid cries out that the party is dooming them all, but the combat continues. Meanwhile, Roondar slaps the stim cypher on his arm and inspects the nearest machine. Although the control panel's screens are flipping so badly that they're difficult to read, Roondar's amped-up intellect is able to discern that the machine is monitoring the mist in the large glass dome to which it is attached, and this particular dome's mist is stable.

Running to the one dome that glows red instead of turquoise, Roondar checks its control panel, which reads, "MELTDOWN IMMINENT."

On the other side of the room, Owynka succeeds in landing the killing blow on the humanoid, who crumples to the floor.

Session 14 Recap (Days 06−07)

Observing that the mechanical/biological hybrid creature they're fighting appears to bolster itself before each attack, the party decides to retreat eastward into the southern tunnel. After an hour, they locate another node via one of the hexagonal rooms containing another silver inlaid pentagram circle, which Roondar determines to be one of containment rather than transport.

Accessing the central hallway of this node, the party finds another room with the transportation system's schema painted as a mural on the wall, which shows that the party is, as they suspected, now just one node east of the system's western terminal station. They climb the stairs beyond the room with the mural but find that they are completely blocked by a cave-in about 200 feet up. The party takes a long rest while they ponder their next move.

Returning to the western terminal via the windy northern tunnel, the party searches for a door hidden in the southern wall, which leads to a circular glowing rod room and a stairway leading up. The party follows this until the sharply angled tunnel of the stairway ends abruptly to be replaced by the night sky. They find themselves standing high above the ground in the ruins of another ancient city.

The sun, as dim as ever, still hangs directly overhead in one of its gibbous phases. To the west, a wide bay of calm water leads into a vast ocean. Behind them, the Typhon Mountains continue their impassable journey northeast. To the north they see a narrow desert valley wedged between these two colossal forces of nature that widens ever outward. Looking down into this valley they see a distant, weird structure--apparently constructed of metal rather than stone--nestled in the dunes about two miles away.

Far below, at the foot of the ruins in which they stand, the party spies several small creatures rummaging around in the ancient buildings. Roondar turns Carric invisible, who sneaks down to get a closer look. He sees a few dozen of these creatures, about 2 ½ feet tall, dressed in ratty, stitched-together robes and brass faceplates scavenging ancient remnants of metallic building materials from the ravaged city and placing them in little wooden carts stationed at the edge of the valley. The party considers their options: attempt to sneak past the creatures (a possibility made more difficult by the geography of the mountainous terrain on either side of them) or engage in conversation....