Author: Alessandro Bertolucci

SESSION 92: 2016-01-20

Ferelden 19

After discover the other robot. The team returns to the lower level to mend Thorfus’ wounds and make repairs to the Mechanical Monkeys and rest up a little.

During his watch – Chuq notices that one of the Undying Workers is a non-dwarf; a human, native islander – remarkably in good shape without decay of any kind. Chuq indicates this to Axel, Edan and Derick who were awake during the watch.

By the time Edan & Derick have rested and have prepared their magic the Mechanical Monkey have managed to repair themselves back to working condition – somewhat worse for wear- but functioning.

Chuq suspects that there may be another entity at play here and requests that Thorfus speak with the Repair Sentinel and ask about the non-dwarf. How he got here and when.

The Repair Sentinel replies that the “non-engineer” arrived at the power facility 8 days ago, about the same time as the Dark Elf we found earlier. Further inquires tell us that other non-dwarves have been to the facility recently.

Based on those answers – Thorfus and Axel decide to open one of the locked rooms – which turns out to be a control room of some kind.

The control room shows recording of recent arrivals – a wounded Dark Elf came in first, hid then was followed by the Islanders and two Undying. It seems that the Dark Elf was being followed by the Islander. After some hesitation and frustration the Islander and Undying leave the entry hall and was then followed by the Dark Elf. Control room seems to control the facility defenses.

The then explore the remains of the this level of the facility – basically a mirror image of the rest of the facility. Kalgun warns us that going up to the top scaffold would result in damage to him – he also ads that bringing the sphere would result in damaging it and preventing it from being used to revive XenoTel.

The Boys finally decide to take care of the remaining automaton. Kalgun recommends a way to disable the automaton. Thorfus first attempts to communicate with the automaton with the bioforge key. After a brief conversation, Thorfus steps out and faces the automaton and it tell him to remove his armour and weapons before approaching. Further conversation with the automaton indicate that there’s only one “resident” that she or he is being taken care of and does not require food or water.

Chuq removes his weapons in order approach the automaton after Thorfus tells it that Chuq is his slave. He walks by without issue and examines the rear of the automaton – then looks at the remaining rooms and notices a body on a bed with a glow somewhere in the room. The glow is actually a jury-rigged a Cook Automaton into a Surgeon Automaton that seems to be plugged into the wall. The glow emanates from a panel on the automaton.

With an image in his mind Edan asks Kalgun what the jury-rig may be, he’s surprised and says that it’s seems to be a Stasis Unit of some kind.

After searching the rooms, Chuck grabs the Information Reliquary and returns to group who then head back down to the Rec Room in order to read the Information Reliquary.

The cube’s two entries tell the story of how the Chief Engineer’s Assistant (Nolmeda Durra’hin) and some remaining engineers orchestrated a counter measure to the Chief Engineer’s harvesting order – she managed to acquire the stasis unit and jury-rig it in order to save her child when she realized that they were doomed to starve to death.

After careful consideration – the Boys decide to leave the baby in stasis (it’s safer there than with us) until they can figure out a proper plan to retrieve the baby safely.

The party then decide to head back to base in order to sell some gear and create a plausible story to make the Silver Throne believe that Luppa has left the area using Reiker to spin a tale about being trapped in the city after she left through a tunnel she then collapsed.

Using the mask, check checks the situation above and finds nothing out of the order. Then activate the portal and move through.

After checking for patrols they head back to Luppa’s new hideout. After some book-keeping, they fill in Luppa with recent events.

Leaving Reiker with a communication broach (Edan has twin), the ancients, Kalgun (the sword) the Boys head back to the Manor. Thorfus ordered the Mechanical Monkeys to help with widening the tunnel.

Upon returning to the Manor news is gathered – but nothing much seems to have happened in the last 48 hours. Since it’s very late they team opts to rest and then go see Marchmane in the morning.

The meeting with Marchmane goes well. He informs us some potential issues back in MidMarck – one of their enemies and the Boys sell a good amount of gear for a tidy profit.

Session 88: Silent Running or Reiker Beams Aboard

18th of Ferenden, Mid Morning

Chuck, Axel and Thorfus leave the Colossus head and make it back to the gear chamber after asking it questions (see last session).

After ordering the mechanical monkey to complete the repairs of the Colossus the group decides to head to the portal. We stop at the end of the Wyrm-created tunnel while waiting for the Dwarven troops to leave for their shift change.

During the wait, they hear noises coming from the room near the tunnel’s opening. Edan cloaks himself and investigates. It turns out to be a man scuffling around – smelly, beaten up – and hungry looking.

Edan reports back and Thorfus and who goes up and confront the man with Edan following. The man seems confused and explains a rambling story and introduces himself as Curate Reiker of the Church of the Ark – a friend of Galran a former member of the Starchy Boys :

So, then, here’s the rest (briefly): Your cleric was sent along with several clerics and paladins of Baldric Evenkeel to rescue the town of Newton from an undead plague. Everything went horribly, though — far too many undead (more than could be accounted for from such a small village). You persevered to the end, though, making a valiant last stand against the creatures with a young paladin named Galron and his squire, Kilmar.

In the brawl, you and Kilmar were hit by undead and felt your muscles freeze up — the last thing you saw before the wave of undead crashed over you was Galron, screaming in anguish as Kilmar fell.

Neither you nor Kilmar were dead, though. The undead carried the two of you back to a rift in the ground, inside of which was a mass grave and an elven priestess with dark skin and white hair controlling the undead and commanding several similar-looking elven warriors. They loaded you and Kilmar onto carts along with several other captives and sent you down into the depths via winding tunnels.

After several days of travel (or so it seemed; BTW, let me know if you take Elven for a language), the prisoner carts reached an underground river crossed by an ancient dwarven bridge. While crossing, the strange elves came under attack by dark-skinned gnomes, who threw darts from cover on either side of the rushing water. In the chaos, you freed yourself and plunged into the frigid underground river – leaving Kilmar and the other captives behind and not seeing the conclusion of the elves battle with the strange gnomes.

Eventually, you washed up in some abandoned tunnel alone and freezing with only your holy symbol. All hope seemed lost, but you soldiered on regardless — using your light spell to find your way and creating food/drink to keep yourself alive via prayer. Many weeks of wandering ensued, until your travels in the Underdark brought you to what appeared to be an abandoned dwarven mine. Following the tunnels upward, you eventually came to a chamber with a large hole in the floor and piles of gears and springs scattered across the floor …

No problem — since you know elven, you would have been able to understand your captors (their accent was odd and many of the terms and phrasing archaic, but otherwise understandable). From their talk to one another, you know the captives were bound for their city somewhere beneath the island where they would serve as slave labor. There was also some talk about selling some of the captives to the “Hidden Ones” who were paying a premium for laborers to excavate some ruins elsewhere in the Underdark. The mass grave the elven priestess was using as a source of undead also seems to be connected to these Hidden Ones.

He had no idea how he got here – wherever here is.

After feeding and giving drink to Reiker – Chuq requests permission to probe Thorfus’ sword in order to test a theory. He believes that Marchmain may be tracking us using Ancient Dwarven technology like Thorfus’ Probability Sword. Results are inconclusive.

After loaning Rieker some gear, the Boys wait for the shift change and dash to the portal and dial in to “Engineering”. Transporting without incident except this time the group was scanned as they cross through – but thanks to Axel’s security passes we were not harmed by the site’s defenses.

Entering into an hourglass shaped room, the team quickly gets ready. Chuq (ESP Helm) and Throfus (Command Circlet) scan for threats – Alhough Chuq senses no intelligent threats, Thorfus senses Automatons to the north and can see through their eyes. After some self inspection it seems they are all Undying. Further scans find many more Undying all around the facility – including one room which is a “factory” for making or repairing Undying.

Above the chamber, Thorfus senses a group of flying spheres preoccupied with keeping everything running.

After some discussion – the group decides to heads to the south. The door opens to the engine room. Large machines being tended by Undying, all oblivious to our presence. The Boys decide not to interfere with their work.

The team files through a door to the east, leading them into “Mood” rooms our lounge with glowing stones on tables and a transparent ceiling – showing all who look the sphere Thorfus sensed earlier tending to more machinery. Edan collects one of the “mood” stones for study and the rest are dumped into a bag – they may be worth something.

The Boys decide to explore an area to the South East where they sensed “stored” undying. There they found a corridor with rooms on either side filled with 4 undying each. Locking the doors as they travel to the end of the corridor where a door leads to a repair droid area equipped with what looks like a portal. The Repair Automaton seems inactive, but when a mechanical monkey tries to reach pedestal it’s grabbed by the Automaton and is examined then placed back next to pedestal.

Thorfus has the mokey place his control key on the pedestal and confirms that the portal works.

As they leave the machine grabs a monkey and “upgrades” it making it impossible for Thorfus to control. Apparently automatons must be set to work maintain power.

Next, the Boys turn back and check the Cafeteria, through the a door opposite the corridor they just explored. There a monkey tries take the platinum utensils but are stopped by the “drones” – using his circlet, Thorfus confirms the Drones say they need the utensils, but we take them anyways.

Further down another adjacent corridor we find two more locked doors. The first is a workshop filled with schematic plans and mechanical parts. Edan and Thorfus move to collect all the the plans, but as they touched the center table they trigger a devastating trap – nearly killing Edan (again) and barely annoying Thorfus – thanks to some quick healing Edan survives, but the plans on the central table were destroyed.

NOTE: Straight transcript of my notes – sorry no embellishments this time. PS: I also missed a name – can’t read my own writting!

Session 86: AND SO IT CONTINUES

After dealing with the Mechanical Monkeys and speaking with Luppa – informing her of the discoveries the Starchy Company made – the company make their way back to the surface for Edan to get some additional training and gather some extra supplies.

Emerging from the underground complex to an unusually sunny day, Thorfus (after reviewing the upper city with his FarViewing Mask) is hailed by one of the dwarven guards stationed at the entrance and is informed that the Marchmane would like a word with him as soon as possible. 

Since the team was already heading in that direction to sel some MechMonkey’s, Thorfus leads the group to Marchmane’s manor while Chuck takes a “stroll” to the Startchy Boy’s encampment in the Adventurers’ Quarter. 

At Marchmain’s, the company is made to wait a short time and are ushered into the meeting room where we’re met by Marchmane and Guard Captain (?).

Without fanfare the StarchyBoys are informed by the Guard Captain (?) that the deal regarding the exclusive rights to the UnderCity with the goal of hunting down the Naga has been unilaterally canceled. To ad further insult to injury, not only with their attempts resume that afternoon, but we would be “escorted” on any and all future descents into the UnderCity. 

As the various members of the team begin their protests the Guard Captain explained the Marchmane (who has been quiet throughout the exchange) fought the council on this but lost.

Guard Captain (?) ends the meeting with a snide remark aimed at Thorfus. Thorfus tosses the bag of Mechanical Monkeys on the table and walks out.

Marchmane apologizes for not being able to sway the council, and further pushed that Thorfus file an official complaint. 

Despite the change and obvious political hit, Marchmane was still interested in buying the Monkeys for the remaining Starchy Boys and learning about the gears the monkeys seemed to be collecting. 

While the negotiations continued, Thorfus went directly to Idvin’s tower in order to speak to Finklemur (a former Starchy Boy) about a plan and write a few letters.

The rest of the team arrive soon, after selling the Monkeys, and listen in on the plan. 

Thorfus’ plan had him being made invisible by Finklemur (who has agreed to rejoin the company) along with at least 5 weeks of iron rations (shrunk for easy carry) in order for him to get back to Luppa and the Ancients – provision them and warn them about what was happening. He hoped to have them move to a more secure location.

While Thorfus headed down the rest of the company headed to their Manor to wait his return and fill Finklemur in with details they weren’t able to share with him earlier. 

Thorfus made his way down without incident and informs Luppa and the others about the change and gets them to move to the newly discovered area near the workshops by following the chalk marks (which were then erased). Thorfus then instructs the Mechanical Monkeys under his control to guard against non-Starchy Boys from getting near the workshops by distracting them or leading them away.

On his way back, Thorfus encounters a group of dwarves heading down to explore, but he manages to use his invisibility and deep voice to scare them to retreat.

Once out – he makes his way to the Manor, as he does this, he “collects” the remaining Mechanical Monkeys in the upper city.

Edan trains and the team digs – re-opening an entry to the Under City. 

-30-

Session 82 

After having finished speaking with Lupa, the Starchy Boys (TM) decided to investigate the sounds reverberating through the halls and hopefully deal with the mechanical monkeys. 

Without much difficulty the team began to follow the sounds towards the west – towards the ancient dwarven workshops. Belroar confirms that tracks are leading that way. 

Edan volunteers to scout ahead wearing a recuperated Elven Cloak and his cat Boris. Following the sound, Edan eventually comes to an intersection where the sounds seem to be equal – Boris and Edan split up to investigate. However Boris quickly locates a mechanical monkey dragging a rather large piece of metal – making it rather easy for the team to follow. 

Following the mechanical monkey leads the team to a damaged corridor with a large hole in the floor, from which the hammering noise is coming from. There the mechanical monkey is joined by 2 others and together they seem to argue about where to place the piece of metal. The undamaged parts of the corridor are filled with piles of various metal parts and pieces organized into neat piles. 

While the team debated their next move, Edan continues to scout down the hole in the floor.

The hole is nearly perfectly round, and not of dwarven construction – Axel and Thorfus confirm that the tunnel is not ancient, likely only a decade or two old. The tunnel headed north-south underneath the Lower City’s main level.

While Edan scouts further into the tunnel, the monkeys notice the rest of the party as they approach and attack. The party makes short work of them and one trying to escape get cut down by Edan in the tunnel. 

The party follows the tunnel for a good long while until its end where the tunnel opens into another dwarven corridor, but this time the way is somewhat blocked by a vertical shaft directly below the opening and guarded by 3 mechanical monkeys. 2 of which attack Edan, while the 3d ran off.

After dispatching the monkeys, the team moves into a corridor – a dwarven corridor much like those they left below on the other side of the cricular tunnel.

Edan continued to scout ahead, eventually finding a partially collapsed tunnel leading to what looks like a mine – complete with cart tracks, but within well carved dwarven corridors.

When moving to the end of the corridor to take a peak, Edan is surprised by 2 mechanical monkeys and badly injured. The rest of the team comes to the rescue but Chuq triggers the trap Edan did not find or trigger while scouting – becoming partially buried.

After the battle the team regroups, heals and plans their next move. 

Session 79 – October 21, 2015

Regroup!

After quickly dispatching the envoys of the “Dark king” and taking control of 40 “undying” zombies the Starchy Boys thought they had some time to consider their next steps. 

However fate had other plans. Not long after the battle ended, and after confirming those that ran down into the lower levels perished a load familiar noise echoed down the halls and another message was issued by the “Dark King” directly offering Thorfus by name a chance to join forces with the “Dark King” – he had until sundown to decide.

Edan and Chuq answered by severely maiming two heralds before they passed through the portal back to the jungle where another host of undying and their supporters waited. Thorfus then ordered his undying into position in front of that same portal with Edan watching over them while the rest of the Starchy Boys began to pack for a strategic retreat and Chuq scouted the opponents. Chuq soon found that they were much more powerful than the previous group and after a brief skirmish had them retreat into the jungle out of range of our missile weapons. Roughly 180 visible opponents, including the undying and a trio priests: one with eyes, one with a mouth and last with only ears (I think I got that wrong).  

During the planning, Thorfus began to have difficulty understanding those around him and after removing and Derich explaining that the circlets were often used in hierarchical groups it was deduced that our opponents were reading Thorfus’ mind gaining valuable information. 

With that realization Thorfus removed the circlet and the party began to pack to retreat through the portal to another area accessible to them, but with a bit of sabotage unreachable by our opponents. 

As the packing was complete Edan began to notice that their undying “army” had begun to speak and whisper, when Axel and Chuq came to have the undying remove the corpse of the dinosaur, they turned on the party. Prompting a quick retreat of the three towards the central portal where the others had already begun crossing to the Mechanical & Engineering area.

Once through, a quick sweep of Thorfus’ amulet ensured that were safe from the “Dark King” for now. 

After a quick scan of the surrounding areas by Chuq and needed rest – it was decided to make a return trip to the lower city of ZelKel.

There the Starchy Boys explained much to Edan about the current situation the party finds itself in while on their way to meet one of their few allies – a Naga. 

With Naga – Thorfus explain what happened and what they discovered, Naga confirmed and added more information as follows:

1. Surprised that there was another entrance to the complex, wasn’t thrilled that the party was not able to defeat them, but confirmed that the circlet was a liability and retreat was the best option. Hopes we’ll be able to re-take it.

2. Doesn’t know who the “Dark King” is, but was startled to learn that he had the eyes, ears and mouth of the dwarven god. 

3. Confirmed that there was more than one Grand Marshal (but only one at a time), and that every one of them had a probability sword.

4. Confirmed that the Dragon princess was never captured but perished during the last battle of the rebellion. Noted that another dragon in the area may be able to shed light on this as it was old when the naga was young. 

*I may have missed some other details, feel free to add them in the comments.

We left off as our conversation ended with the Naga. 

Session 78 – October 14, 2015

After dispatching the plant-infested undead from the previous session and a short rest. Our heroes magically explore the ruins above for unusual activity.

Finding nothing out of the ordinary, Edan (silently and nearly invisibly) headed out to ensure no other undead were around and explore the area just beyond the recreation room from which the plant-infested undead came from.

The area, divided into two tiled areas equipped with water spouts, was obviously some kind of bath-house. Both areas were covered with a thick layer of moss and fungus while the locker lining one wall were completely free of such vegetation.

Upon closer inspection, Edan noticed movement among the vegetation. Specifically from cocoons along the walls of the first and second areas – the longer he lingered the more agitated they seemed. Edan quickly headed back to the others who were already on their way to join him, clearly not worried about any remaining undead – and dashing Edan’s hope to gather some choice objects from the gaming table.

After Edan explained what he found, the party quickly devised a plan to cover the vegetation with oil and light it on fire. Using a spear onto which they lashed oil flasks – they covered as much as the vegetation and cocoons with oil as possible.

During that time Edan rummaged and searched through the metal lockers – finding some valuable clothes, cards and a silver armband that he found intriguing. Chuq locked a door to another room – just in case.  

Once the oil was spread and Edan had completed his search of the lockers, Chuq lit the oil on fire and retreated back into the recreational room. The fire spread quickly consuming the vegetation and filling the upper half of the room with smoke. As soon as the fire reached the cocoons they burned away revealing the skeletons of dwarves long dead and forcing plodding fungal creatures to begin to move towards the party. 

With bow, fire and sword – the tenacious plodding creatures were dispatched. Their lack of speed their obvious downfall.

While the team waited for the room to slowly clear of smoke, the party collected the platinum coins, gold amulet and various other knickknacks strewn over the floor and tables of the room. Meanwhile – the dwarves busied themselves testing the information cubes which turned out to contain various entertaining games. 

It was getting very late and the party decided to return to the dormitory area in order to sleep and recuperate for a while. After setting a guard – many retired to sleep.

The party’s rest was interrupted early in the morning – around 6am – by a thunderous sound followed by a message in both ancient dwarf and the common tongue demanding our surrender to a “Dark King.”

Edan, knowing full well that he couldn’t be easily heard or seen, quickly moved into the octagonal room to look towards the entry area of the complex. There he saw row upon row of motionless warriors being tended to by other normal looking people.

Upon that discovery Chuq quickly devised a plan to lock access to the complex beyond the octagonal room using his shadow walk ability. However, the sounds of the closing and locking doors alerted the “army” and had them rush into the octagonal room – but the task was done, the doors were locked and the “army” knew the party had done it.

Then, all at once, the “army” then began to destroy the walls separating them from the party – as if commanded by an unseen force.

Soon, an imposing female warrior asked us again to surrender. After convincing the leader to stop the destruction of the walls, Chuq and Belroar soon deduced that her silver circlet was controlling the “army” and a plan was hatched to use Chuq’s shadow step ability to attempt to steal the circlet from her head while she was distracted by Belroar’s rambling discussion and Edan’s arrows. 

The plan worked (with help from some divine intervention) and Thorfus placed the circlet onto his head and gained control of the “army” while Edan’s arrows felled a spell caster. Upon returning to the hallway, Thorfus promptly ordered to destroy the non-zombies. 

The ensuing battle nearly killed Belroar as the now furious leader stabbed at him through an arrow slit, but the tables turned quickly when Thorfus and his probability sword killed the leader and crushed the moral of the remaining foes.

It wasn’t long before the party defeated the remaining foes dead, or drove them down into the elevator shaft where the undead await. One almost fled – but Chuq managed to get to him and kill him. 

The party, now with an army of mind-controlled zombie warriors, must decide their next steps.