Session One Hundred and Seventy-Three Summary (Graveyard of Empires: After the Fall)

Session 173, March 20 2024

Introduction

We continue at 2:30PM on the 25th of Anurilden (00.000.08.05 on the Apocalypse Clock) with the party having just left their audience with Lord Marshal Torvenkhul after returning to Dun'Khel from their expedition to Feldmark. Overall, their news was a mixed bag for the dwarven leader: on the one hand, the infected monster is gone and it should be possible to recover a large amount of foodstuff; on the other hand, two of Crescent Island's major rivers have been diverted and it is possible that a DVL invasion is imminent. Right now, though, the group is escorted back to the residence where their allies from Midmark have been living in exile. Besides a thoughtful gift of beard oil, what other surprises await the party? Find out next time; or not.

Yuri escorts us to our rooms.

Nigel greets us, we arrived in time for supper.

Druul needs armor, Thorfus needs a new shield, Glompus wants to see the gnome refugees, Renthark is always up for something. Velkin grabs the alchemy book in hopes of finding an alchemist.

Mortimer Fennik offers to guide us.

Kauri go talk to Adus Runnelbook about the golden tablets.

Prix and Aeda stays with us.

Mortimer advises Glompus that if he sees gnomes to ask them where they are houses.

Velkin keep eyes peeled for alchemist.

Now we are going to armorer.

Hildebrondus - armorer

Glompus wanders off at the sight of gnomes to find their location.

Velkin and Renthark wander.

Mortimer calls out to Hildebrondus who welcomes us.

Thorfus asks for a couple shields, new helmet and chainmail.

Druul asks for more chainmail since his current suit was nearly destroyed by acid.

Hildebrondus has a surplus due to the interruption in trade.

Mortimer Fennik also from Xenilum Khel.

Glompus runs into a youngish gnome at an intersection. Ligart Hobeynn

Renthark goes along with Glompus.

Glompus says that we managed to arrange for the death of the monstrosity. This is great news tell everyone! Glompus tries to walk it back that here is the safest for now.

Velkin wanders the shops at random. He picks at random a couple of dwarven women.

One shakes head no, other says, whatcha needin?

Medicines, OK. There's a gnome, actually.

They give him directions and he goes until it looks like it's too far, but then he catches the smell of herbs and finds the shop. Run by a couple Fadl and Katheryna Egremont.

Herbs clipped to racks.

Velkyn mentions the ingredients for healing, cure disease, neutralize poison, and drow sleep poison.

The gnome takes notes.

Katheryna a tea expert, and they have a selection.

Velkyn picks one teat by smell close to Oskar's.

21 doses healing, 14 cure poison, 12 cure disease, 12 sleep poison. 1 extra healing.

Thorufs, Mortimer, and Druul meet up with Velkyn who was getting ready to enter the general store. We join him as we wait for Glompus and Renthark.

Ligert calls out that there is a ranger here and all kinds of gnomes come out. Many thank him, some for personally saving them.

Glompus says he met a gnome, Kias and asks after his parents.

Glompus hustles them to the side and tells them your sone was on a ship that went down a big ravine into the underdark.

He might be OK.

Ligert was talking while Glompus was away. Monster dead, can all go home, there will be food.

Gnome children form an impromptu dance line.

All are happy about the death of the monster.

Killing the monster opens the island up to some other monsters, but the food is solved, and Dunkhel is probably the safest place.

LIgart asks if Glompus has a place to stays. He says that he is staying with them. Glompus decides not to impose but will stay until they go to bed and make his way back.

They decide a small impromptu feast is in order. Glompus tries to slip in some of his rations to help out.

Mortimer leads Thorfus, Druul, and Velkyn back in time for supper.

Kauri and Prix show Aldus the golden tablets.

Aldus says it is some sort of ritual magic. Similar to some texts for lifeforce/blood to enact spells, but not quite.

I have a guess at what you have here, but I don't have my magic anymore.

I've seen quite a bit in my years. I think these are divine rituals for calling on the powers of the deities or whatever you want to call them. It looks like blood magic, but I don't think that's quite what it is. It is a large number of spells.

40 something different rituals.

I can't tell what is supposed to power them, I don't think it is blood.

Kauri takes his everlasting candle near the tablets and the candle gets much brighter and the tablets seem to glow.

Back in my shop at Midmark, there was another fella had a shop. He wasn't completely trustworthy. He dealt in valuable texts. He knew quite a bit about the Matriarchs.

Jurgenn, that was his name. He had the shop at Lowmarket in Midmark.

Where'd that dour fellow, Lambertus go, or the other one who didn't talk much. Ask them, have they looked at it?

Kauri brings him some of the everfull tea. Aldus asks him to set it on the table for later.

We ask a guard to find Yuri and ask him about the archives and any ancient books that isn't dwarven or elvish.

They tell us about the dragons and taking Ithirialma with them. Philomanthraxus also went with them.

Pass the beard oil to Thorfus.

Kaspar is making progress on engraving. It is delicate work. Rest assured there will be no mistakes. Triple-checking each character. Still on schedule for eightish months. As long as there are no interruptions.

Em asks about Lambertus since she sort of knew him.

Velkyn asks Alesta the high priestess of Merendur at Midmark to take a look at the tablets.

Alesta nods and says that these are all rituals to do divine magic and can easily read them and tells us what each one is.

These are not like the rituals I used with Merendur.

I'm not quite following this. It's talking about ritual items. It mentions here for the blessing ritual requires an armband. It also requires a sacrifice of either light or life, I'm not sure.

We show her blood magic runes, and she says that isn't it.

Alesta asks to spend more time. Velkyn gives her his blessed jeweler's lens and Kauri the blessed candle.

VElkyn gives Kauri the tea an dtea service.

An older gnome gentleman gives Glompus his mouse, Mortimer. He has had for years and retrieves lost items. His name is Mortimer.

Glompus returns to us.

We ask Aeda to come in and discuss what the Chosen One did with the tablets. Aeda really didn't know what the Chosen One did.

Alesta looks up with Glompus comes in, and says, oh, well, OK, just be quiet.

Nigel explains to Glompus who everyone is.

Jar of bear oil with a label of Thorfus/Lhelratha.

It looks like the same kind Jardin used all the time.

The smell is the same. Also there is a ring jammed down in the container.

Thorfus goes to his room and takes out the ring and cleans it up.

Thorfus examines the ring and the stone hinges.

Under the stone there is a single scale and that's it. it is a black scale, so one of Jardin's.

Thorfus rubs the ring with his beard to get the beard oil off it and puts it on a dresser. He then undoes his braids and brushes out his beard.

Alesta is tired and says she needs to sleep on this. She has some ideas but is not ready to discuss them at the moment.

Druul heads out to the terrace where the planters are to try and grow more food.

Drrul does not recognize the guy. In a weird outfit with a jacket and a vest under it with a neck piece of green, smoking a pipe, and a very stylized mustache and waxed goatee. He says, evening Druul, so out to sing to the plants.

Any luck with the tablets? No, they're a mystery. Too bad.

Druul asks what are you doing here. Reconnaisance.

Druul, seems like you've had a bit of a pass. Yes. WEll, my brother told me I have to kill the last of the dwarves.

I have to gather the forces and prepare for the slaughter.

Duul gathers up the party, starting with Thorfus as Thorfus is finishing his braids.

Thorfus's braids indicate the last member of a clan on a quest.

It is Mephistopheles. He waves as we come out. Evening.

Mephistopheles greets Thorfus as Khelratha.

It seems the most interesting stuff has been going on here at Cresent Isle.

I sometimes wonder if you are working for my brother?

Here's what I can't figure. There is one place in all of this universe, there is one place where dwarves can survive and not be destroyed by DVLs. Suddenly that thing is gone in a week.

Wihtout that thing protecting them, now that it's gone boom. Asmodeus is not the forgiving type. He sees this as the time to wipe out the last basion of the dwarves.

So I suggest you and your friends not be here on the 29th.

You can warn them, it won't matter, we'll hunt them down and kill them.

You can stay, I won't kill you, but I can't promise the others won't do so.

Glompus asked w

Velkyn asked if Jubilex was working for Asmodeus. No, Lolth, Mephistopheles, and Jubilex. Jubilex was a possible ally to our cause and you blew him up.

Jubilex was creating an army to march out of Crescent Isle to fight my brother.

Back on Crescent Isle I offered to send you to the Astral Plane to use as your headquarters. Jubilex would have killed everyone as well.

Kauri says we've been lied to and betrayed so many times, we trust very few people.

In addition to killing everyone to open a portal to the original world, or extracting something from the matriarchs to do it quicker and killing everyone will work, or Hdrasta has a locked door that might be a portal to the original world. That and killing dwarves is what he is all about.

EVeryone you care about who's here make sure they aren't here.

Thorfus, we care about everyone here.

Glompus, not to presume, but

Mephistopheles unclips his pocket watch and lays it on the table.

Jubilex is caged and tortured for his rebellion in the City of Brass.

This will lead you to my fortress on the Astral Plane. If you're working with my brother, tell him to just kill me.

Keep it wound and it will do what it needs to do if you get to the Astral Plane.

Thorfus says, well thankfully you don't know about our other plan.

If you know about our other plan, you would have mentioned it.

The Nanocarbon book may be the true name of Asmodeus. It is an alternate way of binding DVLs. Inscribe on an impossibly thin blade could potentially strike DVLs and destroy them.

Velkin pulls out his journal and shows Mephistopheles the bits of equations from the mad wizard at Armada. This is a location, these are coordinates in the City of Brass somewhere. This is incomplete.

The crazy guy at Armada has been taken care of.

I was worried he'd get it to work. Those were the coordinates to Asmodeus' vault.

I gotta say that giving you the coordinates to my brother's vault, without a better plan of what you will do, then maybe.

If you talk to Lolth, tell her to find new digs.

Thorfus asked what time we can expect them on the 29th? After dark as it is more impressive to see streaking flame of pit fiends coming down instead of during the day.

Thorfus sees three options:

1.) Use Lolth Portal. 2.) use Staff of slaad to portal to Astral Plane and use watch to Mephistopheles' fortress. 3.) Use gold tablets to make a protected citadel.