Session Notes for 2004-11-15

We come to a hilly region. We find a tunnel leading into a hill; the crossbeam over the entrance has the House Cannith seal. We've found Whitehearth.

Nearby is a copse of trees. We head in to rest for the day. Failin tries to hit us up for more pay; Lin points out that he's already been paid and that we can withhold his share of the loot we already have. Failin yields.

Eight examines the magic on the wand we found. It proves to be a wand of magical missiles. Eight holds on to it; he is the only party member who can use it.

March 27th

We've rested for the night; I heal my injuries in the morning. As we prepare to head into the mine a spot in the sky suddenly swoops down, attacking me before I notice. It's some sort of undead vulture. The fiend's claws scrape against my armor. The rest of my party cuts it down before I can react. As the bird falls to the ground, we can faintly hear a snicker on the wind. Blast.

We head into the mine. A steep tunnel leads down. We eventually come to a chamber. Beyond are three narrow, twisty tunnels. The rightmost passage leads downward, so we follow it. Poking around a dead end, Red finds a trap door. Lin examines the trapdoor. She fails to find the trap, as she opens the door a lightening bolt shoots out. She dodges out of the way, avoiding serious damage. Below is stone; a fake door. By the councilor, the place is boobytrapped.

225 Lightning trap

Across the tunnel is a small chamber. Again, a trap door lays on the floor. There is a socket in the center. It looks like a match to the rod Lady Elaydren gave us. The rod fits and clicks. The trap door opens. Below is a shaft with a metal ladder. Below is darkness.

I light a sunrod and drop it down the shaft. About 30 foot down it disappears. Magical darkness? A rock sent after it clacks into rock almost immediately after hitting the darkness.

Lin climbs down. From the bottom the darkness isn't visible. We join her. A crystal orb on the floor by the ladder provides a faint glow. The room itself is a nearly perfect half-sphere. The only exit is the ladder through the center of the ceiling. At the exact center is an octagonal stone pedestal. On top is embedded an octagonal steel plate. The top of the pedestal has 9 sockets in a 3 by 3 grid. The 8 outer sockets partially overlap the plate. The center socket is in the center of the plate. The sockets are slightly sunken and enamel covered. Each socket is colored. Most are blue, there are two brown and two green.

Blue Brown Blue Blue Blue Blue Green Brown Green

The sockets are cool to the touch. Unsurprising. Perhaps eight are false and one is real? I ask Lin to search the bottom left green socket for a trap. She is fairly confident that there is no trap.

Lin places the key into the center socket. Nothing happens. She places it in the top left socket. The entire room shivers and rotates. The entrance slides down to the side, revealing a new passage. The flat floor area stays in place. Beyond I year yipping, growling, and splashing water. The water is splashing around erratically. Something is moving in the water.

We head down the corridor. There are lit lanterns on the walls. An old blood trail indicates something was dragged through the hallway. Red looks closely. There are three dog-like animal tracks. The blood trail leads from the sphere to the hall. Twenty foot down the passage splits. An archway opens to the left, an open door is ahead, and a closed metal door is to the right.

To the left are two chambers. The further one appears to be latrines. Nearer is a room with a pool. Two wolves are in the pool. One sees us, yips, and howls. It moves toward us. Before we can react the metal door opens, revealing a huge, bull-sized wolf. It speaks, "Hold!" The other wolf stops.

Lin quickly speaks, apologizing for intruding. She explains that we are seeking a House Cannith heirloom. The giant wolf is willing to help us if we'll help them. They've been trapped for four years. When the large wolf woke to full consciousness everyone was dead. The dead revert to their dead forms nightly, they feed on the reappearing corpses. If we'll free the wolves they'll provide us with information. Further in is an amalgamation of wolf and stone; the giant wolf thinks it should be put down.

They have been living on two bodies further down the hall. I ask about the blood, she indicates that it's from a creature to the northeast. We're in the northwest corridor. Apparently she has a key that she can use with her mouth. The stone wolf is to the southwest.

The she-wolf mentions that she has been reading "the captain's books." The room behind her was once a captain's quarters. We're welcome to whatever we want. The she-wolf introduces herself as Rorsa. She offers us two keys, one blue, one green. She then offers us a pearl. She says it's special, but she doesn't know what it is. Eight thinks it might be some sort of clerical item. I grasp it and pray to Councilor Elderean. The pearl reveals itself as a Pearl of Power that would provide an additional spell of the first level. Potent.

As we're thinking, Red mentions that her sword talks to her. What?

We search the baths and lavatory. We don't find much. The central room is a barracks. Two recently dead bodies lay there. We find some arms and armor; 5 chain shirts, 5 long swords, 3 daggers, 2 short swords, some gold and silver. The captain's door has a green socket. The green key opens it. There is an iron bound chest and a bronzewood wardrobe with elven etching. There is a masterwork greatsword, masterwork longsword, masterwork shortsword, masterwork heavy steel shield with House Cannith sigil, masterwork blue-enameled chain shirt. The wardrobe contains boots, clothing, and a nice cloak made of darkweave. The elven writing is a love poem. A small bookshelf contains dog-chewed books. Not appear to be particularly notable. There are military strategy books, a history of Cyre, and the captain's journal.

The chest has a brown socket. Rorsa not been able to open it.

We return Rorsa the unnecessary blue key. We promise to return and head out. We take the west passage.

We're confronted with another flickering lantern filled hallway. It quickly ends in an oak door. It's a small library. There are two desks and shelves full of scrolls and leather-bound books. The books have elvish labels. There is a female human corpse slumped over one of the desks. She is slumped over a scroll-case. Lin extracts an ornate scroll from the case. The woman is wearing a House Cannith signet ring. Lin grabs the ring. The scroll looks arcane. Eight identifies it as a spell of Resist Energy.

We search the books. The majority are financial records, personnel records, stock records, and the like. There is a small section of general knowledge books. The records books are kept in elven. Interesting.

The early books (ten years old) suggest that copper was mined here and the occasional bit of gold. The most recent books (four years old) suggest that it's no longer a working mine, but someone has been ordering alchemical ingredients.

As we leave I notice that there are teeth marks around the doorknob. Rorsa, probably.

The east passage from the half-sphere is similar to the west passage. Again, teeth marks. inside is a laundry room. A water filled basin sits between rows of shelves full of clothing and linens. As we watch, a piece of clothing floats out of the basin, folds itself, and sits itself down on a shelf. There are no other exits.

We take the sphere to the southeast hallway. The hallway stretches twenty feet again. Again, everbright lanterns light the hall. At the end of the hall is a doorway. Beyond is another sphere, inside is a pedestal.

This pedestal is square and has different colors:

Green Orange Red Purple Yellow

None of which we have.

We double back.

We decide to face the stone-wolf to the southwest. Eight attempts to infuse himself with a spell but fails.

Beyond is another semi-spherical room. Again, a square pedestal.

Yellow Blue Green Orange

We select the green corridor and move on. The corridor curves to the left. Ahead we hear snarling and snapping. The hallway is narrow, so we move single-file. We move forward to face the thing.

As we were warned, the freakish thing is waiting. It looks like a wolf with obsidian plating. Its maw is filled with obsidian teeth. We move it. It claws Red. I heal her as she lays into the beast. Eight realizes that the creature is part construct. It moves forward and touches the wolf, inflicting it with some construct damaging wound. The magical effect shatters the wolf's head. In a pile of garbage we find another of the keys, this one is orange. We find a strange trinket, a House Cannith signet ring, and a small broach. The broach is mithril and bloodstone and depicts a crescent moon.

150 Helping Rorsa