Session Thirteen

General Summary

Shorter session due to scheduling conflicts.

The Vault of Shadows, Continued

The session opens in media res as our heroes are attacked by three shadows lingering behind the standing stones of this room. Captain Blackfin "Ice Heart" Thornside, Harmony Moonweaver and Adrian "Ace" Atterton all took strength saps from the shadows, but the party managed victorious. One shadow seemed much stronger and heartier than the other two, making multiple attacks, and not vulnerable to radiant damage in the same way as the others. This shadow had a vaguely wolflike appearance.   Harmony recognized the carvings on each of the three megaliths to be very similar of the triptych she found in the Blue Passage - one stone vaguely depicting sunbeams cresting over the horizon of clouds, one stone covered in a miasma of swirling carvings, and the third stone carved with dripping shadows below the earth. The wolflike shadow was lingering behind the stone carved in swirls. Across the ceiling was carved the phrase in Celestial, "Eternity rests glimmering above; the deepest truths below the shroud; the misty void all-engulfing in-between."   Once the shadows were defeated, the shadowy veil covering the walls lifted, revealing a passage, however Blackfin had also found a wall of loose bricks behind the third standing stone, which Vaurvan took down to reveal a small, five-by-five alcove where Cheyanne "Doc" Adkins found a secret door.   Through the secret door, our party found a double crypt - containing the embalmed remains of two long-tusked priests of substantial height (8 ft tall) that Cheyanne recognized as being perhaps a distant ancestor race of the trollkin she encountered previously in Z'Veena. The party took all magical items from both crypts, being careful to move the bodies respectfully. Removing the robes and armor were more difficult, but the bodies had been preserved so well, they showed no sign of damage from being moved.

• Mulberry colored priest's hooded robes (unidentified)
• An unidentified stone statuette
• An unidentified ring
• A potion of superior healing
• An unidentified ring
• An unidentified potion
• An unidentified potion
• Unidentified shadowy black leather armor

  This crypt was closed by a large obsidian double door with the inscription, "... if one of them is dead." Harmony and Cheyanne determined that the first half of this phrase must be located elsewhere, as this door was deliberately carved with the clearly incomplete sentence. Vaurvan and Harmony were unsuccessful in efforts to open the door - perhaps it is blocked from the other side, or somehow locked by other means? Also within the crypt, our heroes found two stone levers. Cheyanne and Vaurvan pulled them at the same time, and the party heard a distant grinding noise, like stone on stone, but there was no visible effect from within here.   Without a way through the obsidian doors, the party backtracked to the megalith room and ventured through the passage revealed by the shadows. The next room was a very large room with a slightly humid air, which was filled with an astounding variety of mushrooms, five of which were as tall as small trees, their caps brushing the stone ceiling. At the far end of the room were a set of obsidian double doors engraved with the phrase "In the stillness of night, the goddess weaves her tapestry of secrets." The party tested a theory by extinguishing all light, and in the darkness, the true variety and brilliance of the fungi was displayed, thousands of small mushrooms in a rainbow of colored bioluminescence filled the room with dim but colorful light, while the four large mushrooms seemed to absorb the light, radiating a shadowy aura.   When Cheyanne went to take a sample of the large mushrooms, they animated and attacked the party, releasing paralyzing spores, and one even swallowing Harmony. Thankfully, our heroes were able to combat this surprise threat, and Cheyanne was able to harvest what she believed to be one of every type of mushroom in the room - Blackfin serving as tester, and revealing that there were twelve varieties of mushrooms with varying effects: several poisonous but several very beneficial.   After finding two levers hidden amongst the fungi, the party was able to open the obisidian doors, revealing a long hallway. Vaurvan boldly entered first, only to trigger a trap, a mirrored panel on the wall flashing briefly before a burst of necrotic energy hit him.    

Quest Log

Race for the Rails

• Figure out who's behind the sabotage of the Rusty Rails rail line.
• High Noon Shootout: Survive the Vipers gang attack on Copper Ridge. Completed: Session One.
• Wanted: Dead or Alive: Hunt down Fang, the leader of the Vipers bandit gang. Completed: Session Three.
• The Big Bang: Survive the rockslide triggered by the explosion at The Cut, and save as many townsfolk as possible. Completed: Session Four - WIP.
• Under the Light of the Moon: Investigate the large object discovered at the blast site near the Cut. Completed: Session Five - WIP.
• "H.": Follow up on the lead in Z'Veena about the mysterious "H." who hired the Vipers to disrupt the Rusty Rails construction project. Letter found in Session Three.

The Vipers

• Find out where the money went. Get it back.
• Red Rock Ridge: Clear out the Vipers bandit gang from their hideout/stronghold near Copper Ridge. Completed: Session Three
• As the Crow Flies: Track down "Crow", the mage who sold Sage, the snake with a hundred mage hands to Fang, leader of the Vipers bandit gang. Completed:Session Eleven
• The Mysterious S.V.: Find where the stolen money went by tracking down "S.V.", per a letter from Fang's boot, received in Session Three.
• Sage, the Snake with a Hundred Mage Hands: Track down the snake used in the Copper Ridge heist. Calicrysta Byrch says it is probably seeking its mother - search for a large, darkly iridescent scale similar to the one Crysta used to create Sage. Perhaps in Z'Veena?

Uncovering the Past

• Uncover and identiry the mysterious object unearthed by the explosion.
• The Trill Society: Visit the headquarters of the Trill Society, an archaeological guild. Completed: Session Nine Report
• Primordial Remains: Follow up with Field Crew Callithrix after they've had time to excavate the site near Copper Ridge.
• The Vault of Shadows: Locate and explore the Vault of Shadows, returning to the Council of Matrons in Tarana when finished. Current quest!

A Curious Wreckage:

• Investigate the airship wreckage and learn what happened to the vehicle.
• Dearest Renegade: Investigate the crashed airship, Dear Renegade, its wreckage located outside of Copper Ridge. Completed: Session Two
• Repair the Black Box: Repair the glass orb recovered from the crashed airship. Lew's notes at Rainwood Hall indicate the Lascari twins in Nova Excelsium were the creators of the orb.

Other Missions:

• Assorted and unoffiliated missions (for now...)
• Restore Zeb's Memories: Zeb, who runs the Copper Tubs bathhouse in Copper Ridge appears to have serious amnesia.
• Haunting Blueprints: Follow up on the airship tower blueprints found at Lew's workshop at Rainwood Hall, as found in Session Nine Report.