Session 100

As the party resumes fending off the Elite Runeguard while attempting to get through to Glondor and Gloin, Glondor finally completes working on the Forgeborn he had been tinkering with and activates it, sending it after Summer and Dain, and savagely attacking them. While Balvin and Gardain slowly whittled away at the Elite Runeguard, Dain had a moment of clarity and used Vortex Warp to pull Gloin out of the room, putting him in the hallway next to him. Gloin was startled as Dain began to go after him, but was strangely capable of fending him off, hitting Dain with a powerful Power Word Pain spell, announcing his true capabilities, before being backed into a corner, at which point, Gloin's form started to change, becoming much more bulky, as he cast Tenser's Transformation. He attempted to attack Dain, but with Merrick and Summer turning their attention toward Gloin, they were able to break his concentration. As Dain closed the distance, Gloin used some unknown power to alter the terrain around him, creating a large pit in the floor under Dain in an attempt to capture him, but Dain's reflexes were too quick, and he managed to escape. To avoid the arrows Summer and now Rylin were pelting him with, Gloin desperately erected a stone barrier from the floor, hiding behind it and using the pits to keep the party away. Meanwhile, at the end of the hallway, Gardain and Balvin managed to finish off the Elite Runeguard, but at one point, Balvin noticed Gardain's eyes glowing while fighting them. While the party was distracted trying to deal with Gloin and the Forgeborn Brute, Glondor tossed a magnetic mine into the hallway, pulling the metal-wielding party members towards it and ripping their weapons out of their hands. He then tossed a small device onto the ground that sprouted legs and rapidly ran into the hallway before leaping at Dain and exploding, taking out the mine, the Forgeborn Brute, and dealing some heavy damage to the party. Having enough of this, Gardain hopped over the stone barrier Gloin had erected and buried one of his throwing axes in Gloin's head, finally killing him. This shocked Dain, not only because he had hoped to deal with Gloin himself, but because he had thought to try to give Gloin a chance to surrender. As Gloin's environmental modifications collapsed, and Glondor barely staving off the effects of Merrick's Sickening Radiance spell, he blew out the window with a spell before charging through the barrier to attack his nephew. The party began to focus their attention on Glondor, who put up a good fight, using several pieces of vicious Runetech to harm the party, but Gardain ran in and managed to bring Glondor to his knees with a swift blow to the head with his warhammer. Glondor briefly spat curses at Dain, saying he should have sent the Forgeborn after him a year ago, before passing out on the floor. Dain noticed him still breathing, and deciding he was beyond redemption, crushed his head into a fine red paste on the floor with Stormsmasher.

Returning to Gloin's body, Dain seemed unsatisfied with this outcome and moved to revive him. Balvin briefly protested, not believing Gloin was worth a second chance, but Dain was resolute in his decision and used Revivify to bring Gloin back from death after tying him up. Gloin was understandably startled and seemed more flabbergasted at Dain's decision to bring him back more than angry. Dain explained that he believed after seeing Glondor's treatment of him that Gloin wasn't intentionally malicious and was simply following his father's orders hoping to somehow earn his approval. Gloin initially protested, but agreed that everything he had done was mostly out of spite for his family's constant appraisal of Dain's aptitude and Glondor's mistreatment of him, putting him down for not living up to Dain's accolades. Dain tells Gloin that while he may not be quite the Runesmith that he is, Gloin is clearly a very skilled spellcaster -- a compliment which seemed to bruise Gloin more than help, as he countered saying that Reshyk had no use for traditional magic anymore and that it didn't matter how talented he was because the Dwarves didn't value it, and that the only ones who might think highly of him were the other races, who King Rangrim intended to depower by using Flow Repositories to collect all the Flow from their atmospheres so that he could usher in a new age for the Dwarves while leaving the other races without. Dain briefly told Gloin about the Ashenfolk and their lost magics, and that perhaps he could learn a thing or two from them, telling Gloin of the information he had discovered in the Catacombs of Blackfrost about Dwarven history, and telling him of Runescribing. Dain asked Gloin if he had any useful information about King Rangrim and his plans, but Gloin told him that he was never really kept "in the know" and that Glondor was the real brains of the operation, leaving Gloin to be important only in name and status. He said that he had only met King Rangrim a handful of times, but that the Royal Court would be swarming with Runeguard, especially with Glondor having alerted King Rangrim to the party's presence and intentions, and that they would need some sort of distraction or alternative way in if they hoped to confront him.

Dain decided to quickly search the bodies of Glondor and the dead Elite Runeguard. He seemed uninterested in Glondor's Runetech and instead took his sword, which had displayed an ability to emit a wave of destructive energy when swung. He also recovered a few potions from the Elite Runeguard that seemed to heal the Runeguard, but instead of the traditional pale pink hue, they seemed to be a glowing neon green color, reminiscent of the strange glowing tube they had seen in the "Enrichment" room at the other end of the hallway. Finally, he recovered Glondor's wand that he had used to control the barriers and brought them down. He then removed Glondor's Runelink, which seemed to confuse Gloin, who admitted he didn't know that was possible. Dain asked Gloin what he would do next, and Gloin admitted he wasn't sure, but that he was sure that he wouldn't be welcome on the mainland for a while, if ever again, and that maybe he would go visit the Ashlands to learn more about Runescribing. He bid Dain farewell, telling him perhaps he would see him again some day, and left. Meanwhile, Dain headed back to the room with the captive Forgeborn and used Glondor's Runelink to release them from their restraints. The Forgeborn took a moment to calm themselves before they thanked Dain and they decided to follow him. He then head downstairs to the room with the Flow Repository and broke in before using the control panel to charge the party's Flow Cells after Merrick located some additional empty ones in a nearby storage room. After charging their Flow Cells, Dain studied the control panel and used it to vent the remaining Flow in the Repository back into the air -- feeling a rush of energy around him as he did so. As the Flow Repository went dark, so did the rest of the research department. The party took advantage of the deactivated Runescanners and made their way back to the shipping area, where they exited the facility and made their way back on to the city streets.

Despite the late hour, Gardain suggested they should rendezvous with Marnia immediately, and the party set off for the industrial district. However, as they neared the street where Marnia's home was, they could see a large group gathered around Marnia's front door, realizing with worry as they drew near and recognized the figures that they were Runeguard. Severely depleted from the battle with Glondor and being outnumbered, Gardain began to panic, clearly worried about Marnia. Dain asked him what to do, and he sputtered nervously before deciding to lead the party to a hole-in-the-wall inn in the shady side of Shimmerwind, an area which Summer recognized from her venture to locate intel on how to get into The Vault months before. They entered the ramshackle building which Gardain warned the party to be on their guard while staying at, and met an old Dwarven man who had an unnerving way about him. He knew they were looking for a room and quickly discerned that their fancy way of dress implied they were hiding from something and said they could stay, but it would be 50 gp per night. Dain begrudgingly agreed and handed the man the money. Everyone made their way to their rooms, and as they settled in, Dain had a brief chat where he asked Gardain about the events of the day, and specifically wanted to know about what had caused Gardain's recent manifestations of glowing runes on his body and glowing eyes. Gardain seemed clueless, offering no explanation, and admitting that when he had tried to learn magic as a child, he could never even learn to conjure a simple light. Dain was unsure of this explanation but decided to drop it as the two went to sleep.