Session 92

After talking with Marnia trying to brainstorm some initial ideas about how to approach breaking the whistleblower out of The Vault, Marnia says she'll put out some feelers with her connections to try to gather some intel on The Vault, mentioning that there's a former Underminer who left because he disagreed with their methods who now works as a guard in The Vault, and that perhaps he'd be amiable to providing some information. She asked Dain to seek information himself, and Dain made his way back to the Relieved Librarian carrying the passed out Gardain along with him. The next morning after awaking and speaking with Gardain about what Marnia told him, Dain decided to pay a visit to the Runesmith College, hoping that perhaps he could find some information there that may help. The rest of the group tagged along and as Dain went to the Demonstration Wing, the others meandered about hoping to overhear something from one of the other students. Upon arriving at the Demonstration Wing, Dain was startled as he opened the door and a Dwarf was flung against it, landing on his back and wincing in pain. Dain looked inside and saw the smoldering remains of what appeared to be a Forgeborn, and questioned the Dwarf, who revealed that he was working on a prototype Forgeborn unit and that it exploded while he was recharging the Flow Cells powering it. Dain investigated and realized that the Dwarf had inadvertently overcharged the Flow Cells, causing them to rupture. The Dwarf explained that he had been having a drink to wake himself up and must have not been paying attention, and lamented that this would set his work back a bit. Dain offered to look at his work and offer his advice, revealing his alumni status. The Dwarf seemed skeptical, but agreed, and Dain looked over the Forgeborn's schematics. He learned that the Forgeborn unit was equipped with a tube on its arm that had eight miniaturized wands inside, each capable of projecting a different spell, and that they were each connected to their own Flow Diffuser, allowing each to continue operating independently if one were to overheat. In addition, it was constructed of a 30% Adamantine / 70% Steel alloy called Durasteel that made it remarkably resistant. The schematics also suggested that this Forgeborn variant was called a "Bombardier". He suggested that the Dwarf add a Flow Regulator to prevent overloads in the future, and the Dwarf thanked him. Seeing nothing else of interest, Dain headed to the R&D department hoping there might be something there he could learn. While there, he witnessed another Dwarf operating some sort of Runetech device which appeared to be a gate that allowed the Dwarf to walk in one side and appear on the other side instantaneously. Dain was amazed and asked the Dwarf about it, who explained that it was a modification of existing technology called a Runechannel and a Flow Beacon which allowed the two gates to connect to each other and create a portal to the other. Dain was unaware of this Runechannel technology, as it had only been invented half a decade earlier, well after he left Reshyk. The Dwarf celebrated, as his previous tests had shown some worrying results, turning an apple that passed through into an orange, then charring it, and various other anomalies. Dain then noticed that the Dwarf's nose was bleeding, and as he pointed this out, the Dwarf took off down the hallway toward the infirmary. Dain then decided to leave.

While investigating the college, Summer was trying to locate the seedier side of Shimmerwind and managed to locate a hole-in-the-wall bar where she recognized the criminal nature of its occupants and decided to question the bartender about whether any of the regulars here could tell her anything about The Vault. The bartender, picking up on her intentions, told her that she could pay him 200 gp for a name of a contact she could meet with that would have such information, but when she attempted to walk away, the bartender said that she could either pay him for the name or he would tell the Runeguard that she was sniffing about asking about The Vault. Summer caved and decided to pay the man, and he told her to speak to Kildrak, a regular at the bar. She then left and headed to the college to join Dain, but decided to walk around the college and listen to what the students were talking about. She overheard a pair of Dwarves discussing a Vesperkin named Jeryl who had apparently been caught dismantling some Runetech in Greentide and was now being held in The Vault for questioning, in spite of the droves of foreigners who had been executed previously for doing similar things. The authorities were unsure how this Jeryl managed to safely dismantle their technology and wanted answers as to where he learned what he knew. The Dwarves seemed uneasy about knowing that a foreigner was able to do this.

Meanwhile, Dorin had decided to pay a visit to Hat'aellor to read about basic Runetech. The Veskim Nul agent at the front desk showed him to a section with the physical copies of books they kept on hand on the subject, and he began to read, learning about the fundamental developments that led to the development of what is now Runetech. He saw mentions of Gloin's apparent "invention" of the Forgeborn and learned a bit about each technology, including learning that Flow Cells had an "eject" button that would allow you to discharge all the accumulated static Flow back into the atmosphere around you, and that the capacity of a standard Flow Cell was approximately 50 spell slots, and that larger models such as the Flow Repository, capable of storing 1,000 spell slots worth of Flow, were also available.

Returning to the Relieved Librarian around dinner time, the party spoke to Gardain who revealed that Marnia had managed to contact the former Underminer known as Rogdar and Gardain would be meeting with him shortly. Dain decided to tag along and went to the residential district with Gardain, meeting with a nervous sounding Dwarf who seemed very reluctant to discuss The Vault with Gardain, saying he didn't work for them anymore and didn't want to get involved with their shit. Gardain managed to persuade Rogdar to calm down and said he wasn't looking for Rogdar to actually get him INTO The Vault, only for information. Rogdar decided to give him some basic information, telling him of the basic layout of the prison, revealing that the inner prison was a circular chamber with cells lining the outer wall, each with its own solid walls and a gate in the form of a Runetech barrier being powered by an interior Flow Repository that was fed by several Flow Condensers which meant that the interior of the prison would be completely drained of Flow, meaning the party would not be able to cast spells inside. He also revealed that there was a wing of the prison that was under construction and that it connected to an old mine shaft which had been sealed off years ago. He said that this mineshaft would be their best bet to enter unnoticed. The pair thanked him and returned to the Relieved Librarian. Being that The Vault is only a few miles north of Shimmerwind, they decided it would be best to leave that night so they could approach under cover of darkness. Meanwhile, Summer went to meet with Kildrak, but found the meeting unproductive after she couldn't think of anything to ask him that would not flag her as suspicious, considering he worked at the prison. She did, however, learn that apparently the whistleblower was being kept in the solitary wing of the prison.

After trudging through the snow and arriving at the mountains where The Vault was located, the party spent some time searching about until Summer finally located a mountain facing that appeared to have remains of wooden supports under some large rocks very close to The Vault's front entrance. The party spent some time clearing the rocks, making a small hole into a cave which had the walls shored up by wooden supports which had decayed over the years. They climbed inside and began to explore the mine shaft, which was mostly empty. After a bit of walking, Summer picked up on some distant sound which sounded like rocks shifting, almost like when a rock tumbles down a cliff. As they got closer to the sound, Dorin was taken by surprise by a boulder crashing into him from behind. As the party turned to see this, the boulder then backed up a bit before unfolding into a vaguely humanoid looking rock creature with a face. Several more appeared around them, and animated several of the boulders in the tunnel, before charging the group. Though they initially were able to deal some damage to the party, Dain and Merrick managed to make short work of the creatures, with Summer obliterating one in nearly a single blow. After the creature were reduced to pebbles and the dust settled, the party continued down the tunnel, eventually hearing the rhythmic tapping sound of a distant pickaxe. Figuring they had found the construction crew working on the prison wing, Dain gave Gardain a Potion of Invisibility and then cast Invisibility on the rest of the party. Moving into the construction area, they witnessed several Dwarves with a similar, but more colorful skin tone, to the Ashenfolk, who Dain recognized as Stone Dwarves, talking about mundane things while a useless foreman stood behind them barking orders. They moved past them, causing one of the Dwarves to sneeze from the trailing dust, before entering a hallway connected to this featureless cavern that had four doors, two of which were unlocked, one which was locked, and one that was fitted with a Runetech device similar to the ones used in the Runesmith College that required a Runelink to access. Summer decided to try opening the lone locked door and the party moved inside, closing it behind them. They found themselves in a storage room of sorts, and decided to see what was in the various crates. The most notable find being a large crate of empty Flow Cells. The party each decided to take a few of these, figuring they may be useful in the near future.