Session 94

With only ten days until the Forgeborn demonstration in Greentide, and a little over a three week journey to get there, the group were unsure how to reach the port city in time to sabotage it. While none of the party, nor the Underminers, could think of a solution, Dorin began to pray to Astix, beseeching her for a way to reach Greentide in time. In response to his fervent pleas, Astix consumed the group in her radiant flames, pulling them through another plane and ejecting them a few miles outside Greentide, leaving trails of flame in their wake and melting all the snow around them. Approaching the city, Jeryl noticed the barrier at the entrance to the city and mentioned that he had a feeling their scanners wouldn't be fooled so easily as the Runeguard in Shimmerwind. He asked the party to create a distraction while he used his Runescribe abilities to pass through the wall to the side of the main gate. As the group approached the gate, Dain briefly tried to convince the Runeguard that there were Yeti not far from the gates and they should go deal with them, but the Runeguard just looked at him like he had two heads. Merrick then attempted to convince the Runeguard that he needed to travel to Rimelight to visit his sister and that he needed to get there fast to make it in time for an event. The Runeguard pointed him toward what appeared to be a stable, telling him he could rent a Runecycle for just 10 gp. After each party member passed through the gate, with the non-Dwarven members feeling a strange tingling sensation, Merrick walked along the wall through an alleyway in search of Jeryl. After finding him speedwalking away from a Runeguard, Merrick moves with him and learns that he had a close call almost being spotted. The party then heads into the city to find a lesser-known inn, The Giant's Teacup.

Entering the inn, the group found a large 8' tall Ettinor woman named Hasina, who greeted them almost too warmly. The Ettinor woman then made a joke about the party's height, calling them small, before Hasina's wife, Rosalyn interjected, offering the players rooms. Rosalyn explained that her prices were a bit higher than other inns because the Imperium Arcanum levies higher taxes against non-Dwarven business owners. Dain responded by giving her 50 gp, covering their room fees and giving her a large tip. She thanked him profusely, and briefly spoke with him about her homeland of Myr, where she comes from a city called Artus, the capital of The Commonwealth. Dain was initially confused, believing that the entire continent outlawed magic, but learned that in fact, The Commonwealth is very tolerant of magic -- though their territory is gradually decreasing due to the Rathmore Empire's aggressive expansion. After their chat, Dain head up to his room with his father Balvin in tow and showed his father a notebook his grandfather Dalvir had given him that talked about his time working with the research group that developed the Flow Cell, and asked his father about potential weaknesses. The two came to the conclusion that a precisely aimed electrical charge of sufficient power could overload the Stormsilver in the alloy inside the cell unless it is shielded. Dain also took the opportunity to tell Balvin about the party's disguises, revealing that they were not actually Dwarves. This shocked Balvin, but ultimately he didn't much care.

Once they had rested for a little bit, Dain and Summer set out to search around the Chamberlain's Office for clues as to where they could find the Forgeborn in storage. After noticing a building near the Chamberlain's Office that was under heavy guard by the Runeguard, they decided to move in closer for a better look. Summer went to the roof, noticing some vents on the roof just big enough for someone to fit through. She then used some of Dain's rope to haul Dain up to the roof, where he took advantage of the less thin levels of Flow to cast the Fly spell so that he could reach the other roof and enter silently. Opening the vents and flying in, Dain found a grate at the bottom with a view of some sort of platform below. Dain kicked out the grate and descended into the warehouse, where he found himself on the second level. He then saw 20 Forgeborn below that were inactive. Inspecting them, Dain quickly determined that he could potentially override their basic functions and cut off their access to remote operators. After doing so, he made his way back out of the warehouse and head back to the inn with Summer in tow. Along the way, Dain encountered Jeryl, now in his Vesperkin form. Jeryl explained that he had been shopping for Tekrum, pointing to some soft white stone he was holding that appeared to have been carved. He explained that Runescribes use Tekrum to create what are called "talismans", which involve inscribing their power into this soft stone so that it may be invoked later. He gave Dain three of these talismans and told him that he would be leaving Greentide.

Back at the inn, Merrick attempted to commune with Orick, and surprisingly was successful this time. Orick arrived, cautioning Merrick about his communing with and taunting the Deep One. He attempted to explain to Merrick why the Seven Sisters could not interfere with the Deep One, but seemed to be unable to explain further, telling Merrick about how the Deep One is listening at all times. He attempted to give Merrick a hint in the form of a riddle, but Merrick didn't seem to understand. As he was telling Merrick this riddle, the Deep One gurgled and roared before assaulting Orick with his tentacle, leaving a burn mark in Orick's wake. Merrick attempted to defy the Deep One again, but despite all his attempts at self-harm, all he got out of the attempt was having one of his precious magic daggers disintegrated. Merrick attempted to escape by jumping through the room window, but after several attempts, only succeeded in smashing his face into the wall repeatedly, with the Deep One chuckling and finding it amusing. However, Merrick eventually escaped and plummeted downward with seemingly no end. After some time, the Deep One's face rushed at him from above, seeming to devour him, before Merrick was ejected back into the world via a dark portal that slammed him into the ground, just as Dain and Summer returned to the inn. Summer head back inside with Merrick, and Dain decided to search the city for an apothecary. He found one, which seemed to use Runetech devices to rapidly age potions so that they could be produced faster. This resulted in lower prices, and Dain was able to buy a number of Potions of Healing (Superior) for only 1,500 gp each. In the coming days, while they awaited the demonstration, the party relaxed, preparing for what was ahead.

On the day of the demonstration, the group head over to the area where the demonstration was to take place, being stopped by Runeguard short of the stage area to prevent them from interacting with the foreign diplomats. They watched and saw two Humans, three Elves, and a Vesperkin stand next to the stage trailed by a half a dozen politicians each. They listened as the Chamberlain of Greentide introduced the crowd to Glondor Brawnanvil, lead of Forgeborn Development in the Runesmith College's R&D department. Glondor began to give a show attempting to demonstrate the capabilities of the Forgeborn, but his initial test showing off their strength failed when the Forgeborn glitched, moving oddly, and then dropping the enormous crate it was lifting on itself. He attempted to explain that due to being mass produced, it required the assistance of Runesmiths who were less trained, and a glitch appeared now and then. Continuing, the next demonstration of a Forgeborn Soldier went awry when one of the Elves, appearing to be a member of the Spellscar Crusade of Gothir, attempted to spar with the Forgeborn. As she did, it seemed to keep up with her, until it suddenly dropped its sword and shield and then fell to the ground, twitching violently while in an awkward position. The Elf seemed very annoyed by this and refused Glondor's attempt to explain, walking away. Glondor tried one final time to salvage the demonstration by showing off their team coordination, making them operate a simple mechanism, explaining they could collaborate on simple tasks so that those performing menial labor could instead do more important things. However, this too went poorly as the Forgeborn began to attack each other, Glondor, and the Runeguard, before the Runeguard destroyed the defective automatons. While all this happened, Dain couldn't hold in his laughter, and noticed at one point that Glondor had seen him and was beaming at him. Dain decided to leave and head back to the Giant's Teacup. As he entered, Gardain, who was drinking, approached Dain and told him that he had received word from Marnia, who explained that it was good they left when they did, because the city had been placed on lockdown following the riot they caused in the prison, and that several prisoners from The Vault had escaped due to their actions. He also explained that the Underminers had received word that a shipment of Forgeborn having been inspected by the Runesmith College were being shipped to Greentide, whether to be shipped elsewhere or to sell -- Gardain made it clear that they needed to be destroyed, and suggested they get prepared and then go to intercept the convoy.