The Age of Worms / The Zenith Trajectory pt. 7/ Fos the 22nd, 3593 CE / 7-18-21

On a quest to rescue Zenith Splintershield, the wayward son of Ironlord Davked Splintershield, a prominent noble of Cauldron, Not By Choice has found themselves at the Pit of Seven Jaws, fighting the place's namesake, a deadly cryo-hydra. However, despite the monster's seven heads, it is vulnerable to fire, and with a deadly combination of bomb and blade, the party sends it hurtling to the depths, though not before it attempts to take Harrov with it. The dwarf is saved by the strong bite and quick reflexes of his clockwork companion, Sarous. With the pit's guardian vanquished, the party searches its last victim, a drow of indeterminate House, and then begins a seemingly endless descent into darkness. Hours pass as they trudge ever downward from one step to the next, the monotony only occasionally broken by a boast or bad pun from Milton. Eventually they reach the bottom of the pit, where they find the smashed corpse of the cryo-hydra, as well as a fissure that leads deeper into the earth. After a couple more miles of walking through the stalactite studded tunnel, the party emerges into a vast cavern. On the other side of an underground lake is a massive stone complex of the same design as the Ulat-Kini ruins underneath Cauldron, though this one appears to be in the shape of a great prehistoric fish. Wondering how they are going to cross the lake, they spy a ferryman, a fish creature like their recent companion Tstha-Ghi, though this one appears to speak no Common at all, referring only to something called the "Smoking Eye." Regardless, the fish man ferries them across the lake, depositing the party at the stairs leading up to the maw of the stone fish building. Harrov spots sentries spying on them from the stone fish's eyes, but Not By Choice continues undaunted into the building's entry-chamber. Lulu spies some frescoes which remind her disturbingly of those from the Whispering Cairn, and Milton knocks politely on the stone door which leads to the building's interior. But the knock is greeted by a battle cry, as a squad of Ulat-Kini guards rush the party from a nearby barracks!