Frontier Session 9 Report

Session 9: 19-10-2024

The party sets out after fighting the insectoids but decides to go back to the Ork encampment Lorrukh to rest up and go prepared. They use the carapace recovered from the insectoids to improve the fire resistance of their armor as well as making some flaming oil for their weapons.

They continue their advance on the volcano Lor and Suicu explores the land from above. He notices a stretch of sandy desert untouched by the lava and surrounded by rocky terrain. In the distance he sees battle errupt and goes to investigate with Jock while the rest are walking towards an oasis on the edge of the strip of desert.

Suicu and Jock get closer to fighting and see a ship mounted on tracked wheels being steered by a group of goblins and kobolds. They're firing on a force of the insect creatures and driving them off. Suicu sees an insect creature levitating in the back and goes closer for a good look of the creature. It looks like a slight version of the bugs but with longer antennae.

The party regroups at the oasis and take a short break before continuing on to the base of the volcano. They find several natural tunnels but decide to go towards the worked hive tunnels to the west. On the way they find an old abandoned tunnel that leads into the dark and they decide to take a rest before continuing on. However they get ambushed and a chain spike is thrown at Hiron but misses him! Suicu rushes outside before waking everyone with a shout and sees a large scorpion hybrid monster which is about to attack him.

Battle starts and another scorpion monster joins the fight. Hiron and Glee get poisoned and paralysed by the creatures while Suicu gets tangled up in its spike chain. Jock manages to jump on top of the creatures and starts grappling with the monster. After several heavy blows from Glee's great sword one of the creatures goes down in a pile of smoking ruin. The other gets knocked out by a powerful headbutt by Jock.

The party takes a long rest and sets out in the morning into the tunnel system. In the pitch black they make out the excavated tunnels going deeper into the mountain and eventually find a fork. They notice that the way to the right is made from black stone and Glee recognises the script used on the gateway as the same as he found in the ancient temples in the jungle around Brightwater. They travel along the worked stone floor into the back of the tunnel and find a chamber to left giving off a dim red glow. Stopping to inspect the back of the tunnel to check for a hidden doorway.

Going into the doorway they find a large chamber with a high ceiling and a pool of lava in the back. There are old machinery made from brass gears, pistons and bellows being fed steam-power from a large engine set in one of the corners of the room. A strange robot is walking up and down with buckets of lava and dumping it into the engine. It looks like a grotesque machine blending flesh and machine with strange green glowing tubes inserted into its body. It walks up and down from the pool of lava to the machine without paying any attention to the party.

After exploring and investigating the chamber the party finds out that there is another tunnel leading off to the left in the back. There is an old laboratory setup next to an ancient forging machine. Glee and Hiron notice that the robot responds when enter a certain radius of the lab. They discover it reacts to both sound and sight so they build a white noise machine to drown out their noise and use the fog created by Suicu to allow them to investigate the lab. They find ancient documents containing some schematics and writings as well as an ancient cogitator machine with several levers and buttons. It is hooked up to the forging machine but they don't know what it does.

Meanwhile Suicu scouts the other tunnel and finds some of the insectoid creatures farming some mushrooms. They appear not to be hostile or armed in any way. Jock wanders off into the other tunnel in the lave chamber and in the dark he feels it's getting uncomfortably hot.