At one point, Borracho is mentally compelled by magic to flee, and uses his feather fall to get away from the fighting up on the stalactite, then attempting to himself suggest to Cynjak and Nexa that they should also depart the battle. Upset, the sorceress flings a lightning bolt at one of the grells above, making sure it also slams the dwarf in the face! Bewildered, he doesn't retaliate, unsure of why she doesn't see the sense in his actions. Above, the PCs finally manage to get a hand on the melee against the aberrations, making their way through them and eventually taking down the larger grick and remaining grells, one of which had flown low...but not before Slakethirst has been knocked down onto the stalactite, also unconscious and playing the death game! Nahar manages to rejoin the fight right before its end, offering some added melee power.
Alas, Barnowl doesn't survive the bleed-out...but the dragonborn warlock gets lucky in the nick of time. The PCs briefly curse and mourn, and the party members below make their way up, trying not to slip on the brains, guts and tentacles strewn about the battle site. Yukkbutt claims the large grick's beak for himself, to strap on as an impromptu helmet. Vraal discovers that a robe covered in eye-like patterns has been left behind for the PCs, with a note inside on parchment that reads 'IRONY' in the Dwarf tongue. The heroes make their way further up the stalactite, to emerge in a half-eggshell shaped dome on the mountains surface above. More scenes are carved into the walls of this area, like the mosaics below in the city, but seem to depict a normal skyline, with dragons and hawks, sun and moons, clouds and stars. From outside, Cynjak hears an unusual, slight grinding sound, and when she looks outside, sees something moving slowly about the structure in a semi-regular pattern.
Hathun, Second-Week, Fourth Day, the Now Year
Once morning arrives, the party investigates the moving object, which appears to be a slim stone automaton wielding an ancient bronze bell, part of which is destroyed. As they approach, Yukkbutt gets the idea to attack it with one of the animals from his bag of tricks, and a bear appears, moving to maul the unfortunate construct. Once it realizes its not food, it doesn't know what to do, so the half-orc moves up and dismantles the automaton, and Cynjak mercifully smashes up whatever parts of it are still moving. Mend is cast upon the bell, and then Vraal tolls it, causes a reverberation in the dome they slept under, and then a massive booming in the city beneath, which shakes the mountainside a bit before stopping. The PCs then decide to scale a path heading further up the Ayrie.
PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Nexa, Slakethirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 2750
Inspiration rewarded: ---
Renown: ---
