Eventually, once the scouts return to the group, the battle begins to turn against the brutes, and through a combination of Borracho's fire-based magic spells and massive physical damage, the creatures are brought low. The PCs then send in an invisible Kymyl and Slakethirst to scout out the cavern itself, and they find some riches that the beasts must have accumulated from local (elven) victims, as well as one of the glowing, smooth-metal altars they have come across before at the fields north of Court-of-Crows and in 'Saurvax's' Lair up in the ayrie. High Hood Lavener, now recovered from his poison injuries in the fight, decides to decrypt the glowing patterns emanating from the altar, and once he has studied them for an hour, figures out how he can try to shut them off. The remainder of the party decides to rest and heal their wounds.
Hathun, Third-Week, First-Day, The Now-Year
After getting the blessings from the rest of the PCs, Lavener taps a pattern on the altar, and the lights on the altar die. Nothing seems to have happened until Slakethirst steps outside the cave and notices that a large, pie-wedge shaped slice of the morning sky has disappeared, after a brief series of flashes where it fizzles out. It creates a strange effect, since off in the distance the group can clearly still see the sun shining down on neighboring regions. After sweeping over to pick up Un'krug by the lake, they decide to head off to the nearest pre-discovered altar, near Court-of-Crows, and see if they can replicate this effect. En route, they pass through the Roarwater and Riverbane Orc tribelands without being spied, and then notice at the edge of the night sky the birds and other wildlife are confused about the nocturnal/diurnal chaos created by the altar. They encounter several farmers in the fields south of the Court who are likewise unsure what is happening.
Once they arrive at the 'Demon of the Ditch' lair, where they once cleared out the dangerous ankheg for the farmer Cret Ayshus, they repeat the process with the altar there. Another wedge of sky has disappeared off the Plateau...leaving its northern regions in perpetual night! They now decide to interrogate their strange humanoid captive one more time, via a tongues spell cast my Vraal. It warns them to reverse what they have done, or they will incur the wrath of its people. Perhaps because it is desperate for the PCs not to proceed, it spills out a little more information than it might have given before, telling them that the peoples of the Plateau are part of a long-term experiment. It claims it is from a race called the 'Scunj', which has come from a very distant place, to consume and study the energies known as 'magic', both religious and arcane, which permeate this land, and can cure and empower them, since they have a natural immunity to its ill effects. But it's people can somehow not wield this power, and thus have used their advanced technology to set up experiments and figure out how it can be manifest.
After these revelations, the PCs decide to hold on to their captive just awhile longer. They travel into Court-of-Crows where everyone is in a panic over the sudden appearance of night. They make a brief visit to Ull the sage to have some items identified. After this, they use the authority invested in them by saving the populace of Place-of-Scales, and from the Grand Mask's Enclave they call the Long Hunt, using the great horn to sound off what manpower they will require from the Ten-Tribes.
PCs: Borracho, Flearikz, Kymyl, Mamma Boe, Slakethirst, Vraal, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: 3500
Inspiration: ---
Renown: ---
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