After a few months of pleasant drifting they approach the location of one of the Oathbreaker’s satellite locations. A tower and outbuildings sit atop a cliff. The tower and surrounding buildings are ruined, but there are signs of a below-ground complex, as evidenced by double doors and a hallway that extends into the mountain, accessible by a wide ledge that runs along the cliff-face.
The group disembarks, parks the airship and begins poking around. They encounter and slay a water elemental that drops a blue and a golden key. They find written information that cannot be seen unless exposed to direct sunlight – happily provided by the Oathbreaker’s Blade – and writing that can be seen with darkvision. The information written contradicts each other. The group opts to believe in sunlight magic and goes on from there, making sure that Ivan has the blade cranked to maximum brightness. They move down the long hallways and bypass many side doors before coming to realize that the massive stone doors require magical means or a key to open. The paucity of door opening magic slows progress to a crawl but they still manage to encounter a black pudding and some sort of yellow ooze disguised as a gem. There is a pool of clear water with thousands of coins within, but attempts to dive result in the pool trying to drown them. They extract a magical rod, but little else. The trap to treasure ratio is quite high here.
The cleric is unable to check for traps with magical means, and the Magnificent Mantit’s crown does not seem to function either – at least as far as information gathering goes, so they resolve to slog. Having exhausted door opening magic, they now discover that the traditional extra-dimensional hidey-holes are not an option in this place. They resort to using the portable wall and Justicar’s shield to guard them while they sleep.
They press on, bypassing a large stone golem(?) with a keyhole in its belly to examine a glowing gem in the middle of a pile of exploded bodies. Nearby a large demon face with a black opening for a mouth regards the scene. Also within the general area is a shiny steel door set with two concentric rings, where it looks like some things can be placed. Don’t have any of the relevant things so that is a bust. Primordial memories from the collective unconscious make them uneasy about black openings so they summon an earth elemental and have it attack the stone golem. The golem is destroyed and the room beyond is entered. It is a large chamber with pillars, statues and a glowing coffin atop a raised dais.
Inside the coffin is a skeletal figure holding a glowing green longsword. This whole place just screams trap – so they try to have the elemental go and remove the sword. Touching the sword does in fact trigger a trap and a couple of statues squash the elemental. While the place is resetting the quick moving party members extract a crown and a potion bottle that purports to be healing, but the hidden script indicates a virulent poison. They telekinese the green blade away – but it proves to be a trap as well when Ivan tries to wield it, then it glues itself to him and the ground. They overcome that setback and investigate as many doors as possible until they deplete their magical reserves.
They investigate further and find taxidermied animals, a room that sprays them with acid mist, a room with pillars with mosaic bunnies on them. Murky water and chests of thousands of copper coins that are apparently needed to keep certain doors from closing. They scoop up a glowing amethyst that ends up being cursed with exponential zombie attacks. They find a room with a throne and an hourglass. The throne dispenses a red key and the hourglass curses Malchor with rapid ageing. They find a bag of gaming tiles marked with numbers, but not until Ivan has fallen into a trio of traps.
They take the bag of tiles to the shiny metal door and successfully complete the puzzle to enter the area beyond. This proves to be yet another trap and they battle the strange glowing and floating ‘heart’ that lies within. They slay it and the complex shudders. They plunder the plunderables and haul everything back out to the cliff. Once the loot is transferred to the airship, they head out towards the final tower of the Oathbreaker saga.
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