Firemonth the 4th. 3:30 PM. We were in the Stronghold of Donnegarten, and we were looking over the gauges in the Lift Control Room. There were a number of levers and dials and buttons, but the gauges seemed to give us a heads up on the lift and its position. The thought was next to jump across the space and go to the lift alcove to look over the boiler and the like.
So we went down the large set of stairs, making our way along the inner perimeter of the pit until we arrived at a set of metal ladder rungs heading up to the lift alcove. It was here that part of the party had climbed up to the lift alcove to check out the machinery. The boiler was cold and some of the cowling had been damaged from the Randari attack 140 years earlier, but the gear works were still partially greased and seemed whole. The boiler itself was a 40 gallon tank and the fire pit below could hold maybe 40 to 60 lbs of wood stuff. It was dark and spooky and at some point, those 60 odd feet down the metal rungs noticed a translucent looking soap bubble, maybe 3’ wide, slowly floating its way up. We made quite a bit of noise and somewhere very far below, we heard drums. They began and proceeded incessantly for a good 10 minutes before stopping. Nothing seemed to happen, but we were on high alert.
As the call came to get down, Shim, who was last, felt something feather light snag the back of his neck – and then he was lifted up and off the ladder! A Gargantuan spider, with quite a number of sharp edges and spikes on its 8 limbs, had hit the gnome with a web and was hoisting him up. A struggle ensued and Wilhelm hit Connal with a Spider Climb spell, allowing the monk to run up the vertical wall and try to get there. Shim was being roped closer and the spider was not letting go. Arrows and spells fired off and then Connal joined the fight.
At some point the spider and Shim fell to the platform and the group proceeded to finish it off. There were a number of coarse wiry bovine hairs in its joints and we took some, giving them to Wilhelm who said they were from some long haired cow or a buffalo. Meanwhile the soap bubble looking thing had hit the platform’s underside and was crawling around it, its trail leaving a faint hissing behind as it cleaned the area with its slimy exterior. We made our way off the platform and to the ladder, climbing back down again. The decision was made to head back to the control room and rest as it was already after 5.
We ate and drank, Connal letting the party know we had about 5 days of food and water still left. Dividing up into watch, the party turned in and got some rest. Most of the night was without issue until late..or early…when Eoghan and Wilhelm were on watch. All the animals began looking to the east, ears perked, looking excitedly. Eoghan was using the Dog Amulet to talk to whoever it was, assuming it was a dog of some sort. And what came to the area was an anthropomorphic bipedal coyote-man.
Introduced himself as Telltail, and it was a joy to meet people. Real people. Sweet maker, actual people. It’s been a long time. We talked to the pacing 5’ tall strange man and gathered he had been here a long time. Seems that the Donnegarten dwarves had been ripping tears through to a variety of other planes and shunting them forward somewhere in time. The entire thing was anchored in place by a massive overpowered dimensional anchor holding it in place 666 layers down through the Abyss and locked at the bottom. Deals were made, souls were paid. Telltail was not there for the origin of it.
He came from someplace called the Happy Hunting Grounds and it was supposedly the 21st rip in the Astral plane and some of the avatar aspects fell…here. Before anything could happen though, the orcish Randari came and assaulted Gorokian dwarves. Shutting the machine down and then taking the rest of the dwarves to task before closing shop and leaving. With the rip closed, the aspects could not get home so they’ve been here. Along with other denizens trapped here.
Denizens from the Abyss. Like Lolthian Garaganutan spiders. Zuggtmoy myconids, and Jubilexian slimes and oozes. The group was going to need help if they wanted to get below. The area was flooded and the gates were there. Jubilex or a minion of his was there. They could get help! Help, yes! A great hero to help them, like Hiawatha. There are 2 brothers here, the Red Brother and the Black Brother – alerted by noise, they beat their drums and go on the hunt. They haven’t hunted man in some time. To impress them, and get their help – the group should find Buffalo (they could hear the capital “B” in its name) below…and defeat him. Eat his liver, THAT would impress the brothers and get their help against the Abyssal denizens below.
We thanked Telltail and he left, and the rest of the party woke up and we shared what we had learned. The group had some more information and after eating breakfast, headed off to the lift area again to continue our way down. With a keener eye, we watched carefully as we travelled along. The stone stairs were about 5’ wide and circled the entire interior perimeter of the lift area. Assorted garbage and rubble were on the steps as we proceeded downward. About one and a third cycles around, we came to an area where two of the steps had been broken away – leaving a gap there 28” across, and 24” down. The jump wasn’t arduous, but getting Knox across was going to be a challenge. We went through a short lift of options and remembered the main entrance area up top had many desks. We could go back up there and get 2 of the desk tops, place them diagonally on the steps and gap, and it would act as a ramp for the mule.
Eventually 2 of us ran back up to the office and grabbing two of the thickest and strongest lengths of desktop, came back to the lift and then down it, each sporting a 65# hunk of wood, 2 plus feet deep and about 5’ wide. We made up a ramp, Connal went to the other side and braced it, and the party made their way over with only a little slipping. Knox was eventually led across (hooray carrots!) and we continued on our way.
The next barrier was about 2 cycles down. There was a mass of broken debris here, a mine cart and some 12’ lengths of heavy wooden and metal scaffolding and braces. It had fallen here and got jammed against the corner and the stairs. It was going to need to be removed to get us by. Connal scaled carefully to the other side and using one of the saws we had gotten, he proceeded to cut away what pieces he could, while Dizzy did the same on the higher side. It was difficult and dizzy’s saw became dull and then the handle broke. But eventually we were able to tilt the entire thing over the side, but not before casting Silence on the cart so it would NOT make an unholy racket at the bottom.
We continued on down the spiral until we came at last to the 2nd floor down. There was a similar looking loading area here and we decided to check the area out. There was some moisture in the air and we wandered eastward. Passage spilt after some distance – south or more east. South has a sign that said Foreman and Meeting Room, East a sign that said “Bridge”. We went south. Many mushrooms and fungi on the walls. We were kicking up dust (spores?) as we went and then came to an opening. Some sort of larger office here, most of it had been crushed and thrown about. There were 5 of the same gargantuan spiders we had faced upstairs here. But they had been broken and smashed, 9 to 10 feet tall and something had beaten them up. We could see the same buffalo hair was caught in all of their joints and spikes as well.
While we were searching the room over, Shim noticed that the number of fungi were growing rapidly in the corners of the room. And when he tried to mention it to the group, he was dismayed to see they were all knocked out – staring sightlessly upward! Then the air split open and a rainbow cyclone tore through space and time around the party, dropping them down into a Rosencrantz Bridge and speeding them on their way into the Astral Plane.
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