Workmonth the 1st, 10:20AM. The group decided to give the two smaller rooms on the east side of the Common Room in Steading Manor a once over. After making sure the door was not trapped (a key was in the lock, 3 tumblers) we opened it up to see what might have been a lesser noble’s bedroom. The mattress was still here as well as a 3 drawer dresser. The mattress was a sack with a mix of fill. But it was very dusty and dry rotted. The drawers were empty. But Connal wants to flip the mattress. The group got out and the monk lifted the bag – but the fabric spit and old hay and feather rained everywhere. He held his breath and ran out of the room, eventually coughing and wiping himself clean.
Moving to the next room, it was a mirror of the first. This time we left the mattress alone. The next door was on the south wall of the Common Room and after doing our due diligence, we could tell that it was at one point a place for the Manor servants to stay. 6 in total. Again, nothing left but pallets and a single foot locker. Dizzy went to open the box from behind, but the leather hinges had given away some time ago – and it ripped off in his hand. Footlocker was empty.
Two doors left – west side- double door on west wall, single very nice carved door on north wall. Fanciful scroll work and on the top left was the dwarven initials “RTG” and on the top right a symbol of a black keyhole lock with a circle around it. We opened the door and it was the manor house master bedroom – now currently mostly empty. There was a 4 poster bed here, soft parts missing. But in the middle was a claystone dwarven whiskey bottle. We got closer and it was a 160 year old bottle of Doletite Whiskey Spirits – with 2 thick layers of wax on the top of it acting as a seal. Just sitting here. As if waiting for us.
We carefully checked it out and then took it along. Why was this left for us? We thought that whoever (Ralstrom) left it for whoever was to follow him and have a drink?
We went to the double door next – and after some worry – opened it up. It was “Outside” the Manor house – but still on the grounds. An internal garden area of some sort. Obvious cart path from outer garage door to outer garage door. A large outside building, most likely the cart house. The garden was fanciful stones and mushrooms. The walls of the grounds were 12’ tall. We looked over the cart house – really big well made cart in there. There was a stall for an animal, guess was once for a giant lizard – obviously empty.
Two doors on the south wall of the garden area, we took the one that led back to the Game Room that we had seen from around the inside. The crack in the cave still ran through here but we navigated it without issue. Two doors on the north wall – both locked. One was a vault door – reinforced concrete. Single turn wheel, combination lock below. We took a chance and spun the wheel – and the vault was unlocked.
Inside there was nothing left except for a brass and copper slide penny whistle with a silver chain that had a single fishhook threaded through the last link. Detect magic followed – and it was NOT magical. Right., Just...wtf? We had just made a big comment and production about being careful and not do anything off the norm as Connal picked up the whistle.
And blew into it.
“Making decisions, huh?” Dizzy asked the monk who honestly couldn’t explain why he blew into the whistle. On a good note – it made no noise – but Eoghan verified the whistle did make a noise – his Mastiff was able to hear it. Ok – high pitched whistle. But the fish hook? We spent a few minutes unthreading the hook and then Shim took it and placed it in the cork he was carrying already.
We went back around to the parlor and opened the south door there – and it was a smoking room – but it was NOT joining up with the other door in the Game room. So we went back around AGAIN to the Game room and Dizzy worked on unlocking the door. And it was an office. The empty shelves let us know there was once a library of some sort in here, and a single desk scarred and beaten was still here. The place was empty but there was a single sheet of vellum on the wall shelves.
We took it down and it was an application for a variance. 200 years or so old? Someplace called Nephtile Steel and the need to get an outside vent. Application was to use the venting in Lombard province instead and to drill a venting there from Nephtile. Why was this still here? And so random. We took it. We decided to eat lunch and by quarter after 1, went to the front door and carefully opened it. There was an open square to the east with a 35’ tall obelisk spire and some park area around it. Manor houses to the south, 3 of them had collapsed over the years. Some big buildings and stores to the east and north. Ceiling to the cave was 70’ overhead. And it was very quiet – no living things so far that we heard.
Pages littered the area, evacuations orders. 140ish years ago. Some sort of gas leak from mineshaft 39c and the place was to be sealed off for 175 years. Ok, explains the gas in the air but we weren’t sick. Also explained why no one was here. And we had a note earlier to seek out Ralstrom in Lombard province – where the evacuation orders seemed to say everyone had to retreat to.
We went north, Connal had marked a building there that might have been town hall and sure enough, it was! We passed the remains of a leather workers and there was a map of Ralstrom Province here. We took a rubbing of it and looked it over. Some things stood out. 3 Sons armor on the north, Barton weapons on the south, Sentar’s Runsmiths. Wilhelm pointed out two taverns: Tap and screw & The Good Boar. About 20 buildings had a single or double letter designation (L, S, TH, F, AC, CN, …). Based on what we knew, L was leather workers and TH was town hall. And far to the east? Nephtile Steel – and the passage to Lombard Province
We wanted to check out 3 Sons Armor. So we walked around the Town Hall where the cavern had broken. There was some standing water on the far end and we did not want to venture into it. But we approached 3 sons and could see that the Mineshaft 39C must hae exploded some time ago as the debris field was a good quarter mile in diameter and reached even to here. The road was a mess of broken stone. As we came to 3 Sons we could see something moving inside and a trilling.
And it hopped towards and then moved VERY fast – barreling into Connal and slapping a pair of tentacles on him – leaving two huge rust lines in the armor.
Fucking hell – Rust Monster. A quick Summon Monster had it driven back from Connal and the rest of the group was like – fuck – we are WAY too close. Considering through the window we could see…like a fuck ton more rust monsters. The party backed up and weapons were changed out. Summon Monsters came fast as we tried to choke the area with bodies. Giant rats, ghouls, gnoll, dire badger, giant lizard, bugbear. Shim, Dizzy, and Wilhelm called and cast one after another. Eoghan kept firing and his arrows would hit – or not – but the heads would rust away instantly. The gnoll we summoned had his flail and platemail eaten.
And then two of the rust monsters sprung out of the doorway towards us, hungry for metal. Clearing 30’ in a flea like springing jump. Fuck we had to do something. More shots and spells followed and we finally dropped one of the rust monsters.
One.
Out of 11.
And then Jarjar Lynx let Wilhelm know that something…something big was coming through the debris field to the east and heading this way. We looked over there and it was a 9' tall vulture headed carapace pinkish hues horror with 3’ curved hooks where hands would be.
Nope – fuck all of this. The party turned and ran. We dropped a few things to slow down the rust monsters and Dizzy used a scroll Thalin had given him long ago – Wall of fog – choking the entire area in a huge mass of fog – blocking vision to 2’. Connal blew the slide whistle and it seemed to REALLY piss off and hurt the Hook Horror! Good to know!
We ran hard and fast to Steading Manor where we hid inside again and locked the door. It was about 3. We were going to need something to distract the Rust Monsters. Shim and Dizzy were going to take apart the Chariot in the Carthouse and we would use the metal pieces to slow down any rust monster we might run into tomorrow. No more today. We ended up with 9 good sized pieces that the party spread out and each person took. As for the Trident, we looked it over again and after verifying it was for a larger handed type of humanoid – we had little more to go on.
We rested and awoke the next day on Workmonth the 2nd. Dizzy and Brading let the group feel good that it was morning (being dwarves and such) and by 8 AM, we had studied and prayed up and were ready to move on. We were going to head toward the Nornian Shrine and obelisk, then turn south by the Good Boar – and then turn east by Sentars and go for the Passage by the Temple on the south east section of town. Hook horrors? Blow whistle. Rust monsters? Drop metal and run.
We left again, shutting the door to Steading Manor and headed east. The Obelisk was partially under the debris field but Shim was looking it over, noting the faces of the Norns matched those in his vision. We hugged the wall and turned south, moving with care. At the corner where a cobbler might have been, we were ready to move on when something SNAPPED just in front of Dizzy – but his displacer cloak had him NOT where he was to be – and he was just missed.
We looked up and a 1 ton huge insect with a curved horned head, too many legs, and a vibrating shaking section of plates was rattling at us. We ran – and good thing as it shot off another line – also just missing Dizzy as he goaded Wilhelm to go faster. Cave Fisher. It was not going to chase us but we ran off anyway to the east.
And we arrived at the passage to Lombard Province at 9:15 AM. To find it was sealed off and caved in from the other side. There was NO way we were going through that way. Fuck. While discussing options (Nephtile Steel and the vent pipe to Lombard?) Dizzy noted the Temple on the south road had the same key hole sigil that was on Ralstrom’s bedroom door in Steading Manor.
We approached and coaxed the door open. The whorls of neon light did not go into the temple – instead there was a 6’ stone statue of a key glowing blue in the front of the place. We entered with care, the door closed behind us. The altar had a placard on it in burnished copper that read, “Temple of Dumathoin, Dwarven god and Keeper of Secrets. In honor of Father Enix Donnegarten.”
Donnegarten.
Two doors were past here. We took the left one and Dizzy picked it open. Inside was a nice high priest’s office and a place for a lesser priest to sit. A holy tome to Dumathoin was on a rolltop desk. He sat down and thumbed through the missive as we looked around. Deciding to take the tome, he picked it up and from below the desk, an ornate 5 tined key fell out, also with the Dumathoin keyhole symbol on it.
We went to the next door and it was locked – but Dizzy used the key and it was a 20’ square room beyond – but an automaton of brass, copper, and silver was here – steam coming from its neck plate. It looked at Dizzy and saw his key and identified him as Father Donnegarten.
It was the Keeper of the Portals and only Donnegarten and Ralstrom were allowed past. Ralstrom has not been here for a long time. And when he was, it was 7 times before he stopped and ordered the portals deactivated. It ignored the rest of the party but then grew angry that they were there hearing secrets.
The party left the Temple and eventually Dizzy put the tome back to avoid angering the Keeper. They talked about plans and Donnegarten’s master plan, Dumathoin, and that it was soon time to come to fruition. There were three portals in here – each with the center activation stone carefully removed and placed on the ground. One showed Donnegarten Stronghold. One showed some outside forest like city with a large 150’/200’ circle clearing in the center of it. And the last was what looked like Erylond but the buildings were oddly placed and all the gates were swapped north to south.
He shut the door on the Keeper, grabbed the holy tome again, and went outside to the party. We discussed and figured the two other portals were to Tilani…and Old Erylond? It’s on the maps, everyone knows it because it’s there – but no one ever has been there or knows anyone who’s ever been there. Why a portal there?
It was 10:15 now and we were going to go and try to get our way into Nephtile Steel – and eventually the vent to Lombard Province.
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