Ragnorra Session 17

Start: 8 am, Sunday, Kythorn 20th, 1396

Early in the morning, as the group woke up, they heard a knock at the door of the shrine.

A man identifying himself as "Halfdan the Tax man" informed them he is there to collect the rents for the shrine in the form of coin, goods, or captives. He took notice of the change in ownership, but did not seem incredibly fussed with it, providing they bribed him, of course.

Cassius took the initiative and made the decision to pay the rents for the shrine. Halfdan seemed satisfied and left, with the rents paid and his bribe handled.

Dorn proceeded to purify the barrel in the upper floor using his magic.

The lot of them resolved to investigate the tunnel created by the earth elemental below the shrine.

Except Isadora, that is. After a brief chat, it was decided she would stay behind, and wait for a couple days. She simply told them if they didn't return, she would leave with the wagon. She did not seem overly fussed by this business.

Lilly resolved, instead, to accompany them. She asked nicely for a weapon, and was provided a dagger by Dorn.

They descended into the tunnels below the basement level of the shrine.

On their way, in the lasagna-accordion shaped paths, Ronja spotted a bottle of what appeared to be discarded beard oil.

In squarish dwarven lettering, the bottle read "Marvelous Monty's Beard Oil (Not fit for Consumption) mfd Montgomery Cavernfist LTD Gracklstugh". It appeared to be littered by Wilhelm. Cassius tried the remainder of the waxy, scented oil in his own beard. In a word, it smelled 'manly'.

They continued their descent and reached the spring below. Dorn successfully purified this spring too.

Finding the earth elemental tunnel unmolested on the other side of the passage, they made their careful, slow ascent. The tunnel winded and twisted and was rife with dislodged rock, complicating the already claustrophobic process of climbing it.

Nevertheless, for several hours, they prevailed and continued to worm their way up the tight confines of the tunnel. They made it to an opening around 11 pm. Peeking out, they saw it opened to a paved cobblestone path, which seemed to have flooded previously, leaving about three feet of standing water. The passage was 20 feet tall and 75 feet wide.

Vix handily determined they must not be very far below ground - less than 100 ft in fact.

The left path they determined headed north, the right path headed southeast. Both appeared to be virtually identical at this juncture.

For now, they resolved to rest. They rested on dry ground at the mouth of the earth elemental tunnel.

The night passed uneventfully for them. The tunnel was quiet, except for a faint grinding far off in the distance down the right tunnel. Only Ronja and Vix were careful enough to listen for this, as it was far away enough to nearly escape notice.

Based on this, and given that their intent was to hunt earth elementals and what they sought, the party decided unanimously to pursue this lead.

All of them jumped into the passage flooded with three feet of water. Lilly took off her shoes and socks first. Can't have those getting wet.

They continued down the tunnel for quite some time. As they approached, the soft grinding turned much louder. Something was up ahead. Additionally, around this point, they found an upraised path above water on both sides of the pathway, separated by an iron railing. They instructed Lilly to wait here, and she agreed.

Vix, Omen, and Dorn took the left path, Cassius and Ronja took the right.

They proceeded down this path and noticed one large earth elemental and two medium earth elementals feasting on something on the ground.

Without wasting any time, they commenced an engagement. Cassius was wounded in the combat, but they prevailed.

After defeating the elementals, they surveyed the area. The upraised path and railing was badly damaged in combat by the elementals, but it was still plain to see remnants of how this scene came to be.

In the water there was a ruined and nearly entirely rotten cart and a skeleton. There were freshly smashed giant rat corpses along with it. Pulled a little ways away was a forty pound chunk of starmetal.

Additionally, there were dirty footprints leading farther into the tunnel.

The lot of them examined the scene and pulled some uncut lapis lazuli gemstones from the medium elementals and a fist-sized uncut emerald from the large elemental. Cassius and Dorn lugged the chunk of starmetal.

Satisfied for now and deciding at this time not to investigate further, they returned down the path. They found Lilly tightly gripping the dagger Dorn gave her at the end of the upraised path. She rejoined them, they debriefed, and returned to the carven path through the mountain.

They proceeded a long and arduous journey through the tunnel back to the shrine, but eventually reached it.

They rested at the shrine and passed the night.

Upon waking, Ronja decided to dismantle the man sized vats in the basement. To her surprise, when she shattered the lids, a five pound chunk of starmetal remained. She salvaged four of these, and added them to the pile, so to speak.

Following this thread, Vix collected a vial of the residue from the condensed vat they previously purified. Now, it seemed oddly familiar, and matched the description of starmetal residue. Perhaps the nature of the residue was more benign in nature, rather than malign, but it was not at all clear how the starmetal interfaced in this process. Perhaps a cathode of some kind, or in a filtration system? At this time, it is a mystery.

The lot of them proceeded over the process of two trips to move their looted supplies, with the sled, to the wagon below.

They rested at the bottom of the mountain, inside and around the wagon. The wagon lacks a great deal of space, loaded up with supplies, as it is.

After a brief chat, they headed out towards Minroe.

Three days later, at 8 am, they arrived in Minroe.

750 xp for session
Time until Simon/Omen must feed: Imminent.
End: 8 am, Saturday, Kythorn 26, 1396.