Coulerain Campaign - Session 4 Recap

The Party have finally found the person they've sought since they met Little Bird, Dun'Istar. He leads them across the glade and fog swirls around them, when it fades again they're in his tower, the walls are covered in books and scrolls, the floors move about with stairs rotating to meet them, magic hands carry around and sort the books and write on blank pages. The words make no sense to the Party.

Dun'Istar tells them of the events in the West, how Wella Qa'sax and Little Bird have beaten back the undead horde of the Dark King Ara'Dur. Dun'Istar asks the Party how they escaped his pursuit and explains that he will not stop seeking their ring, the Ring of Lorian.

Morrigan questions Dun'Istar about her family but he tells her he cannot see anything about them, but that he will send his eyes and ears out east to look. He explains that his influence weakens the further over the Chernit Mountains he spread it but he can still attempt.

Morrigan also asks about her faithful companion Onyx, Dun'Istar shows her the letter Little Bird sent him, detailing the rider who is bound east to deliver him.

Jotaro questions Dun'Istar about the new weapons the hunters used to take down the treant protecting the Flower of Lorian, Dun'Istar again has no knowledge of them but foretells that the world is changing and that new forms of magic will come and replace the old. He tells them of a time when those flowers were present all over the west of Coulerain but now seem extinct.

Jotaro uses the messaging crystal to ask his father about the technology but gets no immediate answer.

Dun'Istar gathers their rings which merge into one when all seven of them touch, into a small glass jar. The Party ask if he can take it and he refuses, for such power cannot be in his hands. He uses a clock to explain his role as a bigger gear in the complex system, if he starts shifting the whole clockwork starts to fall into chaos.

The Party ask if it can be destroyed and Dun'Istar tells them of the varied believed ways it can be achieved. Thrown into the Bigdon Volcano while active, sunk into the depths of the Lorian Salt Lake or hammered in the forges of the Kharbian Capital of Kigeya. He tells them they can ask any learned man in Coulerain and he will tell them at least two ways such things could be destroyed and that they'd all be different.

The Party ask about the Red Hand and a sadness seems to show on Dun'Istar's face when he talks of them. When questioned further he gives no answer why but explains that the Red Hand have deeper motives than their prejudice against the outlander races and that they are a dangerous foe if the Party do not find a way to join forces with them for the upcoming war with Ara'Dur.

Dun'Istar then details their quest to ask for the aid for the Dwarven Marcher King in his halls deep under the Chernit Mountains. He asks to keep Valiar as those halls are no place for a child and the Party agree to leave him with the wizard but not before Jotaro gifts him another dagger and hugs him goodbye.

The fog reappears and transports them to the gates of the Dwarven Marcher King. After a knock and a spell that requires they all speak their true names they are allowed to enter. Inside the great halls of black marble they see four massive pillars with dwarves carved out in them, as if they're holding up the mountain's weight on their shoulders. In the distance where it's too dark to see they can faintly make out a gallery filled with stone statues of dwarves made of the same black marble.

Up ahead on the top of a massive set of stairs sits the Dwarven King Andurin in his armor. He seems lost in thought before the Party ask him for his audience. He scolds them on their manners when speaking to royalty but agrees to let them help him help them. He explains that his people have fallen asleep and can be awakened by a bronze heart which lies deep within the treasury. He warns the Party that no tales are told of those who steal from the Chernit Marches because none lived to be those thieves.

He gives them a map and the Party descend down into the treasury. After they enter they look over their labyrinthine map but nowhere do they find the room they are in currently. Two doors face them, one with a sun, one with a moon.

The Party enter the Sun room.
Inside they see an empty cradle and two clockwork statues, a dwarven father and mother. On the wall is a giant mirror which reflects the room in an odd way, the Party is not present but the clockwork statues become flesh and they put a little baby girl into the cradle. This scene repeats over and over again just before her name is given by the mother.

The Party enter the next Sun room.
Inside they find a smaller scale of figures, a clockwork throne with two small clockwork dwarves. In the mirror they argue, the king will not let his brother do what he is planning, even if it can save the life of his niece. The prince is about to curse the king but his daughter enters the scene and too weak to stand, she falls on the black marble.

The Party enter the next Sun room.
It is the first room they were in but the cradle is gone, leaving only a shadow in its place. The reflections shows the mother feel the breath leave her daughter. She takes a knife and is ready to plunge it into her heart but the prince enters with a robed man and stops her. The Party try to make out the prince and robed man but are not successful in pinning down their identities, although they look familiar.
Before the scene ends the prince looks into the eyes of the Party. Dio faints and is whispered to in his state of unconsciousness. The scene does not repeat.

The Party enter the next Sun room.
It's a room filled with clockwork toys, in the reflection the little girl is playing with them. The party find a few wondrous items laid about and take them.

The Party enter the next Sun room.
A big grandfather clock stands tall in the room, to it attached a clockwork hand and staff. In the reflection they see the robed man and the prince. The robed man cannot heal the girl, the prince pleads with him, is there any way she stay. The robed man tells him there is away, but he will not like it.
When the scene ends the room shifts and rotates. The Party are thrown to the side and have to dodge the debris from the grandfather clock when it shatters to pieces on impact.
The scene does not repeat.

The Party enter the next Sun room.
Again they see the two figures of the mother and father. In the reflection the both of them are whispering over their sleeping daughter. The mother pleads with the father to find a way and he promises, he will call the wizard and he will heal his little girl.

There are no more Sun rooms left, after each new room the Party have noticed that something around them shifts but they cannot pinpoint its source, everything is filled with the same magical energy.

The Party enter their first Moon room.
Inside are piles of scrap, bronze, silver and gold all made into pieces of clockwork or other machinery. In the center is the shadow of the cradle on top of which stand a small clockwork bird which flies away when the Party approach.

The Party enter the next Moon room.
Inside is a room held up by pillars. In the far end is a clockwork throne and on it sits a large construct, wearing a makeshift crooked crown. The king stands up and attacks the party.

Their conflict is short as Jotaro lands a devastating series of attacks with his arcane abilities and gravely wounds the king. Kai is knocked out by the king's first attack and is dragged away from the battleground to be revived by Morrigan.

Cammie and Dio make short work of the repair drones on the shoulders of the king, Dio making sure it cannot be repaired with his chill touch and Cammie taking them down with her arrows.

In the end the frost from Morrigan's armor spells the end to the king as he hits her and freezes, shattering into pieces afterwards.

The Party enter the next Moon room.
They see a makeshift mirror of drawn out gold and silver, shattered in appearance. In its reflection they see bits and pieces of a childhood, a girl playing with toys, a girl playing with her parents. A girl getting sick. The figure of the wizard.
When the Party look closer they notice overlayed on all the pieces are the words "Why?".

The Party enter the next Moon room.
Inside they find the remains of broken clockwork bodies as well as the skulls of dwarves long gone. There are six scrappers gathering these remains and they attack the Party. With every hit they lose some of their armor and the Party manage to maneuver around the pillars and make quick work of them.

The Party are only left with one room, the final Moon room.
Inside they find pillars again and chests, this room seems like an armory. Three soldiers and two repair units face them, these are not the scrappers from before, they're armored and polished and new.

The soldiers wage a vicious war with the Party, Dio falls and is stabbed, in his unconscious mind he can see the light, he is near the end.

Numerous times the Party have to drag their companions out of the way as the soldiers explode upon death. When Dio is endangered Morrigan tries to drag him away but he proves too heavy.

Kai summons a bone pillar that moves the soldier out of the way and saves Dio from death.

The Party are exhausted, they have been beaten and battered and the magic of the rooms has not allowed them any rest. Inside the chests they find more wondrous items but their survival is beginning to seem far fetched if any more soldiers come their way.

A final gate appears, one bearing both the sun and moon, combined into one symbol. The Party open it.

Before them stretches a small area of black marble followed by a sheer drop into seemingly endless darkness. On the edge of the marble sits the figure of a small clockwork girl. She stands up and asks if the Party want to play with her.

The Party asks about the bronze heart they were sent to retrieve and the girl opens up her chest, revealing it is her own heart they seek. She tells them of her loneliness, she's been trapped in these halls alone for a thousand years. She played with toys but they rebelled after some time, the Party took care of her rebel king on their way.

Dio names her, she is called Lily. Lily knows the names of the Party, she explains to them that due to her nature and the time she's spent alone some things begin to reveal themselves. Her explanation is much like that of Dun'Istar but Lily tells the Party that he and her father are not to be trusted.

She asks where Valiar is, the child they had with them. When they tell her they've left him with Valiar she turns and sheds tears of oil. She is living proof of what happens when a child was last left with him.

Cammie, saddened by the girl's story, hugs her.

Lily turns to Cammie and whispers in her ear. The dragon which took her tribe, she knows where it is. She then turns to Dio and promises him the murderers of his parents.
Turns to Kai and promises the woman in gold and white from that ritual which he saw and haunts him.
Turns to Jorian and promises his mother back.
Turns to Jotaro and promises she can help him live up to his family's destiny and make his grandfather and sisters proud.
Turns to Morrigan, using Sarah as her name, and mentions that Dun'Istar lied about not sensing her sister Heather, if she so wished, Lily can reunite them.

She only asks for the ring, as she reveals her hand which has four slots.

One by one, most of the Party give over their rings to Lily.

Cammie, Dio, Jotaro, Kai and Morrigan all give over their rings.

Jorian is hesitant but the rings have their own mind and since he has not worn his yet, not establishing ownership over it, he stops feeling it in his palm. The ring appears in Lily's hand and they all merge into one as they did before Dun'Istar.

Lily dons the ring... and laughs.

Her voice changes, she pushes Cammie away and floats upwards, back towards the edge of the marble.
"I didn't think this would be this easy."
She snaps her fingers and the darkness is lifted to reveal an army of clockwork soldiers who one by one awaken.

Behind them a much larger construct opens its eyes, a dragon made of gold and silver and bronze. It spreads its wings and flies forwards. Lily spares the Party for the favor they did her as she flies above them on her mount.

The marble retreats and pushes the Party back into a blank room which starts spinning. After it has calmed down it opens up to reveal the staircase to the treasury, but it is shattered, an army has crossed it.

In the halls of Andurin they find his throne absent and his skeletal remains on the steps beneath it. The faces of the dwarven pillars are scratched out. The galleries, once filled with dwarven statues, are empty, holding only rubble.

At the gate await a company. A black-haired man with an eye-patch approaches. He bears a white tabbard, they've seen such before, but instead of a red hand it now bears a black one, with a clockwork piece missing from the palm.

He has waited for them, he tells them they've met his brother before, Lieutenant Gold Lefthand, and that they messed up, really messed up this time.

Lilith Lúmërîn, the Clockwork Queen, has been unleashed on the West with the Ring of Lorian.