The party jumps after Alice who is snatched by a ghoulish titan, investigate a series of Dark Elf laboratory oddities, and finally—in the very last room—discover the last wish of Runa Vestigård.
The Dedric heroically leaps after the ghoul giant scurrying away with Alice; Urist and Bucklebrick jump after them.
Fenn blinds the ghoul giant with a turn undead spell, it drops Alice and escapes into a hidden cave in the darkness.
Urist collapses the cave, and the horror is now contained, and a traumatized Alice has been rescued!
Azimoths
Belanor correctly identifies that the stairway down is full of Azimoths, moths with a rare survival tactic.
The infinite fractal compressions of their wings annihilate awareness of the space around them, and the mind simply edits out that particular slice of space.
Not wanting to open the cage that protects them from these anomalies, they press forward.
Altazimoth Reflectors
A strange room holding many secrets; there is a reflector array here in a half semi-circle that looks like the inside of a giant telescope.
Bucklebrick puts his head inside one of the reflectors, and his perception folds to the room itself, no longer a head attached to a body, but a head attached to the room.
He pulls himself out of the reflector array, and his perception snaps back—another oddity in this strange place.
Burnt Cartography
Empty scroll racks on the northern wall. The scrolls have been removed and hurriedly burnt in a pile. A few un-burnt pieces stick out of the ash.
they sort through the pile, looking for any fragments of maps that could be worthwhile if the dark elves were charting the geometric lay lines of the earth. They find one map of the local area and pocket it.
Belanor spies something in the pile of ash and quickly snatches it for himself, putting it into his satchel bag. The path splits. The left leads to a giant control room; the right, a place that looks like a laboratory; and before them is a flight of stairs leading down.
Fractal Spells
They head to the strange laboratory first and find ten bust-sized fractals—art pieces that, if pondered, reveal a one-use spell to be cast.
The wall behind them is a large array of gears that controls the larger device below them, like a clock tower.
There is a stairway up, but they leave it for now.
Control Room
Urist tests his strength with a giant wheel but finds it’s shockingly easy to move and opens a large shutter below them, a planetarium beneath the Earth pointing down instead of up.
He quickly closes it shut before it’s more than a foot open, no sense creating a whole bunch of noise, its purpose has been revealed.
They head back to where the path splits and head down this time.
The Lens and Viewing Chamber
This oval chamber is home to a telescope and recliner. Belanor sits, straps in, and tells Urist to open the shutter. He does, and Belanor pulls a lever that extends the telescope lens to his sight.
His view folds and expands. He is no longer Belanor but the Earth itself, and he can fly. He sees the vast and infinite weave of magic across the globe, an extensive network of ley lines and nodes crisscrossing.
The sensory overload leaves Belanor exhausted. He removes himself from the recliner and steps away, massaging his forehead and eyes. Bucklebrick sneaks into the recliner behind him and pulls the lever.
Dammit Bucklebrick. The fool of a cook manages to escape with arcane knowledge far beyond him (see treasure), and how this manifests in the game is outside the gamemaster’s purview.
Mother’s Gift (The Celestial Star)
They’re not done here, this isn’t what Runa sent Dedric here for. Her shade appears and points further up the stairs to the last unexplored room.
Belanor tells them it’s an elder star, a being from the Astral Sea. Its porous and spherical body is suspended from vile barbs left by the Dark Elves, and its lifeblood is tapped with a syringe emptied into a small phial.
Dedric takes the phial of elder star tears.
Bucklebrick removes the three-foot-long syringe from the star’s body, and it reacts to let onlookers know its life is in a perpetual state of pain. Killing it would be mercy.
Fenn offers to return it to the Astra Sea with a banishing ritual, but it will take time to prepare, and he will need Balanor’s help.
The Merchant’s Price
They revisit Myco, the Chlorian Merchant, and ask his price for removing the curse. He tells them they can confuse the curse by killing their beliefs, for which he can make a toxin. Fenn immediately interjects, believing their souls are in jeopardy. The party agrees this price might be too much to pay.
The merchant smells something wholly unique on Dedric and inquires. Dedric produces the phial from the elder star, and Myco asks to smell the few drops of blood within.
Dedric carefully complies, and Myco identifies a link between his bloodline and what’s in the phial and offers a fair price for its exchange should he want it, but offers it would be better if he keeps it to himself, not wanting to cheat him.
Dedric drinks it and dies. “A wise decision,” smiles Myco.
Major Decisions and Actions
Trying to save the Celestial Star from a terrible existence.
Dedric imbibes an eldritch substance, seizing the day!
Not taking Myco up on his offer. Had you done this, I would have had you write a new belief radically changing the character.
Europium Sword: This vile glimmering sword is made from an impossible compound of a rare earth metal that burns with a toxic green flame when exposed to oxygen. It was left behind for now.
Character Development Moments
Urist hears the song of his fallen brothers as he hammers stone, their spirits travel with him.
Bucklebrick jumping into the telescope and getting blasted with arcane insights and receiving Ley line-wise for his troubles.
Fenn casts Turn Undead to great effect and steps before the party to make them reconsider the deal with the Chlorian Merchant.
Dedrick drinking the tears of a celestial star and dying.
Unresolved Plot Threads
What happens to Dedrick as he dies?
The upper levels of the dungeon and the Dark Elf encased in dark ice holding a tome remain unexplored.
Discussion