Characters and Retainers at the start of the session:
- Marcus - Melysee, Level 5 Knight
- Peter - Chadwick, level 5 Mage
- Ythan - Petra, Level 5 Thief
- Ash - Xiaverine, Level 4 Grimalkin
The Sea at the Bottom of Everything
Saturday the 13th am
Session 22 took place on the morning of Saturday the 13th, with the Magpies split across different parts of the Observatory and acting independently for most of the session.
Chadwick began suspended in mid-air beneath the bridge of the Observatory, spending about half an hour casting ritual spells. By the end of this preparation, he had made himself invisible, gained the ability to fly, and could see in the dark. With these advantages, he descended the vast distance toward the dark sea below. There, he observed a small island of crushed buildings pinned beneath the Nightingale Chain, with the dismembered body of the Giant lying across it. From the ocean, a black mass reached up with pseudopods to pull the carcass down, while several winged creatures darted around trying to tear off pieces of the corpse. Nearby, a group of salt dryads hid in a recess, waiting for a chance to recover their companion hart from within the giant’s stomach. After briefly losing his staff and nearly being consumed by the living surface of the sea, Chadwick retreated and re-entered the Observatory through the bronze trapdoor in the Nightingale hall. On the way back, he took in the overall structure for the first time: two stalactites connected by a bridge, with a metal hemisphere set into the tip of the longer one.
The Observatory
Elsewhere, Xiaverine woke from a rest on the salt dryad balcony and noticed activity both above and below. Continuing a methodical exploration around the Nightingale shaft, he discovered a hall inhabited by silk-wrapped, mannequin-like constructs with porcelain masks and needle-like fingers. These beings pleaded for the return of a stolen bale of silk, taken by an undead risen from the cut-off thumbs of slaves who had refused to work on the looms. Moving on, Xiaverine searched a room of extremely fragile wooden stacks and then found the Dvargir engineering store, where he equipped himselves with a blood-powered jackhammer and fuel tank. While investigating a blue light below, he attracted the attention of a feathered dinosaur attempting to climb up a ladder. The grimalkin threw some blood-powered tools down the shaft and heard the creature retie, only to discover that it was attempting to climb up a different ladder. Luckily, Xaverine was faster and managed to kill the monster with his jackhammer while mid-climbing.
At the same time, Melysee and Petra were surprised by a group of sailors guarding the Mirror Cell. Petra remained hidden, but Melysee was forced to surrender under threat of missile fire and burning oil. She was disarmed and taken to the Fulgarium, where Lilith, a lieutenant among the sailors, revealed that they had gained Max’s cooperation (a retainer that the Magpies let go) and believed the treasure lay beyond the serpent door at the top of the structure, guarded by living statues. Their plan was to bring a cannon from their vessel to destroy these guardians, but they invited Melysee to help them reach the door sooner. She was unwilling or incapable of offering meaningful assistance.
While Melysee was held, Petra launched a sustained guerrilla attack on the sailors at the Mirror Cell, using a magical lantern to conceal her movements in darkness. She attempted to trip them, killed one with her magic mace, and fired arrows from cover. The sailors eventually withdrew into the room and set the Chiaroscuro stairs ablaze with oil. Petra also noted the presence of dinosaurs in the Armoury, but lacked the means to create a safe route for them to cross and engage the Sailors.
The pressure from Petra’s attacks forced the sailors to divert forces away from the Nightingale hall, creating an opportunity. Melysee persuaded Max to secretly loosen her restraints with promises of wealth, then attempted to turn on her captors. The attempt failed. She was stabbed with her own magic spear and killed by Lilith, who cut her throat.
Around this point, Xiaverine encountered Olledg, a Breggle who had previously been taken by the psychic dinosaurs and had escaped back through a tear in space. Together, they recovered the body of the Tapestry of Pain, which had been disabled by the fall of the Nightingale Chain, and returned it to the silk constructs. In return, the constructs rapidly fashioned a suit of lamellar armour for Olledg and revealed that “Revelation” was the key to accessing the third level of the Fulgarium. Xiaverine also tricked them into producing an elaborate hat for himself.
Finally, Chadwick, still flaying and invisible, made his way back up through the Observatory via the gravity knife shaft, ascended through the Nightingale hall and reached the upper level of the Fulgarium. There, he deliberately used incorrect passwords to activate a calcite guardian, which proceeded to kill Lilith, Max, and another sailor present in the chamber, avenging Melysee’s death.
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