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| The Ruined Colossus |
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| Rorsa, Dire Wolf |
After finally finding the schema for Lady Elaydren d'Cannith, exhausted and wounded, the group returned to Rorsa, the Dire Wolf, and the newly rescued wolves. Using the empty bunk beds, the group decided to rest up for a while with Bessok preparing enough magic to remove everyone's exhaustion. One more rest for good luck, an entire day gone, and they were all ready to move again. It was time to find the next rod piece!
With Bessok being the fastest Dwarf that ever lived, they decided to send him ahead, holding the rod piece to discern a direction. Though the rod kept shifting directions at random, it stayed pointing in a mostly north-easterly path.
As Bessok raced through the strange, glass-coated lands, he witnessed huge shapes off in the mist, creatures he had no intention of getting involved with. After several miles of travel, he started to notice old watchtowers and a scattering of dead bodies around them, until finally he found himself in the notorious Field of Ruins, where thousands of soldiers lay dead, victims of the Day of Mourning. Like all the dead in the Mournlands, they looked as healthy as the day their lives were taken, even their siege engines were in pristine condition.
On the outskirts of this mass of casualties, he spotted the first Colossus, a massive construct that had somehow been pulled into the ground up to the centre of its chest. Not planning on going in alone, he notified the rest of the group and rushed back to meet them as they made their way in his direction. Before approaching the Colossus, however, they decided to look over the dead, finding that someone had been here before as items were missing - a sword from a commander, armour from a knight - items that may have been magical. Also, there didn't seem to be any Warforged present among the dead. Did they survive or were they moved afterwards?
Finally, the group proceeded to the Colossus, Bessok and Joe noticing humanoid tracks in the area, two sets smaller than the third. Into the Colossus they went, a construct the size of a mobile village, and though they found more bodies, supplies and weapons, where the Docent they were searching for should have been, there found nothing but an empty clasp.
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| Kalyth, Cyran Scavenger |
Deciding to follow the tracks - perhaps whoever the tracks belonged to had taken it - they carefully moved their way through the mass of bodies and spotted a camp fire burning in the mists up ahead. The fire burnt next to a massive chasm that ran for miles across the ground, not a natural feature, it was as if two immense hands had pushed their way in and tore it open. A rope bridge had been built across the intervening space, alongside of which they found the camp and its inhabitants, a Half-Orc, introducing herself as Kalyth, and two Halflings, Cyran soldiers that had survived the Day of Mourning and were now little more than refugees, trying to scavenge enough to start a new life.
Asking about the Docent, Kalyth revealed it was missing when they arrived, a group of 'rogue warforged' were gathering them all and storing them in a nearby village called Ialos. What remained of the village, at least, it was little more than rubble now. They also revealed that there was another Colossus on the way that they could check. As they became more tired, the light here was constant twilight, the Halflings fell asleep and Kalyth admitted a level of guilt that she carried with her. On the Day of Mourning, she was carrying several magical items and a large purse of gold, but had come to lose them in the panicked flight away from the approaching mists. If she hadn't been so clumsy, her and her companions would have been in a much better place now. She wasn't certain they would forgive her for that.
After a restful night with these Cyran scavengers, upon awakening the group agreed to hand over some of their valuables to help them toward a better life. Kalyth and the Halflings thanked them profusely, and, as the group moved on to find the next Colossus, so the Cyran's gathered up their things and moved on.
The direction to the next Colossus took them north-west this time, Bessok being the first to spot a farm along the way, a large field of wheat still in perfect condition. However, upon touching the wheat, so it crumbled into dust. The farmhouse also still stood, the interior clean and tidy, a table in view with a white sheet placed over it, a small banquet of roast chicken, vegetables and apple pie. Not trusting this at all, Bessok threw a coin into the body of the cooked chicken which immediately started to bleed from the cut. With a look of disgust, the group left the farm behind and continued on until they found the remains of the second Colossus.
The Colossus appeared to be a casualty of the war, the massive construct laying on its back, one arm destroyed and fallen off to the side, ballista bolts and mangonel dents in the exterior armour. With the location of the Docent's now known, the search this time was much faster, heading straight to the head only to find that, again, the Docent was missing. Ialos was their next destination, maybe they would have more luck there, their discussion distracting them from an ambush as they stepped out of the fallen Colossus.
Warforged loyal to the Lord of Blades sprung their trap, loosing javelins and crossbow bolts before rushing in to attack. The initial volley had struck Bessok with enough force to break through his armour, and so the three warforged picked him as their target, trying to bring him down as quickly as they could. Though they were fast on their feet, they couldn't contend with a group of this calibre, even after catching them by surprise. The battle went as expected, the warforged were soon cut down, but not before Vinthanamel was pulled off to the Astral Sea, the Mournland's strange effect on magic twisting his spell and pushing him into another plane for a few seconds. The Elf, convinced he was stuck there, even teleported to the Rock of Bral, but the moment he landed, so he was pulled back to the Mournlands.
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| Map of Ialos |
Pausing long enough to brush off the dust as it settled, the group continued on to the village of Ialos, where several warforged were standing guard outside the mill. Joe decided to approach in disguise, appearing as one of them, a fellow warforged, but unfortunately he chose the wrong type, looking instead like a follower of the Lord of Blades. Acting quickly to defend their base, the 'rogue warforged' rushed in to attack, though a rain of arrows from Joe followed by various other attacks from the rest of the group dropped them before they could even close to melee range.
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| 'Rogue' Warforged |
With the village now unguarded, the group started to search around Ialos, Vinthanamel studying the statue outside, a human figure with his arm outstretched, likely the founder of the village. Several colourful pieces of cloth had been adorned upon the statue, a sign of respect and thanks, which Vinthanamel considered odd. Why would these 'rogue' warforged be giving thanks to a statue of a human? Meanwhile, downstairs in the windmill, Bessok found several dead warforged had also been respectfully displayed, their bodies straight, head lowered. Were these really 'rogue warforged', or did the Cyran, Kaylth, have them mistaken for followers of the Lord of Blades?
Searching further, Bessok found a locked store room that Joe opened with his magical chime, and inside were a collection of expensive goods, as well as several Docent. Almost all were gray and lifeless, though one was still functional, its metallic exterior shining and decorated with colourful dragonshard gems. Unsure how to actually use it for a while, Vinthanamel finally decided to take over, slotting the rod pieces together before touching the Docent to the end. With a clink and a soft 'ping', the rod stopped moving erratically and pointed firmly in one direction.
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| A Docent |
Following the pull of the rod, the group returned once more to the chasm where they had spent the night alongside the Cyran scavengers, crossed the rope bridge, and continued eastwards for several miles before witnessing the location known as the Glass Plateau. A massive wall of crystalline glass, several hundred feet tall, at first appearing as one long wave but closer inspection revealed it to be made of criss-crossing sections, long shards thrust up out of the ground and interlocking. The colours were the most eye catching feature, with every colour of the rainbow present, though in a chaotic display that was almost dizzying to look at.
The rod was pulling them toward a Colossus that seemed to have been caught up in whatever created the plateau. Half of its body was entangled in the crystalline structure, its metal plates and the shape of its body just visible through the walls of glass, a shimmering shield of force also surrounding the Colossus - a defensive shield that was still active. This Colossus still had power!
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| Map of the Colossus |
Pulling his gaze away from the Colossus, Joe became aware of an area off to one side, a strange grey fluid had eroded the crystal and created an opening, a cave entrance that they could access (L1). Inside, the corrosive substance, that was obviously leaking from the Colossus, had cut through the criss-crossing crystalline structures, creating a series of caves and walkways.
They hadn't travelled far inside when the group found the bodies of a group of soldiers, their preserved state making the cause of death obvious - The Day of Mourning (L2). Discarded weapons and armour were laid nearby, something the group looked over for a few moments, but they didn't interfere with the discovery. Instead, they continued onwards, away from the stream and eastwards towards the body of the Colossus. Briefly discussing what they'd like to do, Bessok checked south where metal sheets had been placed to separate the cave from the rest of the complex (L3). Hearing grunts and strange voices beyond, they decided to sneak away and continue east then south, hoping to find the entrance.
Around another corner and they found just that, the foot of the Colossus (L5), Vinthanamel moving ahead of the group to investigate. Strange skull-shaped fungus near the crossing started to shriek as he moved closer, a noise so loud that it was sure to attract the attention of anything nearby, and so to avoid anything coming from above, he moved to the back of the group. Waiting ten seconds, twenty, thirty, the group finally received the response as three large, mutated Breland soldiers rushed down the corridor behind them, sounding the same as the creatures from behind the metal sheets Bessok had seen earlier. As they charged, Vinthanamel, invisible, managed to squeeze his back tightly against the wall, allowing the first one through without it bumping into him.
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| Mutated Soldier |
Into the fray, Joe was the first in line, the mutated soldier staring straight at him with strange eyes that inflicted psychic pain, but also mutated and warped him into a similar state as the creature that was attacking, his ability to fight back now seriously hindered. Morthwyl rushed in to help, while behind them, Bessok raised a holy aura that hampered the soldiers while aiding the rest of the group. Risking everything, being trapped between two of these mutated soldiers, Vinthanamel materialised and focused his magic on the two still in the tunnel, who immediately fell over with grunts of laughter.
Following up with a short range teleport to pass by the group, Vinthanamel decided to go it alone, moving forward to the strange green light that was at the base of the Colossus' foot, stepping into it to find it to be a gravity well that lifted him gently upwards, higher into the Colossus.
The battle with the soldiers was a hard and painful one, these monsters were surprisingly hardy and their weapons hit hard, not to mention their strange, evil eye which gave a painful psychic feedback. But, one by one they fell, those already on their backs unable to stop laughing until one of the group started hitting them. It wasn't long before Joe was also gratefully returned to his normal form, thanks to a blessing from Bessok.
Meanwhile, Vinthanamel had hovered his way up to the waist of the Colossus, finding the entrance-way to the other leg (L8), and then onwards and upwards to the abdomen where he was unable to travel further due to some rubble further up (L9). Something had damaged the Colossus above, enough to cause another leak of the grey fluid which had burnt a hole through the side and was leaking out into the crystalline caves (L11).
Looking out into the caves, Vinthanamel could see, further down, the spirit of a soldier, pacing back and fore. Still invisible, it obviously hadn't seen Vinthanamel, but all the same it waved in his direction then rushed up toward where he was standing. But before he could reach the wizard, he dissipated into a swirl of ghostly light that drifted back down the corridor to reform again into the soldier, pacing back and fore once more (L12).
Not wanting to risk engaging with that, Vinthanamel decided to check the other side of the Colossus (L10), where bunks were placed for the troops that the giant warmachine would transport. Instead of troops, he found a lone woman laying in one of the beds, her faint appearance making her more ghost, or spirit, than human. Utter silence came over him as he stepped into the room, then a feeling of drowsiness that soon took over him, drawing him into sleep.
Not far behind, the group drifted upwards into the same section of the Colossus, Bessok searching the area for the missing wizard and tripping over his fallen body. Feeling the same sleepiness as he tried to gather up the invisible wizard, Bessok managed to shrug it off as they retreated outside the area's effect. Once Vinthanamel was awake, he shook his head in confusion, as his race are usually immune to such magics. Casting a dispel on the area removed the area of silence and, returning to the same room, this time he was able to proceed without concern. He went to the woman and shook her awake, but only briefly, as she asked why he wasn't sleeping and that she was too tired to talk, but maybe she could share her dreams.. and then she was sleeping again.
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| Dragonshard Pool |
Seemingly unable to help, the group continued onwards to where two channels of the grey fluid were joining together to make a larger pool (L13). Inside the pool sat dragonshard gems, which Vinthanamel started to pull out using his mage hand spell, a fair haul of gems no doubt.
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| A Blazebear |
Moving on after the fight, Vinthanamel lead the group upwards through the crystalline cave, following the flow of grey fluid to a higher floor where a raised platform criss-crossed over a lower path (L15). Hidden well, two warforged, bearing the design of the Lord of Blades on their chests, broke stealth to attack, firing bolts into Morthwyl with surprising accuracy. Before the group had time to respond, they were up and running, heading into the Colossus.
Bessok gave chase, but before reaching the curve at the end of the corridor, a trap was sprung, spikes thrusting up into his foot and snapping shut around his lower leg, dragging him to the floor with a surprised thud. The rest of the group started to follow, but Bessok was up and racing ahead again, searching for those who had fled.
First, an empty chamber (L16), onwards to gaze into a control centre (L17), and then onwards to where he found three soldiers still standing at their posts in front of arrow slits (L19). When they turned around, however, their faces were horrific, screaming skulls, and they advanced quickly on the Cleric. Out of nowhere, glowing wisps of light also closed around him, arcs of lightning bouncing off his shield as he raised it defensively.
Calling upon the aid of his God, a wave of radiant light exploded from Bessok, the wisps and one of the wights instantly torn apart, only particles of dust left to drift to the ground. As the others caught up, Bessok brought down the last of the two wights without breaking a sweat, simple undead like this he could fight all day without concern.
Now at the point where the rubble had collapsed, they looked upwards through the 'spine' of the Colossus. The gravity well here was no longer functional, only a long steel ladder lead upwards to the shoulders and arms of this huge warmachine...
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