A Vexing Presence, Part 1

The Party: Arcturius-9, Corwen, Farrow, Khonshu

After lengthy stays in a sickbay to recover from the last adventure, life had mostly calmed down for the party. Sometime later, Lanternwurm made a route stop back at The Locks as deep winter fell over the land. In the dead of winter, supplies were even more important. The party had worked hard and had earned some leave time. Disembarking with a menagerie, there was Corwen, Arcturius-9 with his unnamed owlbear cub, Farrow with her hoar fox kit named Peppermint, and Khonshu and his steel defender Mule, plus a new homunculus shaped like a caged lantern with bat wings the artificer had christened Canary. Dressed in winter gear, the group trudged through the snow toward the settlement.

The group split up right away, with Arcturius-9 and Corwen checking for an armourer or weapon smith and Farrow and Khonshu looking in on the cartography store Khonshu was familiar with. They would meet at the Cracked Mug Tavern when they were done.

Unable to find a smith in the Foreign Merchant Quarter, the half-elf and cyborg passed over the pet store and a cart seller and decided to head to Lockwood Palace to confer with the warlord leaders. Corwen wanted to find out what happened with the operation he helped set up with the guards intercepting a group of marauders outside the dwarven mining settlement of MacCraggenhilt in the nearby Thundergranite Mountains.

The young half-elf secretary greeted the two and ran to retrieve the warlords, returning with Master Crow and Elwindil. Corwen spoke with them and Master Crow revealed they had sent a troop of guards as planned but they never returned, and there had been no contact with MacCraggenhilt either. A bad winter snowstorm cut the Locks off for a time, and they were too short staffed to send a follow up party. The elf Elwindil seemed unimpressed with the plan in general. Corwen didn’t feel particularly responsible for the guards’ competence but Master Crow did offer some help if they were willing to investigate. There was a stable attached to the palace where mounts and supplies would be available.

Over at the cartography store, the same two old men worked on their maps that Khonshu had spoken to before. They seemed glad for the company, complaining of how none of the younger folk took interest in their art. Khonshu indulged them in their viewpoints while they did likewise for the artificer’s more esoteric thoughts on his maps and magical effects. They traded mapping information, Khonshu had copies of his records from their travels into the Bluespire Mountains where the Agony Engine lay and the old men provided a maps of the coastal region of Ghostwind Cove. Farrow and Peppermint browsed the store full of interesting prints and was then shown a map of a far off gnomish land. The cartographer said he traded for it with a gnomish traveller but wasn’t sure of its veracity. The text seemed authentic enough for Farrow and she purchased it. Unleashed, Peppermint knocked over a plate of biscuits, causing a racket. Farrow scooped up the fox and apologized, leaving the store after putting down a coin. Khonshu followed after.

Outside, the party members met up at the Cracked Mug. The inn seemed less busy than when they were last here, but festive lights shone from the windows and kids played in front. A little girl with orcish features ran up to Arcturius-9 with wide admiring eyes. She pointed saying “Mor Dru, Mor Dru,” which Khonshu’s enchanted headpiece translated as “The Black Dread.” The girl showed a knockoff doll in the cyborg’s likeness, with the Black Dread name on the back of the jacket. Arcturius-9 was not happy and asked the girl where she got it. They were directed towards the Artisan Quarter.

Stopping in the inn for food first, Farrow played up the fact that they were Master Crow’s contacts and got a top room booked. Food and drink came quickly at a table. Arcturius-9’s pet owlbear clawed onto the hostess’s leg and she was too afraid to pry him off. Khonshu asked around for his friend Jarsen but was told the genasi had been there earlier and left, probably for Brightfield’s coffee house. Deciding to leave their pets and packs in their room first, the owlbear had eaten a pillow before they could even close the door. They left a bit of extra money at the front for the inevitable damages to the room and headed towards Brightfield’s.

Down the street, Farrow spotted what Arcturius-9 was looking for, a large sign saying “Golden Panther’s Power Pro Shop” with imagery of the old wrestler. Storming off in that direction past Brightfield’s, the rest of the group accompanied their fighter. Bursting through the double doors, the cyborg shouted Panther’s name. The three muscleheads inside quickly slunk away and out the door. Everywhere Arcturius-9 looked there were vitamins, supplements, toys, and posters, some with his image on them. The Golden Panther came out from the back room and was overjoyed to see his “brother.” Arcturius-9 pushed away an embrace and demanded answers. Panther explained his marketing and gimmicks while the rest of the group watched on, Farrow enjoyed the situation so much she egged Panther on. He gave her some supplements and action figures, and eventually a surf board while ripping off his shirt. Corwen and Khonshu kept Arcturius-9 from going berserk, and Panther gave him some coins that were a cut of the profits so far. The fighter unsheathed a mantis claw a sliced through some cardboard cutouts of himself and Panther, even as the veteran grappler tried to coax the party into joining his show and scheme. A plan forming in her mind, Farrow planted the idea of having another star to model toys with, which Panther agreed to whatever was best for business.

Meanwhile, Khonshu caught up with Jarsen. He discussed the extremist faction of the workers union movement, a small minority that disliked the nonviolent approach being discussed. Since their sabotage of the Thunder Moon Festival was averted, they had grown angrier and eventually broke away to form their own splinter group. Most of them actually left the Locks quietly and were thought to be staying in the mountains. They had taken to referring to themselves as the High Rollers, and rumour was that they’d had unknown allies outside the Locks. Jarsen had mostly cut contact with any former colleagues who went this way. Some started acting stranger before they splintered, he had heard rambling mention about Helius of the Bowl, a sun god who rode his chariot across the sky and floated back to the east in a golden bowl at night. They never added any context when pressed. With that information, and a plea from Jarsen to find out what happened to his fellow guards at MacCraggenhilt, the party decided to take on the expedition in the morning.

Packing up early the next day, Farrow and Arcturius-9 planned to take Johnny Rooks, who was already waiting in the cracked Mug main room, to meet Golden Panther while Khonshu and Corwen went to the stables.

At the Power Pro Shop, the introduction went exceedingly well and the two new business partners hit it off. Arcturius-9 glared at the repaired full-size cutouts but left them this time.

At the stables, a grey-skinned tielfling stablehand met the two adventurers and showed them to a flock of axe beaks, large flightless birds in yellow, black, and red. He explained these mounts would be able to walk across the snow and supplied blankets and rations. Khonshu requests a sled for some of their companions, and they put together a palette on skis. When asked for information about the trek, the stablehand said they could probably find more information at a place called the Mouse and Crown which was a pub frequented by the wardens and rangers who sometimes patrol the Thundergranite Mountain. Taking four yellow axe beaks, they walked towards the northern gate they had planned to depart from. Making a quick stop at the cartography shop, Khonshu information on parts of the Thundergranite Mountains. He was told there had been heavy snow and warnings of avalanches.

Meeting back together, they saw that the Mouse and Crown was near where they were and stopped in on the way out. Hitching the birds outside and leaving the pets, they entered to find a smoke filled lounge full of woodsmen telling stories and drinking. Buying some drinks, the group tried to integrate into the club, listening to various tall tales. There were encounters with devils in the mountains, body shakes and fright, a cursed wind, the song of a bride who froze to death waiting for a returning lover.

The other stories were more historical, ever since the catastrophe, they heard talk of secret clans and witches circles in the mountains, building something out there. There were salvagers visiting the city sometimes. People creating crazy things with the artifacts they find, even talk of some people trying to create their own sanctuary engine. Even scrap metal got picked up often around here. When asked what the biggest danger in the mountains was, they were told ringworm, bedbugs, and mould would get you worst.

Arcturius-9 was approached by a girl handing out pamphlets for Temple Street that houses lots of religious kiosks, an alleyway of the gods. She talked about some of the new groups, including Helius of the Bowl and the fact that some holy men retreated into the mountains after the catastrophe, eating only pine needles, they self-mummified and their bodies waited somewhere out there. The fighter took a pamphlet to show the party. Outside, Farrow spotted some men trying to identify their exotic pets and corrected them.

After this, they set out into the cold. The snow had slowed but they were glad the axe beaks traversed the terrain well. Five hours later they neared the gully where the guards supposedly met the marauders, Corwen dismounted to scout ahead. Managing to stay atop the snow, the rogue walked up to an opening in a rock wall face the trail led through. He then spotted a body in the snow ahead. Motioning for the other to join, he investigated to a man’s frozen body buried in snow. The meat and fat already stripped away by wild animals, but a pack remained frozen under him. Breaking the remains, Corwen opened the pack to find some survival gear and a journal.

Both Corwen and Farrow felt like they were being watched, and the entire group felt itchy and shaky, with an increased anxious heartbeat. Khonshu looked over the surrounding area and found evidence of skirmish, broken crossbow bolts of at least two makes, scraps of clothing, and a layer of ash in some spots under the snow. Farrow took a sample for later.

Corwen found the journal was legible and read the most recent entry first, working back, he pieced together a narrative for the group. It belonged to an extremist guard and was mostly sparse meeting notes dating back years ten years back: talks of meeting the mountain devils, making deals to further their agendas. The creatures worshipped a god of bowls, and took to calling themselves Bowlers. The Bowlers believed they could build a new sanctuary engine. If so, they could ally and use the base to strike back at the Locks and reform the society under their chaos. They’d taken to salvaging materials with the devils. Apparently they’d been at this for all twenty plus years since the planar catastrophe. The plans kept changing and redesigning, the guard was starting to lose faith in this.

A more recent entry described a big fight they had between factions over end goals and delays, the Bowlers had started worshipping the engine like an idol to their sun god while the guards had more pragmatic designs. In the fight, the frame they were working on got destroyed. They came around and started again. Combining the High Rollers and the Bowlers, the engine’s name was going to be Rollabolla. They were leaving the Locks for the Thundergranite Mountains, this was for real this time.

Before they could regain the trail to keep moving, the party was caught by surprise as a trio of large wolves attacked them. Fending the animals off from mounted positions, the shaking and elevated heartbeat they all felt hindered their combat. At points they got in each other’s ways, feeling an increased annoyance for some reason. Being pulled to the ground, Farrow used her staff to create a pulse that unluckily only knocked over another axe beak, but luckily no avalanche followed. Khonshu swung his pike to assist. In a moment of uncharacteristic frustration, Farrow kicked Mule as it charged into a wolf. Suddenly, Farrow felt her boiling blood return to normal as if the attack relieved her of some affliction.

Corwen’s arrows found their way into two of the wolves, aiming for nonlethal targets to incapacitate the animals. On the other side, Arcturius-9 cleaved the head off the third wolf with his greatsword. Farrow tried to get her friends to punch her or her drone, saying it would help. Eventually Corwen and Khonshu took swings at the drone and Mule and did feel the same relief. After mounting up and leaving the scene, they all felt better and less shaky, unsure of what had affected them.

Some distance down the valley, MacCraggenhilt appeared before them, spots of lights and a few scant noises of workers. Again Corwen scouted ahead, seeing the main gate of the small community burned and smashed open. Much of the front buildings were in ruins. Sneaking closer in, the half-elf saw thee dwarves conversing as if in a meeting, their weapon not drawn. As they didn’t seem aggressive, Corwen signaled the rest of the group to approach. It appeared the ruined part of the settlement was being rebuilt after some incident. Farrow called out a greeting in dwarven and they returned in kind. Wary of visitors at first, after some discussion, the dwarves explained a skeleton crew was trying to restart mining operations. Their families and the injured were sent away to hide with their precious metals. They had come across veins of magic materials, plane shards and a metal called orichalcum.

When questioned about the Incident, the miners said groups of men, some dressed like Locks guards, came up from the gully fighting. Some figures in the fog were seen and then this burst of energy and a huge walking shape of molten magma rose from the earth and destroyed everything it touched before melting away. Of the charred bodily remains in the mess were humans, dwarves, and a few that seemed too small and twisted to be either, though it was hard to tell. No children were lost as far as they knew. Lastly, the party learned the direction the surviving combatants ran off to. The group made camp for the night under a broken roof structure.

Talking over their options in the morning, the party decided to follow the lead into the mountains since they had made the trek all the way out here and it didn’t seem the Locks would spare people to follow up promptly. They pieced together that the marauders Corwen had been contacted about were the same or connected to the two groups, the High Rollers and the Bowlers, who were working together but had a tentative alliance.

Not having particular tracking skills and the snow cover prevented them from easily finding their way, but eventually the valley formed a sort of path they assumed would be the most logical route. The rock face rose steeper to either side of them until they came to a sort of dead end. With hear eagle lens, Farrow spotted a cave opening that was about a hundred feet up the face of the mountain on one side. A thin snowy ledge crossed up that way so they left the mounts and attempted to walk up. They could walk forty feet up closer before the ledge wound away from the opening. Farrow used her spider climbing hooks and scuttled carefully over to the opening with Khonshu’s special climbing rope. Cautiously securing a spike to tie it to without triggering an avalanche or giving away their location, Farrow then peered into the cave, it has man sized and became a tunnel that curved into the mountain. Khonshu made the first rope climb attempt, but the slippery surface and diagonal angle made his lose grip and fall into the snowbank below. Recovering with minor injuries, the artificer walked back to the ledge as Corwen and Arcturius-9 managed to get across the rope to the opening. With a more considered effort, Khonshu made the second attempt. As Mule came around, the construct’s anatomy wasn’t suited to climbing the rope and Khonshu decided to leave it to watch the mounts. While on the ledge path, however, the vigilant steel defender spotted something further around the ledge. Farrow climbed back across and down to see what Mule pointed at, and the gnome found another entrance, this one a small burrow only she could fit through. She noticed some footprints that were clawed and not human and decided to stick with the party.

In a careful line, the group followed the cave as it wound deeper in. Eventually, long carpets lined the floor and a hung curtain ahead marked a change, light spilled in from around the hanging. Arcturius-9 heavy armoured steps prevented him from getting closer stealthily. Corwen snuck ahead with Farrow’s drone to peek into the next area. Voices could be heard arguing. A larger cavern with pillars opened before them. A pit in the floor held a mountain of metal pieces in some sort of configuration. Around the room were more rugs, hanging curtains, large steel chests, lanterns on the floor, and a large stone statue at the back. They assumed the status was of Helius the sun god. On the other side of the cavern was a smaller opening that likely connected to the burrow outside. The arguing parties were a company of men and women in leather armour and fur parkas and a more diverse group of creatures: half a dozen small gremlins, a greenskinned crossbowman, and a large scaly shaman. They were shouting about why something was delayed and the need to get focused. Farrow could tell by looking at the metal parts that it appeared to be a frame of something like what an engine core might look like, but there was no way what was visible would ever function.

The gremlins were being dropped faster than their human opponents, but the lava monster started evening the score. Before long, the device the shaman was using appeared to short out and she lost control of the elemental creature, causing it to go berserk on everyone.

As Helius, Khonshu struck at the nearest High Roller with his weapon that looked like a sword but reached like his pike. Deciding everything was mayhem now, Farrow entered the room with her ominstaff and drone firing, followed by Arcturius-9 who had run out of patience and ran right into the large lava monster to deliver some sword slashes. The cyborg cleaved into the foe, taking sprays of fire each time, but doing noticeable damage in return. Khonshu’s homunculus Canary also flew into to lend support with some wispy blasts. The party was feeling the shaky sensation from before, thinking it was tied somehow to the gremlins’ vexing presence. As they were taken out, the shakes started to subside.

Feeling overwhelmed, the remaining High Rollers sought an exit. Khonshu managed to knock one man out while another made it to the entrance. Wounded, the crossbowman tried to drag the shaman to cover and also sought a way out, but the shaman still remained in thrall to the potion. Unexpectedly, there came a moment in the confusing fray when all parties seemed to make eye contact to assess the situation…