Embrey "Old Embrey" Sootbeard, Magmatic artificer in hiding who knows the old ways and discovered the secrets of creating shadow chambers (and then survived one), hates and fears Root, worships Aarok and Gotnafiskr, and now hides in the temple of Aarok and Gotnafiskr in the Sootbeard Mine
Avatar of Aarok, the Molten Dread, a magma Golem who reforged his sword in the temple of Aarok and Gotnafiskr deep below the Sootbeard Mine
Dril, the silent partner, scales in the dark
The Captain, military supervisor of the human district in Visus
Naardor "Old Naardo" Gearsmith, Magmatic senior crafter referenced in Petra's schematics, member of the Visus trade council
Key locations
Sootbeard Mine, looted, hiding Old Embrey's shadow chamber and the temple to Aarok and Gotnafiskr. Source of the necrotic catastrophe choking the Ash River with zombie fishmuck.
Old Embrey's shadow chamber, a simultaneously muted and still place and howling kinetic vortex full of lost things that haunt its inhabitants.
Temple to Aarok and Gotnafiskr, housing a forge and anvil, a tempering pool on a raised dais, and a mural depicting the sea around mountains around a lake with a sea serpent coiled in it around a volcano with a dwarven city on its side, slightly reminiscent of the geography of Black Lake, a caldera lake to the west of Mount Cineris. Touching the sea serpent, tiled in semi-precious gems, causes fingers to bleed, though they bleed painlessly.
Visus, the Bridge City, a trade city split into human (east) and dwarven (west) districts on opposite banks of the Ash River near its mouth and the sea.
Key events
Wally uses Swarm Song to summon living Echo Eaters to map the contours of the real door hidden below the illusory Magmatic wall in the Sootbeard Mine great hall.
The Echo Eaters swarm and outline a mechanism for opening a hidden door; Wally opens it.
Ob recognizes the stifled gray madness behind the door as a giant shadow cache, or shadow chamber, which shouldn't exist.
Old Embrey's gore-covered hand and gouged arm shoot out from the shadow chamber.
Psalt stabs Old Embrey through the hand.
Kilvar drags Old Embrey out of the shadow chamber.
Old Embrey has clearly been scratching himself; he clutches a set of blood spattered plans and a red crystal shard. He is screaming and howling.
Psalt covers Old Embrey's mouth to stop his screaming and then calms him with a healing potion from Wally; Wally takes the plans; Kilvar smashes the red crystal shard.
Wally can see that the plans detail ritual magic.
Old Embrey begins compulsively chanting, "Root is watching! Aarok is coming! The shadows aren't empty!"
Psalt quiets Old Embrey and begins interrogating him. The party learns that Root wants to build a massive shadow chamber in which to train an army. Old Embrey is sure Root's soldiers will go mad and seems upset with Root for pushing past the old ways into such unnatural and perverse endeavors.
Psalt sends a scout sprite into the shadow chamber and brings it back out once it's clear the chamber wants to confront Psalt with his past; Psalt then sends the sprite down the mine to find the source of the clanging.
Some kind of dwarf-sized being is forging something deep within the mine in a chamber with an underground river, a forge and anvil, a tempering pool on a raised dais, and obscured art on the far wall.
Psalt negotiates with Old Embrey, and Old Embey agrees to take the group below if they will destroy his plans. The party agrees.
Old Embrey guides the party through the mine to the chamber discovered by Psalt's sprite. It's not clear whether or not the party could have found the place without Old Embrey.
Halfway across the bridge in the chamber, Old Embrey recognizes the being as Aarok, the Molten Dread, a dwarven god associated with the forge. He is hammering a sword. Wally discerns that this is an avatar, though, and not the god entire.
Psalt shows the scene to Dril who remains silent for a long time before letting out a weighted sigh and disconnecting.
The party attacks Aarok and his jerky skeleton assistants, firing arrows into anvils, throwing torches everywhere, and quickly dispatching the skeletons and disarming Aarok who, on his death, explodes into a wave of magma dodged by the group.
Old Embrey flees during the battle.
When Aarok dies, the party hears a sound like a rock splitting, the last surviving skeleton disintegrates, and the underground river begins to clear of zombie fishmuck.
Wally recovers Aarok's sword.
Ob tracks down Old Embrey and brings him back to the group as Psalt and Wally fake the destruction of the shadow chamber plans to trick Old Embrey.
Psalt, Wally, and Embrey study the mural (see key locations above) and take notes. Psalt and Old Embrey's fingers bleed whenever they touch the sea serpent depicted in the mural. This seems to make Old Embrey joyful. He names the sea serpent "Gotnafiskr" and says she always completes what Aarok begins.
Psalt consults with Dril about the mural and bleeding who responds, "Aarok always was the jealous sort."
Old Embrey, freed by the party, decides to stay in the temple below the mine.
The party hikes back to the human district of Visus, puzzling out what they've learned and how Fishhook might have failed in the same circumstances.
The Ash River begins running clear again, pushing the surface slicks of necrotic ooze back against its banks.
The Captain believes the party's story about defeating an undead monster that was nesting near the source of the Ash River.
True to his word and no more, the Captain contacts the dwarves and negotiates the lowering of the bridges. Then he introduces the party to the dwarven trade council, explaining that the group resolved the necrotic catastrophe.
The trade council, including shard-twirling Magmatic representative Naardor "Old Naardo" Gearsmith, invites to the group to a feast in its honor.
Key understandings
Old Embrey was one of the artificers that fled Magmatic at the same time Petra left.
Old Embrey is a Sootbeard and considers the Sootbeard Mine a kind of ancestral home, though he says there are few Sootbeards left.
Aarok's hammering of the sword caused the clanging in the mine.
The energy animating Aarok's avatar and his jerky skeleton assistants also polluted the Ash River and raised the zombie fishmuck.
Root and Aarok are connected.
Aarok and Gotnafiskr are connected.
Aarok is more than a bogeyman; he is a god associated with the forge in ancient dwarven lore.
The shadow realm is a terrifying and paradoxical place that confronts you with things you lost in the past and things others have lost that you cannot touch. These are figurative, as well as literal, things.
Magmatic has a presence in Visus.
The party now carries Magmatic risk in addition to normal risk.
Normal risk is at 10%.
Magmatic risk is at 12%.
Key decisions
How to deal with the threat posed by Old Naardo, his shard, and his bodyguard (and his shard?) in Visus.
How to survive dinner and get back to the safe house.
How to leverage the shadow chamber plans.
What to research about Aarok and Gotnafiskr.
Which artificer to pursue next.
Players, add your insights and questions below to get ready for session 6 on May 22nd, 2018!
chadsansing
commented
6 years ago
Key NPCs
Key locations
Key events
Key understandings
Key decisions
Players, add your insights and questions below to get ready for session 6 on May 22nd, 2018!