January 2015
The Company:
Maurice "the Muscle" de Granville, a Dreaman Fighter of Weanople
- Athelwine, a Geating Hunter (Normal Man) of Acworth
Orhan, an Alfarn Spellsword
Osric de Mandeville, a Dreaman Warden
- Urien, a Weallack Oblate (Normal Man) of Carlton
Oswald, a Geating Fighter
- Taeting, a Geating Pirate (Normal Man)
Zephyros, an Ellasene Mage
- Ansger, a Dreaman Fighter
- Dudda, a Geating Thief
From the Journal of Oswald the Gray, a Geating Fighting Man:
THE BROKEN LIFTING MECHANISM
I hire Taeting as guide through the swamp, offering him standard pay and a share in the treasure if he enters the ruins we discover. Taeting agrees on the condition that he can refuse to enter any particular ruin.
Afterwards, the group returns to the tunnel complex beneath the menhir. Before entering, the group takes time to reconnoiter the island. We find a trail that leads us to a swamp boat hidden on the short; this provokes a long discussion regarding what to make of the boat and what to do with it. During this discussion, a giant mutant frog (with a human arm protruding from its back) attacks us, but it is quickly gutted. While harvesting monster parts, Maurice gets poisoned and suffers nausea, diarrhea, and vertigo. Luckily, the symptoms subside after a short while, and, while relieving himself, Maurice also spots several submerged buildings in the water (which we do not further inspect).
The group returns to the overnight site from our last expedition and sets up camp. During Zephyros’ and Oswald’s watch, two short humanoids try to sneak into the camp but are noticed, and we react. The figures then flee towards the menhir. The group remains in place, and the rest of the night remains calm.
Next morning, we enter the complex anew. The traps (and skeletons) in the first room have been reset, we destroy the first skeleton by bowling a large stone down the stairs, afterwards Maurice and Oswald take care of the remaining. The skeletons look different from last time, mutated humans instead of normal humans. We stash their weapons outside and continue through the secret door.
In the former cauldron room (this time without a cauldron), we are again ambushed: this time by a frog man and a mutant human. There is also one of the small, gray-colored creatures (that I will now call “gnomes” for simplicity) we fought the last time, but it flees and shouts “prepare the defense” in Beastman. (To our luck, Zephyros understands the language and warns us.) Even though Maurice is wounded, the group manages to cuts down the attackers. We also mercilessly cut down the frog man that tried to escape into the machine room.
We find the door jammed, but Maurice easily bashes it open. When we press forward, we figure out that the gnomes did not try to ambush us: they were trying to prevent us from going to the stairs.
After checking the machine room and then trying to discern the origin of a strange jabbering sound at a turn toward the machine room, we descend the stairs. The stairs end in a long shaft with a large metal chain running up and down. I make it across, but I can only find some very small holes in the wall on the far side and nothing else. Neither a stone nor a torch dropped down the shaft reveal any further clues, but the torch flashes briefly before vanishing in the darkness.
We return upstairs and give the machine room a closer look. We find and pull a lever which starts some kind of machine. The group splits with half remaining in the machine room and the other half checking out the chain. They find something changed: there are not levers where the holes were. Maurice binds himself to the chain and tries pushing them. When he manages to do that, he suddenly vanishes down the shaft. With some luck, he manages to keep his wits and somehow lights a torch, finding himself shortly above two tunnels.
The rest of the group gathers near the shaft, looking for a way to recover Maurice. After some discussion (and yelling up and down the shaft), we learn which lever Maurice pressed and, by pressing the opposite one, return him to our level. This takes some testing. Afterwards, I am bound to the chain and lowered and lifted through the whole shaft. I discover that there is no level above us – only the ceiling with a small hole for the chain – and that there two levels beneath us: the one with two tunnels about 20 yards beneath us and a second one with a lake and a tunnel about 40 yards beneath us.
After some discussion about how to cut as large a piece from the chain as possible, to sell somewhere else, we decide to attempt entering the lower tunnels through the trap door near the entrance instead of braving the chain.