Session 28: Meeting Barbas and Prof. Lassiter Report

General Summary

Previously

  After making their way through the dimensional barrier, and learning that the former city of Agaddon is now a realm called Scatterpoint, the party eventually makes their way to a settlement called Shadowmoon Salvage. There they meet Terridar Shadowmoon and manage to convince him of their mission, and he advises them that they both need to figure out where to set off the device, presumably at the site of the original Incident, and how to adapt it to work under the strange physical laws here, which tend to degrade or disrupt any advanced technology. The party travels to the Great Library in the hopes of gaining entry and finding the info they need. There they discover a great army of Corrupted. They send their guide, the Knight Giraldus the Loyal, off to relay this news to his order. They manage to gain entrance to the Library, which was apparently in a slightly different plane, using the Reality Comb (but unfortunately this seems to drain the device, and it is no longer functioning, which complicates their escape plan for after setting the device).   Inside, they are shown vivid recreations of the events leading up the cataclysm. Apparently, a thousand years ago both scientists and wizards believed their civilization was unstable, poised on the knife edge between science and magic--and both were intent on pushing it in the "right" direction. The scientists were supported by the vampire Lord Valentine (who still exists here as the leader of a settlement called Stone Manor), while the wizards sought demonic help. Unfortunately, the demons attacked the scientists at a critical moment, destabilizing the "Great Breakthrough", triggering the Incident, and trapping them all in this dimensional pocket--including the demon lords called the Talus.   With this knowledge, and now knowing the original event occurred at a derelict Runetower called the Clocktower, the party has descended into the Zone Underground to evade the Corrupted army. They tried to convince the AI to not let any new "visitors" into the Library too quickly (or at all), but it is unclear whether it will listen to them.   The party intends to escape via the underground, make it on foot (having lost their mounts) to Cog Castle to seek out Prof. Lassiter. Hopefully, Lassiter can help them properly modify and trigger the device at the Clocktower. The party hopes (even more strongly) to avoid going to Stone Manor and meeting with Lord Valentine, since his true motives are even more unclear now.   We pick up as the party has descended through old maintenance tunnels beneath the library, and exited via a massive set of doors that the AI opened for them. The doors slide shut with a clang behind them, leaving them in the dark, dank underground.  

Session Notes

The Zone Underground is the sewage system, maintenance tunnels, and old constructions buried beneath present-day ScatterPoint, full of darkness and danger. It stretches under the entirety of the City. It is home to Malakar, strange beasts, and obscene cults in those spans beneath the barrens. The Library AI provided a map (at Windellian's request), but it is (very) outdated. Highlights:

• The party immediately hears voices of someone approaching, apparently a patrol of Corrupted associated with the army above. The party manages to quickly overcome them, without alerting the rest of the force, and decides to continue underground for several hours to avoid the army, with a jittery, claustrophobic Windellian leading the way, using the provided map, through the dark, labyrinthine maze. 
• At one point, the party finds itself in a scab beetle nest. (The eaters of the dead, scab beetles typically are found throughout the barrens and in the city districts, devouring random bits of dead flesh wherever it may be found. About 4” in length with a hard, chitinous lavender-black shell, and can form aggressive clutches that, if disturbed, violently swarm over the intruder and proceed outwards until their appetite is sated.) Jessa uses a rainbow deflection shield, bolstered by BN Sue and Prax using the devices she crafted for them, to plough through the massive swarm, the skittering forms swirling over the shield as they force their way through. 
• Windellian eventually manage to find another exit to the surface, but they way is blocked by possessed ancient clockwork automatons. They appear roughly humanoid, in various stages of disrepair; their gears and pulleys making dry, rasping sounds, and their joints creaking from time to time. Windy does his best to overwhelm them with his intricate beauty, and they allow the party to pass. In thanks, Windy lubes them with a bit of oil. 
• After emerging above, the party travels for a few days through the Barrens, following Giraldus's directions as best they can while Windellian and Zayer periodically fly overhead to guide them. They dodge various creatures along the way, including a back of wolf-like mongrels called storm hounds or growlers. Fortunately, Prax spots them while they are intent on consuming a kill, and Prax stealthily leads the party around them. 

  Finally, as the party is looking to camp for the night, they come upon another group making camp. It consists of 20 or so Converted Overwroughts, and appears to be centered around two primary figures, a stern-looking old human male, and a slender bespectacled Ferren with ruddy brown fur who dresses in a dark blue duster and wears a top hat. The two are chatting in chairs at the middle of the camp, while the Converted set up the camp around them.      After a quick discussion, the party sends Prax and Jessa forward to greet the camp and seek directions, while the rest hang back--in sight, but to avoid being threatening. The old man waves them forward, and the pair introduce themselves as Barbas and (to the party's pleasant surprise) Prof. Edward Lassiter, the very man they were headed to Cog Castle to find. Highlights of the conversation:

• Barbas is an advisor to Lord Ashmoore at Cog Castle. When they got word that the Great Library had been opened, they decided to mount an expedition to go investigate, and Barbas invited Prof. Lassiter to join, based on his familiarity with ancient technology here. 
• A cold, somewhat hostile initial interplay between Barbas and Zayer eventually prompts Barbas to tell the party that he is one of the Demon Lords known as the Talus. (This is clearly not a surprise to Lassiter or the Converted, but Lassiter appears visibly uncomfortable to be reminded of this fact). Barbas openly confirms that the story the party witnessed in the Library (as related by Prax) of the role the Talus played in disrupting "The Great Breakthrough" is true. 
• While the party tries to avoid confirming that they were the ones to open the Library, Barbas seems confident that they were, and the party eventually admits this.
• Barbas and Zayer get into a long conversation, in which Barbas offhandedly asks what Zayer knows about infernal politics. Zayer relates what little he knows, including that there is a new ruler of the first layer of hell, the draconic halfling Kwai, who defeated the previous ruler, the Devil Prince Bel in a duel--with a single use of his Quivering Palm. In his role, Kwai has also taken over as the general in charge of the devil forces in the Blood War. Barbas is fascinated by this. 
• He goes on to ask whether Zayer has heard of the Talus, and is quite irritated when Zayer has not. Zayer eventually learns that the Talus were daemons, the lords of some realm caught between the devils and the demons, and often a wild card in the eternal Blood War between them. Barbas, warming to the subject, tells Zayer all the petty gossip he can about the various demon lords and devil princes, which Zayer furiously writes down. Apparently, Barbas has a lot of grudges outstanding, made only worse  by the fact that the devils (especially "that f*cker, Asmodeus") have apparently eradicated all memory that the Talus even existed, and disappeared a thousand years ago. (Over the course of this conversation, Barbas alternates between acting like a daemon lord in a human body, and just being a cranky old man). 
• Meanwhile, the party manages to talk to Lassiter while Barbas is spouting off to Zayer. Once he makes the connection, Lassiter eventually admits the Terridar Shadowmoon had sent him a message, telling him a bit about the party and their mission. When the party asks for his help, he hesitates, concerned what damage might happen to the city and its inhabitants in the process. Eventually, after reviewing Zayer's extensive notes, he agrees, since he shares Terridar's concern that Scatterpoint is stagnating and unstable as a society, and this might be their best and only chance to return Scatterpoint to its home plane. 
• Barbas seems intent on escaping this realm as well. He mentions that one of his fellow Talus, Amon the Wolf, prophesized long ago that "When outsiders from the Land Before open the Great Library, the time of Scatterpoint is almost over", which is part of the reason Barbas has been intent on trying to get in, to subvert the prophecy. He offers to escort the party directly to the Clock Tower, which he confirms was the site of the original Incident. The party is a little nervous about teaming up with a daemon lord, but their interests appear to align, and they hope that the return of the Talus will cause more trouble to the Nine Hells than to the mortal world, based on Barbas's grudges. 

The group sets out the next morning. En route, Lassiter asks the party many questions about "The Land Before", Runespace, Spelljamming, the planet Paraxis, etc. He agrees to teach Jessa more about adapting runestones as power sources for technological gadgets, so that Jessa can hopefully use her runestones to get the Reality Comb working. (The party still hopes to use the Reality Comb to escape Scatterpoint, and setting the device to be triggered.) Barbas and Zayer continue to talk, exchanging information on the planar powers, both currently and the old (and petty) information Barbas is only too happy to share.