Session 11 - The Chosen, Revealed
General Summary
As we stand in the octagonal room, our hair stands on end. We recognize that the vault is made of the same material as the tablets and the shattered mace and wonder how to open it. While it is obvious that the handprint is the key, we can’t ignore the warnings of the Ellmar. After a lot of discussion Baka uses a telekinesis spell to send a shuriken to touch the vault, but there is no effect, and she brings the shuriken back to her.
Brovar and Tripp climb the wall to look at the top of the vault and sees that it is featureless, just like the sides. At that moment there is an earthquake, the wall and side of the room with Brovar collapses and he disappears down the hole. Tripp calls out to him, but there is no answer. Suddenly the entrance, where Lilrie is, collapses and she also disappears. Next the area in which Sai Kyo and Digby stand starts caving in, with Sai Kyo “surfing” the rocks, staying upright on the way down.
Only Tripp and Baka are left, and there is another ominous rumbling sound. Looking into the huge hole that has appeared Baka has the impression of a large body moving within. Tripp then falls into the dust and darkness, and Baka is alone, feeling the rumbling beneath her feet. Suddenly Riele flies off her shoulder, as she starts falling, but before she goes too far, she feels a hand gripping her and is hauled up by a woman, about 40 years old who says “it is good to see you again, Baka”. It is Sirenna Caryn! “Our priority is the Vault ”, she continues, “we must open it”. “Have you translated the words?” Sirenna asks. Baka replies that there are still some gaps, so Sirenna reads the translation to her. Unfortunately, Sirenna cannot explain the meaning of “Bloth Laeki”, apart from the direct dwarven translation. She also does not know “The Twins”.
And the Serpents gathered the evil of Ellios
To them came power and blood
the Twins will stand against them
And Bloth Laeki and The Chosen
Incredibly, Sirenna then says “You are The Chosen of The Enduring, Baka”. As Riele flies back and lands safely on the vault, Sirenna goes on to explain. “No-one knows how long The Enduring live or how many there are, but Riele is mentioned in writings that go back many centuries”. Baka is stunned and can barely take it all in. Sirenna urges her to open the vault quickly as the room might not be here any longer. So, Baka walks up to the vault and puts her hand in the impression. Her surprise and at not being shocked is replaced by surprise at the hatchway falling inward. She walks in and finds that the vault is mainly empty. She sees a box, 50cm by 30cm, made of the same metal as the vault, with a small grid on the top, and a small bag of tiles, covered with numbers and words. Picking it up, it sounds as if there are other things inside it. The only other thing in the vault is a rolled-up scroll. Baka opens the scroll first, to see an old map of Ellios, with a grid, which this time is numbered, with Sunom at the center. Before she can do anything, the whole vault starts shaking and then falling! Baka grabs the box and scroll, bracing herself against the walls, until it stops. She crawls out of the vault into pitch darkness, her vision obscured by dust. Sirenna was outside the vault and is nowhere to be seen, but with a flutter of wings, Riele lands on her shoulder. “Good to see you Riele”, she says. In the meantime, the others have taken damage from their falls. Digby takes another 13, taking him down to 30. Tripp takes 9 damage and is down to 15. Brovar takes 10 damage, down to 57 and Lilrie 5 damage, down to 21. Sai Kyo seems to be okay, but we are all separated. Calling out we can hear each other and Brovar lights a torch, calling out to the others. Over the course of an hour, we find each other, and see that we are in a large cavern. There is still no sign of Sirenna. It is at that moment that Tripp utters the immortal line, “Life is just a bunch of levers”. You are so right Tripp. So right. Ignoring the fact that there is a large monster lurking out in the darkness somewhere, we start working on the puzzle. It seems to be a simple addition problem, and as we finish entering the pieces there is a satisfying click. Inside the box we find another brass coin, with a single stroke on one side, another Oharith tablet, and two completely smooth, spherical crystals. The first is a deep orange hue, engraved with the word “Lijawng”. The second is silvery grey, engraved with the word “Ime”. Checking the translation made by Deah Ssip, we understand that they mean Sun and Moon. There is also a short document, which talks about the encryption device Sazmok, describing what the encryption device is for and the design. Looking at the scroll with the old map of Ellios, we remember the scrap of vellum that Ecaeris gave us. Taking it out and using the codes as coordinates we see that the first location is the old city of Gulumi, in The Waste, north west of Sunom. Another puzzle solved! Looking at our torches, which barely flicker, we have no idea in which direction we should head. We feel that we should rest up, but are worried about the monster, probably a large worm, 8 to 10 feet in diameter, which Baka saw. Digby points out some tunnels in the shadows, which we can now see they are perfectly circular, with smooth walls, and about the same size of the worm. Somehow this worm can make tunnels in sandstone. As we are still considering which direction to take, there seem to be footsteps and voices coming towards us, and we can make out guttural grunts. We start preparing for a fight, taking out bows, and Sai Kyo preparing Adrenal Speed. As they approach, they are as surprised as us and we can see that they seem to have suffered a fall, as we have, with cuts on their arms and legs. Brovar attacks first, a perfect stroke with his mace for a 23E crush, doing 15 more hits and preventing the Orc attacking. Sai Kyo strikes another Orc for a 11B, doing 6 more hits and also preventing it attacking next turn. Baka moves up beside Digby as Tripp lights his lantern. Digby swings his battle axe at the unfortunate Orc doing a 32E slash critical, putting it on 4 hits per round and -10, doing 6 more damage, and stunning it for 2 rounds. Way to go Digby! Lilrie also moves up to the other side of Digby who is hit for 2 damage; it is but a scratch. Next round, Brovar is attacked first, by an Orc who must have had the best attack of his life. He is hit with a 18E slash, and 5 more damage. Lilrie is also hit for 14 damage. Brovar strikes back, missing with his long sword, and hitting with his mace for and 18C crush, killing the Orc. Swift, sweet, vicious revenge, the best kind. Baka also attacks with her short sword landing a 17D puncture critical, killing the Orc. Sai Kyo strikes for a 11C critical, stunning the Orc, adding 8 more damage. Lilrie lashes out with her morning star but misses. Tripp wisely moves away from the war troll that has approached us from behind. Digby has his back, taking it on, smiting it with a 33E crush, doing 10 more damage. Unfortunately, this makes it very angry, and it swings the battle axe that it is holding in one hand, doing 28 damage to Digby, knocking him unconscious. Sai Kyo attacks his Orc again doing a 12C critical and 3 more damage taking it out. Brovar takes on the war troll but only does 3 more damage. The remaining Orc takes aim at Baka, but misses as Tripp prepares his bow. Lilrie misses and Baka hits the Orc for 7 damage. The war troll attacks Brovar doing 30 damage, taking him down to 4 hits remaining. Holy shit, this is not good. Sai Kyo, looking to save the day, moves to attack the war troll, but does a pathetic 2 damage. Brovar hits with his long sword doing 5 damage, and his mace connects for 3. Tripp now lets rip, his first arrow doing a 10A puncture critical, and 2 more damage. The second is better, a 15C puncture critical, shredding muscles and tendons in the war troll’s weapon arm, but it is immune to the stun effect. Baka hits the troll with her short sword doing 3 damage. Lilrie hits the last Orc for 11 damage, taking it out as the war troll swings at Sai Kyo, missing by a fraction. Next round Sai Kyo tickles the war troll for 1 damage, earning a look of disdain. Tripp fumbles with his first arrow, recovering easily, and hits with the second doing a 16D puncture, and 10 more hits. Brovar hits the war troll with his long sword for 11A, and 10 more hits. His mace smacks the war troll for a 16E crush critical, strike thru foes ear, killing it with ease, and inspiring the rest of the party so that their next attack is at +20. All hail Brovar, the troll killer! We are in no shape to continue and decide to rest and heal up, with Sai Kyo taking the first watch. Before doing so Lilrie uses the rest of her Power Points to heal Digby for 9, and herself for 18. What would we do without her? After 7 hours of rest, we hear another party of Orcs in the distance, but they do not enter our cave. The people on watch tell the rest of the party that they have felt tremors during the night, so we need to get away from here quickly. Before moving on Lilrie heals Digby for 13, and Brovar for 17. Not being able to work out the location of the Orcs we head North in standard party order. After some hours we enter a cave with columns and glowing crystals embedded in the walls. On the right there seems to be a large cluster of egg cases, rounded, opaque and up to a meter high, covered in mucus. Some seem to be moving… We hurry on past them, keeping our distance, and hear a massive grating sound, as something large looms out of the darkness. It’s the worm! Tripp passes the lantern to Baka, as everyone gets their bows out. Baka starts preparing a spell, as Sai Kyo prepares Adrenal Speed. Next round we launch into an attack, Brovar hitting it with his bow, for 5 damage. Sai Kyo hits for 3 damage with his first attack and then 26 and 2 E criticals, for another 33 hits with his second. Tripp fires into the melee with his bow doing 23 damage and two criticals, for an additional 39 damage. Lilrie runs into help as the worm grapples with Sai Kyo doing 6 damage (down to 55), wrapping its body around him, putting him at -50 for the next three rounds. Luckily Digby wallops it with a 23 and a critical, for 22 more damage, and +10 to his next swing, taking it out. Moving on we find a narrow passage, sloping upwards, and we can smell burning wood. After 30 minutes we emerge into the sand at the edge of The Waste. Behind us Sunom continues to burn. We need our horses and equipment and so head back eastwards to get them. Riele flies off, high into the sky, relieved to be out in the open. The soldiers seem to have regained control of the city, but it continues to collapse around them as the earthquakes continue. As we work our way back, people recognize us as the ones that fought thru to the Library. We are celebrated and brought before King Roland who gives us the prize of 1000 gold, food, and offers to bind our wounds. We have the chance to reequip before moving on to Gulumi, which is our next target. After all the excitement Baka finds somewhere to sit by herself. Her, The Chosen! What does it mean? Chosen for what? To do what? How can she find out what she has to do? What if she cannot do it? She suddenly feels very small, but thankful that she has her friends with her. As long as they are together, anything is possible.
To them came power and blood
the Twins will stand against them
And Bloth Laeki and The Chosen
Incredibly, Sirenna then says “You are The Chosen of The Enduring, Baka”. As Riele flies back and lands safely on the vault, Sirenna goes on to explain. “No-one knows how long The Enduring live or how many there are, but Riele is mentioned in writings that go back many centuries”. Baka is stunned and can barely take it all in. Sirenna urges her to open the vault quickly as the room might not be here any longer. So, Baka walks up to the vault and puts her hand in the impression. Her surprise and at not being shocked is replaced by surprise at the hatchway falling inward. She walks in and finds that the vault is mainly empty. She sees a box, 50cm by 30cm, made of the same metal as the vault, with a small grid on the top, and a small bag of tiles, covered with numbers and words. Picking it up, it sounds as if there are other things inside it. The only other thing in the vault is a rolled-up scroll. Baka opens the scroll first, to see an old map of Ellios, with a grid, which this time is numbered, with Sunom at the center. Before she can do anything, the whole vault starts shaking and then falling! Baka grabs the box and scroll, bracing herself against the walls, until it stops. She crawls out of the vault into pitch darkness, her vision obscured by dust. Sirenna was outside the vault and is nowhere to be seen, but with a flutter of wings, Riele lands on her shoulder. “Good to see you Riele”, she says. In the meantime, the others have taken damage from their falls. Digby takes another 13, taking him down to 30. Tripp takes 9 damage and is down to 15. Brovar takes 10 damage, down to 57 and Lilrie 5 damage, down to 21. Sai Kyo seems to be okay, but we are all separated. Calling out we can hear each other and Brovar lights a torch, calling out to the others. Over the course of an hour, we find each other, and see that we are in a large cavern. There is still no sign of Sirenna. It is at that moment that Tripp utters the immortal line, “Life is just a bunch of levers”. You are so right Tripp. So right. Ignoring the fact that there is a large monster lurking out in the darkness somewhere, we start working on the puzzle. It seems to be a simple addition problem, and as we finish entering the pieces there is a satisfying click. Inside the box we find another brass coin, with a single stroke on one side, another Oharith tablet, and two completely smooth, spherical crystals. The first is a deep orange hue, engraved with the word “Lijawng”. The second is silvery grey, engraved with the word “Ime”. Checking the translation made by Deah Ssip, we understand that they mean Sun and Moon. There is also a short document, which talks about the encryption device Sazmok, describing what the encryption device is for and the design. Looking at the scroll with the old map of Ellios, we remember the scrap of vellum that Ecaeris gave us. Taking it out and using the codes as coordinates we see that the first location is the old city of Gulumi, in The Waste, north west of Sunom. Another puzzle solved! Looking at our torches, which barely flicker, we have no idea in which direction we should head. We feel that we should rest up, but are worried about the monster, probably a large worm, 8 to 10 feet in diameter, which Baka saw. Digby points out some tunnels in the shadows, which we can now see they are perfectly circular, with smooth walls, and about the same size of the worm. Somehow this worm can make tunnels in sandstone. As we are still considering which direction to take, there seem to be footsteps and voices coming towards us, and we can make out guttural grunts. We start preparing for a fight, taking out bows, and Sai Kyo preparing Adrenal Speed. As they approach, they are as surprised as us and we can see that they seem to have suffered a fall, as we have, with cuts on their arms and legs. Brovar attacks first, a perfect stroke with his mace for a 23E crush, doing 15 more hits and preventing the Orc attacking. Sai Kyo strikes another Orc for a 11B, doing 6 more hits and also preventing it attacking next turn. Baka moves up beside Digby as Tripp lights his lantern. Digby swings his battle axe at the unfortunate Orc doing a 32E slash critical, putting it on 4 hits per round and -10, doing 6 more damage, and stunning it for 2 rounds. Way to go Digby! Lilrie also moves up to the other side of Digby who is hit for 2 damage; it is but a scratch. Next round, Brovar is attacked first, by an Orc who must have had the best attack of his life. He is hit with a 18E slash, and 5 more damage. Lilrie is also hit for 14 damage. Brovar strikes back, missing with his long sword, and hitting with his mace for and 18C crush, killing the Orc. Swift, sweet, vicious revenge, the best kind. Baka also attacks with her short sword landing a 17D puncture critical, killing the Orc. Sai Kyo strikes for a 11C critical, stunning the Orc, adding 8 more damage. Lilrie lashes out with her morning star but misses. Tripp wisely moves away from the war troll that has approached us from behind. Digby has his back, taking it on, smiting it with a 33E crush, doing 10 more damage. Unfortunately, this makes it very angry, and it swings the battle axe that it is holding in one hand, doing 28 damage to Digby, knocking him unconscious. Sai Kyo attacks his Orc again doing a 12C critical and 3 more damage taking it out. Brovar takes on the war troll but only does 3 more damage. The remaining Orc takes aim at Baka, but misses as Tripp prepares his bow. Lilrie misses and Baka hits the Orc for 7 damage. The war troll attacks Brovar doing 30 damage, taking him down to 4 hits remaining. Holy shit, this is not good. Sai Kyo, looking to save the day, moves to attack the war troll, but does a pathetic 2 damage. Brovar hits with his long sword doing 5 damage, and his mace connects for 3. Tripp now lets rip, his first arrow doing a 10A puncture critical, and 2 more damage. The second is better, a 15C puncture critical, shredding muscles and tendons in the war troll’s weapon arm, but it is immune to the stun effect. Baka hits the troll with her short sword doing 3 damage. Lilrie hits the last Orc for 11 damage, taking it out as the war troll swings at Sai Kyo, missing by a fraction. Next round Sai Kyo tickles the war troll for 1 damage, earning a look of disdain. Tripp fumbles with his first arrow, recovering easily, and hits with the second doing a 16D puncture, and 10 more hits. Brovar hits the war troll with his long sword for 11A, and 10 more hits. His mace smacks the war troll for a 16E crush critical, strike thru foes ear, killing it with ease, and inspiring the rest of the party so that their next attack is at +20. All hail Brovar, the troll killer! We are in no shape to continue and decide to rest and heal up, with Sai Kyo taking the first watch. Before doing so Lilrie uses the rest of her Power Points to heal Digby for 9, and herself for 18. What would we do without her? After 7 hours of rest, we hear another party of Orcs in the distance, but they do not enter our cave. The people on watch tell the rest of the party that they have felt tremors during the night, so we need to get away from here quickly. Before moving on Lilrie heals Digby for 13, and Brovar for 17. Not being able to work out the location of the Orcs we head North in standard party order. After some hours we enter a cave with columns and glowing crystals embedded in the walls. On the right there seems to be a large cluster of egg cases, rounded, opaque and up to a meter high, covered in mucus. Some seem to be moving… We hurry on past them, keeping our distance, and hear a massive grating sound, as something large looms out of the darkness. It’s the worm! Tripp passes the lantern to Baka, as everyone gets their bows out. Baka starts preparing a spell, as Sai Kyo prepares Adrenal Speed. Next round we launch into an attack, Brovar hitting it with his bow, for 5 damage. Sai Kyo hits for 3 damage with his first attack and then 26 and 2 E criticals, for another 33 hits with his second. Tripp fires into the melee with his bow doing 23 damage and two criticals, for an additional 39 damage. Lilrie runs into help as the worm grapples with Sai Kyo doing 6 damage (down to 55), wrapping its body around him, putting him at -50 for the next three rounds. Luckily Digby wallops it with a 23 and a critical, for 22 more damage, and +10 to his next swing, taking it out. Moving on we find a narrow passage, sloping upwards, and we can smell burning wood. After 30 minutes we emerge into the sand at the edge of The Waste. Behind us Sunom continues to burn. We need our horses and equipment and so head back eastwards to get them. Riele flies off, high into the sky, relieved to be out in the open. The soldiers seem to have regained control of the city, but it continues to collapse around them as the earthquakes continue. As we work our way back, people recognize us as the ones that fought thru to the Library. We are celebrated and brought before King Roland who gives us the prize of 1000 gold, food, and offers to bind our wounds. We have the chance to reequip before moving on to Gulumi, which is our next target. After all the excitement Baka finds somewhere to sit by herself. Her, The Chosen! What does it mean? Chosen for what? To do what? How can she find out what she has to do? What if she cannot do it? She suddenly feels very small, but thankful that she has her friends with her. As long as they are together, anything is possible.
Kitty
- Session start – 160 gold, 187 silver
- Income – 1000 gold
- Expenses – none
- Session end – 1160 gold, 187 silver
Report Date
17 Feb 2021
Comments