Session 25: The Hellmouth Report

General Summary

Scene 1: The Decent
Big Die Roll - INITIATIVE RE-ORDER (reserve or use)

Jordi = 16 - Reserve

Wonder = 17 - Reserve

Yone = 4

Fabian = 5

Jordi and Wonder, along with their new comrades Fabian and Yone stand just inside the gate to the Hellmouth mine. A deep and wide cavernous corkscrew of dirt and rock. Just as the Barron Lidellio Vann had said, showing his seal at the gate allowed your group admittance. Now, with the gate securely latched behind you, are are faced with the descending chasm.
Working the mine’s landscape are the dazed workers. At first you didn’t notice any odd behavior, the whole lot seeming to just go about their work without seeming interest at all in what you and your group might be doing here. But it becomes apparent in their way of walking, sunken eyes and dull skin, that something has hold of them - the trance described to you by the Baron. You can tell even those at this higher level of the strip mine are lost to it. Felines and humans alike milling about dazed.
“This is distressing.” Yone grunts, his hand on his dagger, “They seem unaware… why do they continue to work?”
“It seems they are being compelled to the work.” Fabian says seriously, “If a person or person’s is responsible, then they must be quite powerful to affect so many.”
JORDI: The men here are all human, not a Paxitari among them… both good and bad news. Even if the miners could speak to you, it seems unlikely that they would know anything of your father’s disappearance. Still, the miners do harken your mind to your homelands, the greate city and people of Madune — the hard working and broad strong arms and calloused hands of these men remind you of your kin at home. Seeing them in this state feels all the more unjust to such hard working people.
WONDER: You’re used to the silent walled off minds of skilled felines who both raised you, but also to those that taught you like that of your mentor Calabash; skilled felines who are able to keep their thoughts protected, their minds impenetrable. So… it’s hard to understand what you are seeing and feeling now… an absence… blank and unpopulated — as if their minds had been blotted out or taken away. These feline’s didn’t have thick mental walls… they didn’t need them, since their own presence of mind seems to be missing. It prickles your hair, this is beyond unnatural with felines to have no mental presence at all - feels almost blasphemous.
Yone points to a descending incline, “Good guess this is the direction we are taking then?” He looks to Jordi, who hold the map in his hand. Upon reviewing the map, Yone is correct. From your review, you can see that progress in a downward trajectory is possible by taking one of 2 paths. Each taking one side of the mine’s outer wall and zig zagging downward. Supposedly meeting somewhere deeper below where the light doesn’t seem to touch.
“Which way?” Fabian asks stepping aside to allow a tranced worker by without touching him as advised by the Barron.
As you consider the map, both avenues seem identical, the difference solely being that one rests to the southern side of the Hellmouth, and the other rests to the North.

Wonder assesses, and notes that the southern side seems less populated with workers.

Jordi is more inclined to go down the north side where there appears to be more traffic.

They take the northern path.

Scene 2: Inside the Hellmouth

All along the walk the haze sets in. It’s not a usual fog, and from the look of it, it seems to grow thickest down near the bottom of the Hellmouth. All along the way you walk past miners digging into the walls, some of it seeming haphazard without much real intent or purpose. Chipping into a wall for a few seconds and then moving down the way to repete the odd behavior again.
The deeper you go, the more your hairs stand on end, and you begin to feel a humidity lay thick in the air.
At the bottom of the corkscrew and switch backs, your group arrives at an open space where a number of carts partly loaded with dirt and rock stand waiting, a number of miners here slowly adding scoops from wheelbarrows into these waiting carts. The map indicates the tunnels leading off this section, a total of 6… However, the side closest to you sports a collapsed tunnel, and beside it another barred off by a number of boards and haphazard materials overturned to create a blockade. Evidence of someone having pulled aside the rubble to bypass this blockage leaves a gap two feet wide and 4 feet tall.
It is this tunnel where the map has circled and notated- “Death trap.”
Looking up, the haze obscures the upper levels of the Hellmouth. Smells of dampness can be hinted at the northern-most. Jordi investigates the opening of the blocked tunnel, the area a tight squeeze, but beyond in the dark nothing immediately seems to be a threat.
Jordi crawls forward and gets wedged in his attempt to get past. Yone and Fabian give him a push to try and help him through, they manage to jostle him enough to renew Jordi’s efforts, and he manages to pull himself through.
There is a scent of blood in the area.
Fabian and Yone join shortly after — Yone lights a torch behind the party. Evidence of an attack, blood and dragging tracks of someone being drug away. Wonder does a sweep to check for footprints and the like, trying to ascertain what attacked — the tracks are not those she recognizes. Pointing them out to Jordi, Jordi notes that the creature is walking on two legs, and is very large, its footprint over a foot long. The blood is old — Jordi thinks it might be about two weeks old.
“We should exercise caution.” Jordi notes to the party. “I guess we know what happened to the party before us.” Yone says.
———
The tunnel smells like wet earth at first, till you treck in deeper… the deeper you go though, the sooner you come to realize that the walls become straighter and more unatural… This was not a tunnel dug by natural tool or persons.
The team reaches an intersection, a grid of some kind where every 15 feet another tunnel bisects the one the team entered by. Down each of these you note the same is true of adjacent tunnels creating a grid of evenly hewn tunnels.
At the intersections a number of small flags have been periodically driven into the stone. Markers no doubt from the previous party who had ventured down the tunnel. — The Baron had mentioned that other teams had been sent in to investigate, but they hadn’t returned. Hence the blockade that had been made.
— To the Feline’s assembled, a humming starts to pick up… it echoes and bounces around the walls and cross crossing tunnels. It’s even but melodic, almost like singing. But upon observing the sound, it is quickly concluded that only the feline’s can hear it. — The flags and markers the others had set lead in the direction of the humming sounds… making it clear that those who had come before you likely had experienced the same as you and your team.
Wonder points this out, asking Jordi if he can hear the sound. Jodi notes that he can’t hear it.

The group stands at this grid, Jordi concludes that if they are to find the others before them, then following the markers is a logical direction to take.

Head off following the markers laid by the others before them.

Jordi in the front, Fabian in the middle, and Yone at the back.

— The tunnels begin to feel maze-like now, even with the markers you notice that they double back upon each other a few times. A sense of panic can be felt as the humming seems to shift direction, almost teasingly… something making that sound beyond the tunnels… a flash of movement… a jitter to the humming vibration… then it stops…. Nothing, no sound, only the group's own breathing now can be heard.
The sounds suddenly stop. Wonder perking up her mind and awareness, and locating the presence of something lurking two intersections over to the group’s right. Yone and Fabian decide to have one of them scout down the tunnel. - Yone heads out into the tunnel intersection to investigate, stealthy.
Wonder keeps an eye on him through the void best she can, noting when he slides out beyond her reach before circling back into view along the tunnels.
Scene 3: The Creature
Yone and the Group discover as the sounds of humming and breathing intensifies as a looming presence crosses paths. A swipe at Yone who takes a hit and calls out to the group.
The group swivels around to try and get eyes on it...
Standing before the group in the next forward section fo the crossing tunnels stands a creature filling the tunnel passage, hulking, and hunched, it’s arms covered with cuts and wounds of pervious fights, arrows and axes burried into it’s hyde. A shaggy mass of fur plastered to it’s body is caked with mud and gore. A bit of metallic wedged between his teeth seems to be a spare scrap of armor, suggesting the creature had eaten the previous party without pause.
The closest thing you can think to call this abomination is wolf, but only due to it’s head shape, the rest of the creature lumbers on two feet and drags something behind it, grinding stone against stone as it walks. Leaving gouges in perfectly carved cave tunnels.
The group takes a pause for a moment before the creature readies itself, lurching forward then into a run to advance towards the group.
INITIATIVE -- ENOUNTER:

The group faces the oncoming creature int he tight confines of these tunnels.

Yone takes a sneak attack at the start, burying his blades into the creature's backside. The Creature is unable to turn around in these narrow tunnels.

Jordi engaging the creature with two blast of energy.

The creature rounds around to face Jordi un-blocked and bite his shoulder.

The Group flanks him and begins dealing damage.

Fabian attacking with impressive honed fire magic attacks. (Manifesting a bow made of flame that shoots piercing flamed arrows into the creature.

Jordi carves a gash into the creature, revealing a metal interior to the creature- construct. A metal box of some kind

Yone is squished on the wall behind the creature.

Fabian launches a heated attack at the exposed metal and melts a hole in the metal wall.

The hum grows louder and the creature makes a desperate attach, discharging it’s core to deal a necrotic and psychic wave of magic against the group.

Yone half beheads the creature dealing a MASSIVE blow.

Jordi aims his alpenstock to the hole and collides, rupturing the core. The impact crushing the creature and severing him in at the center as the core explodes. The shockwave of this dealing damage to Kipp (Fabian’s feline and Jordi) Necrotic and somewhat divine energy - Only Jordi noted the divine undertones to the energy.

The rush of battle leaves the group standing winded over the hulking figure in the tunnel. Dead.
FIN — Will end here for now.

Campaign

Shades & Valor

Protagonists

Jordan Callow

Neutral Good Paxitari (Isolation/Trapper)
Bonded 5
Barbarian 1

50 / 50 HP

STR
16

DEX
11

CON
12

INT
14

WIS
13

CHA
10

Wonder

NG Feline (Wanderlust)
Bonded 5
Rogue 1

43 / 43 HP

STR
9

DEX
16

CON
13

INT
12

WIS
14

CHA
16

Report Date

27 Apr 2024