24-26: Modiminir
General Summary
The group sought when of the legendary treasures at a nearby location marked by Dao, the Earth Genie. They chose to stop at the Dwarven fishing village, Steinfisk, where they met Elmo, a half-dwarf, half-kobold who revealed, with some prodding, that he was part of a top secret research assignment to delve into the abandoned, ancient dwarven city, Modiminir. Through some sleight of hand, pulled off by Vash instead of the rogue, Elmo's insignia of the High King was used to prove that the adventurers were also part of the research mission and had been sent to help. Elmo was property convinced and allowed the group to use his teleport scroll with him to return to the city, saving them a long trip.
Continuing the ruse of having been sent by the High King to assist the researchers, the group delved into the city, except for Kedar who was forced to stay outside due to some sort of magical influence on the city. On the first day the top floor of the underground city was explored, and a might Clockwork Behir was slain. In slaying this creature, a sort of psychological barrier was broken and the dwarves were finally able to delve further into the ancient city themselves to explore. The group rested for the night.
One the second day, well-rested and full from a hearty dwarven breakfast, the group went to explore the second floor. This time they had a specific goal. In the living quarters of floor two a great vault was located, and the researchers informed that it was highly protected both physcially and magically, and they would need the sigil stone, likely broken into 4 pieces, to enter. Per documents the researchers had found, there would be two on this floor, and two more on the lower floor. Further, they found an inert portal in the living quarters, and the dwarves were working hard to restore its functions to see where it led.
The group faced more automotons on this floor, and began to face living shadows and ghouls. On this floor they were helped by the dwarven researchers who also were exploring the city and mine. They also found that some of those researchers had been slain in their attempts to clear the floor. By the end of the day the group had found two sigil stones, each guarded by another clockwork Behir.
On the third day, once again well-rested and well-fed, the group went all the way down to the lowest floor. This time a black cat joined them. No dwarves had yet gone this far down in their research, and it was for the best as the group discovered many ghouls and living shadows, as well as a lichen-filled caved that housed a Mushroom King and his citizens. The group claimed one sigil from an abandoned chest, and the other from the Mushroom King. Aralia had attempted to make friends with the Mushroom citizens, but was attacked by a magical, wild flower. Meanwhile, Vash and Rowan were off exploring a different area, sharing laughs and jokes. Though the Mushrooms tried to assist her, the situation was complicated when she was knocked unconscious and Jin'e attacked the Mushroom King. In the end, most Mushroom citizens were slain, and the King was convinced with strong magic to let the group escape. From the King the group recieved their fourth sigil.
Leaving much of the third floor unexplored, the group went back up, higher into the city, to open the vault. It opened to a massive hoard of treasure and suddenly the group faced a conundrum. If they took all this treasure now, the Dwarven High King would likely be displeased. After a lot of arguing, the group decided to leave the treasure, opting only to make an exchange, one dwarven magical item they found deep in the city for a magical shield found in the vault. Visindi, one of the research leads, agreed to this deal, but only if they stayed another 12 hours to allow them to study the shield first.
On the fourth day the group was given a brief breakdown of what the dwarves had learned so far. The city had once housed the Duergar clan, but the entire clan had vanished. They had a lot of research left to do, but the things they had found so far, like the sigil on the shield, was leading them to believe that the King of the City had been delving into dark magic, possibly attempting to summon a terrible creature or make a deal with the Dark Goddess Shar. The group was given the shield, and they teleported back to their ship.
On the ship the crew greeted them heartily, and asked about the treasure. It was then that the group realized they had left the ancient mine city with only a rare magical shield, when they had gone for something legendary.
That night, after much discussion on what to do next or how to go about retreiving the treasure they had meant to find, the group slept in their rooms on the ship. Rowan and Kedar, however, did something else. Undergoing some sort of magical ritual, Kedar gave Rowan a new, draconic hand to replace the one he had lost. Afterwards, for reasons unknown, Kedar had flown off, leaving the crew worried.
Report Date
23 Jul 2023
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