07/28/2024 -- Operation Delve (Level 2)

Date: 16 Knewidi 715AR. Starring Andreas (commander), Bee (marshall), Zey (quartermaster), Seth (spymaster), Angel (lorekeeper), and Storm.
From the beginning of the session, everyone gets 2d6 on all their rolls, thanks to Marcus.
We begin by the beach, but the marshall is alerted to a problem – with the sunny skies and beautiful weather, many people want to go out onto the beach and enjoy it. We don’t have the emeralds to do this. Bee runs out front to address the people.
- “We haven’t checked out this area yet, it could be dangerous to go out alone. If everyone can just wait until other people have checked it out, that would be greatly appreciated. And then we can have a beach day!”
Bee gets a 5 on the morale roll – orders are followed, but everyone is disappointed that their beach day has been taken away from them. Morale drops to zero.
The party meets on one of the towers at the command building. Bee asks how everything went with Bob, and Angel updates the group on the events of Operation Anahi (that Anahi left of her own volition and is petitioning to be reassigned to a different court, and that Bob is very angry with the Brigade). The party plans to go into the dungeon, after searching for supplies and emeralds. Zey goes to tell Magion about the operation, and asks to be given the martial school test afterwards. Bee goes to eat Radavon, and Angel offers to invite Margaux along if she’s well. The party also discusses having a cookout on the beach soon.
- Bee and Seth go to the Rat Races, Andreas and Storm go to Bitter Swill, and Angel is warded by Margaux (who does agree to come along).
A random event triggers, something that has a very high chance of happening in this area – because of the Bob Tax, we didn’t get these in previous seasons. Zey rolls 246 and gets a 7, which is good enough for a positive result. We get news that Corania has been developing a device to locate emerald deposits within 50 miles of the Keep, but has needed lots of power and silica-rich stone, which she can get here. We can get this upgrade if we can pay 3 emerald, 3 morale, 8 supply, and 1 build point by the end of the session.
The spies find +3 supply, and we preemptively deduct -1 intel and -1 supply for the mission. Zey puts 1 build point preemptively into the emerald detector, and puts 2 build points into starting his blood testing project. Zey equips himself with the Gloryseeker Shield, and Storm gets the Black Briar’s Ax.
1 intel is spent to ask what a useful item would be, and we’re told jars. Bee brings along a pot, and we spend -1 scrap to get 3-4 jars. The spymaster asks how dangerous the mission is, and is told a 5 on a scale of 1-10.
The marshall gets a 6 on the delve roll. We descend into the Sanctum and through the first level, passing the corpse of the moth on the way. We go down a set of stairs to the next level. Bee echolocates, and hears a slow, staccato movement from down one of the hallways. Seth sniffs the air (5 successes) and smells rotting soil, worms, and heavy mold.
The walls are crumbling stone, intermixed with heavy roots and dirt. We go down one passage and see signs of a struggle – there’s a massive pile of dirt, with clothes and the like thrown around. Very long earthworms (15-16in) are moving through the dirt. Andreas investigates and sees scholarly garb and arcane runes, perhaps indicating a wizard was here. The camping equipment suggests they were maybe an adventurer.
Some party members see a glimpse of something blue move down one of the hallways.
We approach a door that’s slightly ajar. The metal seems to have been boiled, and the door looks like it was blown off its hinges. Inside is a room with destroyed barricades, burn marks, armor surrounding long-dead bodies, etc. Seems like it was a place set up for a siege or last stand. Zey notices that the door used to have Primordial wards on it, though they’ve long since died or been destroyed. Lots of offensive magic used inside.
Upon approaching Storm and then walking back, Bee goes down to 0sp and gains Tired II. Lethargy seems to overtake her body. Seth lays down a line of salt, and Zey uses Heal III on Bee. Seth touches some of the bodies, but doesn’t pick up on anything weird. Zey inspects the armor, but doesn’t recognize it; under it on a lot of the soldiers is a heavy woven fabric.
We find a broken-down barricade that was shredded through, and down one tunnel see scraps of armor, and jagged claw marks along the side of the wall. Seth finds some silver coins amongst the wreckage, a ruined water flask, and a skeletal severed hand clutched around a dagger forged of solid black obsidian. It’s razor-sharp, and seems to give off a low hum. Angel asks to see it, and Seth tells them they can keep it.
We go back to see that the salt line has been disturbed. The creature doesn’t seem to have cared about the salt all that much.
There’s a wall that’s more overgrown with roots and vegetation. The wall smells like the tree of magic. We find some doors – one is a massive sealed steel door with multiple rivets, and through another is a crumbling hallway. Down the hallway, we see a massive root from the tree has burst through the ceiling and descended to the floor. Seth gets a hero point for touching it.
Bee makes a mental save. She gets 2 successes.
Through another door, we see some sort of central hub. In the center of the room is a large metal barred box with a lever in a central upright position. One could easily reach through the bars and manipulate the lever. Seth moves it to the right, and we hear the sound of a door opening.
Seth goes through a door and sees a wall where the stone looks like it was made to dead-end. The stone feels colder than normal, and he can hear what might be running water on the other side.
We see suddenly that Bee has a hole in her chest – there’s an indentation like she was hit by something. The entirety of that area is momentarily numb.
We find a general mixing area of different hallways, and hear footsteps behind one door, so we decide to breach and clear. We go in, and find the remnants of a battle – wasted armor, and a growth of spikes from the ground in the upper corner of the room. It seems like it might once have been a storage room.
We find a door marked “Bathroom” in Dwarvish, and open it to find a large communal bathroom, with communal baths, private stalls, and 2 sinks. One of the taps is running. Seth turns it off, then turns them all on – there’s a belch of stagnant built-up water, but then fresh water starts flowing. Seth puts some water in a jar. We also find some lavender-scented soaps.
Through another door, we find an armory, though the armor is dented and the weapons are gone. There are clawmarks on the walls, and corpses of individuals in darker robes on the ground. Their bodies have long since mummified, and they appear to have been drained of energy. One of the bodies is a body of a minotaur dressed in full steel plate, which has been pierced by multiple spears. It’s holding a massive two-handed ax.
Seth picks up and inspects the ax – it has a requirement of at least an 8 (unprestiged) in Physical, but it has Heavy III and Sheer I. He acquires the Ax of the Minotaur Knight. He also takes both of the creature’s horns.
In another room, past an incompletely-barricaded door, is another minotaur corpse. On the far wall is a message written in blood, but none of us speak Goblin or Minotaur. We write it down to ask the hobgoblins about later.
- Post-session, we are told the translation is: “The forest is a desert. It needs not gold, but water and blood.”
In room 30 is a training chamber, gravel-floored, with well-used wooden practice dummies and multiple sparring lines. There are weapon racks with wooden weapons, and two wooden doors.
Room 26 is an inactive forge, with full bellows, smelting equipment, anvils, and some half-finished weapons. Angel takes +4 scrap, and Seth takes the weapons to bring back to Marie.
Down another hallway, we find the body of a Breoan slumped against the side of the wall. Zey pats them down and finds 370gp, a bunch of ruined adventuring gear, a ticket for a ship from Breoa to Havell, and a quarterstaff with Echo Strike on it.
Angel makes a check to inspect their new dagger. It’s definitely magic – they get the intuition it’s a returning dagger, and has Killer IV. Its name is Goodbye, and it is currently dormant.
We find a heavier iron door labeled “Storage/Bait”. Zey freezes water inside the lock, breaking it open, and we find that room 24 is filled with shelves that contain jars of dirt. Everyone takes some, and Bee tries to deliver some to Storm, but loses 1AB and 1HB to the thing following us. Storm reaches out behind him to steady Bee, and tells her she should go back to the others.
Seth opens another door to find a room with large clay drums, probably 500gal. Each drum is filled with earthworms, writhing around inside. Angel scoops some worms into a jar of dirt, and finds bones mixed in. Seth digs through the drum for more bones and finds them, along with shreds of shirt and other material.
Our supplies are running out at this point, so we return to the surface. Our Delve mission is complete – the level isn’t, but we have the information for next time.
The camera pans out and down, looking closer at the cosmic stack itself, and we see a ruined and broken landscape covered in fire. We find the devil Bifrons, one of the emissaries of the Pale, currently begging underneath an iron boot.
Bifrons says he doesn’t know anything, and Helmuth says to talk – he brings down his blade, chopping through a part of the devil. Bifrons says the sovereigns are amassing, and the Pale sits at the Pass of Tears. Helmuth nods, and ignores Bifrons as he tries to make another deal, chopping through another leg.
Bifrons asks what Helmuth wants, and says he shall give him all the information he desires. Helmuth slowly bends down until he’s at eye level with the devil.
- “I knew all this information when I caught you. I want your suffering now.”
Helmuth picks up the devil, dragging them screaming through the field of devils he’s already slain.
- “Let us go to the Pass. Let the Pale taste blood.”
Back at Widowstone, Zey feels the tiniest bit of blood begin to trickle from his lip. And as Helmuth continues through Hell, the session ends here.