Clan Caskbound, played 4.24.20 IRL, 9.10.2121 IG.

This adventure was a Strange Mission, with shared GM duties, classified as History (it really happened!)

• Devron Leveller (Mark) Berserker. Chosen, Mason.
• Dandel “The Dan” Deeptunnel (Simon) Berserker. Carouser, Miner, Brewer.
• Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.
• Zuuker (Andrew) Support. Topsider, Brewer.

Return to Ryvolko

The Fellowship returned to Ryvolko and The Beetleback Brewery. They met with Magistrate Plaxton, who dropped in for a drink. He was salty that they withdrew directly overseas and did not check in with Ryvolko. Still, their return was well timed, as the city faced a strange threat. Constructs of water had appeared in the city, and when fought back, they glowed with an arcane sign that belonged to Yaru, a local wizard. Another local wizard, Iskavol, went to check on her tower on a nearby island about an hour away by airship. She left yesterday, and since then three more water constructs have emerged and menaced the city. Would the dwarves take a look?

Roll Tide!

Three massive water constructs converged on the brewhouse, and the Fellowship leaped into action. They broke two down, and narrowly saved the magistrate as the third blew through the wall and targeted him; Korvask defended him as only a vanguard could, and the magistrate struck the killing blow with his hidden prosthetic forearm cannon.

To the Tower

The Fellowship packed up and headed out at once. Nymeer let them take the Sea Scout airship, with Zuuker at the helm (as he was a topsider trained on the controls.) They were well underway when the airship started spraying smoke.

Outside, goblins mounted on bats swirled around the airship, hurling smokebombs, queuing up fire bombs. The Fellowship fired the Sea Scout’s new deck guns at them, then the goblins formed up to all hurl bombs at once and Zuuker fired a heroically aimed shot, blasting one bomb and triggering the others, spraying fire all over the goblins and their bats. They retreated in disarray.

The Portraits and the Door

They reached the lonely tower, and inside they found a foyer with a massive spell set into the floor connected to two portraits of children on the walls. Devron tried to lead the way across the spellwork, but he was repulsed, and the aspect of the portraits darkened and twisted towards something evil.

The Fellowship flanked Devron and charged at the opposite door, hurling him into it with his full berserk momentum, smashing through the door and going deeper into the tower.

The Crossroads Chamber

The other side of the door was stairs going down, and as Devron toppled painfully down them, the rest of the Fellowship followed to discover a chamber with walkways over a central pit with a shaft in the center, supporting an orb. The room got colder, and they spotted Iskavol trapped in the orb.

They approached, and Devron reached through the magical crystal somehow, from his center to its center, bypassing the surface; he could led the Fellowship in, or pull the wizard out. He pulled Iskavol out of the orb to rejoin them, and as he did, the central column cracked and released foul magical waste wraiths that flowed up at the Fellowship, who dispatched them swiftly; Korvask repelled the mystic assault with his Shard Shield, and only Zuuker succumbed to the corrupted monsters harvesting insecurity and fear and armoring themselves with it.

A Net of Orbs

Iskavol earnestly explained that there were ten orbs in the extradimensional interior of the tower, forming the Crossroads, and she knew where the Crucible of Waves was–that would be the one causing these water construct problems. The temperature continued falling in the Crossroads Chamber, so they headed for an exit as the exits were magically iced over. The ice repelled a few attacks, so the Fellowship rammed Devron into the barrier and broke it enough for them to slip through. Iksavol quoth the command word “YehBASsik” and calmed the ice defenses down so they could continue to the chamber with the Crucible of Waves.

A Dragon, Chained

The orb was on a stand, and a 30 foot dragon chained to the floor was dazed and somehow draining its blood in crystal drops, its essence pinning the orb open. The Fellowship examined the situation, and Korvask’s enchanting and scholarly lore combined to reveal that the markings on the orb base were those used by the sea witches; they had somehow infiltrated, and were keeping the portal open using the dragon’s life force. The Fellowship considered trying to go through, but peering through the orb suggested that the other side was crush depth. As they looked through, something on the other side spotted them.

Flood and Fighting

The portal released a column of high-pressure water, with a massive tendril and some horrible sea creatures included. The room began filling with water at an alarming rate, and the dwarves retreated far enough to form a plan.

Iskavol dove into the pool and used her magic to free the dragon from its chains. As it reared up, the tendril from the deep grappled it, and the dragon bit out chunks of its flesh so its acid blood flavored the water. An eel-like swimming nightmare closed with Devron as the rest of the Fellowship dragged Korvask to the stand, where he used his knowledge of mystical writings to dislodge the orb and snap the portal shut.

The severed tendril thrashed around the room, and the flood of water dragged the Fellowship out of the chamber and down the hall towards the deep shaft in the Crossroads Chamber.

A Dragon, Revealed

The injured dragon leaped over the chasm to the central column and sagged down, weakly calling for help. The Fellowship and Iskavol cautiously approached, and the dragon revealed she was Yaru; she asked them to keep her secret, and they agreed.

Iskavol helped Yaru resume her wizard shape, and Yaru explained that the sea witches had somehow infiltrated her tower and caught her unawares, trapping her and draining her life force to hold theCrucible of Waves open. She did not know why they did this, or what they accomplished in addition to sending some water constructs through the streets of Ryvolko (and possibly targeting the magistrate specifically.) The danger was now past, and it was time for the Fellowship to leave the two wizards alone in the tower.

The Fellowship earned 3 Ledger, and this tale is historical.