Lost Lab of Kwalish

(I forgot to ask - did we manage to loot anything from the collector before the short rest?)

(I’m pretty sure we already took Corliss’ brain. See post #2334. Omiy handed the dickhead brain to Huarache.)

Omiy glances at green glow emitting from the portal within the abbey, clearly too distracted by the sight she slows her steps through the descending and crumbling island, and apparently her companions noticed the weird phenomena occurring in the abbey.

“I’ll go check out the portal.” She decides, wondering what is beyond the green glowing light, “Let someone smart go with you, Huarache. Shutorn, maybe. “

Indeed she did! Alright, that solves the sphinx problem, but I would like to get enough time for Huarache to get the other brains out of here with exoskeletons.

"I'll go with to check out the glow." Leann says, glancing towards it as well.

So Huarache is headed East. Leann and Omiy will enter the central abbey and that leaves Samogri and Shutorn. 

"Wait, in case things go south for me, take this." Huarache pulls out a hammer, a nice solid one that has signs of use but would clearly be helpful to any blacksmith for years to come. He compresses the handle with a small tool, and it starts glowing slightly (5 feet of bright light, further 5 feet of dim light). "I built Bryn Mk. I with this thing. Take good care of it," he says as he hands it to Leann.

Assuming Sam tracks the prints of the collectors you fought an hour ago, he would determine that they lead back to the central abbey, suggesting that is where they came from.   Also from the abbey,, Samogri notices more tracks headed west, toward the engine room.  They look nothing like those of the collectors. These are made by a large creature walking on two legs, the weight all on the toes, something like a raptor or a axebeak, but with shorter toes, all five pointed forward, each tipped with short sharp claws.  The tracks are fresh, a pair of monsters walking with a third, tiny, four-footed animal between them.

Ooc: Hate to take away players' agency here, but I'm going to have to bot Sam and Shutorn here to keep things moving.

Shutorn and Huarache head to the engine room. (I know it says "Sa", but I changed my mind because I'm too nice and decided the necromancer should go to the room with corpses in it.)

Peering in, you see the monks and prisoners are gone.  In the far end of the room, you see a pair of large figures moving behind the great columns.  A few corpses still litter the floor, laying among the pikes of crude ore and some old shovels.

You probably don't notice the cat yet, but inevitably you will see it soon enough, it's not hidden, and it is just a normal looking (tiny) cat.  The piles of ore count as rough terrain.  Here is a bigger picture of the creatures which you will notice as you enter are hurling heavy chunks of rock into the openings of the large columns.

Shutorn and Huarache are up.

Omiy, Samogri (again, I know it says 'Sh'. I'll fix it next time) and Leann enter the abbey to find the bloody marble floor cleared of corpses, the room filled with a haze of low-lying green glowing fog (not pictured) pouring from the portal which is once again open (I actually don't recall if the PCs ever noticed it was closed, I would have to check.)  The bone devil is nowhere to be seen, but where he once sat, upon the daeas, standing by the portal throne are Mary Greymalkin and a fearsome looking dwarf with red eyes and a pale grey complexion.  

Mary is looking at the portal throne, manipulating buttons and switches, but Ctenmiir sees you enter. "YOU! He screams.  What are you doing here!?"  He looks almost as confused as he does angry, but he doesn't move to attack.

Here is a larger picture of Ctenmiir (whose voice should be familiar, and you all knew him as a vampire dwarf already).  The Daeas is about 45ft from the entrance.  This is not combat, so place yourself anywhere you like, I just put you in the doorway since that's where you enter.

(again, there is no initiative here, you have not entered combat)

Are those four-armed creatures damaging the pillars, or are they feeding the rocks to the pillars? That sounds weird. Like, how you'd feed fuel into a furnace.

"How did you get free?" Leann asks the vampire. (exactly where did we lose the coffin at? I totally forgot we had it, but actually just thought it was being pulled along wherever we went...)

>>These two disappeared around the time some face bats attacked just outside the control room with all the brains<<

>>Last time you were in the "engine room" (module's description) you saw prisoners  shoveling crude ore into these things, being beaten by monks. One died and they pushed him into the corner.  The prisoners you met had been doing this until they ended up in confinement.  This is how the place has been running the whole time. When it exhausted its intended fuel is unknown, but this ore is mined from the surrounding mountains and brought by the barge the merrenoloth pilots.  These aren't secrets, they're just hard to get across in pbp so this is to clarify somewhat, hopefully.  These large four-armwd guys are now also shoveling ore to feed the engines,  though they do so bare-handed and waste no time breaking the rocks into bits a human could manage.<<

Ctenmiir looks at Leann for a moment, then slowly turns his head to Mary and nods.  She looks different than before, less colorful, and a bit more advanced in age. "She's full of tricks, this one. That's what I love most about her. "

"Are you two like, old lovers or something?" Omiy asks, equally as confused as Leann. Her eyes narrow and dart between Ctenmirr and Mary, vaguely remembering they did seem to have known each other when they met at the sphinx's lair. She nudges Leann, "do you know anything between these two?"

Mary reproaches Omiy for the remark "Who are you calling old?" Considering it further, she concedes: "Ctenny. of course; he's old as the mountains. When my search first led me to Thingizzard, long before I'd learned of my heritage and met my patrons, dear sweet vicious Ctenny would come and visit me as he hunted along the foothills of the Barrier Peaks. He was quite fearsome in those days, welding that hammer, and that old ogre mage master of his, while rather boorish, certainly knew a thing or two about the arcane mysteries my grandmother so loved to study, (a predilection which I share, of course).  She being a vampire, I felt no personal danger from Ctenny, more a familiar bond.  We were so happy, until that fool gnome locked my little Bloodbeard in that awful box.  Thank you for bringing him back to me, dearies.  But, pray tell, what is it you are looking about here for? You were on your way to find Kwalish, were you not?"

"Yes, we are still seeking the inventor." Leann says with a shrug. "We got pulled back here due to some plane-skipping issues I believe. What are you doing with the portal now?"

"Well, it seems that old bone devil somehow managed to get his skin back.  I was pretty well certain you had gotten rid of him, but he showed up here and tried to kill us." Ctenmiir explains.  

"Luckily, we were able to send him packing.  I freed Ctenny from that awful device and overloaded its power source.  I think that took care of the fiend, but of course he'll just appear back in Baator.  He knew this, that's why he opened this portal. If I can't figure out how to control it, he could come marching through here with an army of devils any minute." Mary continues.

"On top of that, the island has started to descend.  Apparently even the few who remained when you destroyed the Grand Master decided not to stick around after the we added the skylight." Ctenmiir adds, looking up to the ceiling.  Sunlight streams in through the large hole now there.  "We urgently need some bodies to keep this place aloft."

"I knew these two boned." Omiy murmured under her breath, now an imagery in her mind that she can't shake away.

She follows Ctenmirr's glance and looks at the ceiling, mouth open at the big wide hole, "When did that get here?" She asks, not remembering the hole when they were last here. She looks at Sam and Leann. "Well, come again," she prompts, finally, "How do we get the island aloft? Or why should we keep the island aloft? Let's just get out of here when we can." She says to others.

"My feelings as well." Leann says with a glance to the vampires. "Why bother working to keep this place up in the air? Just let it fall, the portal will be destroyed along with all of the rest."

"I agree completely," Mary responds, "You have no reason to be here of your own free will.  But you have complicated my plans by bringing the osyluth back to challenge my..our rule.  Now we are in emergency recruitment mode, so I am left offering you the nearly the same proposition the Grand Master made.  Get those engines running, or get me someone who can." 

>>OOC: The hole in the roof is from the huge explosion that also took out a chunk of the mountain - I tried to be concise with Mary's exposition, but I was pretty vague.  She broke the coffin - that caused the explosion, which hurt the grand master, but Ctenmiir is evidently unscathed but free of the device (there is an in game mechanical explanation for how, but I don't wish to explain it just now. 

Sam would like to walk over and see the engine and try to understand the machine 

perception 17

"I have no reasons to aid you in that." Leann says with a shrug. She glances to her companions. "I think our time here is done, let's gather the others and move on, we still have work to do, which does not include keeping this vile place aloft."