1. Journals

(S26) Into the Depths and out again.

Session

campaigns%2F36205%2F8c11c52e-a136-43b1-8358-580d4faeefa6.jpg?webpfallbackChased by reinforcements coming from the main base on The Island of Yonder, including a quite angry looking Dragon that presumably had Gaius upon it, the party went deeper into the forest that surounded the inside of the caldera. Between Rekken's speed and Praxos's terrifying aim they were able to keep ahead of the patrols without being seen. Eventually however The Heroes of Thylea noticed that theyd been surrounded. Fortunately Tryntia was able to find a partially submerged cave that led to the old underground network that the Gygans of Yonder used as storeroooms. Only stopping to disguise the entrance, the party quickly made their way into the cave system. They found themselves in an odd place, a mishmash of collapsed worked tunnels and natural caves, everything covered in a thick mold, the air dusty with particulates. Eurytus was able to commune with the fungal growth and discovered that it was more inteligent than most and proffessed that it wanted to help. Some of the fungus shifted and made a silvery arrow, guiding the heroes through the caves. The fungus mentioned that they should speak to their friend/mother/creator. Heading deeper into the caves the party found several tomes lying around that were completely undamaged even though they were certainly centuries old. Of most interest was a tome that Tryntia found that posited that the dissapearance of the Dragons was both more sudden and more mysterious than previously thought. While there were some theories in the book there were no firm conclusions. Deeper still the party found themselves in what appeared to have been a research facility years ago but was now a partially submerged swamp. As they attempted to make their way through it the ground turned slick and a horrifying creature attacked them.

The creature was hard to make out as it had various corpses stuck upon spikes covering it's body but as the fight went on and it's armour fell off the heroes were able to make out that it's body was covered in blue scales. It possessed a striking double lower jaw, each with a row of extremely long, sharp fangs similar to those of a deep sea fish. It had two bright yellow spots at the sides of its head and two small red eyes.
The fight was furious, with the creature using spores to control slain humans and Gygans and turning the chambers walls into a slippery mess but the heroes were able to give back as much ast hey took. Eventually, the creature found an opening and knocking out Rekken out cold it was able to grab Praxos and fly up. Instead of biting him in half it spoke to him asking him why it heard a voice in its head commanding it to kill him. It did not seem to trust the voice and revealed that in the past such a voice was used to control it. Seizing that moment of hesitation Eurytus struck with his most powerful weapon, calm earnest dialogue. He was able to convince the creature to stand down as it pointed out that the voice was both of their enemies and that made them if not friends, at least temporary allies. The creature agreed and the two sides made a pact. The creature would assist them to sneak into the Ancient Library that was used as the headquarters of Gaius's forces and in return they would help it escape this island. It's biggest wish was to go deeper into the darkness, the depths of the world. It infected a semi disgusted Eurytus with it's spores and asked him to spread them in a suitable location in the Underworld. If this was done it indicated it would fight against the voice, most likely it being Lutheria. Now the middle of the night, the party was able to use the tunnels and access the library. An invisible Yelena was sent to scout, her nimble form able to squeeze through the narrow windows that the buildings here had. 

Finally, drawn to the room where the hear lay, Yelena saw Chondrus speaking into a bowl. Before she left he froze and spoke to her directly. It seems the priest of Lutheria despised the The Order of Sydon and wished to achieve peace between his mistress and the The Heroes of Thylea. He invited the party into the library sending the guards away with a sharp command. His deal was simple, he would surrender the gear and assist them navigating the Underworld if they found themselves there. In return the heroes were to give peace a chance and speak to Lutheria. After all, they had been mostly fighting against the forces of Sydon and Chondrus insisted his mistress only fought against them to assist her twin brother. As an additional show of faith he informed them that it was he who divined Eurytus location but lied to Gaius that they had left the island. Rekkens keen draconic eyes spotted an invisible movement and threw a warning feather dart. That's when the party met KLZT, an odd creature from Outside of Thylea that had been captured by Chondrus and made to assist him. It spoke with a weird manner. And that's where we left our heroes, in the Ancient Library in the midst of an enemy camp, their ship leagues away. Would they seek out its safety? Or would they venture out deeper into the Fort? 

Submerged Lab

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