Skyfell Campaign: Session 19
Skyfell Introduction
The cast is:
Session 19 - Clockworks Of Carnage : Malware Infection
Preparation
The span between session 19 and the previous session was longer than usual. As a result, a big part of my preparation was re-learning the arc by studying my notes. I also read the summaries from all the previous sessions. This helped to get my mind in the right space.
From the very beginning, I had made it clear to my players that they were stepping into a sandbox arc where they could do whatever they wanted. There was, however, a timeline that would progress on its own with or without their interaction. Having the timeline running gave me a false sense of preparedness, and I went into a couple of sessions not really ready for what might unfold. Now, let’s face it, players are notorious for taking games in directions a dungeon master doesn’t expect. That really and truly is a big part of the fun. But there’s a difference between going in an unexpected direction and not being fully prepared.
In the spirit of being fully prepared, then, I created several scenarios not knowing which, if any, the players would attempt to exploit. Luckily, I wasn't going into session 19 completely blind. They had made it quite clear what they were going to do next. That made preparation a little easier.
The players had also split the party. Tauffae, Drekzhar, and Meribore formed what we ended up calling “Team Stomper.” Oma, Bronte, and the clockwork Queen Tinker formed “Team Infernal.” Splitting the party presented an interesting problem. Any combat involving one team would slow down the game for the other team. And there would be combat, that was certain. I hit on the idea of running both combat sequences at the same time. How? I would use two different battle maps but run each combat on the same initiative order. As such, even though the characters would be separated the players would still be playing together. The plan hinged on me balancing the session progression between the two teams in a way that would guarantee both found themselves in initiative at, or nearly at, the same time. Ultimately, I was off by only a couple of minutes, so I think that worked out pretty well.
Pre-game
Before everyone arrived, I stole a moment to take a few selfies of me in my “dungeon master’s” shirt wearing my new “dungeon master’s” lanyard. My evil plan for the lanyard is to make a faux "dungeon master's" lanyard that I can wear once I start going to back the local meetups again. I was mugging a bit, and therefore must torture you kind folks with the results:
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| I am Dungeon Master |
In-game
(Dear readers. It's your friendly neighborhood dungeon master. I just wanted to let you know that this in-game summary does not truly reflect the turn-taking style used during the roleplaying portion of the session. The summary, on the otherhand, first recounts Team Stomper’s experiences and then Team Infernal experiences.)
Team Stomper
Team Stomper (Tauffae, Drekzhar, and Meribore) was on the surface of the citadel just outside the maintenance shed. Tauffae and Drekzhar, our two skyfarers, were certain the citadel was changing direction. They could feel it in their legs and in their bones. Drekzhar was also able to confirm the movement against a visible formation in The Tempest; the position of that formation shift in his field of view but did not seem to shift within its own context. His best guess put their new heading to pass between the Piruna Fields and Doraku out in the middle of the Open Sky. The team decided to look into this later and for now to remain focused on finding The Stomper. To that end, Meribore cast locate object once again, this time focusing on The Stomper’s tinker trousers.
Skyfell Cultural Note
Tinker trousers were invented by Hedpallae Thimblebramble, an otherwise unremarkable artificer from Deep Hearth (the gnome city described in Skyfell Geography: Akima Prime). In later years, she often attributed her mediocre inventions to a desire to be anything other than a tinker toiling away in a workshop. She eventually found her passion when she started repairing her workmates’ clothing. (There are many accidents in a gnome workshop and clothing is a frequent casualty. A talented and inventive mender is always appreciated.) Soon, she took to modifying the clothing she was mending with additional pockets, buckles, loops, and other helpful bits tailored to each tinker’s quirks and work style. It was only a quick hop from there to making her own durable outerwear. What differentiated her creations from others was the unusual fusion of utilitarian practicality and gnome-chic design. Staying safe no longer meant looking like an armored potato. Soon, every tinker wanted a Thimblebramble garment. Within a few years, Hedpallae was a merchant lord overseeing a garment empire reaching out to across all of Skyfell. Others try to copy her success but these knockoffs always fall short in one way or another. Any tinker worth their gears can tell the difference between a true Thumblebramble and some other wannabe.
Through the spell, Meribore felt The Stomper was somewhere between the colosseum and the administrative tower. Her senses also suggested that she was underground. As the party hunted The Stomper, it became clear that she was also on the move--first going to the colosseum and then doubling back to the maintenance shed. All the while, Meribore's sense told her The Stomper was still underground.
When they reached the colosseum, Team Stomper decided to look for an access door back into the tunnel system. After an explosive potty break for Tauffae (so much excitement, cold meats, and funnel cake can wreak havoc on an orc’s sensitive digestive tract), the team went down to the floor of the colosseum and picked one of the archway used by the clockwork fighters to enter the ring during a match.
Beyond the archway was a short tunnel that angled downward. Its walls were lined with all manner of pipes and metal tubes with various nozzles and other projections. A large door was at the end of the tunnel above which was a placard that read, “The Stomper.” Pushing through, the party found themselves in The Stomper’s quarters. A large, circular depression in the floor took up most of the space. Tauffae recognized this to be a training pit; he’d spent plenty of time fighting in such pits throughout his life. Beyond that was a tinker station much like the ones they had seen at the maintenance shed. This one had a few extra pieces of equipment and seemed to be in much better condition. To the right of the pit was what was clearly a living area with a bed, dresser, table, and other pieces of furniture. A door to the access tunnels was nearby.
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| Layout of The Stomper's Workroom |
Team Stomper took this opportunity to do a little snooping. Their curiosity paid off with the discovery of an airmap (see my post about airships in Skyfell). While airmaps were a common enough object, they weren't what one might call a household item. Despite the occasional collector, only people who sailed the Open Sky would generally have one. Drekzhar felt a little suspicious of The Stomper having one, so he kept it with the intent of using the navigation system on the Howling Wind II to see what location beacons were bound to it.
This bit of investigation complete, Team Stomper entered the tunnel system to continue their hunt. This led them to the storage room where they had destroyed D84 (see the Session 18 summary). Meribore sensed that The Stomper was still underground somewhere beyond the wall in what would otherwise be solid rock so the party concluded that their must be another secret door somewhere. A quick check of the storage room was fruitless but they did notice a set of dwarf-sized footprints at the threshold to the chamber where their fight had taken place. The markings implied this person stood for a moment before quickly turning and running back through the passage and up the stairs into the maintenance shed.
Team Stomper surfaced into the maintenance shed near the panel that was used to monitor the constructs on the citadel. Fully two thirds of the more than 70 lights were blinking. The meaning of this set everyone on edge; at least 50 constructs were malfunctioning. And the last time they malfunctioned, they went on a murder spree. With this understanding, it occurred to Meribore that the few constructs they had seen during their hunt had been watching them a little too intently. She hadn't thought much about it at the time, but now she wondered whether the constructs had been monitoring their movements.
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| Monitor Board for Constructs Source: Digital Manipulation of Images from Pixabay |
The tunnel ended at a makeshift gate that had also been left open. Beyond it was a hallway whose architecture resembled that of the halls they had traveled on their way to the Shadowfell (see the Session 10 summary) as well as the hall they had found only the day before there on the citadel. One end of the hall was filled with a pile of rubble that looked like it had not been disturbed in centuries. Near that was a closed door. The other end opened into a chamber.
The party used this opportunity to reorganize themselves so that Drekzhar was in the lead. They then headed for the open door. Beyond it was a room. Positioned near the wall nearest the doorway was a statue of a female humanoid with pointed ears. Its features were similar to the folk the party had encountered in the Shadowfell but its skin was sculpted in a way to make it look rotted. Its sculpted armor included designs evoking spider webs with accents of spiders.
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| Creepy Statue of Undead Female Source: HeroForge design and digital composites using images from Pexels |
As Drekzhar took in this sight, The Stomper moved toward the statue, suddenly realized that the party was literally at her door, and reacted by catapulting a rock at them. Drekzhar charged into the room and while he was primarily focused and The Stomper he managed to take in his surroundings. Inside, there was a wooden lectern upon which was a book. The lectern was decorated in the same fashion as the armor on the statue. There was also a long table with a few bones and mechanical parts carefully arranged on its surface. At the end of the room was a closed door. He also noticed that The Stomper’s clockwork (Hammer Time) was making its way toward him.
Moments later, a ghostly form erupted out of the wall next to Tauffae. Its ethereal claws burrowed their way into his mind to seize control of his limbs, his thoughts, his entire being. He was able to push back the psychic invasion but it left him chilled and dredging dark memories of his childhood.
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| A Ghost Emerges from the Wall Source: Monster Manual with Pexels Image |
Angered by its failure to take possession of Tauffae, the ghostly form weaved its way toward Meribore intent on doing her harm instead.
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| Fighting the Bad Guys |
Still a bit discombobulated by the party’s sudden appearance in her lair, The Stomper summoned Hammer Time to her defense while she tried to repel Drekzhar. Before the clockwork could respond, Tauffae rushed in to engage it directly. Meribore was close behind to help Drakzhar. Those engagements ended quickly with Hammer Time destroyed and The Stomper dead.
The ghostly form re-engaged the party, positioning itself in the center of the room so that it might be seen by everyone. There, it let out a chilling shriek as its entire body twisted and contorted into a horrifying mélange of anger, jealousy, and pain. This stirred a nameless fear in the entire party, but each was fortified by their purpose and comforted by their companionship against the fear that tried to overwhelm them. The ghost's efforts to manipulate the party failed once again.
Soon after, it too was destroyed. As it faded back into the ethereal plane, the voice Tauffae had heard earlier echoed through the room. It sounded as though it was pleading. In that pleading, Meribore thought she heard the word Kiaransalee. This brought to mind stories she had heard back home on Annam's Isle (see Skyfell Geography: Pirune Fields) about a boogey who would send undead abominations after bad children. Before the ghost disappeared entirely, the eyes on the statue briefly glowed a deep purple.
The party spared The Stomper from a final death. They also destroyed the statue. They then turned to interrogation, which The Stomper gave a half-hearted resistance to before crumbling under a bit of intimidation. She explained that she was Tarren Dask’s biggest fan, so much so that she had become a clockwork fighter in the hopes of getting closer to him. In that process the two had struck up an intimate correspondence through which she had learned about Dask’s mission to free all clockworks. His murder by “the authorities” for such a noble goal had enraged her. From that point her sole focus was to avenge him and fulfill his dream. This led her to audition for and become a member of The Clockworks of Carnage. Once in that position, she struggled toward infusing Dask’s soul with Hammer Time’s clockwork body, thus returning him to his proper glory.
Skyfell Cultural Note
Soul-fusing is an attempt to bond a person’s soul with a clockwork body. While it is a logical progression from the sort of bonding required for clockwork limb replacements (such as the one currently used by Bronte), it is a far more complex task. All attempts to do so have ended in spectacularly dismal tragedies. At best, the soul-fused goes insane and ends its own life. At worst, that insanity drives the soul-fused to horrific violence until it can be destroyed. Tescalain outlawed the research. The Gearmount Foundry officially condemns it. But still, there are those who pursue it, including Dask and The Stomper. For what purpose, though?
When asked about Cheb and Queen Tinker, The Stomper laughed at how easy it had been to manipulate Cheb into helping her. The idiot had been her first volunteer. Of course, that attempt hadn’t gone so well. He was now wandering the grounds in the frame of V15. The party did sense a pang of regret hiding under her callous bravado though. As for Queen Tinker, The Stomper had just finished transferring her soul into Infernal Stocker the day before. She had high hopes for that operation. In both cases, The Stomper had tossed the bodies off the citadel.
Throughout this monologue, The Stomper promised that Kiaransalee would hunt the party down and destroy them. The threats eventually led Tauffae to knock out The Stomper.
Meanwhile, Meribore leafed through the book. While she could not read it, she was able to tell it was regarding a ritual of some kind. It was written in the same language as the text on the base of the statue. It also reminded her of the writing that was on many of the ruins scattered around the Piruna Fields. One collection of letters that were on the statue were repeated many times throughout the book.
Next, the party checked the closed door. It opened into another room where they found a stockpile of old Taren Dask merchandise; it was the kind of stuff sold at the gift shop. They also found a medium-sized chest filled with tinkering bits and ritual components. Feeling there was nothing left to do here, they set fire to the stockpile of memorabilia and then carried The Stomper and the chest of goodies to the surface.
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| Team Stomper Finds the Merch Hoard |
On the surface, they paused to catch their breath and ponder what to do next. That's when they heard the sound of metal clanking against metal. Off in the distance, they saw Constable Manfred fighting off a gang of constructs.
Team Infernal
Bronte and Oma escorted the Infernal Stalker (now soul-fused with Queen Tinker) through the tunnel system to the Temple of Gond. They emerged in a work shed near the reflecting pond in front of the temple.
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| Layout of the Temple of Gond |
They were immediately greeted by a dragonborn girl who identified herself as Mayko. She explained that she was looking for her construct friend, V15. He was always very sad and she wanted to make him happy by giving him some more flowers. She was also very excited to be so close to Infernal Stalker, but she was more worried about her sad friend.
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| Where Has V15 Gone? Source: HeroForge design by me |
The party explained that they hadn’t seen the construct but they would keep an eye out for it and let her know if they found it. She then wandered off toward the reflecting pond to continue looking for her friend.
Our heroes then made their way to the Temple of Gond, a magnificent structure adorned with magical clockwork and statues of various inventions. The entry was lined with tables where little devices had been placed as a prayer to Gond. The main chamber was filled with pews, enough for the numbers of attendees that would be present when the citadel moored at a major port. The ceiling rose high above their heads and vanished into a vast network of gears, cogs, and other mechanical apparatuses. Clockwork devices of various sizes fluttered about as well. The entire scene was as awe inspiring as any temple mural, perhaps more so for Oma whose artificer sensibilities immediately fell in love with the entire scene. Even Bronte was moved.
Skyfell Cultural Note
Gond is worshipped throughout all of Skyfell as the deity of crafting, smithing, and invention. Gnomes and dwarves are especially fond of the god, finding him an endless source of inspiration for all manner of creations, from the divine to the truly foolhardy. Under one name or another, he’s also a important figure in much folklore and myth regarding the act of invention, such as that of the celestial toymaker. No workshop is without at least a small nod to him. Many gnome burrows and dwarf cities have temples. The largest temple complexes are, not surprisingly, found in the dwarf city Din Kuldihr and the gnome burrow Deep Hearth, both on the continent of Akima Prime (see Skyfell Geography: Akima Prime). Though both are much larger than the temple on The Clockworks of Carnage citadel, neither can match its grandeur. Part house of worship, part theater, part pure inspiration, the temple is an attraction in and of itself. Its clockwork ceiling seems to stretch all the way to The Tempest. The motion of the interlocking gearwork is darn near hypnotic. The clockwork denizens that live among the metalwork suggest a bustling city of pure imagination. It’s definitely a must see for anyone artificer, tinker, or smith. And don’t forget to get your souvenir at the citadel’s gift shop.
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| Holy Symbol of Gond Source: Forgotten Realms Wiki |
Inside, the party was greeted by Brother Einkil Brawnanvil, the head of the temple. His attention immediately focused on the fact that they were there with Infernal Stalker.
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| Brother Einkil Brawnanvil Source: HeroForge, design by me |
They explained the situation to him and he became very concerned. He ushered them through a side door, through what looked like a shared quarters of the clergy assigned to the temple, and then into his personal chambers. There, he asked them for more detail, which they provided. He seemed to already know Oma’s name and Bronte’s name, mentioning that Constable Manfred had debriefed both him and Ringmaster Overclocked on yesterday’s events. This included the discovery of the doorway into The Shadowfell.
Einkil promised to look into the situation, wholly unsure of whether anything could be done for Queen Tinker. He then asked the party to inform Overclocked regarding The Stomper's treachery so that they could take care of matters as quickly as possible. The party agreed and so set off to catch up with Team Stomper.
As they exited the temple to the gardens, they saw a pair of constructs attacking a halfling couple. One of the halflings was already on the ground and the other was trying desperately to fight off her assailant. Oma and Bronte hurried to their aid. They were too late for one of the halflings, but the other Oma turned invisible so that she might escape. Instead, she fell to her knees to grieve over her fallen companion.
The constructs turned their attention to the party as they now presented a new threat. V15 arrived soon after and began to attack one of those constructs. Their fight dragged along in a stalemate because the two were essentially matched in skills and fortitude. Even the arrival of Mayko, who did her level best to lash out at the malfunctioning construct (and who managed to do a point of damage) could not tip the scales into V15’s favor.
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| Fighting the Constructs Outside of the Temple |
Fearing for her safety, Bronte used the command spell to order the girl to run for safety. She complied but the evil construct used her retreat as an opportunity to attack. The strike felled the child. Horrified by the results of his actions, Bronte focused on making his way to the child and reviving her before she was truly dead. She did manage to revive the child and chase her away from the fight. Eventually, the evil constructs were destroyed.
Throughout the entire encounter, a raven was perched on the edge of the reflecting pool, flapping its wings and cawing at frantically. At the end of the fight, Bronte cast speak with animals and learned that raven wanted them to find Meribore and the others because they were in danger.
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| The Raven Calls Source: Original Oil Painting by Katrina Ernst |
Now alert to additional dangers, Bronte and Oma could hear fighting breaking out across the citadel. They now understood the raven's excitement and realized they needed to meet up with the others in the their party if they were to be of any help. They encouraged V15 to join them. Hesitantly, it followed them, struggling with the emptiness inside.
End session 19.
Bronte - 1620 (25,802 total)
Drekzhar - 1688 (26,591 total)
Meribore - 1960 (26,086 total)
Omagoshno - 1656 (26,405 total)
Tauffae - 1683 (26,027 total)
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