10. Taking a bull by the mercurial horns

2nd Eyre, 999 YK

They sleep and make their daily preperations.

3rd Eyre, 999 YK

Bhaltair rises at 4am and puts on their metal shoes, ready to go!
They examine the Ironlands entrance and determine it hasn't moved.
Valaari checks that everyone has their metal shoes on, and that Warren has the map.
Bhaltair asks if this is the demiplane they'll need to use the breadcrumbs spell in? Valaari says no, that's the Abyssal Forest of Khaar.
Bhaltair wonders if the acoustics will be different in the Ironlands, maybe they don't want their bagpipes?
Bhaltair lists a bunch of the instruments they can summon, including a Triangle, which prompts a discussion from the Ghaash'kala insiders about what that is??
Valaari tells them to follow their heart.
Bhaltair summons a little harp before entering.
They enter the Ironlands! Bhaltair begins to slowly starve, as there is no sun.
They try to orient themselves based on their surroundings, as they don't know what direction they're facing or where they are.
They determine they're near the center of the demiplane, and they need to go west. Bhaltair gets their compass out, and it's just spinning. Hmm.
Bhaltair plays a tune on their harp to try and counter the keening of the grass, to make it less dissonant for them.
The mithral bison herd nearby takes notice of the group, is anxiously keeps an eye on them. The group don't plan on disturbing them, they keep their distance.
They debate whether to proceed stealthily or not, as it'll double their travel time. Bhaltair is on a timer, as they need sunlight for sustenance and there is no sun in the Ironlands.
They get distracted about how old Bhaltair is (7), and Valaari has to drag them back to topic. This is not the place!
They approach one of the metallic forests in their path, and pick up branches and other pieces. Runmae is astounded at the quality of the metal, it's so pure! She gathers a bunch of the steel tree parts and iron razorgrass.
She also grabs some aluminium from the needlebrushes.
They continue their journey, skirting around the forest rather than going through it.
They come across a large, purple metal tree on the other side of the quicksilver river. It has clumps of ore dangling from the branches like apples. The party decide to try and get one.
Bhaltair has a 10-foot ladder, but the branch is 20-feet up.
They send Warren up the ladder, while Zaphkiel holds it still. They give Warren Runmae's climbing kit so he can throw some ropes over the branch and shimmy up it to get the ore.
Warren climbs the rope and gets one of the fruits from the tree, it's very heavy!
While he's hanging from the rope, a group of rust monsters approach the group to find out what's going on.
Uh oh.
Bhaltair begins a fascinating performance to try and distract them while they get Warren down from the tree.
Warren can't climb while holding the ore, so he drops it. Runmae catches it, but it brings her to the ground and crushes her fingers. Ouch! She puts it in her bag.
Warren is send swinging by the sudden change in weight, but holds on.
Bhaltair moves away a bit with the rust monsters, playing.
Warren tries to get back on the ladder, loses his balance, and falls into the quicksilver river. Valaari pulls him out. He feels okay (for now).
Runmae grabs Bhaltair's ladder, and the group move away from the rust monsters (leaving Bhaltair).
Bhaltair breaks off some aluminium needles from the bush behind them, and sprinkles it infront of them to try and distract the rust monsters.
This is successful in distracting the rust monsters, and the group fucking leg it, their equipment intact.
Over the next hour, Warren begins to show symptoms of mercury poisoning. He gets a headache, and he becomes dazzled and nauseous. He's also sweaty af.
Valaari asks if he drank some of the quicksilver? he doesn't think so.
Naze comes over to check him out. Naze identifies it as quicksilver poisoning.
Valaari has seen this before, it's fatal. They whisper to Bhaltair, so as not to panic Warren, asking if they can do anything? Otherwise Warren will die.
Bhaltair is confident they can help! They can do anything!
They put a bedroll down and Warren lies down. Bhaltair then tries to coax the poison out using their crystal magic.
Bhaltair warns Warren that this might be excruciating. Valaari stands by to cover Warren's mouth if he starts screaming.
Naze stands by to assist. For now, he starts dabbing Warren's face to remove the sweat.
Bhaltair does his occult crystal magic to draw out the poison. The quicksilver begins to seep out of Warren's pores, it is excruciating.
Warren screams, and Valaari covers his mouth. They apologise to Warren.
Bhaltair drives the mercury to Warren's stomach and draws it out of there, rather than everywhere at once. This feels like Warren is being repeatedly stabbed in the gut.
Warren passes out from the pain.
After an hour of this, Warren's symptoms worsen. Bhaltair continues trying to draw out the mercury, whilst Runmae and Zaphkiel carry Warren on the ladder. They need to keep moving.
They find a secluded spot nestled in some hills. There's the burnt out remnants of a campfire here? and a note?
Warren's player goes "it's fuckin gnomes"
They read the note, it's fuckin gnomes. The note is below.
Runmae checks out the fire to assess how old it is. This camp was here months ago.
Valaari is concerned by the hobgoblins trafficking with fiends, but decides to save Warren before worrying about that.
An hour passes. Warren's symptoms improve, but he's still poisoned. Bhaltair continues their work.
Another hour passes. Warren's symptoms worsen again. It's antidote time.
Another hour passes, symptoms improve. More treatment.
Another hour passes, symptoms worsen. Uh oh.
Naze begins trying to treat wounds to keep Warren alive while his body fights the poisoning.
Another hour passes, symptoms improve. Bhaltair then uses a scroll to cast Restoration, reducing the stage to 1.
Another hour passes, and Bhaltair's character donates a hero point to re-roll the save. Success! Warren recovers from the poisoning.
Poisons in PF2e are kinda rough.
Bhaltair collapses in exhaustion after 7 hours of continuously treating Warren. Naze tends to Warren.
Valaari gives Warren some water to try and get his fluids back up.
They stop for the day, two members of the team are down and it's too dangerous.
They camp in the remains of the Orien campsite.
Naze asks Zaphkiel if they have any thoughts on being on another plane. Zaphkiel states that this place feels like the Material Plane to them.

4th Eyre, 999 YK

They let Bhaltair and Warren sleep in a couple of hours. Zaphkiel wakes Naze up after exactly 8 hours, shouting at him full volume.
Warren wakes with a groan and swears. Bhaltair doesn't wake on their own without the sun, Valaari has to wake them. Bhaltair is groggy.
Valaari makes Warren eat something, got to keep their strength up!
Runmae says this whole thing reminds her of her time in the mines, working without a sun to dictate their hours and getting by with no or only artificial light.
Runmae, with Warren's assistance, orients themselves and reckons they're about 4 hours from their destination.
They continue their journey, and come across a large, singular mithral bison with a sword embedded in its shoulder. The blade sparks occasionally, which seems to agitate the bison.
Naze activates NazeVision and spots lightning etchings on the blade, and it doesn't seem to be steel.
The bison is agitated and afraid, and solitary Mithral Bison are aggressive and territorial.
Bhaltair and Runmae are going to bait a charge so the others can try and pull the sword out. Then they can leave, they don't want to kill it if they can avoid it.
Runmae takes the charge, and wrestles the bison to the ground.
Valaari runs up and pulls the sword from it's flank!
The bison violently gets to its feet, lashing at both Runmae and Valaari, and then it flees.
The party move off a bit and then identify the sword as a Sparkblade. It's a shortsword that shoots lightning!
Valaari gives it to Warren. Runmae wants it, but it makes more sense for Warren!
Bhaltair mentioned wanting to do an Object Reading on it, but decides not to right now as it uses a spell slot.

Ironlands Description

Stepping into the portal is a breath of fresh air, as the temperature immediately drops to a much more comfortable level. Your eyes take a moment to adjust to the brightness, as the light from the crystals along the cavern ceiling reflects off of the grass, the trees, and the rocks, shining into your eyes.

A gentle breeze carries a coppery smell, but the air feels pleasant against your skin, which has become so used to the temperature of the Wastes.

There is a high pitched keening sound that perpetually fills the air, as the metallic blades of razorgrass rub against each other in the wind.

All around you is a shiny, grayscale landscape, with meadows of razor sharp iron grass, and the occasional aluminium needlebrushes, giving way to forests of metallic trees. You can see a river of liquid quicksilver nearby, and silvery hares dart through the grass.

In front of you as you enter, off to the right, is a herd of metallic bison, whose skin appears to be formed of mithral, grazing on the meadow. The cave you exited is a depression set into a small hill, just large enough for your to stand under, which seems to descend into the earth.

Orien Expedition No.2 Note

This demiplane is a treasure trove of rare minerals and metals, yet it tempts up endlessly with the potential for bloodshed. The keening grass is like daggers in my mind, I could not stay here for long without risking my sanity.

We aren't the only ones that see the potential in this place. We've seen bands of fiends harvest the land for weapons, and then use them to gut each other. We've seen orc warriors, dressed like barbarians, hunting those same fiends for those very weapons.

Even stranger, we've seen hobgoblins trafficking with the fiends. To what end?

These Ironlands, as they are, are too hostile for a rail line to go through. It's one of the safer demiplanes we've seen, though, comparatively. I wonder if a deal couldn't be struck with one of the inhabitant groups? The Ghaal'dar for protection, or perhaps we can buy off the fiends and get them to leave the rail alone.

It bears further thought.

- Orien Exp. No.2, Xander Toralyn d'Sivis