The party continued deeper into the meteorite (see ST07. The Gift of Siberys), winding down further into the depths. Their next obstacle was a section of corridor that had a series of fans hidden under grates in the floor, which were powerful enough to push anyone crossing over them into the coned spikes on the ceiling above.
The party decided to be cautious, and sent Ying ahead with a rope tied around him, and holding a shield. Unfortunately, the party weren't strong enough to hold the rope as Ying was caught in the force of air. He was pushed upwards, but managed to use the shield to protect himself from being hurt. He slowly dragged his way to the end of the corridor, and dropped down to tie the end of the rope around him to the brass ring on the next door. With this established, El Graeve tried to tie the other end of the rope through the grate, and Tregin used Mage Hand to help tie it on securely. They cut up a second rope to tie themselves to the first rope, and then pulled themselves across the corridor.
They continued working their way down, deep into the meteorite. Eventually, they came to a cavern. At the centre of the cavern was a stone plinth, on which was a strange artefact. As they were debating what to do, the leader of the orcs charged into the cavern with his direwolf. He offered praise for their accomplishments, and as an acknowledgement of this offered the party quick & merciful deaths. He refused to explain what the artefact was, only noting that it was the duty of The Gatekeepers to protect the secret.
A battle commenced. Kuven and Ying attacked the orc, while El Graeve and Tregin struggled with the direwolf. Sacha Cresswell used his Divine magic on his sword, but then found himself stunned, and so struggled to use it effectively. Tregin stepped away from the direwolf, earning himself a brutal savaging. However, he made it to the artefact and grabbed it. As soon as he touched it, he received a vision of what it could be used for:
You find yourself face to face with a large tower made of smooth obsidian. You find yourself pulled into the stone, and inside the tower. Your vision blurs for a second, and then you are in a large open room, with a single plinth in the centre. You find yourself holding the strange arcane device in your hand, and as you hold it up in front of you, it is pulled into the plinth, and clicks into place.
Your vision shifts, and you are falling upwards into the clouds, looking down on the tower. You can see a line of arcane energy emanating from the tower, but as you watch it, it starts to fizzle and fade away. You continue to fall upwards, until you can see the entire archipelago of Shargon’s Teeth. You can see two more of those arcane lines still emanating, from two more towers that you can see on separate islands. All three lines are aimed at the giant storm that rages to the north-east.
You are pulled towards the storm, and quickly, you are lost amongst the thunder and lightning. Then the clouds part, and you find yourself in front of an eye, as large as a building. You step backwards, stumbling as you try to get a view. The eye belongs to an impossibly-large leviathan, wrapped in chains. The three arcane lines all converge here, and as you watch, the one that was fizzling and fading away disappears completely. Some of the chains wrapped around the leviathan fall away. You are racked with pain, as if your very soul had been cut in two. But then you feel a surge of arcane strength within you, that replaces the pain. And in front of you, you sense that the leviathan is pleased with the exchange.
Your vision returns to the room you were in before, and you find yourself dripping with sweat.
The object seemed to be the Leviathan Key, which could be used at one of three obsidian towers to free a Leviathan that was trapped in the storm that had raged in the north-east of Shargon's Teeth since time immemorial. Treginhad little time to absorb this information, however, as he was knocked unconscious by the direwolf. Sacha Cresswell brought the wizard back around, but a Thunderwave from the orc knocked him out again. El Graevegrabbed the Leviathan Key out of the hand of Tregin, and received the same vision. Kuven managed to stabilise Tregin. Eventually, the remaining members of the party managed to defeat first the direwolf, then the orc.
Each member of the party touched the Leviathan Key and received the same vision. They the debated what to do with it. The consensus quickly became that House Cannith could not be trusted with such a potentially dangerous object, that could unleash a Leviathan on the world. This angered Hale Vown Cannith, who thought that the party would help her. She pulled a knife and tried to threaten the party, but Kuven knocked it out of her hand. Sacha Cresswell punched her, so she slapped him in return, knocking him out.
Ying came up behind her and knocked her out, and then tied her up. The party couldn't decide what to do with her; they didn't want to kill her, but knew that if she returned to Port Starrin then House Cannith would have them hunted down. While arguing about what to do with the Leviathan Key, Kuven tried to destroy it, but the only effect was to shatter his axe's head. Eventually, the agreement was that Hale Vown Cannith would come with them, and they would seek the assistance of Mizago to destroy the ancient artefact. They returned to The Demon's Mercy, and used a skeleton crew to have the abandoned vessel Red Fury follow them. They left Gorgon Reborn, as they did not have the spare crew to take both vessels with them. They then set sail for Coral Reef.
The town was much as they had left it, with zombies still trying to carry on as they did while they were alive. The path to Mizago's manor was uneventful, and the party reached him within a few hours. They found the wizard still tending to his undead wife. He was unable to destroy the Leviathan Key, as his speciality was Illusion magic. However, he said his old colleague Reinhart had some experience with the obsidian towers. Mizago had not heard from Reinhart in several years, but thought that Felix Ravenson would know where he was. As Felix Ravenson was also their employer for this contract, the party decided to kill two birds with one stone, and return to the cartographer. They set sail for Second Chance.
But the party were awoken during the second night of travel, by the sound of something climbing up the side of the ship. The crew left their beds and quickly gathered their things, only to see several people clamber into the ship through the portholes. The attackers were strange; they looked like mortal people, but their features were covered in sea-like growths, as if coral and fish elements had corrupted them. Confusion quickly reigned as the five assailants cast Darkness to hide their movements, but Sacha Cresswell, Tregin and Kuven attacked several of them outside of the magical field. The attackers used Eldritch Blast at range, but switched to summoned swords at closer range, though each blade looked like it had come from the sea - one used a blade of coral reef, another a blade of pure water, and a third that looked like the fin of a fish. Meanwhile, within the darkened area, El Graeve and Ying took on two more. They realised that the invaders were after the Leviathan Key, which El Graeve had kept secure in a chest in his room.
The battle was swift, with the surprise attack not helping the five strangers. Sacha Cresswell used his Divine magic to Smite one of them to oblivion, and Ying was able to tear through them. Tregin used Magic Missile, before choosing to retire to bed early when he saw that he was no longer needed. Both Ying and Sacha Cresswell managed to knock one unconscious, giving them two hostages to interrogate. They tried to get information the following morning, but the two hostages only declared that they were the Sons of the Leviathan, and that their Lord would be unleashed, before summoning their strange blades again to commit suicide. With no other path, the party continued towards Second Chance. On the way, they decided to modify the Letter from Canton Busby that they had found to include a reference to Reinhart, so that they didn't have to mention the Leviathan Key to Felix Ravenson.
The cartographer did not ask for the specifics though; he was merely happy that House Cannith had not been obtained anything useful. He handed over the reward that he had promised to the party, with an additional 1,000 gold for the recovery of Red Fury. They asked him about Reinhart; in response, Felix Ravenson leaned forwards and asked them how they felt about breaking into a prison.