After we got back from our eastern exploration I decided to take a well deserved rest and review my latest notes. I also wanted to speak to Alvyn and Jasper in order to compare our accounts, since they mentioned they kept journals as well. Just as I was starting to settle into a rhythm I noticed Wax and a few others getting ready to head out. They looked very serious with their preparations and since I had not met everyone I thought it would be a great opportunity to wish them luck and perhaps introduce myself. After all, it would only take a quick minute and as Gramps used to say it never hurts to be polite!
So I stroll on over, all casual like, just to wish them a good journey when they asked me if I wanted to come along. I was a bit surprised to be honest. I mean these were the veterans of the dome asking me to come along and I had only been there a couple of weeks! They said one of their group could not make it and they could use an extra pair of hands. Unfortunately, I had a lot to do and my writing had to take precedent over gallivanting around in the darkness.
Who am I kidding? Five minutes later we were outside the dome and heading south. I don't think I will ever get used to this dark and barren landscape. The only reminder that something once lived on the surface of this world are the occasional abandoned buildings that are more often ruins than actual structures. We found a several of these abandoned buildings not far from our settlement and decided to investigate.
Wax spirited himself on top of the first building while we began our exploration. Apparently the area is full of unknown dangers that lurk around every corner and the group was not taking any chances. Within the buildings we found several sleeping bags and some sort of stones that supposedly could be used to power the shield of our settlement. Kerberos found a small skeleton in a closet. No that is not a joke... But that's not all we found! In the middle of one of the buildings we investigated we found a cupcake sitting all lonesome like in the entrance hall.
Now I know what you are thinking: what's a nice cupcake like you doing in a place like this? Upon careful inspection Mazikeen told us the cupcake was enchanted with some sort of transmutation magic! Warlock took on a more direct approach and decided to poke the cupcake with her staff. For a moment there I thought the cupcake would blow up and kill us all but thankfully it wasn't trapped by those pesky kobolds.
After we explored all the building we headed east when a flying drill hit Kerberos almost killing him. It was fired out of something called a firearm from a great distance by some creature the group called a sniper. I assume that is some sort of a magical Kobold. We barely escaped with our lives by using some sort of flying magic to spirit us out of the area. By the time we made it out all we could do is put up a shelter and camp for the night.
In the morning we decided to make a circle around the area where we were ambushed. Partly to avoid the magical kobold called sniper and partly to explore a bit further to the south. During the exploration we were forced to kill a couple of worms that tried to eat Kerberos. One of the worms had a jar inside. The rest of the group found some sort of meaning in this but I personally think worms eat all sorts of garbage so why not jars as well?
We also ran into some sort of new landscape formations. A field of stalagmites covers vast regions to the south. Kerberos took a sample so we can inspect the material once we get home but I personally think it's just strange looking stone. We camped out third night in one of these stone fields when I had a weird hallucination. I saw a human sitting on one of the stalagmites playing a flute. When I woke Wax up he said he did not see anything so I decided to do the only logical thing I could think of. I wrote the notes to the song my hallucination was playing. Might as well get some sort of practical use out of tripping out.
On our way back we ran into a door on the side of a dune with weird scriptures inscribed on its surface. Apparently others have ran into this before and my party members opened the door by speaking a secret word. Inside the door lay a staircase leading to a hall with several pillars. As we descended the stairs magical torches lit up to show us the way. The pillars were enchanted with transmutation magic and held vases, which had a couple of gems inside. Warlock thinks it's a temple of sorts but I am not sure why someone would build a temple under a dune. I mean how do you worship at a temple you can't even find?
We found one more thing in this so called temple. Kerberos was marked with divination magic and the sniper was tracking us. He was scouting the outside of the dune looking for us and we used this as an opportunity to ambush him. The battle was quick and we managed to capture one of their weapons called a firearm. Unfortunately none of us know how they work.
It made sense to head back to the dome at that point as we agreed we collected enough information to more effectively explore the area in the future. One thing we noticed that we did not explore was a light to the south, near the coast, but that is a story for another time.