Loose Threads: Broken Rune (whoops), Mysterious Monster freed
Participants: Rose "Silver" Thorn, Auric Crystalson, Iva Khaldrun, Dretal, Sibling Embers of a Cleansing Hearth
Locations: Spire Hills, south of Elemental Portal Shrine, east of Tower of the Merger, Hippogriff nest; Monster Lab
Short summary:
Explored an 'abandoned', underground monster lab related to the nearby Tower, cleared it of Unknown and discovered some leftover materials. One path closed to us due to a broken rune.
Also Rose let out a mysterious monster and left.
Full report:
Our party met just outside of town, and made a few quick purchases of tools to break into the stonework of the lab that had been spotted, and set off posthaste. After a brief encounter with a wandering Unknown and his overturned carriage, we attempted to help him find his missing animals. We discovered a viper of his, in the company of the Duke of Goatington. We were rebuffed by snake and goat-man alike, so the party returned to the Mistwalker, and saw him off with his missing retinue in tow.
Reaching the former Hippogriffs' nest, the taller, stronger members of the party broke through the ceiling of the lab, and descended. After a short search, our party dicovered an Alchemical portion of the lab, which led to living quarters of the former inhabitants. Seeing movement in the hallway, some of the party moved in and were ambushed by an Elven Vampire of some kind. Iva Khaldrun was badly drained, and the Vampire took far more hits to finally bring down. Staking another body, the two were dragged into the entrances' sunlight and disposed of.
Returning to the lab room, a closet was discovered behind a shelf, full of reagents and various other chemicals. Unfortunately, Sibling Embers of a Cleansing Hearth accidently knocked a shelf over, causing reagents to spill over a statue in the room, which began to un-petrify. After its escape from the closet, the artificial Unknown deafened the party with a loud screech, which only delayed us slightly. After a brutal, almost one-sided fight, the Sphinx barely managed to escape the party. Taking a bit of time, I managed to perform a blood transfusion between Iva Khaldrun, Dretal, and Auric Crystalson, which helped restore some of Iva's vitality.
Opening a large set of doors, we followed a tunnel to a large room, filled with Undead. Our party made quick work of the Zombies and Shamblers, and investigated the rest of the room. We found that one the three large cages in the room seemed locked, via a control panel from the nearby observation room. We agreed to leave the cage alone, as even though the Undead appeared to have been trying to break into the cage for some time, its inhabitant seeemed to have disguised itself, became invisible, or otherwise made its presence hidden. We looted an nearby armory closet, then I attempted to figure out what a rune nearby where we had entered did. I was unable to figure out its purpose, and also accidently broke it.
Seeing that we had seemed to exhaust our search in the lab, our party wrapped up our findings and returned to First Landing...
Except for Rose "Silver" Thorn. I made my way back to the observation room with Duke, and pulled the lever to the cage, releasing the mysterious creature, then recalled back to First Landing myself, with no regrets for my actions.