Loose threads: More talking with Elix, Follow up with Retet/Lagamal on how it went, further exploration of Crucible 2
Participants: Cornelius Wintercrest, Injera, Pita, Maldor Bronzestrike, Ielah Yelah
Locations In Order of Appearance: Watchers' Tribe Village, Grave of the Sky, Crucible 2
Short summary:
We found some stuff for Lagamal, we talked to an AI, read the full report and see Cornelius if you feel like things are missing.
Full Report
Medical Expedition Toward Crucible 2 Filed by: Cornelius Wintercrest Purpose: Acquisition of medical advancements beneficial to kobold physiology — and, if we’re being honest, myself. Day One began in a fairly expected fashion, save for the sudden appearance of a frostbitten blue kobold by the name of Snok, who’d wandered up into the mountains evidently ignoring the unspoken (and now very spoken) rule that one does not casually stroll into frost troll territory. He had the wounds to show for it. We stabilized him as best we could with the field supplies on hand. That night, Maldor caught sight of Rydess's handiwork: dragonkind's own lightning-bound declaration of territorial sovereignty. I’m beginning to appreciate her bluntness. The following morning we escorted Snok to the Watcher’s Tribe, where we met Tarka, who regarded us with the typical suspicion one develops after surviving in a land that actively tries to kill you. Fortunately, Maldor had a history with him, which smoothed things over enough to secure a few potions and a place to rest...kind of.
After several days of uneventful travel through ash-marked terrain courtesy of Rydess, we came once again to the Grave of the Sky. And since we were already there, it felt improper not to engage in a bit of opportunistic archaeological trespassing. Sure enough, Ielah unearthed what I can only describe as a memory echo: a magical vision of a family of three elves: father, mother, and a visibly ill son. They spoke in Elven, of course, which none of us do (a recurring problem I’ll be fixing soon), but I transcribed what I could for future translation. (OOC "I had a breakthrough today. I've finally discovered how to do the ritual. After all these years of research I can finally make us immortal." (Elven) The younger elf caughs. As you look at him he does appear to be quite sickly. "You actually did it in time. Mom always said you would! The woman rubs his back gently "See, I told you to trust in your father." (Elven) "I've got everything setup. We can do the ritual tonight." (Elven) Good luck honey. You've got this! I love you both so much!" (Elven)) It went... poorly. The ritual began with light, warmth, and magic. It ended with agony, decay, and three still-moving corpses. When the vision ended, we were back where we started, just in time to watch those very same corpses rise from the rubble, newly aware of us and clearly unamused by the intrusion. They were no longer elven. Three wights now stood before us. Powerful ones. Injera was cursed in the fray, but we managed to bring them down. After some... emotional processing on Injera’s part, we pressed on toward Crucible 2 and arrived without further incident.
There we rendezvoused with Retet near the First Lander’s makeshift descent. What followed was a blend of ingenuity and injuries. Retet was using some sort of ambricity tracker (likely misspelled, possibly invented no clue what it actually does) to guide us. Injera disarmed a trap...with his face. He’s fiiiiineee... probably... Shortly after, we were sealed inside a steam-filled chamber by a rather surly group of constructs. Again, Injera proved unexpectedly heroic, buying us the time to escape. We found the correct path forward and were chased, but I managed to locate an old, undisturbed chamber where we rested: no traps, no ancient spirits, just dust. Bliss. The next day we continued. Deeper into the complex, Retet’s tracker led us to... well, something truly remarkable. A form of artificial intelligence, or perhaps some magical construct with immense historical knowledge. The specifics remain unclear.
Before we could glean much from it, however, we were, predictably, attacked. Again. Frankly, the hospitality in these ancient ruins leaves much to be desired. We beat those things but not without the lead dwarf attacking us running off. Retet then finished his findings and ran off while I stayed and asked some questions. Most of them were unintelligible or not answered in a way that had any real benefit. Here is the one question it answered intelligently: Answer to What was the purpose of your creation: “The elix system was created to provide assistance in information recall, complex problem solving, teaching, and many other miscellaneous uses.”
Picture of Dwarf Thing:
