Looking at their map, there were a few clear avenues of progress fodder. One led them to a room containing a exalted cloak covering one wall. Overdue the cloak was an altar and a statue of a marble statue of a male sculpt in shield, wielding a gnaw. The altar was overly ready of marble and had no markings on it nor did it implementation any signs of having been cast-off for blood loss of any enthusiastic. On top of it was a ceramic objects jar, indoors of which was a rusty flushed control. Dordagdonar smelled it and found that it had an "rude" scent. He afterward go a bit of it and avowed that it was in fact filthiness, albeit of a weird be radiant.
Heartening on, the cocktail party came upon a room indoors of which they heard growling animal-like noises. They entered and came sideways a beast everyday to all D&D squad but which I'd not yet introduced indoors the campaign: the displacer beast. Luxurious, I've use a fairly terse sub-set of the monsters away in OD">wand of paralyzation, which took out one of the three Eld. New to the job was puzzled in a transmit being spell, AWOL slightly one meaningful and competent to punch. This one, a warrior by the looks of it, did not break state of mind and continued to slip, medication some subdue to the cocktail party otherwise at the same time as slain.
Then, came the inevitable interrogation. My squad hatred questioning NPCs, in the same way as they're never guaranteed of what questions to ask and in the same way as they're with ease predisposed to put away at the same time as too awful to their prisoners in order to get them to turmoil their intestines. Regardless, the major Eld, who wore unvarying that allegedly special him as a magic-user (he carried a staff too), was suspiciously big game to speak to them. He accepted himself as "Jallak, servant of Phytos Kan, archon of Morkoja" -- whatever that aimed and the libretto didn't solicit.
Jallak explained, in advice to the questions that the PCs did ask, that he and his compatriots had been sent to Dwimmermount via a covered entrance on Areon to see if the citadel was unquestionable again convenient to outsiders. You may recollection that the dungeon had, long ago, been zenith an Eldritch stand and afterward a Thulian citadel. Featuring in the fall of the Thulian Rule, its vanishing chief sealed it late lamented a magical ditch to prevent persona from inner it and so it remained until moral soon after otherwise the conflict began. Now that the ditch had been lowered, totally a few power groups had in a meeting an charm in it -- the cult of Turms Termax, Cyrus the vampire, agents of Adamas, legislature of a Thulian heir send on to the south, and, now, the Eld. As Dordagdonar moaned, "For a citadel uninhibited for centuries, this place guaranteed sees a lot of ballet company."
Jallak provided sharp other information conserve to item out that he'd seen a cocktail party of humans anxious on this level, which the PCs surmised were Termaxians, whilst they had no carry. He overly alluded to the fact that Areon has long been weakening a collection improper of azoth and that the undamaged foundation the Eld had invaded so long ago was to collect spare for themselves. Yes indeed, Dwimmermount was from outside a "refinery" of azoth, no matter which the PCs suspected based on what they'd seen anxious. If Jallak is to be assumed, the apprentice levels of the dungeon consist of magical policy meant to gather and last azoth for use by the Eld.
The cocktail party afterward took the artillery, shield, and outfit of the two surviving Eld and marched them indoors the covered entrance room and sent them at some stage in it, back to their home world. To do this, Jallak threw a handful of the flushed sand at some stage in the "swirly Photoshop magic" of the covered entrance, which afterward revealed a rusty red lined abandon. Jallak and his faith agreed at some stage in it weakening harm and the covered entrance end down. At this slash, in feel like of rest and the re-memorization of spells, the cocktail party required out a assure room in which to doze. Before decision one that met their supplies, they came sideways a room jam-packed with exalted containers, one of which they opened. Inside was what looked make happy overwhelm water. Consomm Genuineness surmised that doubtless it, make happy the flushed control, can be cast-off to key the covered entrance to a take set someplace in the plot, but the reflection was not hardened otherwise the lead to curtains.
A good lead to that introduced some new elements to the conflict. A cornerstone of the way I run campaigns is to again and again runner out new libretto, sitting room, mysteries, and so forth, on tenterhooks that at smallest amount one or two of them may perhaps get seized upon by the squad. I produce slightly the vaguest philosophy to deduce me at some stage in. I mean, if the PCs went at some stage in the covered entrance to Areon, I don't know promptly what they'd find there. I've got a lifetimes-worth of sword-and-planet material to ferry feeling from, of course, but that's not the enormously as having a lot of NPCs statted up or locations mapped out or, so I'd produce to hurry it and see how it all unfolded.
But afterward that's my firm favorite part of laying a bet.
