August 2024

The party is surrounded by earth. One of the Pook digs in hole with the Earth Elementals and we all go down the hole. There is no air but the party is okay. They travel for a bit and then come out into a type of cavern. Upon looking around, they appear to be in a cathedral like cavern. Everything seems to be natural, rock hewn, like a sculpture. In the cavern, there are statues upon statues made of graatuin. The party that is from Faerun state these statues look like something called Warforged. The statues don't appear to be soldiers. There are no weapons on these statues.

The party spends time expecting these statues. They appear to be Dwarvin craftsmanship with Elven influences with no seams. These statues are perfect. It becomes apparent that something beyond Dwarves and Elves made these as some kind of placeholder and this seems to be a storage area for them. 

The party finds a small dais in roughly the middle, at least they think it's the middle, of the cavern. For as far as any of the party can see, there is row upon row of these statues. Looking up at the ceiling, they discover there are tons of tunnels, much like vents. The air is extremely stale here.  Upon closer inspection, the dais has a symbol on it. It looks like a very large humanoid creature with wings.

Lumbo and Morph decide to search the cavern in opposite directions while Krokhock, Nyx, and Lyra stay on the dais. Lumbo and Morph discover that there the statues are roughly stationed every five feet. They estimate there are about 100,000 statues after going roughly half to one mile. They also notice that the stale air turns to a different taste and feel, one that is somewhat salty. 

A cave-in is discovered in one spot. A side of the stone hewn wall collapsed and took out a few hundred statues. They seem to be missing pieces and the graatuin has snapped. Upon closer inspection, it appear that the Earth Elementals used these statues to "play" some kind of game, most likely some kind of rock-em, sock-em robots. There is a humid pressure here. Almost feels like it's under the ocean, maybe. The acoustics are all over the place. The stillness is real and oppressive.

The group decides to see if there are any magic or magical traces here. They find residual magic around the cave-in and the ceiling tunnels. As they are studying the residual magic, they are surprised by a crystalline ice figure with a calm, babbling (like a running brook) voice. The figure's presence exudes a refreshing feeling. 

This figure states that Earth Elementals like to make a mess. They also tell the group that a Pook and the Earth Elementals would only bring the group here is because a new age has started. The group asks for the figure's name and he says to call him Brook as there's no real translation for his name. Brook speaks about being imprisoned here in the cavern. During this conversation, he tells the party that he is an Elemental Lord. He states that during the 1st War, the Elementals weren't viewed, by the Dragons as equals. When asked how old he is, he says at least eight lifetimes and has always been of this world. When questioned about the statues, he says he carved them. During the 2nd Exodus, Elementals stood up for themselves and this is the result. He is trapped here. The Earthen Elementals lords didn't survive well. No ones heard from or seen the Fire Elementals. There is a rumor that the Fire Elemental Lord died in the Mountain. 

The group asks him about the graatuin people (i.e. red and black Dragonborn, etc.) and he states, "The lifeblood can only affect itself." He then forms into a scrying mirror to show the group what he's referring to. We see the Grung in the middle of the 1st Age. They come into this world green. We watch the Grung interact with the world; the soil, dirt, mountains, etc. Slowly, the Grung skin color tint starts to change.  We see the graatuin. Then we see other cities. Lizardfolk, Dragonborn during the 1st Exodus. The races start becoming red and black as they interact with the world as well. 

Next, we see a frog. Then the world resets and we see Elves and Dwarves. We're shown that the Dragons eliminated anything that exposed them. Brook then speaks with reverence about her, Ikira. We see Ikira in her small gnome form and she has found a way to fight back. Brook states that he and Ikira will be reunited in the 4th Age. 

Brook goes on to tell us that this place is sealed. It protects and imprisons. He speaks about how all the Lords in this world have a Time Dagger making them impractical to face without something to balance out the scales. He reveals that graatuin is the blood of a Dragon and protects from Dragon Fire. Inside the body of an enormous Dragon Turtle that is very dead. The Dragon Turtle was killed during the 2nd Exodus.   

He speaks about the Forbidden Cities, Darunjar and Javeck (named after the twin Earth Elemental Lords that rule them). They were prominent cities from the Dawning until the Schism. Brook states that Necromancy is NOT tolerated and the world has to be balanced but when people die, they have to go somewhere (or their soul does). 

Brook shows us more scenes. This time we see Dwarves, Elves, Elementals and a small Dragon (Ikira) bickering. We see Ikira and her compatriots, the Elementals leave. Then the Dwarves and Elves leave. Next, we see the twins, Darunjar and Javeck, are bickering and having a heated negotiation and leave with a hooded figure.  The twins, along with the hooded figure, walk for a while and then start walking into earth much like the spell Mould Earth. The earth fills in around them. The hooded figure stops at the dais (the same one in this cavern) and the Elementals step up behind. We see the hooded figure better now. Charcoal black skin with a smokey beard and sunken eyes (Duergar).  Darunjar and Javeck produce both produce gleaming rocks from within themselves; one with a Greenish tint and one with a Purplish tint. The hooded figure does something, the dais opens up exposing a beating heart, and the Elementals plunge their rocks into it. 

The world bucks and shudders and suddenly feels empty. We realize the heart's blood has becomes ichor while hearing screams. The Elementals get bigger as the heart gets blacker and blacker. The shuddering stops and the dais closes and seals. The hooded figure says, "Let our friend be hungry now".

We notice that the Elementals have become something sinister, Avatars of deviltry. We see them sacrifice their cities, their people, their souls. The Twins start cannibalizing their own. The living world is now a zombie.

The party is surrounded by earth. One of the Pook digs in hole with the Earth Elementals and we all go down the hole. There is no air but the party is okay. They travel for a bit and then come out into a type of cavern. Upon looking around, they appear to be in a cathedral like cavern. Everything seems to be natural, rock hewn, like a sculpture. In the cavern, there are statues upon statues made of graatuin. The party that is from Faerun state these statues look like something called Warforged. The statues don't appear to be soldiers. There are no weapons on these statues.

The party spends time expecting these statues. They appear to be Dwarvin craftsmanship with Elven influences with no seams. These statues are perfect. It becomes apparent that something beyond Dwarves and Elves made these as some kind of placeholder and this seems to be a storage area for them. 

The party finds a small dais in roughly the middle, at least they think it's the middle, of the cavern. For as far as any of the party can see, there is row upon row of these statues. Looking up at the ceiling, they discover there are tons of tunnels, much like vents. The air is extremely stale here.  Upon closer inspection, the dais has a symbol on it. It looks like a very large humanoid creature with wings.

Lumbo and Morph decide to search the cavern in opposite directions while Krokhock, Nyx, and Lyra stay on the dais. Lumbo and Morph discover that there the statues are roughly stationed every five feet. They estimate there are about 100,000 statues after going roughly half to one mile. They also notice that the stale air turns to a different taste and feel, one that is somewhat salty. 

A cave-in is discovered in one spot. A side of the stone hewn wall collapsed and took out a few hundred statues. They seem to be missing pieces and the graatuin has snapped. Upon closer inspection, it appear that the Earth Elementals used these statues to "play" some kind of game, most likely some kind of rock-em, sock-em robots. There is a humid pressure here. Almost feels like it's under the ocean, maybe. The acoustics are all over the place. The stillness is real and oppressive.

The group decides to see if there are any magic or magical traces here. They find residual magic around the cave-in and the ceiling tunnels. As they are studying the residual magic, they are surprised by a crystalline ice figure with a calm, babbling (like a running brook) voice. The figure's presence exudes a refreshing feeling. 

This figure states that Earth Elementals like to make a mess. They also tell the group that a Pook and the Earth Elementals would only bring the group here is because a new age has started. The group asks for the figure's name and he says to call him Brook as there's no real translation for his name. Brook speaks about being imprisoned here in the cavern. During this conversation, he tells the party that he is an Elemental Lord. He states that during the 1st War, the Elementals weren't viewed, by the Dragons as equals. When asked how old he is, he says at least eight lifetimes and has always been of this world. When questioned about the statues, he says he carved them. During the 2nd Exodus, Elementals stood up for themselves and this is the result. He is trapped here. The Earthen Elementals lords didn't survive well. No ones heard from or seen the Fire Elementals. There is a rumor that the Fire Elemental Lord died in the Mountain. 

The group asks him about the graatuin people (i.e. red and black Dragonborn, etc.) and he states, "The lifeblood can only affect itself." He then forms into a scrying mirror to show the group what he's referring to. We see the Grung in the middle of the 1st Age. They come into this world green. We watch the Grung interact with the world; the soil, dirt, mountains, etc. Slowly, the Grung skin color tint starts to change.  We see the graatuin. Then we see other cities. Lizardfolk, Dragonborn during the 1st Exodus. The races start becoming red and black as they interact with the world as well. 

Next, we see a frog. Then the world resets and we see Elves and Dwarves. We're shown that the Dragons eliminated anything that exposed them. Brook then speaks with reverence about her, Ikira. We see Ikira in her small gnome form and she has found a way to fight back. Brook states that he and Ikira will be reunited in the 4th Age. 

Brook goes on to tell us that this place is sealed. It protects and imprisons. He speaks about how all the Lords in this world have a Time Dagger making them impractical to face without something to balance out the scales. He reveals that graatuin is the blood of a Dragon and protects from Dragon Fire. Inside the body of an enormous Dragon Turtle that is very dead. The Dragon Turtle was killed during the 2nd Exodus.   

He speaks about the Forbidden Cities, Darunjar and Javeck (named after the twin Earth Elemental Lords that rule them). They were prominent cities from the Dawning until the Schism. Brook states that Necromancy is NOT tolerated and the world has to be balanced but when people die, they have to go somewhere (or their soul does). 

Brook shows us more scenes. This time we see Dwarves, Elves, Elementals and a small Dragon (Ikira) bickering. We see Ikira and her compatriots, the Elementals leave. Then the Dwarves and Elves leave. Next, we see the twins, Darunjar and Javeck, are bickering and having a heated negotiation and leave with a hooded figure.  The twins, along with the hooded figure, walk for a while and then start walking into earth much like the spell Mould Earth. The earth fills in around them. The hooded figure stops at the dais (the same one in this cavern) and the Elementals step up behind. We see the hooded figure better now. Charcoal black skin with a smokey beard and sunken eyes (Duergar).  Darunjar and Javeck produce both produce gleaming rocks from within themselves; one with a Greenish tint and one with a Purplish tint. The hooded figure does something, the dais opens up exposing a beating heart, and the Elementals plunge their rocks into it. 

The world bucks and shudders and suddenly feels empty. We realize the heart's blood has becomes ichor while hearing screams. The Elementals get bigger as the heart gets blacker and blacker. The shuddering stops and the dais closes and seals. The hooded figure says, "Let our friend be hungry now".

We notice that the Elementals have become something sinister, Avatars of deviltry. We see them sacrifice their cities, their people, their souls. The Twins start cannibalizing their own. The living world is now a zombie.

Brook informs us he was entombed here. He is truly sealed in this cavern. He made himself a barrier. Brook and the Earth Elementals sealed this area off so the corruption couldn’t spread. Had to be sealed off or the world would die. This entire area was filled with graatuin, effectively cut off and clotted. Necromancy is banned in this world.

The group asks Brook if he knows how to make graatuin into weapons and he shares that he knows no forge that can make graatuin into weapons.

Brook shares that he was part of a resistance that may no longer exist. He is the only vocal Water Elemental Lord. He hasn’t seen the Air Elemental Lord since this cavern was filled with graatuin, most likely hundreds or even thousands of years ago. No one has heard from the Fire Elemental Lord and he thinks the Lord may be dead. They were trying to stop the Elemental Lords and that Dwarf that showed up to like one meeting and then things went to shit. 

**Meanwhile

Back in town.

The forge is up and running but every attempt to work the graatuin is unsuccessful. For instance, during one attempt, the anvil broke. Once, a hammer broke. Eventually Granny goes to the forge and flips her shit when she sees what they’re doing there. She goes around and ask what type of tools and what they are made of, etc. She is told that all the best tools and metals were used to make this forge. Granny starts laughing and then tells them: This (graatuin) was the lifeblood of a living world. A bond between Dragons and Elementals; a covenant. It was alive and thriving. Now it has been infused with death, much like a cancer. But, she explains, species that lay eggs start becoming infused with graatuin and the inside of the shell is infused with life. Life and Death like sides of a coin. She then takes an egg shell and shows how it breaks the graatuin down. She states that life is more powerful than death and instructs them to find graatuin eggs from species that have been imbued with living tissue. Has to be from red and black anomaly species. (Rei and Granny had seen notes about eggs in Etienne’s lab.)

We are reminded that Seamerve has strong dragon kids that are red and black. 

We ask Brook if he knows of any weapons that will help and he tells us that graatuin weapons would definitely help. 

Brook tells us that the door is now open and the others will be able to find out about this cavern and what Brook and the Earth Elementals did. He states he can’t leave until the 3rd Age and can’t be with Ikira until the 4th Age.

Brook begs us not to tell Etienne about him or this cavern. He pleads to deny, deny, deny. Etienne can NOT know. Krokhock gives Brook drugs but they just dissipate. Etienne can’t know because Etienne overthinks things and if he knows that they might be ready, he’ll get involved and that will either help and/or hinder. Etienne is more about coulda and not about shoulda. Brook wants to catch them by surprise and Etienne is a wildcard. There are about one million of those statues.

The Earth Elementals take us back out of the hole. It’s like taking a potion of Earth Breathing. We are pooped back out into the caves. We travel a little way and come across the signs of a bloody battle with villagers and cultists' bodies heading into Seamerve. A little farther along there is a checkpoint that doesn’t look to be one of ours. The checkpoint looks to have about 10 individuals there. A mix of Dragonborn and Elves. These are Seamerve people in cultist attire. 

The group tries to sneak up on the checkpoint while Krokhock tries to distract and engage the group. Krokhock attempts to trade with the checkpoint people and lets them confiscate the drugs. Jarred, a guy from the group had interacted with before in Seamerve, addresses the group. The people here call the surface traitors. They state they were abandoned by the surface dwellers. The group pleads that we were told there was a plague and to stay away. Jarred insinuates that the Princess was the first to turn and join the cultists. This becomes an ethically grey situation. 

Jarred tells the group that this here is the line and points to where there is blood and chaos and then cave surroundings. He says that we have a choice: either stay or leave. If we choose to stay, we never leave. That is how things are now. Jarred roars that they have everything they need so why would they need anything from people who abandoned them to die. We ask him about what he gives up for this arrangement and he admits that The Mayor in town comes to each person in a dream to exchange power. The Man of a Million Faces. We agree to leave.

As we leave we see signs that they have been killing merchants coming here and stuffing dead bodies in a hole. We see a broken bow and a circular locket. We leave to regroup.

It's roughly five and a half days before The Swordfish gets back to Dún Uisce.  The party is in the tunnel from the Church house to an undisclosed location. The party has M go through the tunnel first as he stated he thinks he knows where the traps are. The party makes it to the end of the tunnel and M pushes a button and the wall moves aside. The party comes out and after a few minutes, realizes they came out into the Jungle roughly two hours from Dún Uisce. It's still nighttime. 

The party decides to have Tana speak to I through the book.  Tana has I tell Remy that they need to set sail to the South River towards Wiikwa'ibii and the party will meet them on the river.

Then, M makes it clear he wants his money that he has back at his house in Dún Uisce AND to be paid weekly. The party agrees...for now... Cotton convinces M that his money will be safe til they come back.

After wrapping those issues up, the party decides to attempt a long rest. It seems that the Jungle creatures are active at night. Cotton and Booyagh are on first watch. Booyagh, as this Jungle is much like the Fey Wild, keeps falling asleep. Perhaps his homesickness got the best of him. Cotton notices that there are some rather large trees that seem to be moving. He clocks eight of them. At first, he doesn't really think anything of it but ends up mentioning it to Booyagh. They decide this is dangerous and as they look up they see large spiders that seem to crackle with lightning. Cotton and Booyagh raise the alarm as the eight trees suddenly move in coordination and the party sees the Goliath Spider attached.  

All hell breaks loose as combat ensues. The command to run is given but the party is unable to escape between the Goliath Spider, it's smaller minions, it's swarms of tiny spiders, and sentient webbing. In the scuffle, Booyagh falls, uttering with his last breath, "I died because I was weak." Tana pulls him from the fighting. Evie grabs him from Tana in the last run from the area toward the river.