Aegis' Dungeoncrawler In-Character

[Aegis013]

Puhrjan starts blubbering. She's clearly not going to face her end with dignity and isn't above begging for her life. She doesn't really have anything more to offer, so she's attempting to appeal to your empathy as she struggles with all her limited might against Solstafir's zombie in futility.

You already have all of her material possessions of value, all she can offer is what knowledge she carries, which doesn't appear to be considered valuable. Admittedly, it does seem that the properties of the Dungeon may influence what information she has to offer, as she seemed honest when explaining she can't quite recall anything from before your delve started.

[QuadraticGish]

Orchid give Puhrjan a pitying look as she watches the naga beg and plead for her life while she considers a burning question before saying it aloud.

"What happens to this place, the creatures, the terrain, the world, when we all leave? Does it all cease to be? Would the same happen to Solum?"

[Aegis013]

After deciding to proceed with killing Puhrjan, the group kills her. Upon her death you hear the characteristic whoosh of the opening of the portal to Solum from somewhere near where you entered.

Additionally, a Death Door opens behind the altar to Shekinester, causing the structure to shake and the altar to break apart. The dark portal is surrounded by floating, glowing characters in the Abyssal language which swirl around the inky black passageway hypnotically. Each time Orchid attempts to read the inscriptions they seem to change, each time describing the death of someone different in the group in a unique and gruesome manner.

In a very unusual turn of events, a gap in the space of the Dungeon rises up from the shattered altar. It looks like the strange Fireblood crafted +3 Heavy Mace inscribed "Key to Safe Passage" could be inserted into this strange opening, like a magical lock and key.

There are three obvious options (though always be aware you could do something else):

• Take the exit portal back to Solum
• Enter the Death Door challenge
• Insert the Key to Safe Passage into the strange slot in front of the Death Door

[QuadraticGish]

Orchid begins rubbing her temples as she finally gives up on trying to get anything useful out of the gate.

"It only talks about us dying." she complains, before the unusual slot catches her eye.

"I don't think we've ever seen anything like this before, have we?" she asks, looking toward Liselle and Solstafir.

[TheFallenOne]

"Most certainly not. I guess this key isn't related to a physical lock but triggered by the portal?" Solstafir wondered aloud. "Though I can't say whether it was the portal to Solum or the Death Door. Anyway, I certainly feel like giving it a try. Wonder what my people cooked up there before they escaped the Dungeon."

[Thundercracker]

Alistair

“I think we should definitely use the key to safe passage,” Alistair said, “I get the feeling we would severely regret not doing so.”

[QuadraticGish]

"We may as well see what this does." comments Orchid.

[Yas392]

Levi shrugs. His gestures remain unseen due to the shroud of refracted light.

"Before we go on or do anything, we should enhance ourselves. Not repeat our previous mistake before we go through the last death door."

[dantiesilva]

As the group decides it is safest for everyone if Puhrjan dies and is not resurrected within Sol Abigale apologizes to her, though she knows this is more for her own comfort then that of the naga's, she did feel sad that Puhrjan did seem to want to live and was intelligent enough to express this, however it was also very clear that with the laws in place and how the naga was acting that they would have never really been able to control her in Sol which would have only led to more deaths in the long run.

As the strange thing rises after the death door showing something that eerily looks like the "Key to safe passage" would fit inside of, Abigale looks to the others to see if this had ever happened before for one of them. "So this is not just new to me right, I mean I have never heard of a Dungeon doing this before, and if we do inside of it does the Death door close or vise versa? I doubt it could be a trap, though perhaps it is trapped to prevent others in following in the footsteps of your ancestors." she adds looking to Solstafir who along with Orchid seems to confirm that none of them had ever seen anything like this before.

"Solstafir if this could help you connect to your people and learn something about how they escaped or the Forge I think we should take it. Even if it means losing the benefits of the Death Door." she adds, reassuring the fireblood dwarf that his history was more important then more gold and loot in her eyes.

[Aegis013]

The Key to Safe Passage fits perfectly into the strange opening, and clicks once fully inserted, sinking back into the now broken altar of Shekinester, dragging the Key with it (the +3 Heavy Mace is consumed).

The Death Door's Abyssal runes warp and turn into a combination of Dwarven and Draconic text of ancient dialects, making them somewhat confusing for even the most fluent, though they seem to say, approximately: "The danger sleeps, the path is safe" and the message no longer changes with each viewing.

The inky black depths of the Death Door also brightens into a pure white passage. After preparing, casting spells and preparing your abilities, the party is absorbed by the portal upon the first character interacting with it.


You find yourselves standing in an enormous enclosed space, so large that you can't quite make out what is on the far side because it's too far away. The center of the space is dominated by an enormous column of steam which rises into some kind of ancient dwarvencraft contraption which spreads like a spider web of pipes, gizmos and doodads into an enormous array of apparatus. There are multitudinous mansion-sized structures along the edges of the space which seem to be fueled by the power from the steam column, the pipes and gizmos seeming to connect them all.

The steam rises from the center of an enormous lake, half full of lava which seems to flow endlessly from one side of the space, funneled through passages clearly carved out to manipulate its course, and half full of water, which boils violently as it continuously encounters the lava-half of the lake, flowing in from the other side of the space, also funneled through passages clearly carved out, including allowing it to flow into the structures as needed controlled by the strange contraptions. This place is simply a wonder of engineering though its purpose is not yet clear.

Peering carefully into the massive steam column you can see an enormous hoard of shimmering treasure atop which two dragons, massive beyond measurement, lie together fast asleep. A Great Red Wyrm, wearing what appears to be molten armor and snuggled close to a Great Silver Wyrm that seems to have a layer of constantly flowing water wrapped around it, even though the water is boiling in the extreme heat. The treasure hoard seems to be largely fused into a near solid bed for the two dragons.


It doesn't take long before an undead dwarf who is nearly entirely skeletal comes hustling out of one of the structures nearby, seeming to be going somewhere in a hurry, though her head turns towards the group briefly as she moves. A moment later she does a double take and redirects to move towards your group. She seems unarmed, not just lacking weapons, but it seems she no longer has arms. Based on her condition, she must be incredibly ancient, though she does seem to have draconic horns jutting out of the top of her head and her feet are clawed. She is wearing an outfit that Orchid and Solstafir recognize as being used to help organize and carry tools. Abigail can tell this particular entity must have lost its arms in some kind of accident based on the state of the bones jutting out awkwardly from the shoulder joints.

As she approaches, she greets you in a mixture of ancient dwarven and draconic. The dialect makes it a little odd sounding, but understandable enough. "Miraculous and bizarre guests. Please mind the state of masters. Not minding the state is flirting with doom. Please display your purpose here?"

[TheFallenOne]

Solstafir stared at his surroundings, for perhaps the first time since his companions met him true wonder shining in his eyes. He took in the smell, the shimmering outlines behind the haze of steam, the sheer scale of the chamber and the contraptions filling it, the thing that must be the Anvil of Embers. "Steam power, huh? I never would have guessed. It was more... mystical in my mind, with the power of soul energy the firebloods developed. But then, I get it. Incarnum isn't suited to things like the magical forges we have up in the Foundry. Incarnum, at its core, is bound to a living thing. And if you're short on wizards but well equipped with engineering skill, this is what it will come down to."

But where the anvil filled him with child-like wonder, countless tales from crib to adulthood coming to life in new and unexpected ways, the sight of the red wyrm only provoked utter shock, the sight of the ancient dwarven undead providing little more than a weird aftertaste. "How can the big red still be alive," he asked, not masking the draconic grammar and loanwords that had snuck into his people's dialect, perhaps even emphasizing it. "It must have died for the Dungeon to clear and the firebloods to escape, there is no other way. Every branch has their own version of the tale, but they all agree that the wyrm was killed, by trickery, not by combat because its sheer power could not be overcome. Poison, a trap with liquid metal rapidly cooled down to encase and suffocate it. My own family said their three greatest smiths sacrificed themselves by binding their souls into three items of power they created for the dragon, a ring, an anklet, a tailband. Each day, they sapped a tiny sliver of the wyrm's strength, until half its power was held in these items whereupon the embedded souls burst their container, scattering the dragon's might into the void and leaving it vulnerable." He paused, looking from the skeletal dwarf to the others. "It always had a ring of truth to me. If you make the story up, it wouldn't end like this. A young hero would steal away the three items in the night and then challenge the dragon with half of its own power in his hands. But creating three artifacts of immeasurable power, only to immediately destroy them? Such pragmatism is not the stuff of stories."

[QuadraticGish]

Orchid is in awe of the steam machinery doing its work and then looks shocked once she notices the two massive sleeping dragons until the ancient skeleton comes to talk to them. The artificer then appearance nervous her eyes going back to the sleeping dragons every so often thinking back to the words on the gate.

"Our purpose? We were clearing out monsters in the dungeon and had found a mace that acted as a key for letting us turn one of the dungeon's portals into one that led us here." she replies, while allowing Solstafir ask his own questions.

[dantiesilva]

"The Danger sleeps, does that mean your ancestors found a way to make the entity that controls the Dungeon sleep?" Sister Abigale asks Solstafir, the implications being massive if it were true.

As the group arrives on the other side of the portal she is caught off guard by all the pieces of metal and pipes and completely at a loss as to what they could possibly be doing. "Anyone want to wager that those are the same two dragons from the story Puhrjan was telling us, and thus the same red one as your ancestors encountered Solstafir?" the priestess says as she notices the two, at the moment, sleeping dragons and becomes slightly uneasy. After all none never new the temperment of a dragon or its wishes even after it stated them. It would be best if they were all careful.

As the skeleton appears it becomes even more bizare as it begins to speak, though looking at the creature the fact it can still do anything at all is rather impressive. Speaking in dwarven, as she did not know, though suspected the second language was draconic, what else the dwarf was speaking. "I am here in service to a friend, no doubt a descendant of your blood somewhere along the line." the priestess speaks honestly, she had her own questions however she didn't want to seem rude and suspected Solstafir or Orchid asking the questions may work best in this situation given one was already part dragon, and another was a dwarf in some way no doubt related to this skeleton.

Religion check to ID the Skeleton (1d20+13)[24]

[Aegis013]

The skeletal dwarf seems puzzled by Solstafir seeming to take time to process, but responds immediately to Orchid.

She still uses the strange dialect (though to make things easier on me I'm just going to type normally) "You found a Key to Safe Passage. They only work for the Dragon Dwarves." though Orchid is pretty sure she could've UMD'd her way through any racial requirement. Something seems to click for the undead dwarf and she addresses Solstafir now.

"Oh, you must be of our brood. Strange. Where are your horns and claws and wings?" she asks rhetorically before continuing "Nevermind, it seems the truth must have been lost to time. Those who still lived escaped due to the Silver's influence. Our people were here before the Silver, enslaved by the Red. Even death was no escape from servitude." she indicates her ancient body with something akin to a curtsy given her lack of arms. "Those who still lived were able to escape during the upheaval caused when the Silver arrived. Those who were no longer living are bound forever to the Red. Though while he sleeps we may act of our own will as long as it doesn't oppose the Red. Come with me, let me show you your ancestral home Dragon Dwarf and friends. We have learned much from the masters and will share it with you, after all, knowledge can be gained from the masters' hoard and if you learn it, it will not wake them. If you try to take any treasures, they will notice and awaken. I am Sinmara, and I will serve as your guide."

She leads you through some of the maze of structures. It seems there are very few of the undead dwarves remaining, and most have sustained heavy damage during the course of maintaining the Forge. Almost none of those you encounter are still capable of speech - one's jaw has long ago fallen off, another suffered a traumatic head injury and now just makes unintelligible guttural grunts, the cavernous concave collapse of its cranium having cost its speech but not ended its unlife.

It seems the undead dwarves still brew spirits in a massive communal barrel with a tap, though have long since abandoned the practice of eating. It's not clear if they can become drunk. She says you can help yourselves if you wish because just drinking it won't alert the dragons. The conditions in which the alcohol was brewed may not exactly be sanitary given it was made by ancient undead.

Spoiler: If you partake in the drink

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It's incredible. It has a complex flavor that dances on the tongue like sparks and sears the throat. It's also by far the strongest drink any of you have ever had. You'd guess a small cask of this could probably sell for about 100,000gp to the right collector in Solum, though taking any beyond a personal drink may be considered taking from the hoard and be dangerous. The entire massive communal keg could probably be sold for 40 million gp, but it would never fit in a haversack's opening.

Sinmara eventually leads you to a structure which houses a library where the Dragon Dwarves have pooled their knowledge. Sinmara spends some time with each character finding out about you and directing you to what she suspects would be of interest or note. It turns out to be a treasure trove of knowledge and each of you gain something significant.

Spoiler: Solstafir

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She leads you to a greater understanding of the Forge, and of the ancestral power of Incarnum.
You gain +1 Soulmeld, +1 Bind, +1 Essentia, you also gain access to the Totem Chakra Bind if you didn't already possess it.
You may now also shape the following meld:

The Fireblood Anvil
The power of your ancestry appears as a strange ethereal device on the center of your chest drawing power from the soul energy around you.

When you have the Fireblood Anvil shaped, you gain the benefits of the Split Chakra feat for all Chakras. For every point of essentia invested in this soulmeld, you gain a +2 to untyped bonus to any craft check.

Totem Bind: While The Fireblood Anvil is bound to your Totem Chakra, the essentia capacity for all of your essentia receptacles (soulmelds, incarnum feats, incarnum items) is increased by 1.
Heart Bind: While The Fireblood Anvil is bound to your Heart Chakra, you gain the benefits of the Double Chakra feat for all of your Chakras and your maximum Chakra Binds is doubled. If this would cause your maximum Chakra Binds to exceed your maximum Soulmelds shaped, you gain maximum Soulmelds to make up the difference as long as you have sufficient Con mod to shape them.

Spoiler: Abigail

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The Dragon Dwarves are a spiritual people with a rich history and repelling potential intruders, or in some case, herding them has been critical to their maintenance of the forge. Their knowledge helps you expand your ability to Turn Undead.

You gain uses of your Sun Domain domain power equal to your Charisma modifier.
When you utilize Turn Undead, you can now choose to modify your Turn attempt to instead affect one of the following types: Animal, Plant, Ooze, or Construct.
You gain +4 effective levels for purpose of Turn Undead.

Spoiler: Alistair

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The Dragon Dwarves are a spritual people with a rich history and their practices help expand your connection to the divine.

Select and gain an additional Cleric Domain of your choice. You also gain a special domain spell slot that will always be a spell slot of the highest level you can cast. You may spontaneously cast any Domain Spell you know from this special spell slot.

Additionally you get another power:
Fortune's Blessing (Su): Once per encounter as an immediate action you may declare that the result of the next attack roll, saving throw, skill check, ability check, or spell penetration check you attempt is treated as a natural 20, as long as it occurs within 1 round of the time you invoked this power.
If you use this for an attack roll, you ignore immunity to critical hits and sneak attack and gain a +4 untyped bonus to confirm critical hit and additional d6s on your sneak attack equal to half your character level rounded down.

Spoiler: Levi

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The Dragon Dwarves have ancient and long lost knowledge. Among their texts you uncover a long forgotten entity, a new vestige. Not just that, you uncover research offering new ways to host vestiges.

The maximum number of vestiges you can bind increases by 1.

New Vestige:
Forgemaster Zhrine
Vestige level: 5th
Binding DC: 25
Special Requirement: No

Manifestation: The ground within the seal begins to gurgle and bubble as the upper half of a partially molten metal dwarf rises out of it. The molten dwarf is constantly slamming a dwarvencraft hammer into an anvil though there's nothing on the anvil. The Dwarf has several draconic properties including horns, wings, and tail. The molten metal of the Dwarf's body constantly obscures its face only allowing brief glimpses of what looks like a singular draconic eye gazing out from the center of its head.

Sign: Your skin is peppered with thousands of tiny flecks of metal covering your entire body.

Influence: Forgemaster Zhrine bemoans that his amazing creations were lost to time and forgotten. If you fall under Forgemaster Zhrine's influence, you become very concerned with your legacy and must seek to receive praise, recognition, and adoration for your deeds and works.

Granted Powers:
Instant Materialization: Once per 5 rounds as a free action you may cast the Blockade Spell as a Supernatural ability. The material created has duration as the spell.

Protection of the Dwarves: Add +5 to your highest level of DR. If you don't have DR, you gain DR 8/Adamantine. You may also wear heavy armor without reduction in speed and may ignore the maximum dexterity of heavy armor. Arcane Spell Failure of heavy armor you wear is reduced by 10%. (you must be showing Forgemaster Zhrine's sign to gain these benefits)

Materialization: At-will you may cast Major Creation using your Effective Binder Level as your Caster Level for the spell. The material created has duration as the spell.

Material Manipulation: At-will you may cast Fabricate on any material produced by your Materialization or Instant Materialization abilities.

Master of Materials: You gain a +20 to any Craft check made when you use the Material Manipulation granted power.

Any material created by Forgemaster Zhrine's granted powers are visually and tacitly magical in nature. Even a commoner could tell they won't persist forever.

Spoiler: Liselle

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The Dragon Dwarves are a very technical people that blend mental and physical prowess together in incredible harmony. Their knowledge helps you fuse your psionic and martial skill.

You learn an additional Psion power. You may even select a Psion power normally restricted to another discipline.

Additionally, you gain two more abilities:
Channel Power (Su): when performing a martial strike, you may expend your Psionic Focus to also manifest a power as part of the same action. If the strike hits, the manifested power also affects the opponent. If the power is normally an area effect, it only affects the target of the strike instead. If the power normally requires a touch attack, it is considered to have hit. If the strike allows you to attack multiple creatures, only the first creature hit is affected.

Mental and Physical as One (Ex): when you recover martial maneuvers, as part of the same action, and without provoking an attack of opportunity, you may roll a DC 20 Concentration check to gain Psionic Focus.

Spoiler: Orchid

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The Dragon Dwarves are a people with amazing ingenuity and engineering skill. Their knowledge helps you harness your Artificer Infusions.

Rapid Infusions (Ex): You may now cast any Artificer Infusion with a cast time greater than 1 standard action as a standard action. You may cast any Artificer Infusion that normally has a single standard action as a swift action.

Pinching Pennies (Ex): You may choose to ignore any XP or GP cost component of any Artificer Infusion.

After some time, it becomes clear that you're stuck here in the Forge. The only way out will be to use Escape Stones, or try your luck killing two Great Wyrms. Fortunately you each still have (at least) one Escape Stone.

[QuadraticGish]

On taking a drink of the alchohol, Orchid's face goes red and goes into a coughing fit. Once she recovers from it she wheezes "That's... that's really strong but good!"

She for the most part remains silent and drinks in the sights as she follows the undead dwarf around. Arriving at the library portion, Orchid's fairly open to talking to the dwarf about her profession, current evens in Solum and the events and reasons she chose to enter the dungeon.

Whenever the group reconvenes, the first thing the artificer does is hand Abigail her teleport stone.

"You guys go one ahead. I want to stay behind a day or two to see if I can find anything useful to us on Solum's earlier history or the royal family and then make a teleport stone and leave."

Spoiler: OOC

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If no one objects, Orchid is gonna make a new teleport stone and then do some research on on the above topics, plus try to find a recipe for a Key of Safe Passage and then create a teleport stone to leave using her portion of the loot. Before leaving, she will also ask the ancient dwarf if she can tear off a bit of fabric from her clothing or something else that won't be missed- she'll explain it as having a a reliable focus if she can ever find a way to teleport directly here.

[Yas392]

"Nice wine. Quite some punch from a pint."

Face flustering red and wobbly, Levi hovers above the dragon descended skeletal dwarf and flit to Solstafir.

"You found your kin. You must be happy."

[TheFallenOne]

"I think I'm still stuck at shock and confusion," Solstafir said flatly. "How can I just leave here again without a way to get back? The Anvil was thought lost forever, but it's all here, along with the history of my people so different from what passed down memory told... Numb hands reached for the firedrink and find some comfort there, allowing him to lose himself for a while until his mind managed to fully process what they encountered here. He'd have to show them for his people to believe. Trust in the words of the elders was dwarven custom, but at some point, for whatever reason, the chain was broken. And until he knew which purpose the deception served, what his ancestors might have sought to protect, he could not take the risk of undoing their efforts.

"They people who escaped, they still had more draconic influence on their bodies then, with wings and claws and horns?" If they had arrived like this in Solum he wasn't just dealing with faulty oral tradition among the tiny stock of fireblood dwarves. He would be dealing with a cover-up in Solum's history at large. Were people half-descended from a Dungeon creature perhaps beyond what later generations thought acceptable, and the period of time before their blood thinned out erased from the history books? Might they perhaps not even have escaped to Solum in the first place, but another Dungeon in between before finally reclaiming the surface? Lost truth were lain bare before him, only to reveal yet more questions.

"Tell me, how many of you are left here, and is there a way to free you besides slaying the dragons after all? Whatever pact or magic binds you to servitude, there must be a way to sever the knot."

[Aegis013]

Almost as if she is sensing Solstafir's discomfort about the discovery that it may not have just been draconic blood passed down by the oldest of the Fireblood Dwarves, Sinmara offers the following: "I was born here, in the Forge. At that time, the draconic influence was strong. Some of us even had scales and draconic eyes. The strongest willed among us tended to exhibit lesser signs of our bondage to the Red. Perhaps when they escaped this place, the more obvious signs of the connection diminished. The magic the Red used to bind us is ancient and powerful. Very few of us remain. Perhaps a dozen of the hundreds or more who maintained the Forge.

When asked if there is a way to free them, Sinmara's consciousness seems to stutter and she collapses onto the ground in a heap. After a tense second, she orients herself onto her skeletal feet and lifts herself back into a standing posture. "What were we talking about? I don't know how long it has been since I've been able to converse with another soul."

Those in the group knowledgeable about magic (whether that be Spellcraft, Kn: Arcane, Divine, etc) quickly begin to recognize that whatever magic grip the Red has on the undead dwarves prevents them from even considering possible ways to become free. Though they can acknowledge that as long as the Red lives they are bound as well as the clear fact they can't oppose the Red Dragon.

[Yas392]

"Well then, I believe you will find an alternate solution to that problem unless that is the only way. While we are here, I am going to join Orchid in the Library. I need to confirm the something in my past that is connected to the Dungeon."

Levi flies to the library to search for tomes about the subjects related to "Death in the Dungeon," "Darkness Beyond," and "Bizarre Phenomenon of the Dungeon on its denizen" that relates to Puhrjan's statement of being awoken from a dream you can't quite recall.

[QuadraticGish]

Orchid tilts her head and glances at Solstafir. "It looks like the red isn't new to necromancy at all. In fact, with this kind of reaction I wonder if he also layered a geas on each one with the punishment to be this kind of reaction when asked about that." she states, turning her gaze to the skeleton for a moment.

"It might be possible to remove that with a casting of remove curse, but its potency would have to be far stronger than the dragon's."

[TheFallenOne]

"I was asking whether you can show us how to make a copy of the key to safe passage that got us here," Solstafir said when Sinmara's memory of his previous question was erased. "Both Orchid and I are accomplished crafters. She more so when it comes to magic, I when beating metal into shape at the forge. Would you know anything about travel between different Dungeons? At the very least you seem to have figured it out for the Anvil. I'm wondering if there are hidden pathways, or a method to force entry into a specific place." There were two possible prices to claim here. A way to return to the Anvil of Embers at his leisure along with other firebloods as witness, and if his ancestors uncovered the secrets connecting the disparate parts of the Dungeon perhaps even a way to invade the hiding place of the infernal voice that had been watching them ever since their first Delve.

[dantiesilva]

Sister Abigale takes in the marvel that is this place called the Anvil of Embers in awe. On one hand she knew these souls were bound here against their will and she thus should destroy their corporeal bodies to thus set their souls free, however no doubt doing so would awaken the sleeping dragons. Something she highly doubted the party could deal with. "I am sorry for you and your kin's condition Sinmara, perhaps when we grow stronger we could help you." the priestess says, leaving it vague enough so that whatever ancient magic held these creatures together and protected this place from intruders stealing, would not active from her response.

When Sinmara leads her to a section of the grand library and picks out some books for her to read, to say she was surprised would be an understatement. It seemed while their lives may have been taken from them, that Sinmara and here people were still very spirtual and had found ways to repel many different types of creatures in their no doubt centuries of being here. "I thank you Sinmara, this knowledge you have passed onto me is a wonderful gift I just wish I could return the favor, sadly many of my gifts would cause more harm then they would aid to you and your kin, so at best I could do is sing a song for all of you." Abigale says to Sinmara, wishing to thank her however having no real way to return the favor.

As it becomes apparent the group cannot leave without a teleport stone Abigale begins to worry when Orchid hands her her own. "Are you sure Orchid? It may only be a day to you but it could be weeks or months for us? This is your escape stone after all. I knew the risks coming in." Abigale says, wanting to make sure she was positive about giving her own sure way of escape to Abigale.

"If we can find a way to make it back here I can try to begin to research ways to make my ability to remove curses stronger, however it will take time. I just hate to see these poor souls like this, trapped with no way of escaping to their afterlives. However awakening the dragons is also a bad idea at the moment." she adds, making it clear even she doubted her healing abilities would be able to match the destructive power of an ancient red.

[Aegis013]

Sinmara responds to Solstafir "Unfortunately, the knowledge of creating Keys of Safe Passage is lost to us. The living Dragon Dwarves didn't involve those already dead in their creation, though I saw their power when those living escaped. The Keys of Safe Passage were critical to their escape. I suspect knowledge of the Keys was held from us because of our compulsion not to oppose the Red."

Spoiler: Orchid's research on Solum's past

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Orchid manages to find some records regarding the state of Solum at the time Solstafir's ancestors delved into the Dungeon. It seems Solum was ruled at that time by a Queen, rather than a King, though it seems the court structure was very similar and the Queen of that time was just a secluded and sequestered as the King of today. Magical objects were a bit more rare and most delvers were volunteers rather than conscripts. You'd guess the the Dwarves entered the Dungeon prior to the last time monsters spilled forth out of the Dungeon and destroyed the now missing Obelisk monument. There's not a ton of other records, though the dwarven journal seems to indicate that the royalty of the time were sponsoring delves somewhat like today. The Dragon Dwarves were also sponsored.

Spoiler: Levi's research on the Dungeon

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There are records of those among the Dwarves who died here in the Dungeon, each marked with a status of having been animated by the Red and bound to it. There doesn't seem to be anything specifically on the phenomenon Puhrjan discussed, though there definitely were Dwarves studying the nature of the Dungeon, likely in effort to facilitate their eventual escape, though it seems a great deal of it was written with some kind of code or cypher and some of it has been scribbled through - you'd guess possibly to keep the undead bound to the Red from understanding or reporting it. What you're able to make out seems to indicate that Solumites who are felled in the Dungeon may be reborn as Dungeon Denizens. It's theorized that this could be reversed but it might require godlike magic outside of the reach of mortals. At least outside of the of the capabilities of the Dwarves and the city of Solum of their time.

[Aegis013]

After Orchid obtains some of the ancient dwarven threads, the group utilizes Escape Stones to return to Solum. The stones warp you directly to the steps between the Dungeon entrance and the yard. The stationed guards magically and mundanely scan you and before directing you to one of the stations where the bureaucrats and merchants are set up.

As is normal for this group, the team is intercepted and whisked away to meet Atticus' personal bureaucrat within the walls of the fortress around the Dungeon. Camilla, this time already wearing her large round hat dismisses the usher and seems particularly interested in your report this time.

"What's your report?" Camilla asks in a stern voice.

After providing the initial report of the mandatory details; terrain explored, enemies felled, and treasure haul, Camilla inquires "You had to use Escape Stones this time. What did you encounter that forced your retreat?" her eyes reflects a combination of curiosity and suspicion.

[dantiesilva]

As the group returns to Solum thanks to the escape stones Abigale is relieved they worked, having never used one before she was unsure if they would honestly, or for that matter where they would be teleported to. To see such a familiar place was a welcome sight as she quietly followed the group along to be seen by their sponsor.

After giving the initial report to Camilla and upon being questioned Abigale speaks up. "It was a dragon, I know how much the lord values these warriors and given what resources we had at our disposal I doubted we could face off against such a creature and live thus we used the escape stones." Sister Abigale answered honestly, after all it was because of dragons that they were not able to leave the traditional way so what she said was not a lie, and it was true, given that she was assigned to this group to keep them alive, that letting them fight a dragon and potentially die would not make Atticus happy unless the chance of success was higher than the chance of someone losing their life.

Spoiler: Checks

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Diplomacy check (1d20+24)[28] (she is offering the information asked, basically just trying to make it seem less suspicious)
Sense Motives check on Camilla (1d20+8)[16]

[QuadraticGish]

Orchid follows as she and everyone else is escorted to meet with Camilla. After giving her initial report, she waits for Abigail to finish.

"With how big it appeared to be, we believed it to possibly a wyrm of some kind- maybe even a great wyrm." Orchid adds.

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy to use Aid Another on Abigale: (1d20+4)[5]

[Yas392]

Levi nods.

"It is unmistakable. It is a dragon that can kill us."

Spoiler: OOC

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Aid Another Abigail's Diplomacy: (1d20+12)[19]

[Aegis013]

Camilla's eyes go wide, it seems she believes you.
"I see. It's worrisome to know that the Dungeon houses such monstrosities. All the more reason we need you to identify the Infernal Voice and kill it before something like a Great Wyrm comes out of the portal to terrorize the citizens. Do you have any new insights into the nature or weaknesses of the Infernal Voice?"

Not actually having anything substantial to add after this delve, the topic changes.

"We have sufficient Elixir on hand that we can offer you each a dose, if you elect to take it. Otherwise you're free to be on your way."

Does anyone wish to imbibe a dose of Elixir?

[dantiesilva]

"I could not agree more with you Camilla. It seems almost as if it is learning and throwing more intelligent creatures into the mix rather then just simple bruisers like normal. The naga, and then a dragon, if it was another group that was less prepared I doubt they would have made it back at all." Abigale says in response to Camilla. After all compared to the last Dungeon this one seemed more tailored to her specifically and what she could handle with ease, and it also had an enemy that wished to talk unlike the previous one. It was almost as if the voice was testing each of them and their resolve. And if the church was hers, who did the underwater ice place belong to?

"Camilla I do not need the elixir thank you though. However I was wondering if any progress had been made on my condition and finding some kind of cure? Thankfully I didn't freeze up in the dungeon this time, however it is only a matter of time. And if it happens when one of them is almost dead it could spell the end." she adds, this was twice now she had been into the dungeon without her sickness/curse acting up, however how long until her luck ran out.

[whoiam]

"I doubt a less prepared group would have been to that dungeon in the first place," Liselle notes. "The delves aren't easy, but they seem tailored to be... well, possible. Since we have no control over which chamber we appear in, there's no reason why we couldn't have drawn that chamber on our first delve as novices. Not unless the dungeon is keeping us away from the harder chambers until it thinks we are ready for them..."

"Oh... and I still have no interest in drinking the Elixir."