Narrative

Day 14 began on Monday, 29th Dec, at the barrier. Elementals came over the side of the cliff and reformed as bulls, then followed the path away from the barrier. At 06:00 the Peridot Queen arrived, winged and with the appearance of an elf.

Geldrin, Invar, and the Peridot Queen went down in a lift immediately beside the barrier, only about one meter away from it. The lift descended through a mine shaft reinforced with wooden beams. The shaft branched away from the barrier and then ran parallel to it. By about 08:00, farther down, they found a constructed wooden wall marked with a warning about danger of collapse. They heard a creature saying, “Mun,” and saw a human with a scar pushing a plank back into the wall. The Peridot Queen paid him one of the old copper coins, then transformed into a green dragon.

The miners reported that there had not been problems for about thirty years until the recent incident. Bears like bulls had shot up [warded?] past toward the wilderness, streaking like a banshee. A gnome claimed they “smell like candy & has legs,” though the note says this was probably lies. One dwarf on barrier duty had found a small crystal during his last duty.

At about 08:15 the Peridot Queen flew out of the shaft, and Alcana and Dirk saw a shape. A group of miners appeared, and a differently dressed human came over to them. The human did not seem to see or speak to the party, pointed toward them, and then walked off toward the barrier. The party suspected later that this human might have come through the barrier, from approximately the point where he had appeared.

The encounter escalated when dwarves and a gnome attacked the party: four dwarves and one gnome. The gnome threw a blue rock onto the floor, and a small elemental came out and attacked Geldrin, possibly through a spell effect. The party managed to knock one attacker out. Guards came over, brought him round, and he warned, “he’s coming Terror of the Sands is coming for you all.” The guard knocked him unconscious again, and the guards took him back to town. Private Burke wanted the party to visit the Maktum before leaving. The party had 5 gp each and an old copper coin; the gnome also had two other blue crystals.

By 08:50 and then 09:00 the barrier problem was more obvious: it was flickering, but nothing else was immediately clear. Invisible Joy appeared to Dirk and said they were in pain and that it burned. Joy asked for Dirk’s help. The party wondered whether Joy, or what was harming Joy, was connected to the barrier issues.

At 09:50 the party followed the salt trail left by the water elementals. The trail thinned out, with no sight of the elementals, but after some time the land became more lush. This was about seven miles from the barrier, and insects appeared there, which the party had not seen before. At 11:00 they reached a river that ended at the cliff and fell away as a waterfall. The river was shallow, and the path ended at the river. The route seemed about twenty years old.

The river appeared to contain water elementals. One elemental said, “Pain gone, no hurt me / you come take me like others take we escape / through pain, closest, good water.” Geldrin freed the two elementals trapped in the blue crystals. The elemental wanted the party to free the rest. It described a “death dome” and said they had come through a hole made for poison water. The hole hurt and was in the sea. The elementals seemed to be trying to free creatures trapped underground. A poisoned one, made of poisoned crystal, powered the death dome. Garadul was apparently one of these beings until he escaped. A moon rock had created the hole two moons ago. The notes connect this with a scaly dragon with webbed fingers, blue-grey in colour, that goes through the dome, and with one big four-armed being that worked with poison water and Garadul using tridents.

The hole was said to be by the cliff face at the bottom of the sea. Occasionally somebody or something went down to annoy the crystal. At 13:00 the party headed back to town to speak to the militia or guards. They identified Salinus as the person or being their amulet was talking about, associated with earth and water. The notes record language from the elementals or related beings: “soon free like our master Garadul,” with Garadul associated with sand, earth, and fire. They called the barrier enslavement. They said there were eight altogether and that they would soon find the hidden lair of their oppressors, who had used them as batteries.

The party theorised about the elemental categories. One diagram listed ooze, earth, sand, fire, smoke, air, ice, water, with magma and lightning also noted. Another listed ooze, earth, sand, magma, fire, void, smoke, air, lightning, ice, water, and salt. The party debated whether the prisons were justified: perhaps the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few; perhaps the beings had tried to destroy the world and were locked up; or perhaps they were preemptively locked up.

The party placed the water back as ten miles down the path from Seaward, airwise, and ten miles down the coast from the barrier. They returned to the quarry. At 16:00 they found a door to the left, right next to the barrier. By 18:00 they had identified that two panels were missing from the hole. Behind the wooden panels, a passage descended a long way. It had been deliberately excavated and was not a mantle seam. It widened into a very old built wall, perhaps a thousand years old, and descended into an underground structure.

At an old door on the right, the sign of aging or the handle hurt. An old gnome walked out and realised the party was there. The party gave him a coin. The Underbelly was mentioned, and a truce seemed to be in place. The gnome gave them a tour of the prison. They went down corridors and turned left many times, passing six corners to a huge metal door with a dragon head holding a ring. Through it, they saw the barrier at the far wall. A smaller barrier encompassed a massive salt dragon, which had been sweating salt into the earth for twenty years. The Underbelly or the people there were trying to free it. The room had once been full of ooze and eels, and copper pylons had been there, but they had been removed. Runes on the floor were barely visible beneath the salt. Another room had four curved copper pylons. The pylons had been removed twenty years earlier; the dragon was already seeping salt then.

The gnome or the locals wanted the Justicar kept out of what was happening below. Down to the left was the original entrance. The party looked at it and found it similar to a room they had seen before in the observatory. It had been examined in the last twenty years. A big black dragonborn then came in, described as the tour guide’s boss and as one of not many around.

The party learned that the cult was looking for a laboratory. The Basilisk said there was a laboratory of a similar vein twenty miles earthwise along the barrier. At 20:00 the party headed back to town. In the common room they were sharing with one other person who had not shown up.

The party sent a message to The Basilisk, who came to them. He knew little about the salt elemental. He identified the Black Scales as a mercenary group working for Infestus, the black dragon. The Basilisk had checked the observatory but could not open the chest and could not get into the golem underground room either. The party discussed Garadul and the elemental prisons: a prison at a lake by a lab might hold the ooze one; one was frozen near Rhinewatch or Runewatch and might be the ice one; Garadul was thought to be sand, though that seemed wrong because he was buried north of Aegis-on-Sands, raising the question of whether he was an elemental. The party planned to speak to the Elementarium person in Seaward.

People, Factions, and Places Mentioned

• Peridot Queen: arrived winged in elven form, paid an old copper coin, and transformed into a green dragon.
• Geldrin: went down the lift, was attacked by a small elemental, freed two elementals from blue crystals, and later discussed or investigated the prisons.
• Invar: went down the lift with Geldrin and the Peridot Queen.
• Alcana: saw a shape when the Peridot Queen flew out of the shaft.
• Dirk: saw a shape and was contacted by invisible Joy.
• Joy: invisible, in pain, said it burned, and asked Dirk for help.
• Private Burke: wanted the party to visit the Maktum before leaving.
• Maktum: a person, group, or place the party was asked to visit before leaving.
• Salinus: identified as the person or being the party’s amulet was talking about; associated with earth and water.
• Garadul / Terror of the Sands: described as master by the elementals, linked with sand, earth, and fire, said to have escaped, and possibly one of the beings used in the barrier system.
• Underbelly: mentioned during the underground prison tour; a truce seemed to be in place.
• Justicar: locals wanted the Justicar kept out of the underground prison area.
• Black dragonborn tour-guide’s boss: came into the prison area; noted as one of few black dragonborn around.
• The Basilisk: provided information about a similar laboratory twenty miles earthwise along the barrier and later came after the party messaged him.
• Black Scales: mercenary group working for Infestus.
• Infestus: identified as the black dragon employing or commanding the Black Scales.
• Elementarium person in Seaward: the party planned to speak with him about elementals and the barrier.
• Seaward: reference point for travel and the planned Elementarium visit.
• Barrier: flickering and painful to Joy or the elementals; central to the day’s investigations.
• Quarry: the party returned there and found access to the underground structure.
• Laboratory: a cult target; one similar to the current structure was said to be twenty miles earthwise along the barrier.
• Observatory: the original entrance resembled a room previously seen there.
• Rhinewatch / Runewatch [uncertain]: place near a frozen prison, possibly holding the ice one.
• Aegis-on-Sands: Garadul was said to have been buried north of it.

Items, Rewards, and Resources

• Old copper coins: used by the Peridot Queen to pay the scarred human; the party also had an old copper coin.
• 5 gp each: recorded as held by the party after the guard encounter.
• Blue crystals: the gnome threw one blue rock that released a small elemental and had two other blue crystals; Geldrin freed two elementals from crystals.
• Copper pylons: removed from the salt dragon prison room; four curved copper pylons were seen in another room.
• Dragon-head ring door: huge metal door with a dragon head holding a ring, leading toward the salt dragon prison.
• Runes on the floor: barely visible under salt in the salt dragon chamber.
• Party amulet: referred to as talking about Salinus.
• Salt trail: followed from the water elementals toward the river.

Clues, Mysteries, and Open Threads

• The differently dressed human may have come through the barrier, and his exact origin remains uncertain.
• Joy’s pain and burning may be directly connected to the barrier issues, but the cause was not confirmed.
• The barrier flickered and was worsening by 09:00, but no obvious mechanism was identified.
• Water elementals described a painful hole in the sea made for poison water, a death dome, and trapped underground creatures.
• A poisoned crystal one may power the death dome; the identity and exact nature of this being remain unresolved.
• Garadul may be one of the eight imprisoned beings, but his category is uncertain: sand, earth, fire, or possibly something else.
• The beings call the barrier enslavement and claim the prisons used them as batteries, but the party also considered that they may have been locked up for dangerous reasons.
• There may be eight major imprisoned entities, but the diagrams list more possible quasi-elemental categories: ooze, earth, sand, magma, fire, void, smoke, air, lightning, ice, water, and salt.
• The massive salt dragon has been sweating salt into the earth for twenty years, and the reason the copper pylons were removed remains important.
• The cult is looking for a laboratory twenty miles earthwise along the barrier.
• The Basilisk could not open the observatory chest or enter the golem underground room.
• The location and identity of the ooze prison, ice prison, and Garadul’s prison remain uncertain.