Narrative

Day 62 began at the start of the third travel day from Lost Vein toward the mountains, confirmed by above-table day-boundary clarification. In the first hour, the temperature dropped sharply, as if the party had crossed a strange parallel and left the warming influence of the fire pole or similar desert effect. Snow appeared on the mountaintops after a few hours. The road climbed through foothill valleys. The country grew colder, windier, and more vegetated than the badlands, with goats, weasel-like or rabbit-like creatures, birds, trees, and frost.

The spellbook being read in the wagon contained ordinary spells and a more powerful spell toward the back that the reader had not fully understood. Its writing had an arcane, draconic-flavoured difficulty, compared to someone writing Russian in English letters. The table also discussed the vial of sentient slime and whether the vial, coven, or blood had influenced the wasp queen path, but the in-world conclusion remained uncertain.

The party reached a huge constructed tunnel entrance in a mountain, large enough for multiple carts and clearly not natural. Ruined carving described “the construction of the Great Tunnel from… Hammerguard to places unknown.” Hammerguard is the canonical name. The crest showed a hammer with a shield and matched the crest on Invar Hammerguard’s mage school robe. The construction resembled ancient bridge architecture seen before.

Colonel Bilgewater Windle remembered Hammerguard as a great city with arched hallways, beautiful columns, goat meat, dwarven spice, and fire water. He said kobolds were “second best tunnelers” because “You tunnel, we build.” He offered to make the tunnel lights work for a goat per day. At the entrance he shouted “on,” and green crystal lights activated in sequence. The tunnel trip should take about two hours, with another day of travel after it. He warned, “If you see Elemental, don’t mess,” said a previous wagon did not make it, warned that “the mountain might stand up,” and said the other side would be “Extra cold!”

About an hour into the tunnel, the party met an oncoming war wagon. Its driver appeared to be a young peasant-like woman, about 19 or 20, with ruddy brown hair, mole or freckle marks, and a weather-beaten look, driving four big lizards. She claimed there had been “a small issue with some aggressors” in the hills and questioned the party’s accent as unfamiliar and almost Dunnen-like. Insight suggested she was hiding her true identity and had a dragon-like, assured, powerful presence, though not necessarily that she was a dragon. The wagon positions were clarified as the encounter unfolded: Dirk and Eliana were with the elf husks in one wagon, while Geldrin and Cardonal were with the armour in the other.

Dotharl cast See Invisibility, revealing an elven-looking, jet-black-skinned figure in black clothes with two wicked curved knives, invisible and moving around the wagon. The woman noticed Dotharl and referred to him as a “Founder machine,” saying, “A Founder machine,” “How fascinating. Where are you from?” and “You are very talkative for a Founder machine.” When she touched Dotharl’s arm, blue or static lightning crackled to her hand, but she was untroubled. As the wagons passed, the invisible dark elf seemed to teleport or phase into the party wagon and vanish.

The two rescued elven husks woke screaming at that exact moment, though they had been coma-like for two and a half days. Both collapsed again after about six seconds. Morgana inspected a small ash pile near the back door. Investigation showed the ash was about 70 percent organic and 30 percent inorganic, with metal, leather, and fabric flecks: somebody and their items and clothing had disintegrated. The party inferred that the invisible elf teleported into the cart and died or was destroyed, but the cause remained unclear.

The party turned the carts around to pursue the suspicious woman. Her green tunnel lights began moving faster. Colonel Bilgewater Windle eagerly agreed to stabbing for more goats: “Two goats now! I can be mad when it’s meat!” A high-speed cart chase followed. Dirk handled the racing cart with divine guidance, then gave up the reins and ran because he could move faster on foot. Dotharl ran with him, Morgana wild-shaped into a giant eagle, flew ahead, and then carried Geldrin in the armour while Invar struggled with or scraped the wagon. One cart scraped the wall and damaged a wheel or chassis but survived. Geldrin’s armour or machine voice said, “Greetings, founder. Shall we begin?” Geldrin used a high-level teleport or scatter-like effect; the woman and four lizards all failed, the lizards were moved away, and the woman appeared ahead of Dirk and Dotharl.

In combat, Dotharl sucker-punched the woman first and found that nonmagical damage was resisted. Eliana jumped from the moving cart and fired her pistol, critically hitting the woman’s neck; the woman then revealed or transformed into a succubus-like form with reddish skin, horns, barbed tail, leathers, chains, and whip. She charmed Dirk, ordering, “Attack him!” She used a whip, but shield or lightning defences blocked or mitigated it. Invar tried to control the cart by imitating what he had seen Dirk do, while Morgana remained in giant eagle form. Geldrin’s armour or machine killed the woman with a palm or shot; the charm ended and her body fell, smoked, and dissipated. Her identity, employer, and faction remained unknown.

The captured enemy wagon was armoured, locked, braced, and windowless except for narrow slits. The lock was trapped; opening it triggered an explosion of flame and shards, apparently meant to destroy contents more than kill the opener. Inside were burned papers and smashed or burned drawers. Legible fragments listed orders for materials such as stone and metal, but no clear origin, source, or personal name. The party commandeered the armoured cart and its lizards as more secure transport. Colonel Bilgewater Windle kept a shard of glass wrapped with fabric as a stabbing tool. After repairs and cleanup, Morgana drove the third cart as the party continued with three carts in sequence.

Colonel Bilgewater Windle said he had seen this type of cart before, sometimes with guards and sometimes with dignitaries. “One went not long ago actually. With New Queen. She had to leave. Old Queen felt threatened when New One was born. So they shipped her off.” The party connected this to a possible new wasp queen or new hive. The kobold mainly cared whether there would be wasp meat or grubs: “You kill wasps, I eat groves/grubs.”

The party stopped to rest in the tunnel near the end, choosing it as calm, dry shelter from wind, snow, and cold. During Eliana’s watch, a rumbling like a quiet avalanche approached without activating tunnel lights. A huge, 30-foot humanoid figure made of bricks or stone rose from the ground, with a gaping mouth or head and hollow tubular fingers. It filled much of the tunnel and spoke Primordial by echoing and learning words.

Dotharl greeted the earth or stone guardian as cousin, and the guardian replied “no cousin,” then “You in tunnel,” “Is fine,” and “I come see.” It said, “I guard tunnel them,” and compared itself to the party member guarding founders. It said, “You lightning… Lightning bad for some. Not bother me. Rock no bothered by storm. We stand firm.” It had no friends because “My friends are dead.” It looked at Invar and called him “a child of Stolchar.” It used “blood” and “old blood” language around dwarven ancestry.

The guardian said a party member was from Hammerguard. It referenced “the lightning palace. The fire circle. The void sphere” and “where my brothers are kept,” calling itself a “pure ground brother” and mentioning brothers of the Pact of Air. It said “You before bridge fall,” “Other side bridge,” and “inside fire sphere,” suggesting that Hammerguard and the Dome or Fire Sphere were divided when the bridge broke. Hammerguard’s people made the tunnel; they were “digmen” who treated and honoured earth, so earth allowed their city. Hammerguard still existed, but the bridge broke and the Fire Sphere went up, leaving it away from others.

The guardian said the road led to Hammerguard, while Lost Vein was the other way. The main road led to the city; smaller roads led to mines. People now used underground routes because the old ways and big door were no longer used and the bridge entrance or bridge was broken.

On current events, the guardian said some Hammerguard dwarves remained but were “not in control.” The controller named or described as “Elf. Spirit.” was Envy, who was not nice to earth. Many green rocks or jade were being used to build a big thing. The workers made tools for mining “flesh-back veins,” interpreted as weapons or tools used against people. “They build new bridge,” and many elves, spirits, and things would go over to attack other digmen. When asked about a dragon, the guardian answered, “Dragon. Yes,” possibly linking the dragon to one that covets spoils of earth or “Grove Crook” [uncertain]. Another bridge remained intact because the party saved it, according to the guardian’s cousins. The new bridge was “like ice,” made of tree and stone, not forever like mountain, and could break or boom. If the party continued on this road, they would encounter it.

The guardian had come because the party stayed rather than merely travelled. It noted that meat creatures need sleep when dark outside. It said someone entered at the far end the party had come from but was not coming now, and it would check they were not hurt. After the rest, the party packed, ate, and travelled about an hour to the tunnel exit. They emerged into daylight and saw the mountain they had traversed behind them. A new travel day began, so the following day remained active and unprocessed.

People, Factions, and Places Mentioned

People and name-like figures include Eliana, Dirk, Morgana, Invar Hammerguard, Geldrin, Dotharl, Colonel Bilgewater Windle the 7th, the rescued elven husks, the disguised woman or succubus-like courier, the invisible dark elf, Dotharl as the person referred to as a Founder machine, the New Queen, the Old Queen, the earth/stone guardian, Hammerguard dwarves, Envy as the “Elf. Spirit.” controller, a possible dragon/Grove Crook [uncertain], and the guardian’s elemental brothers.

Groups and factions include the party, kobolds, Hammerguard digmen or dwarves, wasp factions and queens, possible fiends, dark elves [uncertain], elementals, Pact of Air brothers, founders, and Envy’s workers.

Places include the mountain road, the Great Tunnel, Hammerguard, Lost Vein, the lightning palace, the fire circle, the void sphere, the Fire Sphere/Dome, the old bridge, the new bridge, Hammerguard mines, and the tunnel exit into the next mountain valley.

Items, Rewards, and Resources

Items and resources include the new spellbook, the vial of sentient slime [recalled uncertainly], green crystal tunnel lights, the enemy armoured wagon, four captured lizards, burned orders for stone and metal, Colonel Bilgewater Windle’s glass stabbing shard, the party’s three carts, green rocks or jade, the big jade thing, the new bridge of tree and stone, and the material orders.

Clues, Mysteries, and Open Threads

Hammerguard still exists but is not controlled by its remaining dwarves. Envy, named or described by the guardian as “Elf. Spirit.”, controls it or its works and is building a jade-linked big thing and a new bridge for attacks on other digmen. The guardian’s references to the lightning palace, fire circle, void sphere, Pact of Air brothers, and broken bridge connect Hammerguard to elemental prisons and the Dome. The succubus-like courier’s employer and mission are unknown. The invisible dark elf disintegrated for unknown reasons after entering the party wagon. The New Queen and Old Queen suggest active Noxia wasp politics. Day 63 begins beyond the tunnel with dead dwarves ahead and remains unresolved.