Numbers and Obelisks

General Summary

Following the death of Corvino and Thalnar , the group now heads towards the headquarters of the town's guard with the intent of informing Hulrak about the recent events. After the audience with Hulrak, the group determines their newly made acquaintance, Brumadin, is most likely held hostage somewhere within the Orichalcos Mines.   With a new goal set, our heroes head towards the mines, where they encounter two members of Thalnar's gang watching over the entrance of a mine shaft over a flimsy metallic structure. With little to no patience to show, Trygve destroys the watchtower and after a brief confrontation, both thugs surrender upon being disarmed. Trygve orders them to stay put while they investigate the mine. As they make their way inside, Kushala secretly lends aid to one of the injured dwarves and instructs the other to take his friend and leave, a chance the bandits gladly take.   As they progress deeper into the caves, a rancid and putrid stench becomes ever more evident, culminating when they reach a large hollow. An orichalcum pyramid-like structure rises beneath the ground, surrounded by rocks and mining utensils. From the opposite the side of the cave, the group hears scared and muffled whispers. A trail of blood leads eastward, from where a large arachnid creature emerges. The creature had dark, chitinous skin and faint, intermittent orange visages of the number "3" over its body, a visage which startled our heroes, forcing them to fall back.   As they do so, they watch as the spider-like creature vanishes in a puff of shadows before their very own eyes. Amelia becomes frozen with fear and Fionna takes the initiative to bravely scout ahead, looking for signs the creature. As she takes a few steps forward, she's ambushed from the ceiling and bitten, suffering a grievous injury from the spider, forcing her to fall back. Trygve briefly wrestles the creature, but as Rynmora and a second thug fire a barrage of crossbow bolts against the group, they are forced to make an hasty, disorganized retreat. They are taken by surprise when, a few moments later the creature turns upon its former allies. Recognizing the chance for a decisive blow, the group strikes at the horrifying abomination, swiftly felling it.   Bloody deed complete, the group searches some alcoves in the cave, where they find half a dozen prisoners, an incapacitated Brumadin and a hiding Rynmora. As they gather the survivors, one of the kidnapped miners punches Rynmora and Fionna Shadowfang takes the chance to stealthily enter the wondrous structure, whose entrance was partially blocked with solid stone. Inside the pyramid, she is amazed to see a large tunnel - totally made of iron - leading downwards, towards a large, circular chamber, brimming with dwarf runes, a pair of mysterious statues and faint remnants of magical glyphs. Deciding to not press further along, she returns to the group, describing her findings. While Trygve escorts the prisoner and victims of the gang to the town guard's headquarters, the remaining members attempt to remove the rubble from the entrance of the pyramid, so they could explore the structure.   Meanwhile, Trygve hears a loud, thunderous noise, which shakes the foundations of the city. As he reaches the garrison, he stumbles upon Hulrak, who was preparing a force of soldiers to head towards the mines. As Trygve describes their findings, Hulrak is taken aback by the mention of a pyramid and quickly informs Lady Lyssria Orichalcos of the situation. Moments later, the Ladyship of Kor Doguhm tosses a pouch of gold towards Trygve's feet, orders Hulrak to hit the orc and informs him they have until the next day to leave the city, or face execution.   Dumbfounded, Trygve heads back to the mines, accompanied by a group of guards. As they reach the pyramid, Amelia, Kushala and Fionna are about to finish digging up the entrance, but are forced to stop this labor, as the newcomers approach. As they discuss with the guards, they hear a faint whistling noise and, moments later, they are shocked to see Corvino whom they had seen die hours before.   After a brief reunion, they head towards The Iron Price, where Lyssele appears to be missing. From the newly posted guard, they find out Hulrak had an heated argument with the woman. They find her and Hallie at the former's house, where the now finely-dressed guard reveals she was laid off the guard. During her stay with Lyssele, Hallie appeared to have been enjoying herself, so the group inquires if Lyssele would be willing to take care of the young faun.The dwarf confesses she would willingly do so, but she intends to head towards Novaria, to meet up with her father. With no hesitance, the protagonists promptly offer to escort Lyssele to Novaria, seeing this as an opportunity to further explore new lands.   Finally, our tired adventurers head back to The Crusty Beard, where they are harmly received by Gerdelle, who excuses her previous behavior as one created out of fear of Thalnar's reprisal. As an apology, the dwarven woman allows the group to stay in the inn's most luxurious room.   Within the richly decorated chamber, the group asks Corvino how we was still alive. He mentions a new encounter with Tesla, where she offered to guard his soul, granting Corvino a second chance at life... as long as he promised to set her free from her bindings. Amelia is intrigued with the changes Corvino's body had undergone, concluding he was no longer human... but some sort of elemental. Corvino also reveals to have found a finely crafted dagger, two precious stones and a strange scroll within Thalnar's bed chambers. Trygve tells the group about the monetary reward granted by Lyssria Orichalcos and everyone agrees to escort Hallie and Lyssele to Novaria.   Exhausted, our band heads to each of their rooms, taking an early, afternoon's rest.