2023/02/01: The Vault Part 4 Report
General Summary
Othar, Garrek, Shane, Buzz, Malthoronam, Morros, Union, Tauriel We returned to the party as they stood outside a set of large metal doors, presumably leading into the domain of the great red dragon of the Vault. Buzz knocked the door open. Before them was a vast cavern lit by a wall of flowing magma. Ahead was an area of ruin, wrecked buildings and remnants of basements. According to Tauriel, that area used to be a well-to-do residential and business area. The passage to the dragon was beyond to the right. There was one intact area: What seemed to be a blue, glowing version of the Taj Mahal. Pools of water rested in front of and around it. The rest of the buildings in the area seemed to have collapsed from a combination of neglect, violence, and poor structural integrity. It appears to have seen scattered fire, and most of the buildings were made of wood. Morros, Buzz, and Union noticed that in the distance, among the ruins and crystals, there was movement. Their were weird, stony colored garn sneaking around in the way of the path to the dragon. The party debated their next step. Morros did a bit of divination with her bones, and determined that the water temple was the domain of a god of thought, divination, and water. Eventually, the party decided to ignore the temple and try to sneak past the garn. They attached ropes to the heavily armored Garrek, levitated him, and then used him as the focus for an invisibility area effect. Morros and Shane pulled Garrek along and the rest of the group held onto the ropes as they moved. As they moved they passed various gaggles of garns and piles and outcroppings of brightly colored crystals. They realized the garns were slowly gathering, apparently trying to do some kind of ritual. Trying being the operative word. They seemed to have no real concept of magical theory, so the details were nonsense. They were being led by a particularly twisted-looking garn wielding a red-tipped staff. Othar, with the eye of true motive, determined that the leader believed he was bolstering his forces magically. And then suddenly a darkness was cast over them, and many of the garns took on the same shadowy aspect as those the party had fought early in their visit to the main cavern. By all known spellcraft, the ritual shouldn't have worked. And yet it did. This was followed by the garns apparently competing to see who the biggest and baddest garns were. They weren't killing each other, but they were bashing each other around a bit. They seemed to be choosing four warlords. The first was wearing a silly looking diving helmet and a ratty cloak. A second was dressed like a pirate. The third was riding a chariot with bladed wheel spinners. The fourth was another spellcasting garn in an oversized red robe and wielding what appeared to be buckets. The party decided they wanted none of that. They kept sneaking, avoiding wandering smaller garns and at least one magical bolt of lightning arcing from one of the crystal outcroppings. They passed a giant symbolic doorframe, apparently speaking to the size of the dragon beyond. And finally they reached the end of the cavern and found a 6' tall by 5' wide doorway. Union and Buzz took a look at it, and found a powerful magical field extending to cover the doorway. Divination-focused, apparently. Garrek took it as his job to go first and test it. It didn't hurt him, but it did cancel the levitation and invisibility effects. Othar checked next, and while he did feel odd, it didn't hurt him. The rest of the party carried on after them. The hallway went for about 60 feet, made of alternating bands of stone and iron. At the far end was a vast room with an iron floor and walls that seemed to have been made with repeated castings of wall of stone and wall of iron. On the far end was a small door. It led into another incredibly narrow tunnel. The divination field went away. And then there was a spherical area sloping down with a large hole in the center. With no other paths, the party headed into the hole. A steep slope met them about 10 feet down, leading in a winding path through a cavern, possibly made of molten iron. Eventually, it evened out in front of a gigantic vault door, about 100 feet by 200 feet. The party could just hear (and feel) snoring from the other side. The door was slightly open, and peeking in, the party saw what was likely the largest red dragon any of them had ever heard of, sleeping on an appropriately enormous pile of gold. There was a giant runed pillar in the center of the room, and on the far side of the room was a second vault door. Othar cleared his throat in hopes of waking the dragon, then as there was no effect, he went to tap the dragon on the face. Moments before he could, the dragon and the pile of gold all suddenly disappeared. Othar sniffed at the air, and it did seem like the dragon had been there and still was. Garrek hypothesized that this was a test, and the dragon had been awake and watching all along. The deep chuckling from above confirmed the theory. Quick notes from following conversation:
Rewards Granted
4 xp, Saveon
Missions/Quests Completed
Acquire the sword in the Vault.
