Session 30 - Partha's Mystery

The first large white skinned beast that climbed onto the bridge got instantly knocked down by the statue trap. The second beast jumps over from the cavern edge but it is quickly dealt with but not before it seems to poison Ape and inject some worms into him which we discovered after I used Lesser Restoration on him.
 
During the battle I turned the sconces on either side of the door so the flame touches the metal rim. It glows quickly and after the battle I manage to push the door open.
 
In the centre of this room is a large long stone table lined with stone chairs. A few arched open doorways leading left and right of the chamber. At the back of this chamber is closed door, made of metal. Above it, built into the stone is another small golden rimmed lens like the others. I also notice there are artistic stone tapestry carvings along both walls of the chamber. In a number of chairs and slumped against walls, there are half a dozen skeletons. Some of the skeletons are bare with no clothing. A couple are wearing armour sets that haven't weathered.
 
The metal door at the back looks like it's sealed shut. With my knowledge, looks like the door is made of pure adamantine. I notice on the front, there is no detailing/writing but there is a indented circle in the centre of the door. Above it, a sentence:
"Druvov Colt" which I don't know but Colt means "core".
 
At the head of the table there is a skeleton in a set of ornate armour, they have on their skull a circlet, a band of silver in a zig zag design. In the centre lines of gold and purple (amethyst), thick ring on their finger, a top of the ring is a light orange gem with cloudy spots of darker orange. Fairly certain this is an "Urnabaun Gem", there are a few of these, I know it means a puzzle/mystery gem.
The colouration of this gem makes me think this is sunstone. Sunstone has a sibling gem, being "moonstone". In Dwarven culture there are talismans made of sunstones that act as wards of undead.
 
The left tapestry:
Depicts a forest of tall trees and high hills. Line of Dwarven figures mining in the hills and building structures. Tallest hill has Dwarves climbing up on one side, and the other has other creatures with dog like heads. At the top, a Dwarf and one of the creatures hand clasped, as if they're exchanging something.
 
The Right Tapestry
More forest and hills. Two of the hills have towers on them. Between them a dog faced creature, touching either tower. Above the head of the creature is a crown of tall pillars, that have gold on them. Dwarves on the hills with the towers.
 
Intrinsic level of magic from the sunstone ring, but not imbued with magic. Only magical because of the "Urnabaun" nature of it.
 
In the passageways either side are living quarters, communal areas, kitchen, large oval room like a training ring. Also find an armoury. End of one passage opens up into a large cavern that goes down out of sight, and a wooden platform on a pulley system that likely goes down into mine shafts.
 
The armoury is filled with weapons and armours, most of the weapons are made of with an adamantine blend. Looking over these weapons, very much adamantine but something is off about them, realising that these are made of a blend of adamantine and opalazite. I grab myself a set of the plate armour as it's better made than what Norman made for me.
 
We go back to the main chamber, and I place the Sunstone gem into the recess, and there is a light orange light coming from the door. I trace the indented groove with the gem and it starts to glow the same colour. We feel a shudder, and the glow brightens and it then splinters off that begin to look like the sun. We hear various clicks and clunks from the door and finally, the large metal door slowly swings open.
 
In front of us, past the door is another chamber, about 100 feet long. Weird source-less light within. At the entrance, more skeletons. Floor is made of cut stone same as before, but organized in a way to be a mosaic pattern of suns and sun rays/beams. Standing in the centre of the room is a large mechanical circular machine, similar to that found at the top of the ruins but more intricately designed. Centre looks like a closed flower bud. Sits upon a circular platform cut of black stone with various symbols and runes around it.
 
Machine is likely made of various metals, but more importantly, of sunstone which gives it it's strange orange/brown tint.
As I step into the room, the flower bud structure starts to open up in 4 sections. Within the bud, a thick dense looking sphere with the same bronze colouration. Submerged in a pool of dark brown/oily bubbling liquid. Room filled with a gentle mechanical humming noise.
 
At the back of the room, 4 large golden Dwarven statues and an altar at the back in between 2 statues. Atop the altar, is a smiths hammer. Etched into the front edge of the altar are more runes and sigils similar to the platform the machine is on. There is a barrier that one of Austar's skeletons pass through but it disintegrates. I gingerly pass my arm through and nothing happens to me. I walk in and Ape tries to run through but crashes into the barrier and can't get past.
Carved into the altar, is another set of dark coloured runes. Into the face beneath the hammer, is a phrase written in old Dwarvish mixed with something else.
The other language seems to be celestial. Austar manages to interpret the phrase based on the celestial part of it. He interprets it to say "The price of truth, weighs heaviest when closed"
I place my hand upon the hammer, and as I pick it up, the glyphs glow purple and as I step back there is a large figure, topless, golden bands and necklaces, the face that of a jackal. Purple lightning like energy coming off them. It points it's hand towards me and says:
 
“Stranger who wields the tool of the Master Smith. Your scent unsettles me. The blood in your veins is both friend and foe.” He sniffs again, “And another, older much older, such power they gift. What makes you worthy of such an item?”
 
I try to convince the creature of my intention of finding the Words of Moradin's due to the vision I received from Moradin himself. The creature doesn't believe me and says:
 
“My sentiment clouds my judgement. I do not know whether you intend to mend what is broken. Or shatter what remains, as your kind did here a millennia ago.”
"You words intend to comfort, yet I do not feel at ease around you. This hammer is dangerous in the hands of one such as yourself.”
 
He unleashes a flurry of attacks against me that easily get past my usually good defences and hurts me quite badly. I respond by placing the hammer on the floor in front of me and I plead with the creature that my intention is true, and I've put the hammer down as proof of this.
 
“Partha’s fate lies with you young soul. Do not fail its legacy.”
 
The part of my blood he was worried about, was to do with my elemental blood.
 
As the creature steps back towards the altar, it looks at Austar and before leaving says "It's good to see you my lord" before disappearing.
 
The hammer seems to be the hammer that Obabim mentioned to me all those weeks ago.
 
At the central mechanism there is a small heavy set lever under the base. Malaphor leans the gold orb he found in the palm of one of the skeletons closer to the central opaque sphere which opens up to show a place for the orb.
As it's placed, the machine hums louder and the glyphs surrounding the contraption glow orange. I hear a clicking noise near where the lever was. I pull the lever and we now hear various clicking noises. The central sphere begins to turn clockwise, getting faster and faster. Beside the lever, I see 2 glass tubes that are filling gradually with an orange glow. The liquid within the contraption is rising into a whirlpool effect while the tubes fill slowly.
 
As the tubes fill, the humming grows louder and the spinning of the sphere is at it's maximum speed. The hairs on our arms stand up. The sphere suddenly just stops, but the liquid keeps spinning. The runes start to glow more, before turning green. The centre of the sphere opens up which emits a glowing yellow light. A noise growing as the yellow light brightens. A concentrated beam of yellow energy slams into the glass lens above the door.
 
We hurry back to the first opening room we entered into Sol'Partha following the energy line.
The energy is being fed directly into the contraption. Looking up, the energy climbs up and has encircled the golden rim of the lens that's lifted up out the tower. The lens is facing a different way to where we had it set to, as if the energy beam has righted itself to face the correct direction. It's also pointing the same direction that the Word of Moradin is located as per my new hammers ability.
We get on our Momoko's and follow where this energy source is leading us to. Surrounded by nothing, it's hitting a spot in the sand. We dig away and find a large 40 foot stone platform. At the centre, a large round orb made of a mixture of gold and silver material, similar to the orb that was placed in the contraption, but larger. Around the edges, there are more black arcane runes and sigils that we uncovered. The energy is hitting this orb, half the runes are lit up yellow.
We make the assumption that we need to go to Lu'un Partha and activate a similar device.
 
Within the initial chamber, is a near identical contraption as in Sol'Partha. I crank the wheel and lift the lens up into the tower, and this time instead of the lens being in gold trim, it is wrapped in a silver trim. We follow the hallway down to the right instead of left as in Sol'Partha. Making our way through Lu'un Partha in a similar design of Sol'Partha but there is no bridge. We see a metal door made of silver it seems, closed with blue stripes on it, On our way to this door, managing to avoid various traps that are still active. Austar manages to open the door by casting Ray of Frost in the centre.
We step into another room, we get the idea that Lu'un Partha is smaller than it's counter part.
One thing that catches our eye, is there are 2 dog like creatures, both presenting something to the Dwarves, and in their hand is a spherical shape.
The majority of the passageways from this room tend to lead to large mine shafts. On this table, in the centre is some parchment that is still intact. Unfortunately it crumbles as I try to read it. It speaks of a manifesto listing mineshaft levels, one particular thing is "Urnabaun" veins which sunstone and moonstone are made from.
The second parchment is unfurled and keeps it's form.
 
This one talks about trade with Badegat to acquire more opalazite, as well as other merchant lists of ores trade with Aza'Kish (Old Hashal) as well as a place called Odror Partha, Partha seems to be a play on words of Path, which means people. I believe it's an older take on the word "heart".
 
On the vault door, there is another groove, but of a crescent moon shape. I find on the left hand of one of the skeletons, another ring with a moonstone atop it. Clouded white colour with spots and swirls of light blue. By their hand is also a beautifully made hand-axe that is off to the side, the blade an upside down crescent moon.
I identify the axe and it's called "Dusk Cleaver".
 
I trace the moonstone ring along the groove of the metal door, which glows green and within the room, at the back is a similar device. Either side there are 2 large silver and black dwarven statues. The orb is within the contraption already. I make my way to the base of the contraption to pull the lever but the eyes of the statue on the left glow and I get hit by a lightning bolt. Austar mage hands the lever to pull it and a similar bolt of energy, this time purple in colour.
 
We arrive back at the stone platform where the beams of energy lead to, but nothing is happening, I notice the orb that is receiving the beams, has a fracture in it. I repair it using mending through the Master Smith's Hammer, and a gong noise is heard and it pushes us all back apart from me. The orb starts to spin, and everything around us start to rumble. 60 feet away, the sand is tremoring like an earthquake. About 100 feet away, a large section of desert sand turns into a whirlpool going down. We count 6 of these whirlpools. The stonework beneath us begins to rise. As it rises it's clear to use we're standing at the top of a tower. We see more structures in the distance rising, a city of some sort being uncovered after centuries hidden beneath the sands. We are now 120 or so feet up into the air, as we look around we see giant mechanical circles that pull up which reveals huge rotary fans. This whole structure is pulling away up from the sand, rising up into the sky, the desert below us. We notice a large black peaked building with a raven atop it. In the far distance I just about make out Hashal, knowing we are hundreds of feet up into the sky.