General Summary
Iron Range
Horukzul Caverns
Deep in the Horukzul Caverns beneath the Iron Range, blocked by the tunnel collapse he’d caused to escape Krummer, Luyos rested and recovered from his wounds. He took the time to inventory his supplies. He had rations and a waterskin, but the lowest supply he had were torches. He knew he’d have to be careful with the few he had, as he’d be blind in these caverns without them. He’d have to find a way back to the surface before his supplies ran out. After resting, he investigated the pathways leading out of this rubble-filled chamber. Two paths had warm air emanating from them. Luyos believed they likely headed deeper beneath the mountain. With the extensive rain, he’d expect any passage leading out to have cooler air, not warmer. Down the last passage, he heard faint rustling sounds. He was hesitant to head that direction, but from his understanding, that passage was the best direction to circle back towards the waterfall gully, which was the only other entrance to these caves Luyos knew of. Luyos was not very stealthy, but he knew that the torchlight would give him away before any sounds his armor made. Carefully, he advanced down the path.Rockfall and Rain
The next cavern was rough and tall. The rustling was from a large array of bats hanging on the ceiling. Their eyes reflected the torchlight, but they did not seem bothered by Luyos’s presence. The cavern floor was littered with droppings and guano. A trail of the refuse led back to the cavern he’d come from, towards the exit he’d blocked. As he investigated, he found another, weaker trail of the droppings headed further in. However, Luyos could tell it was infrequent. For whatever reason, the bats were no longer heading that direction. The trail brought him to a large cavern. An entire far section appeared to be collapsed from a cave-in, with tumbled rocks piled to the cavern ceiling. Many pools of standing water pockmarked the room, and Luyos saw rainwater steadily trickling in from among the rocks. If water was coming in, Luyos thought it could lead to an exit to the surface. He went inside to search, and a thin screech called in response. A stirge detached from the ceiling and flew towards Luyos. He noticed it early enough to carefully set his torch in a dry spot and prepare his axe. As the stirge closed, Luyos swung and smashed it from the air, killing it. With the monster slain, Luyos investigated the trickling water and collapsed rocks. Though he could tell it once led to some area higher above, after the cave-in there was no longer a way back out. Faced with no other exits, Luyos was forced to backtrack.Abandoned Burrow
He returned to where he started and headed down the warm air path. It led to a rubble-filled passage with small burrows and holes dug in the rocks. It appeared to be another kruthik cavern, though this one was abandoned, too. Luyos could tell it was older than the signs of battle closer to the entrance. He wondered why the kruthiks were already abandoning this area before The Copper Dozen had arrived. As he investigated, he also noticed stones arrayed in a rune or character of some kind. It wasn’t a language he recognized, but it stuck him as odd. However, as he kept looking, he felt it was likely just a trick of the light, and the arrangement was by chance or just part of the other rubble in the chamber. Heading on, the passage joined to two others. One was a water-filled chamber with oddly colored liquid, but the other room fully caught Luyos’s attention.Runic Sinkhole
The passage opened above a massive chamber. In the expanse below him, his torchlight showed a large sinkhole. The funnel-like hole was filled with rocks and scree. It was so deep he could not see the bottom, and hot air emanated from it and filled the cavern. Surrounding this were eight arrangements of runic stones, similar to the one he’d seen earlier. Some had degraded or been covered by debris. Some had been damaged by the sinkhole as it expanded. From his position, Luyos also saw the torchlight reflect on the eyes of several beasts in the area, which started to make their way towards him. Luyos moved in and prepared his axe. The closest was a giant rat, but there were other eyes outside the range of his torch. As he moved in, the voice manifested again. It drew his attention to the runes around the pit. On the far side, a set of the rocks were vibrating subtly and strangely. There was an urgency to the message. Luyos had planned to let the beasts come to him, but his instinct now drew him to take the initiative. He swung at the giant rat and scattered it to the ground. He grabbed the torch and rushed forwarded, heading around the runic circle towards the shaking stones. A large spider came out of the darkness. Luyos dodged the spider’s lunges but had issue striking back against it. After a short back and forth, his axe crushed the spider. He continued around. Next to the stones was another giant rat. It rushed Luyos and bit onto his leg. Luyos kicked it off and quickly slew it. The chamber fell back to silence, save for Luyos’s breathing and the shaking of the stones at his feet.Divine Runes
Luyos looked at the series of rune stones. They were clearly magical and seemed to be set to hold something within them. However, the expanding sinkhole appeared to have damaged some of the runes. Was it happenstance, or had something been trying to break free? Luyos worried about releasing something or unleashing some effect into the cavern if he meddled. He called out, “I don’t know quite about magic and runic circles, and the like, but is this what you have been drawing me towards?” There was no reply. Luyos reached for his natural magic, pulling the divine threads tied to his dragonborn heritage. His eyes alit with energy as he cast Detect Magic. The magic present was divine in nature and seemed to be from the earliest years of the Fifth Age. It was an attempt to hold something here, but it had been damaged. He said, “I don’t know what you want me to do here. Am I supposed to be targeting it? Am I supposed to be breaking this rune then?” There was no reply. He thought back to the times he’d felt the voice. It didn’t strike him as something or someone trapped. It seemed to be cautious or worried about the loss of something here. It seemed to be drawing him to this shaking rune in particular, to the weakest part of the circle. Luyos felt he needed to act. Luyos took his axe and scattered the vibrating rocks, breaking the laid rune.Fane of the Fire Egg
The other seven rune stones blasted apart violently, sending rocks across the room. What was a weak divine energy before erupted into a blinding wave of powerful divine energy that filled the cavern. The sinkhole rumbled and shook the whole chamber. Luyos jumped back as rocks and scree tumbled in the quake. His torch fell with the cascade to the bottom, and Luyos saw the top of a white stone dome emerge from the rocks. Rising from the base of the sinkhole was a structure. It shook the whole cavern as it rose to Luyos’s level, creating a mound of broken shale and rubble around it. A domed, stone roof connected to eight, fluted and tall white pillars set onto a large dais. Heat and light emanated from the center of the platform between the columns. Upon a stone plinth was a large, floating, red-scaled orb. At first, it reminded Luyos of stories of the Heart of the Desert at Ruin's Temple, but Tarteria was far from this place. As his eyes recovered from the blinding divine energy, he realized the orb floating gently at the center of the shrine was not a sphere, but an egg. Cautiously, Luyos approached the plinth. The voice seemed to urge him towards the levitating egg. He reached forward slowly and touched it. From beneath his hand, the red shell cracked and broke. In a matter of moments, a creature hatched. A long body with four powerful limbs, a powerful tail, and a draconic, reptilian maw: a red-scaled drake. Luyos was speechless. Before he could begin to ask if this was the source of the voice he’d been hearing, other sounds caught his ears. Something else had been drawn to the rumbling fane and was now approaching the cavern.
Report Date
18 Jun 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
21 Sedaena 5A 178