Breac's guild report - 0.3.7 agf

Delusions of grandeur

The party was told to expect a quiet week. All they had to do was babysit Breac Sunfist as he smithed the first replacement shield tokens. They journeyed north to Mt Rhillaine, taking only a brief detour to observe the scultping of the monument there and to check that the sun laser being used to carve the statues was indeed strong enough to burn a hole through mortal flesh.

On arriving at the north edge of Mt Rhillaine, Breac led them to a semi-circular clearing on top of a cliff face, with a door engraved with Damien Ironbrand's symbol leading further into the mountain. Unable to open the door, Breac turned to the anvil on the clearing and began to smith a shield token. On the fifth strike of his hammer, he vanished - and reappeared shortly after, dangling over the edge of the cliff, before disappearing again. His screams could be heard from within the mountain as the door on the mountainside opened. Miko Tanner led the party further into the depths.

The inside of the mountain featured a chasm in the centre leading down into a small opening hundreds of feet below, and a pathway winding around the outside of that chasm. Miko led them to a small room opening to the right, where she spotted Lola contained within - and on touching the icy prison, Miko and Lola changed places, trapping Miko inside. A brief introduction revealed Lola to be the daughter of Old Gus, a former officer of the Guild Council who has been missing since Guildfall.

In the meantime, Breac continued to teleport randomly throughout the inside chamber of the mountain. On appearing nearby the party, the minotaur Mylmar decided to attempt to jump over to Breac's form and grapple him. They succeeded, only for Breac to disappear, leaving the minotaur plummetting - safely, thanks to Tem's featherfall - into the mountain depths. The sentiant duck wizard Manis jumped after them. This left Tem and Tiger alone upstairs with Lola. They succeeded in passing the first test door of the chamber, the door of the Bold, which had to be run through at speed.

The second door was the door of the Beneficent. Nearby were a pair of ice prisons containing mechanical snakes that attacked the trio. The door had to be paid with a classic tithe of a tenth of the party's gold balance. By this time, Mylmar and Manis had escaped the chamber at the bottom of the mountain - where they found a large room with a dais, but no way of activating anything - and had reached the back of the third door. Knowing the first door had opened by passing through it at speed, Manis charged the back of the third door head-first and found it did not open the same way.

In front of the third door was imprisoned Lola's pet shadow-fox, Nova. Reluctantly leaving it behind, Lola accompanied the group to the third door - the door of the penitent. It was unlocked and opened without issue from their side (Manis had charged a door that needed to be pulled open from his side instead of pushed). On stepping through, the group was nearly cut in half by arcane sawblades whistling in from the walls, as Lola berated herself for not remembering that 'the penitent one kneels'.

Finally inside the lower chamber of Mt Rhillaine, the group found a large room guarded seemingly by two iron golems, featuring a large table with an orb on a pedestal at the back. One of the golems activated, the second seemingly unable to break its restraints. The room also activated, with the floor moving and winds blowing seemingly in response to the player's movements. The party began to realise the floor required 'balance' - there were 6 people, including the Golem, and they had to be arranged so they were equidistant away from the center line in the room to prevent the floor from moving and carrying them over the cliff edge at the far end.

After some time adjusting their position, Mylmar and Manis became fixated on the orb on the table at the far end for some time, allowing the Iron Golem to close on the less armored members of the party and bludgeon them repeatedly. Eventually the party focused their efforts and brought the golem down. The room deactivated, Miko was freed, and Breac stopped teleporting uncontrollably around the mountain.

The orb was also activated. It was a scrying device, and using it Lola was able to confirm her fears. Her father, Gus, is no longer on this plane of existence. Breac reassured her that this didn't necessarily mean he is dead, but it was still a blow - and not just on a personal level. Gus was one of the few people known to have the ability to craft shield tokens. With a heavy heart, Breac crossed both Gus' name and his own off the list of Damien Ironbrand's former apprentices.