Session 87 - The Flying City of Serraine

3 Flaurmont 1011 - 4 Flaurmont 1011

General Summary

The party starts with a long discussion with the guest services team, asking about hotels, how to get around, and key sights to see. After they get the lay of the "flying land" they decide to buy a weekly pass on the elevated transit system, the "Skychair" which seems to be a cross between a high speed ski-lift and a rail system. When they board the Skychair, and buy the pass from the driver, they get a very high speed tour of the city. The vehicle barely stays on the tracks through some turns, though the driver promises there haven't been any accidents in many years. Regardless, it is absolutely the fastest way around town, and after the whirlwind tour, which only didn't sicken the passengers because of their unusual familiarity with flying, they arrive at their hotel at the forward end of the island. The location is quite nice with the adjacent Hanging Gardens and Lake Glitterlode, and they enjoy a nice dinner at the hotel. Unfortunately, the ride on the flying railcar ride did not give them any strong indication of the location of the artifact.
After a restful night, the party decides to start their search in an area that their railcar guide said was rumored to be haunted! There is a section of abandoned hangars between the upper class residential quarters and the Glittersteps and the great library. The party can't resist a good haunted warehouse district, so they decide that will be their first real exploration. Since the route between the hotel and that area has some very nice sights to see, they set out on foot.
Just as they depart the Hotel, however, they hear an alarmingly loud sound in the near distance. A passerby informs them that this is simply the Sphinxes. They sometimes need to blow off steam, and they can be found at the very forward edge of the city. Continuing onward, the Tumbling Fields has a modest entry fee, and they spend some time enjoying the complicated, but interesting behavior of whatever magical anti-gravity field makes this work.
Arriving at the far end of the tumbling fields, they are now in the vicinity of the "haunted hangars." They walk through the area with their senses on alert and, after a few blocks, they see a robed and hooded creature emerge from one of the hangars. Stavos is pretty sure he saw a skeletal face under within the shadows of that hood. The skeleton is carrying a box, and starts off down the street. The party decides to follow the skeleton, and Stavos eventually decides to see what happens if he tries to interrupt the skeleton.
Stavos passes the skeleton on the road, and says "hello" to the skeleton. It stops but it otherwise unresponsive. After a short pause, it walks around Stavos to continue on its journey. Stavos gets a peek inside the box and spies some dirty dishes.
The party continues to tail the skeleton, leaving the hangar area and entering the upper class residential quarter. As they follow the skeleton they being to notice other robed skeletons walking around, seemingly minding their own business, mixed in with regular citizens (mostly Gnomes). Eventually they ask someone what is going on. They explain that the skeletons are servants of the Nagpa wizards, and you can tell who they work for by the color of the belts on their robes. Apparently that is normalized here and there are even rental services to have skeletons do chores for you. Seraphina is unsettled by this, but does not begin a rampage. They ask about the yellow-belted Skeletons, as the skeleton they've been following has a yellow belt, and learn that these work for the Nagpa Horrobin - a wizard that they had heard about on their tour of the island the night before. It turns out that, as Nagpa go, he is quite sociable (which, by normal standards, is still not very sociable).
The party decides to doubleback to the hangar the skeleton emerged from and investigate that. After retracing their own steps, and then the path of the skeleton, they find themselves back at the mysterious hangar. The door, unsurprisingly is locked, but Leo makes reasonably short work of that with his lockpick set and, with a click, they are inside.
The small office entryway is dark, but they can hear some rhythmic clanging occasionally from behind the opposite door. This door is unlocked and they work their way through a couple rows of shelving, closer to the clanging, and eventually see light within the larger open part of the hangar. They 'silently' approach, and see a Gnome working on some sort of large, tube-like metal structure. There is also another skeleton standing near him, possibly assisting the Gnome. Deciding there is no "haunting threat" Leo cheerfully announces his presence, "Hello!" The Gnome looks up and asks if they are the new help for the project.
In the course of introducing themselves, it is apparent that the Gnome, Eldon, is not quite right. He has a plate covering almost half his head, including a mechanical eye, and seems a bit socially awkward. He explains that he's had the plate since the accident. Leo is quite excited by now, as his Father's name was Eldon, and the only thing he knows about his parents is that they were killed in some kind of accident. Leo asks if Eldon was ever married, and after a pause, he says, yes, he thinks so, before the accident. Leo prompts him, "was her name Roywyn by any chance?". Another pause, "yes, yes I believe it was." Leo by now is nearly certain that Eldon is his father. It is clear that his memories from before the accident are mostly gone, and maybe a bit more than just the memories, but nonetheless, it is his father. Eldon is all focused on the project he is working on, his STINGRAY (Seaborn Tactical Intercontinental Nautical Grade Rudderless Aquatic Yacht), which is Top Secret, and on an aggressive timeline.
Leo and the party help Eldon for a bit, and eventually Leo says that the party will go see if more help can be found for the STINGRAY. Leo excitedly tells the party that Eldon is almost certainly his father, long presumed dead. However he wants to talk to Horrobin first to learn more about what happened to Eldon and Roywyn.
The party heads back over to the upper class residential quarter and the front steps of Horrobin, and ring the doorbell. A skeleton in a butler's outfit answers the door. Leo says they would like to have an audience with Horrobin. The skeleton raises a finger to indicate them to wait, closes the door, and after a few moments the door opens again. Another small creature is now at the door, a chubby imp-like creature half Leo's height, and Leo repeats their request. The Creature gestures with a form of sign language, but it is apparent that nobody is familiar with this, and the creature shrugs, disappointed, and indicates that they should follow it.
After another short wait, they are brought in to a cozy library/office and meet Horrobin. Leo introduces himself, and explains how they ended up at the hangar with Eldon. He then begins to ask the Nagpa what he knows of the accident that damaged Eldon, further explaining that he is almost certain that Eldon is his long lost father. By triangulating the time of the accident, and what Leo knows of when his parents were "killed", he confirms that in all likelihood Eldon is in fact his father. Digging deeper, they learn that Eldon and Roywyn were on a Gnomish expedition trying to find, understand, and exploit ancient magic technologies developed by the Blackmoor civilization. The Blackmoor were an ancient civilization that developed magic far beyond what is known today. It turns out that Eldon and Roywyn were both experts in Blackmoor magic and technology.
The expedition was exploring an ancient dig site within the Broken Lands. The device they were working on must have released a very large amount of energy in the form of an explosion. Many of the expedition were killed outright, but Eldon was evacuated by air to Serraine and, because of the magic and technology here, it was possible to save his life. With the circumstances of this accident it is not surprising that he was presumed dead. His recovery was long, but he still has strong technical skills, and has kept busy doing various projects within Serraine. They discuss the STINGRAY project, and Leo mentions that Captain Xandros in Saltmarsh was looking for some sort of underwater vehicle that somewhat matches the description of what the STINGRAY could do. Horrobin explains that they intend to unveil and test the vehicle when they get to the area that used to be Alphatia. This makes sense, with the sunken civilization, and there may be very good markets for such a product.
At this point, Leo starts to talk a little too casually with Horrobin, and brings up the fact that they are searching for a piece of an artifact. Horrobin immediately perks up. He asks what they know of the artifact and if they have any parts of it. Leo tentatively shows the part he has, and says they think it is some kind of clockwork device. Leo is nervous because he isn't sure if Horrobin is safe to talk to. Horrobin asks if the party would sell the parts of device they have, but the party says no. Horrobin thinks (based on the piece Leo shows) that it could be a Blackmoor artifact. Leo explains that it seems like there is a piece of the device somewhere in the area of the "haunted hangars." Horrobin thinks for a bit, and wonders if the piece they are looking for is in the area below the hangars, and perhaps part of Eldon's expedition.
Horrobin suggests that they talk to Eldon, and have him show them the area below the workshop, and see if the artifact can be found there. Perhaps if the party doesn't want to sell their artifact, they could buy the artifact from Horrobin. He sends his Homunculous familiar to accompany the party back to see Eldon.
Now that Leo is certain that Eldon is in fact his father, he is pretty excited to work with him more, though it is clear that Eldon does not remember his son due his injuries. At least Leo can get to know more of what his father has done since the accident.
The party arrives back at the hangar, and says hello again to Eldon. They help him some more with the STINGRAY for a while, then ask him to take them down to the storage area to show them around. He claims he is far too busy working on the STINGRAY to do so, but tells them they can go ahead. He says not to interfere with the Golems working down there, and that if they should be asked, there is a passphrase. Upon prompting about what that passphrase is, he asks what day it is, and then says "STINGRAY" that's it, that should be today's passphrase. They ask what it would be tomorrow, and after a bit, he says "STINGRAY." While the party seems a bit skeptical, they pass through large double-doors to the stairway.
The stairs wind down, around a shaft with a winch-drawn elevator platform. At the bottom landing there is another large set of double-doors, which open to a cavernous area under the hangar area.
The room is very large, and it is very noisy with the clanging of metal on metal. There are large stacks of what seem to be junk metal. Toward the center of the room there are two very large metal Golems, and a large mechanical bull attached to a cart laden with large metal chunks. One of the golems is unloading metal from the cart onto a large anvil/table, and the second golem (which has large mallets in place of hands) is smashing these into thin sheets. It is not entirely clear what this operation is, but the objects being flattened are miscellaneous metal parts. Perhaps they are being recycled into some other useful application. Leo is a bit shocked to think that the artifact might be in one of these piles of scrap to be flattened. As a result he wants to start his search near the metal being flattened.
As the party approaches, the Golem that was unloading the metal onto the anvil stops, and turns toward the party says "Who goes there?!". Leo says the passphrase "STINGRAY", but the Golem simply repeats the statement. Leo says the passphrase again, and the Golem strides over to the bull and detaches the harness from the cart. Combat begins.
The bull charges in, and the combat is brief but intense. Leo casts Forcecage on the hammer wielding Golem, reducing the threat. The party takes some damage, Stavos falls victim to a slowing effect, and Elincia is turned to stone by a gas the bull-golem releases! In the end the party triumphs and Elincia is unpetrified by a use of Greater Restoration (and the diamond it consumes). Leo feels a bit guilty about the unintended destruction of what appears to be a scrap metal recovery operation. For this reason, they move quickly to ensure that they are back upstairs before the Forcecage drops.
Thankfully, one hour is plenty of time for them to locate the piece of the artifact they are seeking, as they find it in a bin of spare or junk parts.

Report Date

27 May 2024