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:
dragon was improved invisibility above
several invaders been caught by this "jest" already today
usually not so busy, but today's been unusual
invited group to get comfortable, as they're his scheduled visit
he's enormous, muscular red dragon
used some stone shape effect to make seating for the group
Othar went to dragon form to talk dragon to dragon
Othar's attempt just summoned Vicious instead
dragon's favorite name (from a poem someone wrote about him) was "Red flame erupting into the sky to reveal calamity". The group went with "Calamity" for him.
apparently the end times came and went and no one came to get Calamity out
he's bound to the location by a binding ritual of some sort. The responsibility doesn't go away
he's bound to guard the vault
there's no Sword of Heroes here, but there is a Sword of Villains. She's a pain in the ass.
he wants to negotiate a trade, the sword of villains for the party killing a threat below the vault that intends to destroy the world, and possibly will get into the vault sooner or later.
the thing is some sort of giant armored magma slug, not very intelligent. Nearly immune to damage.
the dragon would like to be free
the gods created the world, created the Vault, and created Calamity. He has never been free.
The party agreed to help destroy the slug. It's about four times Calamity's size, about 2000 feet long. Calamity retrieved 24 potions of fire immunity and 12 potions of shock resistance, which may be enough to prevent instant death for the party. Then he pulled a few levers and a door opened into the depths below.
The battle with the slug was a matter of blasting it repeatedly with whatever shenanigans the group had on hand. The real opening was made by Malthoronam's Irish arrow, drilling a hole in the slug's side, and the rest of the party (and the dragon) took good advantage. Shane produced chaos. Garrek whacked it repeatedly in the vulnerable bits with his maul. Othar drenched it in soulfire. Morros turned its magma shell to ice. Calamity took the opportunity of its broken defenses and cheerfully tore it apart.
Calamity gave the party the sword he'd mentioned as a reward for helping him destroy his longstanding enemy (and also likely as a way to get the annoying sword out of his hoard). The Sword of Villains is named Saveon. She's a Neutral Evil shapeshifting +8 blade with a long list of villain-themed bonuses, from a guaranteed escape from the hero to acrobatics and fog-based teleporting that bring Dark Souls bosses to mind. She is also called the Dark Dancer's Blade.
Rewards Granted
4 xp, Saveon
Missions/Quests Completed
Acquire the sword in the Vault.
Character(s) interacted with
Created Content
Malthoronam
Union
Morros
Othar
Shane
Buzz Gizmo
Garrek Bardinson
Report Date
01 Feb 2023
Primary Location
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