Sanguine Sunrise #17: Purging the Past

General Summary

The group meet with Rastra and have a conversation where Ramori and her introduce themselves to each other. Additionally, Rastra has picked up another person for their team, a white haired woman with glowing yellow eyes named Azada. Azada talks, and eventually, she begins aiding in leading the group forward. Then, leaving Pep behind, the group come to a cleared out area with a large building giving off smoke into the air.
The group immediately begin making plans of sneaking up to it or possibly even burning it, but Azada and Skek begin sneaking around it first. They go west of their location and see a statue on the building but see no doors. They do however see a shed that they can't enter and a hole in the mountain. They try to break into the shed, but they can not get through its simple lock.
The group then consolidates with everyone barring Rastra and her hired blades meeting at the front of the building at its two main doors. Skek goes to listen in on the building, and he hears someone speaking about their plan working out and how this site will continue to be useful, but is no longer necessary for their plans to come to fruition, but he then hears Skek and orders people to search for any animals outside.
The groups hide, Azada and Ramori heading north while Skek and Luthrin head south. Then two duergar come out holding large spiderlike creatures with giant curved fangs reminiscent to that of a serpents. They split off and Azada and Ramori take out one pair while Skek and Luthrin take out the other.
Azada and Skek then go to another building in the north and try to fight invisible duergar as they run away, and Rastra manages to bludgeon the one who was going to the main building to death before he could warn his brethren. Inside this building, they find the duergar living quarters and loot it for its dresser and its table.
Finally, the group sets into motion their attack on the main building. They block the entrance with the dresser. Then they place the table in front of the last visible building they see. Finally, they light the main building ablaze while Luthrin sends an undead thrall to kill any duergar in the last building.
The thrall comes back, and the group waits as the building burns. Finally, two duergar try to break out while caught aflame and being attacked by their own creatures. They manage to escape but everyone is quickly killed by the attack party waiting outside. Then, they see the crux to their plan: an open trapdoor. With the building still ablaze, the group visit the last building they haven't gone against yet while Ramori and Skek head back to the shed to try to open the door.
The larger group end up picking a fight with the devils in the slave quarters, and both hired blades die in the fight. Inside they find a note speaking about the western mines. The smaller group finally manage to get inside the shed and they see a strange machine that is seemingly operated by stabbing oneself in the head and piloting it through some unseen mechanism as well as some mining tools.
The groups once again convene and head to the western mine deciding that the fire is still too large to explore the main building. Once in the mine, they fight a hopping figure and save a couple of half-elf miners he was watching over. They then fight another devil and receive the aid of a miner in defeating it. When Luthrin arrives, he notices the miner is someone he knows, Cain in the visage of the strange wrinkled and different looking version the doppleganger presented in Waterdeep.
Cain barters for his life, saying he has information on the cult that kidnapped Luthrin, so, he still lives while the group drags him around. Azada leads him into a trap, and everyone is badly injured by the explosion. Thus the group plan their next move as they take the magical rod that caused the trap.

Rewards Granted

3000 sp, 500 cp
1300 exp for 3 characters and 1500 for 2
Immovable Rod

Missions/Quests Completed

Made it to Skek's home
Burned down all visible buildings except the shed within Skek's old village
Found Cain

Character(s) interacted with

Rastra, The Determined Mage
Hops, The False Dwarf
Cain, The Unwanted Informant

Report Date

19 Sep 2020