3. Echoes from the Gulch
General Summary
The party continued their expedition deeper into The Gulch, a twisting maze of seemingly natural-made tunnels, in search in search of Cave Fisher filament for the Half-Elf that they met at The Crosscut. As they traversed the dark and dangerous tunnels, they suddenly spotted what looked like a red, scaly, humanoid body, which was still twitching. A faint whimpering emanated from the area of the body.
Iris identified the body as a Kobold. Approaching the Kobold, Lacey and Jenny noticed a second kobold pressed against the cave wall, trying to hide from them. Jenny pinned it to the wall, demanding to know what was going on, and the Kobold stated that the other Kobold (Snitt) was sick and that they wanted to be taken to the groups leader, The Sovereign. After threatening to cut Snitt’s legs off to cure his "cave madness", he suddenly recovered. After some confusion, he told Jenny that the Sovereign is his brother. Iris pointed out that this cannot be disproved, as none of them have ever seen The Sovereign. The group tried to convince the wall Kobold that they work for the Sovereign, but he was not fooled. After some back and forth, both Kobolds left to fool someone else.
Continuing deeper, the group wondered a little about how long the Sovereign had been active. Jenny said that there was no overseeing leader of the factions in the Gulch before the Sovereign.
After a couple of hours more walking, they reached a cavern that branched into three more tunnels, one of which seemed to descend deeply, one shallowly, and one that seemed to stay on the same level. An echo emanated from the centre tunnel (the one that stayed on the same level) like metal being struck rhythmically. The group decided to check out this noise in case the maker could help them in their search for Cave Fishers. They approached a bearded, dust-covered Dwarf with a pickaxe in the distance who was shocked to see other people. The group learned that The Crusaders had recently (in the last month) found lots of metal outside of The Veil. Ragmas told them how Gerdt (his hometown) is at risk of losing their livelihood due to the Crusaders new find. Therefore, Ragmas was searching the Gulch for something stronger than metal. He mused that the rock below Garrigill is soft and easily crumbles so there must be something more solid far below.
Doubling back, the group headed down the steeper tunnel. They bypassed the rope tripwire that Ragmas informed them of and proceeded to the steeper reaches, climbing where necessary. As they were climbing down, they heard an explosion from further up the tunnel, and theorised that something set off the trap that they circumvented earlier.
As Iris was climbing down the first rope, she felt something push her but was able to maintain her balance against the invisible foe. Despite the late hour, they decided not to rest yet because they didn't think this area was safe. Sam made a "presence check" to see if he felt safe, a sense of loneliness washing over him.
At the bottom, the tunnel opened out into more of a cavern with a distant sound of a rushing waterfall, fuelled by the final days of the wet season. Part of the cavern opened onto the Gulch itself, giving a view down into the endless blackness. The group decided to camp here. Leopold and Sam took the first watch, because Leopold doesn’t deal well with interrupted sleep at his age. Leopold used his Joker card to shed some light upon them and the mist rolling in from the waterfall provided a comfort to Sam. Sam briefly took a look into the ravine, taking a lantern from someone, initially believing it to be Leopold but then realising that it was not. He considered throwing the lantern into the Gulch, but worried about disturbing something in the depths…
Returning to the camp, Leopold, playing solitaire, briefly asked about the lantern that Sam found. Completing their watch, they both woke Lacey and Iris. Lacey asked Iris about her tattoos, and if there was any way to get rid of them. She revealed some tattoos of her own on her wrist and said that she got them from her Mother, because she needed them for her mission. Iris said that getting her tattoos was painful but made her more powerful, so she could protect people. Lacey told Iris she was a good person and the two shared some chocolate. Lacey spotted 5 figures coming from the waterfall, which she identified as Orcs. Iris hid the light, but one Orc seemingly noticed them, causing Iris to draw her very ornate sword. As the Orc closed in, Lacey used thaumaturgy to make ominous whispering sounds, causing the it to return to its retreating pack. The two women bonded over having magic from "friends in high places" before waking Jenny up for final watch.
Seemingly waking up with Jenny, Leopold offered him a plum, which he refused, saying he ate just before Leopold woke up. Jenny shared that he’s not from the surface so it’s hard to get work there and that guarding Lyra was the first surface job Jenny had got. Leopold shared that he was told that he would never leave Kinstead and never amount to more than a farmer, saying that he finally did leave because he had a religious calling.
The next morning, on the shores of the pool that the waterfall ran into, the party heard a fight between two men in black, dulled, heavy steel armour, and six Cave Fishers. As the men made short work of the combat, the party approached. Upon discovering that these were the last of the Cave Fishers, Leopold offered a downpayment for one of them, promising a further 126GP. Using illusionary script, Leopold wrote a promissory note, secretly informing the banker to stall the transaction. Leopold introduced himself as Leopold Van Hesselheim and the two Dredgers introduced themselves as 39A and D41, sharing that the authorities used to lob people into the Gulch rather than executing them. Those people became Dredgers.
39A offered the party an assassination job, stating it to be of "personal interest", to kill someone called Berkard Weller. Leopold recognised this name as a member of The Garrigill Guard. 39A said that he had heard that this man had very recently abandoned his post as a guard and run off into the Gulch, although he shared doubts that Weller would ever venture down to the lower levels. 39A stated that Weller was the reason that he is was the Gulch but that he couldn't be seen as causing trouble, hence offering the job.The Dredger shared that he had heard that the Sovereign was interested in hiring all ~500 Dredgers - probably for a specific job. Before leaving, D41 seemed to recognise Leopold - "Strange to see you down here, Father".
The group concluded that they did not wish to murder someone and discussed finding Weller to tip him off. On the way back up, the party decided to enter the crawlspace that they avoided on the descent. About 10 feet in, they found a small hollow with a long-abandoned camp and a decade-old skeleton, clutching a piece of parchment. Along with mentioning The Everway, the note also mentioned Libertia, an act which Leopold pointed out to be heresy.
Still in the crawlspace and feeling an earthquake-like rumbling, the party found themselves face to face with a Bulette.
Report Date
01 Oct 2024
Primary Location
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