Session 23

Date: 28 February 2022

Exploring the Dwarven City
We take the Dwarven Blueprints for Magical Weapons with us as we continue to explore the area.

Suleiman finds an old armory, though the weapons and armor within have mostly rusted away. He finds a number of traditional Dwarven weapons. None of them appear to be in good (or, really, usable) condition. Past the armory, he finds what appears to be a Quartermaster's quarters. Xanie checks for references to the Weapons, but doesn't find any. She does, however, find references to three Dwarven Lords that are also referenced on the blueprints: the Lord of the Sword, Lord of the Axe, and Lord of the Mace.

Xanie also finds a private diary in a hidden compartment in the Quartermaster's desk. There is little of note, but the final entry ends mid-word and has some ink spilled on the page. The are no signs of blood or other indications of violence. Suleiman speculates that the Quartermaster must've been urgently called to duty and stashed the diary hurriedly. There are dates on the entries, but they aren't in a format we know. Xanie takes the diary so we can check with the College of Korvosa.

Suleiman manages to stalemate Xanie in a game of Chess using an ancient Dwarven board.

In the meantime, Beans notices that one of the ancient Dwarven statues appears to have moved.

Xanie finds more papers that were abruptly abandoned in another bedroom. As Beans continues to open doors, the statue's gaze follows her. Suleiman has the brilliant idea to knock on the statue and that, apparently, pisses it off.

The statue appears to have an inscription in Dwarvish on its base. (It is at this point that Suleiman realizes that he can both read and speak Dwarvish.) The inscription indicates that this is a sort of "watchdog". No apparent instructions for turning it off. It does not respond to Suleiman shouting in Dwarvish.

Knot smashes the statue (with a little help from magic missiles), and we continue exploring. This time with the aid of Suleiman reading things.

Suleiman finds the Record Keeper's office/quarters. It has maps! of the region! with our location marked! The place we're in is called Dol'Sulrich. This apparently used to be under a mountain, but there isn't a mountain here anymore. Additionally, there is a land mass to the west of the location marked on the map that is clearly no longer present (as Korvosa is on the coast). There are indications in the records of widespread political unrest and references to religious fanaticism. There was a war to the north (which, out-of-character, would align with the ancient war we learned about during the West Marches campaign).

On the maps, there is a large entrance indicated on the Eastern side of the mountain on the maps. We have not discovered that entrance. Suleiman takes the maps with him. Xanie finds more maps of the surrounding region, with what appears to be locations of forts and troop positions marked on the map. Suleiman determines from this map that there appeared to be some kind of border conflict to the North.

Subsequently, Xanie finds what appears to be an artificer's study! The artificer that owned this study appears to have created the statues. They won't attack dwarves or those that wear special amulets created by the artificer. Xanie suggest that if we can find guest quarters we may recover one of these amulets.

''There are many rooms for Dwarves in various positions. Fletchers, priests, etc. I am not going to describe them all in detail.''

Xanie discovers what appears to be a mailroom. As she investigates it, Suleiman 1v1s a spider (and (eventually) wins). There's a significant amount of correspondence related to a plague that has the same date as the last date in the Quartermaster's diary.

We find the guest quarters. One of them noticeably appears to be ransacked. Suleiman remarks that we gave an amulet to Chegg. Xanie manages to find a brooch with the symbols of an axe, sword, and mace crossed. Suleiman tests this by knocking on a statue, and unlike the prior incident the statue doesn't budge. It appears to confer protection to Suleiman, but on further testing doesn't appear to confer that to nearby party members.

Knot breaks into what is labelled as "Diplomatic Offices." Inside, Beans finds more brooches. We search for papers related to the war or the plague---and find many. The Dwarven nation appears to have closed its borders due to the plague and the war. They were at war with Amukta'aan'sadra.

We also find a shrine to Moradin. Farther in, we discover a throne room with three thrones with the sigils of axe, mace, and sword in front. The throne room is guarded by a menacing magical statue of a different sort from the rest. It was not mentioned in the artificer's notes, and does not appear to respect our brooches. It sees through invisibility and is at least cautiously interested in Beans' rat form. There are a number of magically sealed rooms around: Royal Archives, an Archmage's Quarters, and a Research area. To the southeast, we found the Royal Quarters.

Reconvening with Cheg
Having reached a (literal) stonewall exploring the royal area, we have the choice to proceed forward through the large double doors or go backward. We decide to go see if Cheg and the kobolds know anything about this part of the city.

Upon crossing back over to the Kobold homestead, we find it conspicuously empty. No Cheg. After some exploring, we stumble upon a large group of Kobolds in what appears to be a big room with a throne (though less impressive than the triple-throne room). Suleiman pushes for a non-lethal response, but they knock Knot out and when he wakes up he is NOT happy. Cue Kobold murdering. Beans manages to grapple the head Kobold (a Sorcerer) and then Suleiman takes him from her and begins to drag him back towards the Dwarven city to see if he can be of any assistance...

(We don't find Cheg)