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//Context: As the players reached a long term objective, they gained another (sassy) ally, and were presented with a variety of ways to approach the final set of challenges. While some of their NPC associates bickered a bit, the players worked together with the two Elves and each other to pull off an absolutely stunning prison break, and managed to do so without triggering alarms or even entering combat! I was holding my breath when they were solving certain puzzles as patrols drew closer, and as dice rolls determined whether they drugged guards or got caught in death traps, but they really outdid themselves in this mission.
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Session 107 – November 26^th, 2017

“The streets won’t be safe. Your political clout and family name might seem like they matter, and if it was just the Jethnan government we had to worry about you’d be right; the reality is that the influence of the Ascendant has reached its dark tendrils into too many of the aspects of society here. The guards will detain you, or try to, and even if we fought our way into the prison and back out of the city without losing our lives, Olien and the information he has will be gone before we got there. Normally that’s a risk I’m willing to take, as the dead are far more talkative than the living give them credit for, but the Fazesh within Khorikh Gazar know that was well as you or I and will make sure he’s completely erased. Likely by disintegration. And if they’re worth their cost and go half the training I did, they’ll have some way to trap or disrupt any spirits in the maximum security ring where they’re keeping him. No body and no spirit means no communication. Also, it’s fair to mention that I don’t want my father to die because of our arrogance.”

“On that note, we need a way into Khorikh Gazar and I have an idea that I think you’ll like. Except for Esoht. But everyone else will like it because Esoht won’t, and I’m pretty sure we can all agree he can be a bit annoying.”

“Hey, wha -”

“Hush, cousin. You’ll be fine, and whining doesn’t suit someone of your ‘noble’ blood. So! Here’s the rub. Traveling as a whole, we’d be stopped long before we got into the building from the street level. Now, a small strike team could get into the uppermost section of Khorikh Gazar where they handle administration: it’s the only ring that isn’t alarmed against intrusion, thanks to recent renovations. All they have are the manual panic switches. So you can breach in there, eliminate any opposition, then start working your way down. The alert systems are designed to go off if someone breaks INTO the prison; once you’re inside, you’re set.”

“Now, that said, the manual switches on the top floor could be easily triggered by someone on the OTHER side of the intake section, which you can bypass entirely on your way down. An all out assault on the outer ring would provide a great distraction, but they’ll kill Father and we’ll be caught in a flanking maneuver in seconds. We’d probably survive, but we’ll fail our mission… the Empress and Ser Enna chose me because I don’t fail.”

“I’ve seen you work well as a team. We’ll get you to the breach point on the outer wall I scouted earlier this week; once you’re in position, I’ll bring Esoht into custody. While there’s no official bounty yet, you saw in Bisawer that they are looking for him.”

“Okay, seriously? How is this the plan?!”

Ijoni lightly flicks the button on her Eagle’s Glaive, letting the chains rattle ever so slightly as the blades swing free. “Cousin, please be patient and quiet. The adults are talking now.”

“Oh please, the adul–” Ijoni glances at Esoht; the second they make eye contact, the aide goes silent and stares at his feet.

“Okay, I’ll bring Esoht ‘into custody’,” as she makes air quotes, “and that should work as a solid ruse to pull the intake team. Enna even gave me a bunch of documents to that effect; the best part is that each time they finish one, I’ll give them another to fill out. With my connections to the Latrimanians and Aievel, they’ll want to do everything by the book, and that should give you the time and cover you need on the inside.”

“Here, take these Wrist Attached Timekeeping Companion Helpers, and this Breach Net [lower level thunder spell to quietly disrupt and breach]; when we split up, give me ten minutes to backtrack from your entry point and get Esoht to the intake desk. At the ten minute mark, I should have the full attention and you can safely make your entry. Get in, get my father, and get out — use this [Shatter net] and this [Dust of Invis] from the bottom level; it will set off the alarms, at which point I’ll grab Esoht and we’ll make our own stealthy ascent back into the vent tunnels. We’ll meet back over the forge and exfiltrate from there.”

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After Clearing Bisawer

                Dropping out of the tunnel, Jethna comes into view: a city built out of the roof of a massive excavated cavern, a single pathway to the ground level, too far and too distant to even see where it ends (¼mi long, 50′ across, heavily guarded). The city exists in tiers, the carved stalactites connected by large walkways. Esoht points out the Yeron, congress of Jethna and the largest structure, central to the city, and informs the party that the prison they seek is on the other side from where they are now, past the barracks and training grounds of the Sena and Fazesh…

The Prison Spire is 200′ feet from the ceiling of the cavern to the bottom tier. The bridge to the rest of the city and the entrance to the Admin / Intake area is 30′ down the spire.

Admin: Amplified S.G., Soldiers ☼ Dawn ☼ 45 to get below – 15′ Ceiling

Ijoni and Esoht are at the front of the level, and short of breaching through the doors there, the attendants will not be alerted to the presence of the party.

High Security: Alpha Warforged, Lesser Clockwork Golems, Soldiers & Auxiliary ☼ Mid-Morning ☼ 90 to get below – 15′ Ceiling

The cells in the High Security tier are suspiciously empty. Some of them are stained with blood or other gore.

Labs: Beta Warforged, Clockwork Golem, Soldiers, Aux, Priests ☼ Noon ☼ 270 to get below – 20′ Ceiling

The labs have two sets of notes: “Notes on the Excavation of Terog” and “Notes on the Origins of the Warforged”.

Maximum Security: Ensouled Warforged, Commandos, Olien ☼ Midnight ☼ Bottom tier – 25′ Ceiling

The Maximum Security wing is initially a single room with a glowing crystal. Touching the crystal teleports the subject and anyone touching the subject to the next one in the sequence.

If there are multiple crystals, there’s a 50/50 (Odd [X] / Even [√]) chance of moving to the correct crystal vs. a dead end.

Warforged Type	Destructive Wave	Other Effects*
Alpha	DC 15 CON vs 4d6 Thunder & 4d6 Force + Prone, save for ½	1-5/20 Explosion, Confusion Rolls (+1)
Beta	DC 17 CON vs 5d6 Thunder & 5d6 Force + Prone, save for ½	1-3/20 Explosion, Confusion Rolls (+2)
Ensouled	DC 20 CON vs 6d6 Thunder & 6d6 Force + Prone, save for ½	1/20 Explosion, Confusion Rolls (+5)

*Explosion repeats Destructive Wave effect and destroys the Warforged.

1-4: Moves in 1d8 Random Direction

5-8: Takes no action

9-12: Attacks nearest target

13-16: Attacks self

17-20: Behaves normally

For the Alpha and Beta Warforged, they have a Shaperium Control Gem, with the Animate Object spell. The Ensouled Warforged has a Shaperium Phylactery imbued with Magic Jar.

Each level rotates to link up to the tier below; the keys allow the puzzle to be manipulated. At each level you toggle between the switches to try to link them.

Near each staircase there’s a panel labeled with the current layer and the layer below. A series of control switches exists somewhere on each tier.

Above each panel is a ring that looks like a clock with a single hand. There’s a glowing blue crystal at the “current time” and a ring of translucent crystals in a perfect circumference around the clock, marking the pips of ‘time’. At the left there’s a relief of a sunrise; at the top, a full sun high in the sky; to the right there is a sunset, and at the bottom axis there’s a crescent moon.

Toggling the switches such that the correct time is selected will cause the proper crystal to turn green and the staircase to open.

Notes on the Excavation of Terog

Notes from lab inside prison point to Terog as the origin of the clockwork soldiers ☼ Terog was ruined during the war, and most facilities were lost ☼ There were some subsurface labs (B1) that were excavated and the materiel and research taken back to Jethna ☼ Several labs were completely destroyed. There’s one notable lab they’ve not yet reached ☼ it was fortified from the outside, buried under tons of rubble, and the location kept secret. They think they might know where it is, but have enough to do what they want to do, for now, and they’ll go back for it later after they’ve made progress with their current research. Notes indicate that there was also a contingency entrance / exit via a remote location in the Wastes ☼ some sort of tower just north of The Pits ☼ but they’ve yet to send a scouting party down that way.

 

Notes on the Origins of the Warforged

Another location within the prison has some of the notes from Terog: the Evil Elven Republic after abandoning TBH and starting The War, was approached by a pale, tall Elf, who knew more about the Republic than any one person could or should.

This Elf claimed to be a Wildling; one not of any city or House, dissociated entirely from the Republic, simply a mage who lived on the outskirts of the forest between Terog and Grovestown [???]. He offered to share his wealth of knowledge and assist with its implementation, so long as the Republic would provide the place, people, and materiel to produce his designs.

Persuaded but not yet fully convinced, they asked for proof, so he arranged a demonstration. At a nearby mustering camp, he presented a shield guardian, a design he claimed to have pioneered with the ancestors of the halflings and the gnomes, and then evolved and developed as they did: gnomes shaped the magic that gave it power, while the halflings forged the weapons and armor, and smithed the runes across its surface. While some administrators were clearly underwhelmed by the presentation of a construct, others were more concerned with the implication of the Elf’s preternatural age…

The shield guardian withstood escalating tests of might as Elven Soldiers attacked it, before a combined assault of two elite squads seemed to overwhelm it to the point that it couldn’t react to the sheer number of enemies it was facing. Just as it would track one, another would attack and it would change its focus. While the superb craftsmanship helped keep it standing, it was incapable of competing against its organic targets. The Elf raised his hand, but not in concession, only for a respite: he asked if the demonstration could now begin, and as the soldiers stepped back, he placed a Shaperium Phylactery into the guardian, transforming it into an Ensouled Warforged.

As the soldier resumed their tandem assault, the SGWF reacted not like a Golem, but a trained combatant, though possessed of none of the fear or hesitation its living counterparts suffered from.

The soldiers were beaten, broken, and badly wounded. The bureaucrats and military officers present asked the stranger how he’d achieved what he did, what the crystal was, and how they could achieve the same. The anomalous Elf replied calmly, and matter-of-factly: “I am how you will win this war. I do not ask for you to bend the knee, or even for compensation for my unique services. I ask only that you aid me, however I require it, in my support of you and your cause. I am your salvation… but you may simply call me Vecna.”

Vecna was given near total domination over Terog, and immediately made many extremely specific requests; he wanted [Metal] from the Fire Giants, and he requested the component materials for black powder […]. This in turn influenced the Republic to further subjugate the Fire Giants rather than cooperate, and it also spurned on the first forays into the mountains that would one day house the cities of the Reformed Elven Republic. Over the following years, Vecna would develop the Warforged for the Republic while maintaining secrecy not just on his methods, but on his very identity and purpose.

As the tide of the war turned, Vecna fled Republic lands for unknown frontiers. In his place he left lethal guardians: constructs, spirits, undead, and cultists more loyal to him than any nation-state or race. They sacked Terog before any Alliance forces arrived, set traps around a good portion of the village, and left defensive forces hidden in the wreckage and in the surrounding forest. Alliance troops never pushed through, and it was generations later that the Ascendant pawns from Jethna would clear out what remained and reclaim what secrets they could from within.