Twilight's Children

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Monday, February 5th, BC 736
Monastery of the Willing Sentinel, Lamordia

The group wakes in the morning after a restful night at monastery. Sister Eleyna, Brother Juergen, and Brother Tomas agree to meet with them in the meeting hall after breakfast. Ludovic checks the dagger again and confirms that there is no longer any trace of the necromancy aura, only conjuration and transmutation. But the group is still wary of leaving it in the care of the monks, considering how poorly they were able to protect it from Vir, Valric, and Severed Hand. They decide to take the dagger with them, for its protection, and for the protection of the monks themselves.

But when Ludovic, Duffy, Leif, Gavin, and Kerri meet with Eleyna, Juergen, and Tomas, the monks say that they talked through the night and have decided they can’t allow them to take the dagger. They thank them for their help, and acknowledge their strengths, but insist that the mission is theirs, despite any past failures. Now that the unholy taint of the mists is removed, it is still a Ba’al Verzi dagger, and the members of that cult of assassins have been tempted into dark deeds even by the lesser powers of these daggers. Tomas believes the thing from whom they retrieved the dagger was a lich, a master of the magical arts who has willingly undergone a transformation into an undead creature, by means of a foul ritual, in order to cling to a mockery of life, so that he may perfect his dark powers. Ancient tales known to some of the priests speak of them, though many of them thought they must be myth, until reality proved otherwise. The monks speculate that there are any number of vile purposes to which a creature of that power could have put the Souldrinker. But they believe the lessened dagger would be of no interest to it, which is why it tried to stop the cleansing ritual. If the creature still exists, they believe it will leave them alone to pursue fouler cursed items.

Ludovic and Duffy are particularly adamant that the dagger is safer with them than at the monastery. They point out that the creature was not the only one after the dagger. The Kargatane had infiltrated the monks once already, and would surely send more agents once Valric failed to report back. The monks agree, and have decided to take new precautions with the dagger. With the deadly aura removed, it is now safe to store it here, where they can watch over it, and it will be sealed in several locked chests in their fortified vault. They will also redouble their research into the occult forces in order to ward the vault better against creatures of the night. Tomas concludes by saying, "You are of course, powerful, and while we hope you will accept our wishes. We know that if you disagree, there is little we can do to stop you. But we will try." Still skeptical, but not wishing to fight the well-meaning monks over it, the group resigns to leaving the dagger with them.

Taking the group aside before Suriana wakes, Gavin explains his relationship with Suriana in more detail. As mentioned before, he is a member of the Order of the Guardians as well. But his is a special task, as he is charged with protecting his sister, Suriana, rather than any magic artifact. It is at this point that the others realize he uses the word sister literally, and not in the religious sense. Gavin actually is Suriana's older brother. In the time preparing for the cleansing ritual, he sought guidance from the other monks, and realized that he was taking his vow of non-interference too literally by not speaking at all. From now on, he will attempt to be more sociable, but he must always be wary that he doesn't accidentally influence Suriana's path in any way.

When Suriana awakes, she remembers the ritual, the dark blade held in her hand, the cold it exuded into her very bones. She remembers chanting the incantations the priests taught her, focusing her powers into the blade, as though it were a wounded person she meant to heal. Then the rest of the night is a blur... She has no memory of the end of the ceremony. A young sister comes to check on her and tells her that it went well, that the creature was destroyed, her friends are safe, and that the dagger’s power was banished forever. She is relieved, but wonders why she can't remember it herself.

Ludovic offers to magically divine the powers of the dagger, and to teach the monks how to do so, if they can provide the pearl he needs as a material component. Eleyna finds a suitable pearl in her quarters, and the monks enthusiastically agree, asking him to do the same for three of their other artifacts as well. During the eight hours that the spell will take, Suriana asks Leif if he would teach her how to use her cudgel better. Recent events have shown her that she should have some defensive skill of her own to fall back on. Leif gladly agrees to help her, thankful for a way to pass the time.

She also asks Duffy to teach her to shoot, but he tells her it would take a lot of training for her to become accurate with them. Instead, he gets Ludovic to give her his spare light crossbow, which is easier for her. Remembering how useful the villagers were for Duffy back in Refuge, she resolves to learn how to at least load his guns for him.

The Guardians retrieve the Souldrinker, unlocking it from within several nested chests, each opened with a key held by a different monk. Then, with the Guardians' arcane studies expert watching, Ludovic begins the spell to examine seven different items.

First he examines the Souldrinker, which now seems to simply be an enchanted dagger. A vision comes to him of a man in shadows behind a curtain, in an ornate chamber. An armored man walks by and the hiding man stabs him with the dagger, the blade passing through the curtain the victim's armor with the same unnatural ease. As the armored man falls to the ground, Ludovic looks down at him, from the assassin's viewpoint. He sees no damage or hole in the man's armor, only blood welling up from inside, seeping through the joints of the plate mail.

Later, Ludovic describes the vision, including the insignia emblazoned on the victim's breastplate, which Duffy recognizes as the Dilisnya crest, a noble family from his homeland of Borca. Ludovic goes on to analyze the other three items that the Guardians have brought, giving them as much information as he can.

With the Guardians' items finished, Ludovic moves on to some of the items the group has collected recently. Not wanting to risk the Guardians taking the items into custody, he politely asks his chaperone to leave so that he can "rest." Once alone, he continues, examining the macabre hand-shaped candle found in Severed Hand's lair.

Ludovic has another vision, this time of a man in dark alley stabbing someone in the back. The vision flashes to this murderer hanging dead from a noose. Then he sees the same man lying in a mass grave, and some unseen force chops off his hand just before the dirt is shoveled over him. The vision changes again, and Ludovic watches as the murderer's hand is bound into the shape of the candle, with three fingers extended, and thrown into a boiling cauldron by green, wrinkled hands. He senses that lighting the candle will give a spellcaster greatly increased power for as long as the candle remains lit. He turns his attention to Severed Hand's claw-shaped skullcap.

In his mind's eye, he sees a man with dark hair and rich clothing, wearing an iron crown. The man presents this device to someone who is bowing to him. The vision shifts as the second man later forces this claw shaped helm onto a corpse, with the attached syringe plunging through its skull. Ludovic sees the corpse rise up, it's fingers crackling with magic power. Ludovic surmises that the device raises the dead; it is activated by putting it on a corpse and casting certain spells through it. Later, when Ludovic relates this vision to the others, Kerri fills him in on the man in the Iron Crown. Since their escape from Juste's theatre, she has done some research during their travels and in the local tales she has heard, the Iron Crown is nearly synonymous with the man who wears it, Darkon's wizard-king, Azalin Rex.

Lastly, Ludovic looks at the harp found in Severed Hand's lair, with the ominous inscription: "For Andres..." His spell senses that whoever plays the harp can tell the listeners what to do, and they will be compelled to listen.

Once again, he experiences a vision of the item's origin.

The same dark-haired man in the iron crown stands in a windowless rectangular stone room. A magic circle has been etched in the floor. Vile stains are burned into the stone itself. A small table stands in the corner, covered with ancient-looking books and scattered spell components.

The crowned man is not alone. In the center of the circle stands Andres Duvall! He appears a few hard years older than he did in Juste's play, and he is holding a glowing glass orb in his outstretched hand. The crowned man casts an unknown spell, focused on the circle, which briefly flares with light. In a cold voice, he commands "Again. This time without that blasted singing." Andres replies, "But... the song calls forth the light from the Grey Realm. It is the scrap of moss and the song together that make the light. I cannot do it any other way." The crowned man cuts him off, saying, "There is always another way. I will show you in the morning, and once you have learned to cast in silence, we shall proceed.

Manus! Take our guest back to his cell." With this, the king looks straight at Ludovic, who realizes the vision is not from a third-person view, but from the vantage of someone called Manus. The vision skips ahead... and Ludovic sees himself locking Andres into a dungeon cell. Ludovic hears the voice of Manus as though he were speaking himself, "The Master has been as he is for too long, Andres. For me, it is not as long. I still remember the simple joy of a bard's song. Will you sing me something before I go?" As Andres starts to sing, the vision skips forward again... Ludovic finds himself running down a stone hallway. Looking down, he sees himself clutching a large purple gemstone in skeletal fingers. He barges into a room, a modestly appointed bedroom, with a large worktable and several shelves. He begins magically flinging items from the shelves and table into a large sack. Books, vials, and quills all haphazardly fly into the sack. He spins around and spies the harp, sitting on the table. Grasping it in his rotten hand, he murmurs, "Pity I never got to finish it for you. More pity that I haven't time to rescue you as well. I shall return once I am free." He shoves the harp into the sack and weaves an incantation. The air in front of him opens up in a swirling portal of dried, dead leaves and he jumps through it.

Weary from his visions, Ludovic asks the others if they can spend the night here, since it is already late in the evening. They agree. Before they go to bed, Tomas pulls Ludovic and Leif aside and asks if they saw anything at the Old Monastery regarding the Bloodknife. When they tell him that they saw nothing, he reminds them to keep watchful for it, since they may be linked to its legend.

Tuesday, February 6th - Monday, February 12th, BC 736
Monastery of the Willing Sentinel, Lamordia
The group actually decides to stay for six days, to recuperate from their recent ordeal. Duffy takes some time to finish up one of his guns, and to study Vir. He also asks the monks if Vir can be re-buried in their graveyard, and they agree. Kerri takes some time to experiment with the harp. It is a masterfully crafted instrument, and she takes to it easily. Ludovic agrees to test the harp with her, and she spends some time magically bossing him around. But after several hours of experimentation, something goes wrong, and Ludovic suddenly gets very angry. He casts a spell on Kerri, and storms out of the room. (I think it was hold person, right? or maybe cause fear?)

Later that day, they cautiously approach each other, and make sure they are both unharmed. In an awkward conversation, they decide not to test the harp anymore, in case it causes any further outbursts.

Leif spends the time teaching Suriana to defend herself, as well as talking to Kukri. He learns that Kukri was made fun of by his brothers in his pack for being small. He ran away, but had trouble fighting off larger predators in the woods. He was very happy when Leif came along and took him into his pack. After wrapping up all the loose ends at the monastery, the group leaves for Darkon, to continue on the Stangengrad to see The Gears.

Monday, February 12th, BC 736
Mt. Steimschloss, Lamordia
The party leaves the monastery, trudging down the mountain, slushing through snow and sleet. Near the bottom of the mountain, Suriana stops to pick a shriveled flower poking out of the snow. She breathes on it, and it returns to full bloom.

She gives the flower to Leif as thanks for helping her, and he waits until no one is looking, then presses it in his journal.

Leaving snowy Lamordia behind via the Wauntmaa road, the party enters Darkon.

Checking amongst themselves quickly they find that only Suriana speaks Darkonian. Hopefully some of the locals speak one of the tongues of the southern lands.

Nearing nightfall, Gavin and Leif notice two men hiding in the underbrush, about a hundred feet off the road in the woods. Ludovic, Kukri, and Leif go into the woods to check it out. When they get close, they see two pale men, wearing rags. They are not so much hiding as they are just standing in the woods and staring toward the group on the road. Leif calls out, asking who they are and what they want. The two men respond in eerie unison, "I am the voice of Azalin Rex."

They say they’re only interested in the girl (Suriana). They say that she is blindingly pure, and ask what she is. When the others refuse to reveal anything about her, the deathly pale men say, "I must study her more closely." Leif moves to bar their path with his staff, warning them not to go any further. They simply laugh at his "arrogance" and proceed toward Suriana. Leif, Ludovic, and Kukri attack them to protect her, and the men crumple into rotten flesh.

A bit shaken by this encounter, the party heads on toward Rivalis. They see the town distantly on the horizon, but shortly they realize that the town is much closer, and much smaller, than they had assumed. Much of the town is about half as large at they expected. It appears that a large halfling population lives here. They pass a cozy-looking inn called the "Old Way Point," and try to get a room, but the proprietor says they can't stay. "It's nothing personal, you just can't fit," he says, recommending an inn across town called the "Traveler’s End" that caters to "bigfolk."

At the inn, Kerri and Ludovic have a plan to entertain the patrons. Ludovic ducks into the kitchen while Kerri gathers the attention of the crowd. Ludovic casts his polymorphing spell and comes out of the kitchen as a bear wearing clothes. Kerri plays the part of an animal trainer as she commands the bear to do a "strip tease" dance. After the performance, Ludovic goes back into the kitchen to change back into human form, and only then notices the cook, stirring something at the hearth. Worried about her reaction to magic, Ludovic tries to calm her, but her reaction surprises him. She excitedly asks if he is a wizard, and produces a broken pot that needs repair. Still bemused, he mends her pot with a quick spell, and heads back out to the common room, where Kerri has become mobbed by the patrons, several of them clamoring for her magic to fix things, help with assorted problems and ailments, and asking her to provide charms and potions. It is clear that a traveling wizard in these parts isn't feared, but respected. In retrospect, they realize that a land ruled by a wizard-king is likely to have a very different view of magic than they are used to.

Suriana goes upstairs to rest, and Leif volunteers to guard her, so Gavin can stay downstairs with the others. The incident in the woods has Leif worried that Suriana will be targeted again. Meanwhile, downstairs, the cook gives Ludovic a complimentary plate of cheese biscuits to thank him for the pot repair. It seems that the cook and innkeeper are wife and husband. Ludovic learns that the nearest wizard is Zorian the Alchemist

in the city of Nartok to the south, which is too far for most folk to travel, so they have to rely on traveling wizards like Ludovic and Kerri for their magic needs. Gavin is having a drink at the bar when the innkeeper grumbles after serving a large dour looking man. "Watch out for that one," the innkeeper says suspiciously, "he's Kargat, I'll wager." Gavin asks what that means, and the innkeeper explains that the Kargat are the king's secret police, and it pays to watch out for them. He suspects this man because of the large chain he wears as a necklace. Gavin points out that the innkeeper wears a chain on his wrist, and the innkeeper explains that it is his wedding bracelet. Chains signify responsibilities and binding of contracts in Darkonian culture, but someone with a chain as large as the dour man must be someone of great station and power, and the innkeeper doesn't trust his looks. Gavin keeps this conversation to himself.

Tuesday, February 13th, BC 736
Rivalis, Darkon
Before leaving in the morning, Ludovic tells the others that this is the town where his mother died when he was a child. He hasn't been back since then, but he'd like to find where her fortune-telling tent was. He asks around to see if anyone remembers a vistani fortune teller setting up a tent in town around twenty years ago. Eventually he finds an old man sitting outside of the inn who oddly says he spoke with Ludovic last week about this. The tent was down in the market square on the east side, just like he told him last week. Ludovic is very perplexed by this, since he was on top of a Lamordian mountain last week, but he shrugs it off and heads to the market square.

Once there, his memories are sufficient to guide him to the very spot where her tent stood. He kneels down on the cobblestones and pays his respects.

The party leaves town, heading south through the Forest of Shadows. They spot several wanted posters nailed on trees. The signs call for the capture or, preferably, killing of Galf Kloggin, a dangerous bandit in these woods. The posters show a sketch of the man, and a wax mark, sealed with a crown insignia. Also, along the way, Suriana asks Kerri about some of the local flora, eager to learn anything she can about healing. After a day and a half of traveling, they reach the city of Nartok.

Wednesday, February 14th, BC 736
Nartok, Darkon
Around midday, they first see the town up ahead, it is a bustling city, with half again as many people as Rivalis, and built on human scale, so it is much larger overall. The fortified city walls stretch out from a large keep, and make the whole town seem like a fortress. With the exception of Levkarest in Borca, it is the largest city any of them have seen, even larger than Port-a-lucine. The effect of the city's size is increased by the wide array of people that fill it. There is a large population of demihumans represented, and even among the humans, there is an unusually cosmopolitan mix of appearances and ethnicities.

Taking Suriana as translator, Leif picks up some rations for Kukri. Ludovic goes to visit Zorian the Alchemist and, conversing in Draconic, picks up some spell ink. The group gathers to eat at an Elven restaurant, which is very expensive (5 gp each) for beautifully presented small portions of meatless cuisine.

Kerri takes the opportunity to ask some Darkonian elves firsthand about her whipvine. She tells them that her father’s name was Andres (or perhaps "Albert") Duvall, and her mother’s family name was Storer. They don't know of him, but the whipvines are greatly treasured by the Elves, who are concentrated in northeastern Darkon. For a human to be gifted one, he must have done a great service for an elf, or have shared a great friendship or love with one of their kind. Speaking with the locals, they learn that that although the border is close, the Falkovnians have never breached the walls of Nartok, despite several attempted invasions. Generally, the people have a good opinion of Azalin Rex, and see him as a protector. They say he extends his life with magic, having ruled for about 160 years. Prior to Azalin, Darkon was ruled by another wizard named Darcalus, who ruled for a 333-year period called the Arcane Age, also known as the Age of Secrets.

Leaving the city behind, the party leaves toward Stangengrad, with a stop planned in Creeana, where they have been recommended a storage place, called "Sivvy's Safe Deposit." On the way, they see several more wanted posters for Galf Kloggin.

Thursday, February 15th, BC 736
Creeana, Darkon
They reach the small town of Creeana at night, and easily find Sivvy's safe deposit.

Sivvy is a gnome, with a hawk branded on his forehead, covered with a scar in the shape of an "X".

He makes a decent living renting out locked chests for travelers heading into Falkovnia. For a small fee, one can take their key with them, and return to collect whatever they don't want to be caught with over the border.

Dropping off most of their incriminating belongings with Sivvi (anything with Gustav's mark on it, Vir's head, most of their "backup" weapons, etc...), they find an inn and go to sleep.

Friday, February 16th, BC 736
Falkovnia-Darkon Border
In the morning, they head toward the border of Falkovnia. By midday, they reach it, clearly marked by patrolling soldiers and a guarded checkpoint. Oddly, the only soldiers in sight are Falkovnian. There are no Darkonian soldiers.

The party splits into two groups, so as not to attract attention. Ludovic, Duffy, and Kerri enter the guard post in the first group. Nearing the guard post, Ludovic remembers the Talon bracers that he is wearing. Thinking quickly, he polymorphs into himself, without the bracers.

The guards inspect their belongings, putting peacebonds on all weapons and charging associated taxes and fees. Then, they ask them several questions, writing the answers on their official entry papers. When asked his occupation, Ludovic replies, "wanderer," which the border guard records as "mercenary." Duffy and Kerri list their occupations as "doctor" and "herbalist(or was it entertainer?)" After being cleared, and warned to keep their papers on them at all times, they enter Falkovnia.

Finding a secluded spot, Ludovic takes the shape of a bird and flies back over the border to the second group. They give him some weapons and other items that were too important to leave with Sivvi, but too dangerous to have inspected by the border guards. Turning back into bird form, he crosses back into Falkovnia while the second group is processed. Gavin, Suriana, and Leif go through similar inspection and interrogation and meet up with the others across the border. Only Leif manages to get marked as a "mercenary" after describing himself as "Nikko Warrenani", a traveler from Barovia.

A short walk from the border on a log-lined road leads them finally to Stangengrad. Like Nartok, it is a walled city, but inside the walls, the contrast is striking. People go about their business like in any normal town, but poverty is clearly the norm, and soldiers patrol everywhere. On their way into the town, they pass three dwarven slaves, chained at the legs, forced to scrub bloodstains from a wall, under the watchful eye of a Falkovnian soldier. From nearly everywhere in the city, a huge tower in the northwest corner can be seen. After a small contribution, some local beggars tell them that it is called The Tower of Horns, and that no one knows what's inside, but the eerie horns inside sound every hour. Duffy is the only one who speaks fluent Falkovnian, but Suriana is starting to pick it up. Figuring that this tower might be The Gears, they try to approach it, but soon realize that only natives are allowed out of the central market square of the city. Even the locals have papers, and the soldiers seem to feel free to demand that anyone passing by submit them for inspection.

Duffy returns to his new beggar friends and offers to buy their clothes from them so that they can blend in with the locals. The beggars gladly give him the rags off their backs in return for new clothes purchased at a local shop. The group books a room at the Broken Bauble, just off the main square. Inside, the inn is a welcome respite from the constant military presence, without a soldier in sight. The party settles in, and changes into their new beggar clothes. Kerri applies some makeup from her disguise kit to mark each of their foreheads with a false hawk brand. On their way out of the inn, the innkeeper gives them a knowing smile. Apparently this is not that unusual of an occurrence. Approaching the edge of the market district, they are intercepted by one of Duffy's beggar friends, who block their path and quickly fake a conversation. He tells them to wait because the guards follow a set schedule, and they don't want to be caught without local papers. The beggar watches for the soldier to pass and then tells them to go, a few at a time, and quickly, and to be back before curfew.

They reach the tower by mid-afternoon. It is black, huge, and imposing, with large brass doors, and no windows. The area around the tower is mostly deserted, with only the occasional passerby to be dodged. The doors are barred on the outside with a huge brass beam. Leif lifts the heavy bar, trying to appear nonchalant in front of the others, despite the extreme weight, and sets it down on the street with a loud clang that causes everyone to panic for a moment. When no soldiers arrive after a few moments, they continue, only to find that oddly enough, the doors are barred from both sides.

After checking for any back or secret doors, they decide to wait until tomorrow, when Ludovic can study his blinking spell to get in.

Heading back to the inn, they see that one of the chained dwarves is missing. The soldier guarding them is trying to explain himself to a Talon. Duffy overhears that the dwarf was last seen heading towards the southern district, near The Gears. Seizing on this bit of luck, they follow the Talon, who says he's going to deal with the runaway dwarf.

Once in the southern district of the town, they see the Talon talking to another soldier. The soldier is coming around a corner, wiping blood from his sword with a cloth. He tells the Talon that the situation is "taken care of." Saddened by the apparent death of the escaped dwarf, they examine the area and find the block dominated by a huge abandoned warehouse, six or seven stories tall. All the windows and doors are boarded up, and they conclude that this building must be The Gears. They decide to pull the boards off of one door to get in. Someone named "Oly"?? (another Dwarf? a passerby? one of the beggars? I don't remember) volunteers to board them back up to avoid suspicion. They accept and head inside.

Beyond the door is a long hallway, and mechanical sounds resound ominously from within.

Beyond a door at the end of the hallway, they negotiate a small maze of mechanical traps, with swinging and spinning blades, crushing spiked walls and the like. Suriana whispers a brief prayer for their safe passage.

Upon trigging the first trap, a scratchy, high-pitched voice sounds from within the walls saying, "Welcome, Welcome. Do not be alarmed. Be terrified... as we were, when your cursed king took the lives of my children." The voice seems to get stuck and repeat "my children... my children... my children."

Passing through the maze, they hear all manner of mechanical sounds, and suddenly, Leif, Kukri, and Kerri begin to feel nauseous. Duffy uses his mechanical knowledge to determine that the room is actually spinning, by watching the motion of a makeshift pendulum. Kerri gives an herbal concoction to Leif, Kukri and herself to alleviate the nausea. While at first it only appears to work on some of them, Suriana lends some magical assistance to the brew, and they are all relieved somewhat.

They find themselves in a small room, where three small bronze clockwork gnome children emerge from a hole near the ceiling, each shouting, "Death to the falcons!" They attack, swinging their small bronze swords wildly. As each clockwork gnome is destroyed, a claw emerges from the hole and pulls it back in for repairs. Kerri, still a bit woozy, tries to fly up to the hole and disable the claw, but the others simply smash it the next time it comes out. It seems the whole apparatus is more fragile than it appears. Once the claw is destroyed, they make quick work of the clockwork gnomes.

Forcing their way past a sealed door in the claw room, they run up a conveyor belt and past some more traps and arrive in what appears to be a control room of sorts. They find two skeletons on the floor, one large, in rusted and pierced Falkovnian armor, and one small, with a hawk-marked sword through its ribcage.

Behind a glass window, Suriana spots a collection of gears, lenses, and mirrors that seem to provide a view of any spot within the traps they'd just come through. Duffy smashes the glass and pulls out the mechanism from within for later study.

There is a large door leading from this room and a spiral staircase leading up. They elect to try the door first.

Beyond the door lies what appears to be a pristine art museum. The spiraling corridors house beautiful portraits and murals on the walls, and amazingly lifelike statues.

The party is sure to check the statues, making sure they aren't going to animate in any way, but they seem to be just normal statues.

Reading the placards, Duffy doesn't recognize many of the subjects, but there is a huge portrait of Falkfuhrer Vlad Drakov. There is also a large mural that depicts the "Dead Man's Campaign." It shows ranks of Falkovnian soldiers fighting an army of the living dead. Passing uneventfully through the strange room, the group enters a door at the end of the hall.

In stark contrast to the tranquility of the previous room, this room is a massive collection of moving clockwork parts. Belts, gears, and sparking machines whirl past in a dizzying display.

Duffy, is of course, fascinated, and a bit of deduction shows that the machines are attempting to build something. Parts are deposited from a hopper onto the belts, and travel from station to station where they are modified, inspected, and eventually either sent upward into the huge machine in the ceiling, or rejected back into the hopper. As the group moves across the room, one of the machines starts to move, unfolding into a towering monstrosity of bladed limbs, surrounded by a glowing magical field. It brutally attacks the group, lashing out with a bolt of lightning.

Despite not being caught in the blast of plasma, Gavin's skin erupts in burns, and Suriana, caught full blast by the beam, is less injured by it than the others are.

Leif and Gavin rush into the fray while Duffy fires at the creature, his bullets seemingly slowed by the field around the creature.

Suriana begins to glow with a holy light that streams out of her eyes, but misses the machine.

Kerri lets a howling scream, attempting to shatter the horrific Meanwhile, Ludovic's magic missiles seem to have a powerful effect on it.

Kerri lets a howling scream, attempting to shatter the horrific machine, which causes several metal panels to crack open on its carapace.

As the conveyor belt pulls Gavin away from Leif, the creature slashes Leif severely with its mighty claws. Bleeding and ragged, Leif stumbles over to Suriana; putting his hand on her shoulder, he asks, "are you OK?" She responds that she's fine, with a knowing glance, and grasps his hand, healing his wounds subtly.

Finally the creature is defeated, and the party starts to recover, binding their wounds. Suriana is infuriated at Gavin, having noticed the results of his spell, and having felt the ring he gave her grow cold as she was hit by the machine's blast. The group hears her threaten to "take it off," but Gavin reminds her that she promised not to. Suriana glares angrily at him, but they are interrupted when one of the machines grabs the smashed guardian and tosses it back into the hopper. A grinding noise erupts from the hopper, and reassembled parts of the guardian machine start pouring onto the conveyors, as the other machines seem to be re-building the creature. The group sees this as a sign that they should leave quickly, and run back toward the art room.

But the door they came in through no longer leads back to the art room. They find a completely new room behind it, a cluttered workshop of some sort, with large half-built engines of unknown purpose scattered about. Cautiously looking around behind one of these devices, they are startled to see a baby of approximately nine months reaching into a whirling device with several sharp gears.

Kerri (?) calls out, "Get away from there! It's dangerous!" and the baby looks up. He fiddles with something inside the machine, and then stands, speaking in unintelligible gibberish. The child has slightly pointed ears, and is wearing a violet toga. After a moment, he crawls around behind the device, and pulls out a large horn-like device with several knobs and dials attached. He holds the horn up to his ear and spins a crank several times. Then he offers it up to each of the newcomers gesturing that they do the same. After they all comply, he takes it back saying, "There, now we can understand one another."

The curious adventurers question this creature who is clearly not a normal human infant. He answers their questions distractedly as he continues to fiddle with his contraption. When asked what he is, he replies, "Your kind call us Fir, but I never understand it. They use that name for us whether we are young or old, mischievous or kind. How so many of us could be the same, while we are not, I’ll never know."

Further prodding reveals that he is immortal, and that his kind lives in the Shadow Rift. When asked if he always appears as he does now, like a human child, he laughs and quickly shifts between several forms, including a hedgehog, a hideous monster, and an old lady with baby hands in place of her eyes, before settling back into his baby form. They immediately ask if he was following them on Mt. Steimschloss, but he claims he's been inside The Gears for years.

When asked about The Gears, he says there are twelve rooms because there are twelve builders. He pauses and looks at Duffy for a moment, and says that he could be the thirteenth, "if he’s clever enough." Thinking on this, Duffy starts to hear within the rumblings and clankings of the machinery something like a voice. None of the others can hear it. The Fir claims his name would not be pronounceable by mortals, but part of it would sound like "Div." Duffy asks about Gustav Malvoni, and whether it's true that he built this place. Div says that Malvoni was just one of the other builders. As for the other ten builders, Div doesn’t know all of them. He knows that the whole place was built by "the first," and Div is the only immortal among them. Div becomes distracted and turns his attention to Suriana. He tells her, "You have a precious gift. The Green Lady favors you... oh, I see now, you are one of us. Pity you are one of them as well."

Duffy then asks what he is building, and Div expounds upon the incredibly confusing mechanical design, with concepts that are bewildering and nonsensical to the whole group, although Duffy follows along a bit longer than the rest before being hopelessly confused. The group leaves Div to his work and prepares to search for Gustav's room. Duffy listens to the whispering clockworks outside the room, and whispers back, "show me Gustav's room." They open the door, and see a brief glimpse of the inside of the warehouse. Huge gears and clockworks lift another cube-shaped room up to the door, locking it into place. As they leave, Div calls out, wishing them luck, and cheerfully telling Duffy, "if you’re clever enough, I’ll steal your shadow."

The group moves into the next room, which is dominated by a huge musical automaton, with an integrated pipe organ, and a huge clockwork display of dancing animals, leaping frogs, and birds on metal rods.

The two keyboards of the organ are playing themselves, and the tune is the same as the song from Gustav's music box.

The machine is marked with the Malvoni symbol, and the rest of the room is a wood paneled ballroom. After some time, the music stops, and Kerri prepares to try to play the melody from memory. But the group is wary, and decides to rest first.

Saturday, February 17th, BC 736
The Gears, Stangengrad, Falkovnia
In the morning, the party braces themselves, as Kerri plays the melody, starting with the first two notes, middle c and b. Part of the floor springs up, with metal panels forming a box large enough to hold a large man. A secret door opens behind the organ pipes, revealing a small workshop.

The box travels on a track over to the workbench, and opens, revealing stout metal bands that would have bound whoever was unlucky enough to be standing where the box formed.

Searching the workshop, Duff finds a pistol and a prototype for a rusting grasp device. They also find a rolled up piece of paper with a hawk engraved wax seal. It is a letter...

The group wonders how the letter got here, since there is no sign of a body, and it's unlikely that the Talon who wrote it would have left it behind. Kukri sniffs the letter and indicates to Leif that it smells like the "baby," Div.

Kerri experiments further with the organ, pressing c and d, this time. She soon realizes that the notes form a grid on the floor, determining where the trapped box springs up from the floor. Each 5' by 5' square of the floor is actually connected to a complex series of hinges and gears, such that the trap can appear nearly anywhere in the room.

Having found what they came for, the party leaves and heads back to Div's room, but the mysterious creature's room is no longer there. Instead, they are back in the control room of the gnome-built deathtrap they first passed through.

Duffy listens again to the whirling clanking clockworks until he can hear its voice and asks to be brought to Div's room. They wait a bit and then open the door, revealing the room he requested, but the Fir seems to be gone.

Duffy once again whispers to the great machine, asking what it wants, and how he can help. It is becoming easier to speak to the machine, and the thoughts and ideas that the machine sends back are becoming more and more appealing to him. The machine tells him to come to the "first room," where it is easier for The Gears to talk. The door opens, and leads to a new room they haven't seen before.

The center of the room is dominated by a huge network of gears, pistons, and spinning columns etched with runes and numbers. Beyond this great machine is a cozy nook with a plush chair. Beyond the chair, the end of a quill can be seen, scribbling furiously. Coming around the chair they see that no one is sitting in it. The quill is held by a mechanical arm, which has written on the paper, "Who are you and why have you come?" Inspecting the desk on which the paper rests, they determine that they can write on the provided blank pages, and deposit them in a slot, where the page is whisked away into the machine, and soon after, a response will be written by the quill. Through this somewhat tedious interface, the group has a long conversation with the consciousness of The Gears itself.

They learn some of the history of The Gears, how it started in this room as a mad tinkerer's project to build a thinking machine. And how each room provided it with a new way of thinking, as the machine tells them, "From Thomas, I learned to think. From Filip, I learned revenge. From Gustav, I learned responsibility. From the Sheens, I learned transcendence." They ask what it learned from the other builders, and it writes, "From Sven, I learned mysticism. From the Thorns, I learned preparation. From Olaf, I learned determination. From Borigia, I learned Creativity. From Hans, I learned Blasphemy. From Marcus, I learned Friendship. From Div, I learned Otherness. From the Inevitable, I learned of the realms beyond."

The Gears asks Duffy if he will build a room, so that they can be complete. Once complete, he and The Gears will leave this place for the realms beyond. Duffy asks what if he doesn't want to leave, and the Gears writes that everyone will be brought with them, and everything. Duffy is concerned by this, wondering if completing this construction will cause the end of the world, and what will it mean for the people who do go to these realms beyond. Will they survive the journey? While Duffy considers what to do, The Gears offers to show him the greatness that waits in those realms. The door of the room opens onto a new room, a tunnel of spinning, precise gearwork.

Duffy and the others walk through the tunnel and emerge on the face of a giant gear, floating in the blackness of space. Far above, they can see other distant gears, even larger, with whole mountains and even buildings sitting on them.

Dizzied by this sight, they return to the quill room, and think about the implications of what they have seen. Can this really be another world, and it is any worse than their own? Could it possibly be a better place? Meanwhile, Ludovic is curious about the room that taught blasphemy, so he asks his University amulet to show him Hans's room. He has a vision of the room, it's dark claustrophobic spaces filled with rotting human remains strung up on painful looking clockwork monstrosities. He struggles to keep his stomach down, and dismisses the magic.

Duffy wonders if he can build the final room, and in doing so, teach The Gears compassion, so that he can prevent the machine from fulfilling its plan, or make it find a way to bring only itself to the other realm, without destroying the world.

But he wonders what he could possibly build in the room that would teach a machine compassion. Unsure what to do, he asks Ludovic to read his future, and determine the best choice. Ludovic casts the runes, and calls forth a portent of what will happen if Duffy completes the final room.

He is assaulted by visions of "immeasurable woe." Duffy takes this as a sign that he should not attempt to complete The Gears, and bracing for retaliation, asks The Gears what will happen if he doesn't agree to build a room.

But The Gears is unexpectedly calm and patient, writing, "Perhaps one day, you will, when you are ready. If not, another builder will come eventually." In that case, Duffy asks if they can leave, and The Gears agrees, but first, it writes, they must pass through Sven's room. The door opens, revealing another new room.

Across from the entrance of this final room is a large wall covered in small brass panels, on hinges. Duffy experimentally touches the panel, and it clatters on its hinge, flipping through several images before settling on the image of a tarroka card, the Four of Stars (The Abjurer).

He continues to touch random panels as four more cards are revealed: the Four of Swords (The Mercenary), the Two of Glyphs (The Missionary), the Nine of Swords (The Torturer), and the Spirit. Then the panels reset to blank brass. Ludovic also tries the machine and his reading is: the Dark Master, The Eight of Glyphs (The Bishop), The Marionette, The Four of Coins (The Merchant), and The Horseman. But without a full-blooded vistani woman around to interpret the results, they are unsure of the meaning of the reading.

Meanwhile, the others have walked around the wall and found an ominous group of clocks. They are labeled in several languages on engraved brass plaques, and it takes the whole group to translate them. Three of them have already stopped, while the other four still count down. Clock 1, at zero, reads in Balok, "The First Schism."

Clock 2, also at zero, reads in Darkonese, "The Great Upheaval."

Clock 3, also at zero, is labeled with the vistani Tralak meaning "Cursed Birth."

Clock 4 has 3 years remaining, and reads in Darkonese, "Requiem."

Clock 5 has 14 years remaining, and reads in Mordentish, "Our greatest hope is lost"

Clock 6 has 42 years remaining, and reads in Mordentish, "The Time of Unparalleled Darkness."

Clock 7 has about 47 years left, and reads in Draconic, "The End of the World."

Shuddering at the dark sounding prophecies yet to come, the group leaves the room via another door, and finds themselves back out on the streets of Stangengrad in the middle of the night.

Under cover of darkness, the party scurries back to the Broken Bauble Inn, hoping to avoid being caught out after curfew. Looking wistfully back at the warehouse, Duffy sees a human-shaped clockwork automaton watching them from the door they exited from. Before he can mention this to the others, the machine retreats inside The Gears and closes the door behind him.

Back at the inn, the group changes out of their peasant disguises and settles in for the night. Before going to sleep, Suriana takes out her journal to write about the day's events, as she usually does. But she is alarmed to find that the next page seems to have been carefully ripped out of the book. She didn't notice it before because she was still writing on the back of the previous page, and nothing that she's written seems to be missing. Curious, she rubs a charcoal on the next blank page to see what the indentations can reveal about the missing page. To her horror, she finds two entries in the journal, apparently written in her own hand, but that she has no memories of writing...

Sunday, the fourth day of February 736(day 109)
What have I done? Everyone is smiling and telling me I did so well, but they didn't see what I did. The horror of what was in that dagger, it haunts me every time I close my eyes. I had no idea such evil could exist, such alien uncaring, so inhuman. The Mists filled that cursed weapon, and I forced them out, through me. In doing so, I caught a glimpse of their true nature. Oh, the terror of that nature... It drives me to weep. The Mists are no mere fog, they live, they watch, they twist, they reward, they punish, they create, they destroy. Is the world truly real? Or just a lie spun from mist? I do not know for certain anymore. I feel things I never have before. True fear... and doubt. They have left their mark on me.

Monday, the fifth day of February 736(day 110)
I tried to rest, as they told me to, but there was a scratching sound under the bed. I looked and saw a mouse, it's leg broken, perhaps by cat or some other creature. I tried to heal it, but I ... couldn't. That place inside me is empty, though I have slept and the power should be there. What have I done? I set the mouse out in the hall where I cannot hear it.

It is nearly morning. Soon everyone will awake. What will I tell them? What am I without my destiny? Is this all there is? A knock at the door... it is Brother Tomas. I will open it and face him, though for the first time in my life, I know not what to say.

Unsure about what happened to her, and worried about who altered her journal, and what it all means, Suriana is deeply unsettled. She wonders if she is perhaps possessed? or under some spell or curse? She tells no one what she has found, but resolves to leave the group and return to Haven, where hopefully, among the people she trusts most, she can find some answers and guidance.

Sunday, February 18th, BC 736
Stangengrad, Falkovnia
In the morning, Suriana tells the others that she must return to Haven for some guidance, as she is unsure of where her journey is taking her. She does not reveal her misgivings about the journal, but she does mention that considering their encounter with "The Voice of Azalin Rex," the rest of the group may be safer in Darkon without her. She wishes them well on their journey and expresses her hope to see them again someday. She takes Leif aside and presents him with something she's been working on since the Monastery. She found some texts in Nidalan in the library there, and asked the monks if she could borrow one. She hasn't yet worked out the language completely, but she has made some progress in creating a primer for some basic words. She was hoping to be fluent enough to help Leif once they reached Nidala, but at least he will have this primer to get him started.

The group bids Suriana and Gavin farewell and begins the journey back to Nartok. They are looking forward to leaving the oppression of Falkovnia behind and continuing their "tour" of Darkon, in search of Goodman Ramien of Viaki, and Gustav's workshop near Mayvin, and possibly Vir's "home" in Tempe Falls, before meeting Gondegal in Neblus for the journey to Nidala.

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