Sapphire:Sessions:20190323

Chalker, Intrinsius, Ahn-Lee, Chun, Branamin, and Lugar prepare to descend via teleport platform. Alastor is taking breakfast to Portis. At the harbor, Shawna writes a message to Chalker and sends runners to the commanders.

A merchant ship that had departed was pursued and has been brought back.

Chalker pushes Lugar to go first along with Ahn-Lee and Intrinsius. The teleporter activates. They are now in the exact center of a large (50' across) low-ceilinged (8') room lit with wizard globes. Around the walls are unusual "workstations" featuring crystal "windows" and desks topped with runes. Intrinsius sees magic in the windows and the desks. Half of the chairs are sized for halflings. Ahn-Lee comments, "Branamin's gonna get distracted here."

Lugar has become violently ill. Ahn-Lee pats his shoulder, saying "You need more fiber."

A trapdoor opens in the floor and an odd creature pops out. It looks like a cross between a rat and a raccoon. It scurries toward the mess Lugar has left on the floor. Ahn-Lee throws a knife at the creature; it rolls over and stops moving. Words appear on one of the "windows".

Ahn-Lee writes in his journey book: Come on, hope you got a strong stomach.

Another of the rat-raccoons pops out and runs across the floor. Ahn-Lee retrieves his knife and offers Intrinsius a shot at it. Intrinsius instead walks over to a desk. The creature begins lapping up Lugar's mess.

Chalker, Chun, and Branamin appear in the room. Branamin's a little pale; the other two are fine.

Ahn-Lee, indicating the words on the "window": "Chalker, can you read it?" Chalker remarks that the language has elements of the common language of a previous age. He translates: 6 unknowns entered. Malfunction in cleaning golem. Second golem dispatched. Waiting further instructions. The runes on the desk relate to communication and dispatch. Chalker is reminded of a more primitive version of the Virtual Keep. The runes, Intrinsius finds, are marked on raised buttons.

Branamin, examining a dark 12" circle on the floor, says it's an auxiliary control for the teleporter. Chalker: "Branamin, no. Don't mess with that. We should do what we came to do. I'm in charge and we're in deep trouble now."

Chalker looks through a door which leads to a stairwell landing with another door to its right. He thinks he sees something child-sized hurrying downstairs. Ahn-Lee opens the door easily. The stairwell has been cleaned recently. Intrinsius says the other door is magical. Far below, a door slams. Chalker says "Follow me" and starts descending. Ahn-Lee decides to parkour his way down the center of the stairwell. Intrinsius starts to ask Branamin for Feather Fall but changes his mind. Branamin levitates himself down, following Ahn-Lee. Lugar takes one step, faceplants, and knocks himself out.

The bottom level is the seventh. There are three doors, one of them made of blue steel with decorative etchings. Ahn-Lee: "Took your time, huh?" Chalker: "I did't want to make you feel bad." Above the steel door is a sign, Staging and Experimental Level. Chalker: "That's where we need to go."

Alastor looks over his notes and research. He thinks he's gotten everything he could from Portis. He's sure Portis hasn't lied. Mays is in the middle of the country, probably near the "stronghold." A runner arrives; Alastor looks through the latest batch of potions (four healing, one Janus (cure-all)), then sends the runner back out to search the prison for truth potions.

Alastor takes breakfast to Atlex, who glares at him suspiciously and says "I'm not hungry." Alastor: "If I wanted to feed you a potion, I'd pour it down your throat. This is breakfast."

Chalker peers through the steel door but can only see 1' beyond it. Intrinsius points out that there is magic on the door. Chalker: "I think they've been waiting for me. This was built to stop prying eyes, like mine." Motioning everyone to get behind cover, he uses his TK to pick the lock and push the door open. Something grabs at his TK 'hand' but Chalker lets it slide off. Ahn-Lee casually imbibes a Magic Resistance potion and readies a sleep bomb.

The room is small, about 12' x 14'. It is lit with wizard globes and hung with gauze drapes. Ahead is a double door; to the right is a closed door. To the left in a recess stands what looks like a twisted, yellow-skinned elf wearing "sickly green" leathers. Chalker asks if the floor is magical, but neither Intrinsius nor Branamin can tell. Chalker addresses the "elf": "Can we come in?" "Yes!" "Are you talking?" "Yes, I am talking!" (However, the figure's lips have not moved.) "What is your name? Do you mean us harm?" "I mean many things, yes." Chalker repeats, "What is your name or designation? Do you mean us harm?" This time there is no answer. Chalker: "We're coming in now."