Session 12 covered the Vigil of Remembrance, 1714 PSF. Going deeper into the sealed vaults beneath the Silver Archives, the party found a communal kitchen with food that could not be as old as they had been told the vaults were, and a hidden cache left by the Tarnar Syndicate. Iva admitted that she had asked the Syndicate for work. In a dwarven shrine, Hazel saw a vision of a vast eye, and in a hall beyond, the party was ambushed by a cloaker and three darkmantles.
Synopsis
The Workshop
The party rested for an hour in the hidden workshop in Vault 18.12 Luma found cured sheets of leather in one of its crates, some too far gone to use but others still good, and made herself a holster for her pistol.3456 The workshop was unbelievably, almost unbearably quiet. Nothing moved down there, no air, no footsteps and no voices, and it was perhaps the quietest place any of them had ever been.78 Hazel said “boo”, and it echoed a little against the stone.910
Vault 19
Back in the graffiti hallway, stairs to the right led further down.1112 The last sign of the modern city the party had seen was the Guild of Sparks lock on the cast-iron door between the two levels of apartments, and nothing of the kind closed off the way ahead.13 The stairs wrapped round into a chamber fifty or sixty feet across with a ceiling about nine feet high. At its center was a massive stove and work area under a hooded chimney, and round the walls were counters, cabinets, barrels, and shelves of jars in various states of decay.141516 It had been a communal kitchen. The larger apartments above had full kitchens and some smaller ones had none, so people without the space had come here to cook.1718
Luma looked for a cookbook, and found a little wooden box with a brass latch holding about a hundred recipe cards in Dwarvish. Most had faded, but five to ten were legible.192021 Two were for bread: an ordinary soft loaf, and something called rock bread, which was essentially hardtack.2223 Many of the jars on the shelves had burst, staining the stone in deep purples and greens, but many were still sealed.242526 Hazel warned the others not to eat anything unless it was honey, and then found several jars of honey, thick, dark amber and crystallized, with flecks in it. One label could still be read: “Everfire honey”.2728293031 She saw no sign that it had gone bad, but still would not eat it.3233 Luma tasted it. The flecks were crushed pepper, and the honey was spiced hot honey, its heat a little dulled by time.343536 She came up behind Hazel with her finger in an open jar: “Hey, this is hot honey, it’s really good.” Hazel told her that heat is the body’s response to poison. “Well, it’s not strong enough to hurt me,” said Luma. “Yet,” said Hazel.37383940 The honey was surprisingly good, and very well preserved.41 One of the recipe cards explained how to make it, with dried pepper and a preserving process.42
Iva stayed close to Luma, since Luma touches things and gets into danger, and opened cabinets.4344 Beside one stood barrels of whitish, semi-translucent rocks. “What’s this?” Iva asked Luma. “Should we lick this too?”454647 It was mined rock salt.48 In the cabinet were wooden boxes with sliding lids, full of sheets of rock-hard bread, some riddled with holes. “The damn weevils,” said Hazel.495051 Luma recognized the dwarven rock bread.52
Hazel pointed out that hardtack has a shelf life.53 This rock bread was still edible, and had some nutritional value left. Hardtack lasts about a hundred years, perhaps another hundred in perfect conditions, and this was no older than that.545556 Luma had been told the vaults were sealed more than five hundred years ago. “That’s what they tell us,” said Hazel.5758 “Doesn’t make any sense,” said Luma. “Somebody is lying to us and I don’t trust this bread.” “I don’t think bread can lie,” said Iva.5960 Hazel wondered who would gain from lying about how old Argentum really is, and slowly turned her head to Temerity.6162 Luma said she would have to start reading history books like fiction, which bothered her.63 History, said Hazel, is written by whoever can spread it, and the only people old enough to remember the Elder Exodus who did not leave are all in the church.646566
Rhysaene asked to see the recipe cards, pocketed the ones with sketches of the dishes, and gave Luma a very smug look before handing them back.6768697071
The Tunnel
Besides the way they had come, the kitchen had a narrow passage in one wall, and opposite the entrance a large cast-iron door of ornate dwarven work, standing half open.7273 Beyond the door lay a large chamber with stone pillars and benches and a ceiling too high to see.747576
While mapping the kitchen, Luma noticed that some of the jars had their lids askew, with the dust around them disturbed, and that there were booted footprints in the dust on the floor.777879 “That’s not good,” she said. “These vaults are supposed to be sealed.”80 The prints were no more than a month or two old, and could be only days old.8182 They were the first sign of anyone in the residential vaults in a long time.83 “I’m starting to wonder if they sent somebody in here ahead of us,” said Luma.84
Near one wooden cupboard, the dust had been wiped away as if with a cupboard-sized eraser.8586 It was only a cupboard, and too heavy for Luma, but Temerity moved it easily and uncovered a tunnel chiseled through the wall.878889 Temerity went first, in case someone waited round a corner, while Luma kept trying to see past her.9091 The tunnel was cut by hand or with a pickaxe, and narrow enough that they had to squeeze.9293 After a hundred feet or so it opened into a small storeroom holding brooms and junk, a couple of barrels, a full leather satchel, and a heavy iron door, locked.9495969798 The barrels held packed rations, hardtack and dried meat, still good, which had been brought in rather than taken from the kitchen.99100101 “I think somebody’s hiding out inside the vaults,” said Luma, “which I’m pretty sure is incredibly illegal.”102
The satchel held more rations, a bundle of high-quality silk rope, two torches, a pouch of ten platinum dragons, and a folded note.103104 Luma handed out the dragons. When she tossed Temerity her share, Temerity told her to take them back and showed her a platinum dragon made of copper. “What did you do to my money?” said Luma. “I think this was the work of Hecate,” said Temerity.105106107108109
The note looked like Common but made no sense, and Luma, a student of language, saw that it was in code.110 Luma asked Iva, as a criminal, to read it. Iva said she was not a criminal, the others disagreed, and she could not read it.111112113114115 The writing reminded Luma of the Tarnar Syndicate marks she had seen on pipes underground.116 She judged it a fairly complex code, meant to hide information in plain sight, and thought that a message this short would take her about an hour to crack.117 Temerity stood guard while she worked, in case its owner came back.118119
Luma gave two dragons each to Hazel, Iva and Rhysaene, and kept Temerity’s.120 When Hazel told her to give them to Temerity, Temerity said they would only turn to copper, and that she believed it happened because Luma had paid her.121122123124 Hazel said the headmistress’s curses are rarely pointlessly cruel, and there is usually a reason behind them.125 “But maybe the lesson is, Temerity should stop being so stubborn,” said Iva.126 Hazel offered Temerity her own dragons as a gift, and Temerity refused them too. “You’ve never been cursed before and it shows,” said Hazel, and threw up her arms. “Fine. Enjoy being cursed.”127128129130131 Luma held on to Temerity’s share, for anything she might need to pay for on Temerity’s behalf.132 The party took a copy of the note and the dragons, and left the rest.133134
The Closet
While Luma decoded the note, she asked Temerity when she had last changed her mind about anything. Temerity said it was in the sewers, when she decided not to report Iva or the rest of them to the authorities.135136 “You were gonna report us to the authorities?” said Luma.137 Hazel called it very big of her, though they had all been under some duress at the time, and told her she was stubborn, headstrong and stuck in her ways, unsure of her own feelings and afraid of things that might make her happy.138139140141 “Can we talk about something else?” said Temerity.142 Hazel said she was fairly sure Temerity had some kind of death wish.143 Luma finished decoding the note about half an hour in, but was too caught up in the conversation to mention it.144145
“I don’t have a death wish,” said Temerity. “I just don’t think that I can die.” “You don’t have to test that,” said Iva. “Well, I already did.”146147148 “If Bahamut had the power to hold death at bay,” said Hazel, “do you not think he would have done it for himself?”149 Luma said people given a second chance do not usually assume there will be more, and worried that Temerity would jump off a cliff and not wake up.150151 They were having this conversation in what was essentially a storage closet.152
Hazel apologized if her words had hurt. She had grown fond of Temerity over their time together, and she would be sad if something happened to her.153154155 Temerity thanked her for the concern, and promised that no matter what, she would be okay. Hazel glared: it was a promise she could not know she could keep.156157 Temerity believes her power comes from the Silver Flame, Hazel said, but the Silver Flame merely keeps the Sorrow back, and the being who reportedly created it is dead.158159 Temerity allowed that something could snuff out her flame, but she did not plan to walk out into the Sorrow tomorrow. “And most people who die do not wake up with plans to die,” said Hazel.160161162 “Perhaps you can’t die. But there are fates worse than death. What if you run into something that you can’t fight, that you can’t run away from, and you can’t die? … Does that sound noble?”163164165 Temerity said that did not mean she should not fulfill her destiny.166167 “Yes, yes, your destiny, whatever,” said Hazel. What she wanted Temerity to understand was that she did not have to do these things alone, or carry all of the responsibility herself.168 Temerity did not disagree. Community and friendship are core tenets of her faith, she said, and she had found comrades in them, which was why she could look past things she had once seen more narrowly.169170
Iva’s Confession
Iva had been unusually quiet. Hearing them talk about second chances and being a team, she whispered to Rhysaene that she thought she had made a mistake.171172173 She had expected to have no work when they got back to the city, because she thought Temerity would turn them in and Hazel would disappear, and she would be alone again. “So I might have contacted the eels.”174175176177 The Eels is a name the Tarnar go by, so that fewer people know they are there, and she had asked them for jobs, since she would need money.178179 “It’s not going to be like last time,” she said, “because I’m not going to be a terrorist.”180 “No wonder you sent your mom away,” said Rhysaene. “She’s going to die of stress.”181182 Rhysaene told her to be open and honest with the others.183
Temerity’s jaw dropped, and Hazel drew her sickle. “Tell me this is a joke.”184185186 Iva said the Syndicate had helped her get children and mages out of the city, and she had thought she could do more of that.187 “This is a betrayal of my trust in you,” said Hazel.188 “And you’re in my fucking house,” said Rhysaene, and reminded Iva of the rule implied when Iva came to stay with her: do not bring trouble to her doorstep. Iva had taken it to mean the usual things, like not tracking mud in.189190191 Hazel said that after a whole conversation about trust, Iva had dropped another disaster on them.192193 Iva offered that she had not meant to tell anyone until then. Hazel said that was no consolation: “A lie by omission is still a lie.”194195 “You didn’t intend to get involved in terrorism the first time,” said Temerity. “You have no guarantee that it won’t happen again. You have to get untangled with the Syndicate.”196 Whether they liked it or not, said Hazel, they were all involved now.197
The Note
Luma had finished the note twenty minutes earlier.198 Most of it gave directions along a complex route from the storeroom through hallways, passages and tunnels, noting collapsed and dangerous stretches and places cut through the stone, levels and levels deeper into the vaults. It did not say what lay at the end. It closed with the words “Locks don’t turn, but stone does”, and at the bottom, in the same hand, was drawn an eel eating its own tail.199200201202 The route began at the locked iron door: the reader should have a key, and if not, the note trusted they knew how to open a lock anyway.203204 Following it would take hours of descent through more tunnels and collapsed passages.205206
Hazel wondered whether it was a calling card, left for them to find.207 Iva said she only ever contacted the Syndicate by letters in dead drops, and that this was like one of hers: something left in a particular place for a particular person, hidden only by the obscurity of the place.208209210 “It’s such a shame that we have instructions to go deeper,” said Luma. “I suppose we’re going to have to follow them.” Hazel said she had not expected the proposal from someone so by-the-book, and Luma replied, with a straight face and without convincing anyone, that she had followed every instruction to the letter.211212213214 “Luma lied to us now too,” said Iva. “Time and place, Iva,” said Hazel.215216 Luma said she lied about fun things like taking guns, not about going to terrorists for a job, and that she had given Iva a job within a day of arriving in the city.217218219
Luma worried that by taking the money they had accepted payment for something. Hazel answered that refusing payment from the Tarnar would not free them of the favor they already owed, so she would keep it.220221 Thinking it over, Luma concluded the cache had not been left for them.222223 Nothing in the note or the satchel named a job, only the way to a place.224225 Nobody could have counted on the party finding a tunnel behind a cupboard, and nobody had taught them the code, which the Stone Shields and the Order of the Lantern have never managed to crack. The likeliest explanation was a dead drop prepared in advance, in case the Syndicate ever needed to send someone down.226227228229230 Temerity felt a lot better about taking the money.231
Iva said she had never meant to pull anyone else in. “We’re already pulled in because of you,” said Hazel.232233 “Iva, you messed up. It’s okay to admit when you’re wrong.”234235 Iva said she knew she was wrong, and only wanted them to know this note had not been meant for her.236237 The party decided to finish the survey before following any spooky path.238239240 Hazel said she had appreciated the time they were spending together, even if “a good time” was not the right term for something so grim.241242243 Luma slid the cupboard back into place and tacked a piece of string between it and the wall, so she would know if anyone used the tunnel.244245
The Shrine
The narrow passage from the kitchen led to a smaller chamber with a fifteen-foot ceiling and other passages leading off. Its stone pillars were carved as hammers resting head-down on anvils, their shafts rising to the ceiling, with stone benches round the walls.246247248 At its center, on a low platform, stood an anvil far larger than any smith’s, carved from the same stone as the room.248249250 On the back wall was the old emblem the party had seen in the foundries, like the Vaultsmiths’ anvil and flame but not quite the same.251 The top of the anvil was carved into a bowl about a foot deep, full of smooth, palm-sized stones and coins.252253254255 Luma’s wand of secrets found no traps.256257
Each stone was carved with Dwarvish runes, and Luma read them aloud.258259 The room was a shrine, the stones were prayers, and the coins were offerings.260261 The prayers that stood out were:262263264265266
- “Rekindle our great forge, so that when the ashes settle, we can rise again.”
- “For every stone that falls above, let us forge ten more in the deep.”
- “May my work be straight, my strike be true, and my family’s hearth never go cold.”
- “May stone turn back many arrows, may axe cut down many orcs.”
- “Everfire warm the hearth; Soul Forger guide the hand.”
- “Steel for the gates, gold for the hall, stone for the soul.”
- “Let gold flow through the Fardrimm once more.”
Fardrimm is a Dwarven proper noun that does not translate into Common, and none of them had heard it.267268269270 Hazel guessed it might be the name of the city before Argentum, or of the mine and town the dwarves lived in.271272273 Another of the prayers calls on the Soul Forger.265
The coins were not the dragons and crowns of Argentum. There were twenty round copper pieces and ten round silver pieces, each stamped with a double crescent moon, twenty larger gold coins shaped like crescent moons, five crescents of a white gold, and one white-gold crescent fused with silver into a round coin.274275276277278 The party left the offerings where they were.279280
Luma shaped a loose rock like the others, wrote “May my path be true” on it in Dwarvish, and dropped it into the bowl with a gold coin. Nothing happened but the clink of stone on coin.281282283284285 Hazel said the Sisterhood prays in a similar way, with moonstones, and Luma offered to make her a stone.286287288
Looking at the offerings, Hazel noticed the glint of one of the silver coins, and remembered where she had seen one before. Days earlier, a drunken dwarf had shown her a coin like it, asked whether she believed it was as old as he claimed, and called her a stupid elf when she said she did.289290291 She said they should find the dwarf they had since seen in the vault tunnels, who seemed to know something about the history of Argentum.292293 With the bread and everything else, she thought he might know how old the city really is.294295 Luma offered to make a copy of one of the coins to show him, and Hazel agreed, since he would not take kindly to hearing they had robbed the place. Luma studied a coin closely so that she could copy it later.296297298299 Hazel said she tries not to hunt people with her abilities, but could find him if she had to, or else find one of the rare coins.300301302
The Vision
Hazel wrote her own prayer, a small one for the dead: “May the Mother watch over the souls of those who walk these halls.” It was a simple prayer of the Sisterhood, a hope that the people who had lived here would find protection in the afterlife.303304305306 As her stone fell into the bowl, she did not hear it land. The room went silent and dark, and for a single frame of thought she stood in an empty black void. She heard one drip of water, and the air smelled acrid and hostile, like vinegar. Looking up, she saw a massive white eye with a deep maroon iris filling the black sky, open in nothing and staring down at her.307308309310311 Then she was back in the shrine, and the smell was gone.311
Hazel fell back on the floor, her hands shaking and her voice unsteady.312313 Temerity helped her up.314 “There’s something deeply wrong about this place,” Hazel said, and told them what she had seen.315316317 “Maybe it’s because you didn’t write it in Dwarvish,” said Luma, and looked up at the ceiling for an eye of her own. “You guys get all the cool things.”318319 “I don’t think that’s cool, Luma,” said Rhysaene.320 “You should try waving at it next time. Maybe it’s nice.”321 That broke Hazel’s shock, and she sighed and laughed. “I see your point. Thank you, Luma.”322323 Temerity put a hand on her shoulder and asked if she was all right to go on. “Oh, please,” said Hazel. “I’ve gone through worse.”324325
Vault 20
The party went back through the kitchen to the half-open iron door, which turned out to be one of a pair of double doors.326327328 Beyond was a large hall carved with the same dwarven geometric patterns, with stone benches between its pillars, probably a gathering hall.329330 Its ceiling was beyond Luma’s light and Temerity’s darkvision, but Rhysaene could see that it was only thirty feet up. Clinging to it were three disgusting, octopus-like creatures, all staring at the party, and among them hung a much bigger one, drooping like a huge leather cloak on a rack.331332333334335336
An awful wailing moan echoed through the hall and beyond as the leathery shape unfurled and began to descend.337338339 Everyone felt a primal fear at the unnatural shriek, and everyone shook it off.340341 The darkmantles filled the air beneath the ceiling with magical darkness, down to fifteen feet above the floor, and the cloaker flew down to its edge, where only Rhysaene could see it.342343344
Hazel needed holy water for a protective spell, and took the flask from Temerity’s belt. “I’m really sorry about this, this is going to make you feel real weird,” she said. “I’m tainting your holy water with my witchy nonsense.” She shook it until the water dimmed to the pale, ghostly green of her magic, opened it, and let it out as a vapor that swirled round Temerity. “Mother, protect you,” she whispered.345346347348349350351352353 Then she ran past Luma, dived forward, and landed on all fours as a howling dire wolf.354355 Rhysaene’s red eyes glowed in the darkness as she hexed the cloaker, and her eldritch blast missed as it skittered along the ceiling.356357358 Luma’s faerie fire took hold of one darkmantle, but gave off no light in the darkness.359360361
A darkmantle dropped on Hazel and tried to smother her by the head, and her wolf’s head was too big for it.361362 Its darkness blinded Temerity too.363 When another darkmantle moved, the cloaker was left outside the darkness, and everyone could see it.364 Temerity raged, the silver flames on her body lit, and she felt for Hazel’s fur so as not to hit her, jumped, and smashed the darkmantle out of the air.365366367368369 Iva, who could not see the creatures but knew where they were, finished it off on the floor.370371372
The cloaker dropped out of the darkness shrieking and impaled Iva with its tail. She parried part of the blow, and it lunged to wrap itself round her and missed.373374375376 Hazel ran round behind it, leaped, caught the back of its neck, and slammed it into the ground.377378 Rhysaene charged and hit it with her greatsword, then turned and stomped it with her hooves.379380381 A darkmantle dropped on Rhysaene, and her magic turned it aside. Another wrapped itself round Iva’s head, blinding and suffocating her.382383384 Temerity smashed it off her head, killing it, and struck the last darkmantle hard, though it stayed in the air.385386387 Iva, able to breathe again, poked her head out of what she called her new scarf, cut into the cloaker, and had Hazel bite it again.388389390391 When the cloaker stabbed at her again, she parried the whole blow.392393 “I’m going to steal the kill from Temerity,” said Hazel, and ran into the darkness, killed the last darkmantle, and hurled it against the wall, where it splatted.394395396 Rhysaene’s greatsword and hex ripped into the cloaker.397 Temerity whipped round and uppercut it with her hammer, snapping its neck. The creature spasmed and spread its wings as if to beat them away, then its wings fell like leaves upon the wind, and it stopped moving.398399400
Featured Characters
Player Characters
Mentioned
Quotations
- “Somebody is lying to us and I don’t trust this bread.” Luma.59
- “I don’t think bread can lie.” Iva.60
- “You’ve never been cursed before and it shows.” Hazel to Temerity.129
- “I don’t have a death wish. I just don’t think that I can die.” Temerity.146
- “If Bahamut had the power to hold death at bay, do you not think he would have done it for himself?” Hazel.149
- “Perhaps you can’t die. But there are fates worse than death.” Hazel.163
- “So I might have contacted the eels.” Iva.177
- “A lie by omission is still a lie.” Hazel.195
- “Locks don’t turn, but stone does.” The Tarnar Syndicate note.201
- “There’s something deeply wrong about this place.” Hazel.315
- “You should try waving at it next time. Maybe it’s nice.” Luma.321
Inventory
- A holster, made by Luma from leather in the hidden workshop.
- A box of Dwarvish recipe cards from the kitchen, kept by Luma.
- Ten platinum dragons from the Tarnar Syndicate cache: two each to Hazel, Iva and Rhysaene, and four kept by Luma, two of them for Temerity.
- A copy of the Syndicate’s coded note.
Trivia
- The party reached 5th level at the end of the session.401
Speaking Time
| Speaker | Time | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Dungeon Master | 1:29:54 | 35% |
| Iva | 46:47 | 18% |
| Hazel | 39:50 | 15% |
| Temerity | 31:45 | 12% |
| Luma | 31:03 | 12% |
| Rhysaene | 20:22 | 8% |