NEXT GAME OCCURS ON May 2nd, 1924 C.S.
(Underlined names/places correspond to appropriate links.)
We left off...
As the group debated how to escape, Ari and Shakaku decided to go back to the Diamond Room despite Raven's warnings. However, Shakaku was determined to end the life of Medicus Moduro, which he did by concentrating his energy in the Diamond Room.
However, while in the vision, he saw a strange man in black. The man in black crept into a back room the group had not explored, where an elf was chained against a wall. The elf was hysterical, saying Ari's name and spouting something about an Artifact. The man in black waved his hand, and the elf fell silent. This man then proceeded to take a heart shaped stone from a table near the elf, cut his palm, and threw the stone into the center of the room where the stone slowly became a hulking golem.
"I have summoned you, and I am your Master now," spoke the man in black.
"Now, look through my eyes, and see." After a moment had passed, the man spoke again to the golem.
"As my last act as your Master, I command you to find the elf girl Ari'seleara, and obey her. Now go, and obey."
After a time, the golem found the group, and began following Ari's orders.
They put the golem to good use, having it remove the cave in that blocked the quickest exist through the elevator shaft.
Once they had scaled the shaft, they found themselves in a small basement barracks, discovering the bodies of several Imperial soldiers, and also all of their lost items. The golem set about to demolishing the walls in the room to make space, and that's when the Bone Claw made it's final appearance and the bodies of the dead soldiers raised.
Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, and following Corey's lead, they found the false wall through the latrine that got Corey captured. They also found Ari's diary with a new entry, speaking of the deaths of many men searching for the new recruits who had gotten lost in the Forgotten Cells.
The golem smashed away the false wall, and following Corey who had already discovered or disarmed the traps lining the hall, they found Valdymere's secret passageways that ran through the city. The same passages that his eyes and ears collected their information from.
In these passages, they met a strange man dressed in grey with a gasmask setting some strange tech to the wall. Raven approached the man and spoke to him. After quickly appraising her, he raised a pistol and opened fire. After a quick scuffle, he attempted to set off the strange device (which turned out to be a bomb) which was thankfully a dud.
Attempting to interrogate the man was fruitless. All he divulged was that Iron Crossing had attacked the city of Caltha.
Raven suggested they try to gain entry to Valdymere's manor, where they met with three more men similar to the one they had interrogated and left for dead. Shakaku leapt from around the wall, and set them ablaze. Ari dived from cover, her dual pistols ringing through the passages raining a hail of lead into the group's would be attackers. The soldiers showed no signs of pain, or fear, and even when Raven launched an explosive arrow into them, their resolve was not diminished.
A rain of death fell on Shakaku's fiery body in the form of lead, raking him into near unconciousness. He hurled three more balls of flame, and the soldiers seemingly ignored the pain even as Ari and Raven unleashed another wave of death into them. Still they fired, shots ripping away into Ari's chest, shoulders, and skull. Shakaku lost his arm to one soldier wielding a buzzsword, and lost conciousness as well. Elonheir leapt into action, striking into the soldiers, and with Raven's help, they were defeated.
Knowing they needed to escape, the group fled, eventually surfacing near the docks with Corey's help. There, they met Brogan, a Kelorgian who had a ship in the docks. He offered them a ticket out of Caltha if they'd help him escape.
Together, they made their way to the docks. After Elonheir dispatched what must have been a high ranking soldier, they pushed their way into port, where Brogan's golem waited, keeping the crowds of refugees at bay.
At the request of Shakaku (? Is that right?) the refugees were allowed to board, and the crew quickly set sail for places unknown as Caltha burned.....