Into the Gray

Session Summary

After killing the Owlbears found in the caves, we find a rotting corpse which appears to have been nibbled on by an owlbear. We find papers, which Wash takes, and which self-destruct after he reads them. Star finds his arcane focus. We find some levers which lead to large vats in different rooms. In these rooms we also find orbs that make you able to revive after death.

Log

I look around the area where we just killed the Owlbears. There are some support structures, and destroyed furniture. I look at the desk. I break into it, I look into the paperwork with writing but it’s not easy to read.

Arachne peers into the next room, which gets darker.

The paperwork is in common but it is in gibberish. Arachne keeps walking off. The rest of us are staring at this paperwork. Star thinks he might be able to understand it.

Elzara slowly follows Arachne at a distance out of concern.

Elzira, local genius, walks up confidently and says “Yeah it looks like this is really just gibberish.”

Wash asks for the papers, I hand them over because I have no reason to suspect anything. We carry on after Arachne, I’m looking up and down and my eye is ready to be caught by shiny objects.

We walk into a giant room. 

Our eyes are immediately drawn to a corpse on the far left side of the room. There are other things of interest in the room but this is the thing that commands attention.

Arachne can see that something might have been eating this corpse for a while. Clothes were still on, but holes were poked through and the flesh has been eaten away, but not from the head.

We see owlbear footprints but nothing else.

I accidentally roll survival. As we look over the body, as far as I can tell, all of the wounds seem to be consistent from say an owlbear. 

Star is on the other side of the room in stealth. 

Arachne starts rifling through what remains of the pockets. Sheets of paper with interesting texture and feel are inside. They are torn up a bit. 

Elizra is interested in papers. He reluctantly comes over, having wanted to avoid the body. Elzira tries to understand them.

Wash waltzes over and takes them off his hands.

 Arachne keeps finding more papers, four intact sheets. She is very bored by this. 

Elzira warns Wash to be careful who reads the papers, as the wrong person reading them could destroy them. Wash takes all the papers.

Arachne finally finds a glove with a crystal. 

“That looks really nice!” I grab at the glove. The crystal looks interesting to me. I’m not really feeling it. 

Star says he found a panel, yelling from across the room. There are three doors on the far side of the room. 

He asks whether we found anything. I told him about the crystal. It’s clear that Star is feeling power resonating from the crystal. “I need this.”

I easily offer it up since it’s not really that fun or cool to me. The glove is a little large for Star as he slips it on. It’s red with blood.

We gather around the panel. There is a key slot and a lever. The lever has four positions. 

It’s to the left (far west). 

I touch the lever. I grasp it carefully and wiggle it a bit to see if it can move. It feels no amount of force would move it. 

“Maybe we need the key,” Arachne says.

Star and Arachne are not sure who should pick the lock. He beats her to it.

He’s able to pick the lock. He’s holding it in the open position. It’s spring loaded. The lock will clearly relock as soon as he stops holding the tools there. 

I immediately jump in to move the lever again, to position 4. 

We hear a clonk and a grating noise. There’s a click. It comes from the door closest to us. 

Arachne goes to open the door. It’s heavy, but she can open it. There is a 20x20 foot room. There is a large structure like a water tank. There are tubes coming off the top going into the ground. 

As Wash steps through the door to look, Star gets impatient and pulls his key out. The noises recur and it appears the door has snapped shut and locked again. 

Star realizes this and goes to repick the lock. I move the lever to the fourth position. 

Arachne is not paying attention. She’s kicking the door open.

Wash attempts to delegate tasks to prevent this from happening again after he emerges. 

I excitedly pass off the lever task because I want to explore the rooms. 

I attempt to climb up the tubes to the tank. Wash sighs “Please get off the tubes.”

I am able to climb up the tubes to the top of the tank. I can see that higher up, that Wash couldn’t see, is that it goes into the wall further north. Beyond there I can’t see. When I feel the tube, I don’t feel anything flowing through it. 

We leave the room. Elzira changes the lever. 

The door closes itself and the locking mechanism goes again. 

As the lever hits the third slot, the second door unlocks.

This room is very similar to the previous one. I can’t climb up on this. 

We pile into room number one. Again, there is the same kind of tank. But this time it appears to be a backpack stuffed to the brim with strange items.

There’s a book at the top of the pile. It’s labeled with “Runes” and I yeet it behind me as I read the title. 

Wash can see that above the title is written in Dwarvish. Elzara picks up the book.

Meanwhile, in the bag, there are a variety of strange objects, we don’t recognize them all. Super strange, old objects. Some of them look intricate, but not ornate, very functional. 

I manage to slip a few items into my pockets. On the side of the bag is another book. This one doesn’t look as old. Wash asks for the book. I hold it out behind me while I keep rifling. 

Arachne spots something and snatches it out. 

I attempt to ask her about it but she’s very closed off. Wash suggests that there will need to be more rules going forward.

At the bottom of the bag are seven intricate spheres. It looks like a lot of really fine, well-done design. I hold it up to a light I’ve generated from a cantrip. It looks like there are crystalline features on these spheres. 

Meta notes: Whoops apparently I took things that were meant for Wash.

Wash explains that the orbs make you invincible. It’s not a pain-free experience. What’s important is that if you keep this on or around your person, you will be instantly brought back no matter what. #items

The second book was written in Celestial and is handed to Star. 

There’s a missing key. A dead man. Three tanks. Owlbears. They might have been experimenting with Owlbears. Owls and bears normally don’t breed in real life. #clues

A portal opens up on the floor and he appears somewhere 5 feet to the side. 

Wash asks if anyone pocketed any devices, and I apologize, offering them up, explaining I thought they were toys and trinkets. 

In the next session, Star will read out from his Celestial book. He cast Comprehend Languages on himself which lasts for one hour. 

Meta notes: Once the papers Wash collected are read, they self-destruct.

Next session we’ll head into town.