This week was another gnarly one, but I didn’t want to skip another episode, lest I lose our story momentum entirely. As such, I’m splitting this episode into two installments, since this week’s play session didn’t quite reach a sharp conclusion or dilemma. With that bit of throat-clearing done, onwards to the recap!
Last episode, the party made their way through the outer layer of Odo’s domain — the tangled network of insulae blocks and shanties on the 5th and 6th terraces of Gordin’s Delve, known as the Tenements.
The party had split into three groups — Anwen’s company, with the bruiser Baraz and Vahid, our Seeker, made it through Odo’s haunted workhouse without incident, as did Mutra and her bravos, who came through the night market. But Padrig’s crew, with Jens and Lucky Finbar, ran into trouble — a cutpurse, tainted by Odo’s curse and in the service of Odo’s Family, made them while he was lifting Jens’ coins, and Pad was forced to chase down and kill the man.
Unfortunately, the residents of the tenements, wary of outsiders and in dire need of the food and shelter that Odo uses to control them, turned against Pad and called for the lanternmen. Fleeing from the scene, Pad’s crew was cornered in a tenement alleyway, and in a desperate bid for their lives, Pad feigned willingness to offer his services as a seasoned killer to Odo’s cause. When Finbar resisted surrendering his weapon’s, Odo’s man demanded that Pad kill him to prove his willingness to serve, and at Finbar’s urging, Pad did his grim duty and sent another one of his men to the Lady of Crows.
Meanwhile, Mutra pressed Anwen to continue their mission deeper into Odo’s lair. Anwen hesitated to leave her brother-in-arms, but then considered her duty to lead, and her decision was the subject of last week’s reader poll. Let’s see what won out:
Not even close! I definitely expected this option to win, but the margin is a bit of a surprise! Anwen’s growing up, here — if anything, she learned this from watching Padrig: On the night of the Stormcrows’ attack on the Sun-Spear encampment Pad and Anwen were separated in the chaos of battle, and rather than try to find her, Padrig pursued the Stormcrow assassin to learn who was behind the attack. He trusted that she could handle herself — and now she has to trust the same. We’ll rejoin the fiction where we left off, with Mutra and Anwen’s spirited discussion:
“Padrig knew the risks, just like Finbar did. Every second we dally, we risk discovery. We must move,” Mutra says.
Anwen hesitates a moment, and looks to Vahid. The Seeker’s face is an impassive mask, betraying little to Mutra and her men, but he holds Anwen’s gaze with confidence in his eyes. “She’s right. If Pad’s alive, he’ll find his way to us. And if not…”
“Indeed.” Vahid nods.
“Lead on, Seeker.”
Vahid is acting on information he received when he triggered Seek Insight last episode — his knowledge of the Forge Lords alongside the vision pulled from Brogan’s mind.
Vahid turns, gesturing to the grand hearth. “Here, I believe, is where Odo’s chosen descend deeper into his lair.”
“The fireplace?” Ollem grunts.
“The Forge Lords practiced powerful magics that inured them to heat, smoke and flame. To them, a hearth could be the threshold of a place, not only its heart. Only the rulers could pass through the flames here — others were relegated to a servant’s entrance, no doubt collapsed or still hidden somewhere in these ruins.”
“Will it burn us?” Mutra says, a bit incredulously.
“No,” Vahid says, stepping gingerly through the ashes and charcoal and gesturing to the bronze vents in the hearth’s floor, choked with ash and soot. “The mechanism to bring forth the phlogiston and ignite it into flame is no doubt long since deteriorated — otherwise, Odo’s people could not make use of this way. All we needs must do is discover the mechanism which opens the door, and be ready for whatever lies on the other side.”
“Well then,” Ollem growls. “Best get to discovering.”
The Forge Lords glorified themselves and their high craft in sculptures of bronze and iron. Source: Midjourney
Vahid ignores the man’s casually threatening tone, and calmly studies the intricate, decaying carvings gracing the bronze plate that backs the massive fireplace. He holds up his hooded lantern1, casting deep shadows across the faces of the bas-relief. Cleverly hidden among the images of towering smiths and artisans, wielding the fires of creation with their bare hands, are intricate mechanisms of bronze clockwork, which gleam in the lantern’s light.
Anwen follows closely behind him. “Have you seen anything like it?” she whispers over his shoulder.
A shiver goes down Vahid’s spine, as he thinks of the strange mechanism wielded by the Valerix — the clockwork box that opened to the Ustrina’s clever manipulations, the oculus2 that plucked out his eye in exchange for the truth of his enemy’s plans.
To locate the hidden mechanism and open the door, we’ll use Defy Danger with intelligence — the danger is that, like Mithrandir at the Doors of Durin, Vahid will take too long and some dangerous denizen will happen upon them.
Vahid triggers Defy Danger: 5+6+2 Intelligence = 13, Strong Hit
“Once, yes,” he says quietly, running his unburnt hand over the surface of the carvings until it comes to rest beneath the sigil of a mighty bellows, circled by an intricate cartouche and raised to a place of honor above the hearth.
“The bellows symbolized the breath of life to the Forge Lords. The beginning of all things.”
Vahid whispers a command to the spirit bound within his cloak. A gentle updraft bears him aloft until he can reach the sigil, and it yields to his touch with a smooth movement and a gentle click.
The mechanisms of the Forge Lords spring to life with quiet whirrs. An near-invisible seam appears and widens in the bronze hearth wall, as the hidden door opens, revealing a wide staircase down into the depths of the mountain as stale air rushes through the vents below, stirring up ash and soot into a choking cloud. Shielding their eyes and mouths, the party passes beneath the great hearth, and into a broad, dark corridor that descends into the depths of the mountain. The stairs are steep, though they would have been shallow to the giants that once strode them, and made of tarnishing bronze, while the walls and ceiling above are unworked stone.
The party is moving into a new area of the site, which triggers a new Delve the Depths roll. Here, they can no longer hide in plain sight, and must take pains to be sneaky, lest sentries spot them and raise an alarm, meaning that they must roll Delve with Dexterity, rather than Intelligence, which is what they’ve been using so far. Unfortunately, no one in this group has a strong Dexterity, but Vahid is using his ritual Proof Against Detection, which prevents them from being scried on and gives them advantage when they’re trying to avoid notice, so they at least they have that.
Trigger Delve the Depths with Dexterity: 4+3+2+0 Dexterity= 7, Weak Hit
For a weak hit on Delve the Depths, we roll on a d100 table and get the result Mark Progress and Reveal a Danger. This brings our total progress through the site to roughly halfway, after largely bypassing the Tenements.
As for the area we’re now entering: The Underkeep domain oracle gave me the features Imposing Architecture and the danger Crumbling Architecture. So, we’ll need to envision some sort of grand entryway with dangerously crumbling architecture.
Scene 5: The Forge Hall
The stairway is long and dark, and the company takes pains to move silently, their ears straining to hear footfalls or voices coming from below. After an interminable descent, the hallway opens to a grand, cavernous entry hall. Crouched in the shadows of the entryway, the party takes in the scale of it — the Makers, as ever, aim to overawe with their works: the arching ceiling seems fifty feet overhead, and is supported by row upon row of glassy obsidian columns, shot through with veins of red-gold orichalcum, its value in a Lygosi marketplace incalculable. A raised walkway of bronze plates leads through the middle of the hall, and on either side are pools of some black, thick substance, its surface stirred by the occasional bubble, and the acrid smell of the stuff permeates the air. The ceiling above is not stone, but some deep-red crystal, veined by black, and glowing warmly, casting a shadowy crimson-orange light over everything. Vahid notes with appreciation that the effect is not unlike being in the belly of a titanic forge.
At the far end of the hall is a pair of bronze double doors that stand open, with two sentries pacing at the threshold, grumbling in low voices that echo unintelligibly through the hall. Their dirty white robes, stained red by the light, mark them as Odo’s, and each of them wears a curved, rough-forged slasher at their hips. The party watches their rounds for a time — the two stay by the gate, clearly restless with their duties as the witching hour’s sentries. Every few minutes they fall silent, as a chunk of the crumbling stonework along the walls collapses and strikes the bronze floors with a resounding clang, or splashes into the black pits with a thick splash.
“It’s a long way to them,” Mutra whispers to Anwen. “Plenty of time to sound an alarm if they see us coming.”
Anwen nods. “Vahid? Where does your vision lead us?”
“Through those doors, I’m afraid. Look above them — there is the sign Brogan told us of: “Pass through this gate and never again be prey3.” But perhaps there’s another way.”
Vahid knows the straightest path forward is through those doors, but he wants to see if there’s another way through.
Vahid triggers Seek Insight: 4+2+1 Wisdom = 7, Weak Hit
He asks “What here is useful or valuable to me?” from the Seek Insight list, and finds an alternate route.
He points along the right-hand wall — there, a rusting iron stairway has been fixed to the stone wall, with narrow, shallow steps as befit the Makers’ servants. The path leads up and over the black pools to a corroded walkway clinging precariously to the crumbling stone walls — here and there, sections of the walk have begun to tilt at an alarming angle, or have fallen into the pools below.
“A dangerous path,” Vahid says. “But I suspect Odo’s family thinks so too. It likely leads to the servants’ lofts — with luck, our enemies have taken up residence in the masters’ halls, and eschewed the lesser accommodations.”
Cerdic sucks in his breath. “That walkway don’t look very sturdy.”
“We must go slowly. Spread out. Stay close to the wall — the shadows will hide you from the sentries, and the path will be strongest there.”
Here, Vahid is triggering his Sage Advice — by offering his architectural expertise (which is well-established, since he’s been using it for years to help Stonetop build their rain collection system), he’s giving everyone advantage on their upcoming rolls to navigate this danger.
“I’ll go first,” Anwen says with finality. “Vahid, you’re behind me, and Mutra, your people come last. Agreed?”
Relief passes over Cerdic Snake-Eyes’ face as Mutra nods in assent. Keeping to the shadows, Anwen leads them towards the crumbling servants’ stairs. Stepping gingerly and slowly, taking care for her footfalls to land on the rusting iron support spikes and sliding flat along the wall to stay cloaked by the shadows, Anwen begins her ascent, pausing each time the sentries halt their quiet grousing to listen in the dim silence.
We’ll use Struggle As One to adjudicate their progress along the crumbling architecture danger. As a reminder, Struggle As One functions as a group version of Defy Danger — characters need a weak hit to progress, and strong hits allow a character to cover for another’s miss. Thanks to Vahid’s Sage Advice, everyone’s rolling with advantage. Here’s how our squad did:
Anwen: 5+2+1+0 Dexterity = 7, Weak Hit Vahid: 5+6+1+0 Dexterity = 11, Strong Hit Mutra: 4+1+1+1 Quality = 6, Miss
Vahid’s strong hit covers for Mutra’s miss, so they make their way across the precarious walkway and deeper into Odo’s lair without running afoul of the sentries.
Slowly, carefully, they reach the iron walkway and begin to cross the cavernous hall, spread out nearly to the limits of their vision in the dim light, moving across the iron walkway where it is strong, and clinging to the stone walls and making quick leaps where it is not. Providing purchase along the walkway at regular intervals are small, narrow doorways leading to cramped cubicles with only a raised stone sleeping bier and a low platform for writing or other fine work — not so different from the scholars’ cells at the Lyceum of Lygos. “How little things change over the centuries,” Vahid notes wryly to himself.
As his storm-marked eye adjusts to the eerie red light, he can see into the dimness of the chambers. In this one, laying on the stone bier is an inert form, cloaked in tattered black robes and with a gleaming bronze mask covering its face: A lifeless Ustrina servant, no doubt entombed here for centuries. Unable to contain his curiosity, Vahid peeks into each cell as they pass, and each one has a long-dead occupant — each one perished neatly and obediently in their quarters and left behind by their vanished masters.
As they near the far end of the hall, they can see their goal — a narrow archway leading deeper into the complex. From beyond the doorway, they can see flickering firelight, but no voices nor sounds of movement. Anwen, still in the lead position, begins to quicken her pace, but from behind her, she hears a hiss of warning. She turns back to see Mutra’s face, coming up behind Vahid, and pointing to the hall below.
Anwen follows Mutra’s gesture to see a small party crossing the central causeway. Their leader, a cruel-faced bravo hauling a pair of captives with sackcloth hoods over their heads, hails the two sentries.
Padrig’s eyes strain in the darkness to try to pick up any detail through the roughspun linen bag that the bravo-captain — his men called him only ‘Gasper’ — insisted Padrig and Jens don. His breath is hot against the sack, and his head aches after the long, blind climb.
“Who’s sentry tonight?” growls one of the spearmen.
“Kellen and Red Radha,” the Gasper rasps back, before he calls out to hail them. “Oi there! Friends and Family, coming through!”
The spearman spits. “I hate Radha.”
“You hate everyone. Shut the fuck up.”
“Enough of this hood,” Pad growls. “I won’t be dragged in like a fucking þrall4. I am a fighter.”
“Cool your mead, you shield-biting savage,” the Gasper laughs. He whips off Pad’s hood, and gestures to his bravos to do likewise for Jens. “Happy?”
The caravan guard takes in his surroundings, awe mixed with deep unease. Pad covertly nods to him in encouragement, his own eyes darting around to the crumbling grandeur of the ruins around them. “Welcome to our den,” the Gasper continues with an edged glee. “I hope you’re ready for a fight. And hungry, too. The Thriceborn sets a fine, fine table.”
Pad triggers Seek Insight here — at the table, the player would almost certainly ask “Can I spot Anwen and Vahid?” The GM would be perfectly justified in answering no — after all, if Pad could see them, so too could the sentries. But Pad’s a pretty sharp-eyed fellow, and we’re fans of the player characters, so why not let him roll for it?
Padrig triggers Seek Insight: 3+2+2 Wisdom = 7, Weak Hit
Close one! But he gets one question, and asks “What here is useful or valuable to me?” — one of the questions that seems at least a little likely to get the desired information from the GM.
His eyes already used to the dark, Pad’s eyes are drawn to the shadowed doorways that dot the hall at its upper level — a ghost of movement there for a moment resolves into Anwen’s face. Their eyes meet before she fades back into the shadows, watching them from the relative safety of the Ustrina’s cells. Pad turns his attentions quickly back to the sentries, lest the Gasper and his men spot some sign of recognition on his face.
Kellen and Radha — Pad assumes the fiery hair marks Radha, with a pale Marshedger look to him, and Kellen is a dark-haired perhaps-sibling — approach. “Who’s this, then?” Radha calls out. “The Hopefuls are supposed to come in at sunset.”
“I saw an opportunity to add to our Family and I took it,” the Gasper replies, after a few strained coughs. “Dawa’s5 not the only one who can bring in fighters. This one gutted a cutpurse in the Tenements over a few bent coppers6.”
“One of ours?” Radha asks suspiciously.
“Aye. Slender Sam,” the Gasper shrugs. “But who cares? We need killers, not sneak-thieves. If this one proves his worth in the pits, then no harm done. If not, well…” he trails off with a wheezing laugh. “He can join Sam.”
“He can’t walk free down here. This is blessed ground, and he has not yet heard the voice.”
The Gasper turns back to Pad. “Rules are rules, friend,” he chuckles. “Maybe you ain’t a þrall, but you’ll have to sleep with ‘em tonight. Come along, come along,” he grumbles.
“When do I see the Thriceborn?” Pad says, stubbornly holding his ground.
“Eager to see the man, eh? Don’t worry. The wolves feast at dusk and dawn, and so do we. Get some rest, fight well, and soon you’ll be feasting with us!” The Gasper slaps him heartily on the back and gestures for him to follow. Together, they pass beneath the bronze archway — the Forge Lord’s great work, crudely painted with Odo’s promise: “Pass through this gate and never again be prey.”
We’ll close out this abbreviated installment there — apologies for the short read! Next week, we’ll close out this episode as our heroes make their ways through Odo’s lair — Padrig as a ‘Hopeful,’ and Anwen and Vahid as shadows. Thanks, as always, for reading!
Producing the lantern using the Have What You Need move marks one box off Vahid’s inventory. The whole crew is traveling light, which means that a lantern plus the Azure Hand is all the gear Vahid has for this mission.
This phrase was first uttered in Brogan’s confession in Session 12.6 — I can’t take credit for it; it’s drawn from Stonetop’s worldbuilding around the Howling Curse and its eldritch patron. As far as cults go, it’s a promise that has a lot of appeal in the tenements where Odo’s set up shop.
This is a name we’ve heard before, also in Brogan’s confession, linked above. She was referred to as Odo’s lady, and she was the one who picked Brogan and the other claws out of the mines and threw them into the fighting pits.
Jens managed to scoop up the gold coins before they were spotted — if the Gasper knew they were flush with cash, it would definitely raise some questions.
