Location: North and west of the Star's End Monastery

Date: Summer, 1333 Avard

Characters: Este, Halite, Nalani, Klaris, Galadriel, Isaac, Xydeco

Cleaning out the gnomish quarters to the mine after defeating the golem, they find treasure troves of items – rings, weapons, amulets, gold, and spark gems. They also awaken a myriad of lightning machines that nearly destroy them. They leave the mine quarters satisfied, despite one door remaining closed.

Date: October, 2016

DM's Notes: Intro campaign continues. I let them level up, so the next time we got together it was time spent researching /how/ to level up (this was only their second time, ever, to level up in D&D). We found a few snags I missed on character creation or the first time they leveled up, too. The party to date: a cleric, a ranger, a fighter/mage, a mage, a bard, and a rogue (assassin). This has the potential to be something very interesting. The n00bs are unfettered by the chains of past versions or 'what cannot be done', and my attitude of 'nothing is impossible' might, I hope, allow them to do some very wonderful things.

Reference: Campaign IX
Previous: IX-11-10
Next: IX-11-12

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I kept the spark from the golem. I don't know what good it will do me, but at the very least, I can study it and perhaps figure out a way to recreate the spells or technology to use the spark to power things like the gnomes did. We rest up, and decide that it's a good idea for us to stick together. Este, for whatever reason keeps trying to wander off, so I cast Unseen Servant to herd him in while Halite plays babysitter so he doesn't get himself (or any of us) killed.

We continue our exploration and find many sleeping quarters. It seems like the gnomes had dormitories rather than private rooms, and whatever happened to them happened in such a way that they left most of their possessions behind. We found quite a bit of coin and Halite found a pair of brass goggles that give the wearer dark-vision. He can already see in the dark, so he passed them to me. Handy, being able to see in the dark.

We find what looks like the remains of a dining hall, and a kitchen in the back. Isaac found what must have been a refigerator - the spark powering it was 'cold' - not to the touch, but mystically. After examining it, we discover that the way the magic works causes the crystal to gather and build 'cold' energy, and then vent it. In the spark cradle, the cradle regulates the venting process to keep the crystal from building up too much energy. Outside the cradle, Isaac will have to vent the cold periodically intentionally, or who knows what might happen. Towards the back of the kitchen, past quite a lot of debris, is a door. We can't get to it immediately, so I used Mage Hand to place a spark in the cradle and open the door. When it opens, a bunch of mechanical spider-like creatures spill out into the room. Galadriel snatches the crystal from the cradle, closing the door and we kill the spider-things that managed to get through before too many of them got out. It was weird leaving them like that; we could hear the scratching of their claws on the door for quite some time.

We backtracked a bit and went down another corridor that led to a big room with crystal shards all over the floor. These were either broken, imperfect, or otherwise discarded sparks, I guess. The number of broken crystals raises some questions - do sparks 'run out' or burn out after a time? Are they prone to breakage or shattering, either in the creation process or in use? How many attempts were made to create the sparks and how many crystals shattered before they figured the process out? I collected some of the shards (almost ground to powder) in a pouch. Who knows what that might be good for.

One of the rooms we passed through had some sort of confusion enchantment on it. Luckily, we passed through with no lasting damage. We follow a hallway with sharp turns and find a locked door at the end. When we get it open, it's another room filled with the spider things. They're apparently attracted to movement, and we learn that they can shoot electric shocks at us. When they band together, they can create lightening. We quickly get the door shut, but realize that they're going to get through it eventually, now that they've been activated. This door is wooden - very, very thick wood, but wooden nonetheless, unlike the kitchen door which was metal - they will come through. So we backtrack around a corner and plan our attack.

We decide to go back to the mouth of the caves and retrieve the suit of armor. Shine it up and place it against the wall directly across from the door. We'll use magic to open the door, and animate the suit or armor with magic to draw their fire, while we stay safe around the corner. When they power up to shoot lightening, we'll destroy them. Working in small batches, we feel like we have a good chance. Este, Zydeco and Halite go for the armor while Galadriel and I went back to the golem to see if we can learn anything about how they 'see' or detect a foe. They're apparently drawn to movement, not necessarily biological material, so we think our plan has a shot - and it worked! It didn't even take that long before all of the spiders were disabled (can you 'kill' mechanical creatures?).

Once they're clear, we discover the gnomes workshop. This must be where they worked opn creating the sparks of various kinds. There are several in the room that are 'activated' - Galariel finds one that alleviates the need for food and drink as long as it is worn (it's a necklace), and I found one that is a storage container for spells. It will hold 3, but there are two already stored in it; See Invisibility and Detect Thoughts.

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