Adventure Log #74

Adventure Log #74 (The Gold Road)
Dub-Elf Monk
Kevin-Manthootian Mage
Marius-Paladin
Arashi Iki-Druid

The party sets out from the caravan with a mission. The caravan is in desperate need of water. Soon the animals will begin to die if they don’t get any as their carried stocks begin to run low.

The characters are charged with moving far ahead of the caravan and checking the next water hole to make sure that it’s still good. The group moves forward and travels for many days. Eventually they come across a couple of buildings and a poor corn filed that has been planted across the road.

Kevin scared the local halfwit and tramples over his crops with his horse. Marius has better luck with some of the local children. Eventually the Voc of the town comes out and faces the paladin. Marius tells “Shark” the head man that they are looking for water for a caravan. Shark demands the horse Marius is riding in payment. They argue for a bit longer and the party decides to move on, the group feels that although there is water in the village this might not be what the caravan master meant by a watering place. The group moves on for a couple of days up the road but finds nothing.

As they are riding Dub notices a mirror like flash from the surrounding hills. He dismounts and heads up into the hills to investigate. He finds a large mirror like wall that has been uncovered by a rock slide. When he touches the wall its surface ripples like water.
The rest of the group is eventually brought up and although it is deemed “interesting” in that it shows people as them might look in the future, it’s not what they are looking for and they head on.
They are two days beyond the village and have found nothing, so they head back. As they reach the village they find the caravan has just lurched into the area and is filling their water tanks.
The caravan leader has a few words with Marius about not coming back when he found water as he was told to. Marius tells him about the cost and the debate they group had about whether it was the place they were looking for. The caravan master tells him that in the future he needs to make the decisions that affect the caravan.

The group rests and then is sent out to investigate the next water hole. They travel for several days and find nothing. Eventually they come to an area where the whole mountain side has collapsed revealing a series of building that have been cut into the side of the mountain.
Fearing the roofs collapsing they are very careful moving around inside the building. They find one which has a series of baths (now empty) in the front and rows of small statues deeper in. The deepest part of the room is clear except for a statue of an archer aiming at a metal disc in the wall.

A bit of searching reveals that the disc is actually overlapping plates that function like an iris valve. The metal on the places feels vaguely warm and alive. They surmise that moving the archer will open the valve. They get their weapons ready and move the statue. The valve opens and reveals an interior covered in a similar fashion to the metal plates.

The party heads though the winding series of tunnels. After about an hour they end up back in the corridor they started. Dub notices that they missed a secret door; they open it and head down the newly revealed corridor. The patch twists and turns until it comes to an intsection with a door in it. The group decides to come back to the door and continue on down the hallway. With the paladin in the lead they head down the corridor. Suddenly there is a blast of hot air from in front of them and a creature made of molten stone attacks them. Marius is gravely wounded but pushes back at the creature which wades in amongst the party attacking two at a time.

Kevin assails the creature with spells and Arashi takes his beast form. Dub moves into the second rank but finds himself attacked as well. Almost all of the party is blooded by the creature before it collapses into a smoldering pile of coals.

The party heals as best as they can and heads out of the pit in order to get some rest before returning.