c02s05e04 - The NetherGate Day 236 - underdark After numerous teleports the ship is powered by docents, fixed and ready to get out of the under. Heading westward along the mushroom river the Underforest of Gulg has increased its size a good 15% in the past 3 months since first encountering the phenomenon. South of the Underforest, the Black Tar had receded a good 20 miles southward... The Bear can shell out 22 - 28 damage per round in the adjacent area around the ship-- enough to keep the Tar at bay as the ship creeps slowly through the light-swallowing murk. a dozen hours later the ship slips down the gate Tunnel, and purges the Tar from the Tunnel, providing breathing room forthe team to sort out how to activate the 400 foot diameter portal to the nether. A hidden room has a docent control room... summoning archons allied to the team, they power the gate and pull the ship through; the archons teleport away safely and the team is through. The Naval shipyard measures two thousand feet across; six thousand feet deep with 400 foot bay doors across the massive cavern from the Nether Gate. To the left... "south" has a long assembly line from the bay doors to the portal of Legendary Status.. capable of creating incredibly complicated, massive structures.. and vast supplies of simple production. Enough to equip an army with nougb time and resources. To the right.. "north" has a series of buildings set into the wall... living facilities, administration buildings, gate operations, and assembly controls stand out; also various shrines to kazarak and more interesting things like lab spaces, libraries, and storage centers taht have been mostly cleaned out and abandoned. between assembly, operations, and the various defense points throughout the facility; 990 docents are needed for full functionality. Putting a pin in the map for this place, the team focuses on the far bay doors... arhons get the mechanism powered and "cracks" the massive iron blast doors open a few feet... 20 feet thick, beyond the metal gap a drab grey, murkily lit tunnel leasds "north" and :south".. an obscuring, sulphurous wind blows like a sandstorm... shadowy humanoid forms trudge southward in the windy grit-- filling the thoughts of the team with shame and dread as they brave the element-- the shadows look athasian, but scatter in the wind once someone gets too close. Frank combines speak with dead and raise dead with a religion check to put some english on the ritual and gets shades... strength draining shadow creatures shrieking like bloody murder, uncontrolled and hostile. dhraksis puts an end to them, Eduardo putw restoration for srength recovery, and Frank can create undead from athasian souls now. Opening the doors wide, BeaR heads south with the wind at their back.. the tunnel is as big as the shipyard cavern and endless. hours go by and the terrain changes to incude irregualr pillars of a resin type substance that the athasian souls stick to if they stumble into it... the pillars become more frequent to the point the ship has to maneuver cautiously to avoid touching them.. thought enough gunfire will shatter them; the shards and fragments shimmer in the cold mechanical light of BeaR, revealing endless tormented faces of counteless racial variations.. new faces revelaed like a kaleidoscope as light shifts across and sinks into the facets of the crystals. Dhrakssi senses demon monstrosities in the region-- large insect like craturs that stay far away but prod at the resin formations.. eeming to almost, 'tend" to them before fleeing from the team towards the distant cavern walls also covered in resin. If they're intelligent, they are intelligent to know to simply get distance from the adventurers. sure enough, the team moves on shortly after. Day 237 - Endless Tunnels After a few dozen hours the team focuses on Kazarak's realm, having trust that the Nether will respond to Eduardo's focus as he navigates the ship through the endless tunnels.. everyone is on suicide watch from the depression formed by the supernatural environment until the tunnels open out into the vast expanse of Netherspace... a fractal honeycomb of similar tunnels all expelling their macabre breath into the void. Day 239 - Netherspace Further drift takes the black nothing into a deep red radiance scented with brimstone; the environment warming as BeaR shuttles onward into the fringes of Hell Space-- Dhraksis and Frank feel the Evil in the air. Not yet. eduardo knows the way to Kazarak is ahead. They head back to prepare for the invasion. Day 241 - Dark Sun Drawing near Khorvaire through the Nether... the dull red brilliance of Athas' dying sun stains the void ahead, orbited by continent-sized chunks of drifting rock, some tethered by massive metal cables; city-sized automatons crawl along the lines, grinding island sized chunks of mantle to dust. The Inevitables' Ritual of Ending for a forsaken world. Too close; too obvious.. the team is unable to stealth by.. carrier-sized constructs give chase to BeaR, now in full evasion; laying down suppressing fire, hoping to keep the inevitables at bay-- the living machines eat the damage, closing distance to the new flagship, Frank makes with the Mending round to round; Dhraksis lays in with Heavy Barage Cannons dealing d4+1 seige damage per shot while eduardo focuses on Evasion to out-distance the buggers while closing in on a spellstorm of Feeblemind that no one wants to be anywhere near-- finally clearing the inevitables, the team dives into the sun to avoid enfeeblement for the crew-- the heat is massive; gouts of spell power spill from the castes on board to out-pace the structural damage to the ship until they break through-- bobbing up among the cliff walls deep under shoreline of Khorvaire's ether. <end of session> 2/3 to level 20