The Collective - Session 19

This is the nineteenth session in The Collective campaign and the fourth in the Stolen Swords, Orcish Villages, and Dwarven Vaults sub-arc of the Dwarven Sword Arc.

Summary
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1000: Leaving the village after the assault, the party travelled to the site of the Dwarven vault. Outside of the vault, the party saw two large stone statues, one standing atop a pedestal and the other lying in a shattered heap of stone and dust on the ground. The door itself, a large stone door covered in old stone murals, had a small spherical indentation inside of it. Both Badger and Gorrn investigated this door, triggering the statue to swing its giant stone halberd at the door, damaging Badger. Awaking from its slumber, the statue (an old Stone Golem in the form of a stone Dwarf) proceeded to attack the party, dealing heavy damage to both Gorrn and Rosanhi. Disobeying Badger’s orders, Evangeline tried to help fight the golem but was stopped by Rosanhi, preventing her from getting close to it. After destroying the golem, they salvaged a small spherical stone with a singular Dwarvish rune on it. Slotting it into the door, the door ground loudly against the stone as it opened, revealing a small passage into the mountain. Taking a few minutes to rest and prepare themselves, the party shared in some small talk while Badger created a potion of healing. The party then entered the vault.

Inside of the vault, the party was surprised to find one of the objects of their pursuit, the sword, lying upon the ground. Roscoe identified that the sword was indeed magic, gleaning some information about its properties but unable to fully identify it. Badger, using his keen senses and knowledge of dust, noticed that there had been a quick struggle between two individuals. He also noticed that an arrow had been drawn into the dust, pointing towards a small pile of rubble; inside of this pile of rubble was a tennis ball sized sphere, glowing with a light purple haze and covered in a ring of Dwarven runes. Picking this up, the party continued deeper into the vault. Making their first stop in a small common room, Rosanhi accidentally triggered a trap in a fireplace, causing her to be scorched by a blast of fire. Roscoe kindly mended her clothes, and she made out of it with a small diamond. Travelling even further into the vault, the party discovered a room dedicated to the worship of Ayn, Goddess of Production. Rosanhi and Gnorbitt investigated a large mural on the wall depicting some sort of old Dwarven story of creation while Roscoe, Evangeline, and Badger searched for treasure instead. Roscoe, finding a small iron ingot in the palm of the statue of Ayn, quickly found a slot to insert it into the wall, opening a side room containing nothing but a stone mold of a large ring.

Continuing further forward, the party ignored the rooms full of old skeletons to find themselves at a forked path. Deciding it would be better to rest first (for 8 hours, in a dungeon?), they began to clear out the skeletons when they noticed various details about them; namely, that they were not old, their weapons were new, and they were not skeletons made of one full body. The skeletons arose and prepared to attack.