Tales from Etheraz: 3/28/26 Dungeon Crawl Recap
Greetings, daffodils, dungeon crawlers, and dawdlers!
I, ATLAS THE BARD, continue to move throughout Arancis, looking for adventure, tales of glorious heroes, and the way to my Grandmother’s house (I seem to have gotten lost). Until I can find my way, I’ve written up another report on the quests of the daring group of Coalition soldiers known as the PC Party!
Last I’d heard from my informant, Kyran, the party was recuperating in the camp of Commander Niv of House Blakka, a mole within the House who was working with the Coalition for her own secretive reasons. The party had planned a daring rescue of Coalition leader Amon Luv, who had been betrayed and turned over to House Blakka two years ago by a defector from the PC party named Myr Galdur (remember that name. He’ll be relevant later, I promise…)
[Transcript:
Hello Atlas,
When we got into the prison there were a few traps. Once we got past those we found one of the prisoners, he said his name was Alan Lee and that he was a politician from Zelmore who had been locked up by Blakka for refusing to give them land. We freed him, by where he was kept I found a wanted poster for Ez. She is wanted alive by House Corvis for the murder of Elia Corvis. I feel like a wanted poster is a bit excessive, they could have just talked to us. While I agree that Ez shouldn’t have killed her, she did so on orders of Valens Corvis so it’s not entirely her fault. They want her alive so she’ll probably get a chance to explain the situation.
We found an arrest record for Myrden. He was arrested for Abandonment of Post, Dereliction of Duty, and Insubordination. Blakka cares a lot more about the loss of the Barricade than the loss of people but at least he’s not getting away with leaving his soldiers to die. We found another prisoner, named Meshach. He said he had been here for two trihelials and wouldn’t let us free him, he thought us offering help was a trap. He recognized ASTE, they were saying something about a city, I think they grew up in the same place. ASTE convinced him to let us let him out. We found a third prisoner named Rory, near her we found a journal entry by someone named Rennick Valeloss saying that The Lord Commander had visited the Hold a day before we got there. 3 soldiers who had been acting weirdly quiet and had been kept apart from the others left with him, he also visited Amon.
David, Warden of Prisons, was killed, behind him was Amon’s cell. When we went in Amon attacked us, he looked injured and clearly wasn’t in his right mind. We had to fight him, we didn’t have any other option. Katrinka was able to cut off his finger and use the bone marrow to make the Hollowed Cure. She used it on him and he collapsed but stopped trying to fight us. We got him out, he’s definitely not unharmed but he’s at least alive. I knew Blakka was bad but seeing him like that makes it feel a lot more real. None of this should have happened, I should have noticed something was off when Erath started asking about the map.
When we were leaving with Amon, Erath Myr Galdur showed up. It’s weird seeing him again, it’s been almost 2 trihelials now. He was standing on top of a wall, he did that the last time too, he always needs to be a safe distance away. He never actually wants to face us. He threw some kind of explosive at us, we found the recipe for it about a trihelial ago. We used it to open up a cave but it’s not surprising that he’d use it against people. A few of us, including Amon, got hit but no one died. We were able to heal them in time. Myr Galdur left after that.
While we were leaving one of the prisoners we had rescued, Rory, held the other two at knifepoint then stabbed them. We were able to heal them in time and restrain her. She said that she was an undercover Blakka soldier working for Myr Galdur. Katrinka threatened to hook her up to a fear battery. She said she wasn’t actually going to go through with it and she just wanted information but the fact that she would threaten something like that proves that she doesn’t feel bad about what she’s done. Rory wouldn’t tell us anything, we currently still have her prisoner, we need to figure out what to do with her before we get back. I don’t think Niv’s soldiers would be too happy to see her taken prisoner.
-Kyran Greyling]
The party had decided that stealth was the way to go this time: storming a fully-stocked Blakka fort full of presumably angry soldiers was likely not a particularly successful plan. They snuck into the Blakka fort, dodging guards and largely doing a wonderful job of being unobtrusive mostly. (At one point. Blitz the lockpicking extraordinaire, did go, “look at me over here!” and get caught, but he was fine.)
In the Blakka prison, the party, shockingly, found Blakka prisoners and had to grapple with the dilemma of whether or not they should free them and bring them with them which may compromise their escape. They encountered a politician who’d been loyal to Blakka, but refused to hand over land and got locked up and slated to be executed as a result. He seemed like a nice enough guy, so they freed him! They also ran into a mysterious prisoner who seemed to recognize A.S.T.E. He initially refused to go with the party, assuming it to be a trap, but after a heated conversation with A.S.T.E., he agreed to come with them. (I wonder what’s going on with A.S.T.E… he’s been acting strange lately…)
The third prisoner they found was someone named Rory, and she seemed completely fine and normal. We’ll come back to that part.
The cell holding Amon Luv was guarded by the terrifying David, Warden of Prisons. David is one of the Lord Commander’s right hands, keeping an iron grip on the West Gate and torturing prisoners mercilessly. He was a formidable foe, but the party, determined to reunite with Amon Luv, attacked him relentlessly until David fell. (And regretted it, just a tiny bit, because it seemed like David was trying to talk to them/instigate/drop interesting and exciting pieces of information and now he was dead). What’s done is done and cannot be undone, and the party emerged victorious into Amon’s cell, ready to take their good friend home! It was an exciting day, but now they were ready to have a heartfelt reunion and get the heck out of here. But they were in for a nasty surprise when Amon was released from his chains: Amon, with a cry of pure rage and anguish, leapt to ATTACK the party!
Something had been done to Amon, something that made him violent and bloodthirsty. Katrinka — an artificer who’d been traveling with the party and the mastermind behind the fear batteries — deduced that Amon had been parasitized and under the influence of a powerful Coltar Spawn. As the party battled him, she worked on concocting a cure, which unfortunately included chopping off his finger to harvest the bone marrow. Amon was a powerful enemy and thirsting for blood, but he was eventually overwhelmed by the powerful fighters in the party. Katrinka administered the cure.
As they emerged from the cell, they heard a booming, familiar voice from a figure high above. None other than MYR GALDUR emerged from the shadows, laughing at the party’s efforts and mocking their ineffectual struggle against House Blakka. He hucked some strange explosives at the party and ordered the Blakka troops to capture the party. As the Blakka forces descended, Myr Galdur laughed and taunted the party, and boy was the party enraged. Myr Galdur wasn’t just a nefarious Blakka lackey — he’d been a friend to many and a leader to the party. As his forces attacked the party, the party yelled and screamed and threw things to try and get to the person they’d once called friend. But, safe atop his tower, Myr Galdur couldn’t be reached.
Things devolved into chaos. Some members of the party focused on bringing Amon and the other prisoners to safety, while others screamed at Myr Galdur and fought the endless waves of Blakka soldiers. As they were leaving, though, it was time for one last betrayal: Rory, one of the prisoners who seemed so nice and normal, turned out to be a mole from Blakka sent to hinder their escape!! She threatened the other two prisoners at knifepoint and stabbed them, but was foiled in her attempts to run off. Fleeing for their lives, the party hightailed it out of the West Gate with an unconscious but stable Amon, three unconscious prisoners (two freed and one other their captivity), and also the head of David, Warden of Prisons, which they were going to try and revive to interrogate. The party made it out, but certainly not unscathed and in a deeply precarious position.
And, apologies for the cliffhanger gentle readers, but that is where my correspondence ends!! The party out of the West Gate, but staring down an uncertain future. How will Niv’s soldiers react when the party returns to her camp? Will they even make it back to Niv’s camp? And what will happen to Amon’s severed finger? Only time will tell. I’m off to my Grandmother’s house though, so… Fight together, or die alone.
Signed,
Atlas the Bard
