Having arrived at Took’s Shanty, in the sleepy town of Olban, our heroes find themselves among the clientele filing in after a day’s work. They pick a table, and Thorim picks an ale. As they scan the room, they notice nobody in particular except for a dwarven lady at the bar, looking rather downtrodden. Our heroes approach the woman and discover she - Laurel Saisa - is upset because her boss, Broelden, has disappeared. They learn that Broelden was heading up the excavation site south of Olban until three days ago when he didn’t show up to work. She mentions that there have been reports of missing people, but never expected Broelden could be one of them. As they converse with Laurel, a man named Vando Borgens overhears the conversation and inserts himself. He says he saw a group of people pull off the road as he was heading east into town; he is a simple trader and so kept his head down so as not to draw attention to himself. Upon further questioning, our heroes stir up a memory from Vando that, yes, he seems to recall a scuffle among the group that pulled off the road.

I’ll pause here. It was interesting because I wrote Vando into the plot as a device to make players aware of their first objective to investigate. What I didn’t expect was that they would become incredibly suspicious of him. I think they spent about 20 - 30 minutes questioning him and I had a hard time thinking on my toes to fill in his backstory which only led to him sounding even more suspicious!

After a round of questioning, the party livens up as Thorim joins in the chorus of booze-driven song. Gradually, the night winds down and our heroes trickle into their quarters, provided by the venerable owner, Nom Took…

In the morning - Sunday, the 2nd of May - the rookie arm of Mistwatch travels west on the road out of Olban per the intelligence provided by Vando, searching for clues surrounding Broelden’s whereabouts. Through their combined perception, they notice footprints trailing off the road near an outcrop. Following along the outcrop, they discover some rocks and brush piled conspicuously. Ancalagon, in an attempted display of strength, attempts to move the rubble; a click and a pop later, they resort to moving it as a team. It was then that the merry band discovered an entrance into the Cave of Korthul.

The heroes navigate the passages of the cave, coming to a doorway from which a soft light, presumably candlelight, spills into the hallway. Peering into the room, they discover four men around a large circular table. The crew attempts a stealthy approach but Vaya - in a lapse of awareness - stumbles, kicking rocks, an echo ricocheting from their position. Thorim, recognizing their compromised location and being his usual combat thirsty self, blasts one of the men with electricity! A brawl lets loose and Ancalagon, at one point, cleaves a man in two. With one bandit remaining, the heroes choose restraint. They learn his name is Bandy (the bandit). They question the man, hoping to ascertain his purpose. He confirms that, indeed, they have a captive being held further in the cave. He pleads for his life and his wish is granted, but not before Thorim roughs him up with a few slaps and choice words. As the adrenaline of their first battle fades, they scour the room, discovering a key on one of the bandits and a chest that was pushed in front of a door. As they near the door, they hear strange noises and scratching from within. Our timid heroes, at the insistence of Siradius, leave these scary noises to themselves. Eventually, they gather the courage to venture further, ultimately coming to a barred door. As they unlock the door and peer in, they see a man tied to a chair and another who appears to be keeping watch. As the door swings open, the bandit leader engages! Arrows fly, swords clash, and the blaze of fire spells flash out in the small chamber, until finally the foe is vanquished. The man in the chair is relieved of his restraints and confirms that, indeed, he is Broelden. He says he was captured after finding something at the excavation site, but insists they discuss this at Nom Took’s. Before leaving, our investigators search the bandit leader’s body and discover a strange letter addressed to the bandit crew. It reads:

We received word of Broelden’s discovery at the site. Detain immediately and hold until we arrive for questioning.

Not knowing what to make of it, and not willing to wait for the mysterious author to arrive with reinforcements, the heroes exit the Cave of Korthul and make their way back to Olban with Broelden just as the morning dew starts to settle. The crew and Broelden, needing rest, agree to meet back at Nom Took’s the following morning. The heroes meander through town and offload their wares at Marrianne’s General Store. The crew eventually settle down for the night, no parties this time.

In the morning, the scent of coffee drifts up through the old beams of Nom Took’s calling the Mistwatch to rise. Fresh brews in hand, they find Broelden sitting by his lonesome at a corner table. Joining him, they comb through the information he has. Broelden explains that the excavation site has been troubled from the start: disappearances, unnatural sounds, unmanageable turnover, and more. He informs them that he discovered a strange object in the dig site and, for reasons he’s not even sure of, kept it for himself, knowing it was against the Excavators Guild’s policy. They learn that soon after his discovery - about a week later - he was kidnapped by the bandits; though luckily he had already hidden away the artifact at his home, beneath the floorboards. Broelden enlists the help of Mistwatch to discover why he was kidnapped and, of course, to help get to the bottom of the strange occurrences at the excavation site.

The heroes agree and disembark up the northern road out of Olban, toward Broelden’s home. An uneventful journey leads them to his doorsteps. A quick search later, and the strange artifact is in their hands. The device fits in the palm of an average hand with a soft pulsing blue glow that radiates from lines inset into its face. Siradius, using his superior intellect as a Wizard, spends a good moment meditating on the nature of the object. His analysis bears fruit, indicating that the device seems to function as a key of sorts. As is customary for our skittish heroes, they desire not to linger a moment longer. As they exit, however, a strange smell is on the southbound wind. Decay… “The closest thing north of here is the old Shintook residence”, Broelden explains. “An old physician, keeps to ‘imself these days, hasn’t been seen in town in ages.” Their interest piqued, Mistwatch makes haste for the Shintook Farmstead.

At the farmstead, something is off. The windows are boarded up and the stench is unmistakably stronger. Ancalagon, bravado bursting at the seams, attempts to bust in the door but only succeeds in kicking his leg through. Vaya, the astute observer, reaches in and turns the handle. The interior is suspiciously bare. A bed against one corner and a mantle with a box of candlesticks and a set of books. As they investigate the room, Vaya discovers a few peculiarities. First, the box of candlesticks contains one red stick among other plain colored ones. Second, of all the books on the mantle, one appears to lack any dust. Thinking ahead, Vaya pockets the red candle and pulls on the dust-free book. The room gives a lurch, mechanical sounds whirring, and a staircase is revealed at the back of the room. The band proceeds swiftly down the flight and into the next room. Immediately they spot a central table with an empty candle holder and, in a rush to solve problems, immediately insert the red candle. Upon doing so, a false wall spins around to reveal an unlit sconce. With a spark, Siradius bolts the sconce with fire. It remains lit only momentarily before a strange gust in the room blows it out. Confused, Thorim suggests Siradius stand on the floor in front of the false door. Siradius reluctantly complies and Thorim yanks the candle from the holder. Siradius is squeezed tightly behind the wall and suffers a painful pinch. Unfortunately, nothing of note can be seen behind the wall, and so they relieve Siradius of his claustrophobia. Finally, the crew decides it best to scan the room for additional clues and realizes they had missed a rather obvious sconce on the wall opposite the false one. In one fluid motion as a team, they light both sconces and yet another staircase is revealed. As they descend into the new room, they discover a lever centered on a wall. Thanks to astute observation, they note a hole across the room, aligned perfectly with the lever. The crew quickly agrees that a trap is afoot. Bingles volunteers herself to disarm the trap with her thieve’s tools. With a few quick motions, a satisfying click is heard and the trap arrow is safely removed. A quick turn of the lever and, you guessed it, another staircase. Upon entering the newly discovered room, two pair of strange glowing blue eyes peer up at them. The team engages with the strangely disfigured humanoids, destroying them with extreme prejudice. As the crew fells the last “zombie”, a blood curdling screech echoes through the room and a spectre rises from the corpse of a man near a desk at the edge of the room. Despite this being their first supernatural encounter, the Mistwatch deftly handles themselves and vanquishes the tormented spirit of the man before them. As the room settles, they begin investigating… Vaya discovers a letter on the desk:

Callius, your research has been instrumental in furthering our vision. We understand your desire to conclude but ask that you keep the samples at your lab for further testing.

Astutely, Bingles investigates the zombies and discovers a strange protrusion covered in scarring at the base of the head. A gruesome task, she cuts out a strange device that appears to have been surgically implanted. Siradius postulates the connection between Callius and the zombies, concluding that Mr. Shintook was indeed experimenting with humans and met a cruel fate in doing so. Siradius, being his usual thorough self, grabs as many notes as he can find before the crew ascends. They reunite with Broelden, explain the encounter, and agree to return to Olban to rest before continuing to the excavation site.

The following morning, having rested at Took’s Shanty, our eager Mistwatch ventures south of Olban to the excavation site with Broelden as their guide. They reach the site in the late afternoon and are met with weary eyes from the on-site workers. The team can feel the unease in the air and curious gazes resting upon them. They waste no time entering the sprawling dig site, Broelden weaving in and out of corridors as if guided by a map. As they tail Broelden, they’re struck by the size of some of the excavated rooms, some of them vaulting upwards to impressive heights; impressing upon them that these rooms were here before and not a product of the excavation. Finally, Broelden pauses, chews his mustache, and ducks into a large room. The room, at first glance, appears much like any of the other rooms they had casually passed through. Broelden nods his head toward a corner of the room, revealing skeletal remains. He explains that’s where he discovered the strange artifact clutched in the hands of the unknown and promptly left. The Mistwatch slowly disperses through the room and in no time discover faint indentations peering through a layer of dust on the far wall. As they clear the dust, strange markings in an unfamiliar language appear. Suddenly, the markings take on a soothing - almost imperceptible - pulsing glow. Siradius rummages through his pack and removes the strange artifact, and informs the team it’s likely this object is connected. As he holds it up to the wall, they hear a loud hiss - as if pressure has been released. A soft rumbling stirs beneath their feet as the blue glow begins to travel down the wall, forming a square pattern on the floor. When the square completes, the floor begins to lower. Mistwatch scrambles to the lowering floor and descends into the unknown.

As they descend into the antechamber, Mistwatch is struck by the strangeness. A subliminal static fills the corners of their hearing with overtones of mechanics, repeating in an unnatural rhythm. The more they listen, the more layers unfold, almost calling them to madness. Clicking, buzzing, flickering, deeper. Clicking, buzzing, flickering, deeper… What appear to be runes are connected across the walls, glowing, but with tones of a reddish purple. Rather than pulsing rhythmically, they flicker with signs of corruption. Immediately, a corridor becomes visible at the back of the room. The platform finishes its descent with a soft grinding of stone. Thorim eagerly scans the room and notices that the lines between the runes converge on a strange orb inset in the wall. As they investigate the orb further, the hair stands up on end with the feeling of being watched. Our heroes then proceed to poke, prod, and bludgeon the orb without success. Seeing only the corridor, they press on. As they travel the hallway, they notice the circuitry of runes continues down the hallway until a fork: left and right. They opt for the left path and enter a room in which a hulk of bizarre armor begins to pulse with the same corrupted glow as before. Suddenly, with the sound of ignition, a fire plumes out from the neckline of the armor and the suit reaches up to ignite its warhammer. Without so much as breaking a sweat, Mistwatch renders the armor a pile of scrap. In the center of the room, they spot a pedestal with engravings that seem to match the key in Siradius’ possession. As he holds the key to the pedestal a small opening is revealed, out of which a small mechanical spider emerges. Markings on the spider match those on the key and pulsing in synchronicity. From the front of the pedestal a stone tray rotates, revealing a strange pair of spectacles and an etched tablet. Siradius, ever enthralled with ancient technology, quickly discovers that the wearer of the specs can pilot the spider using the etched tablet, and even see from the spider’s perspective. He also discovers a marking on the tablet which causes the spider to spin a glowing blue thread. Tucking the rather bizarre find away, Mistwatch returns to the fork and chooses the other path. They enter a new room in which the background static appears to be building upon itself, layering further into a maddening symphony of barely perceptible dissonance. Thorim sweeps the room and notices a square pattern in the floor at the center of the room, surmising that the floor could slide away at the location. Meanwhile, Ancalagon spots a small hole in the wall at the far side of the room. Siradius, having meta Zelda knowledge, quickly understands what must be done. He quickly whips out his newfound gadget and dexterously guides the spider into said hole. At the end of the small tunnel a switch is discovered. Using a command from the etched tablet, the spider swipes the switch. As Thorim predicted, the floor within the square pattern slides away and reveals a staircase. Entering the room, another strange orb is inset into the wall, the same presence emanates from it. Near this orb, against the wall, a cylindrical tank is inset in the wall, a fog occluding the glass. Four large pillars rise up from the floor. Three of the pillars are in a cluster together, increasing in height. The shortest pillar is approximately 10 feet high. The fourth pillar matches the height of the tallest pillar in the cluster, but is approximately 20 feet away. A rope drifts gently between the tallest two pillars. With the complexity of the room becoming obvious to Mistwatch, they spend a good moment of discussion before deciding to use the spider to scout what is atop the lone pillar. Doing so reveals a lens of sorts. Not seeing any further actions available to the spider, they decide Ancalagon should ascend the pillars for further investigation. Thorim quickly jumps to Ancalagon’s side to “stabilize his buns” and hoist him up to the shortest pillar. With grace, Ancalagon wows his compatriots as he jumps and climbs his way to the tallest pillar in the cluster. With a moment’s hesitation, he jumps and swings across to the lone pillar with the lens. Thorim casts light onto Ancalagon’s sword to use as a torch for the lens. Meanwhile, on the floor, Vaya discovers four pegs in a square pattern against one of the walls. In true “bop it” fashion, Mistwatch attempts to twist, turn, push, and pull the pegs without success. Back on the pillar, Ancalagon scans the room with the lightsource, revealing markings in an ancient language. Siradius, with his surprising grasp of history, understands the markings to read: “1 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1”. After much deliberation, Siradius - again with this unnatural grasp of puzzle solving - understands that they must spin a web with the spider between the pegs in the order that was revealed. As the circuit is completed, they hear a hissing sound and notice the tank on the far side of the room lowering. The erratic static increases and from within the tube emerges an abomination of technology: it appears to have one center eye with four mechanical appendages protruding from a central base sphere. It has a mechanical jaw on a hing and lets out an unnatural screech. After a long and arduous battle with the creature, our team is weary but alive… The lowered glass tank reveals a path forward, in which our heroes discover some useful potions stored on shelving. As they push forward through the passageway, a pulsing sensation pushes at their eardrums, they can almost feel the corruption. The familiar glow gradients further toward a darker purple with mixtures of red. The lines and runes converge as they approach a room, leading to a pedestal at the center. The pedestal rises from the floor like an extruded octagon. Suspended above the pedestal is a strange hedron. From numerous faces on the object, tubing extends up into the ceiling. As the room pulses with purples and reds, you notice it feeds into the object which pulses in turn. Vaya reaches out to retrieve the object…

As soon as she touches the object, the static from before completely envelops Mistwatch, their minds no longer in the present. They sit in a strange room with others. A man dressed in simple garb with a sharp smile is hunched over something. “My friends, with this we can change the world. We can return to King Rhos and pull him into the fold. We can shape Khelas to our liking.” They peer over his shoulder, the device on the table resembling the one they dug from the skull at Callius’ lab. Suddenly they’re falling. They now stand in a royal chamber, a man knelt before a king, pleading. “King Rhos, this isn’t you, we’ve worked too hard for our work to be used like this. I’m begging you.” The room fades and the same kneeling man is seen scrambling to gather his things. Another voice is heard, “Kytherus, leaving now will only guarantee failure. Baelthe, he…” The man, Kytherus, responds: “Faroh, Phendrael, Ghoru, my trusted colleagues and friends. Staying now will ensure our deaths. We have one last chance to fix this.” He holds up a hedron, identical to the one in the room from which Mistwatch was transported. The soft-spoken elf in the room, with a wry smile, responds: “Ah, so that’s what you intend…” Again the heroes fall deeper into the vision. They hear shrieks, clashes, the thunder of war. A towering monstrosity laying waste to cities. They see Kytherus, mortally wounded. He places the artifact upon a pedestal, then slowly staggers from the room. They follow him through the corridors until he collapses near the edge of the room, a key clutched in his hand. With an almost hopeful sigh, he smiles and closes his eyes. The vision becomes grainy, the static beginning to return. Very faintly our heroes hear Kytherus speaking, “Seek Faroh, Phendrael, and Ghoru, they can aide you.” Suddenly, laughter overtakes them and the man with the sharp smile walks toward them in shadow. The static ceases and Mistwatch is thrown back to reality through the depths of their minds…

And with that, we conclude the prologue of our campaign! It will likely be awhile before the story continues; after our last session our crew went on an ongoing hiatus due to schedule conflicts and life. I look forward to its return sometime this year. Thanks for reading!