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1.8.3 - The Storm

You broke the storm, claimed Thor's rune, and came back up into a city that had already started to splinter.

You finished Thor's trial though it tested your limits. Three chains joined to the plate. The arena drained. The Storm Warden let go of its duty, the trial fulfilled. Brawn's enormous strength pulling each chain into place, aided by Gunnar's voluptuous thighs. The level 3 wand of Heal burned itself out saving us when the fight could have gone the other way. When the water finally drained, Thor's rune waited below the storm-slick stone. Seven of eight now. One left.

Back with the kobolds, you returned the mechanism and the amulet. Six engineers swarmed Hantz's crossbow and rebuilt it around a storm battery and blue water taken from the storm itself. The weapon came back changed. No longer a bolt-thrower. Something stranger. Vress took the amulet in both hands and told you it had belonged to her ancestor and former Matriarch, [[Vrakka]], who once worked alongside the builders before they fled the tunnels. Skit nearly bounced out of his skin when he saw the mechanism, then rushed you to the engineers so they could talk over one another in excitement. When you left, Vress held out a hand and said,

"Three of ours. Last week. Red Below has been moving closer."

You came back to the surface at 8am on a still morning and found the Shallows broken. Eastern Elf Shallows was a ghost town. Western Elf Shallows was being emptied into the mines every night. Veylith said the Blood Elf attacks were forcing them underground, and that Hammerfall itself was splintering too. The Norse were breaking apart after Ivar's death. The Orks were retreating inward untrusting of anything but their old traditions. The Guild was still standing, still armed, still making sure the people who could pay had safety. The people who could not... they fled before nightfall and the darkness that came for them.

When you asked about the Hollow Coins, Theren Silquar gave you the old answer. Freya. Life. Fertility. Love. New beginnings. He remembered the spring rites in Dres Elas, when the elven noble families gathered to offer willing sacrifices and ask Freya for children and blessing. The place you know as the Hollow Coin had once been something else entirely. A temple. A place of love and lust. Blood given freely. By the end, the tavern in Richeri was no longer a rumor. It was a lead to the last thing standing before you and Hannah.

Remember For Next Time

  • Thor's rune is claimed. The party now has seven of eight.
  • The kobold mechanism went back where it belonged, and Hantz's crossbow came back pimped.
  • Vress's ancestor, Vrakka, mattered to her and the Kobold history enough that the amulet's return hit hard.
  • The Shallows is a nightly horror, and Hammerfall is splintering more with each night passed. The Chosen are winning

Fragment IV — Instructions

  1. "Maintain pressure on surface (fear = compliance)"
  2. "Capture, do not kill — weak preferred"
  3. "Prepare final offerings on 5th night"
  • The Hollow Coin is not just a tavern. It was once a connection to Freya herself.

Where We Are

*You are headed into Richeri and the Hollow Coin, you almost...have everything you need to stop her