Editing Game-Summaries:4/13/2019 Recollections (section)

==Recollections by Rezik==
Jeroy had told us about something named the Vault of Night. Apparently the Vault houses an Ancient Red Dragon named [[Velah]], and more importantly, her hoard of magic, gems, and gold. I was obviously interested in this and decided to join the party - Jeroy, Pearl, Zanna, and Dereth. 

We knew the Vault was somewhere near Ten Towns (Jeroy and Pearl had been there previously, but only seen the entrance to the Vault). Since we knew the Conventicle was in the Winterlands too, we began by using the teleportation circle to go there. 

Once we arrived, we decided we should go visit Steel. The goal was to ask him for some advice, for either fighting or use surviving Velah (since we know he’s already encountered her). We also wanted to give Jeroy and Pearl the chance to enter the [[Chamber of Legacy]]. 

When we reached the Chamber of Legacy, Pearl & Jeroy entered the room. It seems like there is nothing destined for them in the room. Jeroy felt nothing, but Pearl realized the staff she carried already called to her. 

While Jeroy & Pearl explored the Chamber of Legacy, the rest of us asked around for Steel. We found out that he was on a “mission” (I didn’t realize the Conventicle sends people out on missions, I’ll definitely need to learn more about this and what kind of mission it was).

With nothing left to do and no time to spare, the group headed towards the fortress around the Vault of Night. Jeroy showed us the vent that Velah had breathe into to power the forge. The vent was cold and the forge was not lit. It seems like there was nothing below us and that we could potentially sneak in through this vent.

In effort to be thorough, I sent my familiar down the vent to see if anything was down there. It was definitely empty. 

While I scouted, Zanna started “dressing” Jeroy - making him look like a steampunk dwarf. It turns out, the entrance to the Vault of Night will only open with the blessing from House of Kundarak. Jeroy’s goal was to look as closely to a dwarf from [[House Kundarak]].

Once Jeroy was dressed, we dropped a rope down the shaft and made our way into the forge. The rooms were entirely emptied. It was as if everything was taken carefully and that the stronghold was purposefully abandoned. 

Jeroy quickly explained the layout of the fortress (being able to draw the entire layout from memory) and pointed out the entrance to the Vault of Night. We all decided to move quickly and move to the Vault of Night entrance. 

The door was closed and we weren’t entirely sure how to get it opened. We inspected the door and recognized that it was very magical and very trapped. When looking at it with detect magic, it was interesting to see that there was a school of magic on the door we didn’t recognize. 

Jeroy attempted to open the door. We had trouble getting the door to open at first but we then realized we had to speak to the door, letting it know we were supposed to be here. The hard part was that Jeroy couldn’t remove his ring and was forced to only tell the truth. It wasn’t until he said “as a Kundarak I am here to enter the vault”, that the door swung open. 

When we finally entered the Vault, we found ourselves in a room with three doors and two spirals pillars. There was a north door which was entirely locked with two conduits going east and west. Along with the conduits, there was a door on the east and west side.

We decided to continue to move and began by entering the door to the East. We entered into two parallel corridors with doors at the end of each. Along the wall we found small copper spikes with small copper balls on the end. At the end of the corridors there’s a huge stone button, lever, and a trigger 20 feet in the air. 

We realized that we needed to trigger all 6 things at the same time to continue forward. Thanks to a twist of fate, we were able to sync up and open the doors. We quickly entered the room as the doors closed behind us. 

In this room, we found a large dais in the center with a copper grid block - with 25 insets (5x5 grid). We also noticed that there were four doors against the far side of the room with buckets of stone in front of them - red, yellow, blue, and green.  There was a fifth bucket against a wall, filled with purple stones.

We attempted to solve the puzzle but decided that we didn’t have enough information for this puzzle and decide to try the other side first in the hopes of finding a clue. 

We went back to the central room and then opened the door to the West. We made the mistake of quickly jumping into the room and we didn’t realize that the entire floor was made of pressure plates. We triggered a trap and suddenly a giant blade swept across the floor devastating Dereth, Pearl, and I. In the process, we realized that as long as we kept the trap triggered, we could freely cross the room.

The next room we entered was massive and entirely filled with lava. The heat was oppressive and the only person who didn’t seem to be bothered by it was Pearl. When looking across the room, we saw a bridge that spanned the room and two pedestals with buttons above the lava. There seemed to be a forcefield halfway across the bridge and at the end.

We realized we would need to press the buttons to stop the force field. Thankfully, Zanna and I were able to use misty step to reach the pedestals and disable the force fields. Allowing everyone to shuffle across the bridge quickly.

When we entered the next room, we saw a room with huge metal plates across the ground and four iron golems (green, yellow, blue, and red). We realized there was a symbol on each of the four door which we believe are the symbols we needed for the previous room. 

Zanna and Dereth ran back to the room with the grid box and created the green symbol in the grid. This triggered a door to open. They opened the door and found a giant lever in this small room. The lever looked like a circuit breaker. (Also, we noticed a shelf that seemed to hold a huge maul - that was empty now - turns out we find the maul - spoiler alert - it’s pretty metal). 

Dereth pulled the breaker and suddenly the golem in our room came to life. Rezik, Pearl, and Jeroy had to fight the golem. After a hearty battle, Jeroy cleaved the golem in half. We looked in the room behind the golem and found something similar to what Zanna and Dereth found, a shelf that seems to be missing a giant maul.

We continued to unlock each room, dispatching golems as we continue through each puzzle. Behind the red room, we found two dwarven made bracers. In the blue room, we found a shield made of blue glass. In the yellow room, we found an empty shelf but had no idea why could be missing.

As we left the room with the golems and were working back over the bridge, we found something glittering in the lava. Thanks to Zanna’s tinkering tools and Dereth’s wings, we were able to create a pulley system to be able to pull whatever was in the lava out of it. After heaving, we were able to pull out a chest piece, boots, and goggles. 

Dereth, Pearl, and I stayed in the central room, the one with the two pillars. Zanna and Jeroy decided to go back to the grid room and begin resetting the “circuit breakers”. Once they did, the corridor became electrified. Getting back wasn’t easy. Zanna fabricated a stone box that could reflect the electricy. Jeroy then used the stone almost like a shelf, the stone box, with Jeroy & Zanna, through the corridor without getting hurt. 

Once the switches were turned on, the conduits hummed to life and the main door opened. We suddenly heard voices on the other side; a man and a woman speaking in draconian. 

Zanna snuck into the room and saw a red headed woman walking into a portal that seems to go into the void. As the portal closed, the dwarven male looked directly at Zanna and said, “I am Arach head of House Kundarak and now it is I who stand in your way”. 

We quickly entered the room to support Zanna. In the room was a small dwarf and a huge golem. This seemed to be the dwarf’s workshop almost.

We began attacking the dwarf and the golem. Suddenly, the dwarf began casting a spell which I counter spelled (thankfully). I looked at the party and saw Dereth banish the golem. We could now focus on the dwarf. 


Dereth decided now was the best time to try to talk to Arach. He tried to convinced Arach to stand down, but it didn’t work. Arach did say something about how his duty to the world was more important than his duty as House Kundarak, and that it was imperative that he work with Velah to uncover the secret of the dragon shards.

That was when Zanna snuck behind Arach and eviscerated him. As the dwarf died, he exclaimed, “so you’re here to execute me for treason”. 

We quickly scoured the room in an attempt to find a weakness for the golem before it reappeared from Dereth’s banishment. Pearl decided to prepare the area that the golem would reappear it. She created a wall of thorns in an effort to trap the golem.

After about a minute, the golem appeared. That’s when it began attacking us with its giant maul. After a long and painful fight, we were able to finally dispatch him. 

Once the golem had fully powered down, we began searching it and Arak. When Jeroy tried to pick up the maul, he recognized it to be the Maul of House Kundarak. 

We decided we needed to take a rest to recover and recharge; it seemed like the area was safe now (regardless we had to risk it). We also used this respite as an opportunity to identify all the items we recovered. 

Zanna decided to take the Google of Trueseeing we recovered (she was pretty adamant about it). Jeroy felt like the golem’s maul could be interesting. Apparently, after attuning with it, he learned that the maul is actually a warhammer named Bloodcryer with a legendary history. I’ll let him tell its story.
 
We also had found a Kundarak Warding Shield, Kundarak Warding Bracers, and Kundarak Delving Suit, Boots, & Goggles.

At this point we decided we should re-open the portal. Zanna went back to the room with the giant circuit breakers and reset them all. This restarted the power passing through the conduits and opened a portal that seemed to lead to the void. 

We weren’t sure if we should trust just jumping into the portal, so we decided to test it. We through the body of Arak through the portal to see what would happen. It turns out nothing happened, or at least nothing we could see. Dereth, consulting with the gods and received a strong sense of danger. We decided that we should let the portal be for now and report back more prepared for a potential fight with Velah.

It was at this point that we realized that we had used four colors in the grid room, but had never used the purple stones. Thinking that maybe it would open another room or potentially a safer portal, we all rushed back to the grid room to solve the puzzle. We were able to crack the code on the first try and we saw a secret door open. Inside the door there was a giant sword oozing shadows. We watched as it seemed to melt away. 

It seems like the door was a ward protecting the sword. Once we opened the door, the ward dropped and Velah claimed the sword. It must be a truly powerful weapon of magic for Velah to take an interest.

At this point we decided to shut off the breakers, assuming that it probably wasn’t a good idea to leave a portal to the void open. We turned off the breakers and Dereth teleported us back to his sanctuary. 

We have a lot to think about and much to research; but I think ultimately we’ll have to go back to the Vault of Night and figure out how to enter that portal and find out what Velah is doing with the dragon shards.