The City of Bridges
Summary
Session 1
10-16-2011
On Monday, Oct. 10 Georgio received an invitation through work to attend a party at the Pittsburgh Museum of Art, the part was being thrown as a local fund raiser and would be attended by most of Pittsburgh's high society. The party was set for Saturday Oct. 15. Sanura was asked by a friend if she was available to work on Saturday night, she knew of a place looking for hostesses.
Magnar noticed that a small but notable gang that controls several corners in the slums of Pittsburgh went missing rather suddenly while making his rounds through the familiar streets. He started out by doing some street level investigation, asking around if the locals knew where the former occupants were. Magnar found the locals to be rather unhelpful, and instead relied on his street smarts to locate the gangs hang out. He discovered the run-down bar was in worse shape than normal and was infact no longer in operation, the windows and doors were boarded shut and locked. Undeterred, Magnar picked the lock and entered, hiding up in the rafters of the bar for anyone to return. Several members eventually show up and load up several bags from the back before taking off again. Magnar follows the the group that leaves by using his supernatural sense of smell and finds a safe house on the eastern outskirts of the city. He stakes out the house for the night but security never obviously lapses and he decides not to risk direct conflict.
On Saturday Oct. 15 Georgio and Sanura prepare to attend the event, meanwhile Sven calls Magnar and asks him to look after someone that may be in trouble tonight, Rune Johansson. Magnar gets to the museum early with his equipment and climbs up into the bathroom ceiling, replacing the ceiling panels he is able to hide until the museum closes and the party begins. While lingering awkwardly at the event Sanura recognizes him and retrieves some spare clothes from the kitchen to make him blend in better. Georgio and Sanura both recognize Rune as a supernatural being but are unable to get him into a situation where he is alone and can explain himself, Georgio recognizes that he is an Alfar.
As the party gets into full swing Sanura hears a break in through the kitchen and runs out to find Magnar before the assaulting gang enters the party, as a result the Scions are more prepared for the assaulting gang members and meet them with force. Magnar immediately attacks the gang memebers, while Sven secures Rune for his escape, meanwhile Georgio and Sanura observe from a distance before being forced to enter the fray. Sanura recognizes the gang members as Thralls and alerts the other Scions, who make quick work for the dozen gang members before escaping in Georgio's sedan. The group returns to Georgio's penthouse where they introduce one another and exchange contact information, Magnar stays the night but the other two scions leave.
+5 EXP
Session 2
11-6-11
After leaving Georgio's penthouse Magnar informed the group via text message that he would be returning to the house that the gang had been using as a safe house, he hoped to find the giant responsible for creating the thralls there. After receiving confirmation from Sven, Sanura, and Georgio that they would be interested in attending Magnar designated Georgio's penthouse as a meeting place. On her way Sanura stops by the museum to pick up her car from the parking lot, a police officer questions her briefly. The group takes 1 car while 4 of Georgio's bodyguards take another to the house, they park approximately a mile away and discreetly hike through the woods to the safehouse, 1 guard stays with the cars.
Upon arriving the group scoped out security from a distance, one of the bodyguards climbed into a tree and took sniper position and silently shot the guard out back. The Scions picked the lock and entered silently, but found 3 thralls waiting for them. A quick skirmish followed resulting in all three thralls being quickly dispatched; Magnar and Georgio checked the front while 2 guards checked the upper story. 2 more thralls were dispatched with on the 2nd story, followed by a quick search before the group entered the dark basement.
The dimly lit basement was a maze of boxes, furniture, and other various piles of junk and with no real source of light the group was drawn into a prolonged gunfight with the thralls as they slowly revealed themselves from hiding places within the maze. It soon became evident that a fire had been lit in 1 corner of the basement and it began to spread heat and smoke throughout, one of Georgio's guards was the first on the scene and discovered a Medusa had started the fire. He was too terrified to alert the others but opened fire on the creature, slowly but surely the others discovered the creature, proving their courage they stood their ground and Sven eventually delivered the final blow to bring it to rest. Magnar cut off the Medusa's head to save the blood as a trophy while the others fled the heat of the flame to investigate what was left of the house before the flames claimed it or the cops arrived.
+5 EXP
Session 3
11-12-11
Sanura left the basement and the gunfight while things were still going on and immediately began to investigate the upstairs levels of the house, looking for any sort of information on what brought all this about. Somewhat unsurprisingly there wasn't a wealth of information in the gangs safe house, however she did find some interesting things. First she found several duffel bags full of drugs, mostly cocaine, followed by a few smaller bags of cash, totaling approximately $20,000. She also separately found several small pouches full of gold jewelry that appeared to be stolen. Upstairs in an office she found a couple of manilla folders containing information on Rune Johansson, pictures and other documentation that made it clear they had been tattending argeting him for quiet some time. Once the Medusa was killed, Magnar claimed the head while Sven began an instant investigation of the downstairs, at least what hadn't been scorched by the growing fire yet. He found a few assorted items of interest and quickly threw them into a box together to be sorted through later. The Medusa had a dwarven made monocle that showed the appearance and epic appearance traits of anyone viewed through it, as well as several dwarven maps of Pittsburgh.
The group made a quick escape in the black SUV, heading off they discovered that one of the guards had been shot in the chest by a 3-round burst and needed medical attention immediately. The Scions were unable to stabilize him so they dropped him off at a hospital along with Georgio and Sanura, who stayed to explain to the hospital. This turned out to be a rather difficult task as the serious injuries from gunshots had to be reported to the police. Through the combined efforts of Sanura and Georgio they were able to convince the attending doctor to not report the shooting, however they had to take injured man from the hospital tonight. Georgio was forced to come up with $50,000 cash, $20,000 of which they used the drug money, and Sanura called her father to do a political favor to hide the events that transpired. The three of them returned from the hospital to Georgio's penthouse to find that Sven and Magnar were making themselves at home, they all changed clothes and gathered themselves before going over the evidence collected.
Sanura and Sven were able to read the maps of Pittsburgh and revealed that they were actually showing a network of tunnels under the city, there were three entrances in the city and no end to the tunnels shown on the maps. The safehouse that just burned down was one entrance, there was another fairly close to Georgio's home downtown, and another in the slums near the gangs original territory. The group has Sven contact Rune, Sven uses a set of Nordic runes to speak with his guide; Rune did not know about the tunnels under the city and isn't aware of any nearby communities of dwarves. He is aware of a large community in the Appalachian Mountains, but he has never come in contact with them. He mentions that they would be wise to hold onto the gold they confiscated however. He also reveals that he had encountered the Medusa they found in the safehouse previously, she has been attempting to steal his eyes to fuel her supernatural beauty. The gala was the first time he had encountered any Thralls however, and he wonders if she had acquired new allies recently.
The group decides that before they go exploring into the underground tunnels of Pittsburgh they should attempt to acquire more information, and ideally a guide. Unfortunately the only place to start that they have is the dwarven community in the Appalachian Mountains, and that's hardly a specific place. The group makes arrangements to make a trip there, getting their outdoor equipment and setting aside their mortal lives for an unspecified period of time to explore the mountains.
(Magnar harvested 4 doses of blood from the Medusa. The doses are being stored in tupperware containers in Georgio's fridge. It was ruled that they do not have to be refridgerated, but he has not taken them out yet. He plans to secure the tops, probably with Duct Tape, and take them with us on our trip. They will be stored in his bag with his axe and cloak until otherwise specified. -DK)
+5 EXP
Session 4
11-20-11
The group of Scions head out to the mountains of Appalachia in southern Pennsylvania to begin their search for the dwarven community that Rune informed them resides there. They gather the necessary gear and pack into one of Georgio's Escalades and Sanura's minibus along with 3 of Georgio's guards. They decide to start with an abandoned coal mine which they find and break into with little difficulty, picking the locks to the gate and door and taking the door off it's hinges for safety. They enter the mine and find the elevator which is without power, the generator gets started enough to get the elevator to the bottom and the group climbs down the service ladder to the mine shaft. Exploring the shaft for about half an hour they found a fork in the mine, Sanura finds a disruption in the dust that covers the mine that leads them down the newest shaft of the three.
They climb down the shaft for approximately 4 hours before the group comes to a stop finding themselves rather fatigued and a few members of the group need several hours of rest before they can resume their exploration, finding the air in the mine particularly difficult to deal with. The group travels for the rest of the day in 2 hour intervals and taking rest to avoid the fatigue from travel. Throughout the continued journey through the mine shaft the group explores and investigates to the best of their ability, finding similar disruptions in the dust at various places throughout the day. When they break for the night they discover that the disruptions are often accompanied by small patches of different soils which the group guesses is most likely to be caused by some sort of tunneling creature, likely not of this world.
The next day they explore by digging into several of the loose soils, but they mostly just discover the soils appear to tunnel deep into the earth. They spend the next half day going deeper into the mine and continuing to discover the odd disruptions, this time even finding some different sorts of marks in the coal dust in the path. As the mine gets deeper the tunnel gets smaller and the mining locations smaller and less frequent, eventually they find a caved in mining location. Magnar digs through the rubble enough to lets Sanura's cat climb in and explore, when it comes out it reports several open tunnels. Magnar and Sven proceed to dig through the rubble while the rest of the group gets some rest, the group is awoken when they make a large enough hole to get through and Sven notices some noise and air movement inside.
When the group gets through they find a small mining area with about a dozen open tunnels, they drop a smoke grenade down a hole they can hear something down to smoke it out. A few minutes later with smoke coming out of several of the holes a giant Lindwurm emerges and attacks the group, 3 feet in diameter and about 30 long. The Scions and their guards manage to take down the mighty wurm and Magnar skins it for the trophy and gets 6 doses, while the rest of the group staunches their wounds and prepares to move on.
+5 EXP
Session 5
12-4-11
After dispatching of the wurm and collecting themselves and bandaging their wounds the group investigates the the den of the wurm, discovering that two of the tunnels are the source of the fresh air. Initial exploration by Sanura's cat the group decides to bind themselves into a line with rope and crawl down the abandoned tunnel of the wurm in search of fresh air. Led by Magnar they find the end of the tunnel after several hours of climbing through the narrow, dark space and discover a sheer cliff of rock into a large cavern. Two at a time Magnar lowers the group down the towering cliff to the surface, from there the group begins to explore following along the banks of a small underground stream. During their exploration the group discovers two Harpy's perched on the stalactites above, rather than wait to be ambushed the group engages the creatures outright. Though a large portion of the group is left to uncontrollably vomit due to the rancid smell of the awful creatures the remaining members of the group, led by Magnar, fell the two creatures relatively quickly. Magnar collects their talons as a trophy before the group heads downstream hoping to find the dwarven colony they set out for initially.
The group eventually finds the end of the cavern, forced to enter the freezing cold stream to follow the smaller opening it has carved out through the rock after years of erosion. The group wades through the waist deep water until the cavern opens again, the cavern on this side of the stream is dimly lit by glowing rocks along the ceiling and the sides of the stream are a well beaten path. Following the path leads the group to an outcropping with a rather startled dwavern guard inside. They halt to identify themselves and eventually convince the guard they are not here to cause trouble and to call someone for them to speak with about a guide.
They are met by Dugar Ironfist, a person of authority within the dwarven communities guard who informs them that the tunnels under Pittsburgh, assuming they exist, are both not connected to their tunnels and not created by the dwarves here. Georgio leads conversation with Dugar asking for a guide through the tunnels and possibly a craftsmen for the talons Magnar retrieved, Dugar escorts the travelers to another small outcropping in the rock where they can make themselves at home while waiting for someone to discuss these matters with. Marrec Gamaleif greets them several hours later and admits that he is unaware of the Pittsburgh tunnels and has no interest in leaving, however Magnar gets him to agree to crafting the Harpy talons into daggers for 1/4 of the gold they brought with them as well as sending someone who may be more willing to travel. Later that day Marra Kuldrum arrives with Marrec and examines the map and monocle they brought with them. Marra informs them that the map is made by a Dwarf by the name of Balim Nuraal, but that she can tell them little else without seeing the tunnels. Sanura and Georgio discuss with Marra the prospect of her coming with them into the Pittsburgh tunnels, eventually the negotiations lead to Marra agreeing to be paid the remainder of the gold with them as well as $1000 worth of gold for each day she is with them.
On Friday, October 21st the group departs the dwarven community up a massive set of stone stairs until they reach the surface, after a small trek back to their vehicles they drive back to Pittsburgh under the cover of darkness, for Marra's safety, and decide to rest for the night before departing for the tunnels the following day.
+5 EXP
Session 6
12-11-11
On Saturday, October 22nd the group spends the day sorting out their respective personal lives as well as business, especially for Georgio who is in especially deep water with not only his company but also their authorities who are investigating him. The group evaluates the four options for tunnel entrances; the collapsed house on the east side of the city, a downtown entrance around the First Avenue Subway Station, a residential district in the slums of the city, and an entrance within the Rock Airport on the northeast side of town. The group decides that the Airport would be the safest and easiest way to enter the tunnels. They back their bags for a bit of a trip into the tunnels and make a haphazard plan. After some brief scouting they hop out of cars and make a run for the chain link fence, which Magnar quickly axes through which allows the group to enter and make a quick break for the hanger. A guard spots them but waits for backup before moving any closer, meanwhile Sanura is able to pick the lock and discover the secret tunnel entrance before reinforcements can arrive. The group disappears down a steel reinforced tunnel under the hanger and finds themselves in the extensive rock tunnels under the city.
They explore throughout the night and most of Sunday, going past several intersections and being led by Marra until they decide to head east to check out the entrance that collapsed around the house that burned down. Magnar manages to pry the vault door open but isn't able to swing himself out of the way before the rubble from the scorched house collapses down ontop of him, luckily Magnar is unharmed and is able to dig himself out, with some help, shortly enough. They decide that the house hasn't been used since and isn't worth looking into any further, after some further exploring they head to the slum entrance. They enter the vault door and find themselves in a residential basement, exploring the house finds it mostly empty except for some movement upstairs and a magical wall. The group encounters at least a pair of dwarves, headed by Bomber Stonefoot, in the bedrooms upstairs. The group attempts to negotiate, and then threaten their way into answers from the intimated and scared dwarf, eventually Marra is brought in to talk with them and has more luck. Bomber says that he and his companions are being forced to dig the tunnels under the city for another group of dwarves who have threatened them and hold their families hostage, they don't know why but were told to follow the plans that were given. The magical wall hides some of their mining equipment, which Marra informs them is not uncommon.
Under direction from Bomber, and behind Marra's lead the group heads east, past the tunnel entrance of the collapsed house and out to a less traveled path. They spend the entire day Monday traveling, and by midday Tuesday they find a fork in the tunnel that appears to have some racket at the end of it. They follow the split path and discover two dwarves working on mining out the tunnel with pickaxes and explosives, thinking that these dwarves were also threatened into digging they group engages them in conversation and asks them about Bomber. Soon enough it becomes clear that these dwarves were not of the same sort as Bomber, and were more likely they ones who had enslaved Bomber and his friends. After some tense conversation a fight breaks out between the two groups, Maverick is almost killed but saved by Georgio, and the rest of the group is roughed up a bit in taking the two hearty dwarves down. Ravaging their bodies yields the group a map of further tunnels and two small bags of gold. Deciding that Maverick would need further medical attention and that the group was ill prepared to deal with a longer trip and more dwarven encounters they head back to the surface to regroup. Georgio's guards report that the police are looking for him and they decide that returning to his penthouse might be dangerous, so instead Georgio and his guards find a discreet motel and pay with cash while the rest of the group returns to their respective homes, Marra stays with Sven.
+5 EXP
Session 7
1-8-12
Georgio makes a late night call to his lawyer upon his return and had a brief, and not overly enlightening discussion about Georgio's legal troubles and the police search for him. The next morning Georgio meets with his lawyer before going down to the police station and answering some of the detectives questions, and assuring them he isn't about to go missing in the near future. After setting his legal troubles aside he returns to work where he finds himself in much hotter water than he was at the police station, he works diligently while setting a Board meeting for the following day. Meanwhile the rest of the group spends the day attending to their personal affairs and working where they can; Magnar joins a gym where he can begin training in MMA. That evening the group meets at Sven's apartment to go over their plan moving forward, and attempt to make sense of the new dwarven map they discovered. Mara proves her worth in reading the map and assists in directing the group to where the tunnel ends, telling them that the map leads to The City of Agartha. She then helps Sven overlay the dwarven map onto a current map to narrow down the location, the best they can do however is The Allegany National Forest.
On Friday morning Georgio meets with the Board members at his work, things go relatively well and he manages to smooth things over though he has lost some considerable support among its members when compared to before his sudden disappearance. Later that night the group sets off on a 3 hour drive for The Allegany y Nation Forest, they find the park to be rather abandoned late at night, but find a camp grounds to park their cars while they have a look around. The climb to the top of the nearest mountain peak and look out over the land for anything abnormal; Sanura, using The Unlidded Eye, is able to see a visibly different lake that stands out when looking directly at the stands of fate. The group departs for the lake immediately and finds what appears to be a very normal looking lake, at least according to most of their eyes. Sanura on the other hand can perceive what appears to be a very large sink hole in the center of the lake. As one would expect Magnar was the one that got to explore the hole in the earth, swimming down he passed through the bottom of the lake and into a dark pit of warmer water, navigating with his night vision he swims down almost 500 feet until he finds a cave.
Magnar emerges from the water and finds a deep cavern inside, he explores briefly until the sight of a familiar glowing stone sends him back up to get the rest of the group. The Scions and Mara follow Magnar down into the earth and swim down to the cave opening, Mara confirms they are in fact dwarven caves which they quickly begin to explore. Once they begin to explore they find a fork in the tunnel, one that leads back towards Pittsburgh and the other leads in the opposite direction, Mara informs them that according to the map the tunnel should lead to The City of Agartha. They follow the tunnel in that direction which eventually opens up into a very large cavern supported by massive stone pillars and brightly lit by amber glowing rocks and a few scattered torches. To their surprise they see at least 2 dozen dwarves inside in what appears to be a relatively modest marketplace for a community of dwarves, the group hangs back at first but eventually enters boldly. They quickly start to draw the attention of the dwarves inside, and 2 guards quickly approach, they are cautious but not overly aggressive.
Initially Georgio takes the lead in speaking with the guards while refusing to exit the marketplace despite the guards insistence, and he begins to ask for their assistance claiming that they are lost travelers who were hiking. The guards are too quick to fall for the obvious ploy, the groups drenched clothing and very presence within a Terrae Incognita disproving his story. At this point Sanura steps in and inquires about the possible presence of giants, the quick change in topic and mere mention of giants seems to make the guards nervous. At this point the guards insistence for them to leave the market borders on hostile and the group moves out of sight to avoid any conflict. The group continues to question the guards about their situation and the city they seemed to have stumbled upon, but the guards mostly seemed to want the group to leave and be worried about the other dwarves seeing them. Eventually the group manages to find out that a small group of giants has enslaved the community of dwarves for several generations, a lengthy period of time considering the considerable dwarven life span, and that they had been shut off for a very long time. Furthermore the guards referenced that both the giants and dwarves are terrified of a creature they only called, The Creature that Lies Beneath. Occasionally the giants take a member of the dwarven community and sacrifice them to the creature in an attempt to placate the beast. The guards refer to the sinkhole only as The Pit and reference the creature living in it, as well as there being many entrances into Agartha if one explores the sinkhole. When pressed they maintained there was no dwarven resistance against the giants as their enslavement as lasted far too long for such things, however many of the dwarves wish to be free of them. This movement is prevented from growing due to dwarven spies in the community who are loyal to the giants and keep watch on everything.
At this point the guards insist upon their departure and return to the marketplace where they are supposed to be on guard and the group is left to explore on their own, they decide they obviously cannot enter Agartha through the marketplace discreetly and most likely need to explore through the pit.
+5 EXP
Session 8
1-21-12
The group returns to to the waterfall entrance where they first entered the tunnels leading to The City of Agartha, from here they decide where to go next. Knowing that entering the city through the market would be too conspicuous they decide to explore down through the pit, they send Marra with Magnar this time due to their ability to hold their breath for long periods of time and their combat prowess should they encounter The Creature That Lies Beneath. The duo swims down, exploring in the pitch black, mildly warm water until they find another entrance approximately 500 feet deeper than the first entrance. After a brief look around they return to fetch the other 3 members of the group who then follow them into the depths of the pit, now 1000 feet underwater they find the second entrance into The City of Agartha.
The group approaches with more caution this time, finding what appears to be a very long but fairly narrow street of dwarven homes, the neighborhood appears to be mostly empty at the moment. When Sanura sneaks into the community further, she makes it some way before she notices a middle-aged dwarven woman peering at her from a window in her home. The dwarf retreats into her home without doing anything, but Sanura decides to return to the group rather than risk exploring much further. Unable to sneak around the community and with no real way to disguise themselves they go for a more straight forward approach and knock on the door of the dwarf who spotted Sanura. The middle-aged dwarven female answers and allows the group to enter her modest home which barely accommodates the sizable group of visitors. Georgio leads the conversation, using the Charmer Knack to ease her suspicion as he discusses the city with her.
She quickly makes it clear that she has already heard of their presence in the city and their encounter in the market, though it's somewhat unclear whether she is on their side or against it. Either way she is willing to give them more information about the city. They discover that they are currently on the 2nd level (from the top) and that they market is on the first; below them there are at least 2 more levels though she does not go to them. The 3rd level contains the prison and other things which she says she is not allowed to go to, the 4th level she is not sure what is there but only the dwarves loyal to the giants ever go there and possibly not even them. She speaks fearfully of the 4th level implying the giants or maybe even the Creature are there. A little is learned of the dynamic among the dwarves as she declares that she is not afraid of spies here, but that spies loyal to the giants are all around the dwarven community. Some are in plain sight, while others are far more discreet, still many of them live on this level along with a majority of the community though the ones loyal to the giants have homes further from the entrance to the pit, where the creature could attack from.
The group decides to go door-to-door in the neighborhood declaring their presence to the dwarven population and telling the residents that they intend to kill the giants and the creature giving the dwarves their freedom, and if they have the same desires they should come to the market tomorrow. Splitting into 3 groups: Sanura-Magnar, Sven-Marra, and Georgio by himself they cover as much ground as they can going door to door with varying levels of success for about an hour, until they notice a bit of a disturbance further down the street. The group gathers up and watches, the growing noise eventually reveals a a dozen marching, armed dwarves with a stern look heading directly towards them. The group begins to slowly retreat back towards the water as the dwarves march towards them, neither group yields until Georgio calls out to the group of guards as they begin to enter the tunnel back to the water. A short conversation between Georgio and the guards reveal that these dwarves have no interest in hearing what the Scions have to say, they claim to have freedom and to do what they desire, their loved ones do not end up being fed to the Creature in the water. With no peaceful solution to be found the Scions and the dwarves break out into combat in the narrow tunnels where the dwarven numbers are partially mitigated. Magnar and Marra take on the front of the group engaging in melee combat while the other 3 Scions employ their ranged attacks to back them up, mostly because of Magnars combat prowess the Scions chip away at the dwarves and appear to be winning the battle slowly. However, as the dwarves continue to drop the leader who spoke to Georgio before combat broke out coordinated the dwarven assault to focus on Magnar. The assault was able to pierce Magnar's defense which proved to be the turning point in the battle, Magnar's defense was worn down and he eventually fell. With their best combatant downed Georgio called for the retreat, Marra lifted Magnar and began to sprint for the water while the others covered their escape. Sven in particular dove between attacking dwarves and the escaping Scions while unleashing an all out assault on the dwarves, giving the group just enough time to escape into the water.
+5 EXP
Session 9
1-28-12
After fleeing Agartha the group returns to the city on Saturday, Oct. 29th at 4:30 am. With a long drive back to Pittsburgh the group decides to camp out for the night and following day, returning to Pittsburgh as a group late Saturday night. The group takes some time for themselves to rest and heal from their injuries while reflecting on the battle and situation that had forced them out of the city. On Friday, November 4th the group travels back to the entrance to Agartha.
The group swims down to the first entrance to the city together, finding the entrance from the water empty of dwarven guards, but activity likely including guards can be heard down the tunnels towards the market. A plan is briefly discussed and Sanura finds a stone with an inscription, that Marra translates for the group, that warns the group that there are guards at every entrance but some of the other dwarves are sympathetic to their cause. The group uses their firearms to create a loud noise in the room, which draws 4 dwarven guards into the room which the group promptly ambushes. The 4 guards appear to be 2 pairs of slightly different factions, combat ensues and after Georgio's threat enrages the dwarves they begin an all out assault. Shorty after Georgio is knocked out of the fight while Marra, Magnar, and Sven work to subdue the heavier armored dwarves while Sanura persuades the other two to listen to their proposal. The two military dwarves are subdued by Marra, Magnar, and Sven which allows the group, led by Sanura and Marra, to talk with the guards who seem more timid but open to their ideas of freedom. The dwarves go on to explain that the dwarven military contains dwarves who are loyal to the Giants, while the other guards such as themselves and many citizens wish to be free of living in fear. The group discovers that the dwarves at large do not know about the tunnel leading towards Pittsburgh, and that they struggle to see it even after having it pointed out to them, a magical enchantment they've encountered before.
Marra and the guards persuade the Scions to take the military dwarves prisoner rather than killing them, finding a branch in the tunnel towards Pittsburgh which they can set up as a prison and base about a mile from Agartha. The branch appears to be some sort of exploratory mine that has been abandoned after it was deemed unsuccessful in finding whatever it is the miners were looking for. The Scions begin to set about their plans to kill the prisoners, now that the dwarves are not watching them, but Marra interferes and insists they not kill the captured dwarves. Instead she offers to use a method to hide the group and their temporary base of operations. By shaping the earth with her bare hands she is able to wall off the prisoners down a branch of the tunnels, while using a powerful enchantment to hide the entrance to their branch of the tunnel. Magnar informed the guards that returned to Agartha to tell the other dwarves that the creature had attacked from the pit and had taken and/or killed the other guards; meanwhile offering to evacuate any dwarves and their families willing to assist in the overthrowing of the giants into safety if at all possible.
The group spends some time resting in the branch of tunnels being used as their base, while some of the healthier members of the group explore further down the tunnels towards Pittsburgh. They discover that this tunnel was clearly recently carved and heads in a fairly direct line towards the city, approximately 5 miles down the tunnel they find another exploratory branch of mines that has been abandoned. Rather than risk going too far the group returns to the base to set up their long term plans for moving forward.
On Sunday Sanura and Georgio return to the surface, meeting up with Georgio's guards, so that they can return to Pittsburgh and return the following Friday. Meanwhile, Marra, Magnar, and Sven will stay in the tunnels they've claimed as their own and watch over their prisoners for the week. Magnar plans to run back to Pittsburgh in a quick search and exploring mission of the tunnels, hoping to clear a path from Pittsburgh to Agartha that the mortals will be able to travel safely.
+5 EXP
Session 10
3-3-12
When Magnar reached the abandoned home in Pittsburgh which Bomber had been operating his mining outfit out of he discovered that not only were the dwarves gone, but everything inside had been cleaned out as well, as if it had been wiped down to cover up a crime. None the less the entrance to the tunnels served Magnar and the group's purpose just fine, Magnar met with Gerogio's guards and traveled back with them and the supplies to make their small underground base slightly more habitable.
On Friday, November 11th the group reconvenes in their small hide out nearby Agartha, planning an excursion into the marketplace to once again attempt to turn up support for their cause of freeing people's families from the prison and overthrowing the giants. The group enters the market and is met with the resistance for four dwarven guards, combat broke out between the group and the two military guards while Geogio convinced the other two to stand down, and eventually flee. The scions eventually overcame the military dwarves which left them with a market full of relatively terrified but a least mildly curious dwarves.
Georgio called the attention of the audience at hand and delivered a captivating speech to the dwarves about bringing freedom to Agartha and safety for their families, but they would need the dwarves help. Without a more specific plan many of the dwarves were skeptical of these new found beings who they had no familiarity with, however a select few were listening rather intently. As the group thinned, those who remained bantered back and forth quickly and eventually a leader stood out and wished to discuss more. Durin Navi accompanied the group of Scions back to their secret lair to find out more about Agartha's peculiar freedom fighters, while the others dispersed back into the market.
Durin and the group spoke once they were in more private tunnels, Durin especially appreciated Magnar's honesty in explaining the situation that had brought the group of Scion's to Agartha. Some amount of trust was formed between both parties as the group was able to detect that Durin was not dishonest with them. After discussing their plans for moving forward and getting more information on what they were walking into the group decided to return to the market to continue their plans to free Agartha.
Quote: "We need help... But no one in their right mind would listen to us." - Georgio
+5 EXP
Session 11
3-25-12
On Friday, November 11th after grouping up in the base outside of Agartha with their new ally, Durin the Scions plan to return to the market. Deciding that the dwarven military would be waiting for them they hatch a plan to lure the guards out of the market and into the tunnels where they can surprise attack them and gain the upper hand against the anticipated number of guards. However, when Magnar, Sanura, and Sven encountered only 2 dwarven guards at the entrance to the market who they are able to dispatch with ranged attacks. After they knocked out the guards Sanura's cat went in to explore the empty market, as soon as it did it was attacked by a massive club.
A Giant sprung a trap on the group attacking with a massive club, Magnar and Sven jumped out to attack the giant while Sanura ran back to the base to get the others who were waiting for the group to return to spring the trap. Sanura reached the group, but by the time she had Magnar and Sven had resolved the battle.
Magnar and Sven did battle with the 15 foot tall giant, smashing its club while Magnar and Sven were forced to chip away at the tough Titan Spawn. Magnar continued to hack away at the creature with his axe, while Sven was only able to do small bits of damage throughout the battle. However, the giant landed a critical blow, smashing Magnar with his club against the stone wall of the market and knocking him out. Sensing that this was their last chance, Sven channeled his essence into a desperate attack that was able to land a critical blow and drop the giant.
Magnar regained consciousness and harvested the heart of the giant as well as the equipment from the fallen dwarves. They waited at the market for the group to join them, which they did and decided too hold onto the market while they had the chance. The guards harvested some food and returned it to the base, while the others set up defensive positions in the market to hold it against the impending counterattack.
+5 EXP
Session 12
4-20-12
The group held their fortified positions within the dwarven market of Agartha, resting and healing while they waited for the inevitable counterattack by the dwarves and giants. The night passed quietly, but when morning came the sound of the elevator moving put the group on high alert. When the elevator doors opened they saw another massive giant with 2 guards accompanying it, from the stairs leading down the sound of marching footsteps could be heard. Five more dwarven guards joined the ones from the elevator and combat broke out between the dwarves and scions. A gunfight started which allowed Magnar to sneak up on the giant and sink his axe into the back of the giant, tearing a gaping hole in the giants flesh, allowing Georgio to strike a finishing blow on the titan spawn. Without the element of surprise the scions and the dwarves battled in a prolonged battle where each group chipped away at each other, eventually resulting in a blood bath with all of the dwarves killed and many of the scions and guards fallen. Sven struck the final blow against the last standing guard, leaving Sven, Sanura and 2 of the guards as the last ones standing after the battle. The scions are able to heal by spending legend, regaining consciousness after the fight.
The group begins to pick up the pieces after the battle, salvaging the giant heart trophy as well as looting the dwarves for armor and weapons, Magnar even left the head of Balim Nuraal, head of the guard in the elevator to send a message to the remaining dwarves and giants. The group works together to haul the loot and their injured companions back to the base they have set up outside of Agartha, planning to heal and regroup from the blood bath in the market.
+5 EXP
The Fiery Conclusion - The climatic ending of our chapter, completed out of session.