Session 43 (April 3, 2022)
14 Tar-Vaen
Noah gathers the war council to speak with them and with Twig. He raises the fact that the enemy is divided between two factions—the underground one trying to bring through a prince, and the false queen-empress trying to become a god. Noah proposes that the vollers bombard the cavern where the resonator is, while the group attacks the resonator. He then realizes that this might involve a collapse on them.
They ask about the cavern where the resonator is.
“The cavern is large, but the entrances are small. You have to travel through tunnels to get in. Once you get in, it’s big.” Twig draws a map of the cavern—there is a mouth to the cavern in the southeast, with barrack rooms on either side of a narrow tunnel. The tunnel is blocked by about 20 feet of stone, but it might be passable. Just before the blocked tunnel, the main passageway from the dwarven lands passes along the shore of an underground sea, before turning north towards an ancient fortification—which the dwarves identify as where they believe Lord Quinliart is. The resonator itself is located in a substantial subcavern, perhaps 100 feet across, set off in a bulge in the northern part of the main cavern. There is a clear exit to the cavern in the northwest. Shortly after leaving the cavern, that tunnel splits in two, with one branch leading to the Palace of Blood—where the usurper Queen-Empress reigns—and the other leading to an unknown area, about which Twig can sense nothing. The cavern is within a few miles, at most, from the capital.
They then identify a plan for the diversion: they’ll use a dwarven force with a dwarven drilling machine to draw attention away from where they will enter.
It will take the drilling rig and the whole army about 25 days to get there (325 miles). They plan on sending a small group forward—Noah, Ravokris, Elyn, Sr. Agnes, and Iados, along with some powerful lyans and paladins, and the rakasta scouts, plus Twig and some dwarven wayfinders. They will outpace the army, and scout the target resonator cavern before the main force arrives. The hope is to find an entrance to the tunnel in the northwest, so that the drilling apparatus could provide a diversion in the southeast while a small strikeforce grabbed the resonator and withdrew, initially towards the Palace of Blood (hopefully throwing suspicion on the Queen-Empress’s forces) and then actually escaping through the unknown tunnel. It will take the small group about 15 days to get there.
[cont'd]
14 Tar-Vaen
Noah gathers the war council to speak with them and with Twig. He raises the fact that the enemy is divided between two factions—the underground one trying to bring through a prince, and the false queen-empress trying to become a god. Noah proposes that the vollers bombard the cavern where the resonator is, while the group attacks the resonator. He then realizes that this might involve a collapse on them.
They ask about the cavern where the resonator is.
“The cavern is large, but the entrances are small. You have to travel through tunnels to get in. Once you get in, it’s big.” Twig draws a map of the cavern—there is a mouth to the cavern in the southeast, with barrack rooms on either side of a narrow tunnel. The tunnel is blocked by about 20 feet of stone, but it might be passable. Just before the blocked tunnel, the main passageway from the dwarven lands passes along the shore of an underground sea, before turning north towards an ancient fortification—which the dwarves identify as where they believe Lord Quinliart is. The resonator itself is located in a substantial subcavern, perhaps 100 feet across, set off in a bulge in the northern part of the main cavern. There is a clear exit to the cavern in the northwest. Shortly after leaving the cavern, that tunnel splits in two, with one branch leading to the Palace of Blood—where the usurper Queen-Empress reigns—and the other leading to an unknown area, about which Twig can sense nothing. The cavern is within a few miles, at most, from the capital.
They then identify a plan for the diversion: they’ll use a dwarven force with a dwarven drilling machine to draw attention away from where they will enter.
It will take the drilling rig and the whole army about 25 days to get there (325 miles). They plan on sending a small group forward—Noah, Ravokris, Elyn, Sr. Agnes, and Iados, along with some powerful lyans and paladins, and the rakasta scouts, plus Twig and some dwarven wayfinders. They will outpace the army, and scout the target resonator cavern before the main force arrives. The hope is to find an entrance to the tunnel in the northwest, so that the drilling apparatus could provide a diversion in the southeast while a small strikeforce grabbed the resonator and withdrew, initially towards the Palace of Blood (hopefully throwing suspicion on the Queen-Empress’s forces) and then actually escaping through the unknown tunnel. It will take the small group about 15 days to get there.
[cont'd]