Session Date: June 19th 2026
Scribe: Stuart
Location: The Unnamed Tavern
Valecar Date: Goldwane13th, 70X AC (Ascendant Cycle)
Session Table of Contents
We awoke in the camp of the Thornveil Reapers. To our surprise, there were no untoward interactions with any of the Reapers during our stay. In fact, they treated us like welcome guests despite the fact we had been at arms against one another on both of the previous days. There is no doubt that Vaelis Thorne has conviction regarding his beliefs about the Grand Vizier Taezyth and that the Monoliths need to be studied and understood rather than destroyed. Unfortunately, he offered no proofs other than that firm conviction and our own uneasy feelings about the manner and methods used to gain our commitment and cooperation.
We headed out south in the general direction of the fallen Crownwood Expanse Monolith. We travelled for several hours through heavy forest on whatever footpath or trail was headed the same direction as us. When we were still a couple of hours away from where we thought the Monolith to be when we encountered an injured Knight dying on the side of the trail. He had been injured several hours earlier and had been reduced to crawling. When we stumbled upon him. He introduced himself as Sir Toryn and begged for help. Esmira rendered aid with her medical supplies and was able to save his life. He told us of a fantastical bear-sized inside-out creature with six legs and massive teeth. He said it smelled of ash and sulfur and it was unlike anything he had ever seen. He said it had consumed his partner and gravely injured him before he was able to slip away from it's grasp. He assured us he would rest and recover his strength before travelling on. And so we pressed on to the south.
A couple of hours later we caught our first sight of the fallen Monolith.
In truth, what we actually saw was just a sliver of the monolith that had been separated from the main body of the structure. It lay in the forest on it's side and even this sliver was so large as to defy belief. We tracked along the shard till we began to approach the base of the monolith itself. We were in awe as to the scale of this truly monolithic structure. We picked our way through the broken debris from the fallen shard when we overheard the telltale signs of conversation ahead. Human voices could be heard nearby. Bulger Cuttlefish sent his Raven to scout ahead and reported a small work camp near the base of an opening into the Monolith. A group of robed humans were examining and packing pieces of the Monolith into a wagon, for what reason we did not know. But the robed figures wore the ash-colored robes of the Haroken.
Merric volunteered to scout ahead but was unable to conceal his presence from the wary acolytes. They called out to him as he stumbled out along the trail and he asked for water as though he was but a weary traveler. The robed figure that addressed him did not seem to believe his story especially when one of the party moved forward to offer cover for Merric during the initial encounter. The acolyte asked Merric his name and immediately knew him to be one of the Ascendants. He called out for the others to show themselves and they all did. His fellow acolytes fanned out in a semi-circle behind him. Turok joined Merric to assist in the introductions of our two groups. Esmira offered a comment to the acolyte regarding his belief that we were not allowed to examine the fallen monolith. He immediately replied with condescension for the Marbleborn and it was not well received by our group.
Turok bashed him in the head. Targoth (who had remained with Obadiah to assist him in joining us) had just caught up to the party when these hostilities began. With the first sight of blood the other acolytes threw up their hands in surrender. Merric rushed forward and accepted the surrender of one of the acolytes, Thom, before any more blood could be shed. The acolytes submitted to his suggestion that they kneel and show their unarmed hands to all.
The proximity to the Monolith has some negative effects on anyone that stays near it over long. A buzzing drone could be not only heard but felt throughout our bodies. This, no doubt, had a de-stabilizing effect on our cleric and fighter as they summarily executed all our remaining hostages, save two, for offensive remarks made about our marbleborn companion.
One of the last acolytes, Thom, was allowed by Merric to return home to his family provided he make an offering (upon his return to civilization) to Elyndra for his salvation this day and to Aurelyx for claiming him to be a false god. The Haroken actually believe the Grand Vizier to be a god. Thom was thankful for his chance at redemption and sped away. The other acolyte, George, was fated to travel along with us as Turok grilled him for information. And, to be used as a guinea pig should the need arise.
We turned our attention to the Monolith itself. One cannot truly understand it's magnitude by a verbal description alone. Thom had related to us that the base was more than 12000 paces to a side. Surely no human hands could have built even one of these structures, let alone five. A flight of stone steps could be seen rising into a sheltered entrance on the side of the Monolith. A massive barrier barred our access and there were 42 circles with alphabetic characters all around them mounted on the wall just outside this barrier. Obviously some code or cipher must be used to open the barrier. We went back to the scene of the executions and rifled through the acolytes belongings looking for clues. A sheet of parchment was discovered with 42 characters exactly like those found on the 42 wheels in the entryway. Bulger began studying the parchment to attempt to crack the code.
While we were somewhat distracted by this cipher the fantastical six-legged creature Sir Toryn had warned us about struck the party. Poor George was his first victim and the horrid creature swallowed him whole as we readies our weapons and moved towards combat. Whether it was fate or because he appeared, to the creature, a bite-size morsel, Bulger became the target of the creatures next attack. It was insanely fast and struck before any of our attacks could land. Bulger slipped between the creatures jaws in an instant but, thinking quickly, he pressed the activation of his bear charm (the gift from Vaelis Thorne) and a immovable bear femur sprang into place within the creatures jaws. It was hopelessly held in place by this charm and unable to bite down further or swallow. It began thrashing about madly.
Merric, Targoth and Turok struck at the creature. There attacks landed solidly but with seemingly little effect. Our spell-casters surmised that magical weapons might be needed for this creature and began casting spells to imbue our fighters with arcane energy. The creature suddenly quivered very hard and burst forth with a blast of arcane energy of it's own. Bulger, nearly escaping from the thrashing creatures jaws, was instantly immobilized. The other nearby combatants were able to dodge or evade enough of this blast to avoid being restrained. The fight continued briefly but then the creature summoned all it's stregth and tore free of the immovable bear charm. This, in effect, tore most of it's face and jaws off and it attempted to flee with it's life blood pouring from the wound. It sped away unnaturally fast but Targoth was faster and hurled his javelin into it as it made it's escape. The creature dropped, and died, in mid-step.
Bulger was near death when he crawled from the jaws of the beast. A much needed round of rest and healing followed and the party regained it's strength. After retrieving some "souvenirs" from the carcass of the dead beast, we turned our attention back to the barrier and the 42 wheels. Again, Bulger set about cracking the cipher and in short order the barrier was open. And the day was not yet over.......