Lumwik readies is axe.

ooc: If it is an intellect devourer I'm going to be complete ineffective in combat. Not that it will stop him from trying.

“What if the constructs fail to get the job done, and as a result the Devourer is able to get onto its feet?  I’d rather we finish it off quickly.’

Wandreck, along with the rest of the party, quickly picks out the container that the disembodied voice referred to. Within it, the fluid has begun to bubble as if boiling, long cracks forming on the glass walls. The horrific creature within it begins thrash about, apparently awake and aware of its entrapment.

The cylindrical construct nearest Azad addresses the wizard in its usual flat, emotionless tone. [Language unknown: ”Seast urla allsa haaing ill eeecla wiou ovehououl e red ich iostr i ha anth'unlo elpa ilomre somhasvir. Beethiwhnc venbleard tech comvirart et pata nifill ncomeeck.”]

As the construct finishes speaking, one side of the container holding the intellect devourer explodes, sending amber fluid splashing onto the steel floor. Some of the flying shards of thick glass strike one of the worker constructs, damaging it, sparks bursting from its metal form. Other pieces hit an adjacent container, the one that imprisons the wyvern, one of the impacts forming a long crack in that vessel’s glass exterior.

Another of the cylindrical constructs speaks. [Language unknown: ”Laanpono tedventheany llstle-isal. Iouessder taaiactomi toon caenus stistrand fi.”]

"Out!" "Get out now!" Azad shouts, as he runs toward the large door leading to the outside.

"This room is going to be sealed off!"

---

[Edit: changed doors - my bad, should have asked the DM instead of relying on the sketch.]
This message was last edited by the player at 03:39, Sat 11 Sept 2021.

No need to tell Wandreck twice!  Utilizing the power of his magic boots, he half springs, half charges through the door.

Lumwik starts to stride quickly after Azad, though a bit mournfully as he relished the thought of battling the dragon.  If any of the scouts are too weak, he will scoop them up.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:54, Sat 11 Sept 2021.

Ella follows the wizard's orders, follows her companions, and makes her way to the large door. She hesitates upon reaching the door, turning briefly to ensure everyone makes it out in time...

At Azad’s call, the party, along with the elven scouts, moves for the large portal that leads outside, to the familiar world that the adventurers know and understand. The company surges through the gap that is created as the constructs, acting on the wizard’s instructions, move to surround the containers. Glynfir staggers as the group rushes for the exit, but Ella lends a strong arm and helps the scout find his footing.

As the first members of the party reach the stony ground of the Barrier Peaks, there is another burst of shattering glass behind them, followed by an enraged roar as the wyvern awakens. Red beams of energy, one of the terrible weapons wielded by the steel cylinders, slice across the chamber, some leaving black scars on the metal walls. Smoke begins to fill the air, the details of the battle quickly becoming indistinct within it. Within moments, only the flash of sparks and the red glow of energy can be seen.

Sir Cal and Harkmur are the last to exit the chamber, the massive steel doors beginning to slide shut as they do. With a deep rumble that reverberates across the mountainous terrain, the doors close, the sound reminding all who hear it of the sealing of a tomb.

In its wake, all becomes still. A breeze, gentle and transient, stirs the brush that has found purchase in the nearby rocks. Overhead, the adventurers can see that it just past sunrise, the morning sun bringing a hint of warmth to the chill mountain air. A lone hawk glides through the cloud dotted sky, flying unhurriedly toward whatever the day might offer it.

"We have saved the scouts, but the problem within is likely not finished? Should we escort them back to safety and then return?" Ranzarth asks as his eyes watch the door.

Azad watches as the massive doors seal the cavern.

"It's a shame we did not have time to investigate the place further. It surely held some secrets that are new to our world."


The wizard sits on a nearby boulder and chuckles out loud.

"It appears to me, Ranzarth, that we have accomplished our goal of stopping the flow of monsters into the lands. As long as the doors stay sealed shut.

I suggest we tell the Baron that it would be worth his while to have a work gang come and bury this door and the higher one under as much rock as they can move."

Ella escorts Glynfir to a clutch of stubborn brush some distance away from the steel dungeon's now-closed portal and does a quick visual assessment to ensure all her companions have made it out. Assuming this is the case, she compliments Azad.

"That could have been really bad," she says. "Had it not been for your quick thinking, some of us may have been trapped in that strange dungeon."

After Azad suggests they have accomplished what they set out to do, she looks back at the closed door and asks her companions, "Should we scout the area to see whether there are any other portals?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:55, Fri 17 Sept 2021.

“My preference would be to return at once and claim our reward.  Why tempt fate?  But I will abide by the group’s decision.” He gazes cynically at the now closed portal, doubting very much it will stay that way for long.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:07, Fri 17 Sept 2021.

Azad gives Ella slight bow of appreciation for her kind words.

"To think, my father thought that a formal education was of no value!" Azad adds with a laugh.

"I agree with Wandreck, I would prefer to return to where his started. But, your thought is most prudent, Ella.

I still have a few spells left in my memory, I can cast a wonderful spell on three people that will allow them to fly! That might speed up the search for other doors around this...this...place."

---

Azad can cast, Fly and then cast it twice more using Mnemonic Enhancement. He will do so on any three PCs that want to reconnoitre the area.

Duration: 60 turns + 1d6 turns (10 hr + 10 to 60 minutes)    Area of Effect: One creature
Grants the power of flight with aerial agility level V.
Base movement rate is 120 ft per round, doubled when diving, halved when climbing.
GM secretly rolls a 1d6 to determine when the spell expires.
expires.

Ella understands and agrees with Wandreck's apprehension and is quick to clarify her suggestion.

"I don't mean to re-enter, just to survey the area so we can provide a better accounting of what we found here and what need be done to secure the site."

Ella accepts Azad's offer and volunteers to scout the site out from above and will readily accept any of her companions' assistance. If none wish to do so, she will do it alone.

"Yes, we should return to civilization with our report," Trisvyre agreed, "and our recovered scouts.  If there is a need to purge the remaining beasts inside, that should be done strategically, with military assistance."

The elven scout did not object to some scouting of the area, primarily to be sure they could find it again should a larger force need to return.  But she would be anxious to get underway without too long a delay, to get her brethren back home and to report out all that they had seen, as astounding as it all had been!

Wandreck says he probably doesn’t need the spell, since his magic boots already enable him to go far, fast.  So he’ll pass on it, if there are others who want the enchantment and its benefits.

Lumwik just breathes a sigh of relief at meeting it out the metal cavern.  It was too strange for his much simpler tastes.

”I would join them, sir,” the scout Inara tells Azad respectfully, ”We owe each of you a tremendous debt for rescuing us from that nightmarish place. The least I can do is to assist in seeing it closed to the rest of the world.”

Azad weaves a spell which allows Ella, Trisvyre, and Inara to fly high above the Barrier Peaks. Studying the area of the steel caves carefully, the three women are able to find only two means of entry: the entrance on the mountainside which the party used to gain access to the caverns initially and the large door the group recently escaped through. No other portals are visible. Those doorways that the trio can see are both closed, metal doors barring access to the strange environs within.

After completing the scouting mission (and completely revelling in the ability to fly through the air like a bird - what an experience!) Trisvyre returned to the group and relayed her observations.  It seems like the strange still-lined caverns were secure for now and that returning with the survivors they'd found and the information they'd learned was the right option.

Ella feels an incredible rush as she soars through the air and completes her aerial reconnaissance of the area. Once complete, she returns with Trisvyre and Inara and reports her findings.

"Well, if that is all, I suppose we should bring news of our findings back to civilization..."

"We should return with out findings and then return here? Perhaps these pieces of glass will allow us back in?" Ranzarth suggest as he holds up the glass he currently "owns"

"As intriguing as this place is...I would not want to return for many years...when most of the creatures have died off!

It's early in the day, let's make our way back to the Baron's keep."

Wandreck concurs with Azad’s opinion.

Within the library of his castle in Gorna, Owen the First, the Grand Duke of Geoff, listens attentively to the account give to him by the adventurers who have returned from the Barrier Peaks, along with the elven scouts who they rescued. The Grand Duke’s court magician, along with a well regarded sage from the southern portion of the Duchy are also present. All three are silent for the most part, plainly fascinated and disturbed by the company’s description of the environs and inhabitants of the steel caverns. Occasionally, the Grand Duke will ask for greater detail about something that has been described, but such questions are infrequent.

Even before the meeting, upon being alerted about the doorways into the deadly lair, the Grand Duke had dispatched forces to the Peaks, giving the strict orders that the entrances to the steel caves be sealed off. Earlier that morning, a rider had brought news that both openings had been covered completely with large stone and that none of the Grand Duke’s soldiers had faced any opposition as they saw the work finished.

When the strange items that have been taken from the caverns are shown to the Grand Duke and his advisors, the sights are met with wonder. Both the court magician and sage readily admit that neither has ever seen their like. Once the adventurers’ account is completed, silence overtakes the library. Owen the First sits mutely in his chair for several minutes, lost in his own thoughts.

When he finally speaks, his voice is low, bereft of the commanding tone that customarily marks it. ”When I had asked for your aid, I felt certain that what I was sending you to face was a hidden lair, populated by monsters. Monsters that, while terrible, were of the sort that all of us knew of, even if only in story and song. Each of you is accomplished. I had every confidence that you would prove successful.”

“But what you discovered…it defies imagination. These metal golems you speak of…I have no doubt that had they been loosed on these lands my soldiers would have proven no match for them. Countless lives could have been lost, but for your courage. These lands have been blessed to be free of war for many years now. These creatures could have brought us a war unlike any we have ever known.”

The Grand Duke stands. He picks up one of the square glass keys that had been displayed by the adventurers, contemplating it. ”I had promised a reward. And that you shall have. Each of you is to be given ten thousand pieces of gold. You have kept the homes of all of my people whole. This money will rightfully enable you to establish any dwelling that you might desire and to live comfortably within it.”

He returns his attention to the company. ”It is assuredly less than I would have spent on a war that I had little chance of winning.”

“This realm will ever be a friend to each of you as long as I, or one of my family sits upon the throne. Should any of you be in need of something that I might provide, you must only ask.”

“I will forever be in debt to each of you.”

---

Within the forbidding Barrier Peaks, the entrances to the steel caverns lie hidden from view, the doors that open into the labyrinth of metal now covered by large stones, sealed from the outside world like an ancient, forgotten tomb.

To travelers that might venture there later, the only hint of anything unusual is the eerie silence that pervades the rugged mountain pass. No animals make their homes there and even the hardy brush that finds purchase elsewhere in the Barrier Peaks is conspicuously absent. Those who look closely might glimpse a hint of dull metal between the rocks, but nothing more. The steel caverns seem content to remain lost, forgotten save only for a brave few.