Session 24: The Gang Prevents Chernobyl

Vica arrives at Moradhin and spies on the dragonborn army. She estimates that the army is 17,000 strong. The dragon is still among them, being attended by the dragonborn. Grombrin contacts Vica and tells her where to find the mine entrance, while Vojta goes out to find her in eagle form and leads her into the city. When Vica sees the Heart of Morach, she senses that it contains a portal to the plane of fire. She learns from Gorat that the dwarves don’t know how the Heart originated, that it has instability spikes from time to time, and that such a spike has been happening since the siege started. Some suspect that someone is making it unstable intentionally, but Gorat claims that would be impossible from this side of the portal, due to the protective wards. Gorat shows a device that can transport people to the plane of fire, so that they could inspect the rift from the other side, but claims that it would be too dangerous to do so.

In the meanwhile, Joe seeks out General Tavoi and offers his services in interrogating any dragonborn prisoners. He magically disguises himself as a dragonborn and is put into the prison pit, alongside three real prisoners. He makes conversation with them, gathering that Grombrin’s absence was the main reason they started this siege, that they are planning to employ rare winged dragonborn as assassins, and that Ruthstin has some kind of plan to tamper with the Heart of Morach. When scrutinized by the dragonborn, he teleports out of the pit and reports his findings.

When the group is back together, Grombrin initiates a communion with Morach. They are pulled into a stormy void full of fire and smoke. Elric has a faint blue aura here, similar to the blessed auras of Vojta and Arran, but more subtle. Grombrin requests Morach’s blessing. Morach appears as a humanoid figure made of ash and demands that he proves his worth. Grombrin creates an improvised forge and starts smithing to demonstrate his skill. He uses the distorted flow of time on this plane to smith at great speed, finally completing his jewelled beard ornament, inlaid with the eternal flame of his gauntlet. Morach says that it will do and grants his blessing, providing Grombrin with a smoky black aura.

The group then asks if Morach can help ward off the dragonborn invasion, but his power is too grand to help without causing massive destruction. They ask whether something is interfering with the Heart from the plane of fire, but Morach doesn’t know as he has no direct command of that plane. However, he offers to send the group to the plane of fire with a protective ward against the heat. The group agrees, but first they return to Moradhin to recover from the battle, and to confirm with Gorat that he can use his device to bring them back to the material plane.

The next morning, they commune with Morach again, and he transports them to a volcanic landscape, oppressively hot despite Morach’s protection. Vojta notices that Grombrin looks different now, with metallic skin and permanently burning hair. Grombrin reveals that he is not a normal dwarf, but an azer native to the plane of fire. He was involved in opening the rift when he came to the physical world hundreds of years ago, but has hidden his true nature because azers are not welcome on the material plane.

Vica senses the dimensional rift nearby and leads the group to it. Instead of a portal, they find a crystal tree, similar to the one on Ceneza, surrounded by fire elementals. Grombrin claims that it wasn’t always there, and speaks to the elementals. They say that it was created by a red dragonborn, and that they’re trying but unable to destroy it. Vojta messages Lokreth to ask about the tree, and Lokreth says that it might be broken with magic. Grombrin tells the fire elementals to back off, and Elric shoots a magic ray at the tree, slightly damaging it and causing a shockwave that shatters the ground around it.

A moment later, Ruthstin appears. He recognizes Vojta and Vica, and reveals that he indeed placed it here in an attempt to destroy the Heart. He is glad that they confirmed that the tree is placed on the Heart, which he wasn’t sure of, and says he won’t stop them from destroying the tree. He then teleports away. Worried about Ruthstin’s lack of resistance, Grombrin magically contacts Gorat to ask whether damaging the tree had any effect on the Heart, but there is no response. He then contacts Grubsnik and gets a panicking response saying that someone got inside the Heart. Grombrin commutes with Morach again, and Morach reluctantly agrees to transport them back to the material plane.

The city is in panic, with people fleeing from the core as the walls are breaking down. The group runs to the core, finding a wounded Gorat, who says that he was attacked by a dragonborn. They try to enter the central chamber, but are blocked by an invisible wall. Ruthstin is inside, scratching runes into the hull of the core. Joe teleports into the room, while Grombrin starts tunnelling underneath the barrier. Joe tries to talk Ruthstin out of doing this, saying that he might blow up the continent, but Ruthstin knows the destruction won’t be that grand, and that he can simply teleport away when it explodes. He reveals several pink crystals embedded in his skin, granted to him by Gyrraleth as a way to cast spells.

Grombrin bursts from the floor along with the others right as Ruthstin finishes the final rune, causing the Heart to glow purple. They charge Ruthstin, but he is extremely fast and elusive, easily evading them and pummelling them with punches. Two purple elementals emerge from the heart and start attacking the group as well. Vojta and Joe fight off the elementals, while Grombrin starts inspecting Ruthstin’s destabilizing runes. Vica, the only one fast enough to keep up with Ruthstin, chases him around the room, eventually landing several hits on him, prompting Elric and Vojta to call down a storm of lightning and frost on him. As the Heart starts bursting apart, Grombrin deciphers Ruthstin’s runes, and makes a few crucial changes to suppress their effect, stabilizing the heart. Ruthstin continues fighting, punching out Joe, Vojta, and Vica, but being left heavily wounded. Grombrin then corners him with a wall of fire, causing Ruthstin to admit defeat and teleport away with one of his crystals.