Session 17 Recap:

* The Fracture (Immense area of scorched wasteland dominated by a massive, deep fissure)

### NPCs:

* Dulan (Goldie's cousin, a disreputable dwarf who moves from one shady job to the next)

**Previously...**

## And Now...

   After the dust settles from the fight, they ask one of the prisoners some information, which mostly just confirms what they already know. They all have the same sigil on their armor as the mercenaries who attacked the grove. They let the three survivors go, using Gar’s Hybrid appearance to trick them and ordering two off into random directions while directing one to return to base. This enables them to follow at a distance as he leads them directly to the edge of the Fracture.

At this point, he examines each of a number of distinctive stone markers at the edge until finding a stack with a rock of different material. He then makes his way onto a hidden path down into the chasm.

Gar, Gold and Dandy head down into the chasm, while Tiv and Arik take guard at the top. The team heading down take the breathing masks they took from the mercenaries who attacked them. The pathway down is very narrow and quite dangerous in places. Goldie slips and begins to fall the 20-30’ drop but is caught by Dandy using her whip with Gar anchoring the two. Gar then semi-successfully uses his wings to glide the three of them down. Due to his inexperience with his new form, the landing is a little rougher than anyone would prefer.

Within the chasm, they discover a series of ancient ruins. The ground at this level is covered in a deep layer of fine white dust (later confirmed to be bone-dust). Dandy scavenges a great many bags of the fine, white powder. Investigating some of the ancient buildings, they note that they are built to human scale and are many hundreds of years old, at the very least. They theorize the whole plateau may once have had these buildings, but time and the environment had worn away all but the most sheltered ones.

Finding a worn path in the dust, they follow it, eventually reaching the edge of a second downward chasm within the fracture. A rope-bridge leads over the new chasm, with a tall column at the midpoint protected by a mercenary guard. They approach the guard as if they belong there and are only challenged very briefly. Dandy take the opportunity to steal the guard's axe.

Near the other end of the bridge is an elevator powered by some strange lizard people on a huge wheel. They take the lift to the next level continuing to follow the route. This level has less of the smoke, which they note is coming from an even deeper level of the fracture. After a brief analysis, they discover it is made from earth, bone and sulfur. There are many more ancient buildings here, but these are not of typical human design, being larger and designed with entrances in the roofs and upper levels. There are also quite a lot of Dragon bones in the walls and floors. Unfortunately, many of these buildings are acting as makeshift quarters and barracks for dozens of mercenaries, so they are unable to more closely investigate them.

Deciding to go off the beaten track and look for a way down once more, they find a natural chimney just wide enough for a person to scoot down. Dandy and Gar make their way down without trouble but as Goldie is descending, part of the brittle rock breaks off in their hand and causes a small cave-in, blocking the chimney off from further use.

Now at the bottom level, they see a huge ‘alien’ machine in the distance, with a glowing power source at it’s top. Hybrid Spell casters are standing at its base focused on it and chanting. Near to this, two large cages seem to have a dozen or more captives. The area is vast and uneven, so it's easy to the three to seek shelter and observe from afar. Fortunately, this also means the noise of the rockfall was drowned out for anyone near the machine. Goldie spots that one of the mercenaries guarding a cage is a Dulan, a dwarven cousin of theirs and something of a black sheep within the family, but more than that, they recognize the power emanating from the top of the machine as a ‘Star of Timorran’\*, concluding that the machine is ‘energising’ something under the ground through one of the small fissures below it.

Doing a careful survey of the area, they spot more Dragon-Hybrids in a tent, another elevator and a huge, mostly-uncovered Dragon skellington (not mutated like the one they found the previous day).

Gar has a revelation regarding the prophecy. He pulls the others aside and shows them one part of the text, *“The City of the Dragon King will be devoured, revealing the children best forgotten”,* and points out that they could be in that part of the prophecy right now. another part of the prophecy causes Dandy to consider the visions she's had of where her father is being held, *“The Shoat shall kill the Boar. The Sow will be hunted, and seek refuge from the first.”*

**Continued in Session 18....**

*(\* - One of the most sought after and powerful artifacts in the setting, and are actually the source of Runebound Shards.)*

*10xp*

*(235xp)*