13.3 Gems in the Dark

SESSION DATE: June 07, 2025
PRESENT: Rory, Kemurial, Freya, Calanthia

Deep Dive

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Adventure Photos

Adventure Song & Lyrics

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[Verse 1]
Prepared with potions, armor gleaming bright
Rory leads the charge through halls of ancient might
Calanthia whispers warnings of the snares
While Kemurial takes flight above the nightmare stairs
Freya reads her tome, seeking knowledge deep
As we venture where the buried secrets sleep
Saw blades slice the air, danger all around
But courage drives us toward the titan's ground

[Chorus]
We're hunting gems in the dark
Fighting shadows, leaving our mark
Through iron guardians and spectral screams
Chasing emerald-tinted dreams
Gems in the dark, gems in the dark
Light our way when hope grows stark

[Verse 2]
Constructs stir to life with eyes of burning green
The largest golem's more than what it seems
Behind its iron shell, a stone heart beats
While modrons crawl from mechanical defeats
Calanthia strikes swift from altar's shade
As acid rain and lightning strikes are made
Air elementals dance with thunder's roar
Until the guardians fall to rise no more

[Bridge]
From metal shells to ghostly wails
Through poisoned breath and spectral trails
A half-elf thief with emerald prize
Truth hidden behind desperate lies
Each battle won, each secret found
Brings us closer to sacred ground

[Chorus]
We're hunting gems in the dark
Fighting shadows, leaving our mark
Through iron guardians and spectral screams
Chasing emerald-tinted dreams
Gems in the dark, gems in the dark
Light our way when hope grows stark

[Solo]

[Verse 3]
Kishina Darrowind tried to slip away
But justice caught her at the break of day
Now questions burn like fire in our minds
What power in these emeralds we find?
The city's heart still beats beneath the stone
We'll not rest until we bring it home
Gorgons charged with flame and molten breath
Yet still we stand, defying threat of death

[Chorus]
We're hunting gems in the dark
Fighting shadows, leaving our mark
Through iron guardians and spectral screams
Chasing emerald-tinted dreams
Gems in the dark, gems in the dark
Light our way when hope grows stark

[Chorus]
We found the gems in the dark
Heroes' bond, eternal mark
Through the depths where nightmares dwell
Stories only time will tell
Gems in the dark, gems in the dark
Four souls bound by adventure's spark

World Anvil Journal

sooo... we dethidid to go bak to the under thity and fwaya wead mor of her buk and i got my awmow upd... upgwaidid... maid beter and got a buncha poshinth and thowld thome of my thtuff. we awl dethidid to go find the titin wich thowndth pwitty awthom.

cawanthia wath aweddy pwitty gud at findin twapth but win i wath walkin thwu the hawl i got hit by a thaw twap that wath hidin and that wath no fun but cawanthia thaid she cud find and fiks theethe twapth tho i thaid go for it. we get to thome big dorth and she chekth them and thin opinth them up.

thith woom had a buncha big metel guyth and won weal big won at the bak with thome gween glowy thing. fwaya nothe abowt theethe guyth and thaith the big won ith imyoon... cant be huwt by fier and poithin and the otherth cant be huwt by poithin. cawanthia thneekth in and thaith she can get to that gween thing if we keep the metel guyth bithee. thin kimiweel maikth an ayr thing apeer with thome majik thenthing and thath weel cool and thin the fite ith on.

i atakd the big metel guy and hit him pwitty gud and thin fwaya cathth a big athid bawl that kild won of the thmawer onth and hurt the otherth. kimiweel and hith ayr thing did thome weel gud atakth to. thin won of the ded metel guyth had thome wiwed fyv tentikl thing come owt of it and that thing hit me fyv tiemth and that thukd a wot. fwaya hit the big metel guy with thiks athid wayth and hurt him weel gud. thin cawanthia got to the gween thing and grabd it and that maid the big metel guy mad at her but she wath wucky and dint git hit. i kild the fyv tentikl thingth and win we bwok the big metel guyth awmow ther wath anuthew thton guy inthyd him. he maid me and the ayr thing thlow wich thukd but cawanthia hit that thton guy thuper hawd with her kwothbow and fithd that thlow thing and thin i kild the thton guy.

cawanthia had the gween jim and we fownd anuthew won jutht wyk it in the woom. kimiweel told her abowt wat we dowin down hear and then cawanthia thtawtid takin the weed and i thaid thhe bin hear fyv minutth and alweddy wanthin to leed wich i dint meen to be meen but she got mad abowt it.

we opind anuthew dor and ther wer thome gowgon thingth that wookd wyk metel bulth with hornth. won of them chawged at uth and grabd me with ith hornth and that wath no fun but i got owt of it. dady karl maid a gawdyan thing behind them and we fowt them and kild them bof and cawanthia did weel gud damij with her kwothbow.

thin we fownd thome thawkofaguyth... tharkof... big thton bokthith with ded thingth in them. i opind won and owt kaym a undid beholdr thing and thome banthe thingth kaym owt of the otherth. the banthe cud go thwu walthsowt wath weel skary. i kild the beholdr tho but the bantheth kept goin in and owt of the walthat wath weel anoin and we had to wun bak to dady karlth majik gawdyan to be thayf.

we fownd thome tweshur and poshinth in the thton bokthith and thin i fownd a dor with a mathk on it that had thom hoelth in it but i dint no wat to do with it tho we went awownd it.

thin i fownd a wady that wath methin abowt with anuthew gween jim. i twyd to tawk to her but she dint want to tawk much and thin cawanthia jutht thtawtid thootin at her and mithd. thin the wady twyd to wun away but cawanthia hit her thuper hawd with her awo and poithind her and thin i wan ovew and nokd her owt withowt huwtin her to bad.

we thewchd her and fownd the jim and thome majik bootth and othe thingth. we bwot her to makth and hith peepel to tak cayr of her and athk her kwethchinth and may b sheyl tel uth thomethin gud abowt wat gowin on down hear.

dwaugnir i hop we find owt wat hapind to thith thity and may b we find thome mor klewth abowt wer my pawenth r. i keep thinkin abowt them and hop ther ok.

Private Notes

• During our downtime before returning to the undercity, Freya has spent some time reading the book she got last session. She's completed 8 of 48 hours needed.
• Rory spent the same downtime upgrading his armor (+2 Enspelled Adamantine Survival Mantle (Mirror Image)) and stocking up on lots of potions (5x Potions of Supreme Healing, 10x Potions of Superior Healing, and 10x Potions of Speed) and selling his Ring of Protection and Necklace of Adaptation. He then heads back to the entrance of the undercity to meet up with the rest of the party.
• When we return to the undercity, we take a quick vote on which direction we want to go. We ultimately decide to head toward the titan, so that's where we head.
• Kemurial leads the way, flying over all the traps in the hallway to our west. Rory follows, but walks, taking care to step around the traps. Suddenly, as Rory's walking through the hallway, he gets sliced by a saw trap that we hadn't yet found. OUCH! He's able to step out of the way of the worst of it but still gets nicked. Calanthia whispers to him that she can find and disarm these traps, so Rory just says "Go for it." And she does so.
• We get through the hall and move up to the western double doors. Calanthia checks for traps, finds none, and unlocks them for us.
• Kemurial opens the doors. At the far end, skulls and columns around the room. There's a hulking metal construct figure flanked on either side by additional constructs. There's a green glow emanating from some kind of altar behind the large construct. Freya checks them out from afar. Based on her arcane recollection, the large one will be immune to fire and poison, along with other types of conditions. The other two are immune to poison. Calanthia, while hidden, whispers that she's willing to move in stealthily and check the area. She enters, then comes back and says while we engage the constructs, she'll head toward the glowing altar and see if the thing there is a power source. She casts Mage Armor on herself and hides again. We plan to engage the constructs and essentially keep them distracted until Calanthia can check out the green glow.
• Calanthia signals for us that she's ready and to move in by rolling a coin toward us. Once we see that coin, Friar Karl casts Beacon of Hope on all of us except Calanthia and Kemurial summons an air elemental by using his Censer of Controlling Air Elementals. Awesome! As soon as the air elemental materializes, the constructs begin to stir. INITIATIVE!!!

  • Round 1

    • Calanthia - Waits until we each enter the room before taking her turn.
    • Iron Golem - Fires its fists toward the air elemental as it uses its Fiery Bolt ability, hitting and doing a huge amount of fire damage. The second misses. It then moves forward a bit.
    • Rory - Brutal Strike misses, the next attack CRITS, Action Surge, both next attacks also hit.
    • Shield Guardian - Appears to heal itself at the beginning of its turn, even through the Soul Sword's magic. Interesting, and good to know! Fires its fists at Rory, missing once and hitting the second.
    • Friar Karl - Dodge Action.
    • Freya - Casts transmuted Acidball at 6th Level, doing tons of damage to them, taking out the construct that Rory was wailing on. Nice! The other Shield Guardian takes full damage, and then the huge Iron Golem takes half the damage and the other half seems to get transferred to the remaining Shield Guardian. Interesting.
    • Kemurial - Drinks Potion of Speed, flies forward up to the Shield Guardian, Sacred Weapon and attacks with a transmuted Booming Blade Scimitar, doing some good damage. He then uses Strike of the Giants to add some extra damage. Hasted attack hits. He moves his air elemental onto the Shield Guardian and uses its Whirlwind ability, doing a ton of Thunder damage. Nice!
    • Shield Guardian - Regains HP at the beginning of its turn. Attacks Kemurial with his fists, missing both attacks. Suddenly, the dead Shield Guardian essentially explodes, and out from its remains crawls a Modron Pentadrone, and ugly crazy looking thing.
    • Modron Pentadrone - Attacks Rory FIVE TIMES, hitting twice, doing Force damage. Ouch!

  • Round 2

    • Calanthia - Moves toward the altar, and gets sensed by the Shield Guardian. It misses its opportunity attack.
    • Iron Golem - Breath attack of a poisonous cloud-type breath. Rory makes his save taking a quarter of the 56 Poison damage (!). Kemurial fails his save, but uses his Orros Mark of Fate to succeed instead.
    • Rory - One attack at the Shield Guardian, taking it out. Uses Reaction to heal Kemurial. Second attack goes toward the five-tentacled freak thing, hitting and nearly killing it.
    • Friar Karl - Dodge.
    • Freya - Bonus Action to use her Innate Sorcery, then casts SIX Acid Rays (transmuted Scorching Ray) on Iron Golem, hitting all six times (with one CRIT!). 49 Acid damage straight to its face!
    • Kemurial - Attacks Shield Guardian with his scimitar and Booming Blade, hitting for some good damage, Bonus Action for a 3rd Level Divine Smite, for even more damage. Hasted attack with his scimitar. Then he moves his air elemental onto Iron Golem, missing with its Thunderous Slam attack.
    • Modron Pentadrone - Five more attacks at Rory, hitting twice. At the end of its turn, the other dead Shield Guardian erupts into another Modron Pentadrone. GREAT. When it comes out, instead of attacking Rory, it emits a Paralysis Gas at Rory. Rory resists, shaking off the paralysis.

  • Round 3

    • Calanthia - Inspects the green gem on the pedestal. It doesn't appear to be trapped. She takes a pouch and drapes it over the top of the gem, pulls the pouch closed and the gem up off the pedestal. She successfully grabs the stone. When she does so, her invisibility drops. She drops behind the altar, giving herself cover.
    • Iron Golem - The Iron Golem isn't happy that Calanthia grabbed that gem. It turns and fires its fist at Calanthia. Being behind cover helped because it misses. It then moves toward her and attempts to attack her with its Bladed Arm. It would've CRIT, but Calanthia uses a Luck Point to force Disadvantage on the attack, making it miss instead. Phew!
    • Rory - Takes out the first modron, Reaction to heal air elemental, CRITS the other modron, one-shotting it, moves up to Iron Golem and hits it as a Bonus Action with an extra bit of damage from Charger for moving 10' toward the target.
    • Friar Karl - Dodge.
    • Freya - Transmuted Acid Rays, hitting five times.
    • Kemurial - Moves up to Iron Golem and attacks with his scimitar doing Radiant damage. Moves his air elemental onto Iron Golem, and hits with one of its Thunderous Slams, doing some thunder damage to it. Its armor is completely destroyed, killing Iron Golem. But this reveals a Stone Golem hidden within its armor. Welp.
    • Stone Golem - Casts Slow around it. Kemurial makes his save, but Rory and the air elemental fail. We're Slowed.

  • Round 4

    • Calanthia - Dashes, Dashes, and Bonus Action hides.
    • Rory - Makes a single non-Reckless attack, hitting. That's all he can do now that he's Slowed. He fails the save for Slow at the end of his turn.
    • Friar Karl - Continues being Dodgy.
    • Freya - 4th Level Acid Rays, hitting all five times.
    • Kemurial - Attacks the Stone Golem with his scimitar, adding Strike of the Giants to it, doing some good damage. The Stone Golem makes his save to prevent falling prone. Second attack at the golem, hitting and doing some more nice damage. Hasted attack hits and he rolls max damage on it. Awesome! He then quickens a Lightning Bolt at the Stone Golem, for massive amounts of Lightning damage.
    • Stone Golem - Attacks Rory with Force Bolts, missing both times.

  • Round 5

    • Calanthia - Pokes out from around a pillar and aims at the Stone Golem, CRITTING with her crossbow, which is HUGE thanks to the Sneak Attack. It would've been better had she not rolled SIX ONEs on the d6es! This drops its Concentration on Slow. Nice! Second attack misses. She then goes back around the pillar and hides.
    • Rory - Now that he's no longer Slowed, he Recklessly attacks, killing the Stone Golem.
  • Combat over.
• Calanthia shows us the green gem in her pouch. She says she thought perhaps the gem powered the golems, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
• We check this area for loot. One of the items happens to be an Emerald Elemental Gem identical to what Calanthia picked up from the altar. What are the odds?
• Kemurial fills in Calanthia on our mission, as we're looking to repair the Rune Heart.
• Calanthia takes the lead. Rory sarcastically says "She's been here five minutes and already she wants to lead." to which Calanthia seems to take offense. Seems she doesn't do well with sarcasm.
• We head toward the southern door in the room that led to these golems. Calanthia detects no traps, and unlocks the doors. She opens them, revealing a couple more Gorgons. INITIATIVE!!!

  • Round 1

    • One Brazen Gorgon immediately charges through the doors, hitting Calanthia, Kemurial, his air elemental and Rory with an ability called Smelting Charge. Everyone saves except Rory. Rory takes damage and is Restrained and Grappled.
    • Friar Karl - Beacon of Hope on everyone.
    • Freya - Casts Mind Sliver on the Brazen Gorgon that charged. It fails its save, taking some damage and has a 1d4 penalty to its next saving throw.
    • Calanthis - Makes a sneaky crossbow attack at the other Brazen Gorgon who has yet to go. She hits, doing massive damage. The second attack hits as well.
    • Brazen Gorgon - Attacks Rory, hitting. At the end of its turn, its Flame Aura goes off, doing some fire damage to everyone within 5'.
    • Rory - Makes save and is no longer Grappled and Restrained. Two attacks at the Gorgon, hitting both times. The first was a Brutal Strike, and Rory chooses to reduce its movement by 15'.
    • Brazen Gorgon - Uses its Smelting Charge and catches Kemurial on its horns. Kemurial takes a ton of damage and is Grappled and Restrained. Its Flame Aura goes off as well.
    • Kemurial - Uses his Adamantine Mithril Ghost Armor to go incorporeal, freeing himself from the Grappled and Restrained conditions and allowing him to move away from the Gorgon, then uses his Disengage action to get out of its immediate reach without provoking. He has his air elemental attack the first Gorgon with Thunderous Slam, but it misses both attacks unfortunately.

  • Round 2

    • Friar Karl - Casts Guardian of Faith at the top of the stairs behind the Gorgons.
    • Freya - Casts Faerie Fire on the Gorgons. Both fail their saves. Nice.
    • Calanthia - Bonus Action to Disengage, gets up onto the pillar of the railing next to the stairs, and fires her crossbow at the first Gorgon with Sneak Attack. It hits, doing massive damage. The second attack also hits.
    • Brazen Gorgon - Makes a few Gore attacks at Rory, hitting once. Flame Aura then goes off at the end of its turn.
    • Rory - Takes out the first Gorgon, Reaction to heal Kemurial for 36 HP, then second attack on the other Gorgon, hitting it and pumping Blinding Smite into it, Blinding the Gorgon.
    • Brazen Gorgon - Takes Radiant damage from the Guardian of Faith, then takes a couple Disadvantaged Gore attacks at Rory, missing both times. Flame Aura lights up doing tons of damage this time, but only to Rory who's resistant to Fire damage.
    • Kemurial - Heals Rory with a MASSIVE 5th Level maxed (thanks to Beacon of Hope) for 85 HP! Thanks Kemurial! He moves back and has his air elemental attack a couple times using Thunderous Slam, hitting once.

  • Round 3

    • Friar Karl - Orisons on Calanthia and Rory.
    • Freya - Acid Splash on the Gorgon.
    • Calanthia - Sneak Attack crossbow attack on the remaining Gorgon, hitting it and doing tons more damage. Second attack hits as well, dropping it.
  • Combat over.
• We check the Gorgons for loot, just in case they have something interesting on them. Found some gold on them. Where did they store it? Probably best not to ask.
• Calanthia continues south into the room. Rory warns her to check the sarcophagi for traps since we've seen this before. And there will likely be undead things that pop out of them. She checks one for traps, finds one, disarms it successfully, and Rory moves in to open the sarcophagus. His Rage is still going from the Gorgon battle, so he angrily opens it. Out pops a creature, just like Rory warned. However, this one looks to be a ghostly Spectator or Beholder (let's hope it's not this one). And the other two sarcophagi open simultaneously, and out from them appear two other creatures. INITIATIVE!!!

  • Round 1

    • Kemurial - Attacks the Beholder Zombie with scimitar and Sacred Weapon and hits, lots of damage with True Strike, adds Strike of the Giants, but it's immune to Prone. Air elemental attacks with Thundering Slams, hitting both times.
    • Friar Karl - Guiding Bolt on the Beholder Zombie, but misses.
    • Freya - Eldritch Blast, hitting twice. Convert spell slots.
    • Banshee - Deathly Wail on all of us, we all make our saves. Moves out of range of the air elemental and into the wall, provoking. Air elemental hits, but doesn't do as much damage as expected.
    • Calanthia - Crossbow Sneak Attack, hits for massive damage. Second attack hits as well.
    • Beholder Zombie - Targets Kemurial with a Paralyzing Ray, Kemurial saves. A second eye stalk hits him with Enervation Ray, Kemurial fails the save. He takes some damage and can't regain HP. It Disengages, but Rory's Sentinel allows him to take an opportunity attack, which hits, killing the Beholder Zombie. Nice.
    • Banshee - Moves behind Rory, casts Horrify on Kemurial, who makes his save, then it attacks Rory twice, hitting once. It then continues past Rory and into the wall, out of sight.
    • Rory - Can't see anything, but knows the Banshees are nearby in the walls somewhere. He continues his Rage with a Bonus Action and moves to the nearby sarcophagus. He readies his action to attack any hostile creature that comes within his melee range.

  • Round 2

    • Kemurial - Lay on Hands to cure poison, then calls for us to fall back to the Guardian of Faith.
    • Friar Karl - Readies action to attack hostile melee creature.
    • Freya - Readies Eldritch Blast targeting anything hostile she sees.
    • Banshee - Comes out of the wall within Rory's reach, Rory makes his Readied attacks, hitting twice. It then tries to Horrify Rory, but Rory makes his save after using Inspiration. It makes two attacks at Rory, missing twice, then moves away back into the walls.
    • Calanthia - Readies an attack should she see hostiles.
    • Banshee - Pops out of the wall within Calanthia's line of sight, triggering her Readied attacks. First attack hits with Sneak Attack. Second attack also hits. It then moves into melee with Rory and attempts to Horrify him. Rory fails his save with a total of ZERO on the roll. He's Frightened until this Banshee's next turn.
    • Rory - Takes Kemurial's advice to retreat back to the Guardian of Faith. Moves and Dashes to get there.

  • Round 3

    • Kemurial - Celestial Revelation to sprout wings. Has his air elemental ready its action to attack any hostiles that come within its reach.
    • The Banshees seem to stop coming out of the walls for the time being.
  • Combat over.
• We check the sarcophagi for loot.
• We continue southward, checking the next sarcophagus for traps. Calanthia finds one and disarms it. Rory yeets the lid off, fully expecting more hostiles... but finds none. Nothing happens. He's suspicious of this. But he does find a potion.
• Rory continues westward through the hallway. He comes to a door marked with a mask. The mask has two recessed eyes and a mouth. Rory doesn't know how this works.
• He continues past the door. Around the corner is a young half-elf female bent over a green gem. When Rory enters, she turns and asks who we are. Rory and her have a conversation about what she's doing here, while the rest of the group stays around the corner listening. While talking, she picks up the emerald gem and puts it into a small pouch. Rory tries to speak to her to get some information out of her, but she doesn't seem keen on talking. Rory attempts to move closer, but she keeps the table between him and herself. Rory motions for the group to move in to help in the conversation, but not a single one does. Great. The dumb one is having to speak on his own. He's not going to get very far in this conversation. She asks what we're doing here and he says we're down here to try to figure out what happened to the city's defenses. She says she doesn't know anything about that. Just then, Calanthia applies poison to her next arrow and fires it at the half-elf woman, missing. Oops. INITIATIVE!!!

  • Round 1

    • Kishina Darrowind - Carefully moves around the table and out into the hallway where we came from. Bonus Action to cast Jump on herself, then uses Painful Sprint to move past us. All but Rory need to make a Constitution Save or be Poisoned until the start of their next turn. Everyone but Kemurial saves. Kemurial is Poisoned. She's making a run for it.
    • Calanthia - Moves toward Kishina and fires her crossbow at her with Cunning Strike, CRITTING, doing massive damage and attempts to Poison her. She fails her Con Save and is Poisoned for one minute. We hear her cry out in pain.
    • Rory - Bonus Action Potion of Speed, 80' of movement to move toward her, then Hasted Action to Dash the rest of the way. Attacks her once, CRITTING. Seeing that she's almost gone, Rory chooses to attack her non-lethally, doing enough damage to successfully knock her out.
      Combat over.
• Rory immediately yells to the rest of the party that she's knocked out, not dead, and to come over to them now. Kemurial gives Calanthia his manacles to apply to her, and she seems to do so very well.
• Calanthia searches Kishina Darrowind for the gem, which she easily finds.
• We search her for other loot. She has tons of throwing knives. She's also wearing magical boots. When Calanthia tries to remove the boots from her feet, they don't come off.
• We discuss our plans with this woman. Rory suggests taking her to Max, Ulrika, Gotrek or another contact in here to see if they can help us get some information out of her, then come back to the dungeon. We can check in with them later to see if they were able to get any information from her.
• We head to Max, who's still at the entrance. He casts a spell, which allows her boots to be removed. He then identifies them for us. They're Pathfinder's Boots. Nice.
• We hand Kishina, whose name we never officially got off to Max and his assistants to take her to be interrogated. We then decide to take a Short Rest so Calanthia can attune to her new boots!
• TSRGBU. Freya reads her tome for an hour, so now she's at 9 of 48 hours needed.

That's it for this session!

Adventure Loot

• Robe of Eyes - 30000g
• Nine Lives Stealer (3 charges) - 8002g
• Ruby of the War Mage - 100g
• Emerald Elemental Gem (Calanthia)
• Instrument of Illusions (Calanthia)
• Potion of Inflict Wounds (5th Level) (Calanthia)
• Throwing Knives (a comical number of them) - 20g
• Pathfinder's Boots (Calanthia)

Loose Gold Found

Total: 39460g
Converted:
Split: 9850g

• Gold has been split.