The party followed the cart tracks deeper in to the tunnel, slowly approaching a larger opening where the dwarves had chased an ore vein further in to the mountain. The room contained several piles of debris and a small convoy of full minecarts. As the party checked over the debris for things of note, four shapes unfurled from the walls and rock piles. Deep red armoured bodies, with thin powerful limbs and large ridges across the tops of their heads, powerful jaws and bright glowing eyes, Edward heard the whisper of Mantorok in his head telling him these were the hive warriors of Chattur’ghath. These creatures were the end result of the larva they had encountered back in the vault, the shock troops of the Elder God of Order. Moving with lighting speed, the warriors descended on the group, swarming around Ash. Ash held off their attacks with ease but was less able to defend against the showers of acid that occured when the warriors were killed. After nearly killing Ash with their victory, the party continued deeper in to the mine. As they went, they heard the sound of Paz and Cyril landing at the bottom of the elevator shaft. As they rounded the corner to meet with the party, Cyril was tucking something in to the back of his coat. Paz healed Ash as best she could and got an update on what they were facing, adding her dismay over the situation to the general feeling that things weren’t going very well.
As they emerged in to another ore room, they could see the next tunnel entrance was covered with some kind of organic looking coating, dark red and smooth. Warm air was flowing out from within the hole, along with a horrible acrid smell. They pressed on.
Inside they found another chamber lined in the organic resin, this one lined with dozens of egg clusters, hive warriors, and a huge hive queen. She looked like something from the nightmares that these creatures might have, a grotesque version of the hive creatures laying eggs. Among these horrors stood Maynard, who turned to greet the party as they entered.
He smiled and spoke.
“Cyril, I see you’ve found some people who are even better at destroying things than you are.”
He turned to Edward.
“I must say, your work at the Ridgeback was most impressive. I did have plans for those dwarves but honestly I’m just happy they’re dead. I hate this mine and everyone in it”
Maynard’s attention returned to Cyril.
“Really, it should be you standing here. If anyone has the right to want to level this whole operation, it’s you. To have your father sell the company rather than leave it to you, so you can continue to slave away, making other dwarves rich while your short human life slips away. That you take orders from that jackass Helmok sickens me. “
Cyril stood, guns in hand. Eyes hard. Face set in a grimace.
Maynard laughed.
“I could change you, Cyril. This rod, it is incredible. My mind contains the thoughts of every creature in this mine. They follow my every command. Their very being changes me. I’m better, stronger, than I’ve even been. I can make this world ready for the coming of the Crimson King. Do you want to stand on the winning side for once in your pathetic life?”
Cyril raised his gun, pointing it at Maynard
“I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time, Maynard.”
Paz reached out for Cyril’s arm.
“Wait, Cyril.” She said, turning to Maynard “We can still help you. The Bureau has experience with this sort of thing.”
Maynard laughed. Paz continued.
“You don’t understand what you’ve been connected to. The forces making their way in to our world will destroy you long before they deliver on their promises of power. We know what they intend to do, we know how they want to do it. You could be one of the people to save our world or you can die in this hole in the ground.”
Maynard laughed again.
“Fine, let’s do this”
He tossed the USS straight up, lodging it in the ceiling of the cavern. The thrum of it vibrating filled the room, drawing in more hive warriors.
The party moved to fight the hive, with Cyril and Reith taking an extra focus on Maynard. The fight was fierce, with heavy damage being dealt on all sides. Edward decided this was the time for him to deploy the Division Bell, knowing that Xel’lotath acted as the foil to Chattur’ghath. The bell rang out with it’s deafening, disorienting chimes, breaking apart a few of the warriors as well as breaking the minds of a few party members. Infighting broke out as Ash was no longer able to tell the difference between friend and foe, leading to him stabbing Edward.
Fed up with how things were going, Maynard raised his hand toward the ceiling and recalled the USS to him. He drove it into the ground, causing the whole room to shake. At first he seemed triumphant as the party struggled to remain on their feet but his elation turned to panic as the reverberations grew rather than faded. The floors and walls began to break apart as the whole mountain seemed to shift above them. The floor quickly split apart around their feet.
Hive warriors jumped up to the ceiling to escape the breaking floor while Maynard and the Queen scrambled to find solid footing. There was a deafening crack as the floor blew apart and dropped out from under the whole room. The party fell, surrounded by rocks and hive chunks.
The fall lasted for what felt like eternity but was really more like 30 seconds before the darkness gave way to a huge cavern. Around them was a huge smooth stone dome with an enormous glowing white crystal in the center. Great black moths with red wings could be seen circling the crystal, shadows against the glaring light. It lit a city far below in cold white light, square stone buildings lined maze-like streets. The center of the city held a smooth white tower with dozens of spikes sticking out of it, seemingly at random. On the edges of city there were three large curved towers with dark crystals on the ends. They pointed to the top of the tower in the center of the city. Part of one tower and a whole quarter of the city was covered in heavy spider webs, almost directly below the group as they fell.
As the party emerged in to the light, Cyril pulled two objects from his coat: A intricately worked metal orb and a simple leather glove with black metal on the knuckles and back. He quickly donned the glove and counted the party members then aimed his palm at a point on the opposite side of the dome, away from the webs. Light sprang out of the orb and encircled each party member, leaving a glowing trail back to the orb.
The party’s fall immediately slowed and they began to swing away from the falling hive creatures. As they fell, Maynard climbed on the back of the Queen and pointed the USS in to the webs. Below them the webs came together to form a tight net, catching the pair and bringing them to a stop. The Queen immediately began spitting acid on to the webs, burning them away, until the pair disappeared into the web covered streets. Hive warriors could been seen climbing in to the chamber from the hole in the dome, following the Queen in to the webs.
Cyril brought the party down under one of the other towers, landing them in a courtyard at its base. Some members hit the ground running, other were less graceful. Putting the glove and orb away, Cyril made a comment about how they came in handy on the mountainside.
The party attempted to make sense of their new situation, with Edward and Paz sharing notes on what they knew about both the Old Gods and the city. Paz revealed that parts of the Bureau knew of the Old Ones, the current state of the world and it’s slow descent into this new, horrifying reality. She had spent the last few years studying ruins of the ones that lived on Nyvon before the coming of the Gods, before all life was burned away in a vain attempt to save the world from the evils that they had drawn in from that horrible alternate dimension. The original inhabitants of Nyvon were ancient, advanced beyond any understanding the party might have. They mastered all forms of magic and found themselves searching for more powerful sources. Eventually they found a way to draw in relics from the dimension of the Elder Gods. Almost immediately servants of the warring triad began to spread across the world. The native dwellers built weapons like the city to push the evil creatures back into their dimension, which proved effective on the small scale. A giant version of the city device was created to cleanse the world.
Paz told them that the giant weapon scoured the world and weakened reality enough to let Nyvon slowly sink into null space. The much larger device was destroyed in the process, leaving only ruins but a small underground ruin found by the Bureau spoke of a third device, one that could anchor the world. Not undoing the damage done but keeping Nyvon in proper reality. They did not know where that facility was or if it was ever finished. Paz hoped to find more information here.
The party entered the large door at the base of the tower.
Early Frost Warning 