Session 16: Impin' Ain't Easy; or, The Cellar That Time Forgot (12/27/22)

Pulyana 30, 1423.

Something shifts beneath Scoff's Pawn after Bjork mends the proprietor's timekeeping device, and soon the three discover a secret door has been opened which leads to the basement. Scoff believes it must have belonged to the previous owner, although he never met them, as the shop was purchased through a broker. Bjork heads out to find the rest of the party and tell them about this new mystery, and it is decided that they will explore the cellar for some reward, to make sure it's safe for the shopkeeper. They find a mysterious, timeless corridor with a rug embroidered with mystical symbols, and torches which are in a frozen state of burning. The rug soon animates and attacks, but is easily dispatched by the party as it seems like it were meant as a deterrent for a simple thief.



They next find a strange kitchen, full of fresh foods and ingredients, but also strangely frozen in time, with a hearth flame burning still below a skillet. Rucia finds a list of ingredients and then sets about gathering them into the skillet to cook them into something, and strangely, the fire and skillet react, aging the mix into something rotten and disgusting, which would be appropriate for the decade of time since Scoff purchased the building. After draining the disgusting mix, they discover an organic-looking wooden key within the skillet which is left behind from the food. They head down to a deeper storage level with a wide stone chamber full of urns, crates, sacks, and kegs, all ingredients of which seem also to have never aged or spoiled...

There are two kegs in particular which are quite ornately carved with festive designs as if they were meant for a great feast or royal meal, and the key from the kitchen seems to fit one of their locks...but once Rucia twists it, several of the urns crack open, freeing some small winged, shapeshifting demons from their ensorcellment. The PCs have little trouble as a group, but once they attempt to use magic, several of them are repulsed from the chamber to random places about Borgaborsk. Nebol'shoy is tossed 50' above the paved street near the Pawn shop, and falls to his near-death, causing the blood hawks he had summoned to also disappear from the fight. Bjork lands in the waterway nearby, and Mockleg ends up disappearing completely! The magic of this place is strange and mighty indeed...and the trappings don't seem like they belong to a pawn shop, but rather a mystical tavern.



While the gnome and minotaur race back to the Pawn shop, Aldren and Rucia manage to finish off the imp-ish assailants, but not before both take a heavy helping of damage from the poisonous bites of the feral fiends. Nebol'shoy returns right at the end of the fight, and then Bjork joins them. They decide to seek out Mockleg and then rest, but despite combing the rooftops, businesses and even inquiring with a nearby guard, there is no sight of him. So they decide to take a short rest and then finish combing through the basement. The first keg, unlocked, contains a bitter, tarry liquid like licorice or molasses, while the second keg has something purplish and sparkling, like a night sky. The four PCs all imbibe this latter substance and find that it gives them a bit of pep and charge, a taste like a mix of wine and cough syrup, but they notice no differences. Blending the tarry slop with the mystical beverage seems to just neuter the latter.

They approach the next area in the basement, obscured by a bluish mist, to find a shrine lit by frozen candle flames of orange and blue. In addition, there are four beast eyes, coated in a crystal layer, and hung by chains to create medallions out of them. Try as they might, the PCs don't identify what creatures they are. There is also a tome of screaming faces, much like the holy symbol for the goddess Amaun, and Aldren closes the open book, finding a sheaf of paper, a 'last will' of someone named Cynispar. Turns out this was an enigmatic mage of recent legend, similar to Old Smight-eye, who was known for experimenting with magics. He scribbled something about the four eyes, that they were keys to a hidden Sanctum of Amaun below the Skolareum in Arkany, and also that he had asked the first question of the book, and regretted doing so.

An exit to this chamber leads out to the northeast of Borgaborsk, not far form Sleeper's Spinney, which the PCs revisit, Aldren leaving a sapphire tribute. They check again at the Novakovsky farm, but still no sign of Mockleg, and return to Scoff's Pawn to tell him what they've found below his shop. It turns out that their missing magician friend turned up at the Soverat Barracks brig after being teleported out of the basement, so Rucia and Aldren head there to spring him, which they do by persuading Kapitan Krummel. After reuniting, the PCs head back to The Hammer's Rest, and Mockleg identifies a few more items, Aldren's shadowy dagger and the book they just found, a Libram of Lost Secrets. They plot where to travel next before heading off to sleep.

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia