Drink Talk Roll Extended #29: Jedah vs The Volcano

Session Recap

Picking up where the last session left off, the party began the long trek up Mt. Lohi towards the Forge of the Gods. Along the way, they started to hear the high-pitched laugh-like language of mysterious creatures. They continued up the mountain and eventually, the creatures revealed themselves as various kinds of mephits. Seeing that one of them seemed made of magma, Jedah held out the Fire Ruby for it to appreciate but when it tried to take the ruby, battle began.

And it ended pretty much immediately. The mephitis might have been able to deal damage but with their small health pools and low saving throws, they died to one or two hits from Sirocco’s spirit guardians and a few attacks from the party.

A little bruised, the party headed further up the mountain until they found a dwarven man waiting for them. He introduced himself as Keahi, the master of the Forge of the Gods, and led them into the forge deep in the heart of the mountain. Following the tug of the Fire Ruby, Jedah asked to be shown to the main forging chambers. Keahi agreed to let them go but first, they must follow tradition and one of the party members must participate in the forge’s initiation ritual. He let them know it will be a contest of strength and because Amra was getting into hijinks off screen while Manuel was out, the party sent its next strongest member: Khorr.

Keahi gave Khorr a loincloth to wear as part of the ceremony and after they both change, he led them into the main chamber an explained the rules of the ceremony: They would take turns charging at one other trying to push him out of the ring. In game terms, this meant multiple contested Strength (Athletics) checks or thanks to Khorr using his size and agility against his opponent, Dexterity (Acrobatics) contested against Keahi’s check. The first one of them to win three checks would be declared the winner.

The two traded blows back and forth nearly knocking each other out of the ring until it came down to the final point. Keahi charged at Khorr like a bull but Khorr was able to dodge at the last possible instant causing Keahi to take one step outside the ring ending the match. Keahi congratulated Khorr on the victory and when Khorr asked him for a nickname, Keahi granted him the nickname of Little Tidal Wave.

After Khorr came back into the waiting area, the party celebrated Khorr’s victory but in secret, Jedah lamented the loss of 30 gold he had bet on Keahi. They all ate, drink and were merry for the rest of the night.

In the morning, the party followed the ruby to the back of the forge chamber where it revealed the Fire Temple entrance. The party invited Keahi to join them on and after letting the workers know that he would be gone, he agreed. The party climbed a staircase for what felt like hours until the finally came upon what appeared to be a set of empty living quarters.

In a large chamber that seemed to be a gathering room where the walls depicted the history of the area. There were pictures of great creations including what appeared humanoid constructs more advanced than what they had seen from the Clockwork Institute and a giant bull-like construct. The carvings cut off when a giant flying object with some sort of strange tails streaking from it descended.

With that room fully explored, the party looked more around the living quarters and found that most things had decayed to the point of turning to dust when touched. They did however find a trail of slime like those left by a snail that was still warm. They followed the trail to another set of stairs which also showed signs of being destroyed by some heavy creature walking up them.

When this set of stairs finally ended, they found themselves in a magma-filled chamber where four rocks floated in each corner and a fifth stood in the center connected to the two side by a set of bridges. After crossing one of the bridges, Khorr was able to notice salamander-like creatures that were camouflaged as rocks in the magma. The party quickly figured out that they would follow them if they offered food. They then tried to figure out what to do with them and eventually decided to move them outside the room by throwing food outside and closing the door after they had all filed out.

After the salamanders realized that they weren’t being let back in, they started clawing at the door and calling out like dogs. This attracted the attention of something swimming in the magma which swam to surface ready to fight for the younglings. And that’s where the session ended.

Side Note: I think with this and the last episode, we’ve had one episode with each of the current party members’ names in the title:
15 - Khorr and the Giant Leach
21 - School of Sirocco
28 - Amra the Lion in Winter
29 - Jedah vs the Volcano

Mythology Spotlight: The Shattering of the Turtle

I don’t have much to talk about from this side of the screen this week so instead, let’s take another look at the mythology of this world with a story multiple characters have mentioned: The Story of Darune and the Turtle. This myth tells the story of the creation of the Rotti Islands and ties together the gods of Arretin and the Guardian Beasts to which the four great monasteries are dedicated: The Lion, the Crane, the Dragon and the Turtle.

Once, there existed a giant turtle who boasted his shell was unbreakable. Warriors from all over the world came to test their strength against his shell but none could even so much as make a scratch.

“Strike me with all your strength but only your weapons will break!” the Turtle boasted loud enough to reach the Divine Realm.

Darune, the God of Smithing, upon hearing these boasts, took this as blasphemy against his skills descended to the Mortal Realm with Halogi, the greatest hammer ever forged. He accused the Turtle of making a mockery of his domain and the god’s prescribed punishment would be to show the turtle just how weak his shell truly was.

The proud turtle accepted this challenge and stood still for the god to strike him.
 
On the first blow, Darune’s hammer, the turtle’s shell remained unharmed but the force of the blow caused tidal waves to spread out from the turtle. The turtle laughed in Darune’s face which only made the god angrier. Darune claimed the strike was only a warmup and demanded the Turtle give him another chance.
 
On the second blow, the turtle’s shell began to crack too small for even Darune to see. The turtle continued to boast. Darune once again demanded another strike and the proud Turtle obliged him.
 
On the third blow, Darune brought all of us strength down upon the turtle and shattered its shell into pieces that became the Rotti Islands. It is even said that the blow was so powerful that the turtle was knocked all the way to the seafloor and the remaining force caused Mt. Lohi to rise out of the sea.

Content in his victory, Darune claimed the islands as his domain, creating the fire genasi to rule over the islands and establishing the Forge of the Gods in the insides of Mt. Lohi.

Despite the turtle’s loss, there were still some who saw its superior defense as an admirable technique who are said to have established the Turtle Monastery on a remote part of the Rotti Islands.

I could probably go one for a bit more but that’s the basic parts of the myth. Maybe some time in the future, I’ll talk about more in-world myths. Until then, keep on rolling.

-J.D.