Long Shadows

One of the owlbears was so wounded that it ran away, while the other was knocked unconscious by Ethelred’s shillelagh. He cast spell animal friendship to try and make friends with the owlbear — but it was particularly angry and resisted. Instead, it was curb-stomped by Korth. They followed the map of the woods and found the only mountain in the Eldritch Grove. Even from a mile away they could see the huge white marble gate that probably once led into the Creation Forge but had long since collapsed into rubble. A small open cave could be seen thousands of feet to the left of this entrance, surrounding in black vegetation and ash. Ethelred suspected that someone used explosives to mine an entrance into the Forbidden Forge.

As they entered the lip of the cave, they spotted a man in their way. They could clearly tell he was an elf from his extremely well-shaven and chiseled jaw. He wore dark brown robes over rough desert clothes; he was of the Valenar elves. In Eberron there were three types of elves: the Aerenal, forest and magic loving elves from a distant continent; the Drow, dark skinned and white-haired jungle dwellers who worshipped the god of scorpions; and the Valenar, desert dwelling elves from the Khorvairan kingdom of the same name. They were most known for the warring state of their nation; warlords and clan leaders each had radically different views on how their nation should be run and how its people should be treated, and they each fought for total domination. The Valenar were also known for their religious ancestor worship — venerating the great elven people who lived throughout history and trying to emulate that same heroism in their lives. 

In his left hand was a tall staff made of dark wood that he leaned on for support. He kindly introduced himself as Gedar Amastacia, a wizard who specialized in evocation magic. When Korth and Ethelred freely told him that they were here to explore the ruins, Gedar was delighted because he had feared he would have to go in alone. He had worked with the mercantile House Cannith before and digging through some old records found mention of powerful spells that had been lost in the Last War. He sought to add them to his repetoire, and the three came to a loose agreement to explore the Forbidden Forge together. 

However, as their conversation came to a close, they looked over to a smooth face in the broken rock around them and found that one of the walls was bleeding. It read: “Blood falls on Long Shadows.” As they stared at it the blood seemed to lunge out of its place on the wall and attack the party — their vision went dark before they could react. They woke up sitting in tall wooden chairs around a kitchen island covered in wooden chopping blocks stained with blood and rotten meat filled with squirming maggots. The room was very dark, and most could barely see; Williams brought out his firefly jar and filled it with a serving of wine, illuminating the room. No windows were being sported in this horrible kitchen.

There were two doors, and they chose to open the one on the right. It led into a dimly lit parlor where a small crowd of skeletons dressed in very fine and expensive garb (men in well made suits with top hats, women with fine silk dresses with jewelry) held in place mid dance. All of them in some fashion had wine glasses or other drinks in their hands, but whatever they once held had long since evaporated away. One particular dapper skeleton was all alone, with one hand on the top of an ornate cane and the other grasping a wine glass containing a large bronze key. A door led south out of the parlor and was not visibly locked. After a small debate Korth, Ethelred, Williams, and Gedar decided to take the key. The nimble elf reached into the wine glass of the skeleton and grabbed the key — but as he pulled it out, he knocked the glass out of the skeleton’s hand. Williams just barely leaped underneath and grabbed the glass before it shattered and quickly put it back in the skeleton’s open palm. The bone fingers slowly wrapped around the glass, and the other arm of the skeleton moved to gently tip his top hat in what appeared to be appreciation. 

Revolted, they went through the south door from the parlor to a creepy ballroom. A single flat table with a torn sheet of pink cloth that was strangely pristine stood alone in the center of the room. Torn red drapes littered the walls in front of the peeled white wallpaper. The floor was slick with blackened blood, as six zombies without lower halves had been dragging themselves along the floor — dancing to a strange tune playing from a pink crystal in the back of the room. A door on one wall in this room was completely smooth and looked out of place except for three keyholes in the door. Korth noticed that another bronze key rested on a table in the back with the musical crystal. He very nimbly navigated the bloody floor and groping zombies, grabbed the key, and nope’d out of there.

Realizing that they probably needed one final key to proceed, they doubled back and went through the door in the kitchen that they hadn not gone through before. They arrived in a trophy room of some great hunter or warrior. A finely carved mantelpiece surrounded a pile of dying embers that once may have been very fine and expensive but was now covered in cobwebs. Lining the walls all around them were mounted heads of beasts they barely recognized and rusted swords. They could not determine what the swords were (Gedar could tell they were scimitars, but that was all), yet Korth was more interested in the mounted armor on the walls. As he went to inspect them the insides suddenly roiled with green fire as its arms moved. “What are you staring at, pretty boy? You're a fine piece of ass.” The lid of the animated plate armor flapped, and small embers of green fire fell out and smoldered on the floor.

The second set of plate armor adjacent to the first lit up in a similar manner and tapped the first on the arm. “What’s the difference between these guys and a flumph? One’s a spineless gasbag… and the other’s a flumph!” They both cackled maniacally, spreading small bits of fire and chattering the lids of their helmets. The adventurers ignored them as they investigated the trophy room. 

They carefully searched the skeleton in the smoking jacket and found a third key in its front pocket. After Gedar carefully removed the key with no problem, Ethelred decided to open the last door they had yet to open. He suspected that it was a front entrance because of the scattered items around the floor and a window that was completely fogged over with white from heat. When he threw open the door, he let in a huge plume of fire that continued to roil and burn without damaging the wood inside the house. One animated armor said, “Let’s make like a tree, and get the fuck out of here!” and they walked into the fire, closing the door behind them. With three keys in hand, they returned to the spooky parlor and put the keys into the oddly smooth door. 

It hissed open, revealing a short flight of stairs that lead to a room above the parlor. As they tentatively entered the room, they realized it was a nursery. In one corner a pile of stuffed animals lay broken and decrepit except for a small stuffed horse that was oddly pristine. A source of harp music came from the winding of a suspiciously large jack-in-the-box that sported clown imagery. In the back of the room a large crib with satin curtains was drenched in blood. Korth braced himself and went to investigate the crib and found that while most of the blood was dry the bed itself was slick with fresh blood. A ghoul leapt out from beneath the blanket and attacked, the stuffed horse floating above the floor and the jack-in-the-box springing. Korth made short work of the jack-in-the-box, by pulling its spring out of its gears and throwing it against the wall (smashing it to pieces). However, he was paralyzed by the necrotic venom of the ghast’s claws, and Ethelred seemed to be charmed by the floating horse plushy. Williams was able to break apart the plushy with a flourish of his war picks, resulting in the jagged iron crown receding from his head.

With the ghast dispatched by Ethelred, Gedar investigated the horse. It must have been possessed, and the damage disrupted the connection. Strangely, a small gem in the shape of a pumpkin made of ruby appeared in the pile, and when he went to grab it all of them went unconscious.

They woke up to the sound of electronic music blaring in their ears. As the party awoke, they realized they were in some sort of sealed crypt full of dancing skeletons. In the back one was wearing a necklace of bright pink flowers and operating a desk of pink crystals that blared a dubstep remix of Spooky Scary Skeletons.

Spooky, scary skeletons,
Send shivers down your spine,
Shrieking skulls will shock your soul,
Seal your doom tonight.

Spooky, scary skeletons,
Speak with such a screech,
You’ll shake and shudder in surprise,
When you hear these zombies shriek.

We’re sorry skeletons, you’re so misunderstood,
You only want to socialize, but I don't think we should.

As they tried to comprehend what was going on a skeleton broke from the crowd and asked them to join. Thus, they danced their hearts out and were able to dance well enough that none of the skeletons questioned why they were not likewise made of bones. Eventually the music cut out and the D.J. yelled, “It is time to begin the 69,420th annual sp00ky dance off,” as he held out a crown made of bone. “Begin!” Ethelred spotted that the crown had a blue pumpkin gem in its brow — they would need to dance for their lives.

The crowd parted, leaving a horizontal swathe of open space for more flourishing dances. Three skeletons broke from the crowd and danced excitedly, one doing an upside-down spin while clapping his feet like hands; another doing a swagger walk in place with small points of light shining off of his polished bones and the text “0 fckn dmg” being clearly readable for every spark; while the last shook its hips seductively while rolling its detached skull along its arms and shoulders. Ethelred was not able to keep up with the rest of the skeletons and was absorbed into the cheering crowd. Gedar and Williams were both able to keep up fairly good dances but were eventually beaten out, allowing Korth and the final skeleton take the floor.

Korth ended up dancing so well that the skeleton backed down, meaning he was the only person left on the dance floor. He had won the dance competition. 

The skeleton DJ congratulated him and placed the crown on his head — making them all collapse into unconsciousness. 

***

They woke up in the mouth to the artificial cave. Shaking off their weariness they realized they were completely healed after… whatever had just happened. M.C. thought that it was perhaps was a holiday called Long Shadows, honoring the dark god, the Shadow. They could have been sucked into some realm that is devoted to honoring his powers. Regardless, emboldened by their time together the four descended into the Forbidden Forge.

The cave entrance was littered with rubble and dust, the rocks appearing melted and slag-like from some sort of explosion. This led into a small natural cave that sported a trickling stream of water. Williams poured a serving of wine into his bottle, shining white light all around them with the appearance of fireflies. Beyond the source of the small stream was an opening into an artificial structure. 

At the end of the natural tunnel, a hole was smashed in the wall. Beyond it was a room finely wrought of white stone with gray-green veins and flecks. A large arcane contraption of metal and stone stood in the center of the room. It was about seven-feet-high; levers project from it, runes shine on its surface, and a large purple crystal glows at its apex. Standing about the room are humanoid creatures like warforged. Some are incomplete or worn with time, while others have fared better. Most of those are wide-framed models that resemble the burliest human. One appears to have a sheath of flesh that had been cut or torn away in places, revealing inner workings that are thinner than those of a normal warforged.

As the adventurers walked in, the eldritch machine in the center started to glow a bright purple. The eyes of each of the warforged glowed with the same color and intensity, before jumping down off of their stands and pedestals to attack them. The berserkers unleashed full fury by swinging with their arm-mounted axes, only for one to be completely crushed apart by Ethelred’s earthen grasp. A psiforged threw out bolts of mental energy, weakening Williams and knocking Gedar unconscious. The fight ended with only Ethelred and Williams against the psiforged — which they battled until near death. 

M.C. was able to heal them, bringing the party back from the brink before returning to guarding the entrance. Two doors led to hallways deeper into the forge, while a separate set of double doors led to an office with papers strewn everywhere. Gedar was able to decipher some as spells to add to his spellbook. They were Encrypt, Ray of Fatigue, Rope Trick, and Create Darkenbeast. He also found one that Ethelred could utilize which was called Favor of Amelioration, and one for M.C. After acquiring these, Gedar took some other papers that had been enchanted with the Encypt spell, hopefully learning to dispel it somehow.

They proceeded into the northern hallway until it came to a three-way path: one to a set of double doors, another to a tunnel collapsed with rubble, and the last a long hallway. Spoiled with choice, they took the doors.

Furs, blankets, and other bedding covered the floor of this chamber, which had a ledge around it and a high ceiling.  Clothing, boots, fresh torches, and other personal items were also scattered about, but an element of organization was apparent. Several House Cannith soldiers were asleep, while a few Warforged sat meditating. One lounged in the corner, sharpening his sword. As the adventurers entered, the enemies floundered to ready themselves.

With the element of surprise, Gedar threw a powerful blast of lightning into the room, completely atomizing three soldiers into piles of goo and burnt leather armor. Only the two Warforged remain — one of which was easily killed and the other surrendering. On his knees with his hands behind his head, Korth interrogated him for information. He was able to find that the people here were in fact from House Cannith and had indeed reactivated the Creation Forge in the heart of the decrepit complex. They would die for the House as a new generation of their brethren was brought into Eberron — a glorious day for those religious warforged indeed. When asked where the forge itself is, he said it was “past the Lab and that Ghost,” before being ended by Korth.