'Neath a Crimson Throne, Session V
October 26th, 2021/Raccoons 30th – Worms 3rd, 749
Heroes present:
•Anathar, level 1 magic-user, played by T
•Beowulf, level 1 fighter, played by J
•Joan, level 1 cleric, played by A
•Pendor, level 1 fighter, played by R
Their entourage:
•One donkey
•Four horses
When the party left the Gray Moth Inn, they found that the villagers had hanged yesterday's bandits from the large tree in the village center. Turkey vultures had already arrived to pick at the dangling corpses. One of the vultures wore a monocle, and stared at the heroes for a moment before flying eastward.
The heroes set out into the Black Mountains. They followed a familiar path past Castle Dreadmory and, from there, struggled to find their way through treacherous terrain. They came across a small campsite next to a pond. The three men at the campsite attacked them. The heroes killed two of these men, and Anathar charmed the last one. Anathar and Joan recognized him. He was Leofrith, one of the warriors who had previously fought them in the name of Lady Tryglia.
Leofrith explained that Tryglia's mage ally, Talon had returned to Castle Dreadmory to find him and his comrades locked in its dungeon. Talon had freed them, and they entered into his service. He wanted to explore Mount Skullfyre. They had set up their base camp next to this pond. Most of Leofrith's brothers-in-arms had gone with Talon up to Skullfyre.
The heroes asked Leofrith if he knew anything about the monocled vulture. He said he had seen it flying around near Mount Skullfyre. Talon was known to had power over certain birds, but as far as Leofrith knew, the mage had nothing to do with this one.
Leofrith accompanied the heroes up the slopes of Mount Skullfyre. They soon arrived directly in front of the skull which was carved into the top of the mountain. It's toothy grin alone stood sixty feet tall. Smoke billowed from the “nostrils,” slightly obscuring its “eye sockets.”
In front of the “teeth” stood two brass men. They were short, ugly humanoids whose bodies were merely hollow metal shells. Inside their bodies burned red fire, which vented out of their eyes and the tops of their heads. Each wielded a broad-headed spear and a small warhammer.
The heroes approached the brass men and asked to speak to their leader. The creatures refused to let them in to see “His Majesty.” When the heroes insisted, the brass men attacked.
The brass men were formidable, but they were outnumbered, and the heroes slew them. When they died, the fires inside them went out.
There was no obvious entrance through the skull-face, but Anathar found a human-sized door around the side of the peak, concealed behind bushes. It was made of heavy metal and stuck shut, but after a few tries Pendor managed to force it open. Immediately, a brass man on the inside tried to shut it. Pendor overpowered him and kept the door open, but there were more brass men inside. The door became a chokepoint as the brass men fought to keep the humans from entering. During the scuffle, Beowulf and Leofrith ended up inside the door, surrounded by brass men. They saw that more and more of the monsters were arriving to fend off this intrusion.
Anathar tossed the contents of his water-skin onto one of the brass men. This put out the fire inside it, and killed it. The party realized that they could not fight this many brass men and win, but they at least had learned their enemies' weakness. They retreated, slamming the door shut behind them.
They left Leofrith inside, at the mercy of the brass men. Before they left, they loaded the body of one of the brass men they had killed onto their wagon.
The party departed and began its journey back to Oroko. They arrived three days later, without incident.
They presented the dead brass men to Count Beornwine, described what they had found at Mount Skullfyre, and told him about the creatures' weakness to water. Beornwine was impressed and paid the adventurers handsomely in silver. He told them that he would need to confer with his advisers with regards to the Skullfyre situation, and bid them leave.
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