Session 0047 - The Gallery

Roster

List of characters who's player was in attendance

Player characters who's player is attending the game start with 1 Hero Point, and can get more during the session.

Absent

List of characters who's player was absent

Player characters for missing players do not start the session with a hero point, and can not get any more during the session.

013-Rebar: Luke

Session Log

After the fight with the drow both Alicia and Harbek use their medical skills to stabilize each of the dying dark elves. The female leader is stabilized first, and three of the other four are saved. The drow that was run through by Ferdinand died instantly.
Looking around, the party find a section of the gallery between both sets of stairs and behind a pillar that looks like a good place to rest and recover. They move all the dark elves up against the edge of the gallery.
All four elves are relieved of their weapons and stripped of their armour.
The party then spend the time to heal themselves, with Alicia and Harbek using time to refocus on their magic to help with the magical healing.
After they help out the party a bit, each of them treat wounds on the elves. The leader and two others are healed, and become conscious.
Alicia and Harbek refocus so they can recover their healing abilities while Eriana speaks to the female drow leader in sakvroth (undercommon). The goal of the party is to convince the drow they are not the enemy and to try and get any information about the emerald claw.
Unfortunately the diplomacy does not go well. The drow leader yells at Eriana and blames her and the others for murdering her people, lumping the party in with the cultists. Despite her best efforts, Eriana does not succeed in altering the drow attitude towards the party.
At this point both Alicia and Harbek have finished their refocusing. Alicia appeals to Eriana to let her do the diplomacy, but she does not get anywhere in improving their attitude.
Out of frustration, and deciding on a different tact, Eriana grabs the female leader and gets ready to kick her off the ledge of the gallery to the ground 50 feet below.
Hrovard is nearby and jumps in and grabs the drow leader to prevent her from being kicked off the ledge. This really annoys Eriana, who curses the half-orc and impulsively grabs a dagger and stabs the dark elf, missing the first attempt but landing a solid blow on her second swing. The drow collapses unconscious and dying while being held by Hrovard.
The party convince Eriana to stop, but she uses the opportunity to intimidate the other two dark elves. They both seem quite afraid and willing to talk to Eriana.
However, before they tell he anything useful Alicia uses her magic to heal the female dark elf leader and she becomes conscious again. The two intimidated elves immediately go silent when their leader revives and don't offer up any information.
Leveraging the two intimidated elves, the party changes tactics and tells the dark elves they just want to attack the emerald claw and will let them go if they give them some information. The two intimidated drow convince the leader to "let them kill each other", so they reluctantly agree.
Stripped of all their gear, the party take the dark elves down the stairs. They are told that the others (emerald claw) have gone up both staircases higher into the structure. There is one set of stairs the party could see nearby the stairs they took up. The other set of stairs is apparently on the other side of the gallery.
After this the drow are set free and told to stay away. Given their current attitude, it seems likely they will return again at some point.
The party then decide to finish patching themselves up with magical healing then continue to explore.
An hour or so later the group is ready. The sun is nearly setting, casting a dim light through the gallery. Rebar pulls out an everlight crystal to light the way.
They look over the nearby staircase, but decide to explore a bit of the gallery first. They head north and find a very large open area with the massive stone blocks holding up the rest of the structure about 50 feet overhead. The everlight crystal is very dimply reflected on the stone ceiling. The north side of the gallery looks empty, but provides a clear view across its width - a few hundred feet across. Everything here is on a large scale that makes the party feel quite small.
Hrovard uses his survival skills to looks for tracks and he believes there has been some recent traffic here in the dusty floor, but it doesn't go far - perhaps just to take a look at this area of the gallery.
From where they are, just entering the northern side of the gallery, they spot a closed stone door on a wall on the north side of the gallery. They all move to investigate it.
The door is closed with a handle at about head height. It doesn't seem locked, but the massive door is stuck. Both Hrovard and Eriana attempt to force it open, but struggle with it. With both of their might they do manage to push it slightly inwards - at least enough to squeeze inside.
Moving inside with their light, they find an empty 60-foot square room. It is covered with a very dry layer of dust. Hrovard is convinced nobody has been here for a very long time - perhaps centuries.
There is another door on the far wall, directly south of the door they entered. It is another massive giant-sized stone door and it is closed. A quick look tells them nobody has used this door for a very long time either. The party come to the conclusion that this is probably a very good place to camp out when they need to, but they all want to press on and find the emerald claw.
Leaving the room, the party head over to the set of stairs on the eastern side of the gallery that go up to the next level.
Similar to the first set of stairs they came up, there is a small set of stairs suitable for their size on the right hand side heading up and massive giant-sized stairs head on on their left.
Everyone is warry of another boulder trap on the small set of stairs, so they opt to climb up the giant-sized steps. This is harder to navigate, as they have to climb up each set of stairs. The entire staircase appears to ascend some 50 feet to the next level.
They do make a conscious effort to move with stealth, trying to avoid being noticed. Eriana is a master at this type of skill, and she helps the party in their effort. They do a reasonable job and mange to reach the top of the stairs.
Hrovard and Ferdinand are in the lead, and what they see are massive double doors of stone and rusted iron stand partially open to the west. Two uniformed men stand guard to either side. Light spills from the between the open doors. These guards clearly display a strong green aesthetic, leading them to believe these must be emerald claw soldiers.
However, despite their efforts the guards notice them, and yell out in alarm!