Living ENWorld:Adventure:Retrieval of Fallon's Key
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Retrieval of Fallon's Key (DM: Mithreander, Judge: Macbeth)
From the Lips of Volidar the Bard
Volidar smiles at the request for a tale.
�Yes, I know a few stories. Let me tell you about The Retrieval of Fallon�s Key. It told to me just the other day by a young Halfling I saw returning to the Inn, named Ignatious O�Reilly. He was obviously an adventuring sort, a wizard by profession. Evidently he was recruited by Eldendrel H'unnett, the son of the great elven diviner Mithreander of Fallon, along with several other adventurers. These were Llolian Theraspal, Rogier the Paladin, Sebastion Slingfellow, Serene Wind the monk, the warrior Sara, and Thebis Ra.
They were flown on Griffins to the sunken town of Fallon, which survived a great meteor strike only through the mightiest of magics. Here they met the great Mithreander, who told them that the key had been stolen to a great magical console, which was necessary for the city�s survival. (what it did, exactly, was never determined.) It was suspected that the key was stolen as part of an inside job. They were given a small pointer, which would show the direction of the key, unless misled by large quantities of mithral.
The group retired to an inn for the evening, but were awakened when a doppelganger assumed the form of young Ignatious, and ended up escaping with the key. After a subsequent run-in with the law, for the doppelganger attempted to set them up as thieves, they were given a clue by Mithreander and pursued the Dopleganger to a warehouse in a seedy district of Fallon. There they encountered a wizard and her henchmen who were apparently stealing body parts. They had also cast a silence spell, which would indicate that divine magics were also at work. After the small party had dispatched these thieves, they were able to recover the pointer from a small room with only a mouse hole to escape from. It was thought the doppelganger escaped through the mouse-hole, but couldn�t bring the pointer, as it was too large.
Pointer back in hand, the intrepid explorers began their trek to find the key. This led them out of Fallon and into the wilds.
OOC: At this point, the adventure fizzled, so I am concocting an ending which might change
However, they were subsequently intercepted by an emissary of Mithreander�s on a Griffin, who informed them that their services were no longer needed, and escorted them back to Orussus. Just who took the key, for what purpose, and how, or even if, it was recovered, is currently unknown.
Location Information, Compiled by El Jefe
This one was the opposite of A Merry Chase. It was just dripping with location information! Most of it was about the setting of the adventure, the sunken city of Fallon. Many of the encounter locations were as "generic" as the ones in A Merry Chase, but there were enough exceptions to make it interesting. Let's start with the obvious:
- By griffon, Fallon is 4 days from Orussus, about 250 miles.
And from that, we can move to a rich description of Fallon:
The group moves off towards the woods in the east, lead by the boy. Just beyond the clearing and the first layer of trees is a well worn path that the boy turns to follow. After about an hour the group sees a huge rent in the ground, a canyon. On the other side of the canyon they can see the sea pour into the crevice trying to fill it, and in other places, geysers of water shooting out of the crevice to return the water to the sea in a constant effort to stop the rushing sea.
Walking further up the trail, the group sees that it leads directly to the edge of the cliff, and as they get closer, the constant storm of water batters at their ears. On the opposite side of the crevice (which had to be at least a mile wide), you notice a ship riding one of the geysers to the sea and then sailing off of the top into the deeper sea and away.
Looking down into the crevice, the group sees, first bridges made out of the most beautiful quarts and marbles, expanding from one side of the crevice to the other. On either side of the crevice there are buildings of the same material that sparkle in the setting son on one side and shaded in darkness on the other.
Further below, where the sun does not hit, lights sparkle an array of patterns where streets, homes and shops are, some 1000 feet down. Where the sea meets the floor of the canyon, a pool of water stands with dock for ship lay in wait for cargo. Some are waiting to hitch a ride up a geyser for the sea, while others ride geysers down to the docks.
In one corner of the city, towers can be seen by the patterns of lights, elegant and full of grandeur. In another part of the city, a single building sits dominating that area, shaped like a start for it's many halls.
There is a narrow set of stairs that lead down this side of the cliff to the city below.
"Welcome to Fallon, the city of Falls." the elven lad says with a look of pleasure. He quickly makes his way to the stairs and motions for the others. "Come on! My father is sure to have heard new of your arrival by now!"
Here's more on Fallon:
Descending down the south face of the crater, the party soon find themselves in complete darkness, the walls hiding the sun prematurely. After about 4 flights of stairs, the group starts to pass entrances to the cliff side where gnomes can be seen moving from time to time. After another 20 stories the holes seem to stay the same, but the inhabitants seem to be dwarves. Lights seem to glow from random parts of the cliff side, though no light source is visible. Eventually, the group reaches the bottom of the crater, some 111 flights of stairs later.
As the characters moved further down, the stairs became wider, until finally when they reach the ground a street continues from them without any noticeable widening in the road.
The streets are also lit with the globes of light that seem to hover above the streets every so often. The elven lad leads you down this street and then turns on a street cobbled with marble stones. No beast of burden are seen anywhere in the city that the characters can see as they travel, though they can smell cooked meet from some of the taverns that they pass.
The population of this bustling city seems to be mainly human, though a good variety of other humanoids can be seen, including kobolds, goblins (though they keep wide stances between each other), orcs and even one ogre.
And more:
The party walks through the city, fairy fire of different shades highlighting different aspects of architecture, it reminds you of stories you heard about some of the great drow cities in the Underdark, except that the consistent number of clear watered canals that you cross reflect the light to amplify the effects of it.
The canals are full of pole pushed boats with passengers enjoying the splendors of the city, or rushing down the current, trying to get someplace.
On this road, at least, you have seen three patrols of enforcers of some sort. The first group had been lead by an individual with only a wand as a weapon, the second by what looked like a clergyman of one god or another and the last looked to be only fighting men.
Passing signs in the streets announcing the locations of things on crossing streets, you can easily see that you are heading towards the College of Wizardry, and soon see the arched gateway to the school, itself. The towers beyond the gate are the tallest in the city, some of which reach heights exceeding 20 stories.
The boy leads the group to the most prominent tower and opens the unlocked door for the group to enter. After everyone is inside, they note that the tower is broken into halls and rooms. The lad then leads the group to a side door, passing art without even a glance. Opening the door, beyond reveals a stairway leading up. Going up the stairway for a countless number of stairs, the lad finally turns to the last of many doors that were passed and motions for the group to go through.
"This is as far as I go. Beyond is the Control Assembly Room. My father will meet you inside." He then starts to head down the stairs at a skip.
The door in front of the group is just as non-descript as the other doors that they have passed, except for the blue glow of light that appears from around the door, as if it's trying to escape the confines of the room.
Speaking of the "Control Assembly Room":
The door opens easily revealing a large room that must take up the whole floor. The roof is flat, some 20' overhead, it's wooden rafters barely visible to those with normal sight. The only light in this room is coming from the center of the room where a machine seems to humm. It's mainly made of metal with levers coming off of it in random areas. The whole thing must be at least 10' tall, and takes up a good portion of the center of the room. There is a constant humm in the air (as if from electrical current) and the snell of sulfur and something else, something sweeter fills the air. The walls of the room (except for the one behind you) are all stone and circle around the room as you would imagine they should in a tower; the floor is hard wood, polished and glowing blue from the machines light.
And here's a ride on a "lift":
The little boy continues to lead you out of the college proper, through he gates and into the lower city. He then heads to the dock and tells the group that they are going to catch a 'lift' on one of the geysers to the upper city.
Hopping on a small boat, it is guided by an oarsman to a specific part of the dock, and then the group feels a constant pressure under the boat, and once more they feel the same sensation that the felt when the griffons took off, as the ground shoots away below them. The accent slows and stops near a bridge, some 70 stories up, and the little boy calmly hops off. "Quickly, the Geysers have limits to the amount of time that they can maintain the necessary pressure."
Once off, the group is then shown to an elvish inn, with exquisite marble columns, and shining quarts walls, that would have surely caught the suns rays if they were present. As it was, the fairy fire that outlined the doorways and windows, seemed to bring out the blue in the walls.
Here are some simple Fallon facts:
- There are slums near the warehouse district of Fallon.
- In Fallon, at least one inn has rooms 400 feet above the floor of the crater. The room�s windows open up to a 6-inch wide ledge, leading around to the other side of the building and the street.
- On one side of Fallon�s crater is a two-story house where a judge lives. In it is a sitting room with doors in each of the four walls.
Here's a description of Fallon's slums:
Heading back down to the city below, they follow the map to where the slums are located. Here too the streets are lined with continual light spells, though it seems that quite a few of them had been taken for other means. The houses and buildings are all bared or barricaded shut with boards. In the streets goblins, orcs and half-orcs mix equally with the humans, seeming to move in a hunched manner.
In their immediate view, the adventures count at least 3 fist fights and a knife fight in progress, most of the participants look drunk, except for the knife fight, which seems to be over a bag that one of them is holding.
Everyone except the paladin notes watchers on the roof tops looking down on the streets below. The streets are rather narrow, only wide enough for two people to fight next to each other effectively. The buildings are built directly on the streets, not allowing enough space for a wagon to travel down the street without forcing the pedestrians off the street. Though looking at the muddy street, it does not look like there has been much horse traffic on the road.
From above, the characters hear some muttering. Looking up, they see someone emptying their bedpan out of their window. Jumping out of the way, it narrowly misses them.
And the adventure's last significant encounter location:
- There is a two-story, windowless warehouse in the slums of Fallon
- The warehouse in Fallon has a 5-foot alley on either side. One of them leads to a sort of hatch or manhole in the ground.
- The area near the hatch by the warehouse in Fallon is eerily silent, as per the effect of a silence spell.
- The basement of the warehouse in Fallon appears to be a wine cellar.
- Stairs lead up from the basement of the warehouse in Fallon to a carved oak door that opens inward.
- Beyond the cellar door in the warehouse in Fallon is a 50-foot hallway leading to a kitchen.
- Beyond the kitchen in the warehouse in Fallon lies a 40-foot hall that curves to the left, with 4 doors leading off the hall before the curve.
