Chapter 3-4
A goblin roughly around the same age as Schmead with two giants on her side. She asks where Schmead is…. “Alize!!” They are happily reunited together and start to catch up. They’re best friends. Alize has not seen anyone else since their incident. Schmead asks where the rest of their people were but unfortunately no one else he knew was around. There were still a few other people in the village that were fine at the time and concerned about what was going on. Alize claims to have been with the giants since the incident. She wants to talk further and allows the party by the giants. There are a lot of pensive looks as the party goes by them but they are brought right to the middle of the ribcage of the titan. She returns to her throne.
Long Story - After going to sleep in her house she then woke up in a pile of old fruit and vegetables surrounded by giants. They saw her and made her their leader. Alize learned their language and believed she was a blessing of their god - they worship Gigas - the titan. Her arrival led them to have renewed hope for their god still being present. One day they believe they needed to return to the remains and reclaim their gods bones for their own. Some of them started to lose control of themselves and started to go off on their own. Whenever they’re off doing their own thing, they won’t speak and are heavily fixated on the task at hand. Giants will immediately stop what they’re doing and head towards the park. They ended up here because they were unable to control themselves where they were before. The giants grew more uncontrollable the closer they got to the city. Schmead had tried but Alize informs the group in order to snap them out of their state is a good hit to the head lol They want the heart of the titan. They’re good people and may not be the brightest but they have good spirits.
There are individuals under the tent and the giants want to eat them but Alize has stopped them. There are two individuals tied up, one human man Matthew and a female gnome named Frizzle. Alize keeps them held hostage as a form of communication since they know what’s inside of the canon. The rest of the archeologists, Bolan included, are inside the doors of the side of the canon claimed to be able to get the heart. Those individuals went in four days ago and have not returned since.
Alize is informed by the party there are raids getting ready to come down to their camp and slaughter them. She apologizes to the party for her actions in leading the giants - or lack of control over them.
[Talking to the Prisoners] Frizzle demands the party free her after noticing their conversation. Frizzle and Matthew are happy to discuss the issues with the party as long as they’re set free. At the center of a titan spawn there is a core. There are cores within the titans as well. These individuals have been studying the core and reveal the doors leading to their lab. Something must have gone wrong - no one has returned. They will eventually run out of supplies and need them soon. The Goblin has tried to check in on them but didn’t have any success. HQ would have a key? But the party also has a locksmith… Their lab is the size of a reasonably sized building - one level - dozen rooms total with hallways in between. There is still light within the space.
The Titan Core has not been dangerous. There were readings, samples, and zero problems to date. The core still holds a magical charge to this day. There is a dent in the core by the original attack from the Dawnbringer. The core is in two pieces? - one of the pieces in the park. The first part was taken to the main city of Ciaus. Bolan wanted to do something new in the last few weeks. They’re worried the members within the lab might not be alive but there’s a chance. Alize warns the party to return if something strange happens and to return immediately. She’s heard strange sounds coming from the lab. It was more like mumbling - groaning?
Vaelyn will be lockpicking the door into the lab. Schmead gives Jasiri the initiative blessing and Hazel and Excalibur darkvision.
[Into the Lab] There is a long singular hallway before everyone. The lights are fluorescent and everything is very bright and a strange consistent hum comes from the strange mechanisms coming from the lab.
The door is locked and Vaelyn begins to lockpick it yet he unfortunately fails. They decide to knock before breaking it down. Jasiri pounds through the door and breaks through after a few hits. The echoes ring up and down the hallway, causing the party’s ears to ring. On the other side of the door is a small room. There is a soft skitter coming from a door adjacent to the doorway. Within the room are digital screens with ten names written with schedules. It keeps track of who is on site and who is not. All names show ‘out’. They recognize Bolan, Frizzle, and Matthew. Underneath the screens are shelves with lab safety gear. There are 8 coats - 4 hooks missing jackets. Spare goggles, etc. They go through the door and are brought to another door that’s barricaded. The party knocks but no one answers. Hazel shifts into a spider and slips under the door to remove the barricade but unfortunately is unable to do it quietly. Down another corridor, Torren and Vaelyn inspect a room and are brought face to face with three shadow-like imp creatures. They resemble the same energy of the titan spawn the party encountered in Port Revelry. When they’re destroyed, they burst into a strange smoke-like substance. After the encounter, they manage to defeat all the creatures and clear away the smoke. Schmead is able to confirm they are a part of the spawn - These are called meffits. They are associated with certain titans. This kind, he’s unsure. There are other kinds involved with the elements. None of the ones the party encountered are associated with an element. These are filler - there are swarms of titan spawns (10s of Thousands) but the party only saw 8.
Investigating the first room the party found the imps. Torren starts to look at the computer. Investigating the lab further, Torren discovers a preserved piece of flesh from Gigas. It looks like they were doing various tests to determine vulnerabilities to expose weaknesses. It’s odd they’ve managed to preserve the piece of flesh when it’s been 20 years since the attack. Excalibur is able to find datapads with information they’ve collected - the Titans seem to be resistant to piercing/slashing/bludgeoning. It’s weak to magic and base elements. NOTE - Spells Scrolls are capable of being digitized and can be found on datapads.
Continuing onward, there is a storage room in the back - There are misc supplies like a bunch of park repair supplies. There is an old plaque that usually goes on the statues of the Dawnbringer, there’s another name - a ninth name - Lucas Ralleigh. Jasiri hugs Torren.
Furthering their search through the lab. Jasiri, Vaelyn, and Hazel are stuck to the floor and oily bindings restrain them. Strange leathery creatures ascend from the ceiling towards them. Schmead kills one with the great shortsword of courage. This is Schmead’s first kill. Vaelyn manages to kill a creature and from the center of his chest a blast of energy emerges and he grows hungrier.
[Insert meme here]
The party reveals many strange abilities like Vaelyn’s dark energy from his chest emerging, climbing the walls. Hazel casting her cure wounds to dissolve and rot the creature away in a single grasp, along with Jasiri using holy magic.
The party finds a main control room but they’re unsure of what the tech is doing. Jasiri asks Vaelyn about his condition and whether or not he’s going to finally tell the party soon. They’re going to start asking questions…
They find another door and hear the sounds of the researchers. The researchers reveal there were flying imps, strange goblin-like creatures, and a specter beholder. These creatures tend to accompany titans.
The party groups inside of the room with the researchers….