- Ianto returned to consciousness at the Redhawk Arms headquarters, her wounds healed. Her appearance was permanently altered—her facial features, though not unrecognizable, had subtly changed; her frame had slimmed and lengthened and her hair, formerly black, was now auburn. Seemingly unperturbed by the experience, she offered no explanation for her miraculous resurrection.
- CEO Rearden Jens, having heard the story of what happened in the ruins, demanded that The Party return to the site and secure it in hopes of turning a profit. He released Marcus Jens, Maximilian Cleona, and Terath Val’dren from confinement for this purpose; the Party, back together again, set out almost immediately with a contingent of Redhawk mercenaries.
- Investigating the farm near the buried ruins, the Party found an old woman in a state of some confusion; a few questions were enough to indicate that her mind had been tampered with, most likely by the Psions.
- Leaving the Redhawk mercenaries to guard the entrance, the Party entered the ruins once again by the now-exposed underground passage. When they reached the large room in which they had killed the Psions, the Party was blocked by rival mercenaries attempting to claim the site for themselves; after a heated argument, the mercenaries attacked. The Party dispatched them with little trouble and continued onwards.
- In the bowels of the ruins—much deeper underground—the Party discovered an enormous and complex machine, apparently still in working order but bearing signs of recent tampering. (Close investigation led them to believe that it had been used to power the “portal” used by the Psions.) Strange writing covered parts of the machine; Ianto surprised the others by insisting that the writing was Dwarven and that she could read it. The others were highly skeptical of this claim—understandable given that the Dwarves had disappeared thousands of years ago and that their language was known only to the most learned of scholars, and then only in fragments—but Ianto, as always, produced results. After a few moments of tinkering, she was able to activate and run the machine.
- The main feature of the machine was a large, clear dome; when activated, a creature with coppery green skin materialized within. No member of the Party was able to recognize the creature, but it was vaguely humanoid and looked intelligent. The machine—to the horror of all present—proceeded to immobilize the creature and then “convert” it wholly into some sort of light or energy in what appeared to be an agonizingly painful process.
- Without warning, Oaklav Mel-Gooma stepped forward and touched his ring, shining with a golden light, to the machine. As the light began to spread across the machine, each member of the Party heard a single word in their minds: “Run.” They pelted back up the passage and out into the air, shouting to the Redhawk guards to get away from the entrance. Moments later, the earth erupted in a tremendous explosion, leaving behind a charred sinkhole in the otherwise unblemished countryside.
The Lost Continent
Back to the Ruins
Rearden demands an investigation of the mysterious ruins