Saturday, July 30, 2016

Wyck's Hollow

The opening beyond the Red Door leads to a set of stairs that goes down for what feels like 20 feet. The walls are plastered brick that have been painted more than a few times. No light is visible .

The stairs end at a pair of large, wooden, double-doors. They are not locked but the hinges squeak with the sound of abandoned use and rust.

Above the door, written in chalk is the phrase, "Speak Friend and Enter".

Maglock and Kumo discovered an old wooden crate full of tools. Among the contents were:

  1. Iron Crowbar
    1. Scratched into the surface of the bar was "He who pulleth the bar from the box, he shall be King". However, the word 'King' was scratched through and in its place was written, shakily, "D E A _ " The last letter wasn't finished. 
  2. Flashlight
    1. The flashlight was very old school but worked. 
  3. Road Flare
    1. Was pocketed by Kumo

Beyond the double doors, a set of winding stairs, wrought-iron and decorative by the looks of them, descend for another forty feet - a light source visible at the bottom. The walls around the stairs are rough-hewn stone.

  1. Maglock used the crowbar to loosen one of the step plates. This caused the whole structure to become moderately less stable. 


The light source is a burning torch set into a hand-forged wall sconce. Beyond it lies a tunnel that curves around to the right with a slightly downward grade. Though not true stairs, it eventually connects to a chamber.

The party found several items which suggested that "Future Wyck" might have lived there at one time.

  1. A painting of Zoe on the wall.
  2. Several sketchbooks in the small shelves next to the tunnel (numbering on the spine started in the 40's). 


The party met Flicker Emberheart of the Tall-Flame Clan, a flame sprite which lived on a candle in the room. She looked at Wyck and said that he shouldn't be there. That "HE" wouldn't like it. She urged the party to flea once the upstairs door was heard to open.

  1. Zoe left a gift of matches for "Flick" before they left. 

The chamber that is above the 'nook' is something of a laboratory with windows that look out over a huge, lush forest.
After another revolution or two and the tunnel opens into a smithy of sorts. The forge sits in the 'center' of the room with shelves and tables set in multiple places around the area. What's more impressive for this chamber, however, is the large 'window' in the corner beside the forge that looks out onto what appears to be an underground waterfall. The waterfall chamber glows with a faint blue-white light reminiscent of moon light and will have the occasional cool breeze wafting in.

  1. Kumo discovered a hammer which disturbed her. 



The tunnel empties out onto a small stone ledge which brushes against a deep pool created by the waterfall. The waters churn and rumble under the falls but by the time the waves reach the stone of the ledge they have calmed to a still, mirror-like reflection of the unknown light source above. Crystal fragments line the wall here and there - each one channeling light from elsewhere like fiber-optic cables.


  1. A boat of shaped bones was anchored on the shore which they used to escape.
  2. The beach was covered by small shards of blue crystal (presumably fallen from the ceiling and washed ashore). 
    1. The shards are roughly palm-sized and about as thick as two-fingers. 
  3. They saw a monstrous creature stick its head out of the window from the forge chamber and the six-legged, croco-dragon chased after them down the stairs. 
  4.  

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