Upon our arrival, Redtooth seems impressed – almost as though she didn’t expect us to return. To be fair, she’d sent war parties that way before, never to return. And I am certainly no combatant.

Our new plan is to see Dinvaya, and then head to the foundry/forge for our gear. Dinvaya is currently working on a new robot guardian. This one however, has saw hands. It certainly looks … cutting edge.

When we tell her what happened she tells us that it caused an enormous rumble that could be felt through Scrapwall and that people are talking about it. It’s probably a good idea that those talking know who’s responsible. And while we were gone, she had thought a bit more on the haunted/otherworldly aspect of those “caves” and it reminded her of this “haunted” mist on the other side of town – that veritably creepy mist we decided to not look into when we first arrived to Scrapwall. Now? Seems worth investigating and purging the area of any other aberrations.

Tenlow buffs himself shamelessly at Dinvayas. We’re all covered in dust, but that’s just not his style. After a bit he’s squeaky clean, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that it seemed like he spent more times in a certain area with that buffer than others.

Before we leave Dinvaya, we talk about these access cards, and show her the now broken white one with the red stripe. There may be a chance she can repair or perhaps duplicate it, so we leave it with her and a hopefully helpful data dump related to it.

Back in Scrapwall, it’s clear that our scrapworth is increasing – people look at us with either fear or respect. At the forge, we talk to the young Whiskerfits, regaling him with tales of our latest exploits and then head back to see his boss. In short, we’re short on the needed cash – even with my offer to make gear masterwork for him – and tell him of our plans to clear the scourge in the mist just outside of town. Considering the good we’ve done for the area, he decides that we’ll be square with the cash we give him if we take care of the evil in the mists. Done and done.

With some of with new gear in hand, we decide to have a bit of an eat and drink, heal up, and rest for tomorrow’s events.

We head out in the morning, and in certain areas we notice the looks of deference fade and become quite unfriendly. These must be ones loyal to the Lords of Rust. They look tough, but not mutilated like the Smilers – more like seasoned veterans. One steps up Aakpesh. He tells us that we don’t belong here, and even though this heavy is taller than Aakpesh (which is quite uncommon), Aakpesh tells him that perhaps we do. After some quick recon, we see there are 15 or so of them, and whisper to Aak that this isn’t the time.

We leave. Slowly.

With that route blocked, we go through the manticorridor again. On the other end, in the cave where we spent a few nights, is a baby manticore that hisses at us and scoots further back. Tenlow ofers up food scraps trying to coax it, with limited success – it runs up, grabs the food, and runs back.

Ahead, the misty corridor. It’s a long, narrow, and winding corridor like the manticorridor, but a bit wider. And like the “caves” there’s an almost prevasive sense of foreboding in the chilly, clammy mist. I look up to the top of this sort of 40 foot high canyon and am luckily able to give almost everyone enough advance warning to avoid the scrapalanche that comes down ahead of us. I say almost everyone, because Preston gets hit square in the mouth with scrap. He points up to the edge and all-but-undecipherably says that somethings up there.

We need to move, now. The cliff though is too steep and the valley floor is far less steep (but getting steeper), and is slick. We quickly decide the floor is slightly safer and hustle ahead. We make it to the far end of valley without further injury, despite the difficult terrain. *Roll initiative*

Whoosh! Things start flying at us, and at least I am being bombarded with those bad feelings from the caves. Preston is apparently affected strongly, and disappears from the group. Tenlow is able to detect more than one being, whatever they are. Whatever scared Preston off has done the same to Aakpesh, and he runs off in another direction. From seemingly out of nowhere, a piece of debris comes flying at me and hits me. Needing everyone we have, I cast Remove Fear on both Aakpesh and Preston – both of whom are ~15 feet from me, and then hide find cover behind Vayu.

Tenlow is able to engage some sort of fan and (temporarily) push back the mist. When he does, we see a faint flickering for just the briefest of moments. But, the briefest of moments is all Preston needs at times – he’d been waiting and was able to fire off a crossbow bolt immediately. His bolt goes through what looks like an incorporeal skull. I don’t know how (he rolled a Nat20!), but he somehow does something to make it erupt in screams most terrible. Aakpesh takes the opportunity to close on our foe and connects with his new weapon. He almost didn’t at all – he seemed to lose his footing in the slick mist for a moment, but was able to adjust (party mulligan). When he connects, the skull gives out an even louder and unholy shriek as it is torn from its moorings and ricochets around the area. With the skull separated from its incorporeal body, that which is dead can never die will never return.

Knowing there’s a second and not wanting to wait for a lucky glimpse, I cast invisibility purge. The second poltergeist is right by Vayu! The body may now be visible, but it’s still incorporeal. This is however not an issue for Vayu viciously hits it twice, and it lands on one of Preston’s arrows, finally laid to rest.

Upon searching the area, we find a small bottle with stopper. It’s magical, and not poison. Oil of Invisibility.

We heal up a bit and head on up valley, quickly coming across a sort of vessel of sorts, buried in rubble and surrounded by mist. Perhaps it could even be the source of the mist. The terrain is still difficult (rubble), and its doors are hanging open. Well, partially hanging open, partially torn open. It reminds us of the ship under torch.

Vayu and Aakpesh push the doors open a bit more, and we go in. The interior is dark and moldy, but machined. It’s dark, and before casting (or perhaps because of) I manage to scrape myself. I drive back the dark by casting Daylight on my Symbol of Sarenrae. We peer through the first door of the hallway we’re in, and see a room full of mess and decay.

*Roll initiative against more poltergeists. (wait to roll next sess.)*

Session Date: 09/22/2016 XP: 360
Title: Opeth – In Mist She Was Standing