Secrets of The Swallowed City

"Secrets of The Swallowed City" (Ses 06) is the sixth session of The Exiled Abyss. NovaTome now completely cursed plunges back into dark caves to discover Wilford's true nature.

Coffin Under The Statue
Our adventurers had recently discovered a key labeled statue hidden within the elect king’s private quarters. With the goblin-like decorations it there was no question that the key Inxibis had found had something to do with the key slot Jenaveve had uncovered. A link between the goblins and the elect king had been found. All that was left was to find Wilford’s true identity and get to the bottom of the curse.

Time was not on the side of our adventurers as Sog, the last available party member was turned into a bear. Everyone besides Jenaveve was now reliant on Ashe’s amulets. It was time for our adventurers to revisit The Swallowed City. Before they could make it to the statue, Sog had a poison dart in his arm. They were ambushed by two hidden figures who were later to be revealed as Ryevalene spies similar to the one that ambushed the party at the entrance of Gloverwood. Our party was injured by the strife and decided to rest in one of the huts. Unfortunately, Tiben fell asleep during their watch which led to a failed assassination attempt on bear Sog from another spy.

Sarya and Inxibis were able to capture this drow assassin before he could run off. Our adventurers did their best to try and shake information off of their capture, but it was soon discovered that the spy would rather die than betray his country. On this spy was a large bag with an odd symbol on it. Our adventurers managed to get back to the central part of the city.

The key slid in perfectly and turning it sounded gears as the statue slid forward. The statue uncovered a ladder. Down it was a secret resting place. It was a pleasant place that seemed untouched by time, the air old and preserved. Vines covered in blue and purple flowers stretched along the walls and a small square of grass covered the floor. The place seemed oddly familiar. It was in a similar style to the human room in The Fourth Tower. In the middle of the resting place was a coffin. The lid was inscribed with old empire language reading: “Krinkle, The Stolen Prince. XI Lord of Entropy”

Inside the coffin was a dark purple heart placed neatly in the center. It was quite suspicious and had vire written all over it. Out of curiosity, Sog decided to touch the heart. It wasn’t filled with vire, the heart was cold and felt like stone. A deep voice echoed within Sog’s ear seemingly in every language he was familiar with. “Take the heart.” it said. Our adventurers were debating if taking the heart was safe. Sog tried talking back to the heart, no response. Before our adventures could come to a decision, Eshes yelled out from outside, “We need to leave” and then rumbling shook out across The Swallowed City. Someone was blowing up the ruins. Whatever our adventurers had found, someone did want them out alive within their knowledge.

Krinkle
The entire city was crumbling around them. The scaffolding they were on was slowly falling towards the abyss. Our adventurers had to jump to the next scaffolding or they would die. With adrenaline pumping through their veins all of our adventurers were able to jump or fly over the gap. They had escaped with a heart and a name, but is it what they needed?

Our adventurers decided to confront Wilford with their newfound knowledge. They spoke “Krinkle” and Wilford's body started to condense and convulse. His true form emerged a small, no pupil, crazy looking goblin. The guards around also transformed back into hobgoblins and goblins. In a fit of rage, Krinkle commanded their death and took off. Six goblinoids surrounded our adventurers with arms at the ready. With a few critical blows, our adventurers were able to fend off Krinkle’s guard.

Afterward, our adventurers noticed their amulets had stopped glowing. Upon taking them off they were not animals. Krinkle name was the secret word Ashe had talked about. The Curse of Gloverwood had been broken. Exploring the now unguarded castle our adventurers had stumbled upon a dungeon that held a bloodied halfling.