A Meeting with Galudu

Event	Reward
Reaching the 9th level of Gauntlight	30xp
Making peaceful contact with Galudu	15xp
Providing the Crimson Fulcrum Lens to Szek	15xp
Learning the Drow are using game to feed the Demon	15xp
Learning about the Fulcrum Lattice	15xp

Progress Towards 10: 260/800

The session opened with a recap for returning player Aydin (Brokk), catching him up on events he'd missed: the second defeat of the Gug Urthagul, the acquisition of the crimson lens, the Caligni cultists on level 8 latching onto Nilos as a prophet after their Gug-god died, and the party's devil contract with Szek to deliver the lens in exchange for neutralizing the devil Urevian. With context established, the group descended the spiral staircase to the 9th level of Gauntlight, where they found a small stone structure attached to a tunnel. Opening the door on a room of armed Caligni, they quickly shut it again — though not before Normac caught a fleeting vision of Belcora in the stairwell behind them, suffering 40 mental damage from a psychic assault despite spending a hero point.

After a tense minute of silence, Nilos knocked and negotiated entry by invoking Dulac's name and presenting his sealed letter. The party was admitted and met Galudu, Dulac's sister and leader of a splinter Caligni faction. She explained that her group had been driven from the Dark Lands, had ousted a Drow scouting post to occupy this lodge, and desperately wanted to leave before the Drow counterattacked. She revealed two paths deeper into the Dark Lands: west, where a black dragon killed several of her scouts and still holds a stolen greater cloak of illusion; and south, where a Derghodaemon lurks in misty shadow — and where the Drow maintain a substantial stronghold. Galudu confirmed she and her ghosts would fight alongside the party if they helped kill the dragon, which she called the only viable escape route. She also revealed that Drow periodically surface to collect game animals, which they feed to the demon — suggesting a working relationship between the Drow and the creature.

The party made the five-hour trek back to the surface, stopping first at Volluk's old office. Jaeros combed through the lensmaker's papers and determined the notes referenced the Whispering Reeds — Nimbloth's holy text — confirming the lenses are engineered to channel Nimbloth, the "Empty Death," a god who hunts souls at the River of the Afterlife. In the lens workshop two floors up, Inquio examined partial prototypes and, combined with a Society check by Jaeros, the party identified the device they're assembling: the Fulcrum Lattice, a three-lens array in descending size. Their crimson lens is the largest. Nilos used psychometric resonance on it and sensed pride from the Drow Mullik and intense focused purpose from Urthagul the Gug, suggesting both were intimately tied to the lens's creation and use.

Back in Otari, Jaeros spent an evening at the Dawnflower Library researching the Derghodaemon with Vandy Banderdash. He learned it is a fast, predatory creature with a paralyzing gaze, Dimension Door mobility, demonic telepathy, and a brutally high Reflex save — it prefers to wear prey down and eat them alive. Meanwhile, Nilos canvassed local shops for acid resistance potions or recipes, finding none — vendors pointed toward Absalom. The session concluded when Szek materialized in the party's rooms at the Rowdy Rockfish, collected the crimson lens per their contract, and revealed her plan: to embed a shard of Nimbloth's essence into Urevian as revenge for what he did to her. She then pitched two new devil contracts — a blood-taking pact (persistent bleed on all strikes at the cost of halved natural healing) and a retribution pact (+1 to attack creatures that hurt you, but you must kill every creature you wound within 24 hours or gain the Doomed condition). Brokk was tempted by the first contract but was talked down by the party. Both were declined. Szek departed through a portal, promising to return the lens by the following evening.