A16: Why Can’t I Remember

🌿 A16: Why Can’t I Remember — Into the Spine of Sotek

The moss came first.

Lord Finrian called it a test—Nurgle’s latest attempt to perfect the creeping death. It devoured cities, corrupted flesh, and left only madness in its wake. Fire slowed it but never cured it. “If you touch it,” Finrian warned grimly, “cut that hand off.” Quettza had already fallen, overrun by skaven and worse. The Cauldron of a Thousand Poxes was no longer legend—it was a warning.

Even the orcs, once defiant and proud, came to the elven Citadel of Dusk gates seeking sanctuary. Their numbers had thinned, their shamans desperate. Moss had no allegiance. It consumed all.

⚔️ The Broken Sword and the War of the Defiled

Before the moss, there was prophecy. A lizard hero once wielded the sacred blade Witherbane in the War of the Defiled, where lizardmen and skaven clashed beneath the chaos gate. But when the alliance fractured, the hero shattered his own sword in defiance of fate. He refused to believe the land would fall.

It did.

🏞️ Across the Plains to the Mines of the Bearded Skulls

Lord Finrian joined our quest with 20 elven warriors. For five days we crossed the plains in silence, the wind whispering through golden grass. At the foothills, the elves departed—bound by treaty with the Lizardmen never to cross the mountains. Then came the chameleon skinks, silent watchers in the trees. Once Ranulf spoke of the Slaan’s great plan, the skinks agreed to guide us into the Spine of Sotek where the mine was located.

🐝 Trials in the Mountains

The climb was brutal. Drago, ever unlucky, stepped on a rotted log and unleashed a swarm of wasps. Smoke and torchlight calmed them, but not before his skin bloomed with welts. We pressed on.

On the third day, we reached a cauldron valley. A hundred orcs chanted around an altar where one of their own was being sacrificed. Lemmy’s spyglass revealed moss-infected warriors and corpses strewn near a dwarven gate. But it was the granite veins—subtly flawed—that led us to a hidden entrance.

🛡️ The Singing Skulls and the Ghost King

Inside the dwarven mine, we followed the sound of ancient song to a chamber of stacked bearded skulls. We sang in reverence, and the Dwarven King appeared on his throne. Lemmy held up the map etched in ancient runes that revealed directions to Quettza—but the words faded from memory, protected by a lizard spell.

Only a gem in the dungeon could anchor the translation. Guarded by ghostly skaven wights, the dungeon tested our resolve. Lemmy retrieved the gem and tossed it to Krueger, who fled through the spectral swarm. The wights did not attack unless provoked or passed through. Back in the throne room, the ghosts retreated at the presence of the dwarves. While the rest sang along with the dwarves, Lemmy fashioned a device to hold the gem before his eyes—memory preserved.

🌊 Riverbound and Ley-Line Guided

We slipped past the orcs and reached the river. A raft carried us for three days through mist and shadow. Where the ley-lines pulsed strongest, we came ashore. Two more days north, following the magical veins of the earth, and we would reach the crater. Would we find Quettza? Legend and the Slaan “Great Plan” said so.

NEXT SESSION: A17 – The Final Reckoning