After the Rats and the Rat Ogre?

A crumbling shaft leads down to a forgotten laboratory, surviving alchemical equipment, a lime-green gem and a strangely cold brass bell.

Party: Asuran · Halen · Karl · Toby
Location: Dwarven Underways
Findings: Alchemical Flasks · Lime-Green Gem · Brass Bell

← Day 2: The Marsh of Forgotten Trials

✧ Key Findings

01Forgotten LaboratoryPossibly dwarven in origin, though signs suggested later ratfolk use. 02Alchemical FlasksA few filthy but usable vessels survived intact. 03Lime-Green GemSickly green and faintly pulsing in lantern light. 04Brass BellStrangely cold, with a dull and heavy tone.

The rope down

The Descent

We descended again, following the tunnel as it narrowed and bent, until it led to a chamber reachable only by a rope down a crumbling shaft.

Asuran alone on a rope, lantern in hand, being lowered through a crumbling shaft into the abandoned laboratory — Asuran is lowered alone through the crumbling shaft to investigate the abandoned laboratory below.

The air was dry and heavy with dust. Below waited a room forgotten by time—a laboratory of sorts, perhaps once dwarven, though the smell of fur and decay hinted otherwise.

“A wererat lab,” Toby muttered, half-joking, half-believing.

Whatever it had once been, it was long dead.

The forgotten room

The Laboratory

The forgotten laboratory with alchemical glassware, a lime-green gem and brass bell — Asuran uncovers intact flasks, the lime-green gem and the cold brass bell.

Stone benches lined the chamber, fitted with rusted clamps and surrounded by shattered glass—the remains of work better left unremembered.

Asuran searched through the wreckage carefully and thoroughly, testing what remained rather than trusting appearances.

What survived

The Findings

A few alchemical flasks survived intact. They were filthy, but still usable.

Among them lay a sickly lime-green gem that seemed to pulse faintly whenever the lantern caught it.

There was also a small brass bell, strangely cold to the touch. When rung, its tone was dull and heavy.

Nothing else of worth. A dead end in every sense.

Back the way they came

Return to the Ratmen Cavern

We climbed back up, brushing the dust from our gear, and retraced our steps past the cavern of ratmen.

Asuran, Karl, Toby and Halen move cautiously along a wet cavern ledge while ratmen watch from distant scaffolds, Halen carrying his practical two-handed greatsword — The party moves quietly past the watching ratmen cavern.

Their whispering still echoed faintly from below.