%% date:: [[2026-08-23]] %% # [[126_20260823 Subject 9751 Confirmed]] ![[126_20260823.svg]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[126_20260823 Subject 9751 Confirmed]] > The party opens [[Volluk Azrinae]]'s trapped door — [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]] triggers it with his Soul Gem Lore, and [[Grumblebum|Grumble]] pushes into the workshop beyond. Inside, Volluk waits among 21 soul gems, an unfinished four-cradle cart, and hidden gun emplacements in the walls. He names five subjects present, and Grumble senses that all but Bond's newly-inserted gem hold dwarven souls — the very crime he's sworn to avenge. Volluk isn't hostile, just afraid and lonely: he wants a mind to talk to and help with his research. > Questioned about the gems, Volluk explains dwarves resist personality degradation better than other races, and that confinement accidentally preserves souls rather than harming them — though he's never tried reversing the process. He's more troubled by [[Belcorra]]'s silence: no emissary in weeks, and he's stuck on the [[The Fulcrum Lenses|Fulcrum Lattice]] she tasked him with, unable to make it work without her guidance. He also wants a new kind of soul receptacle — a living one — which could matter for [[Zuhri]] and [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]]. [[Graveknight Armor|Sythra]]'s continued presence on the level, he says, is interrupting his work. He lets the party go and invites them to return. ^summary %% ## Video [Video]() %% --- ## Recap ![[ttrpgs/The Undead Unkillers/125_20260816 Gravesquire#^summary]] --- ## Log - We're trying to open the door. There are three ways [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]] can do this: - Say the right command word - Use a soul gem as a key in the slot - Try to disarm or bypass the mechanism using soul gem/mechanism skill. - Bond puts one soul gem in. Something shifts inside but the door doesn't open. We hear some noises from the distance... Bond uses his Soul Gem Lore skill and the door opens. "Subject 9751 confirmed." (9751 was also the target that requires line of sight.) [[Grumblebum|Grumble]] pushes past everyone and opens the door. It smells like damp, turned earth and ozone. It's a busy workshop. Aside from machinery, there are chains in the scenery suspending something vaguely humanoid that is not moving. It's armored. One armor doesn't have hands. The other hand looks normal in the shadows. It's pitch black but everyone can see in the dark. There are small constructs. We see [[Volluk Azrinae]] on the north side of the bench, waiting for us. It's like he's journalling. There are 21 soul gems hanging on the walls. The soul gem that Bond just put in goes through a ramp and ends up on the same grid too. As Grumble enters through the door, the soul gems he has start humming too. Volluk welcomes us as subjects: - 9751 - 9525 - 9319 - 9301 - 9307 Volluk doesn't seem to be hostile but the slight movement of his worms indicates he's afraid of us. Grumble has a feeling that all the soul gems except the one that Bond used are dwarves. Volluk says that dwarves have proven to be resilient to the personality degradation that happens over time. They have hope for far longer than other races. They stay in the soul gem and remain viable through time. I ask him how he keeps souls viable and whether the process is reversible. - The viability of the soul gem is an accidental benefit of the confinement. For some reason, souls seem to degrade normally but when put in a soul gem, it protects the souls from that degradation. There's also something here that's a cart of some sort, man-sized. It has wheels, four stands as if to hold four things on top of it in a row. It doesn't look like it's complete. It's the only thing that's unfinished in the room. He doesn't want to let us in the room. He wants answers to his theories. He wants a mind that he can talk to. He wants help creating his projects. We look at Bond... who says he's interested in helping. Volluk says [[Graveknight Armor|Sythra]]'s work is interrupting his work. Volluk has never tried to reverse the process so he doesn't know if it's possible. I ask him what his purpose is. Why is he learning about soul gems for? - He's worried about [[Belcorra]]. She hasn't sent her emissary in weeks. He's hurt emotionally that Belcorra isn't checking up on his work anymore. - There seems to be a problem with the [[The Fulcrum Lenses|Fulcrum Lattice]] that he was tasked to create for Belcorra. He can't seem to make it work and Belcorra won't answer him to give him more information so he's doing what he can, but he's in the dark. It's been a month or so. How long do souls last in there? He has some that last 500+ years. He needs another soul receptacle, a living one: something that holds the soul outside the body but remains intact. He's looking for a fresh new way of storing souls. (Note for [[Zuhri]]: this could be the relational bond that she has with [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] rather than a confinement-based one.) He says we're welcome to visit him again. There are gun emplacements hidden in the wall that could swing open. %% ## Excalidraw Data ### Text Elements ### Drawing ```json {"type":"excalidraw","version":2,"source":"https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/releases/tag/2.0.25","elements":[],"appState":{"theme":"dark","gridSize":null,"viewBackgroundColor":"#ffffff"}} ``` %% ## Granola ### Summary ![[plugins/Granola/Let’s Play Abomination Vaults]] ### Transcript [[plugins/Granola/Transcripts/Let’s Play Abomination Vaults-transcript|Let’s Play Abomination Vaults-transcript]]