Flush with loot, the party made good use of two weeks for resting, carousing and such. Longstream made a point of training again, gaining even more fighting prowess. Ghevont, likewise, went to Lah’s Retreat for further study.
A Visit to Slateholm
Aderian, Longstream, Tienarth and Ferris rode to Slateholm, primarily to browse wares and Benebil’s shop. Longstream laid down 3,500 gp for a magical shortbow, the so-named Lambridil’s Law. Aderian purchased a potion of gaseous form for 400 gp.
Business complete, Longstream and Aderian headed to the Dancing Toad. Revelers spilled into the street as wenches offered small cakes in honor of Jolar’s birthday. The two of them ordered ale. Aderian enjoyed the cake, but found himself craving another. Longstream, somewhat atypically, stuffed the cake in his pocket. Despite a nagging craving for a second cake, that one satisfied and Aderian felt no further desire.
Meanwhile, Ferris sat at the docks, nose in his alchemy book. Tienarth spent time gazing into his crystal ball. First, he searched for the missing rubies that fit in Ghevont’s mirror. Being somewhat acquainted with the jewels two years hence, he located them with ease. They lay on a shelf among other treasure, dimly lit by sunlight around a door. They guessed the rubies still remained at Morgansfort.
Tienarth also attempted to find the bones of St. Jaludi mentioned by Lah as being down a well in Slateholm. While he did feel he located the bones, the scene was completely black, providing little value for actually locating the objects.
Ten Elves Arrive
Back at the homestead, the party answered a knock at the door from the elf cleric Rellora. Month’s ago, they granted her wish to leave her ancestral tomb undisturbed. She and nine other elves came to join the effort to liberate Tosasth. She also came to relate the anger of the dwarf Dacha who observed the party loading a wagon with gold bars recovered from his mine. The party accepted the new members and made plans to head to the mine once again.
Azrak, flush with gold, declined to join them. He headed to St. Orlan to spend his money on games of chance and kegs of ale. They left the mercurial dwarf to his devices.
The mine elevator remained ruined, but a rope attached to an iron spike served nearly as well. Some short conversation played out about the potential for treachery on the part of the dwarf. Ferris reasoned that even if he cut the rope, his climbing skills meant he could reattach it with little trouble.
Sunken Tower
The crossed through the gallery, up the ladder and into the tunnel marked with profane marking in charcoal. The moaning steadily grew louder as they they walked for nearly a mile down a dwarven path. Presently, the passage gave way to a vast cavern cloaked in inky darkness. A vague shape could be seen just out of clear eyesight. The path turned to hug the wall of the cavern, rough stairs descending as it curled to the left.
The stairs gave way to a level path. They came to a place where a monstrous boulder formed a bridge between the path and roof of a tower. Ferris climbed over the rock and jumped down. Aside from dust and a few rocks, the area was barren. A short wall traced a jagged path around the perimeter of the alien architecture they attributed to dwarves. Rellora guessed the work to be older than dwarves.
A small building with double doors stood in a central area. The doors pulled open easily to reveal stairs going down. After one flight, they came to a landing offering two more doors. The stairs also continued down. They opted for the doors and found a Y-shaped room with doors down each branch. Also, two deep shafts were completely dark.
The first door Aderian tried opened to reveal a room with more doors and plenty of indistinguishable debris, perhaps pieces of broken furniture. Left intact were metal urns they turned over to find were filled with coins. From them, they took the gold and electrum pieces and poured them into Ghevont’s magic bag. Aderian grabbed a handful of ornamental stones. He and longstream also donned old, green cloaks they found in an unlocked closet.
Mysterious Cards
Next to the urns, they found an unusual card made of green crystal. They quickly matched the card to a slot under a handled for a door that would not open. They observed the perfect craftsmanship of the walls and doors. Despite maximum efforts, none could budge the doors which showed no hinges. They concluded the doors must turn on vertical pins and they held fast with wizard lock spells.
Although the cards fit in the slots, the doors remained locked. Ferris could see easily no effort on this part could unlock the door. Aderian tried jamming his knife in the slot and heard a crunching sound. Giving up the locked doors, they moved to rooms with unlocked doors. Through one they found more coins, which were smooth and unmarked, as were the others. They also found an altar and dish of ashes. Aderian poured holy water over the alter he concluded was evil.
Through another door, they faced a bone golem in a room where a hunter’s trophies had fallen onto the floor. Aderian attempted casting his net over the golem to little effect. A short battle ensued, and soon the golem’s bones joined the rest of bones piled up in the room. Nothing of obvious value turned up after a quick search.
Next, they examined a room with a large window facing out into the darkness that shrouded the entire edifice. Water dripped slowly onto a padded chair. Beside it rested a magic user scroll held down by a candlestick. Tienarth stuff it in his backpack.
Many doors they tried were locked, none accepting what they came to call the green key in a shape of a card. Six doors lead from the main lobby area and they tried most of them. Even when getting past the first door to what they came to understand were essentially symmetric apartments, many of the inner doors would not budge or respond to the green key.
How did this building get to be in a giant, dark cavern far below ground, they wondered aloud. Did it sink to the ground? Ghevont expressed a desire to leave such an evil place, a mere distraction from their main quest. Aderian argued successfully for remaining and making a full exploration, his argument primarily being the evidence of gold already found.
Having found many coins, they considered the recovery effort with them being so far away from the mine entrance. Ghevont’s bag was full. They reasoned the loot could be stashed for a return trip with proper transport containers.
In another apartment, they found a nearly-ruined book atop a pile of loose papers. The papers they though were for self-cleaning, owing to the strong odor of manure. The book was a manual on sketching that one of the elves took up.
Ghevont opened a closet from which a skeleton tumbled and fell apart around him. He contemplated a spell to converse with the dead body, but discarded the idea. A spell to detect magic revealed magic glowing from every doorway.
The forth apartment they entered they found four iron statues guarding a locked cabinet. When Ferris gained entry, the statues began marching forward and into battle. Though hearty, the statues eventually were busted into pieces.
Inside the cabinet was more gold and a magical longsword taken up by Aderian. This last fact they knew thanks to Ghevont’s spell. The handle of the sword was shaped like a fish, the blade coming out of the mouth. It glowed blue when held.
The day had dragged on. They considered retreating to one of the rooms to rest.
Endnotes
- Treasure:
- 2,700 gp
- 800 ep
- 22 ornamental stones
- Magic user scroll (Room 1-13)
- Kills
- Bone Golem 945 xp
- 4 Iron Living Statues 1120 xp
- Characters
- Tienarth/Tre
- Aderian/Jason
- Ferris/Henry
- Longstream/Bob
- Ghevont/Jeff
- Virtues: none
- Vices: none