When the party returned from Tosasth Valley, they caught up with Tienarth and Aderian, who had been preoccupied for some time before they’d left. Tienarth worked on enchanting Aderian’s shield and then a new suit of field plate armor. Meanwhile, Aderian helped Mirana develop her skills in exchange for a promise to forever announce, “Aderian, the Pirate King” whenever she attempted to turn undead.
Jerker, Ferris and Nate arrived in poor shape, all suffering from mummy rot. In addition, Nate was cursed with weakness. They considered going to Lah for healing, but Nate hesitated over religious differences. He worshiped Nebro, part of cult native to the western lands and disallowed in the main empire of the east. He explained a core belief that Nature is essentially good, but some aspects were created by evil gods or the father of the Anointed One.
Nate had faith that if he only dedicated himself even more to Nebro, his god would provide him the powers to heal himself and his friends. In prayer, he saw a vision of a new temple in St. Orlan dedicated to Nebro. His goal involved four steps: find or buy a plot of land, build a temple, bring in a minister or preacher, and recruit followers. Funds were collected and Nate set out to purchase a plot of land.
Ollie spent the first few days back home fetching the giant bat wings he’d given to the tanner. He now had two sheets of leather approximately 6.5′ x 3.25′. He intended to make a cloak out of them, somehow leveraging his skills in weaving, but after a few days, a party was assembling to go back to the valley in search of the quarry. He set the leather aside.
On 4/14, two new prospects joined the party heading for Tosasth. The first was a human mage called Udus. The other was a cleric of the Anointed One called Bart. They joined with Ollie, Saul, Tienarth, Hocuspo, Aderian, Mirana and Ekrax the mule. The eight adventures, mule and lion walked to the ruined tower. The next day, they began exploring more of the southern part of the valley (hexes 0509, 0508, 0409, 0608, 0507), finding no landmarks nor wild beasts. At the end of 4/16, they came upon a cavern near the road (hex 0607).
Birds twittered in the trees nearby, and Saul used magic to speak to them. They were happy little birds who knew of no trouble near the cavern. Bats were known to live in the cave and come out at night. While able to talk to animals, Saul’s turtle begged for attention. He also heard from his pet lion about how hungry he was and if he could eat the mule. Ekrax was not agreeable at all to being eaten. All this animal chatter was incomprehensible to anyone but Saul.
Aderian entered the cavern. In the darkness, he spied a figure holding a spear. The figure did not respond to his calls. At Tienarth’s urging, he backed into the cave while looking in a mirror. When he came upon the figure, he found it to be only a rusted spear leaning against a stalagmite. He turned to look down on a lake ringed by beautify formations. Soon, the rest joined him.
Ollie, displaying curiosity more associated with a halfling, sampled the water of the lake, which he found refreshing. Then, the stripped off his armor and clothes and swam out into the lake. The bottom seemed impossibly deep.
Near the old spear, a bone tube was found. Inside was a long scroll written in an unknown language. Udus studied it, and with the benefit of a spell, was able to begin reading it. It was a diary of a soldier stationed in Sebiliaha Cavern. The cave was an outpost in the distant past. Given all the good vibes felt in the cave, they slept there that night and were not disturbed.
In the morning (4/17), they explored all day (hexes 0506, 0407, 0408) and then spent the night at the river camp. In the morning, they searched again (hex 0306) and then, at long last, came upon the sandstone quarry (hex 0406). Some stone had been carved away in the ancient past, and some huge blocks remained. The quarry had much life in it and could be operated again. There was talk of using the stone to build a temple to Nebro.
The scouted around the quarry in the afternoon and encountered the only monster on their trip. A giant scorpion rushed out of the brush. It was surprised by the party momentarily, and they used this surprise to good effect. Bart landed a mighty blow of his hammer and Saul’s lion pounced to end the scorpion. Half a minute later, a group of adventures came through the same parting of the brush, seemingly on the trail of the scorpion.
The leader of this group was a cleric of Nebro named Coussan, a halfling. He made quick friends with Mirana and was interested in the idle talk about building a temple in the cavern they’d found a few days before. With Coussan were four others, a pair of fighters, a mage and a thief. The entire group celebrated over roasted scorpion meat.
The elimination of the scorpion helped to pacify the area around the quarry (d8).
On 4/20, they walked back to the tower. Ollie did his best to hang the scorpion claws from the wall of the tower. Coussan’s party headed for Tosasth city in search of treasure. The next day (4/21), they returned to St. Orlan.
Nate greeted them with the good news that he’d acquired a large plot in the northern odoriferous district outside the walls of St. Orlan, and after he had, Nebro granted him new powers. Although it would take some time, he was sure he could heal himself and the others of mummy rot, as well as removing the curse. It would only take praying and time (until 5/2).
End Notes
- Treasure
- Discovery of the sandstone quarry 6,000 xp
- Combat 280 xp
- Giant Scorpion 280 xp
- Characters 698 xp
- Aderian (lead) 775 xp
- Bart 768 xp
- Hocuspo 768 xp
- Mirana 698 xp
- Ollie 698 xp
- Saul and Lion (wilderness) 775 xp
- Tienarth 698 xp
- Udus 768 xp
- The discovery of Sebiliaha Cavern is worth 2,000 xp to anyone who shares the discovery in St. Orlan, but it was kept secret.