Entry 6: Back at the Fair and Into the Dark
After a good night's sleep and decent breakfast, Oslo had me get ready to teleport back to my "anchor". (I know Lily wouldn't appreciate being called that, but it's what that bracelet is). I readied my gear along with the identified items from Fennic's house. I had already decided to sell the earrings as they were designed to help with romancing women. Frankly, I think using magic to that end is distasteful and more than a little pathetic.
I stepped into the circle and found myself in a campsite with Lily, Fasa and one other person. Calling the man “tall” would be like calling an ocean a puddle. He was immense as was the axe at his side and the bow close at hand. He introduced himself as Shane and I didn't get the whole story about how Lily and Fasa met him. I believe it had something to do with alcohol and a booth at the Westbrook fair. (I still think I had a decent shot to win that poetry contest.)
Strangely, it was nighttime in Westbrook though it was morning where I had been. I am going to need to study a map when I returned to Oslo's next. Everyone settled down to sleep while I stayed up and studied the map that Lily had taken from Fennic's den. After familiarizing myself with the region and the hedge-wizard's notes, I spent the rest of the evening tending the fire and reading the tales in my books.
The next morning, we prepared to depart before the rest of the fair-goers. Shane wisely suggested this to avoid being harassed by bandits. Before leaving we visited a weapon merchant, a furry fellow named Winston. His stock was affordable and of varying quality, but I found him to be honest and fair. Lily purchased a new bow for herself and a nicely enchanted dirk that she could wield as a longsword. Shane was extremely interested in a particular bow with which he had a strangely intimate knowledge.
After we left the shop, I learned that he had actually been an experienced adventurer in this region but had been cursed to lose all of his training and expertise. The perpetrator of curse was a former friend of his by the name of Malachi. They had actually worked for Oslo and knew Fennic as well. I will have to ask him sometime if he knew my mother as well. I have a feeling we haven’t heard the last of this “Malachi” as he supposedly has carved out a significant portion of land to rule over.
We consulted Fennic’s map, which Lily had stored in her map case. (I really need to get one of those and probably a few more for scrolls as well.) We decided to head northwest to an area marked as “Iudor’s Gold Mine”. In my travels, I had heard of this person. He was a half-dwarf who frequented Westbrook on many occasions and always had paid for provisions with large amounts of gold dust. He hadn’t been seen in over 20 years, however and many tales indicated that he had come to a sinister end.
On the road to the north, we encountered some goblin bandits. They had dug a crude, but vicious, pit trap in the road and attacked us from the bushes. Shane crushed one with his axe before the creature had a chance to blink. I spotted a spellcaster of some kind and as I had my newly-acquired staff in hand, I rushed him to prevent his ability to cast. He was attempting a summoning and I recognized it as a dire monkey. Between my strike and another from Shane’s bow, the spell fizzled and he quickly fell. The others were taken down quickly by Lily and Fasa. The last remaining goblin tried to run, but shots from me and Shane, wounded it. Fasa chased it down and impaled it with his spear.
The ambushers had nothing of value, which I took as a good sign that they hadn’t had any successful ambushes yet. We made sure the pit was well marked and continued on our way. Soon afterwards, Shane spotted an old trail leading away from the road and we followed the path. At this point, I had been awake for more than 24 hours and fatigue was starting to set in. I did my best to ignore it as we looked for the site of the half-dwarf’s mine. Obviously I wasn’t doing so well on my efforts to stay aware because I almost walked right into a gaping hole. I did note the carved notches on either side of the square opening where a winch would have been secured, but there was no sign of the device. The hole was deep, further than the range of my floating torch spell which happens to be about 100 feet. Fasa and Lily tied their ropes together and she went down into the darkness.
After making sure it was clear, the rest of us went down as well. Water covered the floor, only a few inches deep but enough to make out feet unpleasantly wet. I will never get accustomed to how much moisture there is in this part of the world. Tunnels led off in three directions and we took the one to our left. Moving as stealthily as possible on ankle-deep water, we found a partially dug-out room with a vein of gold in the wall. Taking up an old mining pick, Fasa took a few swings and managed to break off a few chunks of ore before the pick broke. Seeing nothing of interest, we headed back to a different passage which ended at a massive stone door.
After some careful work from the others, they managed to open the door, which was barred from the inside. We found a room which was obviously belonged to Iudor and judging from the body in the bed, it was also his tomb. The skeletal figure, taller than most dwarves, but extremely broad for a human, was killed while he slept. Tattered blankets stained with old blood, still covered the body. There was little of interest in the room, some barrels filled with sugar, flour, sand (for bathing in the style that desert nomads used) and water, judging by the crusted scum on the bottom of the container. I did find the man’s journal hidden in the sand barrel. Lily found some dispatch letters in the mattress and Fasa spotted two secret doors and one of them (which had been locked and trapped) led outside.
At this point, I was literally swaying on my feet. We secured the room, lit a fire in the hearth and within minutes I was sleeping. Now it is the next morning (I assume – it is difficult to tell while being underground) and we are preparing to explore the rest of Iudur’s operation. Hopefully today will be productive.
Entry 7: Investigation and Discovery
After waking and having a cold breakfast of trail rations, we continued to explore the rest of the mine, such as it was. The second secret passage leading out of Iudur’s room opened immediately on a pit trap. Avoiding that, the narrow corridor led to a storage room. In addition to some intact mining tools, a small kiln and some clothing, we found a large finely made chest with an even more finely-made lock. Lily produced a set of keys (I honestly have no idea where she found those) and opened the chest.
Inside was not the treasure we were hoping for, but still treasure just the same: two scrolls, three carefully-sealed vials of liquid and a dwarven axe-like weapon carved with runes that Fasa said indicated it belonged the “White Steel Clan”. The first scroll was very large and ornate and covered in writing I recognized as Draconic. The second was the actual deed to the mine and the surrounding land. I discovered another oddity as I detected for magic. The pallet the chest was resting on was magic.
We took the scrolls, vials and the axe, but left the other things behind for now. We left the room; went back to the main room of the mine; and took the last tunnel. After a short distance, we heard gently moving water and the passage simply ended at an underground river. Puzzled by the lack of any further passage, I began to read the journal of the former owner of the mine.
Despite his atrocious spelling, I was able to most of it and found some extraordinary things. First was that the magic pallet was enchanted to float on water, no matter the weight it carried. This served the role of mining cart for the heavy ore. He went on to describe the operation itself. The vein of ore in the tunnel was not really the source of his wealth. Gold saturated the rocks and soil of this tunnel. All he had to do was metal it down in his kiln (using the flasks of Alchemist’s fire) and he could form large bars of the precious metal. But where were the bars?
I did another search of the river tunnel and found the solution. Submerged a few inches under the surface of the water was an actual bridge which I realized was just wide enough for the pallet. The bridge ended at a solid wall that turned out to be a permanent illusion. Beyond the enchantment was his vault. A stack of shining golden bars glimmered in our lights: 25 in all, weighing easily 80 pounds each. We also found the skeletal remains of a man. Shane stopped us from touching the gold, having dealt with something similar when he was younger and had been working for Oslo. The gold was coated in contact poison.
Futher research in Iudor’s journal filled in the rest of the story. The last entry told of him finding a man in the woods near the mine. He was exhausted and wounded and said he was being pursued. The half-dwarf took pity on the man and brought him inside to rest. It was clear that this man faking his predicament; killed the miner while he slept and then left through the secret passage, which sealed shut behind him.
Working with one or more accomplices, they used Iudor’s two other enchanted objects: a cart and a winch that could both shrink down to the size (and weight) of a child’s toy, regardless of how much they carried. The pair of thieves carried the bars out to the winch and loaded up the wagon above; a task that would have been much easier if they had found the pallet. Before they could get the rest of the gold, one of them succumbed to the poison and fell dead. The survivor(s) left the body and made off with what he/they already had.
We are currently in the process of smelting some gold of our own. As the holders of the deed, we now own this mine! Our plan is to head back to Spearrow and Fennic’s hut. I have a theory that the enchanted object and possible the contact poison came from the hedge-wizard. We might even find an antidote there to allow us to safely handle the remaining bars. I also plan to do some more studying among Fennic’s collection of books.
Entry 8: Research the Past and Plan for the Future
We arrived back in town this morning and met with the Sherriff who I now know as “Grusk”. He and Shane were acquaintances which piqued my interest in his story even more. They had never traveled together but the half-Orc remembered the ranger and some of his companions. Again, the name of Malachi popped up. The man sounds as worthwhile as camel spit and almost as pleasant.
Grusk also remembered Iudor and his wealth and confirmed that while he was working for the watch in Storm Guard, some merchant types had spent large amounts gold about 25 years ago. Interestingly, he remembered that they had come back again with more around 10 years ago. After talking with him, I asked him about Fennic and mentioned that I worked for Oslo. He immediately offered me the keys to Fennic’s hut which I gratefully accepted. He also informed me that he knew about the Vault and that he did not have one of those keys.
We checked with Sheila at the temple and though she did have a potion to neutralize poison, it was out of our budget currently – especially since we weren’t certain how much it would take. So after a pleasant meal at the tavern that thankfully featured lamb instead of pig, we retired to Fennic’s hut. I spent the rest of the day researching the contents of the draconic scroll and what I found was quite alarming. The scroll detailed the lineage, including a number of True Names of family of dragons. Referencing a few of the names, I discovered it belonged to a blue dragon line – one of the most evil and untrustworthy of dragon breeds.
According to the dispatches that Lily found, Iudor was attempting to negotiate with a dragon for half of its horde. The dispatches were sent between Westbrook and the Dwarven City of Hammerfell to the north. The letters told a very grim story. Iudor was insistent on his price and the dispatches got progressively more threatening. The last said that if he didn’t return the scroll, he would be killed.
And on that pleasant note, I find that I must get sleep. Tomorrow, we plan to come up with a plan to recover the remainder of the gold and to make our new mine more productive. I wonder how long it will before Oslo calls me back. Getting his help with this poison would make things much easier.
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