Dwimmermount IC:

"What ARE yee talking about, Jimi?" inquires Midgrim, a frown on his round face. He's got a vague memory of the acolyte mentioning something like this yesterday too, now that you mention it. "I told yee already: WE got a way." He then looks about surreptitiously, with the usual dwarven distrust of strangers, leaning to whisper close: "And I suggest we not be discussing this before we're well out of earshot from the walls, alright?"

He smells of alcohol, pipe smoke and cold steel.


OOC: I'd assumed Jimi knew about the Stone Stairs like all those coming from Adamas, but I guess this works too... Blasted secretive dwarves and their secretive secrets.

Klyman Sylar

Klyman saunters in, arrayed in his full adventuring gear and casually filching several pieces of bacon and an egg or two as he makes his roundabout way to the table where his compatriots are gathered. "So when do we start this shenanigan? Let us do it and have done!"

As you demolish your breakfasts Midgrim comments that he wants to meet with the gemcutter again before setting off. This morning at least the meeting is much more cordial. When Midgrim asks about the various dwarven custodians that have passed through town, particularly his great grandfather. Delster says that while Midgrim's ancestor was before his time (having only been living in Muntburg for about five years) he does typically meet with the custodians before they enter the mountain. The last group passed through town about two months ago, and while they seemed like the sort who could take care of themselves.

Upon the conclusion of the meeting you set out in the direction of the mountain. The road is pitted and cracked, yearly frost heaves and a lack of maintenance have taken their toll but the weather is fair and all things considered the journey begins on a high note. It's slow going up the switchbacks, and you pass through ruined fortifications, their dilapidated watchtowers and donjon's standing as silent sentinels over the unused road giving the path an eerie feel. Approximately 3 hours into the journey a large, partially collapsed gatehouse of Thulian make blocks your path and you get the unsettling feeling that someone, or something is watching you. Drawing your weapons as you carefully pick your way across the rubble you are glad to leave the ruined stronghold behind you. After another hour or so you find the narrow path that Climent says should lead to the Alchemists Door.

Carefully picking your way along the overgrown path the air seems to leave a harsh acrid tang in the backs of your throat, almost like the smell of iron... or blood. Tiny, twisted trees cling to cracks in the rock where their roots are able to take hold of the tiniest bits of soil, and a large bird of prey seems to have taken an interest in what you are doing as it circles overhead. After a difficult hike the path ends at a small outcropping of stone with a sheer drop down several thousand feet to a scree slope below while on the mountain side another sheer cliff climbs skyward for an equal distance. The wind is high here, and it makes an eerie whistling as it passes over the rocks...

As soon as you set foot on the outcrop it becomes obvious that someone has been here, and relatively recently too. The ashes of a small fire are scattered on the leeward side of the cliff, but more relevantly you see what you can only assume to be the Alchemists Door carved into the cliff face. A smooth panel of stone surrounded by an arch of strange twisting symbols along with another set of patterns set into the stone at its base. Climent rushes over and begins staring at the symbols, pacing back and forth in front of the door while obviously being careful not to actually touch anything. After a moment he sits down crosslegged in front of the carvings and pulls a large book along with a much smaller folio from his backpack and begins thumbing through them glancing up and down between the pages and the door itself.

Klyman Sylar

Klyman looks for any sign of a lock on the door, and scans it to see if it is trapped in any way that he can detect.

Jimi watches Climent, fascinated at the mage's actions.

"I knew it would be a good idea to bring him along... he knows something about this door. It won't be long before he's cast a spell or ritual to get us in." he says with a hint of smugness to his Dwarven companions.

He casually walks over to where Climent is sitting, and tries to glance over his shoulder and take a look at his book.

"So, Climent... any good news?"

Climent purses his lips and reaches forward running his fingers along one of the carvings in the 'floor'. It comes away with red flecks on it. You're not sure, but you think it looks like dried blood. "To get us in? Unfortunately no, but... if you could come with me..." he walks over to the cliff edge and points downwards. Gazing down yourself you see what appears to be speck, slightly different in colour than the surrounding rocks "See that? I suspect that that is the remains of some poor soul, that whomever was here sacrificed to open this door. This may not be our way in, but it certainly does tell us something about those who first found the path.

Upon seeing Klyman examining the door itself he says Mr. Sylar, I suspect you are wasting your time. According to my research this is not a door as such, but rather an enchanted portal. It was crafted by the Eld during their dominion over humanity as a sort of 'back door' into the dungeon or sally port out of it should the need arise. It will not 'open' per say, but rather allow anyone who can activate it to teleport within... approaching closer he runs his fingers along the outline of several of the sigils and draws them to his nose, first smelling, and then briefly touching his tongue to a silvery substance that has rubbed off on them. Turning to face you he extends his hand so you can see what he has found. This is a rare substance called by several names. You may have heard of it as Liquid Moonsilver, Alchemists Silver, or Quicksilver. It has been traced all over the glyphs on the wall, many drams worth, likely costing a small fortune, while human blood was used to trace the symbols here he points at his feet... He pauses as though collecting his thoughts before picking up the larger of the two books he had been consulting and opening it to show you a particular page. It is covered in drawing of circles within circles and complex notations written beside them in what appears to be High Thulian.

"Now this is an old Celestial Almanac. In spite of their distrust of sorcery, the Thulians had among them several notable astrologers, and they were able to predict the movements of celestial bodies many years into the future. It was, and is seen as being a highly ordered approach to the pursuit of magic. My interest was piqued when I heard that the strange occurrences around Dwimmermount began just over two months ago as the timing was... somewhat unique. Now the Eld were true masters of astrology and drew much of their power from the celestial spheres, when they were not aligning themselves with demonic beings for power at least. This he says pointing at the page drawing is of a relatively rare celestial occurrence called the Triple Conjuncture which is when our world of Telluria and the moon Ioun are aligned with the Green Planet Kythirea and the Red Planet of Areon. It only occurs every fifty eight years, but if you look at this table here, you'll notice something very, very interesting... the last Conjuncture was exactly two months and three days ago. He looks up at you somewhat owlishly his eyes wide and excited.

Klyman Sylar

"Very well, then, I'll let you handle it, Mage. Praytell, what event of interest occurred two months and three days ago, other than the heavenly alignment that you mention?" says Klyman Sylar as he backs away from the portal.

Climent stalks about the ledge pointing at various things. "Well it is just a theory, but I think it is a good one... How old would you say this blood is? That campfire? I'm hardly an expert, but I'd be willing to bet that it has been here for almost exactly two months. Remember how the people of Muntburg have been claiming to have seen strange lights on the mountain two months ago? They must be related! One piece of the puzzle makes little sense on its own, but as they fall into place a clearer picture emerges. The lights, the conjunction, the falling of the barriers, Eldrich portals, they all tie together! I believe that the first people to enter Dwimmermount were not the Typhonians. Those ignorant thugs couldn't possibly have pieced together how to work the gate even if they didn't place less trust in sorcery than the Master Dwarves here, and besides while they are capable of many terrible things, human sacrifice is tied to demonic worship and something that any follower of Typhon would have nothing to do with. No. I believe that the arcane barrier was pierced several weeks before Typhon's Fists made their expedition... He pauses for emphasis, obviously enjoying having everyone pay attention to him. You kind of get the feeling that it doesn't happen very often.

"Now, if not Typhon's lackeys then who in Asana's name did bring down the barriers? And why? Whoever it is obviously dedicated massive amounts of time, effort and energy to the endeavor. They must have spent many thousands of gold pieces on the Moonsilver alone never mind the dangerous research into Eldrich sorceries and an obvious willingness to sacrifice a life in pursuit of their ends. If it is indeed tied to the conjunction then they must have waited decades to make their move. This is not the detrius of some haphazard expedition here. This was planned, and carefully so."

Midgrim idly looks about but doesn't comment, maybe because he has nothing to say, maybe because he's discretely trying to find his breath again after all this climbing (he IS carrying three times as much weight as anybody else, and that's not counting the pack either!).