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<blockquote data-quote="Sir Brennen" data-source="post: 2033586" data-attributes="member: 553"><p><strong>April 14th, 998</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: Sandybrown"><strong>[session 2, Jan 9th '05]</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: Wheat"><span style="font-size: 22px">A</span></span>t first light I awoke, recalling the events of the previous evening. Figuring that if anything was going to happen with regard to the prisoner, it had already happened, and the consequences could wait until after breakfast. Banging on all the doors of my travelling companions as I passed, I yelled for them to meet me in the dining room downstairs. As we ate, we discussed questioning the prisoner. </p><p></p><p>When we were ready to go, Al grabbed his holy symbol and mumbled something. Maybe priests of the new god bless the meal after you're done eating. Whatever it was, he became quiet and had a look of concentration on his face as we walked the two doors down to the constable's. The lawman asked us about the ruckus last night, implying that if we have trouble following us, it might be best for us to be on our way soon. We explained to him that's why we're here, to see if his prisoner could tell us anything.</p><p></p><p>Our gray skinned captive was still there in his cell, and alive. The constable wouldn't let us in the cell with him, but we could talk through the bars. Father Al looked in, and seemed to be satisfied with something he sensed. He and Marcus, with interjections from Barrick, started questioning the gray man. At first we tried the deal-making angle, though occasional comments from the watchful constable undercut our credibility somewhat. The talks soon devolved into threats, which the constable more loudly countered us on. I suggested to our group's self-styled interrogators that we try a different tact, playing on the fact that the gray man's companions seemed to have abandoned him. That at least earned us a name, and we then knew the shadow elf was called <strong>Kurav</strong>.</p><p></p><p>The prisoner remained elusive regarding anything else about his companions or the clock. When Barrick tried to get the constable to play along with another not so subtle threat, the lawman lost his patience and asked us to leave. We also had the impression that, with just our word on what happened, the gray man might get off lighter than we would have liked. Especially since we were not going to be allowed to stay in town for the several days before the trial to bear witness against him in person. Ah, well. Human lands, human laws. We'll make sure we do our questioning before hand, next time.</p><p></p><p>The service for Handel was to be that morning, so most of us headed over to the church for the ceremony. Aleator lingered behind a few moments, presumably trying to smooth things over with the constable, and Barrick headed back to the inn for some more breakfast. It sounded like a good idea, and my stomach grumbled a little, but I was curious to see a human funeral.</p><p></p><p>The ceremony was brief, and there was no one to speak for the deceased, though I silently offered a prayer to Galerra, as my father had taught me. Afterward, I spent time looking at the monuments in the cemetery. Even the largest seemed but pauper's stones by my family's standards, but perhaps they did not have any skilled masons in the village. I think the worshippers of the new god don’t have as fine an understanding of the relationship between death and the earth, as we dwarves do.</p><p></p><p>The others milled about inside the church, and Father Dornan placed some of Handel's affects into Aleator's care. Barrick waited outside, apparently with something to tell us. We gathered in the street, but before barrick could get anything out, Marcus started giving suggestions that my fellow dwarf might try being more subtle in future dealings with humans. "Subtle", of course, is a human word for "not saying what you really mean", which to a dwarf, especially one from the free kingdoms like Barrick, is the same as telling them not to talk.</p><p></p><p>"Fine, you want me to shut up, I'll shut up," he said, while Marcus hurriedly tried to explain that's not what he meant, suddenly aware he might have insulted Barrick. </p><p></p><p>Finally, in Dwarven, Barrick told me aside that a farmer had mentioned there were three funny colored men forming a blockade on the road out of town, who seemed to be looking for something specific, as they didn't take anything from him. Respecting his current attitude toward the humans, I merely suggested to everyone that perhaps we should continue to travel off the road, since we knew the shadow beings were still out there. Dwarven subtlety? Maybe, but then, I wasn't from the free dwarven kingdoms.</p><p></p><p>As we discussed the merits of various routes out of town, Barrick eventually did let slip that there was someone waiting on the road ahead for us. However, he was all for meeting them head on, while the rest of us thought avoidance still the best route. We might be able to win against them, despite their guns, but all they had to do was get the clock, not necessarily beat all of us.</p><p></p><p>Father Dornan, overhearing some of this, offered a suggestion that we might be able to take a more hidden path out of town. There was an abandoned keep not far from Lord Dansforth's current dwelling, whose crypts led to a series of caves, and from there to an old copper mine which surfaced four or five miles away. The constable had the key for the gate of the keep, which Aleator convinced Father Dornan to request for us, given our current standing with the constable. It turns out, however, that the lawman was more than willing to help us out, if it meant getting us out of town quicker.</p><p></p><p>We made arrangements to have our pack pony taken to a farm near the exit of the mine, and then headed off. We entered the keep through its rusty gate, leaving the key for the constable to retrieve. Inside was a small temple to the Twelve, a reminder that the new god Alioth had not always held sway here. A stairway leading down was filled with collapsed rubble, but after a bit of searching, we found one of the statues could be moved, with a little difficulty. Underneath there was a shaft leading down to the crypts (beneath the statue of Galerra, Judge of the Dead. Of course!) </p><p></p><p>The metal rungs had been sawn off, and it was a lengthy climb by rope to a small room below filled with water that had seeped in. Below we found a cleaned out shrine, a lesser crypt and a more elaborate one marked with the family name "Areth" above the gateway. The burial graves were set into columns, and the back quarter of the chamber had collapsed. An open grave with a pile of bones on the ground in front of it seemed to form a tunnel to the other side of the collapse. </p><p></p><p>Bones and clothing seemed be in more disarray than what would have been caused by merely falling out. I looked closer to see that something with claws about the breadth of a man's hand had been roughly searching it. Several of the corpses in the other section we found in the same state, some of the not so old ones also having their bones cracked and the marrow apparently sucked dry. </p><p></p><p>I respectfully placed the poor soul's bones back and we climbed through the tunnel. We found the caves the priest had spoken of and followed them for about a quarter mile. At one point a lengthy crack ran along the ceiling through which shone daylight. The shadows created by that almost caused us to not notice the large spidery creature hanging from the ceiling. </p><p></p><p>Perhaps because we were at the rear and not staring into the glare, Charlotte and I saw it first and fired. My arrow struck stone but her magical bolts were true. The spider-thing responded by throwing a gob of liquid that quickly formed a web in the air, covering me as it fell. I was stuck fast. As Marcus moved to assist me, everyone else opened fire. Another mass of webbing covered Charlotte and it scuttled down the wall to our right. In the light we could see how truly horrible it was - a bloated, man-like body, blackish purple all over like a fresh bruise, with a spider's head and clawed hands and feet.</p><p></p><p>Charlotte and I were still trapped, as Marcus pried with his staff and sliced with his dagger at the webbing. Father Al and Barrick sent rock chips flying from the wall from the impact of their bolts and slingstones, but the creature ducked out of sight down a side passage. Barrick ran after it, but cursed aloud as he stumbled into an almost invisible web strung across the passage.</p><p></p><p>As Father Al rushed in to tear at the web, the entire area was suddenly filled with spiders! While he was distracted trying to brush them off, the man-spider moved forward and bit Barrick through the webbing. I finally tore free and moved to try and hack Barrick loose, spiders squishing underfoot. Marcus cut through the last of the strands holding Charlotte, just as Barrick also tore out of the sticky strands. Marcus quickly laid down a line of oil and lit it to keep the small spiders back.</p><p></p><p>Seeing we were all prepared to press our attack again, the man-spider started to climb the wall away from us. A few more bowshots and spells failed to bring it down, and it scampered out the crack in the ceiling above. </p><p></p><p>Barrick leaned up against the wall and mentioned that he didn't feel too good. His joints were feeling particularly achy. Father Al tended to him as best he could, but I don't know how much help it was.</p><p></p><p>Without their leader, the smaller spiders scattered. We burned the webs away and looked at the immediate area behind them, seeing scattered coins from previous victims. In a separate alcove, we discovered a couple of bodies webbed to the wall, drained of most of their fluids. We decided to torch the corpses to prevent any eggs the spider thing might have left behind. The webbing and dry flesh made an effective pyre. I said a prayer to Galerra that these souls not be judged too harshly, or that they spend too long in the Shadowlands for being given last rites with unknown names.</p><p></p><p>During this, Barrick had fallen asleep in the main passage. We decided to let him rest while we carefully searched the area, gathering up the loose coin as we did so. Rousing Barrick, we continued on.</p><p></p><p>Eventually the natural cave walls gave way to tooled ones. We had entered the mines. Testing for drafts and letting the earth guide us on our way to the surface, we wound our way through several intersections in the mine. At one point we found a chest which had been dug up from the floor and broken open. It was empty, its contents gone, possibly taken by the men whose bodies we had burned, the chest's coins now in our pockets.</p><p></p><p>At last we came to a large scaffold in the mine which seemed like it might lead to the surface. Not trusting the aged ladders, Barrick used his grappling hook on the structure, tested it, and started climbing up his knotted rope, despite the effects of the poison on him. I thought of saying something, but decided against it. Once he spotted the exit, we all followed up and out into the fading light of the day.</p><p></p><p>We hiked over to the home of <strong>Urza</strong>, the farmer that was to have our pony for us. We asked if we might stay the night in his barn, to which he was agreeable, and he even invited us in to share some stew first. As a show of appreciation, we did a few small chores for him before the meal.</p><p></p><p>Back in the barn, we counted the few coins we had gained today, and Father Al showed us the ring that Handel had worn. Silver with an onyx setting, and engraved with a skull emblem. It looked to me to be worth a couple hundred gold coins, maybe a little less. The appraisal was merely for curiosity, however, as our cleric explained he had promised to deliver it to a wizard college that might have known Handel.</p><p></p><p>Before going to sleep, we talked about staying on at the farm a couple of days, but thought it best to move on in the morning, to avoid bringing any trouble to our host's doorstep.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sir Brennen, post: 2033586, member: 553"] [b]April 14th, 998[/b] [color=Sandybrown][b][session 2, Jan 9th '05][/b][/color] [color=Wheat][size=6]A[/size][/color]t first light I awoke, recalling the events of the previous evening. Figuring that if anything was going to happen with regard to the prisoner, it had already happened, and the consequences could wait until after breakfast. Banging on all the doors of my travelling companions as I passed, I yelled for them to meet me in the dining room downstairs. As we ate, we discussed questioning the prisoner. When we were ready to go, Al grabbed his holy symbol and mumbled something. Maybe priests of the new god bless the meal after you're done eating. Whatever it was, he became quiet and had a look of concentration on his face as we walked the two doors down to the constable's. The lawman asked us about the ruckus last night, implying that if we have trouble following us, it might be best for us to be on our way soon. We explained to him that's why we're here, to see if his prisoner could tell us anything. Our gray skinned captive was still there in his cell, and alive. The constable wouldn't let us in the cell with him, but we could talk through the bars. Father Al looked in, and seemed to be satisfied with something he sensed. He and Marcus, with interjections from Barrick, started questioning the gray man. At first we tried the deal-making angle, though occasional comments from the watchful constable undercut our credibility somewhat. The talks soon devolved into threats, which the constable more loudly countered us on. I suggested to our group's self-styled interrogators that we try a different tact, playing on the fact that the gray man's companions seemed to have abandoned him. That at least earned us a name, and we then knew the shadow elf was called [b]Kurav[/b]. The prisoner remained elusive regarding anything else about his companions or the clock. When Barrick tried to get the constable to play along with another not so subtle threat, the lawman lost his patience and asked us to leave. We also had the impression that, with just our word on what happened, the gray man might get off lighter than we would have liked. Especially since we were not going to be allowed to stay in town for the several days before the trial to bear witness against him in person. Ah, well. Human lands, human laws. We'll make sure we do our questioning before hand, next time. The service for Handel was to be that morning, so most of us headed over to the church for the ceremony. Aleator lingered behind a few moments, presumably trying to smooth things over with the constable, and Barrick headed back to the inn for some more breakfast. It sounded like a good idea, and my stomach grumbled a little, but I was curious to see a human funeral. The ceremony was brief, and there was no one to speak for the deceased, though I silently offered a prayer to Galerra, as my father had taught me. Afterward, I spent time looking at the monuments in the cemetery. Even the largest seemed but pauper's stones by my family's standards, but perhaps they did not have any skilled masons in the village. I think the worshippers of the new god don’t have as fine an understanding of the relationship between death and the earth, as we dwarves do. The others milled about inside the church, and Father Dornan placed some of Handel's affects into Aleator's care. Barrick waited outside, apparently with something to tell us. We gathered in the street, but before barrick could get anything out, Marcus started giving suggestions that my fellow dwarf might try being more subtle in future dealings with humans. "Subtle", of course, is a human word for "not saying what you really mean", which to a dwarf, especially one from the free kingdoms like Barrick, is the same as telling them not to talk. "Fine, you want me to shut up, I'll shut up," he said, while Marcus hurriedly tried to explain that's not what he meant, suddenly aware he might have insulted Barrick. Finally, in Dwarven, Barrick told me aside that a farmer had mentioned there were three funny colored men forming a blockade on the road out of town, who seemed to be looking for something specific, as they didn't take anything from him. Respecting his current attitude toward the humans, I merely suggested to everyone that perhaps we should continue to travel off the road, since we knew the shadow beings were still out there. Dwarven subtlety? Maybe, but then, I wasn't from the free dwarven kingdoms. As we discussed the merits of various routes out of town, Barrick eventually did let slip that there was someone waiting on the road ahead for us. However, he was all for meeting them head on, while the rest of us thought avoidance still the best route. We might be able to win against them, despite their guns, but all they had to do was get the clock, not necessarily beat all of us. Father Dornan, overhearing some of this, offered a suggestion that we might be able to take a more hidden path out of town. There was an abandoned keep not far from Lord Dansforth's current dwelling, whose crypts led to a series of caves, and from there to an old copper mine which surfaced four or five miles away. The constable had the key for the gate of the keep, which Aleator convinced Father Dornan to request for us, given our current standing with the constable. It turns out, however, that the lawman was more than willing to help us out, if it meant getting us out of town quicker. We made arrangements to have our pack pony taken to a farm near the exit of the mine, and then headed off. We entered the keep through its rusty gate, leaving the key for the constable to retrieve. Inside was a small temple to the Twelve, a reminder that the new god Alioth had not always held sway here. A stairway leading down was filled with collapsed rubble, but after a bit of searching, we found one of the statues could be moved, with a little difficulty. Underneath there was a shaft leading down to the crypts (beneath the statue of Galerra, Judge of the Dead. Of course!) The metal rungs had been sawn off, and it was a lengthy climb by rope to a small room below filled with water that had seeped in. Below we found a cleaned out shrine, a lesser crypt and a more elaborate one marked with the family name "Areth" above the gateway. The burial graves were set into columns, and the back quarter of the chamber had collapsed. An open grave with a pile of bones on the ground in front of it seemed to form a tunnel to the other side of the collapse. Bones and clothing seemed be in more disarray than what would have been caused by merely falling out. I looked closer to see that something with claws about the breadth of a man's hand had been roughly searching it. Several of the corpses in the other section we found in the same state, some of the not so old ones also having their bones cracked and the marrow apparently sucked dry. I respectfully placed the poor soul's bones back and we climbed through the tunnel. We found the caves the priest had spoken of and followed them for about a quarter mile. At one point a lengthy crack ran along the ceiling through which shone daylight. The shadows created by that almost caused us to not notice the large spidery creature hanging from the ceiling. Perhaps because we were at the rear and not staring into the glare, Charlotte and I saw it first and fired. My arrow struck stone but her magical bolts were true. The spider-thing responded by throwing a gob of liquid that quickly formed a web in the air, covering me as it fell. I was stuck fast. As Marcus moved to assist me, everyone else opened fire. Another mass of webbing covered Charlotte and it scuttled down the wall to our right. In the light we could see how truly horrible it was - a bloated, man-like body, blackish purple all over like a fresh bruise, with a spider's head and clawed hands and feet. Charlotte and I were still trapped, as Marcus pried with his staff and sliced with his dagger at the webbing. Father Al and Barrick sent rock chips flying from the wall from the impact of their bolts and slingstones, but the creature ducked out of sight down a side passage. Barrick ran after it, but cursed aloud as he stumbled into an almost invisible web strung across the passage. As Father Al rushed in to tear at the web, the entire area was suddenly filled with spiders! While he was distracted trying to brush them off, the man-spider moved forward and bit Barrick through the webbing. I finally tore free and moved to try and hack Barrick loose, spiders squishing underfoot. Marcus cut through the last of the strands holding Charlotte, just as Barrick also tore out of the sticky strands. Marcus quickly laid down a line of oil and lit it to keep the small spiders back. Seeing we were all prepared to press our attack again, the man-spider started to climb the wall away from us. A few more bowshots and spells failed to bring it down, and it scampered out the crack in the ceiling above. Barrick leaned up against the wall and mentioned that he didn't feel too good. His joints were feeling particularly achy. Father Al tended to him as best he could, but I don't know how much help it was. Without their leader, the smaller spiders scattered. We burned the webs away and looked at the immediate area behind them, seeing scattered coins from previous victims. In a separate alcove, we discovered a couple of bodies webbed to the wall, drained of most of their fluids. We decided to torch the corpses to prevent any eggs the spider thing might have left behind. The webbing and dry flesh made an effective pyre. I said a prayer to Galerra that these souls not be judged too harshly, or that they spend too long in the Shadowlands for being given last rites with unknown names. During this, Barrick had fallen asleep in the main passage. We decided to let him rest while we carefully searched the area, gathering up the loose coin as we did so. Rousing Barrick, we continued on. Eventually the natural cave walls gave way to tooled ones. We had entered the mines. Testing for drafts and letting the earth guide us on our way to the surface, we wound our way through several intersections in the mine. At one point we found a chest which had been dug up from the floor and broken open. It was empty, its contents gone, possibly taken by the men whose bodies we had burned, the chest's coins now in our pockets. At last we came to a large scaffold in the mine which seemed like it might lead to the surface. Not trusting the aged ladders, Barrick used his grappling hook on the structure, tested it, and started climbing up his knotted rope, despite the effects of the poison on him. I thought of saying something, but decided against it. Once he spotted the exit, we all followed up and out into the fading light of the day. We hiked over to the home of [b]Urza[/b], the farmer that was to have our pony for us. We asked if we might stay the night in his barn, to which he was agreeable, and he even invited us in to share some stew first. As a show of appreciation, we did a few small chores for him before the meal. Back in the barn, we counted the few coins we had gained today, and Father Al showed us the ring that Handel had worn. Silver with an onyx setting, and engraved with a skull emblem. It looked to me to be worth a couple hundred gold coins, maybe a little less. The appraisal was merely for curiosity, however, as our cleric explained he had promised to deliver it to a wizard college that might have known Handel. Before going to sleep, we talked about staying on at the farm a couple of days, but thought it best to move on in the morning, to avoid bringing any trouble to our host's doorstep. [/QUOTE]
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