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The Fall of Civilization
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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 4747677" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>Upon reaching the bottom of the Black Gorge, the party moves towards the deepest end of it. Before long, they are intercepted by dwarves, but fortunately, the group’s cook is a dwarf as well. Cook speaks at length with the dwarves of the gorge in their own tongue, claiming that his clan name is Po, and after an extended conversation between him and the glowering dwarves of the gorge, the language switches to Common and the dwarves welcome the others to the Black Gorge. The party is conveyed further along the floor of the gorge. They encounter a group of orcs, but the dwarves stop the party from attacking, explaining that these orcs live in some of the gorge’s caves and are occasional trading partners of the dwarves. Their ability to replace all their lost warriors in only a few years makes an attack on them very costly. “We breed slowly,” the dwarf rumbles thoughtfully. “Orcish reprisals usually throw away twenty orcs to kill three or four dwarves, but they are back to full force in ten years, while it takes us sixty. If this happened once a year, this would lead to our demise.” </p><p></p><p>Not are these particular orcs affiliated with the Hand. The party continues until they reach the dwarven operation’s center. Before they enter, they are required to peacebond their weapons, tying them into sheaths and scabbards. Built into the side of the gorge itself, the dwarven community runs deep into the ground. The group is ushered into the tunnels in the stone to meet with the thane that rules over the dwarves. In their audience with him, the party explains the threat of the Six-Fingered Hand, and then declares that they are going to solve the issue of the missing payments for the dwarves.</p><p></p><p>“Oh? You’ve brought the coin, then?” Thane Firestone asks doubtfully.</p><p></p><p>“The city can’t afford that,” Heimall replies, “but we’re going to find out what happened to the initial payment.”</p><p></p><p>“Murder happened,” the thane says darkly.</p><p></p><p>“But it wasn’t the city, or the army, that did it,” Kratos answers. “We want to find whoever it was- probably Millbury- and make them pay.”</p><p></p><p>“Literally,” interjects Torinn with a grin.</p><p></p><p>The thane takes our heroes’ measure as they talk. He is expecting negotiation, an attempt to talk the price of firestone down, something- but nothing of the kind is forthcoming. <em>They haven’t offered me partial payment, or tried to work out a payment plan, or anything. They really do seem to mean to track down the money. Which is good, because we haven’t the numbers to withstand many losses, and we lost almost a score dwarves when they tried to receive payment before. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>I believe that these soldiers mean well. And yet there is one very important question that must be answered before I can trust them.</em></p><p></p><p>Thane Firestone speaks, again in Dwarven. “Bum Po, why is it that you do not carry any rank in the Army that you serve?”</p><p></p><p>Cook pauses. A pensive look sneaks onto his face for a moment; then, he gives his answer. “Oi great Thane, they have made me many offers to honor me, but I do not want to be in a human army.”</p><p></p><p>The thane nods, and shares his dwarven ale around, getting the party fairly drunk before they head out for Fort Duran Khazad- which translates into Fort Dwarf-Friend. This fort, perched on the top of the Black Gorge, looks over the dwarven operation, and a secret tunnel twists and curls up through the rock and into the rock at the back side of the fort. It is this secret tunnel that the dwarves guide our heroes to. They ascend it- it is long, with many loops back around as it rises- and finally come out behind the fort above the canyon. </p><p></p><p>And now, for the killers in the fort, the gig is up. The party becomes suspicious upon approaching when they see a strange, worm-like creature with four writhing tentacles surrounding a dangerous-looking beak chained outside. When the men inside, dressed in uniforms of the Imperial Army, almost immediately mis-identify their command structure to the party, it’s time to throw down. Our heroes slay them, as well as the grick, fairly quickly, and a search turns up the missing payment.</p><p></p><p>“So, who were these guys?” wonders Vann-La. “Once they had the money, why didn’t they just flee?”</p><p></p><p>“Are we sure they weren’t soldiers?” asks Hkatha. </p><p></p><p>“Well, they couldn’t tell a sergeant’s uniform from a corporal’s,” points out Sta’Ligir. </p><p></p><p>“They didn’t fight like soldiers,” Vann-La says. “I’m pretty sure that they weren’t in the army, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find a group of men missing, once anyone checks up on this post.” </p><p></p><p>“You think they killed and replaced the real soldiers? Why?” asks Cook.</p><p></p><p>“For the money, maybe,” replies Kratos. </p><p></p><p>Vann-La shakes her head. “Yes, but why stick around afterward? They could have spent this already, a dozen times over, if they had just run with it.”</p><p></p><p>“We know one thing for sure,” says Cook (or Bum Po). “The dwarves, they need their money.”</p><p></p><p>“Right,” Iggy sighs. </p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>When the party returns the gold to the dwarves, using a <em>Tenser’s floating disk</em> ritual performed by Torinn, the thane is quite impressed. Heimall and Torinn speak gravely, telling him that war is coming, and reminding him of the dwarven alliance with Fandelose. </p><p></p><p>“Yes, yes,” he laughs dismissively as he counts out the coins. “You will find that my folk honor our debts and obligations to the fullest.” He glances at the soldiers, a strange fire in his eyes. “If this Six-Fingered Hand seeks to strike Fandelose, we will help break its fingers.”</p><p></p><p>The thane bellows at his servants, then turns back to the party. “I have something for you!” he smirks. “A token of my esteem. You impressed me so well the other day in my throne room that I had these made for you!”</p><p></p><p>Thane Firestone presents each of our heroes with a dwarven drinking mug. It is large, weighted at the bottom to help alleviate drunken spills, and of impressive craftsmanship.</p><p></p><p>A significant amount of drinking, once again, follows. </p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>What next?</p><p></p><p>Our heroes have resolved the most pressing matters in the gorge. What remains is the most secret matter- the Cathedral of War that General Argos told them about. He also warned them not to mention it to the dwarves, so they don’t. They just leave after another day of hanging out, recuperating and drinking. Those mugs give them a great deal of credibility to the dwarves. They have been honored; they have returned the dwarves’ rightful gold to them and made good the city’s obligations. </p><p></p><p>Now they have to go, to seek out this mysterious Cathedral. Where is it? They have no idea. The Black Gorge is full of caves, and it is very long. The Cathedral of War could be anywhere. </p><p></p><p>“Well, the gorge has at least one very noticeable feature,” says Vann-La. “That big statue. Grandfather.”</p><p></p><p>Indeed, our heroes did see that as they traveled: a 35’ tall statue of an old human that stretches from the floor of the gorge to the top of it. </p><p></p><p>“It’s called ‘Grandfather’?” asks Iggy. “How do you know this?”</p><p></p><p>“The dwarves. I asked them about nearby features in Black Gorge.” </p><p></p><p>“Oh, that makes sense,” Iggy says, thinking, <em>I pretty much just got drunk. That dwarven ale is pretty damned potent!</em> “What else did the dwarves tell you about it?”</p><p></p><p>“The eyes,” Vann-La replies, “are supposed to be tunnels into a trap-filled warren.”</p><p></p><p>“A ‘trap-filled warren’?”</p><p></p><p>“That is how the dwarf that I was talking to put it.”</p><p></p><p>“I see..”</p><p></p><p>“Well,” Kratos says, “we might as well get to it.” </p><p></p><p>He starts climbing the statue. </p><p></p><p>“Hey, wait a second,” Vann-La suddenly says. She gestures. “Is that a body over there?” </p><p></p><p>Kratos keeps climbing, ascending up the statue’s leg, then its torso and finally its face. At the eyes, he ties off a rope. Then, glancing down, he realizes that the party has found someone- found them, and is talking to them. <em>It’s a woman,</em> he thinks, <em>maybe a half-elf?</em> He sighs, then begins climbing downward.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>The ‘body’ is alive. With a little tender ministration from Torinn, she comes around, and introduces herself as Loridell. She looks around and is clearly confused. “Last I remember, we were fleeing from the Hand’s forces,” she says. “It was night...”</p><p></p><p>“You must have stumbled over the edge of the cliff,” Torinn surmises.</p><p></p><p>“What an auspicious place for you to fall,” Vann-La says. </p><p></p><p>Loridell is well-armed and armored; clearly, she is a seasoned veteran of many battles. She admits to being a paladin. </p><p></p><p>“You’re separated from your group, whoever they were, and here we are. Clearly,” suggests Heimall, “the logical thing to do would be to join us.”</p><p></p><p>She nods. “You’re right, actually. If there are significant other Hand forces out there, I’d be doomed on my own.” </p><p></p><p>“You aren’t from Fandelose, then?” Heimall asks. </p><p></p><p>“Not originally,” she replies. </p><p></p><p>“Well, we’re going through that statue’s eyes,” Kratos says, and starts climbing the rope again. </p><p></p><p>“Into a trap-filled warren,” Vann-La adds. She starts climbing after Kratos. </p><p></p><p>“All right,” Loridell shrugs. “Better than being exposed and alone.”</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>A ‘trap-filled warren’ indeed. The first room has a delayed poison gas trap, along with a cube that disgorges a pair of iron cobras.</p><p></p><p>Then the wall starts shooting darts to make things more interesting.</p><p></p><p>Charge! Our heroes respond by rushing through the traps and moving into the next area, where they find a miniature of the city. </p><p></p><p>More traps follow- a pit onto a gelatinous cube; a magically animated arbalest that keeps shooting huge bolts into people; a room with a necrotic field that almost kills those who cross it. ‘Grandfather,’ who was a great early hero of Fandelose whose name has been forgotten (from what our heroes have heard collectively), is often depicted in murals or statues holding two metal objects, about as long as his forearm; one is black iron, often depicted dripping blood, with rough, jagged edges, while the other is made of some light wood and olive leaves are springing from it. </p><p></p><p>And, of course, the party finds a way further down.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> Deeper in Grandfather’s Legacy!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 4747677, member: 1210"] Upon reaching the bottom of the Black Gorge, the party moves towards the deepest end of it. Before long, they are intercepted by dwarves, but fortunately, the group’s cook is a dwarf as well. Cook speaks at length with the dwarves of the gorge in their own tongue, claiming that his clan name is Po, and after an extended conversation between him and the glowering dwarves of the gorge, the language switches to Common and the dwarves welcome the others to the Black Gorge. The party is conveyed further along the floor of the gorge. They encounter a group of orcs, but the dwarves stop the party from attacking, explaining that these orcs live in some of the gorge’s caves and are occasional trading partners of the dwarves. Their ability to replace all their lost warriors in only a few years makes an attack on them very costly. “We breed slowly,” the dwarf rumbles thoughtfully. “Orcish reprisals usually throw away twenty orcs to kill three or four dwarves, but they are back to full force in ten years, while it takes us sixty. If this happened once a year, this would lead to our demise.” Not are these particular orcs affiliated with the Hand. The party continues until they reach the dwarven operation’s center. Before they enter, they are required to peacebond their weapons, tying them into sheaths and scabbards. Built into the side of the gorge itself, the dwarven community runs deep into the ground. The group is ushered into the tunnels in the stone to meet with the thane that rules over the dwarves. In their audience with him, the party explains the threat of the Six-Fingered Hand, and then declares that they are going to solve the issue of the missing payments for the dwarves. “Oh? You’ve brought the coin, then?” Thane Firestone asks doubtfully. “The city can’t afford that,” Heimall replies, “but we’re going to find out what happened to the initial payment.” “Murder happened,” the thane says darkly. “But it wasn’t the city, or the army, that did it,” Kratos answers. “We want to find whoever it was- probably Millbury- and make them pay.” “Literally,” interjects Torinn with a grin. The thane takes our heroes’ measure as they talk. He is expecting negotiation, an attempt to talk the price of firestone down, something- but nothing of the kind is forthcoming. [i]They haven’t offered me partial payment, or tried to work out a payment plan, or anything. They really do seem to mean to track down the money. Which is good, because we haven’t the numbers to withstand many losses, and we lost almost a score dwarves when they tried to receive payment before. I believe that these soldiers mean well. And yet there is one very important question that must be answered before I can trust them.[/i] Thane Firestone speaks, again in Dwarven. “Bum Po, why is it that you do not carry any rank in the Army that you serve?” Cook pauses. A pensive look sneaks onto his face for a moment; then, he gives his answer. “Oi great Thane, they have made me many offers to honor me, but I do not want to be in a human army.” The thane nods, and shares his dwarven ale around, getting the party fairly drunk before they head out for Fort Duran Khazad- which translates into Fort Dwarf-Friend. This fort, perched on the top of the Black Gorge, looks over the dwarven operation, and a secret tunnel twists and curls up through the rock and into the rock at the back side of the fort. It is this secret tunnel that the dwarves guide our heroes to. They ascend it- it is long, with many loops back around as it rises- and finally come out behind the fort above the canyon. And now, for the killers in the fort, the gig is up. The party becomes suspicious upon approaching when they see a strange, worm-like creature with four writhing tentacles surrounding a dangerous-looking beak chained outside. When the men inside, dressed in uniforms of the Imperial Army, almost immediately mis-identify their command structure to the party, it’s time to throw down. Our heroes slay them, as well as the grick, fairly quickly, and a search turns up the missing payment. “So, who were these guys?” wonders Vann-La. “Once they had the money, why didn’t they just flee?” “Are we sure they weren’t soldiers?” asks Hkatha. “Well, they couldn’t tell a sergeant’s uniform from a corporal’s,” points out Sta’Ligir. “They didn’t fight like soldiers,” Vann-La says. “I’m pretty sure that they weren’t in the army, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find a group of men missing, once anyone checks up on this post.” “You think they killed and replaced the real soldiers? Why?” asks Cook. “For the money, maybe,” replies Kratos. Vann-La shakes her head. “Yes, but why stick around afterward? They could have spent this already, a dozen times over, if they had just run with it.” “We know one thing for sure,” says Cook (or Bum Po). “The dwarves, they need their money.” “Right,” Iggy sighs. *** When the party returns the gold to the dwarves, using a [i]Tenser’s floating disk[/i] ritual performed by Torinn, the thane is quite impressed. Heimall and Torinn speak gravely, telling him that war is coming, and reminding him of the dwarven alliance with Fandelose. “Yes, yes,” he laughs dismissively as he counts out the coins. “You will find that my folk honor our debts and obligations to the fullest.” He glances at the soldiers, a strange fire in his eyes. “If this Six-Fingered Hand seeks to strike Fandelose, we will help break its fingers.” The thane bellows at his servants, then turns back to the party. “I have something for you!” he smirks. “A token of my esteem. You impressed me so well the other day in my throne room that I had these made for you!” Thane Firestone presents each of our heroes with a dwarven drinking mug. It is large, weighted at the bottom to help alleviate drunken spills, and of impressive craftsmanship. A significant amount of drinking, once again, follows. *** What next? Our heroes have resolved the most pressing matters in the gorge. What remains is the most secret matter- the Cathedral of War that General Argos told them about. He also warned them not to mention it to the dwarves, so they don’t. They just leave after another day of hanging out, recuperating and drinking. Those mugs give them a great deal of credibility to the dwarves. They have been honored; they have returned the dwarves’ rightful gold to them and made good the city’s obligations. Now they have to go, to seek out this mysterious Cathedral. Where is it? They have no idea. The Black Gorge is full of caves, and it is very long. The Cathedral of War could be anywhere. “Well, the gorge has at least one very noticeable feature,” says Vann-La. “That big statue. Grandfather.” Indeed, our heroes did see that as they traveled: a 35’ tall statue of an old human that stretches from the floor of the gorge to the top of it. “It’s called ‘Grandfather’?” asks Iggy. “How do you know this?” “The dwarves. I asked them about nearby features in Black Gorge.” “Oh, that makes sense,” Iggy says, thinking, [i]I pretty much just got drunk. That dwarven ale is pretty damned potent![/i] “What else did the dwarves tell you about it?” “The eyes,” Vann-La replies, “are supposed to be tunnels into a trap-filled warren.” “A ‘trap-filled warren’?” “That is how the dwarf that I was talking to put it.” “I see..” “Well,” Kratos says, “we might as well get to it.” He starts climbing the statue. “Hey, wait a second,” Vann-La suddenly says. She gestures. “Is that a body over there?” Kratos keeps climbing, ascending up the statue’s leg, then its torso and finally its face. At the eyes, he ties off a rope. Then, glancing down, he realizes that the party has found someone- found them, and is talking to them. [i]It’s a woman,[/i] he thinks, [i]maybe a half-elf?[/i] He sighs, then begins climbing downward. *** The ‘body’ is alive. With a little tender ministration from Torinn, she comes around, and introduces herself as Loridell. She looks around and is clearly confused. “Last I remember, we were fleeing from the Hand’s forces,” she says. “It was night...” “You must have stumbled over the edge of the cliff,” Torinn surmises. “What an auspicious place for you to fall,” Vann-La says. Loridell is well-armed and armored; clearly, she is a seasoned veteran of many battles. She admits to being a paladin. “You’re separated from your group, whoever they were, and here we are. Clearly,” suggests Heimall, “the logical thing to do would be to join us.” She nods. “You’re right, actually. If there are significant other Hand forces out there, I’d be doomed on my own.” “You aren’t from Fandelose, then?” Heimall asks. “Not originally,” she replies. “Well, we’re going through that statue’s eyes,” Kratos says, and starts climbing the rope again. “Into a trap-filled warren,” Vann-La adds. She starts climbing after Kratos. “All right,” Loridell shrugs. “Better than being exposed and alone.” *** A ‘trap-filled warren’ indeed. The first room has a delayed poison gas trap, along with a cube that disgorges a pair of iron cobras. Then the wall starts shooting darts to make things more interesting. Charge! Our heroes respond by rushing through the traps and moving into the next area, where they find a miniature of the city. More traps follow- a pit onto a gelatinous cube; a magically animated arbalest that keeps shooting huge bolts into people; a room with a necrotic field that almost kills those who cross it. ‘Grandfather,’ who was a great early hero of Fandelose whose name has been forgotten (from what our heroes have heard collectively), is often depicted in murals or statues holding two metal objects, about as long as his forearm; one is black iron, often depicted dripping blood, with rough, jagged edges, while the other is made of some light wood and olive leaves are springing from it. And, of course, the party finds a way further down. [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i][b][/b] Deeper in Grandfather’s Legacy! [/QUOTE]
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