Deepsetter Hall and the Sword of Despair
The heroes began at the earthnode to which Dexter the kobold sorcerer was now bound, and while there overnight in preparation for their adventures in the abandoned Dwarven city they were approached by Narya, a High Sidhe ranger who had been sent from her father's sylvan courts along the east bank of the River of Stars to investigate this strange, nameless party who happened to clear up Teeb the Giant's local menace to the region. Narya decided to join the party, and accepted the party ring, coming into the link in the 9th slot. Because the link was finally full, a number of minor powers revealed themselves to Laeka, who is leading the link.
Skalar decided to stick around Dexter's and do some hunting to try and build up reserve stores for both the Kobold Sorcerer and the party. The rest of the group went off to the ruins of the dwarven city, the clan hall-in-exile which had been built (unknowingly) beneath the domain of a powerful Death Knight known throughout Pain Mountain as the Bone Lord.
On the road, the new Ranger thought she saw a possible shortcut to the city different from the route that Dexter had traced out for them. Unfortunately, she decided not to take it, and a few miles down the track on a climb into the lower foothills the rickety path gave way under several party members. Yovaire was the only one unable to get clear of the mini landslide, and found himself about 50' down and right smack in the middle of a den of Rust Monsters. Luckily, the fighter has no metal armor, but the Rust Monsters did go for the blades of his +3 Double Sword. (They missed, luckily). With the aid of a hastily lowered Rope of Climbing and a well-aimed fireball spell, the Rust Monsters let Yovaire go. It also helped that Marcus tossed down a longsword and shield for them to feast on while the party hoisted Yovaire out of harm's way.
At this time the party also discovered as they suited up again that there had been a mysterious visitor in the night for their last night with Dexter. A note had been pinned to one of the saddlebags on a scrap of parchment. It outlined simply that should the party face the Bone Lord "I will be powerless to help you", and promised that if they took care of themselves "I will find you again should you survive the Bone Lord's realm." No one had any clue as to who had penned the note, but Marcus thought that the parchment smelled of embalming fluid. (The players remembered several different times when at night they were asked to make spot and listen checks and always nothing happened upon resolving the rolls.)
The party continued on over the remainder of the long day, marching up and around to the eastern side of Pain Mountain. As the sun began to sink low over Pain Mountain to their west, they began to find remnants of dwarven runestones marking the approach to 'Deepsetter Clan Hall-In-Exile'. The Deepsetter clan's actual construction at the time of the city's abandonment was only in the preliminary stages. Four towers at NE, NW, SW, and SE corners abutting the mountain face itself and a grand arched entrance to the caverns beyond. The city itself was comprised of the walled aspect of the city with about 20 buildings contained by the walls. All of the buildings apparently had been built with stone foundations and wooden walls which had been replaced as time permitted with the final stone walls. Communal kitchens, a plaza square with a dwarf-made 'island' surrounded by running water from the central fountains encircling a large statue of Moradin hammering an anvil and the declaration that this was Deepsetter Hall-In-Exile.
After their initial scouting they ended up coming into the city via the eastern gatehouse, refusing to walk in the front door, as it were (the party has grown decidedly paranoid in their old age). They began investigating the ruins of a tavern with the last fading light of day, with the idea of establishing a base of operations for the scouting of the ruins. Instead they found several zombies and skeletons of the dwarves of old, confirming their suspicions that the city had most likely fallen to the Bone Lord.
During the encounter with the undead, Marcus, newly minted cleric of Mysta, ended up channeling his divine energy to Turn Undead. During this flush of Mysta's power manifest on the material plane, he heard a voice in his head in dwarvish accented common telling him that they must hurry to the Southeastern Tower's top before the sun set, or all would be lost. After momentary conferences on this matter, the party decided that the four-story guard towers would be a more logical choice for a base of operations anyway, and hied themselves thither with all due haste. As they hustled through the city, they saw that there were stirrings from more of the undead, zombies and skeletons mostly. By the time they had gained the third story where the tower was open to the battlements of the three walls and a path cut into the cliff above the mountain entrance to connect the two southern towers, they saw that the city was full of wandering undead. Either they were on some kind of internal clock linked to when the sun set, or else the powers that allowed them free reign of the city were dependent on some undead which were tied to a nocturnal clock.
They made it up to the top level of the guard tower, saw that it was mostly unused, and set up camp for the night. During the night, at the last watch, the party saw that when Marcus paced back and forth near the wall that that guard tower shared with the mountainside, there were a set of faint sigils that glowed every time he walked by. Upon later investigation, he was able to find and open a door marked with the symbol of Mysta upon it, revealing a hallway leading up into the mountain itself.
Upon following it up, with Valar complaining about being asked to take the van to find traps, they ended up in the workshop of a dwarf artificer. A single shaft of light came in through small accessways to deliver a beam that highlighed a small wooden table on which rested a strange scepter with odd markings and an empty setting at the one end, and a small, leather-bound book marked with the eyes of Mysta. After some deliberation, Marcus picked up the book and began to thumb through it.
[Journal notes to follow]
The heroes began at the earthnode to which Dexter the kobold sorcerer was now bound, and while there overnight in preparation for their adventures in the abandoned Dwarven city they were approached by Narya, a High Sidhe ranger who had been sent from her father's sylvan courts along the east bank of the River of Stars to investigate this strange, nameless party who happened to clear up Teeb the Giant's local menace to the region. Narya decided to join the party, and accepted the party ring, coming into the link in the 9th slot. Because the link was finally full, a number of minor powers revealed themselves to Laeka, who is leading the link.
Skalar decided to stick around Dexter's and do some hunting to try and build up reserve stores for both the Kobold Sorcerer and the party. The rest of the group went off to the ruins of the dwarven city, the clan hall-in-exile which had been built (unknowingly) beneath the domain of a powerful Death Knight known throughout Pain Mountain as the Bone Lord.
On the road, the new Ranger thought she saw a possible shortcut to the city different from the route that Dexter had traced out for them. Unfortunately, she decided not to take it, and a few miles down the track on a climb into the lower foothills the rickety path gave way under several party members. Yovaire was the only one unable to get clear of the mini landslide, and found himself about 50' down and right smack in the middle of a den of Rust Monsters. Luckily, the fighter has no metal armor, but the Rust Monsters did go for the blades of his +3 Double Sword. (They missed, luckily). With the aid of a hastily lowered Rope of Climbing and a well-aimed fireball spell, the Rust Monsters let Yovaire go. It also helped that Marcus tossed down a longsword and shield for them to feast on while the party hoisted Yovaire out of harm's way.
At this time the party also discovered as they suited up again that there had been a mysterious visitor in the night for their last night with Dexter. A note had been pinned to one of the saddlebags on a scrap of parchment. It outlined simply that should the party face the Bone Lord "I will be powerless to help you", and promised that if they took care of themselves "I will find you again should you survive the Bone Lord's realm." No one had any clue as to who had penned the note, but Marcus thought that the parchment smelled of embalming fluid. (The players remembered several different times when at night they were asked to make spot and listen checks and always nothing happened upon resolving the rolls.)
The party continued on over the remainder of the long day, marching up and around to the eastern side of Pain Mountain. As the sun began to sink low over Pain Mountain to their west, they began to find remnants of dwarven runestones marking the approach to 'Deepsetter Clan Hall-In-Exile'. The Deepsetter clan's actual construction at the time of the city's abandonment was only in the preliminary stages. Four towers at NE, NW, SW, and SE corners abutting the mountain face itself and a grand arched entrance to the caverns beyond. The city itself was comprised of the walled aspect of the city with about 20 buildings contained by the walls. All of the buildings apparently had been built with stone foundations and wooden walls which had been replaced as time permitted with the final stone walls. Communal kitchens, a plaza square with a dwarf-made 'island' surrounded by running water from the central fountains encircling a large statue of Moradin hammering an anvil and the declaration that this was Deepsetter Hall-In-Exile.
After their initial scouting they ended up coming into the city via the eastern gatehouse, refusing to walk in the front door, as it were (the party has grown decidedly paranoid in their old age). They began investigating the ruins of a tavern with the last fading light of day, with the idea of establishing a base of operations for the scouting of the ruins. Instead they found several zombies and skeletons of the dwarves of old, confirming their suspicions that the city had most likely fallen to the Bone Lord.
During the encounter with the undead, Marcus, newly minted cleric of Mysta, ended up channeling his divine energy to Turn Undead. During this flush of Mysta's power manifest on the material plane, he heard a voice in his head in dwarvish accented common telling him that they must hurry to the Southeastern Tower's top before the sun set, or all would be lost. After momentary conferences on this matter, the party decided that the four-story guard towers would be a more logical choice for a base of operations anyway, and hied themselves thither with all due haste. As they hustled through the city, they saw that there were stirrings from more of the undead, zombies and skeletons mostly. By the time they had gained the third story where the tower was open to the battlements of the three walls and a path cut into the cliff above the mountain entrance to connect the two southern towers, they saw that the city was full of wandering undead. Either they were on some kind of internal clock linked to when the sun set, or else the powers that allowed them free reign of the city were dependent on some undead which were tied to a nocturnal clock.
They made it up to the top level of the guard tower, saw that it was mostly unused, and set up camp for the night. During the night, at the last watch, the party saw that when Marcus paced back and forth near the wall that that guard tower shared with the mountainside, there were a set of faint sigils that glowed every time he walked by. Upon later investigation, he was able to find and open a door marked with the symbol of Mysta upon it, revealing a hallway leading up into the mountain itself.
Upon following it up, with Valar complaining about being asked to take the van to find traps, they ended up in the workshop of a dwarf artificer. A single shaft of light came in through small accessways to deliver a beam that highlighed a small wooden table on which rested a strange scepter with odd markings and an empty setting at the one end, and a small, leather-bound book marked with the eyes of Mysta. After some deliberation, Marcus picked up the book and began to thumb through it.
[Journal notes to follow]
