A Candlekeep Mystery (IC)

[Leatherhead]

"Oh?" Argenti speaks in the Primordial tongue as she watches the dirt take form. "Hello there friend! I am Argenti, who might you be?"

 

[Neurotic]

The grinding of the stones raising up didn't quite finish before the thing spoke. In Argenti's experience, that was very hasty for an earth elemental. The rumblings of the Terran language went for some time.

"Groeruerutuiongsa ukhdvaeruntuuroerurosa!
Durn'tu beru ukhulukhromerud.
ul ukhm ukhn ukhgeruntu saeruntu tuur hoeruulp Arogeruntuio brg hoeruro pukhturourn. Ul ukhm hrgperurosatuhoeruneru cukhiorongurrom. Yuru mukhrg koukhulul meru Cukhioron.

Whoukhtu ulukhnguukhgeru sahouruuld ul saperuukhk??"


The creature is dark, it pulled the stones of the mine to form it's body...but even after finishing the move, you can see the stones darkening as the spirit fills immovable stone with its life essence.

Spoiler: Translation

Greetings adventurers. Don't be alarmed.
I am an agent sent to help Argenti by her patron.
I am Hypersthene Cairngorm. You may call me Cairn.

What language do you speak?

OOC: just some mangling of the English - you can see the traces of the original by removing RU and UR sounds

 

[Steve Gorak]

"I'll probably need some bit of light, unless Ethian's divine abilities are available again. But I have no idea how long we will be down there, so I don't wish to tax him unnecessarily."

"Ethian, what do you think?" Hawthorne calls, looking over to where the high elf had been... only to now notice he and Crock Jon examining the mine carts. He walks over to where they are, and having grown up around mining equipment all his life and with his keen eye of detail... he instantly picks out a handful of issues he sees with it.

OOC: INT (Investigation): (19) + 7 = 26

"Axle's bent a bit there... the guide pin looks to be missing... there's two bolts that have fallen out from the bucket here and here... and based upon the rust build-up, these cotter pins are going to snap at any moment and then the wheels are going to come right off."

Ethian acknowledges the request with a nod. "I don't have the ability to make light, but when required, i can give you the ability to see in darkness. It only lasts an hour though, so better to wait until it is absolutely necessary, unless you want to roll the dice and do this now"

After seeing Hawthorne's assessment of the cart, Ethian smiles at the man's technical knowledge: "It seems we asked the right man!" Ethian then begins summoning magic, as some of the cracks on the cart start vanishing. He is interrupted by the unexpected movement of stones, and turns his attention to Argenti that seems to be engaging with it.

 

[Leatherhead]

"Pleased to meet you, Cairn!" Argenti beams a wide smile. "I believe everyone here speaks the trade tongue, common they call it."

The Genasi turns to wave down the rest of the group. "Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Hypersthene Cairngorm." She pauses just a moment, as if someone interrupted her. "He is my assistant!"

 

[DEFCON 1]

"You're...?" Hawthorne looks at the anthropomorphized rock pile now standing next to Argenti and his brow furrows in slight confusion.

"Uh... that's uh... I uh, didn't realize you could... uhhhhhh... so..."

Hawthorne turns and glances at Ethian and Crock Jon, both of whom are standing next to him at the mine cart, then he shrugs his shoulders and opens and closes his mouth a couple of times.

"Fine! Sure! Glad to have... uh... you're... assistant? To join us... in uh... the mine."

 

[Kobold Stew]

Crock Jon looks at the creature that has emerged from the ground beneath his feet, and like a good boxer begins to assess him as a potential opponent. Its granite fists look deadly, and yet it carries itself like a warrior, with armour and weapons. It is built to fight, and ready to do so.

Mr. Hawthorne seems almost amused that he has appeared, like this sort of thing happens to him all the time.

How fast does a boulder strike? Crock Jon looked forward to finding out. He approaches, and introduces himslelf.

"Hey. Cairngorm? I'm Crock Jon. Dan you help us with this mine cart over here?"

 

[Neurotic]

"Zuk a zopt lad-guage. Kzuze be."

Spoiler: Translation

Such a soft language. Excuse me.

The stones around the lower face move just slightly positioning in less angular shapes
"How about this? Better, yes?"
It nods to Crock Jon
"Glad to." after which it throws itself on its face with a solid crack
After a second or two it raises its head.
"Hmmm..."
It moves its arms downward and pushes against the earth. The torso raises from the ground which surprises it enough it flops down again.
Getting up to its legs, it looks at the group.
"The earth here is not letting me through. There must be other spirits, powerful ones, keeping me out."
Cairn walks toward the wagon.
"What do I do?"

 

[FitzTheRuke]

The minecart was repaired and loaded with extra supports (and a few tools that were around that could be repaired by Ethian's magics.) Croc Jon pushed the cart, which creaked along the mostly-intact track that lead into the main tunnel.

The mine was dark and damp, with the sound of dripping water echoing from deep within. The light faded faster than it should as the group began to move deeper, until they were wrapped in oppressive gloom and shadow.

Somewhere deeper, a soft noise sounded like the cry of a baby, and a weeping woman.

 

[Steve Gorak]

Ethian whispers to Hawthorne “Now is a good time for you to see”

OOC: Ethian uses his eyes of the night ability. Hawthorne, Hypersthene, Croc Jon and Kaliban now have darkvision 300 ft (Ethian always has this) - note that Ethian gets to use this on his wis mod (4) characters, I picked the extra ones figuring that it may be useful, let me know if next time I should include Argenti (figures that devil’s sight is good enough

 

[DEFCON 1]

"And the mine said let there be dark. And there was dark. And Ethian saw the dark, and it was bad; and Ethian divided the dark from the lightness." Then as the elf's powers allowed Hawthorne to see into the depths of the mine, he nodded. "And lo, did I see."

As the sounds of the woman and babe wafted their way up to them, the young man grimly shook his head. "I suspect that would be the first of many echoes of people's past that have remained following the tragedy." He furrows his brow and glances at the elemental "Unless some woman with a newborn just happened to find her way up here recently for no reason and went exploring. But you would have noticed that I'd hope, Mister Cairn? Right?"