NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="PhoenixAsh" data-source="post: 2272530" data-attributes="member: 18230">Update #21: Descent into Rose QuarryCaptain D’meryl’s fears of the litigious officials in Passage are quickly justified.  A stopover scheduled for a few hours extends interminably and, as he finally departs the offies of the Medani officals, he finds that a full day has nearly passed him by. But he is not leaving empty-handed, and with a tired smile he starts back to the port where the Liralen is docked.Objects stolen from onboard the airship, the wine and several sets of silverware, are a simple matter to place, as are the Lightstone and the funds stolen from the Vidari’s, but several objects have no readily identifiable owners.  Nyla herself helped with the identification of some item’s owners, as she collected newspaper clippings of her more noteworthy heists, but that still leaves many objects that will take some time to place with their proper owners, if they can be found at all.And since the thief and the objects had been caught onboard his ship, D’meryl now holds a finder’s writ to all of those valuables.  If their owner’s are not found, they will become property of House Lyrander.  Delaying the Liralen to acquire it was a small risk, but he is certain it is a risk that was worth taking and it has already paid off in a small way.  He smiles as he pats the seemingly near-empty pack slung over his shoulder; the crew at least should appreciate the effort.***“A Handy Haversack, excellent!” Ruel immediately strides forward to inspect the leather backpack.Elaydren smiles at the wizard’s enthusiasm; “With the blessings of your captain I have stocked it with provisions, equipment and ammunition for your expedition.  Please consider it my thanks for rescuing me from that warforged and his lackeys.”Captain D’Meryl clears his throat, “It is yours to use as you see fit, but its value will be set against any ah… incidental expenses you might wish to claim while on this and future expeditions: personal ammunition, arrows, potions, scrolls and the like.”  D’Meryl looks pointedly at Ruel, but only gets an innocuous smile in return.  “I’ve also included a small bonus for your efforts, some monetary funds from other bits of the treasure that the Medani officials have auctioned. The Passage officials are still trying to track down the owners of some of the magical items. Given time, if no one is found – several pieces may come into our possession.Tomorrow we dock at Aruldusk, where the passengers will disembark for an extended stay.  All except Lady Elaydren of course and this ship will be at her service for the duration of our mission.  The ah… incident at Fairhaven has altered the terms of our expedition somewhat.  Would you mind explaining Miss D’Vown?”Elaydren considers a moment, “I will start from the beginning.  The village of Rose Quarry belonged to Cyre before the war.  An outpost on the border of Thrane.  Originally, House Cannith prospectors established the village when they found a massive vein of red marble. Cannith brought in dwarves from the Mror Holds to mine and excavate the marble.  Anywhere you see Cannith architecture, you may find Rose marble – Sharn, Flamekeep, Korth, even Rhukaan Draal – half the red stone in Khorvaire probably comes from the quarry.  It was generally left untouched by the war, as it was simply a House Cannith outpost.From what we know, Rose Quarry was destroyed a few days prior to the Day of Mourning when Cyre was destroyed entirely.  No one knows what happened there.  There is quite a mystery as to exactly how it was destroyed, there were no known military troops in the area, no reason for the quarry to be attacked, and it was assumed until recently that no one survived.A month ago I was contacted by a dwarf named Fintan McTeague.  He claimed to know the whereabouts of the secret Cannith forgeholds in Cyre.  He also claimed to be the sole survivor of Rose Quarry.  With a little investigation into his remarks, the House decided to act as swiftly as it could.  Thus the Liralen was chartered, and I made arrangements to interview Fintan in Fairhaven.Somewhere along the line our information was compromised.  I got to the meeting site just before we were attacked.  Fintan defended me with his life, he said he would not run again, gave me a journal and told me to run.  Things got jumbled then.  He held off the kobolds, killing several while I ran.  I caught a glimpse of the Warforged entering as I left and I learned later from the authorities what I suspected, that Fintan died there.  I do not know if others are aware of my purpose, but I do think one thing should be clear.  We need to proceed with caution and as much haste as the schedule of the Liralen can allow for.From Fintan’s journal I’ve learned that he believed there were still directions to Whitehearth preserved some way at the Rose Quarry site.  We believe that the schema we seek rests in the ruins of Whitehearth within the Mournlands.  Whitehearth was one of several secret research facilities that the Cannith ran during the war.  Their locations were carefully guarded secrets even within the House.  Most who knew the location of the facility died on the day of Mourning.It was thought that Whitehearth was the destination of Zelinnia d’ Cannith, one of the more powerful members of the house after the destruction.  But she kept the details of the expedition she was on secret and her journals have revealed nothing more than hints to where she disappeared.  With her, Cannith West’s last hope of finding Whitehearth faded.  Until now.”Elaydren lays a battered and bloodstained journal on the table, “This was Fintan’s. Much of it is rather dark poetry.  The earlier entries chronicle some of the destruction that he witnessed at the quarry.  The language is perhaps symbolic of his grief.  I was unable to discern the meaning of much of it.  Of greater interest was this page which he had marked.”  A heavy piece of parchment marks an entry in the journal.  As Elaydren opens the book, the edges of the parchment curl up.  “Fintan marked this page with a See Invisibility scroll and it was not lost on me that the poem talks about ‘the way to great secrets.’  And it seemed to be one of the more lucid pieces.”The sun rises red in the quarry no more.No more do the pickaxes ring.No more do the chisel tips sing.The way to great secrets lies behind stone eyes, But you must have eyes that can see.A great pit of grief is all that war buysEncased in death forever they’ll be.The sun rises red in land Cyre no more.No more do the forges give woe.No more do the heirs arcane know.Great woe to the secrets behind the stone eyesFor those who have eyes that could see.A great pit of grief is all that war buysEncased in death forever they’ll be.“From what I can tell the poem compares the destruction at the quarry with the destruction of Cyre.  Whitehearth might possibly have been one of the forges mentioned.  Other poems within the journal equate members of House Cannith to “the heirs arcane”.  Fintan seemed to have a poor opinion of my house from reading the journal, especially in the beginning entries. It seems that before the quarry was destroyed, the Cannith operatives and foremen did not always treat the dwarven workforce well.”Elaydren looks up from the journal and sighs, “As to what we don’t ‘know’ lately that could be volumes.”  She closes the journal with a snap, “It’s meager information to start with, but it is more than we have had, and the recovery of this particular schema is worth risking the cost of this expedition to me.”She hands both journal and scroll to Ruel, “These items may assist you, they are yours to use as you will.  Perhaps you may find something in the journal I missed before we reach the site.  Please… do your best.”  She looks at the journal in the wizard’s hands for a long moment before sighing and returning to her quarters.***After dropping off passengers and picking up myriad supplies in Aruldusk for the expedition, the Liralen approaches Rose Quarry at dusk.  Out of caution, the airship’s massive elemental ring is reduced to a fraction of its potency by the Lyrander crew, preventing the ship from being an obvious beacon in the night sky.  The six members of the expedition, along with Captain D’Meryl and Elaydren are gathered in the ship’s observation deck, the lowest point on the ship and equipped with a powerful eyeglass.Alexandre is peering through the eyeglass; he leans back and shakes his head, “Looks like someone beat us here.  There’s a camp site on the southwest end of the site.”Elaydren’s expression darkens, “As I feared, my intentions have been made known.  But if they are still here, they are not at Whitehearth.  Captain, we should proceed with the mission.”D’Meryl nods, “Of course Miss D’Vown, but we should all proceed with caution.  I would rather you used discretion than violence to complete this assignment, as much as possible.”Audric gives a small nod as he rises from his turn at the spyglass, “There are quite a few tents down there, and we will probably be outnumbered.”  Alexandre brightens and grins, “Maybe we should try some of the ballista and catapults out on them.  That would thin their ranks a bit!”  Dox grins at the thought as well.Captain D’Meryl goes pale and then speaks sternly, hastily quashing the idea, “I’m going to assume you’re joking crewman.”***With that the crew soon finds itself on one of the Liralen’s pinnances, descending swiftly towards the north end of the Rose Quarry site.  They touch down without incident, and after determining that their landing site is safe proceed down a narrow canyon. (1)  The sound of metal on stone is testament to a mining operation south of them.It is not long before the expedition comes to a halt before a massive chasm in the earth.  Twisted rail tracks cross the canyon, and portions look like they may be crossed by some climbing and jumping, but the party elects for a less dangerous solution to the obstacle.“Come now, Wydeth, you have delivered us so far safely, surely a few more yards is not too much trouble for a pilot of your experience,” Ruel leans against the pinnance smiling up at the young pilot.“I don’t know, those canyon walls look awfully narrow…” Wydeth answers hesitantly.“Oh don’t worry, there is plenty of space on the other side of the ravine.  Trust me, you can make it no sweat!” Dox chimes in from the opposite side of the pinnance.“Oh, well… okay, hop in!” Wydeth swallows and studies the canyon once more as the expedition re-boards the craft.  They set off and hover over the canyon walls, just past the ravine.  His expression turns grim as he studies the sides of the canyon; plenty of space appears to have been a relative term from that changling’s perspective.  Still he manages to guide it down without incident, until he is just a few feet from the canyon floor.  Then the hull scrapes against the rocks and he cringes.  The six members of the expedition are already jumping free of the craft.Ruel pats the side of the craft as Wydeth hangs his head, grinning up at him, “Cheer up, its just a couple little scrapes.  That is what Mending spells are for!”Wydeth sighs, but nods and lifts the craft back up and to its initial landing spot. (2)Loki takes the lead as the party follows a ravine descending to the south towards the apparent source of the mining noise, while Ruel takes up the rear, as the two are the only Irregulars that can see clearly in the near dark.   As they clatter down the ravine, Loki is the first to hear the sound of crumbling rocks, and scrambles back as heavy boulders tumble down from the steep slope above him.  Elisa is not so swift behind him, however, and one of the boulders smashes her in the face and shoulder.  She encourages the party to proceed with an enthusiastic grin, spitting out blood and making sure none of her teeth are rattled loose.  To prevent any more nasty surprises, Dox takes the lead and scouts the ravine for any more nasty surprises.  Ruel holds out an everburning lantern from the Handy Haversack to give him enough light to work in.The ravine leads to a charred but still solid door in one of the outer buildings of the old quarry and the party creeps forward while Dox fiddles with its lock.  Though he doesn’t have the quick success he enjoyed onboard the Liralen, the lock is still sprung shortly.  Opening the door, he finds the passage has been sealed by a barrier of solid, charred glass.  Behind it he sees the blurred shape of something moving and he hisses out a warning.  Ruel quickly covers their everburning lantern and the whole group tenses for an attack.It does not come, however and the shape continues moving back and forth, seemingly oblivious to them.  At length Ruel frees his toad familiar from a pouch at his belt and invokes Mage Hand, lifting Fredrick over the charred stone wall.  The roof is blasted and aside from some beams crusted with blackened glass, open, so the toad has an obstructed view of the building.“Fredrick definitely feels threatened by whatever is behind that wall… multiple beings, human-like I believe,” Ruel whispers as the toad slowly descends back to his outstretched hand.Loki shakes his head, “Not enough information.”  He looks Ruel over and smiles slowly, “You have the best eyes and you’re the lightest, up you go.”Ruel nearly gives them away with a hastily strangled yelp as he is nearly thrown onto the wall, but he manages to hold on and peer over the edge.  Loki helps him back down, “There are four of them.  There are two men keeping watch in green tabards, one has a flail and the other a crossbow and two… I think they are zombies, they look like dwarves exhumed from the quarry, picking at the rock,” Ruel reports.Elisa inspects the glass wall, “It’s not very thick, I could get us through it in a few seconds, but that might be all they need to raise an alarm.”Ruel nods, “A Sleep spell would be in order then, I should be able to disable the two guards.  The mindless zombies should not be able to raise an alarm.”Dox nods, “But in case it doesn’t work, I’ll come up two and plug any of ‘em that resist your spell.  Hey Loki, think you can get me up there too?”In short order, both Dox and Ruel are perched on the building’s wall and Elisa stands ready to bash the glass wall in below them.  Ruel begins incanting, taking special care to concentrate in the awkward position he is in.  He tries to cast quietly, but beneath him one of the men hears him and looks up, opening his mouth to call out an alarm.***(1): As anyone who has checked out the Liralen maps posted to this storyhour knows, Micah makes excellent maps using Dunjinni, which we enjoy immensely at every session.  However, when we touched down and Dox attempted to scout out the clearing, Micah did not have any of her printed maps ready for him to search through.  Needless to say, we concluded that no danger would be present there.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> (2): Micah was less than pleased that we bypassed her chasm this way, but Dox and Ruel's combined bluff and diplomacy checks were all in the high 20s, apparently too high to ignore.  Oh well, we might have to cross it on the way back...</blockquote>

Verification