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<blockquote data-quote="Rybaer" data-source="post: 166347" data-attributes="member: 118"><p>Session #12.1 – Into the Ruins</p><p></p><p></p><p>Much as the group desperately wanted to leave Water Break the evening they returned, they realized that they needed horses before they made the trip north in search of the ruins of Kladish. It was already pushing evening and it was unlikely they’d be able to find a horse dealer until tomorrow. So, the group quietly slipped out of the Duke’s keep and made straight for a slightly upscale Inn located in the now quiet temple district. They were blessed with an uneventful night.</p><p></p><p>The next morning, they tracked down a horse dealer just outside the city walls and bought a couple mounts of dubious quality. Halfway to noon, the group reached Lohna’s estate in Vineyard Pass and stopped in for a brief hello. Lohna, of course, was sleeping, but the head servant Linnea greeted them warmly. Amblin picked up his dog, which had been left here during their griffon-riding trip. Nigel asked Linnea to give his greetings to Lohna when she awoke.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the day, the group rode (or jogged) hard north along the coastline, retracing their steps from the griffon egg expedition. They encountered no problems and camped in one of Zalman’s conjured shelters for the night.</p><p></p><p>The second day out, the pace slowed as the ground became more broken and treacherous. Fissures were common along the cliff wall. Everyone also had their eyes peeled for signs of Kladish and the “twin spires” that Rurik’s message had referenced. An hour or two before nightfall, they finally spotted the twin spires – two tall island spikes of rock that jutted out from the ocean. Rurik’s message referenced two entrances, one at water level and one higher up. The higher up one was supposedly a dangerous entrance due to a creature living there. </p><p></p><p>Zalman polymorphed into a gargoyle and flew up and down the cliff face, searching for the entrances. The one at water level was relatively easy to find, but he could tell that passage could be risky. The waves crashed hard against the cliff wall and there were only a couple feet of clearance into the cave that went back into darkness. The second, higher, cave was much less daunting on first glance, so Zalman flew in for a closer look. It didn’t take long before he spotted a distressing artifact lying among the stones of the cave – a reddish-brown scale the size of a small plate. He snatched this up and flew back up to his companions.</p><p></p><p>He described what he saw of the two entrances and then brought out the scale for show and tell. Zalman, a student of monster lore, was almost certain that it was a red dragon’s scale…and this was no infant dragon like the green that they’d slain in the Ironwood Forest a couple months earlier. The scale alone was sufficient to discourage everyone from trying to enter Kladish through the upper cave. They discussed for some time how best to tackle entrance to the lower one.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, Zalman returned on his own (still polymorphed), to see what was further back in the cave. Skimming just above the waves, he flew back about twenty feet before the ceiling rose up and it emptied into a watery cavern. Most of it appeared natural, but there was a small man-made cutout to one side with a passage well above the waterline leading away.</p><p></p><p>Bommer climbed down the cliff face using his Slippers of Spider Climb while most of the others climbed down a rope. From the end of the rope, Zalman then shuttled them into the cave one at a time. It was a lengthy ordeal, but eventually everyone managed to get in. Hooty was left topside with instructions to watch the horses and keep an eye on the “dragon’s cave.”</p><p></p><p>When all were assembled on the landing, they proceeded down the single corridor. The passage was quite large with high ceilings. The stonework, in Rurik’s dwarven opinion, was excellent, even if it was ancient. The smell was less impressive. There was the distinct scent of decaying flesh mixed with the smell of the sea.</p><p></p><p>The passage opened up into a small chamber with three heavy stone doors leading off in different directions. The door to the left was open, while the other two were closed shut. Nigel noted large humanoid footprints in the sandy muck on the floor, possibly ogre. A couple checked out the room through the open doorway and found several long spears propped up against one wall. They had signs of fairly fresh gore on some of their tips. A small, rank-smelling pool of water sat in the middle of the room. As there was nothing else of interest, they left and moved on to the next door.</p><p></p><p>Bommer, clinging to the walls and ceiling with his Spider Climb ability, inspected the door for traps. Finding nothing, they swung the remarkably functional door open and were assaulted with an overpowering blast of rancid air. Several in the group vomited while the others hazarded a peek in. It was a square room with a large stone-slab table in the center. There were the severed heads of several seals sitting beside a rusty cleaver. Entrails and other refuse were piled carelessly in a corner. They quickly shut the door and backed away.</p><p></p><p>Bommer gave the third and final door leading out of the chamber a quick inspection and proclaimed it fit for opening. The problem was, it seemed to be blocked from the other side. With Nigel, Rurik and Amblin all working together, they managed to push it about a foot and a half wide. The sound of stone sliding across stone echoed loudly from the other side and everyone made certain they had weapons at hand should any undesirables have come to check on the commotion. </p><p></p><p>Nigel poked his head through the cracked door and saw nothing but more hallway and a stairway leading up. It was also quite dark. He slipped in and the others quickly followed. The thing blocking the door was a stone barrel – empty, but still quite heavy. They rolled it a bit further from the door so they would have more maneuvering room in case they had to make a hasty escape.</p><p></p><p>Bommer scouted ahead, again Spider Climbing along the ceiling. The stairs were unusually large, making each step a bit awkward for everyone. Odd, they thought, for a dwarven city to have such construction. At the top of the stairs, the passage leveled off again for a short distance and then opened into a small room. As Bommer entered, his hands sank into something soft and squishy on the ceiling and he jerked back. When better lighting was brought in, they could all see that some manner of fungus had grown across the entire ceiling in this room. Bommer wiped it off his hands and did not note any harmful effect from it. He decided to Spider Climb closer to the floor and closer to the light sources from here on out.</p><p></p><p>The room at the top of the stairs was empty. A passageway branched off both left and right. The one to the right led to another tall staircase. The passage to the left reached an open door and a larger chamber beyond. They chose to explore that direction first.</p><p></p><p>The door to this room, again made of stone, appeared to have been broken at some point in ancient history. It was propped up against the doorframe, but was sufficiently out of the way for everyone to easily enter the room beyond. The room itself was about forty feet in diameter and had a high, domed ceiling. A massive statue dominated the center of the room and four smaller statues were arranged around the periphery. All of the statues appeared to have once depicted humanoid beings, but had been melted or warped well beyond recognition.</p><p></p><p>The most notable feature of the room, however, was the double doors in the opposite wall. Two opaque crystal doors of a deep violet hue rose some fifteen feet high. Six symbols were arranged in a circle that spanned both doors. From the top clockwise: A triangle over a circle; three waves in a hexagon; a hammer and anvil (Moradin’s symbol, Rurik noted with glee); a white bone on a black rectangular field; a six-pointed star; and a battleaxe and horn.</p><p></p><p>“That one there must be Moradin,” Rurik said. “I’m surprised that he is not placed at the top of the progression, though.”</p><p></p><p>“What gods do the other symbols belong to, then?” someone asked.</p><p></p><p>“I have no idea,” Rurik answered honestly. As far as his education into religious matters went, the dwarves only worshipped Moradin. They might recognize the other gods of the humans and other races, but they were not given positions of equal or greater respect than the All-Father.</p><p></p><p>Rurik reached out toward the door, curious about the crystal construction. As his fingers brushed the surface, he felt a bit of a charge pass from his own body and into the doors. Both began to glow softly with an internal light and silently swing open before him. A wide staircase led downward before him into dark silence.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Next session: The guardians of the tomb and the Salien Hunter.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rybaer, post: 166347, member: 118"] Session #12.1 – Into the Ruins Much as the group desperately wanted to leave Water Break the evening they returned, they realized that they needed horses before they made the trip north in search of the ruins of Kladish. It was already pushing evening and it was unlikely they’d be able to find a horse dealer until tomorrow. So, the group quietly slipped out of the Duke’s keep and made straight for a slightly upscale Inn located in the now quiet temple district. They were blessed with an uneventful night. The next morning, they tracked down a horse dealer just outside the city walls and bought a couple mounts of dubious quality. Halfway to noon, the group reached Lohna’s estate in Vineyard Pass and stopped in for a brief hello. Lohna, of course, was sleeping, but the head servant Linnea greeted them warmly. Amblin picked up his dog, which had been left here during their griffon-riding trip. Nigel asked Linnea to give his greetings to Lohna when she awoke. The rest of the day, the group rode (or jogged) hard north along the coastline, retracing their steps from the griffon egg expedition. They encountered no problems and camped in one of Zalman’s conjured shelters for the night. The second day out, the pace slowed as the ground became more broken and treacherous. Fissures were common along the cliff wall. Everyone also had their eyes peeled for signs of Kladish and the “twin spires” that Rurik’s message had referenced. An hour or two before nightfall, they finally spotted the twin spires – two tall island spikes of rock that jutted out from the ocean. Rurik’s message referenced two entrances, one at water level and one higher up. The higher up one was supposedly a dangerous entrance due to a creature living there. Zalman polymorphed into a gargoyle and flew up and down the cliff face, searching for the entrances. The one at water level was relatively easy to find, but he could tell that passage could be risky. The waves crashed hard against the cliff wall and there were only a couple feet of clearance into the cave that went back into darkness. The second, higher, cave was much less daunting on first glance, so Zalman flew in for a closer look. It didn’t take long before he spotted a distressing artifact lying among the stones of the cave – a reddish-brown scale the size of a small plate. He snatched this up and flew back up to his companions. He described what he saw of the two entrances and then brought out the scale for show and tell. Zalman, a student of monster lore, was almost certain that it was a red dragon’s scale…and this was no infant dragon like the green that they’d slain in the Ironwood Forest a couple months earlier. The scale alone was sufficient to discourage everyone from trying to enter Kladish through the upper cave. They discussed for some time how best to tackle entrance to the lower one. Eventually, Zalman returned on his own (still polymorphed), to see what was further back in the cave. Skimming just above the waves, he flew back about twenty feet before the ceiling rose up and it emptied into a watery cavern. Most of it appeared natural, but there was a small man-made cutout to one side with a passage well above the waterline leading away. Bommer climbed down the cliff face using his Slippers of Spider Climb while most of the others climbed down a rope. From the end of the rope, Zalman then shuttled them into the cave one at a time. It was a lengthy ordeal, but eventually everyone managed to get in. Hooty was left topside with instructions to watch the horses and keep an eye on the “dragon’s cave.” When all were assembled on the landing, they proceeded down the single corridor. The passage was quite large with high ceilings. The stonework, in Rurik’s dwarven opinion, was excellent, even if it was ancient. The smell was less impressive. There was the distinct scent of decaying flesh mixed with the smell of the sea. The passage opened up into a small chamber with three heavy stone doors leading off in different directions. The door to the left was open, while the other two were closed shut. Nigel noted large humanoid footprints in the sandy muck on the floor, possibly ogre. A couple checked out the room through the open doorway and found several long spears propped up against one wall. They had signs of fairly fresh gore on some of their tips. A small, rank-smelling pool of water sat in the middle of the room. As there was nothing else of interest, they left and moved on to the next door. Bommer, clinging to the walls and ceiling with his Spider Climb ability, inspected the door for traps. Finding nothing, they swung the remarkably functional door open and were assaulted with an overpowering blast of rancid air. Several in the group vomited while the others hazarded a peek in. It was a square room with a large stone-slab table in the center. There were the severed heads of several seals sitting beside a rusty cleaver. Entrails and other refuse were piled carelessly in a corner. They quickly shut the door and backed away. Bommer gave the third and final door leading out of the chamber a quick inspection and proclaimed it fit for opening. The problem was, it seemed to be blocked from the other side. With Nigel, Rurik and Amblin all working together, they managed to push it about a foot and a half wide. The sound of stone sliding across stone echoed loudly from the other side and everyone made certain they had weapons at hand should any undesirables have come to check on the commotion. Nigel poked his head through the cracked door and saw nothing but more hallway and a stairway leading up. It was also quite dark. He slipped in and the others quickly followed. The thing blocking the door was a stone barrel – empty, but still quite heavy. They rolled it a bit further from the door so they would have more maneuvering room in case they had to make a hasty escape. Bommer scouted ahead, again Spider Climbing along the ceiling. The stairs were unusually large, making each step a bit awkward for everyone. Odd, they thought, for a dwarven city to have such construction. At the top of the stairs, the passage leveled off again for a short distance and then opened into a small room. As Bommer entered, his hands sank into something soft and squishy on the ceiling and he jerked back. When better lighting was brought in, they could all see that some manner of fungus had grown across the entire ceiling in this room. Bommer wiped it off his hands and did not note any harmful effect from it. He decided to Spider Climb closer to the floor and closer to the light sources from here on out. The room at the top of the stairs was empty. A passageway branched off both left and right. The one to the right led to another tall staircase. The passage to the left reached an open door and a larger chamber beyond. They chose to explore that direction first. The door to this room, again made of stone, appeared to have been broken at some point in ancient history. It was propped up against the doorframe, but was sufficiently out of the way for everyone to easily enter the room beyond. The room itself was about forty feet in diameter and had a high, domed ceiling. A massive statue dominated the center of the room and four smaller statues were arranged around the periphery. All of the statues appeared to have once depicted humanoid beings, but had been melted or warped well beyond recognition. The most notable feature of the room, however, was the double doors in the opposite wall. Two opaque crystal doors of a deep violet hue rose some fifteen feet high. Six symbols were arranged in a circle that spanned both doors. From the top clockwise: A triangle over a circle; three waves in a hexagon; a hammer and anvil (Moradin’s symbol, Rurik noted with glee); a white bone on a black rectangular field; a six-pointed star; and a battleaxe and horn. “That one there must be Moradin,” Rurik said. “I’m surprised that he is not placed at the top of the progression, though.” “What gods do the other symbols belong to, then?” someone asked. “I have no idea,” Rurik answered honestly. As far as his education into religious matters went, the dwarves only worshipped Moradin. They might recognize the other gods of the humans and other races, but they were not given positions of equal or greater respect than the All-Father. Rurik reached out toward the door, curious about the crystal construction. As his fingers brushed the surface, he felt a bit of a charge pass from his own body and into the doors. Both began to glow softly with an internal light and silently swing open before him. A wide staircase led downward before him into dark silence. Next session: The guardians of the tomb and the Salien Hunter. [/QUOTE]
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