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!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1412545" data-attributes="member: 2292">“Sure,” Amarin says cheerfully.  As one, everyone else punches him.“What?” He says.  “It’s a secret!  A big secret.  How can you not want to know?”“Because it could get us killed,” Geoffrey says through gritted teeth. “Only some of us,” Amarin points out.  “And we’re likely to die anyway, if what he says is true.  What’s the big deal?”“What will you give us?” Halgo asks, ignoring the argument between his companions.  “For doing this?  What’s it worth to you?”“The churches favour,” Yurgar says.  Noticing that this does little to sway the dwarf, he lets out a sigh.  “And healing magic.  Whatever we can make is yours for the asking – five thousand gold pieces worth of scrolls, potions, wands.”“You’re paying for the crafting,” Halgo says.  “We want five thousand gold pieces worth of crafted items at cost, not what you’re selling them for to your followers.”“Agreed,” Yurgar says, barely batting an eyelid.“And you owe Copperheads favour,” Blarth orders.  “Raise anyone who die in mission.  No charge.”“Agreed,” Yurgar says.  “I shall cast the spells to restore lost spirits personally.”“And we want your flying skiff,” Amarin tries, figuring they’re on a roll.  “The one that got us here.  It was interesting.”“It is not ours to give,” Yurgar says.  “It belongs to one who serves the church, but it is his property.  I could, perhaps, convince him to sacrifice it if necessary, although we would be forced to kill him whether he agree or not.”“That’s not our problem,” Geoffrey mutters, but Amarin is already hastily apologizing and saying that it’s not necessary.“We agree,” Halgo says.  “All of us.”Everyone mutters in agreement.“Then we may yet be saved,” Yurgar says.  “Although know that what I tell you now must never past between your lips after you leave this room – the secret you will carry is priceless beyond belief, and to speak it will mean your death.  I am going to ask you to visit a place that our people regard as sacred beyond belief, a place that no dwarf of Thorbeck has stepped foot within for over a thousand years.”Yurgar pauses, shifting uncomfortably as he gazes at everyone.“There was a time, in the ancient records of our temple, that speaks of a time when the gods themselves roamed this land among their children.  Their presence was not felt through prayer and magic, but through the majesty of their power as they walked among the people.  It was a golden time, when Thorbeck wasn’t a city on its own, but part of a thousand clan-holds that filled the mountains.  We were not in decline, as the city you see outside is, but the masters of an empire as mighty as your own, ruled by the favoured of Durkannan and guided by the most powerful of his children. And yet, even then, there were forces in the world that did not favour us, and the gods of the goblins and the orc, the troll and the gnoll, were among their people even as Durkannan marched alongside us.  And while the dwarves would clash with the children of evil, the gods themselves abstained from the glory of war. It was a time when the lands were lush and green, not covered by the ice and snow, a time when we had allies among the surface dwellers just as we have allied with your people now.  This time is long lost, just as it has been a thousand years since we last felt Durkannan’s touch, and it is for the best that many of my people have forgotten it.  We have no records of why the gods left, of why the world above does not match the world that is written of in our oldest tomes, but there is one edict that remains from the time of the great change.  There is a cave, two days travel from here, hidden deep within the earth.  It is a sacred place to us, one of the last places Durkannan was known to have walked before the Cataclysm that decimated the lands and destroyed our Kingdom.  Durkannan himself has built doors there, great portals of mithril and adamantine with heavy chains to hold them shut, and declared that no-one shall enter it, lest they know his shame and that shame may destroy the Thorbeck and all trace of the dwarves.  For a thousand years my temple has guarded it, kept its existence secret even from the Thanes of Thorbeck, and we have kept the secret of Durkannan’s Shame well.Yesterday the entry to the Caves was violated, and the guards we had placed there slain…”</blockquote>

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