Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 449338" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chinese Take-outChapter 26, “Solving an old mystery”, September 17, 1018,  3:15 P.M. The trio of Kim, Mojo and Serita reach the school, which is a large three-story mansion, situated near the end of the dwarven section of the city.   The building has a vast yard, where about sixty dwarven children are seen playing.   An iron fence surrounds the property.   The main gate is open.   On the archway above the gate is an intricately made metalwork design depicting a shining sun beside a crescent moon.   Serita asks about that, and Kim replies that the design is the school’s symbol, as the name Yin-Ywe Ming translates into common as “Shining Sun and Moon.”They see the other group coming down the street and, despite Mojo’s suggestion to the contrary, decide to wait for them.  The rejoined group approaches the building, with Chin-Tang knocking.   A dwarven woman, looking to be human equivalent of late thirties in age, answers the door.   She recognizes Chin-Tang, and asks for him and his friends enter.   Chin-Tang explains that they need to speak to Yin-Ywe Ming.  She has their wait in the living room while she goes upstairs.   She returns, and leads the group up two flights of stairs, to an office on the top floor where a very  old dwarf is sitting behind a desk.   The man has a long white beard, which is parted in the center.   He has only one working eye, although wears no patch on the other.  He gets up, and hobbles forward, one leg being a wooden peg, and using a battleaxe as a cane.   The woman brings some additional chairs into the room, and the party is seated.  The woman leaves.“What can I do for you Chin-Tang.  It has been many years since you came to visit us with the Mitsubishi-Ming children.”  “Indeed,” the halfling answers, and gesturing to Kim, says, “Kim-Sung is the eldest of those children.”   Yin-Ywe Ming appraisingly looks her over, saying “My word, how you’ve grown young lady.  Now, how can be of help to you?”   She briefly explains about the party seeking an evil mage, who they suspect now lives at Darkhold Castle, and seek knowledge of the structure.After a long pause, he says “I will never forget my time there.   The mage Li-Tak was a great man, who I owe my continued existence to.”   “What did he do for you?” Kim inquires.   The dwarf replies “In payment for our services at the castle, he provided myself and my companion with potions to grant us long life.  He also gave me a potion for my wife.  My wife and I had never been blessed with children, but he said that would change, and also gave me five potions to give to the spouses of the children on their wedding day.”   “And you had exactly five children?” Serita asks.  “Yes” he answers, “who all still live with me here and are teachers here.  All of the children that you see playing outside are my grandchildren.  With such a large family, opening a school seemed the best thing to do.”  “What exactly did you do at the castle?” Narg asks.   The old dwarf replies “For the first few months, mostly minor repairs.   Towards the end the other two constructed a secret chamber in the walls to store treasure in, and he had me draw a schematic diagram of the first floor of the building.”  “We were told that by the Clan Records Keeper,” Serita states.  “Could we please see this map?” asks Kim-Sung.   “I’m afraid not,” he replies “Li-Tak was very explicit about that.  Nobody but myself can ever see what I drew.”   This creates a stir among the party, not sure how to proceed.Kim-Sung is deep in thought, and then asks “Do you remember exactly what it was that Li-Tak said to you about that?”   The older dwarf thinks for a minute, and then says “Yes, I remember it very clearly.  He said that ‘None except Yin-Ywe Ming may have this’.”    She immediately interjects “Ah, but the records indicated that you had not yet joined the Ming clan at that point.”  He replies, “You’re right, I did not take on the Ming name until after the war.”  Kim then says “So, what Li-Tak actually said was that ‘None except Yin-Ywe may have this.”  “Yes, that would be the case” he replies.    A broad smile crosses her face, and she exclaims  “My friends, when you drop the Ming from the end of his name, the name Yin-Ywe translates as Silver Moon.”   With this revelation, the party quickly explains to him their party’s name, and shows him their Silver Moon rings.   He is overwhelmed and somewhat relieved, saying that it had never made any sense to him why he had been asked to draw and keep something that nobody else could ever see.  He had been given no instruction of what to do with it after he died, which might happen soon.   The elated old man now gets the drawing, spreading it out on the desk for them.  He explains how to read the diagram, and shows them the location of the secret chamber that the other dwarves had made, adding “I guess I can tell you this now.  We not only made the secret chamber, but also sealed it back up after he stored several books inside, so that nobody would ever find it unless they knew just where to look.” He thanks the party for solving the mystery for him, and asks that they return to schematic to him when they are finished with it and to tell him of what they find at the castle.   The group leaves, Narg saying “Well, that worked out better than I would have imagined.”  Serita adds “Yeah, but it wigs me out a bit to know that Li-Tak knew we would be here over three centuries ago.”   [DM’s note: The map of Darkhold Castle shown to them is the one from the Forgotten Realms Castles boxed set.]</blockquote>

Verification