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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Corran" data-source="post: 657" data-attributes="member: 85">Session 5 – Wednesday, December 5, 2001.The brutal reality of living in this city was shown to us not an hour later. We were sitting in the taproom when a bunch of soldiers accompanied by two men in dark robes entered the inn. The soldiers moved through the room, looking for someone to make a wrong move. Four soldiers went upstairs and not much later cries of pain came from above. The soldiers returned carrying two men whose knees had very clearly just been crushed. Without a word the entire company then left the inn. From the innkeeper I learned that the two men were probably wanted Cormyreans. The innkeeper felt only relief that he wasn’t charged with hiding criminals.Then Arcelle returned and she had some shocking news for us; Bane has returned! The eldritch storm we endured a couple of days ago apparently was caused by The Black Lord’s return. I fear for what this means for the realms. The most despicable acts in history have been portrayed in Bane’s name and Bane is the kind of god to really show that he is back. Tantras might be in the most immediate danger; it was here after all, where Bane was slain by Torm during the godswar. Tantras also has the largest temple to Torm in all of Faerûn. The only small fortune is that Xvim, Bane’s godson, and a god in his own right, has disappeared during the return of The Black Hand.Winter also had also found some information about our quarry; they are looking for the architect who is rebuilding the temple to Xvim here in Mulmaster. I guess that temple will have to be re-desecrated or something. The architect however, isn’t in the city. According to Arcelle’s information he has gone into the Giantspike Mountains. Our three Zhentarim are planning to track him down tomorrow, meaning we will have to leave this inn with its nice and warm fireplaces as well.3 AlturiakWe left early in the morning and we had an easy time following our men in black. At dusk we could see the fire of their campsite. Unfortunately we can’t make a fire as to not give ourselves away.4 AlturiakToday we found the Zhents' destination; it must be quite large, we can count seven campfires from quite a distance away. One has to wonder what so many people are doing here in the mountains. I’ve heard in Mulmaster that there is gold in these mountains, but I can’t see an architect go prospecting.5 AlturiakIn the morning we got close to the camp and we got a good look. There are twelve small tents and about ten humans are excavating a hole in the side of a mountain. We can also hear the sound of hammering and sawing coming from within the hole. There are only six horses in the camp and there are three orc sentries dressed in what looks like bearskins. We can’t see the back of the camp but we estimate that there are about thirty to forty people in total in the camp. Around noon the sentries moved away, presumably to get some lunch. Their position was taken over by a human woman dressed in black. At the beginning of the evening most of the camp took part in some sort of religious ceremony, probably dedicate to Bane or Xvim.Calim volunteers to sneak around the camp and have look at the excavation. He gets back safely and tells us what he has learned. The excavation is the beginning of a natural cave that slopes down deeper into the mountain. Calim had no source of light and he heard growling further inside the cave, so he returned. The sounds are according to Calim made by some kind of dog and not some scary monster. The rest of the group now wants to entire the cave en masse. I really don’t think that this is a smart idea, if the camp wakes up we will be trapped inside the cave. We don’t know what we will find inside or even if there is an exit. The others won’t be swayed and the only choice I have is to either return to the horses or go with them. Though it is really against my better judgement I have decide to accompany the others, I guess I would feel guilty if something happened to them and I wasn’t there.We’re trapped and it’s all Winter’s fault!! I can’t believe how stupid she has been and yet the others are almost happy because they now get more money, yet they seem to forget that they need to be alive to spend it. Here’s what happened.We manage to get into the cave without alerting any of the sentries in the camp, even though some of us weren’t all that quiet. Inside, Calim slips on the first steep slope we encounter and he glides further down into the cave. Now we clearly here barking and once we have some light we see two large wolf-dogs running at Calim. We hoist Calim back up and since the dogs can’t reach us they are easily killed by missile fire. We are very fortunate that we haven’t been heard, no one comes to investigate.We move on and we end up in a large cave with three tunnels radiating out of it. One dog has been wounded and he has fled into a tunnel that is to low for us to walk in. The tunnel in the middle is only about ten meters deep then it ends in tumble of collapsed rock. This unmistakably is where they are working, trying to open up the blocked passageway. Borric grudgingly admits that the work is done quite professionally. The other tunnel winds upwards for about forty meters and then ends suddenly as it drops into a deep crevasse.Then, suddenly Calim hears voices coming from the entrance. The only sentence I could hear was: ‘If there’s nothing down here, you’ll be sorry.’ Fiddlesticks! We weren’t as quiet as we thought we were. Everybody quickly hides near the tunnel to ambush whoever is coming our way. Arcelle all of a sudden jumps out and fires a wand into the tunnel. A fireball detonates in the corridor and hot air rushes out of the tunnel. I can hear people screaming in pain and dying, Borric then charges into the tunnel, yelling in Dwarven something irrational about killing orcs. Winter shouts at Borric: ‘You fool, get back!’ I agree with Arcelle, with the wand of fireballs we could keep the enemy away, now we can’t fire into the corridor for fear of hitting the dwarf. Arcelle quickly takes command of the situation and she tells Calim to find us an exit and she tells Varsk to go get the overenthusiastic Borric the Unstoppable.There is one tunnel we haven’t explored yet; the small tunnel the wounded dog went in. I am already feeling like the walls are closing in on me and I feel no need at all to help them. I’m not entering and I’m telling the others that I will defend the tunnel entrance. I wish I knew why I am so scared of small, dark spaces. It’s totally irrational, yet I can’t help it. Why can’t I just have fear of heights? We never go to high places; we always end up in some cave for some reason.The other quickly return, the small cave was the entrance to a goblin warren that is now empty. The Zhents must have turned the wolf-dogs upon the goblins, the others tell of more than two dozen goblin corpses and blood splattered all over the walls. The dog we wounded is also inside, having succumbed to its injuries. The crevasse we discovered earlier is to steep and deep to escape by; the collapsed corridor is our only hope. Arcelle fires another fireball into the entrance tunnel and we set to work digging through the collapse. More fireballs explode and we finally reach the other side of the collapsed tunnel. Winter comes running into the tunnel and she fires another fireball into the cave, but then the wand crumbles in her hands. We quickly move through and once we reach the other side of the pile of rubble Arcelle tells Borric to collapse it! With everything going on I hadn’t noticed Borric attaching a rope to one of the supports. Before he gets a chance I step up to him and I shout at him not to do it. Winter then runs up and pulls the rope from the dwarf’s hands and yanks the line! Behind us the tunnel collapses and our only exit is now forever gone!I have never cursed so vigorously at anyone in my life as at Winter at that moment. It didn’t help our situation one bit, but it made me feel somewhat better. When I get my breath back I ask her how she could have done something so stupid. She is quite unperturbed and she says that she knows what she’s doing. I ask her to prove it and for once the others agree. Arcelle then proceeds to tell us that we are now in the upper reaches of the Underdark and that the Zhents will clean up the collapse behind us. I’m now very upset at learning that we are in the bleeding Underdark and trying to remain calm, I ask her why the Zhents would even try to clear the collapsed tunnel; they can just let us starve here. Now we are in for yet another surprise. ‘Because I know what the Zhents are doing here,’ answers the prissy little miss. Everyone erupts in indignation as so far she had said she didn’t know what the Zhents were doing in the mountains.What is it with employers lying to you? Are we just having bad luck getting two in a row or is this normal practice? Weapons were not quite drawn, but we vehemently insisted she tell us the truth, all of it. Arcelle stayed remarkably cool under the circumstances and she tells us matter-of-factly that she is an agent from Cormyr. This is what she had to say. Some time ago a fist sized ruby called Aramus was stolen from the royal palace in Suzail. The stone is traditionally the property of the heir of the Obarskyr family and has no magical properties. Scrying revealed that the ruby had been stolen by four men who turned out to be Zhents and further scrying revealed that the four had died in the Underdark not far from here. Why the Zhents would want the stone, apart from its obvious monetary value, Arcelle couldn’t or wouldn’t tell. So, Winter had been stringing us along all the time, she knew the destination of the three Zhents she made us follow before the journey even began.Everyone is livid to learn that Winter had been lying to us from day one. We also know that standing around isn’t going to help us either. Trying to find the stone seems to be the smartest thing to do strangely enough. I keep hoping we might find an exit on the way. We only have food for a couple more days and it might take much longer for the Zhents to excavate the collapsed tunnel. Cadrach proves to be a sharp operator at that moment; he starts to negotiate for more money. In the end we agree upon a salary of ten gold pieces per person per day and we get to keep everything we find with the exception of the ruby. The others also want a Cormyrian adventurers' charter, which Arcelle agrees to. I can’t for the life of me understand why they would want such a thing. Adventuring in Cormyr is not that big as I understand and you do not need a licence. In my, admittedly limited, experience people tend to look down at you if you start waving around some kind of charter. ‘Them rich kids bought a charter, think they’re adventurers or something,’ that’s the reaction I expect. The fact that half of Cormyr was laid to waste in a war not a year ago doesn’t help matters either.We set out down the tunnel and after half a kilometre we get to a large cavern. The big cave has some stalactites and stalagmites and more importantly, there’s a lake in the middle of it. Regrettably there are no fish in the lake, which is a shame; I could really have gone for a smoked mackerel and a kipper for breakfast. At the end of the cavern are three more tunnels leading deeper into the Underdark. Winter has no idea which one to go in and there are no marks or tracks that we can find. We take the left tunnel and find that it ends high up the wall of another cavern.The cavern is illuminated by a dirty green glow coming from the lichen on the walls, making everything white show in a horrid purple light. Some dilapidated huts are standing not to far away. Varsk is already climbing down and I decide to go with him. If there are people living in those huts, I might as well try to talk to them first before everyone charges at them like some raving lunatics. When Varsk and I get close to the huts, the barbarian sees a dark shape moving between the huts. I say in all the languages I know that we mean no harm and that we are simply looking for an exit. Varsk, who speaks many more languages than you would expect of an Utgardt barbarian tries his luck, but still there is no reaction from within the village.When we get closer dark shapes suddenly rush at us, they’re enormous spiders! The first thing I do is to drop my rapier, grace under fire? Not me. Calim, who had been covering us with his bow all the time, opens fire and draws first blood. I charge at a spider and draw a second dagger and with two daggers I manage to do just fine in combat. I am learning quickly that in combat it’s the result that matters, how it looks is of no concern. The thrust and riposte of rapier and dagger might be good for duels, fighting with two daggers seems easier because both weapons are the same size, even compensating the loss of reach, well against spiders anyway. General melee ensues and when the dust clears up we are victorious. I got nicked by a spider once, but I am ok. Varsk has been seriously wounded though and Cadrach is even worse of. The spider’s venom has a profound effect on our cleric, his strength has been all but sapped away.After a quick exploration we decide to set up camp here for the night, even though we are not even sure if it is night. The cave ends in another two tunnels and in the huts we find two dwarf like skeletons, probably Duergar according to Borric. The little village has been deserted for at least forty years.</blockquote>

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