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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pedestrian" data-source="post: 3619746" data-attributes="member: 40208">Tom Morris was a true son of Bereg, and had a knack for stone. He and Marduk were pressed to the floor of the bugbear’s chambers, the dwarf gently tapping the flagstones.“Hear that my lamb?” He tapped again. Marduk did not, but he nodded dutifully. “That is hollow. Which means” Tom sat up “that there is something under here. Something the goblins didn’t find. Here, help me shift it.” It was heavy, but Marduk’s muscles alone would have been sufficient to the task. They pulled out the loose stone, revealing a set of iron rungs set into the wall. Eagerly, the pair clambered down.The utter darkness was no trouble to them, and they took stock of their surroundings. On the floor, an ancient skeleton impaled on an arrow the size of a javelin, an ornate sword still clutched in one cadaverous hand. Three alcoves sat behind three iron grates.“I don’t suppose we have a key?” Tom asked the dead body “No? Well, I commend you to Kade anyway.” He looked to Marduk. “Looks like this is going to take muscle.” Marduk grinned, and hefted his axe.The din of the two bashing away at the iron echoed up through the ruined keep, finally reaching the ears of Sir Tarnus and Marcus. They had broken into another room, looking for a seat for the blinded mage. It had turned out to be some sort of war chamber, and the knight had been occupying himself with scanning a battle-map, charting the path the “Red Hand” intended to take across Elsir Vale. The clanging and banging broke his concentration and, when it did not abate, he elected to investigate. Gently, he guided Marcus to the bugbear’s chamber, only to find Tom and Marduk finished with whatever they were doing, and the two of them climbing up out of a black pit, ferrying items up and down with them. They brought several coffers, a gleaming sword, a polished black dragon skull, two necklaces (one with coppery scales, the other giant teeth), two thick bottles (one filled with black liquid, the other with grey), a gauntlet the size of a man’s torso, a staff of silver-white wood imbued with divine energies and an iridescent cloak. Setting this hoard down, the pair set to trying to smash open the coffers with their weaponry.Sir Tarnus picked one up, looking at the symbol emblazoned on it. “V” he murumured, remembering back to his education at the chapel.Later that night, having rejoined the tracker Jorr at the campsite, and now a thousand gold and – debatedly – a whole keep richer (A deed found  in one of the coffers to Vraath keep and the lands around it. Tom believed they should give the land back to the people of Drellin’s Ferry, the others were not so sure) Sir Tarnus told his companions of the story of Vraath Keep.After the fall of the Rhestilor Argyles, there had been chaos in their former lands, Elsir. After several decades of this, an heir of the Vraath line sought to unite Elsir Vale under his banner. To this end, he had sought to make the Vale safe, and make a grand gesture of his power. He had set his sites on the giantkin of the Witchwood. His pre-emptive strike against the giants was wildly successful, and after defeating the Witchwood tribe, the Lord Vraath returned to his keep in triumph. His victory was short lived, as the giants who survived called on their mountain relatives and brought ruin to Vraath Keep. The Lord was never heard from again, and his fate remained unknown. Many believed he had fled into ignominy, as no body was ever found. Likely, the skeleton far beneath the Keep was Lord Vraath, dead from the arrow still impaled in him.Sir Tarnus did not take his eyes from the sword that had been reclaimed from the keep, running a finger over the snowflake pattern that ran across it, shivering at the chill.</blockquote>

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