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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 907053" data-attributes="member: 41">Great Delve 414 FlameruleNow this Dumathoin is my kind of deity.  The dwarven god of wealth keeps none of his treasure in his temples, yet the place is about nothing else.  Marvelous relief sculpture here.14 FlameruleBeyond Dumathoin’s realm, we overcame a pair of animated statues that were lurking at the end of a long corridor.  They guarded a massive vault and armory.  There is a fortune in master-crafted weapons and armor abandoned here, exactly the sort of wealth that calls adventurers forth from their hearth fires!But Ketcherin says that the treasures of Kor’En Eamor (meaning “the First Home”—the name the dwarves have given this Delve) should stay with Kor’En Eamor.  Ridiculous.  I say if the dwarves of the First Home loved their treasure so much, why haven’t they taken it to wherever they have been spirited off to?  After all, according to Enkil, we are doing the work of Moradin by putting these degenerate dwarves to the sword, and would Moradin have Himself be known as a miserly employer?  I think not.I think it is Ketcherin who proposes blasphemy, and I told him as much.  Our last words were not pretty, and were he more of a boon companion, I would certainly regret that fact.Beyond the armory is an entrance to a large natural cavern (where the violet fungus killed Ketcherin), and beyond that a massive fungal forest.  We have not even seen the entirety of the cavern, and perhaps never shall!  There is a waterfall somewhere to the Southeast of the entrance and its roar is a constant companion.In that place, we were set upon by a pair of creatures that might be the result of a drunken union between a throw rug and a constrictor snake.  All I remember is that everything became dark, but I am told I owe my life to Bern.   At any rate, we killed a pair of the things and dug a shallow grave for the dwarven caver.I have stuffed one of their bodies into a sack for Ashnern, but I am hopeful that I shall need that sack for more precious tidbits before I see the sun again.15 FlameruleIt may be difficult for you to understand how little light there is in this place, Ashnern.  Of course you know that there is no light underground, but I don’t think you understand what that means.Imagine, Ashnern, you are in a massive lightless cavern.  The cavern is at least a third of a league in width and depth, yet you can see no more than sixty feet from your own nose.  To complicate this already quite intimidating situation, imagine that a gigantic waterfall fills your ears with its unrelenting hiss, loud enough that you would not hear a division of armored dwarves coming up behind you, nonetheless a stealthy monstrous predator.If you have imagined this scenario properly, you are in a position to appreciate the excruciating and unrelenting tension that comes from exploring this great cave.If you can appreciate the tension, you can also appreciate why I was so willing to add the drow to our ranks.  With her superior darkvision, she can give us twice the warning that we might have had.At any rate, she appeared out of the darkness shortly after the violet fungus tore our previous ranger quite literally limb from limb.  (As a  Monstrologist, perhaps you can tell me why a creature with four inhumanly strong tentacles needs to be as poisonous as the violet fungus is?) She claimed she has recently escaped a condition of slavery in the depths below the fungal cavern.  I don’t fully trust her, but she says she’s a scout, and better yet, she’s willing to walk the point.  Frankly, that could be the difference between life and death for me, so I convinced the group she was necessary.  She gave her name as Markessa, I think.  Or Morkotha or Maranna or something like that.  A bitter woman, really, and altogether blunt on the topic of torture and abuse.  I like her quite a bit, and I like even better the prospect of a more appealing target out on point with me. Now I need not worry about being stealthy enough to avoid our foes—merely being stealthier than my companion On The Island!We intend to follow through with our plan to leave the Delve despite meeting the drow.  She has elected to remain behind, camping in the Great Delve with Enkil, as it is the consensus opinion of the group that a dark elf would not find as ready an acceptance from the common folk of Storm’s Rise as she has amongst our group.15 FlameruleTroubles and tribulation!  The Lady Tess has been stripped of her title and replaced!  Apparently, the teenaged ruler of Storm’s Rise has defaulted on her taxes to Cormyr, and the Steel Regent, in all her wisdom, has appointed one of her adventuring cronies to sit the throne here and guard the pass.  Ilthais Truesilver is his name, and apparently the new Lord prefers his hunting to remaining in town.  We did meet with his charming young wife Arlewen, who was foolish enough to re-negotiate our adventurer’s charter!Did not they warn her in Arabel never to bargain with a Baatezu?  But I cannot take all the credit for our newfound freedom, as Selise certainly knows her way around a council.  At any rate, we are now sanctioned by Cormyr herself to do . . . well, whatever we wish.  Life is grand.Poor Tess is trying to paint a brave face on things, but you should have seen the look on Selise’s face when we were stopped on our way back to town by an armed guard wearing the tabard of House Truesilver.  This Lord has a double score of loyal soldiers with him, and I have made the acquaintance of a few.  Or rather, I have thoroughly aggravated one or two of them with my attentions.  I’m no great judge of character, but I am fairly sure that Selise is harboring seditious thoughts.In the morning, we return to the Delve.  We plan to further explore the fungal forest.  By the Gods That Be, that Delve is so much larger than we’d ever imagined!  It is a world to itself, and according to the drow, it is populated by kuo-toa, illithid and worse!16 Flamerule We are resting in this cavern, if you can truly call something ten times the size of Storm’s Rise “a cavern”.  Merkatha assures us that most of the fungus is edible, with only a few varieties poisonous, and even fewer still predatory.  Not that Ketcherin would agree, I’m sure.Enkil the dwarven cleric of Moradin is still with me, as is Bern the cleric of Kossuth, Selise our erstwhile noblewoman and archer, and Merkatha the drow scout.  The others have found pressing reasons to adventure no further, the cowards.  We passed through the fungal forest into a dwarven-worked and decrepit area.  Whatever magic protects the Halls of the Aq Med holds no sway here.  These caverns look for all the world like one would expect an ancient dwarven home to look, complete with crumbling masonry and faded frescoes.  Marking the boundary into this area, we discovered the following inscription carved into the wall:“Entrance beyond here brings only darkness; for those who are strong and resist Death’s clutches, your survival will weave a web of loss so strong that the world will be caught up in it.  –Alvodar Cursebreaker, once King of the Lost Halls of Kor’en Eamor”This cannot be good.We returned to the fungal forest, and explored a fascinating structure built into the center of it—a suspension platform composed of some translucent material, as hard as stone, and attached to the unseen ceiling of the cavern by thick steel cables.  It is an impressive engineering feat, even to my ignorant eyes.  The strange stone is nearly invisible in the dim light of the cavern, and even walking upon it gives the impression that one is standing on the air.Atop the transparent ledge stands a massive column—itself ringed with smaller hexagonal columns chased with precious minerals (including mithril and adamantite)!  I won’t deny a slight urge to pry free some of these ancient treasures, but I could palpably feel Bern and Enkil’s cold judgement wash over me.  At the center of the main column is a hexagonal riser, carved with this phrase:“Here I stand so all can see the God that I am.”What were these dwarves about?  Is this Hepis?  And why does he not sign his work? Atop the riser is an altar, with this inscription:“The father must make way so the son can be the father.  In all things this must pass.”This altar contains vessels marked with the rune of Ceridain Lifegiver.  We believe that Hepis the Great ascended to godhood here, but was he aided by this Ceridain?  Enkil says the Lifegiver was a creation of Moradin, the vessel in which he left his breath during his making of the dwarves.  Selise suggests that Ceridain is a classic mother-god, the Womb in which the dwarven people grew forth from the Breath of Moradin.We know that Hepis was the king of the Aq Med, which literally translates into “First People”.  Hepis was therefore king of the First House, king of this Delve, and by association, king of all dwarves.  Did his mother Ceridain set him up to become a god, to challenge his Father?Whatever the case, we have determined not to touch the ceremonial vessels, either for curiosity’s sake, or for future sale.  Again, I was out-voted.</blockquote>

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