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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carlo-One" data-source="post: 9785678" data-attributes="member: 7015827">After some further speculation about what a challenge might be like, the five adventurers departed the guest cave and presented themselves for entry at the Ironhelm citadel’s inner gates. Recognized by the dwarven defenders on duty, they passed through and descended into the clanhome, where Rumnaher escorted them to the temple. Passing through the tavern area, they attracted the attention of patrons by their presence, as well as Darrow’s penchant for making silly faces. Dermot nodded and smiled as pleasantly as he could, evidently not completely comfortable with the gazes and comments in dwarven.Entering the temple itself, Rosten – seeing it for the first time – was impressed by its accoutrements, including a large, magically glowing statue of the god Moradin. Acolyte Andin, Darrow’s brother, greeted the group in the common tongue, then his brother in dwarven, clasping hands with a smile, followed by a light cuff after Darrow asked if he still occupied his time polishing the statue. They then proceeded to where High Priest Iskar stood, Darrow bowing politely to his elder, who first reproved him in dwarven before welcoming all to the Soul Forger’s hall, in the name of Clan Ironhelm. Iskar then formally recognized Aerikoth as a dwarf-friend, the mage politely returning the greeting, and Dermot as an honored guest who had done service to the clan in the past. As Iskar had not yet met the other two honored guests, after a pointed look from the priest Darrow introduced Rosten as a hin who had travelled considerable distances on the oceans, and Lloria as a warrior priestess.Iskar spoke first of the dragon hoard, which he understood had been completely recovered, wanting to hear more about what had occurred at the site. He saluted them for aiding in the recovery of the bodies of the dwarven expedition that had been massacred there, and noted that the slain Toran Goldfinder had been replaced by Fignar, who would later give them their reward. However, many questions yet remained about what had occurred, casting a pall over events in the clan. Darrow confessed they had little in the way of answers, beyond what Iskar probably already knew, but described how they had not found any evidence of the attackers at the horde site – just some elementals and the usual beasts. They saw enough of the bodies to doubt it was a dragon, although they had all been burnt, as all of their tongues had been cut out. Iskar understood the implication of this deliberate act, which he agreed was not the doing of any dragon. Lloria cleared her throat and expressed her understanding that Toran Goldfinder had a dicey reputation, which meant they suspected he was involved somehow. Darrow then presented his theory, that Toran had a business deal for some of the hoard that went sour. He had wondered who might pay for some of the magics in the hoard and would have the kind of power to wipe out the expedition - and know to cut out all the tongues, so that the dead could not be spoken with. That lead him to think maybe Toran was dealing with someone with the Underdark, although there was no evidence to support any of that. (As a follower of Kelemvor, I would be uncomfortable with any desecration of the dead - including extraction of information via spell - but must admit it would have provided crucial information on the massacre. However, the Speak with Dead spell requires that the corpse have a tongue with which to speak. --C)Darrow’s theory did not surprise Iskar, who suspected that Toran at least wished to open trade with Underdark representatives at some point. The high priest referred to his hints at such during the last clan council meeting, also mentioning Toran’s aversion to surfacers and their cities. However, Iskar qualified this by saying he had not found any evidence either; apparently Toran had not left the clan halls, except on the ill-fated expedition. Furthermore, no entrances to the Underdark had been found in the hoard site. Darrow confirmed this, although the dwarf noted that wizards have ways around this, confirmed by Aerikoth as an accurate statement. Iskar similarly had reached the conclusion that magic must have been involved in the destruction of the expedition, but did not know how. In the unfortunate absence of further information, he declared that they must turn away from this mystery, however, and prepare for the clan’s future.</blockquote>

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