Our heroes, Arius the half-elf prince, Melkor the wizard who masters the lore of lore itself, Douglas Wenham the cunning thief of awesome dexterity and Jared West the heathen priest of Lathander, were finally on something big. Hermit monk called Alvar had thanked them from their service with a map describing an ancient mining village deep in the Reaching Woods. Village was called Sparklestoneand it was supposed to be full of val
uable jewels, according to the legends and writings of Alvar monasterys brotherhood.Destined to follow the hermits squirrelskin map of a cryptic cipher our brave heroes returned to Scornubel to refresh their rations and sharpen their blades of bloodshed. Melkor also did some delicate purchasing to supply his material components required in casting of his omnipotent magic and spend two days and nights locked in his chamber at the Tallabor Inn scribing spells to his spellbook whilst the others of the party drank the rest of the money they had in the Jumping Jugs-tavern.
Poor as hell with a morbid hangover, our incredible posse mounted on their powerfull steeds and rode like thunder until they reached the Reaching. Impassable while mounted, they continued by walking their horses, encouraged by the fact that they were invisible to the evil eyes on the road. But suddenly the forest grew dark and faster than one judges a witch to the pyre, all evil was upon them. Something gigantic grew in front of them, a shape of a monster huge in size, roaring "Huu-Moor"! Could it be, the ghost or spirit of Urgallox, the owlbear menace they killed couple of levels ago. But as fast as it came, it was gone. Only a laughing, hawk-nosed and goateed little geezer walk forth from the bushes, grinning familiarly and saying that the legendary beast sends it regards from the Nine-Hells. It was Petreskobal, the scamming imp. It had came behalf of an entity which name described in mortal tongues would be something like Gor´Marrak the Eater of Nations. The Imp questioned Jared with a riddle, "what hangs from the branch but gives no harvest". Succesfully answering "hanged man" Jared saved his soul for couple years maybe, as Petreskobal said that the Eater of Nations was bit hard to restrain, then swerving away to the bushes. Puzzled by the recent turn his life has taken, Jared and the others decided to research this matter later in town or city of somesort, but now it was for the mine tunnels!
As they proceed closer and closer to the village, they met a little puppy. Arius bonded with the small canine instantly, and sweared to keep the small dog. The puppy proved to be useful as it led our heroes to the village they were looking for. Everything in this small village, build inside the roots and mounds of huge and ancient trees, was dead and decaying. It had to been laying deserted for years. But before our adventurers got to get comfortable, they were surrounded by the living dead! These small, gnome-size zombies dragged their feet slowly towards our magnificent party, which did not panic, but waited for perfect moment to strike themself free from the ever-thightening noose of the little undead. But as Douglas thrusted his rapier in an opening in ones face, they all were terrifyed by the shriek it released. Then all the other "zombies" rushed to help the wounded one, and it was soon clear that what the heroes had witnessed was a not-so-cunning hoax. Gnome elder, called Belfor Shimmering, swiped the make up from his face and excused the mess.
The Gnomes explained that they had lived hidden, surviving on berries, roots and fungi, for past 150 years, all long from when the Great Black Spinner had laid its web on the old mine. Only Fozla Marnig, old and only surviving miner, could remember something from the tunnels, and he was badly demented. After questioning the gramps they had little knowledge of the tunnels, but they got some weird power-mushrooms, clearly highly toxic and propably lethal, but recommended by the old gnome. Later on they managed to convince Belfor to give a ancient masterkey-coder, crafted by Carl Glittergod (gnomish head-deity)himself, to our heroes. Belfor insisted that they would close every door and seal behind them to keep the evil away, and that they had to discover another way out, as it would be clearly too dangerous for the withered village if the team would return the same way.
Early in the next morning the expedition begun to ascend to the
mines. After Belfor had closed the main gate, they were on their own. Soon they had their minds full of ciphers as every now and then their journey halted on a finely crafted door, which was accessable only by cracking the code carved on it with the master-key coder. On the left you can gaze three of the puzzles. After the first one our brilliant party arrived to a maintance hall where all the gnome mining-gear was repaired and made in times now forgotten. Abandoned hall proved little in revenue and they continued a stairs up from the two possible headings. There they cracked yet again one of the magic doors and step in to the hall of degeneration. Once maybe the hall of crowns, the space was filled with litter and moss. Here and there was little huts, made mainly from litter and rotting feces. Creatures inhabiting these wretched piles were lower in height than the gnomes up there, horribly deformed by years of terrible inbreeding. These once goblinoids in race regarded our adventures as gods, as they opened the ancient portals to the netherworld. Well, actually they stepped in from a plain door but these little mongers gazed on them with awe and wonder never seen before. This event would have been curious in nature, but the fat leader of these puny creeps arrived from it's "mansion" accompanied by the shaman of the tribe. This skinny aberration was possibly the most horrible of them all, and it had covered itself with feces and dead fetuses. It began to tell a tale with it's guttural, piping imitation of a voice, showing old cavepaintings that looked like splashes of essential fluids. Paintings told a tale how these gods would arrive from the portals, but instead of saving the tribe, the tribe was depicted as eating their gods. After noticing this small detail, Melkor needed little convincing to the others to raze this inbred tribe once and for all. After hacking and whacking, killing and slashing dozens of these mongering abhorrences, our heroes had slayed women and children alike, if those bit smaller ones could be described as such. Douglas managed to recover the dead chiefs sword, a rapier of expert craftmanship. It was most likely a ancient heirloom and token stolen from some unfortunate traveller ages ago, before the tribe was caught in its horrid hall. Behind the chiefs hut they discovered a coded door. After long and exhausting period of deep thinking they managed to break it's secrets and step in to the treasure hall. Unfortunate for our posse, the hall had crumbled into a vast opening, called abyss in the underdark terms, which expanded hundreds of feets into the darkness, up and down and straight ahead. Only dim green lights could be seen somewhere very far from the ledge they were standing.
This forced our heroes to reverse back to the maintance hall and choose the another way. It lead their way through series of mining tunnels, all empty from riches. But then suddenly they saw a wall of web. Breaking through this curiosity they stepped into a web filled tunnels, and experienced a fierce attack from strange spiderfolk called chitine. Defeating these monsters they pursued one escaping, and arrived to the same abyss they saw earlier. But this time a narrow bridge made of webbing expanded over it, to the green dim lights. They decided to cross the bridge, and while dodging few missiles they arrived to a strange city made of hardened web. Here and there where lying dead chitines, fact that astonished our team of virtue. They proceed upwards on this nearly vertical city, and heard ever growing chanting "LO". Soon they where on the top of the empty city, climbing up a bridge to a round hall made of the same webbing. There they witnessed terrible ritual involving dozens of chitines, whirling smoke pillar and a white man-spider size of a horse. The situation soon worsened into slaughter, involving three drows who steped forth behind the curtain. Soon our heroes were pursuing a escaping female drow cleric, as the webbing hall had turn into a pyre. They soon quit the futile chase, as they saw an opening over them, a change to get above grounds.
After long period of terrible climbing all of them were safely above the hell hole. Even Melkor whose hideous climbing turned into a slapstick comedy from time to time. Quickly they returned back to their horses, and told the gnomes what was hiding in their tunnels. These big eyed herbgatherers were facinated but decided not to plunder into the mine, it was past for them. Belfor adviced them to go to Foresthouse, a Inn held by Tremeld Sinivihta, quality service middle of nowhere. So they headed east, and later that day spotted the inn. On the forested yard there was almost twenty men, powerfully build carrying heavy weaponry, all mounted and ready to go. One of these warrior talked to a man who obviously was Sinivihta, but the man noticed our heroes and shouted "Hold tight on your heads, time of destiny is upon us, the Skogarrim are here!" and then he mounted and rode away towards shoutheast with his men. Our group asked Tremeld who was this man, and they learned that he was Olf Redbeard, leader of the northmen called Skogarrim, highly skilled mercenaries. Tremeld also told that he had heard rumors about Kothian mercenaries arriving to Darnon from the south, they also were men of fierce reputation.
They retired to their beds, and before falling asleep Melkor calculated that their plunders from the mine were worth of 12000 gold pieces. Single most valuable item was Douglas's rapier Umbra, and it had proven to be quite potent. Now finally Melkor had the cash to pursue some goals of his own...
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