From the Annals of Arngeir, Son of Arnulfr, Alacritous Academic and Ambitious Adventurer
In the bittersweet days that followed the destruction of the corrupted Apostle Tree, my associates and I pondered the purpose of our next expedition. After some discussion, we agreed to delve, once again, into the acrid Lair of the Old Pale Wyrm. Although we had slain the beast a fortnight before, the Weirding Caverns hold many more secrets. Using the map I purchased for the first expedition, we made our way to the southernmost caverns, to the location where the Wyrm met his doom. As we came to a narrow passage, a familiar sour scent filled our nostrils.
Halting for a moment, we heard the soft scraping of scales against earth and the clicks of claws biting rock. We formed a line and, in moments, another of the Wyrm's brethren was upon us. The fell serpent let out a great hiss, like hot iron quenched in water. In his clutching paws he brandished a spear and a sword, poised to strike Lars Ghar-Rider, Durham, and myself. Durham led the engagement with a throw of his war hammer, Sunforger.
As our front began to exchange blows with the serudla, our second line supported us by casting spells and javelins. Of particular note during this encounter was a well-placed toss of a lasso from Althis, which snared one of the serpent's six legs. Off-balance and injured, the beast quickly succumbed to the combined force of our impenetrable front. Durham struck the death blow and we set about harvesting the carcass. Althis took for himself a length of its skin, Durham claimed the beast's head, and I cut out its heart. I hoped that this most powerful and rarest of viscera might aid me in some enchantments I'd been planning.
Although we explored the three southernmost caverns whilst we plundered the Old Pale Wyrm's treasure hoard, some inquisitive party members found a secret door. Behind this portal of false stone was another door with a sign: PECHIK'S ROOM - STAY OUT. Of course, being adventurers, the sign need say no more. Althis rapped on the door with his knuckles and asked the occupants to grant entrance.
Althis knocked twice before a rather peculiar fellow opened the door. His voice was low and breathy. Althis announced us as "visitors' and this stranger, who later identified himself as Peshik himself, bid us enter. Wishing not to divide our party, we all entered to find five or so other inhabitants waiting for us. If Peshik was odd, these poor souls were even more so.
In the dim light of our lanterns, we saw that these men moved with an unsteady gait and several of them were afflicted with necrosis. The faces of four of these fellows were rotting; their flesh was visibly peeling and the smell of this room was atrocious. Their eyes were sunken, but hungry. They looked eager to seize us, but Peshik gestured to them to remain still. As Althis made friendly with them, Peshik explained that he and his cohorts were once miners seeking silver, but the appearance of the Old Pale Worm trapped them in that corner of the cavern. He pleaded in a soft, hoarse voice that we remain with him, in the dark. Althis, feeling uneasy, moved to the back of the party and exited the room.
It is at this point I should, in charity, suggest that our companion Heijo wanted to spare us the dangers of these undead by preempting the fight. In truth, however, I believe she panicked. In any case, she recklessly cast a fireball in this small room. The rest of our party was as shocked as the ghouls were when supernatural fire engulfed everyone in the vicinity. Each of us was scorched and, for a moment, my mind's eye flashed back to my scarring encounter with a Ru'un. In a second, I was back to my senses and laid a slash upon Peshik with my crackling flamesword. Durham laid low Peshik's lieutenant with a crushing blow from Sunforger, but Peshik's end was much more interesting. As Lars was preparing his strike, I saw his new battle-axe vibrate in his hand. He glanced at it, puzzled for a moment, then looked back at Peshik with pure bloodlust. His swift strike halved the villain at the torso and we breathed a collective sigh of relief. I have begun to question Heijo's sanity after this episode, especially considering she attempted a few weeks ago to kill Raoden. Granted, she was in a cultist-induced psychosis before my killing of the Apostle Tree, but I retain my suspicions.
In the immediate aftermath of Heijo's wayward spell, Fa Min fell unconscious. Luckily, we were able to revive her and began searching Peshik's hideout for anything of value. The hafts of his mattocks, sledges, and shovels were rotted and useless. His payroll was also rather meager. Most valuable of all, however, was a trove of mining maps and documents laid in a large stack upon a makeshift desk. They were very old, delicate, and fraying at the edges. While we were able to collect most of them intact, we spotted a mining claim for a vein of silver in these southern caverns. I signed the claim over to myself using my fingerprint and that of Peshik's corpse. I purchased the deed for the sum of a single dinarius and dropped it on his chest. Am I not an honorable marauder?
Curiously, one of the maps detailed a so-called vein of zortrium. From my knowledge of historical texts and Durham's knowledge of metallurgy, we knew that zortrium cannot be found in nature. It is an exceedingly rare element forged by a civilization older and more powerful than ours. We consulted with the party and decided the best course of action would be to investigate this potentially lucrative location.
We set out northward, passing the husk of the serudla we had just slain. We took a westward path and walked on a downward incline until we came to two exceedingly large cliffs. Using our rope and climbing tools, we descended the first cliff. Heijo, who carries most of our rope, estimated its height at 250 feet. Simply immense! The second cliff was smaller, around 150 ft. As we descended the second cliff, we heard a cry from the void behind us. Standing upon the precipice of a cliff slightly higher than ours was a group of small creatures carrying a dim light. They called out, asking if we wished to trade. It was the Zoq Fot Pik! We offered to meet them at the bases of our respective cliffs and we scurried down. It was quite a relief to see friends in this accursed place. One shudders to think what would happen if we were attacked by a serudla while we were dangling helplessly from our rope.
Upon reaching the base of the cliff, we found an agreeable place to sit. The Zoq Fot Pik laid out a blanket and set their wares on it. We, in turn, placed our trade goods on the other side. Fermented fish sauce in exchange for jewels, what an oddity! Before our greed could get the better of us, we exchanged some of the garum for information. "How many serudla are down here?" asked Durham. They chattered amongst themselves and motioned for four bottles.
"Four." they said. "We have seen four serudla in this area. Though two are now dead."
"Four. Does that include the one we killed today?" Durham inquired. The Zoq Fot Pik murmured amongst themselves.
"You have slain another serudla?" they asked. Reminding ourselves that information isn't free in the Weirding Caverns, we traded information about serudla and the stories of our previous encounters with them for a few gemstones. Then came the question that was burning in Durham's and my mind.
"We found a map belonging to a group of miners. They show that there is a vein of zortrium nearby. Where is it?" Hushed tones and whispers. They gestured to another three bottles, which we slid to their side.
"Further down the passage. The same way you are going." To think we could've had a few more gemstones if we'd only held our tongues and gone a bit further! Alas, we only had 13 or so bottles to exchange before we concluded our business. The blanket was rolled up and we said our farewells.
"Before you leave us, is there another type of garum you might like? Something like a seasoned garum?"
"Seasoned...garum?!" Their eyes boggled at the thought. At the very least, we know what to offer them at our next meeting.
We continued down the passageway, as the Zoq Fot Pik suggested. As we marched down a decline, we came to a shallow pit. There, at the bottom, was a most welcome sight: the greenish gleam of zortrium. We made our way down to the vain and saw immediately what Durham and I had suspected. This was no vein of zortrium; it was an artificial construct of monumental size.
I began to dig around the exposed edges of the immense object while Durham used his scanner to estimate its size. He reckoned that the zortrium mass was about 10 feet wide and 30 feet long! Fah Min suggested that she use her powers of earth manipulation to move the scree more quickly, but admitted that she needs more practice first. Heijo used her powers to search for an entrance into the construct, but she could find none. Durham used his Cloak of Eyes to peer into the object's interior. He saw a hallway with runic inscriptions on the walls. At least that's a start!
We had come too close to leave empty-handed, I thought. I plunged my flamesword into the structure to create an opening, but it retracted with an unexpected sputter. I had foolishly thought my sword's power was infinite, but it would seem we must use it more sparingly in the future. The zortrium hull, like my resplendent armor, was too strong to cut. Something had damaged it, we discovered. There were many scattered crater marks across it, like those made when one drops a stone into sand and takes the stone away. Either it was buffeted by stones flying at an incredible speed or it collided with the earth at such speeds. The small crater we found ourselves in suggests the latter.
We could have stayed and dug more, but the exertion of killing a serudla, surviving a stray fireball, and descending the cliffs had left us spent. After a brief conversation, we decided to retire to Cothon-Gadeed until we could return better prepared. To find this object again more easily, Fah Min placed a mark near it. In addition, Durham buried one of his crossbow bolts and Heijo cast an object-finding spell upon it. We scaled the enormous cliffs and headed northward toward the entrance.
How I long to return! What rich rewards we would reap, if only we could uncover the secrets of the Monument!
[written by Ty concerning a not-recent-anymore expedition, for his character Arngeir, earning that character 100 xp per level]
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