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Chapter 13
Glory Metal
Or, More Big Bugs
9:29 Dragon, 12th day of Haring -- Winter
Our Heroes were at a Dalish camp, dealing with the repercussions of many werewolves being un-cursed. During the night 18" of snow fell -- a pretty heavy amount, and more was expected. We decided to leave the next morning, or risk being snowed in.
9:29 Dragon, 13th day of Haring -- Winter
Bran, Landon, Eornan and Jayce departed for South Reach, with Bran leading the way. During this trip, most of Our Heroes had strange dreams while sleeping -- Bran deduced that the dreams were caused by "witchy predictions." A bit more snow fell each day, but fortunately nothing to match the blizzard on the 12th.
9:29 Dragon, 15th day of Haring -- Winter
Upon arriving at South Reach early in the afternoon, Our Heroes took rooms at the Graywater Inn, ate hearty meals, had a bath, and went out shopping for travel gear. Bran determined that the wanted poster for Martin/Luther was still up and current. At our evening meal, as an early First Day gift, Jayce gave each of us (Eornan, Bran and Landon) a pair of magical socks: they always remain warm and dry!
9:29 Dragon, 16th day of Haring -- Winter
Taking a bag each of supplies for Luther, Our Heroes headed out in the morning, west of South Reach. At the agreed-upon rendezvous/message location, we found a note, map and some odd metallic ores, all left by Luther.
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Hi everyone, glad you came back.
Unfortunately, I had to relocate. I held out as long as I could, but with the snow getting so deep I finally had to seek some kind of more substantial shelter.
Turns out I got lucky -- well, I hate to put it that way, a it was at another man's expense, though I promse you it was not of my doing.
I ran across a man who was searching around these parts for something (I thought it was me, so I watched him closely for several days). Apparently he found it. When he returned to his camp a few days later, he was pretty badly hurt from what looked like deep blade wounds. He patched himself up, and went to bed that night. Unfortunately, it seems he passed away in his sleep.
So after giving him the best burial I could, I went through his camp.
I found a rough map he was following. It did not say what it was to, but it did have its' final destination on it. I have included the map, and some of the odd rocks I found in his pack -- that's where I went. It's not far, so I could give it to you to come find me if you have the time. While I have some shelter there, I am a bit worried about whatever it is that found Leven, and about ... well, you know, everything.
Hope to see you all very soon,
-- Luther
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a schematic version of Leven's map
Also hidden at the "message drop" were 30 pounds of metallic ore -- pale yellow, not as dense as gold. We followed the map a couple of miles across the snow-covered landscape. The destination was a snow-filled depression, presumably a lakebed or marsh in warmer weather. A notably deep part of the lakebed had a hole in it -- a Significant-looking hole. We moved snow out of the hole and entered a steeply-sloping tunnel, neither natural nor "made by human hands". The tunnel had some hand holds embedded in the sides, some gravel or scree that had fallen in from the lake, and a trickle of ice-cold water; there was about half-a-mile of this passage before we came to a square opening on one side.
This opening led down into a large chamber, with wooden bracing and a smooth floor. The metal fasteners and spikes on the bracing seemed to be of the same pale-yellow metal as in the ore samples Luther had left for us. Also present in the chamber was Leven's tent and camp, most recently used by Luther; and a brass plate inscribed with the word, "OUT" in Elven writing (which only Eornan can read). The pale-yellow ore seemed to make some members of the group uncomfortable.
At the tent was another note from Luther:
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Glad you made it. I know it's not much but it's warm and out of the elements. Whatever happened to Leven, I gotta check it out.
-- Luther
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We proceeded along the tunnels, following the trail of dried blood left by Leven, and the bootprints he and Luther had left. It soon became clear that the tunnels were haunted; we heard voices reciting ancient conversations. Strange tapping noises, the sense that "we were not alone". An abandoned side chamber was mostly filled with broken furniture and glassware. Amid the pile were several items:
items in the old storage room
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Three small bottles, corked with wax and glass stopper, each containing about 3 ounces of a liquid so dark-purple to appear black, unless you shine a very bright light through it. The only 'good' news is the liquid's color seems the same in each bottle so either they all spoiled the same way, or they are still good -- whatever that means
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Four masks were found intact
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three sets of gloves for small hands.
Both the masks and gloves seem to be crafted in the same style. They are made in a sculpted golden cream colored leather, studded with small uncut red semiprecious stones. They do 'smell' of magic to anyone sensitive to that sort of thing.
The masks attach (mold?) to the face comfortably, without a strap. They have no eye holes, but when you are wearing them, you barely even feel them, and your vision is not compromised at all. They seem to help help highlight the Miotail Glohr (translated as 'Glory Metal' -- while it was not well pronounced by your Dearmed friend, you deduced that was probably the correct name from Elvish). The mask also appears to block the uncomfortable ringing and headache that most felt to one degree or another when they entered the mine.
The gloves are worth 2 points of armor, are very resistant to dirt and decay (but could be destroyed with too much mishandling) and give +1 to dexterity and +1 strength with the hands only. They also seem to prevent the 'pins and needles' feeling you normally get when handling the Miotail Glohr (Glory Metal).
The only other barely-valuable item was a dented metal cup -- probably silver -- which was tarnished to black. It might clean up to be valuable/recognizable as an original elven artifact.
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The corridor with the storage room is also where we heard the spectral voices. There was a tink-tink-tink sound, and then a male and female voice. They talked about how much water was left and of drinking elixir (the stuff in the vials?) as though it were a desperate act. The male voice heard something and left for a while. Sounds of chaos broke out shortly after he returned.
The tapping sound was likely the girl, tapping the cup you found on some piece of metal -- probably a kind of SOS to any rescuer who never was to come. It was very regular, and spread a minute or two apart.
Eventually, we encountered a group of half-a-dozen small, long-eared men, armed with bows and swords. They attacked immediately!
The short men were fierce warriors, but had little or no magic. Bran was in danger of being overwhelmed, but in the end all but one of the small men were slain. Their swords were made of Glory Metal, and one of them (the prisoner) was wearing one of the odd masks.
The prisoner, named Geherthi (sp?) spoke an archaic (or degenerate, we don't know) form of Elvish. When questioned, the prisoner claimed that his people were the Dearmed -- or at least that's how it sounded. Again, poorly handed down -- it probably is the word Dearmad, meaning "forgotten" in Elvish. He called us the "Corrupted Ones", but it's possible he was confusing us with Darkspawn. According to him, the shamans of his people could tame or silence the Glory Metal, so that it didn't cause headaches (or whatever other damage).
He agreed to lead us to where Luther was at, but said we had to hurry -- "only one more sleep" -- and sneak. We saw more of the OUT signs; Geherthi said they were made by "The First", and led to Heaven. The worked tunnels led into a network of more crude, twisting caves, perhaps created by Darkspawn. We began to hear the sounds of many Dearmed at work; at about that point, Geherthi frowned and said we should send Jayce back: "that one is too noisy." Jayce headed glumly back to Leven's tent.
We came to the perimeter of a vast cavern, with over a hundred Dearmed present. Most were working, some were guards, and on a high dais was a shaman. We successfully snuck around this area; Bran managed to snatch an ingot of Glory Metal from a pile.
Gerherthi eventually brought us to within 20 yards or so of the cell where Luther was being held; two guards were present, both within earshot of the larger crowds in the main chamber. We decided that a diversion would draw the guards off -- Bran took a flask of lamp oil, and (led by Geherthi) circled around to the far side of the chamber and tossed the burning oil into a pen full of ... giant bugs. Bran came running back, and Geherthi took the opportunity to disappear.
The distraction drew one of the guards away; Eornan and Landon dealt with the other. The cell door was blocked with a large rock (the Dearmed apparently hadn't been able to repair the lock), which Bran was able to roll out of the way. We helped the somewhat battered Luther to his feet, and ran away towards the surface.
Once we got to Leven's tent, we healed Luther a bit, caught our breath, took down the tent (at Luther's insistence), and began the tiring slog up half-a-mile of steep tunnel to the surface.
It was after sunset by the time we reached the surface, at the dried-up, snowed-over lake. We trimmed Luther's hair a bit; he had grown a considerable beard while hiding, also; thus he should have been unrecognizable. There was a bit of trouble finding our way about in the dark, but we got back to South Reach eventually. Another big meal and bath, clean clothes, a short chat with Luther about his adventures underground, more discussions of the Excuses needed for the Gray Warden's gathering, and then to sleep.
Our bounty from the day: 7 Dearmed swords, an ingot of Glory Metal, several pounds of Glory Metal ore, and the items listed for the "storage chamber".
9:29 Dragon, 17th day of Haring -- Winter
Eornan, Bran and Landon all had vivid dreams again. We expected to spend this day preparing for the trip to Denerim, and deciding what to do about/with the stuff taken from the Dearmed.
+800 experience points each
On to Denerim!
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