We started off with Vismund gathering together the new recruits Rael, Lethe, Dawn, and Mike Mitchel for a bit of thuggery. Mina's contacts within the Thieves Guild had passed on word that some squatters had broken into the abandoned warehouses that used to belong to the Beggar-King which was now de facto property of GoHAC. Vismund decided this would make for an excellent training exercise so they left for the Rat's Catcher Row to deal with the incursion themselves. Jym had mysterious business of his own to attend to before joining them and would be along later.
Vismund led the troops in a thorough sweep of the rotting warehouses and attached townhouse of the late Beggar-King. They found signs of a break-in in an alley behind one of the warehouses. The stout chain and padlock that used to secure the entrance to a basement level storage area was broken and laying in the mud on the street. A dark ramp descended underground. Vismund pushed the newbies in front and told them “Alright now, time ter show me what ye all can do. Get in there and clear 'em out. I don't care if'n you have to kill 'em all.”
Lethe and Rael took the lead and found a dark and low-ceilinged storage room at the bottom of the ramp. Piles of rubble, broken crates and other debris littered the area making movement difficult. There was no sign of life, but piles of stacked crates in the back of the room and alcoves on the sides provided excellent hiding places. Once they moved deeper into the room for a thorough search the lurkers in the dark attacked. A group of Goblin Cutters rushed out of the alcoves and attacked while a pair of greasy looking Dwarven Warriors launched deadly crossbow bolts from behind the crates. The first wave of Goblins was dispatched easily, but the sounds of battle drew the attention of reinforcements from an adjoining room. A second wave of Goblin Cutters joined the battle followed by a Dwarven Hexer, leading the attack from the rear. The Hexer plagued the party with a vexing cloud and then pushed his own minions into the path of ranged attacks that targeted him, while the Dwarven Warriors continued to launch bolts at the party from a safe distance.
At this point Jym came rushing down the ramp to join the party, having apparently dealt with whatever problems were vexing him and ready for a fight. The party waded through the rest of the Goblins with ease and closed in on the Dwarves. Without minions to protect him, the Hexer was cornered and slain and the Warriors were run down. When they searched the bodies they found a strange brand or tattoo on each of them depicting a jagged mountain peak with a crown over it. This same symbol was found minted on their foreign coins, although the gold and silver would spend the same as any in Punjar. This symbol seemed to strike a nerve with Vismund and when pressed by the party he revealed that the same symbol had been appearing in his dream. He admitted to having troubling dreams often, but as of late there was a more urgent hatred about them and largely focused on this symbol.
It struck Mike the Druid as strange, with his knowledge of natural things, that Goblins and Dwarves would work together, since they are usually bitter enemies who fight over territory. They figured that there must be some powerful being keeping order amongst such as these. In the next room the party discovered the remains of a camp and some evidence of a ritual in preparation. In the coals of the camp fire they found the burnt corner of a letter. Vismund performed a simple Make Whole ritual to reveal the rest of the message. It was written in Dwarvish so Vismund translated for the party. The gist was that these squatters were summoned here as mercenaries by the Beggar-King, but had arrived from some far off land too late to be of use to the dead despot. The letter contained instructions from an “MK”, who the party determined must stand for the Mountain King, that they should answer the summons and attempt to create a portal linking Punjar to the Halls of Tannheim, for what nefarious purpose it was unclear. Rael searched his memory and recalled that the Halls of Tannheim were supposedly the secret halls of a cursed race of Dwarves who were wiped out by their own wickedness. It was rumored that they had dug too deep into the Trollbone Mountains and summoned forth a demon, but bound it with fell rituals to their infernal forge. Many powerful arms and armor were forged in the Halls of Tannheim but they often carried terrible curses. The ancient Dragonborn empire was known to have commissioned many Tiefling slayer items from the Dwarves of Tannheim during their struggles with their ancient enemies.
Vismund suggested that their next goal should be to find these lost Dwarven halls and rid them of the thralls of this Mountain King and take what treasure may be there for themselves. To that end they must complete the portal ritual and follow it through. The party agreed, rested up and then used the ritual scroll the Hexer had left behind. Before they stepped through the shimmering portal they each made sure to grab a specially prepared recall stone that would allow them passage back to Punjar.
On the other side they found themselves much higher in elevation higher than before and in the cold mountain air of the Trollbone mountains. A steep cliff-edged path led away from the stone circle at this side of the portal and up to a ruined guard tower, which was once built of massive stone blocks now was hardly more than a trio of ruined walls. They could hear and see a massive water-fall on the other side of the tower, with mist or steam rising from the edge as it tumbled far below. A low chanting sound also emanated from somewhere within the tower, seeming to rise and fall with the cold wind that blew through the stones.
Mike was the first to approach the tower and discovered the pit trap lurking under a rotten wooden gate as he fell in it. He landed prone at the base of the pit and was greeted by a pair of fire beetles who had made their nest down there. One of them blasted him with fire while the other scaled the side of the pit to blast Jym and Lethe. Rael leaped into the pit to aid Mike, who had morphed into his beastly form and was ravaging the beetle. A Goblin Blackblade came out of the shadows he was lurking in and rushed the party, but he was forced to retreat back into the tower after receiving punishing blows. Also the party was harried by bolts fired by hidden snipers from somewhere inside the tower. The party first dealt with the beetle brutes before leaping across the pit into the tower. Jym and Dawn found a second entrance through a crack in the wall around the side of the tower. Meanwhile below in the pit Mike was investigating the remains of a previous meal for the beetles and discovered an intact pair of Burglar's Gloves still worn by the corpse. He decided to take them with him and carved out the glowing glands of one of the beetles before he climbed out of the trap.
Inside the tower were a pair of massive statues depicting vicious looking Dwarves geared for war. Sniper fire came from behind these statues so the party moved in on them from multiple sides. The Goblin Blackblade emerged from hiding again to flank Lethe, but Rael kept him protected with his aegis of shielding. With excellent teamwork a pair of Goblin Sharpshooters were flushed out of their hiding spots and laid low along with their Blackblade companion. After the battle the party investigated the statues. The sounds of muffled chanting was coming from these statues, and their hollowed mouths had been stuffed with rubble in a failed attempt to silence them. Once the blockage was removed the wind powered chanting was significantly louder. Vismund claimed that the mantra filled him with a strange sort of invigoration.
The statues appeared to be pointing to a spot on the East wall, but searching did not turn up anything immediately. Vismund, filled with new-found vigor, charged the wall and smashed it apart with his warhammer revealing a small concealed room. In the room was a dead Dwarf draped over an iron coffer. Apparently his greed outweighed his wisdom as he was locked inside the hidden chamber to die of thirst and starvation. The party removed the Dwarf and then ripped off the lid of the coffer when picking the attempts to pick the lock failed. Inside was an intricately carved wooden box which contained strange meteoric ore filings that adhered to steel when brought in contact with it. Also, a slip of parchment was found on the dead Dwarf with the following words scrawled on it.
“At the Gates of Gilded Blood
One click sinister, then shun both extremes.
Keep to the center; keep your life.
--Yrgüt the Trapmaster”
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