19^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

Knowing that Fogo had been captured the party started their planning for the rescue.  Sending Dancer and Fwoosh back to the keep seeing if they could get a better idea of the current guard situation and if those in the keep were acting any more alert than normal.

Before sending them out, Vladimir led the others in their planning on possible ways of assaulting the keep.  Vladimir, for some unknown reason, had convinced himself that there must be a tunnel from the earth monastery to the pirate keep.  Even though that would be a tunnel nearly 20 miles long underground.  Fwoosh and Avery were the most skeptical of that theory.

As the planning continued, it seemed that everyone except Avery, thought that some sort of distraction would be needed at the gate to attract the attention of the guards.  They kept trying to convince Avery that he was the best choice, especially if he were mounted on his hairless cat steed.  He would be able to magic missile outside of the vision of the guards and tease them into paying attention to him and not the rescue force that would be coming from the water side.

To figure out on how to synchronize their assaults they decided on a piece of string that would be used to measure the height of the moon from the ground.  Each group would have the same size string and start the attack when the moon hits the correct position.  The rescue group would delay a bit to see if they could hear any response from the keep guards and hope that they would be drawn to where Avery was attacking.

ISAC was hoping to use the ship as a distraction as well by setting it on fire either on the way in or on the way out.  This could also have the impact of decreasing some of the pirate activity on the river.  To make sure their string method would work, Vladimir pulled out his broken sword and cast Augury.

“What are the chances it will be cloudy tonight?”

“Woe”

Not sure what the answer meant; they assumed the best. As he was doing this, the rest noticed that Vladimir’s pupils had turned into six pointed stars. Vladimir start explaining about a dream he had and thought that maybe the broken sword was able to do more than just augury.  Concentrating more, Vladimir asked a question again of the broken sword.

“Where in the pirate’s castle is our friend Fogo currently found?”

“In a cavern’s embrace, where shadows shiver,

Embarking on an underground river.

In a boat, adrift, whispers echo the way,

Through the labyrinth, where secrets lay.

A landing emerges, stone cold and still,

Unlocking the passage, a gateway to fulfill.

Through the door, an entry to despair,

To the prison’s heart, where hope’s rare.

Dank walls confine, like a solemn vow,

In the dungeon’s hush, time seems to slow.

Yet within these depths, resilience may rise,

As shadows part, revealing freedom’s prize.”

These words burned in Vladimir’s brain as a vision of it flared and filled his thoughts until it ended.  While this was going on, his eyes glowed with an unearthly light, something bright and something harsh at the same time. With those words they felt comfortable with the plan and their ability to find Fogo within. Deciding to set up a camp with the wagons and horses about a mile away to be the final meet up point once the action was over.

Dancer and Fwoosh set out to spy on the keep one more time. There were more guards on all the walls, and they seemed to be more alert and looking for intruders more than previously, but the surprising thing was that it seems that the pirate ship had left at some point.  

When these details were brought to the rest, there was a lot of concern expressed about the missing ship.  If it was looking for them or if it might come back while they are trying to sneak in.  Having an extra variable only made the endeavor riskier. Waiting for darkness the group sat each in their own thoughts.  Vladimir was most concerned about the odd chance he might drop his favorite weapon, his magical maul.  Hoping he could solve that, everyone waited for the time to start moving.

Avery set out first heading to the front of the keep and waited for the correct position of the moon.  The rest used Angelica’s Water Walking spell to creep closer and wait for the correct time.

Unleashing a dozen magic missiles, Avery blasted apart the three guards on the wall with the gate.  It was so sudden and completed so quickly the rest of the guards were unaware of the action.  It was silent and Avery failed in his attempt at attracting attention.  Moving to the north wall he unleased more magic killing two of the three guards on that wall but leaving the third one alive.  The last one began screaming in fear alerting the rest in the keep.  Avery marched on back to the main wall and waited for guards to show up.

As an alarm bell sounded loudly in the keep, the party crawled further and closer to the keep.  As they approached, they also heard a horn within.  They continued forward and passed by the small sea wall and moved into the protected cove. Slowing down to make sure they would remain unseen; they were able to hear the sound a metal on metal and what seemed like a heavy door opening toward the front of the keep.

Back in the front, Avery could see the gate open and nine bugbears running out after him. Riding away on his naked cat, Avery ensured he was further away from a run distance of the bugbears but still in range of his magic.  He slowly peppered the group with his firebolt.  After killing two thirds of them and running over 600 feet away from the keep, the moral of the bugbears finally broke and the remainder started running back to the safety of the keep. Avery followed shooting them one at a time killing the last one as he was but feet away from the gate.

However, with that distance, and showing his location to those on the wall, they guards were able to fire off a volley of arrows from their long bows hitting both Avery and his naked riding cat.  Startled at being wounded, Avery turned around and rode hard away from the keep hoping there were not any other pursuers.

The rest of the crew finished their sneaking into the cove and were able to make their way to the gate leading to the underground river.  With some effort Fwoosh and Dancer were able to unlock the gate and the group moved into the tunnel.  Once entered, they could see a poorly lit landing over 80 feet away.  Two small boats were moored, and a set of steps led upward out of the water.

Being aware of the serpent that might still be haunting the water they moved forward carefully, except Dancer who sprinted forward and was able to climb up on the landing in an instant.  From there, he moved to the two doors and listened to them.  The rest continued to move forward slowly since Vladimir and Angelica were unable to in the dark and had to led by hand by ISAC.

It seemed that were able to infiltrate safely, or at least it appeared so.  Once they were about 30 feet from the landing, a serpent leaped from the water and bit Vladimir.  It had been completely invisible in the water, and its movement did not disturb the water in any way, as if it were made of water.  After the bite, a quick tail smash pounded, and then the serpent breathed out a cone of cold damaging everyone in the party.  Combat has started.

The combat was fierce and loud which saw both Vladimir and Angelica getting knocked unconscious.  If not for his death grip on his maul, Vladimir was sure to have been disappointed. ISAC used some of new powers and turned invisible while the serpent was killed.  As they started gathering on the landing one of the doors opened and out game some strange looking men.  It was not long before the other door opened as well where more of them started crowding into the landing.  One of the men in the stairs was some sort of caster and started using his magic against the party.

The battle was rough, but as they were killing them, the caster ran off back up the stairs to undoubtedly to sound the alarm while his compatriots failed to fend for themselves well enough. With the guards dead, Vladimir and Angelica ran into what appeared to a prison area to look for Fog.  The first door they opened contained five beaten dwarves and two humans chained to the wall, two of the other rooms seemed to only contain some commoners, but in the last and most secure room contained both Fogo and a human.  Both were naked, beaten, tortured, and in mage style constraints, which included a ball gag, some metal press gloves that prevents their fingers from moving, and a bag over their head. It was then, that more guards showed up in the stairwell slowing down the recovery of Fogo.

These proved to me much weaker than the previous guards and were dispatched quickly.  Dancer ran forward and freed Fogo from his chains and constraints while Angelica applied a little bit of healing to both Fogo and the unknown man.  As Angelica was healing the man and the bad removed from his head, she recognized him.  It was Imar from Rassalantar.  He was the military cleric that had been very friendly to them before they had been banish.

This is where the session ended.

History Lesson

Orc Ecology

Here we are again on our almost weekly program.  I am your host David Bourgh-Ettin, and we are here talking about the Savage Frontier.  It is impossible to talk about the geographical, or even political climate without understanding some of the races that live within the Savage Frontier.  This week we will be looking more closely into those green-skinned barbarians known as orcs.

Introduction

Orcs are a savage, violent and aggressive race of humanoids which take delight in plundering and killing innocent people. They once dominated Avistan in the Age of Darkness, where they appeared after they were expulsed to the surface by the dwarves in their Quest for Sky. But thousands of years later their most prominent presence has been reduced to the harsh lands of the Holds of Belkzen, which lies wedged between Varisia and Ustalav.

Physiological Observations

A typical male orc stands about 7 feet tall and weigh around 300 to 400 pounds, with females being slightly smaller and lighter. An orc is born with a deep green skin color which becomes more greyish as they age. The skin of an orc becomes entirely grey near the end of its lifespan, though few orcs live to witness that happen. Except for their skin, orcs are most recognizable by their short, pointed ears and the lower jar tusks, which they sometimes use in combat. Orcs are all nearly bald, except for some sparse filthy black hairs on the back of their head. Orcs are known for being extremely ferocious: able to keep on fighting after receiving fatal wounds before succumbing to them.

The true origin of the orc has been debated by many scholars, with some claiming them to be corrupted elves and others going as far to claiming they evolved from the goblinoid races. Whatever their origin, it is a fact that orcs surfaced after being expulsed from underground during the dwarves’ Quest for Sky. These orcs differed a lot from the orcs as we know today, being shorter (only up to 6 feet) with more rounded ears and grey skin tones. This kind of orc can still be found in the most remote mountain ranges, where dwarves have not yet migrated.

Orc anatomy is like that of other humanoid races: an Orc has relatively thick bones to support their 7 feet height and possess excessively large muscle groups. Another evident difference is their digestive track, which is relatively short due to an Orc’s carnivorously oriented diet. Given the grey skin of subterranean Orcs, scholars assume the green skin is an evolutionary development to act as camouflage.

Social Observations

Politics: Orcs group together in tribal communities for food, protection, and numbers. These communities are ruled by a single individual, a chieftain which is often a warlord or shaman. A chieftain wields the highest power within a community and dictates the laws of a tribe. In larger tribes, where the community is split into a main camp and several peripheral camps, the chieftain may anoint paramount chiefs to rule in his name. These chiefs collect and pay tribute to the chieftain in the form of food or plunder.

The sudden death of a chieftain (which is not at the hands of a challenger) and subsequent lack of an immediate successor almost inevitably throws a tribe into chaos and infighting, until a new leader arises and establishes dominance. The chiefdoms themselves are also relatively unstable forms of organization. Orc tribes are prone to periods of collapse and renewal, where tribes band together but eventually fragment through some form of social stress, after which they slowly band back together.

In some unique cases female orcs have been observed to rise to the position of chieftain. These females are more vicious and intimidating than their male counterpart, and they rule their tribe with an iron fist. Not surprisingly, they alleviate the females within a tribe of some of their tasks. A female chieftain also brings a considerable change in the looting behavior: tribes become more systematic and selective in the towns they attack, maximizing their returns and minimizing their losses.

Religion: Orcs are merely interested in satisfying their own needs, which is a reason why an orc would not worship a god. But they also dislike having a master, and they perceive the worship of a deity as subjugating themselves to it. Despite this, shamans frequently rise to power and enforce the worship of a god to exert control over the tribe.

The gods that shamans devote a tribe to directly influence the amount of control they have. Thus, they typically choose gods which portfolio suits an orc the best. Typically, this is either Asmodeus or Gorum. But tribes worshipping Norgorber, Rovagug or Zon-Kuthon are not unheard off. There have been some unique cases in which a shaman has successfully engaged a tribe in worship of himself. These forms of devotion rarely last long, as a shaman’s rivals will disprove his divinity as the first possible opportunity.

Warriors: Orc raiding parties are, thankfully, uncoordinated, disorganized, and opportunistic, striking only at targets weaker than themselves. It is due to this lack of the ability to effectively coordinate that orcs rarely develop a lasting nation. However, sometimes great leaders arise which can unite several tribes together and stand at the head of almost unbeatable orcish hordes, which will ravage across the land and plunder every town and village they’ll come across.

On an individual level, however, orcs are still fearsome warriors who plunge themselves in combat with great strength and ferocity. We have been able to identify several types of warriors within the orcish ranks.

Orc warriors make up the brunt of many tribes across the Holds of Belkzen. These orcs charge into combat against the nearest foe they can find. They’ll keep attacking with their falchions until either their enemy (or they themselves) are beaten, after which they seek out another target. Foes that resist will quickly find numerous orcs ganging up on him until he is worn down.

Orc berserkers, sometimes also called Orc barbarians, are the most fearsome sight in a battle. These brutes occasionally lead a charge, but more often seek out the strongest enemies on the battlefield to match their strength. They fight with great axes and can take an incredible amount of punishment.

Orc riders are an uncommon sight. These orcs were brave enough to tame a worg and ride it as a mount. Since these orcs lack in numbers, they often perform skirmishes on the flanks of an enemy, or after a battle pursue anyone trying to flee.

Behavioral Observations

Male-female interaction: Males are, unsurprisingly, the dominant gender within a tribe. If they are not out raiding, or occasionally patrolling a camp’s perimeter, they spend their time indulging themselves with food, torture [of slaves] and fighting rivals. Male orcs rarely take up professions as they disgust at even the thought of having to go through the effort to create something themselves, instead of taking it. However, in some cases a male might take up the craft of armour- or weaponsmith and become a valuable and protected asset of chieftains.

Females fulfil the role of the lesser gender within orc society, which is most likely attributed to having a much calmer and collected nature, compared to their male counterpart (this does not mean a disgruntled female orc wouldn’t tear off an arm). Males delegate much of the day-to-day tasks to the females within a tribe. These activities include, but might not be limited to cooking, cleaning, nursing, and herding. Females also seem to be more likely to take up a profession, like leatherworking or seaming to create or repair both tents and clothing.

Reproduction & childhood: With love seeming to be an almost alien concept among males, orcs do not form lasting relationships. Males rather see females, and their offspring, as ‘property’. Males thus create harems of females, the size of which is directly linked to their position within a tribe. Males do not partake in care for their own children, though they might occasionally teach their sons to fight. Children are instead raised by their mothers and learned how to survive within a tribe by assisting them in their day-to-day tasks.

Reaching adulthood is no small feat for orcish children. After leaving infancy they almost immediately must fend for themselves against older members of the tribe. Already in childhood do most males, encouraged by their fathers, start intimidating children of the same age or younger than them. When reaching adulthood, male children are initiated by leading the charge in a raid, in which the survivors of the vanguard are considered adults. Females don’t receive an official rite, though they are deemed adults once they develop their secondary sex characteristics, at which point they are forced into a harem.

Inter-Species Observations

Orcs take little regard for members of their own species, and even less for members of others. They enjoy raiding neighboring towns, and always enslave survivors of such endeavors. Male slaves are sold off for gold, weapons, and armour. Female slaves have the less fortunate fate of becoming part of the ‘daily entertainment’ within a camp.

Negotiating with an orc is almost always entirely fruitless, for they will keep increasing their demands after an agreement is made or lose their temper during a negotiation and satisfy themselves with whatever the negotiator(s) have on hand.

The best way to have an orc cooperate is by being more dominant than the orc itself, often accomplished by intimidation. However, unless the orc is restrained or otherwise prohibited from engaging in combat, he will have to be literally beaten into submission. This is no small feat, as most orcs fight to the death rather than being taken, as this would make them the laughingstock of the tribe.

On a political level, cooperation with orcs is even more problematic. Eradicating a tribe is easier than keeping them as vassals, due to an orc’s tendency to either rebel against or backstab their superiors. More often, nations that must deal with orcs and who have been unable to do this by military means often placate them with gifts of food or treasure. History has shown that providing arms and weapons has always proved counterproductive, as these seem to, almost inevitably, often be used against the gifting nation itself.

Iceshield Orcs

The Iceshields were an orc tribe dwelling in an area of rolling grass-covered hills where the Dessarin Valley met the western High Forest in the late 15th century DR. Where a branch of the Dessarin Valley meets the western High Forest are rolling grass-covered hills recently claimed by the orcs of the Iceshield tribe. They dwell in crude lodges made from timber cut from the forest. Elves and centaurs regularly emerge from the High Forest to attack and set fire to these lodges, but the orcs keep cutting down trees and rebuilding them.

The Iceshield orcs haunt the hills and grasslands north of Grudd Haug, near the western edge of the High Forest, and have forged a tenuous alliance with Guh the hill giant chieftain. They are the least loyal of her supporters and don’t get along with the goblinoids. Boorvald Orcbane, Great Chief of the Ghost Tree Uthgardt tribe, true to his name, hunts orcs and frequently launches attacks against the crude Iceshield orc-holds along the western edge of the forest.

Orc raids are common occurrences throughout the frontier, as small bands of orcs steal livestock or waylay the occasional supply wagon. In recent days, a tribe hiding in the rough lands east of the Sumber Hills has become markedly bolder. The Iceshield orcs are attacking farms and cattle ranches throughout the region, and orc scouts have been sighted by patrols less than a day’s ride from Yartar.

The Iceshield orcs reside in a handful of lodges spaced about a day apart along the western edge of the High Forest. They have long been a thorn in the side of the denizens of that wood and the settlers who farm and ranch in the plains to the west. Now the Iceshields have become a prominent threat. Disruptions to the weather and landscape due to the powerful magic being used by the elemental cults has been taken as a sign from Gruumsh that blood and gold must flow from the lands of lesser races.

The orcs seek supply sources in the valley. Scouts found that the farmers and ranchers in the area are prime options. Now, roving war bands attack the frontier families directly, raiding the homesteads with impunity. In addition to stealing livestock, the Iceshields take any carts and wagons they find, loading them with loot. They take the families as slaves and force them to tow the conveyances back to the Iceshield lodges.

Some independent-minded squads of orcs decided that the fertile land of the homesteads was more appealing than serving as underlings in their own lodges, and they killed the original owners to occupy the land. They have no intention of farming the crops or tending the livestock, but they intend to stay until the food runs out, then move on to the next settlement.

Campaign Notes

With Avery attracting attention and causing a fair amount of damage, the party was able to get into the tunnels with only some difficulty and found Fogo and an old friend.  But with all the noise they have made, and that one of the responders got away, how much time do they have left before more men show up.  Enemies are probably less than a minute away at this point.

18^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

“You seemed to have lost something.”

Standing in front of Fogo was something that looked like ISAC dressed in only a tattered green cloak that emitted sickening smoke.  ISAC was wearing nothing except the cloak. He stood there looking a bit more human in his inhuman body.  He had an etching of a green dragon on his chest and some sort of runes on shoulder plates.

“Are you ISAC?”

“I think so.

And the reunion of ISAC and the party began.  Fwoosh led the party into something he called a cinnamon roll hug while ISAC tried to answer the questions of the party and explained what had happened to him.  Everyone was happy with his return except Dancer who kept a wide-eyed look and focus on ISAC the rest of the evening, occasionally poking him with a stick to make sure he was real.  Unlike the rest, Dancer had never seen ISAC without his mask, or even knew that ISAC was not a human.

When daylight finally arrived, the group tried to go through their normal routines, but it was difficult for everyone since they had gotten used to the mornings without ISAC. A lot of the morning was spent discussion about what they should be doing next.  The Earth Monastery was too well organized and probably too much for them, so with Fogo pushing for the possible pirate base, they packed up the camp and headed toward the river.

Following the river north, they could see a keep up ahead.  Hiding in the forest nearby the keep they spied on what few inhabitants they could see. While the keep was not in perfect shape, but it had obviously been repaired sufficiently to make it functional.  They could see guards walking the walls which were at least 25 feet tall.  A large sailboat was docked on the eastern side.

Seeing that this was something in far better condition than they thought, and had vigilant guards on the walls, the party needed to come up with a firm plan. They vacillated between trying to make an upfront entry at the front door or do some reconnaissance in secret. Vladimir was holding out for a secret entrance but was talked out of those hopes.  In the end they waited for dark to have Dancer do a sneak reconnaissance of the keep.

To possibly stack things in their favor, Vladimir asked his dagger for an Augury.

“What are the odds that we will find members of the Mirabar trade delegation in this castle?”

“Weal”

Once it was dark, Dancer began wandering around the edges of the keep identifying the guards on the walls that seemed to be humans carrying torches to see.  Hoping for more noise, he was disappointed that those within the keep seemed to be somewhat disciplined and on guard.  There were at least two guards on each of the walls. All the walls were about 25 feet in height with each floor of the buildings about 15 feet high.

Deciding that it might be better to get some elevation, he snuck over to one of the keep buildings and carefully climbed up to the roof to get a better vantage point.  From there he could confirm the guards and some groups of bugbears that were wandering the grounds.  He could clearly see the large ship docked into some sort of water break.  There were a couple of guards on the wall there, again with torches for lights. He could see a couple of single-story internal buildings that had some lights but overall, it seemed quiet for the evening.

One of the buildings seemed to have more traffic with oddly dressed people.  They did not look like the guards or even the bandits they have encountered.  They had more stylized clothing in different colors of blue. Guards and others came and went from the large building that Dancer was on top of.  Only low noises could be heard, the occasionally word, but no loud partying.

At one point while watching, he was able to see two people go from the big building to the boat and seem to settle down for the night there.  The guards at the boat changed at least once while Dancer was watching.

With his spying complete, Dancer quickly made his way back to the party’s camp. He relayed what he found which only worried the group more since there were a fair number of opponents. When he described the two odd one’s going into the ship, Avery was able to identify the short man as a deep gnome, while the others suspected that the blue man was Genasi, but since they knew so little about them it was impossible to confirm.

It was then that their planning went forward with full force, although some of it seemed to involve launching people over the wall, to sneaking inside with the wagon, or maybe trying to have one person sneak in via the water entrance. They discussed where they might find the prisoners and if they could set the boat on fire as a distraction.

As a test ISAC decided to see how deep the river was.  While murky at the edges, the water got deep within 15 feet of the shore.  Given that the river was more than a mile wide at the narrowest point, this was expected. It might be a bit rough and slippery if ISAC attempted to walk along the inside edge of the river.

The end strategy seemed to be to approach from the water side and if possible, cause damage to the ship while making their attack.  Fogo decided that a second spying mission was needed to see how easily the group could approach from the water side and to identify any obstacles they might encounter.

Turning into a giant frog and swimming his way to the port side of the keep.  Swimming around to get an idea of what was there, he moved into the small acritical bay and found a gate in the cliff face that let further underground.  Looking through it, he could see an underground river that went off into the darkness.  Changing into a smaller frog he swam through the gate carefully.  A bit further down the along the river he found a set of steps that led out of the water and a couple of board moored there.  Two doors were visible on the landing.

Seeing that the river continued, Fogo decided to be following a long further.  As he went further down the tunnel, the water started moving faster and he could hear some roaring and crashing of water further ahead. It was then that the water around him seemed to animate into some sort of giant serpent that was able to track exactly where he was even in his tiny form. Combat ensued with Fogo attempting to swim away to get somewhere safe.

Crawling out of the water and rushing to one of the doors Fogo thought he might have made it to safety, but instead had run into a prison area with guards.  It did not take long for them to beat him unconscious, strip him of everything, and imprison him appropriately for being a magic caster of some sort.

Meanwhile the party kept waiting for Fogo, hours went by, and they realized that something bad had happened to their friend.  Hoping that Fogo was just trapped somewhere and not killed or captured, there was not much they could do right now. Not having any way to contact him, they waited for the morning to have Angelica prepare the Sending spell to see if they could reach out to him. Moving camp to ensure their location was not revealed they settled in for the night, all of them feeling a bit sad and uncomfortable.

19^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

Morning rolled around and Angelica sent her message via Sending:

“Are you ok? Where in the fuck are you?! What the hell happened?! Please respond as soon as possible! We are all worried!”

“Alive. Captured. One cellmate. Everything is dark. Underground river attached to cove with dangerous snake. Narrowly escaped, then attacked by guys, and lost. Help.”

And this is where the session ended.

Campaign Notes

They found the pirate keep, or at least they found something that looked like it should be a pirate keep.  It was in the right location from what the Feathergale Knights told them.  They successfully completed one reconnaissance, but failed miserably at the second when they just went a little too far along the underground river.

Fogo is captured, maybe tortured a little, and now the party needs to seriously consider a rescue mission into a fortified camp.

15^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

After getting the messenger birds sent out the group packed up their camp and began the trip to where they had seen the shallow graves. Exiting the Sighing Valley, they slowly made their way around the foothills of the Sumber Hills.  It was near dark when they finally got to their destination for this day.  Deciding to set up camp near the graves, their travels for the day were over.

As they arrived, Vladimir received a message from Banmin Glehuruhr via magic in his head.

“Received message – already requested troops to ruined Moathouse – no more can be sent – Koganusân is too far away to help – you are on your own.”

Relaying the information to the party, Angelica was able to identify the word as Dwarvish which contained the word fort in it. Understanding he could reply, Vladimir said out loud to reply.

“Thank you. We may have survivors and even a wagon that could meet us may help if possible. Also, what is Koganooson?”

Fogo continued his excellent cooking for the party while everyone huddled around the fire until it was time to go to sleep and start the watches.  Before heading to bed, they discussed what they had learned or figured out about the Feathergale Knights.  While strange, they seemed to be nice except for a priest that as there.  The interesting point was that all of them seemed to have some sort of connection to the concept of air. It was not clear if they were part of the air cult, but minimally they might be influenced by the air cult. Vladimir also noted that they had not seen the air symbol anywhere in the Spire either.

Fogo made it clear that by not warning them before jumping off the Spire had frightened all the party that had not gone in with the rest. Fwoosh excitedly talked about how the knights also seemed to have Kenkus in their ranks.  He had not seen any is almost ten years when he was kidnapped. They started strategizing on how they should handle the upcoming earth monastery encounter, but they were all concerned with it.

The watches passed uneventfully, until Fwoosh was on watch.  While looking up at the sky, he saw the silhouette of a large bird fly by.  Judging by how the stars were blocked by the size of the bird, Fwoosh estimated that it had a wingspan of at least 50 feet.

16^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

First thing in the morning, Vladimir received another message from Banmin.

“Koganusân is our city in Dessarin Hills – about a ten-day from Red Larch – it would be at least 20 days before they could there”

“Okay sounds good thank you for the information. We’ll be headed in shortly to the earth temple. Please let us know if there is anything”

It seems that both were not able to properly count to 25, the maximum size of the message. While Vladimir was communicating with the Dwarven priest, Fwoosh was telling his story about the large bird.  Both Avery and Fogo were able to possibly identify the large bird as a Roc, and that it was most likely a young one.  Since they can fly over 100 miles in a day, it could have come from any of the hills or mountains nearby, and that its favorite meal consists of young dragons.

Getting the camp packed up again, they headed to the north in search of the earth monastery.  Their path continued north.  Fog left a huge “x” on the ground in the hopes that if the Dwarves sent someone, they would be able to find them.  Their path continued and after passing a couple of box canyons. The trail narrowed preventing them from bringing the wagon with them.  After find the best sheltered space they could, they continued.  Eventually the trail narrowed to only about five feet, had a sharp turn which led to another large box canyon where they could see a large stone building in the middle of the canyon.

Earth Monastery

Keeping back to not be seen, the party hunkered down and started trying to plan on how to best do some reconnaissance. They agreed with the plan that Fwoosh would go up invisible, sneak around, and try to figure out what they were facing.  Going around clockwise looking into all the windows and trying all the doors he was able to get a fairly good idea of what the monastery was like and what might be in it.  From the number of beds and monks he could see, he estimated there might be as many as 50 earth cultists in the building.  The only interesting area was a tall stone wall that was different than the rest, and whatever was there, also did not have a roof.  There was also an entire side of the monastery that did not have any windows preventing him from seeing what might be there.

Heading back and updating the group, they had concerns about the entire endeavor. He explained that the people in the monastery were organized and fully equipped.  This was nothing like the Moathouse.  This was a fully functional facility. This all led to a lot more discussions around how to best approach in which they finally decided to have Dancer and Fwoosh go back at night to see if they can find an entrance they could sneak in and get more information.  They settled down until dark before he headed out.

Slowly moving around stealthily and hiding every 50 feet or so, they saw something moving near the monastery walls.  Looking closely, they could see six figures moving around.  These people were not stumbling in the dark and were looking around very carefully as if looking for intruders.  They were short, had beards, and were heavily armed.  One odd behavior was that they seemed to avoid the light from the windows and made sure they did not look into the lights at any time.  The two made them around until they were near the stone wall, and then waited in hiding.  It only took about ten minutes before the six guards came around.  They could be seen checking the doors and then moved on.

Moving quickly to the wall, Dancer easily climb the wall and revealed that on the other side was some sort of garden. There were several statues and a fair amount of greenery including several trees.  He was able to see several doors leading into the monastery from the wall’s edge. Deciding that coming back to let the party know what they found, they headed back and updated them all. Many plans were created and thrown away. Because of Angelica still slightly exhaustion and wanting to get a better idea of the guard situation, the group backed up to where their cart was and set up camp.  

While the rest were putting the camp up, Dancer got a little closer to watch the monastery.  He was not able to determine if the six guards were ever replaced, but they continued their rounds taking 15 to 20 minutes per lap which continued until it was about an hour before the start of sunrise.  They were no longer seen as soon as the glow of the sun could be seen at the edge of the horizon.

17^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

With morning came another Fogo cooked breakfast and the rest were a slow-moving group.  Dancer was looking forward to getting a good sleep and only managed a cat nap when some visitors came by.  Coming from the monastery, a group of seven arrived at their camp.  The party moved forward to meet them.

“Who is there?”

“Us”

“Umm, we are here, hi.”

“Hi there travelers, we did not expect to see anyone out here.”

“Neither were we, because it is a one-way canyon.”

“Is it?”

“One-way through?”

“Oh.”

“So, there is no way out?”

“No.”

“Maybe you guys can help us then.  We are trying to get to Belard… Beliard?”

“You are not going to get there from anywhere here unless you catch a boat.  You will have all the way around to the Long Road and back.”

“Can someone pull out the map? Can you come here and help us look at the map? I just fear that we took a wrong turn.”

“We also had to find a place to camp for the night.”

“Show me the map.”

The two groups closed in on each other. Fwoosh handed off the crude map found on the leader of the bandit ambush from a few days ago.  The Earth Priest gave it a close look at had a confused, then concerned look on his face.

Bandit Map

“So, what we did is, we made it to Red Larch, but then we heard that Beliard is around here, and we thought we were coming down this road.  We tried to cut through some of the hills to save some time.  So, we rested here, we got in late last night.”

“You did not pay for this map, did you?”

“No.”

“Oh, no.”

“No.”

“We just asked some people at Red Larch.”

“At the bar in Red Larch.”

“So, you drew this? Because you do not have Beliard on here.”

“We did not draw it, one of the town’s people did.”

“But if you are heading to Beliard, why is it not on the map?”

“They just told us the general area; they did not know for sure. The person napping on top of the rock over there is our navigator.”

With that the priest looked in the direction that Fwoosh pointed to but did not see a single hair Dancer hiding there.

“If you follow the map and since it is on the north side of the hills, you should have gone north out of Red Larch, not south.”

“You had the map upside down.”

“That probably would have made more sense.”

“Dummy.”

“Yeah.”

“What are you guys doing out here?”

“If there is only one way in what is behind you.”

“Yeah, that is a good question.”

“An interesting ‘X’ you have here that says ‘base’.”

“The base of what?”

“The ace of base?”

“I have no idea.  Like I said, out navigator must have been holding the map upside down.”

“Fwoosh, maybe it was on the other map.”

With that, the priest unleashed a Shatter upon the party and got the combat started. It was one of the more difficult fights that the party had with several of them being knocked unconscious.  They had not faced smart enemies much previously and ones that knew how to maneuver and find the best positions made it harder than they expected.

Earth Priest

Earth Knight

Earth Monk

With the combat over and the bodies checked, they did find Drowish Earth symbol on all the people, some on armor, some sewn into clothing, many had it on their weapons.  These were earth cultists. Stashing all the bodies in the wagon to keep them hidden, they had Avery Prestidigitation to clean up any blood spots that might be on the ground with Fogo and Dancer helping spot them. With everyone taking a short rest, Fogo cooked up a wonderfully supportive meal that seemed to allow everyone to heal a little better than they would have alone.  It was fortifying and tasty.

Understanding that staying here was probably not the best idea, they headed out of the hills and parked behind a large rock about an hour away. Once they found a spot in the grasslands, they buried the bodies and set up camp. They then waited for the next day to roll around again.  

18^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

It was quiet besides the soft insect noises, but during Fog’s watch something interesting happened.  While he was keeping watch and looking to the south a voice came from behind him.

“You seemed to have lost something.”

Looking around he saw a shadowy figure disappear but leaving behind an armored person wearing nothing but a small tattered green cloak.  Fogo saw a somewhat familiar figure.

Shadowy Figure

And that is where the session ended.

Campaign Notes

The found the earth cultist base.  They expected it to be something closer to the Ruined Moathouse, but this was a full base with many people, and they were on guard for intruders.  The group managed some sneaky time, but never made it inside. Their final face off with a patrol almost went badly for them, but they survived.  Who is that figure that appeared at the end?

13^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

With the morning started, Fogo start everyone off with a wonderful large breakfast for everyone. Fwoosh was disappointed with all the holes in his new tent, but as he was putting it away, Avery Mended the holes. While everyone was settling the camp, Dancer hunted down the bandit tracks.  The tracks were easily found and led west. Not wanting to attract too many predators, Fogo buried all bandits in a large pile using his Mold Earth magic.

The party then got the camp put away, the wagon and horses ready, and headed out to where they were told the graves had been found. They now had to decide which direction to go, continue heading to the graves and backtrack and find the bandit hideout.  Fogo pushed heavily for the graves concerned that there might be captive lives at risk while Dancer pushed for the hideout noting that there could be evidence as well as captives there.  The group chose Fogo’s path this time.

The rest of the distance was uneventful as they continued to head east and eventually a bit north to get to where they were told the graves had been found.  As they approached, they could see the silhouette of three very large birds that appeared to be eating something on the ground.  As the continued to get closer they could see that they were three giant vultures and there were three humans standing next to them, all watching closely. One of them in a fine set of plate stepped forward and motioned to the party to stop.

“Please wait a moment while we finish performing a sacred sky burial for our fallen brother-at-arms.”

Giant Vultures

Treyton Glemitsk (Feathergale Knight)

Those that were outside the wagon could see that the birds were eating something from inside two of the graves.  The loud crunching noises made it clear that they were consuming flesh and bones completely. The knight moved a bit closer to put himself between the graves and the party.

“Excuse me sir.”

“Just give us a moment, we are almost finished. Once we are finished you can do what you want here. Let us finish what we started.”

“The problem is that we are looking for some of these dead bodies and we are fine with them getting their food here but…”

“These are members of our knighthood that died here so we are taking care of the proper burial.”

It did not take long for the birds to finish eating what was assumed to be bodies from two of the graves.

Feathergale Initiate

“I appreciate you honoring our ritual.  We were surprised that our knights had been killed, and it took us some time to find out where they had been killed.  Their vultures had come back to the Spire, and we did not know where they were.”

“Which Spire would that be?”

“It is the knights of the Feathergale, our Spire is slightly to the west and north of here.  We patrol the area for brigands and other evil doers, and it seems that our knights got involved in what appears to be some sort of kidnapping by some sort of evil earth cult.”

“Are you a paladin order?”

“Why yes.”

“Then you might be able to help us.  We are looking for a trade caravan that was last seen in Beliard.”

“That might have been what happened here. When we see brigands, we attack when we can. From what we know from information we had gotten, that there was an ambush further north of here and that they had been traveling via the river.  Our knights had somehow thought they had them here, but there were more than they thought and were killed.”

The conversation continued with the party still wanting to explore the graves. More information was shared, but there was still one nagging point.

“I wonder who made the graves? This does seem to be out of the ordinary.”

“If it were the earth cultists, they are form believers that things should be put back into the earth, and even for foes they hated, they would still bury them.”

“Oh”

“There is the pirate base, and then there is the earth cult.  You are welcome to come back to the Spire with us, or just investigate here.”

Deciding to investigate at the graves first and then head to Spire for more information and possible allies.  When asked about other cultist, the knight claimed to only know about the evil earth cultists.  He knew about brigands, pirates, orcs, and the Uthgardt barbarians in the area, but not much about cultists. He knots that it was their 10^th anniversary of their society and invited the group to the Spire to enjoy celebration.

When asked about the hippogriffs they had seen, he told them that the Feathergale knights do patrols over the entire value and regularly help save formers and merchants from bandits and orc raids. When asked about why they had not heard of the knighthood, the party was told that their knight-commander came from Waterdeep and because what they used for mounts it was very difficult to go to any of the small towns since the mounts would eat horses and most other beasts of burden.  Helping those in the more rural areas was more in line with the knighthood. He expressed his concern about the Iceshield orcs that continue to encroach into the eastern side of the hills and knew that they had built several war lodges on the western side of the High Forest.

As the questions continued, he pushed them to speak to his knight-commander Thurl Merosska back at the Spire and attend the party that they will be having. When mentioned they their mission seemed to be looking for trouble.  He warned them about the ogres, trolls, and even hill giants.  He mentioned that there are a lot of evil flying creatures to including manticores. The group explained a lot of what they had been doing and what different missions they had accomplished. The three then flew off on their vultures heading in the direction of where they had said the Spire was.

Once the knights were gone, the group went over to the remaining six graves to look.  The two open graves were mostly empty except for a few pieces of lingering flesh and bone that the vultures missed. After digging out the rest of the graves they found two people dressed in the livery of Mirabar, a tradesman of some type, and three people unusually dressed in some sort of unique stone armor. It was not an armor type they had seen before, and none of them were even sure how one would wear it properly. No weapons were found in any of the graves.  Looking around the area further, Avery was able to find a confusing collection of tracks, a broken arrow, and discarded javelin and the tatters of a grey cloak. He was also able to find some tracks going north as well as east from the grave location. Dancer decided to dig in deeper and look for tattoos on the bodies.  One of the ones in stony armor had a tattoo of the Drow Earth symbol over his heart. Dancer tried to convince them to take the piece of skin he had peeled off, but they just had Fwoosh make a copy and left the piece of skin back in the grave.

Drow Earth Symbol

The topic of the pirates and bandits were brought up that maybe they were both related to the cults and that is how some of the delegation evidence showed up in Womford. They were hoping to be able to find out more about from the knights once they get to the Spire. They traveled for a few hours and decided to camp for the night instead of continuing in the dark. After setting up camp they had their regular watches and were able to pass the night without incident.

14^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

After hearing tales of manticores and other large flying creatures, Vladimir made sure he counted four horses in the morning, and they were all still there.  Nothing had bothered them all night long. It did not take long for them to put away the camp and get the wagon ready.  It only took a few hours before they found the mouth of the valley leading to the Spire.  They saw a giant vulture in the air above them.  It had just chased away a pair of antlered birds that seemed to be stalking their wagon.

The vulture rider indicated for them to follow the western side of the valley to get to the Spire.  They could see the tall Spire.  The very top was about 500 feet from the bottom of the valley.  The tower itself was over 100 feet tall itself. They could see that there was a drawbridge attached to the Spire that separated it from the side of the valley.  The entry to the valley was narrow and without the directions they had received, they would probably never have found it.  There were constant gusts of heavy winds filling the valley making travel unpleasant with the air always pushing against you.

Another surprise was that while there was a drawbridge to the tower, there was not much of a trail leading away from it.  It seemed that there was little ground traffic to the Spire. There were a pair of hippogriff riders that were flying high patrolling the area.  The two flew over briefly to look at the wagon and then flew off somewhere else. The drawbridge was down as they approached. Their wagon would not fit on it, and they would need to decide who went into the Spire, and who stayed behind guarding the wagon and horses.

Avery, Fwoosh, and Vladimir headed in while the rest stayed behind to stay with the wagon.  They were met by a female knight Savra Belabranta. When asked about what threats they might face by staying at the end of the drawbridge she told them that it was unlikely that anything overground or in the air probably would not approach them, but they suspected that there was an ankheg nest somewhere in the valley, and if there was, then there is also probably an ankheg queen as well.

Savra Belabranta

With Savra leading the way, the three of them went up the spiral staircase until they got to the banquet hall.  She explained that she had only been a member for about a year and had been recruited in Waterdeep.  She told them that she was told that the knighthood had built the tower at some point in the past. The room was filled with knights and initiates.  Food was piled high on the tables, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves at the feast. A heavily armed and armored man was sitting at the head of a large table. Savra introduced them to the knight-commander Thurl Merosska.

Thurl Merosska

“Welcome to Feathergale Spire, retreat of the Feathergale Society. I am Thurl Merosska, the lord commander. How can I help you and enjoy the food.”

“We heard you are celebrating your tenth year?”

“It is.”

Looking around, there also seemed to be a couple of priests and some men that were not armored but seemed to be militant in their movements. In a corner the group could see a half elf playing the flute with a small group accompanying him. It was less music and more noise, but it seemed that everyone just ignored them and the noise they were making. Avery approached one of the unarmored men.

Half-Elf Flute Player

“Pardon me good sir, do you mind if I ask your vocation?”

“I am part of the Feathergale Society.”

“Do you work magic?”

“Just being alive is magic. Being part of the air is magic.”

Unarmored Feathergale Man

While that was happening, Vladimir spoke with Thurl.  Asking about some food for his friends, Thurl ordered a feast to be brought out for the others outside. When asked about the aerial patrols, he explained that they were well known among the more rural people such as farmers and such. He expressed his favorable impression of the Paladins of Samular.

“We have heard that you have been engaged with the earth cultists.”

“Ah, evil men, evil men.  We know where their main camp is, well it is a ruined temple more than anything else. There are not enough of us to really take care of it.  We are airborne knights, not ground troops.”

“That does post some complications.”

They are earth people, they are ground troops, counter to us.”

“As it so happens, that we fancy ourselves a group of a particular thorn in the sides of the earth cultists.”

“I am glad to hear that.  I would be happy to tell you exactly where they are and if you could get rid of them, I would reward greatly.”

“That sounds great.”

The discussion went further on about their concerns and that they were looking for a trade delegation that they suspect had been ambushed.  Thurl revealed that they had captured one of the earth cultists and were able to get information out of him.  Which is how they knew where the knights had been killed.  He gave them the location of where they thought the ambush took place as well as the location of the earth cultist temple. He also brought up that there were also the pirates that seemed to have been involved and was also concerned about the pirate base on the River Dessarin in the foothills of the Sumber Hills. He did mention that only some of them were handed over to the earth cultist whereas the rest the pirates kept and brought those to their keep on the river.

The knight-commander also asked the three of them to explain more about what they have been doing.  He seemed fascinated with the stories and all that they had accomplished. When asked about the Bleeding Eye, he did not seem to know anything about them, or that organization? They also brought up the water cultists they had found and that there might be some relationship between the groups. Thurl kept asking questions since the stories they were telling was not very sequential, nor did it make sense many times. He also was interested in why they were pursuing the missing delegation.

Outside a feast for a dozen was brought out to the three guarding the wagon. The initiates that dropped off the food were interested in the three, especially since all three of them were from unusual races. Fogo was happy to oblige and told the initiates about the group. They continued to ask the rest about their past and more about them. Fogo was fascinated with the ritual that he had seen to which the initiates explained more about it. When asked about how they were involved, they explained that there are recruiters in many large towns and some of the process they went through. Dancer seemed confused about how militant orders worked and keep asking odd questions that confused the initiates a fair amount. Angelica impressed them by her ability to sprout wings and fly around for a minute. With the discussions completed, the Initiates head back in leaving the food behind.

“If you take out either location, it would be nice if you brought some prisoners back.”

“It has not been a priority yet, but we will see what we can do.”

“Cultists are kind of like ant nests.  If you kick one, many more hiding will come out. So, if you could bring some back that would be great.”

Thurl explained about having survived in storm which changed his life and combined with the politics in Waterdeep are complex, and many times hostile, he moved here with a few of his knights.

“I just mentioned your coming from Waterdeep because it seems like you have taken a very moral stance against the cultists.”

“Someone needs to. We also take a strong moral stance against all evil.”

“Would you describe yourselves as paladins?”

‘We say knights. Paladin implies some sort of religious order.  We are not religious.”

“You do not follow a god?”

“No necessarily.  We worship the knighthood.  We are just here to do what we feel is right.”

Vladimir kept looking into their possible religious connections, but Thurl kept denying it. When asked about their funding and the fact that they were able to build the Spire, he explained that the nobles of Waterdeep were very wealthy. Fwoosh was enamored with the large windows and the height that they were at. It was then that Fwoosh asked about going to the top of the tower. Thurl agreed but needed a few minutes to prepare. It was not long when they were able to start the trek upwards followed by the half-elf and one of the priests.  The top was a large green space with four small platforms that jutted out, each one in an ordinal direction.

“We have a test of courage here.  It is part of becoming an initiate.”

“Is it to jump off?”

“You must have a leap of faith and if the knights will save you before you hit the ground.  Would you like to take the test of courage?”

“Sure.”

Vladimir walked to the edge and jumped off.  Back at the wagon the shrill whistle from above the tower caused the three there to look up and were horrified as they saw someone fall from the top.  When looking closer, Angelica realized that it was Vladimir. The three panicked running to the drawbridge.  Dancer began ring the bell at the end of the drawbridge with a lot of vigor. They saw Vladimir’s limp and possibly dead body get carried back up to the top by a Giant Vulture and its rider. Dancer set up with his bow while Fogo and Angelica ran across the drawbridge where they were met by a knight.

“Woah, what is going on?”

“We just saw our friend fall of the top of the tower and saw what looked like his limp body being carried back to the top.”

“It is a test of courage, and he failed.”

Explaining more about the ritual he seemed to persuade Fogo that Vladimir was probably okay.  It was then that Fwoosh jumped off.  It was now that the others could see that has the jumper got close to the ground a knight would fly by and cast some sort of magic on them which slows their fall almost completely. Avery did not want to be left out but mentioned that he could handle it but could cheat.  

“That would not be much of a test of courage then would it be?”

Handing his spell focus, Avery walked off as well, but was not able to remain conscious either and had to be saved by a knight.  Thurl welcomed them to come back at any time but warned them they might consider walking so that they would all be able to stay inside the tower next time.  He warned them about the ankhegs as well. On the wat down, Vladimir tried having a conversation with the priest that had accompanied them.

Feathergale Priest

“So, you did not want to jump off as well?”

“I do not need the test of courage.”

“I thought everyone had to go through it.”

“Some of us do not need to.”

“You are just that courageous?”

“When you are already one with the air, it has no meaning to leap off.  There is no meaning for a leap of faith such as that when you already have your faith.”

“What faith gives you the wings to allow you to be in the air so confidently?”

“There are many ways of flying, relying on someone else to save you is not real courage. Leaping off knowing that someone will save is not courage.”

“You must be a lot of fun at parties.”

“I am not here to have fun, nor party.”

Finally, back at the entrance the group was back together again. Fogo was still in a bit of a panic, but they were able to convince him that everything was okay. Vladimir shared a lot of the details that he learned, and the group began strategizing on what they should do next. Deciding that camping in front of the Spire might be the safest place for them since getting to the edge of the valley before the sun sets would be impossible. Setting up camp and watches they got ready for the evening.  Dancer suggested that in the morning that they attempt to get the knights to carry them to their next location instead of taking the wagon everywhere. It was also suggested that they send a message to the Dwarves back in Red Larch to see if they can assist them or at least add in reinforcements somewhere. Fogo brought up that he could send an Animal Messenger in the morning to get a message to Red Larch and the Dwarves.

With night having arrived, the completed their dinner and started their watches and waited for the morning.

15^th of Kythorn of the year 1492

It was during Angelica’s watch early in the morning before first light that she was startled by a sudden rush of sound and air as many large flying creatures seemed to have departed out of the Spire.  As she looked over, she could see that most of the windows had light in them which slowly flickered out. It was not much after that that morning arrived and the rest got up.  With the drawbridge up, Vladimir rang the bell.  It took a while, and someone finally yelled across the chasm at Vladmir. It was the priest that Vladimir had words with yesterday.

“What do you want?”

“We were hoping to get some assistance before we leave.  We were hoping to get a message of rather high importance back to Red Larch.”

“How are we supposed to do that?”

“We were hoping you might be able to send someone on a mount to get fly close enough to the town that they could deliver it.”

“All the knights left first thing this morning.  They got word of an orc raid on a farm east of the hills.  There are no knights here right now.”

“There are no knights to send a message?”

“There are no mounts left here. Even the patrol left.  There are no patrols right now in the valley.”

“Well, okay.  Then we will find another way to send our message.”

“Sounds good.”

With that path cut off for messages, they now had to rely on Fog’s Animal Messenger. Taking the camp down and moving to the entrance of the valley their day got started.  While on the trail, Fogo crafted his message that he was going to send.  Once it was ready, he cast his magic repeatedly until he had four identical messages being sent to Theldor Darkaxe.

“Delegation found. Earth cultists. Send soldiers and healers. Hug southern hills until x. Path goes north. Will mark terrain. We arrive Kythorn 16. From Vlad”

And this is where the session ended.

History

Founding and fall: Although the dwarfs of Besilmer had, in −4420 DR, settled overground under the leadership of Torhild Flametongue, they suffered constant attack from trolls and giants, which led to the construction of the underground fortress city of Tyar-Besil around −4320 DR.

Torhild Flametongue was killed in combat against a hill giant at Stone Bridge, and this led to the fleeing of the dwarves in the area, and later, to the complete abandonment of Tyar-Besil by −4160 DR.

Drow History: While much of the Drow history is shrouded in shadows, many times manipulated and even deleted, we do know that they were a large city under the Sumber Hills occupied by the Drow.  It is said that it sat somewhere between the Underdark and the surface, but still hundreds of feet below the surface. Because of its location, we are not sure of its purpose, and some devious purpose it would have had.  Drow is meticulous in their planning, and rarely do anything that is not to their benefit.  When and why, it was abandoned is unknown, but the Drow themselves have little recorded history of that excursion and city.  It is almost as if a division of the Drow moved there for some separate purpose, either driven away, or for some other nefarious plan.  Any location where they were Drow, there will also be multiple entrances to the Underdark.

Drow Ruins and the Construction of Tyar-Besil: The Dwarven excavations of their own city, while underground, did not reach the same depths as the Drow city, but there were the occasional connections between the two.  It is said that vaulted chambers with alters worshiping dark and evil gods were found more than once.  When found, these were all sealed off to keep the residents of Tyar-Besil safe from whatever had been found within.

Rediscovery: Tyar-Besil was rediscovered in 893 DR by an adventuring company called the Knights of the Silver Horn. Over the subsequent six years, the adventuring company continued to return to the ruined city and were able to construct strongholds at the hidden entrances to Tyar-Besil to protect it.

When the orc realm of Uruth Ukrypt gained power, leading to the Orcfastings War, the First and Second Trollwars, and drow raids, the human population of the Dessarin Valley was almost wiped out, and the Knights of the Silver Horn had disappeared. Their former strongholds, protecting the hidden entrances to Tyar-Besil, became known as the Haunted Keeps.

Layers: It is interesting to look at the depths of all the ruins.  One top sits the haunted keeps built six hundred years ago, which included many Dwarven settlements and ruins of that period, many of which are being found today. Below there are the mines that are still active by many Dwarven miners, and then Tyar-Besil which dates back over 6,000 years ago, followed by the unnamed Drow city that should be over 10,000 years old, and finally the Underdark.

Campaign Notes

The found the graves, the met the Feathergale Society, and now they are planning an assault on the evil earth cultists base.  What could go wrong?