Chapter 2: The Highway and Silver Spring

[ravenn4544]

Androgost bows out of respect for the elders. "Thank you for seeing us, my lords. Pray we have not come to late to be of service"

[shaidar]

Garrant bows his head respectfully

"We appreciate you seeing us so quickly. I am Garrant, wizard and priest of Boccob." he gestures towards Androgost "This is Sir Androgost, Knight of the Steelheart, and our leader."

[Storm11]

Hex and Raffi bow slightly as well. Hexalon Sunstone, wizard extraordinaire, as requested, and my associate Raffi. Why have you sent for us? he asks bluntly, though still smiling openly.

[Rex]

Qleceec

Qleceec bows formally, "Qleceec, Ranger of the North."

[redwarrior]

Boff doffs his cap and speaks up My Lords, Boffin of the Stonegirdle clan, at your service, and may I present my niece Frannie, Cleric of Dumathoin.

[Spearmint]

Siouxsie

Shamefully, out of her polyglot of languages, she actually doesn't speak Dwarven. She greets the dwarves, Molly, Gimbrek and others as politely as she can, taking an ale along with the others.

Ushered along to the council, she introduce herself as Siousxie, an Initiate of the the Circle of Druids.

"So, we met pesky hobgoblins and a dragon who claimed part of the region as his domain, her domai .... I forget which. It seemed to be creating some type of creature, a reptilian humanoid that spawned eggs that were birthed post mortem, hatching from stomach sacs and flying away like fledglings.

Had drawn all sorts of hill giants and manticores to its side.

Have you heard of such a thing?"

[gurusql]

In the Jotens - Mid-day - The Meeting
Sunday, 16th day of Planting, 597
11th day since leaving Loftwick

Qleceec (AC 1, HP 60/63)
Androgost (AC -6, HP 62/65, Armor 26/26)
Nah Olos (AC 4, HP 53/53)
Siouxsie (AC 2, HP 48/48)
Garrant (AC 8, HP 47/50)
Hex (AC 0, HP 26/27, Armor 8/8)
Raffi (AC -1, HP 21/21, Armor 8/8)
Boff (AC 5, HP 59/61)
Frannie (AC 4, HP 26/26)

The group politely smiles and nods with each introduction. Upon the completion, Rakr Riftdust steps forward with his hands together only folding over each other the pinky and ring-fingers with the other three fingers touching at the finger tips. He begins, "Sounds that you have had quite the journey to get here, I welcome you all to Silver Spring. For the last several weeks the earthquakes that you have felt have all been centered in this area and it is not known to be near any fault lines. These quakes started at rather low intensity but have been getting worse as time progresses. The earthquake of last night resulted in the death of 5 dwarves, including one of our village elders. Several others were injured. We are considering ceasing work in the mines, without which we will soon have no good to trade for food and other necessities.

Our ancestors chose well when deciding on Silver Spring's location. Seismic activity in this area is almost nil. Therefore, they must be caused by another force, a force that we may be able to to stop. And we believe we have discovered the cause.

Our scouts in their never-ending patrols of the nearby caverns and tunnels, have discovered an outpost of illithids - known as mind flayers to you surface folk - not far away. These illithids seem to have only recently settled in, for we have not had problems with their kind for decades. The presence of illithids was discovered by a group of six dwarves who were patrolling eight miles down the Highway. These six souls were captured by the illithids, two slain on the spot and they started to take the other back to there outpost, no doubt to enlist them as slaves or worse. But the illithids left their captives alone while they went off on some mysterious errand, and it was then that one of the dwarves hear them say a single world in their language, which we have translated as 'Earthquake'. He was able to escape with this news and only three days later the earthquakes began.

There is no doubt in my mind that the illithids are responsible for the earthquakes. They must intend to drive us from our homes so they can herd us into their slave pits to a fate worse than death!

We are not powerful enough to openly oppose the illithids, but neither can we sit back and do nothing. We were over joyed when Arvid Stonespring divined that you were coming and that The Yeomanry League was coming to our aid. What say you!"

[Rex]

Qleceec

"The Mind Flayers are the stuff of Legend. I have no experience against them. But they renowned for their evil, and that is something I can not abide. You have my aid."

[cybersavant]

Nah Olos silently stands at the back of the group, out of respect of the Dwarves to lessen any preconceived notions due to his heritage. When Qleceec speaks up, he searches his memory, unsure if he's ever heard of these illithids."

[Storm11]

Hex blanches at the mention of the mind flayers. Aren’t they rumoured to be impervious to magic. We will need to mix up our magic so that we can enhance our martial members rather than target them specifically, for our spells will not likely be effective against such foes directly! Are any of your dwarves psionically endowed here at Silver Spring the illusionist asks, his voice full of trepidation.

These are dangerous foes indeed! We will need to be most careful and work as a team if we hope to survive!

[shaidar]

Garrant

"That is highly concerning. We must determine what the Mind Flayers have discovered that allows them to make such wholesale changes to the very bones of the earth, and either bring to the church for study and safekeeping, or if that's not possible find a way to destroy it."

[ravenn4544]

Androgost states, "We have pledged our service to lend aide. If indeed this devilry is the cause, it shall be put down!"

He contemplates the next bit of their journey and what may come. "As we make ready, we must also honor our oath to the Yeomanry. It may take us some time to vanquish this evil. More time then we may have left in that oath. A messenger back to them on these new findings and our intention to see it done, should be conducted with some haste. Pray, have you a messenger to lend to help convey such a message?"

[cybersavant]

Nah Olos silently stands at the back of the group, out of respect of the Dwarves to lessen any preconceived notions due to his heritage. When Qleceec speaks up, he searches his memory, unsure if he's ever heard of these illithids."

"Any idea of numbers of these illithids? Do they work with any others?"

[gurusql]

In the Jotens - Mid-day - The Meeting
Sunday, 16th day of Planting, 597
11th day since leaving Loftwick

Qleceec (AC 1, HP 60/63)
Androgost (AC -6, HP 62/65, Armor 26/26)
Nah Olos (AC 4, HP 53/53)
Siouxsie (AC 2, HP 48/48)
Garrant (AC 8, HP 47/50)
Hex (AC 0, HP 26/27, Armor 8/8)
Raffi (AC -1, HP 21/21, Armor 8/8)
Boff (AC 5, HP 59/61)
Frannie (AC 4, HP 26/26)

Rakr the oldest of the five dwarves steps forward, "We thank you in advance for your help and we agree that these are dangerous foes.

To answer some of your questions, none of the dwarves in town are psionically endowed Master Hexalon Sunstone. Sir Androgost, Knight of the Steelheart we still have a single pigeon left to communicate with the The Yeomanry League, the pigeons have not been flowing recently. Perhaps it is this dragon and reptilian creatures that Siousxie, an Initiate of the the Circle of Druids mentioned. Sir Androgost, you mention a deadline, what deadline is this?

Mr., oh my my I do not think I caught your name Mr. Half-Human. We of course do not have access to that information, but our surviving scout only saw two illithids and thinks that there was a third in the next room. We did not see their slaves, but we are sure they at least have a few dwarves.

We can offer you food and map. The SS refers to Silver Spring and it shows the primary branches off the highway. Please note that where the 'I' is on the map is the entrance to a series of caves that the illithids have taken over the far side. The darker colors are primary branches off the Highway that we are recommending that you avoid."

Highway Map

HighwayMap.png (7.89 KiB) Viewed 10164 times

Please note that you have been on the road for 11 days and lost some of your supplies with the horses. From looking at your character sheets some of you might be quite hungry.

[cybersavant]

Nah Olos

Excuse me. I am Nah Olos. Thank you for the offer of provisions. Can you tell us what else is near that area? Perhaps one of your scouts could escort us 3/4 of the way?"

[Storm11]

Hex tries to do some calculations. Eight miles away. Hmmmm. A good days walking. Supplies would be most beneficial if you could spare them thank you. We need to coordinate our efforts I think. the gnome says pensively.

Raffi keeps silent but watches everything that is happening.

[Spearmint]

Siousxie

From looking at your character sheets some of you might be quite hungry.

I could Goodberry some freshly picked berries

Siouxsie casts: Casts Goodberry: [2d4]=6

which will provide her six meals worth of nourishment. We need more though, she has coins to buy rations.

"Am I right in understanding that the dragon is nothing to do with the earthquakes then?"

She asks since the dwarves made no comment about it.

[ravenn4544]

Androgost echos the asks of his party. "Provisions - food and water, are indeed something we need to stock up on. We can certainly pay. Torches, oil, and rope will also be needed in these dark and dangerous caverns. What else can others think of to prepare for such a subterranean expedition?"

[gurusql]

In the Jotens - Mid-day - The Meeting
Sunday, 16th day of Planting, 597
11th day since leaving Loftwick

Qleceec (AC 1, HP 60/63)
Androgost (AC -6, HP 62/65, Armor 26/26)
Nah Olos (AC 4, HP 53/53)
Siouxsie (AC 2, HP 48/48)
Garrant (AC 8, HP 47/50)
Hex (AC 0, HP 26/27, Armor 8/8)
Raffi (AC -1, HP 21/21, Armor 8/8)
Boff (AC 5, HP 59/61)
Frannie (AC 4, HP 26/26)

Rakr says "If I miss any of your questions please let me know. To start Gavin have them bring in the food." Gavin Wellhorn the youngest of the five dwarves opens the farthest door on the left side of the party. Inside are dwarves with a clean wheelbarrow and it contains 9 weeks of iron rations and 9 weeks of standard rations (heavy on the mushrooms and pita potato bread) that they roll into the room in front of the adventurers.

Rakr continues - "We can of course get you any water you need. Nah Olos nice to meet you, when you say what else is in the area, do you mean the side caverns, the Highway or in the final cavern? If you mean the side caverns, the first side cavern has two bands of trolls that have been warring for years. They only tend to focus on each other. The two southern branches we are not aware of what lives there. If you mean the Highway, nothing lives on the Highway, but there can be normal cave things passing through including puddings, jellies and molds and some more active creatures like Umber Hulks, Fire Beetles and the like. The final cavern we were checking it after a while so do not have current information. I would rather not send a scout, but if that is your need we will send three, one returning by himself would not be something I would wish upon a criminal. We could send them past the next two branches that is not quite 3/4 of the way, but no chance of getting lost after that. Androgost you asked about torches, oil and rope, we have limited supplies but tell me what your company needs and I will do my best."

Arvid interjects, "Siousxie, all of my looking for a source point to the Illithids are the cause. My divinations tell me that the Illithid know what is causing it, our scout tells of that they had inside knowledge to it before the earthquakes started and this must be pushing their agenda to control everything. I do not know how a dragon could be the cause. What evidence do you have to support this statement? If you tell me what you know, perhaps I could pray for sometime on the topic?"

Arvid continues, "Androgost, perhaps we could aid your groups quest with 2 potions of extra-healing, 2 potions of healing and two Roots of Anti-Charm, Smashing one of these roots on the chest of someone will either dispel a charm in effect or protect them from most charms for 90 minutes."

Arvid pauses as if he is thinking, "It just occurred to me it is now past mid-day. Hexalon is right in that you will not make it there without a rest. I realized that I had not planning for you to stay, but you are welcome. Do you want to rest and leave tomorrow or head out sooner?"

Actions/Replies?

[ravenn4544]

Androgost makes sure to clearly acknowledge the offerings of the dwarves to support the quest. "We are grateful for these fine gifts to lend us aide on our journey! Rations and water is equally generous as we make our way down and deep into the darkness of the world. I am ready to begin as soon as possible but will ask my comrades to weigh in if we want to rest an evening in the tunnels or leave in the morning and make it to our goal the same day."