Editing Fontainver (section)

==Mountain Depths==

The weather was much better now, and we moved a little farther away from the edge, trying to avoid any more encounters with the flying things. By late afternoon we had started to climb the rocky foothills beneath the mountains, so it was harder going. We were doing our best to aim for highest mesa we had seen, but lost sight of it as we got closer and the light faded, so we camped on the edge of the mountains. We were woken in the night by an attack - Tak was struck with a crossbow, and as he woke us I tried shouting in my own language, only being rewarded with a crossbow bolt of my own! Tak ran off into the darkness, scrambling over the rocks expertly, as Silanna and I prepared for an assault that Cassandra warned us was coming.

Tak ran to one of the foe using a crossbow; they looked like Dwarves, but they had glowing white orbs for eyes. Silanna shouted that there were four closing on us, although I could only see two, and I sent a flechette darting into the nearest. Tak's opponent dropped his crossbow and drew axes, but he didn't get to use them as Tak buried a blade into his head. Silanna was just as lethal, embedding arrows into the heads of two of our opponents, killing them instantly. She shouted a warning as one had sneaked around behind me, and ran forward to slam her body into it, which was just enough to force its axe swing to scrape along my armour harmlessly. Its second blow struck me, though, and I winced at the pain. I twisted my weapon, causing a discharge of lightning to arc across the blades and slammed it into my attacker, leaving a smoking raw wound that was enough for him to collapse, bleeding out. Silanna killed another foe with an arrow as they closed with us, and then picked off another with a crossbow at range.

It had been a brutal fight, but there were some interesting items on the bodies that might be of use. I was particularly interested in their crossbows, as they had a magazine loading mechanism that made them quicker to fire (at least until the five bolts they held ran out). I swapped my own crossbow for their one, taking a set of bolts to use with it. Silanna found a couple of phials of blue liquid that might prove useful for something. We didn't feel safe staying in the same place, so we decided to move on through what was left of the night, although we had to move slowly in the rocky terrain. As the first light of dawn spread, though, we saw a path with cut stone steps some way ahead of us. Tak was wary of what might use such a path, despite having heard of such ways being used in the old times, so we found a place to rest and watch for a while. As noon approached, though, we had seen nothing, so we elected to follow the path up in the hope it would lead to some kind of settlement.

One thing I was glad of was that the steps, where the slope required them, made allowances for folks of all sizes. Even the steepest parts had smaller footholds beside them to make the ascent easier. We kept climbing for hours more before we were disturbed again. The first warning came as we felt a tremor in the rocks, followed quickly by the crack of stones being dislodged above us. We were in quite a narrow defile, so there was a real danger that we would be hit by falling rocks. We started running, and I only just managed to dodge a boulder half my size. We made it out of the shadow of the cliffs, with Silanna scooping me up towards the end, although there were still rocks rolling down the slopes on either side of us as the tremors continued.

We were approaching an unusual switchback in the path, as it turned sharply left up ahead and almost back on itself. Silanna called out a warning - Cassandra had seen some dog-headed humanoid creatures approaching along the steps just around the corner. She put me down, readying her bow, and Tak stopped to greet whatever they were as they came into sight. In a shocking turn of events that surprised nobody that wasn't called Tak, they turned out not to be friendly. They wanted to herd us back down the steps for something they referred to as "Her" to eat us. We only worked out this detail because Silanna was able to understand them... how did she learn all these languages if she grew up alone in the forest?!

Eventually it escalated and Tak was knocked down as they tried to force us back. He had already been injured, and I was concerned about the damage falling on the rocky steps would have done, so I took a moment to heal him. I readied my weapon for a fight, but of course Silanna had already started killing them. Two fell in quick order, and Tak jumped up and plunged his blades into another, killing that too. There was only one other, and at Tak's insistence, though Silanna as a translator, it agreed to surrender. It refused to go any further down the path, genuinely looking afraid at what might be down there, so Silanna told it to stay still if it wanted to live. We started moving past it and up to the bend, but I stopped for a moment, wondering why anyone would have brought the path this way only to turn back again.

When I took a closer look at the steep rock beside us, I noticed that at least a part of it had been created, and was not a natural formation. I thought I could even make out slight cracks that could be an opening of some kind, so I used my tools to send a blast of high pressure air at the rockface and once the dust cleared it was more visible as a doorway of some kind. The dog-headed thing was grumbling about "not wanting to go it there", as there were apparently lots of dwarves inside (both with and without the glowing white eyes). Tak took a close look, and found a way to unlock the mechanism to open the door - he warned that it was trapped, but we flattened ourselves against the rocks on either side and when he triggered it a pit opened up in front of the door, so we were safe. The door swung open, so we had a way in, but we would have to get past the pit... which seemed to fall an awful long way out of sight.

Tak climbed into the doorway with Silanna holding him on rope just in case he slipped. He made it safely enough, and noticed some runes within the corridor that he could partially translate:


The …/ … up its … host

In those dark years we … the most.

And on Vorsay the challenge came.

Losing all to … evil reign.


… champions our cause,

… men, elves and dwarves,

In battle against this …. foe

All lost, … is our woe.


Through the mountains of metal and stone

The host …, … flesh from bone

…. land was first to suffer

Broken, it was torn ....


An … seized,

The …not …,

Comes …/… with fire

And turns … into a …/….


Denied the Bridge of ….,

The host turn to the marsh …

… victory at …/…/…

Forces Evil’s retreat to begin.


Tak secured the rope inside before climbing back out, using pitons to secure the other end of the rope in the rocks outside. We started to climb around, but the pitons outside gave way so Silanna had to climb up and then Tak held the rope in tension while I climbed around. The sprung claws I had added to my boots helped me find purchase, so it was a relatively easy traverse. Tak followed, again with us holding the rope just in case, and we swung the door shut behind us. That was just in time... the dog-head had run off while we were dealing with the pit, and had returned with friends. There was a metallic banging on the door that encouraged us to move deeper into the mountain.

Silanna lit a torch, and I took out the metal torch I had created from bits and pieces, coaxing it into a bright light to help with the pitch darkness we faced. There was nothing but a narrow corridor, comfortable for me but forcing the others to bend down, so we followed it with me leading the way. We reached an archway, formed in relief in the rock, that came to a point at the top where an eagle's talons stuck down towards us. Tak paused to honour the air spirits, and I used a gem to bring the sound of the wind to the place. Whether that helped or not, we were able to walk safely beneath the arch and started to make our way down some spiral stairs, turning clockwise as we descended. The stairs ended in a door, which Tak was able to unlock, and in doing so also disabled a potential trap.

I pushed the door open and walked through, but was immediately confronted by white-eyed dwarves on the other side! Luckily the bolt that was loosed at me went over my head and hit one of the other dwarves as they moved to surround me. Perhaps they had expected someone taller? My cloak moved to block one blow, ringing as if metal had struck metal, but I suffered a cut from another. I focused on the injured one, killing them and forcing my way into the space to allow the others to move forward. Tak parried an attack, and Silanna also managed to push into the room, chanting some words that sent arcs of lightning coursing around her body before she struck one with a bare hand - the lightning arced into him, leaving him smoking slightly and recoiling from her touch. I targeted him, trying to turn their flank, and he fell easily to my thrust - great teamwork! Silanna kept moving around their flank and killed another with an arrow. Tak stood at the door, fighting where he stood, and killed another with his blades. The other two ran, sounding a horn as they fled into the darkness. We retrieved the torches we had dropped and readied for more combat.

We paused for a moment, and started to search the room rather than following the fleeing foe; we would only be walking into a trap. As if to emphasise the point, a bolt flew from the darkness and hit Tak as he approached the open door on the far side of the chamber. Silanna slammed the door shut and braced it as I kept searching for another possible way out. Tak wasn't sure there was anything to find, but I explained that my own home would have had multiple traps and misdirections so that only a friend could find their way in. Halfway along the wall to the right of where we came in, something suddenly moved under my foot. I froze and called Tak over, not wanting to release the weight in case it triggered a trap. He examined the mechanism and determined that it was supposed to have both opened a pit beneath me and caused part of the wall to move, but had possibly rusted and so hadn't operated as it should have. I was quite glad of that!

I put some force onto the mechanism using my staff, and it took some effort to get anything to happen, but finally something clicked and a mechanism began to turn. It was incredibly loud, chains clanking noisily as the wall fell away from us to slowly lower into a corridor hidden behind it. The pit was also revealed, but we had been careful to stay away from the area so that we remained safe. I jumped into the corridor, now on top of the wall, and moved forward to check that it was passable. As I reached the end of the wall section and stepped down, I suddenly found an ugly tentacled thing rearing up right in front of me!

I quickly reacted and fired a sleep capsule at it, which seems to work as it settled back down again. I urged the others to hurry before it woke up again, although Tak seemed to be oblivious when he joined Silanna, who had stepped in behind me. I urged them to hurry again, and Silanna ran forward at an impressive pace. Unfortunately this set off a trap in the corridor and a couple of crossbow bolts flew out from one of the walls, one striking her leg. I ran forward, stopping slightly short of where she had indicated the trap was, but there were more! Thankfully they missed me despite being triggered, and I tried to use my mind to reduce my weight on the floor. That didn't work, and more bolts were sent flying, but again they missed me and I reached Silanna's side - she had found a door in the left-hand wall. I did sense another mind somewhere at the edge of my consciousness when I tried to reduce my weight, so I would have to be careful not to use any powers unless absolutely necessary.

The door was locked, and I couldn't figure out the mechanism, but luckily Tak was better at tinkering with it, throwing the door open and stepping into a large room. He could see some large heat sources approaching in the dark, so did his usual thing and stepped forward to hail them in Common. There was a guttural response that was unintelligible to us, but Silanna quickly uttered an incantation and all three of them fell to the floor, asleep. Tak moved forward, seeing more approaching, but then tripped over something quite large in the dark. He picked himself up, and was still trying to be friends with whatever they were. Silanna and I were wary, though, and not convinced that the giant green-skinned creatures were likely to be friendly now that we could see them in the light. I got closer to Tak and in my torch's light could see that the thing Tak tripped over was a coffin!

Silanna moved up next, but was attacked as two more of the large creatures charged at her. She was too fast for them, though, and conjured a spray of colour in the air that made them both fall unconscious. They certainly didn't look friendly, so Silanna removed their weapons and searched them quickly as we both looked at the top of the coffin, which was covered in runes. Tak read:


From the Misery of … came

The … of fiery eyes and darkened ...

To the ruins of … he turned

and met with the …/… he learned,

Of the return to the Prime of that which smashed

The …/… and with it our hopes dashed.

Granted a gift of dwarven gold and elven stone,

Promised in exchange …/…/…, alone.

With that …/… was rebuilt …,

…/…/…/… would kill

All that kept them from …/…

And together over all folk would lord,

In name and act of evil vast

The Darkest time of … passed.


As Tak read it out loud, I remembered that I had meant to give the ring back to him. I removed it from my finger and passed it to him asking him to take it. He was reluctant, saying that it belonged to me and my family, but it did not come from a Gnome's corpse. In the end he agreed to carry it for me, but not to accept it as a gift. I moved the light across the coffin and we could see that there was a figure of a dwarf carved into it, but the face had been chiselled off. There was also a plate where I would expect to see a family mark, but that had been removed as well. As we are looking, we heard a swish, and Tak moved like lightning, bending his body back and pushing an arrow away from him before it could strike.

That seemed to be just the start of an attack, as a flanking force came out of the dark to engage us as we took cover behind the coffin. Tak leapt forward to meet them, screaming "leave us alone!" so I joined him. One swung at me, and Tak took the opportunity to stab him under the arm. He had become frenzied again, and he paused for a moment, despite the threat, seeming to relax a little, and then sprang to life again, striking another foe. I was only saved by my cloak, as two cleaved into my shoulders; I would have been finished for sure if it hadn't absorbed some of the damage. I thrust back, killing one of the wounded foe, but I was barely hanging on.

They also rushed Silanna, as two woke from their enchantment, but she dodged one and jumped over the other as they tried to bear her to the floor. She landed lightly on top of the second one and put two arrows into the other, killing it, even as the first got to its feet and shrugged her off. I struck my other attacker well, but it was not enough to fell it and my cloak moved to defend me from another attack. Silanna was struck by a sword, the first attacker having retrieved it from the floor. I scrabbled for the special water that the little guy at the edge of the plains had given me, and Tak was kind enough to cover my back as I did so, deflecting one attack away. I gulped down the water, dropping the waterskin, and felt suddenly revived, my wounds knitting quickly.

Silanna killed her second attacker, but was immediately beset by three more as the first group woke and saw the bodies of their kin. Tak struck one, and I killed another, but not before I was injured again. Thank goodness for the healing water! I saw that Silanna was surrounded and started moving around to help her, although she managed to kill one foe with two arrows before I even got there. Tak finished off his foe, so we were able to focus on the last two still attacking Silanna. Well, that's what we thought, but then an arrow flew out of the dark and struck Silanna, who was now bleeding from, multiple wounds. Cassandra came to her aid again, stinging one foe without warning and her target dropped like a stone, apparently dead (remind me not to get on the wrong side of that dragon).

Tak shouted at the foe, stabbing it before offering it the chance to surrender; it didn't seem to be interested as it slashed me across my chest with its sword. Silanna barked out some guttural words, which did get a response, but she said that it wanted to "kill the Gnome" (charming), and that I would "never get my realm back" (so there were Gnomes here then). Just in case we were wondering whether she might try to convince it to stop, Silanna then ran it through with her sword, and it fell dead. Tak noticed another arrow fly out of the dark, although it was wildly inaccurate, so he ducked into cover with Silanna close behind.

I was in the open, though, so I sprinted forward, hoping to find the archer so the others could shoot back. The archer found me, putting an arrow into my chest, but I still couldn't see them... how large was this room anyway?! I extinguished my torch to make it harder to target me (I hoped, anyway), and it seemed to work as both Tak and I heard an arrow but nobody was hit. I kept running forward, hoping to finally find the foe, when the floor suddenly fell away and I heard the swish of a blade swinging nearby. My cloak billowed and forced me forwards with a jerk, just enough to find solid ground and find my feet, although I knew if I stepped back even an inch I would fall. In better news, I could finally see the archer up ahead, about thirty feet at most, so I made my torch shine again and threw it forward to illuminate another large, green-skinned creature.

I shouted back to the others to stay back, because there was a trap, and to just shoot the target. I flattened myself on the floor and loosed bolts of my own, hitting with one of them. I heard a grunt from behind, but no arrows flew over me... what were they doing? Turns out that they had come forward despite me telling them not to, and Silanna had fallen into the pit, with Tak almost following, but then trying to get down to help her. How simple-minded are these people? I thought "don't follow me, there's a trap, just shoot" was pretty easy to understand. Was there dweomer here preventing them from hearing me? I was badly wounded and felt exposed, so I lashed out with my mind at the archer, and thankfully he collapsed.

I shuffled back towards the lip of the pit and whispered down to Tak, asking whether Silanna was still with us. He was searching through her backpack, and answered that he was trying to help her. A moment later he found what he was looking for - the pot of ointment that we had used to heal wounds before. He dabbed some onto the back of Silanna's head where the blood looked worst, and thankfully that was enough to revive her. He immediately warned her to be ready with her bow because we were in danger, and she scrambled to her feet. I didn't rate his bedside manner much, to be honest. I moved forward, hoping to retrieve my torch, but an arrow thudded into the wall nearby, coming from the darkness to my left, so I shouted a warning and quickly crouched back in the dark near the pit edge.

Tak shouted that we needed to get back to the sarcophagus, where there was cover, and climbed nimbly up to the top on his side of the pit. He let down a rope, hooking it over the edge, and Silanna used it to climb up next to him. I jumped into the pit, using my mind to land gently, and crossed over. Tak had seen something, though, and searched for the torch he knew was on the floor somewhere. Silanna helped by lighting another torch, and that was enough for him to see and grab the first one. I saw the light flaring above and tried to use my climbing claws to quickly scale the pit. It was too smooth and hard to get a purchase, though, so I started to slowly climb the rope.

Tak wanted us to hurry, so he helped by hauling the rope up which made my progress much faster. Silanna moved back the way we'd come, turning a corner as she entered the sarcophagus room to find she was face-to-face with three white-eyed dwarves! She shouted a surprised warning, but luckily they were almost as surprised that she had appeared so she wasn't immediately attacked. She was struck as they recovered, but retaliated with lethal bow fire, killing two before I had even finished my climb. Tak passed me the pot of healing ointment, which only had a little left, and I thanked him, grabbing his arm to let him know how grateful I was. He seemed not to notice, though, turning and running at incredible speed to assist Silanna. He need not have worried, though, as the last foe turned to flee from the dangerous Elf! Instead, Tak moved up to the door it had gone through and tried to push it closed.

I had used the last of the ointment to heal my wounds, and started dragging the unnecessarily large and heavy rope as fast as I could to join them. Tak was struggling to move the door, which seemed to be stuck, so Silanna added her strength to it and the door slowly started to move whilst purple and pink sparks flew off its edge - there must have been dweomer holding it open. One more arrow flew past them before they managed to force the door fully closed, but they had to keep their weight on it or it started opening again. I finally caught up, collapsing against a wall under a heap of rope to catch my breath. Silanna warned that there was another foe at the far end of the pit room, so I made sure I was out of the doorway. Silanna could hold the door closed without Tak, so he picked up his rope (much to my relief) and turned his attention to the sarcophagus again.

He suggested that may be it could be worth using the ring I had given him to carry, as that was Dwarven gold, because the inscription mentioned it. I was surprised for a moment that he'd come up with such a good idea - perhaps he was brighter than he seemed! I agreed readily, moving forward to watch with interest what happened. He put the ring on his finger and moved it over where the carving of the Dwarf's hand was. The carved figure was outlined in light as his hand got closer, and then we heard a loud crack as a staircase started to appear near us both in the floor, starting at the head of the sarcophagus.

I started down at once, tapping the stairs as it got darker, and as I turned the corner I noticed something on the left wall. I stopped and called for light; Tak wanted to keep the ring in place, so he passed his torch to Silanna and she came down close behind me, abandoning the door. I could see what might be a door, within a relief of a stone archway that was about my height. I didn't want to try it, though, as I felt it might still be linked to the power of the ring. Instead I moved down slightly to make room for Tak. Sure enough, as he placed his hand on the door the stone started to move down to let us through... but the steps started to raise back into the room above at the same time!

We just about managed to get inside the opening before the step slammed up behind me. The others were crawling, but it was the perfect height for me. Tak kept going forward, pushing the stone block ahead of him, and it was about sixty feet before the block raised before him to reveal more stairs spiraling down. At the base of the stairs we entered a room full of bright light, but could see no obvious source. Wooden doors stood opposite the foot of the stairs at one end, about five feet from them. As we emerged into the room more fully, we could see relief carvings on either side, both of mountain ranges, although different, with large towers upon them. The symbols below the carvings had been smashed, but the one on our left showed the mountains surrounded by water, where the one on the right had a blue sky above the mountains that once must have been vivid but was now slightly faded. I looked up and saw that there were veins of golden light that seemed to be smashing through the ceiling and illuminating everything below. There were two concentric circles on the floor, silver and gold, with what had once been four symbols carved into the stone but had been scratched out at some point.