Session XX - New Mysteries

General Summary

• After finding their freedom from the White Scale, the party rests one last night before leaving the Capitol. After some debate they agreed to investigate the ruins of Betor. They left using the main road out of the city before quickly heading northwards. They travelled the open fields heading generally in the right direction.
• As the sun gave way to Kelna (The Moon), the air around them quickly grew frigid. The top of the fields around them becoming frosted. The reason being the beginning of winter. Kelna had an icy blue glow to her, indicating the coming of frost. Soren felt an old attachment to this frozen over moon. The party travelled late into the night before setting up camp a few miles off from Betor. It was a quiet and frigid rest as the they took watch.
• The next morning they investigated the ruins. The scanned for the remains of fire, battle, and even magic. However, nothings turned up. During this process Nayr did a scout of the ruins with the group suspecting foul play by Persivis. In this scout Nayr did spot someone. A halfling fellow walking out of what appeared to be a local mine north of the village. Nayr quickly casted hold person on him, paralyzing the man. Arethyn quickly grabbed hold of him as the spell wore off. The hallfing told them that he was Herbert, a fellow adventurer who was exploring the rumors of Betor. Supposedly long ago the local miners of the village dug too deep and found something far below. Shortly after weird happenings began and the inhabitants abandoned there home. He had tried to go deep into the mine but was unable to lift the manual lift in the center.
• The group investigated his claims and found them true. As they looked down the elevator shaft they opted for Arethyn to stay above to lift them back up after they were done. As they slowly descended down into the mine they passed floor after floor. Each one becoming more decrepit the farther they went. Eventually they reached the bottom. Thanks to the cleverness of Lokelius through the use of 'locate object', they found 16 moving weapons down one of the various corridors. As they headed towards the weapons they stumbled across an old well made structure that had been dug in to. The structure was made of strong aged stone brick, indicating a very old age. As they explored they came across a few rooms. One seemed to restrain something, while the other appeared to be some kind of torture/research room a it was filled with books. They opted to take every single book and translate them later as it was all written in orcish. As they entered another room they were met with the faces of small purple skinned dwarves; who immediately became hostile. As the group entered combat they were faced with duergar. Many of them turned invisible or even enhanced there size, doubling them form and there weapons. All and all the party defeated all 8 of them.
• Afterwards they found a few chests, some of which were alive and attacked them upon contact. The other two held a small amount of coin and some 'dust of dissapperance'. Laufter also discovered another dug out hole in the structure that appeared to lead further down into the earth. The party is now confronted by three doors, and is preparing there next move...