Back from the brink
General Summary
Back to life
Life came back to Martiri and she described her time spent in Nometathra in terms of weeks. Unable to find her parents, she came back convinced they should still be alive. The party explained to her she was only gone a matter of hours, but they were glad to have her returned. Unfortunately, her encounter left her scarred. The gibbering mouther had chewed off a section of Martiri's neck and the right side of her face. A large section of gruesome scar tissue is all that remains.
After some rest in the camp, the team awoke to a very angry and frantic voice. The gnome introduced herself as Heswyse Odakini Remyra Aluroe the Assistant National Infrastructure Administrator in charge of the Central region from Daemarrel on official business to Edstow regarding Culvella Run. She claimed that her offices had sent fliers to Edstow repeatedly over the last few years and nothing had been reported as complete. She was traveling through the area on her way to Edstow, had seen creatures around Culvella Run, and was checking the Grotto when she ran into the party.
Hearing that the area was under contract, the group was interested. They took a copy of the flyer that Heswyse had and saw that clearing the Grotto rewarded 500 gold, and clearing Culvella Run was worth 1500 gold. They needed to register with the Gratelyn Adventurer's Guild to officially take the contract, however, and Heswyse had the capability of sending the necessary message to complete registration. She charged the nominal 20 gold fee, and the group registered as "Danger is All Our Middle Names", with Heiron Nymus as the documented leader of the company. Heswyse informed the group they should clear the Grotto, complete their business, then turn in proof of the deed to the local adventurer's guild chapter in Edstow. The group scratched their head and Heswyse was not pleased.
What do you mean there wasn't an adventurer's guild? How are you acting in an official capacity with the city watch? Did they not contract you through the adventurer's guild? What is going on in Edstow?— Heswyse Odakini Remyra Aluroe, Asst. Nat'l Infrastructure Admin.
Onward to the Grotto
The team continued into the grotto intent on rescuing the missing Gold Roses members.
As you round the third corner of this twisting corridor, you see a large tapestry covering the western wall. The tapestry reveals a great historic event: The construction of a building. The scene contains Dwarves and Elves primarily. The tapestry is made of silk and is in fairly good condition. It stretches thirty feet long by six feet high.
A beautiful tapestry spanned the western hall as the group moved through the grotto.
Imra explained some of the finer points of the tapestry and what it represented: the construction of the Gweyir Mystic Atheneum, a place of education, arcane research, and sharing of knowledge.
The gore-chute
The doors entering into this room are designed in a way that the hinges allow the doors to swing either direction. The stone cut floor is littered with wooden debris. Remnants of barrels and chests smashed and ransacked. A chunk of floor sits loosely over its former spot, as if something tried to unsuccessfully hide it; a pair of coins lies beneath the loose flooring. Two stone tables stand ominously in the center of the room.
After exploring what Martiri described as an ore sorting room, the team found seams of sealed passages, from what they suspected was a retrofitting of this area. After breaking through the poorly laid plaster, the found a room that had three chutes. Two were sealed up with wood and debris, while one was open. Auxi ventured into the shaft and discovered thick gore and viscera where the chute turned and sloped away. Martiri explained these were likely for dropping materials into the mines deep below, while the other two may have had lift mechanisms to move raw materials up.
Auxi described the scene he saw below and explored with 's familiar, Madame Kitty Puss Puss. He discovered a sorting, maintenance, and preparation area for the great mineshafts he found himself in. Old tools, massive minecarts, and moveable tracks allowed for the repair and maintenance of minecarts, while switching carts between various tracks easily. The group decided to join him below, and tied off a rope to the surface, assisting the climb down.
Once below, the group decided to climb aboard one of the carts and use the cranks to navigate the shafts, hoping to find the missing Gold Roses members below. An epic cart chase ensued as the team frantically tried to navigate the dim corridors and fend off pursuing kobolds in their own carts. At one point the tracks gave out. Luckily, they were able to crank hard enough to launch the cart across the chasm and land on the tracks on the opposite side.
They eventually arrived at the end of the tracks, where another cart was parked at the end. Inside the cart was evidence of blood and gore where bodies had been dropped into the cart. Some fresh blood trailed into the cavern beyond, and the group heard a low, rumbling roar from beyond.
