A Great Honor?

Flaurmont 11-12
 
After examining the gems some more they were actually set into the stone pedestal and would not come out easily if someone tried to take them. Durbin thought perhaps we needed to do something with the gems in order to unlock something but I wasn’t so sure. If they were set in there you couldn’t do much. After some more examination of the room we decided to just try the door opposite the pedestal which was unlocked.
 
The next room was just as well done as the first. A beautiful tiled floor and in the center the symbol of Hearth-Home. If I remember correctly it was a shield and hammer? Also in this room were four alcoves, one in each corner. Each had a chair and three of them had dwarven suits of armor each with a different weapon. The empty chair had a gem just like the gems in the previous room. There was also a door in the center of each wall which were all closed. I examined behind one of the suits of armor and sure enough there was another gem just like the previous room behind it. Durbin did not know what they did. I suspect perhaps some sort of defense? I could see threads of mana coming from the gem into the suits of armor. I suppose maybe the dwarves of Hearth-Home would know how these worked.
 
After examining the room we decided to go back and check the other door in the first room. It opened and was a hallway to another door. There were a lot of hooks on the wall in this hallway and Durbin counted everyone which he told us there were sixty two. Fantastic. The next door opened in an octagonal room which was actually beautiful. There was carpet that felt almost like grass and the walls were painted with the whole of the Rift! If you looked toward Kleine you could see the falls, if you turned around you saw the Keep of the Black Knight. It was very beautiful indeed. Durbin decided we needed to thoroughly search the room so I just sat against a wall while they did so.
 
While searching Holly found a small box on top of a pillar. I wasn’t all too excited about that until she brought it down and I saw it literally glowing with magic. The box was odd though. It had no hinges, looked like it was made of metal but was wood. I decided we didn’t have much time to so I put it away to examine later. Thinking they were done I stood up and started to leave the room but they were still examining the room so I sighed and sat back down. After some more searching they found an imperceptible line in the wall and a mechanism to unlock another hidden door to another spiral staircase. It is frustrating but at the same time the care and work that went into this is astounding. If I could be as dedicated as a dwarf to my studies I would surely master weather in no time at all. We decided to leave the stairs for now and check the doors in the other room.
 
The first door we checked was a very fortified door with a sliding peephole. Looking in Durbin said it was a man trap room. Apparently it is a small room between two fortified doors to control traffic. Given all the defenses the dwarves put into their buildings it made sense. Durbin opened up the sliding peephole in the next door and light poured in. Odd that they would have a light source underground. After opening the door we were actually outside! There was a nice level area next to a small river flowing. I thought we were still underground and it would open up to some huge cavern or something. Then we heard the sounds and I immediately knew there were gnolls here and they were above us! I told Durbin we need to close the door quickly as that would not be good if they saw us so we backed into the keep again and secured both doors.
 
The next door in this room was the same and opened up to the outside so we made sure to secure those. The third opened up into a small room which had a large dwarven chest with dials and a very nice scale and some weights strewn about. Durbin looked over the chest and mumbled to himself something and then turned away saying no time for that right now. With no more obvious rooms to explore and not wanting to go outside we made our way back to the Rift painting room and the spiral staircase going up. Before going up I sent up a magical eye to check the area using the ring we found to see in the temperature spectrum. There were two doors up higher and the stairs ended with a ladder. I dismissed the eye and explained to the others what I saw.
 
We decided to start at the top first and work our way down. Holly did listen at both doors on the way up and said she heard gnolls at both of them so this place must be full of them. Disgusting beasts! Hopefully we could purge them all from this place. We got to the top and Durbin climbed up the ladder but said it was locked. I asked him if it looked like the other one we came up through and he said it was the same. I sighed and asked him to come down and I would open it. I don’t know what it is about these dwarven ladders but they just don’t feel right. Regardless I climbed up and repeated the process I used to open the previous one which was successful. I pushed a little to make sure it could open and climbed back down.
 
Durbin climbed up and it was the top of a tower. He was able to see quite a bit around the keep and he’s sure we are in the main keep in the middle of the pass. Since there was no more going up we decided to take the first door back down the stairs. There was still noise coming from beyond the door so Durbin opened the sliding peephole. He whispered there were some dog-like things running around and an old gnoll in a rocking chair. He pulled out his crossbow, loaded it, aimed and shot the old gnoll through the head killing it. We opened the door and these hyena beasts attacked Durbin immediately. We managed to put them down quickly but the things have strong jaws and bit through to his leg.
 
The room had a large fireplace and they were cooking something over it. There were three doors off this room. The first one we heard whispering and we opened it to find four humans bound and gagged in here, one of them with a leg cut off! We would later find out that the meat on the fire was the human leg. Disgusting creatures. Durbin rushed in and helped the one who had their leg cut off. I approached the other three and made a silent gesture and ungagged one. He explained they had been captured by the gnolls and we should get word to Bywater. After some back and forth of use saying where we are from and where they are it was now obvious. They were from Karameikos and had no real knowledge of the Rift. We unbound the rest and gave them some food and water. They were in no state to travel and we still had work to do. Holly was not feeling well so guided them down to room with the suits of armor so they could rest well protected. The second door was a large room with a well and hooks on the ceiling with a lone, poorly gutted deer.
 
The last door caused a flurry of craziness. Upon opening the door there were four female gnolls in what was an old dwarven dining hall. Once we opened the door they bolted. Three went into a door closer to use and one a door further down the wall. Making a snap decision Durbin led us to the closest door to a room with a large table and eight gnolls sitting around it. They picked up their weapons, stood up and charged towards the door. Dram and Durbin set up in front of it and I began weaving mana. They got to the door and unleashed a flurry of blows but Durbin and Dram held them back. I coated the floor with ice although I forgot they had clawed feet. Hopefully it would hinder them. As they continued to fight in the doorway I turned the air to poison, thick gas in the room to choke the rest out. There was a very brief flash in my mind of the disapproving princess but I cast it aside. Gnolls deserved no mercy. With that the fight was over quick. The others made their way slowly in as I cleansed the air of the poison and we finished off the gnolls. Vile beasts.
 
We needed a bit of rest and since nothing had rushed into the room after the one got away we figured we had some time. The large table in the gnoll room had some dice and a few coins but not much else. There was a large table (a shield?) with the Hearth-Home symbol but over the top of it in tar was a gauntleted fist. Maybe a symbol of these creatures clan? The gnoll room also had some “murder holes” Durbin called them to shoot down into an area below. He also explained there was an area here to pour boiling oil into which they would light on fire. Dwarves took their defenses very seriously. There wasn’t much in either of these rooms but it gave us time to rest uninterrupted.
 
Once we were ready to go we went through the door the single female gnolls went into and there were stairs going up. We made our way up quietly and at the top was a door on the left and right with sound coming from the one on the left. We opened it to find a large ogre doing unspeakable things with the gnoll female. Durbin and Dram rushed in and although the thing got a few swings they quickly killed it and the gnoll. We checked the other door from the stairwell and it was the ogres chambers which were disgusting. This led to one other door in the Ogres room that was still not explored.
 
Opening that door revealed a large room that was nicely furnished and not destroyed. Sitting at a desk was a large man-ish looking thing that stood up and looked at us. Durbin asked who he was and he asked what we were doing here. Durbin moved into the room and the thing floated over towards him. Dram tried to protect me as I transformed mana into a bolt of lightning. The thing was very strong so I told Dram to just go in and help Durbin, I would be fine. With that the thing unleashed a blast of cold which hit Dram but Durbin and I got out of the way. I unleashed my lighting at him and it must have really hurt him as he fixated on me and shrunk down to a very small size. I hid behind the door getting ready to cast another lightning. As I peaked around the door he rushed towards me and I had to try and dodge and concentrate on casting which is not fun. I decided to try and just protect myself with a strong whirlwind around me and was barely able to stay focused enough to cast it. Once it was in that (it did not get picked up and tossed to my disappointment) Dram and Durbin were able to end it. I was shocked and exhausted. I walked into the room, mentioned the robes and gauntlet were magical and sat in the chair at the desk he was sitting at.
 
They went over the body and I was sitting at an empty desk. I thought they would have something here but nope. There was a very heavy chest under the desk which the thing had a key for around his neck. Opening it up revealed a lot of coins, maybe from tariffs. Durbin and Dram were going on about the Gauntlet being evil so I got up and walked over. What happened next is a bit fuzzy but the Gauntlet seemed to influence me. I wanted it badly and nothing was going to stop me. Dram tried to grab me by the shoulders and I dodged away. Durbin tried to say I couldn’t have it but it was mine! I had distracted and given us an advantage to kill it, it was rightfully mine! I even fully charged my staff with lightning ready to try and strike Durbin down. Dram grabbed me from behind and Durbin put the gauntlet in an iron chest he kept. As Dram grabbed me I desperately tried to hit him with my staff and at the same time Durbin closed the chest and the influence disappeared. I hastily released the lightning and just bopped Dram with my staff. How embarrassing. I apologized to both of them of course and hoped they understood that was not me which they did understand.
 
With that we were trying to decide what to do when we heard a lot of noise from gnolls running out of the keep. Dram was insistent we head to this Bywater asap in case they intended to raid it (they were not going towards the Rift). I told them to hush and listened. I didn’t spend much time on raids but I knew enough to say that they were in fear and running away, not plotting a planned attack. Dram seemed to take my word and did not insist we leave. After some discussion we decided to escort the men to Bywater and inform Valum. I wrote out two notes for Melwin. One for Rhiannon letting her know we were safe and heading outside the Rift and I would pick up any wine we found! The other was to Valum letting him know we had cleared the keep. I sent her on her way to Rhiannon with strict instructions to only have two bits of honey knowing full well that wouldn’t happen. She spoiled that bird.
 
I did forget to mention the ogre had the cover of a spellbook it was trying maybe use as an amulet? It was a beautiful cover too, all the colleges reflected by a single small gem. Under the bed of the ogre (yes it was using a dwarven made bed that held it!) was an odd book that looked to be made of metal? I also did find one thing on the gnolls, a purple bottle with a stopper and purple flowers painted on it.
 
We also spent some time exploring the rest of the Keep and Durbin was able to figure out how everything worked. It was actually quite fascinating how they controlled this bend with the Keep. The only reason the Gnolls could take it was because it had to be abandoned. There wasn’t much else in the Keep. Since there were no more caravans they had no more money really besides the coins from the magis room.
 
After discussing with the captured men (not mere militiamen like i thought but some kind of road patrol?) they needed to get back asap and had horses that the gnolls took. We were able to find the stables but one horse had been killed so they had five left (they had two spare). They did want to send someone back to visit the rift at some point so we volunteered to take the wounded man back to the church with us as it was much closer and had a better chance to save him. They agreed and in the morning they were off. Before they left I gave the leader a gold coin and asked him if he could ensure that any caravan coming in had plenty of dry red wine, good stuff. He flipped the coin back and said he would do so free of charge and they rode off.
 
Durbin and Holly stayed behind and I actually believed together they could hold the keep! They wouldn’t need to as Bryon was coming up the pass with a group of men. He stopped and said he was heading to the keep and that a certain someone needed to return home as soon as possible. He added that someone should suggest to her that they shouldn’t threaten bodily harm to certain people. Rhiannon must have pulled more information from Melwin then I thought she could. Also where was that blasted bird! We let them know that Durbin and Holly were there and we headed back to Melinir. Soon after Melwin landed on my shoulder and snuggled up. Obviously had too much honey and would not hint at what she told Rhiannon. I didn’t realize we had to share familiars as well now that we’re married!
 
When we got to Melinir Dram went to the church with the wounded man and I headed home. As typical she was not necessarily mad, but very worried. I told her I needed a good bottle of that darokin sweet wine in the cellar and would tell her everything. After that I wouldn't bring it up again to which she agreed. She chided me for being in the center of danger twice but was happy I made it out with no scratches.
 
Flaurmont 13-14
 
Durbin came and brought the gauntlet with him to take to the church. It turns out to be an artifact of a high level entropic immortal! I still feel bad for what I did under its influence but it made sense since it was so powerful. When asked how we destroy it she laughed, you can’t destroy an artifact of an immortal easily. There was only one way and that was to find the specific object that could destroy it. Even then would you want to? If you destroy it then you are going to draw the ire of that immortal sure as the sun rises. So we were left with a bit of a conundrum on what to do with that.
 
Durbin was ready to go after his hammer though. I agreed it needed to be done but give me the rest of spring and I would be ready. He countered with a week. I told him perhaps. He should come to dinner tomorrow night at the mansion and explain to Rhiannon that I needed to leave again so soon. To his credit he did show up and it was an uncomfortable evening of them going back and forth. Eventually Rhiannon had enough and Durbin left, vowing to come back. I told her I had no intention of going out again so soon and she told me I better not! I just let it go and smiled, drinking my wine.
 
Flaurmont 26
 
All of us were summoned to the Keep of the Quadrial for dinner (minus Rhiannon, just the four of us). I was wondering what was needed now to keep the Rift from spontaneously igniting into flames but there was actually none of that! They let us know that Bryon was being given the position of watching over and managing the pass. The dwarves agreed to rotate out five in shifts and the humans fifteen, mainly militia men from the different towns. Since the Quadrial were getting up in age and busy with day to day management they wanted to make us Marshals of the Rift complete with some golden badges. I asked Elladin what this was for and he just told me it was a great honor. I understood but at the same time I didn’t want a part of it. Not because I didn’t want to help the Rift, I do but my elven side just seemed to be screaming at this human nonsense. Each of the Quadrial gave us our badge with Elladin bowing and I bowing back and whispering, “isn’t this just what any of our clan would do for any of us?” He smiled and agreed, saying it was just the human way. I know of course, it’s just odd.
 
With the ceremony over we had a great dinner with lots of drink. I did speak to Valum about a plan I had been thinking of. In order to strengthen the Rift we needed more people, the only real way to get people was to bring people in and settle them. He agreed and thought it was a good idea as we had empty buildings and some empty villages around that could be fixed up easily. Of course we wouldn’t want a bunch of troublemakers so Dram suggested a trial period and if they caused problems they would be escorted out. There was still a lot to work out but it seemed that the beginnings of a plan was forming.
 
Ah yes and with the new position we had to take a class with Connor on “basic human law”. Connor seemed very enthused about it, adding onto his normal duties. At least he did get that assistant though. He said it would take about a month to get through and we had a test. I mean I understand we broke the law of hospitality but this all seemed like a lot.
 
As I made my way home I wondered how Rhiannon would react. Elldadin did say humans see this as an honor so perhaps she would be happy? Turns out she was quite proud of the accomplishment. She said she needed one too since she had to look out for me. That gave me an idea for something I would need to talk to the jeweler about.
 
Now to look into this odd magical box which we found no key. After a bit of examination it mattered not, the keyhole was aesthetic. I also had spells and human law to study. On top of that, trying to research how to properly immigrate humans into a new region. I also would add to the list researching the Gauntlet and if there were any ways to destroy it. I had a busy time ahead of me. My brain seemed to groan under the work but there was a spark inside me that was eager to get started.