Hundreds of Ghouls!

Flaurmont 2-3 991AC
 
It was time to head back out and start the search for Durbin’s hammer as promised. It was grand to be totally left alone for a whole month! This should really be some type of annual situation I think though from my reading there is nothing to suggest humans do that. We could just make our own rules though and decide that we deserve a month of respite. Well we have plenty of time to think about that during this year.
 
We met early at the Sarcastic Goat to review the maps and notes that I had. From my notes the most logical place for the hammer to be would be the center temple area. There was entry in the Whispering Mines although it looked to be the stairway going down that was full of garbage. From there we would have to travel through these gnomish halls to get to another tunnel to take us to the central area. I was not very happy to be going back underground, especially this deep underground but I promised Durbin I would help him find his hammer.
 
We double checked our supplies and I gave Rhiannon a hug and kiss before departing out. The trip to the whispering mine was fairly easy although it was now sealed by the dwarves. Durbin was able to unseal it though so we could go back inside. Nothing had really changed although all the refuse was of course still there. It smelled horrible so I purified the air around me which is easily maintained. The other didn’t seem too bothered by it so I didn’t offer. Since there was so much rotten trash that had been decaying I was actually able to move a good amount of it by shaping earth. In this I took great care, moving it as far from us as possible. Then taking water and cleaning the area and moving that out too. Then the others could pick up the refuse left behind like stones, wood, etc. It took quite some time but we were able to get all the trash out and cleaned the stairs and landing so it was usable now.
 
There was a doorway with a door that was totally rotted away leading to a tunnel. These looked like some kind of naturally formed tunnels that the gnomes then used to connect their different areas together. These went up and down and around and curved. It was very confusing so I tried not to think about it too much. Unfortunately the sheer weight of the cavern just occupies a portion of my mind although it is getting easier to deal with the more we do it. Finally after some time we arrived at a doorway and the door had been smashed in but into the tunnel.
 
We followed this through a few rooms and then out into a larger chamber which we had to go through to get to another tunnel. On our way we found a beautiful circular area which was partially open with beautiful columns to the mining area. The gnomes had actually created mosaics of a gnome with a pickaxe and left a raw gemstone open in the stone around the mosaic. If we’re ever able to secure this I’m sure Rhiannon would love to see this! Holly took the time to look at the tracks then explained there was really no way to tell if anything had been recent due the environment down here. So she wasn’t sure if there were any creatures using these halls currently. We had better keep a close eye out.
 
The large open area we had to go through seemed to be an area they were mining before whatever happened. You could see glints of light reflecting off the wall which seemed to be gems still there. We made it to the entry to the next tunnel and headed through. After some time winding through the tunnel we arrived at a cave in. I jokingly said (well kind of only partially joking) said “well it seems as though this is blocked, we should probably head out now.” No one found it funny. Durbin examined the debris and then started moving stones out of the way and watching the reaction from the rubble. I asked him if he needed any assistance but he kind of waved me away. Dram said I should shape the stone into a passage and use the infused stone to go into the cracks of the rubble around to help support it. I’m not sure what Pickman is teaching him…I did infuse a section of rubble and then, from the center, pushed the stone into the surrounding rubble to create a tunnel. I tried to make it nice with some details in the tunnel but the first attempt was not the best. My next attempts were much better and the tunnel looked nice with a pillar in the center on each side extending up and meeting in the middle. This was exhausting though so I could only do small sections at a time. After some time of me shaping, the other clearing rubbles out while I rested. We finally started seeing water trickle through the stone. We decided this was a dead end and returned to the maps to find a different route.
 
There was another route on this level, it looked like a large curved staircase in a circular room. We made our way there which wasn’t too far away. The silence of this place is very eerie, along with being Ilsundal knows how deep or even where in the Rift. We came to the large circular room and sure enough there was a round staircase going up. As we entered three gnome sized bodies dropped from the ceiling with purple glowing eyes. Fantastic. Where there were these things there was also like more of the purple stones. Will we ever be rid of these horrible things?! Durbin ran in and Dram stuttered for a second and I bumped into him. Holly went to check the other hall to see if there were any more. They made quick work of the things but afterwards Durbin literally collapsed from fatigue. He said the creatures can drain your energy leaving you weakened. I saw Dram attempt to assist in aiding Durbin with some of his own energy but failing to create the link between them. Unfortunately his own link is fairly dim. I tapped Durbin with my staff and gave him some of my own, quite easily I may add.
 
With that we needed to rest as Durbin was exhausted. Dram was also talking about clearing out all these rooms and this whole level. I had to stop at that. I said I would help retrieve the hammer. Not spend months clearing out this gnomish complex. From all the maps I had this place was enormous. It could even take years! I wanted to test a new spell anyways so I told Dram to just hold on. I pulled out the ring of heat vision and activated it. Then I pulled mana into a small physical ball and linked it to myself allowing me to see. Then I sent it out to investigate and found many more rooms but no sign of the creature. As I got fairly far away I noticed myself the gnomish size creatures gave off no heat anyways. Drat. I let the magical eye go and explained to the others what I saw.
 
This room was actually quite awesome to behold. The huge dome was covered in more tile and a large statue of a gnome with the hammer and Durbin’s shield. If we ever clear this complex out it is a beautiful place, too bad it’s underground though. After we rested we continued on up the stairs going up to another level rather than a long winding “lava tube” as Durbin called them. That was odd as the other way we went should have gone up? For some reason that whole area collapsed but this one was intact. Interesting.
 
There was one hall leading off which opened up into a much larger room. Here there were the remains of a battle centuries old. A line from one wall to the other of corpses, some in armor and some not but a literal long line of piles of corpses. None of us wanted to touch or move the corpses so we went back to the staircase and looked at the maps again. There might be a way to climb from this chamber to a hall but it’s an odd angle and we decided it was not worth it. So we went back to the large hall and the others began talking about building some bridge or something out of furniture or doors. I said I can help us out of this easily but they insisted I stay rested. Fine. I sat down while they tried to figure out a way over the bodies. We could have gone to clear the trade route first but no…we had to come down to this forgotten place.
 
After some time I just got tired of the bickering and tapped Durbin (a little harder than I intended) with my staff and gave him the ability to walk on air. I tapped Dram and then Holly with it as well and finally cast it on myself. This place was starting to wear on me plus all the casting I had been doing exhausts you as much as physical work can. We walked over the corpses to the other side and I released the spells. Holly scouted ahead and waved us forward. As we moved closer to the section of map I had Durbin said he felt an entropic presence. Fantastic. We made out way to a large throne room, or at least there were two thrones here and a long and very well decorated hall. I’ve written this before but I’ll do it again. The gnomish tile work is fantastic. I walked around the edge of the hall but there was nothing much left. Two large statues had been destroyed. There were two huge open sets of doors overlooking an open area. Outside of one was a decorative stairway going up. Outside the other was a destroyed bridge leading across to another opening that had collapsed. We decided to quickly search the rooms around in our area but found nothing. A lot of bedroom and sitting room combos.
 
We decided to check the stairs going up but that way was collapsed as well. All these collapsed areas were giving me a bad feeling. Finally we decided to look across the broken bridge to the rubble. As we could see a purplish glow coming from the cracks in the stones of the rubble. Then a set of eyes appeared, then more and more of them until we then started seeing the gnomish creatures. Soon there were dozens of them just standing there on the other side. I thought they would just climb down or up the cavern to get to us but they stayed there. We debated different ways to try and fight them but it seemed folly. Certain death I would say. Now the other side of the broken bridge and the whole ledge was full of the things. I wanted to see if they would just stay there so I just shot a small bolt of lighting across the way. It was easy enough to hit one and that was it. They screeched out and started climbing.
 
We hauled our butts back to the throne room and closed one of the large sets of doors. The locking mechanism was actually quite extraordinary but we didn’t have time for that. We ran back to the others and those things were streaming out. We all knew what to do. We closed the door, latched it and ran for our lives. Back to the stairway jumping over and knocking some corpses down that were in the line. Down the spiral stairs to the lower level and back towards the “lava tube” entrance. Unfortunately off in the mine area below their ledge they were down already. We tried to sneak by but they saw us and came after us. I got to the doorway and sealed it leaving a small hole for us to look through. We debated about what to do but the best thing just seemed to get out of here. We did need a brief rest in which we started hearing one or two of them trying to pick at the wall I made. I created another hole higher up and tried to send an eye through but they destroyed it. Dram boosted me up so I could see through my hole and I shaped the stone from one wall to the doorways leading into that room to create another blockade for them. Plus those ones in that room should be trapped there.
 
It was at this time we got another visitor, an unwanted one but one that didn’t outright seem to be trying to kill us. He led us out of the whispering mines. I did seal up another entrance plus we sealed the entrance to the whispering cave until we could deal with this. I’ll spare you the details of the frustrating conversation. He mentioned something about his younger self so maybe Drams theory of some time travel or broken timeline is actually true. Then he mentioned something about a key and a “ghost” ship and a portal to get the tool. The interesting part was apparently whatever the stone is, it may be some type of entity. He said if we can destroy “her” then the rest of the stones and things possessed by “her” would be put to rest as well. That was actually great news I suppose, if we could finally end the threat of these entropic stones it would be a huge win for the Rift. As before the mad mage spoke in riddles. He did say the charm he gave us before would lead us to the next clue which seems to be this “ghost” ship. I was actually feeling tired at this point and tired of this nonsense. Everyone heard the stories of the ghost ship but they were just that, stories. The Mad Mage seemed to not speak about anything relevant after a bit and we went back to Melinir. I washed myself quickly and layed with Rhiannon who was upset for me being back late, although it seemed to me I was early. I told her quickly what had happened but she said we could discuss it in the morning. I think that is the longest I have meditated lying down for rest.
 
I was in my study and heard Rhiannon get up so I gave her a few moments before I sat down and went over what happened. She wasn’t very pleased but glad we were ok. I went back to my study and she got herself ready for the day and then someone knocked. She got to the door first and announced Dram and Holly were there. And Pickman. Pickman wanted to see the maps I had which I was hesitant to show at first but then remembered of course, he was a mage and went to Mage Island so it shouldn’t be an issue. Rhiannon was interested in the maps so I showed her the route we took and where we saw dozens or hundreds of the creepy gnome things. This she did not like at all. Everyone else got smiles but I got frowns. She got tea and food for everyone but the same thing continued with her hand clamped on my shoulder. I explained we took all precautions against the things and retreated when we had to but it didn’t seem to help. After much discussion about the gnomish caverns, ghost ships, keys and Rift ending threats that didn’t help my situation at all they decided to leave to tell Valum. Rhiannon said I should go but I said I didn’t want to. She insisted but I insisted on staying. Finally Dram said I should stay here and they all left. With that she eased up considerably thank Islundal. I explained I did not want to be down there with those hundred of those things which threw her into another emotional fit and she ran to her room. I was left a bit stunned but unsure what to do so I went over my new song in my study, there were sections I wasn’t happy with yet.
 
Later I would mention this to Dram and he suggested don’t continually bring up the creatures that are trying to kill us. That actually made sense. I will remember that for the future…