Chronicles the Story so far Part Seven

An interlude for one character -which takes place at the same time as Episode VIII

Dramatis Personae

Lalia - Halfling Thief

Location

The woods and hills to the north of the village of Hidden Dell and in the caves and encampment of the goblin raiders

Events

Lalia slipped away from the group as Violet and Aetlred left on there own separate scouting attempt well aware of her own near invisibility in natural surroundings. She followed the pair as they swung off to the left and soon caught the distinctive smell of large unfriendly dog something all too familiar to any Halfling of a larcenous bent as just about every Halfling farm kept at least one large and usually unfriendly dog and they made acquiring stuff from them a little too interesting at times. Lalia decided to leave them to it when it became apparent that they where going to try to enter the camp from that side and even on her rather short legs was out of earshot by the time Violet and Aetlred moved around the other side.

Lalia made her way along the base of the scarp to the east not wanting to climb it as it was very bad going with all those lose stones and offered little cover to the climber even if you where prepared to make the effort. About a mile to the east of the goblin camp Lalia came across a deep gully which scared the scarp and which under all the underbrush which filled it appeared to be an ancient set of stone steps going up the scarp. This was much easier going and the cover was better as there was plenty of vegetation along the sides of the gully.

Lalia cautiously advanced up the stairs comfortable that her movements could not be observed at the top of the stairs was an open area the edges of which where slightly over grown such as to be largely indeterminate. In the middle of this paved area was a low circular plinth edged with three broad shallow steps so that all in all it was around waist height for Lalia all like the steps in the gully where very heavily worn and weathered and in the centre of which where some small stumps spaced as if they had once been the ends of legs of a table of perhaps the hooves of a quadruped statue but time had more them down beyond recognition as more than almost shapeless lumps. Lalia had a good look at the plinth until she was sure it held no secrets that she could discern then she continued to explore the ridge line back to the west in the direction of the goblin camp and the caves. Lalia wandered for some time through an area of open woods along the crest of the ridge and on the upper portions of its back slope. Until some where near the entrance to the goblin caves and their camp but down the back slope of the ridge she found a dimple in the lush turf where the earth had given way and quite recently. Some careful investigation revealed that the dimple revealed a sink hole and quite a deep one at that. Lalia was careful not to fall into the sink hole and as she was lacking rope unable to explore down it with any safety. Some where about this point Lalia who had been quite happy exploring solo fell to wondering what her friends where up to and thinking to perhaps tell them of her findings she went looking for them

Episode IX – A Tactical withdrawal and some inter-party conflict 

Dramatis Personae
Telec - Kalamarian Human Priest of the Wanderer
Aetlred - Half Elf Ranger
Lalia - Halfling Thief
Thans – Dwarf fighter thief
Heradin- Dwarf fighter mage
Dvorn the Axe- Folokkii Human Fighter
Sondan – Brandobian, Human Fighter
Fawlit – Half Ork Fighter

Location
The caves and encampment of the goblin raiders the woods along the ridge line and a very old and abandoned dwarf hold adjacent to it.

Events
(the action starts in the upper eye cave following on directly from the conclusion of the previous episode it is late afternoon or early evening and its been a long day, and a very long one for others)

The company except for Lalia continued to mill about in the cave and consider what to do next for a while. Eventually it was decided to send Thans down the tunnel the goblin had escaped down to take a lot whilst every one else continued to mill round and Heradin tried to hide his fearful eying of the narrow tunnel which looked like where they where going down next. At some point around then the rope was removed and Heradin who every one else assumed was watching it at this end being to concerned with hiding his rising terror at the prospect of going down a narrow tunnel failed to notice.  Thans scouted the tunnel almost to its end but did not leave it as it was apparent that the tunnel opened out into the mouth cave near enough to the entrance of the latter for any one doing so to be silhouetted against the fading daylight coming in from the outside, not sensible for a scout when the goblins where likely warned of the company’s presence and equipped with bows.

Thans scanned the cave but even with his superior dwarf vision could see little, it was a large cave as could have been guessed from the size of the mouth with a high roof some twenty and more feet his practiced eye said. He noticed that the mouth of the cave was blocked by a crude lattice of branches lashed together as the other one had He noticed the tracks of many passing on the mud floor of the cave and the scrapes made by the central section of the grill blocking the caves entrance having been moved in the manner of a gate, he noticed shapeless piles of stuff which could have been any thing and the over powering stink of dogs and goblins However most importantly he noticed no goblins what so ever suggesting that the disgusting little creatures if present where in some sort of a craven ambush. It being unwise for even a dwarf to spring an ambush he decided to report back and see if the whole company would come to a decision unlikely as there where entirely too few dwarves in it for sense to prevail.  

Back in then eye cave Thans report did not stir any one to action, they company had decided that it was trapped and to press the attack would only further advantage the goblins who where no doubt waiting to lose a volley of arrows into any one exiting the tunnel. Telec suggested that it might be better if the company again withdrew which they did despite posturing from Dvorn who proposed valuably charging out of the end of the tunnel and taking them in a wild charge until it was suggested that he lead such a charge, They looked out of the entrance and saw two goblin archers crouched bows in hand on the roof of the shed below, Aetlred viewed half fearfully half greedily the pile of arrows beside each goblin and then some one noticed the rope was missing.

A mild wave of panic insured as the missing rope almost certainly meant that the goblins had found it and almost certainly also had archers on the top of the ridge to shoot down. The shot up was possibly worth the risk as the mouth of the eye cave was almost out of short bow shot form below and shooting up hill was always going to be a poorer shot. Than down not to mention the top of the slope being nearer than the shed below any way. Trapped it was decide that they needed to know what was at the top of the ridge so Telec had Fawlit start shouting down the tunnel in orkish as loud as he could and shortly every one else joined in shouting as loud as they could. At the same time Thans slipped out of the cave and started to scramble up the scree, difficult without the help, of a rope but not impossible for a bold dwarf. Down below the goblin archers drew and loosed there arrows dropping short as Thans made the apex above the cave mouth then a few feet up before slipping as every one in the cave made an unholy din. The Goblin archers at the limit of their range drew and loosed one last time whilst any goblin archers on the crest of the ridge held their fire. One arrow went astray the second found its mark catching Thans in the leg thought the skirts of his leather armour. Still wounded or not he pressed on now out of range of the archers below and made the crest with no further incident.

Here Thans found no waiting goblins indeed he found no one but the rope had been untied form the stout tree Heradin had tied it round and was no where in sight. Further there was no sign at all of who might have done this until Lalia appeared out of nowhere with a smile. Thans had a brief chat with Lalia and the two swapped tales of what they had been doing. The ending of Thans reminded him quite why he had come up here and he asked Lalia if she had any rope and when she said she did he borrowed off her and swiftly secured it around the stout tree and lowered the other end down the slope.

Much to the relief of the rest of the company in the cave who one at a time and in initially under fire from the goblins below climbed and scrambled up it. The goblins below missed with the first few volleys of arrows and either ran out of arrows or tired of the game by the time the last of the company scrambled free of the cave and up the slope above. 

Thans Sketch map of the ridge line & the features Lalia showed the company

The company regrouped in the woods on the crest of the ridge and Lalia told them that she had found a possible back way in and some steps asking if they wanted to be shown them. The rest of the company decided that they did and there was time before night fall to do so. Unfortunately in the discussion several members of the company conflated the back way in Lalia spoke of with the steps she also mentioned and it was decided to look at the steps first. So being a basically happy and obliging young Halfling Lalia lead the company just over a mile east along the track to the plinth and dais and adjacent steps, incidentally a mile  further away from the possible back way in which was a mere couple of hundred yards back from where they started at the top of the reverse slope. On arriving at the steps every one had a good look at them and the other exposed stone work and on the basis that it might be dwarf work had the two dwarves present Thans and Heradin examine it in more detail but all they could add was that it was dwarf work and very old. Telec suggested that it might have something to do with the dwarf hold they had found earlier at Meliac’s farm. Sondan asked innocently where the entrance was as he couldn’t see any thing that looked like an entrance, the stairs after all only lead down the face of the scarp.

To with Lalia replied that, it was just in the woods behind where they had met her. There was some grumbling in the ranks at this point and Aetlred in particular was more than a bit aggrieved, he still hurt form his encounter with the spiders, had had a long hard day and a rather bad time of it and this was almost too much, especially if you added in the stupid dwarf going on ad nauseam about how much better dwarves where than any one else at just about any thing you thought to mention, blasted Dwarves blasted Halflings blasted adventurers and thrice blasted adventuring. Even so Lalia did not notice the mood building and cheerfully lead the company back a mile west along the ridge line and then a little down its back slope, to where a dimple in the thick turf between the scattered trees of the wood revealed a sinkhole.

Lalia explained that she had not looked down the hole as she had at the time had no rope to allow her to lower herself down it, but now she did as she had found a hundred feet of it tied round a tree just before she had met up with the rest of the company so they could use her rope. Aetlred realised that this was the rope he and Telic had given to Heradin who had tied it around the tree to make Thans and the Half Ork’s decent to the eye cave easier, it was his rope, at least in part, and the blasted thieving Halfling had better give it back. “Give me my rope back” he growled, to which Lalia replied defiantly and a bit to cheerily “shan’t it’s my rope now finders keepers”.

Aetlred already had his bow out and had had all the way both ways to the stairs and back with an arrow knocked but not drawn in case of ambush. “Give me my rope back” as he spoke Aetlred drew the bow, no one least of all Lalia thought he would loose at her “finders keepers” she said again.  Aetlred snapped and loosed the arrow before he could have a second thought it struck Lalia at a range of may be ten feet it couldn’t very well do any thing else, every one was stunned.

Lalia looked down at the arrow lodged in her, then up at Aetlred who had knocked another arrow and was drawing the bow again, and smiling grimly. “All right you can have your rope back if it’s so important” Aetlred relaxed for a moment then Lalia slowly and deliberately snapped the arrow. Aeltred’s anger flared again but Heradin intervened.  The dwarf calmly suggested that they stop this as they where there after all to fight goblins not each other. Every one else looked on tired from a long day and still more than a little stunned that the disgruntlement all of them felt had flared into violence, Aetlred glared at the Dwarf, blasted interfering dwarves he thought then he remembered that he had given Heradin four of his precious arrows “you can give me my arrows back” he said Heradin said nothing but drew the small bundle of arrows from his belt and handed them to the Half Elf  before adding calmly “you had better see to that” indicating the arrow lodged in Lalia and the blood trickling out form around it. Aetlred put down his bow and the arrows and moved to attend to the Halflings wound. The moment of crisis had passed at least for now.   

After a short rest whilst Aetlred saw to Lalia’s arrow wound the company turned its thoughts to what to do about the sinkhole. There was some discussion and it was decided that Thans who had become the company’s designated scout in such circumstances should be lowered down the hole with Lalia as back up.

A few hacks of Fawlit’s axe cleared the unsupported turf away form the top of the sinkhole whilst Thans and Heradin secured a length of rope around a convenient tree and Thans looped the rope around his waist and prepared to descend. The hole was narrow but wide enough to admit a Dwarfs shoulders, it descended around twenty feet into a roughly round chamber. The sort of chamber which might have been made a vortex of running water over a long time. To the north the passage quickly narrowed to the point of impassability though Thans was sure that it widen out again beyond the impassable squeeze there was simply no way of knowing. To the south the passage also narrowed from the point of entry but not to the point of impassability remaining just about wide enough for a Dwarf to pass without contorting himself and for a tall Dwarf like Thans to walk upright without the ceiling catching his hair. It was as black as pitch down here and even his superior Dwarf night vision would not have aid him much without the aid of the guttering torch the Half Elf had made.

Thans Sketch map of the sink hole

Thans proceeded carefully down the passage as natural caves where unpredictable things even with out the possibility of the malignant interference of creatures like goblins to consider. However the passage continued south and perhaps a little west for several minutes before Thans cautiously advanced food found void not floor beneath it. He rolled his weight back and moved back away from the edge. Marking it by leaving his guttering brand near to its entrance and went back to fetch the Halfling so she could hold the torch whilst he had a good look down the hole. The torch was too close and impeded his night vision if he held it himself and it would be bad if he alerted any goblins of yet another approach, it was irritating enough that the fool Half Elf and Half Ork had already managed to do so twice.  Lalia descended the sinkhole with a torch of her own, Halflings do not see any better than Humans in that sort of dark and met the dwarf in the chamber at the base of it and was rather unceremoniously told to follow Thans, had she not been a happy soul this being treated as the help might have offended especially after the shooting incident. She had considered waking in the night and breaking every one of Aeltred’s precious arrows, but she was not spiteful and that would endanger every one. Lalia followed as she was bid and stopped where she was bit. The Dwarf knelt to look into the hole whilst Lalia looked into the short distance of the other tunnel she could see on the other side of the hole and wondered if there where any spiders down here. 

Thans looked down the hole and his practiced eye estimated that it descended some twenty feet before entering the larger cave below. He could see little of the cave below but a few points of flickering red orange light suggesting torches and his nostrils caught a faint tang of greasy smoke from them. It was apparent that the large cave below held at least part of the goblin camp and was either behind the mouth cave they had seen form outside or was the back of it. He considered it as an angle off attack, but could see little virtue in it as such as any attacker must descend by rope and being caught part way up or down a rope is a bad place to begin a fight. He decided that he should put his observations to the rest of the company.

By the time Thans and Lalia exited the sinkhole it was dark and with the company almost exhausted it was decided to make camp and rest as best they could for the night. It became apparent as it had the previous night when the company had camped in the ruins of the hidden dell that they where ill equipped and unprepared fro a stay out in the wilderness. Worse caution counselled that they should not light any fires in case they attracted the attention of any wandering goblins and because of this all they had to eat was the uncooked fruit porridge which those of them who had any trail rations at all had a few days supply of, not intended to be eaten cold and uncooked still it served to take the edge of the hunger if not improve the mood.  After this mean supper the company who had no tents and little bedding fell to making some sort of shelter with little success and only Telec woke relatively refreshed in the morning as a result. Every one else was either cold or uncomfortable and some of the more unfortunate where wakened by the rains which fell as a sharp shower about three am and which caused the trees under which many had sheltered to drip mightily there after. At dawn and every one was awake by then if not before the mood of the company had not improved even if they where a little rested and that breakfast was the same uncooked fruit porridge as supper had been only tended to make things worse. Telec however experienced at roughing it had made a good shelter and rested well enough to be able to heal one of the worst wounded. Telec’s relatively better mood than the rest of the company proved to be remarkably uncontagious.

After a discussion over the rather unsatisfactory breakfast it was decided to send Thans and Lalia back down the sinkhole to further explore it.  The initial plan being that every one else remain on the surface until they had but worries about possible goblin patrols lead all to them to descend with Thans and Lalia leading the way. Heradin screwed up his courage to the sticking point and went with them even thought he would have much preferred to be left on the surface guarding the rope.

The company edged its way along the passage slowly until they reached the first hole where they stopped and Thans again peered down the hole. This time he saw a great cooking fire below and several scurrying goblins. Smoke and the smell of meat cooking rose up the hole causing some of the company’s eyes to run and all there stomachs to grumble after all they had all breakfasted on uncooked fruit porridge whiles the blasted goblins seemed to be roasting a whole animal at the very least.  There was some discussion as to weather and how best to use the hole as a way of attacking the Goblins below but as no one could come up with a plan which had any chance of success the company turned its mind to exploring further on. There was some further discussion and Aetlred still perhaps annoyed from the night before suggested that Fawlit should hurl the Halfling across. However more sensible counsel won the day an it was decided that Lalia should indeed cross but using the shafts of Aeltred’s spear and Telec’s staff as an aid and that she do so roped to the massively strong Half Ork.

Lalia crossed on the second attempt and scouted a little way ahead before it was decided that it would be better if Thans crossed as he could see better in the dim light. Some one Passed Lalia a torch. The passage continued straight on for a short distance, perhaps a yard of two beyond the limit of Lalia’s sight the previous night Then the he passage widened made a shallow turn to the left and ended in a second much larger sink hole thought which Thans could see day light filtering in from the cave below and he quickly worked out that the second sink hole opened into the roof of the mouth cave fairly near the entrance. However of much more interest to Thans than the location of the sinkhole’s opening was that the last four or so feet of the sink hole passage was made of worked stone. It showed some signs of wetter wear but it was sound and Thans though of Dwarven origin having been laid without mortar. That the stone was not perfect suggested that it was the back of a wall rather than the front.

Thans worked at the stone work at the end of the sink hole with care knowing he could work the stones free of the wall and yet not wanting to drop the stones down the adjacent sink hole and alert the goblins below. Being a Dwarf he succeeded in the task and found himself looking into a void beyond the wall. This void with the aid of his torch and his very much superior dwarven night sight resolved into a shaft around forty feet square with a stair well built around the wall descending from a collapse some distance above and ending in a large hall may be fifty feet below the broad landing that the hole in the wall he had made opened on to. The stairs where wide upwards of fifteen feet to his cartographers eye and relatively shallow. The hall below was at least twice the size of the stair well but even a Dwarf could not accurately measure it by eye, from this distance. Every thing was covered by rock dust and a scatter of small bits of rubble probably from the collapse which blocked long ago the stair above but the air was fresh and there was no sign at all that any creature had been in the place in a very, very long time indeed. Thans got up and returned to the rest of the company to report his findings leaving Lalia who had been behind him whilst he worked the stones out holding the torch to guard both the hole and the terminal sink hole.

The rest of the company followed him quickly to where Lalia crouched and entered the stair well regrouping on the landing on the other side of the hole Thans had made; Heradin in particular was relived to be out in a larger space after the discomfort of the cramped passage. Shortly the company descended the stair putting the first foot prints in the dust fall.

At the base of the stair there was indeed a wide hall high hall, square in plan like the stair at its centre but at least a hundred feet to each side and decorated with a brightly painted bass relief frieze, in the flickering torch light the frieze almost seemed to be alive. The company moved out into the hall obviously some sort of grand entrance hall but one given the subject of the freeze with a very singular message to impart.

 

Thans Sketch map of the Lost Dwarf Hold

The frieze here was divided into panels by the three archways exiting the hall to the north east and west as well as the corners of the hall depicted a pitched battle between Elves and Dwarves in relatively open country. It showed mailed elves largely fighting on foot supported by a few mounted warriors and the Dwarves all fighting mounted either as lightly or even unarmoured horse archers or as massively heavily armoured cataphracts armed some times with bows and massive two handed lances but mostly with long handled axes, mace’s and a few long chopping swords and hammers. The flow of the battle showed the Elves confidently advancing against the Dwarves. Then the Elves   horsemen being chased off by the much more numerous Dwarven horse and then a rather one sided battle between the Dwarven horse and the Elven foot. With the former forced into squares bristling with spears and backed up by longbowmen by the Dwarves then systematically slaughtered first by storms of short bow arrows fired by the Dwarven horse archers who seemed to take little hurt in reply for the Elven archers despite many of them being depicted in no armour at all. Then by the cataphracts who advanced plying their own bows before charging into the beleaguered Elven squares and smashing them and riding those down with the few Elves who survived the slaughter and broke for the next square being cut down by the returned horse archers.

The final panel, which took up the whole of the south wall showed a wounded and obviously beaten Elf Lord surrendering to the Dwarven commander and the last and rather pitiful survivors of his army being lead into captivity behind him. Just behind the Dwarf commander one of his men was standing on what appeared to be the Elves battle banner as it lay amongst the mud and the blood the symbols on which looked to Telec a lot like those used by the Overlord worshipping men of Pell Brolenon in the South of Brandobia, not that he had ever seen them in person but the priests of the wayfarer are if relatively few very well travelled and well informed about the world beyond their own travels by the very nature of their calling. This observation lead Telec to go back and look at all the other panels for religious symbols and whilst he found many he could not identify those he could on the Elven side seemed to be of the Overlord, The Flay master and the Emperor of Scorn those on the Dwarven side seemed to be less identifiable but those he could where mostly those of The Speaker of the Word and The True. Though the most common was that of a radiant flame which he could not identify, however this was so old he mused that the symbols of the very gods may have altered since then.

Having explored the entrance hall and had a good look at the frieze around it the company discussed where they should head next. They had already noted that of the three exits form the entrance hall the north one seemed to be the most important as the frieze along its walls depicted expensively clad members of several races some of whom the members of the company could identify but others not all carrying rich merchandise and at the end by the door kneeling to present them as gifts. The passage was fully twenty feet wide and some fifteen feet high at the apex of the roof, a roof which was formed of complex interlocking structure of Romanesque arches and heavily decorated with abstract geometric designs large bosses like stone lanterns formed a line down the apex of the arches where they crossed. No where in the passage way was there any indication as to how it might have been lit.

As the company reached within a few feet of the door an image of a dwarfs head wearing an elaborate cap similar to the one Telec Aetlred and D’rek had seen at the hold under Meliac’s farm. As before it spoke but this time only in an oddly accented Dwarvish “speak friend and enter”. At which Thans and Heradin who being Dwarves understood it started to formally introduce themselves in the manner of Dwarves, by reciting their lineages. Unfortunately Telec also understands Dwarvish and began to repeat the word friend in all of the languages he knew, nothing happened until he said it in low Elvish at which point an orb dropped out of the ceiling marked with an eye symbol. The eye scanned the hall as every one in the corridor bolted back into the entrance hall and took cover. Seconds passed nothing happened and the initial panic receded but everyone decided that they should explore the other ways out of the entrance. It was also decided that not one should speak Elvish again. Aetlred even going so far as top suggest no one should speak Brandobian as that was a language which had been heavily influenced by Elvish and might sound Elvish enough to set off others of whatever the eye globe was. No one knew for certain but every one felt sure it was some sort of fell magical trap. A trap which was designed to protect the place form elves which where it would seem the deadly foes of the builders. Aetlred was beginning to feel persecuted as this built upon the earlier find of the Dwarf made Elf bane arrow heads.

The company taking care not even to cross line of sight of the eye globe moved to explore the less elaborately decorated passage way which lead west out of the entry chamber. This was decorated like the hall to the north with a fries along the middle of the wall but this showed animals gambling about in an idyllic rural scene rather than battle or the races off the world coming bearing tribute. This passage was other wise very much like that leading to the north.

It ended after what Thans thought was perhaps half a mile in a chamber full of obviously dwarven style buildings though it was odd to find such buildings of the type Dwarves typically build on the surface so far underground, or underground at all for that matter. The chamber resembled a village or town square with prominent stone troughs full of dead earth which Lalia thought must have been flower beds  and looking up in the high vaulting there where signs that once long ago there might have been some sort of a skylight.

The buildings themselves where modest and had for the greater part been long ago stripped of any furnishings only the occasional stone shelves built into the walls and the scars of where other fittings might once have been attached gave any clue that they had ever been furnished, but no clue as to their former function. The company found two doors in the houses cut into the walls of the chamber itself both where locked but neither proved a problem for Lalia’s deft hands. The one in the house in the north east corner of the square lead into a large empty and featureless room, the other was more interesting as it appeared to open into an armoury. This had largely been long since striped of every thing and all that remained where several rows of crosses on one of which hung a coat of mail and plates the like of which the Dwarves in the battle frieze where wearing. Along the walls where empty stone shelves and the signs that wooden or iron weapon racks had been attached to the walls beneath them. The armour was heavy well made and though made for a Dwarf would wear well on the shoulders of a taller slimmer man by dint of not reaching quite so far down their legs. It seemed not to have been enchanted thought Heradin was sure at the very least minor ones against the effects of age had been used as it seemed to be intact and in good repair. After some discussion it was decide that form now Telec should wear it and he duly striped off the breast plate shoulder guards and bracers of his leather armour and put it on over the soft leather under armour. It did indeed fit but Telec would become aware latter that he needed to wear more substantial and differently designed under armour for it to be truly comfortable for long.

Having exhausted any interest in further searching these empty houses the company unable to go any further in this direction and still wanting to explore whilst avoiding the probable trap they had at least armed on the tribute corridor made a move back to the entrance and after a sort discussion it was decided to see what lay down the as yet unexplored rustic corridor. This continued Thans estimated for a similar distance east as the other had west and ended in a hall again containing buildings. These the company explored finding them all to be empty and stripped of all furnishings and most of the fittings. They where on the whole smaller than the buildings in the previous area but most of these had two stories and where given that they where subdivided into more rooms possibly living quarters. This cluster of for want of a better description houses where built around what was apparently at least central garden, now nothing more than barren soil and there was again some sort of sky light in the roof above.

This hall differed form the first in a second way this time there was an exit form it other than the way the company which had entered. Following that lead to a cross roads. To the east and north where more passageways with rustic friezes down the walls to the west however was what appeared to be a duplicate of the tribute corridor judging by the  frieze on the wall. Heradin did note that this frieze contained a completely different set of tributary peoples and goods being brought as tribute.

As their setting off of the probable trap in the other similar corridor had not it would seem had any effect here and as it was the most interesting option the company decided to go that way. They did so with caution and care not to speak any language which might set off a trap.

Again as the company reached within a few feet of the door an image of a Dwarfs head wearing an elaborate cap similar to the one Telec Aetlred and D’rek had seen at the hold under Meliac’s farm. As before it spoke but this time only in an oddly accented Dwarvish “speak friend and enter”. This time only Telec spoke saying only the word friend in Dwarvish. The door slid aside revealing a massive hall once again decorated with a brightly painted bas relief frieze.

The tribute hall now the company had finally entered it was easily as large as the entrance hall they had first encountered and like it, it was decorated with a vividly painted bass relief frieze of a battle between Elves and Dwarves. In the middle of the hall and taking up much the same sort of area as the stair well had in the entrance hall was a slightly raised circular dais with an elaborately carved stone on its edge to the north and to the south. These stones were pierced by an elaborately faceted gem the size of a man’s head and seemed unnervingly like some sort of grave marker.

Apart from the dais there was a large double door in each of the walls round witch the frieze flowed with the doors and for that matter the corners of the room breaking the frieze into a number of separate but linked scenes. The doors themselves where relatively plain being each decorated with a simple abstract pattern carved into the stone and unlike the frieze these where unpainted.

The battle depicted on the scenes of the frieze seemed to be taking place deep in Elven woodland and was between Elves and Dwarves as before this time the Dwarves where mostly on foot and all in very heavy armour and unlike the fist battle scene there seemed also to be a magical battle going on at the same time with a circle of Elven wizards apparently losing to a lone Dwarf spell caster as heavily armoured as the warriors around him. The Dwarves seemed to be getting the better of both battles and the final scene was of what appeared to be an Elven king surrounded by his slain bodyguard being cut down by an armoured Dwarf on an armoured steed armed with a sword. Drawing his eyes away from the frieze Aetlred who was beginning to find all this depiction of dwarves defeating elves more than a bit unnerving not to mention dispiriting him being a Half Elf raised by Elves an all he decided to look at the central feature of the hall in more detail.

The dais was unmarked save for a narrow ring of gold coloured metal laid into the floor of it around the edge, seeing Aeltred’s interest and being a student of the arcane himself Heradin joined him in the examination of this structure whist the others mostly watched Telec trying to identify the religious symbols in the battle scenes of the freeze. All except for Thans who just basked in more proof of the natural superiority of dwarves.

Neither Aetlred nor Heradin where make much of the nature and purpose of the plinth even after considerable examination Heradin’s comment that the whole thing reeked of magic was the best that either of them could muster.