While the girls stay behind, Nolan cast a Dimension Door spell and the guys walked through and were gone....

---------------

....and they arrived underground just like how Nolan saw on the scrying crystal last night. Byron is almost completely blind in the dark, except for the "Light" coming from the tomb. Those of you who can see somewhat in the dark can see for how far your vision takes you. Krelm explains that he has never seen the shaft lift going up into the Temple above before, so he's assuming that was built much later.

The cavern the men are currently in is vast, but the entrance to the Tomb is about 100 feet North away from the spot you transported to.

"Krelm say that light be the entrance to the tombs. He say to call out to whoever be in there."

"Oooooo...it's been awhile since I've been in a mine. Old man Filo in Xorhun hit it big there. What do they mine here?"

Twiggy grabs his everberning torch from his handy haversac to shed some light as he chuckled at his new friends excitement "Wisper Copper, don't want to alert everyone we are here. I am not sure what they mine here but I would guess adamantine since we found weapons and armor. There is some type of dwarf gaurd up ahead that they scried, lets go say hi.

Twiggy then eased forward checking for anythong strange as he goes.

Roen wasn't going to call out to a stranger that guarded a tomb until everyone understood what the request meant. Getting the attention of the crypt keeper meant answering a lot of questions and Roen wasn't sure what the dwarf was going to say or do.

There wasn't much Myarra could do once Nolan and the others teleported away.  She couldn't follow and it didn't look like they were likely to encounter anyone that needed killing up here.

And so she waited.

"I need a bunch of weird-ass materials for this ritual," she told the others.  "Incense, spices, a bit of mercury, stuff like that.  Since this is a ritual lots of new wizards would be performing, I'm guessing the wizard's tower has them.  I'd hate to have to detour to Soubar first.

And as for getting to the humming tower, if Nolan can take three of us with him, that's going to take a few trips.

Not including Nolan, there are seven of us, eight given the assumption that Raie would count as an individual.

I'm assuming Flicka doesn't count since familiars tend to be considered one with their wizards.  If not, that makes nine.

So, three trips from Daak to the old house, with two trips back in between.  Five trips total to bring us there, and five trips to bring us all back.  Make that seven if Shannon is added to the list to make ten on the way back."

Nolan listened and figured he'd be the one to call out, since he spoke Dwarvish,

Crypt keeper of Moradin! I have one to add to the family!

Byron moved away from Nolan, but only so far as to be able to defend himself and the others if needed.  He wasn't expecting anything resembling an attack, but was alert to such a possibility in this unusual place.

Nolan gets a response. A well armed Dwarf steps to the doorway at the top of the small set of stairs,

"You must be human. You accent is horrible." the Dwarf spoke in common "Who are you and what do you want? Humans are buried up above. Why are you down here?"

Amara wasn't offended when Nolan took most of the others with him. She and Myarra... well, they looked the least "friendly" if one only looked at skin. There was no reason to make people nervous immediately. "Well, then. Let us see what we can find here," she replied. They had promised not to loot if anyone needed the stuff - but that didn't meant they couldn't take things that weren't needed.

"We can at least see what isn't nailed down," Myarra agrees.

OOC: I know BB said we didn't find anything else useful, but that's no reason not to give the place a thorough goings over.

Nolan really didn't know what to say when it came to identifying himself, so he made up one.

My name is Nolan of the Black tower in the human village of Daak. The warrior in the plate armor is Byron, the one dressed in worn clothes is Roenthelm and the Halfling is Twiggy.

Nolan was hesitant to speak of Vernon but then thought it was best to include him,

And our ghostly friend is Vernon.

We are here to deliver Krelm's bones to the Crypt here. We opened the entrance to the Temple above and found his remains under the rubble. Our friend Vernon can see other ghosts and told us all about Krelm. I know this sounds a bit crazy, but it's the truth.

OOC: I know, but it's what Amara would likely be doing...

"One never knows what one might find."

"And remember, if you can pry it up, it isn't nailed down."

Twiggy stays quiet for the moment, he knows how much dwarves think halflings are no more than annoying children. No need to get him mad this early on.

"Then, if it's a ghost you see, how come I can't see it? I know who Krelm is and I hope you not be insulting my clan by lying about him to steal treasures from the crypt."

The party starts to hear the sounds of armored hurried movement getting closer and the Crypt Keeper doesn't look worried, so you might assume it's backup for him....

Twiggy steps forward not wanting to stay silent any more "Master Dwarf, I am Twiggy Flinch and I know you were never keen on my kind, something about annoying you. But if you would either try on a ring which allows us to see our ghost, or just ask a question that only you know that Krelm would know and you know we are telling the truth. Also I am glad to see you are all alive and not buried alive.

"I may not look like much, Master Dwarf, but I'm certainly not a thief. A thief of hearts maybe, but not treasures."

"So we're standing there, staring at each other, eye to eye, or rather eye to chest, given that he was barely four feet tall.  Several of the tavern's bouncers are closing in around us.  So I draw myself up to full height and demand in my most serious voice: Why did you shove your money pouch into my hand?  Are you trying to frame me?  How dare you, sir!"

I totally understand your skepticism, but we come here with good intentions. We will wait for your friends to arrive and we'll settle this.

Several minutes later, 14 fully armed Dwarves show up and surround the party. They have weapons out, but mostly, they have confused looks on their faces. They talk to each other asking how they got into the mine, wonder who the party is, watch your pockets from the halfling and to go after the human that looks like a wizard if he starts casting spells. A couple dwarves cast spells and tell the Crypt Keeper that nobody is invisible and that Byron, Twiggy, Roenthelm and Nolan are the only ones here. Now that he has plenty of reinforcements, the Crypt Keeper has your weapons taken away. He also looks at Twiggy after his story about the ring with confusion on his face.

"Who are you and how did you get down here?"

My name is Nolan of the Black Tower in the the village of Daak, my human friend in plate armor is Byron, the Halfling is Twiggy and the one in tattered clothes is Roenthelm. We also have a ghost, that I consider to be a friend, named Vernon. We are searching for lost treasures to fight the Cult of the Dragon. We found this old abandoned temple up above, opened up the buried doorway, found Krelm's bones, and searched the complex. Our female companions are in the temple now waiting for us to return. Krelm wanted us to put his remains in the tomb down here, so I had this area scried so I could use a Dimension Door spell to get us down here.

Twiggy's eyes get wide as they are surrounded by dwarves, but it is from excitement as begins to bounce up and down. Before he can speak Nolan does as he hands over his weapons, resisting the urge to see what is in their pockets so he waits instead bouncing with excitement.

"The Cult of the Dragon? Never heard of them. Must be a human problem. You humans are always craving power." as the Crypt Keeper looked at everyone "Who is waiting up above in the Temple of Mordin?" the Crypt Keeper asked as he walked over to Roenthelm and took the bag of bones

Twiggy chirps up still very excited to see the live dwarves "They are a human, elf, halfling , and any dwarves that live above problem. They take evil dragons, this one is a blue, and the cult turns them into an undead dracolich. This one we are fighting has lots of orcs taking human slaves and making them work in a silver mine to fund their activities. Twiggy takes another deep breath "The mines fund all kinds of orcs and goblins to raid towns, and I am sure dwarven fortresses although I know you can fight them off.  Others are not so lucky though because they have spies eberywhere. I once even encountered the cult hav8ng dealings with duegar, they don't look like you though, and these deep duegar traded them gems for the trsnsformation ritual. I bet once we clear this mine you could take it over yourselves and make lots of silver, you look very capable. So how big is this complex, can I have a tour? You have some wonderful traps above." Twiggy is bouncing on his heals with a hopeful smile on his face.