Looking over the map that Petar had spread out for view, she said, "Have we made any connection with where the map starts and its orientation?"
"
Somewhere west in the hills ..." Petar mutters, a little aloof as he replays the conversation with Doromas in his mind as well.
The Map:
The folded parchment is a crude hand-drawn map showing the area west of Emberdell and dated less than a year ago, during the summer months. There is a dotted line across the map denoting a path. It ends in an X mark, pointing out a finding of some importance among the hills. A single word is scribbled next to it in the western common tongue: "Exidamarall".
"
Remember Doromas wanted us to find his talisman, too .. their are hundreds of gold apiece at stake!" Petar adds with a smile. For the newcomers, he recites a quick summary of their meeting with the local wizard the other day:
Thread 002 Post#60:
He stands and waves at the contents of the shack with a sweep of his hand.
"What you see here is almost four years of research and writing. I am a scholar, a historian specializing in old cults and forgotten magics. I work for the Haven's Academy of Arcane Arts, in the Scholar's Division. I am part librarian, part teacher, part researcher. I have a special dispensation to do field work here, not too far from the academy's reach, and I have a deep purse to support me.
As part of my work, I often need to walk through these hills and forests unimpeded in order to search for any evidence of temples, barrows, burial grounds, ruins, perhaps even old caves, anything that will help me locate and catalogue where these old cults... uh... plied their trade."
The old man bears a knowing smile, a sort of inside-joke humor he feel he is sharing with you.
"Lately, though, the hills have become filled with orcs, goblins, and a few ogres. I was unable to do much exploring, that is until the town sent for mercenaries. A few groups have come and gone. I was able to hire one of them to help me. They were to conduct searches at locations of my choosing, and also to clear out any hostile parties, if it came to it.
They left three weeks ago, but never returned. As you are already aware, the outskirts of Emberdell are very busy nowadays, and just like you, these mercenaries also contracted with the town for target bounties. I would like to hire you to track my previous party's steps, and to recover a special trinket I gave them in order to help me. It was a magical talisman, able to discern arcane resonance in an area. Alas, it was a personal item, and even though my research is supposed to be my first priority, I would like to have it returned should you find it.
Now, with this log you discovered, all my first investigations have come to bear fruit. The old histories of the area kept by the elves, of which we happen to have one of the few copies in this part of the world, spoke of one particular heretical and treasonous cult, the one named Exidamarall. Whoever it was that did conduct this expedition clearly found something. And died because of it. If he can find it, so can we.
If you can, as you travel through the foothills, would you also please follow this lead? With any luck, you may also find my former team nearby. Or at least I hope so.
So, this is my proposal: I would like to charter you as a research team at 250 gp each."
Sowen's mouth falls wide open. Olagh just looks dumbstruck.
"You have two tasks. The first one is to discover what happened to my first research team. And bring back my talisman if you can. The second one is to follow the leads in your log book and see what you can discover about this "expedition". Then report all you have found back to me. This, of course, opens up two good possibilities: if Alinda was in the vicinity, you have a chance of finding her. And if... no... when! you run into orcs you can claim all the bounties you can carry."
He turns to Angus and Petar.
"For the two of you, I would like to offer something different. I will travel back to the Haven and return with scrolls. I will offer you each three of these, at a price of 100 gp each. These you may take instead of coins."
He looks at the group, gauging any reactions.
"Do you accept?"
