"At least we were paid in advance." Vespian scuffs the ground a bit. 'And not a single Diamond either..,"

Erdthar leans over to whisper at Vespian. 

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
"We filled the contract - the monsters are gone.  It's up to Drace to deal with this lot, don't you think?"

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Quindil ignores all the legal wrangling going on, and instead occupies himself, looking for any nicks or flaws in his two new(ish) weapons.
OOC: I need to buy a whetstone and some oil and a few cloths, to keep things sharp and polished (more to the point, to keep my character entertained when bored).
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:17, Sat 26 Nov 2005.

"Well, I cannot go on, and feel safe without rest. Perchance we could rest here, or you could show me the way out, and point the way to Sundabar, for I must away, and deliver news of my capture, and subsequent rescue to the merchants, who, no doubt, would rather their merchandise had been rescued, but let that be.

That is, if my new captors, are willing to let me ride on without ransom?"

"Well, if you can wait until we've had a night's rest, we are going back that way ourselves."  Erdthar answered the cleric.

"Ya, you ain't going without us." Pello says over his shoulder, "We still haven't received any reward for saving you."

So, about that gate... Gimuld starts, What can you tell us about it?

The dwarf looks over to Pello. "I'm the representative. And we're very thankful for what you've done. But I aint got no authority to go open'n our coffers to a band of what seems to be a bunch a brigands. What happen to "Do'n the right thing" because it was the right thing to do? Thast what’s wrong with you young'ns. Too worried about yer darned selves. But if'n its money yer after, then you'll need to speak to the boss. Follow us to Felbarr and I'll vouch fer what ye've done. But that’s all I got to offer"He shakes his head as he turns to Gimuld.

Speaking with Gimuld. ”The gate? Well, don’t know much about it, other than the fact that it appeared out of nowhere about a month ago, maybe longer. Damnedest thing I ever seen, goblins running out of a solid wall, ya cant even see that its there ‘till you put something through it, just looks like a stone wall. But ye can throw a rock right through it, cant see where it lands, but ye can throw it through.”He scratches his head. ” We figure we’ll need one a them fancy Mage’s up here to fix ‘er up, but we plan on plug’n in it with what we got ‘till then.”

Vespian nods her head in agreement with Erdthar. She whispers back. "I'm not against an occasional freebee, but we can't be making an habit out of it. We have expenses..,

Erdthar nodded at the dwarf's explanation.  "Well get out of the way and let an Orc handle that big stuff."  He ordered gruffly, then set his axe aside, dropped his pack, and lifted a rock weighing over 600 pounds with a grunt and wrenching heave.  "Outta the way, short stuff."  He ordered the dwarf in front of him, as he slowly walked the big stone out to the platform.

Pello nods at Vespian's words.

"Aye. When an astral deva says it, it's kinda hard to deny."

"Very well,. but I doubt anyone in Sundabar will be gracious enough to offer any ransom for my person, perhaps the temple, and that only the poorest proportion. Maybe I could,.....join your group,...and then,....say,...work off my life debt to you. Someday I might, return the service to you."

Looks around suddenly, "Astral Deva? Where?..," She goes for her sword before stopping suddenly. "Oh wait, that would be me of course. Ha ha... ha ha ha."

After the blessing by Moradin the  halfing goes unnoticed as he gives Ruff a good scratching behind the ears. He then drinks some water out of his skin and throws some almonds in his mouth.
"Can we please leave, Im so tired of these nasty caverns." he says as he brushs bits of almond off his tunic.

Gimuld turns to Milo Why milo, can't you just change your mindset for a while? Take this rock for example. With a little imagination, I see it as... a thick bush. And the uhm... well I guess that's it. Although the truth is, I wouldn't mind getting out of here as well, not many places to run if you get in trouble.

The dwarves clear out of Erdthar’s way as he hefts the huge boulder up and across the room to the plank. The old dwarf looks up to Erdthar with a smile on his face. ”Well yer no buttercup, thast fer sure, Good work lad.” He punches Erd in the shoulder as he continues on. ”With that we ought to have enough.” The old dwarf waddles over to the elevator plank and jumps on as he shouts some order to a few other dwarves. A loud “clank” comes from the counter balance as the plank starts to descend. The old dwarf hollers back to the group. ”If’n yer come’n you better hop to it and get over here on this darned thing.”


The company hastily boards the elevator plank as it starts its way down. About 12 or so of the dwarves are accompanying you to the bottom; the remainder are staying up top to carry out their orders.

“Clank, clank, clank” goes the chains, as the elevator plank descends deeper into the mine. The light from above quickly fades leaving you in utter darkness. The air grows cold and thin as you delve deeper into the hold. The elevator clanks along through the darkness for what seems like hours when you notice some lights below; bits of light filter up between the elevator plank and the rough uneven stone walls. Going a bit deeper you come to the source of light; a large cavern similar to the one above except this one has four hall ways leading out of it, one in each direction of the compass.  The old dwarf speaks up as the elevator passes this level and continues deeper. ”This here is the first level of the mine, typical dwarven build, with shafts running four directions. You’ll notice that the lower levels will be slightly askew from this one. That’s so we can get as much ore or in this case, gems, as possible with as few a cave in as possible. Many of these shafts bore through an ancient shale, make’n them prone to cave in’s, but we aint had one yet.…We still got a ways ta go before we get to the lower holds.”

After about 30 minutes and 15 mine levels, you finally come to the lower holds. The elevator shaft glides smoothly to the stone floor below as the dwarves pile off the plank and begin to work. The dwarves waste no time, they immediately begin to get their chain line into position. The dwarves are hefting the boulders to what seems to be the South, there they are stacking the boulders against the wall, and this time they are taking care to separate them into stacks of different sized boulders.

The room around you is a massive stone structure with the elevator shaft in the center.  From the design it looks to have been built thousands of years ago, or perhaps it’s just dwarven architecture giving it that “feel”. The walls are formed of well carved dwarven stone with many stone pillars holding the ceiling in place, vaulted archways divide the large room into multiple sections, with finely laid carvings of battles gone past displayed across their trim pieces. Across the far end of the Hall (what you believe to be West) there is a set of massive doors. The doors stand nearly 40’ tall and at least as wide, they look as though they have been carved straight out of the stone. There are two mount less wagons positioned directly in front of the doors.

Other than you and the dwarves this level appears to be empty.


OoC: I don’t have a map, so imagine this:

Massive stone structure well built and well maintained. Although maintained it still has a heavy amount of dust floating around. The ceiling above is vaulted with heavy stone ribs; it would come to a point if the elevator shaft didn’t go through it. The stones are well carved from


Shape: Square with a half circle on each side. Arch ways divide the square from the half circles, making 5 rooms.

Dimensions: Point to point (either direction): 200’. Square wall to wall: 100’. Half Circle wall to wall: 50’. Ceiling Height(peak): 75’

Erdthar hauls his big rock to the wall where the dwarves are sorting stones.

The echo of the lift and the dwarves unease Renoart.

"I don't like this, I know I should probably feel good that we're the only ones making any noise, but I'm certain somethings creeping in the darkness. I'm sorry does anyone have a light, I'm blind as a bat down here."

He stumbles around.

Someone tells Renoart to open his eyes and then hes fine.

"You big baby." Pello tells Renoart, and tries to deduce what the dwarves are doing.

After painstakingly stacking all the boulders and sorting them by size, the dwarves take a few moments to show you the portal(it is just to the right of their stack). Once you have had time to take a look at it they begin to re-stack the boulders in front of the portal, they stack the larger boulders first and work their way up with smaller ones. More than once a boulder slides off into the portal and vanishes somewhere beyond the gate. It’s a tuff task but the dwarves make fast work of it.

Once the dwarves have finished they work their way over to the wagons that are placed in front of the doors. The y take a few moments to get the wagons ready while one of them goes out a concealed door near the main entrance; One of the dwarves goes over near the large doors and wiggles a few loose stones jutting out of the wall, the wiggling of the stones causes a small door way to open up near the main doors. Light from outside shines in as the dwarf exits the hold. The wind is heard rustling out side as droplets of rain fall into the open door way.

After a few moments the dwarf returns with a few pack animals in tow. The dwarves hurriedly get the mules attached to one of the wagons. Once they have them secured the Old dwarf hollers out. ”Well we’re headed to Felbarr. As I said, I’ll vouch if you come a long, but I cant promise ya any more than that.” He takes his seat on top of the wagon. ”It’s a few day ride, but if the weathers nice it’s a pretty easy trip, Although the rain could make it a bit cold.”


OoC: anyone interested in the portal, if not we will move onward.

Erdthar grunts, sitting back on a tailgate as he watches the dwarves work.  His keen red eyes travel the walls and passages - looking for signs of recent work.  Leaning over to Pello, he asks softly.  "I wonder where they get the diamonds?"

"Return to Felbarr? But I just came from there, I'm expected in Sundabar, probably any day, or past since,...I guess I'm in for a detour..."

Quindil is defintely leary of the portal, preferring to keep his distance from it (But he's a tough elf, so he tries not to make it too obvious).  He nods in agreement when the idea of travelling to Felbar is propsed, and grabs a spot against one of the walls, watching the dwarves work their physical magic.  He's curious as to the process, but not all that concerned.

Pello diverts himself momentarily from looking at the dwarves working, to answer Erdthar, "Well, there were fifteen mine levels above. I guess they do it there. You know the lights we passed? Each was a level, filled with cash. Well.. diamonds. Uhm.."

Pello quickly takes the opportunity of rescue from the conversation that the dwarves offer, "Ah, we are adventurers. We can take a bit of cold. Right fellas? We'll just light a fire in the wagon, then we're okay."