Wiki of The Dungeoneering Crew

The group began the session by heading back to the quarry, recognizing that the portal within was probably the only way back to Elredd. As they got close to thew quarry, they heard the sounds of metal hitting rock, and rock hitting wood. They found a single person, a man named Willis, who was loading up a wagon with the rocks and ore that had been left lying about. He was scared when they approached. He threw the shovel into the wagon and scrambled to the seat. Grabbing the reigns he gave a quick snap and a verbal ‘heeya’ and the horse began moving.

Kipp managed to calm the horse and befriend it. It no longer wished to rush out of there. The man responded a little like this. “Git your filthy thievin hands away from me. I just gittin my due.. you done stole my boy (Willis Jr.), took my crops and my livestock. Leave me be in peace you orc-sucking, goblin fornicatin, pus for brains, shit sniffers.

They worked to persuid him that they were not with the Orcs or other people that had been running the mine. They told him how they'd wiped out the Orcish presence there and pretty much killed everything off. The man's name was Willis and he was from Darkshelf, the quarry's namesake. He began telling them his story.

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My boy, Willis Jr, worked in this quarry for 10 years. Trying to make somethin of himself. Hard working boy.. Then one day he tells me these new folks show up. What did he call them.. consultants.. or somethin.. Anyways he can see they are really running thing a now. They start bringing in cheap labor. Goblins and Orcs. Some of them under the lash. They cut my boys pay and eventually his job. But he done saw things.. They was bringing in outsiders fer sure. The old foreman (Nash), he just flat out disappeared. When Willis Jr. Asked about it, they told him Nash quit. But Nash never went home, his wife Sal never saw him agin. I told Willis to get away but he a started snoopin. They started some kinda underground cult or something. The mine kept a runnin but they was worshipping something down there. Somethin not natural. Dug up some kind of mud lizard too. and then some other folk showed up. Willis Jr said they weren’t natural. I mean they was people and all I suppose but something else to. Everyone stayed their distance or plain hid. They brought their own folks. A new foreman was put in charge (His name was Jax). And about that time strange folk started coming out of the mine. You know folk he’d never seen go in the mine. And people would be brought in the mine and never come out. Something weren’t right.

Well one night at supper, ole Wilis Jr said he done had enough. One of his friends (Tiny Tom) had done met with an accident and been kilt dead. Willis said weren’t no accident. An orc working in the mine done kilt him dead. He was going to the mine the next day to make demands of the foreman. Willis Jr. Never came back. I done told him to stay away, but he was pig-headed for sure.

Well old Willis Sr. Wasn’t no fool. I came down and that foreman said my boy didn’t never shewwed up for work nor come by with demands. He was a lyin he was.. but he had 4 others with him and they gave me a beatin when I told em so. I knew my boy was gone. Disappeared like them folks he told me about. Then they started coming round the house. Taking my stuff. I didn’t have much but they helped themselves. They left me and the missus alone thanks to we was too old. But some of the younguns in the area were forced to go to the quarry. Some of them never came back neither.

Well that were a long time ago. Word in town was the mine had stopped operating. Heehee.. someone laid an ass whupping on them I hear. I wouldn’t have believed it but I come a lookin and there was nephrite just laying around. No sign of them people. So I come to get some ore. If I can’t have my boy back, I’d at least have some gold.

But sometimes I heard things. Felt like someone was moving behind me, but ain’t seen nobody. I think they’s ghosts or haints in that mine now.. I wouldn’t go in there fer nuthin. No sir..

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They explained how they'd laid the ass whupping on the Orcs and others here that he'd heard about. They told him that he was welcome to take what ever he wanted from the mine and that they were headed back in. If they found Willis Jr, they'd do what they could to get him back home.

They entered the mine and worked their way down to the room with the portal. Not only did the electricity seem to still flow around the outside of it, but the center was no longer dark. It appeared to be functioning again. To test it, they threw the body of the priest they'd killed through it. It seemed to be working Audra and Pyreece stepped through first, followed by Kipp and Brandy, and then by Oglesby and Elenor. Pyreece and Audra stepped onto a wet slippery floor. Pyreece fell while Audra remained standing. Audra was hit by a couple of bow shots and succumbed to the poison on the bolts. The poison severely weakened her and she was unable to stand with all that heavy armor on.

As Kipp and Brandy came in, they also fell but Brandy was able to push off of Pyreece and roll out of the poison on the floor. She was able to stand and fight one of four priests in the room. Kipp went down stumbling over Audra and Pyreece. There were also two dire wolves. Audra was hit again. Next came Elenor and Oglesby. Oglesby managed to push off Pyreece and Audra and make his way to one of the wolves, hitting it. Elenor managed to push off of Audra and slide over to the west wall. She was attacked by a wolf and a priest. She cast Mirror Image to produce many versions of herself.

Audra used the swords power to teleport herself and Kipp out of the poison area and onto solid floor so they could begin to fight back. Audra was far too incumbered to stand and fight but began removing her armor so she would be able to help. Kipp, who had also been poisoned and weakened, was still able to reach one of the priest and attacked him. Pyreece rolled out of thickest slippery area and managed to get up. She made her way across the front of the room and behind one of the priests. She hit the priest once. The next chance she got, she cast a Hold Person on the two priests on the other side of the room. She held the one on Kipp.

Brandy finished off her priest and slid across the room to the other side to attack the priest on Audra who was finally out of her armor and getting up to fight back. Pyreece cast another Hold Person on the priest she was fighting and held her. Oglesby had killed one of the wolves and Kipp finished of the priest he'd fought. Quickly after that, the battle ended with the priests and wolves dead. They opened the door to the west and headed down that hallway. Oglesby was checking for traps along the way. They found a hidden door part of the way down the hallway and opened it. They found an observation room overlooking the room that had been flooded to kill them earlier. There were two guys in the observation room that Kipp and Brandy dispatched quickly.

They exited out of that room and headed west again. They found a hidden door leading to an old storeroom that looked as though it was falling apart, unused for a very long time. They searched the room and found a door leading out of the southern wall. They found a hallway that led to another secret door that led into the chamber that had been flooded earlier. They moved back north to the old storage room and searching the northern wall, found another secret door. Beyond it was a set of stairs going up. Beyond that was a hallway that ended at a ladder. They climbed the ladder and opened the trap door at the top. They climbed up into another storage room that was being used. They could hear the sounds of music and people talking. It sounded like a tavern. They worked their way through the storage room, and kitchen area only to exit behind the bar, at the tavern where they'd first met Knocker.

They exited and went out onto the porch area and picked a table and sat down. A few minutes later a server from the tavern came up to the table and took their order. They began discussing what to do next. They'd thought that they might stay here for a bit and see if Oglesby could pick up on another thief that could introduce them to the guild. He decided to scout a little more. He move up to the northern most part of this porch area and found a door. He picked the lock and went inside. It was a back area within the tavern. He moved through a couple of storerooms and eventually stumbled into a room with a man named Carn. He was in what appeared to be a bedroom in the back. Carn told him that this was a private area and that he should go back out to the main tavern area. Oglesby found out that Carn was the owner of the tavern and didn't get much more information. He left and rejoined the group.

The group was eating well and drinking when a woman came up to the table and introduced herself as Rowyn. She carried herself with confidence, as if she were important. She sent the servant off to bring another round of drinks. The servant seemed to be a little more stressed as she did. Rowyn pointed out the fact that their group was made up mostly of women and that they were a strong group. They had been disrupting her organization, the Lotus Dragons, quite a bit.

The conversation with her went a little like this. This is not exactly how the conversation went but this is the gist of what we learned from it.

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ROWYN “It would seem you have gone to a great deal of trouble to find me. You have proven to be quite an inconvenience to my operations in Elredd. I raise a glass to your will and resourcefulness to make it this far.

WHO ARE YOU? I run a simple guild here. We have decimated our rivals and there were many. We have expanded operations into much of the surrounding countryside and are moving northward. Fallowfield and Braxem are under our control. We have negotiated an alliance with the orcs at the fortress Badwall. That opens the northern Suss forest also and the lands north and west of the Jewel river. Fax will fall soon and then Safeton will be next. The Lotus Dragons are now an extensive and growing operation. Our members are well ensconced in all levels of society. So why reveal this to you.. It is simple. Look at you. Women. Powerful women. Have we not been under the heal of men too long? Has the patriarchy not shit on you enough? Join me.. Join us..

WHY JOIN YOU? Why We are justice. We are the balance to those who take from the subjugated. Does not Lord Tinir and the other rulers take what they desire through taxes, seizure, writs and fines. If you dare not comply you will be imprisoned, beaten, forced to perform hard labor or executed. We undermine, disrupt, and interdict their actions so that those who have naught, still have something.

BUT YOU TRADE IN SLAVES? Slavery? That is the work of the Slavelords. They are a powerful and vengeful cadre of peop… beings.. you do not want to get on the wrong side of. But that is what they do, deal in the slave trade. We are a contractor of sorts. To stay on their good side we provide delivery services. They are much too powerful to oppose. The lords themselves can kill with little more than a whim. We will not expand out operation down the coast. I do not approve of their kind, but we are nowhere near strong enough to oppose them.

YOU SELL CHILDREN TO EVIL CULTS? Cult of Iuz? I do not know what you are talking about. Unless.. On a few occasions some our younger stock would be unaccounted for. But Knocker told me they had succumbed to the slaver’s treatment. Knocker was one of my crew. He did overland transport work. But it appears he was trying a little side hustle with a group called the Twisted Rune. Stealing and selling the property of the Slavelords. We caught him red-handed and he fled, but a few days ago we caught up with him. Under our skillful interrogation he quickly confessed his wrong doing.

ROWYNS OFFER to JOIN Let us start with Safeton. I need strong wills.. I need you… Safeton is run by a military Governor. Turin Deathstalker. He is an accomplished, even celebrated, General who once led an army that routed the Orcs who once threatened the area. Well that’s not entirely true now is it. He forced the men of fighting age to do it. Refusal to serve, or attempting to flee would have been met with swift imprisonment and execution. Now he grows fat off of the children and widows of those he condemned to battle. The established guilds there quarrel among themselves. The Silver Pikes and Shadow Stewards are rife with in-fighting. You need only to Infiltrate and take one of them down. We can help finance resources to assist you. Once the Lotus Dragons have a foothold, we can bring force to snuff out the other. You would take charge of Safeton and the surrounding area. Anything you desire will be at your feet. And the elite of Safeton would be your hunting ground. What say you?

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The group discussed it and though it was helping a thieves guild, it was a way to learn more about the area and where they were. They felt that they could try to do what she asked them to do without doing anything evil. They thought they could possibly do some good, a sort of “steal from the rich to give to the poor” kind of thing. Rowyn had told them that they would have to kick up 20% of anything they took in, to her. They finally decided that it was the best way to get hooked in to this realm so they accepted her offer. They asked for some supplies to help them get started. Healing potions, antidots to poisons, weapon upgrades, even horses. She seemed very agreeable. There would be a contract that they would have to sign.

That is where they ended the session.

Start the recorder!

PS: After the session, Kevin remembered a note they'd found along the way. It read like this.

Ragnar,

This group has damaged our operation at Darkshelf. Fortunately, the cargo there was not discovered. After one of their members was slain, the villains fled the mine by sea. The attached description is from Glyrthiel who observed much of their activity once they got into the mine. The Lords are aware of them now but have not issued any directives yet.

There is credible evidence that they are seeking after one or more of their own and that they have some awareness of an operation in Elredd. Keep an eye out for them or anyone asking too many questions. Glyrthiel will rendezvous with you to assist in identification and capture.

Yes, Capture! Do your best not to kill them if possible. If you locate them, take Hazzard and a stout group of fighters. I will even send along Dragons with invisibility potions to facilitate a successful capture. They are a resourceful and credible threat. Their capture is imperative. They would fetch a high price at market and it would not only be a valuable service to the Lords, but will also be a major win for you and your operation. Bring them to me, once they are secured, and I will see that they are transported to the stockade.

RK

The “dragons with the invisibility potions” appeared to referred to members of the Lotus Dragons.