In which our heroes set off on their quest once more
So now, armed as we are with information, we set off again. The first of the potential Narsaelkin sites identified by our Loari informant was a few days travel across country from where Sherrin. We passed through numerous Myri villages on the way, avoiding them as much as possible to avoid any unwanted questions and attention.
After 4 days hard travel, we arrived at - and crossed with some difficulty - the river Narak. The ruins we had been told of were hard to find, but eventually Dareama (! of all people!) found a entrance into a wine cellar.
It was obvious that the building we were in was not old enough for our purposes. However we did not give up hope yet - and upon looking around carefully I managed to locate a secret door. This was, of course, trapped - but the trap was around 500 years old, not the thousands we were expecting if Loremasters had placed it here.
There was also some archaic writing, which Eldith managed to translate. It was something about a great comet called Sarkain, which brought portents and omen. Possibly significant, because it gave a date about 500 years ago, which was also the time the great affliction was unleashed against Urulan.
However, that is for possible future investigation, and is not relevant now. We had another problem instead - disarming the trap and the noise we made attracted some inhabitants. Lugroki who are living in the ruins. Lugroki with expansionist plans too. Karlos tried to negotiate with them, and ended up paying for some relevant information: there are other ruins further upstream. Quite literally in the walls of the rapids. (Obviously these Loremasters had far too much time and resources at their disposal. Honestly, how showy did they need to be?)
Eventually we made our exit, poorer but unscathed. We had to get our horses and go upstream to the nearest town. There we were able to obtain the supplies we needed for rock climbing, leave our horses in a stable, plus I dropped a word or two in the ears of the local militia about possible lugroki incursions in the future.
From there, we were able to get a raft across the river, and travel on foot upstream to the rapids. After a few hours we were in what appeared to be the right place: some rocks in the centre of the rapids which were of an unusual shape.
Karlos managed to throw the rope onto an appropriate surface, and walked across. I followed, and then we assisted the others in getting across to the central rocks. A quick search uncovered a secret door, behind which was a chamber with a sword. The walls were pink with marbled silver veins, and the sword *spoke* to us, telling us to pick it up quickly.
However I was highly suspicious. I very much doubted that any Loremaster would put such a powerful artefact weapon in a location what was protected only by water. Deciding to search further, I came across some faint writing in Iylar - “Look behind for what you seek”. Obviously they had anticipated educated elves making it this far. Without Thymhe or myself present, the humans would no doubt have perished.
Turning to face the opposite direction from the message, I was eventually able to locate an even better hidden secret door. It slid open noiselessly (well, unheard over the rapids anyway), and we could see passages heading downwards.
After 4 days hard travel, we arrived at - and crossed with some difficulty - the river Narak. The ruins we had been told of were hard to find, but eventually Dareama (! of all people!) found a entrance into a wine cellar.
It was obvious that the building we were in was not old enough for our purposes. However we did not give up hope yet - and upon looking around carefully I managed to locate a secret door. This was, of course, trapped - but the trap was around 500 years old, not the thousands we were expecting if Loremasters had placed it here.
There was also some archaic writing, which Eldith managed to translate. It was something about a great comet called Sarkain, which brought portents and omen. Possibly significant, because it gave a date about 500 years ago, which was also the time the great affliction was unleashed against Urulan.
However, that is for possible future investigation, and is not relevant now. We had another problem instead - disarming the trap and the noise we made attracted some inhabitants. Lugroki who are living in the ruins. Lugroki with expansionist plans too. Karlos tried to negotiate with them, and ended up paying for some relevant information: there are other ruins further upstream. Quite literally in the walls of the rapids. (Obviously these Loremasters had far too much time and resources at their disposal. Honestly, how showy did they need to be?)
Eventually we made our exit, poorer but unscathed. We had to get our horses and go upstream to the nearest town. There we were able to obtain the supplies we needed for rock climbing, leave our horses in a stable, plus I dropped a word or two in the ears of the local militia about possible lugroki incursions in the future.
From there, we were able to get a raft across the river, and travel on foot upstream to the rapids. After a few hours we were in what appeared to be the right place: some rocks in the centre of the rapids which were of an unusual shape.
Karlos managed to throw the rope onto an appropriate surface, and walked across. I followed, and then we assisted the others in getting across to the central rocks. A quick search uncovered a secret door, behind which was a chamber with a sword. The walls were pink with marbled silver veins, and the sword *spoke* to us, telling us to pick it up quickly.
However I was highly suspicious. I very much doubted that any Loremaster would put such a powerful artefact weapon in a location what was protected only by water. Deciding to search further, I came across some faint writing in Iylar - “Look behind for what you seek”. Obviously they had anticipated educated elves making it this far. Without Thymhe or myself present, the humans would no doubt have perished.
Turning to face the opposite direction from the message, I was eventually able to locate an even better hidden secret door. It slid open noiselessly (well, unheard over the rapids anyway), and we could see passages heading downwards.