Forgotten Realms Tales

"We can continue for me " says Thandril "But I do hope that there's no much more of those I do not know if we could take more of them. I would grant them some degree of intelligence since they were able to come digging and tried to surprise and surround us. I wonder if it was because of this creatures that the dwarves abandoned the mine and tried to seal it.."

Logan:

”That makes sense to me.  Well, left or right?  Which way smells like silver?” asks Logan, attempting to inject a bit of humor.

     Gorm sniffs the air, turning her head first one direction and then the next.  "Left," she says.

     Perhaps it is humor.  Perhaps not.  She is all enigmatic that way...

Dr A follows the party left

Their chosen path leads them to a collapsed corridor. there are some holes into the great stones that block the way to the other side. 

It is not hard form them to deduce that those holes are from where the beast came through. They also notice that the walls, ceiling, floor and even some of the rocks have engraved runes on it. Dwarvish runes for what it seem by their desing, but to take a closer look the party must go, unsurprisingly, closer. 

Logan:

As he continues forward, Logan says, “Do you think the insects’ digging might have destabilized the stonework?”

He pauses to look and listen for any activity in those holes, raising his shield in case more foes are inside.

Perception:  19

Nothing can be heard at the other side but what Logan can see is that the holes, unlike the ones that the creatures carved to reach and attack them, are not straight, but it seems to curl and twist among the rocks. 

     Gorm stays close to Logan as backup but keeps her eyes out for danger, barely glancing at the runes and the holes except to detect threats.  She knows not the dwarven language nor anything much about magic so the examination of those things is best left to others while she has their back.  Though, the easiest assumption was obvious..

     "We thinking the bug creatures are what the dwarves were trying to ward off or that there's a bigger danger down here?" she asks.

Logan:

When no threats jump out at them, Logan asks, "Doctor A, can you read any of these runes?"

At Gorm's question, Logan looks a bit concerned and says, "Hopefully the creatures we encountered are the sole reason the dwarves left--if there is a greater creature that the Kruthiks are scared of, we may be in further over our head than I thought already."

"I... I am not sure" says Thandril "But it looks like the kruthiks had been digging to avoid the runes imbebed into the rocks.. " he says peeking into one of the holes "Look, yes, there's a rune there " he says pointing to the interior of the hole "And by the remains of one of that creatures those runes are quite dangerous for them... I would stay away from them " he says, looking a little bit late that Dr. A is examining one of them really close " Or at least do not touch them!!" he warns just when the turtle scholar is reaching out with one hand. 

     Gorm is suddenly very tempted to touch a rune.  

     Not magically compelled or anything, just that natural tendency to want to do what you are told is forbidden.  Like when a waiter tells you to be careful, the plate is hot.  Sometimes you just have to touch the plate to see just how hot...

     Gorm looks around to see if anyone would notice if she just....  Gorm sighs and tries to put it from her mind since everyone really seems nervous about the runes.  Later, maybe...

(OOC - DDB has not been playing nicely and refusing to load but we’re in now)

So to continue the story Dr A is actually a wise old turtle and he doesn’t actually touch the rune having seen the creature’s burrows around them bout he does have a much closer look (Arcana 13)

In fact, Dr. A. knows this kind of runes too well. A few decades ago he read a book named "Dwarven Rune Magic. Applications and Methodology, by Restubant Siad, " And Dr. A. is more than happy to share it with his companions. 

That said book spoke, among other things, like theorizing about the origins of rune magic among the dwarves, some scholars thought that it was the giants who taught them, other believed that it was the dragons, as it happened with most of the cultures, whilst others defended the theory that it was Moradin who taught them arcane magic in the form of runes to better perform their duties as miners and crafters... despite defeding one of the theories, Restubant exposed all of them, analizyng the pros anc cons of each making it an invaluable reading for those really interested  in that field. In any case there was a chapter dedicated to a particular arding runes that the darwes rarely use, but it was definetly at their disposal, in casse they wanted to close or ward a place from unwanted visitiors. Mind you, if you end up living in a ecosystem along with creatures such as drow, duergar, pruple worms or even illithids, having some protective magic that stop them to cross your boundaries, so to speak. 

Dr. A. continues his explanation by naming the diffrent kind of runes that they could cast upon the rock, some could be just warning runes, that glow to warn those who find them of a danger ahead of that they are tresspassing. Others could be used to warn the owner that someone or something has crossed the rune, allowing them to be on guard. Others, were designed to stop the intruders in a more effective way, varying from fire, cold, acid, even driving them mad... there was a particular application of these runes that will turn the offedner into stone, giving the dwarves the chance to work on them afterwards, the final results only limited by their own imagination. 

The runes that cover the fallen rocks and the four walls are a mix of the latter two. Some of the ones at their side of the landslide, are those that would warn someone elsewhere. But most of them are designed to stop anything that tried to cross in the most deadly way. 

It seems that the Kruthiks had been trapped on the other side and it has been only after years of trying that they had found a way across. And by the remains of those who had triggered some runes it has been quite recently. 

Dr A smacks himself in the forehead saying “ahbut you’re a stupid old turtle, of course you’ve seen these runes before!’ He rummages in his pack before bringing oat an old dog eared notebook. He flicks through the pages before coming to a page with his notes on the runes. “So that’s what they look like when they’ve been crafted by a master.” He is completely engrossed in the runes until somebody decides to move on.

Logan:

Peering into the holes that bypass the runes, Logan says, "I wonder if these are big enough for me to wriggle through."  He moves to the largest likely-looking hole then tries to work his way through.

Acrobatics:  4

     "Do we want to clear the entire mines or just secure the holes?" Gorm asks.  "We only came to get some silver.  Surely the dwarves who built the defenses are the ones who should be defending them?"  It's not that she is opposed to hunting the creatures to extinction but she understood their need for silver to be paramount to completing a more pressing problem.

Logan:

Shrugging his shoulders, Logan says, "If we think the silver may be a different way, we can try another passage.  I have no capability to detect the metal from a distance, so I was just thinking to explore further.  If we can clear out the tunnels as well as find the silver, the dwarves may owe us a favor, so that could be good, but I agree that is not our main goal here."

     "Doctor Arbutaveyu?  Thandril?  Thoughts?" Gorm asks.

     "You would know better than us how desperately endangered the people you are trying to save are.  Do we have time to explore or must we just find and get out?" She directs to Thandril.

     "And doctor, any thoughts on how likely these things may be to stay in the mines?  Or are they a threat to crawl up and out and cause problems above ground?  And how many of these creatures could there even be here?" 

     If these things present a threat to the surrounding above ground communities then of course they must be dealt with.  But if they are a subterranean species and only a danger to miners then perhaps they should just seek out the required silver and leave these things for another time. 

Logan:

Listening to the ongoing conversation as he wriggles through the largest hole, Logan hopes that he is able to make it through and give some description of what he finds on the other side.

In response to Gorm’s questions Dr A starts rummaging through his pack before pulling out another tatty well thumbed book. Gorm can just make out its title as “Creatures of the Underdark” and in small writing underneath “That you do not want to meet”. The book’s author is I. Dunno and the illustrations are by somebody called Cantsay Really.

Dr A flicks through the book before he comes up against a picture of the creatures they’ve just fought and carefully reads the text (Nature Test = 21) before answering Gorm’s questions as follows …