A quarry located a half-mile from the village of Darkshelf (so named for the dark, stony seabed in the harbour), on the coast of the Sea of Daggers in Nyrond, has been producing modest amounts of granite and limestone for decades. A surface outcrop of granite was quickly exhausted, but workers tunnelled under the surrounding hills to extract more stone. As they moved farther beneath the hills, they discovered seams of flawless limestone. Today, the quarry is producing more stone than ever. A small, dedicated workforce toils in three shifts around the clock. A steady flow of oxcarts hauls rough blocks of varying size from the quarry to the docks at Darkshelf. From there, the stone goes to building sites up and down the coast or into the continental interior via river barges.
Most of the locals attribute the increased production to the efforts of Bazili Erak, a flame-haired dwarf with a beard to match. Bazili has received the title to the quarry and environs from the local overlord in return for a share of the revenues. Until recently, the overlord has had no cause to complain: revenues from the quarry have quintupled. Bazili has not only increased production but also discovered several veins of pure quartz and even a little gold deep in the quarry (or so he claims). However, all is not entirely well at the quarry. As the workers tunnelled more deeply, they broke into underground springs that flooded parts of the quarry and drowned several members of the crew. Other workers have reported eerie sounds— including moans, cries, rattling chains, sobs, and rhythmic chanting—coming from some of the disused tunnels.
Human workers drawn mostly from Darkshelf and the surrounding country fill two shifts at the quarry. The third shift—working at night—is rumoured to consist of dwarves from Bazili’s clan. The human workers never mix with the dwarves or even see them except as shadowy figures deep in the tunnels. Only Bazili deals with these “dwarves.” The quarry isn’t the only place where mysterious trouble has arisen. On the waterfront at the village of Darkshelf and on the Pelyra River nearby, several half-eaten bodies, both human and animal, have turned up. Carnivorous fish are suspected, even though some of the victims were found well inland.
Perhaps most troubling, pirates and slavers have been active in the region lately. Sailors, fishers, and farmers have been abducted. The local overlord seems to have succeeded in turning the slavers back for the time being. Bazili and his unseen dwarves lent a hand, tracking a slaver gang to its hideout in a midnight raid and freeing a score of captives. The dwarves also killed several slavers and captured a few of them alive. These prisoners were dragged back to Darkshelf, where they were swiftly tried and executed. Despite the recent success against the slavers, a cloud of unease hangs over Darkshelf and the quarry. The citizens know that the slavers might return at any time and seek revenge for their setback. The other incidents (the noises in the mines, the mysterious dwarves, and the half-eaten bodies) all seem to bode ill for the area.
Matrim sits nursing his flagon of ale. A dark haired youth he is a members of the town guard and wears the dark blue tabard and cape associated with his profession. He is staring intently at a parchment of the tavern job board.
"Heya Mat!" a young woman with sapphire blue eyes sits down opposite. The slight point of her ears hints of her elven heritage and the slight blue tint to her skin tells of something more.
"Oh, Haddie.. hello." Matrim makes room while Haddie takes a seat and motions to barkeep over to serve more drinks. "These are on me, I had a good morning in the market."
"I don't need to know." Matrim replies forcing a smile. She laughs lightly and orders the drinks.
The tavern door opens to reveal an unlikely pair. A large blue skinned giant of a man, accompanied by a scruffy looking rock gnome. "Mord, Fetch, good to see you." Haddie calls out and the two smile brightly and make their way over. The big man; Mord takes a seat opposite Mat and the stool creeks beneath him. The gnome sits next to Haddie and proceeds to take out a parchment and charcoal. He starts scribbling away.
"What you working on Fetch?" Haddie asks and the gnome gives her a toothy grin but does not answer. Haddie throws up her hands, "Fine keep your secrets!" she laughs. She notices then that Mat is still sat staring at the parchment on the jobs board. She turns to read it herself.
"You thinking of turning adventurer Mat?" she asks as she reads the call for special individuals to investigate trouble at the quarry.
"Maybe." he shrugs.
She stands and walks over to snatch the notice from the board before returning to her seat. "You can't do that!" Mat protests.
"Just did!" she bobs her tongue out. "What do you two think? Could be a nice reward in it."
"Hey I spotted it." Mat moans and she slaps him on the shoulder.
"Dont be a baby, a job like this needs more than one person."
Fetch scans the document and shrugs, "Sure, I'm game. You up or some investigating Mord?"
Mord frowns down at the parchment for a moment for a moment and nods. "Sure."
"Well that makes us a team then." Haddie announces and raises her tankard.
The next day it is a slightly hung over group that makes its way to the village hall. After announcing themselves to the nearest guard they are ushered through to meet the village overlord Neistor. He is a stocky, middle-aged man with greying hair and a beard to match.
“The results from the quarry seem too good to be true,” he says. “And the raid on the slavers’ camp was a little too quick and clean, if you ask me.”
He starts counting on his fingers as he paces back and forth across the room. “And then there’s the dwarves that work in the quarry at night but that nobody ever sees. And, of course, the terrible attacks we’ve had around Darkshelf.”
He turns to face you. “Something’s not right at that quarry. Will you look into it for us?”
"Wait? That's it? We have the job?" Matrim exclaims.
"Well yes." Neistor, "You are a competent member of the watch, Haddie here has a reputation for "investigating things." she blushes at that, "Your friend Mord here can handle himself well enough and I am sure what Fetch does..." he glances down at the gnome, "will add value."
"Did nobody else apply?" Mat presses, ignoring the dig in the ribs from Haddie.
Neistor hesitates before admitting, "“It wasn’t so much the quarry as it was the attacks. I sent a man named Kwon out to find what’s been killing our people and leaving the bodies looking half chewed-up. He brought me a few reports, but I haven’t seen or heard from him in a while now.”
Neistor’s face becomes grim. “Frankly, I’m worried. I’m hoping that by looking into the quarry, you’ll maybe find Kwon—alive, I mean. So do you want the job or not?”
"Yes. Yes we do." Haddie interrupts and after a moment Mat agrees,
"Is there a bonus for finding this Kwon fellow?" asks Haddie.
"500 gold is already stretching the village coffers," Neistor replies, “But Erak’s also reported that his dwarves have found a bit of gold deep in the quarry. Don’t know if I believe him, but if you stumble across any, you can keep it.”
"So where should we start?" Mat asks and Neistar lifts a stack of parchments from his desk and hand them over.
"This is Kwon's last report. he reported finding a hidden dock on the river below the quarry. Kwon indicated that his next move would be to explore the quarry without Bazili Erak’s knowledge."
The group sit around a table, drinking ale and considering Kwon's report. "We could capture some of the workers or guards." Mord suggests at last, "Make them talk."
"Without any evidence we might end up getting arrested ourselves." Mat disagrees, "We could simply go up there and start asking questions."
"They are not likely to confess to us what's happening up there." Haddie shakes her head, "No we need to really think this through."
"We could pretend to be merchants." Fetch suggests.
"Too risky," Haddie replies, "Someone up there might recognise us."
"We could ask for work." Mord suggests.
"Now that's more like it." Haddie says, "It's that or we sneak in."
"We have the report." Mat prods the paper, "We could follow in Kwon's footsteps and try to find out what happened to him."
"Kwon went missing." Fetch observes, "Maybe his way wasn't the best way."
"Let's try the direct approach first." Haddie suggest, "Let's go up there tomorrow looking for work."
A twisting path, deeply rutted in the places where the surface is not stony, climbs the grassy slopes above the village of Darkshelf. A line of rocky bluffs crowns the slope. Where the turf gives way to the foot of the bluffs, the path splits. One branch levels out and runs to the quarry pit; the second branch turns and climbs sharply toward the guardhouse.
The party make their way to the junction and head toward the quarry to try their luck. Coming to the quarry gates Mord and Haddie call out and after several minutes an armed guard emerges with an unfriendly frown on his face.
"What do you want? This private property." he is fingering his sword pommel as he speaks and you hear several more individuals approaching on the other side of the gate.
"We were just wondering if there might be work to be had?" Matrim asks and the guard barks a laugh.
"Piss off, we dont need wastrels from the village up here with their soft hands. Quarry work is hard work."
"Please sir, times are hard and there must be some work we can do?" Haddie asks. 10
Back at the junction in the path the party stop to consider their options.
"We could ask around town, see if any of the workers could put a word in for us." Haddie suggests.
"I think that ship has sailed." Mat replies.
"So its the docks or the vent shaft." Fetch muses. "I vote the vent, if there were anything interesting at the docks then it would have been in the report."
"I suppose," agrees Mat, "Let's go find it at least."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Following the directions of Kwon, the party leave the path and head north toward the hilltop above the quarry. 2
Investigation : 19 The morning wears on and they can find no sign of the entrance. 2
Investigation : 16 eventually all the prodding of grass and poking of tree stumps pays off. They find what looks to be an abandoned well hidden in a thicket of saplings. Peering in it appears to be about 5 feet wide and has stone lined sides.
"Who's going first?" Fetch asks with a tone that says that it will not be him.
Danger At Darkshelf Quarry
A quarry located a half-mile from the village of Darkshelf (so named for the dark, stony seabed in the harbour), on the coast of the Sea of Daggers in Nyrond, has been producing modest amounts of granite and limestone for decades. A surface outcrop of granite was quickly exhausted, but workers tunnelled under the surrounding hills to extract more stone. As they moved farther beneath the hills, they discovered seams of flawless limestone. Today, the quarry is producing more stone than ever. A small, dedicated workforce toils in three shifts around the clock. A steady flow of oxcarts hauls rough blocks of varying size from the quarry to the docks at Darkshelf. From there, the stone goes to building sites up and down the coast or into the continental interior via river barges.
Most of the locals attribute the increased production to the efforts of Bazili Erak, a flame-haired dwarf with a beard to match. Bazili has received the title to the quarry and environs from the local overlord in return for a share of the revenues. Until recently, the overlord has had no cause to complain: revenues from the quarry have quintupled. Bazili has not only increased production but also discovered several veins of pure quartz and even a little gold deep in the quarry (or so he claims). However, all is not entirely well at the quarry. As the workers tunnelled more deeply, they broke into underground springs that flooded parts of the quarry and drowned several members of the crew. Other workers have reported eerie sounds— including moans, cries, rattling chains, sobs, and rhythmic chanting—coming from some of the disused tunnels.
Human workers drawn mostly from Darkshelf and the surrounding country fill two shifts at the quarry. The third shift—working at night—is rumoured to consist of dwarves from Bazili’s clan. The human workers never mix with the dwarves or even see them except as shadowy figures deep in the tunnels. Only Bazili deals with these “dwarves.” The quarry isn’t the only place where mysterious trouble has arisen. On the waterfront at the village of Darkshelf and on the Pelyra River nearby, several half-eaten bodies, both human and animal, have turned up. Carnivorous fish are suspected, even though some of the victims were found well inland.
Perhaps most troubling, pirates and slavers have been active in the region lately. Sailors, fishers, and farmers have been abducted. The local overlord seems to have succeeded in turning the slavers back for the time being. Bazili and his unseen dwarves lent a hand, tracking a slaver gang to its hideout in a midnight raid and freeing a score of captives. The dwarves also killed several slavers and captured a few of them alive. These prisoners were dragged back to Darkshelf, where they were swiftly tried and executed. Despite the recent success against the slavers, a cloud of unease hangs over Darkshelf and the quarry. The citizens know that the slavers might return at any time and seek revenge for their setback. The
other incidents (the noises in the mines, the mysterious dwarves, and the half-eaten bodies) all seem to bode ill for the area.
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
The Rolling Bowl, Darkshelf
Matrim sits nursing his flagon of ale. A dark haired youth he is a members of the town guard and wears the dark blue tabard and cape associated with his profession. He is staring intently at a parchment of the tavern job board.
"Heya Mat!" a young woman with sapphire blue eyes sits down opposite. The slight point of her ears hints of her elven heritage and the slight blue tint to her skin tells of something more.
"Oh, Haddie.. hello." Matrim makes room while Haddie takes a seat and motions to barkeep over to serve more drinks. "These are on me, I had a good morning in the market."
"I don't need to know." Matrim replies forcing a smile. She laughs lightly and orders the drinks.
The tavern door opens to reveal an unlikely pair. A large blue skinned giant of a man, accompanied by a scruffy looking rock gnome. "Mord, Fetch, good to see you." Haddie calls out and the two smile brightly and make their way over. The big man; Mord takes a seat opposite Mat and the stool creeks beneath him. The gnome sits next to Haddie and proceeds to take out a parchment and charcoal. He starts scribbling away.
"What you working on Fetch?" Haddie asks and the gnome gives her a toothy grin but does not answer. Haddie throws up her hands, "Fine keep your secrets!" she laughs. She notices then that Mat is still sat staring at the parchment on the jobs board. She turns to read it herself.
"You thinking of turning adventurer Mat?" she asks as she reads the call for special individuals to investigate trouble at the quarry.
"Maybe." he shrugs.
She stands and walks over to snatch the notice from the board before returning to her seat. "You can't do that!" Mat protests.
"Just did!" she bobs her tongue out. "What do you two think? Could be a nice reward in it."
"Hey I spotted it." Mat moans and she slaps him on the shoulder.
"Dont be a baby, a job like this needs more than one person."
Fetch scans the document and shrugs, "Sure, I'm game. You up or some investigating Mord?"
Mord frowns down at the parchment for a moment for a moment and nods. "Sure."
"Well that makes us a team then." Haddie announces and raises her tankard.
Cue drinking...
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
The Village Hall
The next day it is a slightly hung over group that makes its way to the village hall. After announcing themselves to the nearest guard they are ushered through to meet the village overlord Neistor. He is a stocky, middle-aged man with greying hair and a beard to match.
“The results from the quarry seem too good to be true,” he says. “And the raid on the slavers’ camp was a little too quick and clean, if you ask me.”
He starts counting on his fingers as he paces back and forth across the room. “And then there’s the dwarves that work in the quarry at night but that nobody ever sees. And, of course, the terrible attacks we’ve had around Darkshelf.”
He turns to face you. “Something’s not right at that quarry. Will you look into it for us?”
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
"This sounds quite involved." Haddie replies.
"And quite dangerous." Fetch pipes in.
"How much will it pay?" Haddie presses.
"For a complete report on the mine and the resolution of any problems you find we will pay 500 gold." Neistor replies.
"Wow.. fi... I mean yes that will be acceptable." Haddie stammers.
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
"Wait? That's it? We have the job?" Matrim exclaims.
"Well yes." Neistor, "You are a competent member of the watch, Haddie here has a reputation for "investigating things." she blushes at that, "Your friend Mord here can handle himself well enough and I am sure what Fetch does..." he glances down at the gnome, "will add value."
"Did nobody else apply?" Mat presses, ignoring the dig in the ribs from Haddie.
Neistor hesitates before admitting, "“It wasn’t so much the quarry as it was the attacks. I sent a man named Kwon out to find what’s been killing our people and leaving the bodies looking half chewed-up. He brought me a few reports, but I haven’t seen or heard from him in a while now.”
Neistor’s face becomes grim. “Frankly, I’m worried. I’m hoping that by looking into the quarry, you’ll maybe find Kwon—alive, I mean. So do you want the job or not?”
"Yes. Yes we do." Haddie interrupts and after a moment Mat agrees,
"We do."
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
"Is there a bonus for finding this Kwon fellow?" asks Haddie.
"500 gold is already stretching the village coffers," Neistor replies, “But Erak’s also reported that his dwarves have found a bit of gold deep in the quarry. Don’t know if I believe him, but if you stumble across any, you can keep it.”
"So where should we start?" Mat asks and Neistar lifts a stack of parchments from his desk and hand them over.
"This is Kwon's last report. he reported finding a hidden dock on the river below the quarry. Kwon indicated that his next move would be to explore the quarry without Bazili Erak’s knowledge."
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Back at the Rolling Bowl
The group sit around a table, drinking ale and considering Kwon's report. "We could capture some of the workers or guards." Mord suggests at last, "Make them talk."
"Without any evidence we might end up getting arrested ourselves." Mat disagrees, "We could simply go up there and start asking questions."
"They are not likely to confess to us what's happening up there." Haddie shakes her head, "No we need to really think this through."
"We could pretend to be merchants." Fetch suggests.
"Too risky," Haddie replies, "Someone up there might recognise us."
"We could ask for work." Mord suggests.
"Now that's more like it." Haddie says, "It's that or we sneak in."
"We have the report." Mat prods the paper, "We could follow in Kwon's footsteps and try to find out what happened to him."
"Kwon went missing." Fetch observes, "Maybe his way wasn't the best way."
"Let's try the direct approach first." Haddie suggest, "Let's go up there tomorrow looking for work."
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
THE QUARRY
A twisting path, deeply rutted in the places where the surface is not stony, climbs the grassy slopes above the village of Darkshelf. A line of rocky bluffs crowns the slope. Where the turf gives way to the foot of the bluffs, the path splits. One branch levels out and runs to the quarry pit; the second branch turns and climbs sharply toward the guardhouse.
The party make their way to the junction and head toward the quarry to try their luck. Coming to the quarry gates Mord and Haddie call out and after several minutes an armed guard emerges with an unfriendly frown on his face.
"What do you want? This private property." he is fingering his sword pommel as he speaks and you hear several more individuals approaching on the other side of the gate.
"We were just wondering if there might be work to be had?" Matrim asks and the guard barks a laugh.
"Piss off, we dont need wastrels from the village up here with their soft hands. Quarry work is hard work."
"Please sir, times are hard and there must be some work we can do?" Haddie asks. 10
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
"I said piss off!" the guard draws his sword as two more of his fellows emerge from behind the gate.
"We don't want any trouble." Mat raises his hands and backs away, encouraging the others to follow.
"I don't think they are hiring." Fetch observes dryly.
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Back at the junction in the path the party stop to consider their options.
"We could ask around town, see if any of the workers could put a word in for us." Haddie suggests.
"I think that ship has sailed." Mat replies.
"So its the docks or the vent shaft." Fetch muses. "I vote the vent, if there were anything interesting at the docks then it would have been in the report."
"I suppose," agrees Mat, "Let's go find it at least."
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Following the directions of Kwon, the party leave the path and head north toward the hilltop above the quarry. 2
Investigation : 19 The morning wears on and they can find no sign of the entrance. 2
Investigation : 16 eventually all the prodding of grass and poking of tree stumps pays off. They find what looks to be an abandoned well hidden in a thicket of saplings. Peering in it appears to be about 5 feet wide and has stone lined sides.
"Who's going first?" Fetch asks with a tone that says that it will not be him.
DM - Warlock of Firetop Mountain