From the Journal of Pura Lindh, Bard and Historian

CHAPTER ONE : BAND OF BROTHERS

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time.
     - T.S. Eliot

Greengrass - Mirtul 7, 1389 (Year of the Forgiven Foes)

The celebration of Greengrass was muted by the weather, which alternated all day between a cool, driving rain, and a too brief appearance of the early spring sun. The fact that the twenty year anniversary of the liberation of Dagger Falls was a mere thirty days away may also have taken some of the wind from the sails of the annual holiday. Everyone was anticipating seeing what Lord Randal Morn would do.

It was late at the Red Rock and Kessla Lindh, Proprietress and Bard, was finishing off the Song of Ilthond's Defeat, a favorite of the musician's. Her husband sat in the far back shadowy corner of the brightly lit room. He was reading a book, as usual. From the scowl on his face, this was not his favorite ode.

Others in the room applauded upon its completion, including her son and daughter, and some of their friends. Occupying the table in the middle of the room were a trio of merchants from Cormyr, from their dress and accent. Otherwise, the inn is empty.

"Mother, would you tell the story of the Dwarven Forge?" asked Puraa Bard like her mother. Kessla glanced at the time candle and sighs. Long night.

Laval closed his book with the stub of his left arm. He, too, glanced at the candle. "I think that's a great idea." He almost sounded eager.

Kessla set aside her lute and leaned forward on her stool, capturing the attention of the dozen or so patrons. "Very well," she said.

"Long before the Dalesmen arrived here to call this place Merrydale, the Brightblade dwarves lived on these lands. Most sacred to them was the place we call Eagle's Eyrie, for its present occupants.

"The Brightblade dwarves were industrious people, and were known for their skills in crafting fine weapons. Some say magical." Kessla paused in her tale to let that sink in. The crowd is mostly young, after all.

"The forge they worked at was said to magical as well. It is said one had to apprentice for two hundred years before even being allowed to see it, let alone touch it. So magnificent was this forge that it could reform diamonds into blades without ruining the beauty of the stone.

"To protect the forge from orc and kobold raiders, and eventually Man, they secured it beneath the watchtower on the Eyrie. Even though the tower now lays in ruins, and the Brightblade dwarves have scattered, no one has ever found the secret entrance. Many have sought it. Used scores of diggers and magical divinations, only to be thwarted by whatever protects the forge.

"Centuries ago, a sage found a clue on how to find the entrance buried deep in the tombs beneath The Rift. Not surprising given it was a dwarven artifact. The sage set forth an expedition to Dagger Falls and the Eyrie and waited. Years he waited. Until a Greengrass evening when Selune was fully illuminating the lands about Dagger Falls in an eerie blue-white glow at its zenith."

Kessla paused. The rain had stopped and streaks of blue-white light started to filter through the windows on the south and west. The bard gave her daughter a weary look. Pura merely smiled back.

"Don't leave them wanting, dear," prompted Laval.

Kessla took a deep breath and pushed on. "It is said that the midnight light made the entrance to the forge obvious and the sage entered. Never to be seen again." The bard emphasized each word.

"To this day, the secrets of the forge remain forever buried."

"Disappointing," remarked one of the merchants and all three headed off to bed.

This lead Pura and her brother Cethric (the children of Kessla and Laval Lindh), and their friends Selena Smithwhite, twins Petro and Venin Yannach, Ely Scruggs, Rikulf Theomund, and Mordecai Faust to venture up to the Eagle's Eyrie and wait for the Greengrass full moon to do its magic. The moonlight illuminated a secret door which Petro opened. Bats swarmed Rikulf but Pura facinated them away. Going deeper into the secret cave they found another secret door, which is trapped (Selena and Rikulf took the bolts).

In the next cave they found three exits and four columns lit by glowing globs at the ceiling. Ely flew up to check them out, and managed to crack one of the globe. Beyond the doors they found empty weapons racks and four fire beetles. Combining brute force and apt crossbow shots, they killed the beetles and managed to take one glowing gland.

The next exit lead to an altar and waterwheel, and two skeletal dwarven bodies. Two ghouls hid under the bodies and attacked. Cethric turned them and the rest of the gang destroyed them. Rikulf found a dead body which Mordecai identified as a Red Mage of Thay from his tattoos. On the Red Mage they found a note warning the mage of someone named Tola. Cethric determined the mage was killed mere minutes earlier. Behind the altar to Dumathoin was a warning to the Brightblade dwarves from Calderon the Mage-Lord. Pura remembered the tale of Calderon, the ruler of House Morn, his wife Belesaria, the Brightblade clan and a dwarven sword called Magekiller. The gang determined the Red Mage must have come to steal the sword.

The group decided to cautiously check out the last room, where they found the Forge. There was also a magically animated hammer, which attacked Rikulf. Ely wrestled control of the hammer while the others searched the room. Finding nothing but some rusted iron scrap, Pura and Cethric run back towards home to ask help of their mother; however, they found their father, Laval, waiting in the cave.

Laval warned them they should not leave without their friends. The siblings return to their friends and they worked through the knowledge they had. Tola was a common Thayan name, and Mordecai remembered hearing there was one in Hillsfar, and warned them not to mess with that particular Tola.

Still not having enough information, they decided to leave together. Laval was waiting and follwed them out. The door closed behind them and they were not able to open it again. They discussed the clues they had with Laval, and he pulled out a book from his pack and explained to them how to determine the secret phrase from the inscription in the shrine in the Forge room.

Suddenly, the eagles took to flight, which was strange at this time of night. Ely flew up and saw a purplish fog over the walled section of Dagger Falls. The gang decided to hurry back to the town, but Laval warned them not to return to town for it was not safe. Some of the gang sensed something was amiss.

The gang followed Laval down the path back to town when some decided to backtrack and search for tracks outside the secret door. Selena found one set that head east. Ely flew back to the others to suggest they follow the tracks. Laval agrees and returns to town to investigate the purple mist. Selena tracked for the trail for two hours to a rock outcropping. Rikulf found a secret door leading to a stairway down. The corridor split and the gang followed it to a door. Beyond the door was an ambush by eight soldiers and two clerics of Cyric. The battle was pitched against the gang, with Venin nearly killed. The two fighters of the group, Rikulf and Selena, are rendered unconscious, and later Cethric was knocked down. If not for the inspiring song of Pura, the attacks by Mordecai and Petro, and the charm of Ely, the battle could have been devastating. The gang took the two prisioners and the loot back to town.

At the town border, the gang was stopped by the guard and asked about their whereabouts. The guards seemed interested in Laval. After receiving some healing, the gang headed back to the Red Rock. Laval was taken in for questioning. The guard wanted to question the gang some more, but Venin insisted it be done at the garrison as was done to Laval. The gang learn that The Sword of the Dales was stolen when the purple mist rendeded everyone unconscious. The gang tell of the missing Magekiller sword and the Red Wizard. There were three artifact swords stolen that night in thr Dales area.

The gang returned to the Red Rock. Later in the evening they learn that Laval confessed his involvement in the thefts.

The gang returned to the crypt. They stumbled upon some kobolds and had a brief battle. Moving past the room with the decaying Cyric forces corpses, they discovered the actual tomb - the sarcophagus was "guarded" by four sets of plate mail. Inside the sarcophagus waited a wraith. The gang destroyed it. They learned that the plate armors in each corner animated when touched. The gang developed a plan to "kill" each set to take it. In the next room they find crates and a note to Randal Morn (or them?) from someone signed "GG".

Returning to Dagger Falls, the gang spoke with Keesla, speculating about who "GG" could be. They next met with Randal Morn and promised to find the culprits.

The next day they returned to the crypt and pressed through the final door. There was a short hallway leading to a secret door to the tomb, but nothing else. The gang spent the next few hours cleaning out the rooms. They decided to wait for Rikulf to recover from the wraith attack before following Laval's map.

Updated: April 2, 2009.