Corin, Finnja, Thrak-Chul, and Marquis strode out again into the sands, their goal to reach the fork in the road at of Silver Spring. They reached the road after three days of wading through sands, including spending time digging a length of fibertree out of a silt basin. A paltry prize for the labor, but perhaps worth selling should they ever reach a merchant. On the road, they met a passing traveler: a half-elf merchant named Tilrun who rode on a large lizard-mount Inix. Tilrun stopped and talked with the PCs and introduced his Inix (named “Peaches”). Oddly, when Marquis shook hands with Tilrun he had a sudden vision: five bodies hung atop a black-grey painted wall. Marquis shook his head in disbelief, a bit stunned by the occurrence. None of this magical powers would have done such a thing… as far as he knew.
The PCs traveled with Tilrun toward Fort Iron, along the way toward the the City-State of Tyr. As they walked alongside the Inix, Finnja and Thrak-Chul mentioned what they saw to Marquis–the desecration of plant life that they understood as Defiler magic. Marquis remained silent, but knew that their questions were probing. As they camped the first night of travels, Tilrun told the PCs that the rumors are that the Sorcerer-King of Tyr was killed by a gladiator who struck him down with a magic spear, and that the City-State is in chaos. Yet they continued in that direction, thinking that the City-State might be better than wandering the wilds.
After three days, they reached Fort Iron. It’s painted black-grey walls were intimidating, making the stone give the appearance of raw iron. From their view it looked deserted, but taking care to listen they heard some strange noises from inside. Thrak-Chul climbed up the wall, then froze as he looked over the parapet. There were slain bodies on the ramparts, and down in the fort was a war party of elves with the same tribal marks as those they had fought before. An ill-advised shout from the PCs suddenly caused the elves inside to scramble, and one blew a horn–only to hear it echoed by a number of war horns from behind the sand dunes to the west. Where the entire elf army was probably encamped.
Thrak-Chul dropped and the PCs panicked. Tilrun spurred his Inix, and when some of the PCs failed to climb on Thrak-Chul attacked Tilrun to try and stop him. With a mighty kick, Tilrun kicked him off and rode off. With the elves no doubt racing behind them, the PCs ran and covered themselves in sand in a ditch just beyond the first low dune. They held as still and hidden as they could, hearing first the raiding party then riders from the massed army pass them by, chasing the Inix running on the horizon.
At dusk, the smell of cooked Inix suggested that there might be a moment to make a break for it, and the PCs slipped off–tho they could see the dead body of Tilrun hanging from a gibbet the wall, in a pattern that matched Marquis’ vision… just less their four bodies.
The PCs found themselves on the eastern side of Fort Iron, so ended up looping through the desert then back-tracking toward Silver Spring, staying off the road in case of elf army patrols. They saw evidence of recent travel on the roads, indicating that the army may well have sent war parties ranging. After two days of distance they came upon a wrecked sand sledge that had been run off the road.
They recognized the dwarven design, and Finnja’s keen eyes spot a track where someone must have run, then been dragged away from. A small pile of sand nearby had a buried scroll case with a note. Inside was a cryptic map and note, intended for Father Grimnuz (a name they recognized from the Dwarf village of Kled, the town elder). It had some strange symbols that seemed to be directional, a drawing of two dead trees, and a note “found metal” and the names Bej, Bez, and Boaz. With some care in decoding, the PC’s determined a potential way to follow the directional symbols (a clue about how far to walk in a given direction before turning).
The PCs followed the directions, crossing the road again (cautiously, wary that an elven army is ranging somewhere in the area), to a spot roughly a day south of where they expect Silver Spring to be. They find a spot with two trees in a small depression amidst the dunes. Found a small trapdoor between the two trees. Unfortunately a crossbow trap was rigged to it, which left its mark on Thrak-Chul’s chitin. They gathered the crossbow, and the group clambered down into the hole to find a small underground room that served as a mining camp. Tearing up a bedroll and attaching to a tree branch, they lit a torch to help them explore. They filled their waterskins from a water barrel there, and refilled some rations from a crate of supplies. They then followed a tunnel dug in the rock downward.
They quickly reached the end of the tunnel, and at the end of it past a shored-up door, they found two dwarves hard at work mining. The PC’s proclaimed “We have your spear” as Thrak-Chul brandished the bone spear. The dwarfs misunderstood and attacked, shouting “They sacked the Town, Boaz!” and “Get ’em, Bez!”
The dwarves fought like demons to protect their fledgling mine, with Bez using spells and Boaz swinging a heavy stone pick with brutal efficiency. Boaz pushed his way through druid-conjured vines and the heavy hit of Finnja’s maul, and even tho Bez was stopped by the party Boaz fought them to a near standstill and dropping Marquis. Finally he shouted “This is my mine!” and the remaining PCs drew back, and assured them that it was his mine and they had no intention to take it.
Bez, being healed and awoken by the PCs, was greeted by Boaz bragging “I bested them” (and exchanged a knowing nod when Corin replied “Yes, he bested us”). They showed the note, and talked about the potential demise of their other brother Bej in the wreck of the sledge. They learned that Bej was supposed to go and convince the town elder to bring other dwarves from Kled to help work the mine. They had found a faint trace of iron, a small seam, that with work might actually yield more. Bez decided to accompany the PCs back to Kled to inform the town, by Boaz would continue to mine on his own for the moment.
They headed back out into the desert again with Bez, trekking to Keld with plans to head onward to Nibenay from there.
Red Ones Go Faster 