The party spent the night in Teshwave at The Lion & the Lantern. They spoke with the innkeeper, Enos, about any news he may have heard. He informed them that he had heard there was some Goblin trouble to the South, but that it had not reached north of the River Tesh. He asked about any news from where they came from, and they just confirmed what he already knew about the Goblins.
The next morning, they headed out of town to the West along the Tesh Trail heading for Dagger Falls. During the journey they encountered a merchant wagon heading to the East. They spoke for a bit about news, but did not learn much from the merchant other than the town was safe when he left. The party took their leave, and kept heading towards Dagger Falls. Aria found it surprising that the river was so wide and deep even though they were close to the mountains and presumably the source. Upon arrival they took rooms at the Hungry Moon Inn, where they were also able to board their horses, since the rest of the journey would be on foot. They spoke with the innkeeper, Nidia, about the Dwarfhold, and she informed them that not many people travel there these days. In fact, it has been many years since she can remember someone traveling there, and she cannot even remember if they returned. She told the party that many people had traveled their after it had fallen to Orcs, and returned with enough valuables to make themselves rich. However, many others have never returned.
The party asked if there was anyone in town that had more history on the Dwarfhold. They were able to meet and speak with Dyrk, who had the most knowledge, but it became quickly apparent, that it was not all that much. He told them much that they already knew. It was attacked by Orcs, who also had the help of an archmage. He told them that the Dwarfhold was setup differently than most others due to the nature of the mining operations. The veins of ore ran up and down rather than in a more common horizontal fashion. This meant the hold was more spread out as the shafts delved down, and generally away from each other. This made it easier to attack the more isolated areas of the hold, and conquer them. He also told the party that as long as the followed the river, they should get to an entrance to the Dwarfhold since it was well known that the Dwarves shipped their wares down the River Tesh.
The party asked Nidia about hiring on help. She told the party that it was unlikely that any would want to go as everyone from town was aware of the danger. The party opted to have her put the word out anyway. Two days later, the only people there were able to attract were 3 youngsters, 2 boys and a girl. While eager, the party did not believe the children offered anything to them. Kaldric gave them each a gold coin, and told them to run back home. The boys eagerly took the money, and left in a hurry. The girl tried to give the coin back, stating that she felt like she could be sneaky and perhaps that would be of some use to the party. Kaldric then made a deal with her. She kept the coin, and he gave her 2 days to steal his whistle from his beltpouch without him knowing. If she was successful the party would take her on. That night Kaldric was awakened by the girl attempting to climb into his room via the window. The next day he saw her watching him several times from the streets, but she never made a move. That night, she tried to pick the lock on his room to break in, but was unsuccessful, in addition to waking Kaldric.
Finally the party made the day long journey along the river into the mountains. In the evening they came across several towers along the each side of the river. These were clearly guard towers, in the old days, and were designed to prevent an attack on the hold. Kai cast invisibility on herself, and explored one of the towers. She found it to be empty, but useful for sleeping. The party spent the night in the tower, and kept exploring the next day.
Not much further up the party found the remnants of some docks. They could see some wrecked ships under the water, though no ships were currently docked. Near the docks they noticed what appeared to be an opening in the mountains. There were the remains of a set of stone doors that had been pulled down and some point. The group carefully made their way across the rubble and entered the mountain. They found themselves in a room that was about 300 yards square. It housed the remains of racks, shelves, and many other storage units. It looked like it has been looted at some point, as there was nothing of real value still in the room. Thee river actually flowed through this room, and it came into the room via a hole in the far wall. There was a cut riverbed made of stone in the center of the room that it flowed through. There was a stairway in the back right of the room that was a clockwise spiral ramp that went down.
The party lit a torch and headed down with a still invisible Kai in the lead, and Aria and Kaldric trailing. Nearing the bottom they heard some scuffing, and then what sounded like something running. They party stopped for a bit until the noise died down before continuing to the bottom of the ramp. There they found 5 passages, all labeled in Dwarven, and thus unreadable to the party. The noticed that the middle passage, and middle-left passages appeared to have been used far more recently than the others. The group listened at each passageway and thought the could hear some noises down the same passageways. They opted to made tracks about 100 feet down each passageway so it would be harder to track them. They then headed down the right passage for several hours since it seemed to head in the general direction as the source of the river. They eventually turned around figuring there was not much more they could learn from this passage.
They then opted to go down the middle-right passage for awhile. They eventually found themselves near the top of another spiral ramp headed down. This time the middle was nothing but a hole. They passed several openings in the walls that appeared to be homes in various states of being ransacked and disarray. As they continued, they found a passage that went through the mountain further, and the found themselves near the top of yet another spiral passage down. They were able to puzzle out that these were likely the mines, and the middle was likely where the ore was mined from. Houses were build along the spiral path down as more room was made due to mining. Kaldric did not believe that the emerald they were after was likely to be in some house, assuming it was even still in the hold. They decided to backtrack and head back.
When they returned to the room with the 5 passages, there was an Orc standing guard. Kai cast sleep on the Orc, and the party quickly discussed what to do with the Orc. They ultimately decided to end his life quickly and drag the body up to the river. His life was ended as bloodlessly as possible, and his body put into the river. They then headed back to the tower to spend another night to rest and so Kaldric could memorize Comprehend Languages to read the writing on the passages.
DM Recap
The session went well overall. There were not disagreements between the party members and what to do, so the session was not slowed down due to that sort of arguing. They group tried to take a tactful approach to the Dwarfhold, and that already allowed them to fell an Orc without having to roll a single die. There is, however, much left for them to explore in the hold.
Loot and XP
No loot was found, and no XP was awarded for this session yet. They did kill an Orc, but until the party gets back to a safe location, no XP for this encounter will be awarded.
