The Northern Mountains

Blornvid while looking for a cave or steps leading down finds an area of wall with very faint indentations. He spends a few minutes, clearing dust and years of accumulated dirt and makes our old dwarven test chiseled into the wall. He reads aloud: I am the guard to a pathway untold, behind me, stories unfold. I have a handle and also a lock, to open me up, you must knock.

Blornvid searches about for a short time and find the rusted remnants of a small dwarven hammer. the wooden shaft all but rotted and would break if it were swung too hard. the rusted head has has what looks like the matching claws to what is in the wall but the pin to couple the pieces together is missing...

Leaving a rope tied to the cliff you just descended. The Village has an odd assortment of structures with some looking to house figures even smaller than Blornvid or Elyse while others have doors over 10' tall. The villages has 30 - 50 structures but with the varied sizes it is hard to guess. The back wall of the cavern has half a building built into it. Easily the largest structure in the village it is the only one with an obvious second an possibly third floor. Several of the building have traces of the life that must have inhabited the village in years gone by, a small stool, tattered woven curtains in windows, or the odd item laying in the street or seen through the doorway.

To the left is a short passage that allows faint light from the crevice and the sky beyond. The passages has signs of prequent, though not recent use and what looks to be a small stream bed that runs along the path out the cave. The stream and path both lead into the village along what was most likely the main avenue. A faint brees flows from the passage leading to the crevice allowing the air within the cavern to be fresh.

To the village or out to the ravine floor? Blornvid can see in the dark but I assume the others have a source of light. Lantern, torch,etc?

Moving towards the village you begin looking arround the outer buildings. Dust and dirt covers the interrior which alll look to be homes with tables, chairs, beds, cupboards, and a smattering of little everyday things you would expect to find in homes. Only most are in a state of decay and it looks as if something violently threw everything around and left a coating of dirt. Roll test to search/notice details

Van does indeed find a few plants growing in throughout the village but most are simple lichen and the like. Roll test to identify anything useful

You all notice that the dirt covering much of the town stops at a certain heigh and you come to the conclusion that this may be the result of flooding. Doubless the town founders would have concidered this but something may have changed. Taking into account the massive changes that happened during the Shattering it is likely the village was created before then and the floods started some time after. But by your best guess the town was not abandoned 5 decades ago and this happened 1 to 2 decades ago at the most.

As you move through the town Van fails to find any recognizably beneficial plants but still takes a few samples for later experimentation. You make your way to the toown hall(?) at the back of the cave and find the doors are shut. Over the top of the door you see two mars carved into the stone, over each corner of the door, a Quill and a Scroll.

You do not feel any obvious magical energies and Blornvid is not certain but he thinks they may simply be identification markers.

The doors are stiff and open slowly but with some effort Blornvid is able to push them open wide enough to slip into the building. Peering inside you see a single chamber fills most of the buildings first floor with stairs at either side of the room and another set of double doors on the far side. The interior is clean with many stone benches and several stone tables set evenly around the room. Lettingmore light into the room you discern that this is the first place in the village that does not have the lower three feet covered in dirt. The ceiling is 12 feet up alowing you to deduce that there is a single floor above.
Then a bit of movement catches your eye as something small moves between some of the furrniture, heading your way.

As you state into the gloom a shadow detached from the darkness and launches itself at Blornvid. With a splat it lands atop him and begins spreading to cover his body.

The slime covering Blornvid feels lick thick mud or very wet clay but wriggles like worms or snakes as it undulates its mass to move around with pseudopods continually protrude outwards to grasp onto the dwarf and pull the rest behind.

The ooze moves sections to avoid getting burned but does not leave Blornvid.

The creature writhes and squirms across the dwarf but your efforts to free him without burning him are of limited success.
Blornvid can try and free himself, each Test now has advantage and takes one action

Blornvid rips and pulls and manages to tear off a large chunk of the ooze followed by Elyse trying to burn it.

Van chases after the ooze to drive it off before you all retreat out of the building.

You stand outside and concider your options. It was obvious from the inerior that the area beyond the doors is much larger thatn the building would suggest indicating that much of it is set back in the stone that encloses the village. Though you looked over much of the village you have not searched it completely or gone out to the ravine floor. As you concider options you also include the possibility of scaling the building and tring to enter it from one of the upper level windows.

Here are some basic game guidelines.

As you make your way out to the light of day, down the passage with the small streambed, Elyse does note that the rock formations are about right for the area to have gemstones of some kind. Though with a settlement right in the area she doubt that there are any easily accessible veins nearby as those that are easily accessible tend to be harvested as soon as they are found. If there were any mines in the town they must have been connected the the building at the end of the cavern with the strange ooze that attacked Blornvid.

The passage leads downhill and narrows a bit, though still quite tall, before opening up morea and you find yourselves under an overhang that opens into a deep cleft in the mountain side. The old trail continues under the overhang and splits with one path leading up the ravine while the other path leads down hill. The path, like the cavern village is old and well worn. Some plants are scattered around the ravine floor with occasional brush and even a couple trees where the soil is deep enough to support them. Remembering the stone steps your observed from above you begin searching the area and find them after a couple minutes. The stairs are well crafted but not uniform. In fact you believe that they would be quite hard to notice if you were not expecting to find them. As you look then over you note that there are signs of use, a faded foot-print and other traces, indicate the stairs have seen recent use within the last couple of days. The size and shape of the print lets you surmise that whatever left it was likely a monstrous biped slightly larger than a human.

Based on the print size, shape, and depth you guess it is something like a ogre, troll, formian, ettin, or cyclops. or one of the other lesser giant kin. All of these races stand 8-12 feet tall where true giants are known to be 15-30 feet tall. Ogres are known to be large, tough, and strong. Trolls are renown for their ability to heal from wounds quickly with innate magic regeneration. Ettins are recognizable by their 2 heads and feared due to being able to use both hands at once as good as others use a single arm. Cyclops are famous for their large single eyes, throwing stones, and wielding heavy clubs.

The sky above is still full with the light of day and a gentle breeze wafts down the ravine from above.

Up the stairs, up the ravine, down the raving, or DM choice (toward the nearest story content, good, bad, or ugly)?

Most giants, and giant kin, are agressive but can be negotiated with. Though this oftn requires either them feeling they have to negotiate to get what they want or recognizing a powerful opponent. Many of them are known to put size and raw power above intellect and social skill. Trolls and agres are more violent while Ettin are the intelllectual and conversationalist of the lot while cyclops tend to be more of teritorial isolationist.

Most giant-kin move or live in small groups of less than 10 but anything over 2 of them would be risky to handle. However if you encounter 1 or 2 before the rest and can prove your worth to them you may be able to talk with them. So far you only know that 1 such crearture visited the ravine within the last several days.

As you are discussing and investigating issues you hear a scrape of stone on stone from overhead. It sounds to be desending towards you.

The steps from above pauses at the shout...

You realize the first sounds you heard were likely the careless footfalls of whatever is descending the stairs along the ravine cliff wall. With nothing in sight and the stairs designed to blend in it is hard to pinpoint where they might be expected to appear first. The sounds from above soften, though you still catch the occasional scrape of stone on stone, letting you know they are still in the ravine but moving with more care.

Here are some basic game guidelines.

As you advance up the stairs Elyse attempts to shape a spell in her mind but can not seem to adjust the magical energies properly in time. The uneven cliff face turns a bit and you find you are facing an 9' tall 2 headed figure, an etin.

The large muscular humanoid is about 40 feet up the stairs (1+ zone/movement away) and barely has room on them as it catches sight of you and raises its club overhead and emits a roar that echoes up and down the ravine.

The stairs vary from 3-4 feet in width and steep or shallow depending on the section. You may be able to slip past each other if careful but single file like is the safest when fighting. I assume Blornvid or Wemmik would be first (as before) so whichever of them post first will be assumed to be in the front unless they state otherwise, with the other 2 behind

Blonrdid's rush slightly surprises the ettin who yelps in pain as the ax bites into one of its legs. Crit Hit 2 dmg

@Psybermagi

Wemmik move's with unexpected grace and speed allowing him to slip past Blornvid and even past the Ettin!

OOC: That which happens in RL always comes first. What happens in RL is what allows us to keep playing games together.

Van's stone strikes the ettin eliciting a howl of rage.

Elyse crafts the spell but it has little effect lacking the power to do more than cause the etins loincloth to flap in the breeze, forcing he to stop all efforts immediately. Blornvid manages to stay on the stairs and scrambles back to his feet before laying into the etin with his ax. Wemmik, though tripped up manages to fall with a bit of grace and latches onto enough of the cliff before falling too far and returns to his feet with his sword lashing out at the foe. Val lines up another shot but fails to connect amidst the chaos.

Just a reminder but in combat time each PC has 2 actions. A save test takes no actions unless explicitly stated it is required.

Wemmick again proves his acrobatic expertise and manages to stay afoot this time. Then with a burst of speed he lunges at the etting and knocks into the back of it's knees. The brute topples forwards, losing one of tis clubs down the ravine, before rolling onto its back and roaring at the swordsman who quickly back off as the etting reaches for him with it's massive hand.

The ettin falls under the onslaught. The dying figure collapses as it's last breaths rattle out, echoing around the ravine.

The massive corpse would prove problematic should you need to retreat with haste. Blornvid grunts as he shoves the body off the stairs.

Going down the stairs will simply return you to where to came from, the ravine floor with access to the cavern and traversing the ravine. Having already started up you decide to continue for now but with not caution in case you fought had alerted others.

You make your way up the stairs and soon reach a cleft in the cliff face. The crack looks to be a natural occurrence that was greatly expanded by rough tools. Enough so in fact to allot the ettin to access the stairs from the cavern beyond. From here you see the ravine lip where the stairs will exit. It is here that Fur indicates a preference to enter the new cave rather than continuing up the stairs.

Entering the passage you begin descending again and step into a larger cavern too large for your light to fully illuminate. However you see two other sources of light in the darkness. A larger set of flame, with several large figures below and in the distance and another, smaller light, off to one side.

The figure are not completely illuminated making it hard to discern more about them. The only reason you gauge the larger flames to be far are the faint sounds echoing from the area.

The smaller light soure moves towards the midle of the caveern before turning to head in your direction while as far as you can tell the figures near the larger flames are staying put.

As you look at the ettin you hear a soothing melody from the darkness and a figure walks into the light.

The two ettin glower at all of you as you retreat back into the passage. Though not long the passage is barely large enough for the etting and twists and turns but still has faint traces of daylight allowing those who have not been this way before to realize it leads out of this place.

As you exit the tunnel, which appears to have been a natural cleft in the stone of the cliff that has been expanded to allow the ettins passage, you step out onto a set of carved stone stairs. The stairs are ascending the side of a deep ravine with sheer cliff walls. The stairs are well crafted but not uniform. In fact you believe that they would be quite hard to notice if you were not expecting to find them.

Down in the ravine you spot a faint path leading along the ravine length. At the base of the cliff you spot the body of what you assume to be another ettin. A few plants are scattered around the ravine floor with occasional brush and even a couple trees where the soil is deep enough to support them.

By the light in the sky above the lip of the ravine it is now mid afternoon.
Date&Time(Beta): 1@16:00

As you consider where to go next you begin to swap some information.
Elyse, Blornvid, and Sylvandur rode to these mountains on griffons that will return for them later after they have searched the area for mineral deposits. They found the ravine and stairs that led to an abandoned village set within a cavern near the base of the ravine. The village held little of interest save a building that is occupied by some form of ooze.
Wemmick was separated from his caravan after a monster attack, found the stairs, and soon met up with the others near the cavern village.
Gutelos was escorting a scholar mage to the recently rediscovered city Paphos that should be somewhere nearby and was sucked into a watery whirlpool where he met Glidbem who had a similar experience. Together they crawled through the caves to reach the ettin's cavern.
Poppy was simply exploring and gathering plants for her profession and was driven into the caves by some dark fey.

It is apparent that the cavern that are in these mountains are quite extensive and that was one of the reasons that Blornvid and the others came to this region.

Based on the note in the Tiny Chat channel by Psybermage focusing on new players and daryen not listing The Northern Mountains as a supported thread, I'll say goodbye. It was fun while it lasted. Hope to run into you in another game.

That's a bummer. I was curious to see where this was headed.

Upon re-reading @daryen post, I think he might be willing to merge this one into the Underdark thread. I'll have to ask him.

@ForeverDED if he says yes, let us know. This is likely my favorite character I have ever played and I've been playing since 1979!

I asked him in the TinyChat, so keep an eye there. But since it's American Thanksgiving this week, he might not get around to replying right away.

To answer here, I didn't mention this thread because I honestly thought Psybermagi would finish it off. If he doesn't want to, then I would be happy to finish it off (even though it is guaranteed to be different than what he likely intended). I was in no way ignoring this group!

My overall intent is to get everyone back to New Paphos and regroup from there.

I am happy either way and @daryen, never, for a moment, did I assume you were ignoring our group.

Wemmik explains that he descended the way Blornvid and his companions did. Though the ettins seemed reluctant to attack the large party you doubt they will be pleased when they discover their fallen brother. Deciding that moving on is a good idea you continue up the stairs and make several notes of the area should you wish to return and investigate the ruins at a later date.

The stairs take you to the lip of the ravine on the far side from where many of you began your journey. Knowing it will be several days still before transport is expected to return to the region to take Blornvid and his initial companions back there is little that you can do to speed anyones return to civilization at this time. So you quickly move to get some distance from the ravine. Stopping only for lunch at a mountain stream you decide to use it to try and hide your track should the Etting try and find you and follow it upstream.

Elyse gets excided when she notes a few rocks in the streambed show signs of mineral deposits that indicate possible mine sites may be nearby. Recalling the numerous caverns and cliffs seen from above she hopes to find further signs and begins checking the stream bed for more traces as you follow it deeper into the steep mountains. I need a test for geology/nature/tracking form Elyse and anyone else who wants to help

You work together and are able to find a few samples of semiprecious stone that could be pollished and possibly shaped to figurines or the like and sold for a few copper or silver. More importanly you are able to trace them to a section of the hill that collapsed into a rock slide some time in the past The rock slide looks to be where the stream picked up to minerals and you turn from it and head up the mountain.

The lower mountains are moderatly wooded but the higher you go the sparser the treee cover becomes. Squirls, birds, and the odd lizard are the only signs os activity in the area though you dobt the area is free of larger beast that simply stay out of sight. The coll fresh air is noticably thinner than down in the lowlands of the mannor and you are quickly breathing hard to make up for the difference.

The hike up the mountain following the stream, then rock slide, takes you several hours and as the sun gets close to the horizon you keep an eye out for a decent camp sight. You find a small copse of treed in a highland vale and make you way into it and find the best shelter possible as you make a small file for a nice warm meal before settling down for the night.

Elyse has grown excited and disheartened at the same time with the increased signs of a good stone vein but the remoteness would make creating a large opperation hard in this location. However Blornvid points ot that it should not be too hard to cinvince a dwarven family or small clan to set up operations here as they tend to not mind the lack of a thick social callender and are often only all to glade to have a mountain to themselves. You make arrangement for a watch as you chat and settle down for the night.

Waking in the morning you continue tracking the mineral traces and around mid day come to a ragged cliff face with large heaps of rough stone tiummbles around it that looks to be the souce of the deposits. As you look around Gutelos spots some interesting marking and informs the others that the stone has bee worked. Though not a common practice he has heard of a process used in high mountains where entire sections of cliff are sheered off for mining. This allows large ammounts of rock to be easily broken down to smaller chunks for processing. The clif is mostly granite so perhaps it was used to quarry that for use elsewhere? By his best guess the stone has been cut here repeatedly and finds some marks that don't look to be too old . . .

Roll to ain more information and/or let me know any path of investigation

You scan the area and found traces of a rough path that winds around the mountain. Once this is located you easilly determine that the "road", which is barely wide enough to support small carts, is at least several years old but does not seem to see much traffic. The ocasional wheel rut suggests that the quary is mined for its stone which is taken elseshere.

Elyse is unforunatly unable to locate any signs of valuable mineral deposits in the cliff face quary. The traces of mineral you followed may have been from earlier excavations of the cliff and she is aware that this means there may be other veins of rare minnerals nearby but simnply not at the currant surface. During the search you find multipe took marks with varying level of weathering indicating this site has likely been used for multiple years.

Between Blornvid, Elyse, and Gutelos you piece together a rough history. At yoru best guess the are was mined for minnerals many years ago till the easilly accessable ones were all removed. Since that time the site has been used to quary stone for building materials. The periodic use of the site indicates a nearby setlement that and guaging by the size of the quary and road it is likely not too large.

The group follows the rough track, mostly downhill, and after about an hour the road joins up with a few other tracks and is now a well beaten and obviously frequently used path through the rough mountanous terrain. You follow the road to you find your way into a relatively small sheltered valley. As you look out over the miile long valley you see several small buildings and traces of smoke that quickly vanish in the hish mountain winds. Several tracks can be seen criss crossing the valley as well as several fields and a couple orchards.

Off to one side is a stone citadel built into a cliff near the mouth of the valley. There are guards atop it's outer walls and you see a squad of figures heading towards you from the fortified gatehouse set in the midle of the wall. The squad has about 6 figures and will reach your position in a couple minutes.

Listening to your explanations the leader seems intrigued. He begins to chat with you more amiably No we do not mind visitors. But we must ensure our safety you understand.

We have been mostly isolated since the shattering and would welcome initiating relations. If you can handle the transportation then we would be most interested in trading with the lowlands once again. But we will have to go see the clan chief to talk much about that. As you can guess at this altitude we do not have much of a warm season so right now most of our efforts are focused on our crops but in the winters we mostly work on our mines and crafts.

He then proceeds to ask several questions about your travels and knowledge of the area You were flown? Will you be returning soon? Have you mapped the region? Are there any other settlements you have talked with in the area? What creatures have you encountered in your travels?

As you chat he leads you towards the defensive structure. A pair of the guards run ahead while the others move to guard their captain and flank your group. They seem friendly enough and more relaxed but still vigilant and alert of any actions you take

You are allowed inside the outer walls and asked to rest a moment in a small courtyard while the chief.

An elderly but still strong gnome, accompanied by the captain and a couple guards joins you before inviting you into the main hall to talk. Introducing himself to your group he comments on your arrival So I hear you are exploring and looking for trade routes. Seems to be a bit of an effort to get up here if you have to use flying. I can see the appeal for adventuring but trade, might be hard.

I can write a letter of introduction and provide a few small samples for you to send to your people. Perhaps that will help with both sides gaining an understanding of what the other has to offer. He asks more questions about the resources that could be traded for as talks a bit about the logistics of the trade arrangements before being called away to resolve a local issue. He leaves you in the care of the captain for the rest of the day, promises lodgings for the night and to talk again after the evening meal.

Captain Klixinigian asserts that the griffin riders are welcome to the area but suggest having them land outside the valley to avoid potential misunderstandings until a better understanding and arrangements can be made. While the village does have some trained hounds of considerable size that the scouts use he is interested in the prospect of flying mounts though possibly something smaller than a griffin he muses and wonders at the possibility of hiring your team and the griffins to help with securing some giant eagle eggs.

Klix guides you back out of the small stronghold. The rest of the building is built for people of gnomish stature but the hall you talked with Longhelm in was build tall enough for any of the races of the people you have heard of. Once outside he offers to show you around the valley or take you to the scout station to talk with their leader as they are more familiar with the area around the valley.

We definately should.

agreed!

After getting some food and rest you feel pretty good but are realizing that the higher elevations the gnomes live at are quite cool in the evenings and down right frigid at night. So you offer to handle mapping more of the lower reaches for them. This should also make future trade easier with a well known trade route. The next day you are escorted from the valley by a couple of the gnomish rangers. They often ride on mountain goats as they roam the surrounding area but to make it easier the two that accompany you go on foot for after you all get a ride to the edge of the well known area to one side of the path you took to get up here from the ravine.

This section of the mountains is much rougher and the scouts comment that even the goats have trouble with some of the gaps and cliff faces in the area. Fortunately both of the gnomes brough extra rope and climbing gear should you need to descend.



The hiking is rough and you all begin to feel the strain of the steep slopes on your legs and are grateful when you stop on a bed of needles from some highland trees. As the scouts are updating the map you review what you have leaned. So far there have only been signs of small animals though you are positive larger ones are about as well. You have been heading towards a river that cuts through these mountains. The gnomes located it years ago but have not had cause to thoroughly investigate the region. But now with the extra manpower your group represents they are eager to learn more. A water supply is more likely to attract a variety of creatures. They are not interested in facing off but would like to know what might lurk here as bad seasons can often cause shifts in hunting ranges or even migrations.

After lunch you set out again and by late afternoon you can spot the river cutting through a prominent cliff and falling to run through the bottom of a large valley. The gnomish scout say they have avoided the valley so do not know what to expect down in it. They can either ranger ahead or to either side of your party as you make your way down into and explore the valley. Thick woods cover much of the lower reaches of the valley but the higher slopes could hold many caves with unknown beasts or monsters within. The scouts indicate that you do not need to find and defeat anything and hope that sign of whatever lives here can easily be found near the river but are open to your own ideas for how to explore the valley.

I'm back

You make it down the cliff without incident though those on guard do notice a small flock of some kind drift your way before dissapearing behind one of the surrounding peaks. Down in the valley you begin your exploration.

The main features of the valley are the rocky walls, the thick forrest, and river. The edges of the valley are strewn wiht bolders and rough rocky formations with plenty of caves and crevices. The woods are thin at the higher edges but get thicker with only ocasional glades or clearing. The river enters the valley as a waterfall, creating an contant rumble with ocasional whisps of mist blown throughout the valley as the strong highland winds snatch it from the cloud surrounding the waterfall base.
The river runs through the woods, till it exits at the low end of the valley.

The scouts are most interested in the woods but express concerns about the possibility of creatures lairing within the caves along the valley edges. They suggest moving along the edges of the woods and rocky valley perimiter hoping to survey both regions.

Let me know where you would like to explore. As usual add detail and rolls as appropriate.

The party explores the valley the rest of the day and into the next with the scouts, noting several potential hazards. At the base of the valley where the river flows out of it you follow a pass that leads to a broader valley which you traverse on your own as the scouts head back to their town. By this point in time it is close to when you expect Magian to return so you head back towards where you were dropped off.