Catacombs cleared... and a new quest.

We found a treasure chest containing 2260 gold, 400 silver, and two potions. As we walked through the ruins of the catacombs, in one room we walked past a defaced and broken altar, and saw some movement from behind it. I saw Treble reach for his dagger, but fortunately before he threw it he noticed that the shadow there was a warforged, lying with his back against the massive throne in the room. We could see the gears moving in the poor soul's head, and it was clear that something was not right. Some of the gears were missing teeth; obviously he had met with a match greater than he could face alone.

He spoke in a weak voice, telling us he was beyond help. As he spoke, Elaira healed him, and we could hear more strength in his voice. He said that he was from House Sivis, and that his name was Reader Thrane. He said he was from the House of Scribing, brought here to help decipher the dragonmarks detailling the Prophecy of the world. When we inquired about what he had learned from the dragonmarks, he looked a little confused for a moment, as he tried to regain his bearings. He said that he didn't know what the dragonmarks said; that he was acting as a servant of the gnomes of the same House; and that when he quit helping them, they took the information card from him and hurt him.

I wish we had gotten here sooner so that we could help him fight against those who attacked him, but the only thing we can help him for now is to ensure that justice is served. Reader told us that he quit helping because of Nym, the leader of the group deciphering the dragonmarks. He said he saw Nym consorting with goblins and talking to a known enemy of House Sivis, and a member of House Thuranni--an assassin. From this he learned that the assassin's mission was sanctioned by his House, and he decided not to aid the perpetrator of the treachery any longer.

At that point, he looked around, and focused his gaze on Keh'r with surprise evident on his face. He said that he remembered seeing another man of fire like Keh'r... one of Keh'r's kind... in his vision of the dragonmark. This comment really spurred Keh'r into action, and he said he wanted to start by finding the gnome that had gotten away, in case he had been among the group that took the information from Reader. Reader found a wand, and volunteered to join us. He said if he could make it to his main House, that they would take him back and he could relay to them the information about Nym's betrayal.

So we scouted the rest of the catacombs, looking for the gnome and the rest of the treasures we were to find, and of course to find Adronsias as well. In the whirlpool room, we saw a picture of the symbol of the Silver Flame on the floor, and there was a mechanism that activated the emblem to glow with radiant energy. Horadric just wandered right into it, but nothing happened. It was a trap, but not one meant for us, and Keh'r and Elaira ascertained that it affected only undead.

We entered another room, with a deep scrying pool and a(n apparently nonmagical) face carved into the wall. As Keh'r approached the middle of the room, he felt the floor shift, and all the doors closed, trapping us in there. There was no response when Elaira talked to the face (and while I'm sure she felt silly talking to a stone face, you just never know with those arcane arts what might happen). Keh'r waded into the water, and as the pool rippled we could see a picture of the throne room we had just left, and it was empty. Apparently, however, he had stood on a pressure plate and the mouth on the face dropped down and water came pouring out, fast. Treble worked double-time trying to unlock the three locks on the door behind him, and Shamash helped; meanwhile Rhogar and I had gone to use brute force on the other door in the room and succeeded in making only a small hole in it. As we worked, waist-deep in water, we could see the picture in the scrying pool change to display the room with the silver flame emblem. We were able to see then that the pool's scrying was activated by ripples in the water. Keh'r saw a chest in the water, with chains on it, 30 feet down. He swam down to try to get it, but found it chained to the floor at the bottom of the pool. Elaira was studying the scrying pool, and she saw a gnome go into the flame room. She pointed him out to us, and Reader told us that it was Nym, as we watched him cross the room and go out the opposite door. Shortly thereafter, Rhogar could see him through the hole we had punched in the door where we were, and Nym looked more than a little surprised to be suddenly covered with acidic dragonborn bile... that is, until he disappeared at least. This time we had lost him for sure.

Meanwhile, the room was still filling with water. I checked out the drains and noticed that they had been sealed by the trap when it was activated and were now covered by a metal sheet. I'm not much for finesse so I just started whacking on it with my flail. Elaira told us she could see in the scrying pool a shadowy figure looting all the recesses along the walls in one of the rooms of their treasure. With renewed vigor, Rhogar burst through the door. By now the water had risen enough that it began pouring out of the doors. As Rhogar got out, he saw a goblin who froze upon seeing him. Shamash used his wand to kill it.

Finally I busted the drain and the water started to subside. In the meanwhile, Keh'r was still struggling with the treasure, and enlisted Treble's help to teleport it out of the water. As they managed to bring the chest up, I smashed the rest of the drains so that the water all drained out more quickly. Rhogar and Shamash had managed to find a blanket--a protective shroud--among the recesses. Inside the chest, we found 14 platinum pieces, and about 5000 silver. The scrying pool then showed an image of a dwarf tied up... almost certainly Adronsias, and he was still alive!

I used my tracking skills to follow Nym's blood trail to the entrance of the catacombs, but after that the trail ended again. We listened carefully, but could not hear him, either. Definitely lost him. Rhogar placed the shroud over Kartenix's body, and carried it to the foyer, where we left it as we went to search for Adronsias. We entered the van Jallach tombs, where we found a room with a square of runes on the floor. Horadric examined the runes, proclaiming that they spelled "van Jallach" in wizard's script. Keh'r touched them, and said he felt a little lightning jolt. Otherwise, they seemed to be harmless and we avoided them anyway as we proceeded to the next area, where we encountered Adronsias. Immediately I untied him and Rhogar healed him, and we gave him a moment to collect himself before we asked him about the things he had seen. He said he had seen some gnomes a few days ago, but none since then. He said he did know of a fancy-type stone of some sort that Reader could use to call his House. He said he would show us a speaking rock in the woods after we were finished with our business in Brindol.

We found the rest of the treasures from the Hall of Great Valor, so we took them back to Brindol and took Kartenix's body to the Temple of the Silver Flame. Councillor Troyas seemed very pleased with the resolution we provided, and gave us 500 gold for completion, as promised. (But the best part was the meal he provided to us. I could eat there every day. We sure never had food like that back home.) We also examined our shroud, and found it to be a Shroud of Revival. The others agreed that I should be the one to carry it for now. We went back to Derrick's shop to buy potions of healing to stock us up for the journey ahead.

After that, we followed Adronsias to the woods, and he led the way to the speaking stone. He showed Reader how to use it to call his House in Korranberg, in Zilargo. Reader used the rock, and it was really somewhat amazing to see how he could use a rock to talk to someone so far away. I can see how something like that would be useful. After he was finished, Reader told us that he made us an appointment with his House, and that he learned that Nym was not there.

We rested and went to board the lightning rail to take us to Zilargo. I will have to check the map to see if Warden Keep is along the way, so that I might deliver the message I have for Aelwyn if time permits.