Hiking Trip (25-26 Patchwall 586 OY, 9/6/99 RL) The next day they (Camen, Fingle, Jos, and Axel) went to the shipyard to get some things from the ship. There, Silver told them that repairs on the Dardak could take over 6 months with his current one shift per day, less if he managed to add more shifts. The party traded some rum for a mule named Jana, and set off to explore Miraburg.

At the pile of masonry they explored earlier, they managed to uncover and copy the engraved map of the asteroid without injury, although the giant centipede that poisoned Axel the previous time got away. Afterwards, Fingle detonated the block, destroying the stone map. Deciphering the elven map, they left the "Steading of Cor" and headed to a nearby location on the asteroid's edge marked "Earundir's Landing." There they found a 90 foot square stone foundation. Some distance away they found a ring of building stones that they deduced to be a circular wall. Bored with looking for rocks, Fingle wandered away and got lost, but claimed to have met a talking owl named Dooloo who redirected him to the excavation/camp. The party spent the night there.

The next day, they headed into the highlands of the "topside" to visit a spot called the "Tower of Wizard-Sage" on the map. All that remained there was a 30' spire of rock with a few blocks on top and a narrow door-like opening near the top of the rock. Axel and Fingle clambered up the shear cliff, lowered a rope, and searched the top. Camen went up the rope and entered the shadowed cellar. As he did, a ghostly vapor emerged and assaulted him. He fled, but the apparition pursued and poured into his mouth and ears, and he fell unconscious. The others bound him to a stretcher. When he awoke, it soon became apparent that he had been possessed, claiming to be Earundir. He promised to do no harm, but insisted he had to visit "Hilldale" immediately.

Eventually they made their way back to Earundir's Landing, then across the gravity plane to Miraburg's "backside." Although it was night time there, a nearby asteroid reflected much light, making it almost like day time. Camen/Earundir leading, they followed a half-overgrown, stone-paved road up into the backside highlands. At one point on the road they encountered a group of large, ferret-like creatures eating an extremely large snake, but the creatures ran away. A half-mile from Hilldale, they were blocked by a river. Camen/Earundir took off his armor and left the party's non-swimmers behind. As he reached the ruined town, the possession wore off. Camen found himself holding a bit of paper covered with something he had written, although he could not understand a word of it. Once the others caught up, Axel translated, finding it to be a letter of warning about a horn of some kind.

The town contained some buildings, all gone except for some walls, a deep-stone well, and a descending staircase in one building. The floor of the well, 30' down, was entirely bones of some kind of humanoid creatures. Many were scratched, and some were broken. The PCs removed all the bones, but found nothing but a dirt floor some 5' below the bones.

They then descended the stairs. They went down about 15' and leveled out into a short corridor leading to a chamber. As they were entering the chamber, they were attacked by a huge creature, like a lion covered in brass scales. Despite its size and deafening roar, they managed to defeat it with only a few injuries. Axel skinned it while the others rested. The chamber contained a silk sack with some coins and scroll tubes and two locked doors. Fingle used his powers to dissolve the hinges on one door. As it collapsed into the corridor beyond, a door there opened, and weapon wielding skeletons ran out.
 
Last modified: Wed Jul 21 17:03:54 MDT