"Oh, there's plenty of dwarves who'd work here, but with things as they are, it's not safe. There'll be no more mining in Volund's name until the mountain is purified."
Varden follows Nayce's look. "It all works," he says proudly. "Centuries old and could have been built yesterday. Good craftsmanship, y'see."
Rabscuttle suddenly sits down and opens his chest plate, extracting three interlinked bits of mechanism and handing them to the assassin.
"Gifts to put the kettle on with."
Varden takes the old gearforged by the hand. "You'd best come back with me, old chap. I don't think these good people will need our help while they commune with the Forge, hmm?"
He turns to the group.
"I'm not privy to the ways of the Silent Masters, but the word is that they want to meet with you. Discreetly. It goes against the grain to ask for outside help, so don't expect a lot of gushing and mollycoddling from them. It's up to you to find a way in."
Varden leaves, taking Rabscuttle with him, while Quillan gazes at Volund's ancestral forging place.
Immersing himself in the imagery of the room, Quillan sees the the symbols of Volund and those of the Silent Masters seeking to invoke his aid are closely intertwined. The longer he looks, the more sure his is that the clue to finding the Silent Masters lies close at hand. His brief examination of old Rabscuttle's gearworkings takes on a new significance.
Around him, the chamber waits expectantly.
"I've heard tales of hidden paths being opened by sacrifices by the faithful. A short prayer should be enough to prove our faith. Judging by these carvings, ten gold pieces should be sufficient." Isari takes ten gold pieces out of his coin-purse and hefts them in his hand. "Now, do any of you know the proper prayers?"
As the last pieces of gold slide into the lava and the prayers to Volund rise, a secret door reveals itself.
Smoothly and entirely silently, the wall folds back, leading the way into an ancient carved chamber of unrivalled workmanship. Pair after pair of pillars reach upward to the ceiling high above. Covering every surface - even the floor - are the same esoteric symbols you have seen in the upper halls and the Forge of the Fire Blessing.
A figure in maroon robes, trimmed in embroidered gold greets you. He nods in welcome and extends a hand to the far wall where a featureless orichalcum door gleams. At his approach, the door splits into four quadrants and slides open, revealing a hidden temple. As before, every available surface is marked by the increasingly familiar esoteric symbols and the floor is decorated with a mosaic showing dwarf priests of Volund carrying a sacred hammer across a forge and then using it to strike an anvil. At the far end of the temple, three more dwarven robed figures await.
The most imposing of the three speaks.
"Thank you, Silent Brother Bradobaraxas."
There is a slight pause and then - "I am the Most Silent Master Caradlather and these are Illuminated Sister Jorunn and Paracelix Zhedan. We are in need of help."
In the silence that follows, Caradlather seems to feel that more explanation is necessary, the words emerging with obvious reluctance.
"The Sanctum of Assaying is too great a challenge for us. We are few in number and dare not risk the destruction of the entire order. If you undertake this for us, you will not be unrewarded."
Caradlather comes as close as you've yet seen him to approval at Rusty's words.
"The Sanctum of Assaying was devised long ago to guard the Teardrop. Puzzle doors were created to prevent intruders entering and alas, over the many centuries since their creation, knowledge of their workings has been lost.
They were created by a master craftsman, Bartholomeus and they are a mystery to us, although we can set you on your way through the first set of doors. Thereafter, I do not know. The tests will surely seek to winnow the pure of heart from the corrupted and greedy, for that is the great gift of the Teardrop."
Dorvin knows very little more. Bartholomeus was a legendary dwarf craftsman supposedly responsible for many wonders. His name is associated with mechanical devices of all kinds, so cleverly made that they seemed to have sentience. It makes perfect sense that he constructed the Sanctum of Assaying in honour of his teacher, Volund.
Jorunn Flintknapper speaks, her tone holding a certain urgency. "All our researches tell us that the time is now. Mammon rises. The curse of the mountain will spread uncontrollably and there are so few of us. So very few."
Insight DC15
"He was strong in his belief." Jorunn pauses for a moment, unable to find words to express herself.
Caradlather comes to her rescue.
"If you're aiding us, you are owed some honesty as a token of good faith. It's our belief that Brother Flintknapper was trying to prevent more orichalcum returning to the mountain. The stuff is cursed and better out of greedy hands."
"It was not our finest hour, but his intentions were good. Those that died went quickly," adds Bandobraxas.
"And their fate is nothing to the one the world faces if Mammon breaks free," concludes Caradlather. Sister Jorunn manages a brusque nod of confirmation.
Anxious to change the subject, Caradlather looks hard at you. "If you five are prepared to venture into the Sanctum of Assaying to retrieve the Eye of Grajava, Brother Bandobraxas will lead you to the door."
Taking silence for consent, Bandobraxas leads the way out of the chamber and through the remarkably worked orichalcum doors.
Here a further chamber adorned with metal relief decoration greets you, and in the middle of the far wall, yet another door of elaborate design and construction.
"We have never penetrated its secrets. The work of Bartholomeus remains a mystery, lost to the ages."
As he leaves, the dwarf adds quietly, "I hope you can succeed. The corruption of the mountain runs very deep and we are so few now."