Thankfully, this body remains in repose and does not stir when you draw close.
The parchment is, evidently, a final message from the deceased, written in small, carefully inked dwarven letters.
His other hand appears likewise clenched around something, but uncurling his rigid fingers leaves only the remnants of a broken vial - shards of glass and bits of tin fittings - falling to the ground.
Instinctively bending down to examine the fallen shards, Dugan discovers a small patch of fungus growing on the underside of the table - including a single healthy sprout of Ironbloom, nourished from the iron bindings on the sturdy table.
Lastly, investigating the body also reveals something tucked into his smithy apron - a light, silver hammer bearing unusual dwarven iconography on its head.
"Isn't that a symbol of Droskar, the dwarven forge god of suffering and toil... there's a mystery here to be uncovered but that may well be best for another day."
Great, a holy place that fell into darkness.
”Is it? Maybe this place was always a refuge for Droskar’s followers. And that’s why it is hidden in these woods. I’d like to know more...but Inconnu is right. We have another mushroom! And there are people who will die without it.”
The sun reaches its midday meridian as the party emerges from the monastery.
With all the components gathered for Laurel to create a cure, the question now is how the party will return to town to deliver them.
"Is it best to go back along the route here or take a more hazardous but more direct route? I'd rather make the best time."
Milon meets the party at the monastery gates, the firefoot fox following behind.
"There's no direct route that doesn't cross the Darkmoon River, and that's a deadly swim. There aren't many salmon fishers who regularly ply the river, so hoping for a ride could be a risky gamble. But...there's actually a couple trails, remnants of ancient dwarf roads, that run south and west, along the rivers."
Milon bends down to sketch a rough map in the dirt outside the monastery's crumbling walls.
"One of those trails picks up pretty close to here. It's been a while, but we should be able to follow it to the Darkmoon River's north bank. Another trail runs westward - used by prospectors, hunters, and the like - to where the Darkmoon flows into the River Foam. There we can ford the Darkmoon and follow the more regularly traveled road from Cheliax all the way back to the Hollow."
Milon stands and wipes the dirt from his hands, then offers a sigh.
"There's just one problem with that route: picking up that trail here in the woods takes us awful close to Raseri Kanton."
'Who is Raseri Kanton?'
"Raseri isn't a who; it's a where. It's a much larger set of ruins, south and west of this monastery. I don't know much about it. I only know the name because I met a passing Pathfinder at the Gold Falls Inn upriver a couple years back, and she told me about it. What I do know is that it's one of the more dangerous spots in these woods."
Seven centuries ago, though, the city was utterly destroyed during the Rending, a time of volcanic and seismic cataclysm that decimated Tar Khadurrm. Supposedly, the earth opened directly beneath Raseri Kanton and swallowed most of the city.
Milon shakes his head, frustrated.
"It could be dangerous, but it's still the fastest, surest way back to town. Fortunately, we don't have to enter the ruins - just pass near them on the ancient road."
'Sounds like we should be alright if we give them a wide berth. I'd like to know where they're at personally, so, I don't mind.'
"That sounds like a plan." Now they were out of immediate danger Inconnu's mind starts to wonder about how things were going back in town and worries.
"Well, we're not out of winter yet," Milon rues, looking at the clouded sky. "So I figure we have six hours of light left, if we're lucky. We're about three miles from the old road. If we keep a good pace, we can be out of the woods by nightfall, and back in town by this time tomorrow. Let's not tarry. My nephew is one of the folks counting on us."
'I hope you're smart enough to stay away from trappers when we get closer to town' Dugan says to the fox as he feeds it another small piece of dried meat and gestures for Milon to lead the way.
Milon leads the party westward, through a stretch of forest where the trees are more sparse among the rocky outcroppings of the mountain's foothills.
Cresting one last rocky rise topped with gorse, at the bottom of the hill you see the ancient, weed-choked remains of the dwarven highway.
From this vantage point, you can also espy what must be Raseri Kanton, perhaps a mile and a half away.
Tree and scrub-thronged ruins cluster along a cleft in the land itself, where the ground falls away into a gray chasm.
Following the highway as it curves southward, you begin to encounter the shells of buildings that once marked the old city's outskirts.
Creepers cloak the crumbling stone walls, and moss wraps the abandoned foundations like living burial shrouds.
A murder of crows takes wing from their perch atop a fallen roadhouse as you approach, and the sounds of the surrounding forest grow silent.
Ulark stared in open mouthed wonder at the ruins. "This used to be a city! Can you all believe it? A city, here? Amazing!"
Inconnu put's his hand on Ulark's shoulder "We can't stay too long even at the edge remember what Mivon said about this place. But seeing as it's caught your imagination let me tell you some more. Raseri Kanton was the capital of the old dwarven Kingdom of Tar Khadurrm. It was laid low during the Rending, the earth itself swallowing most of the city, or so the legends say."
"Undead still hold claim to the city, long ago the living left well enough be. But I've heard tell of tales Fey fighting them, I'd rather not get caught up in any renewed conflicts."
"Amazing! So that's why the temple was there. To think, that this was a capital of...undead be damned. After we return with these mushrooms, I'll need to come back here some day to see these ruins properly."
'Where'd the undead come from? I thought they were dwarves?'
As the road begins to curve, moving away from the ruins and back towards the river, you discover a building not covered by wild growth.
It appears to be a roadside chapel dedicated to Abadar.
While someone has been pruning back the ivy and moss, the building has not escaped the ages unscathed. The iconography is all but effaced, and the walls show extensive weathering.
Much to your surprise, as you approach the chapel, a priest clad in full vestments of silver and gold emerges from the cracked doorway.
"Welcome, friends!" he calls jovially. "It's seldom that I see travelers so close to this forsaken place. Would you like to stop a moment and rest. I may not have much, but what I have is yours to ease your travels."
Much of the damage to this building is unnatural.
Rather than the effect of an earthquake or weathering, someone has thoroughly smashed the images of the Golden Key and other holy symbols from the building, and the walls have been gouged as though by chisels or claws.
Additionally, you notice that while this priest wears the silver and gold colors of Abadar, he does not openly display the holy symbol of the Golden Key.
"Indeed some of them may be undead dwarves, a dwarf can be turned to a zombie the same as a human. I've heard a variety of tales that might answer that but all are dubious at best. It could be that the means of their death and lack of proper burial prevented their final rest. Or perhaps something more malevolent, a necromancer or fel power casting their influence over the area for inscrutable reasons."
Seeing the strange figure Inconnu rests his hand on the hilt of his blade. "Fine vestsments fit for a Priest of Abadar... but someone has removed his mark from this place. An accursed place and a stranger clothed in false vestments. Show us one token of devotion to Abadar unmarred by the destruction of this place, until you do so and prove the corruption of this place does not extend to your own veins."
Dugan seems confused by the whole concept of people turning into undead. He gets a concerned look on his face at the mention of unburied dead returning as creatures of the night.
'Well, I hope there's someone to put me in the dirt when I fall.'
Dugan looks from the priest to Inconnu and back to the priest, not entirely sure what's going on.
"Let's calm down here. I'm not sure what's going on, but we've all just met. Let's not do anything that anybody regrets..."
Ulark and Dugan detect a whiff of dust and old dirt but attribute it to the nearby ruins.
However, Inconnu and Joanne briefly glimpse something else.
Momentarily, his vestments appear tattered and soiled. The skin is yellowed and taut across his sallow face and bony hands. His withered, disjointed jaw hangs open in a silent scream.
The vision fades and again the priest appears hale and healthy before you,
The priest takes a step back, looking a bit befuddled by Inconnu's accusations.
"Young man, you wound me. I merely left my talisman inside the chapel. I am getting forgetful in my old age as I hold vigil over this forsaken tomb city."
"Which has been calculatingly desecrated, the damage to this chapel is not natural. You're true nature shines forth for those with the eyes to see it. Watch carefully and you will see, don't trust him." Inconnu readies his shield.
”Wait! Wait. Are we sure about this? Let’s be reasonable. How about we go into the temple, he keeps his hands where we can see them, and he gets the holy symbol. That way we can all be sure.”
Dugan takes a few steps back and readies his shield. His free hand moves to his axe, unsure who is in the right.
'He don't seem so bad...' he says uncertainly.
"I saw it as well, Inconnu."
The priest shakes his head with a scowl.
"Fine. Be on your way then! Leave me in peace, you ruffians!"
With a dismissive wave of his hand, he withdraws back into the shadowy interior of the chapel.
"I told you Dugan, the dead walk this place. But they can be more cunning than many would believe. Poisoned food given with a smile, a knife in the dark veiled by the promise of shelter, or merely luring us into an ambush." He peers into the shadows where the creature has withdrawn "Let's be gone from this cursed ground, we have matters of import."
'He didn't look so dead, un or otherwise. Seemed a rather nice fella' Dugan says with a shrug.
Beyond the sliver illuminated by the sunlight piercing the open door, Inconnu can distinguish little among the shadows clinging to the rest of the chapel's dilapidated interior.
The altar at the back has been smashed into little more than chunks of rubble.
The windows have been blocked with slabs of stone and withered boards.
Most ominously, a narrow but deep crevice yawns open along the floor in place of the center aisle.
Of the priest, there is no trace.
"Whatever the truth, I doubt we'll find welcome here," Milon growls. "We'd best continue before some new sinister mystery crawls out of these ruins."
"Let's go and hope you'll always have the comfort of thinking that Dugan." Inconnu continues on his way towards town.
The party presses on, following the ancient dwarven highway southward.
As you put the ruined city further behind you, the sounds of the living forest return.
After five miles of travel, the trees part like a curtain and reveal the Darkmoon River flowing at the bottom of a steep embankment.
The trail splits into a crossroads, marked by an ancient waystone etched with runes.
Back the way you came, it highlights Raseri Kanton and someplace called Jernashall beyond that.
To the west, it names Fort Goldmist.
From here, the neglected road runs east and west along the river's curve.
As Milon reiterates that the river crossing back to town lies westward, you notice someone lying beside the river.
At first you take him to be a traveler resting in the shadow of a moss and root-wreathed ledge, but upon close inspection you discover that he is dead.
Clad in leather armor and with a sheathed sword still at his hip, this half-elf appears to have died of a brutal head wound.
A bulky sack sits on the riverbank beside him.
'It doesn't look like he drowned, wonder what he was doing down here by the river.'
Dugan approaches the body and prods it with his earth breaker before setting to checking the body of anything of use, leaving the sack for his companions.
"More importantly, I wonder what killed him. And if it is still around."
Ulark followed behind Dugan, looking about warily.
Dugan turns over the body to reveal that this traveler, likely another adventurer, died of a severe blow to the head.
In fact, this half-elf had his skull practically caved in.
His equipment is not of a common sort. His armor and sword are both exceptionally well-made.
The pouch on his belt bulges with coins, but they are not of the mint you are used to. Rather than ordinary Andoran gold sails or Chelish silver shields, these coins bear hammers and ancient dwarven faces.
A traveling pack sits open, leaning against the ridge.
The fox sticks its snout inside and fishes out some of the food stored inside, knocking over a canteen and spilling a splash of water onto a nearby bedroll.
The sack remains tied shut, though Ulark can see splatters of gore and bits of brain staining the burlap.
Dugan checks the quality of the longsword and smiles at it's manufacture. 'Won't be needing this anymore' He says to himself as he staps the sword on.
'Anyone want his armor? Figure we can split up his coin. None of it did him any good.' Dugan removes the armor from the corpse as he talks.
"My armour has kept me alive so far in spite of this forest... but my main weapon is a long sword but and although you carry several weapons, you seem to favour the earthbreaker. Perhaps I can persuade you to allow let me wield this fine blade. I know I'm not back to my old self just yet but I am gradually getting better." Inconnu offers Dugan a smile as a poor compensation.
"As much as I'd like some armour, it would need to be modified to fit me, and I've very used armour before."
Milon slides down to the river bank to examine the body.
"I think I recognize the dead fellow - barely - though I don't know his name. He passed through town from Olfden, asking about Raseri Kanton. Word was he traveled upriver and took a room at the Gold Falls, intending to search the ruins for treasure."
The woodsman nudges the burlap sack with the worn toe of his boot.
"Definitely ain't another body, so I reckon it's more of his loot. From the looks of it...someone brained him with his own sack of riches."
Dugan eyes Inconnu up and down before handing over the sword. 'It's a pretty blade...' He says wistfully.
'Think that churchman back there clobbered him?'
"Thank you Duggan but I'm not certain. These forests hold many dangers. Under normal circumstances I'd suggest we stop and bury him... but he'll have to wait."
'We could take him back to town, maybe bury him there after we've delivered what we've found?'
"I'll leave that to you folks. I didn't come along on this adventure to haul corpses," Milon says, shaking his head.
"Are you leaving this sack behind?" he asks, nudging it one last time with his foot. "I wouldn't mind taking home something that could pay for some fun at the Rouge Lady."
'I'll haul the poor sod, he won't slow me down much. Give me a few minutes to get a litter together. And no use letting all that go to waste, let's bring it along.' Dugan begins collecting branches to assemble a litter to haul the body on.
As Dugan collects supple branches to transport the body, Milon picks up the sack and begins to untie the twine sealing it closed.
With a load, gasping grunt, though, he quickly drops the sack with a heavy thud on the clay-lined riverside.
"Something's moving inside that thing!" he shouts, backing away from the brown lump on the ground.
Indeed - as you look, something small its thrashing around inside the sack, trying to break free.
Dugan looks up from his work at the alarmed shout. He carries over what he's managed to gather so far and drops them near the sack. 'You want me to hit it with my hammer?'
Ulark smiled. ”Let’s see what’s inside. And I suppose we’ll share anything that isn’t dangerous to our health. Cover me while I open it...”
Dugan nods and stands over the sack as Ulark moves to open it, earth breaker ready to crush any dangerous creatures that might emerge.
Inconnu readies his sword and shield, ready to strike at any dangerous creature coming from the sack.