Due to a majority of complaints about pulled muscles and discomfort, Vallen invokes the power of Torag to mend their bodies. He nods in affirmation to Gair, but tilts his head over to Manari. "She deserves some praise too, did you see that shot near the end? An arrow right through that Kuru's heart! I can barely hit a boulder at 10 yards with my crossbow."
Vallen nods to Kal'tos, gesturing as he inspects the ring. "Aye, Kal'tos, that makes the most sense, given how... ancient... the motifs seem, despite the age of this place. Also, take a look at this ring, Kal'tos. It looks quite expensive... could you see if it has any magical auras?"
The dwarf looks down the hallway opposite where the Kuru came from, the darkness swallowing even his darkvision. "It's possible, Cueta. I hate having that tunnel behind us... but Gair is right, we need to ensure this island is purged." He grins at the Mwangi, beginning to walk with the rest, lifting his shield high for light. "Bugbears like heads on a plate... dwarves love fortresses. If they're anything like the dwarves of Highhelm, why, they'd throw us a feast!"
Looking behind him as they move in the direction the kuru came from, he looks behind them and frowns. "What in the abyss are we going to do with all those kuru bodies? Do you realize we just killed around a dozen of them?"
Gair grunts, glancing behind them, "Their numbers were not lots on me. I'm inclined to believe we have weathered the heaviest of their resistance, at least in terms of numbers. It will take some time but we should be able to dump the bodies down the tunnel we can in through and toss the lot of them in the sea."
Ben makes sure to take time and make sure of everyone of the Kuru. Running the slender blade of his rapier between the ribs to pierce the heart. I don't suppose there is much reason to try and be sneaky now is there? He says to the tall northman walking beside him.
Gair frowns, "We enjoyed our surprise while it lasted but any more we encounter are likely to be on their guard. Though with luck they will assume their champion was at least able to delay us longer."
Once everyone seems mostly healed Kal'Tos will continue to advance.
"now that they know we are here speed will be our friend. Let us overwhelm the rest before they can establish themselves."
The corridor continues another two hundred feet. While a few passages branch off, similar to the one you came in, they are blocked with rubble. It ends at a balcony looking down on a massive cavern. Light spills in from the entrance a quarter of a mile away, the massive gate that you saw earlier, and there is a modest harbor here. The main pier that thrusts out into the harbor ends with a huge, round structure that reaches to the roof of the cavern, and is likely the base of the tower you saw.
Stairs lead up from the waterfront to the main floor of the cavern, and from the main floor to the balcony that you stand on. The balcony wraps around three sides of the main floor, and you see two other passages similar to the one you are in, each about 200 yards from your position. Below, kuru campfires burn amidst the ruins of a dwarven town. There are a handful of young kuru milling around, but you see no sign of any warriors.
Kal'Tos looks around attempting to determine how many camp fires there are. He also looks for anything that might be a place to hold prisoners.
Six fires. Nothing leaps out as a place for prisoners, but most of the waterfront is out of sight, as well as the other hallways and the tower.
Gair is momentarily taken aback as they enter the massive cavern. His gaze sweeps from one side of the gaping space to the other, "Almost as though we're descending into Deep Tulgoth itself..."
Shaking his head, he crouches low on the balcony, gesturing at Ben and Vallen, speaking softly, "Cover your lights, with luck we will have some time before we are spotted. Our best chance of remaining unseen is to explore the other passageways from the overlook first."
Vallen's eyes sweep over the cavern, nodding his head in approval. The dwarves that constructed this place found an excellent site for a fortress. he grins, seeing the base of the tower jutting up from the pier. "Ah, so that's how they keep the tower from blowing over. These feats of engineering are reminiscent of what was lost to my dwarves after the Quest for Sky..." On Gair's suggestion, Vallen kneels down, whispering a few words to dispel the light surrounding his shield.
"Following your lead Gair. You're the raider. I want to take a closer look at that tower, though... I wonder what's in it?"
He frowns, spotting the young kuru milling about the camp. He wonders what will become of them, or if they will attack...
Ben obediently tucks the glowing stone into one of his belt pouches hiding the light from view. "About how many of these beasts would you say we have killed so far? There was the five we killed the during the storm, the five we ambushed on the beach, the one I killed in the tunnel, the four that were waiting for us outside the crapper, the seven we just fought, and the one cueta, and Kal'Tos killed on the first trip. That makes twenty-three. How do you think you all from the Harpy killed Manari? Ben asks turning to the elf.
Gair shrugs, "With luck we've dealt with most of their warriors. Don't forget the five that are still out searching."
He points to the tunnel 200 paces to the party's left, "Have to start somewhere, come on."
As they approach the entrance he looks at Ben, "Seems they are less organized than I'd thought. You're welcome to scout ahead. If not I'll take point with Ceuta."
"Well since we are not being charged by screaming hordes of kuru it might be a good idea for me to scout ahead a bit." Ben replies. " give me a minute to get aways ahead. I will come back if I find anything." Ben slips off into the gloom on silent feet.
While Ben slips off into the darkness, Cueta studies what she can see of the massive portcullis and pier, trying to discern how many ships the pier could berth, and if there is a means, hopefully operational, of getting the gate up and down.
A minute or so passes, and Cueta shoulders her bill. "Perhaps we should follow Ben now. Same marching order as before?"
Gair nods, "Lets go.", hefting his axe, the kellid begins moving down the passageway.
Kal'Tos stays at the back of the group. His new axe in one hand, his hammer secured across his back.
"I'd say we killed a dozen, altogether, before we reached the cave," Manari says.
As Vallen contemplates the reliefs that he saw he recalls that in ancient dwarven religious iconography, demons were often represented by the number nine.
The entire cavern is dimly lit from sunlight spilling in from the massive entrance, a quarter of a mile away. The dim light and distance make it impossible to make out any details of the gate's mechanism.
As Ben slips off into the gloom, the others wait. Ben makes his way around the balcony, silently, noting the place where the structure has weakened and slipping around the edge so as to avoid the 40' drop to the floor below. The walls along the balcony are covered with more bas-relief, depicting what would seem to be ordinary life in a dwarven harbor town, with massive galleys sailing in and out.
Cueta notices the same images, and guesses that the harbor of this island could manage one or possibly two of the huge craft. Dozens of rowboats and canoes could be handled, and perhaps four sailing ships the size of the Lillend, though two would have to have their masts lowered.
As they wait around for Ben, the dwarf's mind slowly turns about the relief they saw earlier. He snaps his fingers in recognition, and scowls. "Droskar's sweaty pits, I just remembered something. Ancient dwarven sculptures often depicted demons by the number nine. That nine-headed sea dragon... it could actually be a demon the dwarves were fighting. The lightning bear, though... Hmm.. I don't have enough pieces in this puzzle."
Vallen turns his attention to the newly discovered relief, his fingers tracing over the cut stone with professional curiosity. "I wonder where they got their fresh water from... Perhaps they collected rainwater..."
The finger appears to be human and the ring is of a style currently popular throughout the inner sea region.
"Dagon," Manari says. "I am almost sure of it. There are infinite demons, of course, but there is only one Shadow in the Sea. If these dwarves represent demons with nine heads, Dagon would be the likely choice."
After warning the others about the weak parts of the Balcony they are on Ben goes to explore the tunnel to the right of the one they entered the chamber through. He stays close to the wall so his figure wont show up against the dim light of the main cavern. When it gets too dark for him to see, he takes out the glowing rock and holds it in his left hand so most of its surface is covered by his hand.
Vallen's eyebrows raise as Manari chips in. "Dagon? The demon that rules over the oceans of the abyss? I think you're on to something Manari." The dwarf paces for a moment, contemplating. "I was thinking... that passage that leads down into the sea-tunnels... What if the kuru came up from it? They tend to worship demons, Dagon would be an obvious choice." He scratches his beard before pulling his hand back in revulsion. His beard still had dried blood in it, and the priest blanches momentarily. "Ugh. Disgusting. Uh.. So, what if these dwarves came from the sea tunnels in the quest for sky, and they had been battling the kuru for ages? It could be like the orcs with my dwarves... In any case, perhaps we shouldn't go down that tunnel..."
Vallen also takes a moment to show Manari the ruby ring, which he has taken to carrying. "Also, Manari, do you recognize this ring? It's clearly an Inner Sea style, and the finger it was on was human. It must have come from one of the members of the Harpy?"
Cueta tunes out the metaphysical talk going on around her until Manari mentions the Shadow in the Sea, at which point the Mwangi's ears perk up. "Manari, what is this Shadow in the Sea that you speak of?"
Gair follows 50 of so feet behind Ben, moving carefully in the dim light provided by Vallen behind him.
"To the tower, if they have any warriors of note left, they will most likely be there."
To the tower!
As you descend to the main floor, the children swarm at you, and after enough bites, you stop trying to play nice. The killing continues until all are dead or disabled, and you proceed to the to main pier which leads out to the base of the tower. Once, there had probably been a gate, but it is long since gone. Inside, there is a stairway that circles up and around. After ascending 100 feet, you come to a second gate, and a dramatic change of architectural style. The sturdy, imposing dwarven style is replaced by a more graceful, delicate design. Both Vallen and Kal'Tos are easily able to recognize the work of elven hands.
This gate has a rough, wooden door added, clearly the work of far more primitive hands than the dwarves or elves that built the rest of the place. The stair continues up beyond the door, and another 50 feet up, you find yourselves in a round chamber. You are at the top of the tower, under the onion-shaped dome. There are windows all around, allowing a panoramic view of the sea and the shoreline for miles. Ladders ascend to the dome, where shuttered skylights have endured for centuries.
The floor of the room is little more than a walkway around a hollow center that is full of water. The roof is divided by gutters that feed the center of the cistern that comprises the bulk of the tower. Both the windows and skylights are barred. In a rough cage suspended over the water are four women, three human, one elf, and two familiar to Cueta. Her sister Mellila and Lady Kralish.
"Strange that there is an elven tower in the centre of a dwarven fortress."
Kal'Tos looks around for how to lower the cage so it doesn't end up in the pool.
Perception check
Ben had little trouble fighting the children, probably because most of the were still taller and heavier than he was.
"I am glad we decided to come here. those poor women have been here for days. If we hadn't come they would still be at the mercy of those beast we killed downstairs." He says when they find the women. "Now we need to find a way to get them out of the cage with out droping them in the water. Do you recognize them from the Harpy Manari?"
Ben begins looking for a way to get to the cage and release the women.
Vallen nervously backs off as the children notice them, and begin to swarm in their direction. "Uh.. They don't look friendly." Cringing as they lunge at their front line, he bites his lip and finds himself studying the tower and gate water gate as Kal'tos delivers dwarven retribution with his new axe. Unable to keep his mind from the carnage, he briefly wonders what the smith of the weapon would think. Most dwarf smiths would be proud that a weapon could gain such a history.
As they ascend the tower, Vallen has his shield in one arm, glowing with light, and the other free, fingers running along the stone. He is visibly startled by the architectural change, furrowing his brow. "What? This is elf work, clear as a sun rod. Manari, look at this! There are elves here too! I thought the dome on the top was rather interesting, definitely elven flair now that I know. Lets get to the top, then I must study this building style."
Coming into the round dome, Vallen immediately looks upward to see the construction of the dome. He gasps, making out the form of the four women in the cage. "Look! There's four.. women up there!" He holds up his shield, directing the light for all to see. "This has been nothing but a good batch of flux, eh? Sorry I doubted you on this, Gair." He says to the Kellid, beginning to search for a way to get the women down with Kal'tos.
He notes the basin of water and the gutters, nodding and mumbling to himself. "I knew they collected rain-water. Brilliant design, a cistern-tower! Brilliant. But also very elf-like... Did the elves and dwarves work together on this, or did this come later. So many questions."
The cage hangs about ten feet over the surface of the water, suspended by rope of woven vines from the roof beams. Vallen ponders the problem and decides that the best bet for bringing the cage down would be to rig a system of ropes and pulleys that would bring it to the side while lowering it. He studies the problem and racks his brain trying to think where to find enough rope strong enough to hold several hundred pounds of cage as well as the four women.
As Vallen frowns in thought, Ben notices the cage has no roof, other than crossbeams that the rope is tied to.
"Mellila, Elisa Kralish, Balis and Thaliel," Manari murmurs. "They were all on the Harpy. We have to bring them down."
When the group makes the decent to the kuru camp, Cueta pauses at the steps down from the balcony. "I... I am sorry. I know what comes, and I can't be a part of it. I'll wait here until it is done." The Mwangi stays and tries to study the mural, but her mind wanders. Mother, you'll not get those souls.
When the sounds of the slaughter stop, Cueta makes her way down the balcony to the group, avoiding looking at the little corpses as they make their way up to the tower's stairs. Her mind again elsewhere, she barely registers the change in architecture and the murmers of her companions, walking as if in a fog up the stairs to the onion dome, where, once she registers the cage, Cueta stands in stunned silence, the fog surrounding her senses quickly burning itself off in a few seconds.
"Nwanne! Jide ka! Aga m unu!"
Pacing the water, stripping the hide shirt off and divesting herself of her weapons but her stone handaxe, she talks to her sister in polyglot, ready to jump in the water, the moment the cage comes down.
"Nwanne, m chere na m hụrụ gị Absalom, ma m kwenyesiri ike onwe m anya m na obi mgbawa decieved m n'obi. M were na ị bụ na Harpy. Njem mmiri bụ ihe ọjọọ anyị. M na Pegasus, na na Lillend. Anyị nso a dum oge. M ịhụ Lady Kralish ka jọrọ njọ dị ka mgbe .."
Vallen begins to stroke his beard, but once again realizes it still has dried blood on it. He fiddles with his bronze rings for a few moments, and then digs out his chalkboard and chalk from his backpack. He spends some time scowling at the board, then the cage, then the vines and beams, all the while drawing a picture of the scene.
"Goblin s&&@e. The rope we have is good for maybe a 500 pound load by itself. We would have to attach at least two ropes, three if we want to be safe, in a pulley system to lower them down at an angle. We've got what, 150 foot of rope and two pulleys with us? That could be enough." The dwarf says to no one in particular, before looking at Gair and Kal'tos.
"Why haven't they said anything? Cueta seems to know one of them, by the way she's acting." He murmurs back to Manari, taking a moment to see if he can understand anything Cueta is gibbering about before speaking upward. "I'm Vallen Silverclasp! We're here to help! How did the shark-teeth get you in that cage? We'll get you down!"
Cueta stops pacing and grabs her bill and then starts pacing again, this time circling the cistern, jabbing the bill into the cistern every few paces to judge its depth, all the while yammering away in polyglot to her sister about anything and everything that enters her mind. Hearing her name, she snaps her head back towards Vallen, and loudly says, "That's my sister gods damn it! I'm getting her down!"
The woman that must be Balis, an Ulfen woman, is the only one who moves, she looks down at the party with a blank look as Cueta calls out in Polyglot. When Vallen speaks, she blinks and then closes her eyes. Just when it seems as if she's fallen back to sleep, she points to the ladders that lead up to the skylights.
"They climbed up and over the rafters," she says, her voice hollow and hoarse. She nudges Melilla with her foot, and Cueta's sister stirs and looks down. She prods the elf and Lady Kralish. They wake too, but they move slowly, weakly. The Ulfen woman looks at Manari. "What of the others?"
"Only thirty survived. These were on the Laughing Lillend. We are building a town."
Melilla stares down at her sister for a long time.
"Gịnị mere na ị na-ahapụ m? she says.
Why did you leave me?
Cueta stops totally still as she hears her sister's voice, and then after a beat and the ulfen woman speaks, she grabs her pack and starts climbing the walls and then the rafters to get to the cage, talking to Melilla the whole way.
"Sister, ifuru, ịhụnanya, m na-eto eto ma na Ujo na ọ dịghị oge mgbede dị otú ahụ a na-eto eto n'obi na-eche echiche ma ọ bụ atụmatụ..."
"But the world is a strange place, flower, because if I never left I would be with you now in that cage, and I never would have gotten the skills to kill those sharkteethed demons and take you out of here, skills that took years to learn. So you see it had to be this way, flower - for me to go so that I may come back to you, and so please forgive me Melilla, please forgive me and let me take you to safety. Hold still a little while more. I have seen these heroes lift a boat up a cliff, they can get you down..."
Vallen flinches as Cueta yells at him, the priest holding up the palm of his free hand defensively. "Oh. Oh, well. Yes, we're going to get her down, but we have to be careful not to drop the cage in the cistern, they would drown- they look exhausted, I doubt the kuru have been taking care of them. Cueta, please, put your bill down, just... set it down."
After she finishes speaking to her sister and looks down for instruction, Vallen asks her "Cueta! Can you climb up and over the rafters, like she said?" He points to Balis. "Look for anything the Kuru used up there!"
"Right!Gair, you and I are going to have to go up there too. Vallen, Kal you stay down here with one end of a rope. Gair and I will take the other end and another rope up into the rafters. Cueta will get in the cage with the ladies. Cueta will tie the ropes around the women. Gair and I will pull them up out of the cage and then lower them down while the two of you pull them over to the side." Ben quickly explains as he divests himself of anything that will get in the way of climbing. "Does that sound like a workable plan?. Manari might be better at climbing than Gair but I think Gair is stronger. Bern and Manari can make sure nothing tries to eat us while we get everyone out of the cage."
"Ten years," is Melilla's reply to Cueta's words.
Ben's plan is put into effect quickly enough. Fifteen minutes later, the four women and the adventurers are safe on the side of the cistern. They are obviously weak from hunger, and have clearly been abused horribly. Given their condition, the fact that they can manage to smile and whisper thanks at all is impressive.
When everyone is safely removed from the cage, Vallen takes charge in tending to their wounds and malnourishment.
Grasping his holy symbol, Vallen pleads to Bolka to heal not only these women's bodies, but their souls and pride as well. A wave of positive energy flows through him to the women.
The dwarf takes out his mess kit, filling a mug with Torag's finest water, encouraging them to only take sips, while he feeds each half a biscuit from the Harpy to start with, then some nuts from his trail rations.
As the players explore the rest of the island, they discover several things of potential interest.
First is the surface of the island. This seems to have been largely ignored by the kuru, but there are several low stone walls and what you guess are orchards gone wild. These areas could be reclaimed as Gardens with no cost in Goods (only the 4 labor would be needed for each of the 6 plots.) But at least one person per plot would need to be on site, though they could be doing other things.
Second is the Tower. Should this island become a Settlement when we come to Kingdom Building, it will function as a Cistern, as well as a Watchtower AND an Observatory. In the downtime rules, it is an Observation Dome, a Guard Post and a Bell Tower.
Third is the Harbor. Effectively you have four Docks and four Storage. However, at the moment, these cannot generate any income, because the water entrance to the cavern is blocked. All these rooms (4 docks, 4 storage) are considered broken, and will need half the cost of construction to become functional again. This is a game mechanics expression of the problem of getting the gate open: Whoever cares to can work the problem, and the solution will come when the capital and gold is spent to repair all four docks. The gate is a centuries old mechanism designed by dwarves with demonic aid. It likely combines mechanical and magical aspects, and will require much study. I expect Horn'Tos will be on it like a dog on a bone, if he is able to spare the time.
Fourth is the dwarven town. The whole island represents a Settlement in the Kingdom Building system. It is a single district (though it is arranged in 3 dimensions, rather than the usual two) and the island cannot have further districts added to it. In addition to the Watchtower, Observatory and Cistern, there are the following buildings: Two smithies, two tenements, a pier (the harbor) four city walls (there are no actual city walls, but the island effectively produces the same effect) a sewer and a watergate. All need substantial repair, but can be made for half price, when we get macro enough for the Kingdom Building rules to kick in. There are also 29 available lots.
In Downtime terms, the following "rooms" exist: 2 forges, 8 bunks, 2 kitchens, 6 storage, 3 offices (each room will require 1 labor and 1 goods to clean out and get functional, and at least one person will be required to keep them working) as well as scraps and junk enough to provide 100 goods at no gp cost, though each will require an hours work to recover, and will suffer the usual transport issues, exacerbated by the fact that as of now, a sewer pipe is the only access. It will require a full hour for one character to move one goods to the beach using this. NPCs may also decide to reclaim goods for their own projects.
The two unexplored tunnels are similar to the long passage you came in through. They are several hundred feet long, twenty feet wide, and each lined with bas-relief. The lefthand passage you discovered already. The righthand passage tells the story of the construction of an enormous ziggurat (odd, the spell-check doesn't recognize that word) and at the end is a massive image of a crow-headed humanoid with four wings and nine poisonous snakes where his junk should be. The centermost passage is the most disturbing to the dwarves, as it is a twisted retelling of the Quest for the Sky, in which Torag transforms into a bear radiating nine bolts of lightning.
Manari is able to identify the winged creature as Pazuzu, a demon lord associated with flying things, and the bear as possibly Biyari, a demon of caves and storms often represented by a bear.
EDIT: The city walls will not need repair. They are solid, and the watergate will be made functional by repairing the docks.
That was the other thing: Starvation does non-lethal damage that becomes lethal damage when non-lethal damage=hit points. Normally, damage is healed by healing, but this sort of makes food irrelevant, as long as people gather round the channeling cleric every couple of days. As this makes one of the major foes of the campaign (hunger) irrelevant, I'm going to consider starvation damage to be beyond the reach of ordinary healing.
You can cure the hit point damage, making them less vulnerable to injury from other sources, but you can't fill the bellies, so I will track starvation damage separately. I hope this makes sense, and I have a vague notion that we've discussed this before.
Gair shouts at the feral Kuru children as they attack the others, kicking them back. He glances back behind him, his brow furrowed with concern, "They have no fear, the poison of these Kuru runs deep.", his shoulders slump visibly, however the next Kuru child to attack him is met with the northman's axe.
-----------
Entering the cistern, Gair grins to see the captives alive, if not well. He nods at Vallen's comment, "You should never apologize for a level head my friend.", he looks to the captive women, "Though sometimes you simply have to act regardless of the risk. This is a good day, there will be stories told of our conflict with these savages for as long as Newspring prospers."
Watching Ceuta talk to her sister, Gair waits as the others discuss the best way to remove the captives from the cage, his attention sharpening as Ben lays out his idea, he nods, taking the rope from his pack and divesting himself of his armor, "I can climb well enough little one. Hold on ladies, you will have your freedom soon enough."
Climbing into the rafters he moves swiftly, anchoring himself and lowering the rope to Ceuta. Soon enough the women are down.
Returning to the floor, Gair helps Vallen tend to the weary women, offering food, content to let them recover before asking any questions.
I really should drop her in the cistern. This is going to come back to hurt us.
When the opportunity presents itself, Cueta sidles up next to Ben, and nodding towards the Lady Kralish, says"Tenu vian familion for el tiu. Ŝi posedita ambaŭ niaj popoloj kaj estis ĉiam vipuro kaŝejon en la herbo."
"this would be a great location for a second village. Vallen didn't you send word for more of your clan to travel to this new land? Imagine if we can repopulate this dwarf fortress with a clan of industrious dwarves."
When the four are safe, and Vallen and Gair set to feeding them, they become slightly more animated. With the exception of Melilla, they flinch away from any contact, though Vallen's channel seems to have done them some good, as bruises fade and their movements become less stiff.
From what Vallen can tell from examining Melilla, he can confirm that they were kept alive to bear children, and he notes the lack of any female kuru among the children or the warriors that the party encountered.
"Indeed Kal'Tos, this seems an ideal place for your people. Though any aid they might send will still be moons ahead of us. I am curious about this place though, from all I had heard, your people and the elves rarely work together on anything. In the short term though, those orchards we found could feed many. Provided we could bring enough settlers here to look after them safely. Such is a matter for the full council once we get back I would think. For now we should rest and make ready to set out in the morning. I am concerned for the fate of the others in our absence. This new world undoubtedly holds other dangers than the Kuru."
Vallen frowns as he examines the ladies, noting their abuse. That abyss-licking kuru was telling the truth. I didn't want to believe it. He is delicate in administering treatment and feeding them, creating water if they wish to wash their faces or otherwise.
Once his treatment is complete, Vallen contemplates asking his gods for help in a matter that is surely to come- possible pregnancies. Closing his eyes to give a prayer, the dwarf struggles for a moment, never having given such a request thought before. He decides to send his request to Folgrit, wife of Torag and goddess of wives, mothers, and children.
Folgrit, caretaker of children, midwife to all who bear our fruits, a humble servant struggles with what may transpire. These women have been abused by demon-worshipping Kuru, and I fear their seed may grow within their bellies. Please, Folgrit, send me the means to prevent this travesty of Lamashtu, for these women do not deserve such a fate.
Sighing, he opens his eyes, resolving to speak to a midwife when they return to Newspring, and seeing if they know of some concoction that might be useful.
Descending the tower, Vallen stops for a moment to inspect the brick and mortar where the transition between dwarf and elf architecture occurs. He judges its age, curious which one came first.
Tunnel exploration
Vallen is aghast as they find the depiction of the Quest for the Sky, his eyes nearly welling up with tears. "No... this is... this.. His face suddenly twists to one of anger, and he pulls his warhammer from his belt, grip white-knuckled. "This is sacrilege! They forsook Torag for these demons?! Look at this!" He listens to Manari explain it is possibly Biyari, before lifting his hammer as if to strike the relief. The artist in him screams a protest, and his hammer blow falls short, weakly bouncing off the stone. Destroying this work will not undo what has been done. Huffing and scowling, he storms off down the hallway. "Inconceivable! Heretics! These dwarves have lost their minds, and their faith. Torag, I swear to bring your flame to them!" He yells, his deep voice echoing in the halls. The priest has lost all hope for finding a group of peaceful, goodly dwarves in this realm.
Post town exploration
Having calmed down from his previous outburst, Vallen nods at Kal'tos. "Aye, with some fixing up, and some... redecoration... this would be an incredible town for our kind. Jarla did send a message to my clan, but I know not what she wrote. My parents will be wary of sending more dwarves here- at best they may send a ship to bring us home. I wish we could have included this town in our letter though, they would have certainly sent dwarves to populate it. Oh yes, I can see my mother lighting up at the thought of such low-investment capital sitting here, already sized for dwarves, perfect for trade! She would be on top of this in an instant, probably name the place Silverclasp Cavern." He muses, grinning at the thought.
Sighing, the dwarf simply nods in agreement with Gair, suddenly feeling he needs to do some work with his hands. He leaves to go make repairs to the king's canoe with Cueta, casting Mending on the worst of the damage they inflicted. "I'm glad you got rid of that awful chair Cueta. Throw that abyss-worshiping ass-carrier into the sea."
Vallen will help keep watch for the return of the other five kuru, and prepare the long canoe for their voyage tomorrow.
Vallen: The oldest thing you discover is the harbor area, which seems to be about 1000 years old. The tower is next, about 800 years old. It appears to have been a collaboration, as neither the underground dwarven structure nor the elven structure above would make sense without the other, though it is possible, perhaps, that one or the other was partially demolished to allow the addition of the other. The dwarven town, forges etc, and the three demonic tunnels are approximately 300 years old.