Zophal, Technic League Captain's page

Sitting at ease in the driver's seat of the slave wagon, bored and irritated that the slaves haven't returned with valuable Androffan artifacts yet, Zophal grimaces as the gloomy morning sky rumbles and flickers to the north. A few drops of rain begin to fall, and he curses.

Orc-poop! Bloody rain.... Those blasted miners had better be showing their grubby mugs soon, with sacks full of good technology, or by Gorum's gore-splattered gauntlets, I'll press every Gods bedamned button on this bloody rod of lethal deterrence....

As the fleeing vegepygmies scramble out of the airlock door and out of the crater, the Technic League handlers watch with hands on the hilts of their weapons, ready to finish the routed stragglers off should they try to approach the slave wagon....

I see they have stirred up some vegepygmies.... Primitive brutes with no appreciation for the high arts of the Androffans.... Hopefully our miners have found some valuable objects to make this expedition worthwhile....

Outside the Silver Turret and a hundred feet away, on the precipice of the great crater, the shots fired from Geirmur's musket can be heard as sharp reports echoing from the open starboard airlock door....

They have run into trouble already.... Now we shall see whether or not their training was worth the expense. They'd better return with at least something to make this expedition worthwhile.... Captain Zophal mutters this more to himself than to the six hirelings and two gearsman waiting near the slave wagon with him.

Shouting from the edge of the crater, a hundred feet above and to the northeast of the adventurers:

Well!? What are you waiting for!? The artifacts aren't going to come out to you!

Gnaarrg will disembark, retrieving her gear from Maagun's pack.

"Maagun will come with us." she declares. "Carry findings. Programmed to return if I am lost."

Very well, Gnaarrg. You may bring your pet. But beware of tight spaces.... You might find you will have to leave it behind at some point in your exploration after all....

Worthless beasts.... mutters Captain Zophal, seeing that no amount of whipping will drive the wagon team any closer to the Silver Turret. Climbing down from the driver's seat, he takes a ring of odd keys from a hook on his belt and strides to the back of the wagon, unlocking the cage in which sit the six "artifact miners".

You six have been selected for a great honor: to serve the Technic League as artifact miners! You have received training from the best instructors for this purpose. You know your objective: recover anything that might be useful in serving the Technic League and bring it here to me. Do not return until you have searched all accessible areas within the Silver Turret....and do not return empty-handed....if you value your lives.... Never forget that I hold in my hand a device that can cause the collars around your necks to explode, killing you instantly!

Captain Zophal holds up a black metal wand studded with buttons to emphasize his threat. He then points it at the shadows near the base of the Silver Turret's east side, where a dark, circular opening can be seen near the rocky ground.

See there! That is the entrance you will take. Go! And may Nethys smile upon our venture....

Riding in the drivers seat of the Technic League slave wagon is Captain Zophal, the leader of this dubious expedition. He is a tall, lean, muscular Kellid man with a balding pate, dark-eyed and stern-mouthed. Clad in a lavender robe trimmed with silver, worn over a shirt of black mail, a longsword in a leathern scabbard at his hip, he cracks a whip at the team of beasts that pulls the cart.