A Journeyman's Tale, Exploring Birch Vale - part 2

A Journeyman’s Tale,
Exploring Birch Vale

Part 2 – 19^th August 2021

The journal of Bori Ironhelm, cleric of Moradin and master of the forge.
Journeyman in the Explorer’s Guild.

Previous - Chapter 1

What we know

I shall first note down a reminder of information received prior to arriving in Birch Vale and when set off on our course so that we can proceed with the benefit of wisdom and knowledge.

 

Where we are – Birch Vale

Birch Vale is three days travel north of Island Town (where the Explorer’s Guild is based).

It is on the northern boundary of the civilised lands around Island Town.

The surrounding countryside beyond a day’s march from Birch Vale is poorly documented and needs exploring – the main reason for our presence here, with the Guild expecting our report within six months.

There are dwarven mine workings to the north, beyond the ‘Ice Path’. Visits from these dwarves are uncommon, but welcome.

Birch Vale itself has a population of around 700, and it is a growing community.

The town specialises in rustic wines and spirits (which we have liberally sampled and can attest to their quality). The most notable is ‘Old Stripey’, a whisky-like drink made from distilling birch sap. Odd thing to do but it has a pleasing kick. Less interestingly, they also produce wooden wares and deal in agricultural products.

 

Notable People in Birch Vale

• Cydor – our contact in Birch Vale, very tall, bald, middle-aged human male with bright green eyes
• Bjorn – the town elder / mayor of Birch Vale
• Gavril – barman at the Briar Rose tavern
• Rose – Bjorn’s daughter, engaged to Areth Silverlimb (deceased)
• Four lost (dead) foresters (bodies recovered and returned to the townsfolk)
• Areth Silverlimb – 22yrs old, blond, clean shaven, 6’ tall. Engaged to Bjorn’s daughter, Rose
• Toby Strongarm – 32yrs old, black hair, full beard, 6’5”, a big man
• Bert Cornfellow - 23yrs old, sandy hair, sandy half beard, 5’8”, tattoo on lower left arm of unicorn head (Mielikki’s symbol)
• Malar Surebow - 28yrs old, 5’ 6” very stocky, clean shaven, always carries a hunting knife and bow, wears a pendant of a clawed paw (Mafar, God of the Hunt)

 

Religion in Birch Vale 

Three primary deities are worshipped:

• Chauntea – Goddess of Agriculture
• Symbol: blooming rose or sheaf of grain
• Mielikki – Goddess of Forests
• Symbol: unicorn’s head
• Eldath – Goddess of Peace 
• Symbol: waterfall plunging into a still pool

Cydor, as well as being our contact in Birch Vale, is the priest of Chauntea.  

Chapter 1 Recap

Cydor tasked us with finding four missing foresters, who had been collecting birch sap to bring back to brew the town’s signature tipple. They were late returning, which was almost unheard of. Cydor gave us just 24 hours to explore the region to the north of the town and report back with news of the foresters, otherwise he was going to raise the alarm – if we were late returning then it would be our fault for the alarm being raised unnecessarily.

We therefore made all haste to the foresters’ last known location, by a stunning waterfall. The camp and the barrels of sap were abandoned. There appeared to have been a fifth person present, seemingly a stranger who had approached the camp from the opposite side to the town, and we discovered evidence of poison in the food they had shared. Merla’s sharp eyes helped us follow the prints of all five people walking up into the hills.

Eventually, we found some ruins hidden within a massive gorse thicket. We were assaulted by skeletal warriors upon entering the ruins, but we quickly destroyed the undead soldiers. There wasn’t much to find on the surface at these ruins, nor any sign of either the person who animated the skeletons nor of our foresters. There was a sarcophagus that concealed a secret set of stairs, leading down into the dark.

We descended into the underground complex where we found the reanimated corpses of three of the foresters – the fourth had been consumed by something terrible, only scraps of flesh remained. The zombie foresters were excavating rubble and completely ignored our presence.

Within one of the chambers, we found depictions of Mielikki (a unicorn’s head), as well as a waterfall, which in retrospect was the symbol for Eldath. After fighting more skeletal warriors, we were attacked by a mage before we could investigate a rough tunnel covered in spider webs. We chased this mage but were waylaid by an enormous swarm of stirges that pierced our flesh with their needle-like mouthparts.

Though we had been injured, we were not yet safe, as both the zombie foresters and more skeletal warriors attacked us. The mage returned in the guise of a humanoid wolf – he was a necromancer of no small power, but he died like any other man with an arrow in his head. With him went his undead minions, leaving us in peace to search the necromancer’s belongings. He had been in this place for some time.

We returned with the foresters’ bodies towards Birch Vale to report our findings to Cydor. We had achieved our objective within time, though more questions remained. 

Merla Goodberry
Lightfoot Halfling
Rogue (Scout)

Bori Ironhelm
Mountain Dwarf
Cleric of the Forge

Grimnir Craghammer
Mountain Dwarf
Barbarian

Chapter 2 – Tomb Raiders

We arrived back in Birch Vale shortly before the deadline set to us by Cydor, breathing a sigh of relief that we had made it safely and in time. The townsfolk were flustered, presumably concerned because we were close to the agreed time and worried about their young foresters. We could see Cydor doing his best to calm the crowd – once Grimnir unveiled the four corpses we had sitting on the back of our mule, however, there was stunned silence from them all. The humans were visibly shocked when we gave them a brief summary of the evil wizard’s nefarious activities, poisoning their men and using their raised corpses as cheap labour to excavate rock within that dungeon. Fortunately, Cydor was better equipped to deal with the crowd than we were, and he was able to get the mayor, Bjorn, to organise an official town meeting for 14.00, giving us a couple of hours to eat and refresh ourselves, while going through the tale again in more detail for Cydor.

My view was that we had two choices, and Cydor agreed. We needed to find out what the necromancer was looking for in that underground complex, and we needed to follow that raven to find out who he was communicating with. Cydor congratulated us on our ingenuity at releasing the bird, which I have to admit was largely Merla’s idea, though I did manage to convince her to wait till the morning so we could observe its flight. According to Cydor, there isn’t much of anything to the north from Spring Grove, so it is a mystery where the messenger bird was going.

Despite their anger at the situation, Cydor suggested that getting some of the townsfolk involved in helping us might help alleviate their frustration and help us in achieving both objectives as quickly as possible. It made most sense for the three of us to descend once more into the subterranean complex – we had been there already, plus myself and my cousin were obviously used to living underground. We would also be able to assess the extent of the excavation and plan how best to complete what the wizard had started, should it prove necessary – what I wouldn’t give for a half dozen miners from our halls, they would clear that place in no time and turn it into something wonderful! But that is clearly not possible given the situation with Grimnir. One day we may be able to return home. For now we’ll have to rely on whatever help the humans can provide. We’ll plan on having them track the raven and guard the surface while we descend into the depths; I can’t face Grimnir if I have to tell him we have to babysit some manlings underground.

Cydor told us that the necromancer’s spell book revealed he wasn’t the most skilled of magic users, but he was incredibly well prepared for whatever task he was undertaking. He had a ring of spell storage and some exceptionally well-crafted glass bottles, designed to be filled with oil and thrown onto the decks of ships so that it can be ignited. Well, I didn’t see any great fleets of ships down there, so he must have had some other task in mind with them. No doubt we’ll find out eventually. Probably some horrible beastie that the man was preparing to face. That should bring a smile to Grimnir’s face.

We left anything we didn’t need with Cydor and attended the meeting called by Bjorn. Fortunately, tempers had settled, and the wisdom of out plan was accepted. We are currently settling ourselves into a wagon in preparation for the journey back to the foresters’ camp, so we shall soon have the chance to test the wisdom of the plan for ourselves.  

 

 

Day two – 14.00

We departed for the foresters’ camp site. We were able to rest on the wagon heading up there, which was fortunate, particularly for Merla… Cydor had us back on the road so quickly, the poor thing hadn’t had a chance to rest her head. Grimnir and I could cope, but we ensured that our companion was able to lie down on some blankets in the wagon.

 

Day two – 15.00

We arrived at the camp site, making excellent time on our supplied transport (shame none could have been spared the first time we travelled up this way!). Nothing had changed, it was how we left it. We had agreed that one group of men from the town would continue on the road north to see what they could find. A second group would accompany us up the hill and split off to follow the tracks that we had seen that also headed north, though along a different path. This seemed to match with the direction the messenger raven had flown, so could be vital for understanding the larger picture we had stumbled into. The men were under strict orders to observe and report back. Grimnir was particularly keen that they not get into a fight with anyone, lest they rob him of a chance for glorious battle. Whoever was pulling that necromancer’s strings could be a dangerous and worthy foe indeed!

For our part, we were bound to return to the underground temple where we had encountered the necromancer and his undead minions. Clearly, myself and Grimnir were far more qualified than anybody in Birch Vale to explore the dusty halls beneath the briar patch, and Merla had proved herself the previous day. We had not had time to fully explore the extent of the tunnels, and my nose told me there was more to discover down there.

 

Day two – 16.00  

The trackers headed off north, following the trail we had identified the previous day, and we continued on to the temple hidden within the thicket of gorse. As we descended the steps into the gloom, it appeared that nothing had been disturbed while we were gone. The necromancer’s body was still stored safely in the old armoury, where we had left it. It was only once we got to the opening that led through to the spider cave that we noticed anything – the entrance was once again blocked by sticky strands of webbing. Evidently there were more arachnids than the single dead one we had seen, and they had repaired the blockage that we had burned away. No matter. We could burn this web too!

We paid closer attention in the tunnel leading to the spider cave, and Grimnir noticed something shining and glinting with a gold hue, stuck within the strands of webbing that lined the tunnel walls and ceiling. It turned out to be the desiccated carcass of a giant centipede, so not worth anything…

Within the spider cave, all was as it had been. Bones and carcasses littered the web-encrusted floor, with a greater concentration underneath the natural chimney in the far corner. I looked up the chimney with my darkvision and could see something moving far up above. Feeling particularly cautious of creatures emerging from chimneys after our run-in with the stirges, Merla suggested that we build a fire to drive off whatever was hiding within the rocky shaft. Fortunately, there was plenty of wood still available in the necromancer’s quarters, so we gathered whatever we could carry and built a roaring fire in the corner of the cave. The flames licked up into the chimney, burning away webbing and chasing shadows across the rough, rocky walls. Nothing emerged from the chimney and, given the roaring fire beneath, we proceeded with confidence that nothing would.

 

Day two – 16.15

Proceeding along a rough-hewn tunnel, we came upon a chamber filled with rubble. There appeared to be two corpses buried underneath the collapsed roof. Broken glass was strewn around, and there were ten foot-long barbed iron spikes surrounding the debris on the ground. We cautiously entered and examined what had happened, but it seemed clear that these poor wretches had triggered some sort of trap when trying to get through the door that we could see leading from the chamber to our right. There was also a rough tunnel leading out from the opposite wall.

The dead bodies were wearing old armour and dented helmets, with a rusted iron shield and swords buried with them. I did find a couple of silver coins, though didn’t recognise the currency, and there was a thick, though crude, bronze bracelet that I picked up.

Once we were comfortable that the trap was sprung and we were in no immediate danger, we proceeded across the chamber and out through the rough tunnel. It seemed sensible to explore this tunnel before trying to get through the door that appeared to have been the dead men’s objective. It could well be the same objective that the necromancer had been searching for. 

Day two – 16.30

We strode down the tunnel from the fallen rubble and found a cave, filled with vegetation and with shards of light coming in. There was another dead body on the ground and a number of holes in the walls and ceiling. Merla remained at the door to watch, in case we were followed, but I stupidly didn’t keep a close eye on holes in the ceiling, being focused on the dead body on the ground. By Moradin’s beard, I’d expect such rock-headed behaviour from a young beardling, or maybe even Grimnir! All of a sudden, there were long golden bodies dropping from the holes – they were giant centipedes, snapping their mouthparts together and trying to bite us!

Recovering quickly from the shock of it, we set to work killing these multi-legged monsters. They died easily, but their bites were mightily powerful for such small creatures – the poison didn’t bother myself or Grimnir overmuch, but our halfling companion felt its effects keenly.  

I examined the dead body in the little cave. It was wearing some ancient armour, the leather almost totally perished. He did have a decent helmet that I picked up, and the head of a warhammer – the shaft was missing. I felt the power pulsing from this item; it was clearly magical. I decided to carefully wrap the magical hammerhead and put it in my pack. Once I had some time to sit down and study it fully, I would be able to fathom what enchantments were on it and construct a new haft for the weapon to restore it to use.

Finally, the dead man had a metal tube that contained within it a map. Closer examination showed it to be a map of the dungeon complex we were currently exploring! There were some discrepancies between the map and our experience walking through the tunnels – presumably, this map was just as old as the perished leather armour, which would mean that the rough-hewn tunnels may have been dug from the rock in the intervening 300 years since this man had come down here. Interesting. There was also an inscription on the map that gave instructions in how to reach the ‘Temple of the Enlightened Ones’. 

Giant centipedes dropped from the
holes in the ceiling of the cave to attack
us with their powerful poisoned bites.
We made short work of them. 

There was a long-dead adventurer that we could
investigate, once the centipedes were dealt with. 

The old map we found on the dead adventurer

Day two – 16.45

The map confirmed it; there was treasure beyond the door where the cave-in had happened. It was labelled as a ‘Temple’, but maybe this was the tomb referred to in the necromancer’s note?

Either way, we returned and opened the door – there was no resistance. Within was a beautiful mosaic depicting a woodland glade. We had earlier seen depictions of a waterfall and a unicorn’s head – the latter clearly a reference to Mielikki; I had become more than familiar enough with Merla’s patron god to recognise it. The mural in this temple, however, was defaced with graffiti – great white skulls were daubed over the underlying artwork, clearly a chilling message from somebody.

In the middle of the room stood a smart white and blue-veined marble plinth, atop which was a large golden skull. Grimnir and I could both clearly see it was a troll skull, but it certainly didn’t smell like real gold. There was something wrong with this scenario.

I carefully felt with my feet and the floor in front of me hinged downwards – an obvious pitfall trap. We retrieved some of the barbed iron stakes from outside the door and used them to wedge the trap shut so that we could safely walk across. We ignored the fake golden skull and concentrated on the mosaic behind. There was an inscription in fine lettering above the artwork. It read as follows:

She who we follow embodies it

Enlightened strive for it

We hold it in our hearts and minds

Say it and be on your journey  

The white skulls seemed more than likely to be some sort of warning, though was it designed as a friendly caution, or had it been done by some evil maniacs trying to mark their territory? By the way the beautiful artwork had been defiled, I suspected the latter. Either way, we had to ignore the warning. Whatever the necromancer was looking for must have been beyond this chamber, and we couldn’t just stop here. There was also the mystery of who it was that had defaced the mural, and why. Perhaps the answers to all our questions lay beyond this chamber.

In order to proceed, we had three conflicting pieces of information to guide us:

·         The necromancer’s parchment

·         The 300-year-old map we found in the centipede cave

·         The riddle above the mosaic

The mosaic seemed to me to be the most reliable as it was the original source, left here by whoever designed this underground complex. However, it took me some time to realise that this was actually a temple to Eldath – I had forgotten that the waterfall was her symbol and the glade immortalised here would likely represent the Goddess of Peace; I had been dazzled by the unicorn head in the main chamber that we had found, so our initial attempts to solve the riddle involved thinking of Mielikki’s values. Eventually, we realised our mistake and said the correct word. ‘Peace’. A secret door swung open, revealing stairs leading down into the darkness. We descended.

Day two – 17.00 

We stood at the threshold to a tomb. This must have been the tomb that the necromancer had written about in his correspondence with his mysterious benefactor. Well, we had made it here, while he lay dead in the chambers above. Now we had to find out what was so special about it…

As we peered into the tomb, we could see a number of statuesque skeletons arrayed around the edge of the chamber. They were entirely unmoving, but there was something unnerving about them. At our feet, a leering skull symbol grinned up at us from a raised seal in the floor. Something didn’t feel right about it, so we hesitated in proceeding forwards. There was no other way to get in, we couldn’t turn back, and the seal couldn’t be moved or tampered with, as far as we could tell. The only thing to do was to walk over it and cross into the tomb, despite the scrawling graffiti that was crudely daubed above the archway: 

It is death to disturb those who reside within

Enter not if you value your soul beyond the gate of death

We stood at the threshold, peering into the
tomb beyond and discussing our next move

As soon as we stepped over the seal, the figures around the room began to move. These skeletal guards advanced towards us, so Grimnir and myself ensured that we provided a protective line ahead of Merla while she fired her magical crossbow at the undead. While we fought and destroyed these bone-men, we heard the sound of stone scraping against stone. The lid of the large sarcophagus in the middle of the room was beginning to open.

We entered the tomb

Destroying the shambling skeletons was all in a day’s work for hardened warriors like ourselves. But the air in the tomb became even colder the more that sarcophagus opened. Something terrible was emerging, so we knew we would have to do our best to eliminate as many of the skeletons as we could before whatever this was attacked us. A bandaged hand emerged and its fingers wrapped around the side of the casket; slowly, dreadfully, a mummy dragged itself upright and staggered from the sarcophagus! This was certainly going to be a more challenging fight!

Grimnir had deposited the glass bottles of oil in the corner of the tomb, and it now became apparent why the necromancer had them prepared. He had known of the presence of the mummy. We had no time to effectively employ them, however, as both myself and my cousin were quickly fighting hand-to-hand with the monster; Merla could not risk dousing us in oil as well as the bandaged corpse. We therefore continued hacking and slashing at the monster, trying to avoid its foul gaze and the necrotic energies from its ancient claws. Through the enchantments I had placed on Grimnir’s axe, and the magical flames I could summon with blows from my warhammer, we gradually ground the beast down and destroyed it. We did not escape unharmed, but we would have made our ancestors proud with our actions this day.

 

Day two – 17.30

Once the mummy was defeated, we explored the tomb. The monster was wearing a steel necklace with strange hieroglyphics on it – I did not recognise the symbols but I could feel the powerful magic emanating from the item. It was palpable. There was also a striking gold ring with a huge blood red ruby set in it, which wasn’t magical but was sure to be worth a significant sum of money.

Other than the items the mummy was carrying, we found little else of value in the tomb. There was a table covered in various materials of the embalming trade – knives, jars, that sort of thing. Quite likely that the mummy was created in this very tomb, I thought.

As we walked towards the far end of the tomb from where we had entered, an enormous stone face opened its mouth, revealing an entrance into another chamber. We walked through and stood before an odd construction, like nothing we had seen before. A great stone wheel, standing upright on a dais before us. It was clearly something of importance, almost like a doorway though it seemed that it led nowhere… We would need to study this closely to unravel its secrets… 

Next - Chapter 3