Do you want to
A low grumbling makes the whole mountain reverberate. For a moment, the groundshakes, then the noise subsides and everything falls quiet again.
You capture [NAME].
There’s nothing left to take around here!
How many Silver Crowns are you willing to tithe?
Excuse me?! You don’t have any money left!
There’s nothing left to take here!
None of your keys fits the lock.
The portal cannot be opened using lockpicks.
In the end, you are forced to admit that not even a Foramen spell is able toget the portal to move.
Looks like there is no other recourse but to go look for the right key.
A soft click affirms the bolt has drawn back. The lock is opened. At the sametime, the key becomes stuck and can no longer be moved.
With hardly a sound, the right leaf of the portal swings open to the inside.Then, you hear another click, and the leaf starts to move toward you again toclose.
Silently, the leaf of the portal swings shut in front of you. With a click, thelock bolts shut and releases the key. Now that you know the procedure, do youwant to enter the pit?
Once again, the key gets stuck in the lock, and the right leaf of the portalswings open. Hurriedly, you pass the opening and barely make it inside beforethe portal falls shut again behind you.
Do you want to leave the pit?
A soft clicking sound affirms that the lock is open. At the same time, the keygets stuck in the mechanism and refuses to budge. There’s hardly a sound whenthe right leaf of the portal starts swinging open to the outside. Then, there’sanother mechanical click, and the leaf reverses its movement and swings shutagain. You better hurry to get through in time.
There’s a skeleton lying right in front of the main portal.
The smell of decayis long gone. There’s nothing left of the body but some bones and a small leatherbag.
Examine the skeleton?
Inspect the bag?
Leave the dead to the mercy of Boron?
You find nothing but the bones and said leather bag.
Well, at least the bag’s in a better condition than its owner.
You find a small,empty bottle and a scrap of vellum.
There’s a scrap of vellum in the bag.
There’s still a small empty bottle in the bag.
There’s nothing left inside the bag.
Examine the small bottle?
Take a look at the vellum?
The small bottle is empty. From the smell of it, there was a Healing Potion insideonce. How about it, do you want to take the bottle along?
Inside a broad alcove, a picture of Ingerimm has been sculpted in the wall. Itis about two-and-a-half paces high. Do you want to examine it?
Without any doubt, this is a solid piece of art.
The coal brazier is filled to the brim with burnt charcoal.
Do you want to
examine the brazier?
sift through the charcoal?
The metal is completely unknown to any of you, and the brazier is considerablyheavier than you expected. Still, you would probably be able to shift it witha concerted effort. Are you going to give it a try?
Shifting the brazier, [NAME] has jammed [NAME] fingers.
You manage to push the brazier aside. In the spot where it stood, there is around area of ground somewhat lighter than the rest of the rock. [NAME] examinesthe spot thoroughly, but finds nothing out of the ordinary. So, you once againstrain your muscles and slowly push the brazier back where it belongs.
This is your everyday burnt charcoal. The only thing to be discovered here isthe fact that this stuff can really dirty your hands.
[NAME] starts sifting through the charcoal with a decidedly bored expression, butsuddenly, [NAME] steps closer and starts digging furiously. Within a few seconds,[NAME] has uncovered a small ring from the shimmering, dark red metal.
Do you want to pocket the ring?
Who’s going to try this time?
[NAME] screams loudly and hastily pulls [NAME] burnt fingers from the glowing embers.
Shocked, [NAME] pulls back [NAME] fingers.
[NAME] screws up [NAME] face in pain and tries to pull the ring from within the glowingcoal, but the pain is simply too much and [NAME] has to give up. With a scream, [NAME]pulls the fingers from the blazing fire.
Gritting [NAME] teeth against the excruciating pain of the fire, [NAME] pulls the ringfrom the glowing coal.
Without warning, the coal in the brazier flares up.
The ring is quite obviously made from the very same material as the brazier.Even though it has been lying in the fire, the material is cool to the touch.
The altar was hewn from the rock, making it one with the floor. To the left andright of its surface, there are shallow depressions; some Crowns and Ducats canbe seen in the right depression. The one on the left is empty.
Take some Coins
Tithe some Coins
Everything goes dark in front of [NAME] eyes. Then, [NAME] appears to wake up in a totallydifferent room, in some endless hall.
A giant figure holding a sledge hammer is standing at an anvil and waves [NAME]over.
When [NAME] goes closer, [NAME] receives another sledge hammer and starts to work aglowing piece of iron together with the gigantic smith.
At first, [NAME] finds that work is heavy going, but after a while, things getmuch easier.
The smith examines the piece. It is a sword forged of a metal shimmering witha dark red color.
In the end, he throws the sword back into the forge until it has completelymelted. Then he takes the glowing iron from the fire and starts to work it anew.
The smith gestures to [NAME] to help. Together, they set to work forging the pieceof iron.
[NAME] seems to be caught in a nightmare. The strange scene repeats itself overand over, over and over. The giant figure waves the sledge hammer a zillion times,and [NAME] watches that selfsame sword being made and unmade again. At some time,the Gods only know after how long, everything fades.
When [NAME] comes to again, [NAME] is lying in front of the rock altar.
“You are being called,” the smith says suddenly.
Everything turns black in front of [NAME] eyes, and when [NAME] sight returns, [NAME] finds[NAME]self standing in front of the rock altar.
Suddenly, someone grasps [NAME] from behind.
[NAME] whirls around and is totally flabbergasted upon recognizing one of [NAME] friends.When [NAME] wants to turn back to the anvil, it’s gone, and in its place stands arock altar.
[NAME] is wrenched from [NAME] trance abruptly. The ground is shaking violently, anda tremendous noise is ringing in [NAME] ears.
[NAME] has stepped in front of the altar and appears to be caught in a strange paralysis.The metal inlaid in the top of the altar and around its base are softly glowing.Do you
You are standing by the altar and watching [NAME]. Do you
address [NAME]?
touch [NAME]?
[NAME] doesn’t react.
move the hammer?
or examine the anvil?
Try as you might, the hammer resists even your concerted efforts to move it.
Apart from its tremendous size, you can’t find anything particularly noteworthyabout this anvil.
The stone carving shows a giant picture of Ingerimm, the God of smiths. The contoursare structured roughly, but hammered out precisely. In the middle of the relief,a bit above the ground, a plaque covered in runes is part of the picture. Onboth sides of the relief, there are torch holders hewn from the rockface at varyingheights. They are holding pitch torches.
Do you want to
examine the relief?
examine the runes?
or light the torches?
On closer examination even the parts of the picture that at first glance seemedsmooth, are finely structured and almost appear not hewn, but spun from the rock.
Even [NAME], who has the most experience with writing among you, cannot decipherthe runic inscription of the relief.
The runes remind you of the writing on the piece of vellum you found with theskeleton before.
Awkwardly, [NAME] searches for the vellum - yes, you were right.The runes on the vellum and those on the wall are identical.
I don’t see anything around here you could use to light even one torch.
When you light one of the torches, all the others abruptly flare as well. Also,you notice a low, red-orange shimmering in the eyes of the relief Ingerimm. Thelight very gradually grows in intensity, until the god of smiths is looking atyou from eyes of glittering lava. From somewhere below, there is a soft rumblingnoise accompanied by some clanking.
Those torches are already lit.
[NAME] has stepped on something sharp. [NAME] foot is hurting!
[NAME] examines the wound. It isn’t serious. The skin isn’t even broken.
In the corner, there are rusted tools and utensils lying about. Do you want toexamine the tools?
There are rotted picks and shovels leaning on the wall, and a lot of rusty oldjunk is covering the floor. Some of the stuff gives the impression that it mightstill be useful. Do you want to take a closer look at the mess?
The solidly worked chest shows the ravages of time quite clearly: the wood isdecidedly rotten, only the inset lock gives a halfway trustworthy impression.Do you want to open the chest?
[NAME] takes a closer look at the lock. Then [NAME] taps on the lid of the chest to testit: With a loud clanking noise, the lock falls to the floor, and the chest isopen!
With a loud creaking sound, the tool jams in the lock. When [NAME] starts cursingand shaking it, [NAME] suddenly holds the entire lock including the shackle. Well,the lockpick is lost, but at least that chest is open now!
The chest is filled to the brim with rotted rags and rusty trash. Useless filth!Suddenly, [NAME] lets out a scream and pulls [NAME] hand back. A rusty wolf trap hasclosed on [NAME] wrist! You carefully open the trap and release the hand which hasalready begun to swell.
Doggedly, [NAME] continues rifling through the contents of the chest.