The Timer drops to 2
In the cells of Durhadda Keep, Furlan and Drath-Y-Tch talk.
Through habit and ancient tradition, they both fall into the Uth Lareeyn – the way of coercion – a kind of formal Elven mind game used during negotiations and interrogations.
Standing, sitting, sometimes kneeling, sometimes walking around one another; the two elven nobles spar with words. Speaking first in common tongue, then Middle-Kingdom Elvish, and then High Elvish they duel with old sayings, Elvish poems, riddles, and recited passages from the Codex Durothrax.
The shards of Iron Heart cross through the night sky and a strong wind begins to gather around Durhadda, the cell grows cold but still they talk, long into the night.
At last, after many hours of questions, logic traps and outright lies Furlan and Drath both slump down exhausted.
“You’re good” Drath croaks through his parched mouth, “Your father must be very proud.”
During the Uth Lareeyn, Furlan has discovered the following:
- The terms of surrender were that the entire Keep and its contents were to be turned over, unspoiled, to Duke Greystone – in response the Castellan and all his blood relatives would be allowed to leave
- The Greystone forces include around two hundred snow orcs, a couple of dozen local scrub orcs, elven elite sword-dancers, a mammoth, snow wolves, and mercenary pit fighters from Grey (for reference the Keep has around thirty active Lightguard, and the villages about the same number in watchmen militia)
- The Duke will attack in the next couple of weeks - planning a small seige takes time
- There are no spies in Durhadda, but out in the wilderness is another matter
- The Duke has some skill in necromancy and has raised a wraith – a long dead Mage called Yag, for some dark purpose
- The Duke has also made contact with some evil of the Outer Dark, a shard of Azatoth and its cult will aid in the assault of the Keep in some unknown way
- When Durhadda is taken the Duke will signal that with the lighthouse secured the War-King’s grand fleet can land on the Duradin coast and begin the conquest of eastern Alfheim
Mehrfin and Quildrum return to the home of Amash. The two of them search the house for clues. It seems Amash dabbled in all manner of magic; his home is full of weird trinkets and shelves of esoteric books in various ancient languages.
Quildrum feels something under his boot. He bends down. It’s a scale of bronze armour, about an inch or so across, and it bears a strange marking.
The first clue.
Mehrfin gets the idea to see if anything amongst the wizard’s books will help. After going through several tomes they find a history of powerful mages who lived in the region, and drawings of their personal casting glyphs. And in this book they find a glyph that matches the armour scale. A warlock from a century ago called simply, Yag.
The second clue.
Hurrying across to the lighthouse Mehrfin and Quildrum are allowed into the library by Muel and the two of them pour over any old maps they can find of the region. At last, late into the evening, they find it.
The third clue.
A reference to the ‘Tower of Yag’ and its location, several miles west. Satisfied they know where to go next they retire to bed.
Hykon learns that in other villages along the coast people have gone missing. Some fishermen say the missing people are going willingly, other say the victims have been kidnapped by other villagers, specifically those in mourning for someone they lost. Some say the missing were not taken in boats they were taken to the island under the water by things… things that were once men.
Hykon travels a couple miles up the coast to one particular nameless village. A dreary, waterlogged place of windswept shacks, sad looking villagers and the smell of salty fish on the air. He sees no boats leave but as sunset approaches the fishermen come back and most people drift off home from the shore. Then, from one of the homes walks a young woman, dressed in a widow’s black clothes. She stands on the edge of the shore with her feet touching the seawater, her face bathed in Iron Heart’s light, and she begins to dance.
Off in the distance over the water, Hykon can eventually make out the sound of drums. He watches for a while the thinks he can see shapes moving rhythmically in the water. It gets dark and late. The shapes seem to fade away and the widow turns from the water, her face (quite beautiful for a human) wet with tears and she goes home.
Hykon, seeing nothing else of interest, heads back to Durhadda.
Muel visits the library in the Keep, its not a big room, but the walls are lined with shelves, themselves double stacked floor to ceiling with books. Muel begins going through the tomes. Most of the books are local histories, journals from past Castellans and record keeping.
Eventually he finds a book in red, the author is not given amd it has no title, but it tells of the origin and early days of the lighthouse and the Keep.
It seems the lens was a gift to the Duran dwarves, from an ancient race of travellers who passed through this land a millennium ago. These people were not seen again but they did leave to the dwarves three "Keys’ which could be used to restore the lens should its power ever fade.
Not knowing what else to do with them the dwarves hid these keys away in the vaults under the lighthouse.
Vaults? There are no vaults under the lighthouse! The lowest room is the storeroom cellar! What vaults!?
But it’s late and even with the excitement of this revelation Muel finds himself unable to keep his eyes open, and he too turns in for bed.
Target 9
What do you do?