Excerpts from the journal of D'arkkyn Karasknodel

The Mines of Maergoth:

      We have traveled southwest for several days from King Astur’s Realm to arrive at the accursed Mount Maergoth.  To make travel easier we followed the river leading from Lake Astur to the western lands, Braern, Smithton and countless others.   Lauren, the Halfling minstrel, has entertained us with tales of dragons, magical swords, sunken temples and all manner of stories, which he claims to be true, all as if seen by his own eyes.  Moiyar, the human witch, has kept mostly to herself and only participated lightly and only whenever Lauren got too outrageous.  She has been studying her books and scrolls incessantly.  Harrow, the halfling cleric, seems very devoted to his god or to fine spirits, which he claims free the soul.  His daily libations could easily put most dwarven drinkers to shame.  The Gnoll woodsman, Jik has been scouting ahead for most of the trip.  We only see him in the evenings when he returns to set up camp.  I’ve been keeping my muscles toned by running next to my horse whenever possible.  Daily morning exercises I use to limber my body.  I have begun a new regime incorporating more acrobatics into my daily routine.  I’ve expanded on some of the meditation techniques that Irevarn had taught me.  I must not rest in my pursuit of Edekar.  My meditation time allows me to focus on that goal even though Edekar’s trail grows cold.

      Finally after four days of riding we arrived at the base of the mountain where a small pool of water and a cascade join the flow of the river.  Though the woodland scene was nothing but idyllic even from here this mountain’s aura spells nothing but trouble.  It’s shadow falls over the land making even the warmth of the sun retreat from it.

      Our information sources had pointed to a small cave behind the massive waterfall as the least guarded entrance to the mountain.  Jik took it upon himself to quarter our horses at some distance from the mountain to keep them in relative safety.  We entered the small cave, which housed a calm pool of warm water.  We rested for the night, preparing for what was to come in the morning.  The next morning was nothing spectacular and we spent several hours preparing our equipment.  I jumped into the pool of water and searched for a tunnel that would lead deeper into Maergoth.  After several minutes of searching I finally found the entrance.   However, I had some trouble entering the tunnel and had to come up for air.  The second try was more promising and after a rather short trip through the underwater tunnel I arrived inside Maergoth.  I used the illumination provided by an enchanted coin to assess the location I had surfaced in. I was inside a long cavernous tunnel that led deeper into the heart of the mountain.  After several minutes the rest of the party had joined me inside the mountain.

      We traveled through rough-hewn cavernous tunnels for hours.  At times the tunnels were so narrow we had to drop all our equipment just to squeeze through.   After many more hours of this torture we arrived at the first tunnel that had been carved out of the rock.  We explored an ancient archway and some stairs that led upwards into the mountain.  The carved stone was so elaborately placed that only dwarven craftsmen could have had the patience to work it.

      After climbing the long set of stairs, we came upon a room that housed several suits of very ancient armor.   It was here that an aberrant plant prepared an ambush for us.  It must have spread its vines into the suits of armor over a very long period of time.  Now the suits could act as if possessed of their own mobility and intelligence.  The suits attacked us by surprise but we soon dispatched them.  I spent some time destroying the plant after we had battled the animated armor and I discovered a side tunnel that led out of the dwarven tunnels.

      We climbed down this steep tunnel and arrived at the mines.  Inside we could see traces of gold vein that had been excavated from the walls.  We heard the voices of orcs.  They were complaining about having to mine.  After some investigation, we soon found a whole colony of orcs that must have been mining the ore from these caverns.  When they discovered our presence they tried to ambush us.  We retreated to a better fighting position and killed many orcs in this battle.  The mastery of the arcane arts displayed by Moiyar surely saved the day.  She hurled a ball of fire that streaked through the tunnels like a comet.  Then it burst into flames killing many of the orcs and scaring the rest enough to flee.