Emerald Spire 06.0 - The Splinters' Hideout

After resting, recovering and buying matching cloaked and masked disguises, Kormon, Marin, Amara and Ismail returned to the Emerald Spire to look for the two missing persons, to map the uncharted depths, and for Ismail to revenge himself on Zdislav. Once arriving in the glen, they investigated the back entrance that Marin had spotted on one of their earlier trips, hoping it would lead further down. However, it only led to the rear of the first floor. Sneaking up the nearby stairway, they found what they assumed to be Grulk's command room, but they opted not to open the door to the obviously-occupied area.
Sneaking back out so as to not alert any of the goblins to their discovery of the back entrance then walked openly to the main door. The goblins on guard recognized Kormon and Amara as they were not wearing masks; they got out of their way, allowing them to proceed downstairs without interruption.
Ismail, fully familiar with the moon spiders and on good terms with them, shooed them out of their way. Before heading to the third floor they stopped and collected the goods that had been laid out on a table in the throne room by Ismail for Zdislav. Though the man had almost certainly come back here since they had left, he had apparently had no interest in any of the weapons. Ismail described Zdislav as an artificer and wizard who had begin replacing parts of himself with gold machinery, and who was likely insane. 
Cutting through the webbing that choked the way downstairs, the four made their way down the ladder and to another flight of stairs. A dead spider lay on the floor there, within which Marin found a handful of gemstones that it had apparently eaten.
At the third floor, they found that the stone walls had been coated with plaster and the halls were lit with oil lamps, signalling that people likely lived here, like Ismail had earlier suspected. Before the hall widened into a larger room, Marin spotted a hidden door in the wall on their right. It led into an armoury, which seemed to be connected to the rest of the floor's rooms. After preparing to steal some of the weapons, gas masks and disguises in the armoury, Marin moved to investigate the hall, quickly spotting two bored-looking guards stationed to observe the entryway that they had nearly walked in. Ismail sent his scorpion familiar to investigate the guardroom, and confirmed what they had assumed about the room layout. It was determined that they would replace the items that they were going to have stolen, and that Kormon and Ismail would walk into the entryway to talk to the guards. Meanwhile, Amara would stand back in the stairwell for safety, and Marin would remain in the back hallway in case things went sour, giving him quick access to the guards.
When the guards saw Kormon, they began to question him. He asserted that he was a freelance adventurer looking for a pair of missing wizards for the Quicksilver Conclave, not an agent of Zdislav or the Adamantine Order. The guards were suspicious, and eventually sent one to go get their commander. A woman returned in short order with the guard, introducing herself as Tarrin of the Splinters. She began to question Kormon more seriously, demanding proof that he worked for the Quicksilvers. Amara came forwards and produced documentation to her satisfaction.
Unfortunately, Marin made a noise when trying to open the door a crack, alerting the three Splinters. They held Marin at crossbow point and ordered him to the ground. He complied. Marin worked out that the Splinters were a rebel group dedicated to overthrowing the military rule of the Adamantine Order in the area. He acted sympathetic to their cause, if not supportive; one of the guards recognized him as a local semi-famous performer and informed Tarrin as such.
A tense negotiation took place, where Tarrin demanded leverage over them; that way, if the adventurers ratted them out to the Deathknights, how she referred to the Adamantine Order, they would all hang together. Amara unmasked Ismail without warning, saying that they were necromancers, which was of course highly illegal. While Tarrin accepted this act as just as damning as the Splinter's collusion, Kormon and Marin weren't particularly impressed with her behaviour.
Tarrin agreed to let the group down into the fourth floor: it wasn't as though anyone who went down ever came back up. She threatened them as to what would happen if they ratted the Splinters out to the Deathknights, and took her leave. The guards escorted Marin to the rest of the group and all four were ushered through a portcullis and into the adjacent room, where they could see the pillar of emerald crystal that seemed to form the spine of this basement complex, as well as a set of stairs leading down. Marin got permission to stop and take a quick rubbing of the engraving on the crystal: Ismail had explained that the symbols were part of a teleportation function, allowing anyone with a key and knowledge of the symbols to instantly travel between floors. Though the cleric claimed to have a key, he refused to show it to them at the time, saying that he'd rather keep his most useful skills close to hand. 
Held at the point of a crossbow, the group began to head down the stairs, their armed escorts letting them leave unharmed.
Category:Emerald Spire