Silver Hammer Mines

The Fateful 8 regrouped after their exploration in the mining town and the mines. The documentation Jerry inspected in the office suggested that 25% of the silver mined should be going to Silverglen. However, only about a third of what was agreed upon was actually being shipped south. Beldor revealed that the cause of the mysterious illness seemed to be possession, but it was also sapping the life force of those taken sick. Beldor thought he could cure the illness with some herbs & oils so he visited the town merchant Kareen Dakar. The group spoke with Gray again to fill him in on what they had discovered so far. Gray was worried about the Fateful 8 reporting the illness to Port Solaris, and so he agreed to keep the investigation quiet for now. He mentioned that the maelstrom was expected to come within the next few days and that he would be traveling for some time after the storm passed.

Bodo decided to move the truck into a cave and construct a long lightning rod in order to charge their crystal. Beldor cast divine intervention and was able to contact Mongoon. Beldor asked Mongoon to regrow his tree that had been destroyed during a Maelstrom squall. The tree grew to it's previous size and perhaps a bit larger. It was then surrounded by a sort of Faraday cage to help protect it from the elements. The party rested for the evening.

The next morning, Beldor cast hallow on the area directly outside the mine entrance to help heal miners that may be sick and not know it. Afterwards, both Rigline and Beldor cast detect evil and good and walked around the camp to try and determine the source of the illness. Beldor felt a tingle off of a miner named Johanny, who was talking with Drake. Beldor questioned Drake and found out that Johanny was a second generation miner.

Meanwhile, Dreld felt a pull towards a few buildings near the mine entrance. As Rigline, Mr. Fahrenheit, and Dreld walked towards those buildings, Rigline felt a pulse from his detect evil and good spell. After a brief investigation he realized the feeling was being caused by Dreld's presence. Later, Rigline also felt a pulse from a house in the bloc near the mine entrance. Rigline knocked on the door and spoke with the occupants. The woman who answered confirmed her husband was sick, but felt it wasn't serious. Rigline tried to persuade her to take her husband to the infirmary. After getting nowhere with the family, the group resumed their investigation of the town.

Rigline felt a pull towards the main barracks, where the Quartermaster Drake, and the Mine Foreman Gray worked. Rig investigated the hearth area and found the etchings of small runes in the stone. Bodo read the runes and determined that they existed from the Time of Strife and were used to summon other beings, but they weren't active. Drake walked in while the Fateful 8 were inspecting the room and proceeded to get very angry with the party. He said that they were going to get everyone in trouble. Eventually Gray intervened and mediated between the two parties. Drake handed over a list of new equipment that had been brought into camp. Rigline took a rubbing of the runes and later showed them to Dreld. Dreld began to freak out and had to be subdued. After Dreld was properly manacled, he read the rubbings of the runes. Dreld recognized the runes from his book. He hasn't read them often, but knows they're powerful and related to Hadar and possession.

Hadar was a name that the Fateful 8 had encountered before and Dreld's necklace seemed to have some tie-in to the mystery around him. Rig asked to look at the necklace and cast Legend Lore on it. The Fateful 8 learned that Hadar was a name to be feared, but had been worshipped by the Heralds of Hadar. The Heralds had wanted to overthrow the rulers of Riggaron beliving that Hadar could end the Maelstrom. Buck wanted to ask around about the amulet. After showing it to a few groups of people, one person said that their aunt had been attacked by a creature who looked like the amulet (a beholder) and a middle aged dwarven woman said she saw the same image tattooed on Aston Martin's body. Aston was the first miner to fall to the illness. Margaret, the dwarf, took the Fateful 8 to the home where Aston had lived. The current occupants told the Fateful 8 they should talk to Drake to inquire about his remaining possessions.

The Fateful 8 once again went off to speak to Drake. After more pushback from Drake, the Fateful 8 filled him in on everything going on and he became more cooperative. He noted that Aston became sick very shortly after arriving at Silver Hammer. He showed the party Aston's remaining personal effects, which consisted of some dishware, a dagger, and a few lewd books he had written (about Margaret). Drake then mentioned that a beholder had once attacked Silver Hammer from one of the mine shafts. The Fateful 8 went off to investigate the old mineshaft and found that, even though it had been sealed, a small hole had been dug around the wall. After some exploration, the group came to a split in the tunnel. One direction was dark, while the other was lit by sconces. They chose to take the dark path. It wound around into a larger room, where they were attacked by two bat-like monsters that were eating a corpse. After killing the two beasts, the group took a short rest and continued on. Eventually they found themselves on the shore of a massive underground lake. Efforts to see how big the lake was ended up attracting the attention of an undead dragon and a dragon rider. They attacked, and after a brief, but furious battle, the Fateful 8 survived mostly unscathed. They rested for the night, and filled the surrounding tunnel with dirt to try and block the passage to the lake.

Retracing their steps, the Fateful 8 took the lit path and found it dead ended in a room where it appeared miners snuck off to to take a break. However, after investigation, Bodo noticed that some of the footprints went towards a spot in the wall. Bodo was able to find a seam in the wall, and Beldor used stone shape to create a door through. The party came upon a set of stairs heading down. They noticed the walls were carved with intricate drawings, including creatures that looked a lot like Dreld. They eventually came to a hallway that had passages to the left, right, and straight ahead. The passages on the left looked similar to the room that the party had discovered beneath the Gryffin compound in Port Solaris. There were three dormant portals. Rigline cast legend lore again and determined that they were used to connect major cities across Riggaron and were powered by an external source. The portal on the left went to Beezlewigzoridia, the portal on the right went to Rigorious, and the portal in the middle went to Tifton. Bodo put a crystal into the socket for the portal to Beezlewigzoridia. He went through and was confronted by several annoying gnomes. After attempting to buy crystals from a gnome, and failing, Bodo's welcome in the city had worn out and he came back to the portal room in Silver Hammer. He did note that there were 5 portals in Beezlewigzoridia, going to Dustdane, Forlond, Crowmoor, Kallimheim, and Silver Hammer.

Finally the Fateful 8 went down the middle path, which widened as it approached a set of large double doors. There was a slot on the doors that seemed to fit Dreld's necklace perfectly. They stuck the necklace in and went through the doors. An altar sat in the middle of the room and Dreld felt drawn to the chalice on the altar. He moved calmly, but swiftly towards the chalice and drank deeply from it. Immediately, tentacles sprang from Dreld and attached to the altar, pulling a creature from it. Dreld and the creature attacked the rest of the party. The ensuing battle was swift and brutal. The entity killed Rigline and resurrected him as an undead ally. While Bodo, Beldor, Donut, and Mr. Fahrenheit were dealing with the entity, Buck attacked Dreld, and accidentally disintegrated him. The entity immediately ceased it's attack and escaped to another plane. Beldor attempted to revive Rigline. Rigline came to, but introduced himself as Nehebkah, King of the Snakes. He maintained his ashen, dead appearance and the old Rig was gone forever.

Mr. Fahrenheit tackled Buck in anger for killing his friend. Buck explained that he wasn't trying to kill Dreld but was left no choice. Eventually cooler heads prevailed. Bodo and Buck investigated the chalice that Dreld had drank from. Bodo felt the same pull that Buck had felt and attempted to drink from the chalice. Acting quickly, Mr. Fahrenheit grabbed Bodo's arms and prevented him from drinking from it. Bodo put the chalice in the bag of holding until the group could figure out how to destroy it. Mr. Fahrenheit collected Dreld's belongings and ashes in a vial. Bodo asked to read Dreld's book to see if they could learn anything from it. A brief argument ensued, Mr. Fahrenheit wasn't inclined to let anyone read it after what it had done to Dreld. Eventually, Mr. Fahrenheit relented and held the book while Bodo read from it. Bodo realized there was power in the book and it was more than just an instruction set. It seemed to be a phylactery for a lich. The party rested, and in the morning, Beldor cast a protective circle before summoning the lich from the spell book.

A tiny goblin, not unlike Dreld, came out of the spellbook. He introduced himself as Vig, Dreld's father. He was confused as to how the party came to be in the possession of his spell book. Mr. Fahrenheit relayed the story of Dreld to Vig and he expressed regret as to what it did to his son. He agreed to travel with the party for a time while he regained his memory.

The newly reformed Fateful 8 made their way back to the surface. They debriefed Gray and Beldor went to check on the infirmary. Strangely, the miners were still quite ill. When recounting the experience to the Fateful 8, Mr. Fahrenheit recalled one piece of information from the passageways beneath Silver Hammer. While they were investigating the portal room, Mr. Fahrenheit saw hoof prints in the dirt. They quickly went back to confront Gray with this information. When Buck threatened Gray, a demonlike entity, similar to what they had faced in the mine, came out of Gray. The Fateful 8 destroyed the demon and Buck executed Gray on the spot. Drake came into the room at that time and Beldor explained what had happened. Drake tried to arrest the party until Buck revealed himself to be a Justicar. At that point, Drake suggested they leave Silver Hammer and not return, which the group agreed to and they made their way back to their cart and out of town.