Campaign 1 • Chapter 16

## Where Shadows Lie

### The Everglades *(6th of Frostmoot, 4E 103)*

For the first two days, the journey through the forest is mostly uneventful. The party runs into no opposition or hostiles, and enjoys some much needed rest from their ordeals at Ashdun. They travel mostly through untamed forest, heading due north in the hopes of reconnecting with the main road to Ironstone, where they would then take the pass through the Mogul Caí to reach the tundras up north.

On the third day of travel, they link up with the road, and that same afternoon come across a small village by the name of Aeston. The village, a dilapidated collection of a few houses and barns, seems to have fallen on hard times. The few elves they see are dressed in dirty rags, with sunken eyes that look up at them as they pass. The air is eerily silent, and the disgusting odours of sweat and fever hang on the breeze. They talk to an elven woman by the name of Emilia Tanner who tells them that the village had been struck by a sudden sickness due to infected water.

That same evening, they travel shortly west, to a small stream that supposedly fed the village's water supply. At the side of the stream they encounter a troll of a spectral nature that they fight and defeat, also destroying the runestone with which it was linked. On the shores of the stream nearby they find a patch of infected mushrooms that seem to be polluting the water, which they also clear.

### Ironstone*(8th of Frostmoot, 4E 103)*

They return to Aeston the next morning and inform Emilia that the water problem should have been resolved. She thanks them profusely and gives them a small reward. They set off on the road north once again, heading towards Ironstone as fast as they could.

They spot the city on the next day. By mid morning, they enter the valley basin where the entrance to Ironstone is located, and are stopped by a patrol of guards shortly after. The patrol is lead by Joanna Cairne, the Earl of Ironstone, who is immediately friendly once they mention Evan Cairne, her older brother. She takes them to Ironstone, through the massive gateway carved into the side of the mountain, and into a short tunnel that eventually leads into a massive cavern, inside of which the city is built.

"*You emerge abruptly into the largest cavern any of you have ever seen. Its sides disappear into the fog and dark on both directions in a wide circle, and the craggy ceiling is barely visible. Small rivulets of water spiderweb amidst the nooks and crannies, and proud stalagmites reach like crooked fingers towards the sky. The pathway weaves its way between the rock, carved with granite pavings marked with independent runes that glow with the same light of the lanterns you had just seen. It leads towards the centre of the cavern drawing your gaze to the great marvel of engineering that is Ironstone. The city is built entirely around a massive central pillar that had been shaped out of the rock of the mountain, fashioned by the dwarves centuries ago. Buildings of all shapes and sizes, mostly boasting dwarven architecture, are stacked in an almost haphazard mound, reaching up towards the ceiling of the cave. The highest buildings are just barely visible, hanging at dizzying heights above your heads.*"
 ― The City of Ironstone

Joanna leads them into the city proper, suggesting they find a tavern on the mid to lower levels due to the cold winds in the top levels during winter. As they climb up the central spiralling pathway, they notice what seems to be a stone slide carved into the side of the central pillar, spiralling down into the depths of the earth. Joanna calls it The Breachmaker, a system of slides used by dwarves long ago to transport supplies into the ancient tunnel system they had dug that still percolates the mountains.

"*Oh, that! The dwarves called it The Breachmaker. It was designed to quickly send supplies, and some say the miners themselves, down into the deep mines below. As the story would have it, you can take that slide all the way into the core of Ygdren. Long since abandoned of course. The dwarves prefer to stick to the higher ranges nowadays, and those deeper, older tunnels are crawling with all manner of critters. Nobody’s been down there in centuries.*"
 ― Joanna Cairne

Upon further discussion with Joanna, they discover that the pass they had hoped to take through the mountains was currently blocked off by snow due to the winter storms, and would remain so for weeks at minimum until the snows thawed. Thanking Joanna for the information, the party determines that their only option would be to attempt to head into the old dwarven tunnels and attempt to find a way north to re-emerge past the mountains. The maps they have of the tunnel system are ancient and incomplete, and Joanna warns them that this is a terrible idea as they could get lost with no hopes of ever getting out.

They spend that night at a popular tavern, where they run into a charming elven fiddler by the name of Kendall Sweetsong, who seems particularly adept at almost directly controlling the crowd with incredible feats of musical talent. They briefly converse with her before she leaves, finding themselves unable to resist her charm, whether it is because of her near-magical skill with the fiddle or her pretty looks.

### Ironstone*(10th of Frostmoot, 4E 103)*

They spend the next day purchasing plentiful supplies in preparation for a long underground journey, and the day after that attempt to sneak past the guards at the entrance to the Breachmaker and take the dilapidated toboggan-like wooden vehicles to use the old slide. They are to an extent successful, and manage to escape down the slide in the chaotic distraction caused by Namfoodle. Entering the slide last, the gnome spots a familiar symbol graffiti'd into the side of the stonework at the top of the slide, the symbol of the Precursors.

The journey down the slide is perilous and near fatal, due to obstacles, complete darkness, hostile creatures chasing them, and parts of the slide having completely fallen apart. They eventually take a wrong turn onto a bridge across a near bottomless cavern that had entirely collapsed, and plummet into the darkness straight into a freezing cold underground lake. Managing to prevent everyone from drowning, they pull themselves onto the shore finding themselves in an ancient cavern with little to no signs of ancient dwarven mining or exploration. They decide to make camp in the dark before venturing further.

### Ironstone Caverns*(11th of Frostmoot, 4E 103)*

Towards the end of the night, they are attacked by a group of burrowing giant millipede-like creatures which they successfully manage to fend off, though not without effort. Journeying deeper into the cavern network, they come across a strange cave littered with crumbled statues and bits of oddly shaped stone. Before they can approach further, they alert the pack of basilisks that lived inside the cave, and are forced to defend themselves. Some of the group are almost turned to stone, but they manage defeat the creatures before the petrification is complete.

Inside the lair, they find only one statue that remains entirely complete. They use the stomach acid of the basilisks they had killed to restore the statue to life, and in doing so first meet Mei, a genasi monk who had run afoul of the pack some days previously and been dragged under the mountain as food. With little other option, she joins the party on their journey out of the caverns.

They continue through the network of tunnels until they eventually come to a section of tunnels that has a selection of ancient mining equipment and crates, which they follow, eventually reaching what seems to be a doorway carved out of the stone on the side of the tunnel, flanked by two humanoid statues that seem to be shaped out of that same stone, as well as a number of carvings that seem to have been flawlessly formed out of the stone itself. The door has no seams, openings, or handles, and glows perpetually with a low blue light. The statues have small globes of opaque glass as eyes.