Eberron Adventure Journal: "Shadows of the Last War" (2)

Barrakas 9-10, YK 998

Part Three - Rose Quarry:
Wounded and weary from the combat, the adventurers began recovering their wits when William and Lysander spotted a dark figure at the entrance to the church below. He had a monstrous appearance, and was dressed in black robes. He stared up at them, and then transformed into a thick mist and floated away. William told the rest of the adventurers that there was a vampire, and that he had just flown away.

Unwilling to leave the quarry alone long enough for reinforcements to arrive, the adventurers decided to heal up using Lysander's wand of cure light wounds and then descend by rope into the zombie-infested village and seek out the map. They snuck up on a group of two zombies, and Pel tried to slip past them and into the House Cannith refinery. He was successful, but he got the attention of the two zombies inside the facility, and slipped back out.

A battle was joined between the adventurers and four of the glass-covered dwarf zombies. Because there were more of the vile creatures nearby, the adventurers were unable to retreat or maneuver very well, and they took some damage in subduing the creatures. William worked out that once you shattered the glass coating surrounding the zombies, they were susceptible to either slashing or magic weapons, and after taking relatively little damage, the adventurers managed to make short work of the Emerald Claw's undead guardians.

They then entered the Cannith chamber, and looked once more at the map on the floor. While Pel and Lysander searched the fireplaces for clues, Tock discovered that there was writing on the back of the statues at each fireplace. After a bit of looking around, Pel found that the Red Dragon statue read "Whitehearth, White Seal, NE 9." William figured out that the White Seal was the seal of Cannith in front of the white fireplace, and walked out 9 paces northeast onto the map. He found himself standing on a faint, barely noticeable mark of a crossed pick and shovel, which would be about 30 miles into the Mournland, in what was once the hills of southwestern Cyre.

While Brand used the statues and the map to make a detailed map of the area, including the locations of six Cannith facilities, William smashed the statues to prevent anyone else from discovering the location of Whitehearth. With this job done, the adventurers climbed out of Rose Quarry and headed back to Failin's cart.

Failin looked quite nervous, and had his dagger out and ready. When the adventurers explained where Whitehearth was, he at first refused to enter the Mournland. However, William then coerced Brand into revealing his own dragonmark and speaking the draconic word for "travel," attempting to convince Failin that they didn't need him. Unfortunately, Failin had sensed their deception and somehow locked the cart from receiving other commands. The adventurers offered him more money, and eventually negotiated 65 gp each for Failin to take them to Whitehearth. He spoke a different draconic word, under his breath, and "unlocked" the cart, allowing them to start rolling towards the gray mist that blocked off the Mournland.

XP: 160

Part Four - The Mournland:
The cart rolled towards the Mournland for about an hour, and then the adventurers stopped to make camp, rest and recover spells. 8 hours later, just as the sun began to rise, they got back into the cart and rolled toward the Mournland again. It took less than half an hour for them to reach the dead-gray mist, and they plunged in.

The elemental-powered cart kept them on track, but all of the adventurers, and Failin, were disoriented by the gray mist. A deep sense of isolation and dread grew within each of them. After a period of time that none of them could guess at, the cart rumbled through the dead-gray mist and into the corpse-strewn, magic-blasted, gray lit Mournland.

As the cart rolled on, the adventurers, and especially William, noted a large number of Karrnatthi and Cyran troops, obviously dead from the Day of Mourning. However, something about the magical effect had preserved the corpses, so that it looked they had died hours ago, not years. There was no sign of decomposition, and the wounds appeared fresh. William in particular found this quite disturbing, and announced that the place was cursed.

A short time later, the adventurers rolled past a broken siege engine, surrounded by a handful of dead Brelish soldiers. Lysander, Tock and Pel were curious about this sight, and Pailin was intrigued by the promise of treasure, so they rolled to a stop. As they did so, however, Brand looked out into the siege engine wreckage and saw shadows moving. He yelled a warning, but even as he did, the shadows revealed themselves as a half-dozen skeletal wolves and charged.

The wolves were skeletons, with human skeleton parts fused to their bodies by the weird arcane effects of the Mournland. Their jagged mouths barked silently as they approached, and they tried to leap into the covered cart from both ends. Tock yelled at Failin to start the cart and run them over, but when he revealed his dragonmarked arm, one of the wolves took a bite out of it. Another leaped into the cart and began attacking as well, and Failin used his dragonmark to dimension leap out of the cart and into hiding behind the siege engine. William, Brand and Pel disembarked from the back of the cart to fight three of the beasts while Tock and Lysander held the front. At one point, three of the wolves had leaped into the cart, while all of the adventurers had jumped out to avoid fighting in cramped quarters. The wolves did some damage, most notably to Pel, but eventually the adventurers triumped, in large measure due to William's greatsword, Tock's mace and the courage-inspiring effects of Lysander's songs.

The adventurers gathered in the cart and William urged Brand to try once more to activate it. He discovered that his dragonmark and the draconic "travel" were enough to start it rumbling, and William was gleeful at this discovery. Failin was not so gleeful, and he came running toward the cart, yelling "Don't leave me! Wait!" while brandishing a masterwork mace he had found among the Brelish solders. "Look what I found!" he yelled, desparate to get the adventurers to stop.

Not wanting to outright murder Failin by leaving him in the Mournland, the adventurers waited for him, although he wouldn't give Pel the mace until after he climbed in the cart, just in case. Brand found that he could only get the cart moving in a straight line, about half as fast as Failin, but it was clear that Failin still wasn't happy about this discovery. Tock claimed the mace, intending to check it later for any magical properties.

Failin took the helm of the cart once more, and the adventurers continued their journey into the Mournland. Another half hour passed and they came upon a scene of carnage massive and bloody even by the standards of the Mournland. A massive battle between Brelish infantry and Cyran archers provided the foundation for the carnage, but atop these four-year dead corpses were the remnants of a newer battle. A warband of Valenar elves had clearly encountered a party of Talenta halfling hunters, and it looked like they had torn each other apart. The real nature of this carnage soon became clear, however, as the mound of corpses shifted and a carcass crab emerged from the pile.

Certain that the massive crab would destroy his cart in a head-on collision, Failin ordered it to stop. William jumped out of the cart and began running toward the beast, and it responded by firing a poisoned barb at him, which he shrugged off. As the rest of the adventurers fired bows, crossbows and a wand of magic missiles, William pulled out his greatsword and charged, landing two powerful blows before the giant crab picked him up in both pincers and squeezed. William was grievously wounded and unable to move freely, but he summoned the strength to punch the weakened crab with his spiked gauntlet, killing it and forcing it to release him.

While William was ready to move on, Failin suggested that they search the bodies for treasure, even offering to give up his fee if he could keep half of the treasure found. Pel struck a deal with him that he would get an equal share of the treasure, rather than half, and could keep his fee. Failin agreed and the adventurers disembarked to search the corpses for weapons, magic and other goods that were no longer useful to the dead.

After three hours of searching, they turned up a small amount of coins, a letter of credit from the Kundarak Banking Guild, some potions, a cloak, a wand of magic missiles, a masterwork Talenta tangat and a magical Valenar double scimitar named Talaen Kara. Focused on the treasure and the labor-intensive work of gathering it, none of the adventurers noticed a single carrion bird circling high above them, watching their every move.

The final leg of the journey took about an hour, and the cart rolled up to a low hill. At the base of the hill was a dark tunnel that looked like any abandoned mineshaft, except for the House Cannith seal emblazoned on the center crossbeam. Pel disembarked to examine it for traps, and was caught off-guard as a vulture zombie dove in to attack. William emerged from the cart and quickly destroyed the bird, before it could do any more than scratch him once. With this minor threat dispatched, the adventurers turned and prepared to enter the lost Cannith facility known as Whitehearth.

XP: 480