On June 20th (Year 15 of the Vale), tired of waiting for their other companions and joined by Star travelling from the south, Finnigan and Aurum set out from Valalarte to take the other tributary to the West Confluence in search of Experimental Facility Ges, which they had failed to find on the tributary directly north.
- Finnigan Farl (CoB): Level 6/3 Halfling Bard/Chemist
- Aurum (TrS): Level 5 Elf Magic-user (Elementalist)
- 2 water elementals, Squish and Squash (1 and 2 cubic feet)
- fire elemental, Sizzle (2 cubic feet)
- lightning elemental, Sparky (2 cubic feet)
- sandstorm elemental, Sandy (3 cubic feet)
- snowstorm elemental, Snowy (2 cubic feet)
- Star (KaS): Level 2 Nekolyn Thief
They follow the east side of the river from Valalarte and decide not to cross the ford or bridge to the college side of the eastern tributary and continue up the river. As they approach the mountain, they encounter a herd of giant goats that give them a wide berth. They camp for the night at the base of the mountain.
On the 21st, they follow the river up the mountain, but as is often the case in these mountains are forced away from the river as it cuts a deep canyon. They see some lights in the thinning forest off to their right and ignore them, thinking they are some kind of fey or other troublesome creature.
The lights follow them as they proceed up river, causing them some concern, but soon they come to a place where a majestic waterfall springs from the rock below their feet into a pool at the head of the river’s main source. Knowing the place they search for was often reached by river and that the river thus far has been seemingly navigable (with the removal of some debris), they suspect a hidden entrance behind the waterfall and send Squish to look behind it, but it finds nothing. However, they do see posts in the pool that they surmise might be mooring points.
The mooring points are on the opposite side of the waterfall pool, so they hike around the top of the pool, wisps following them all the while, and tie off a rope for Star to repel down and look for signs of an entrance. Their suspicions are correct and Star sees signs of a secret door, but has no idea how to open it. They decide to have Aurum repel down after him to investigate further with his magic sense and it pays off. He senses Ros, Sar, Neta, Zo, Ya, dark, and earth magics and surmises that the dweomer must be hiding something key to opening the door.
Feeling around the stone, he starts to notice places where it feels different than it looks and soon finds what feels like a key hole in the apparently smooth rock. Star has no experience with picking locks and no equipment to do so, so they ascend and plan to return to Shadow Spires to inform Rovert of the find.
As they are about to go, the wisps attack! There are 3 of them, and they are quick enough to scatter away from Finnigan’s bombs that they do little direct damage, but they do push the speed of the wisps enough for other team members to get in effective strikes. One by one, they wink out of visibility and flee, having destroyed only Squish and Squash.
As they return down the mountain, they come upon a gnomish camp, with whom they share a camp for the night. The gnomes are also searching for lost elvish knowledge. On the 22nd, they reach Valalarte, and on the 23rd proceed to Tuv and to the Vale on the 24th. On the 25th, they make it to Shadow Spires where Rovert is excited to learn about the find.
Rovert immediately contacts Conan at the Clouded Citadel and confirms that it is currently at the Satyr capitol not very far away. He summons it and by the 26th the Clouded Citadel picks up Rovert and the party at Shadow Spires. Over night and by noon on the 27th, they have flown to the site of the hidden door and Rovert empowers his rogue, Sterfalye with stonesight and he attempts to pick the lock. When he fails, Finnigan emulates him and attempts himself, getting the lock open.
Rovert takes over to search the place, paying the party handsomely for the find.
They found it this time, but due to a mere locked door had to bring the boss in before they had any chance to explore themselves. In any case, the reward was well-earned.
Mind Weave Role-Playing Platform 