Osgood,
So I am writing this from the bowels of a freshly excavated mine? I'm not really sure what to call it. Let me catch you up.
After we left Waymeet with Marcus we were on the road for a few days en route to this Dwarven Sage, Bertram. One night while we were camping Marcus let slip that he was "ordered" to Waymeet. (this will be important later) When pressed he became evasive, and we thought it better just to let it go for the night. Also on this journey we were alerted to the presence of a sinister looking dwarf accompanied by 4 henchmen/hired hands. Marcus identified the dwarf as someone named Fingali, and indicated that this person was of the illest repute. We also learned some other interesting things from Marcus.
We spoke to him about the "Wanderers". Apparently, there are 4 Wanderers, one for each cardinal direction. One of the 3 is female, and they meet every five years in a given location to discuss their travels. I believe, at present, there is no Southern Wanderer. Osgood, I would love to figure out where these meetings take place, and be a fly on the wall for that.
*Note to self - develop a spell to turn myself into a fly.
Marcus had info about my paternal grandfather. Apparently he adventured in the South, and my father was his squire. It is more of a lead than I have had in a while. Speaking of families, we also found out Fyn's family runs a crime syndicate in the East. That could prove advantageous.
That was most of what we got out of Marcus, and sooner than later we were at Bertram's Tower in Corkhome. His tower looks a lot like ours, actually, although I hope our workspace will not end up as cluttered as his was.
Bertram was perfectly nice, but only somewhat helpful. I think we were of more use to him than he was to us. He was fascinated in our account of the redcap creation ceremony we witnessed. As a matter of fact most of what we talked about was related to redcaps. We did learn some information though. . . and I will share the bulk of it with you upon my return home. Some of this you should be told face to face. Here is what I can share however.
Tainted ones seem to be tied to the specific demi-human race from whom they are made. This means that there are 4 types (in theory). Redcaps, as we know, are gnomes that have been perverted. Those Wisp-Walkers were once elves, Steel-Toes were once Dwarves, and no one is sure what happens when a Halfling is turned.
Bertram did tell us that he is part of a group of sages that meets regularly to discuss things, and invited us to their next meeting. So, needless to say, we will be stopping in on our way to Halvenspring.
We left the next morning escorted by another Dwarf named Orisus. As we traveled the temperature started to drop. Significantly. There wasn't enough hooch in Avonhollow to keep me warm. Eventually we decided to stop in to a small farm an see if we could take advantage of their barn for the night. As we rode up, we realized that this particular farmhouse was the only one we had seen with no lights on, so we stopped to investigate.
We discovered that the house had been broken into, and a struggle ensued. There was blood everywhere, but no bodies. Bajol and I went to do a perimeter check and look in on the barn. We didn't have to get too close before we realized something was very wrong. All of the cattle were huddled up on the farthest part of the pasture from the barn. The party assembled and then rushed the barn. We found an impressive amount of gore, that led to a large bull in the last moments of it's life. It had gored a . . . creature? who was also in it's last few moments of life. This was, without a doubt, a steeltoe. Massive, an misshapen with, big surprise, large steel boots. Orisus and Fyn did a little tracking and we found the trail. Apparently there were 5 or 6 of them carrying something still alive.
We tracked them to the location from which I now write. It looks like they were digging tunnels looking for something. That something was a door that we stopped them from opening. We surprised them in the middle of a ritual that was very similar to the redcap creation ritual, only this time they were pouring the blood of their freshly slain prey onto the door/slab. A fierce battle ensued and we came very close to being buried in that mine last night. Luckily the tide of battle turned, and we won the day, albeit, not without some close calls. Orisus' dog Snort almost fell in battle, and had it not been for the quick thinking of your brother, he would have surely been lost. Your brother also did a fine job of stopping the ritual from working by casting a spell that cut the ritual off from it's demonic fuel source.
After they Steel-toes were defeated I did a little research on the door, and Bertram posited that it was probably containing an awakened that had yet to be released. A little more study revealed that the inscription on the slab referred to what was behind it as the eyed horror. So, yeah, there is that. We spent some time debating (imagine that) what to do with this place and the thing behind the door. That is when Orisus spoke up and said he knew "some guys" who would be "interested" in "this", and that we could move on and trust they would take care of it. I inquired to the nature of this "group", and, big shock, I got more Dwarven evasion. I am starting to think ambiguity and indirectness are racial traits.
So we leave in the morning, and I hope that this meeting will garner some more in depth information regarding what is coming.
OH, I have to thank you for your kind words in your last message. They really helped me get over the hurdle on leaving the Marquis intact. I am going to make some personal notes after I sign off. No need to be alarmed, I am ciphering them on purpose, and you don't need to bother with decoding them. I am also attaching my sketches of the Steel-Toes, and the slab in the "mine shaft". File them where appropiate.
I hope all is well, and look forward to sitting down with you in person to discuss all we have learned on our travels. Until then, may Omnos guide and protect us all.
Grigor.
5 -CC
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