We took sight of the area and could see 5 decent peaks north and east of here. We knew 1 of them was the home to Donnegarten and Eoghan took an educated guess to discount the two peaks on the edge, leading us to the valley between the 3rd and 4th mountain – each a bit between 5 and 6 thousand feet in height. The foothills before it were sizable, some of the mounds reaching over 800 feet up. And we set off. The pace was slow and measured, Wilhelm and Eoghan taking us along whatever deer paths we could find. The wind was a constant, running at 25 to 30 mph and as we got closer to the peaks, they acted as a windbreak, forcing more of the breeze across us. Through the valley here we could see at least 3 more peaks.
The decision was made to camp on the other side of the valley crest and it was a bit after 6 when Eoghan managed to scout out an area that was a bit of a hollow from a water wash. We gathered wood, boughs, and other items before settling in for a camp and a meal. We split up the watches (Wilhelm, Connal, Dizzy, and Shim – with Eoghan being excepted for now) and rest well in the night, using the hollow as a fire break and keeping the coals banked low. We awoke the next day Firemonth the 2nd and spent a few hours writing scrolls and studying and praying.
Eoghan had walked about taking sites of the nearby peaks and the land about us. It was another cloudless summer day with no hint of rain (5 days so far). We discussed places to go and we figured on east for now. Dizzy did an augury and confirmed that seemed to be the best choice. So all geared up again and Knox’s (the mule’s) load a bit lighter, headed off to the east, crossing the valley floor and heading off to the next rise between peaks. It was rough go and the terrain was not forgiving but we arrived up and over and looked into the next valley area when Shim who was starting north and east started blubbering and pointing.
“The Mountain,” he muttered repeatedly. “It’s the mountain.”
The mountain that he had been seeing for months now since we acquired the Desmondian Diamond and he had been blasted with two visions that haunt him every day – one being the Norns and their work – and the other being a particular mountain peak exploding and the subsequent blast and climate change kills most everyone. “Alright,” Eoghan laughed, “That’s our destination.”
We walked north and east, taking almost an hour to get to the southwest base of the wooded peak. It was about 5,000 feet tall and had a snow cap from about 3,500 feet up, the forest line getting to just under 3,000 feet. There were no markings or signs that this was the peak and only Shim’s haunted vision let us know that of the 13 or 14 mountains in the area, that this was the right one.
It was about 11 and we hoped to at least narrow down our possible search area. So Dizzy once again called to Sif and did another augury – asking if it was better or worse if the group searches the south half of the mountain. And we got a yes. Ok. Eoghan and Wilhelm did some talking and discussing about possible time to search the mountain and how high up we’d need to go. The group was of the consensus the dwarves would not have an entrance at base of the thing, and the snow line seemed too high. We decided to search off the area between 3 and 4 thousand feet in height where it went from tree line to scrub. It should take us the entire day to search that entire area on the south slope so we went up.
Dizzy had the hardest time with the climb so he and Shim rode Knox to that area and then once up there we dismounted and had Eoghan help us draw into a line. And from there we started looking for anything. Door, chimney, any worked area. The place was supposedly closed and sealed 144 years ago, so there was going to be almost nothing for signs (DC 20), but we looked. After a few hours, Eoghan had us searching the eastern slopes on the south side of the mountain.
Dizzy and Wilhelm encountered a couple of wild Hippogriffs who had torn a family of rabbits apart and were eating them. We didn’t want to alert them to us so they kept motioning to Connal who was watching them some couple hundred feet away. He got Shim and then they used the amulet of telepathy to communicate with the other 2 at what they found. Then he blasted a call telepathically to Eoghan who was ranging in front and silently pissed off at Dizzy for being so fucking slow that he should come back.
We all convened again back with the other 2 and decided that 2 hippogriffs, while maybe good enough for us to encounter, was not necessary for now. Wilhelm let us know they had a 4 mile square hunting area and we just needed to make them move on. The group used a summon monster spell and a giant rat appeared. We sent it into the woods and the hippogriffs attacked it, killing it, and then they got pissed off at their meal and squawked a bit and flew off.
Returning to our search we did spot (Eoghan and Dizzy) a few blocks of an older dwarven mountain switchback road which fueled our excitement that we were on the right track. No sign of the opening so we went to the western slope at this height and looked around. By 6 PM we had to admit defeat and went down the slope a bit to the tree line before we came upon an area to rest for the night. Camp was set up and we arranged watch (Wilhelm, Connal, Eoghan, and Shim). The Aurora Borealis emerged this evening, a ribbon of green and yellow and blue light dancing across the sky. The majesty was enough to silence most of the normal animal sounds and fill the party (those on watch) with wonder. The tobacco that Wilhelm had smoked earlier had relaxed him and he passed the watch baton on to the next and the next.
At some point Connal did sense a large figure skulking about. So he put on his cloak with the frightful visage, giving him a wraith-like look. And then looked out. It was a hill giant, solitary and wandering about. It took a few seconds to spot the monastic and then got terrified. It threw a big rock (20 lbs!) at the monk; cracking him in the chest and rocking him back (14 pts damage). He didn’t say a thing, continued to watch the giant who then freaked out, failed his morale check, and fled. Everything after that was normal – Aurora Borealis continued to shine until a couple hours before dawn.
We shared experiences, studied, wrote spells, and prayed. And then a heal was given to Connal and we went back over our plan. Eoghan wanted us to go back to one of the areas we had been through yesterday and check it again. So we reclimbed the area and started to look again. And sure enough, we managed to find a place where an overhang of rock above a scree of stones showed a doorway (or the top of it beyond). We discussed things to do and spells at our finger tips but it was decided that raw strength and shovel was going to be the watchward of the day.
Wilhelm stripped off his clothes again and transformed into a bear. It was touch and go but he got the gist of it and he, Connal, and Dizzy tackled the 22 tons of fallen stones. It was fast in the beginning but slowed down as the hours went on. Eventually they got too tired to dig on after 3 hours and we broke for lunch. A lesser restoration gave 2 of them their energy back and the 3 of them went back to the door, eventually clearing enough of it free for us to open it.
It was a double stone door, 10’ wide and 12’ tall. There was a metal core of the door as well as the frame and lintel so stone shape was not going to work. A single large rusted and gritted locking wheel was in the center. Shim blasted it with a prestidigitation cleaning some of it but that was it. It was almost 4:30 and we did not want to tackle any more tonight so we took our tools and tired bodies back down to the camp we had made yesterday and camped again.
We ate, drank, smoked, and had a good evening. Connal let us know we had 6 days of food and water left after this point. We set up watches and rested again. Watch set up was the same as the night before and once again, the sky was awash in colors. The bleed from the rainbow bridge was a ribbon running across the firmament. It was majestic. The world was quiet, watching. And on Connal’s watch, a man appeared behind him and asked to share his fire. He was in his late 30’s red brown hair, grizzled warrior type. Connal was concerned, wondering if it was an aspect of the Major Eddas. It was when he let his cloak fall aside and showed his missing hand that he muttered, “Tyr”, and the figure only grimaced a grin.
They shared some smoke, the vapors giving Connal a racing spin and a calm clarity he had never had before. “This is an important place,” the man (Tyr) said. “It was here that the first falling stones spelled the death of many to come. And it is here that we have some to see you once more.”
We?
3 women stepped out of the gloom. A younger woman with the rosy cheeks of a maiden just hit womanhood, clutching a spindle of thread. An older woman was next, the younger one’s mother. She was clad less gaily and her figure was more pear shaped, but she was still a striking woman. She had a set of knitting needles. And last was an older woman, the mother again (and grandmother) of the other 2, some arthritis on her swollen knuckles but a keen eye and a sharp set of cutting shears.
They were the Norns (or an aspect thereof) and Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld spoke with Connal and then the rest of the group (awakening them from a deep slumber). They explained the nature of the skein and that they do not write the future. At all, they merely record it, and they can only record what has happened. No one can see the future – except the all father, and for 1 instance – Shimlagesh.
This location is a nexus point – something important happened here which had them record the massacre of 2 persons in 5 during the Randari War. They rewound the skein to show the rich tapestry of it and then post this situation and how the tapestry was weaker and less dense, less whole; it took many years before it grew rich and thick again and still not as full as it was before. But now if the mountain explodes and Fimbulwinter comes, the tapestry would shatter unless some 9 threads in 10 were cut. And most of the coloring after that would be the brown and grey representation of the dwarven empires.
We needed to find a way to prevent that from happening. And this place, Donnegarten, once again features heavily in deciding the future of Rand.
There was much conversation following and we learned much but eventually weariness overtook us and we turned in again for the night, resting well and awakening on Firemonth the 4th, ready to go back up the mountain and find our way – plumb the long forgotten secrets of Donnegarten.
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