Entry 2, 7th of Wealsun

We set sail by skiff to another lost site in the region today, going past what I believe is the other ‘monastery’. Apparently some sort of movement of the earth has revealed an ancient dwarfen dock, that leads to a place that the writing above the entryway terms the River of Mithril.

Our landing was not particularly fortuitous, we offered to pass the goblins, who apparently inhabit the eastern side of the ruins peacefully, but this local guide, a different fellow, was less sympathetic to their cause, and the matter came to a assault upon the docks. We came out the better, but barely, and other than investigating some items in the vicinity of the docks,

A pair of large brass doors most notable, awkward to send back but valuable to be sure, including the names of the noble lineages of the founding clans of this location, see sketch and more extensive notes overleaf. An inscribed arch telling us of the River of Mithril, and a plain obelisk, with a matching companion across the water, that I would guess used to be part of some crane assembly for loading, or a bridge crossing the water between the two sides of the docks.

It should be noted that the place appears to be under some form of residual enchantment, as there is no decay once you pass beyond a certain point in the jetty, and the place is in immaculate condition, even if one takes into account the goblins living here.

We did also interrogate a goblin who was taken prisoner, he told us that the path down the ‘river’ would lead to some sort of mushroom forest with a dangerous beast that inhabited the ceiling. And that the other side of the ruins were inhabited by the restless dead, a fact supported by the tales of our fellow adventurers.

Beyond that the magician sabotaged a bit of their supplies, while we defended the docks against the inevitable counterattack that never materialized.

Entry 3
We set out again for the same location after several days of rest, this time the goblins agreed to let us pass so long as we stayed out of their territory, and we landed on the ‘undead’ side of the docks. Some parts of this had been previously explored, and I was given a rather rudimentary explanation. The only portion that won’t match what I saw myself was the path to the ‘necromancer’ which went through a large room with a magic fountain that dispensed ale, and had a magic door the previous efforts had failed to defeat.

This side of the dwarfen ruins appears much more functional with plain stone doors, as opposed to the bronzed chased and engraved edifices of the goblin side of the docks. We passed through a ‘kitchen’ and several apparent store rooms, including one where the manipulation of a mannequin opens a secret passage in the wall.

Within the passage we did encounter a gnome who was apparently the sole survivor of an expedition to perform some mystical dwarfen rite of passage that would magically imbue it’s wearer with the skill of a swordsmen. His companions had been consumed by a giant snake, or so we were led to believe, and he was scared, hungry and injured, but we were able to heal him and convince him that he should travel with us as a bit of a guide until we could make our way out.

We encounter near here some magical moths, that appear to feed on magical energies. We had intended to capture some when we were beset upon by the undead. The priests efforts to drive them away were for naught, and we engaged in a rather rough pitched battle, which had just turned our way when yet another band of skeletal guards appeared.

This group was talkative, in it’s way, as apparently the local necromancer spoke through one of them, making the standard necromancer in a dungeon variety of threats. We were able to achieve some parley with him claiming our goal was to find the giant snake, and with us agreeing to leave the corpse for him and make our way out once we had slain it.

This did surprisingly work, perhaps his power was not so infinite, and he was concerned as to the loss of more of his servants, but we were too beaten to press the advantage. We did proceed to capture the pair of moths, the degree to which they frightened the mage was quite amusing.

I should, note that numerous times it was implied that the dead do not stay dead here, both by my traveling companions and by local denizens. After ‘discussion’ with the necromancer this appears to be the reason for his presence rather than an effect of it. With magic moths in tow we decided that we had seen as much for a day as we could manage, and returned to town.