Welcome to Kaer-Duval
After traveling for nearly three weeks since their departure from Autumn's Landing, the characters finally arrive at the frozen gates of the dwarven kingdom of Kaer-Duval.
Themes
Kaer-Duval is an industrial empire. Everything is black and covered in dirt and soot, and lighting is always dim. Furthermore steam, rivers of molten rock and the loud clangings of industry are omnipresent.
Structure
Exposition
The Morning Of...
The distant noises of the wagons being loaded force your eyes open form the black slumber that had ruled them for all too short a time. Frozen air fills your lungs as you draw your first breath of the day, and you watch mesmerized as the plume of fog that follows your exhalation rises to splash against the bottem of the table you're under. Wait a minute...why are you under a table?As the memory of the previous night's reveries come back to you, you suddenly sit up sharply, banging your head on the table as you do. You gaze around the room and find many of your other adventuring companions similarly breaking from the coma that had so fiercely taken hold of them.
After traveling for almost two months from the Docks of Autumn's Landing north, the small uncharted hamlet at the foot of the frost mountains was a welcome sight. And the fact that it's people had been so open and warm to company even more so. They'd invited you each to a small celebration at their tavern which, by Amaranthine's standards was little more than a run down basement with a few chairs and one too many barrels of wine.
You head out into the small square of the village where what remains of the wagon train was parked. When you'd set out from Autumn's Landing you'd had eight wagons and nearly one hundred and fifty personnel. Due to occasional monster attacks, the rigors of the road and human nature the company of Davon Krebeaux had been reduced to almost half of that.
Each of you but Jaylyse pull your cloaks tight against the frigid mountain air as you casually slide into the morning routines of getting the company ready to move again. To your left and extending eastward and westward as far as even your elven eyes can see the Frost Mountains reach high into the sky, their frozen peaks obscured by a cloak of thick gray clouds. As you pass by the water barrel, freshly restocked from the small village's supplies, you break the thin film of ice across the top and dip your cup, noticing your reflection in the water's crystal clear surface. The road has not been good to you:
Gerome your short beard has become long and unkempt; Ouna your face, always a little smudged is now barely recognizable for the soot, dirt and grease you've picked up along the road; Nef, your normally well groomed fur is standing up in all the places and, forgetting your mug of water you quickly begin licking your hand and engaging in a feline bath to attempt a correction; Saphryn, your pale skin has darkened from extended exposure to the sun, your silver hair you keep tied back is knotted an in need of a good firm brushing and the inner light of your violet eyes has dimmed from exhaustion. Jaylyse, you alone seem to have thrived the longer the trip has gone on, and though your clan has long traveled the savannas of Fefiera, the colder the world gets around you the more you feel like you belong and the more comfortable you grow. Finally Nyx, you're reclusive style has faltered along the trip as the hot sun force you to abandon your traditional hooded cloak, only to bring it back when the elevation started rising and that same Summer sun vanished behind the icy mountains. Like the others, your face is covered with grime and your eyes only too readily betray the exhaustion your all feel. (Each character other than Jaylyse, suffers one level of exhaustion.)
And it's not just you. Every morning the camp moves a little slower to get going. You hear less idle chit chat as the group moves about their routines. The saddest part about it is that you aren't even to the Kazuz wastes yet, and people have already lost hope to the extent that you're unsure if the company is capable of making it the rest of the journey. M. Krebeaux has suffered the worst of it though. The once youthful, energetic sponsor for the adventure has darkened with each passing day. With each member lost to either attrition or monster, Davon has darkened, with each wagon lost to the run downs of travel, he has darkened. Until the man you once knew, your partner on this journey only barely exists in memory. The man you know now is a severe man, as cold as the mountains you climb. His determination to recover the treasure has long since shifted to obsession and you fear for his ability to continue to participate in the leadership of this expedition, a concern that M. Duchamp has also shared.
Is there anything you would like to do before the company begins to move again?
The Mithral Gates
A well deserved, if cliche name, for the gates to a Dwarven city, after another eight hours of travel your exhausted company reaches the Mithral Gate of Kaer-Duval. A gate really only in name, the structure more resemble an uncompleted arch made out of the silver steal, and serves more to mark to road that leads into the mountain more than keep travelers out. The dwarves themselves serve as the deterrent for any who have not gone through the damned near impossible task of securing permits to access the dwarven cities beneath the mountains.As you approach the gate, you can spot more than a dozen dwarves all carrying weapons that look like battleaxes, although their hafts are thicker than most axes you've seen and the end of the haft opposite the blade looks more like the butt of a crossbow than any kind of handle. The tension in the air rises as suddenly all of these weapons are pointed at the company. You nervously pace the length of the company, your hands never far from your own weapons, while M. Duchamp, Mde. Allaire and M. Krebeaux speak with one of the dwarves. After what seems like an eternity you are permitted to pass through the gate and four dwarves are assigned as your escorts.
They lead you perhaps a mile down the road past the gates, the travel of which is very slow with the wagons as the road is littered with debris from the mountains such as boulders, fallen trees and almost impassable snow banks. Finally, the road terminates at the mouth of a large cave and the dwarves lead you inside. The air in the cave become suddenly warm and comfortable only a few hundred feet past its entrance, and the passive white light from the cave's opening slowly gives way to a softer orange glow as you notice small streams of molten rock running down chutes built into the wall, their sources and their ends hidden deep in the rock.
Another six hours of travel and one meal break passes as you traverse this slowly declining path into the mountain, and you begin to judge that you can be no less than a mile under the surface above you when you arrive at what truly must be the Mithral Gates. A large door, easily three or more stories tall and half as much wide with massive copper gears spread throughout its surface and into the rock frame around it blocks your path. One of your escorts begins speaking in dwarvish through a small device on the wall to the left and with probably the loudest clang you've ever heard in your life the, gears start turning and the massive gates begin slowly opening to reveal the world beyond. An entire city underground.
Leaving the wagons behind for the moment, you step out on to a rock ledge overlooking the city. Located in what has to be the largest damned cavern in the entire world is the city state of Kaer-Duval. Connecting the floor of the cavern to the roof are perhaps half a dozen massive spires, each at least as thick as the Isle of the God's back in Amaranthine. You can see little fire lights scattered up and down each spire representing the windows and doors leading to the domiciles, commercial properties and industrial establishments within. The entire city is illuminated by the soft orange glow of massive rivers of molten rock that fall from the cavern's east and west walls and wind through chutes and ducts built into the cavern's floor. Strange enough you believe you can even see small boats traveling down those rivers.
At the floor of the cavern is the sprawl. What must be thousands of small, functional homes for the working class, poverty level and any others who either cannot or choose not to live in the spires. Finally, along the far north wall of the cavern, apparently floating midway up from the floor of the cavern is the massive Citadel of Clan Duval. A castle of unknown size carved deep into the rock, the only potion of which existing outside being the sharp, angular curtain wall that protects a small courtyard where the clan members can get some fresh air and meet with the rare visitor to the city.
One of your guides begins speaking to M. Dechamp, a conversation which is suddenly drowned out by the sound of a machine you've only heard tales of, but never actually seen. Descending from a platform hidden in the shadows above you is a Dwarven Thopter. A large metal construction that looks similar to a dragonfly, complete with two sets of massive crystalline wings, sparkling with violet and blue pulses of arcane energy and beating together to keep the vehicle aloft. You shield your eyes from the dust the vehicle kicks up as it settles down on the ledge not far from where you stand, instinctively you duck a little to avoid the beating wings above your heads even though they aren't close to hitting you.
"There has been some complications with our contact here." M. Duchamp shouts at you as he comes closer to more easily be heard. "Seems the bastard's got himself in a little trouble." Over his shoulder you see M. Krebeaux and Mde. Allaire getting into the passenger compartment of the thopter and M. Duchamp begins shouting louder in response to the wings' increased beating as the thopter prepares to take off. "We are being taken to the Citadel to discuss our options with the Duval Chieftain. You and the rest of the company have been permitted access to the city, but our guide has reminded us that the dwarves are not very fond of outsiders, so please don't cause any trouble." With that, the expedition captain turns, likewise keeping his head low to not get caught by the beating wings, and boards the craft. Within a few seconds of his boarding the thopter lifts into the air and banks through the cavern heading towards the citadel, leaving you and your companions alone, slightly deaf and on the overlook of the city.
What would you like to do?
Conflict
The main conflict with is super-encounter is going to be freeing Edric from prison. Edric, the one man (well dwarf) who has reputedly been to the Fell Stones and returned, got himself thrown in prison after he drunkenly woke up next to a dead city official and is scheduled to hang for it in the morning. He of course, professes his innocence, but the evidence is stacked pretty heavily against him.
Rising Action
The question then is how do our heroes free Edric from prison? They have very few contacts in the city, and the chieftain of Clan Duval is being decidedly unhelpful. This will be another free form section for the thirteen. The obvious this would be to solve if he is innocent or not, which will be handled in Proving Edric's Innocence. Several other options come to mind, they could straight up try and break him out of prison, which could work and would be handled in the encounter Breaking Bad, as well they could try and bribe the prison warden to free him in the encounter Leveraging the Warden's Greed. Or The Thirteen could come up with some other wild option that I could never have planned for but I am sure would work just as effectively as the one's I thought of.
Climax
The Climax of this here story part will not actually be the release, breaking free or execution of Edric, but instead the final preparations and departure for the Kazus Wastes. Once Edric's knowledge has been secured in one way or the other, and once the final bit of supplies have been purchased or forged, the expedition heads out into the final space phase of their journey, through the forbidden gates to the Kazus Wastes.
Falling Action
The falling action in this story part is the actual departure into the wastes where they set up camps and transition in to the final act of our journey.
Resolution
The characters have reached the wastes, and the final portion of their Journey Begins...
Relations
Protagonists
Backdrops
Locations
Plot type
Story Part
Parent Plot
Subplots
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