Today, I have finally arrived at the town of Torch. It is so named due to the mysterious fire at the top of the hill that is hot enough to melt the precious star metal that can only be found in this region of the world. Unfortunately, I seem to have arrived at a time when that fire, which had been burning for hundreds of years, has died out and none of the inhabitants of the town can tell me why. In fact, as I have come to find out, only recently had an entrance to the hill been discovered; but the failure of any of the adventuring parties to return seems to have put the town in downward spirits. This did not bode well for my hopes of seeing some of the marvels of the region that had drawn me away from my studies of the magical arts back home.

Luckily enough, while resting from my travels at one of the town’s many watering holes, I chanced to overhear a conversation between two young human males about mounting a fresh expedition. It seemed that one of the young men wanted to go down there in the hopes of recovering his adopted father who had led the only previously successful exploration of the caverns. Intrigued by the possibility to view some of the secrets that surely must be hidden under that hill, I interjected myself into their conversation and shortly volunteered to join their operation. Indeed, it soon came to pass that I was not the only one to have eavesdropped on the conversation and we were soon approached by a young, human female whom was also interested, for whatever reason, to join in on this young man’s quest. It was at that time, that a loud hammering could be heard throughout the tavern and we turned to see someone putting up a notice on one of the pillars. We approached the pillar and saw that the notice was a reward, offered to any person, or group, that could discover the whereabouts of one of the local councilmen, by the name of Khonnir Baine; who had disappeared while leading one of the many explorations of those caverns below the hill.

The young man, Naethan, tore the notice off of the pillar and told us that he was now more determined than ever to find his father, this same councilman, before anyone else. He led our newly created adventuring party over to the Town Hall, where we met a female dwarven councilwoman, Dolga Fredart. She seemed relieved to hear that Naethan was determined to lead the search for his father and was happy to share the knowledge of what his previous cavern delve had discovered. Councilman Baine’s party had run into several previously unknown monsters and had discovered an innert metallic automata before being stymied by a pair of metallic doors deep within the caves. He had returned with said automata but did not stay in town more than a day before returning to the caverns on that second, ill fated, mission. Councilwoman Fredart then directed us towards another councilman who could further aide us in our expedition and gave us permission to inspect the automata that could be found at Baine’s workshop. (To be continued…)