The Wild Rovers went to interrogate the captured duergar, named Bertram, who had tired of the duergars’ joyless existence and wanted to taste the finer things of life. He was not exactly forthcoming, cooperative, or interested in making deals, but he did divulge that a schism had developed in duergar society between two factions: those that supported their King Lomic, and those that supported High Priestess Drothmara, Aengus’s former captor and orchestrator of the Highgate Crown heist. The “upstart” priestess reportedly sported headwear resembling the stolen crown and commanded mind flayers among her minions. Three females with elf-like features comprising a third party were said to have recently arrived on the scene and tended to disappear and reappear suddenly; the Rovers thought this description matched that of Urna’s shadar-kai lieutenants.
It seemed that Drothmara may have organized the capture of the dwarves’ King Murgrim. Importantly, Bertram revealed that the duergar strike team had not burrowed through the earth directly from their stronghold at Kaz-Modir; rather, most of their travel west to Clefthome was above ground. Consequently, following the kidnappers through the dangerous, labyrinthine, and possibly collapsed tunnels was not the fastest mode of pursuit. By now, the raiders were probably traveling above ground along trails only they knew, and Bertram was unwilling to act as a guide. Seeing that a direct pursuit and interception of the king was unlikely, as none among the Rovers knew of an overland route to Kaz-Modir, Aengus proposed following the one he took to escape from the Underdark. Far to the southeast was the elvish village of Gammenora, where he had emerged from a nearby tunnel with the aid of local spelunking monster hunter twins, Zax and Zex. From there, they could retrace his steps and arrive at the underground fortress.
They rented 7 strong work horses and 3 carts from horse master Horgrar for the sum of 100 gold pieces with the agreement that all would be returned to Clefthome within [4?] weeks; a fee of some extra silver would be charged if Horgrar needed to retrieve the animals from Gammenora. The Rovers did not mention their track record for keeping their steeds alive and hoped for the best.
Before departing from Clefthome, one remaining issue bothered several in the party, as well as anyone downwind: what to do with Desmond. Since his gruesome death and partial digestion in the belly of the fomorian 4 days earlier, Urs had been carrying the ruined corpse stuffed into his backpack, committed to the goal of finding the magic that could bring him back. In addition to the sickening stench, macabre spectacle, and indecent treatment of their friend’s corpse, another knock-on effect of this decision, suggested by Bertram and others, was that the smell of rotting flesh would draw much unwanted attention to them in the wilderness and Underdark. Jani, Vara, and Aengus urged Urs to leave the body behind. Ammun was their best chance at resurrecting their friend, and he had offered a place to store the body while they were away. Urs refused to be separated from this most important thing in his possession, citing the theft of Vara’s mortar and pestle with the bag of holding as evidence enough that letting something valued out of one’s sight is tantamount to throwing it away. When Urs insisted he would stay with the body if they left it behind, the Rovers knew they had to acquiesce.
Embarking for Gammenora, the would-be rescuers were strong in number:
- The Wild Rovers: Aengus, Jani, Urs, and Vara
- Their “merries”: Bean and Stinger
- Aengus’s contemptuous but handsomely paid great uncle (twice removed), Sven, and his son Gen (son Ren stayed home)
- Aengus’s old friends: Granite and Magma
Wondering if his rescuers Zax and Zex were alive and well, Aengus sent a telepathic message and learned they were, and that they looked forward to his arrival.
After a first uneventful day of travel and night of rest, Aengus asked Urs to lay out Desmond’s body for a ritual cleansing and Gentle Repose spell. Urs expressed the guilt he felt over not being there to save Desmond from his fate. Aengus explained that he also regretted Desmond’s death but tried to reassure him there was little they could have done differently since Desmond went off on his own during watch despite agreeing to wake others at the first sign of trouble. He also reminded Urs that, with Desmond as case in point, there were limits to his magic, and the last thing he wanted was for Urs or others to suffer a similar fate due to reckless decisions. Urs had a close call with the mind flayer, as the removal of his brain would have rendered him beyond the capabilities of the usual resurrection magic he was accustomed to. Mind control magic had been at work and they would have made different decisions if that were not the case, but since they could count on more mind control and more mind flayers in the near future, they needed to be much more careful.
During their second day of travel, the terrain seemed increasingly wild and threatening, and they sensed that lingering was unwise. As they pushed past twilight in search of a safe camp site, they entered with their three carts into a narrow pass enclosed by steep canyon walls. There they were set upon by a small group of zombies, but even as Bean and Sven rushed forward to combat them, writhing worms leapt from the undead onto their faces and began to burrow into their flesh…