On the way to our next and final destination, I use the time we have to talk to Loral about the Dwarvern Monastery. She told me that long ago it was inhabited by followers of Torag, the Dwarvern god of protection and creation, but it was since taken over and desecrated by followers of Droskar. Droskar used to be one of the Torag's smith students but was caught stealing ideas from those he enslaved. Because of this he was banished and cursed never to be able to have an original idea of his own. His followers believe that life is only proved successful with toil and hardships but this extends to anything to achieve one's goal, including lying, cheating and far worse crimes. It is rumoured to have great riches lost beneath the crumbling remains. She also briefly mentioned the story of Druingar the Glint-axe, one of the Dwarf's greatest heroes who ventured below to find such wealth but was never seen again. I did not like the sound of Droskar or his Crucible and I could see Loral did not like talking of him any longer so I ceased my questions. I had learned enough as it was.
It took nearly another full day to find the old monastery, the forest is a long and difficult trek.The monastery was in ruins and no signs of life could be seen. We had to tread carefully as even though I could not sense any evil, this place felt dark and absent of good. We approached from the South and made our way to the crumbled wall that would have acted as an outside defence. Straight ahead of us, across the court yard, we could see the main double door which used to act as the main entrance. To our left was the only standing corner tower of the perimeter wall. But what caught my attention was the human body that was lying still in the middle of the courtyard. With no regard for my own safety, I walked into the courtyard to see if I could be of any help to the poor person. Sadly, I was long too late. Not even Loral's powers could help him now.
Jäger and Oakey used this as an opportunity to sneak towards the tower, hoping if anything was watching us, it was distracted by me. Loral watched on as she later told me, she was in awe with respect by my bravery. I searched the body in hopes of discovering who he was and to return his body to the right people but all I found was some adventuring gear, most of which I handed over to Oakey as he seemed the type of person who would make use of that type of equipment.
Jäger called Loral and myself over, he was keen to enter the tower and wanted to be sure there was sufficient back up as none of knew what to expect in a place like this. With Oakey's and Jäger's combined strength, they were able to push the stuck door open enough for me to enter. It was a storage area, filled with barrels and covered in cobwebs. The only other thing in the room to stand out was the remains of wooden stairs that lead to a hatch in the ceiling that presumably would take you to the next and final floor of the tower. Oakey volunteered to investigate.
With some careful footing, Oakey was able to silently, but more importantly, safely reach the hatch and opened it slowly. It was the shutting of the trap door that was quick. Once he was back at the bottom of the stairs he informed us that the attic of the tower had become a nest to a very large spider, possibly five feet long if it's legs were spread out flat. Needless to say, we left the tower and headed to the double door leading into the main building of Droskar's Crucible.
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