Side Story 1: Visitors from Duerok (The Dwarf
Capital)
As
the PCs rest for the night at the Dragon Burial site, they see something odd...
The night sky is clear, but way off to the North, you see
a meteor shower striking the ground. You recognize the phenomenon as the Lunar
Rains, which you encountered first hand just over a month ago. The meteor
shower lasts roughly 2 hours. Near the end of the shower, a huge object speeds
past you and heads towards where the lunar rains have just ended. Orla
recognizes an insignia on the side of the vessel that the object originates
from the Dwarven Capital of Duerok (far to the West). The vessel is a woodenship with a ballon on
top of it and flame jets shooting out the back.
After two days of travel towards shadowfell
keep, the landscape turns from the lush vegetation of trees and grass that you
are use to, to a grey suet of space dust and the blackened char of fiery
impacts. None of the trees that were once here remain, instead, only scorched
stumps. With the way the surroundings look, you can easily guess that anything
under the lunar rains here suffered a blazing hell before meeting their
ultimate death. Ahead, there is a valley and from the valley, you can see the
purple top of the vessel that speed past you earlier. Black smoke channels up
from the valley.
Pippens and the Rangers sneak up to the area and
see many dwarfs investigating the lunar rocks. The head back to the group to
report and Selena approaches the dwarfs.
Upon spotting you, all of the Dwarfs raise their weapons on you. In the
immediate area, you see 12 plain clothed dwarfs holding spears at you as though
the spears are crossbows, four heavily armoured
Dwarfs in full-plate holding crossbows unlike any you have seen before, and one
extremely armoured Dwarf in a thick full-plate suit
with two smoke stacks on his back. This dwarf holds a large maul and a shorter
but wider version of the spears that the unarmoured
dwarfs carry. Near the middle of them is an unarmed male Dwarf sitting on top
of a weird contraption wearing some of the finest clothes you have ever seen.
The vessel they came from is on the other side of them. It appears to be
a 20’ by 60’ by 30’ tall sailing ship. You have heard stories of Elves having
sailed the high seas before the fall of their empire; however, the stories that
you have heard have never described such a thing with a large purple floating
object attached.
“Irontooth! Men! Stand down! I don’t think these
people are here to hurt us.
Who are you?
Selena Answers.
NPC…
I am Stenian, a scientist and engineer from Duerok
and this is my crew and hired guards. I am here investigating the lunar rains.
Do you know anything about this stuff?”
He olds a meteor the size of Osgrym in the
claw of his contraption and gestures it forward to you.
Selena Converses…
NPC…
“These rains are very dangerous
and have already destroyed many cities and civilizations in our empire. From
the air, we can see that roughly 40% of the land has already been covered in
this grey suet. Oversized Lunar dragons more powerful than any known creature
on Earth laid siege and now nest in Rook, one of humanity’s only two
metropolises. While Duerok and most Dwarven settlements are standing up well to the Lunar rains and these new monsters, we have found our new
greatest threat is surface dwellers. That is why I am here, to study the lunar
rains to find the key to ending them. Once they are ended, the surface races
will hopefully stop invading our homes. Because of how readily desperate
surface dwellers attack our homes and vehicles, my brothers took up arms
quickly upon spotting you. You will have to forgive use for that.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to get back to work.”
Stenian begins investigating the newly fallen
rocks again.