“Thank you, my wise colleagues, for coming to my tower to discuss the situation” Grimwald beamed trying to employ all the social grace he could muster. His closest colleagues, Odon and Othbert, sat on either side of him. They had brought a cart full of scrolls to the table to be ready for what was coming. The Lady Carabeth sat across from Grimwald.
Lady Carabeth smiled patiently with old eyes looking out from a young and beautiful form. She wore her 121 years very, very well. Seated next to her were two dwarves, Drimgi and Tosti. Neither of them were fair, patient, or socially graceful. But they were well schooled in dwarven lore and enchanted making.
“You’re a young fool, Grimwald. You had no business taking a Seeing Stone from the Dwarrowdelve. The Stones belong to the Dwarves and to Dwarves alone. And now that you have taken one, you have set off a whole chain of events that we can do little to stop!” Grimgi spat.
“Calm yourself, noble Grimgi. That is exactly why I have called together the Council of Gnomons. Together I believe we can set things right” soothed Grimwald, gesturing as if he were smoothing a tablecloth. “With our wisdom and lore, we can counteract these effects. We just need to take the right actions.”
Tosti was the cooler headed of the two dwarves. “You may be right” he added. “Or you may be wrong, but, in any case, the Seeing Stone should be returned to us.” Grimwald replied calmly “Master Tosti, I totally agree. When the current crisis has been managed and I can complete my research, I will certainly return the Stone I found to you.”
“Not soon enough! It’s your foolish meddling that you call research that has strengthened the Necromancer and wakened the young dragons. How do you plan to fix that?” barked Drimgi.
“I don’t have an answer for that now. And that is exactly why I have called you all here and asked that you bring the special items that you possess. Together we are more capable than apart. Please hear me out” pleaded Grimwald.
“Let him speak” Lady Carabeth cooed. Her words seemed to calm Drimgi at least for the moment.
“I admit that I sought the Seeing Stone for good cause” said Grimwald “and yet my good intentions have created ill effects. The responsibility for that is mine. Nonetheless, we do have greater power now. When both of the known stones are in use, their powers seem to increase. Tosti, as keeper of the other known Seeing Stone, can you attest to that?”
“Grimwald speaks truth. The Old Stone has allowed further seeing and clearer seeing since you have brought back the New Stone” affirmed Tosti.
“And this change in the power of the stones has created a ripple that the Necromancer may detect and use. Hence, the strengthening of his power” added Lady Carabeth calmly.
“The same ripple may have affected the young dragons as well” said Grimwald. He whispered something to Odon who began shuffling through his scrolls. “There is a scroll by Thimistes the Blue on The Nature of Magic is as Water that refers to this effect…”
“We know Thimstes’ Water Scroll. A fine academic work” interrupted Tosti. “But we have a practical problem, not an academic one.”
Grimwald signaled to Othbert to bring forward another scroll. This one was covered in dwarven pen script that was used to write histories and lore rather that the inscriptions script one saw most often on dwarven artifacts. Few other than those gathered around the table could read it.
Othbert flattened out the scroll at the relevant location. Grimwald translated “The high lore of the Seeing Stones is contained in the Book of Living Memory.” Othbert shifted to another part of the scroll. Grimwalk continued “The Book of Living Memory lies in the Library of Dwindal, near the Dwindal Gate.”
Tosti shook his head. “First off, no one knows for sure whether the Book of Living Memory is a physical book. Some say it refers to the lore of the Ancient Smiths that was passed down orally from master to apprentice.”
“But if it were a real book, there is no telling where it is. We might assume that it remained in the Dwarrowdelve after the Great Sickness. There is certainly no record that I know of stating it’s rescue at the time of the Flight, nor if its appearance since then. And that was more than 500 years ago. If it were in the Library of Dwindal, if could well have moldered to dust by now. Please tell me you aren’t putting your hope on finding and using that book.”
“That is exactly what I am telling you.” Grimwald paused to let than sink in.
“Once again, you prove yourself a wise fool, Grimwald! The Dwindal Gate is the home of one of the young dragons. We know little enough about him other than that he is large enough to poach cattle and fly off with a cow in his jaws. But the days of the Dragonslayers are gone! He might as well be ancient as far as it matters to us. You can’t pass the Dwindal Gate. You can’t find the Book, and you can’t solve the problem you have created! Give us back the New Stone and stop meddling beyond your knowledge!” shouted Drimgi, more and more agitated as he went along.
“Noble, Wise, Master Drimgi, much of what you say is true. The Gate is occupied by a dragon. The Dragonslayers are gone, at least mostly. And I cannot solve the problem that I created, at least not without the Book of Living Memory. But we don’t know whether or not the Gate can be passed for sure. And beside that, Lady Carabeth and I may have an alternate solution.” Grimwald tried to keep calm in responding to Drimgi’s ire.
“The Dwarves of Old had fellowship with the Dragon People and shared with them many secrets of smithy and making that are lost to us. Dwindal the Maker was reputed to be schooled in the lore of the Dragon People himself” explained Lady Carabeth. “I have inherited a Dragon Mirror from of old, and have studied what lore is available, little though it may be. That lore speaks of a remarkable property. The Dragon People used the Mirrors to travel directly from one mirror to another. The means were a pair of special keys that allowed for the passage.”
“I have not heard this lore before” said Tosti. “Most interesting.” Drimgi struggled between his accumulated dourness and a genuine curiosity. He tried not to show that he was interested.
“Master Tosti,” said Grimwald formally, “did you bring the item I humbly requested?”
“Yes, I brought the Keys to the Dragonmere as you asked. I am not sure why.”
“Lady Carabeth believes that it is possible that they keys are not for the Dragonmere pool in which Dwindal quenched his making. It may be that Dragonmere is an error for Dragonmirror and that these are Dwindal’s own keys for passing through the Dragonmirror.” Again, Grimwald paused for effect.
Drimgi was silent. Grimwald’s theory, if true, opened possibilities for clearing the Dwarrowdelve of evil and ruin. He hated the thought that Grimwald might be right. It was Tosti who spoke.
“Only the very brave or the very foolish would try the Mirror. None of us knows enough about how the mirrors work to say what would happen.”
“Well, I have very brave or perhaps very foolish adventurers to whom I propose a choice: venture to recover the book either by way of the Dwindal Gate and possibly face the Dragon or venture through the Mirror and face those risks. I plan to let them decide.”
There was a long silence while all gathered sat in thought. After a long sigh, Drimgi said begrudgingly “That is not a bad plan.”
15mm Dungeon 