Hidden underground settlement

The hidden underground settlement is a secret community living deep beneath the earth in the Sürgün Günlükleri ("Exile Chronicles") campaign. Its people told Kemp Corvus, Sarah, Ephorus and Baltazar that they had no ties with the outside world and lived on only because their home stayed hidden; it was said not to have been found for some two hundred and fifty years.¹²

Arrival

Fleeing a fight with drow at the chasm above, the companions slid a long way down a passage into a dark chamber full of mushrooms. It seemed made on purpose rather than a natural hollow; digging could be heard ahead, and its single way out opened onto a narrow mine shaft. Two large shapes that looked like flowing earth and stone came through the narrow passage, with dark-looking figures bearing crossbows behind them. A torch was lit, the companions were told to lay down their weapons, and one of them let his hands be bound.³⁴

They spoke in the common tongue with a bald official with a big moustache and a short beard, telling him that they had found the passage by chance and that it had saved their lives after a fight with drow above, and that the drow with them was their friend. The fight above and the need to check the bodies were discussed; then the companions were led into the settlement with their hands bound, and the sealing of the passage above was raised as a matter of safety.⁵⁶

The settlement

The settlement opens onto a great open market cavern. Its small houses are carved into pillars and caves and joined one above another by wooden stairs, like an ant's nest. Torches burn and various mechanical works stand about, and the people's daily round is roughly like that of the surface.⁷⁸

The companions were lodged in one of the larger houses, where their hands were untied but their weapons kept. As the officials left, at a gesture the door and windows melted into the rock and earth; some eight or nine hours later a door formed again and the officials returned.⁷⁹⁸

Following a spirit, one of the companions entered a building with symbols and offerings of coin and food, and went down to a lower room. There a link was made through the spirit with the person within; the spirit's body had never been found, and it had chosen the companion as a go-between to carry its message.¹⁰

People and council

Asked about their faith, a speaker said that they had gods of their own. The settlement is ruled not by one person but by a council of six, in which the one who provides its defence stands first among equals, because the settlement has few warriors and little strength in arms. Gold is of no use in local trade, though precious stones can be exchanged.¹¹¹²¹³

Among those the companions spoke with was a speaker connected with the chain-bearers, who said that in their order dark developments in every corner of the realm were felt to be linked, and that some organisations were thought to be pulling the strings; whoever went beneath the mountain should know that the evil there could not be solved by the sword alone. When Ephorus told of his dreams, the speaker said that dreams might be ordinary, divine, or signs from other powers, that dreams before Victory Day were said to have shown things not even the gods knew, and that their source could not be known. He urged the companions to follow the trail that was drawing good people to help.¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶

Secrecy and return

The officials asked the companions to wait a day or two for checks and safety. There was no direct way from the settlement to the passage above, and the ordinary road back through the dark would take about fifteen days; the upper passage would have to be sealed completely, either after sending the companions somewhere near or after helping them return faster.¹⁷⁸

The companions offered help in the war on the surface and ties with the dwarves. The people answered that they were not warriors and that staying hidden kept them safe, and trust in the secrecy of the place, or a guarantee by spell or oath, was discussed. A speaker said he would try to direct their elders, or a caravan, to send the companions on faster.¹⁸¹⁹

Their scouts reported that a force of several hundred had passed along the road where the companions had found the passage, women among them, though they did not see every group that passed or risk themselves to follow. The companions sent word by a spell of sending that some two or three hundred drow were on the move upwards.²⁰²¹²²

They agreed never to tell anyone of the place and thanked the people for their help. They offered their own help without condition, while saying that any support from Gromkar or the Empire would be conditional, and chose not to press those who had saved their lives on their neutrality and secrecy. The helpers then carried each of them separately through earth and rock up into the passages above, where they found the way to a road they knew; after two days' travel they were back in Gromkar.²³²⁴²⁵