AD&D Session 68 - Shadows of the Shepherds
28th of Cuersaar - 5th of Duscar, 835 PD
The party spent the week in Uthodurn, attempting to gather reliable information about possible routes southward. Reeves, however, found his efforts hampered by mistrustful locals reluctant to offer either work or knowledge. His eavesdropping did uncover talk of a notorious smith recently causing disturbances around the city's taverns, though details remained vague.
6th of Duscar, 835 PD
Whisper and Zefran, Koro's brother and skilled rogue, sought out the city's underbelly contacts for information. Their efforts uncovered two possible routes: an abandoned tunnel eastward into the Rime Plains, or another controlled by the Iron Shepherds, suspected to emerge near the perilous Savalirwood.
Choosing to engage cautiously with the Shepherds, Reeves kept his distance to avoid recognition due to his past affiliations. Whisper and Zefran learned that leadership within the Shepherds had recently changed—an upheaval Reeves had long suspected. Negotiations resulted in a provisional offer: safe passage south if the group first assists with a local issue. Monsters had emerged from one of Uthodurn’s mithril mines, and expendable muscle was needed to venture inside, assess the threat, and deal with whatever lurked within.
7th of Duscar, 835 PD
The next day the party prepared themselves, researching the mines and planning their approach. That evening, they were joined by a downcast elven smith’s apprentice. She explained her plight: she had secretly taken an order her master refused, crafting a mithril dagger whose metal inexplicably darkened upon completion—a sinister transformation. Immediately after she finished her work, the dagger was stolen, and she feared its intended purpose was ritualistic or darkly magical. The apprentice implored the group to retrieve and destroy the weapon,