The Mysterious Door

Finally Matrim Harperly had his wish granted and the party decided to follow up on a missive from Lord Alistair Thornwell.    First, they visited the manor where he was based, and after a brief encounter with the Lord's butler (who refused to let them see the Lord until they had arrived with proof of place of worship buried beneath the town.   This seemed strange to the party, until they were faced with the entrance to a cave. It was completely blocked with boulders, and even after Matrim blasted many of them into bits the way was still obscured. Thankfully, he spotted a chink of light and was able to misty step through to the other side, where he found the rocks were held in place by wooden beams and buttresses.   A few tries later and Matrim had found a way to unlock and slide the barriers to the slide, while Veylin the Untamed pushed a smooth boulder through. Clearly a well used route through.   The passages inside were dark, and it wasn't long before the party decided to rest. However they were woken by the scrabbling of rats and a spider. Veylin was able to talk to them but failed to intimidate the group and they attacked.   With the beasts swiftly beaten, the party ventured deeper into the tunnels, where they came across crumbling stairs. After narrowly avoiding falling off the first set into darkness below, it was the second staircase that proved more challenging.   A gap between levels meant the party had to jump, which Corbyn Chuzzle did, while Matrim used misty step. However Veylin was caught by a falling stalactite and fell into the depths below.   Matrim and Corbyn negotiated the rest of the stairs, where they found Veylin waking up and surrounded by Kobolds, all aiming spears at his face.   Matrim made his voice boom out like a dragon, which first caused the Kobolds to bring out an offering of a giant scorpion. Matrim, still as the dragon, then commanded them to kill the offering in his name. The kobolds did as they were asked, and while their attention was on the scorpion (which slowly whittled down their numbers) the party could explore the room, and the mysterious door at one end. A door Matrim commanded the kobolds to open, but they said they couldn't without a special book, which one of them (Meepo) dashed off to get.   While all this was going on, the scorpion had killed all but one of the kobolds, (Damo), and the party helped him finish the job.   Before they could ask him any questions, Damo fled but soon after Meepo returned with the book. The book was old, archaic and written in a language no one could recognise. However it bore the same symbol as was on the door and floor of the room.   Deciding this was proof enough for Lord Thornwell, the party returned to his manor.   There they were granted an audience with the Lord, who was surrounded by paper, books and a pin board full of theories and... the same symbol on the book.   Barely able to contain his excitement, the Lord paid the party and promised to contact them when he had translated the pages so they could continue their adventure and hopefully unearth more secrets beneath the town.