The Rat’s Market was a squalid collection of cast-off goods, being sold by a greasy goblin named Skakan. None the less, it was crowded; the denizens of Dorasharn Tower’s lowest inhabited level seemed to regard the broken trinkets and moldy food as precious treasure, worth every silver piece they paid for it. Skakan capitalized on this tendency mercilessly.

The three adventurers entered the Rat’s Market to shouts of “No pushing!” and “There’s more than enough for everyone!” They were looking for Valve Cluster 213, but they had no idea where it was; they only knew that it was somewhere on this level of the tower. Deciding that Skakan was as good a place to start as any, Roy approached the goblin and asked for directions.

The goblin eyed him warily, then started to recite a litany of goods and prices, from boiled rat meat to old woolen blankets. Roy was about to interrupt Skakan’s monologue when the goblin finally said, “Or, perhaps, if I could point the way to a certain valve cluster, what would it be worth to fine explorers such as yourselves? One hundred silver?”

Roy was taken aback at first, but quickly regained his composure. “One hundred silvers? We’ll give you sixty, and you’ll take it.” He loomed menacingly over the goblin, fingering the hilt of his scimitar.

Skakan licked his lips and eyed the litorian’s blade. “Aye, I’ll take it. Hochum! Watch the Market while I’m gone!”

Skakan led them through the crowded streets of Dorasharn Tower and through a series of tunnels in the tower, itself, until they came upon a large sewer grate. The warforged exchanged a few words with the goblin, presumably in Skakan’s native tongue, and the greasy merchant’s eyes widened. “The valve cluster is through this grate. Goodbye.” With that, he hurried off into the growing gloom.

“What did you say to him?” asked El. “He didn’t even take his money.”

The three adventurers proceeded through the grate, walking down a flight of narrow stairs into the sewer. Valves lined the walls of the tunnel, presumably the valves of Valve Cluster 213. They started to proceed cautiously down the tunnel when, suddenly, Roy was attacked from behind.

A warforged stepped out of the shadows bearing a rapier, and signaled to a pair of shifters waiting at the opposite end of the tunnel. The shifters charged forward, claws outstreached, only to be met by the nameless warforged’s hulking form. He and Roy engaged the two shifters while El quickly enchanted her crossbow, the better to deal with their construct assailant.

The struggle was brief and brutal. In the end, the enemies lay in the shallow water of the sewers, defeated. Shortly after the inert warforged assailant’s body hit the ground, however, a small, winged orb detached from his torso and flew up the stairs, out into the open. The adventurers exchanged meaningful looks, knowing that that could only mean trouble.

They pressed on. They walked for a short time down a branch of the tunnel until they reached a door in the side wall. It was a circular metal hatch with graven runes covering it; in the center, however, was a symbol not unlike that on the cover of Bonal Geldem’s journal: a stylized image of an anvil. On a hunch, the warforged took the journal and touched the symbol on its cover to the symbol on the door. Quietly, the door swung open.

Behind the door was a vertical shaft that eventually became a horizontal tunnel. The three descended into the darkness, using a sunrod for light, and found themselves in an enormous cavern with ruins strewn about. They explored the darkness, encountering a number of dangers, until they finally found the only intact building in the cavern. The building had massive adamantine doors, bearing the same graven image as on the door above. Unfortunately, the same tactic did not open these.

After much discussion, it was finally decided that Roy would climb onto the roof, to see if there was a way in there. As it turned out, there was a hole in the roof. Roy quickly helped the other two get onto the roof, then dropped down into the hole. As soon as a landed, he was assaulted by a pair of metal creatures in the shapes of dogs. He attacked with his scimitar, and was soon joined by the warforged while El attacked from above with her crossbow. Once they had defeated the metal dogs, the three explored their surroundings, finding that they were in an ancient forge. Among the interesting features of this forge were a trio f pedestals, each with a hole in the top: one a triangle, one a square, the third a pentagon. They also found, in the two dogs that they had defeated, a pair of rods: one a square, one a triangle. A third, pentagonal rod was found in the remains of a dog that had been crushed by debris, long ago. Without ado, they slid the rods into place in the pedestals, and watched as a door in the back of the forge swung open. Within, they found the schema.

They rested for a while within the safe enclosure of the forge before opening the great doors to leave. However, as soon as they stepped out, a flaming bolt flew out of the darkness, striking the wall next to them. Another warforged stood amongst the rubble opposite the forge, crossbow in hand.

Roy and the warforged charged this new attacker, while El once again enchanted her crossbow to deal with this new threat. They quickly defeated the enemy, and this time were successful in capturing the flying sphere in its chest. El handed the sphere to the warforged, who immediately received a vision from the perspective of the fallen enemy, along with the message, “Master, we have failed.”

When the three finally made it back to the Mermaid’s Mug, they rested, and then proceeded to contact Lady Elaydren. Without hesitation, she rewarded them with nine hundred gold, as well as the knowledge that El’s master, Jergan, had left a message for her at the local Message Station.

While Roy went to spend his reward on a new riding dinosaur, El and the warforged went to the message station to read Jergan’s message. The message informed them that he had travelled north, to the city of Passage in Aundair. He urged them to come join him, and to bring any companions they had accumulated with them. Jergan had left a pair of first class Lightning Rail tickets to Passage in the House Kundarak bank, with instructions to use them or trade them in for more, cheaper tickets, if need be.

“Well,” said Roy, as soon as he found out, “I guess we’re going north.”