Upon hearing of the coronation of King M’Hul, the Merchant guild began to work on ideas to honor this occasion. Now, as avid treasure hunters we actively seek out all forms of treasure and as such it was decided that finding a treasure of historical and personal importance to our new King would be a fitting gift for this joyous occasion. So our quest began, to find an item of such historical value that it would be fitting for a King.
The research for this relic was undertaken by the Scholars of the Merchant guild. This research was led by Notorious, a grizzled man of advanced years with a voracious appetite for researching through obscure books and scrolls. Many Scholars spent countless hours locked up in the Merchant Study, with only the light of candles to help their sight as the sun went down. The Guild was in a need of a lead in a hurry, as we found out that we only had 1 week before the coronation was to occur. In the late hours of the 3rd evening, Notorious ran across an obscure passage in a scroll that was acquired from Han many years earlier. This passage referenced a bracelet that was said to have been at one time in the possession of Princess Yun.
The location of this treasure puzzled Notorious as it was unknown to him why Princess Yun would have travelled to Han after fleeing from Mupa. But he moved this thought from his mind right now as we had more pressing matters at hand than trying to figure out the why. We needed to figure out exactly where this bracelet was located. So, he hurriedly rushed back to the Guild and informed myself and the rest of the Guild of the information that he had uncovered.
We then began to prepare for our trek to Han. All the Merchants worked together to gather all the supplies that we would need for the trip and recovery. Of course, Keaira and myself were packing our own special tools as we knew that the guild needed to recover this bracelet quickly and we were the only Daredevils available at the time to recover it. We were secretly hoping that it would be difficult enough to warrant us bringing our own tools, although we really had no idea what exactly would be awaiting us. We were both just itching for a difficult challenge, as lately most of the treasure recovery had been rather mundane and simplistic. Two things a Daredevil hates more than anything. But this recovery would be unlike our recent tasks.
Now, while we were gathering all the supplies, Notorious and the other Scholars were working on figuring out the exact location of the bracelet. We knew it to be in Han but that was all we had right now. After a short time, Warik noticed a word that was faded on the back side of the parchment: Ogre. With that information gained we decided to set out for the Province of Han on our quest to get back this portion of history.
When we arrived in Han, we came across a young Merchant by the name of Rehnan. He was a member of the Shillan Merchant guild under our good friend Partisan. We engaged Rehnan in some friendly banter, when Keaira, eager to get to the hunt interupted asking him why he was here. Rehnan said he was just seeking a jewel for the Shillan Merchant Guild that was said to have belonged to Master Kyun when he was a young man years ago. This information was of great shock to all in the Treasure hunt team, as anything that belonged to Master Kyun would be of great importance. And as none of us had ever met Rehnan we were impressed with how quickly he had climbed the ladder in the Shillan Guild.
After speaking with him further, we asked Rehnan if he had come across any Ogres in his search. With the question asked, his eyes grew large with a hint of fear. He just nodded silently and pointed to a dark forest to the west. Both Keaira and I had huge smiles upon our faces, we knew that we were about to get to do what we loved…encounter a dangerous situation and obtain a long lost relic.
The Guild set up camp on the outskirts of the
imposing forest. We knew our time was running short to
recover this relic and return to Koguryo in time for the
presentation to the new King, so we quickly formulated a
plan. Due to Rehnan’s fear we decided it was best to just
send Keaira and myself after the treasure. Due to the
possibility of other significant finds, it was decided
that Takoda, a Collector of the guild, would follow us but
maintain a distance to not compromise our excursion into
the Ogres forest.
While looking over the layout of the forest, we
noticed some tracks in the mud and that seemed to indicate
that a large clan of ogres were using this as their main
path. We were hoping it would lead to the bracelet. So
we set out, Keaira walking right down the middle of the
pathway and myself sneaking quietly behind the trees and
moving quickly to keep up with her without alerting anyone
to my presence. Takoda was keeping a distance so that she
could just barely see Keaira ahead. Now, our plan was to
use Keaira as a decoy to draw the ogres out to leave their
treasures unguarded. Typically we would take a little
more time on a Treasure hunt of this complexity where we
did not know the terrain, what we were up against or even
where the treasure exactly was…but we didn’t have the
time so we had to formulate a new plan. Much more
dangerous, but this is why two Daredevils were undertaking
the task.
After roughly an hour of walking we came to a huge
cave entrance. There were no plants near the entrance, it
was completely cleared away of all signs of
vegetation…like the entire cave was just dropped in the
middle of the forest. There was roughly 500 feet in all
directions completely cleared around the entire
circumfrance of the cave. This gave us a small problem as
we were hoping to use cover to gain entrance into the
stronghold without being noticed…well at least for me
not to be noticed. I stuck my head out and silently
motioned for Keaira to come over…we had a bit of a
change in plans. She would still be the decoy, but the
job just got much more difficult. She would no longer be
able to just ditch them quickly through the folliage of
the forest, now she would need to be much more open to
injury. She of course was not worried as she believed in
her ability to keep the ogres occupied while I rushed to
get inside the cave.
Just then when we had agreed upon our plan of action,
a huge tree came flying towards our location. Takoda was
running towards us while being followed by 5 ogres…so
much for plans. Keaira grabbed some rope from her
rucksack while the ogres were busy chasing Takoda they had
not seen us at all. I quickly moved back to the edges of
the forest to keep from being seen and losing all chances
of keeping my edge. Keaira tied the rope around the tree
at the edge of the path and quickly dashed across to the
other side. Takoda kept running towards us, dodging rocks
and trees being hurled at her from behind. As she ran
over the rope she quickly turned right, the opposite
direction of where I was still hidden, and kept running.
As the ogres got close, Keaira lifted up the rope and
tripped them all hurdling them down onto the ground and on
top of each other. With this she quickly dashed towards
the entrance of the cave.
Suddenly we heard a large bellowing sound carry
through the air, which was followed by 20 more ogres
running out of the cave towards Keaira. She stopped in
her tracks quickly and turned to run towards Takoda.
Takoda had since stopped running about 300 feet away from
the entrance. She was bent over getting her wind back
when she looked up and saw Keaira, she swiftly took off
back into the woods. Keaira now had 25 ogres with bad
intentions bearing down on her. She has for many years
trained for these types of situations, so I took a quick
look around noticed that it was clear.
Upon entering the cave, I made sure to stick closely
to the wall and move quickly. Knowing that the ogres were
large and clumbsy, I did not need to watch for traps in
this main hallway…they surely would not be able to avoid
them in the tight confines of the entrance. After about a
minute, I came to a poorly lit crossroads. As I was
pondering which way to go, I noticed that the right and
left side seemed to be less travelled than the walkway
straight ahead. From previous experience in dealing with
ogres, they would typically only have 1 or 2 certain ogres
guarding their treasures. I grabbed a rock and tossed it
down the left passage and just heard the echoing sound of
the rock skipping down the walkway. I turned and tossed a
rock down the right passage and heard a thunderous crash.
I slowly moved down the right hall, keeping my eyes peeled
for further traps. The source of the crash became evident
as I came upon a huge rock on the ground, which had fallen
from the ceiling. Just then I noticed some light coming
from the end of the passage, I knew that there was at
least 1 more trap before i’d get to the source of the light.
As I slowly moved forward, I saw a hastily rigged
trap. Moving quickly past it, I entered the archway and
came across a variety of treasures right before my eyes.
Now, the information that Notorious had gotten from the
scroll described the bracelet slightly saying that it had
a large sparkling white jewel on it. Armed with this
knowledge, I quickly rummaged through the various jewels,
rings, necklaces and bracelets that were strewn out across
the western wall. After about 5 minutes of searching, I
came across 2 bracelets that looked similar. Now, I am
not a Collector nor a Scholar so I decided it would be
best to take both and let them take a look at them both
and figure out exactly which was the bracelet we were
searching for to begin with.
I quickly moved back through the cave, making sure to
avoid the trap I saw earlier. When I got to the main
walkway I was encountered by a couple returning ogres…I
guess Keaira was able to avoid them afterall. They were
less than happy to see me in their home and let out a
rather loud bellow upon seeing me. I quickly turned back
towards the treasure room hoping that their blind anger
towards me would cloud their own judgement. Not to
mention that hopefully they were not the guards of the
treasures. I entered the archway to the treasure room as
they were yelling, growling and rushing towards me. Just
then one stepped on the remaining trap which opened up a
large pit in the floor. They both went crashing down into
the bottom of the deep hole. I decided that it was time
to get out of there before a few more returned.
As I got to the entrance of the cave, I scanned
quickly on both sides and did not see anyone. I dashed to
the cover of the forest and made it. Now, to find Keaira,
Takoda and the remaining members of the party. I heard
alot of crashing in the distance, so decided to go quietly
towards the sound. Moving behind the various trees, I
came across the remaining ogres…and below them on the
ground was Keaira. Two of the ogres were getting ready to
try to crush her with an uprooted tree. I reached into my
pack and grabbed some flash dust, as I threw it Takoda
came up beside me, breathing hard. She had been trying to
escape as well when she had heard the crash. We both ran
in, Takoda grabbed Keaira while I used my dagger and
fought with the few ogres that were not blinded by the
bright flash of the dust. We quickly returned to the main
walkway and rushed back to our party outside the forest.
Luckily the ogres were unable to track us and we were
able to make it back to the others. We were down to 2
days before the coronation so we had to pack up and leave
promptly. The others had the camp packed up when we had
arrived, so we all just turned instantly and began our
journey back to Koguryo. Along the way, Takoda and
Notorious studied the 2 bracelets and were able to figure
out which was the true bracelet that belonged to Yun by
looking closely at the inside of the bracelet. There was
a royal seal stamped on the inside of the clasp of one of
them. The other did not, but there were also some other
minor imperfections that due to the bad light I could not
see in the cave. It was a valuable treasure for sure, but
it was not the perfection of the bracelet that Yun’s
bracelet was. We were carrying Keaira with us, she had
alot of scrapes and was still unconcious. She would be
fine..but would definetely need some treatment when we
returned home.
We got back to Koguryo with a few hours to spare.
Takoda held onto the bracelet for the Guild prior to the
presentation to the King as we gave him back a part of his
own personal history.
Vaughn Kendari
Merchant Elder
Daredevil