Harry GOT CH 4 update
From Bravos, he traveled north and into the Shivering Sea, then east straight to Lorath. He heard from Marwyn of the maze makers and the blind priests following Beoth and their magic of divine understanding. They were the weakest and poorest of the Free Cities, so he figured he should start there.
He arrived at Lorassyon, a large island three-fourths covered by a huge maze with apparently four subterranean levels. Harry visited the seemingly poorer city and made plans. He, Marwyn, two mages, Mel, Thoros, Bronn, Arthur, Duncan, Violet, and Utred stocked up supplies and decided to enter the maze after speaking to everyone they could find about the maze and its mapped locations.
Harry sold most of his goods to the locals and ordered his men to start shipping stuff from Lorath to the surrounding isles and Bravos while he investigated the maze. He negotiated some good deals with local merchants. He also had them take a slightly different route each time to utilize the storm chest.
They traversed the maze and studied the dozen different languages that they found written on the walls. They made it to the center after five days. The ruin of the burned fort was unimpressive. They searched for three days before they found an entrance to the first underground level. The walls were high, about 20 ft, and they brought many torches.
They explored the first level for two weeks before finding the entrance to the next level. During this time, Hadrian, Marwyn, and the mages were making a very detailed map of the maze so it would be much easier to leave and come back to where they left off. They then left back to town, which took one day thanks to the map. They resupplied torches and food before heading back in.
Bronn and Thoros decided not to re-enter, and he gave them a bag of dragons to spend at their leisure while they waited for the Pearl to return. They made it to the second level in two days and continued to map and push forward. They began to find remains of people who explored before them and likely got lost in the dark.
It was very slow going as the map took much time to make, and the maze was beginning to get more complex. After two weeks, they made it to level three and they left to restock, taking two days. They spent a week in town on the surface, as being underground for so long was hard on them.
They caught the Pearl in the harbor, which had Bronn and Thoros on it. Duncan and Arthur joined the ship again, having had enough of the underground. The Pearl was making a tidy profit from shipping, as they would pack the ship to the brim. This money, along with the storm chest, was deposited into the Iron Bank.
They procured a very detailed map from a merchant they worked with that had most of the Shivering Sea coast all the way east to the Thousand Isles. They went back into the maze, bringing five additional Witchers, as they seemed to handle the dark much better since they could actually navigate the dark with their very heightened senses and were less afraid.
So Hadrian, Mel, Marwyn, three mages, and seven Witchers made their way down to level three, then spent a while there. It began to be far more complex with various stairs, drops, ramps, and even more remains. Some weren't even of regular people, as in one dead-end chamber they found piles of skeletons of large human-like bones which must have been 8–13 ft tall.
The remains emanated a faint magical earth elemental signature within their bones, and he thought he might have the key for his earth elementals. These were packed up before they went to the surface to resupply and then went back down. They lost track of days then as they mapped, explored, and made it to level four, where it became even more complex.
Without advanced knowledge of mathematics, compass, and mapping—not to mention the heightened sight and senses of the Witchers—they would all be lost and likely dead. The deeper they went, the more bodies they found, and some showed signs of a violent death. A mage fell to his death in level four, and his body burned.
They finally found signs of life as they began down a large tunnel. To their surprise, the tunnel was dimly lit by some type of glowing mushroom. Many samples were taken as they continued their descent through the winding tunnel. They finally ran into something they couldn't understand: six chitlins (from Skyrim).
The armored insect-like monsters put up a good fight but were killed. What shocked them was, after they killed them, they were attacked by two humanoid creatures (Falmer, Skyrim), who were also weak earth/shadow elementals. Most things were gathered along with some of the glowing eggs, and they fell back the long seven-day trip to the surface.
The relief of being in the sun was palpable for everyone. He continued studying the creatures, eggs, mushrooms, and the blind elf-like beings. They waited for the Pearl, as the danger factor was turned way up with these strong creatures.
It was now over 4 months and Harry was exhausted. He was still training, but it was mostly focused on compass, mapping, and studying the maze. He didn't work on combat much as there was very little light—usually only one whale oil lantern or torch to conserve resources.
When the Pearl returned, he informed them of what they found and decided to explore in force, much to Bronn and Thoros's disappointment. So with 10 Witchers, 10 PK, and 10 others, they restocked with huge amounts of supplies—thankfully not needing to bring water due to Harry's two small enchanted water sources that he made the last year. They descended all the way to where they were last, going even further down than the 4th level.
After winding through miles of descending tunnels, the tunnel became less rough and smoothed out into a rectangular hallway. They ran into dozens of the Chitlins and Falmer, dispatching them quickly. They finally could see light at the end of the tunnel and pushed forward, but they didn't expect what they saw.
(Description of a huge cavern and a big Dwemer city with huge glowing mushrooms and bridges over blue glowing water lighting up the huge cavern in a pleasant light. There were many small islands with different sized buildings, looking kinda like Braavos but with smaller islands and 1 or 2 buildings per island.)
Everyone was in awe. They could see movement throughout the city, so they rested at the cave entrance. They figured they were about 30 miles from the surface entrance. He had Violet scout ahead, silently sneaking around before she returned an hour later. Having used her Myrish eye, she determined there were hundreds, maybe thousands of creatures in the city. She also spotted several caves leaving the city.
They talked and debated and just enjoyed the pleasant soft light. The mushrooms on the ceiling 200–300 ft up looked like a million bright stars in the sky. The mages were busy documenting and drawing all they could. The buildings and stonework were in amazingly good condition. When he got closer to the water, he spied the reason for the glow—thousands and thousands of glowing fish. Most looked to be a carp-type fish, but there were others: small tilapia-looking ones and a larger shark-looking one. He decided to avoid the water as much as possible.
They decided to make a play for the city and try and seal the various caves leaving the city to prevent the creatures from receiving reinforcements. The creatures were usually alone or in small groups—less than five—and blind, so they had a chance if they were smart.
They split into 5 groups of 6 and went 5 different routes to what looked like the palace. Harry, Mel, Bronn, Arthur, Utred, and Marwyn crept around over one of the many arched small bridges and saw a group of three who seemed to be carving something out of Chitlin shell. Then all hell broke loose as he heard a death cry from a nearby island and the three grabbed their weapons—but before they could take a step, they were cut down.
The fighting was intense as more and more Falmer kept popping up. They were barbaric and stronger than human men, but not more than the Witchers—and the combination of sight, steel weapons, steel armor, and much greater combat abilities made slaughtering them easier. But unfortunately, their numbers were very large.
The bows three of the Witchers had were used to devastating effect as the Falmer were, in fact, blind but seemed to have very sharp other senses. The fighting continued. Hadrian's group was the second to arrive at the huge 30 ft tall doors leading into the large building in the middle of the islands. The doors seemed to be locked—no, not locked, but barred—as they gave a little when pushed. He had the Witchers start pushing and ramming the door, but it wouldn't give.
The next few minutes were a constant stream of enemies. Another two teams arrived, down four people. Hadrian summoned as much power into Stormbreaker as he could and slammed it where the two doors met. A wave of power blasted the doors open and broke the large wooden bar holding the door closed, and the stacks of what looked like furniture that was stacked against the door were thrown away from the force.
They all went in, and seeing about 50 more running toward them, they closed the doors and secured them with the furniture. They were just able to secure the door before it was rammed. The doors were made of a solid hardened stone like the maze and everything else.
Two hours later, they occasionally would hear sounds from outside the door and some a little more distant. They were in a large, beautiful hall. They then explored the whole palace. The place was a fortress—smooth walls reaching 100 ft before there were balconies and windows. It was a beautiful palace. There were glowing mushrooms covering the ceiling and some walls, lighting every room.
A huge treasure room was found in the dungeon. Items of value and worth that were absent in the rest of the city were spread throughout the palace, along with hundreds of the large Mazemakers' skeletons. They obviously barricaded themselves inside this palace as their last resort.
He had 10 men missing currently, with two PK confirmed dead, and hoped the rest had fallen back or taken shelter somewhere. They spent an hour recovering their strength. They looked out over the city from a balcony and could see, with their Myrish eye, a larger host of 300 gathered and setting up camp on the plaza in front of the building that had three bridges off of it—north, east, and west—with the palace on the south.
They could see a few more trickling in, but it seemed all of the creatures were gathering—although it was only the Falmer and not the bugs. They began to make a plan to funnel them into a kill zone and use the six bottles of wildfire to reduce their numbers drastically, then use Hadrian's and Mel's magic to sow chaos and mop up the rest. So they set up an area to open the doors and funnel them into the huge hall where wildfire was already spread—then light it up.
The plan went without issue. It worked so well that although there were many injuries, there were no more deaths. They split up in teams and went to seal all tunnels out of the city—which was actually pretty easy, as there were only four and three were pretty small. They collapsed the tunnels, and Harry hardened the earth with magic. It wouldn't stop them from getting through, but it would take quite a while.
They found four of the missing ten—injured but alive. The six dead were half-eaten. They lost seven total on this island: two Witchers, four PK, and a mage. Duncan Hill, Arthur's brother, was one of the fallen. They had a quick ceremony with Mel and Marwyn giving last rites in both religions, and the bodies were burned on a pyre. They used most of the very little old wooden furniture, as most things were either molded stone or copper. There was no iron or steel, or much wood or fabrics.
They spent three days giving most a chance to rest for the journey back. During those three days, those who were healthy explored the buildings, gathered useful items, studied, and made maps of the city. Harry spent his time down at the door to a vault of some kind. He could feel some magic on the other side of the door. There was a puzzle he had to figure out (sliding stones with pictures on them). He and Marwyn made sketches of them to work on on the way out and back in.
Three men had to be taken out with stretchers, and the other people filled their packs with some of the treasure they found. They left and were very relieved to be on the surface again. They stayed at an inn for three nights before the Pearl arrived. They loaded their stuff up and prepared to return.
Letters were sent off and some were received. It seemed "The Ruby," a ship Hadrian commissioned to be built as a replica of his current ship (without the enchantments), left King's Landing last month and was due to arrive in about a week. They were bringing much-needed support—50 PK, 10 Witchers, 20 crew, and 20 Witcher novices who needed the ritual.
Hadrian decided to head back in with 20 men, leaving two mages and Arthur outside to bring the reinforcements down after them. They made it all the way back without issue. Harry, Marwyn, and Mel worked on the vault while the others explored, mapped, sorted. Soon enough, help arrived in the form of 10 Witchers, 40 PK, and five others.
The newcomers were amazed at what they were seeing. Harry sent 80 back loaded down with treasure, samples, artifacts, and even some fish from the lake. He finally figured out the puzzle a few days after they left and was a little surprised at the contents of the vault. Very thin hardened stone tablets stacked throughout the large room the size of the Throne Room at the Red Keep. Stacks and stacks all around the hall.
He walked in and in the middle of the hall was a beautiful ornate bronze, gold, and silver altar with gems embedded. It was the most ostentatious thing he had ever seen—and on top was a hooded cloak of some kind of Kevlar-like material. It reeked of magic. When he picked it up, the material was unlike anything he felt before. It was like a thick layered silk of the finest quality.
He dropped some blood on it and nothing happened. It didn't have a stone in it, but like the chest and choker, it was a powerful artifact. He went ahead and put it on, and then all of a sudden, the cloak sprung into action and resized to fit him, with the hood going over his head to below his eyes—yet he could see through it.
Knowledge assaulted his mind. The cloak gave him greater understanding—the understanding of languages. He could learn any language very quickly: read, write, or speak. This included body language, facial cues, and surprisingly, math. Of course, he would need to put effort into learning the languages, as when the cloak is removed, it removes higher understanding but leaves a lot of what you learned. He would even be able to spot a lie much easier.
No wonder the ancient Dwemer could make the mazes and be as advanced as they were with only Bronze Age technology. It took him a few days to be able to read the Dwemer language. The stone tablets were a library of their knowledge and history. The tablets, each the size of a notebook, were packed with small etchings. None seemed to be about magic but included some earth elemental alchemy.
Hadrian decided to buy a bunch of paper and graphite/lead to make rubbings of all of them to take with them for him to study at will. He began teaching the mages the language. He couldn't speak it, as he would need to hear it to learn. The difference with artifact objects to the stones was anyone could use them, as he allowed Marwyn to wear it as well, which greatly increased his learning.
The 80 returned for the second trip and brought the paper to make the rubbings. While they were working on this, Hadrian decided it was time to enact the next part of his plan and create another species like his Witchers. He created a ritual using bone of the Mazemakers, armored skin of the Chitins, the glowing mushrooms, and his blood with the power of the Earth Stone. He used one of his PK who volunteered.
Thus, the creation of the Architects.
They were very hardy, gaining some muscle. They could see perfectly underground and normal on the surface. They were similar to the Witchers but gained less physical abilities and greater elemental ones. They could sense the earth and mold it with their elemental power. They aged the same as the Witchers and were also infertile. He would begin to recruit many poor and sick to become his new builders—his Architects. They were very effective underground, and the maze would become their base of operations to continue his war on what he named the Dark Elves while gaining all the resources.
In order to do this effectively, he knew he would have to work on conquering Lorath. Once everything was loaded up and the extent of the Architects' abilities were ascertained, all of them packed up the rest of the treasures and made their way to the surface. They loaded everything in the Pearl and Ruby.
He spent a week in the city negotiating deals with merchants and buying a large warehouse near the port, where he had his men recruit the poor while he outfitted the Ruby with a 5x wind engine. He purchased a nice-sized manse, so he stationed three red priests, three Witchers, and one Architect to further his goals of conquering Lorath economically. Then he left for Braavos.
He began to make connections and instituted trade agreements with several merchants. It had now been 10 months since he left King's Landing. As he sat in a Braavos tavern with his Pack—which was his name for his generals and those close to him—they were planning their next move. They had accomplished so much so quickly that he was unsure what to do.