Quest Catacombs of the Crying Marsh

[Aurra Brylee]

You are here because you responded to a notice posted across the region.

Not that many people can even read, but perhaps you heard it from a town crier.

Wiki Page 'Catacombs of the Crying Marsh Quest'

Mar 16, 2025

Catacombs of the Crying Marsh

Location: South Falwood
Reward: Silver coin and any extra loot split evenly
Contractor:
Led: Aurra Brylee
Sign-ups:
Quest: The entrance to the catacombs are only accessible for a few weeks of summer.

Eight years ago the human knight Rudolf von Astenburg entered the catacombs with the intention of reaching the underrealm.

He never returned.

I have been commissioned to retrace his steps and return his family heirloom, the greatsword Moonbright.

There is no information on how far he made it.

The top level of the dungeon is inhabited by a goblin

• Aurra Brylee
• Area: Out-of-character

Aurra adjusted her rapier. To sit comfortably she had leaned it against the bar, but it kept sliding to the floor.

When she was trying to present a professional image it wouldn't do to seem to fidgety.

"Wine?"

"Beer."

"Wine?"

"Beer."

Aurra sighed. She gave a small nod.

It would be better than stale water.

 

[Nuir]

Being of the scholarly sort Nuir was able to read the posting.
Nuir, ever in search of new experiences and new ways to practice his craft, decided this seemed a good opportunity.
So as stated in the notice he made his way to the Inn at appointed time. The Inn was sparse of patrons when he arrived so he gathered he must be among the first to arrive. That or perhaps there was some reluctance to heed this request.
Regardless he approached the bar to ask about the posting. Only for the barkeep to motion to the elf sitting nearby.
"Are you the one which made the posting about entering the catacombs?" Nuir asked quiet but direct in tone. His initial assessment of her was that she seemed the type to be very good with a knife. He gently set his pack down and took up a seat next to her at the bar.

 

[Mackenzie Erris]

"What the hell does this say? I recognize this guys name, but... what's the rest of it?"

He was so used to it at this point, he didn't even hardly acknowledge the sigh and the roll of her eyes. He did, however, adjust the collar on his new jacket, flashing a toothy smile.

A shaken head, and Magdalena Elbion read to him the rest of the information.

She said something about a ridiculous endeavour to be traveling so far, but Mack was, for one reason or another, compelled...

---

He'd arrived earlier. He sat just down from Aurra, pipe hung from his lip, mug of ale set on the bar before him.

He leaned forward, looking past Aurra to see, yet another elf. Another paler one at that. He was in Falwood, after all, he resigned.

"You've come to the right place!" he declared, lifting his mug, and then taking a swig.

 

[Magdalena Elbion]

It was ridiculous to travel so far, but Magda hardly needed an excuse to get out from under her father's eye for a fortnight. Seated next to Mack with a ungodly pounding headache, she flinched as he called out to the latest newcomer and felt the beat of her throbbing skull skip with extra oomph.

Something in the local flora had set off her allergies and while she had commenced the trip in decent spirits, by the time of their arrival at the tavern she was all but raging misery.

She elbowed him in the ribs and returned to holding her head in her hands over a large mug of steaming tea that was supposed to help with these sorts of things.

 

[Aurra Brylee]

"Are you the one which made the posting about entering the catacombs?" Nuir asked quiet but direct in tone.

"I am indeed!" she replied.

Aurra glanced down in disdain at the wooden mug of beer that had been poured. She was certain that it would either taste appalling or taste of nothing at all.

"You've come to the right place!" he declared, lifting his mug, and then taking a swig.

Aurra crinkled up her nose as she took a swig and sat down at the table. It turned out to be the former.

She elbowed him in the ribs and returned to holding her head in her hands over a large mug of steaming tea that was supposed to help with these sorts of things.

Aurra glanced at the loud man's comanion.

"Well," she said, "how long have you been waiting her drinking to get into this state?"

"Actually, I don't need an answer to that. What I do need is an answer to this:

"What are you all bringing to the table? How will you not get yourselves killed and - more importantly - not get me killed?"

 

[Nuir]

Nuir looked first at the enthusiastic man and then his companion. He seemed in particularly good spirits but the woman beside him seemed to already be in need of his services. He wondered if she had made whatever it was she was drinking as a steaming mug of anything seemed out of place in this dingy interior.
He offered the boisterous man a small nod in acknowledgement.

The fellow elf also confirmed that he had found his way to the right group. An admittedly small group but they seemed like a fairly capable bunch to Nuir's somewhat naive understanding of adventurers was.
As the leader of their little group started asking questions he realized it was already time to get to business.
In a somewhat quiet voice he explained what he had to offer. His expression was calm, unphased by her direct phrasing but his voice betrayed a slight hesitance. For he had no doubt in his skills but knew that a lack of combat experience would be a detriment in close quarters.
''I am a healer by trade and study. I may not be able to provide in the way of combat but I am confident in my mending." Then because it seemed impolite not to he added "I am called Nuir."
His eyes intently moved to the other two as he finished speaking curious to hear their specialties.

 

[Mackenzie Erris]

As he lifted his mug and drank back, he got little more than a sip before there was an abrupt discomfort in his side. Not enough to cause him any great distress, but enough for him to stifle his drink and contain himself from the subtle choke he suffered.

With a smug look on his face he set the drink down and held in a few gentle coughs. With a couple quiet smacks of his lips, he shot her a knowing glance. Quiet down. I get it.

"Well," he started, "not dying is a bit of a knack I have. And keeping others alive is a specialty - its how her and I came to meet," he pointed his thumb, "she likes these underground adventures. And she's just got a headache."

 

[Magdalena Elbion]

"Magda Elbion," she'd caught his glance and managed to sit herself upright enough to make something of a dignified intro. Most folk with any connection to magic knew the name Elbion, but she'd have liked to believe this was a group that wasn't.

"I specialize in ancient artifacts, ruins, and languages. There's plenty of things that can kill you in the Underdark, but I'm not one of them."

 

[Aurra Brylee]

"Yeah I've had..."

Aurra was interrupted by the sound of her rapier sliding from the leg of the table to fall against the floor.

She bent down and grabbed the blade, setting it on the table in its scabard.

"Not making a point. Where are you supposed to put these things when you're sitting down?"

"Anyway. I was making a joke about headaches but never mind. We could do with more muscle. If no one else turns up I guess we will be quiet in our approach."

"Experience of dungeoneering? If that's a word. Let's pretend it is.

 

[Nuir]

Nuir gathered that Aura's first question had been a rhetorical one. Though in his experience the weary types simply wore their weapons for fear of not being able to draw them.
He wasn't so sure he understood the hairy fellow's response but he seemed to be some form of bodyguard. The human girl was a scholar or artificer of some sort. He knew very vaguely of the college of Elbion. The college sourced experts in conjuration from the Sidereal elves. So he had heard of it, though he hardly knew enough to think her family name more than a passing coincidence. In either case he was always interested in sharing notes with likewise studious types.
With Aura's next question raised he gathered that perhaps their party was at a disadvantage.
Nuir quietly shook his head "I am afraid this will be my first such foray...though I am familiar with some of the flora and fauna that originates in the under dark." Though among those he had read of, there were a select few worth hauling to the surface. So even when he was living among merchants he had seen and used very little of these as ingredients in practice. He was particularly hoping to acquire a variety of mushrooms as there seemed to be many types and mushrooms were a versatile ingredient for a healer. Provided he didn't choose poorly.

 

[Mackenzie Erris]

"Dungeoneering..?"

He scratched his chin and looked upward in a rather emotive display of thought... such was his nature ever since... never-mind.

"Well, to be honest, I didn't spend much time underground until getting mixed up with her and her lot, they're crazy. We went to this tomb one time, and we had to crawl through this crevasse..."

He went on for a little bit about some details that really didn't amount to much, other than highlighting the fact that traveling underground was hardly something that he and his companion... employer...? This was a bit of a extenuating circumstance - they we well versed in finding their way.

He paused mid thought, considering her having come with him on this adventure.

 

[Magdalena Elbion]

Magda eyed Mack as he nattered on about their last journey into the belly of a lost dwarven tomb. They'd escaped death there a few times, but it wasn't an event she liked to revisit where it showcased her shortcomings not as a Mage or expert in her field, but simply as a person.

"Been in lots of caves, tombs, catacombs... dungeons. Whatever you want to call them. Only been to the actual Underdark once on an excavation, and not on purpose." A tunnel collapse had sent them falling for hundreds of feet, caught and saved from death only by a mass of webbing within a larger cavern beneath.

Spiders. Yeesh.

She decided not to think much on that memory either and instead took a long slug from her tea. Maybe she should have let Mack spike it...

 

[Aurra Brylee]

"Alright so we have a healer. I suppose the lack of experience doesn't really matter if you keep us alive."

"Then we have a huge man for protection."

"Aand then we have a drunk who can speak lots of languages."

"I don't suppose anyone knows a remarkably powerful and suicidal mage?" she asked.

For an elf, she could be remarkably sarcastic when using the common trade tongue of humans.

 

[Nuir]

Nuir listened intently to the man spin a tale of danger and adventure. He had a high patience for long winded answers. He wasn't opposed to hearing others boast of their journeys especially when they seemed to have much more experience than himself.
He could only shake his head slightly to Aura's presumably rhetorical question. A flicker of someone did cross his mind but he wouldn't have said they were well acquainted. Nor would he recommend such a person.
He could only hope he had prepared enough to make up for any shortcomings. Nuir certainly didn't intend to let anyone in his trust die if he could help it.
"I suppose we will have to make the best of our resources. Will we be waiting for others? Or perhaps I should ask when will we be entering the catacombs?"