Solen Caves, Trammel, Chesapeake (PaxLair Times) – April 24, 2015 – by Ashlynn – A band of mercenaries believed to be associated with infamous outlaw Tyrius Zool attacked the gypsy town of Pike yesterday using strange mechanical constructs.
Several gypsy refugees from the village alerted the Royal Guard in Minoc. These gypsies described a band of sellswords accompanying several golem-like creatures modified for mining. Most of the gypsies fled in the chaos and sadly it is believed that self proclaimed “King” Sev is amongst those who made it to safety.
The Royal Guard responded by dispatching volunteers to investigate. Upon arrival they were immediately attacked by the sellswords – many of whom wore black gauntlets associated with a band of mercenaries in Zool’s employ.
It wasn’t long before the Royal Guard came across the digging machines themselves as well as the underground tunnel they had used to dig their way into Pike.
Following this sinister threat back to the source brought the volunteer militia to the Caves of the Solen where some kind of workshop was found along with more of the machines – some of which were inert.
The remaining mercenaries were swiftly defeated along with their lieutenant – a man going by the name of “Bloodbath Zach”. Along with a coded map and hundreds of ingots stamped with the Pike makers mark, a few of the digging machines were also recovered for use by the Royal Guard.
It is believed that the intended target was not Pike but instead Minoc – specifically the city bank and the well-equipped smithing workshop. It seems whoever was responsible for navigating underground was not equipped for such a difficult task and surfaced several miles short. It is also believed that these mercenaries had some sort of agreement with the Solen though communicating with those strange creatures could prove difficult.