Hel's Brigade

As his pick hit the rock, Kressim gave a yelp. It was not nearly as solid as he had expected. A handful hits later, there was a hole in the wall of the mineshaft wide enough to look inside. He called over his foreman, a rough-and-tumble dwarf named Boram Grumblepick. Angling a lantern to get some light inside the hole, he spotted a column. This was wholly unexpected, and the entire crew were all trying to see inside. With their combined picking, it did not take long before the hole was big enough for a dwarf to squeeze through.

Inside, lines of columns made from a grey stone lined a chamber. The stone columns were very different from the black rock they were mining for iron ore, which struck the dwarf as odd. He turned around and helped the rest of his crew inside, still wondering what this place was.

The chamber did not have an apparent exit, and would be pitch black if it was not for their lanterns. A stone box stood on a dais in the center, adorned with scrollwork and elven runes.

What started out as a miners union has become a rebellion in waiting. Agitated by their leadership, the miners of Estia, without whom the nobles purses would soon run dry, want better conditions for themselves and a bigger share of the cake. At least that is what they tell new members.

Secretly, they aim to overthrow the feudal rule on Estia and start a new society, one where no one is in charge. This has already started in the more remote parts of the islands.

Also a recent change, some members have taken to worshipping Hel, lady of Helheim, the underworld - the same world the miners dug towards.

Leadership

Unknown to almost all its members, the recent change in direction is orchestrated by an ancient elven vampire who was buried deep underground until he was excavated by miners. The vampire is called Telanir nan Estia, and was a noble who lived on Estia long before the Empire fell, but who was cursed and buried by the elven high council for inciting a rebellion against the then viceroy of Estia with the aim of installing himself as king.

Telanir, a powerful wizard in his day, was trapped underground for over 400 years, kept in his prison by magic. He spent the time scheming and thinking of revenge on the people who imprisoned him. He had turned into a vampire by communing with Hel herself, asking that she take him away from his prison. Instead she had made him an instrument of her plans, and he waited for 250 years before some miners, by chance, happened upon his sealed tomb deep in the bedrock of Estia.

While he is still physically trapped inside the tomb due to the magic that was used to bind him there, his acolytes are easily ensnared by his words and magic and the incursion into his prison has enabled him to scry and divinate on the outside world.

With trickery and spells, he is controlling the official leader, Boram Grumblepick, the miner in charge of the crew who happened to tunnel into his lair. Telanir killed the rest of the crew and is controlling Boram like a puppet. Boram quickly rose in the ranks of the Miners Union, citing a wish to improve safety after his whole crew were killed in a cave-in.

Boram is now the leader of the Miners Union, but is secretly working to turn it into an army for Telanir once he is free of his prison. Currently the efforts of the Brigade are directed towards covertly finding and reforging the Sacrificial Blade.

Egoris' Task

Egoris was the foreman of a mine near the one where Telanir was unearthed a few months ago. An ambitious man, he quickly gained the attention of Telanir, who gave him a special task. To undo the magic that binds Telanir, he requires the item that bound him there, the Sacrificial Blade. A very old elven artifact, the blade was the focus of the enchantments upon Telanir's prison.

After the blade was used to bind Telanir to his prison, it was dismantled, never to be assembled again. The hilt of the blade was set in the glyphs that guarded his prison. The pommel of the blade was buried with Re'padar, the head of the Elven Council who sentenced Telanir. The blade itself is secretly kept by Queen Caerynna in the vaults in Tel Edhil.

If assembled, the blade would let Telanir escape his underground prison and wreak havoc on Estia.