Camp Harrow
Somewhere on the Surface
The party wakes the next morning, and Ramach turns Koros invisible to scout the top of the plateau where they had seen some kind of camp. Koros scrambles up the scree slope as quietly as he can, and spends an hour wandering through a sizable camp set up at the base of a ~80ft high ancient ruin.
Large watchfires dot the perimeter at the edge of the plateau, each manned by what appear to be Habri mercenaries, the same warriors who guarded Helkala's Hold on Uldrath. Stone walls - one complete, and one under construction - separate the camp part of the plateau from the rest of it. Four distinct areas of tents are set up. The main camp seems haphazardly arranged, and is inhabited by Anvardi who look like clanless laborers. A small collection of triangular tents house smelly individuals who Koros witnesses willingly wander into the jungle with bows and traps, some sort of hunters for the camp. A neatly arranged little town of tents is occupied by a mixed-ethnicity group of people who all have a sort of grey tinge to their skin, the mark (like Orosh) of people who have spent time in the Ang. They appear to be working a quarry off to one side. The last set of tents are circular and high, pavilions in a Baraki style and indeed housing Barakis. There is one visible entrance to the ruin, and the only human-build permanent structure in the camp looks to be guarding it. Koros also looks beyond the walls, and sees that the corrupt-colored jungle carpets the plateau on that side, and reaches under a fin-balcony that juts out from the ruin in the back.
Koros returns to the party, and they decide to track down or ambush one the hunters for information and a way into the camp. They soon find a jungle trail that the hunters use when close to the plateau, and set up in wait for them. One comes traipsing back with a brace of some kind of small furry creatures, and when confronted is surprisingly talkative, rather than combative. His name is Dig, and he says that he and his brothers are hunters out of The Plaza, a famous surface settlement with a Gate that is about 50 miles distant. They have hired on to provide some food and guidance about surviving in the surface jungles, and are employed by the wealthy magi who is funding this expedition, a Rathi called Helaka. The magi has also employed Baraki from the Citadel to design and build out the inside of the ruin, Redmetal Guild teams to dig a quarry and dress stone, and Anvardi Clanless to serve as laborers for the entire endeavor.
The party points to Ramach and says they are a drop team whose expedition went very wrong, and that they are excited to have found the camp. Dig says that there are caravans to and from The Plaza every few weeks, very dangerous multi-day treks through the woods that lose a fair few travelers on the way. He suspects the Habri mercenaries that guard these caravans would be happy to have additional muscle in exchange for getting the party to The Plaza, and a Gate. He offers to bring the party into the camps and introduce them to the quartermaster, a man named Lorn. As the party follows him up the scree slope, Dig looks back and says, "Welcome to Camp Harrow."
He leads the party past many tents and to the structure in front of the opening to the ruin. Inside he introduces them to Lorn, a largely limbless man having only one arm remaining - Dig says he was an early worker at the camp and after "surviving" a few attacks from the jungle he would never make it back to The Plaza, and has become a permanent inhabitant. The party pays Lorn for a tent and food, and Lorn logs their names and story into a book and signs them on as "guards" for the caravan back to The Plaza. Until then they are to mind their own business and stay out of the way. The party ditches their things in an open tent and proceeds to get into everyone else's business and get in the way, all while trying to appear normal.
Orosh wanders the camp of the Redmetal Guild and finds a guard he used to serve with years ago. He learns that the guild is here to quarry stone but also to begin tunneling beneath the plateau - the magi believes there is gold beneath this ancient ruin and this dangerous surface expedition is meant to find and mine it. The guild keep to themselves, and guard themselves during the attacks from the jungle creatures, which happen every few days. The guild members serving here are earning double time towards their rank increases. Orosh's old friend also tells him that there are about 100 Habri mercenaries here, all quartered within the ruin itself.
Koros wanders to the Baraki and finds one that speaks Travit. He finds that they are indeed here to help design the direct the construction of more human proportioned structures within the ancient race ruin. They do not talk to many others - indeed most only speak Baraki - and keep to themselves.
Akissi wanders through the Anvardi part of the camp, and learns that the Clanless laborers are worked to the bone with little regard for injury or safety. They have all come from the poorer parts of Anvard Island, at staggered times, for the promise of fast wealth and a way off of Anvard. She begins healing them where she can.
While those three are out, Ramach and Paetro remain in the tent. Ramach casts locate object on Helaka's stoeln sword, last seen on Aidra, and gets a ping....coming towards the tent. The flap opens and closes, and Aidra appears before them, lowering the hood of a cloak. It seems she also stole an invisibility cloak form Helkala's Hold while she was there. She admits to sneaking ahead to try and get to the camp before the party, but could not immediately see how to get inside the ruin, where she knows Helkala to be from overheard conversations. She has some ideas, but has come to meet with the party now that they are here to see if they can once again work together. One by one the rest of the party return, and many ideas are discussed. Eventually Aidra picks up her bag (which Akissi notices is quite heavy) to leave, saying she'll be back tomorrow night, and will spend the day scouting the camp. After she leaves the tent, the party discuses how to leave her out of any plan they hatch, and perhaps even taking from her the objects that she stole form Helkala.
The next morning, Ramach casts Locate Object on the Gate Compass, and gets a read in the highest part of the ancient ruin tower. The object they have been seeking is here, now. They spend the day acting normal, talking more with the unhappy inhabitants of the camp. The Anvardi workers happily reveal the interior layout that they have witnessed, and the party gets a rough sense of the inside. The Habri are garrisoned on the first floor, the second floor is given over to officers, the third is under construction, and the fourth and fifth were finished by previous batches of workers. The fifth is where the Rathi Magi makes his home, and curiously one wedge of the circular structure is closed off with no doors on all known floors. This wedge is on the side with the fin-like balcony projection, and where the corruption colored vegetation makes its way to the ruin. Orosh learns from his Redmetal guard friend that they have already started on the tunnels for the mines, and in fact one comes up right underneath the ruin, opening into a central atrium that has stairs climbing the first three floors of the interior. That evening, Aidra does not show up for the meeting.
As dark falls, Ramach makes Koros invisible and Koros scouts beyond the wall to the far side of the plateau. He sees that the corrupted vegetation has grown into and made a crack in the ruin under the balcony projection. He pokes his way into the crack, seeing thick winding vines throughout the interior of the closed off wedge section of the ruin. As arm-sized centipede like creatures begin to swarm out of the dim recesses, he scrambles back outside. Koros then spends the better part of his invisibility trying to throw a grappling hook up to the ~60ft balcony. He finally lands a throw, and climbs up. There is a archway to the top floor form the balcony, but it is coated in obvious sigils and wards. There are also a bunch of statues placed near the edges of the balcony, all people in various poses of fright or flight. One of them looks exactly like Aidra, wearing her cloths and equipment and in a pose of running.
Koros returns to the party, causing a brief stir when the guards spot him coming back. He claims ignorance and a full bladder, and he is admonished never to go beyond the walls at night.
The party decides that Aidra must have tried to enter without them, and met some kind of malevolent magical fate that turned her to stone. They decide that of the options before them - up the balcony, through the crack where the corruption is, through the front door during a distraction, or through the gold mine tunnel - that the tunnel is likely their best way in, and plan to make the attempt the next evening.