Here is an eyewitness account of one who was involved with the finding and rescuing one of the Southgate Snatcher's victims. Thank you to Marelli, and to the many who braved hardship and possible death, in bringing us this report. Last night I was making my round through the streets of Pyr, looking and listening for anything unusual or any news of the Snatcher, as has been my daily routine since I decided to involve myself in this affair. From one of the news vendors on Cheapside Market I obtained Rashan's report on the events of the previous day. (For an outrageous price I might add, it's only a piece of paper with letters on it! From what he dared to ask you'd think the report was stored in an amber cube.) From this report I learned that the Snatcher was suspected to be hiding in Under Spring.

Not that I questioned the capabilities of the brave vigilante group who had apparently scouted the area the day before and came up empty, but still I thought it couldn't hurt if I took a look down there myself. I teleported to the Kami altar and made my way to the camp of the Root Tappers. (Unlike some of my race I see no reason not to use Kami technology when it benefits us, we use their magic too after all.) The Root Tappers have patrolls all over Under Spring and would surely know everything going on there. Just barely had I entered their camp when news came to my ears that the investigators from Pyr had tracked down the Snatcher and were gathering volunteers in Dyron. So I immediatly said my goodbyes again and invoked another teleport pact.

I arrived in Dyron early, and thus watched the group of volunteers steadily grow from merely a dozen to a sizeable army. Or perhaps lynch-mob, as some described it, would be a more accurate term. Anticipating that we wouldn't get the Snatcher without a fight, the homins present soon started forming teams. As the crowd was getting restless, eventually Ulyros and Pecus arrived, late as usual, and told us why we had been summoned. The guards had scouted Under Spring and determined the Snatcher's victims were indeed held there, but they had obviously not been able to rescue them and needed our help to do so. Thus our volunteer army headed out to the Under Spring entrance.

After entering the Prime Roots, Pecus and Ulyros informed us that the four hostages were likely kept at seperate locations, and that we would need to split into four groups to find them all. This caused quite some confusion amongst the gathered homins. Not unnatural ofcourse, we were volunteers, not an organized army. And from the recent battles with the cutthroats we had gotten used to simply rushing in all together and defeating whatever opposed us with our overwhelming numbers and firepower. Nevertheless, after a while we managed to form four groups, with Spriteh, Jyudas, Chestor and Ayud as our group leaders. I ended up in Chestor's group myself.

Once organized, we all headed out deeper into the roots to find the Snatcher's victims. Soon we started hearing their echoed cries throughout the cave. Faint, coming from far away, they called out to us asking for help. Some of us shouted back, trying to reassure them, or asking them where they were. But they were obviously terrified, not used to being in such a dangerous place as this, and couldn't give us any directions.

As the groups made their made south, they spread out and lost sight of eachother. There was some more confusion, as groups were made up of multiple teams. My own team lost track of Chestor at one point. Each group had to fend for themselves against the many predators and kitin inhabiting this part of the roots, and after a while more calls for help sounded through the cave. This time not from the Snatcher's victims, but from groups that had fallen to the hostile creatures, some of the most powerfull and deadly known on Atys. The group I was in, following the east wall, met it's end at Sap Marsh. Though we fought bravely, even with the help of the Root Tappers we proved to be no match for Vorkoo.

The homins regroupped at the north portal and went in for a second attempt. This time we were more succesfull. As our group slowly made it's way past Sap Marsh, fighting over every meter, reports came in from other parts of the cave that several hostages had been found and were being led back to the surface. After some difficult skirmishes we eventually located Rosine along the east wall. Unfortunally, only moments later a kitin patrol located us, and proceeded to make short work of us. It was only due to the efforts of some capable group members, who had managed to escape the onslaught and came back to heal us, that our rescue mission wasn't a complete failure.

We took Rosine back north, but by this time we had lost half of our group and we had to move carefully. After defeating a group of bandits blocking our path, we paused for a minute at Sap Marsh Trade Post to regain our strength and questioned Rosine about her kidnapping. She did not remember much, all she could tell us was that the Snatcher was definitely a homin, she thought. It seemed by now the other groups had already succeeded in escorting Xyrila, Bile and Abyribus to the surface. Thus we moved on quickly and made it to the exit with just minor difficulties. There we met with Ulyros and Pecus who joined us for our last leg to Dyron.

Safely back in Dyron, the rescued homins gratefully rewarded the group leaders with what I heard were kitin larva they had found down in the roots while they were captured. Afterwards they were taken by the investigators for questioning and medical attention. Our mission was complete and I was exhausted, so I didn't stay around long enough to learn if there was a victory party afterwards. (To be honest I fled after seeing... well, that's best not told )

During all this, there was no sign of the Southgate Snatcher. It remains to be seen whether we spoiled his plans by freeing his victims, or whether he wanted us to and we played into his hands.

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