Tales of a shattered world - Gold Root Files

22 - Terind Treasure Trove

Terind Treasure Trove

Location - unknown

The following is an account of the Terind Treasure Trove, a minor realm that houses treasures believed to have been stolen from the Keternet family.

Keternet Family

They were once a prestigious merchant family with deep ties to the Yordiel Trade Guild. They were mostly well known for the production and sale of high-quality furniture and furnishings. However, they are also known to invest in a wide variety of businesses to supplement their revenue. They were also well known for collecting antiques and artifacts, often paying far above the evaluated price.

From a business standpoint, this could be seen as foolish, but it did make them a favorable choice for merchants. As such, the Keternet family was often the first to be approached by those selling artifacts. As a result, they developed a network of relations with merchants, archeologists, treasure hunters, mercenaries, and other such groups. It is not yet known why the Keternet family was so keen to purchase artifacts as they never sold or gave them away. Most likely, it was just the eccentric tendencies of a wealthy family. However, this cannot be confirmed.

They are believed to have stored all artifacts in a vault deep underneath their ancestral home. A vault that was believed to have been impossible to penetrate till it was stolen by the famed thieves, the Terind twins.

Terind Twins

Much of the history before the Keternet family heist is unknown. What little is known about them is from reports of pickpocketing and petty theft in the city of Velter. They were believed to have fled the city after the accidental murder of Horris Telet, the owner of a small jewelry store. Since then, only unconfirmed sightings and rumors have been reported. After the heist, many rumors and legends spawned, making it even more difficult to trace their movements.

Keternet Family Report

The exact details of the heist are unknown, as the Keternet family insisted that all investigations be conducted by their private security force. A brief report has been provided by the Keternet family.

The report states that the thieves, the Terind twins, did not break into the vault; rather, they collapsed the lower floors. This resulted in the vault tumbling down to the river that ran underneath the Keternet ancestral home. From there, they used devices that would allow the heavy vault to float in the water and be carried downstream. What these devices were is unspecified. The report suggests that only the two Terind twins participated in the heist, and no other parties were involved. The report then shows that the Keternet family tracked down the Terind twins to their hideout.

Their hideout was situated within a cave system that had formed within a mountain. When the security forces attempted to explore the cave system, they found that numerous deadly traps had been set up by the Terind twins. These not only impeded the security forces but also resulted in multiple casualties. To prevent the twins from escaping, the Keternet family set up a powerful spatial barrier around the mountain while the security forces laid siege to it.

While not much detail is provided about the siege itself, the Keternet family reported that it had succeeded. While no traces of the Terind Twins were found, they did manage to recover the vault and all the contents stored within. They then reported that due to the danger that the trapped mountain poses, they decided to break off the region of space and send it free-flowing through purgatory, where it will eventually corrode and break down.

Aftermath

Rumors have emerged that the twins were actually present when the Keternett family sieged their hideout and were summarily executed. Other rumors also suggest that the family had left the twins in the hideout when they broke off the region, leaving them to slowly die from starvation or the corrosion of purgatory.

Some, however, believe that the Keternet family never took the vault out of the hideout. They deemed the intricate traps a perfect deterrent against thieves. This was further propagated by an accident involving alchemical fire that saw their ancestral home burn to the ground. The vault nor any of their precious artifacts were found in the rubble. The Keternet family claims that the vault simply had been moved to a secure location away from their home after the heist. However, this has not stopped further rumors from propagating.

Now, of course, keeping the vault in a broken section of space careening through purgatory wouldn't make too much sense. Some have surmised that the Keternet family outfitted it into a small, minor realm rather than just sending it freely careening through purgatory. Some theories suggest that they had set up devices to mitigate the corrosion of purgatory as well as some mechanism that would set it on a stable, predictable path that only they knew about. Some even suggest that the Keternet family is in possession of a 'key' that would allow them to create a pathway to this realm or, at the very least, track its movements so that a tether can be created at certain locations.

Conclusion

While there is little evidence to support these rumors, the legend of the 'Terind Treasure Trove,' named after the twins, continues to propagate. Various groups have taken it upon themselves to locate the key or the realm to claim the fortune. The Keternet family continues to deny the existence of the key or realm. The Terind twins have yet to be sighted since the incident.