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From the journal of Azeat Paurre, Wizard of the Fifth Circle:
The trail of V'Derinzorn has been a difficult one to follow. While he left his stamp upon the land, in stories that are told from one end of Barsaive to the other to this very day, his final fate remains uncertain. He consorted with dragons, faced down great Horrors as the kaers were being constructed, and mastered not only his own Discipline but that of the elementalist as well. It is this last that leads me on my search now.
Before the Scourge rose and the kaers were sealed, the tales have it that he made his own preparations. Using his powers over Earth, he hollowed out a mountain. With his control over Water, he caused a spring to rise in its center. Fire gave light and warmth to the great cavern. Finally, he wrapped the entire mountain in True Air, setting it afloat like a Theran kila.
Within the kaer would be a wealth of knowledge nearly beyond imagining. The complete works of a wizard of the Thirteenth Circle and elementalist of the Twelfth, including his grimoires and his journals, would be in the kaer's library. All of the experiments he pursued during the Scourge, all of the artifacts he made for those who would come after him -- I am nearly beside myself with anticipation.
Finding the right drakkar captain and the right Name-Givers to accompany me will be difficult. I must be certain that none of them will come between me and the library for which I have searched half my life. There will no doubt be great perils involved in boarding the kaer. Traps will wait within for the unwary and the undeserving. But a lifetime of research in one place -- !Recently, in my research, I have come upon evidence that the Floating Kaer of V'Derinzorn is not merely a story, but an actuality. A merchant, whose drakkar was blown off course in a gale, has actually seen what he believed to be the kaer. He described it to me in sufficient detail that I believe his tale. Now, if only I can locate it.
Azeat Paurre may himself contact the group, or they could come into possession of his journal by any number of means. An inheritance to a distant relative, an estate sale, or the somewhat overused device of finding it on his body in a back alley all are viable options.
V'Derinzorn's kaer is not actually a mountain. It's a massive sphere of carved stone, surrounded by a thin mantle of True Air. Originally, it floated well above the mountains, but with the ebbing of magic, the sphere has come to rest between two peaks. Obviously, it has drifted a good distance from its origin.
The kaer is balanced precariously. Name-Givers moving inside should not dislodge it as long as they move carefully, but in a fight, people aren't so careful about their movements. Too much violent rocking and the kaer will go crashing down the mountain, shattering into millions of tiny shards, and taking with it to destruction everything (and everyone) inside. Unless the characters can find a way out within the first few rounds after the kaer begins to slide, or a way to survive the plunge, they're done for.
As to what's actually in the kaer, well, that's up to the GM. If V'Derinzorn's library and workshop are really there and intact, however, surely that much of a concentration of magical knowledge and equipment will have attracted at least a minor Horror. This might explain why the kaer was never opened from within...
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