Session Eighteen

The eighteenth session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 2nd February 2022.
== Party Members Present ==
* Brandr Sigurdson
* Snorri Morgrimson
* Relnwe Adiath
* Professor Meino Osterhaus
* Aleksi Lehtonen
== Synopsis ==
=== The Assault ===
==== Some More Planning ====
We (the party plus Reinhardt) found ourselves with the high ground overlooking Dmitri's Forest Camp with its three towers and palisade wall. We decided it best not to directly assault the place as all the guard in the towers had hand bells. The Prof attempted to cast some nifty magic to help steal himself inside, but inevitably the trickier spells failed and we had to resort to more mundane tactics. As we planned more, we found out that Reinhardt was not known as a great actor back home in the Empire and we heard wolves howling further up in the hill - it was time to attack. The plan was simple really - Rel would blather her way into the camp, chatting shit about wolves whilst Aleksi and Reinhard attempted to climb up the tower, giving them a vantage point over the camp. The Dwarfs and the Prof would bring up the rear once the first tower had been captured.
==== The Plan Goes Tits Up and the Fight Ensues ====
Of course, the plan failed. Rel angered the guard in the tower by taking too many steps forward whilst Reinhardt and Aleksi made too much noise climbing the tower, causing the guard to ring his wee bell. At the ringing of the bell, more thugs emerged from tents around the camp and the Dwarfs charged in. through the gap in the wall. Rel immediately had to face a large Kislevi with a large sword. Meanwhile, Snorri heard the howling wolves get closer, but chose to barrel into a thug in the camp, knocking his off a small cliff. Reinhardt obliterated the thug in the tower, claiming it for the party.
Aleksi jumped down from the tower to help Rel with the large kislev, but narrowly avoids a brutal swing of the large sword. Reinhardt moved to block the gap in the wall to keep the wolves at bay. In response to the near death blow, Aleksi limply prodded the large kislevi with his spear. The thugs on the other towers let arrows fly at us, hitting the poor thug that Snorri was pinning to the ground instead. The arrow seemed to enliven this thug and he managed to break out of Snorri's grapple. However, this space allowed Snorri to kill him with his Azthrund. At this moment, a tamer showed up with two wolves and started having a go at Reinhardt who held his ground in the gap in the palisade. Having battled his way further into the camp, Brandr charged at a tower attempting to seize it. Meanwhile Rel managed to finish off the large kislevi by driving her spear in him, pinning him to the wooden tower.
Up by the gap where Reinhardt stood his ground, the tamer whistled and a bear emerged from the undergrowth to face off against Reinhardt. Seeing the bear, Snorri went to help Reinhardt and threw a bomb at the trainer and his animals. Having slunk around the battlefield, the Prof took the image of a dead kislevi thug and ran towards the third tower, feigning injury. The guard in the tower didn't realize this was the Prof in disguise and carried on shooting his crossbow. The Prof managed to get up into the tower and stab the guard with his umbral blade. As another thug emerged from a small canvas, Rel pirouetted of the cliff above him and brought her spear to bear on the thug. Her spear hit the thug's right arm, forcing his own sword into his fleshy kislevian abdomen and killing him instantly. The bear then managed to force Reinhardt backwards, but was brought down by a combination of Snorri's Azthrund and Reinhardt's blunt shield.
After taking an arrow from ALeksi, who had climbed the eastern tower again, the tamer whispered to one of his wolves in kislevi and the wolf ran of westwards into the forest. The tamer then took flight. However, Aleksi managed to snipe him in the back. Meanwhile Rel shot the thug that the Prof had stabbed, killing him. The body slumped on top of the Prof, pinning him. In other tower, Brandr had managed to get into a slow combat with the guard. Finally, Brandr managed to bonk him on the head, knocking him out. 
==== Exploring the Camp ====
After the fight, we tied up the guard that Brandr had knocked out and we explored the camp. Alas, the was no loot to be had aside from the large sword that Snorri picked up, but Rel did uncover an entrance to an underground section of the camp. Thus it came to pass that we yet again found ourselves heading underground.
=== Going Underground ===
==== An Old Acquaintance ====
After exploring the underground section of the camp for a bit, we came to a bridge. We could see a figure on the other side of the bridge, a figure that we recognised. It was none other than the bodyguard from the Cavernous Cask! After a bit of needless chit-chat we got down to business. Brandr and Reinhardt charged him across the small bridge. Aleksi and Snorri followed and ran around the corner into plenty more kislevis for us to wet our blade on. Snorri killed the first one he came across with such force that it cleaned the barrel of his Azthrund for him, sending debris into the eyes of another kislevi. Behind these two kislevis there was a captain and a hooded figure. The hooded figure crumbled an eye in his hand and casts magic at Snorri, but failed to pierce his thick, yet surprisingly moist, dwarf hide. A second battle had commenced.
While the captain charged into Aleksi and Snorri with his halberd swinging, the Prof managed to silence the hooded figure with a magic spell. Together, Brandr and Reinhardt took down the bodyguard whilst Rel killed the kislevi with debris in his eyes. Snorri then shattered the captain's face with his Azthrund. Only the hooded figure remained. The Prof said that he wanted to take him alive so Snorri pinned him down while Brandr cut out his tongue. Unfortunately, the Prof's silencing spell prevented the dwarfs from doing this the regular way i.e. through the mouth. Therefore, Brandr had to remove the tongue from under the jaw, causing himself inconvenience and the hooded figure great pain.
==== It's Nikolai! It's Nikolai! It's not Nikolai. ====
After the fight, we explored the underground camp some more. There was water and a few boxes, but yet again no loot. Of course, we had gone there strictly to look for Nikolai and not for booty (although Olga would probably say that Nikolai was booty enough). After a brief search we found a wee room and Snorri found another secret door within this room. We slid the door open to reveal a tied up Norscan man. After untying him, he told his name was Agnarr. He told us that he was friends with Nikolai and that he had helped Nikolai escape Deadgate as Dmitri pursued him. Agnarr helped Nikolai get to the Badlands, but that they were followed - Nikolai managed to escape the fray, but Agnarr was captured. Agnarr said that Nikolai was waiting for Aleksi to come and get him and that he could show us where he was.
==== Returning Home ====
We took Agnarr out of the cave and armed him with the halberd that the Captain had wielded. As we left, Snorri rigged up some mining explosives to trap anyone who came down into the underground camp. Agnarr was allowed to kill the thug Brandr had knocked out earlier and the Prof rode off with the hooded figure on his shadowsteed.
== Next Session ==
Session Nineteen
== Previous Session ==
Session Seventeen
Category:Session