Session Twenty Eight

The twenty eighth session of the the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 26th July 2022

## Party Members Present

* Brandr Sigurdson
* Snorri Morgrimson
* Relnwe Adiath
* Professor Meino Osterhaus
* Aleksi Lehtonen (Late)

## Synopsis

### Loot Glorious Loot

#### Skreetch's Chamber

We found ourselves sitting on the field of victory enjoying a few well-earned comforts. Unfortunately, our rations did not contain salted pork. Vikram approached us and told us of a decently sized hoard that had been uncovered in the vanquished Skreetch's chamber. We followed Vikram into the dank room and saw lots of stolen objects like rugs, half a tent, and a full bed with velvet pillows. There was also plenty of metal, gold coins, and silverware. The Prof's eyes were immediately drawn to a staff of dark wood that seemed to be absorbing the winds of magic slightly. The prof took the staff when a slightly digested Reinhardt stumbled into the room. He was clutching a dwarf-sized runic armband that he had found during his travels in Bonk's belly - it had on it a Forgekeeper clan mark. Brandr examined the armband and identifies the rune as a Rune of Misfortune that brought misfortune to the wearer if they were not a dwarf. This probably helped us in defeating Bonk. One of Vikram's Sons then came into the chamber and approached Aleksi. He said that he had observed Aleksi's excellent shooting and he presented Jaspar Asprn's bow. Jaspar had sadly fallen in the fight and the dwarf thought (not having his own use for the Ungi weapon) that Jaspar would have wanted Alexi to have the bow.

#### Our Share

Of course, all the loot was to be shared out evenly between the company that had defeated the Yellow Moon Night Goblins. Amongst our share were a couple of books in Khazalid, a human book entiteled *Tales of Terror*, a set of golden rings, a couple of silver mirrors, some rusty weapons, good quality plate bracers, a strange box full of mushrooms, and a locked metal box with Silverscar clan markings on it. We were also given a set of silver utensils and 20 GC. Snorri examined the Silverscar box and, as he was doing so, Vikram approached him andtold him that he had tried to open the box. He pointed to a mising piece on the back of the box and said if he found that, he may be able to open the box.

#### What's this, then?

As we looked through the loot, a glint amongst the dust on the floor of Skreetch's Chamber caught the Professor's eye. He bent down for a closer look and he found a small ring. The ring was very slightly bending the Winds of Magic and on it were words written in Eltharin - the tongue of the elves. The Professor could not read the whole inscription: all he could understand was the phrase 'The Strength of the Elves goes to the Elves'. The had two mounts for tiny stones - one of these stones was missing. The Prof then told Rel that he had something for her to evaluate later on, but was being rather coy. After speaking to Rel, the Prof scurried into a corner of the cave like a little rat and cast a spell on the elvish ring to make it look less valuable. However, the illusion did not change the writing on the ring, making it look very strange indeed.

### A Night to Remember in Fort Vikram

#### Toasts and Plans

The company swiftly fashioned some carts and we returned to Fort Vikram with the loot. Upon our victorious return, barrels were rolled out. After all the wounded were cared for, Vikram himself relaxed and he called everyone around him. He generously praised our partyfor finding Bonk and we all drank to the brothers-in-arms we had lost that day. Then Vikram told us that he was planning a large expedition and that he hoped that we might join and form a large company to go to the very depths of the Ruins. He said he wanted toreach the Hall of the Warriors (where the most honoured warriors are remembered), many of whom died in the War of the Beard. Vikram said he had many ancestors buried there, as did Brandr and Snorri. He wanted to make sure that their spirits were safe from the undead and the whispered rumours of the Necromancer.

#### Roll out the Barrels!

Suddenly, the Prof piped up in his general ratty demeanor and said that he had heard somewhere that elves could drink faster than dwarfs. There was immediate uproar. Very quickly, a drinking competition was organised. There would be six participants representing the three races: Rel and Callisri would drink for the Elves, the Professor and Aleksi would drink for the Humans, and Brandr and Snorri would drink for the Dwarfs. We would be competing in two metrics: the volume of the beer consumed, and the speed at which the beer could be consumed. As expected, the humans slipped behind early. Aleksi choked on his first pint, spilling it down himself. The prof soon followed, slumping to the floor and spilling beer on himself too. Rel's tactic was to drink slowly - clearly she had misunderstood the point of the competition (or was trying to stay sober). Beer then went right up Brandr's nose and his beard became all frothy and beery. He rang his beard back into his mug and continued drinking. The other dwarfs were quite jealous and it was upon that day that Brandr earned the epithet *Frothbeard*. After upending another pint on himself, Aleksi was disqualified - he slunk back into the crowd and started cheering for Snorri, who was pulling ahead by that point. He was, after all, the Champion of the Sausage. The Prof then vomited into his mug and was disqualified. Soon after, Rel (still sober) graciously accepted defeat. After a few more beard slurps, Brandr toppled backward off his bench leaving only Snorri for the Dwarfs and Callisri for the Elves. Callisri declared that he could feel 'a tingle in his fingers', but that was about to change as the Bugmans was brought out. This seemed to be a tad too much for the elf and he failed to finish his pint. Snorri, on the other hand, drained the last of his mug and his declared the winner, saving dwarfdom from great embarrassment.

#### Bedtime Stories

After the drinking was done and the company had gone to bed, Snorri did some bedtime reading by the light of his lamp. He took one of the Khazalid books that had been found in Skreetch's Chamber. It was called *The Dark of the Hold* and was a very old book indeed, dating back more than 3000 years to the glory days of Karak Izril. The book talked about the dangers beneath the 9th and 10th levels of the hold and it said that there was Gromril down there, but that it was now sealed away. Some ancient and evil darkeness lurked in the depths of the ruins. Clearly, the dwarfs has yet again dug too deep. The other Khazalid book had a defaced cover and after a brief leaf through it seemed to be a historical record of some sort.

#### Morning has Broken

High above, the sun rose above Deadgate but its rays did not reach Fort Vikram which lay a long way beneath. Rel awoke first and examined the ring again. She immediately saw through the Professor's illusion. She examined the stones and saw that they gave the wearer boons. One stone would give the wearer speed, the other sight. The sight stone was missing. She remembered some history about the ring, but decided not to share. The rest of us then woke up, some feeling slightly more groggy than others. As Snorri made eggs, Rel talked to the Professor about the ring. She said the ring could only be used by an elf and after some brief bargaining, the Professor begrudgingly agreed to let Rel have it. After breakfast we got ready to go down to the fourth level and Aleksi's Old Kislevian Remedies once again failed to heal Snorri's wounds.

### The Fourth Level

#### Pipes! Pipes everywhere!

We returned to the caves of the Yellow Eye Night Goblins where we ran into some of Vikram's Sons. They reported that the way seemed to be clear and pointed us to the way down to the foruth level: a steep scree slope that descended at a 45 degree angle. We slip down on our bums and arrived at the fourth level. The slope led us into a room that was off the side of a road that itself joined a road of many carts. Aleksi spotted some intricate pipe work heading alog the ceiling of the road. Snorri climbed on Aleksi's shoulders and felt they contained water that was running northwards. Rel though that the lift was northwards too. Thus we headed north. Along the road were many smaller dwarf dwellings and we eventually came to a crossroads of many carts. Here the pipe branched in many directions and there were many symbols and other markings. On the eastern wallwere Silverscar markings. To the west, Aleksi could hear the sound of moving equipment that reminded him of the windmills of kislev. We headed eastwards and came to two large statues of thanes in the southern wall. Their weapons had hinges and when Brandr pushed one, the door between the statues opened.

#### Into the Silverscar Clan Hold

We entered the Silverscar hold and came intoa large central hallway of some carts which went south. However, large parts of the ceiling had collapsed, blocking the way. We headed east off the hallway and came into some living chambers. As we wandered around we saw a set of stairs that went up toa kind of stone block attached to some track. Up on the platform was a damaged control unit. The track headed westwards and southwards. We followed it south and it passed out of the living quarters area (which was rather large). We passed a bunch of workshops and the track went through a hole high in the wall. On the western wall was another set of stairs uptoa platform. Here there was another control panel in much better knick than the last. It has one button that Rel pressed. The button stayed depressed and we heard a rumble as the track vibrated. The stone block started moving along the track towards us. When it arrived the button on the control panel popped back and a door in the block opened. Inside there was a large lever with intricate carvings, a pedestal in the middle of the roomset into the floor with a single button. The pedestal was also intricately carved but damaged like something had been hit off. There was also a dial on the right wall of the door - it had eight markings and was currently focused on the number 6.