The Dark Smith's Forge

## General

The Dark Smith's Forge is a place of legend located in south-east Nihost.

The door to the Forge was hidden by a riddle, to which The Rangers found the solution. Internally, the Forge was a maze of underground tunnels. The sound of waves can be heard throughout the Forge.

It was occupied by The Black Spider and his assosciates prior to being cleared out by The Rangers of Eamonn, and then briefly by Dram the Pious. It is now in the hands of the Ironhill brothers who are intending, with The Rangers support, to get the Forge running again. .

## The Rangers of Eamonn

The Rangers of Eamonn were first introduced to the idea of The Dark Smith's Forge by Gundren Ironhill, who was searching for the Forge with his two brothers Dworic and Fargrim. They were successful in this endeavour, and Gundren had tasked the Rangers with delivering mining supplies to Droston when he was kidnapped and incapacitated by followers of King Grohl. After the Rangers rescued him, they decided to follow up with Gundren's brothers at the Forge, for fear they were attacked by The Black Spider.

## Forging the Way to The Black Spider

Upon arrival at The Dark Smith's Forge, The Rangers of Eamonn found a stone door which could only be opened by a riddle. The Rangers were surprised to find that Mallory's sword lit up at the entrance.

*"Always hungry, I must always be fed,*

*The finger I lick will soon turn red."*

Noel solved the riddle (fire). Athorell lit a fire, but found that the moment it was extinguished the door would close, so he lit a torch instead.

Inside the entrance to the Forge, The Rangers unfortunately discovered the body of Gundren's brother, Dworic. It was here that they found a rope that lead beneath the entrance.

Upon entering, they were faced with a choice; a tunnel with rough walls and a tunnel with smooth walls. They take "the nicey side" (Virtuous, 4712). They took the next left, only to find it was a dead end. Trying another route, they came across some Ochre Jellies, followed by a room containing three Ghouls. Following this, they were accosted by ten bats and then a further seven ghouls.

Highlights of this fight included:

* Noel squeezed a head to death with their spiritual weapon (scarf)
* Virtuous pulled a spine out
* Athorell bisected a Ghoul, causing a burst of flame to burst through the front

Lutark scouted ahead, relaying information telepathically to Mallory - in particular, the floating green flaming skull he encountered. The Rangers devised a strategy to fight the Flame Skull', surrounding it and attacking from all angles. Unfortunately eight zombies were also lying dormant and attacked with the Flame Skull.

The Rangers were surprised to learn that zombies are able and willing to climb. In addition, Flame Skulls can resurrect if not destroyed correctly.

In the next room, the Rangers encountered a Beholder. Mallory tried to convince it that they are sent by the Dark Smith (Lord Drosgar) himself to clean the armour and mace that the Beholder is guarding. Unfortunately this was unsuccessful, resulting in a fight. The mace (Dawnbreaker) and breastplate are taken by Lutark. Additionally, the room contained a strange green fire contained in a brazier. When weapons and armour were placed in the fire, they gained +1 to their statistics.

Continuing their exploration, they found another large Ochre Jelly. Soon after this, they found the source of the sound of waves - a cavern containing a natural opening to the ocean that rises and ebbs. There is a thin ledge around the room, which the Rangers shimmy along get to the other side.

The next room contained a Duergar and a bugbear yelling into a ravine containing a further two bugbears. Following Virtuous' powerful slaying of the yelling bugbear and knocking the Duergar unconscious , Mallory convinced the two bugbears in the ravine to surrender. After hearing their plan to confront The Black Spider, the Bugbears ridicule them - until they find out that The Red Devil (Virtuous) will be helping.

After waking the Duergar, he taunts them with mind-reading their secrets.It is at this point that The Rangers knocked it out again, and tried to talk to the Bugbears.

**Duergar to Lutark:** *"Really? In these woods?"*

**Duergar to Virtuous:** *"What, will you kill me like you killed your friend?"*

Lutark was extremely uncomfortable with this, and runs out of range of the Duergar's mind-reading abilities. Mallory followed him and assured him that his past doesn't matter to the group. Upon returning to the group, Lutark unsuccessfully attempts to kill the Duergar.

Mallory offered the Bugbears (Kurk and Proc) jobs at Extreme Yellow. Kurk drew The Rangers a map to where The Black Spider (and his prisoner) were located. They strategised a plan of attack - Mallory would disguise himself as the Duergar and bait The Spider into getting ambushed. Unfortunately upon arriving in the room, Mallory found The Spider sitting in the dark. Lutark was sent in, but The Black Spider's pet spiders saw him.

(c*onfrontation detailed here)*

Following the capture of The Black Spider, The Rangers found Fargrim imprisoned in small room by The Spider's chambers.

After interrogating The Black Spider, Mallory impersonated him to question the Duergar. At first he was uncooperative, even after Virtuous threatened him by turning her eyes black and shaking the ground. Finally Mallory emotionally manipulated him by offering false love and affection - Mallory, posing as a hurt and bloody Eryn, pretends to faint after promising to talk if he and his "son" were granted safe passage. This manipulation resulted in the Duergar reverting to his natural form - a Doppelganger. The Doppelganger revealed his father's true name - Eryn - and admitted to posing as an aide to Lord Laurentius. The Doppelganger was never given a name, and so Gae-An endows him with one - Aelis. Lutark attempted to kill him more than once, but was prevented by the other Rangers through percussive maintenance - they knock him unconscious. Eventually he told them Lutark's secret, and Mallory killed him.

During this, Noel had been left to guard The Black Spider, who did not recognise them. They transform into their true form who "looks like Harry in real life" (curly brown hair, green eyes), and after being recognised by Eryn as his child, conjured their spiritual weapon to slowly squeeze the life out of their father.

## Dram the Pious

The Rangers worked together to seal the exit to the Forge so they could return at a later time to clear it. They returned after resting at Extreme Yellow to find the tunnels lined with torches. Sneaking their way through, they made it to the barracks, which were empty. This was soon followed by another encounter with the Flameskull, disposing of it properly this time with Athorell dousing it in holy water.

Investigating another room, The Rangers found a pool of water. Athorell dove in to find a skeleton holding a wand, which he gave to Mallory (Wand of Magic Missiles). A single Bugbear attacked them, but was convinced to halt in his tracks by Athorell, and to drop his weapon by Mallory. This Bugbear, believed to be named Wort, warned them they'd never beat Dram, but directed them to Dram''s location anyway - he was sitting in The Black Spider's chair. He also told them there were no traps. While this was true, Gae-An sensed he was lying about his name - it is Flak.

Moving along, Gae-An cast an illusion of Seed in the doorway of the next room, which successfully absorbed two javelins. Dram was inside, as well as Proc and another Bugbear. Gae-An was badly hurt during this fight, only surviving due to Mallory stabilising him. During the fight, Mallory convinced one Bugbear (Wort) to surrender, who the Rangers bound and gagged.

**Mallory:** *(in Sylvan, to Gae-An) "Darling, get up!"*

In addition, they left Dram alive to be questioned. Dram is called 'pious' due to his dedication to Lamashtu. He assures The Rangers that The Rising Tide has no affiliation with Lamashtu. He also told them that he had overheard The Black Spider saying he had sent a messenger West with news, and that one of the places the news may be delivered to was 'The Cathedral of the Deep". Unfortunately it was deemed necessary to kill Dram.

## Clearing the Forge

After defeating Dram, the Rangers moved on through the Forge. They encountered a Wraith named Morthrun, who was quickly dispatched. In this room, Mallory found a map showing Mount Rewenge and its neighbour Misty Peak. It also depicted a place called "Percy's Tower" - possibly belonging to the warlock of which Agatha spoke. Gae-An recalled that his tribe had contact with a hermit man (aged mid-30s) in the mountains, who he now suspects to be Percy himself.

The final room in the Forge contained nine skeletons. Mallory devised a plan dispose of them quickly - a bear trap at the door and ball bearings in the hallway, then "hi-ho them down". This successfully made three skeletons prone and one immobile.

Following clearing the Forge, they returned to where Flak was tied up. He was doubtful of the validity of their claim that they had killed Dram, however this was rectified by a maniacal laugh by Gae-An. Flak tried to join the Rangers, however it was clear to Gae-An that he was lying so he remained bound until they returned to Droston.