Episode 164

## Summary

The Arsonists stop a group of barbarians escorting sacrifices to Daggerspine's lair, send the sacrifices off with the airship, then breach into the lair itself where we run into Barkley's kobold "friend" Nemm. A door puzzle is solved very carefully, and it's password found.

## Recap

* Everyone besides Vahlka waits inside the Magnificent Mansion until Daggerspine is asleep. There are still tremors that move through the ground, although no one knows what this means.
* After a while, Vahlka spots a large party of medium-sized creatures moving through the mountain pass to the Blood Peak. Vahlka calls out Barkley from the mansion to request her spyglass, which the gnome relinquishes. Now able to see clearer, Vahlka identifies the creatures as several barbarians mounted on boars or wolves. Between them are individuals of several races tied together, presumably prisoners or slaves meant for sacrifice.
* The Arsonists almost immediately decide to kill some human(oid) traffickers. They decide the best course of action are to circle behind - Vahlka on Snowball, and the rest of the party on the flying carpet. Naturally, their attempt to stealth fails and the aggressive group remains unsurprised.
* The fight commences with Lucius throwing some fire and then getting pelted with arrows. Boulder harasses a nearby berserker, while one of the captors turns into a fire elemental. Adamant gets thrown into a whirlwind.
* Two of the boar-mounted barbarians break away from the party and sacrifices to head off far into the distance. Vahlka flies on Snowball and harries them, being about as fast as the boars. Vahlka continues to follow them until she's out of sight from the others.
* Slowly but surely, the party mows their way through the enemy until only a boar and their rider remain. Vahlka attempts to grapple one of the remaining man off his mount, which she succeeds, and knocks him unconscious. The remaining rider escapes with a singular prisoner.
* Barkley goes to free the prisoners, only to realize that a majority of them don't speak Common. Eventually a woman comes forward that can speak Elvish, explaining that they come from all over as a sacrifice to Daggerspine.
* Via Seth, Vahlka sends Freedom to escort the rescued prisoners to somewhere safe further down the mountain.
* The Arsonists return to the Magnificent Mansion so that they can interrogate the captured barbarian. He, too, speaks a language that no one but Adamant can understand. Apparently, the prisoner knows of a "Crimson Lady" that comes to speak with the dragon sometimes and has been told she travels with strange creatures ("skinless horsemen"). He iterates that there's a Dwarven city in the mountain but they won't be able to access it, as the dragon is guarding it. Unfortunately, Daggerspine doesn't come out of the mountain very often and only when the tribe chiefs request it. He knows nothing about the Soulforge, only that the Dwarves built something, that one day there was a bright light in the sky, and the dwarves were gone the next
* Everyone attempts to find the kobolds to ask them for more information regarding Daggerspine and her sleeping habits. The party ventures close to the volcano, which is predictably hot and miserable to be around. Looking for kobolds is mostly fruitless, as they're especially good at hiding.
* The party eventually goes inside the volcano, crossing with the flying carpet over the cavern. Ominously, there's a massive claw and tail draped over parts of the rock. Another tremor shakes rock from the ceiling. Behind one of the stalagmite below, a tiny hand throws a rock at them. It's one of the kobolds, Nemm. He calls them stupid for flying around all over the place, and throws a blanket over them just in time for Daggerspine to emerge from one of the lava floes.
* Nemm points out where the door is located, explaining that the dragon tried to open it herself but was incapable of forcing it. There’s no way to open it themselves without making a loud noise and rousing her.
* An argument is had over how to open the door, and when. Nemm adds that the door has a bunch of strange letters on it that glow when approachEd, presumably like some sort of puzzle. They reason that if they're careful and remain under the blanket, that they can solve it without opening. Nemm escorts them through to the central chamber, where there indeed exists a door full of Dwarven runes. The text, however, is in Common - the unscrambled word before them is "Threshold".
* The session ends as they consider what to do with their newfound information and, most importantly, if they should deal with the dragon first...

## Recording

LINK.

Nexus Step <- PREVIOUS EPISODE | NEXT EPISODE -> Little Crickets