Session Nineteen

The nineteenth session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 8th February 2022.

## Party Members Present

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

## Synopsis

### Fleeing the Camp

#### A Strong Smell and a Muffled Boom

We found ourselves in the Forest Camp, surrounded by dead bodies and with a captured hooded figure. As we discussed what to do next, we heard an approaching wolf and the hooves of Dmitri's Kislevi hunters - we had to move, and fast. The Prof sprayed Panther Badlands everywhere to throw off the wolf's scent and dowsed himself in the fowl-smelling liquid. The plan was that he would ride off on his shadowsteed, leading the Kislevis off to the north, whilst the rest of us escaped to the east over the hills and back to Deadgate. The rest of the party, with Reinhardt and Agnarr in tow, left Adal in the camp and began swiftly moving eastwards. Snorri brought up the rear of the group, expertly beard-sweeping the ground to cover the tracks. Meanwhile, Adal waited until the Kislevis were in view - a wolf followed by an ogre and two horse archers came into view and he could hear more people behind. Just as the Kislevis spotted him, Adal began riding northwards at a great pace. After about twenty minutes, Snorri heard a muffled thud and new it instantly to be the mining explosives he had set up in a classic booby trap. After the thud came the sound of people fanning out in a search - the chase was on.

#### Forest Chase

With the Prof riding north, the rest of the party came to the edge of the hills and into some densely packed forest. From out vantage on a hill, we saw someone moving in a thicket and made out a figure with a bow. Not knowing whether this was a regular hunter from Deadgate, or one of the Kislevians hunting us, we decided to keep a healthy distance and crossed a stream before heading southwards towards Deadgate. While moving quietly in the forest, we saw a man ahead. He too was armed with a bow and had a horn at his belt. He was moving around slowly as if he was looking for something, or someone. Whilst we watched him, we heard hooves to the west and he moved off to meet them. With this man out the way, we continued south and came to an even denser part of the wood that was dim and gloomy. Here, the bush was so thick that we were forced to stick to paths. We could hear people moving around this dense forest as though they too were looking for something - by this point we were pretty sure that all of these hunters were hunting us - foul agents of Dmitri that they were. Suddenly, we came face to face with one of them. He looked at us and we at him. Snorri offered him a shilling bribe that he rejected as too little. Rel then tried to charm him, coaxing him out of blowing his horn. Aleksi, however, shot him in the leg, causing him to blow the horn. Rel then charged, running him through with her spear mid-toot. However, it was too late - the damage had been done; the horn had been hooted. We legged it south and just managed to outpace the hunters who had heard the horn blast. We jinked off the trail and Snorri once again managed to cover our tracks with his beard-sweeping. Our pursuers over took us and we confused as to why they had lost our trail. Moving silently south again, we reached the edge of the forest and could see rough rooftops of Deadgate but a short mile distant. From our hiding spot, we could see a hunter come out of the forest and walk along the edge of the trees, searching for us. Not wanting to risk making the dash to Deadgate in the daylight, we concealed ourselves and hunkered down until nightfall. When nightfall, we made the swift mile over to the city without being spotted and returned to Our House.

#### Back at Our House

We met up with the Prof at Our House, who had easily managed to outrun the Kislevis on his shadowsteed. He told us that he had seen a company of 200 armoured dwarf soldiers marching west out of Deadgate - a sight that peaked all of our interests, especially since tomorrow would be First Quaff. Before he left us to return to the Inn Way Too Deep, Reinhardt informed us that he had managed to pick up some loot from the Forest Camp. He gave Brandr an axe with the outline of a temporary rune in it and a few gold coins. Agnarr also said he had some item to give us. He gave us some gems he found: an amethyst and a sapphire. He also presented us with a gromril-tipped arrow head that we gave to Aleksi. In return, Aleksi healed Agnarr to great affect.

#### Agnarr Explains

After giving us the gifts, Agnarr further explained what had happened with Nikolai. He said that there were a lot of Beastmen in the Badlands - so much we knew. However, currently there are more than usual - a large migration of a beastman herd was taking place. This was the reason Agnarr, a Balands Ranger, had come to Karak Azgal in the first place - to warn dwarfs, with whom he had a good relationship, about the strange migrations. On his way out, he had helped Nikolai escape from Dmitri, but once they made it out of Deadgate, they were attacked and taken captive. Nikolai managed to escape this attack and he hopefully made it to Agnarr's firends in the Badlands. We then asked Agnarr if he knew about the troop movement that the Prof had seen, but he said he didn't and to talk to Captain Kragdin Rorganson about it. After this, we each headed to our rooms for the night.

### First Quaff

#### The First Queef

In the morning, we awoke to the sounds of rapturous celebration outside. Looking out of the window, we saw people with large, fake tankards and other such ludicrous beer-related paraphernalia. Brandr and Snorri scoffed at this commercialised tomfoolery that was the foreigners' take on the sacred Dwarfen holiday that is First Quaff. As there was a long day of drinking ahead, Snorri made his signature sunnyside down eggs before the party joined the throng in the streets. Wanting to leave the fake quaffing that was going on in Deadgate, we made our way up the hill with the other Dwarfs of Deadgate towards Skalf's Hold. As we entered Skalf's Hold, the guard at the gate told us to head to the statue straight away so as not to miss the first quaff. We headed to the square in the Holdfast and, by the statue in the centre, atop a sedan chair resembling four shields and borne aloft by four strong dwarf guards, was the King himself. There were many other dwarfs about, all waiting for the first quaff. The King stood and made a grand speech about the tradition of first quaff that no really paid attention to, all eager for that first sip. After he finished talking, the king knocked open the barrel beneath him and filled his jewel-encrusted flagon with the golden nectar. Thereafter, more flagons were filled and passed out to the crowd. When everyone had their flagons, we all lifted them to or lips and took the first quaff. The sound of smacking lips filled the air as hundred of beards were soaked in beer. (Note that Aleksi actually had the *first* quaff, since he couldn't resist taking a sip as soon as he had a beer in his hand. It is unclear whether this was indeed to be counted as the first quaff or if there is some ancient dwarfen law discounting premature quaffage, especially when undertaken by Ungi.) After everyone had made their quaff, the Lorekeepers came amongst the crowd and asked each person, dwarf or other, to describe their first quaff. After the first quaff was quaffed, the king took his leave and headed back to the Keep.

#### At the Miner's Bounty

After the first quaff, we all head to the Miner's Bounty to continue the celebrations. The tavern was thronging with rowdy dwarfs and there were many bartenders handing out flagon after flagon of beer. Snorri bought the first round for the party. There were dwarfs that we knew in the bar - sitting around a nearby table was Furtin with a bunch of other Norgunsons. We headed over and were greeted by Runa who offered us seats around their table. After making polite (or as polite as dwarfs can be) conversation, we asked if Furtin knew Captain Kragdin. He said he did and that he was in the tavern too. Furtin called Kragdin over and we introduced ourselves to him and Aleksi vomited everywhere, taking care to splash Kragdin's shiny hobnail boots. He was dressed in fine armour and wore the winged helmet of a thane. Kragdin accepted whisky from the Professor and proceeded to pour himself a full tankard of the stuff. Interested in the 200 dwarfs seen marching out of the city, we inquired. We talked a little of the beastmen and the Prof proclaimed he knew what they looked like, not from actually seeing one, but from the drawings of one Snarlicus Maximus, Professor of Magical Creatures at Altdorf University. We collectively scoffed at the Professor and Kragdin went on to tell us nothing new - only that they were sent to deal with the Beastmen in the Badlands. Conversation then turned to possible traitors within the Lawbringers, but it ended quickly after it became apparent that Kragdin bots the regime. Finally, conversation turned back to the badlands and the hold's relationship with the Badlands Rangers. According to Kragdin, they help eachother out, but it is Sergeant Dorrin Kazranson who deals with them when they arrive.

#### The Golden Mug

After being bored to death by Kazrin who seemingly didn't want to overturn the government and trusted the Lawbringers way too much, we decided to head for the greener pastures of the Golden Mug. When we headed in, we looked at the board and saw that the Leather Boys were still down in the Ruins. They had been gone for a week and four days - hopefully they would die down there and Snorri and Rel would win their civilised betting game. Also on the board were the Lost Boys and Vikram and Sons and Sons and Sons and Sons and Sons. Finally there was the Clean Up Crew, who would head down and attempt to rescue adventurers lost in the Ruins - for a price of course. Seeing the names of these adventurers groups seemed to stir a lust for loot in our bellies and we decided that Nikolai was probably going to be okay in the badlands for a little longer - he had been there for three months already after all. The time was upon us to head down the Ruins ourselves once again.