Session Thirty Five

The thirty fifth session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 16th November 2022.

Brandr was a twat.

## Party Members Present

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

## Synopsis

### Revelling in Reimar

We found ourselves in the village of Reimar in the Headman's House. We were preparing ourselves for the hunting of the manticore and wondered if Headman Theoderic had any books on the subject. He did not, and sadly only had one book entitled *How to Steal Farms from Stirlanders* which was no use for our quest. Theo did point us to the armoury where he said we might buy some weapons. The armoury was run by a dwarf named Balrik Kadgrimson, an advisor from Skalf's Hold. We bought some expensive javelins from him and Rel bought herself a shield. While we were there, we used the small forge to make a bear trap out of bits and pieces we had lying around. The plan was coming together. Finally, we went to see Freidrich about acquiring some more healing potions. Unfortunately he did not have any, nor the herbs to make them, but gave Aleksi a yarrow pouch. After a quick return trip to the armoury to buy rope, we were ready to set off.

### Rolling Out of Reimar

We were to escort some of the villagers of Reimar to get the supplies that the Kislevis had robbed from them. They used a cart pulled by a couple of our goats and All the Mule. We headed east on the road from Reimar to Karak Azgal, past Valleyview and into the mountains where we hoped to find the manticores as well as the stolen goods. The villagers knew a little shortcut that lead through some foothills. On this route we came across some broken wooden wheels and other remains of a caravan. Rel looked for tracks but she only found some that didn't make sense - tracks that looked like human, horse, and manticore prints all at the same time. This was a worrying sign and we thought that it might be Beastmen. Rel followed the tracks a short distance into the woods and found a mess of dried blood perhaps two or three days old.

### It's a Trap!

We headed back to where the Kislevis had made camp and stashed the goods. Some of the bodies were gone, suggesting that the manticores had come back to feed. We decided to set out trap here. We set up some stakes protecting an area under the platform and set up the bear trap tied with rope to some trees. Then, we waited out the night.

### The Manticore Came

In the morn we awoke and set up watch. Soon we heard the cry of a manticore in the skies above and felt the thudding of its huge wings in the air. It spotted Rel immeditely who was hiding under the small platform. It landed and took a swipe at the elf, but the stakes we had set up protected her. This was clearly the hurt manticore of the pair. Brandr then lured the manticore over the trap, but it didn't set off. Rel then charged the manticore with her spear, dodging one of its blows and pirouetting before piercing the beast's might hide. Snorri shot his Azthrund and the beast spat poison back that missed him. After that, we all took turns mangling its right front leg. Sad that it would now forever live with a gammy leg, it made to fly away. As it lifted off the ground, Rel thrust her spear into its shoulder, killing it dead. It skidded to the ground on the other side of the camp.

### Examining the Beast's Body

We examined the corpse of the beast and Aleksi gathered some of the poison liquid in one of his vials. As this was only one of two manticores, we decided to try and lure the other in. The Professor made some magical sounds like a manticore in distress, but after a long wait, nothing came. Snorri then went to inspect the corpse again. He saw that it had a willy and that this looked like the daddy manticore who went out hunting, whilst the mummy manticore probably stayed at home with the little baby manticores, because everyone knows that manticores have traditional family values. As Aleksi went to chop the manticore's head off with a spade, he let out a little tune. Many times before, Aleksi had winded creatures, but this truly took our breath away. He sang The Ballad of the Cunticore, the first of many great works.

### Returning to Reimar

We tied the manticore's head to a goat and returned to Reimar with the villager and a fully loaded cart of the stolen goods. We told Headman Theoderic that we had killed the Manticore. After he paid us, we told him that there was probably another one. He said he'd pay us the same again if we killed that one too.