The Lost Mine - Session 9

In spite of Varding's whispered threats, the party manages to sweet-talk the dragon Venomfang and strike a deal with him. Venomfang wants to move to Cragmore Castle, and asks our intrepid heroes to clear it from monsters and anything else that inhabits it. The deadline is three days, after which Venomfang will fly to Cragmore to claim the castle. Needless to say, it won't end up well for the party if the dragon won't be pleased what what he finds.

Before parting ways, Venomfang summons the heroes to his cave, one after the other, and gives each of them a gift to help them in their mission.

During the journey to Cragmore Castle, the party decides to stop at the shrine of the god of luck that they visited the day before.

Offerings are left to the shrine, all goes well... Until Morag steals some glowing mushrooms, and a swarm of sprites attacks the party! Rhyf kills one of them, but Willow puts an end to it and peace is restored.

Later, our heroes encounter a group of jolly goblins guarding a bridge. Vergel approaches them in a friendly way... And a bit of Chaos ensues. Rhyf and Morag are charmed and can't stop laughing, fits and all, while a couple of our heroes get egged in the face by the goblins... Covered in eggs and laughing, the party crossed the bridge and moves on

The party sets off straight away, mindful of the tight deadline, and arrives to Cragmore Castle in the night. Varding drinks an invisibility potion provided by Morag and goes scouting, Willow transforms into a spider and does the same, while Rhyf summons his quasit and sends it to check the castle. Once everyone is back with their report, which includes news of Sildar being prisoner of a female drow, the heroes decide on a plan to sneak in the castle in the morning and retire for the night.

Guard-duty is ongoing, and even though everyone was more intent on studying the trinkets they received from Venomfang than on paying attention to their surroundings, the night passes uneventfully.

In the morning, the party sets off for the castle, ready to deploy the cunning plan devised the night before... Only to discover that the guards changed their shifts, and nothing matches what the scouts saw the night before. No problem though, our heroes don't despair and find a way to sneak into the castle undetected: apart from Luna the Direwolf, who gets spotted by goblin archers and perishes under a rain of arrows, for Willow's despair.

Morag, who was standing just behind Luna, decides to look for another way in to avoid becoming a human pin cushion. She goes around the castle, spots and unguarded door, and goes in. (Curious to know what happened to our skillful rogue during her solo adventure? A separate tale will be available soon!)

Meanwhile, inside the castle, the party is involved in a very fierce battle. Rhyf goes down and is revived by Willow's and Flow's joint effort, everyone fights bravely even if both Rhyf and Vergel miss a couple of strikes, and Varding, unusually clothed (albeit in a very disturbing skin-coloured armor), gives extra flavour to the situation by setting a lot of stuff on fire.

There's only one more goblin standing in the room. He saw all his comrades fall under the party's blows. He's scared, but his anger and courage urge him to fight on... THWACK! An arrow pierces his skull. The party looks at an open door on the side, where they see Morag lower her short bow. She might have missed most of this battle, but the final kill is hers!

The heroes aren't in great shape so they find a safe room, take a breather to recover a bit, and move on. Vergel opens a door, where he finds another horde of goblins waiting for them. The battle continues...

- Rhyfelglod Enaid Tywyll