Session Twenty Three

The twenty third session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 28th of March 2022.

## Party Members Present

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

## Synopsis

### Bringing Beer to the Brewery

#### Smelly Socks

After having fought the Brotherhood of the Forked Beard and splattering Angrim's brains around the cave, we decided it would be prudent to search the Brotherhood's den for loot. Aleksi searched a lumpy bedroll and found some very smelly socks, which he threw at Brandr. Brandr somehow failed to parry the socks with his large shield and takes the smelly footwear straight to the face. Rightfully annoyed, Brandr hurled the socks back at Aleksi. It was a magnificent shot: the socks went right in Aleksi's mouth and tickled his tonsils. The rest of the party gathered up the slain dwarfs' weapons. We wrapped the loot up in bedroll and hung it on the underside of the bridge over the crevice. Finally, it was time for a kip.

#### Creepin' in the Dark

We each took turns on watch while the others slept. On his watch, Brandr heard a scrabbling sound coming from near the bridge. Something climbed out of the crevice and crept away southwards away from our camp. No one heard anything for the rest of the night, although Callisri had to take Aleksi's watch because the Kislevi did not want to wake up. In the morning, we packed up camp and headed off. On our way over the bridge, Callisri found a small scrap of black cloth near the bridge. Thankfully, our loot was still there.

#### The Statues

As we left the Brotherhood's cave, we blocked off the entrance with the large stone. We got to the statues in a jiffy and Brandr, Snorri, and Aleksi poured the keg of beer into the final statue's mouth, leaving but a drop in the keg. Finally we heard the last statue click. Unfortunately, nothing happened. We then poured the rest of the beer into the first two statues again, resulting in two resounding clicks. The wall to our left juddered and moved very slightly. We pushed the wall and a small passage appeared. No one had been in the passage for a very, very long time. The passage was short and led to a door that said: 'Well done young beardling! You have followed our traditions, being drunk enough to consider pouring beer in statues, but still capable of walking. This means you have reached a special stage: you are as capable of drinking as we were when we designed and built the statues! Welcome inside the Stoutbeard Hidden Brewery!'

#### The Stoutbeard Hidden Brewery

We went through the door into the brewery and came into a large room with all manner of brewing equipment. Everything was intact, but very, very old. There was equipment, a pedestal, and bookshelves. Adal looked at the bookshelf, but it was all in Khazalid. Brandr and Snorri examined the pedestal. A sign said the three beer recipes of Clan Stoutbeard were there. On the wall by the pedestal were three carvings: on the left was a small mug, on the right was a large mug, in the middle was a bejazzled mug. Below each carving was a recipe tablet. The left was Stoutbeard Special, the right was Stouter Stout, and the middle was Izrilfroth. The first two were readable, whilst the third was in some sort of code. We briefly tried to use the books on the shelves to crack the code but most of them were just about the naming of beers or regular beer brewing techniques. On closer inspection of the Izrilfroth tablet, we saw that it was banded with Gromril. We discussed how it might be difficult to take such valuable items out of the Ruins, but the Prof said he had a way to do it without paying the tax. With a wave of his skinny, pale hand he made Brandr's great warhammer look shite. This could be useful, we thought. While the Prof was doing his tricks, Aleksi heard a scrabbling outside. The nimble Kislevi gave chase and grappled the creature. The creature was a Night Goblin. When Rel showed up, she stabbed the Goblin in the throat, killing it.

### Finding a Route Downwards

#### Murder-holes Galore

We decide that it was time to head down to the next level of the Ruins. Angrim had told us of a couple of ways down before we brutally killed him: eastwards was more secret but blocked, whilst westwards was easier but defended by Greenskins. Brandr pointed out we had killed more dwarfs than orcs so we decided it was time to get our blades wet with the blood of a thousand Greenskins. We headed west and came to a great fortress like structure. A corridor went south and seemed to be the way we wanted to go, but there were many murder-holes in the wall. Brandr pointed out that it was the perfect place for an ambush. We circled the large fortified structure and came at it from the southwest. From here, we could see the entrance. We peered into the entrance and straight away came face to face with a gerblin. Before it could scream, however, a big meaty green hand shot out and pulled it back into the entrance. Cackles sounded from within and we heard the Goblin shriek. Clearly, the orcs were toying with and torturing the goblins for sport - the savages! We looked in and saw a palisade, a tent, and orcs gathered around a fire, slowly cooking Goblins alive. The Goblins' screams drowned out any sound we made.

#### Getting Our Blades Wet

We crept into the Greenskin camp and hid behind a pillar. The Prof waved his skinny, pale hands once again and poof! he was invisible. He crept up to the tent and saw a large Orc Knob inside. The plan was to set the tent on fire and collapse it. The rest of us would deal with the other orcs. First however, the Prof tried to put the knob to sleep, but failed. To knock down the tent, Aleksi had to come and shoot the pillar in the middle. As Aleksi knocked down the tent, the Prof lit it on fire, and the rest of us charged at the other orcs. A great fight ensued: the Orc Knob flailed around under the burning canvas, Brandr pushed various orcs and goblins through the cooking fire, and Callisri shot many arrows form his elf bow. Everything was going great until Rel got shot in the leg - it was a dreadful wound that would take time to heal. As we finished of the last of the orcs, a goblin tried to make its escape - it ran towards a tunnel at the west end of the camp. Thankfully, Brandr killed it before it got away, but it soon became clear that we weren't finished killing Greenskins.