Session Eight

The eighth session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 13th October 2021.

## Party Members Present

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

## Synopsis

### In the Foreign Quarter

After Bruce the Big and Aleksi left the Inn Way too Deep, they joined the rest of the party in the main square of the foreign quarter in Skalf's Hold. Snorri looked around him and took in the sights of the Foreign Quarter. He saw Todt Muller's Totem Emporium, Grondella's Supply Shop, various uninteresting stalls, and the Babbling Fountain.

#### At the Golden Mug

As agreed, Bruce and Aleksi went into the Golden Mug to further the investigation into the Meanest Dwarf. Inside there were intricate carvings of mugs and coins as well as many bouncers. The were various types of gambling: games of dice and games of cards. There was loud cheering and laughing on one side of the room. Here, large banners displayed names such as Addled Aedelhardt, The Four Fools, The Lost Boys, Vikram and Sons and Sons and Sons and Sons and Sons, and Elgi of Ego. After each name there was a number of days, corresponding to the number of days each party had been in the Ruins. Bets were made on whether they would come out alive or not. It they hadn't come out in 2 to 3 weeks, they were presumed dead. Only the lost boys stayed down there longer.

Bruce then asked a man about the Meanest Dwarf. The man said the owner of the Golden Mug was considered the Meanest Dwarf. Bruce then got talking to a dwarf named Dari Alriksson, one of the Meanest Dwarf's men. Bruce asked him about getting in contact with the Meanest Dwarf for work - he says he and Aleksi are the best treasure hunters in the mountains, Kislev and the Empire and that they get around a lot. Dari said he had a task for them to prove whether they were, in fact, good men. If they completed the task then the boss might consider them for work.

Dari took Bruce and Aleksi into an alcove and told them their task. He said he needed documents taken by tomorrow and then returned without the owners knowing. Aleksi said that he and Bruce are known for their subtlety and that they have others in their crew: Rel and the Professor, Master of Assassins. Dari said the job must be done before tomorrow when the owners return. He also said that if they read the documents, they would be killed. He showed them a map of a building in western Deadgate and said the documents would be starred. Bruce and Aleksi accepted the job.

Bruce and Aleksi left the tavern by separate doors. Bruce went into a side alley and Professor Meino emerged, whilst Aleksi stepped out into the square and stood for a moment, not knowing where to go, before he was called over by Brandr, Snorri and Rel.

#### Inn Way too Deep

After hearing about the document heist, Brandr and Snorri decided it best if they didn't get involved - them being respectable dwarfs and all. They decided instead to go to the Inn Way too Deep and ask about the Ruins. They bought drinks and listened to the conversations of the various adventurers. Most conversations were about the upper levels and trolls and goblins. However, they noticed a group talking about the lower levels in hushed voices. Brandr walked up and said he was interested in the lower levels, putting 4ss on the table for drinks. A man named Reinhardt Bormann answered the respectable Dwarfs' questions.

Reinhardt said that below the 5th level, one would start to come across Skaven. On the upper levels it was mostly just Greenskins. He said that the first couple of levels are quite barren - most of the easy to reach good stuff has been taken by adventurers. There's more on the 3rd level, but the good stuff is on the 4th level and below. He said that there was a big lava flow on the 6th level. Snorri asked if he had a map of the upper levels, but he said it was illegal to sell maps of the Ruins to anyone but the Lord and the Small Council. Brandr showed Reinhardt his forgekeeper mark and asked if he had seen anything like it. Reinhardt said he had seen marks like it on the 6th level. He said there was a long corridor and a gate with forgekeeper marks on both sides. The gate could be opened and he went through, but there was nothing on the other side. Reinhardt said that he ran into the undead on the 6th level. Snorri surmised that this must be the work of some necromancer, although he remembered stories of dwarfen ghosts protecting places underground.

After receiving a glut of information on the Ruins, Brandr and Snorri thanked Reinhardt and went to chat quietly about what they had learned. They bought more pints and decided that the time was fast approaching when they would make their first foray down into the Ruins. They decided that they would go at the start of next week, and that their first mission would only go to the upper levels.

#### A Quick trip to Grundi the Blacksmith

After a few more pints, Brandr and Snorri decided to head home. Brandr stopped at Grundi's Blacksmithing and sold a hammer.

### The Great Document Heist

#### Scoping the Joint

Rel, Meino and Aleksi went to nick some documents. They followed the map to the building and found there was a mini market going on outside it. It wasn't market day, but it seemed to be a nice, bubbly occasion nonetheless. Meino looked for tobacco in the market and bought a pouch of Fogmaker Red for a shilling. Rel declined to partake in the fog making.

They found the building was decently sized for the area and that there was an adjoining house. The whole thing was built a bit like a warehouse. Meino knocked on the back door and after a bit of time, a man answered. Meino asked for the Pit of Blood and the man said that this was just a shop. Meino headed around to the front of the shop which he found to sell eclectic goods. He talked to the shopkeeper who said that the shop was called Ala-Arrms. Meino bought a bag of salted peanuts.

The shop was a very small area of the whole building. Rel did a complete circuit of the building, looking in all the windows. He saw a storeroom, but no books. Then he remembered that he wasn't looking for book, but documents marked with stars. He didn't see any of those either. Aside from the door, there was no clear way in.

#### Meino's Cunning Plan

Meino declared he had a plan and said he would be back in an hour or so. He headed off, telling Rel and Aleksi that he would meet them back there. He went into an ally and the Shopkeeper emerged. The Shopkeeper went to the back door and knocked. The same man as before answered. The Shopkeeper then quickly ran passed the man, retching. Seeing the commotion, Rel and Aleksi ran into the open door. The Shopkeeper screamed as his finger nails and toe nails fell off and the man who answered the door suddenly forgot everything from the past hour. For some reason Aleksi then tried to knock the man out, but the Shopkeeper diffused the situation by sending the man outside. He told Rel and Aleksi to take what they want.

They noticed that there were other people in the building. Rel listened at a door and heard a crackling fire and someone moving around. The Shopkeeper went through the door and entered a room with various cooking facilities. Inside was a thug called Jam fixing playing cards. The Shopkeeper shouted at him and told him to go home for the day.

After searching a few more rooms and finding no documents, the Shopkeeper, Rel, and Aleksi found a room with stairs leading down into a basement. Voices came from the basement. A section of the room was blocked off by a locked metal gates. The Shopkeeper asked the first man for the key. He said Jam had the key. Finally, they found a room with a staircase leading up to the first floor where there was an office. The starred documents were in the office. Rel took the documents and Rel and Aleksi returned to Our House. The Shopkeeper went his own way.

#### Handing in the Documents

Aleksi and the Professor (who had reappeared after missing the heist) returned to the Golden Mug. Brandr told Aleksi to bring the bag of heads he had taken from the Saboteurs. The three met Dari in a secluded part of the tavern and handed over the documents. The professor intorduced himself to Dari for the first time and Dari was wondered where Bruce was. Dari was happy until Aleksi handed him the sack of heads. Dari was confused but Aleksi told him that they had found the heads in the building with the documents. Dari seemed to recognise the heads and said it was a good decision to bring them. He said that he would contact them and next time they might even be able to meet the boss. He gave them 2gc - one for Aleksi and one for Rel as the Professor didn't help with the heist at all.

### The Cavernous Cask

With new information from the starred documents, the party returned to the Cavernous Cask. The Professor said he might be able to 'feel' something. Some rubble had been moved and the Lawbringers had left, but the place was still a mess. Inevitably, the Professor couldn't 'feel' anything.

### The Lockbox

After having no luck with Professor's feelings at the Cavernous Cask, the party decided it was time to look at Theo's lockbox. After examining the lockbox, we found it was locked. Blowing it up would be no use if we wanted the contents and so Rel set about trying to brute force the code - the chances were one in some millions. While he was trying each code, Rel found writing on the side - it said 'my home town', 'bastard in Middenheim', 'My favourite letter', 'worst mountain range', and 'leaf'.

With a combined intellect, we quickly cracked the code and the box swung open. Inside there was a small document, cash, and a small runic ring. The document mentioned that two people Theo knew were strange - one was nameless, the other was Ludwig.

### The Next Day

The next day Brandr had a look at the runic ring. He had never seen such a rune before and thought it uncommon. He figured that it was a rune of protection and he called it the Rune of Aegis.

The Professor returned to the Cavernous Cask because he was sure he would feel something. He did indeed feel something. He felt a sense of order and purpose; things working together in a clockwork fashion.

## Next Session

In game chronology: Session Ten

IRL chronology: Session Nine