Session 022

## The Last Good Hero

**Age of the Wolf, Year 5, Summer, Aerlun Toil 2 days 2-3**

*The party explores the first level of Storm Hammer Keep. They are met with many challenges, and Nygaar is changed utterly. They meet some friendly creatures and ultimately find their way into the mines.*

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## Player Characters Involved

* Nygäär the Dark the Fey Blooded Rogue/Fighter played by Dana
* Heiða the Seer the Dökkálfar Blooded Dread Necromancer played by Justin
* Esbjörn Sigvardson the Giant Blooded Barbarian/Cleric/Surtr's Chosen played by Greg
* Brydd Hjarta the Jörmung Human Sorcerer/Marshal/Sand Shaper played by Jason

## Questions for Heedi

Following the battle with the flatheads, Nygaar and Brydd returned to the surface to get healing and ask Heedi some additional questions. The party realized that they hadn't received much information concerning their task, and asked Heedi how many levels were in the complex and what they might expect to find. The dwarvish noblewoman was surprised; she had assumed the king had filled the heroes in on the details. While Nygaar drank Heidrun's Milk, Brydd talked to the girl and found out that the dark elves had attacked the dwarves here many years ago, and that there was a rumor that there was something evil about this place which had drawn their fey enemies here. She also told Brydd that there were living quarters on the first underground level and at least one level of mines below it. Armed with more knowledge, and sufficiently healed up, Nygaar and Brydd eventually made their way back to Esbjorn and Heida, who were both waiting patiently below and contemplating the shrine of Loki the party had found.

## A Battle With Horrific Vermin

As the party continued their exploration, they came into a small room littered with stone. The ceiling was partially collapsed, and the floor was difficult to traverse. While Heida stood outside the room keeping watch in the hallway, the rest of the party slowly made their way across the room to an adjoining door. Suddenly and without warning, a monstrous cricket-like insect the size of a dog sprung off the ceiling, tearing into Nygaar with its mouth and claws! Nygaar attempted to ward off the insect to no avail, and it clung tenaciously to the fighter. Esbjorn and Brydd watched in horror as the creatures scooped mandible gouged out one of Nygaar's eyes.

Badly wounded and still grappled by the horakh, Nygaar reeled and attempted once again to free himself. Esbjorn would wait no longer. Taking a tremendous risk, the giant-blooded champion of Surtr snatched the insect from Nygaar and began wrestling with it himself. Knowing Esbjorn was protected from fire, Brydd directed a *combust* spell on the horakh, and that combined with attacks from Esbjorn and Nygaar eventually killed the creature, who had attempted to flee Esbjorn's grasp but found it could not.

The party, once again wounded (especially Nygaar) and concerned about the dangers they had found so far, decided to return to the surface and rest. The girl Heedi tended to Nygaar's many wounds while Brydd and Esbjorn trained and Heida attempted to speak with the spirits. The party waited until the next morning then descended into the keep once more.

## Transformation

Venturing ever further into the dungeon, the party next came upon a room with a high domed ceiling. Behind a tattered partially fallen tapestry they uncovered a dusty object hanging on the east wall. Closer inspection revealed a beautiful dwarven war mask made of bronze hanging from a hook. Sensing that this may be a magical item overlooked by previous dungeon delvers, Heida immediately took out her Quartz of Identification to take a closer look at the mask. The quartz revealed that the mask was used for protection in battle, bestowing the *stoneskin* spell upon the user. With little discussion or fanfare, the mask was put in Nygaar's hands. Almost immediately, Nygaar put it on and found that it was not what it seemed to be. Strangely, the seer felt a subtle change, or perhaps the spirits whispered a warning that came too late, and she felt compelled to add, for the first time since acquiring the quartz, that some items were cursed and would not be identified correctly. However, Nygaar held his composure perfectly, and Heida thought of the mask no more.

The mask, which did turn out to be cursed, altered Nygaar's fundamental ethical framework; his very identity was changed utterly. This alteration was mental as well as moral, and Nygaar thoroughly embraced his new outlook. Unbeknownst to the other adventurers, the dangerous but generally easy-going rogue with a soft spot for orphans and maidens in distress had ceased to exist. Instead, Nygaar was suddenly and irrevocably transformed into a man of strict and methodical order without mercy or compassion.

## The Nursery

Although Nygaar had been instantly and irrevocably transformed, he did not speak of it, and the party continued on in ignorance of this fact. As Heida entered the next passageway, she heard the ghostly lamentations of what sounded like women and children. She quickly deduced that these were more souls that had been stuck in-between life and death. The next room that they found gave increased credence to that deduction.

*A faded and torn tapestry hangs from the south wall, and someone has carved "The Bronze Lions killed fourteen black elves here" on the west stone wall. This room looked to be a nursery long ago. Rotten cribs and broken dolls lay upon the dust on the floor. You find one dwarven skeleton dressed as a young woman, holding the bones of an infant. Both their skulls are smashed to bits. A clever mechanism using mirrors shines some sunshine into this room from a vent in the ceiling, and the air is cold and clear here.*

Heida argued that the party should lay to rest the bones of the poor unfortunates they had found, and they agreed to do so. Once again the party ascended to the surface and quickly constructed a cairn for the woman and child. Checking with Heedi to ensure she was alright, and looking in vain for any sign of Vungar's return, the party once again entered the dungeon and returned to where they had been. Heida was right; the ghostly moaning had stopped. Venturing onwards, they found what appeared to be an old mineshaft that had completely collapsed, and they were forced to find another way to enter the mines.

## Dark Fey Artwork

Slowly making their way through the cold and abandoned keep, the party came upon a room that filled them with dread.

*A* *chill crawls up your spine and out over your skin as you look upon this room. The carvings on the wall are magnificent, a symphony in stonework, but given the themes represented, it might be better described as a requiem. Scenes of death, both violent and peaceful, appear on every wall, framed by grinning skeletons and ghoulish forms in ragged cloaks. The carvings are certainly not of dwarven make.*

Some contemplation from Brydd led the party to believe this strange artwork had been left by the dark elves. Why any sentient beings would create such horrible and unnatural images was beyond them, and shaking their heads they continued on, the concern for what they might find next palpable on all of their faces.

## The Pit Trap and the Xorns

As the party ventured down yet another narrow hallway, they came upon an opening in the floor. It was an open pit trap twenty feet deep, with the remains of what looked to be an elf impaled upon spikes on the bottom. At first, they contemplated moving on, but Nygaar spotted something of interest and pointed it out to the rest of the party. After descending into the pit to check the corpse for anything else of value, Nygaar called out to Brydd to use his telekinesis to raise the silver dagger he had spotted up out of the pit. This dagger turned out to be a lucky find, as it could store spells and unleash them with a successful attack. Tucking the dagger away, the party continued onward.

The next room they entered had strange gouges in the ceilings, walls, and floors as if something had been taking bites out of the masonry. This turned out to be true; an odd-looking creature with a radially symmetrical body and a large mouth at the top surrounded by three long arms interspersed with three eyes suddenly rose up out of the floor. It's wide, pebbly, and rocky body rested upon three stumpy legs, and it asked the party for some tasty morsels as it had grown tired of eating granite. The creature, which identified itself as a Xorn, had two companions with it. The party bargained with the creature, as it was looking for gems to eat. Nygaar sprinted back to the shrine of Loki to retrieve the rubies that made up its eyes and went to give the creatures one. Acting quickly, Brydd gave them a different gem to eat instead and also transformed some rubble into a more palatable treat for the strange creatures. The Xorns were thankful and told the party that there were many traps that had been laid for the Crag Drake in the mines below by the dark elves and that the drake could move through the stone as if it were water. They pointed the party in the direction of a stairway that led to the mines and set about munching on the treats the party had prepared for them. Returning the rubies to Loki's shrine, the party continued forward.

## An Abandoned Fountain and a Stairwell into the Mines

The next room the party entered held some strange sights:

*A high twenty-foot tall fountain of frozen water sits against the southwest corner. The fountain is decorated with nine hideous winged stone statues. The floor is covered with broken shards of bone and shows signs of a campfire of unknown age. An elegant seal is inlaid in the floor, with a hammer and lightning motif. An unlit and broken chandelier hangs overhead.*

Checking the fountain for anything of interest, the party found nothing and continued onward. Heida took the lead, as Nygaar was loath to act as scout given his recent misadventures and his new outlook. Stepping on a cleverly disguised trap, Heida was suddenly struck by a scythe that swung from the ceiling. This blade was covered in a poison that sapped the volva's constitution, and she reeled away in pain. Fortunately, Brydd was able to quickly clean the wound, and after the initial damage she received Heida was able to stabilize and suffered no further ill effects. Knowing it would take at least a day or two to fully recover, Heida gamely informed the party she was alright to continue. Finding one passage blocked by a strange yellow mold, the party eventually found a large spiral stairway leading downwards. Trusting the word of the xorns, the party descended.

The narrow stairway led into a pitch-black cavern complex. The floor within the mine was covered in loose stone, dust, and ice. Near the broken stone stairwell door, which laid cracked upon the cavern floor, the party found a small shrine they recognized as one devoted to Weyland the Smith. Peering forward into the darkness, the heroes contemplated their imminent encounter with the crag drake and wondered at what other dangers the long-abandoned mine might hold.

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