Session Forty Four

The forty fourth session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 15th March 2023.

## Party Member Present

* Snorri Morgrimson
* Relnwe Adiath
* Aleksi Lehtonen (Late)
* Ranulf Schwarz (Late)

## Synopsis

### A Very Old Friend

We found ourselves on the Hrukidron-Barag, covered in a horrid swarm of bugs conjured by the Beastman shaman. Beyond the swarm, we could see the shapes of beastmen approaching: Gors, Ungors, Bestigors, Centigors - the lot. The Professor was still unconscious on the Hrukidron and it seemed like we were in deep bother. Then, another figure appeared, shimmering beyond the swarm of bugs. However, this was no beastman. It was Ranulf! A beast of a man! He charged right past the Hrukidron and we looked on as he brought his greatsword down upon the centigor. In one almight sweep, he scalped the beastman, killing it. Before we could greet our half-forgotten friend, the rest of the beastmen were upon us: pleasantries would have to wait.

### Into the Fray

The bugs about us started to nip and bite us, so we had to get out of the swarm. Snorri thought it prudent to take down the shaman that had sent the bugs, so he jumped off the Hrukidron and down a cliff, before sprinting towards the horrid creature. Unfortunately, he managed to inhale a mouthful of bugs on his way. The rest of the party engaged the beastmen around the Hrukidron and a great melee ensued. With his great hammer, Brandr smacked a beastman into the cloud of bugs. Ranulf, now in some sort of frenzy, chopped an ungor into sushi pieces. Aleksi and Nikolai took on the smallest of the beastmen and took a beating themsleves - Aleksi looked close to death and he started to cry. After heroically charging the shaman, Snorri cut its leg off and crushed the spine of a nearby ungor in one fell swoop. In his frenzy, Ranulf accidently threw his sword into the cloud of bugs, luckily not hitting the Professor. Brandr then charged a Gor, punting it like a golf ball over Aleksi and Ranulf and onto the Professor on the Hrukidron. Swordless, Ranulf beat a beastman to death with his fists: he pulled off the creatures leg and smacked it with it, before the throwing the limb to where his sword lay on the ground. The remaining beastmen saw this display of ultraviolence and began to flee. Rel chased one down, killing it quickly with her spear, while Aleksi shot the other in the leg, bringing it down.

### Blood on the Waystone

After the fight, we ran over the prisoners that the beastmen had in cages. As we approached they shouted at us and told us to run to the nearby cave as quickly as possible. We headed over to the cave entrance and, within, we saw a waystone. There were dead bodies about the stone and, evem as we looked on, the fresh blood drained into the waystone and it cracked. A shockwave swept from the stone, knocking us over and outside the cave we heard a new sandstorm begin to whip up. On the broken stone, Rel saw the eltharin rune *Ceyl* meaning law, order, justice, and passion.

### Hunkering Down

We fought through the sandstorm to save the prisoners and brought them back to the cave - they were dismayed to see the bodies, saying that they were their friends. They were all prisoners from Libeck. Snorri then went back out into the storm to search the rest of the beastman camp. In the small tent, he found another stone tablet inscribed with runes. This one was also in Eltharin and he brought it back to the cave for Rel to read. It said: ‘the subnetwork is completed – this stone and its siblings are functioning properly.’ The prisoners said that there was another waystone on the smooth hill we saw nearby. They said that it was much bigger than the others and that there was writing all over it. With the storm raging outside, we had some time to chat. Ranulf told us that he had finished digging in the basement of Our House and that he had dug down into a natural cavern. He had then travelled all the way to find us. Outside, the storm began to die down, as it started to move down the Rivet away from us.