Session Seventeen

The seventeenth session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 30th January 2022.

## Party Members Present

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

## Synopsis

### Chatting to Reinhardt

#### Morning Pints and Smelling Salts

After burying the body of the man from the warehouse, we rested for the rest of the night and in the morning we decided it was prudent to go and talk to Reinhardt Bormann who, we had recently found out, was good friends with Nikolai. At dawn, we went to the Inn Way Too Deep to see if anybody knew where he stayed. The tavern was only slightly less full than usual and the patrons were slurping pints even at the earliest of hours. We saw Aedelhardt carousing and spotted Reinhardt sitting at a table at the back. Snorri bought a round for everyone, and Brandr offered them all to Reinhardt if he could drink them in a minute. He couldn't. In fact, he managed to knock himself out by slamming the second mug into his face too hard. Thankfully, the Barkeep was on hand with some smelling salts.

#### The Ring of Power

Aleksi then asked Reinhardt about Nikolai and told him the relation - Nikolai was Aleksi's sister's son. Reinhardt told us that Nikolai had gone missing shortly after they arrived in the city together. They had made arrangements to venture into the Ruins together. Reinhardt said that he thought Nikolai was dead due to a unique ring that he had acquired on the journey south from Kislev - a ring that Dmitri coveted. Nikolai had foolishly demonstrated the power of the ring in a brawl in the Inn Way Too Deep - the ring could produce a blinding light. Reinhardt said that he saw Nikolai after the brawl and that Nikolai expressed regret for using the ring's power as people from Kislev might know its significance. Unfortunately for us all, Aleksi, a Kislevi himself, had no idea about any such rings. After we mention the forest camp to him, Nikolai said that there were many such camps around Deadgate, mostly used by lumberjacks. He told us that he would aid us if we located Nikolai as they had been good friends.

#### Muddy Waters

The Prof then showed Reinhardt the dagger we had taken from Hogga's back that belonged to Fyodor Masov. Reinhardt didn't recognise either the knife or the name, but he was intrigued by the circumstances we found them in. Rel told him about the memory loss and Reinhardt ushered us in closer. He said that such memory loss had been seen before on the lower levels of the Ruins. None know why it happens, but they do know that it is connected to water - therefore one should never drink the water from the ruins and always carry freshwater from the surface. Apothecaries and herbalists have tried to determine what was in the water to no avail. Rel showed him where it happened and he was shocked to here that it happened so high up. Snorri thought that there might be some connection with the Skaven we saw - Reinhardt had previously told us that Skaven only live on the fifth level but we saw them on the first level after we fought Gunter's Band. We thanked Reinhardt and took our leave, wanting to get to the Forest Camp as quick as possible.

### Brunch at Appleberry's

#### Jolly Jaspar

After a healthy early morning of drinking, we decided it was time for some brunch. We also wanted to find information on the lumberjacks and various forest camps. Entering the Appleberry Tavern, we saw Jaspar playing Moot Darts. He saw us and lavished Rel in praise, offering us all free food. We invited us to break bread with us, which he did so by throwing it up in the air and then throwing a dart straight through it and pinning it to the board, thereby winning his game of Moot Darts. Snorri, mid mouthful of Halfling Sausage, asked Jaspar about lumberjacks. Jaspar told us that they are mostly human and work four weeks on and one week off. He said that they would be easy enough to find but that we should go and talk to his friend, Aldon Brickner for more information.

#### Aldon Brickner

After we finished our brunch, we went back to Our House and found Aldon hard at work. We asked about the lumberjacks and he told us that he knew the foreman at one of the camps. He told us the directions and said it would be easy to find. All we had to do was follow the cart tracks at the edge of Deadgate,

### Into the Woods

#### The Estallian Camp

We set off into the woods in high spirits and headed up the track towards the lumber camp. The journey was set to take a few hours so the Prof summoned his Shadowsteed and rode alongside us. It was neither a fun nor exciting journey. After several hours we arrived at a clearing in which there were several crappy buildings. Rows of trees had been cleared and some had been replanted. However, there was no activity whatsoever. Confused and a little wary, we looked around. Creeping by one of the cabins, Aleksi heard snoring from within. He peered through one of the windows and saw many bodies crammed in together, all wearing Estallian apparel and all fast asleep. It was siesta time! We decided not to wake them and sat about on log piles picking dirt from under our fingernails. Once they finished their siesta, more Estallian men than could conceivably fit in those small cabins came out into the daylight and looked at us with surprise. We introduced ourselves to the Foreman and he showed us around the camp. Rel went off to talk to some of the lumberjacks in Estallian but found nothing of interest. Meanwhile, Snorri suggested that they use saw blade firing guns to chop the trees down. He then expertly shot one of the trees with his new Azthrund. We asked the Foreman about other camps in the area and he said that there were a few. He also said that if it weren't lumber camps we were looking for, we were better to look up by the hills where the wood is less good for construction timber.

#### Lights in the Hills

After taking our leave of the Estallian lumberjacks, we ventured into the hills as the Foreman had suggested. As night fell, we made camp and decided to look for any lights in the darkness. We all saw what we thought was some light off in the distance, in an area to the south of us in a bit of a valley. The Prof rode off on his Shadowsteed to investigate. He saw the slight glow of a couple of lights and the dark outlines of some buildings. The Prof crept closer on his noiseless Shadowsteed and listened in. He heard some Kislevian accents and made out what they were saying. One man said that they'd been having some issues in town and they think someone might attack the camp. Therefore, they were setting up an ambush on the track into the camp. Men would leave to lie in wait during the day and return to the camp at night. They would do this until they caught whoever was causing them trouble.

#### Preparing for the Assault

The Prof returned to our camp and told us what he had heard. Clearly, this was the camp full of Dmitri's Kislevite thugs that we were looking for. The time was right for an assault - we would attack the next afternoon. In the morning, the Prof rode swiftly back into town to fetch Reinhardt. Reinhardt was slightly shocked to learn the the Prof owned a magic horse wreathed in shadow, but he was a sound chap and had seen stranger things. Meanwhile, the rest of us rested up and Brandr smithed a Rune of Striking onto Snorri's Azthrund. When the Prof returned with Reinhardt, we made our move. We went up the hill and approached with the height advantage. From our position we were able to see right down into the camp. We made out three thugs - each positioned on a wooden tower. We also saw a hole in the palisade wall that surrounded the camp. Everything was in place - Nikolai hadn't actually called for aid, but by Thungni were we going to answer anyway.