Session Forty Six

The forty sixth session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 11th April 2023.

## Party Members Present

* Brandr Sigurdson
* Snorri Morgrimson
* Relnwe Adiath
* Aleksi Lehtonen

## Synopsis

### The Grove of Tor

We found ourselves in a sacred grove of Tor in the Rivet, having just witnessed Aleksi pull an axe out of a tree trunk that itself turned out to be a waystone. Aleksi told us he had been spoken to by Tor, who asked him to kill beastmen with his new axe and protect the waystones. Apparently he didn't explicate further because he isn't one for speeches. The big waystone at the Wellspring of Power had two glyphs still lit: Menlui and Arhain. This waystone in the grove had the glyph of Menlui on it, thus we needed to find the last waystone with the glyph of Arhain. After Rel detected magic flowing north, we set off in that direction, remembering the body we found in the cave and that the beastmen there were trying to dig for something. Perhaps they were looking for a waystone.

### The Waystone in the Cave

We arrived back at the cave near the narrow pass in the Rivet. We examined the body in the cave closer and realised that the body belonged the big Kislevian man we saw in our visions - he had the same lightening bolt necklace. When we were here last, we noticed that some beastmen had been digging at the walls. Snorri attempted to continue their digging. However, he soon realised that the wall of the cave was neither stone nor earth - his tools glided of its surface and made no progress. We figured that it was some sort of ritual spell of protection. Aleksi gave the wall a thwack with his new magic axe and it fizzled for a second before he fell through and disappeared. Brandr did the same with his runic hammer, but this time the rest of us hung onto him and we were all pulled through. We came into a perfect spherical room with a waystone embossed with the glyphof Arhain. We had found the last waystone!

### Smoke on the Horizon

We left the magic room to hunker down in the cave for the night. In the morning, Aleksi healed Brandr and it seemed as though the Professor had woken up form his magically induced unconscious state to eat a ration in the night, before passing out once more. As we went outside, we saw a huge pillar of smoke in the distance, just where Tor's grove was. Just as Brandr said the situation was salvageable, there was a thunderous crack and a shockwave swept along the valley. Then, a sandstormpicked up by the Wellspring of Power and swept soutwards down thrugh the Rivet. Clearly, another waystone had been destroyed meaning that there was only one left: the one here in the cave.

### Digging Trenches

We realised that perhaps the beastmen would be upon us before the dwarf army could get here and set up a defence of the waystone. Thus, we began preparing a defence. We started digging trenches, Snorri zeroed the Hrukidron, and Rel climbed a cliff to have a better look out. After struggling up the cliff face, she eventually had a look around. In the distance, she saw a rider - a man on a horse - coming towards us. As he came closer, she realised he was not a beastman, but a ranger. The ranger arrived and he looked shaken. He told us he was called Arndt and he said there had been a catastrophy down the valley. The dwarfen army was forced off the cliff by the storm and that they had encountered beastmen burning down the grove. The dwarfs had killed the beastmen and burnt the bodies, but not before the waystone was destroyed. We told Ardnt of our plan to defend the last waystone here, where the valley was narrowest and he rode off, back to the army to tell them to make haste. Before long, we saw dust and sand being kicked up by the many mail-clad feet of the dwarfen soldiers. They approached like a shining star in the desert sun, with brilliant blue adorning their banners and livery. Only one small section was not in blue, but in a dull forest green: the rangers.

### Preparing for Battle

When they arrived, Captain Rorganson greeted us and the dwarfs hurridly went about setting up a camp. They were 45 quarrelers, 15 longbears, a master engineer and six crewmen with a cannon, 100 dwarf warriors, 70 rangers, and 30 scout cavalry. Our party would be embedded into units: Brandr would lead the dwarf warriors, Rel would join the scout cavalry; Aleksi would join the rangers; while Snorri would ride aboard an improved Hrukidron-Barag. We were finally going into battle, and we needed all the strong potions we could get.