Session Twenty

The twentieth session of the Adventures of the Dragon Cragwas on the 16th February 2022.

## Party Members Present

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

## Synopsis

### Into the Ruins

#### Good News Everybody!

We all staggered back from the pub after enjoying First Quaff, and we passed by the square with the statue in Skalf's Hold. As we passed by, the augery came through and with great celebration and rapturous excitment, the Lorekeepers announced that it was to be a bountiful year with good tidings for all. As a result of this bountiful year, taxes would be increased. Seemingly misundertanding the meaning of this news for his personal finances, Snorri bought Aleksi a new mace from Grundi the Blacksmith.

#### A Wall and a Cemetery

The next day, after some eggs at Our House, the time for adventuring was once again upon us. We gathered together our gear and headed towards the Mausoleum from where we would enter the Ruins. Asside from glory for Clan Forgekeeper and big fat booty, we had other reasons for entering the ruins again. Snorri had jobs to do for Master Engineer Morgrim 'Blaze-hand' Vathimsson and the Professor wanted to collect his perculiar pebbles. To get to the Mausoleum, we had to pass through Dead End Alley and on the right side of the road was a large shop called Siegfried's Arms and Armour. Further up the alley was a huge grey stone wall 50 feet long and 6 feet high with many names on it. A dwarf stood next to it and told us that we could pay him 1gc to put our names on it if we died in the ruins. We all wanted toput Aleksi's name on it, but he protested on the grounds that he wasn't dead...yet. The Mausoleum turned out to be a Temple of Morr with a cemetery and a small dwarfen fortification with Lawbringers armed with rifles. The wee bastard Lawkeeper we spoke to us told us with glee that the taxes had gone up and that it was now 1gc to enter and 2gc for elveses. On the way out we would have to pay 12% tax and elves would pay 17%. The Lawbringer didn't know what happened when there were mixed parties and the Professor lampooned him, causing the dwarf to send a runner off the Lorekeepers.

### Going Underground

#### Smelly Water

We paid the tax and passed underground. First we headed to the pond withthe smelly water so that the Prof could take a sample in his empty bottle of Panther Badlands. As we entered the cave with the pond, we heard someone moving around. The prof heard human footsteps and yelled out for the person not to drink the water. Snorri and Brandr went in and saw a man splashing around in the water. He introduced himself as Begehren. He said he was a scholar and apocathary from the Empire and that he was hear with a group sent by Reinhardt Bormann to test the water. We talked a bit about Reinhardt and Nikolai but Begehren didn't know about Nikolai's ring. Then things turned nasty. The Prof was clearly threatened by the presence of another scholar and began to bully Begehren in a way that physically weak members of society do when they finally feel safe. The Prof demanded a sample bottle from Begehren (it was clear that Begehren was the better researcher as he came prepared with proper sample bottles, whereas the Prof only had a used bottle of cologne.) Begehren, now confused, happily parted with a sample bottle.

#### The Stonepick Clan Hold

After taking our leave of Begehren, we wanted to progress to Brandr's Crack as quickly as possible. Thus, we headed down the hole to the second level of the Ruins and headed east to Stonepick Clan Hold. The way through the hold had been blocked off by a crumbled passage that was caused by a big impact ratherthan explosives, so we explored some more to find a way round. In the thane's chambers was a large pedestal and there was a groove for a mining pickaxe - Snorri's pick did not work as the Forgekeeper symbol would not fit. We had to find a Clan Stonepick pick. Snorri reckoned the pedestal would turn, revealing a passage through. Whilst we were searching for the pickaxe, we felt slight vibrations in the stone - an ominous sign underground. We decided to head back the wayand look in sounding passages we had passed for a pickaxe. We found an axehead lodged in the stone with a Stonepick symbol on it. In the sounding passage, Aleksi heard a scrabbling sound so hewent to investigate. He saw a small, hunched figure, which he killed with with an arrow. It turned out to be a badly injured goblin - injured by something big. Brandr used a torch to make a handle for the pickaxe and with it we managed to open a secret door in the thane's room. It took us to a secret room untouched by combat but filled with bodies of dwarf women and dwarf children. Another pedestal secret door let us out of this room and to the eastern gatehouse of the hold. Here, we could hear the vibrations again.

#### Goodnight Sweet Wormy

We felt the vibrations below us and heard rocks and debris being pushed aside. This was clearly a Rock Worm. Aleksi began jumping up and down to attract it and then moved out the way. The worm surfaced with a great gaping maw. We also charged in, but the Prof instantly put the beast to sleep. Once it was unconscious, we all set about it. When this worm was dead, Aleksi heard the sound of another one approaching. This one surfaced and spat acid at Snorri, but the Prof sent this one to sleep too. Thus, we killed both worms and cut out an acid gland to fill an empty potion bottle and the Panther Badlands bottle that the Prof didn't end up using at the pond because he bullied Begehren.

#### Brandr's Crack

We left the worm bodies and set off towards Brandr's Crack. There were no fresh tracks at the crack and we ventured inside and eventually came to the swift flowing stream. Again, however, there was no boat tied tothe mooring post. Rel dipped her spear into the water and found that it was very deep, Brandr and Aleksi dipped the Prof in up to his ankles and he still didn't reach the bottom, but he did come out smelling marginally less foul. We decided to keep exploring and found a hole that went vertically up and led to the first level.

#### Heavily Armed Bastard Dwarfs

Heading further north we came across a fortified door. A crossbow came out from the door and told us to feck off. We made some banterous comments which they didn't seem to like, so they pointed a cannon at us through a hole in the door. We insulted them some more and they fired a warning shot at us, causing us to scarper and vow revenge on the jumped up bastard dwarfs inside who were probably guarding an entrance to the Keep.

#### The Hall of the Ancestor Gods

After exploring more, we came across a huge hall far to the south. There was a large stone collonade that opened out into a vast space. Snorri moved in to investigate and heard a faint noise of someone moving around. He shone his lantern into the space, revealing a figure that turned out to be none other than Callisri. Callisri explained that he wanted to find something in the seven chambers of the ancestor gods but couldn't enter them because he was an elf (a very polite elf at that). He thought that the object he was looking for would be in a Chamber of Valaya. He asked Rel if she knew about the Tears of Isha, an object made long ago during the War of Vengeance. He said he was looking for a Rod of Isha that contained one of these tears and that it would probably look like an elven staff and that it could heal the forests of his home. Brandr and Snorri searched the temples but found no such staff. We asked Callisri if he wanted to come with us to search other temples deeper in the Ruins.