Session Twenty One

The twenty first session of the Adventures of the Dragon Crag was on the 6th of March 2022.

## Party Members Present

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

## Synopsis

### Searching for a Way Down

#### Setting off

After searching around the destoryed Hall of the Ancestor Gods a bit more, we decided to set off and find a way down tothe third level of the Ruins. Callisri decided to join us as he wanted to search for the Rod of Isha in the lower levels. From the Hall of the Ancestor Gods we headed eastwards. We walked along a dwarf-made passage for some distance and noticed that there were large buildings behind the northern wall of the passage. After further investigation, one of these buildings turned out to be an armoury, although it had been completely looted.

#### Pressure Pads

As we searched the armoury, Snorri stepped on something that moved - the stone that he stepped on had sunk somewhat into the ground like a pressure plate. We left the Professor to weigh down the stone and went to investigate further. The sunken stone ran allthe way to the western wall where, through a gap in the wall, we could see some cog work. It looked to be some sort of warning signal. Importantly, this contraption was not old; it was rather new. We decided to lie in wait for someone to come, but after an hour, nobody did. Thus, we decided to continue our explorations.

#### Greenskin Camp

Leaving the armoury, we carried on eastward before turning north and passing some small houses. Close to a t-junction, we noticed that there was a small gap in the wall. It led to a cave and the air in this cave was distinctly foul. It split off into a few tunnels, so we decided to follow the foul air. We came to a horrible oblong cave with tattered scraps and blood spattered about. It was clearly a destroyed greenskin camp. Snorri thought it had been destroyed a couple of weeks ago and he saw some tracks, tracks that Rel confidently identified to be those of some kind of river troll with very large feet and possibly dragging something akin to a ramming device. We decided to follow the tracks and they led us far down a tunnel. The tunnel angled upwards and we could hear running water. Eventually, we came to a torrent of water. Callisri saw some greenskin tracks and river troll footprint here, corroborating Rel's previous assertion. At the torrent of water, Rel made another astute observation: this was water from the Norgunson Mines. Feeling a bit tired after all our walking, we found a nook in the tunnel and made camp.

### A Secret Entrance

#### Scrabbling in the Walls

After an uneventful night, we returned to the large buildings near the armoury that we had noted the previous day. It seemed that these large buildings made up a clan hold and that we had found the barracks. Whilst walking through this hold, Brandr spotted another stone trigger in the floor very much like the one Snorri had stepped on in the armoury. We carefully stepped over it and continued on. Further down the corridor, we heard scrabbling in the walls. Snorri found a secret entrance in the wall. He pushed open the door and we sprang inside just in time to see the swish of a fleeing cloak. The secret room was quite nice and it was furnished with cosy furs to sit on. We gave chase tothe hooded figure and we followed him to a set of stairs that led downwards.

#### Hooded Dwarfs

Rel went down the stair first and tried to listen in the dark. She lit a torch, revealing a highly decorated passage. We went through a door into a rectangular room and were met with a shout to stop. Braziers then lit up and a wood and metal door slammed shut behind us. Before us was a hooded dwarf with an orange beard manning a ballista. Above him was a gantry with more hooded dwarfs with crossbows pointed at us. The orange bearded dwarf told us to drop our weapons. We, of course, did no such thing. Instead, Callisri let fly an arrow from his elven bow striking orange beard who shot the ballista back, grazing Callisri's arm. Brandr and Snorri charged forward, taking cover behind some debris from the incoming shots from the crossbows on the gantry. We closed in on the hooded dwarfs and they fled northwards into another tunnel. We gave chase but lost them. We found ourselves in a cave and came across a man hanging in a sprung net trap. He was slightly decomposed.

### And they call it a mine!

#### Following tracks

After we left the man in the net, we began our explorations of the third level. We were wary, for, we did not want to be jumped by those bastard hooded dwarfs again. After following some dwarf-made passages westwards, we came across what seemed to be the base of mining operations complete with mine carts. Although the mine was abondoned withthe rest of the holdwhen it fell thousands of years ago, it was clear that this mine had not yet been depleted - it seemed that the miners had found something all those years ago. From the base of operations, three tunnels led northwards, each with a mine track running down it. We decided to take the middle tunnel. We first emerged into a medium sized cave where the miners had clearly found something. Snorri believed the miner's bounty to be gems. He saw a likely spot in the wall and dug out one small uncut sapphire.

#### We actually got some loot!

We continued further into the mine and found a much larger cave. It was decided that we would wait in this cave a while so that Snorri could do some proper prospecting. Having a look around Snorri chose a likely spot and began his prospecting, aided by Rel's scientific knowledge of rock types. After a while, Snorri uncovered a seam of gems. It would take much longer to try and get them out of the stone, but Snorri evaluted the seam and reckoned it to be worth between 200 and 300gc. This was information that we could sell. Snorri then put a small Forgekeeper mark by the seam and covered it up so that it would be hidden from preying eyes.

#### The Urbaz

After leaving the mine and with our moral boosted by the prospect of great profit, we contined our exploration of the third level of the Ruins. We decided to head southwards and we came across a passage marked with the word 'Urbaz' that meant 'market' in Khazalid. The passage opened up in a huge space ringed with a low wall. This vast hall was more battle scarred than anything we had yet seen.