Had a chance to introduce (and LARP) our latest new guy to the group, replacing the soon to be leaving TJ. He has never played any D&D but always wanted to, his experience has been limited to MMORPGs and the like. So he was very apologetic and clunky but the group was welcoming and accomodating to him. He went for elven druid.
Follows:
The group fell asleep, hoping to get an early enough rise to make our way down to the 1st entrance on the morrow. One of the things that had been forgotten since Thalin wasn’t with the group at this time was that elves didn’t need the full 8 hours of sleep. So when Grendel awoke at 11:30, the elven scion spent a little time checking out his new companions before getting dressed and deciding to walk the grounds of the keep.
Meanwhile a good 2 miles south of the keep proper on the icy shores of the Enderlyn River, a trio of Armigers had come upon a lean to that had been erected the last 3 days. On this day, they managed to find whoever was camping on the Lordship’s land. An elven traveler named Wilhelm was drinking some ale and eating some river trout he had caught and cooked. Inviting them closer, the trio of budding knight adherents, Hans, Fatts, and Brody, tried to inform Wilhelm that he was squatting on the Lord’s land and had to come with them.
They did take his ale…and his fish. But they all talked a bit, conferring back and forth as the 4 of them walked back to the keep. Drink was passed around and the armigers were convinced their shift ended at 12 and they were no longer drinking on the job so they shouldn’t get in trouble. They did intercept some riders and passed on that they had an elf they were bringing in and who would be seeing him? The Rider rode off.
Grendel was approached by a valet of the Castle’s Herald, Thester Clantik, asking him to come and speak with the Herald. Eventually he made his way where the Herald expressed his concern. Two elves in the space of 2 days were here at Bork Keep, one of them a scion of an elven duke. Was everything ok? Was there any issues? He wanted to get both elves together and make sure that things were fine.
A herald went to the Keep’s Runesmith, a dwarf named Rogar Giantsbane. Rogar threatened to have the valet who interrupted him fired if he was bothered. There was an explanation that a new person was here and would need an amulet. Now? It’s weeks early. This is my quiet time. Do you know how much it drains me? I’m going to fire all of you.
Hans, Fatts, and Brody all came in with Wilhelm and the travelling elf explained he was from Borut, a major trading hub on the Borbuta Sea. He had a falling out with his family and after trying to divest himself from them, got advice to head east to Bork Keep and see if he could link up with an adventuring group to enter the Terror Dungeon. A follower of Frey, and a touched one as well, he hoped that it would be easy enough to find a group to join.
Hans, Fatts, and Brody tried to hide their increased inebriation but failed at one, threatened with stables duty for their dereliction. Wilhelm and Grendel spoke for a while with Grendel eventually greenlighting Wilhelm into the party. The two of them spoke at length about their lives, making their way back to the Visitor Hall. Once there, they continued their conversation until the party awoke.
We met up with Wilhelm and learned rather swiftly that Grendel had added him to the group! Oh…Really? Yep! Tell us about him. Well, he’s a good guy! I like ‘im! What does he do? Say, what do you…what’s your name again?
We had a 2nd interview with Wilhelm and filled him in on what we are and what we do. We then put together our trip down, taking our barrel with us, and at 5 AM, Restmonth the 26th, made our way to the Terror Dungeon. It was a cold morning, and fat snowflakes were falling. Lots of them. Lovely. We entered, barrel along, and made our way down, eventually hearing some sort of laughter echoing in the gloom.
We moved on through the entrance hall, the long hall south, and then around to the bunk room where Thon had us stop. Room was warm, at least 10 or so degrees warmer than expected. We eventually made our way in, and through the hall to the west, we could see an area down the hall where a huge bonfire had been lit. Estimation was that it had to be at least 5 hours ago, and it would have blocked the entire hall. We eventually knocked on the door to the east leading to the Bugbear area and Captain Asher did his talking to the denizens there. We made our way through and along to Zandark’s chamber where we presented him the barrel.
Excellent!
He offered the wheelbarrow again (we took it!) and to get past the bugbear circle, once more offered Captain Asher the permanent shape change potion. He demurred. So instead, they offered him the Mark of Maglubiyet, an 18” tattoo of a bloody double bitted battle axe on his stomach. The party all agreed for him.
So a bugbear witch tattooed the mark on Asher’s body, working fast until the half elven fighter cleric was treated. He could now pass any bugbear circle or glyph safely and so can anyone who was touching him or touching someone touching him, etc. Meanwhile Shim wanted some of the tattoo ink and was willing to be suckled by one of the witches, Thon volunteering the gnome for the job. So Shim drank bugbear witch milk straight from the source, growing weaker and more tired while doing so, eventually getting ill from the effects.
It was 6:30 when we eventually made our way out the east door and then through the bugbear cursed area. From there we had NO issues! We made our way through the entirety of the dungeon’s first level to the room beyond the gargoyles, wheelbarrow along for the ride, without any encounters! We then loaded up the barrow with the 5 barrels, and had a trip back – taking an hour – but at 8:35, were knocking on the door to the bugbear lair from the other side of the cursed circle and returned the 5 barrels to Zandark.
Mission Accomplished.
We were thanked, told to return when we wanted to, and wished well with the blessing of Maglubiyet at our back. So it was just before 9 AM when we emerged from the Terror Dungeon, feeling good and triumphant at our actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment