Meet 113, Adv 7, 2/29/20

The party finally made their way out of the Terror Dungeon, their longest foray in. They were also successful in taking down the Bandersnatch and getting a bit more of an idea and long term view of what the Terror Dungeon might be.

Write up follows:

So the party was in the room before the Bandersnatch pen, and they verified they had all 5 keys, taking the time to figure out which key went into which lock. From the other side of the pen they could hear the Bandersnatch snuffling and banging on the door (9’ tall, 6’ wide for those keeping track!).

We had the makings of a plan that involved a number of spells and scrolls but the truth was it was about 9 PM and the party was pretty low on fumes. A rest would be a good idea. But can we rest? How about the bar? This was something we wanted to talk to Decron, the Octodron, about. But when we went to open the door, he was actually there.

He had come to watch the fight as he had been alerted that the 5 keys had been claimed and the parties have come to the pen entrance. When we talked about resting beforehand he said that would be fine but the party could not partake of any of the Deep Root Stout as they had no horn and were not proven to be heroic yet.

He waited until we all left the room and then went with us to the bar where he let us sack out and answered a number of questions we had. He would not describe the Bandersnatch except as a being from Pandemonium. There had been others who had fought the Bandersnatch and lost and it was up to him to slay it and drag it back to the pen before it became alive again.

So, not permanently dead? Nope, as a being of chaos, it does come back to life some time after it had been slain. Good to know. How does he kill it? He has a sword that can do so, snicker-snak. A few of us had the idea that there was a vorpal blade nearby and on asking if we could borrow it, were told “no”. No surprise there.

Our questions wandered around for a while until we realized that Decron avoided telling us anything detailed about our fight to come and just that the conflict ends on getting the horn. So maybe…we can get its horn first before killing it. Food for thought.

We went over many plans and eventually fell asleep, awakening the next day, Icemonth the 4th, early in the morning (we assumed). We prayed, studied, prepped weapons and tactics, doled out scrolls, and set up the timing of what was to go on. It was almost 8 when the 12 of us (including Decron!) made our way to the pen area. We had given Rhygar and Silk instructions to STAY out of the fight and hole up in the “dead adventurer’s trophy room” for now – and if it sounds like we lost – to get the hell out of the dungeon as soon as possible.

So that left 9 combatants ready. Menaria was going to use the keys to open the doors one at a time, trusting in herself and her shield to keep the Bandersnatch off of her. The rest of us were going to be spread about the room and ready for whatever came our way. Extra shields were placed about the chamber and as Menaria worked through the locks, just at the last one Vulwulf, Asher, and Percy cast Barkskin, Shield of Faith, multiple Blesses, and a Protection from Chaos – as the last key was opened and the door opened.

The Bandersnatch plowed out with a pair of huge sweeping horns on its bovine body – looking like a ton and a half black stone snorting bull with fire coming from its nose and heat radiating from its skin.

It mowed down the shieldbearer (as she expected) and plowed toward the heart of the party horns flailing as it gored the group. We shot spells, fairie fires, bolts and sling stones at it as it shook off most of the easy blows, turning its bulk sideways to trample anyone too close. And then its skin grew hot and a fire flashed out like spitting magma from its skin and everyone nearby hissed and snarled in pain.

At this point Shim began summoning monsters to join the fight. Bugbears, lizardmen, even a giant frog took part. Darius got a lucky blow with a sling bullet, fragmenting part of one of the horns but that was it. Sybil had her sling torn and the party had to scatter as the Bandersnatch charged again across the room, driving Darius back who had to swap weapons. Shields were splintering as the mighty horns attempted to gore the group, when they did hit, doing terrible damage.

Plus its skin kept changing colors and spitting for chlorine gas, bolts of electricity, even radiating bands of icy cold. Connal attempted to ride its back but was knocked off and forced into the corner. More shields broke as we hit the creature again and again.

Shim lucked out and one of his summonings called not just a crested lizardman, but a chieftain one! It relished the idea of the fight and stayed its ground, its huge spiked club doing terrible damage to the Bandersnatch. A number of the party too close to the fight were bleeding badly, suffering from multiple painful wounds and out of shields. Spells were fading and the Bandersnatch continued its one beast rampage but the Lizardman Chief being there took most of the obvious blows and returned the effort – and the Bandersnatch fell over dead.

We clove the horn from its skull and the party took a few of its “rocks” as trophies while Decron shouted “Calloh Callay!” and invited us back to the Asgardian Rathskeller Outlet. We drank the Stout and eventually the summoned beasts faded away. And then thanked Decron for his time and he wished us well – and the group made their way back and out of the Glyph gate and one again in the Terror Dungeon.

Ok…On guard again, we decided it was time to leave. So we snuck out of the pit room, down the hall to the water damaged chamber, through where the Ogre’s would be, up the slope, around the corner and past the room with the trees, beyond the Lathandar Glyph gate, and then down slope to the area near the bugbear lair.

It was at the door that would lead us out that we heard voices not too far away, elven sounding and something deeper – many of them. We discussed staying and seeing and fighting or just backing away. We decided to back away so back UP the slope and to the Glyph Gate area, turned south and to the side secret chamber where we hid within and waited.

It was worth it for almost 45 minutes later we heard voices coming closer, and it seemed to be the same elvish voices. They were talking about trade and barrels and the bugbears and then they faded away. We waited another half hour just to make sure and then snuck out of the secret area. We retraced our way to the same long corridor and went off to the main Entrance One to leave. Just shy of the door there was a 40 gallon barrel just sitting there. Beyond there we could faintly hear voices in the distance.

We snuck closer and looked through…the room to the right was open, and beyond THAT was another door where we could hear a SERIOUS amount of bugbear voices in the distance. Ok…The stairs were here but we had to sneak past the open door way. Not confident, Shim dropped a Darkness spell in the next room and we ran.

Hitting the stairs we made all speed on our way out when Shim felt a feedback from his spell...someone dispelled it.

Not good.

At the top of the steps we called for the guards to open then spilled up to the surface again. The doors were barred again we took stock that we had made it. Kara the guard guardian took our names and spoke with Darius for a bit, making plans to meet with him after 2 when she gets off. Time? 10:04 AM, Icemonth the 4th.

We went to the Visitors hall and then to the Mess hall where we got some drink and relaxed, decompressing from the long and successful foray. Looking around we weren’t the only adventurers doing that, at least 2 other groups were deep in their cups and introspective. The last group was young, loud, brash, and seemed out of place – almost arrogant.

When they checked the time and it was after 11, they got up to leave and Darius followed them. They went to the 2nd visitor’s hall, got geared up in seemingly brand new armor and equipment, and had a group of 3 henchmen following along. Seemed to be a mix of classes and they were trash talking with one another before heading down to the dungeon.

After waiting a few minutes Darius went down and asked Kara who they were. A Canaslan Adventuring Band known as Crimson Wave and this was their first foray down. He thanked her for the info, went back to the party, shared with them what he learned about them, and suggested that they might very well be in over their heads.

Meet 112, Adv 7, 2/22/20

The group had the chance to run through the Meet of the Glyph Gate, which took inspiration from the Lewis Carroll poem All Mimsy Were the Borogroves. As the progenitor of the Alice in Wonderland milieu, I adopted that as my plane of Chaos template some time ago and have a chance to trot it out every decade or so.

So they had the chance to wend their way through the hangman vices, tumtum tree, and the jubjub bird before heading off to do battle with the Bandersnatch.

In reality, they did a decent job!

Write up follows:

Icemonth 4:45 PM and the group was in the anteroom in front of the door that would lead to the Corridor of Dee(a)ds. Based upon the stanza we assumed there would be flying toads in the room and after discussing the situation and what was at our fingertips we figured we needed to open the door to see what was going on.

Once the door was opened scintillating light filled the hall from the high ceilings room, dazzling about half the group and making them squint and try to see. The room was shaped like an extended octagon with a door on the opposite end of the room. A stone outcropping with a set of steps spiraling around it went up to the ceiling about 15’ overhead. The room had a serious amount of flowers and ferns and other swamp style plants in here up to about calf height. The light was coming from the ceiling and the walls to about 7’ in height.

And yes, there were flying toads. A bit larger than a basketball, we guessed at least 20 lbs or so, they were warty green with fanged mouths flying around on stubby bat-like wings that made them look ridiculous but still capable of flight. And to make it worse, they would occasionally go invisible, shimmering out of view and then reappearing some time later in a different spot.

We knew we were supposed to get a key and the most likely place was the column of stone. But even though the toads were not bothering us now, we knew that entering the room would be different. And with maybe a half dozen of the toads flying around, we didn’t want to risk getting into a fight with them if we didn’t have to.

So the party spent some time putting a plan together and when it was done, Asher was given our Nornian Skein, given EXPLICIT instructions to open it AWAY from him (Very important!), Vulwulf filled the monk with some eldritch strength, and Connal took a few steps back ready to make a run.

The half-elf pulled the Skein open and the hurricane for winds that we had gotten so long ago in Morata from atop the mountain during the storm came rushing out and into the room. And the toads were sent scattering all about, slamming into walls, the column, and each other. The plants were ripped from the ground and a wave of wind born flotsam spun crazily about the chamber. While all this was going on, Connal ran and JUMPED, clearing the 6’ plus to the center part of the steps and then proceeded to pull himself up the steps to the top while the wind was beginning to die down.

There was a depression up here where the steps came within 2’ of the ceiling, and a metal key glowing with an internal light, sat in the bowl. He grabbed it and as the last of the wind ended, we heard a voice say, “You have claimed the Key of Light. Please proceed carefully to the next Chamber.”

Go, go, go.

The group rand through the room, dodging torn up stems and stalks and a few toads lying dizzily on the ground. We hit the door and moved quickly into the next room as Connal jumped down and rugby kicked the nearest toad as hard as he could into the wall. Shim was begging that he bring the toad so he can get some of its blood for Shandrala and once we were all in the next room, we shut the door and took stock of where we were.

The ceiling was the same 15’ in height but the place was filled with a wild growth of palms, ferns, creepers, vines, and thin boled trees. Some of the trees had a profusion of long vine like appendages on the top of them and Vulwulf identified them as Hangman Trees – and they were what they professed to be – a dwarf version of them, but capable of plucking someone from the side of the road and hanging them until dead.

There was a singular path of crushed white stones going through the trees and we could tell it was narrow and the canopy above was so crisscrossed with a variety of wild growth, that anyone a bit over 5’ in height would have to crouch. And anyone broad of chest or wearing any sort of thick armor was also going to have to sidle sideways. This meant at least half the group was going to be walking slow..very slow if they wanted to avoid being in the midst of the foliage.

As for the stanza, it was on the side of the wall here and it read: “All mimsy were the borogroves and the mome rathes outgrabe.” Shim offered to Read Magic again for us and the passage translated to: All whimsical were the dense groves, and the lone limbs grab out.”

Ok, made sense for us.

The next key wasn’t visible but we figured we’d have to walk through a bit to find it. Vulwulf was going to Detect Snares and Pits which he could do while concentrating, but he’d have to crouch and walk sideways to do it. So Sybil was going to walk in front of him, and Hjalgrim was going to be right behind with spear out to help force any reaching vines away. The rest of us would be strung out and with enough support back and forth, we should make it just fine.

It was slow going and Vulwulf was constantly alerting the group to the Hangsmen vines that drew too close to us. We walked through the dense brush for a bit until we arrived at a wooden sign just off the path. Sybil used the end of her pole to clear it free and it read “Key of Life” with an arrow pointing straight up.

So we looked, 15’ up in the air on a metal hook set in the ceiling, was a wooden key hanging there. 10’ or so of foliage between us and the key.

We discussed ways to drop it including slinging but hitting a wooden key with a stone or bullet seemed like a foolish way to knock it down and most likely break the key. What we settled on was Sybil climbing on Vulwulf’s shoulders, Vulwulf stand up, and Sybil reach up with her pole and knock the key off. Sure…ok.

So while we got our efforts together and in place, Hjalgrim and Percy proceeded to push and shove as many fronts and palms and vines as they could aside to clear off an area for Vulwulf to stand in. And then once Sybil was safely on his shoulders, the half orc stood up. She reached up through the foliage and with a single swinging whack, smacked the key off its hook.

It fell down and she lunged to get it, missing as Vulwulf did the same, and the two of them fell forward – the key spinning down where a vine snagged it.

IN BET GRAV POR

And Shim blew the vine apart with a pair of magic missiles. The key safe in hand (and the overhead voice letting us know we have the Key of Life, please proceed to the next chamber) we tried to help extract Sybil and Vulwulf who also were mixed up in more hangmen vines, requiring more movement with the sticks and a well-placed pair of magic missiles once more. Finally the party was straightened out and we continued on our way to the end of the room where the path ended at another alcove clear area where a sign above the door read “Corridor of Dee(a)ds – this way to room 3 of 5”.

On the wall was the stanza: So rested they by the Tumtum tree and stood a while in thought, as in uffish thought they stood. At this point Shim let the group know that he had been working through his spells quite a bit and wasn’t confident that he had many left and we still had this room and two others and whatever the Bandersnatch was. So do we Read Magic now or not? The party decided to save the Read’s in case we needed it later.

A look through the door once Sybil cleared it as safe showed a room pretty sizable, lit dimly like twilight, a fat boled tree in the middle going up 15’ to the ceiling with scraggly branches, some wooden box at the base of the tree. The place had a thick carpet of inviting grass and on the south wall was a door that led onward.

We do know that the dimness also applied to where we were standing as our existing lantern dimmed to about 60% of its normal radiance. We mulled over the stanza and Asher made the command decision that he should just go over to the tree…and rest!

So he entered and we watched…nothing ate him, nothing bad happened, and Sybil followed. The box was closed and had a sign on it that read, “Key of Silence within”. We tried to be quiet and looked around and Sybil came back to the group and there on the wall inside the room were 5 levers all in the upright position and the each had a label on them that read: Brillig Intensity, Rathe Grabage, Uffish Required, Tulgey Wood, and Burbling Stream.

Ok…We didn’t want to touch the levers now but we did go back to the tree to join Asher..Sybil and Connal. And they stood there quiet and just looking around as if thinking, until after 4 minutes the lights in the room raised and little sounds were heard. Feeling a bit unsure, they reached down for the box and opened it! Inside was a copper key with a leather wrap around it and on taking it we heard “Key of Silence acquired, please proceed to the next chamber.”

We all came in and looked at the levers for a bit. We wanted to see what they did and the thought was to watch the 2nd room and pull the 2nd lever down (Rathe Grabbage). Upon doing so, all the hangman vines sort of slithered BACK into the hangman trees. Nice. And turning the lever back on, the vines slowly sieved out of the trunks and moved around the room a bit until lost in the camouflage of the foliage.

From here we looked at the door heading south (again with Corridor and 4 of 5), And after listening we could hear something heavy moving inside, a quick few steps, and then stop. We opened the door and the room was again, 15’ tall and just beyond the entrance was covered to about shin height with thorny hardwood bushes all over the place, making passage through difficult and slow. A pedestal was in the room about 3’ tall with something on top a small sign, and another door on the far end of the room.

Just inside was a stanza: Beware the JubJub bird, come whiffling through the tulgey wood. Ok – the big thing might be a Jubjub bird? Walking in the room was going to be a bitch, but we couldn’t see what was in there and moving around. So while watching it, we shouted back to pull the lever down. So we did and the amount of hardwood thorny bushed in the room disappeared almost 3 in 4!

Which caused an almost 9’ tall, 1400 lb, prehistoric looking ostrich axe-beak looking bird to come around the corner on its long legs stepping over the plants. It fluffed up its feathers, snarled at the group, and CHARGED after hissing and showing it oversized beak lined with canines.

Ah…shit.

Connal met it head on while we flipped the switch back to the on position. Its beak snapped forward on its whip like neck and then its massive body shuddered sideways, slamming its wings to everyone near it. But the party proceeded to hit the Jubjub bird hard. Swords, spears, sling bullets and spells – they all hit the bird who squawked and snarled and hissed while its head whizzed around and the axebeak cracked out with painful slashes. However, it was a single foe and amongst the 11 party members it was shortly overwhelmed and killed. We took the key covered in spikes off the pedestal, getting the you have the key of life, proceed to next chamber announcement, and felt pretty good about ourselves. 4 of 5!

We then rested and ate while we figured out how to get as many of its pinion feathers off to be used as magical grade quills – in addition to its 3’ long tail feathers and as Sybil said – its “beak teeth” which ended up being busted off in large pieces. Shim got some more juices for his presentation pouch and after getting 9 magical quills, Vulwulf handed out goodberries and healed what painful wounds he could. It was about 8 or so when we went to the last door (identified as 5 of 5) and saw a small 20’ long corridor that ended at another door, the smell of water on the air, and another stanza here:

Long time the manxome foe he sought, and burbled as he came.

We looked in and saw a chamber with a large pool in the southeast corner, set 6” below the floor of the room, bubbling and frothing, splashing water everywhere. As sign was there by a chain attached to a C bolt to the ground, running into the water, and the sign read: Key of Water with an arrow pointing down into the pool following the chain.

Ok – was something in the water? Do we touch it? No one felt safe so we had the idea to grab the Jubjub bird and drag it across the area and toss it into the pool here and see what happened. So we did, and it was HEAVY, but 4 of us humped it across the field of thorns to the hall and then by the chain we let it fall in.

And that was it – it sunk out of sight. Ok…Chain? The idea was now to pull the chain and we thought the key was either at the end of it or something like that. And although the chain was pulled up maybe 1 link – it didn’t budge beyond that. So we linked a rope to the chain and again the four strongest party members went to the corner of the room and PULLED…

And the rope snapped.

Ok –the chain wasn’t coming up. So Shim did his Read Magic and the stanza changed for him to: Long time the hidden foe he sought, and bubbled and frothed as he came.

We eventually decided to pull the lever in the 3rd room about the Burbling..and the bubbles stopped.

The pool was clear and about 15’ deep, and at the bottom of the pool was some phosphorous stones glowing a bit, and maybe a chest at the bottom of the pool.

Under the Jubjub bird.

Hahah. Ok, so we picked the three best swimmers with a good dexterity: Shim, Sybil, and Connal – hooked up some rope, and they attempted to swim down to the bird and box. Shim had the easiest time at first but the others eventually got the hang of the deep dive and the breath holding. 15’ down was hard and pulling themselves down by the chain was the best they could do.

So they tied the rope to the bird’s neck, then under one wing, and then a third place under the opposite wing. It took multiple attempts to dive and do it but eventually it was attached.

Then once again the party PULLED the rope, and the jubjub bird slowly rose to the surface where we pulled, yanked, and worked it out of the pool. From there we didn’t want to open the box until the level was thrown back to the Burbling On position so we set up a timing and then dove, tossed the lever, and found the box at the bottom of the pool – inside was a key and on getting it, everyone outside the pool heard for the last time about getting the Key of Water, Proceed to the Bandersnatch Pen.

Our three divers then changed clothes to something dry and we went to the last door which read “This way to the Bandersnatch Pen, Key of Light, Life, Silence, Thorns, Water needed.”

We opened the door and found ourselves back at the start of the area with the damaged wall and the chains on the south door with all the chains and weird locks on it. And we had the keys. And there was a Bandersnatch, whatever that is, waiting for us on the other side.

Oh yeah…

Meet 111, Adv 7, 2/8/20

The party had a chance to explore a bit more of the Terror Dungeon, making it to the 3rd Glyph Gate behind a pretty nasty wind trap. Everyone has their own flash from their youth that influences them today, for me this room at least on the entrance harkened back to the Dragon's Lair video game when Dirk opened the "breathing" door and air rushed out...and then right back in.

Write up follows:

Party talked at length what the next options were. There were many ideas tossed about but the crux of it was to look for secret doors, identify where the stairs to the next level down were, and perhaps find the next glyph gate.

Before going on though, there were two doors in this area that we wanted to check out first. The first showed signs of being smashed open from within and upon looking, there were water troughs, bins, and burn marks. Scratches on the walls and inside of the door – someone had trapped a grue or two in here in the past and they got out…pissed. We looked around for secret doors and even looked in the room with the trees when we heard goblin voices getting closer.

The party hid and listened. Through the long corridors we heard the echoing noises of goblins knocking rapidly in cadence on a door and some ogrish voices answering them. From what we could tell, the goblins were looking for Ogres to sell or talk to and a number of them had gone off to sell/trade wood – should be back in a few days. The goblins then left.

Ok. Still feeling safe, we went to the other door and it had been broken the other way, as if someone had smashed it down to get in. We managed to move the door out of the ay and the ceiling fell down, deadfall. Waiting for the dust to clear a moment and healing a few points of damage, we looked around the room. Various broken piles of rock, looked like someone had been buried in the back. Sign on the wall in chalk read “Quiet, bugbears near.”

The back of the room had some yellowish mold growing around a partially visible backpack. Holding breath, Sybil managed to open the pack and as the mold was moving, Shim hit it with a ray of frost – making it temporarily dormant. She then started to fling mold everywhere while digging in the pack, eventually unearthing a tarnished heavy statue. The mold was becoming animate again so she was dragged out and water was dumped everywhere, gloves thrown away, even the old blanket Silk pulled out of the party’s pack was used to clean off the mold and discarded as it too began to smoke.

The statue was eventually revealed to be that of a squat bipedal humanoid creature with symmetrical exacting features and an octagonal open face helmet. On the bottom was the initials GG1. We weren’t entirely sure who it was, there was talk about Primus, lord of Mechanus, but even Asher’s deep well of priestly lore wasn’t sure.

We went south to the original ogre room and looked down here for secret doors, eventually finding one at the end of the long wall where the rat’s had been. It required a hard push (Percy and Connal) to force it open, but once inside it was a long corridor and bolt hole that looks like it had been used by other adventuring parties in the past. On the wall was a list in chalk: Grue, Ogre, Frostmen, Bugbear, Quillian, Volt, Carrion Crawlers. Sybil added Goblins, Ghasts, and Giant Rats to the list.

After eating lunch and making sure we were ready to go on, we left the bolt hole and returned to the main part of the Terror Dungeon. We traveled east, following where Duragond and Company had gone. Connal worked the slope with grapple and rope and we came to another room. Some stools, door on south wall, signs of ogres being here, open passage to the right. Once down we continued on down the eastern passage eventually to a room large and signs of a fight and water damage in the past.

Old blood stains, table for 6, legs busted, water logged on the top, same with the broken chairs, only water logged in one direction. Darius was puzzled a bit by this and we looked under. The thought was the room flooded…but maybe frostmen? We kept going, on high alert.

The passage beyond here went north for some 20 paces and then was a 4 way intersection. East was a short 5’ run to a door, north eventually another door after 20 paces, and to the west, another 20 paces to 2 doors, one on opposite sides of the hall. There seemed to be a puddle of water at the end of that hall, and a breeze coming out of the door to the east.

The group drew up and Sybil gave the east door a good look. The hinged were set into the mortise but opened in our direction. So Connal took hold and opened…

And the door blasted out to us with a gust of wind that would have extinguished torches…and then after the blast was over, was a loud clang and a mighty INRUSHING of air! The door slammed closed, and opened on reversed hinges into the room and the wind was quickly hurricane force gales. Loose items were sucked away along with a lantern, a few weapons, shields, and Sybil. Connal was closest to the door so had his body there and Sybil whizzed around the corner, hit the wall and slammed into the frame, holding on for life. Shim also slid forward but between Asher, Ryhgar, and Darius, was caught and held tight as the group was pulled closer to the room.

Silk, Menarius, and Vulwulf all at the back went back around the corner and taking out a coil of rope, held tight and let the free end trail down the hall where it flailed around. Looking in the room, Connal was able to see there was a pit, 6’ square with a 1’ lip around it, everything racing into and down the hole. On the south wall which was a sharp 90 degree angle, was a 3’ lever in the down position. As the group made a chain of people, Hjalgrim reached up and grabbed Sybil, holding the Halfling fast.

Connal let go of the frame and tumbled once into the room, ringing off the wall and floor and ending up right by the lever. He planted his feet and slowly the level rose with a ratcheting noise until it clanged up and the pit made a similar noise…and the air stopped moving. Trap turned off.

We all picked ourselves up and took noted of how we were doing and what have been lost. Shields were doled out and we all gathered together. Sybil let us know that the trap could be by passed if we opened the door first into the room instead of out. Good to know! As for the room, there was a door on the other of it…and it was a Glyph gate!

The presenting gem up top only had 2 radiant lines- meaning a short range for the presentation. As for the riddle, “Gorokian Toothpick, Cutter and Slasher, Shank and Edge, Brand and Sabre. Warrior’s need, mantelpiece mount. Scion’s dressing, Yeoman’s Doubt.” We talked about what it could be at length, eventually deciding it had to a sword or something iron.

So we gathered together at the other end of the room and Connal touched the gem – activating the glyph gate, holding a sword aloft. And it faded away, the blast of red light extending barely 10’ before stopping. And the door was open!

We charged into the room and we all hit the hall well within the 2 minutes before it closed. There was a long hall, mustard yellow looking and perfectly square and exact looking. There was a single cylinder of light, flickering off white, hanging on the ceiling 10’ overhead. We doused our lone lantern and followed it in. The passage eventually turned south and was a good 60’ long. Halfway down was an archway on the west wall showing a poorly lit Nordic looking bar. Rough hewn timbers, stools, dart boards, barrels, and some racks for cloaks and weapons.

Behind the bar was an 8’ tall 8 sided figure with 4 arms and 4 legs rubbing absently at the bar. As the group entered there was a faint sound of whirring noises and the figure’s face spun until a smile appeared and it announced itself as “Hail! I am Decron, 4th Unit, 3rd Cohort, Mechanus Army Retired, Number 84219423. Please remove your cloak and/or cape and weapons and place them on the rack and come up to the bar!”

He did this again and in the same order and manner of speech as we came in. He said that this was the Asgardian Rathskeller Outlet serving only the finest Heroic Deep Root Stout. He wanted their drinking horn to fill it and when we said we did not have one, suggested we can get a horn torn “from the head of the Frumious Bandersnatch” if they are feeling worthy.

How pray tell? Simple, continue on to the Corridor of Deeds and get the Keys to the Bandersnatch Pen. We talked to Decron and some of his responses effected different emotions and another spin on his face for a different expression, but after a while, it was obvious that we had exhausted new questions to ask.

We thanked him and left, taking a cue to look in the “Hall of Adventurers” on the way. At the end of the hall before it tuned east was a door that had its lock augured out and the frame forced by crowbar. Inside were shelves and shelves, the entire top 2 were filled with broken equipment and shredded clothes – each with a small brass plague on it with dozens and dozens of names of past adventuring parties. As we looked down the shelves, the last plaque had nothing there but a wooden “T” holder and written “Reserved for the Vanguard of Ragnarok” Yuck yuck yuck.

As we went down the last of the hall was a door with the words “This way to Bandersnatch Pen”. We pushed it open to see a room of rough stones with lots of signs of past battle. On the south wall was an iron bound door chained shut with 5 different esoteric locks on it. The east wall was a door without handle but looked like someone had attempted to force it open but failed. And the north door was a sign that read “Corridor of Deeads – This way to room One of Five”.

We gathered up and got ready, opening the door and entering. It was a short 20’ passage with a door at the end where a stanza was written upon it: “It was brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimbel in the wabe.” Ah…crap. We looked at it for a bit until the suggestion was that it might be magical. So Shim cast Read Magic and the words changed for him to read: “It was brilliant and the stealthy toads did dodge and fly in the cool air.”

Not much better but it made more sense. We talked about WHAT it might be but Asher and Darius were adamant that they expected to face flying angry fanged frogs in the next room and were going to be ready accordingly.

Meet 110, Adv 7, 2/1/20

The group had a chance to enter their 2nd Glyph Gate. In the Terror Dungeon there are small pocket areas that need an additional "token" to get into - and there is typically a reward to be gotten. For the 1st Level, the items are important for use later in the dungeon - and don't typically need to resort to combat although it is certainly a viable option.

Write up follows:

Icemonth the 1st, almost 8 PM, and we left the Terror Dungeon swiftly. From there we went back to the Barrack’s Hall where we saw the wounded dwarf was now along with his own adventuring group. Friendly waves were given back and forth and their leader, a half-orc with a red and grey set of leather clothing identified himself as Duragond, leader of Duragond and company. They were about 9 of them, a mix between orcish, dwarven, and humans.

There was much talking about our foray and theirs (they had been in 4 days) and the revealed they had picked up a second Chime some time ago – to be used for any party member that is badly wounded and needs to leave, they can get out of the dungeon and the rest of the party can stay. Good to know!

We talked about bugbears, lower levels, and the Vault of Lathandar and getting a weapon there – supposedly real important. We thanked them for being so open and eventually we rested. The next day Darius talked about the charter, what our goals in the dungeon should be, getting to the Glyph gate by Entrance one and then eventually mapping out where and how all the entrances touch each other. The thought was NOT to go through Grue Alley unless we had no choice – and if so to press on with lights blazing next time.

If we’re going to find treasure, we will need to eventually get off the beaten bath and/or risk going deeper – but that led us back to not going deeper until we know roughly how the upper level plays out. We studied and prayed, Sybil bartered for more food for the group and we all got back together heading back to the entrance by 8:30 in the morning; Duragond and Company commenting they would be entering about 10:30 or so and wished us well.

At the gate, Kara Farmer took our names again, and at some prompting from Sybil, flirted with Darius who was surprised and flirted back. From there we made our way down into the gloom and eventually came to the bottom of the steps in a large room with a “1” by the entrance. Two torches lit we looked around. Times were scratched on the wall with chalk, echoing the period that Darius had been tracking. There were some other small helpful hints and a door to the south and east (with the lock drilled out).

We assumed South the way we wanted to go and made our way there, checking to portal briefly before daring to open it. It showed a long passage heading south with a slow burn torch on the west wall. It seemed similar to what we had the Lizardman run through when we summoned him yesterday. Confident we made our way through until we arrived @ the corner which indeed did lead us to the room just outside the Bugbear lair.

Alright!

We travelled west to the slope, and Connal took the run up there where he once again set grapple and had the rope run down slope. He guarded the corner while we shuttled our way up slope until we were all outside the door with the dents along the bottom. Listening, we heard nothing, and then opened the door – revealing the same 20’x10’ room with the glyph gate at the far end – but only 2 bodies in here dried and dead! One missing since yesterday.

Hmm. Only a few of us entered as we made our way to the door here. After listening and confident that there are not enemies nearby, most everyone hid around the corner and Connal held aloft a vial of pig’s blood and touched the glyph. Red light flared out, crushed the vial and absorbed the blood, went out past the door and into the hall – and then all swooped back in to the gem – pulling along with it loose stones, gravel, and grit from the floor which hit the door with a heavy staccato beat. Aha, that explains the dents.

We followed Connal back and the gem above was red, but light was leaking out the op slowly. Two doors beyond here, right and left. The right door had written in chalk upon it. “This door. No joke, Open this door first.” We debated only a few seconds and then Connal touched the door to open it – and it flew open to reveal a mid-sized chamber with 5 animated dead ogrish sized zombies and 3 gossamer clad decaying women beyond who were beginning to keen loudly. Shrill and loud.

Fuck shit fuck damn it.

The party ran back, sliding out of the chamber and cutting around the corner while Asher, Sybil, and Connal held off last, Connal getting clubbed terribly for the effort by the closest zombie. But we backed up and turned the corner, door slammed closed behind us until after the glyph gate gem finished bleeding its color free – and the door slammed closed and the one lone Ogrish zombie fell over.

Ok…we took a moment to regroup and decided that whoever wrote on the door is a dick, and we should go left. Taking another vial of pig’s blood, we once again enacted the glyph and then enmasse made our way westward through the door to what could be best described as a Seraglio. Reddish curtains, gauze, pillows, harp music coming from somewhere, door on the north wall closed, large central column going up 15’, symbols of Lathandar, elvish god of sunshine and life quite prevalent. The door on the north wall had a series of wheeled tumblers face out to the group, all set to “0”. Hjalgrim and Percy gave Sybil a leg up to look them over and she was convinced they turn and would unlock the door – but need a 3 digit code to do it.

Asher let us know what he could about Lathandar while the group looked around for secret doors as well as listening where they could. Although nice, nothing really jumped out until we gave the central column a once over. It had depictions of elves carved from the bottom to the top, all of them cavorting happily. But they had had chiseled marks over their eyes, blinding them.

It was after some time that the group discovered that near the top of the column, about 8’ off the ground was an elf without his eyes gouged. Hoisting Shim on his shoulders he looked through the eyes and saw the number “1”. Alright. We looked over the column and found 2 more elves without eyes gouged, getting two other numbers. But what order? Looked at the elves that had the eyes whole, we did note that one had 7 fingers up, one had 8, and the last had 9.

But on further contemplation, instead of running up the total 7, 8, 9 as the order – we looked instead at fingers down, getting a reverse order or 1, 2, and 3. Sybil adjusted the dial and the tumblers slid into place, the door opening towards us.

Showing a hallway CHOKED with over 2 dozen skeletal figures with spears, shields, and helms. And only a barely wide enough path running through the mess of them further into the place.

We looked around and through, and Sybil was sure he saw a cotton tailed rabbit just at the edge of her vision, amidst the skeletal feet, but it hopped away. No one else saw it. So we decided to sneak our way through, the larger people forced to drop shields and backpacks off their shoulders in order to get through. There was a door on the right hand side past the room of skeletons with a metal locking bar down across it on our side to keep whatever was within…in.

Beyond that the passage eventually turned to the left and showed 2 doors and a painted area of the wall indicating this way to the Sun Vault of Lathandar, Key of Light needed, see Priest Alorn. The last door was fancifully carved and showed a depiction of the elven god amidst a pastoral forest scene with a number of reverse carved animals…except for the rabbit – that carving was smooth.

We listened to the doors and the middle door we felt was cool, almost cold to the touch. So we began discussing our options on which way to go – cold door or latched door and we noticed that we heard faint noises behind the latched door and sparking lights that faded – except when we tries talking in elvish – then the light stayed. But nothing on the other side replied.

We were getting closer to just opening it when Sybil saw the rabbit again, this time hopping into the Seraglio. So she went in and was moving pillows around, hoping to find in when the party noticed she was gone, again. So we corralled her back and the group decided to go to the cold door instead.

We opened the door and it was COLD – like 40 degrees cooler than the rest of the place – there was a round table with 12 chairs about it, 11 of them empty the last one had a beautiful elven woman sitting there just staring, her hands on the table top. One by one we all sat down and relaxed, looking at her and then she spoke saying we can each ask her a question once and only once, and then we were free to go.

So we sat and looked about and then Shim started the questioning off, where is the Key of Light. We went through everyone, eventually learning the Key of Light is with Priest Alorn who was here and cursed eternal for the crime of murder, locked behind the barred door and the key is around his neck but you would need to be unseen by the dead and or the living to get in and remove the key without issue.

As she answered the questions she became more drawn and wane, skin paling and eyes sinking in, seeming more like a Banshee than not. So once the last question was asked we got up from our chairs and left the room with a thank you and Lathandar’s Blessing on our lips. Ok, so we went to the barred door and it was going to be Asher and Shim going in – Asher can cast Invisibility to Undead and Shim was small, light, and the light inside responded to him already.

The entered the room – 8 steamer sized trunks, 3 had light flittering in between the cracks, a dwarf chained to the back wall of the chamber his guts torn open and roped around his lap, various desks and office furnishings jammed in the corners. The two of them entered and a trunk popped open…and a Ghoul appeared, sniffing the air and looking around.

The hid against the north wall as it sniffed about, and then set up by the open door in order to snatch someone coming in. Then another trunk popped open, and a zombie staggered out and the ghoul and zombie looked each other up and down and then went back to watching the open door. Asher and Shim went to the wrecked furnishings and then around the room to the dead dwarf. The key was on his neck, faintly glowing, on a thin gold chain.

Another zombie appeared and milled about, but nothing more happened. Asher carefully picked the key off the figure’s chest…and yanked – the chain broke and he had the key in his hand. Another ghoul appeared and the ghouls seemed happy to see one another, literally hugging and licking one another. Ugh. We snuck, around the room while a ghoul lunged forward at the door and snatched what seemed to be a rabbit from the ground and ate it.

Not wanting to be caught here any longer, they made it to the door, and then slammed it closed and latched it, trapping the undead inside. Hooray!

From there we went to the vault door, inserted the key and entered the Sun Vault of Lathandar. It was cool and red and blues, a few weapon racks and armor stands that look like it had been picked over, some shields, helms, spears, hammers and the like. Looking them over, we decided to take a spear first for Asher, the half elf taking one when there was a loud buzzing and we all then found ourselves outside the glyph gate in the narrow room with the 3 dead dried out bodies.

From outside the door we heard some echoing voices and laughter and carefully stepped out, hearing to the south, the voices of Duragond and Company. We went down to see them and they saw us, wishing us well and congratulations on the Glyph Gate and Vault of Lathandar. They did let us know that any item left on the racks would be silver blessed by Lathandar the next time we went in. Good to know! They were taking advantage of the ogre woodcutting tribe who had left yesterday to sell/barter their cuttings to make their way right to the stairs down. Where? Not too far, 3 or 4 rooms away.

We were talking about the 3rd glyph gate and thinking it was by Entrance 3 when they laughed and said nope…not too far from here and the stairs down…maybe 5 or so rooms away.

We wished them well and it was about noon when we were discussing either going on to the Glyph Gate again, or somewhere else.

Meet 109, Adv 7, 1/18/20

There are certain traps that I like to use and because of that I make certain that I don't overplay my hand. One that I like is pit trap right after a pit trap. I don't know where it came from, but I've used it before and my current group, especially the long term 11+year players are always on guard for it because it IS such a nasty neat surprise.

I did use a pit trap INSIDE a pit trap once - and that was fun - but have to hold that one in my back pocket for at least another 5 years before I pull it back out.

Write up follows:

Connal navigated the slope up with little issue, rope trailing down the slope, grappling hook set up at the top. He had a torch up with him and one by one, the group made their way up the slope. There was the faintest smell of earth or top soil nearby but nothing showed. From here it was a passage south, west, east where we came, or a door to the north. The base of the door had a number of dents in it and the door needed to be forced open.

Once done so though, the next room was small, 10 x 20, a glyph gate on the far end of the room, and three desiccated bodies in here, dead at least half a year or more. The words above the glyph gate read: One eight a cup of, a dram, a quaff. Not rich but…This plaque be…Crimson Flowing Veining Stuff. The gem had three pairs of radiant lines around it (the one with the Chime had 4).

Shit…did we really want to do this and now? The 1st part was an ounce, and the last part was blood. But the party went back and forth before deciding that the matter didn’t need to be addressed at this time and we should continue on.

From here we went south, passing a door on the right that looked in very poor condition, and then an opening to the left that lead to a room where 8 pale barked oak trees were growing right out of the ground, twisting the flagstones, growing right to the ceiling where branches curled and twisted amongst themselves. Room was pretty big, and there was a slow burn torch right when we walked in.

A look about showed the dirt around the flagstones was disturbed and had some pretty big foot prints there – Ogre sized was our thought. Ugh. We tried tossing rocks at the trees and branches, dirt and stones – nothing happened. Eventually Vulwulf dared to enter and drew close enough to touch the trunk. It felt…like it was vibrating. He took out his water skin and poured some of it on the ground.

And the tree groaned and thrummed, and the branches above GREW, twisting even more amongst each other and making some noise for a few minutes until it finally stopped. The rest of the party was in the hall watching.

And the watched as he bent down and prayed to Idun, where the everspring goddess answered his blessing and the ground gave forth water between 4 of the trees. Which started growing. A lot. The ceiling was groaning as the trees pushed upwards and thickened and branched curled and grew denser and thicker and worked down from the 20’ tall ceiling. The other 4 trees also began to grow, although at a reduced rate since their roots were not directly where the water was churning.

The noise was echoing off in the distance and the party was really feeling uncomfortable. Vulwulf managed to get a twig broken off from the tree branches above and then the group made their way BACK down the hall to the top of the slope, and then turned west down the dark corridor. And it was a good thing as we heard ogrish voices in the distance walking around, many of them, getting closer – most likely to investigate the tree growth.

From here we went down the long dark hall to the end where it turned south, and then went that direction – the passage going on into the gloom. As we went along we could see a reflective surface ahead – a puddle on the floor – maybe 3’ wide, perhaps 7’ long, crudely oval shaped. There was no discolored water anywhere on the walls or ceiling. We tossed a few rocks at it, but the puddle was literally just a coating on the stone floor.

That’s when we saw the red eyes in the gloom ahead. Squeaking and staring at us. They crept closer and showed a number of giant and gargantuan sized rats. Fuuuuuuck.

Ogres sort of behind us, many giant rats ahead of us. We tossed some food and the rats were watching and then ate it, still watching. And then Shim called on his innate gnomish ability and spoke with the rats. Who were excited to speak with him. They had run into adventurers MANY times in the past and spoke of them as if expecting some enslaving or the like and Shim assured them we wanted to pass. He was surprised to learn on the rats was called “Frank”. So for the price of more food and then some cheese, we were allowed passage past the … 13 giant and gargantuan rats. Crap – that would have been a shitty fight.

Oh, and we could tell that the puddle…was rat urine. Lovely.

We did see a section of the … stone wall that they ate through, perhaps a foot tall, twice as wide. Connal commented..ok, Giant rats ATE the walls of the Terror Dungeon!?! Yeah, let’s keep going. Sybil led the way as we traveled through the gloom to another puddle. And the thought was to get some of the rat urine. Whose thought? God only knows, but it was the thought.

So we wanted to pick up the urine in a vial, but not touch it. But without tongs we ended up using Sybil’s pliers. But when we tried to dip the vial in we ended up crushing the glass and then dropping the vial in the urine. So we took it out, washed it off and handed it back to Sybil who was frowning at this. Luckily one of the hirelings took the pliers and wiped it down with her cloak and then oiled it, explaining that Sybil would have a rusty paperweight in a few days if that was how we treated tools.

We travelled on to the first corner and could hear rhythmic chopping in the distance and some Ogrish voices. Seemed they had come to investigate the growth and then were harvesting the wood. We continued south to the next crossing and were far enough away to consider moving on from here. The group could smell old cooking scents and grease but when we came around a few turns, we say a room with an old water barrel, some burn marks, areas where sleeping rolls had been laid, a door on the far side of the room with a few auger holes in it, and a sizable spear rack on the south wall with perhaps a dozen spears in it and a dozen spots without spears.

We looked over the chamber with care. The rack with the spears was locked and the spears did not come out. There was a brass plaque on the bottom that read: Compliments of the Odinian League Collective, Always willing to help. Come see our representative in Erylond with a valid charter from the Greater Rand Sellsword and Adventurers Guild for other things the League can do for you.

This really pissed off the party, League of Odin doing this? But we couldn’t figure out how to open the rack so we fiddled with the empty slots for a while and then ate dinner. A few more of the Giant Rats had followed us to here and we gave up the hard cheese to them, and they ran off satisfied. It was about 6:30 and we thought to keep going.

The door out of here was closed and the lock had been bored out some time ago. We listened, heard nothing, and then opened the passage with care. A few very large bare foot prints were on the other side – we assumed Grue, and not much else. So we drew up, passed through the door, and closed it behind us as we pressed on.

The passage traveled for a bit, turning one direction then the other. We thought we heard a door close in the distance as we were walking. We hadn’t passed a slowburn torch in some time so we were on high alert. Eventually the passage opened up to a room with a sloping passage down on the far end. Rough table with busted legs, splintered chairs, numerous rough kinky foot long hairs caught in various cracks and pinch points, old blood smears, splintered shields, shattered lanterns, and maybe a dozen brass bits loose on the floor.

We assumed the hairs were from Grues and were getting concerned. Something smashed up a bunch of adventurers in here and coins were just left lying about. The slope went down to over a dozen loping paces and ended at a “T” intersection. Sybil and Connal went down to the bottom with care and saw chalked on the wall the word “Pits” with an arrow pointing south, and “Scythe” and an arrow pointing north.

Ok, trap area. We were going to check out the pit side first. Shim cast Summon Monster and got a fairly large and beefy lizardman. He was instructed to head south so he went down the slope, looked at the floor, and used his long hunting spear to hit the floor just down the passage – opening up to a pit going down with spikes. Nice.

So he stepped back up the slope, ran, and pole vaulted over the pit with his spear where he skittered to a stop and then looked carefully again. And again he hit the ground and opened another pit. When this one opened, the other one closed. Alright. So he jumped/pole vaulted over this one and went down to a door. Gave a listen and a smell and listen, and mimed a large hairy creature behind it..and then repeated the gesture. Grue…maybe 2?

Before the spell’s time ran out, we had him jump back and then it ended. We looked down the other passage and saw a long passage, with a handled farming scythe right in the middle of the hall, leaning against the wall, with a pile of small rocks scattered around it and two very dead rats.

Um…not a scythe trap? Is this it? Not trusting it, we had Shim call another spell and got a troglodyte. It was ordered to go down the hall and when it got to the scythe it tried to move it…and couldn’t! It tried pushing it, pulling it, nothing it did had it move it was as if rooted there…until it tried to lever it away from the wall with its spear – and the scythe fell to the floor. But now he couldn’t lift it off the floor…again unless he used his spear as a lever.

We assumed the scythe was some sort of Weighty Chest issue item and chuckled at it. The Trog was then sent further down the hall to the door there where it listened and then cracked it open a bit.

While all this was going on, the group all excited in the room and getting the feedback from Connal and Sybil as to what was going on, the group failed to hear the sound of a distant door opening and creatures sneaking down, closer, and closer, and closer…

As for the lone trog, a long arm snaked out of the darkness and grabbed him, followed by a gurgling leonine roar. Grue!!!

Connal and Sybil backed up to the slope, dropped oil, and lit it to make a line of fire at the base of the slope – and keep the Grue back…And we could see it was two of them!

And at that point we heard the cry to “Charge” and arrows flew into the party as almost a dozen bugbears, at least 4 giant spiders, and a swarm of smaller one filled the hall behind us and pressed the advantage home to close and attack.

Vulwulf and our shieldbearer took the brunt of the immediate attacks as the bugbears charged in and filled the hall, then the spiders came, with the swarm hitting Wulfulf. Shim was concentrating and fired off a globe of darkness but it encompassed part of the party however it did prevent more arrow fire. Hjalgrim swapped positions and with two Grues on one side and host of foes hitting us on the unprepared back ranks, we wanted to flee but had nowhere to go.

Darius strongly suggested to Asher that we get the hell out of here now and to use one of our precious few Dimensional Folding scrolls – and open a portal to the Entrance Two – and then we’ll use the Chime and get the hell out of here. So Asher unfurled the scroll, read the words which turned to fire, and a 10’ diameter hole opened in time and space just ahead of him on the slope where we could see the Entrance Two room. Where we could see inquisitive fire beetles milling about.

Fuck it, time to go – passage is only open for 1 minute. So we all reached out into the darkness, grabbed arms with the next person while spiders attacked and bugbears swung. Hjalgrim tossed Shim to Percy and we all broke, running for the portal and hopefully leaving some chaos behind us as beetles and spiders clashed with one another.

Getting to the Entrance room, the stairs went up 10’…to a blank ceiling. So it was the Chime rung and it was a harmonizing reverberation that shook the entire room, and the ceiling spun crazily a moment before it opened up to the stairs spiraling to the world above. With only a 2 minute window we ran, yelling ahead of us to “Open the doors! Open the doors!” while fire beetles and giant spiders tore into one another and bugbear voice echoed behind us. The great iron doors lifted and the party burst through them just before 8 PM and emerged once again at Bork Keep.

Meet 108, Adv 7, 1/11/20

It had been planned the the party would meet an important person of the Terror Dungeon somewhere in the first long foray. And they did, he introduced himself as Anton, a stylized merchant with a cart bulging with tarped supplied and pulled by a giant slug.

He doesn't sell whatevers, but always does have what the party "needs", but at a cost. In this case Sybil took advantage of Anton's spiel and the group got a chance to get a leg up in a direction that would get them through the Bugbear Warren.

Write up follows:

Icemonth the 1st, roughly noon. The group talked about heading west into the next area but there was a body just inside the passageway. Humanoid, tall (maybe 7’), goblin like in his bones, and his skull and collar bones smashed. Been dead at least 9 months, mostly just bones with some thin skin. No clothes, no belongings. With torch light we could see the room was perhaps 20 x 30, at least a 15’ tall ceiling, and numerous stalactites and stalagmites again, like the hall and the prior room we came from. Some broken stone on the floor and little else. There was another passage on the opposite side of the chamber along the north wall.

Sybil went back and forth and the thought was to sneak slightly into the room so she could look down the passage. So she crept forward slowly…slowly…making it to the nearest stalagmite…

When some dropped from the ceiling, smashed into the back of the halfling’s head, and smashed her to the ground. It was a damned stalactite! And as we watched, it slowly turned itself around like a mollusk or some sort. Looking up, we could see LOTS of other stones hanging above shuffle about. Thalin charged in, grabbed her ankle and one tried to fall on him, but he reared back and gave it a punch – and it was like hitting a damned rock!

But he did run out of the room with her and we spent 10 minutes waking her up, patching up her head, and coming up with another plan. We wanted past here – but do we go back to the straw room? Discussed the matter for a bit and eventually decided that if we hugged the wall in here, we might avoid any more of the piercers.

That’s when we thought about dousing the torches and once dark – we could easily see 20 of the piercers on the ceiling and 5 on the floor radiated heat and visible to infravision. But not everyone had it so we had to link hands and pick our way through the room without delay, watching above and dodging the slow moving piercers. Once through though Sybil grew alarmed that we had NO light’s lit and that meant we were ripe for a Gru attack so we lit torches quickly and regrouped.

The passage here went north to what seemed to be a former camp of some sort. Torn bedrolls, smashed brazier, bloody (very dried) blanket. Door to the left and passage leading to the gloom to the right. We looked around and discussed options for a while until the vote was to go check out the door. It was here that we heard a voice coming from the side passage say, “Oh, I wouldn’t do that. But I’m willing to watch and see how this plays out.”

Human (?) male about late 20’s/early 30’s, handsome, oiled hair slicked back into a pony tail, wearing a bulging backpack, short sword at his side. Had a giant slug toting a cart laden with covered bundles. Identified himself as Anton, he’s a trader down here, always looking around for a good deal. The group spoke to him and he had an acerbic wit and a biting retorts but wasn’t fazed by the group and was willing to trade. Like for magic items? No, you don’t NEED magic items, do you? I’ll trade what you need. And I’ll always be fair.

About a third of the group had a feel that he was honest but we should be careful. But it was Sybil that he did his dealing with – and she was looking for the best way through. Well he was visiting his friend who was out, had a place just around the corner. He might have a way to get you through that door – because there are over 200 bugbears in that warren. And they were going to come out that door very soon.

What did he want for the trade of information? Simple Sybil, just a little bit of that baby fat you were carrying. And Sybil took the deal – shaking his hand that was a HOT flash and Sybil was sweating madly as 10 lbs boiled away – she looked flush and tired and wild all at once as 1/6th of her body weight slid away.

Anton honored the deal, gave her the information that the wizard was not at home but did have disguises to get the group through. He then thanks the party and let them know he might see them again at some point in the future, or he might not. But wished them good luck!

We went down the hall to the door, it was locked and Sybil worked the lock until it snapped open – and we all entered. It was a fairly large chamber – 30 x 30, that had been retrofitted as living and working quarters for a single someone. Bed, armoires, table, pantry, chairs, library, some robes. Robes were wizard looking , black and chased in silver and gold. There was a feeling that the person here was elvish, but the furnishing were “whatever” – touched up and bedecked after the fact.

There was a door on the other side of the room, also locked (twist lock from this side). We locked the door and looked around a bit. At some point we had cast for magic and found a few places that had some glowing – but no one wanted to risk touching anything just in case. During all this Shim had parked himself at the wizard’s writing desk and once we came to the conclusion we were going to take nothing and just go out the other door, Shim figured he’d leave the wizard a note detailing that they had come to do some trading but he wasn’t here. And they’d like to try again to get some disguises.

And then as he put the pen down, right below where he had written, SOMEONE else was writing a reply! No pen, just the letters appearing. It was the wizard and he was Busy right now, but wanted to know what they wanted so he can help. Identified himself as “V”.

Shim said this was so damned cool.

What followed was a slow conversation back and forth with some wizard somewhere else and Shim where he did identify he did have some bugbear disguise potions. Would last 3 hours – and should be long enough to get them through the warren. Thought the group was pretty ballsy for doing it. Would also give them the ability to understand and speak Bugbear if need be. We dickered a bit but the wizard was Busy and the more we asked him things, the more curt his replies got.

Shim didn’t want to piss him off and the party elected to buy the potions over Darius’ serious concerns – the bugbear warren was massive and we were sitting ducks there. But being outvoted we all took out coins, paid the wizard (just laid it on the table and the coins disappeared!). He thanked Shim, gave him some Falser rootbeer candy as a thanks once he learned Shim was a gnome, and a hidden compartment under the table opened and we saw about 60 small vials – 3 groups of 20, each marked with a B, a D, or an L. V had told us to take the “B” potions so we did.

From there we drank them down and one by one, we all changed outwardly to bugbears. Our heights remained the same, appearances changed. So the Halfling and gnome appeared as if children. But when you looked at yourself, you saw yourself!

We went to the north door, left, was in a small 10x10 room that had been used as a portal, and then beyond that was a larger room with a DIRT floor – not stone, various bones sticking out. On the walls were some commendation to Hel. We went beyond it to the far door and opened it – to see 9 bugbears here.

And this led to our 3rd wacky conversation of the night. The bugbears were under the impression we were a group that had gotten lost and at some point we turned to Asher and acted as if he knew what this happened. Which then had the bugbears remember that we were Asher and the Runts. Yeah..we know you. What did you do Asher? Why were you gone so long?

And then it got weird. There was a brothel beyond here that we were taken to after some good natured dueling in the hall where first blow landed wins the fight. Asher had to have sex with three of the Bugbears as demanded by the silent gods and he gamely did what we could. But Darius was trying to fill in the “fake” missing gaps and couldn’t come up with a reason for some of the questions – saying that his memory was foggy.

And he was asked How do the silent gods get rid of fog? They blow it away. So he needs to get blown to remember. And one of the women came forward and there was some back and forth and Darius really got into the bugbear mindset, punched the girl in the face for too much talking and demanded a different priestess to the silent gods blow him. And she did.

Sybil and Shim were looked at as the kids of the group, Sybil being the chatty of the two and Shim making growling noises. They were given some candied rat to nibble on and the legend of Asher’s Troupe continued to grow as we fielded other odd and leading questions.

Eventually guards from King Zandark came in and waited from Asher to finish. From here they took us further into the Warrens past some store areas and a smithy until we arrived at a throne room. King Zandark was a giant of a bugbear, bare chested, dressed in pinks and yellow puffy pantaloons, and sporting a 5’ tall black sword against his throne.

He welcomed Asher back, asked how his parents were doing, and then wanted to know about the barrels. Where were they? Asher was very ready and we quickly put together a plan where we would follow a war party out against the Ogres who took the barrels and then bring it back to the King. There were some threads lost in the conversation and King Zandark had to be reset a few times, but we took the mission to…return with the ogre stolen barrels with the mystery stuff inside. Yeah, we’re on it.

The King then beat Asher for a bit until the half-elf admitted he didn’t want to be hit anymore and was not ok, and then he did the same to Darius who also eventually relented. The king was satisfied and we made our way out of here following some guards who lead us through a number of large corridors, a massive chamber well over a hundred feet long with a 30’ tall arched ceiling, with bugbear homes mounted against the ceiling in places. We saw other passages and even a room with some ogres, liazrdmen, and a human..a fucking GHOUL in a cage. Why a ghoul?? According to the bugbear’s there, if someone is badly hurt and needs to have their skin sewed or a spear dug out of them, the cage is lowered and the ghoul scratches that person, paralyzing them so the bugbear Chirurgeon’s can operate.

How…dreadful.

We did get out of the warren and found ourselves in a passage beyond that we then followed to a room with a door on the north wall and a passage that led to a sloping corridor to the left. Rotten bunks, old straw, rancid smell. According to our guess we had under an hour on the potions until it ended . Which way to go?

Sybil seemed hungry and was nibbling a lot. We looked up slope, it was a good 30 degree angle and there was grit, rocks, and … teeth at the base of the slope! Like over a dozen of them – and all canines and molars. … Ok.? Top of the slope was lost in the gloom. Door on the north led to a passage and wound a bit, some light down the hall, and then eventually a long hall going north.

We then decided to summon a monster to check out both halls as we didn’t like either one. So Shim called out and got…a lizard man! But unlike any lizard man we had seen before. Almost 7 1/2’ tall, 400 lbs, plates running down its back, strong and terrible looking. It looked at the group and Shim had it go down the long hall. Before it went, Darius pulled out the lizardman disk we’ve had forever and it was a holy symbol to some lizard god – and the sign was two fingers on one hand and pinky thumb on the other!

The lizardman called Shim “Little food” and did trundle down the hall, calling out what it saw. Long hall, some 80 plus feet, ended at a door, opened to a room with some torch light and a set of stairs going up next to a large number “1”. Hot damned – another way out!!

We then had it come back and then go up the sloped passage (which it did with its clawed feet). 4 way intersection, door on the north. Went through door, small room, Glyph gate here. Um,..Touch glyph – light shot out, but nothing happened.

And then spell ended.

Ok, we decided we were going to work our way up the slope and see what the Glyph gate had for us, knowing that our illusion was only going to last another half hour tops.

Meet 107, Adv 7, 1/4/20

This is the group's first trip back to the Terror Dungeon for quite some time. It's also the 2 new guys at the table try in it as well. This adventure is pretty much them going in and out, with some plot moving on the outside for the rest of the group. There will be a few tweaks along the way, but it should be a dungeon delve from the word go.

Write up follows:

The other group returned from up north where we all discussed what happened, shared stories, swapped information, and met the new recruits. There was training to be taken care of, moneys to be divided up, and eventually – our trip to Bork Keep and the Terror Dungeon.

As the days passed on we discussed who would be going in and who would not, on the assumption that half the group would remain here in Erylond and do what short work we can for the Adventurer’s Guild. It was here that we came to the conclusion that we were going to be short some spots on out roster.

The party wanted to hire a porter and that also meant they wanted to hire a Shieldbearer as well. So we put an ad in with Pha-Iyr Carom and the Facilitator lined up a group for us to interview – 3 of each. We met with the all, asked questions, and came to the conclusion on 2. For the porter we hired a 40 year old woman named Silk Valour. She had a hard and rough life and has portered on and off for a number of years but had been badly wounded on the recent trip in.

She got healthy but without her Journeyman papers as a Cobbler or a Barrelmaker, she could only get menial jobs. So only now that she’s on the last half dozen coppers in her pouch, she put her hat back in the ring and is looking to lend her skills to a group that can use her. She took an advance of 2 nobles for 1 days pay to outfit herself on a few items and would be ready to go on the 30th.

As for the Shieldbearer we hired Menaria Roses, a large and imposing figure of a woman and warrior who came dressed for the job in breastplate, tower shield, and two braces of axes. She had been in the dungeon some 6 times. She had been friends with a leader of another adventuring group for 7 years, actively travelling with them for 4.

She had a falling out with them after things had gotten tense and outright torture was performed on some captured people in the Dungeon. She had words, and there was a parting of ways. Since then she’s been looking for another group to join and we were happy to have her.

Once everyone was in place, we decided who was going to the Terror Dungeon: Sybil, Darius, Connal, Rhygar, Shimlagesh, Asher, Vulwulf, Hjalgrim, Percy, Silk, and Menaria – 11 of us. We then went shopping, loading up on whatever gear we needed or thought we’d need and on the 30th of Deathmonth, loaded out sleighs in the morning and set off in the cold 10 degree temperature on our way.

We passed through Canaslan, deciding NOT to stop for now, and pushed on, making it to the far end of the border and thenceward to Bork Keep. The knight’s brigade rode out to make sure all was good, and we made our way to the Keep itself. There were 5 other adventuring parties here right now from what we were told. We parked our belongings in Visitor’s Hall One and then made our presence known to Lord Corface Bork.

In the hall was a very battered and beaten dwarf, swaddled in bandages and resting. We slept well and the next morn woke up, loaded up provisions, and wanted to wait for the stairs to migrate to entrance “2”. It was 11:35 when we approached the doors, gave our name to the girl at the desk, and the two dwarves manning the portal pulled on the chains and revealed the passage going down into the dark.

One by one, we entered, an earthy dank smell coming out along with the faint inrushing of air. Torches lit we continued down until we arrived at long last down the spiraling steps to the entrance room. There were 4 main passages out, a slow burn torch, a side door, and looking down the southeast passage, a pile of loose off white rags.

Sybil made sure the place was clear before inviting the rest of the group down. The party staying together, weapons and spells at the ready. Not trusting the rags, she prodded them aside and seeing another small batch to the end of the side “T” junction (that we did NOT want to go down), the party all drew in close.

She informed us that we were going to pass through the room with the 4 armed ogre skeleton. Touch nothing, don’t dawdle, keep going. Do not stop – loiters will set off the noise trap. She checked the door, confident it was ready, and opened the door.

30’ square room, alcove on the other side with another door closed, 9’ tall 4 armed skeleton figure in the center. It was time to go. We ran through the chamber as she gave the other door the quickest of glances, threw it open, and we all pushed our way into the next chamber. Roughly the same size, there was a 7’ tall statue of a trout in here, made of brass, and had a half dozen bashes in it as if made by a battle axe. The ceiling rose to 15’ in height and there were 2’ tall stalactites and stalagmites.

As the last of us passed through we could feel the wind starting and we slammed the door and waited…and the wind died down – trap averted.

In the room we were in, there was a passage out to the north that led to a short hall going west and a single door on the north wall. But we could hear water dripping in here – but the area was dry. A Phosphorous fungi was growing on the walls that Vulwulf let us know needed moisture to thrive, but again, place had no visible water but we could HEAR water dripping.

We checked out the statue and even had Shim lifted up to peer in the mouth of the fish – in the back of the mouth was a hole about an inch and a half in diameter. We rapped on the fish, sounded thick walled but hollow. Eventually a brass bit was tossed into the mouth hole…it rattled down and we heard it stop with a faint jingle…and the dripping sound stopped.

Nice.

Sybil gave the north door a once over for traps, confident that there were none, and we opened the door with care.

Again, ceiling was still 15’, rough walls, some stalagmites, but growing from the ceiling down, about 6’ long, were waves and waves of rippling pale hay. Growing upside down. And there was a pile of the hay in the southwest corner, almost 5’ tall and covering a good 300 square feet easily. A door was on the opposite side of the room. Briefly we thought about going in, but the rippling hay growing overhead, dense and undulating, made the party uneasy so the decision was to shut the door.

We were talking about heading west to another large chamber, but Sybil let us know she could faintly see the skeletal remains of something on the floor in there.

Meet 106, Adv 7, 12/14/19

We had a truncated group at the table for the last meeting of the year so we ran a shorter "quest" than I had expected to do - but the principle members were all the same. Granmund is a name that will come up again and again on a going forward.

And he's tied in some way to the Ravenstone the party has in their possession.

Plus I got to use the moathouse from T1 again :)

Write up follows:

With the two new members in the party and still no word from the rest of the group working up north, the other half of the group weathered the first major snowstorm and made some serious headway on the house at this time. But there was the constant need to be aware of any issue coming up and eventually through conversation with the GRSAG and themselves, the group wanted to go and visit the middle ring of Erylond and pay some homage to the Grim Gauntlets and the church of Sif.

Connal, Dizzy, and Asher collectively want to make the visit so they took the time to pass through the northgate and see the higher elevated and more glorious center ring of Erylond. The streets were covered in snow but the guild halls through here were grand edifices covering huge areas. Cathedrals abounded and there were considerably more guards patrolling the area. We asked our way around and learned the Grim Gauntlets were on the east side of town.

Eventually making our way there we went to the temple to pray at first before being approached by a Novice who talked with us at length. After learning who we were, two touched priests and a monastic, he elevated us to the Prior Callius and then eventually we were taken to the Abbess Cala of Sif.

A middle aged woman of hidden strength she looked upon our presence here as a sign of providence and proof that the Norns are still at work.

Their Sacristsanct had been stolen from, a tube about 2’ long, brass, sealed, supposedly holds the dying words and breath a great prophet. And although a tube was still in the Sacristsanct, it was not exactly the same – a copy swapped out. There were some adherents, postulants who had been in the area and caught in the act BEFORE the copy was noted and the thought was these two had the tube and swapped it out – selling it to someone.

Wanted the tube returned, the thieves branded as apostates, and then killed. The adventuring guild was a place to go but the Temple has no idea on how to go about this, and the divining they had done let them know that they were holding up some 6 hours outside of town, west, at a riverside keep and would most likely be moving on soon.

And here we are, 3 adventurers, followers of Sif and Tyr, and touched priests to boot. So we 3 took the job and promised to leave immediately, taking a copy of the rough map and what to look for on the way.

There were a series of low keeps that lines the Enderlyn River, long ago outposts the Randari used to patrol the area and keep the barbaric tribes across the waterways in place. Since the fall of the Ympir, the keeps were abandoned one at a time and eventually have been used a way points for weary travelers out in the elements, or reclaimed by the water boggy ground.

There Trade Road ran west, northwest as we counted off the hours. There was a rough trail off the highway that ran along the river which was burbling along as it wound its way downstream. Some 600 yards separated the highway from the River and it was an ever choked bog of tangled vines and semi-stagnant pools. We could see the keep in question and even at this distance, there was a line of tramped snow from the drawbridge to the solid ground where someone(s) had walked up and down the river bank again and again and often over the last day.

Most likely our place.

There might have been some sign of life within and we proceeded with care, stepping off the highway and trailblazing our way through the tall snow to the keep. The croaking of frogs was constant, but it was deep and guttural, and Dizzy was unsure as its cold, snow on the ground, and frogs? Ice frogs? Um..do we want to risk it?

There were signs that someone had been back and forth across the 15’ long drawbridge a number of times, and some of them were hoof prints. So we made the decision to approach, and then summon a creature to charge the water and draw the frogs if any. The call went out and a gnoll appeared where it ran to the water…and a 10’ tall ice pale green/blue frog came out of the water, croaked once, and shot a tongue at it.

Followed by another and then 4 smaller frogs!

We ran across while the summoned creature engaged the amphibians for a bit, coming to the open gates of the keep and looked around the courtyard. Parts of a chopped up dead horse were here, tower immediately to the left, and the main home of the keep to the north and east. A few windows were there but open. Stairs led up and we could see some lights within. Lots of loose prints in the snow of people coming in and out of the keep and the area here.

We scouted a bit, Dizzy giving the all clear, and we climbed up the steps to the main foyer of the keep. Two main halls ran south and west, some older torches, a few doors, and a closed room to the northeast where we could hear voices talking. Alright.

Checked out the two passages first, no guards, some doors closed, nothing else of interest. So it was the main door. We wanted to be on the ready for them and either go in or have them come out to us – fighting in the door was not the way to go.

But at least 5 voices could be heard with the leader being Rerid and the next most spoken to person being Hrabbi. They were upset, their contact was late and the group wanted to get paid and gone from the area now. Rerid was adamant they needed to give “the wizard” one more day and then good or bad, they leave and make their way eventually to Sorton and then Thak.

The group was getting into place around the door, Dizzy was going to open it, when something made Connal turn around just in time to be leapt upon by an almost 175# wolf! It savaged the monk, ripping and tearing at him while the group was surprised. And then when they were in place, Connal turned with the wolf, back against the wall and began hammering at it as it continued to savage the monastic.

The voices inside grew excited and calls went out to “help my wolf!” and “They’ve found us!” It was weapons out and ready when the door opened and EIGHT young men between 17 and 25 came out with clubs and swords and cold weather clothes and padded armor and one of them had a damned crossbow!

We were beset almost immediately and the battle hit the three party members hard. Dizzy took two painful wounds, the wolf continued to assault Connal, others came about hitting Asher and the other two. We tried to group together but were quickly being overwhelmed. Swords swung, fists flew, and at the end of it, Asher called to Tyr and pointed and Rerid where he shouted, “In the name of Tyr, Hold!!”

And the thief leader froze in place. Along with the other wounds we had done, the poor state of the wolf, and the poor morale of the thieves, the second in command, Hrabbi, ordered the men to drop their weapons and “this has gotten WAY out of hand!”

We helped divest them of weapons, some healing was doled out, and we talked while Rerid was bound in place while held. They had been contacted months earlier by a wizard named Granmund who was looking for religious artifacts that have anything to do with the dead. He approached the pair (Rerid and Hrabbi) and arranged to give them a copy of the tube in question. He was supposed to meet them via boat this last day but hasn’t arrived.

The party had been charged in killing the thieves but Dizzy took a different stance and told them that they fought well and with skill, and Sif will judge them elsewhere, but they were to be spared and head west and away from Erylond, for if they do come back, the Church of Sif will exact a vengeance upon them then.

Hrabbi took the deal and the party was a bit bummed there was no profit for this, but they all agreed to head west and away. Handshakes were given and we tossed a “horse chunk” at the frogs who fought over it while we ran across the drawbridge and back to the Highway. Rerid, no longer held, was bent, but agreed this was for the best.

As for Granmund, they wanted to be long gone before the wizard showed up as he would not be pleased he did not get his tube and wasted time and money on this venture. Granmund is working out of one of the Stolen Kingdoms called Shadowthyrst and we thanked them and waited for them to leave before turning back around and heading back.

We arrived at the temple late at night where the Abbess met with s and was happy to get the piece back. We discussed how it happened and what we had learned. Someone had to have seen the tube for some time to make a copy of it, but it hadn’t been out of the Sacristsanct for years. Scrying? Possible. As for Shadowthyrst, its run by a sad Halfling figure and the entire land is one of misery and sadness, those who stay too long or have a weak will, often times just lie down and wait to die.

Lovely.

The Abbess offered the three of the party members a reduced rate on training in the future and a small reward for their efforts and we left feeling good with how it all played out so far.

Except…Why Granmund’s interest and how will this end up affecting us in the future?

History - Reetersbeard

The Third major clan of dwarves in this area is the Reetersbeard dwarves and a few of the party members have either ancestry or dealing with them. So their history, as known follows:

There is no single defined dwarven homeland, they have been around as far back as the gods have been, building the worlds and universes as required by Reorx, Moradin, Vulcan, Dunatis, or any of the other gods needed. By dint, although dwarves are clannish in nature they are not overtly so and don't assume that their clan or holdfast is the end all/be all.

The Reetersbeard Dwarves story is the tale of a homestead of dwarves who made the decision to move their entire civilization. Twice.

According to what few relics and tablets remain, the Reetersbeard dwarves were part of a larger collective called the Morati. Some 6 or so ages ago (again - VERY long time - almost 2,000 years) the collective split into two main family camps - The Giant Born (Jarlborrin) and the Right Beard (Reetersbeard). The Right Beard camp was growing ill with the constant barbaric attacks by roving tribes of orcs and humans, not wanting to be a part of the assault and "culling" of these surface dwelling raiders and pests - while the Giant Born camp was convinced that it was a noble effort to cull the barbaric tribes before they got too large and caused either starvation or warfare between them.

So 30,000 dwarves and their attendant gnomes, humans, and other followers dismantled their homes, forges, anvils, halls, and other items of value and decided to head east through the great forests and find the end of the world.

They came upon the Mastelic Ocean after many months of travel and then continued their travels south. For the better part of a year the dwarven nation made their way south until they came upon an area with many large hills and small mountains, as well as a single oversized defined peak that was so tall, it pierced the sky. The land was home to a number of elves who had not participated in the Kinslayer Wars and had no trouble or problems with the dwarven nation.

The Reetersbeard Dwarves settled the area and dug mines and homes into the earth. And things were well for a very long time. They multiplied, moved, and spread their teachings and children further south to the human lands and kingdoms in that direction. Eventually the human kingdoms expanded northward and in honor of the friendly dwarves they encountered there, offered them a space in the council of Lords and eventually folded them into the Kingdom of Daro - the High Thane also given the title of Duke and the land was referred to as the Duchy of Reet.

For the better part of 1500 years the Reetersbeard Dwarves lived and had their homes, their nation swelling to 45,000 dwarves and countless other friendly races. They had their lives here until their seers and rangers came back with disturbing news. The lands to the west were wild with many roving tribes of monstrous humanoids - that wasn't an issue. What was the issue was that the lands WEST of that were a blasted wasteland with little life still there - and the darkness was going to spread east.

The darkness of dragons.

The largest clutching of dragons had lived and grown unchecked for centuries and were approaching the stage when they would fight amongst themselves for dominance - sending the weaker dragons to go off and find new territory.

And the only territory was to the east and eventually the Duchy of Reet. Every skein, every runecasting, every divination the dwarves made said this was going to happen. Not now, not next year, maybe not even next decade - but it was going to happen and when hundreds and hundreds and maybe thousands of dragons take wing and spread - nothing on this earth was going to be able to withstand it.

The dwarves thought about it long and for 15 years sent runners and rangers as far as they could to confirm this - and it was going to be the case. Between the land of the dragons and Reet were the Homelands-  where ogres and bugbears and kobolds and other monsters held sway - hundreds of thousands of them - maybe even millions. When the dragons came - they would drive this horde before them and they would hit here first - and then the dragons would follow.

They Referred to this as the Odinstorm, the Murder of Ravens, The Flight. They tried to share this information with the human kingdoms to the south who were embroiled in civil war and didn't listen. They tried to share it with the surface dwelling elves and humans and halflings and whatnot who made up the Duchy of Reet and it was taken seriously. But not everyone wanted to leave - would it be this year, next, the following? A decade or two?

Where would they go??? Many dwarves thought they could stay here, pull the entrances to their mountains closed behind them, and weather the Odinstorm as long as possible - the thought of moving was just not in their bones.

Of those that agreed to leave, some 20,000 a bit less than half, the Reetersbeard clan decided they would again split into two - half would return back to the north and the Jarlborrin Lands, the rest would travel south as far as they could and try to find another place to settle down and live.

So almost 180 years ago almost 10,000 dwarves and another 12,000 other races once again performed their mass migration and traveled the ancient markings and maps north along the Mastelic Ocean and then eventually west - taking almost 2 years to make the journey.

But when they came "home" after some 1,500 years - things were different. The gnomes had a homeland to the east now called Nightwoods, the Jarlborrin had grown and expanded taking over many mountains to the west with the capital of their Thanedom being called Sorton, a group of Mountain Dwarves had emerged from their caves called Gorok - but the majority of the land was dominated by a sprawling orcish empire called Rand.

They were welcomed but the Randari Ympyr didn't want them en masse in their cities and asked the clan to break up (they didn't). The Nightwoods took some of the surface halflings, gnomes and elves and even a few dwarves who wanted to stay. The Gorokian Dwarves were rude and insulting to the wandering Reetersbeard and the Jarlborrin were uncomfortable with their return.

What was decided was that the Jarlborrin would "give up" one of their eastern (and poor) holdings called Ironcamp (which incidentally was one of the original holdings of the Reetersbeard dwarves) which they could "pay" for with 75% of the production of the land and the dwarves (and other races) living there being given to the Jarlborrin as lease and payments - with the land being deeded over to the Reetersbeard Dwarves at that time - it would be theirs free and clear.

The Reetersbeard dwarves thought about it and the concensus was they did not want to travel any further - this was their ancestral home. They took the deal.

And they worked hard for it. 3 coins of every 4 made went to the Jarlborrin's coffers. 3 sledges of marble or every 4 went west to Sorton. 3 gems of every 4 mined from the ground, 3 timbers of every 4 felled from the forests, 3 bags of grain of every 4 tilled from the earth went east to Jarlborrin while the Reetersbeard Dwarves subsisted on what remained. They bartered and traded and begged and scavenged from Tilani to Erylond for any job, any food, and resource they could help to extend their comfort and livelihood another year and get closer to fulfilling their lease without defaulting on it and losing their right to eventually live free again.

When the call to war came and the tribes of dwarves and gnomes struck out against the Randari Ympyr - the Reetersbeard Dwarves did not get involved - they were under no compunction to go to war and could not be enticed to do so by any means - instead they hunkered down and waited until it ended and then went back to paying off their debt.

Finally, almost 80 years ago - the last of the payments had been made the the Reeterbeard dwarves were free.

And they turned their industry and efforts to what they had been doing best for the last 3/4 of a century - acting as the middleman and merchant for the many dissimilar groups, cities, towns, clans, holdfasts, keeps, and despots that littered the now shattered Randari lands. They turned their minds to the best way to generate income and spawned huge caravans that traveled the busted roads and highways - sending hundreds of road repair crews ahead of the caravans to make sure the passage with safe and in good shape. Three times a year the great caravans made their way around the traderoads -the trip taking 75 to 80 days each cycle - and each cycle they pick up goods in one place and deliver them to another to be sold and take a small piece of the profits - which goes back to Ironcamp and helps improve the lives of the Reetersbeard dwarves and those who have stuck with them even in time of adversity.