(G565 06/07/2024 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) YI-B8

(G565 06/07/2024 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) YI-B8

[Myself (your humble narrator, Rollo the Druid), Reinward the Chosen One and Fangornio the Barbarian have saved the village of Hartsvale from a very naughty dragon. We stayed to help the villagers for a while but have now returned home to Yag Island.]

DAY 632 (15th Uktar) (November) cont ...

Back on Yag Island we divided up and sold the loot. After that I teleported back to Sasserine to check on Lavinia. I also purchased a nice big Bag of Holding IV.

Reinward left cash from the Reaper for Dak and a Pearl of Power for Sparkledingle.

Well, it was good to be home (at the Vanderboren Manor), sleeping in a very comfortable bed. My heavily pregnant wife is snoring like a drain these days, which is keeping me awake.

I must say though, it will be nice to get some rest after all the excitement first in the Wasp Dungeon and then defeating that pesky dragon. And in such random company too. Ideally I would want to be doing this sort of thing with my usual companions - Dak, Sylvia, Irritator and Jiggles for instance.

Now I seem to be in the dubious company of "Reinward the Chosen One" who I admit is pretty handy with those magical daggers of his, but is immensely annoying. I do feel rather as if Fenrir had had enough of him and has palmed him off on me! Swapping him out for Dak who is also pretty annoying but at least I had got used to him. Do I miss him? Perhaps that would be going a bit too far, but I do sometimes feel like he prefers the company of Fenrir and Sparkledingle and this does hurt a little.

And then we have Fangornio, who may as well be an axe on legs for all that he has to say. He is at least not annoying, but he does have a habit of running off down dungeon corridors if you don't keep an eye on him!

DAY 633 (16th Uktar) (November)

Today I went into town and found a scholar to take a look at the hill giant toes I had collected but he didn't know anything about the larger ones. Some sort of sub-species he suggested, perhaps born from magic.

I took over one of the empty rooms for sorting out all my dragon bits. Kept it quiet from the misses of course. Valturnax's head is in good shape and will make a fine trophy. His skin has cured decently, but its not great. It would make reasonable armour, but I already have some. I'll think on it.

DAY 634 (17th Uktar) (November)

Another day at the Manor. Reinward and Fang are in Sasserine too and only come back at night to pick up clean clothes. Dirty stop-outs. 

DAY 635 (18th Uktar) (November)

Another day at home with my wife. I've spent most of the day writing journals and organising my notes.

DAY 636 (19th Uktar) (November)

Tonight I went to a nearby tavern with Reinward and Fang. We overheard a conversation between a group of adventurers. For the record they were:

Marco Grimhammer - a male dwarf fighter

Talya Grimhammer - a female dwarf cleric (Marco's cousin)

Volume Honkbarker - a male half-orc bad

I was just there for a few beers, but we got talking to them. They had a contract to recover a "Mystical Beacon", but the dungeon it was in was well beyond their capabilities.

They were new to the adventuring lark, having only ever taken on some goblin bandits and that sort of thing. The dungeon in question did sound rather nasty, but me and my friends were seasoned  dragon slayers and laughed in the face of danger.

We took the contract off them in exchange for as much booze as they could manage and a place to sleep back at the Manor. Luckily for me, Lavinia was already asleep when I got back.

DAY 637 (20th Uktar) (November)

Marco and his friends left in the morning. I could see the servants muttering about the mess we had left from the night before, but all Lavinia did was roll her eyes at me.

We looked over the contract again. It was referred to a place known as the "Chambers of Infernal  Malice". It sounded delightful and was in the mountains to the east, south of Dolphin Gulf.

There were vague directions on how to get there. The starting point for the direction was a well known landmark in the area, a free standing spur of rock. I have flown over it a couple of times so knew it well enough to Teleport us there. I don't know what the locals call it but I've been calling it Poker Rock.

It did not take long to find the entrance to the Chambers. Apparently the "beacon" we were looking for was a white icosahedron, about the size of a football.

The first thing we encountered was a set of massive doors covered in magical glowing symbols.

Reinward started by poking it with a stick. He then proceeded to poke all the symbols in various orders until me and Fang grew bored of it and grabbed a handle each and threw the doors open. Luckily nothing bad happened.

A set of stone stairs lead down deeper into the Chambers and there was a door at the bottom. Once opened we found ourselves in a large room. There were piles of old wood and broken  stone everywhere. Reinward put on his magic blindfold and went for a creep about in the gloom. A door to the south was found and we all listened at it. It sounded like something big was behind it.

Reinward also heard something in the furthest corner of the room, a tapping and scrapping sound. Further investigations found a secret door. As Reinward poked about he was talking about books he was looking to buy. I assume this, either that or he was talking nonsense.

'How about "Beasts of Burden: A Guide" by Don Key, have you head of that one Rollo? I also need a copy of "The Lusty Lass: Sea Adventures" by Seymour Buoys. You like books, do you have a copy?'

Fang had lost interest in our chat and had gone back to the door to the south. He opened it and charged in. Right into a nest of four gargantuan purple worms!

'Fang, you silly bugger!' I shouted as I went in after him. Reinward held back and threw daggers at the worms. The daggers were aimed very well and did lots of damage, but they could only do so much against such large monsters.

I was in this new chamber alongside Fang, but trying to keep back so I could summon some beasts. These worms could burrow though, and one came up underneath me and I went down into its maw head-first! Somehow I managed to Teleport out of its mouth, thank the Gods.

Fang was gobbled up for a few moments too, before Reinward killed off the purple worm with some very timely daggers. Fang yelled, worm slobber flying everywhere, and charged at another of them.

One of the others was making for Reinward, but I managed to pin it in place with a Sudden Stalagmite spell. Another one went for him as well, but he managed to avoid its bites with his Ring of Blinking. He then managed to kill the pinned one. That left only two worms.

I pinned the other one near Reinward, but is still managed to stretch out behind me and swallow Fang whole! Daggers thrown by Reinward killed it though and we could hear Fang chopping and cursing inside it as he cut his way out.

There was only one worm left. It was already badly injured but if it got to Reinward and swallowed him then it was probably all over for all of us, so I ran forward to offer myself as a tempting target. It got me by the leg and I was half-swallowed by the time the daggers started flying. The final worm slumped to the ground dead and I pulled myself out of its maw, covered in yucky drool. Reinward gave me a nod, acknowledging what I had just done. Did he ever doubt me, I wonder?

All four were dead. It had been a dangerous fight. A bit too close really I think and things could have gone a lot better if Fang had not been so foolhardy. He's a brave lad, but undisciplined - but then I suppose that is rather a barbarian's job description.