The registrars, Capt. Felosial and Mayor Vurnor Leng confront the party outside the Ol' Boar Inn. They've counted the gems and coins, but suspect the party has hidden some magic items that must be accounted for. A crowd of townspeople gathers. Things get tense, but Bronwyn assures Br. Fletcher things will turn out OK.

Leng demands the booty and the adventurers refuse. Leng orders Capt. Felosial to arrest them. Knowing she and her deputies can't take them, she hesitates. The party braces for a fight.

Then somebody in the crowd throws something.

It's a copper piece. It lands on the dusty ground by the mayor. Then, one by one, the people start piling up coins and jewelry.

The boy who threw the copper explains, "These good men are heroes, sir. We don't want to see them arrested." The people are grateful the monsters from the Citadel are all slain, and didn't much like the kind of people the auction attracted twice a year. They haven't seen a street party like that in a while, either.

Fearing a tax riot, Mayor Leng and orders the arrest again, then Kerowyn Hucrele arrives in her sedan chair. Seizing her chance to change the unpopular tax code, she offers to pay the party's taxes, reminding them it's only a loan and not to default. "When I am forced to collect, people die."

As the registrars count the silver and copper, the men say their good-byes to Felosial and Bronwyn, and stock up on armor and weaponsmithing tools.

Then Sgt. Grendar Kuln approaches.

Mission of Mercy

Kuln needs the apple. His townspeople are still dying from poisoned well water, but Fletcher and Andrinor have given the apple to the Pelor contingent about to leave for Greyhawk. Kuln begs for the apple.

The brothers explain the Blasingdell situation, and Sir Rondar, the paladin in charge, gladly turns over the apple.

Kuln pays half of the cost of six horses, and the party begins to ride to Blasingdell, when Elgrin Timbers catches up to them.

The Saga of Durgeddin the Black

Timbers asks Andrinor about his newly deciphered scroll. "What was the inscription on the scroll case?"

Andrinor answers "Khundrukar."

Timbers nearly faints. "Khundrudar!" Do you lads know what you have in your hands? Proof that it's not a myth! Hold a moment and I'll tell you the saga of Durgeddin the Black and the Khundrukar.

"Durgeddin the Black was a master dwarf weaponsmith who forged some of the most powerful magic weapons ever created.

Now, centuries ago, The Black's home was sacked by orcs. Durgeddin led what was left of his clan to a secret fortress carved right into the belly of a mountain: The Khundrukar. From there he waged a vendetta against all of orc-kind. For decades he toiled at his legendary Forge of Fury creating the arms he used in his crusade. That is, until the day the bastards found the Khundrukar and attacked it."

As Elgrin talks, the sky grows darker.

"The battle was awesome, but in the end all the dwarves were slain and the orcs carried off much wealth.

But is said that the deepest and best-hidden vaults and armories escaped the looting, and though they may be guarded by the ghosts of the warriors, some of Durgeddin's legendary blades might still be waiting in the darkness for a hand bold enough to take them."

"And do you know the only place in all the land where you'll still hear that tale?"

Timbers glances at Kuln.

"Blasingdell."

Griffon Finds a Familiar

Armed with this new knowledge, the adventurers, Kuln, and Timbers begin their three-day ride north and west, across the Velverdyva River, up to the foothills of the Yatil Mountains, to the Free City of Blasingdell. Along the way they spot a silver-haired half elf, wearing bright blue armor, riding fast to Oakhurst.

Beginning on the rainy night of the first day, Griffon summons his first familiar, a shadowy, black hawk, who arrives at dawn and completes the magical linking with these words: "I was created a free and wild creature. But summoned by this arcane binding, I freely join with you, sorcerer, as your companion and servant. By what name am I now to be known?"

"Shadowhawk."

"Then it shall be that I, Shadowhawk, and you, Griffon Shadowhawk, shall forever be linked."

The Ceremony of the Midsummer's Fruit

The party arrives at noon on the third day. It is wet and foggy. Kuln leads them to the temple of Pelor where five people, the remaining victims of the poison attack, lay dying. They are the baker, his wife, mother, young son, and infant daughter.

Fletcher performs the ceremony of the Midsummer's Fruit, which he learned from Bleak the Outcast's notes on the Gulthias Tree. He sections the apple into fourths, carefully puts aside the seeds, and gives glory to Pelor. Then he feeds the apple to the four oldest ones. As if accompanied by a choir of angels, the color miraculously returns to their faces and they wake up.

Then Andrinor unfurls the scroll of heal taken from the Dragonpriest. As he chants the divine right, the baby takes a halting breath, holds it… and then lets loose with a hearty yowl!

The grateful priests shout "Amen!" tend to the family. The head priest suggests the party visit the mayor, Sir Miles Berrick, at his weekly public audience held at the Griffon's Nest Inn. "He will certainly commission you to seek out these evil orcs and end this menace."

That's Twelve and a Half Per Ear

The party shops Tolm's Superior Outfitting and Dry Goods for an hour before the audience. Kheldegan Tolm is an affable dwarf who likes to bargain. The party picks up some choice weapons and armor.

It's standing room only at The Griffon's Nest as the party pushes their way to the Mayor's table.

The mayor, a huge brute, arrives a moment later armed with a leg of mutton and a tankard of mead. "…so he says to the madam 'Her brassiere? Then what happened to the two beholders!'" The guards and lackeys laugh heartily at the joke as he takes his seat, and his herald, a little fop named Herbert, makes his announcement with a flourish.

"Be upstanding! This 102^nd public audience is hereby in session! Now here he is, Slayer of the Red Wyvern, Protector of the Velverdyva, Vanguard of the Yatils, Lord Mayor of the Free City of Blasingdell, Sir Miiiiiles Berrick!"

The crowd goes wild for their popular baron, and he graciously bows and gestures at his people.

"Be seated!" he says, his mouth half full of mutton. He takes a drink so as not to choke, and begins again. "Our first order of business tonight; you may have heard the Baker and his family were still gravely ill from the well poisoning last week. Well, we have good news! It seems a company of heroes from Oakhurst, led here by the good Sgt. Grendar Kuln (take a bow Kuln) has brought the Midsummer's Fruit we sought! And I'm happy to report they have successfully healed Baker and his family!"

Again the crowd applauds happily and Berrick continues. "Come forth, heroes, so that you may be dully thanked!"

Fletcher and the men step forward amid cheers and slaps on the back.

Winnefred then leaps from her perch on the balcony. The guards tense as she executes two midair somersaults and lands at the feet of Sir Miles, a dagger held high in tribute. "We are Winnefred's Warriors."

Berrick purrs at Winnefred, looking her up and down, "and what is your name, my dear?"

"I am Winnefred Wyldfulk, the leader of this party."

He is completely smitten with the halfling barbarian.

After all that, Berrick rewards the party with free drinks, but he raises the bounty on the orcs to 25 pieces of gold per orc slain. Herbert officially commissions the party to hunt orcs. They must turn ears to collect their money. The best place to start looking? The nearby Yatil Mountains.

The Hunt for the Khundrukar

The next morning the party heads into the mountains to hunt for orcs. They pick up Winnefred in the Halfling Quarter where she roomed with a local family. She has hired some halfling attendants to watch their horses while they are off dungeon crawling. A bouquet of wildflowers came for her earlier with a card signed "M.B."

The fog has cleared and the mountains are visible, about 30 miles distant. Taliesan notices something vaguely familiar about them but can’t place it. He searches for and locates a trail - four humanoids.

They follow it for three days right up to the foot of the tallest mountain, which the locals call the Stone Tooth.

As they approach, the area seems familiar most of the adventurers, but why? Then, in a flash of inspiration, Fletcher looks at the scroll - on the back is a drawing that looks exactly like the Stone Tooth!

Assault on the Mountain Door

The party leaves their mounts with the halflings and assumes marching order. They creep up the switchback trail and spot three orcs!

They quickly and quietly dispatch the creatures, explore the trail further, and discover an ancient doorway carved into the side of the mountain: The Khundrukar. And someone left the front door open

Arrows begin to fly from slits far up the wall and the party, one by one, runs through the door. Griffon is the first in. He sees a large dark room split in two by a deep, wall-to-wall pit, spanned by a flimsy rope bridge. Belayed to Fletcher, Griffon begins to cross it.

When all the characters finally get in they are assaulted by arrows again, this time from the darkness on the other side of the pit. One orc runs for help, another breaks cover and tries to cut through one of the two ropes supporting the bridge.

The party slays the other two and Griffon makes it across and secures the doors on the other side.

I’m not exactly sure what happens here, but I do have in my notes that Andrinor asks Griffon for the Orcish word for "jump." He uses it to command an orc to jump, so he does, right into the pit. I also remember that an orc tried to cut the rope and it held on by one just hit point. At some point the bridge does get at one corner. Also, Casartes tries to fix it, but fails his Use Rope by 1, so it falls apart when, I think, Andrinor tries to cross.

Then the archers from the arrow slits emerge from secret doors on either side of the party still in the first part of the room. They are killed one at a time and Taliesan loots the archer’s galleries.

Casartes crosses helps Griffon rig up a second rope to help the party cross safely.

By this time reinforcements arrive and soon break through the far doors. Casartes waits in ambush and defeats two of the orcs as they run by. Then Old Yarrack, a larger, older orc enters. He and the remaining orc team up and knock the monk to the ground.

Soon the party has surrounds Yarrack, but he escapes before they can slay him. They pursue him a short distance, but he disappears into a pitch-black cave.

Then, out of the darkness they hear human cries. "Help us! Please help us!"

Played at The Gaming Store.

The party discovers a man and woman, Geradil and Coruna; shepherds abducted by the orcs for a ransom that their family can't pay. After a short deliberation they're set free.

The Great Ulfe

The adventurers explore the cave and find a crude kitchen and a well. They head north to follow Old Yarrack and come up against the ogre leader of these orcs, The Great Ulfe. He orders his archers to fire and lets loose his wolves.

The party attacks and Ulfe calls for reinforcements. Yarrack and five orcs come through a fourth tunnel and flank the adventurers, but they defeat them easily, driving three across the rope bridge where Talesian slays two with his bow, but one escapes. Ulfe nearly kills Casartes and Winnefred, but Andrinor deals him the final blow.

This new cave is filled all kinds of loot stolen from caravans and the surrounding villages. Griffon notices that one pile is arranged like a barricade. Beyond it is an iron gate covered in straw mattresses. The party goes through the gate and discovers a large, ornate hall featuring a stairway down. They hear an odd buzzing sound.

The Stirges

The buzzing is a swarm of stirges that have heard the party and flies up the stairs to attack them. The

adventurers slay the stirges easily, but Andrinor and Taliesan receive bad bites.

Then they explore the room. They find two doors, one north, one south. Two skeletons lie on the floor in front of the north door. Just as Winnefred is about to warn Andrinor that the skeletons have been burned, he opens the door. Alchemist's fire engulfs the two. They stumble out of the smoke, alive, but Andrinor loses his scroll of lesser restoration, and Winnefred loses her armor, some of the orc ears and all of her hair.

Burdug the Adept

Through the south door lives Burdug, the orc's adept. She hears Griffon push the door key to the floor as he picks the lock, and orders her female attendants to ready their bows and she readies a spell. The intruders rush the door and slay the attendants. Burdug's sleep and fear have no effect and they quickly dispatch her too, ending the orc occupation of the Khundrukar.

Camp

The adventurers explore the rest of the complex, discovering various treasures, including a magic dagger and rapier, a potion, and more than a thousand silver pieces. Andrinor trips a trapped statue and gets caught in a cloud of weakness gas.

They also discover a secret corridor that bypasses the treacherous rope bridge. Having secured the complex, the party makes camp and takes a well-deserved rest.

Heard the cries of prisoners, screaming for release. After checking bars for traps, Griffon unlocked the prison bars. Fletcher calmed the prisoners, and sent them on their way home.

After searching the room and the kitchen, the party encountered A HUGE ogre, The Great Ulfe and 2 regular orcs with 2 guard wolves.

Despite Fletcher’s pleading for some remote semblance of strategy, Andrinor and Winnefred charged blindly into battle (again), crimping themselves in a narrow area and preventing the rest of the party from assisting them.

Andrinor nearly died after a failed attempt to hit the lil' orcs, but thankfully succeeded in cleaving both of them the next round.

While Winnefred, Andrinor and Casartes continued to annoy the large orc, Taliesan, Fletcher and Griffon battled the two wolves.

Next a band of 5 orcs led by the grizzly orc, "Yarrack," came up behind the party left behind, unable to assist their friends because they rushed blindly into battle without thinking. (has the biased author gotten his point across yet?)

Taliesan, Fletcher and Griffon quickly dispatched 3 orcs in the blink of an eye, sending them into a frenzied retreat. Taliesan gave chase and was able to fell 2 more before 1 escaped across the rope bridge.

Total: 1 Ogre dead

2 Wolves dead

7 orcs dead (1 fell, no ears)

1 orc escaped.

Next they heal up all the party members who were near fatally wounded after carelessly rushing into battle without support from their comrades.

The group searches rooms, get treasure, and break into a wide room where 6 stirges swarm up from below. After easily killing them, the party decides to clear out the level before heading downstairs to more danger.

Wanting experience, and laughing at death, Griffon kicks open the door to a room with 4 orc priestesses.

They die.

After more searching and disarming of traps, the adventurers feel strength course through their bones, and after a short nap will be ready to take on the lower levels as 4^th level characters!

The adventurers wake up the morning of their second day in the Khundrukar, heal, and discover they're almost out of food and water. Andrinor goes to the orc's foul kitchen and purifies enough rotted game for the party to eat for days.

Stirges in the House

On their way out of the Mountain Door level, the adventurers discover and slay four stirges that have gotten through the barricades. They find 320 silver pieces in Burdug's chamber and then go down the grand stairway to the Glitterhame level.

There they find an underground stream, cross it, and enter a large, beautiful, sparkling cave. It harbors six more stirges. They slay them and move through a passage to a mausoleum lit by glowing fungus, and containing 23 marble sepulchres.

The Glitterhame

The tomb rests in the smaller upper level of the main cave of the complex, the true Glitterhame, which is almost 100 yards long. The party finds only three of the sepulchres occupied, and loot a ring and a warhammer. Despite their fears, no undead rise up to punish them.

At the other end of the cave they locate an iron door, but Griffon can only pick one of its twin locks at a time. The door remains locked, and the adventurers resolve to find the keys. They climb a ledge up to a cave and a juvenile grick attacks Winnefred. The party slays it and moves in to dispatch the parents who fall to the party's blades despite their resistance to mundane weapons.

Troglodytes

The adventurers explore another passage and find a room that smells of both fresh air and bear. Javelins fly from the darkness, and when the party moves in far enough to light the cave they discover three troglodyte warriors. Troglodytes exude a fearsome stench in battle, which sickens Taliesan and Griffon. One trog manages to open the cage of a large grizzly bear. The party slays the troglodytes but the bear severely injures Casartes and mortally wounds Winnefred before they finally kill it.

Battered and bruised, the party luckily discovers the source of the fresh air: a long tunnel leading out of the Stone Tooth.

During one of the battles with the stirges, Taliesan should have hit a stirge but I ruled it a miss. The same thing happened again and the party feared his Shatterspike, taken from Sir Bradford in the Twilight Grove, was cursed. Their fears were proven true when he drew the looted dwarf warhammer on a grick and ended up with Shatterspike in his hand instead.

The party takes the evening to use up all the heals spells, and rest. The next morning they realize they are very hungry and only have 1 day of rations left. So Andrinor purified food and Winnefred cooked some stew.

Then we move towards the lower level, and encounter 4 more stirges. They die.

Found 2 bags of silver in a room with many magic items.

We come to a crossroads. Go up past the stream, or follow the stream. We hear the sound of flapping wings (stirges) from the tunnel of water.

We cross over, and go into the Glitterhame. Water sculpted this area, walls flicker. Taliesan spots 6 Stirges hanging from the ceiling. They die.

Cave gets big, we can go up or down another river, instead we keep moving forward. We enter the real Glitterhame freaking HUGE room. A burial room with 23 tombs. We desecrate all of them.

We are stumped by an iron door with 2 locks. Griffon cannot pick it. When looking into other exits, Winnie climbs up towards a cave, and gets attacked by a Grick from the ceiling. We kill and search.

Next we encounter 3 troglodytes and a grizzly bear. They make Taliesan and Griffon ill (-5 str), but die easily. However, the bear grapples Casartes and tries to squish him. Casartes tries to fight back.

He fails.

Miserably.

After the bear is finally dispatched, the party decides to camp, after a long, hard, ½ hour of being awake in the dungeon.

Oh yeah, Taliesan discovers he has a -1 cursed sword. Hee hee. Poor guy.

The adventurers decide to take a break, and party with the Halflings for two nights. Healed and cocky, the party boldly enters the dungeon once again.

They discover a room with a skeleton holding a very nice looking bastard sword. Taliesan, being the experienced ranger that he is, detects poisonous yellow spores moments before Winnie rushes boldly in. Griffon decides to attempt to capture the sword and drag it using a grappling hook. After a good deal of time, he succeeds. The party graciously allows Fletcher to wield the sword.

The party wanders through various rooms, once attempting to follow a small creature, and eventually goes down a long stairway leading to a room where "a river runs through it." Andrinor almost falls down a loud, large waterfall (thinking it was a tiny pool, silly fool). The party decides to check out the tempting cave at the other end.

In the cave they see a large lizard guarding two chests. Winnie yells, "Ranged Attack!"

Andrinor grunts out words of agreement and kneels down near the lizard with shield raised. Fletcher’s bolt bounces off its scales, then the lizard flips a tongue at Andrinor and starts drawing him closer. During the events, Fletcher finds that he is more accurate and deadly while wielding his new sword, thus scoring two critical hits. The party finds lots of silver and a potion .

Next the bold young adventurers descend the spiral stairway to the bottom of the waterfall.

While taking great care and time to explore a room, Fletcher encounters a gray ooze. Barely saving his magic sword from acid, Fletcher swings the 2 handed sword and it is dissolved into a daggerish weapon. Casartes loses a nice staff. Taliesan attempts to lose his weapon to the acid, but feeling love and affection towards the marvelous weapon, changes his mind. The party eventually kills the creature.

Next "the brothers" explore a room full of water containing a floating dead man. Andrinor salvages 2 potions.

In room 33, Winnie throws a dagger at a harmless stalagmite, instead finding it alive and a far from harmless. It entangles Winnie, making her weak, and drawing her near.

Luckily, the usually half-witted Halfling has a burst of brilliance and offers the Roper some Lizard meat in exchange for release and information. Griffon and Winnie take 45 minutes to get the lizard, while Andrinor tempts fate and loses 14 hp in the process. Eventually the creature lets the fortunate adventurers free, and Griffon finds a dead dwarf with a pouch containing 2 keys and 8 platinum.

Stay tuned… and join us next week when the bold adventurers open "The Iron Door."

(insert creepy music)

Bob plays Fletcher and Winnefred, Anthony plays Griffon.

On the other side of the iron door the adventurers find a stairway 30 feet up to an octagonal room guarded by three statues. They hear the sound of hammer on anvil somewhere in the distance. Taliesan notices the secret door behind one statue and the party emerges into a grand hall.

"Stop! Turn back the way you came! This is the only warning you will get." A voice calls from the other end of the room. Taliesan advances and he's hit by three crossbow bolts. Tall, gray-skinned dwarves shimmer into view behind the crossbows. The party positions for attack but Winnefred diffuses the situation with an offer of a deal.

Andrinor helps broker the deal: in exchange for 170 gold the Duergar reveals certain facts. This foundry level is guarded by undead and cursed magic. Far below this level there lairs a young, but brutal, black dragon. One of the rooms is off limits, but the Duergar will escort the party through if they wish to slay the dragon. The party must knock five times on a door before they can enter the grand hall, however.

The Final Resting Place of Durgeddin the Black

To the north lies a desecrated temple to the dwarven pantheon. The room is cold and a palpable feeling of evil hangs in the air. A dead dwarf lies in state on a low dais surrounded by piles of bones. The desiccated and well-armored body of an orc lies on the step.

Sensing the presence of the undead, the party prepares. Then Casartes step on the dais and triggers the guardians. The orc reveals itself as a wight and three ogre skeletons arise from the bone piles and grab their maces. The wight hits Taliesan and he feels an unnatural chill, but that's all.

Andrinor turns the skeletons and they explode. The party surrounds the wight and it finally falls to Casartes' fist.

One of the maces is magical, but the orc's armor, although masterwork, proves useless.

The group moves the monsters out of the shrine, attempting to bring peace to Durgeddin's rest.

The Kitchens

The adventurers intimidate the Duergar slightly by so nonchalantly dragging the wight and skeletons out into the grand hall. They demand the remains be cremated in the kitchen fireplace.

Entering the kitchen triggers a curious trap. A large oaken table actually animates begins to run toward the party. Thinking quickly, Taliesan grabs the torch from Andrinor and throws it on to the table. Its old shellac catches fire, then it slams one of its corners into Griffon's groin. The elf almost catches fire himself so Andrinor creates water above the table.

The room goes dark as the fire is extinguished.

Fletcher casts light on his sword. Most of the party jumps up on counters to avoid the attacks. Casartes and Winnefred leap onto the table itself. It attacks Taliesan and Winnefred falls off, landing on her feet. They attack the table, but its hard wood resists some of the damage. Finally, they decide to just burn it and leave the room. Casartes uses his oil and flint.

Griffon is first to leave the kitchen, but he forgets to knock on the door. The waiting Duergar hit him with their crossbows, fearing an ambush. One by one the party emerges from the smoky kitchen and the Duergar line them up on a wall.

Finally, the table burns away and the party makes camp in the kitchen for the night once the smoke clears.

Just as they settle in to sleep the hammering starts up again in the next room.

Andrinor begins to feel the effects of the disease he picked up wading in the stagnant water of the storage room on the sinkhole level. Fletcher seems to resist the effects. Luckily, the mace he claimed turns out to be +1.

Played at Kirk's house.

Andrinor destroys a room full of skeletons, then they battle the spectre of Arundil, priest of Moradin and Durgeddin's right hand man. He robs Andrinor and Winnefred of some Wisdom in the process, though.

Three more of Arundil's animated guards, a large, deadly rug and two strange mannequins, are defeated by the party's torches.

Then they find a large room with almost 40 bodies - the dwarves' last stand against the orcs. Griffon explores it and discovers a secret passage to the south.

Somewhat beaten, the adventurers camp in a defensible room.

There was no combat in this short game. The adventurers finish exploring the unoccupied sections of the foundry level and declare it "cleared."

Along the way they encounter a lovely young woman who is not what she seems. Idalla begs to be rescued from the plush library where she is being held prisoner by an invoker who lives on the lower level. The party is distrustful and suspects that this and the other things she says are lies. Winnefred backstabs her and Idalla bares fangs, horns and demonic eyes, saying "thank you, my dear!" and disappears in a puff of brimstone smoke. Andrinor reasons "a succubus."

They also find a waterfall at one end of the secret passage and the entrance to the Duergar leader Nimira's personal quarters at the other. They barge in and surprise her, but the incident ends peacefully.

Later they collect on the deal: since the party did not attack her Duergar, Nimira must grant the party access to the dragon's lair far beneath the Khundrukar. Nimira agrees, but sends them off with a sobering speech. "Chromatic dragons are the embodiment of Evil in this world. Once you face Nightscale, win or lose, your souls will never be the same." With that warning, she presents the adventurers with a 200-foot-long iron ladder that they can use to climb down the waterfall at the end of the secret passage to Nightscale's lair.

She lives in a large natural cavern filled with black water from a marsh on the other side of the mountain. Having glimpsed the black dragon's lair, the party decides to retreat and prepare more fully for the slaying.

Everyone present.

Deciding that Nightscale might be too much to handle, the party decides to see what magic they can take from the duergar.

They break into the forge chamber where the duergar have set up their last stand. They consist of Nimira, the leader, Ghared, her second-in-command, a rogue, and Snurrevin, an Illusionist and their blacksmith. Eight warriors with crossbow and battleaxe and Snurrevin's rat familiar back them up.

The forge chamber is a large room bisected by a river. The duergar fire bolts and spells across at the adventurers and they jump the river to stop the archers.

The battle is fierce, with Griffon, Taliesan and Casartes almost dying. Fletcher and Andrinor employ their battlefield medicine expertly.

The warriors fight well, but are no match for the experienced adventurers.

Ghared wins a duel with Griffon, but is slain by Taliesan when he flees to use a healing potion.

Snurrevin employs shield, invisibility and flaming sphere to good effect, but is reduced to defending himself with a dagger when he runs out spells. Taliesan and Winifred slay him.

Nimira is the last duergar standing, only joining the battle after her men have softened up the party. Fletcher shows the adventurers how to avoid her triple attack from her two-bladed sword, and Casartes defends himself amazingly from her full fury. Finally, Griffon mortally wounds her with a sneak attack and Fletcher finishes her off.

They figure out how to use the Forge of Fury to destroy Shatterspike. They also discover several magic weapons made by Snurrevin, a magic shield, gold, some scrolls and a healing potion.

THE FORGE OF FURY

GAME 9

SEPTEMBER 29, 2001

Everyone present.

She barely raises her eyes and snout out of the black water and breathes forth a gout of stinking acid at the only character she can find, Winnefred, hanging from the other bridge. Then she dives under again, all but invisible, and charges Andrinor. Inexplicably, she stops short, looks him in the eye, and hisses "You, you’re the one," then dives back into the water.

Next target, Taliesan, then back to the safety of the river, and another breath attack, avoiding Andrinor.

This time the acid has no effect on the adventurers thanks to the resist elements, so she charges, and nearly kills, Winnefred. This time the characters are ready and she takes a flurry blades from Taliesan and Winnefred, and a light spell from the hand of Andrinor. Marked and unable to hide underwater, she retreats to the darkest recesses of the cavern, and dispels the light.

The adventurers take the opportunity to heal and reposition, and it pays off.

Nightscale swims in fast, but she’s spotted. She charges Fletcher – from underneath - who gets in a vicious hit with his sword. Then Casartes jumps on her back and begins to hammer off layers of scales. Griffon uses a true strike to send home an arrow.

Nightscale ignores Casartes for a time, but then rolls around and around underwater to knock him off. He surfaces, almost unconscious, and she follows, only to get hit by another true strike arrow from Griffon.

The horse-sized dragon flounders in the water, now turned green from her profuse bleeding. With her last breath she croaks out "you might take my hoard but I hope you choke on it," then charges Fletcher, the good priest she hates. She also takes the opportunity to sew discord in the party and whispers something to him.

Fletcher strikes back hard with his +1 bastard sword.

Then Griffon gets in behind her.

His +1 rapier finds its way through a chink in Nightscale’s armor coat, and strikes the dragon’s foul heart. He removes the weapon, Nightscale rolls her eyes back, and falls to the ground, slain.

Everyone present.

The final Forge session leads the party to their next adventure.

Nightscale lies dead at their feet. Winnefred takes the head while Griffon, Fletcher and Casartes search for her treasure hidden inside a sphere of magical darkness. When it subsides they discover thousands of silver coins, and three magic weapons, including an urgrosh, Arundil's warhammer and Durgeddin's bastard sword.

They quickly make their way out of the Khundrukar and back to the campsite and the halflings escort the heroes back to Blasingdell. There is no hero's welcome, though, as the rainy season has started early this year and most of the residents have already left for the huge Brindinford Faire.

They stop at the temple of Pelor so Winnefred and Andrinor can be restored from their ability damage. Sister Alonsa cures Winnefred, but she senses an evil presence when she prays over Andrinor. It turns out an evil god is granting him access to the trickery domain, and expects Andrinor to turn traitor as payment. She sends him back into the Khundrukar to consecrate the defiled areas and hopefully come to terms with the problem.

Sir Miles gives the adventurers a hearty welcome, calls for a feast, and offers the party jobs guarding the town over the lonely rainy season. They decline, deciding to attend the Faire where they will be able to sell their loot. He pays them for their orc ears, but Kerowyn Hucrele has garnished most of their payment.

Winnefred accepts his offer to spend the evening at the castle as his guest.

The next day, the group accepts jobs guarding the many merchants' barges heading down the Velverdyva river. They earn free passage to Brindinford, almost twelve days travel to the south.

Kirk takes over next game as Dungeon Master of The Speaker in Dreams.