Volume 1, Chapter 8 - A letter from Sir Jed Kingsdown to his parents
General Summary
Dear Mother and Father,
I hope things are well with you. The man (Bertolf) I sent to repay my debt to the family should have arrived to pay off my debt. As I did in fact save his life from a dragon, please feel free to try and extract further concessions from him. I certainly tried.
I thought I should write as you wanted to be kept updated on my progress. As the last thing the gentleman I sent saw would have been my party and I facing a big white dragon, I thought you might feel a degree of concern. We have in fact successfully driven off the beast and looted it’s lair. My fortunes are considerably recovered and the party was greatly enriched by the experience. However, we had to remove ourselves from the area as the we had recently killed the dragons younger brother. I hope to eventually mount it’s skull on my shoulder.
We all woke up in a mountain shelter, cold, aching and smelling of dead wolf. Lavanel had seen the dragon land towards its lair. Belsa and Kors pointed us towards Dolon and said she’d be heading into the pass to look for travellers. After a quick scan of the pass, we saw a ruined fort and village beside the river. Intending to head towards the river to catch boats to the lowlands, we heard a voice behind us.
It was Rhobur; plunging down the path towards us with giant winter wolves at his heels. Immediately the party leapt into action, with fireballs and thunder and shapeshifting shaking the mountain path. We managed to slaughter the wolves and headed further down the mountain. We then heard yet ANOTHER shout, and spotted a half orc coming down from the ruined fortress. Arpeggio, the Bard that Father thought was very pretty, had headed towards town so was caught in the open when something flickered across the sky. A Periton plunged down on Arpeggio while the rest of us, including the half orc, ran for the ruin. Fortunately for Arpeggio, the Periton dropped him into the courtyard of the broken fortress. The foolish creature was quickly killed by Rhobur’s moon beam, but had attracted the attention of his master, the aforementioned dragon. Carnage ensued.
I may want to get myself checked by a priest, as every shot I took bounced or missed. Rhobur tried to reason with it, but we were driven back by it’s frozen breath. Luckily we had enchanted wolf pelts on to protect us from some of the freezing blast. Rhobur then called down more moonbeams upon it, searing it with holy fire. Lavanel was briefly knocked out, but rallied by Argpeggio’s healing word while Talia was refreshed by Rhobur. Constantly blasted by Rhobur’s moonbeam, the final blow was dealt with Arpeggio throwing a fireball.
After a brief pause, and being serenaded by Arpeggio, we headed onwards to the town. I explained to Karnak (the female half orc who was in the fortress) the incredible sequence of events that led us to facing down the dragon. Karnak was intrigued by our venture (world saving) and asked if we required another companion. As I’m sure you’re aware, our friend Helda has recently been called away by her deity, so we were very happy to have a new warrior by our side. We all wandered into the village by the river, into a shack like tavern by the name of the Picks Head. I slapped down some money to celebrate our survival, ensuring that all the commoners could have their revels. As you taught me, largesse is essential for the good will of the plebs.
We met a miner by the name of Adwe Donde, a robust young woman who worked in the Silverford mines, with a gnome companion called Jewfitt. Apparently the mines were suffering from a goblin infestation. We were originally intending to simply move on past the town by boat, but found that none were heading to Dolon without the mines being opened. Gamble became irate at the obstructionist ship captains and threatened one. This was completely unwarranted and uncivilised behaviour. I thought it appropriate to cast a spell to calm her down and bring her along to reassert the sovereignty of the King over the territory.
Near the mine we met Dozer, the gnomish owner of the mine. While not entirely enthusiastic, Dozer was willing to let us clear the mine in return for ordering a boat to carry us to the city. I politely asked Gamble (still enchanted) to lead the way and hid her swords. This was fair, as they were supposed to be MY swords, but as I had forgiven her I considered it a fair prank. Almost immediately we entered the mine we were accosted by two goblins. They were rapidly despatched, Lavanel opening the first wounds before Gamble ripped them apart. But Rhobur (as a giant spider) was already scuttling onwards, finding yet more goblins rushing towards us in the dark. Arpeggio destroyed a cluster of them with thunderwave before Rhobur plunged onto the survivors from the ceiling. Next a pair of hobgoblins attacked, only for Gamble to gut one while Karnak pulped the other. The three bugbears who appeared were similarly despatched.
Rhobur continued to scout in his spider form, followed by Gamble. They found a box, which they eventually opened to find a trove of wealth. After some more searching, Gamble made her most incredible failure to open a chest so far; she stuck both of her hands to a mimic. WhileRhobur helped by spitting more sticky stuff over the struggling pair, I assisted Lavanel shoot the amorphous beast full of holes while Karnak, despite being grappled by the beast, pounded it into liquid.
I had a brief altercation with Gamble outside the cave, due to the minor prank. But she had been positively beastly, threatening poor boat captains down on the dock like a common pirate. I had to do something. We spoke to Dozer, who returned the miners to work and said he’d send us to Dolon on the next boat. That being decided, we headed into town to relax. I had a very tasty brace of conies at the tavern, though Arpeggio seemed disappointed with his fish and chips sodderoot. Lavanel vanished upstairs for some mysterious elven reason.
I later found out that Gamble was feeling despondent and wandered down to the river. She spoke to the rivermen down there of her sadness over the departure of Helda. She befriended a boatsman called Gyrax.
Later that night Arpeggio played for the tavern, with Karnak headbanging away in the front row. She was looking truly brutal, and I was moved to ask her to dance. She whirled me wildly around the room, it was delightful. Lavanel returned to the festivities with Apollo, her beast companion who was slain by the wyrmling. She explained that she is bonded with Apollo for life now, so his spirit is always able to be called forth, and with her elven magic she is able to construct a new body for him. I’m sure I could find a use for this. Lavanel then spent the evening dancing with Rhobur. The night was filled with revelry. We played a game of knuckle bones and I asked Karnak to walk with me under the starry night skies. She declined, politely, so perhaps the prospect is still open. When morning broke we grabbed our quick breakfasts and headed towards the docks.
Unfortunately, we had to row the boat ourselves. Gamble made all sorts of sarcastic comments and Arpeggio got into an argument with the boatman about maritime methodology. I paid little attention. The rowing was exhausting, though I had a delicious meat pastry as we continued down the river. It was then we were attacked by a band of bug bears. Gyrax was speared by a javelin and the boat began to drift. Again, Karnak with her hammer and Rhobur with the moonbeam did most of the damage. I spent most of my time falling over. I hate boats.
We managed to rest and bind our wounds before continuing down the river. The city came into view as the evening came on and Gyrax, the boatman, told us of the various taverns that were available to us. We passed a palatial building, the name of which escapes me, before heading towards the docks near Little Mitzu. We disembarked the boat in the exotic environs of the Mitzu quarter. Even this late at night the place was vibrant with trade and revels. We headed towards a tavern that was called The Eye of Mercannan.
Report Date
03 Feb 2017
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