After running out of the catacombs filled with blackened bones, the exhausted raiders rested briefly before heading home. They caught up with Jerker and Chad at the ruined tower. The next day, they all walked back to the homestead. There, they relaxed for a month before making another trip to the Doukreg. Meanwhile, the large diamond and the unicorn pendant were sold for gold, which was divided evenly between the four of them. Aderian took leave to attend a musical performance and they didn’t see him for before leaving. Tienarth used this time to analyze the ring recovered from the shrine, finding it be a Ring of the Grey Warden. Though they expected Jerker, he did not show up before it was time to leave and they went on without him.
Danger in the Mountains
Tienarth’s Raiders started off on the two-day trek to Doukreg on the 9th day of the 4th month, that one called Angel. As they climbed up the mountain road, they came upon a white dragon hunched over a goat, its white fur splattered with fresh blood. The old elf instinctively murmured the oft-cast haste spell. Ferris dashed over the 80 yards between them and beast, and owing to his magical speed, was able to slash at the unsuspecting foe. Chad and Florida scuffled briefly as they dashed into brush for cover. Before the dragon could begin to spin around, the thief had slashed it twice more. It collapsed in a gurgling heap, drowning in its own blood.
The dragon corpse seemed like a valuable treasure, and they made plans to return it to St. Orlan immediately. Foregoing the mundane solution of walking back, Tienarth insisted on the highly magical scheme in which he polymorphed himself into a roc and flew back to fetch their wagon. He arrived home before dark. The rest of them made camp there in the ancient road.
As he flew off, Tienarth instructed the other three to skin the dragon while he was away. They found this command purposeless given the plan to return the entire dragon via wagon the next day. They roasted the goat meat over a small fire and took turns at watch.
The next day, Tienarth caught up with Jerker and the two drove the wagon up into the mountains to meet with the other three. Jerker made good use of his giantish strength to load the dragon into the wagon. As it was nearly dusk, they spent another night in the cool mountain air.
Ferris took the first watch and was rewarded by an unwelcome intruder, a hulking wolfen form. The thief kicked at the elf to wake him. The wolf tore into the thief with sharp teeth, but moments later a flurry of magic missiles cast by the elf killed the beast. The fallen corpse slowly transformed into a human shape, revealing it to be a werewolf. Before turning over the watch to Jerker, Ferris cracked open the werewolf’s skull and carefully wrapped the brain in an oil cloth. He explained it would be useful in brewing potions.
Roc Attack
In the morning, they drove the wagon back down the road towards St. Orlan. Presently, a giant crab spider wandered across their path. Ferris, killed it easily. As they came to the old ford across the Belneniasa River, a shadow passed over them. Above them dove the ominous shape of a gigantic bird. They knew this as the roc that once took Ghevont’s horse in the Tosasth Valley. Jerker responded by violently pushing the dragon corpse out of the wagon and commanding the rest of them to flee.
Dark wings, 80′ across, blew a cloud of dust as the great bird came to ground and clutched the dragon in his talons. Moments later it was aloft again, lifting itself skywards and back to the north. Tienarth shook his first at the bird impotently. The rest of them took the loss of the dragon with little passion, but the old elf lamented its loss for some time, explaining only “I wanted that dragon hide!” He also complained that he’d told them to skin it while he was fetching the wagon.
Still obsessed with the roc, Tienarth used the magic mirror to scry it. The purplish mirror showed a nest built of various logs. The roc tore dragon flesh into bits that deposited in the eager mouths of its monstrous fledglings. A mother bird perched nearby.
A Second Try
They made ready for another trip up the mountain road on Angel 11th. Jerker brough along two goats as a hedge against another roc attack and perhaps as a makeshift alarm device. They made it Doukreg in two days with no further trouble. Once there, they camped in the rubble and then found Filmigar Grubbycheek still working in his mine.
Jerker explained he had fetched as wagon and now wanted to negotiate for an even split of the value of the gold ore. Grubbycheek reminded him there was no such deal, but offered 1,000 gold coins for the service of transporting the ore to St. Orlan. The party accepted this deal. It took little time for Jerker to haul 1,000lbs of ore out of the chasm to load into the wagon. They set off for St. Orland immediately.
As before, they were disturbed by giant crab spiders who scrambled out of the brush. While the dwarven miner hid beneath the tarp with gold ore and the goats, the other jumped into battle. Florida and Chad made ineffectual swings at the giant arachnids while Jerker and Ferris chopped at them. Spiders bit both Chad and Florida. The dwarf shrugged off the poison, but the bite on the mage’s arm turned black immediately. Quick-thinking and quick-acting, Ferris produced a vial of anti-toxin that stopped the poison.
Returning to St. Orlan
They camped that night at the ruined tower. Perhaps attracted by the goats, four wolves cautiously strolled into the firelight. They pounced on one of the goats. Jerker and Ferris rushed to slash at the wolves who were easily defeated. They did not transform into humans and were considered ordinary wolves. Jerker butchered them and and the fallen goat to make a fine feast.
The next day, they found themselves back in St. Orlan before nightfall. After rising with the sun, they brought the gold ore to Sheriff Bremlai, who also served as mayor and crime boss. He agreed to buy the ore from Grubbycheek as he bought most goods the raiders found in the nearby wilderness with no questions asked.
Grubbycheek then made an interesting offer. Instead of 1,000 gold coins, he would offer 10% of this gold mine instead. With proper funds, he could hire a crew to extract even more gold. The negotiated for some time and agreed to a 20% share for Tienarth’s Raiders. Grubbycheek would need safe passage back to the mine and said that judging by their experience going over the mountain, travelling underground was a lot safer.
End Notes
- Treasure: 20% ownership in Grubbycheek Mining Enterprises
- Combat 1690 xp
- White Dragon 610 xp
- Werewolf 280 xp
- 5 Giant Crab Spiders 500 xp
- 4 Wolves 300 xp
- Characters 338 xp each
- Chad (avoid combat) 375 xp
- Ferris (surprise) 375 xp
- Florida (rugged, fight) 345 xp
- Jerker (fight, strength, protect) 382 xp
- Tienarth (passionate, wilderness, magical means) 348 xp