Session 33 - Since When Can You F****** FLY?!

Tue 29th Dec 19:45 - 23:00

In-game timeline: Uktar 13 - Uktar 13 DR1489

One of our "Heroes" is currently dangling down a deep shaft, hanging by a rope held by two of his friends, while our other "Hero" peers down into the dark to try to see what may be going on.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, Alwaith hears a deep, slow voice, speaking in Draconic, seemingly surprised to be having a late breakfast delivered to him/her via a rope.

At this point Alwaith surprises everyone present (including the DM) by sprouting wings and flying quickly back up the shaft back to his stunned "friends", two of whom are picking themselves up from the floor having fallen backwards when the weight on the rope had suddenly disappeared.

Amidst grumblings of "That's the last fucking time I help lower you down on a rope, given that you CAN FLY!" from the two dwarves, Alwaith quickly passes on his assumption that there is a dragon down there and maybe they ought to hide. Which they promptly did, though nothing more appeared from the shaft.

Deciding that perhaps the shaft may not be the best option for entering the Fortress at the moment, they trek back round to the main entrance. Nige is produced, in his owl form, to scout round the main entrance doors and he reports back that he hasn't seen anything particularly suspicious, though he did manage to find Dwarrow's old warhammer that seemed to have been casually discarded down there some months ago.

They make their way down to the entrance, and then spend a while arguing about possible "safe options" for escape or retreat, eventually coming to the conclusion that there is no real safe option - running away as fast as their various legs/magic boots will carry them is their primary plan in that circumstance.

And so our "Heroes" head into the Fortress once again, but this time they spot that the area which Nabla had mentioned (and which Meepo had previously pointed out) that supposedly led to the Kobold 'village', had been cleared of rubble and was now passable. They decide to check this out.

The first door they come to is locked. Drogan was chomping at the bit to smash it down, but Devon stepped in and deftly picked the lock. Drogan was hyped up at that point though, and so persuaded Devon to open the door so he could run right in and surprise whatever was in there.

Which turned out to be a very large, steel vat, which Drogan promptly ran straight into, knocking the last remaining bit of sense out of him. There was some writing on a sign above the vat, but Drogan couldn't read it. And so he decided, whilst the others were busy fetching Alwaith - correctly deducing that the sign may be in Draconic, to bend down and open the tap that emerged from the vat.

The sign, later translated by Alwaith as saying "Dragon's Mead - take care - STRONG!", was proved to be correct, as the gas formed by centuries old mead that had fermented, then evaporated, entered Drogan's body and promptly made him fall down, intensely drunk. Seeing this, Dwarrow covered his own nose and mouth and quickly shut off the tap, preventing more of the toxic gas from escaping.

After considering resting for many hours to wait for the effects to wear off, Dwarrow tried instead to cast a restoring spell on Drogan and that seemed to bring him back to whatever Drogan's sense of normality is. And so they pressed on, after making Drogan promise not to touch anything. He had his fingers crossed behind his back, though.

The next large room smelt bad. Real bad. And that was BEFORE Drogan entered it. It seemed to have been used as a latrine of some sorts by a bear-like creature. Before the party could decide what to do next, they were set upon by a number of rats that came out of the shadows. The rats were dealt with without much bother, only Dwarrow taking a small amount of damage from a bite, though the process of getting rid of them was not a quiet one - with tolling death-bells and booming blades going off left, right and centre.

The group pressed on with caution, though stealth was a little pointless at this stage. Devon discovered a room full of small fire-beetles, and assumed the next room was similar, due to the flickering light through the keyhole, so left that one alone. Devon crept up and found a large, ornate hall, seemingly empty, though he couldn't see the end - or even the middle of it. The others crept up to join him and Drogan, with his better eyesight, saw a small bear-like cub playing in the room. The cub had spotted him too, so the barbarian tried to soothe and calm the cub, which seemed to work, and the cub ran off to the far end of the room.

Drogan followed, only to be faced by the cub's parents. These two were not happy, and not in the mood to be soothed. Roll for initiative!

The battle was short, but quite tough. Drogan, being on the front line, bore the brunt of the attacks from all three of the beasts, and the mummy bear was especially tough. With the others sniping from the back lines, and Dwarrow, having initially run away in fright, providing just-in-time healing, Drogan, in his raging state, just about managed to absorb all the vicious blows and bites from the creatures, and soon all three were no more. Drogan needed some healing after the fight, and didn't initially spot a small kobold face appear at a door opposite and fire off an Eldritch Blast, which flew above their heads to crash into the wall behind.

As the kobold closed the door, Drogan rushed to smash into the door, not thinking to try and just open it. By the time Drogan got the door open, he saw a short corridor and a door just closing on the other side. In a show of uncharacteristic caution, Drogan just stopped himself from continuing to pursue the fleeing kobold, instead returning to the others.

The group spent some time exploring the area around the great hall - finding a small amount of loot in the owlbears' nest, along with a hairpin that may belong to poor Breena - it was her birthday only the other day, you know - which was nestled amongst some fresh bones. They also discovered a kitchen, some pantries (Dwarrow helped himself to some herbs… again) and a tunnel they suspected led to the U N D E R D A R K!

The last remaining unexplored door seemed to be barred from the inside. Drogan, followed by Dwarrow, tried to smash the door down and both failed abysmally. In the meantime another Eldritch blast shot out of the far door and this time smashed into Drogan, causing much more annoyance than damage.

And so we leave our "Heroes" considering their options. Do they pursue the annoying Kobold into the unknown, or make more of an embarrassment of themselves trying to open a barred door. Or maybe check out the suspected fire beetles room that they ignored? Or even retrace their steps and try a different route? So many choices, not enough time.