Played 11/14/20 IRL, 4/20/2122 IG.

Clan Rumbleseed Dwarves

• Ivo Flynt (Imre) Support, Gunsmith, Engineer, Delver.
• Thoreson Grimeater (Anders) Berserker, Chef, Healer.
• Vanmil Glowhide (Kriss) Vanguard, Adept, Jeweler.

Clan Caskbound Dwarves

• Devron Leveller (Mark) Berserker. Chosen, Mason.
• Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.

The dwarves prepared their defenses, expecting the shadow elves to close in as soon as it was dark enough for them to jump through shadows in surgical ambushes. Ivo climbed a tower and worked on enhancing one of the crude cannons from the pirate ship, looking to take aim at the elven ship. Korvask assisted, enchanting chained cannonballs designed to tear up the mast and sails. Others worked to prepare bile barrel explosives, and to organize the disoriented and fearful pirates.

Ivo fired the cannon at the platform where the elven commander Lady Litiska set up her operations, damaging the mast supporting the platform so it listed almost to the waterline, but the cannon was badly damaged and it was risky to use it again.

Thoreson and Devron took the Sea Scout and flew over the elven ships, dropping explosives on one of them and sinking it. In the process, Thoreson fumbled the bombs, so while one of the ships sank they didn’t have enough explosives to try to sink the other one.

Unexpected Rescue

Lady Litiska and her agent Nevesti signaled frantically. An unnatural fog sprang up, blanketing the surface of the sea. The elven ship was scuttled, further out to sea. As the sun sank, the Sea Witches made their move, sending monsters swarming over the elven position.

The dwarves took a risk, sending a boat out to rescue the elves from their precarious and damaged platform. Vanmil swirled the fog out of the way with her adept energies, and Devron helped pick up the contingent of surviving elves. Lady Litiska was still haughty, but toned it down in the face of annihilation the hands of the Sea Witches.

Now What?

Regrouping on the central platform, the dwarves allied with the humans and elves to survive the Sea Witch threat. Litiska revealed she was tasked with retrieving the Elemental Lodestone from the Seathresher’s head; a rare object that allows for the creation of a flying wizard tower or dimensional nexus. It was the occult biology of the monster that allowed it to navigate dimensions.

If they could get that, the greatest treasure in the meat mine, and then escape, then the elves would forget the offenses of the pirates and dwarves in seeking to loot their site.

Devron and Thoreson had their own reasons for wanting to delve into the fleshy chambers underfoot, and the dwarves agreed to assist the elves and retrieve this treasure. They could keep anything else they found on the way, so long as the elves got what they were after.

Racing Through the Veins

The humans pulled back from the site with the elven survivors. Only Nevesti accompanied the elves into the deadly corpse. She brought along a pixie, Plick, who could provide light and scouting service.

Buzzfeeders burrowed out of the walls of the fleshy passages, attacking, and the dwarves sorted them out in short order. They also faced a platecrawler, a larger parasite growing desperate as the life energy of the Seathresher waned. Eventually they battled their way to the resonance chamber in the head where the lodestone should be; the burned passages through flesh seared by the flame constructs that Iskavol controlled diminished their hopes they would get there first, and sure enough, the lodestone had been wrested from its seat in the monster’s head. Their treasure was gone.

Stuck in Its Craw

Devron was determined to get to the craw, as there was a legendary treasure that might be found there. Thoreson was keen to travel deeper in towards the heart, though he was not forthcoming about why. The adventurers headed into the throat and found the craw, and Devron cut and squirmed his way into the grinding organ. He emerged, unspeakably befouled, but clutching a large chunk of secretions and debris.

Clearing it off, he revealed the Maul of Forbiddance. The weapon was a mace with the skull of Hazandar, one of the Gods of Ur, mounted as its head. Hazandar could head-butt creatures from other worlds, forcing them out of this one. Suluun, a mighty hero of Bloodcrag a thousand years ago, met her end diving into the Seathresher and blasting it out of Stoneshadow. The Maul survived in the monster’s craw, and now Devron possessed it.

The Sea Cone

Korvask and Vanmil were working together to sense the energies in the decaying monster. They felt the Sea Witches working their way into the flesh from the other end, the tentacles and ventral side. Vanmil detected a swarm of life in the corpse. She realized the elven word for this monster roughly translated to “sea cone” not because of its shape, but… there were some pine cones that only opened to release their seeds in the heat of a great fire.

What if the Sea Witches summoned this beast and sent it against the elven navy for the express purpose of getting it killed? The dwarves realized there were many unborn young through the corpse that were rousing, and the Sea Witches were here to harvest them and cultivate a whole mass of gargantuan sea monsters. It was almost too late to stop them, and this modest force of warriors was not enough to stand against the Sea Witches and their horde.

A Desperate Plan

The Fellowship steeled themselves to try a bold strategy. They fought their way back to the resonance chamber where the lodestone had been seated. From here, the dimensional reverberation traveled through the whole beast, allowing it to move between planes.

Devron was determined to pit the Maul of Forbiddance against the presence of this corpse in Stoneshadow. Perhaps it could be driven out of the world altogether. The other dwarves had the opportunity to escape before the attempt (and the elf did, taking the pixie with her.) Thoreson wanted to go deeper into the body, and was not ready to escape. The other dwarves decided to stand together, and gamble all their fates on the outcome of this bid to deny the Sea Witches their monstrous prizes.

Devron dug deep in his Resolve, and hurled himself and the Maul of Forbiddance against the seat of the lodestone. Impossibly, the still-potent energy of the God of Ur resonated through the fibers of the Seathresher’s corpse, driven by inexorable dwarven stubbornness.

The entire body of the Seathresher, and all it contained, were driven from the plane, cast out into the Void…

Ledger

The Fellowship banked Ledger they could redeem when they tell the tale.

Thoreson, Vanmil, and Ivo banked 3. Devron banked 4. (He succeeded in an additional objective in service of the clan.)