Clan Caskbound, played 4.3.20 IRL, 5.23.2121 IG.

• Devron Leveller (Mark) Berserker. Chosen, Mason.
• Dandel “The Dan” Deeptunnel (Simon) Berserker. Carouser, Miner, Brewer.
• Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.
• NPCs: Helbek and Nymeer.

To Yivica!

On the airship voyage back, the corrupted dwarf Droktho told them of Yivica, the colony Lorcrow relocated from Ryvolko after the heavy losses at Scream Peak. He gave them the location and directions to reach it, as well as the lantern codes (communicating by blinking lights) to communicate with the defenders of its airspace. He told them to keep an eye out for the Gorebug, a red airship, and its captain Prug Chor.

With Droktho turned over to the loremasters of Whiskey Forge and the archon informed of the need to send enchanters to reinforce the Seal Chamber, the Fellowship made some rapid preparations to check on the Yivica colony. The Dan discovered his signature brew, Beetlejuice, was award winning! He laid in a stock to share with the colony as a gift. Korvask prepared a book with the history of the clan’s activity since the separation, and Devron acquired a wheel of expensive troll cheese; a bit of an acquired taste, but it slowly regenerated, an excellent “cheese starter” to keep a family supplied. (Cheese is holy to Ellifino, his patron God of Ur.)

The Fellowship once again crossed the waters, a five day voyage by airship, passing over the sea witches without incident. They were intercepted by the Gore Bug, but the captain recognized the lantern code (Korvask had a knack for it) and agreed to escort them in.

Meet and Greet

They closed in on Yivica, a straightforward keep built over the entry to a quarry and mine that was used to supply its materials. The archon, Seddven, met them with his pick, Javis, at his side. After the initial introductions, they entered the great hall, geared for long-range defense, and met with the rest of the clan in a great celebration with cave strider drumsticks for everyone.

Upon discovering they were scholars, Seddven mentioned to them that artifacts from the Old World, when it was only humans and neither dwarves nor orcs had been created yet, had been unearthed nearby. Helbek was enthusiastic and torn; he wanted to catch up with the colony, but also see these rare finds, which were not extant in the Stoneshadow. Korvask assured him he would check it out, and if the find was legit, involve the elder. Satisfied, Helbek decided to stay in Yivica while the rest of the Fellowship checked out the site.

The Tomb

The next day the Fellowship caught up on rest after the exhausting celebration the night before, heading out in early afternoon. Nymeer cut the day-long slog to a couple hours by airship, with Javis pointing the way by air. The canopy was too thick to land the ship, and tying up was problematic since the active jungle life could pose unpredictable threats, so the Fellowship asked Nymeer to return before dusk the following day.

Lowering down to the site by cable, they met with the chief academic on site, Reskin. The dwarves had discovered the tomb by accident a month or so ago, and he had burrowed into it and found a stone box at its center. Since the fire wasps on site were easily antagonized, he drafted the Fellowship to help carry the massive stone box back to the campsite nearby, where they put it in a shallow pit they used for fires and covering things they wanted to keep away from local wildlife.

As a mason, Devron was able to concoct a solution out of the local plantain wine that dissolved the seal on the stone box. Opening it, they found a mummified corpse covered in jewelry, holding a skull-sized rounded stone. The stone had a fascinating texture and coloration, especially interesting to Reskin, who began guarding it jealously.

Korvask was especially intrigued by the jewelry, depicting (possibly deifying) a six legged jungle-lizard thing, and the numerous little statues in the box.

The Fellowship also met three orc scouts who were assisting the dwarves; Tarhun, a hulk who was a bit dopey. Ixandra, a calculating and sly jungle orc. Grell, a suspicious warrior.

Stone Warriors

In the dusk hours, as their studies continued, flaming javelins were hurled into tents. The dwarves reeled as attackers swarmed out of the treeline. The Fellowship were quickest to respond, springing into battle as the other dwarves scrambled to put out fires and gear up.

The dwarven victory was swift and decisive, leaving the attackers sprawled all over the site. With closer examination, the attackers were human, daubed in mud for camouflage and possibly religious reasons.

The Fellowship identified a dazed stone warrior and tied him up, asking Tarhun to try and communicate with him. The stone warrior apparently shared some language roots with the orc language, and mainly threatened them; when asked why he should be spared, he said he would go to his god and demand their deaths if they killed him. They shrugged and let the orc bash his head in. The orcs dragged the fallen stone warriors over to the burn pit and ate some of them.

Ixandra reported she had come across the trail of the stone warriors, so they could be tracked; considering the darkness, and the futility of killing more of them for the sake of killing them, the Fellowship passed.

The stone warriors mounted another raid in the night, this time focused on the stone, but they were easily repulsed.

Bait and Switch

Reskin was eager to get his prize stone back to Yivica. The Fellowship formed a plan with his input. Send all the dwarves and the orcs on foot, giving every indication they had all the loot from the tomb. Then the Fellowship, Reskin, and Tarhun would wait by the tomb and catch a ride back with Nymeer before dusk.

The dwarves and orcs obediently packed up and headed out. While the Fellowship waited by the tomb and the day wore on, an enterprising stone warrior managed to rope a cave king as a mount, and rode on the Fellowship. The brutal dwarves made short work of the bipedal monster and its giant jaws, killing the stone warrior as an afterthought.

Pickup

The sun went down, and in the gathering gloom the Fellowship tried to rig a beacon. Using lanterns wasn’t going to be bright enough, and they tried to make a fire in the wet jungle and only succeeded in wasting The Dan’s fanny keg of the good stuff. Korvask used his blood brush to sketch out a sizable rune for brilliance, pouring life force into it, and it shone up to illuminate the canopy overhead.

Hours late, the Sea Scout limped into the airspace overhead and lowered a rope. They climbed up, distressed to see the fire wasp scoring and bat goblin corpses hanging from the carriage. Nymeer and Javis fought off several waves of attackers that damaged the airship some, but they could limp back to Yivica.

On the trip back, Korvask was suspicious of Reskin’s content contemplation of the stone; as a scholar, he should be trying to interact with it. They experimented some, to the point of rapping on it and licking it. Korvask persuaded Reskin to agree to take the stone to Whiskey Forge to look it over, provided he could go along and retain ownership and control of the stone.

Conclusion

Once again the Sea Scout carried them over the waves, back to Whiskey Forge. Upon presenting the stone to the loremasters, they discovered it was a basilisk egg. Basilisks had not been seen for decades at least, maybe centuries. The stone was likely two to three thousand years old, and could yet hatch if exposed to some kind of draconic royal jelly. At least, that’s what legends suggested. No one was in a hurry to hatch a basilisk.

Clan Caskbound, played 3.27.20 IRL, 4.28.2121 IG.

• Devron Leveller (Mark) Berserker. Chosen, Mason.
• Dandel “The Dan” Deeptunnel (Simon) Berserker. Carouser, Miner, Brewer.
• Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.
• [Gudrun Caskbound (Iris) Mauler. Enchanter, Scholar, Armorer.] Character present, not player.
• NPCs on the expedition: Nymeer, Helbek, Scout LePeek.

Possibly Relevant Details

Once the airship was some distance away from Ryvolko, their human guide, Scout LePeek, revealed that he was not totally forthcoming about where they were headed. There was a mine where the dwarves were based, and he spent a month and a half there at one point (for undisclosed reasons) and that’s how he learned some Dirit, their native language. They have a pretty friendly arrangement with the local orcs, who scout and hunt for them, but the Krung Throneshadow doesn’t want to look soft or admit they collaborate with dwarves.

This sounded highly unlikely to the Fellowship, who viewed their scout with fresh distrust. Still, one way or another, they had to investigate.

Rithbod and Scorns

They set the airship down, leaving Gudrun and Nymeer to protect it. Scout insisted they should intercept an orc, Rithbod, and his scorns, or ranger guards in the jungle. They navigated through the jungle well, reaching a vantage point where they could see Rithbod and the scorns feasting on some local animal they brought down. Scout went down to talk to them, and the nervous dwarves followed when violence didn’t immediately erupt. Rithbod spoke decent Dirit, and urged them to follow as he took them to the other stumpies.

On the way they were attacked by more of the bipedal jungle lizards, almost mount sized, called cave striders by the orcs. The battle was fierce, but the dwarves and orcs won through; Rithbod stuck it out, even though his scorns ran into the jungle to regroup later.

The Dwarf Gate

The Fellowship, led by an orc and a human, reached a hidden fold of the mountain with a rickety bridge stretched across a couple rocks to a back door into the mountain. Wary, they crossed the bridge to find a shaft sunk into the rock centuries ago, looking neglected. As they entered the mountain, they encountered another orc, Locrag, who was assigned to aid the dwarves that resided in this place. He led them to their kin.

The Fellowship met the local dwarves in a spare, utilitarian forge storeroom common room chamber in the mountain. They were introduced to the leader, Chimur, an enchanter engineer with an enchanted locked gauntlet, Hellbiter; a bane weapon against the infernal. His pick, Sagaba, and shield, Inoru, as well as Yabar and Droktho (who was currently assigned to guard duty deeper in.)

They celebrated together, draining The Dan’s gift keg and singing the old songs together, both delighted to fill in some gaps in times past. Finally, some answers.

Previously, at the Dwarf Gate

Over 400 years ago, the orcs approached Lorcrow, at Ryvolko. They were struggling with a problem that outgrew their shamanistic solutions, and they thought dwarven enchantment could help. A massive fire demon they called Mruloor was pushing out of a volcano, and they could not contain it.

As a proper Bloodcrag enchanter, Lorcrow knew how to use volcanoes to flow lava into channels and create large-scale binding runes. He led his people in an assault on Scream Peak, the mountain overhead. Again and again they drove at the demon’s forces, conjured out of thin air with infernal energy and flame and bone. Lorcrow lost his brothers and his son in the final assault, but the dwarves bound Mruloor long enough to construct the Seal Chamber to keep the demon restrained for centuries more.

The battered clan could not stay under Scream Peak, for the leaking infernal energy was too much to subject them to day after day for years on end. A handpicked elite stayed to maintain the site and its enchantments, and the rest were granted a nice location for their colony, protected in the Krung Throneshadow, relatively nearby. Lorcrow would not allow travel and visiting back and forth, to minimize the risks and preserve the secrecy. So most of the dwarves left, and over the centuries, those who remained dwindled to a handful.

Since the orcs handle hunting and defense, the main casualties were from leaking infernal energies pooling in them in secret; rigorous as their testing is, it is difficult to be vigilant decade after decade, and there were lapses.

The Seal Chamber

The Fellowship was keen to see the seal chamber, center of the runic defense of the site. Chimur and Inoru escorted them, and they met with Droktho along the way. Korvask detected infernal energies accumulated in Droktho, and quietly alerted the Fellowship.

When they reached the lava-baked column that anchored the seal chamber, they were alarmed to see how it had deteriorated. A surge of infernal energy shoved up out of the lava, creating a massive energy and lava cave king lizard that roared at them and attacked. Slagging weapons, they managed to batter it down to slop apart, and they withdrew.

Now that they knew the seal was badly weakened, and they knew the location and story of the Dwarf Gate, they could return to Whiskey Forge and send some specialists out to shore up the defenses–with orc permission, of course.

Covering and Defending

Lorcrag, the orc assistant, agreed to work with the locals and get permission to bring more enchanters out to anchor the site–as long as the dwarves weren’t preparing for expansion or war. They agreed.

The fellowship insisted Droktho return with them, as his infernal contamination could compromise the site at any time. He flatly refused, and as a vanguard, challenged them to move him. They let it go–but The Dan was a carouser with long experience in manipulating dwarven honor. He got Droktho drinking, regaling him with tales of Whiskey Forge, and tricked him into promising to come take a look.

In the sober light of morning, Droktho’s vow held, and he grudgingly left with the Fellowship. They began the long trip back to the airship, and from there, back to Whiskey Forge. Once they arranged for reinforcement of the Seal Chamber, they would check on the colony to see how the rest of the dwarves had fared in the Throneshadow.

Clan Caskbound, played 3.20.20 IRL, 4.22.2121 IG.

• Gudrun Caskbound (Iris) Mauler. Enchanter, Scholar, Armorer.
• Dandel “The Dan” Deeptunnel (Simon) Berserker. Carouser, Miner, Brewer.
• Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.
• Devron Leveller (Mark) Berserker. Chosen, Mason.

To Ryvolko!

The Fellowship was expanded as the honored scholar Helbek involved another of his nieces, Nymeer, because she was recently promoted to captain of a small airship, the Sea Scout. They also added Devron, a Chosen who could lend a hand in their expedition.

Croydon, the human they rescued from the clutches of a wizard, used his skill as an airship crewman to direct them across the sea to Ryvolko, the City of Spires. Districts in the city were separated by walls, and there were spires to dock airships. Moving from one area to another involved elevators to go over the walls using machinery.

Unsteadyness

They docked on a spire and went to a public house, where they met Kroy, a human cleric of the Church of Unsteadiness, and her assistant Pama. She agreed to help them make a contact who could possibly lead them into the Krung Throneshadow if they wanted to follow up on rumors of a dwarven presence there. She was impressed with The Dan and his partying and alcohol, and they headed off for a tryst.

The others in the Fellowship asked around for more information, and encountered a sneering orc slaver who offered to take them to join up with their friends, but they were suspicious of his “helpfulness” and declined, still strong enough that he kept his distance and watched them.

Touring 

The Fellowship got a meeting set with Tangler, a local fixer, at dusk. In the meantime they explored Ryvolko, trying out the elevator between walled areas, wrapping their minds around the human infestation of dwarven architecture and infrastructure.

They went shopping, and found some lore books that a merchant was keeping aside for a local wizard. Passing on that, they took in a number of sights and experiences, returning to meet their contact at the appointed time.

A Favor for a Favor

Tangler, a local fixer, agreed to send them on their way to check out a dwarven settlement in the Throneshadow. His fee was their airship. They declined, so he countered.

He was a smuggler, and he used the vaults under the local temple for storing his goods. A local noble pressed his business too hard, so he killed the man; but his lover was distraught, and loaded up the body with brittlestone (she knows magic) so now it is dangerous to move goods in and out. Sort that problem out, and he’ll send a scout with them to find the dwarves.

The Vault

They agreed, and followed Tangler to the unobtrusive surface entrance to the vaults below the temple. The sturdy locks on the dwarf-built vault had all been drilled out so the humans could use the place unobstructed.

They poked around for a bit before shadows coalesced and assaulted them; fortunately their enchanters had prepared them. Gudrun used her bloodbrush to enhance their weapons, and Korvask used his to provide them with sealed life force, protected from ghostly forces.

The dwarves were confronted by a more substantial apparition, and put it down handily. Still, they knew that it was just a projection. They had to find the source, or it would simply return.

The Well

They found a pit, but that didn’t seem right; the Chosen and enchanters didn’t feel the energy emanating from that. When they found a well-like shaft, they knew that was where the brittlestone was growing.

Gudrun guarded the top of the wellshaft in the undervault, and Devron climbed down. Dropping the last length, he found a fungal chamber with brittlestone over the remains of the source of the haunting. The corpse lurched up, armored for battle, and shadows formed to slay the intruder. Devron called for help, and set to work.

The Dan steeled himself for the hit and leaped down the shaft, crashing down into a roll and coming up fighting as Korvask climbed down. Together, the dwarves lay about themselves with enchanted weapons, repelling the undead assault; their defenses burst under the combined pressure of the attacks, but they tore down the dead, indomitable.

The enchanters helped Devron bound his ritual, and he called upon the powers of the Gods of Ur to drive the animating force from the brittlestone, rendering it inert. Exhausted, the dwarves knew they had defeated the haunting of the undervault.

Conclusion

True to his word, Tangler secured the services of Scout LePeek to take them to a dwarven settlement, deep in the Throneshadow…

Clan Caskbound, played 3.13.20 IRL, 4.12.2121 IG.

• Gudrun Caskbound (Iris) Mauler. Enchanter, Scholar, Armorer.
• Dandel “The Dan” Deeptunnel (Simon) Berserker. Carouser, Miner, Brewer.
• Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.

On a rainy night in Klassa, Gudrun’s uncle Helbek, a respected scholar, caught up to her. He was quite pleased to find her with Korvask, he trained them both in dwarven scholarly traditions. He had an opportunity, and The Dan was welcome to come along and provide support as well.

Helbek was over 600 years old. His father, Lorcrow, was given leave to found a colony in the Waveprint Isles, in 1552 (568 years ago) and Helbeck only saw him a couple times after that. The colony was named Ryvolko, and they lost contact over five centuries ago when the sea witches closed the ocean traffic to dwarves.

Helbek’s topsider contact Uraboro in the human city of Brightstone informed him that a human soldier named Croydon showed up in town and claimed to be from Ryvolko. Helbek was beside himself with excitement to potentially find out how this soldier made it across the sea,and whether they could reconnect with Ryvolko and find out what happened to his father’s legacy–and maybe the dwarf himself.

Searching in Brightstone

The Fellowship traveled to Brightstone and found Uraboro, who was tipsy in a tavern. (As a carouser, The Dan knew to holler “Roll the rock!” in Dirit, to which any dwarf in any state will echo the sentiment.) Uraboro had not kept very good track of Croydon, but knew he liked to gamble, and where. The Fellowship headed to his favored den of iniquity.

At the Briarbush Public House, they weren’t the only ones looking for Croydon. A tough orc, Brandelbot, was also asking for his whereabouts–and hiring human muscle. After some flexing and growling, the orc backed off, and the dwarves (now keenly aware they were being watched) followed up on Uraboro’s lead and consulted with a human scoundrel, Meddel.

The information broker told them that Croydon was a card sharp who had fleeced Plendry, the apprentice of a local wizard. Plendry seemed pretty distraught right before Croydon disappeared. Maybe check out the Stellarium where Shoyara, the wizard, holds court.

The Fellowship secured Uraboro as their guide, and headed out of town towards the Stellarium. On the way, they were ambushed by Brandelbot and his hired thugs. They handily thrashed the thugs, and the survivors ran away. They also bested Brandelbot. They demanded to know why he was after Croydon, and all he would say was Daggerface (another orc) was waiting for him at the port and would come looking when he didn’t return. The Fellowship left him tied to a tree.

The Stellarium

The Stellarium was nestled into a cliff, under a dome, with no easy access points. There was a climb to a back door, and a grating for drainage, and the dome had been damaged in a previous siege and never repaired. They also saw a sort of sign that those seeking audience could bang a gong and the wizard might consult them from a safe distance. Not wanting to risk asking about Croydon and being denied (and losing the element of surprise) they decided to sneak in.

Climbing up to the drain was a challenge, and there were a few tumbles, but they reached it and bypassed the grating, slipping into the wizard’s lair. Wary of the layer of sand on the floor, they proceeded anyway. They found a trapdoor for dramatic entrances and tried to jimmy it open, but the old mechanism broke. Continuing to explore, they found Plendry at his studies.

The Apprentice

They surprised the apprentice Plendry, and persuaded him to show them where Croydon was being held. He reluctantly agreed, and took them to the broken trapdoor; trying to open it, he triggered a fall, and it bashed him in the head pretty hard. The dwarves revived him with some of The Dan’s brew, but it was far too strong for him, and he went a little berserk so they had to help him take a nap.

The Prisoner

They stealthed through the wizard’s lair and found Croydon, nude and hanging upside down as a decoration in the wizard’s posh quarters. They cut him loose and gathered up his gear, heading back down through the tunnels.

This time a perfume mechanism trap sprayed, and they were marked with a scent that aroused the sewer dumpling that guarded the drains. It attacked, and they managed to batter it down and slosh past, escaping the wizard’s lair.

Grateful for the rescue, Croydon cooperated fully. He was on an airship out of Mosobida, assigned to suppress pirate airship activity, and Daggerface attacked. His lifeboat made it to Stoneshadow, where he wandered to Brightstone. He knew the way to get to Ryvolko, if they had an airship he could guide them.

According to Croydon, Ryvolko was a human city now, though it had been built by dwarves. He had heard rumors that there might be some dwarves enslaved in a mine in the Krung Throneshadow, the orc domain, but he didn’t know anything for certain. The Fellowship resolved to find out.

The Orc

Brandelbot had predictably freed himself from his bonds, and headed up the slope, seeding it with boobytraps. He challenged the Fellowship, demanding Croydon, but they had put up with enough. Charging up the hill through his traps, they reached him and slew him.

Conclusion

With Croydon in tow, they returned to Whiskey Forge to mount an expedition to their lost colony.

Sarbado, the general who assists the archon, called in Vecna, Gudrun, and Tancred. He told them that topsider agents in Brightstone were reporting that a human blood cult called the Summoners Argent was making noise about mounting an expedition to the Gorecyst. That was a corrupted corner of the Caskbound Pocket where Hellifino, a God of Ur, once battled a blood demon for weeks before vanquishing it. Where the battle unfolded, and the demon fell, the ground was corrupted and it became known as the Gorecyst.

The dwarves knew that a few decades ago a trio of medusa moved in, but they kept to themselves, so no one bothered to root them out. Also, the local wildlife was tainted with blood diseases and dangerous to visitors.

To the Cyst

The dwarves agreed to set out and investigate to see if all was well in the Gorecyst or if some further action was needed. They traveled for a few days, skirting the unhealthy center of the Pocket, and passed the settlement of followers of the Gods of Ur known as the Cysters of Mercy (mostly men.) They headed up to Tipsy Ridge, overlooking the Gorecyst, where a lone watch tower monitored the situation.

The lookout was an elderly dwarf who lived alone, with his liquorlizards and beetle pets. He insisted the sullen, unhealthy glow that suffused the plants and animals of the Gorecyst had changed its rhythm. They observed for a while from the tower, and resolved to get a closer look after they visited the Cysters of Mercy. When they visited the religious settlement, they heard stories of the ancient battle from the earnest believers, and they got a night’s rest before heading in.

After several hours they reached the Gorecyst. Its edges had been staked out with standing stones of warning, and the growths had continued 100 feet or so past the standing stones. As the dwarves approached, they saw one was covered in what looked like scabs. Upon closer inspection, the “scabs” turned out to be wings of blood moths, who tormented them briefly before Gudrun chopped them all out of the air with vicious axe sweeps. Where their blood fell, the mushrooms glowed.

Medusas

They headed in further, and were shot from ambush by a medusa. Averting their eyes as best they could while still fighting, they took her on. Gudrun was turned to stone, but the others survived the brutal fight more or less intact. They hefted their companion’s statue and returned to the Cysters of Mercy, who had an alchemist/healer expert with a vial of what was reputed to be the blood of a God of Ur, who managed to change Gudrun back to her fleshy self. After a few days for that process, they returned.

This time, they were attacked by both remaining medusas, and the following battle was savage. The first one fell quickly, but as they faced the other, Gudrun (already reeling from multiple snake bites) turned to stone, and Tancred struggled for victory only to be turned to stone also. The battle was down to Vecna and the badly injured medusa, and they raked at each other mercilessly–but the medusa survived long enough to turn Vecna to stone as well.

Whiskey Forge

The dwarves regained consciousness in Whiskey Forge, and found that when they did not return, the Cysters came out to look for them and retrieved the three statues (though the dead medusa were nowhere to be found, so a cure was difficult to manage.) They were shipped back to the clan home, where significant resources were bent to their recovery. Still, they did kill two of the three medusa, and they risked all for the clan, so Sarbado was grateful for their service.

He also told them that when the next expedition went to the Gorecyst, they would be considered veterans and likely sent along.

Vecna and Devron went to meet with the Shieldsplitters. They traveled for a day, finding axes stuck in trees and trying to puzzle out the meeting location (the code was painfully primitive, but referred to common knowledge the Shieldsplitters shared that Caskbound didn’t.) A Shieldsplitter ambush caught them out, but Vecna persuaded the leader to go find a bigger boss, she had a proposal for glory for all of them. She was instructed to wait in a barn.

The next day she met Forkbeard Facestabber, and admired his crude magic hammer, Snoothammer (it was the front nose and fangs of a dragon, enchanted.) When she described how the goblins were attacking from the air like cowards, and they could be stopped on the ground, the Shieldsplitters put aside their gripe with Caskbound and agreed to go on this glorious venture. A retinue of 60 headed out that very night.

Scouting

Meanwhile Korvash caught up with the others at the bandit hideout. The Dan decided to go “scouting” and kill some goblins, and he took Korvash, Onexia, Tancred, and Gudrun with him. (They left Revelle to mind the beetles and make sure the humans didn’t hurt them or get hurt by them.)

Scouting involved attacking a group of goblins on a cliff, then finding another group on a cliff, but as the goblins sounded horns to summon more, the raiding dwarves withdrew back into the human hideout and worked on its fortifications.

Assault

Vecna, Devron, and the Shieldsplitters arrived before dark. That night, the goblins attacked, goading three trolls into rolling the rock aside and charging into the hideout. Gudrun and Korvash had used their enchantments to turn rocks into bombs, and they flattened the trolls. A combination of burning liquor, torches, shattered lanterns and hurled firebombs followed as the dwarves rushed out to burn the regeneration out of the trolls before they rose again, and before the goblins swarmed in.

As the goblins swarmed, the trolls were still being burned, but the Shieldsplitters surged and fought them off. The goblins withdrew, regrouped, and made another rush.

This time their morale was such that they pushed the Shieldsplitters back with superior numbers. The Caskbound dwarves leaped in and fought hard, reinvigorating the defense, and the goblins were driven out again.

The Caldera

The next day the dwarves marched out, shooting at airships and backing them off. The goblins withdrew their forces to the caldera, to face off against the dwarves there, with overwhelming numbers and lightning guns and airships.

Undaunted, the dwarves doggedly pursued. They reached the lip of the caldera and saw the goblin force, and the massive mechanical avatar construct lurched up out of the central shaft. The Shieldsplitters charged it, with Vecna, Devron, and Korvash trotting in their wake.

A quarter of the Shieldsplitters were incinerated by the defense field, and another quarter died in the close fighting, but they pulled apart the avatar Deus Volt and used individual weaponized walkers to gleefully terrorize the goblins.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Caskbound dwarves climbed up to an airship, took it over, outgunned another airship or two as they rose as fast as they could, and they launched an effort to take over the goblin’s biggest airship, with two gasbags and a long undership. After a short and brutal fight, they won in close quarters, and the airship was theirs.

Meanwhile Vecna led the charge down into the shaft to find Luck’s son; he was in a mechanical cage thing, and he kicked and screamed as they rescued him; he was well on the way to becoming a goblinish thing himself. They escaped before the self-destruct of the base detonated, frying most of the rest of the Shieldsplitters and most of the goblins.

The surviving Shieldsplitters wished to be named in Caskbound Ledger for their service, and such honor was promised. Then Caskbound returned the boy, and took their airship back to the Clanhome to knock off the goblin tech and replace it with proper craftsmanship.

Vecna, Devron, Onexia, Gudrun, and The Dan were already in the Luck Bandit Hideout. Revelle and Tancred took a route to follow them until they reached the Corpseknife Badlands, when they took the high road and avoided trouble. They too rode a giant beetle, and brought along Revelle’s hunting beetle Mr. Stab as well. On their journey, they saw several axes set into trees, painted with runes that the Shieldsplitters were gathering.

Revelle and Tancred were challenged by door guards, and there was a misunderstanding and the dwarves took them out; more bandits arrived, realized the mistake, and summoned Vecna to vouch for them. Soon they were all inside enjoying crab chowder. They got up to speed on the situation and decided to climb up into the mountain in the dark, and attack the goblins at first light.

While they rested, they reflected on the Legend of Fuggov Pass and regained some resolve.

The Dark Mountain Paths

As they headed out they saw some goblins with gliding gear and firebombs watching the hideout. Revelle and the Dan snuck up on them and pounced, taking them out. The Dan festooned himself with the volatile fire bombs, and Revelle tied on an unconscious goblin to interrogate below. They tried to climb down, and the Dan lost his grip. As he fell, he flung bombs away from himself.

Some of the dwarves evaded the falling firebombs, others got somewhat toasted, but the Dan fell into a chemical fire from the faster-falling bombs and bounced, coated in flaming material. Everyone got their fires put out, and they interrogated one of the goblins kept alive for that purpose. He told them of the gas harvesting and flying machines, but he wasn’t very helpful; they snapped his neck and moved on.

Evading more patrols, including gasbag airships that were flimsy but potentially dangerous, they approached the ridge that turned out to be the lip of a crater where the mountaintop should be. They saw it had been heavily harvested, with gas derricks set up and filling bags and tanks, goblins everywhere, plenty of airships. A much greater than expected force!

Into the Crater

The goblins had many devices where they used pedaling to generate energy to fuel lightning guns or steering machines. The dwarves sabotaged one of the towers so it would fry all the goblins involved if they tried to use it, then moved on one of the fuel tank/bombs. Onexia was a skilled mechanician, and Tancred was an engineer, so they had a distinct advantage.

The goblins fired up the tower and all died, and the dwarves got the massive tank unmoored and rolling, and Tancred’s expert gunner skills punctured the tank and actually got it to fire like a rocket, so it shot down into the shaft in the center of the crater and exploded, causing untold damage.

Now that the goblins were roused, the dwarves turned to thoughts of escape. They slaughtered an airship crew, including its tough leader (who almost slew Tancred as that brave dwarf ignored him and managed what passed for pre-flight on the goblin craft.) The rest of the group ground him up with the rest of the goblins, and as they attempted to escape, they saw a massive goblin construct that defied description charging up the crater wall towards them; held together with crackling blue energy, it was a goblin construct god, Deus Volt. Dozens of goblins crewed the obscenity; it was built for harvesting, construction, and war, and it appeared to be a fusion of independent constructs.

Flight

Onexia used the lightning cannon on their stolen airship to delay pursuit, as other dwarves doggedly pedaled the mechanisms to make energy and Tancred steered the craft. As Deus Volt built up a killing charge to blow them away, Onexia interrupted it with the lightning gun; some of the charge traveled up the beam and blew up the gun, rocking the ship badly and doing some damage. Still, they were on their way to escape when the goblins’ much bigger warship with dozens of goblins aboard generated a lot of propulsion power and came after them.

Tancred sniped at their tough pilot with limited success, and as the bigger ship got close enough to use its superior lightning gun, Tancred shot the gunners; but as one fell, another clambered into the seat.

The bigger ship gun came to bear, and the dwarves leaped from the airship, aiming for trees, some lucky few slowing their fall with anchor lines. They thudded down into the woods with dispersed dwarf-fall, and managed to find each other and retreat as fast as they could, limping and clutching their various wounds, as the airship burned and the goblins gathered to form hunting parties.

They found their way back to the Luck Bandit Lair, but trouble was sure to be hot on their heels.