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.

The dwarves were at a local festival, the Feast of the Gold Tadpole, in the tributary settlement of Klassa. It was good to spend the week away from Whiskey Forge, because the clan home spent the week with a tanning focus, so it was awfully smelly, and it was also an important week for political meetings.

The dwarven children used skimmers to harvest the bright orange tadpoles, which were like living jello shots with a cheezy texture coating. For every ten ingested, a dwarf got a little carved tadpole to hang from a beard, mustachio, hair construct, etc.

Gudrun won the Golden Frog award as royalty of the festival, receiving a frog hat with back leg earflaps that was luminous gold, with sparkly eyeballs.

The Speaker of Klassa called for them after the ceremony; a matter of some urgency came up. Four humans had infiltrated the Forest Door and found their way to Klassa to bring word to the dwarves, and the Speaker delegated dealing with them to Vecna, as she was a diplomat and figure with some stature in the clan.

Vecna, Gudrun, The Dan, Devron, and Onexia Delvestride (Mauler, Carouser, Mechinician, played by Bess) heard out the emissary. His name was Bug Eyed Turner, and he represented a bandit named Bromley Luck. Luck had attacked several caravans of dwarven goods in the past, and had a sour reputation. But the bandits brought word of a growing threat.

A goblin with mechanical genius settled in to mine and craft in the mountains. He was making magical flying ships, and mechanical monsters that were huge and could stomp a much bigger force; when Luck sent his forces against the goblins, not only did they drive him back, they counter-attacked and stole his son Briggs. Turner tried to imply that the dwarves would be well served by stopping this flying menace before it affected their mountain home, but it was clear he just wanted help and couldn’t expect to get it from the humans or elves.

Sending the humans to sleep in the beetle barn, the dwarves talked it over and decided to go have a look.

The Forest Door

Taking two giant riding beetles with howdahs (Ringo and Mr. Tap) they ignored Ralph, one of the humans who was vomiting constantly unable to handle the rhythm of the beetle stride. They traveled to the Forest Door, and overnighted near it. The next morning they spoke to the elves, who granted them safe passage. They overnighted in a stone ring as they had before, but headed towards the human lands. Passing through elven territory was uneventful.

The Shieldsplitters

They entered human lands, and as darkness approached, they decided to stash the beetles in the wild and go to a coaching inn for the night. However, as they entered, they saw half a dozen Shieldsplitter mercenaries who were already quite drunk and had alienated the locals.

Resolving to ignore the Shieldsplitters as long as they were able, they were nonetheless accosted almost immediately. The Dan threw a punch and got things started, and before the Shieldsplitters could properly show up for the brawl they were missing teeth and strewn about the room.

Otherwise, the night passed uneventfully, but it was good that they didn’t linger. They spent the next night in a known bandit camp that was safe from authorities.

However, upon leaving they encountered a pack of thirty Shieldsplitters, looking to get revenge for the battering of some of their number. Vecna stared them down from astride her majestic beetle, holding on to her enchanted prestige weapon, and the Shieldsplitters reluctantly parted to let them pass.

The River Through Corpseknife Badlands

They entered bandit territory, opting for the more heavily guarded river approach rather than the sparser highland workaround. Soon they were intercepted by the Blue Slash bandits, weirdo cannibals. The bandits blocked their path (after the dwarves failed to ride into the pit trap) and their leaders emerged.

Two of them had primitive flamethrowers, then there was a giant with a helmet made out of pieces of other helmets. He bore a broken executioner’s sword and a mace with a horse head pointed either way reinforced with metal. Vecna challenged him to single combat.

They had a brutal fight, but she managed to kill him at last with a hammer blow that broke his face. The Blue Slash reluctantly parted to let them pass, and began infighting to choose a new leader immediately.

The dwarves were followed and shadowed by other groups as they proceeded, but they didn’t slow down until they entered the underground hideout used by Bromley Luck’s bandits.

A Lucky Hideout

There they met with the bandits, who had killed a giant crab and were sharing its chowder. They spoke with an educated bandit who was better at Neverecht, the language they had in common. He told them about the goblin encampment for years, quiet and keeping to themselves, then how they came out with lift gas in balloons, flying and pillaging, and how they had some “volt” mechanical contraption that could break into parts or recombine. Very frightening stuff.

The dwarves resolved to investigate further.

Subarchon Sabado called upon a few trusted warriors for a secret mission. They were distracted on the way in by watching a comical puppet show of the Miserable Union, then they continued on to the out-of-the way meeting chambers Sabado preferred.

• Vecna. Vanguard, Diplomat, Chef, Chosen (Kristy)
• Tancred Boiler. Skirmisher, Engineer, Gunner (Shaun)
• Dandol “Dan”. Berserker, Carouser, Miner (Simon)

Seluvria, the elven ruler at the Forest Door entry to the Caskbound Pocket, sent word. The elves guard the Voskul Pit, a site in the woods that necromancers once used as a base. The occasional undead thing would shamble out and fall to the elven shafts. But traffic was higher lately, and Seluvria saw the Pit as a Caskbound problem.

After all, Pyoros the Dread Necromancer was the Pit’s last master, and he raided in the Pocket 200 years ago. Legend states that he got the Sifting Maul, a powerful weapon of the clan; the Coldsyvin family was the second line of thanes, and the Sifting Maul was their archonic dynastic name weapon. Returning it to the clan would be a victory indeed.

Journey to the Pit

They traveled down the Shot river to Klossa, where they were met as heroes. They chatted briefly with Speaker Kurtz, and they spent the night with the Boiler family (Tancred was from Klassa.) Dandol made it a point to bed one of Tancred’s cousins.

The next day they rode a beetle down through the rough terrain to the Forest Door, and they followed the water, encountering elves who spoke broken Neverecht. They were guided along to a henge, where they spent the night. The standing stones were built by dwarves, long ago, not elves. And they commemorated the site of a battle between one of the Gods of Ur and a dark force. Perhaps it was no accident that the necromancers chose the nearby pit as a lair; it was suffused with ancient darkness.

Eventually they had to walk, leaving the beetle behind, and the elves guided them to a narrow ribbon of rock that led across a chasm to the entry into the Pit. The stalwart dwarves roped themselves together and traveled the expanse, then descended.

The Pit

The doors lifted on a pivot, and could be turned to open. Tancred figured out the counterbalance (and some of the traps) and they entered. As they moved in, they saw pools set up to condense any memory of life and transform it to incorporeal undead. Not wanting to wake anything prematurely, they left that alone, and continued on.

They found a throne with a long carpet before it, and lights mounted on the back, with a robed figure slumped before them. They roused him, and the throne dropped into the ground so only the lights emerged, and the carpet became a ramp for an endless swarm of skeletons to attack them. After battling for a while, they realized the skeletons were endless. Tancred smashed the lights on the back of the throne, cutting off the entry, and the floor became solid once more.

They saw a metal door set in the wall like to a furnace, and left that alone. They also found what appeared to be a necromatic trash pit, and didn’t explore it. They did find a very fancy door, and once Tancred defeated the lock they stood before a massive brittlestone-infested statue of the necromancer.

Brittlestone grows slowly, it is like a mineral that infects remains and raises them as undead. It is the necessary ingredient for necromancers to do their work.

Pyoros the Dread Necromancer

As the dwarves regarded the hideous statue, a wraith of the necromancer emerged. It stuttered, crossing with the corporeal plane for just a moment, and the dwarves pounced and tore it to pieces before it could destroy them. Then the statue split in two, and they saw the mummifed remains of the necromancer inside it, and they smashed up the corpse.

A supernatural wall of thorns blocked the way forward, so they hefted a massive piece of the statue and laid it on the thorns, making a way through. They found a whole tree of brittlestone! No wonder the site was active.

The Apprentice

Exploring further back they found bushes infused with brittlestone, and a young human in bone armor boasting he would ascend now that his stifling mentor was gone. They pulped him at once, and had a desperate fight with his undead bushes. Then they settled in to rest and heal up some.

Pushing their luck, they ventured deeper in, and found a statue that was a horrifically expressive rendition of a pile of dead dwarves, a feast for scavengers. They understood that captive dwarves had been forced to make these horrible statues. They smashed it, and inside found a trunk of gems stolen from them centuries ago.

The Sifting Maul

The only light they could see was from one hallway, and they followed it to find the Sifting Maul; it had been glowing brighter as they got closer, in response to them. Vecna passed two creepy statues and pulled the maul off the display, triggering a foul wind that was likely to draw the undead.

They moved fast, encountering minimal resistance. A wraith popped up out of the undead making fountain, but the maul slashed through it and they kept going until they were safely back in elven woods.

The elves thought about trying to take the maul, but Vecna discouraged that line of thinking, and the dwarves were soon back under the mountain. They kept their prize a secret until they were back at Whiskey Forge, so the subarchon was the first to know.

They did the clan a great service, raising its prestige, and they were honored as they Told the Tale. In addition, Vecna was chosen to be the bearer of the Sifting Maul, so it could be an active symbol of the pride and power of Clan Caskbound.