Dungeons & Dragons

The adventurers gather up in the side door labyrinth of Mithral Hall after decimating a brood of newborn spiderlings. Hops directs their attention to a sign marker clearly indicating that the path to the right is for the benefit of their elven brethren. Hops goes left.

At the next juncture, an intricate bas-relief of the Spine of the World mountain range adorns the walls. Embedded in the work are deific symbols for Faerûn’s pantheon. Hops locates a gem shape embedded in the mountain, symbol for Dumathoin. Ander observes Dumathoin is the only dwarven deity represented. Hops turns in the Dumathoin direction. Sqyylarr concurs.

Watc pauses when she detects smoke ahead. Hops advances to introduce himself to Snory Exhom, a dwarf simmering a cauldron of stew over a campfire. Snory has plenty of boar and root vegetable stew to greet all visitors with a hot meal, but is not informative regarding the closing of Mithral Hall or the whereabouts of Queen Waybeard. His specialty is stew, always has been. Hops, Briar, and Frank avail themselves of stew. A close examination of Snory reveals nothing sinister, fiendish, undead, holy-symbol-averse, or elsewise alarming.

Ander, Sqyylarr, Hops, and Frank fall unexpectedly and suddenly asleep. A huge slurping worm picks this opportune moment to round the corner with the intent of scooping Hops into its big, moist mouth. Barika intervenes with her great axe. Watc grabs Hops by the ankle, dragging him away from the worm. The jarring wakes Hops and he scrambles up to charge the worm. Watc gives Sqyylarr a kick in the midriff. She kips up, critically slinging a bullet at the worm. Watc wakes Ander and they foosh a couple of firebolts at same. Barika kills the worm.

Leaving Frank to sleep for some reason, the party bids farewell to Snory in a variety of languages, each to which he competently responds in kind. Briar lingers for a few final goodbyes while Hops, Barika, and Sqyylarr explore dead ends ahead. Hops finds a sign marker that indicates “end”.

Doubling back to a passage parallel, both physically and symbolically, to Snory’s, Briar finds a chest labeled in dwarven. Barika transliterates “skoff”. Briar takes a few steps back. Barika opens the box and removes one of several wrapped, dried meat sticks. Hops samples one. Tasty. Cold meat meal underground: good path. Hot stew meal underground from weirdo un-ironically named Snory: sleepy and worm-devoured. Got it.

Briar leads the party onward right into a couple of skeleton warriors. Hops whips out his holy symbol for the skeletons’ consideration. They are not impressed by the Three Ladies. Briar, paladin of an unrealized or undisclosed deity, whips out an egg, and the skeletons turn to flee. 

Sqyylarr leads the party behind the skeleton fleeing north to a room with a lever. Hops finds a sign marker nearby which clearly depicts two choices, coincidentally the exact number of possible lever positions. Hops intuits the selection is something to do with two celebrations of Barronar Truesilver, winter or summer. Application of that knowledge to the lever is interrupted by the sound of two opposing spike walls rapidly converging momentarily through half of Briar’s vital organs. Ander, hearing the rumor of a lever, runs in. Watc directs him to perforated Briar’s location. The trap closes again on Ander and through the other half of Briar’s vital organs. Briar drops.

The unturned skeleton turns to fight. Sqyylarr’s maul crunches it in one hit.

Hops finds summer and winter indicators on the lever and moves it to the winter position. He heals Briar back to life and boosts Ander while detailing his solution to  the summer / winter lever riddle. To demonstrate said solution, he drops the skeleton’s skeletal remains on the trap’s trigger plate. Nothing happens.

Ander’s turret catches up to the party. The party proceeds along to the next section of the labyrinth.

Hops and Frank, seeking clerical relief for the Kragdigger souls, reach Mithral Hall ahead of the caravan only to find the front door closed. Hops knocks with a cadence and force conveying his disdain for the dwarven inhospitality. A plate slides open so that Hops can announce his business to see Queen Waybeard. The exchange is merely pro forma as Mithral Hall is closed to all visitors, however highly placed.

Hops proposes to enter Mithral Hall through a treacherous, secret entrance known to dwarves. The adventure will probably treacherously kill whichever half of Frank isn’t dwarven; probably best to wait for the rest of Charlie Company to catch up to them before attempting it, otherwise it’s big trouble in little china, as the dwarves say.

Hops and Frank ride back to reunite Charlie Company. Briar briefs the situation to Vesper Othuro who emphasizes that access to Mithral Hall is essential to the caravan’s success and concurs with the plan to leverage Hops’s potential to navigate the treacherous, secret entrance. Master Brand furnishes a diplomatic pouch to grease the wheels of diplomacy just in case Charlie Company succeeds.

Sqyylarr easily leads the party to the stone face where the entrance should be. Hops finds the edges of the door and prayerfully pushes in at the center of mass revealing a treacherously dark passage. Dynamic torches and Ander’s light spells are produced for the visually challenged.

Watc leads the party recursively along the left wall of the treacherous, narrow maze. Dwarven runes at the intersections document warnings and promises to Hops who accordingly makes suggestions to omit certain passages as they navigate deeper. A large mural depicts a famous battle with the drow at Mithral Hall. Spider webs, possibly symbolic of the drow, notes Ander, become ominously more prevalent. Frank’s excellent darkvision allows him to quickly probe ahead where he finds several large spiders who surround and attack him. 

The party engages and defeats the spiders with ease except for one especially maternal spider who lassos Sqyylarr and treacherously drags her off into the darkness. The party pursues leaving behind poor Barika, treacherously stuck in webbing.

Briar locates pinned Sqyylarr who has become a feast for swarms of baby spiders. Sqyylarr escapes the webbing. Ander discovers that baby spiders are especially easy to kill. The mother spider escapes. Hops, guided by runes, suggests an alternate route.

Watc reports to Briar her concern that the magic seeking dodecahedron menagerie is homing in on her vis innards, unprotected from detection in the way the vis tankers are. Briar reports the potential security issue up his chain of command to Vesper Othuro who was not briefed on Briar’s involvement in the acquisition of the vis pool, nor on Watc’s coincidental construction of the same. Flat-footed Vesper Othuro will send riders for abjurist Professor Tutella Protectio immediately. Briar returns to camp.

Six spellguard led by spokesman Lieutenant Desmond present themselves to Briar as directed to escort Watc, and only her, for a consultation. Lieutenant Desmond proposes a shortcut through the forest. Watc senses she is the object of a failed spell cast by Desmond. Desmond denies her insightfulness. Watc, constructed as a wartime skirmisher, expeditiously retreats [105’ per round] from the stranger danger back to the safety of camp. Briar reports the incident to Vesper Othuro who has not heard back from his riders and does not know of any Lieutenant Desmond. He interrupts the suppers of Lieutenants Harcourt and Shaver to deploy spellguard to protect Watc’s camp. Charlie gets a good night’s rest at the expense of Harcourt and Shaver. Ander cooks up some acid.

Professor Protectio arrives the next morning to debrief Watc and suggests they adjourn to a wagon. Protectio produces a vial of vis and one of the dodecahedrons on a string to demonstrate the attraction of the dodecahedron to vis, to Watc, but not to other enchanted and magical items. He casts a nondetection spell over Watc and promises to help transcribe that spell into her spellbook.

Villagers from Timberfen have come out to greet and barter with the caravan. Observing Ander’s immense enthusiasm for bartering and shopping, Vesper Othuro directs Charlie to explore Timberfen for useful trade items. The starving villagers are mostly interested in food so that they won’t die. Shrewd Ander opens negotiation with inedible chupacabra teeth and pelts for which he arranges to meet the village smith and acquires a knife. Barika trades some tenderized, butchered hillbilly meats from yesterday’s battle for a shiny metal dodecahedron that village hunters Farlan and Brissil acquired from the brains of a tasty, black, eyeless dog a couple weeks back. Briar detects magic and finds no other hotspots on the villagers’ wares.

A woman in distress catches Sqyylarr’s attention. Villagers restrain the woman from approaching the group and she appears to leave, but later emerges from a different direction and runs up to Sqyylarr imploring her for help. The villagers reluctantly allow Qarrlaah to lead Charlie to her hut where her son is chained hand and foot to a sturdy center pole. She explains that her son, Raev, was found after a hunting trip gone wrong, grievously wounded in his abdomen, his eyes removed and covered over with bone and skin. Although awake, he is devoid of his personality and impervious to the pain he should be in. Briar detects the presence of the magic-detecting dodecahedron implant.

Sqyylarr checks Raev for undeadness, but he is alive if not living well. Ander pokes and prods and prescribes radical brain surgery with a followup course of divine healing. Qarrlaah is inconsolable. Briar lays on hands to stabilize the abdominal wound. Watc ritually constructs Leomund’s Tiny Hut as a way of severing any magical link with a puppet master, but Raev does not respond any differently when isolated. Watc is disappointed by that outcome but also because she summoned the Tiny Hut to be chartreuse yet it came out green instead.

Sqyylarr notices a column of smoke on the horizon, but Ander assures her that it is just the caravan on fire, and it will be quite some time yet before the village burns down. Watc casts a sending to Professor Xalver to get guidance on treating Raev and for a status on the fire situation. Xalver indicates there is no time to communicate right now because there is a fire in the caravan.

Briar presents the options to Qarrlaah while Ander digs out woodworking tools most applicable to brain surgery. The sounds of crossbow bolts pinging harmlessly off the Tiny Hut interrupt the preoperative informed consent. 

Sqyylarr and Briar easily spot the spellguard imposters surrounding the Tiny Hut and firing from cover. Briar picks out Lieutenant Desmond who demands the surrender of the golem, or else Timberfen is really going to be sorry. Briar hatches a cunning plan for Watc to feign a surrender while the others ready attacks from within the Tiny Hut for when Desmond approaches. He does not fall for that old chestnut. His henchman cut the throats of several screaming, gurgling villagers.

Ander emerges from the Tiny Hut, drops a force ballista, and catapults a rock from the city wall into Desmond. Ander charges through the adjacent elder’s hut, shattering out the back wall where Desmond was just hiding, but he moved on. Watc skirmishes out to pop Desmond with a chromatic orb, flanking him where Ander can shockingly grasp his metal armor. 

Shifted Briar, supported by Sqyylarr and Barika, charges one of the “spellguard” murderers but gets critically, sneakily, poisonously, lethally struck by his lurking friend. Sqyylarr and Barika protectively defend crumpled Briar from the deadly pair of rogues. 

Watc and Ander abandon their pursuit of Desmond to protect Briar. A fireball igniting his henchmen gives Desmond pause. He escapes with the shouted promise that this is not over. 

It is over for Barika, however, when she takes a fatal sword’s dosage of poison. Ander avenges her with a couple of slaying firebolts, dropping the pair of rogue henchmen. It seems their cohorts have abandoned the village and retreated along with Lieutenant Desmond.

Watc stabilizes Briar, and Barika comes to on her own. They drag Briar into the Tiny Hut. Ander relieves the dead rogues of their weapons and poisons. Pulling off their concealing helms reveals they are merely human with two perfectly normal eyeballs each. Just to be certain about it, Ander performs a postmortem exploratory of the henchman’s brain over Sqyylarr’s protests. No dodecahedron. Ander stuffs the chiselled skull and brainy goop back into the helm, good as new.

Barika convinces Qarrlaah to accompany Raev with them back to the caravan for study and treatment. Qarrlaah regards her desperate son and burning home and agrees. They leave meats and a couple of gold for what’s left of Timberfen to rebuild their shattered, burning homes if there are sufficient unmurdered villagers who so desire.

Back at the caravan, Watc, mindful of the importance of levity for unit cohesion, commands Ander to perform a practical joke on Briar for when the clerics arrive to revive him. Ander uses his good journaling ink to scribe glasses and a moustache on Briar’s unconscious face. 

Clerics of the Raven Queen arrive to awaken Briar, or whatever, if Briar’s living will doesn’t stipulate he would otherwise prefer death’s loving embrace, or whatever. Briar awakens.

Hops strongly believes these fine, soulcaged, Kragdigger dwarves deserve an eternal seat in Morndinsamman. He and Frank depart with the survivors Tomax Uudor and Ja’ar’rodd as well as the two less fortunate spellguard fatalities back to the caravan. They will arrange for some clerical ringers to come free the disembodied Kragdigger dwarves from the crystal caves.

No sooner have Hops and Frank ridden out of view than leader Briar, wolf-raised Barika, and kobold archivist’s assistant Bock arrive on scene. Tales of adventuring are exchanged: Sqyylarr, Ander, and Watc rescued Uudor’s mostly doomed archeological foray to the Throne of Kulgraeth Kragdigger. Briar and Barika just returned from slaying a peculiar mongrel, all black and no eyes, which is being studied back at the caravan. Bock, privy to the location of the Throne from his master, Xalver, guided Briar and Barika up to the Throne site.

Briar, in command of the reformed party, decisively determines that the next course of action is to rescue and/or recover the two missing spellguard. Bock confirms the bloody footprints leading deeper into the cavern are definitely spellguard flavor. Sqyylarr takes point, tracking the prints across a natural bridge over a forty foot pit of ice to where a recently demised spellguard lies in a pool of blood, likely his own. Briar and Barika join to investigate the body which has been slashed as though by a sharp blade. Bock notices a second set of prints diverge off the edge of the bridge and, in the dim light emitted by the surrounding crystals and from points in the floor, can see the second spellguard, motionless at the bottom of the pit.

Ander retrieves a length of rope and Watc summons a mage hand to fasten a knot to haul up the fallen spellguard. Before anyone can figure how to get Watc ten feet closer to the body, a pile of random dwarf bones shifts, assembling in the shadows of the cave, and charges Barika with a large bone scythe. On the opposite end of the bridge, a pair of bone spiders and a bone scyther surround Watc. 

Barika, Sqyylarr, and Briar go to work martially on the bone knight. Although very tough, the three eventually prevail against the bone construct.

Ander summons a force ballista, Bock demonstrates formidable monk pushiness, and Watc thunderwaves. They collaboratively shove the spiders into the pit. Although the spiders easily crawl up and out the sides, the tactic buys enough time for Barika, Sqyylarr, and Briar to rejoin and form a defensive line, collecting the three damaged bone monsters for a final, fatal fireball from Watc.

Recovery of the deceased spellguard follows a short rest. The party surmises from the vanquished necrotic constructs that a fairly powerful wizard, possibly in possession of a desirable spellbook and other treasures, might be nearby. Tempting as that is to some, others point out that the mission is now accomplished, and risking death by going farther into the cave might be an excess of initiative. Briar allows a vote and Charlie departs with the win in hand. They catch up to the caravan already making an expedited stop for the evening.

Bock reports back to Xalver who marvels at the number of trapped souls available in the crystal caves, but his enthusiasm is by no means for any particular application.

Briar reports back to Vesper Othuro and volunteers to bury the dead. Vesper Othuro confirms that Frank and Hops successfully returned with Tomax and Ja’ar’rodd who are recovering well.

Next up is Pefeus Pragast, Charlie Expedition’s animal cleric of Chauntea. His necropsy produced some interesting results. First, the black beast slain by Barika and Briar was not naturally eyeless; there were two small incisions at the eye sockets and the eyes were replaced by enclosing skin and bones to make the smooth featureless face. Second, a shiny, metallic, dodecahedron device was extracted from the sensory area of the creature’s brain. Watc borrows the device for an identification ritual and learns its primary purpose is to detect magic. 

Ander reports back to Tutella Protectio. The report is a pretense to propose the barter of one slightly damaged soulcage crystal for Protectio’s help with Ander’s portable foundry project. Protectio accepts the consulting gig to ponder the possibility of imbuing a protection from energy spell into a non-brick foundry.

At dawn, the train of wagons resumes its eastward progress. The landscape changes as the narrow mountain valley gradually opens into some foothills and snowy wooded patches. The lead wagon, occupied by the caravan master and Sqyylarr, comes to a fork in the road. The wagon master gives local guide Sqyylarr a pop quiz: Which way? Sqyylarr confidently answers: Right. Nope, it’s Right, can’t you see the tracks of the two earlier expeditions duh? Charlie Expedition is extra swoll today because Master Brand and Portent Order have joined, so there is ample time for this kind of halted frivolity as the train bungees back into shape.

Just as the lead wagons resume along the right fork, a pack of inky, black, eyeless, catlike beasts beset the second wagon occupied by Watc and Ander. The harnessed hillbillies last no time at all. The wagon coasts to a stop. Ander leaps out the back door, dropping a force ballista that shoots one cat off the roof of the wagon. A followup firebolt hits it in its bared teeth. Watc shuts the back door and surveys the scene through the front portal as Sqyylarr, Barika, Bock, and Briar run to the rescue. 

A pair of the cats leap into the wagon to attack Watc. The other cats attempt a weakening effect on Briar and Sqyylarr before attacking them. Ander’s turret knocks another cat off the wagon’s roof putting it where Barika can chop at it. Bock joins Sqyylarr in avenging the hillbillies’ attacker with critical strikes and it is quickly destroyed. Watc’s thunderous wave ejects a cat from the wagon and knocks another from the roof. Raging Barika catches the wave as well. 

A cat attacks Sqyylarr and weakens Bock. Bock turns the tables by riposting and employs kobold pack tactics with Sqyylarr to drop the second cat. A second thunderwave slays the third cat. The repeated thunderwaves pulverize the hillbilly carcasses but narrowly miss Briar’s beloved hillbilly, Lucy.

The last cat jumps back into the wagon. Barika, singing a ditty about the cat coming back the very next day, charges through the door axe-first with a critical strike. Watc throws some magic missiles point-blank. Ander’s turret gets the final kill. Bock, crowded out of the wagon, is the only one who glimpses the hooded figure observing the fight from the road. The hooded figure takes two steps back and vanishes.

Vesper Othuro comes up to investigate. Ander, still jacked from combat, unsuccessfully renegotiates his nada salary. Briar makes a report of the incident including the hooded watcher. Vesper Othuro dispatches ten spellguard in pursuit. Watc performs field autopsies on all but one cat, retrieving the anticipated dodecahedron devices from their brains.

The wagon gets repaired, the hillbillies replaced, and the train expeditiously resumes its march until arriving at the quaint village of Timberfen.

With the imminent departure of the caravan, the now-stable elfgate emits academic specialists and equipment into the villa at a frantic pace. The caravan population swells to 1400, seven independent expeditions of 200 each, and a small contingent who will remain to occupy the villa. They will occupy without the convenience of any further Quastarte connectivity as the elfgate is chiselled out of position and securely stashed in the final moments before departure.

Charlie Company’s expedition, Expedition Charlie, comprises several working animals and a variety of wagons including the vis tanker, a brewery wagon, and a book mobile occupied by the notable gnome archivist Professor Xalver and his kobold assistant Bock. It occurs to Frank that, with the recent influx of personnel and equipment, this caravan has become conspicuously elaborate just to move some vis from point A to an albeit distant point B. At the first scheduled halt the party divides up for a nosy reconnoiter.

Watc identifies and engages a former classmate, Odineous D’nai, who joins the caravan along with a couple of other fellow botanists for the sheer thrill of botanical exploration. They became involved in the project a couple of weeks ago. The suddenly-steady elfgate fortuitously saved them significant overland travel. Odineous wonders about the mysterious tank wagon. Watc deflects: Probably a stock of ale to supply the expedition’s dwarves for the journey.

Ander, mindful of the need for continual improvement, approaches an abjuration wizard punctiliously minding the vis wagon. Tutella Protectio abjures Ander with aloofness while Ander petitions him for some help with a side project to construct a portable foundry. The elevator pitch isn’t enough; Protectio, really quite busy at the moment, defers until Ander has a more formal and compelling proposal. After all, magic has its cost.

Hops casts around for some fellow Divine Host adherents but settles for some young dwarves lingering at the brewery wagon. They offer him an Ogma’s Oaky Ale but he’s not into that manling rice beer swill. A pony secondary fermenter is just finishing up a good dwarven Moorman Marzen, but it needs another week. 

Frank conversates with his mummer wagonmates, Allanae Wynzana, Aaanlavar Dmra, and Isolli Waeskes, who avail the halt to, respectively, contort, bell toss and mime their relief getting out of the wagon. They almost can’t believe they would be so handsomely compensated for entertaining the caravan. Let’s just say, it is too much to turn down. Seriously.

Just about the time to get back to the road, a spellguard dispatched by Vesper Othuro urgently requires Charlie Company to investigate the delay of history professor Tomax Uudor who unexpectedly failed to rejoin the caravan after departing early to explore an archeologically significant site, the Throne of Kulgraeth Kragdigger, in the peak of a nearby mountain range. 

Sqyylarr recollects previously observing the tracks of Tomax’s horse-mounted party of four where they veered into the mountains through the fresh snowfall. Although Watc doesn’t personally know about the Throne of Kulgraeth Kragdigger, she refers Frank to Professor Xalver. Although Professor Xalver doesn’t personally know about the Throne of Kulgraeth Kragdigger, he directs Frank to the relevant book in his wagon library which indicates Kulgraeth Kragdigger was a regional warlord who constructed the literal seat of his authority on a peak to overlook this valley. Although Frank doesn’t know exactly which peak the Throne of Kulgraeth Kragdigger was constructed upon, he refers Hops to the mountain range above them. Hops uses his neck to tilt his head back so his gaze can behold the tallest peak. Hops indicates that peak to Sqyylarr who leads hillbilly-mounted Charlie Company back to Tomax’s trail and up to the site.

The trail ends at a bridge over a crevasse, which Frank finds a little ostentatious for some reason. A chill goes through the party, like they are being watched by something really cold. Hops notices some blood in the snow around the bridge and then a faint apparition on the opposite side. Hops dismounts his anxious hillbilly which Frank gathers protectively.

The apparition inquires, in dwarven, whom they serve. Ander begins to explain, in dwarven, that the answer is conditional on many variables, dependent and independent –. Hops jumps in: Morndinsamman. Ah, the apparition really likes that answer better than the manling’s ambiguity. He bows. To Ander’s point, though, the apparition really intended the query more in the mortal, immediate sense of service. Easy enough for Hops: that would be Emerus Warcrown of Citadel Felbarr. The apparition, an honorable sort of phantasmic dwarf, respects that allegiance. But here at the Throne of Kulgraeth Kragdigger they do for themselves. So it’s going to be a hard No today on crossing the crevasse bridge. Sqyylarr moves up next to Hops, maul at the ready, to support good old Emerus What’s-his-name’s right to cross this here bridge.

Hops shields himself in faith and starts across the bridge. The apparition declares loudly for Kragdigger and charges Hops furiously, but bounces harmlessly off.

Meanwhile, Ander makes a bloody snowball from what’s next to the bridge and thrusts it experimentally at the hillbillies. They don’t like the smell of hillbilly blood, even in snowball form. Frank gusts Ander away from the hillbillies. Ander advocates for science in the face of Frank’s ignorance while simultaneously scorching a ray in the face of the apparition. Sqyylarr gets a little scorched, too.

Hops turns the apparition and it flees until Watc’s firebolt and Sqyylarr’s maul pop it in the back of its retreating head. It returns to battle, floating above the ostentatious crevasse. This really spooks Watc. Hops summons a spiritual flaming sword of Haela Brightaxe which goes to work on the floating apparition while bullets, slung by Sqyylarr and catapulted by Ander, sail through it. With the help of Ander’s faerie fire, Hops’s flaming sword disperses the apparition.

A couple of bodies in the snow are not Professor Tomax. Sqyylarr warns about a ring of ice around the throne. Otherwise the throne just kind of sits out in the open without any glowing runes at all. The party tracks some bloody prints into a cave concealed by the terrain. Charlie Company gathers up and enters the cave.

The cave is something like the inside of an enormous geode. Ander magically ignites torches for the visually challenged. Outcroppings of large crystals have formed along the walls. Watc investigates their arcane properties and discovers they could have necromantic applications. In fact, Watc and Ander find the crystals quite irresistible. Ander produces a science hammer and starts whacking away at a specimen. Sqyylarr, with Ander-boosted perception, quickly finds two bodies laid out by a crystal outcropping. Although Frank confirms they are still alive and stable, they are not responsive.

Watc, compelled to touch the crystals, makes contact with Khelmeck, the trapped soul of a dwarf warrior. Watc relates Khelmeck’s predicament to him, but he belligerently rejects her explanation. Frank grapples Watc, ready to drag her off the crystal formation. Hops smashes a crystal open and out pops the apparition of Turom Grumbleforge. Hops reasons with Turom and they agree this is not Moradin’s Hall. Turom dives in to possess one of the beardless manling bodies, ready to fight. Sqyylarr creeps up ready to hammer the possessed mortal coil right into the cave floor, but Hops convinces Turom that this is no way to live, or die, or whatever in between. Ander finally cracks open his crystal adding another combative dwarf to the encounter. Ander tries to pocket the 2’ shard of necro-crystal.

Through some tough love counseling, one dwarf spirit returns to a crystal and the other one takes up guard duty at the throne bridge. Professor Tomax, his assistant Ja’ar’rodd, and two of their spellguard escorts are recovered. Hops and Frank arrange for some high level clerics to deal with the whole dwarf crystal situation.

Briar leads Charlie back to Portent Order to report the rescue of Armin Ormanheit. Sqyylarr and Watc reunite with the company with the news that the elfgate has inexplicably come good with complete stability, negating the need to acquire hillbillies. This would be distressing to Lieutenant Ormanheit if he were conscious to hear it.

Sqyylarr requests new tasks from Portent Order. Portent Order has a couple of make-work ideas, helping folks pack, assist in loading of materiel, maybe help seal the mine in the morning. Despite the compellingly tall piles of work on his desk, Portent Order pauses to answer questions. 

Watc has referred openly within the party to the concentrated magic, vis, recently discovered in vast quantities within the mine. Although very obviously the central purpose of the caravan, vis’s existence seems to be treated as an open secret. Portent Order recognizes that a few of the group have direct and extensive awareness of the vis and its magic amplifying capabilities, but of course it would be a risk to the caravan for that information to become well known. Indeed, the mine has been emptied of its reserve of vis, most or all of it loaded into the specialized tankers designed and constructed under the guidance of the visitors, and will be sealed in order to disguise the epochal replenishment of the condensing vis.

On the topic of the visitors, Hops wonders if Portent Order would share any information regarding their nature, especially as a visitor might require a cleric’s services on the road. Drobe Mabara, as Portent Order refers to the surviving visitor, is himself a priest from the east. Briar, familiar with the Lapins of the Quora Desert at the far edge of Kara-tu, already has that much worked out, and he reveals as much to the rest of the company. That the company already has a solid notion of the caravan’s content, destination, timing, and sponsors both impresses and distresses Portent Order. He soberly warns Charlie that the more anyone knows of the caravan, the greater the danger. Ander assures Portent Order that Discretion is his middle name.

Ander Discretion Brightiron, waving a double-spaced requisition form, in triplicate, inquires where he might find a quartermaster to outfit him with every last tool kit in the Sword Coast annual catalog. Portent Order refers him to Quartermaster Schmeck.

Frank wonders what will become of Villa Glamhoth dal e’ Anto now that the vis has been extracted and the elfgate has become coincidentally stabilized. Portent Order doesn’t want to say too much about that.

Portent Order issues a decorative handy haversack of holding, amply provisioned with mission necessities, to Briar. Charlie retires for the evening. Ander gets to work enchanting armor and weapons for tomorrow since the most mundane days at the Villa tend to bring extreme violence lately.

Frank hardly rests in anticipation of sealing the mine. He eagerly leads the others to the mine entrance the next morning. A couple of senior wizards, one of them a gnome, direct the operation. Hops wonders how they expect to succeed without more dwarven participation since any dwarf is going to easily spot the amateur concealment, but, whatever. 

Four tunnel runners emerge from the mine and declare it clear. An enormous boulder lands on all four runners and both wizards. At first this mine sealing plan looks inept even to non-dwarves, but then the group notices a couple of frost giants high up the mountain facade preparing to huck another boulder down.

The party scrambles apart to make less enticing any single target. Hops shields himself in faith. Ander summons a buff turret which spits some good health at Watc and Barika. The next boulder lands where Barika just was. 

The giants jump down to mix it up. Frank-hastened Sqyylarr and Barika oblige the giants with alternating smacks of maul and axe. Ander keeps the turret in position while also catapulting nearby rocks across the giants. Watc sends a fireball at the giant cornered by Sqyylarr and Barika. That giant leaps over Sqyylarr and Barika and pounds Watc, saved only by Ander’s turret. The other giant critically smashes Barika and thumps Briar. Briar shifts and lays hands upon Barika. Hops channels the Mother of Safety to preserve Watc’s life. Frank tosses out some fire flavored chromatic orbs. Barika gets enraged and digs into the giant. Refreshed Watc puts a second fireball between the two giants and gets a second pounding before the giant leaps away to pick on Ander. The other giant gets a piece of Barika but misses Sqyylarr. They keep working on it and Briar chops it down. Sqyylarr smashes out the second giant.

Briar attempts to rescue the boulder-crushed mine sealers. Of six he stabilizes two. Watc makes a sending to Portent Order to bring help. Meanwhile, Charlie focuses their talents to pry the boulder up enough for the two survivors, Opryyxx and Ooodooor, to be extracted.

Portent Order, Arcane Regent Master Brand, Professor Fris Duratas, and a cleric arrive on the scene. The cleric notices something about the giant the party clearly missed in its investigation and summons Master Brand’s attention. Master Brand kicks the giant’s head, but it already got killed by Sqyylarr. Portent Order suggests Charlie Company returns to the villa to prepare for departure. Hops muses that instead of Charlie Company maybe they should be called Mit Shagnet Company which must be some kind of crude dwarven reference.

Returning from their battle with the vis empowered drakes and baby dragon, Charlie company reports their findings to Portent Order. Although grateful for the assistance Charlie company provided, Portent is not swayed from sending Charlie to do the mundane goat herding mission discussed prior to The Explosion. He further explains that Bravo Company headed by Armin Orminheight (spelling?) was sent on a similar mission towards the northeast and has yet to return. After harassing Portent for more supplies “needed for the mission” Charlie (minus WATC and Sqyylarr) decides to rest and discuss their backstories.

The members grow to better understand each other while talking around the fire. Ander explains he’s from another world, Hops studied at Quarstarte, Briar is a member of the spellguard, Barika declares she is definitely NOT native to this area (contrary to her ice dragon appearance) and was convinced to come here by WATC, and Frank is a traveling showman looking for answers about his magics.

Charlie begins the day with a meal prepared by Ander? (I’m not sure about this part I was in the bathroom) that provides the party with extra fortitude (temp hitpoints) after which they head out to the northeast on goat-back. Sensing that the party must succeed on skill rolls, the holy members bless the party. Barika, “I was raised by wolves”, leads the team due to her survival skills (even though she has NEVER been in this area before). She unfortunately leads the party away from the mountains and into the forest, which Hops realizes is definitely not the right way. Barika then tries to track again and critically succeeds, setting the party in the right direction. Frank then fails, leading the team astray before Barika critically succeeds again leading them to an unfortunate scene.

While following the tracks of what looks to be Bravo, the party stumbles upon a trail of blood. Ander checks down the mountain side and sees the remains of a goat in a small valley area. Frank notices what appear to be non goat animal tracks coming from the opposite direction from Bravo’s tracks. Hops looks down the mountainside and sees what appears to be the cause of said bloodshed. He identifies 4 wolves (2 eating the remains of humanoids, while the other two walk menacingly towards a body sitting up in a corner. Barika falls off her goat and attempts to speak to the wolves (“I was raised by wolves!”) to no avail. Ander and Frank use flame spells to kill 2 of the wolves, Hops calls upon his deity (I didn’t get the name) and summons a holy blade that smites another wolf to death. As the last wolf fails to run away (getting critically sliced in half by Hops’ holy blade) Briar manages to spook his goat before jumping into the pit, Ander takes his goat down slowly yet still ends up falling off onto the snow (safely), and Hops treks down on his goat and falls off (safely). Barika and Fank tie themselves to their goats (poorly) and jump down both succeeding (Frank critically).

Newly regrouped at the bottom of the valley, Charlie discuss how to approach the survivor while he continues to bleed out, Ander decides to make Hops invisible, while frustrated Frank talks to the individual trying to explain to the dying (barely conscious and not a real threat) man that the party means no harm. Hops heals the man bringing him to full consciousness and he explains to the party that he is Armin (the captain of Bravo) and that his team was attacked by a monstrous porcupine-rat-like creature.

A shrill goat scream is heard from the top of the mountain and Briar recognizes it to be coming from Sally (his spooked goat). The team decides to trek back up the mountain (somewhat successfully) to investigate while Frank stays to protect the captain and get him ready for travel. Hops is the first to see the horrendous creature before it disappears into the shadows. Briar runs to his trusty goat steed who is bleeding out (looking as if the monster drank her blood) and lay-on-hands her (if she dies then that means Charlie will need to find even more goats). Barika is attacked by the monster taking a Lot of Damage from its many attacks, Frank uses his readied teleport spell which he realizes does not do what he thought it would do for a total of 0 damage. Ander throws a rock barely missing the party as well as the monster. Frank hastes Barika and Hops in hopes of someone else doing something useful. Barika rages and goes toe-to-toe with the damage she received (she did over 40 damage). Hops misses his two attacks and drops his axe on his third extra attack (critical miss). Charlie members continue to attack from all sides and Barika ends the monster with a final blow with her greataxe. The party decides to take Captain Armin back to the villa and to discuss with Portent what to do next.

With the bustle of preparation all around following the arrival of the mysterious visiting “ragmen”, the following personnel, crowded into Portent Order’s command tent, report for duty:

Sqyylarr, human brute, local guide
Barika Yarcan, dragonborn barbarian, local guide
Hops Lagerson, dwarven cleric of Barronar Truesilver
Fefrallin “Frank” Viventa, half-elf sorcerer
Ander Brightiron, human artificer
Watc, warforged evocationist
Briar Stoneclaw, paladin shifter, commanding

Leaving no doubt as to which way the wild native goat spoor would roll downhill if there were any wild native goats, Portent Order’s top priority today is commissioning Briar’s command of the assembled Charlie Company. Briar’s top priority today, directed by Portent Order, is the acquisition of some wild native goats to power the caravan. An explosion from the direction of the villa cuts even shorter the already brief meeting.

Briar leads his new company through the villa and out into the valley, hastening toward a column of smoke rising ominously from the area where specially-constructed wagons have been loading from barrels conveyed from the mine entrance full of what Watc speculates is the highly volatile magic concentrate, vis. 

In the twilight, torches illuminate the evident barrel explosion amidst a few blasted remains. Several white drakes feast on other fallen spellguard. Charlie Company fans out, skirmishing the drakes away from their victims. Ander introduces his fighting style, conjuring a self-propelled ballista that begins popping bolts into the drakes. Barika and Hops discover a mutual interest in the lodging of axes into the drakes. Sqyylarr opens with slung bullets before switching to her signature weapon, the maul, which makes the unit’s first kill. The dead drake sublimates away. Frank checks for potential survivors; there are none. He thunderwaves the drakes, gusting himself away upon one of the wagons.

The drakes get in a fair bit of rump biting, but are no match for Charlie. Ander’s scorching ray finishes Barika’s axed foe. Barika runs around the wagon to assist Hops’s axe and Sqyylarr’s maul to end another. Charlie slays all but one drake who cleverly climbs atop the open wagon of vis. Ander swaps his ballista for a firebolt cannon. Frank joins the firebolting to stop the drake, but it jumps into the vis. Any hope that it will simply drown are thrashed, thrashed like a tanker wagon when a magical drake infused with liquid magic bursts out of it in the new form of a baby white dragon. 

Watc blasts the dragon with a fireball, enticing it to whoosh down some ice breath on Sqyylarr and Briar. The dragon lands to claw Ander and all but bite Watc in two. Frank alternates fiery chromatic orbs with Watc’s fireballs while Barika and Sqyylarr charge in to draw the dragon away. Hops pulls out all the stops, evoking an abundance of Revered Mother’s healing. Ander puts a shocking grasp on the dragon, allowing Watc to back away and sculpt a final, fatal fireball at the vis-drake-dragon. Unsurprisingly, the dragon dissipates before Ander can collect a sample.

Responding spellguard begin to arrive as the company investigates the now peaceful scene. The evidence suggests the misfortune began when a barrel of volatile vis was dropped into one of the torches. Two of the explosion victims are the two armed ragmen visitors who seemed to be the impetus for all the recent activity. Hops draws Briar’s attention to the skeletal structure of the visitors which is light weight, but not avian. Definitely not dwarvenoid, which is to say not dwarf, not human, not elf.

Briar delegates responsibility for the explosion, death of high profile VIPs, loss of productivity, etcetera back to the arriving spellguard. Charlie withdraws to report to Portent Order and rest up for the deferred goat rope mission.