The boys have already a lot of ideas on how to expand their Dragon Ranch. One is to convince Fryniwid, a gnome merchant and alchemist, to establish his shop on their domain. He would be convinced, he said a couple of days ago, if he was sure to have a good starting stock of mana crystals, the kind that can be found in dungeons. There’s those natural rock formations but what about the crystals embedded in the walls of the City of the Smiths, many of which still emitting light after all those years?

1,5 hours session

Featuring Path of Glory’s main dungeon: The Gates of Power.

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers – roster:

Adventuring:

• Aracyne, Elf Hunter, fearless Guild Leader, (Isaac)
• Jedri, Ratman Thief, rather likes his curse (Isaac)
• Bumwild, Gnome Mage, wants to become a summoner (Isaac)
• Torch, Goblin Knight, fanatically loyal to Forka, (Edmond)
• Letraquan, Human Necromancer, has a talking, evil sword (Edmond)
• Brondrack, Hatchling Dragon, rescued from the dungeon (Edmond)

Not adventuring for the moment:

• Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (Isaac)
• Trimbo, Human Arcanist, wields both crossbow and lightning (Edmond)
• Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)

What the other adventuring guilds are doing:

• Green Imps: info gathering in Longfelt
• The Protectors: leisure in Longfelt
• Widowmakers: training new recruits in Gunderholfen
• The Musers: training in Longfelt
• The Ravens: adventuring in Gunderholfen

Main Goal for this session: explore the area north of the entrance to the Gates of Power and steal any light crystals they see

Gunderholfen

• Having fled from a pair of Manticores, the Battle Brothers check their map and change their plan to go to the (second) nearest non-explored part of the City of the Smiths. This is right at the entrance, north of the large room with murder holes. They steal the crystals and go north.
• They take a small corridor that leads to a room lighted with crystals, with a fountain in the middle. They steal the crystals and go west.
• They see a larger room with a reddish pillar at the entrance, there’s an hobgoblin corpse near the pillar. It’s horribly burned. The adventurers decide to explore somewhere else.
• Going east from the fountain room, they see another hobgoblin corpse, this one beheaded. There’s a message in dwarvish on the wall which Bumwild translates as something like « walk with humility on these halls, friends of the dwarves ». The Battle Brothers get the general idea and crouch to go through, feeling a breeze of air above them halfway. They all keep their head attached to their body fortunately and get into a perpendicular corridor. Two locked doors on the east side. Aracyne tries to lockpick one but fails. He perseveres but is interrupted by an anguished voice: « Elves! Elves invading my halls! » and a scream of rage for good measure. The hardened adventurers are mostly nonplussed, except Torch who gets disheartened. Aracyne finally manages to unlock the door, it leads to another stairway that connects with the Forge below.
• Having explored this section (except one obviously-trapped room), with many crystals collected, the Battle Brothers call it a day and decide to go home. One last thing to do though, they go to the dining room with the crystal pillar, and with some time and efforts, manage to topple it over and take the dislocated middle part. It’s cumbersome, they must roll it on the ground but it’s feasible.
• They take the elevator to Level 1 and get out of the dungeon without incidents. They then take some time to craft a stretcher as rolling the large crystal cylinder wouldn’t work in the uneven swamp path. Before they’re finished with their construction they get the visit of fellow adventurers: it’s the hated Ravens! Their leader, the dwarf Runfurly is quite jovial but his words are threatening: « my my, quite a haul you have there… Y’know what we’ll let you do the hard work but ye have to give us somethin’, with you attacking us outta nowhere like ye did last time… » Aracyne doesn’t argue and throws a pouch with 4 rubies to the Ravens and it’s enough to buy peace for the moment.
• They finish the stretcher. Travel through the Ganfal swamp is slower than usual.
• Aracyne yells a warning, an evil tree, an Ur-Fang, is targeting the party. It swipes at them with piercing branches. Letraquan is struck harder than the others but he resists the (soporific) poison. The monstrous tree proves resistant to their weapons but fortunately Bumwild’s Fire Blasts and their dragon’s fire breaths are more than enough to win the day. They grab some intact seeds from the burned carcass of the Ur-Fang and continue on their way.
• They reach the Dragon Ranch and send Trimbo with a message for the gnome alchemist, they have crystals!

Closing Comments:

• Not a lot of exploration but a profitable delve despite having to pay a tribute to the Ravens.
• The traps in this section were well-telegraphed, maybe even on the easy side but probably fair for one that was lethal (beheading a la Indiana Jones).
• The Gates of Power is something like 85% explored now, with the bigger part of what is left being the lair of the Manticores. It seems like the next delve will be focused on that.