Egil's Lullaby

(With Apologies to Eugene Field)

The sea is dark and the waves crest white,

As the hern-king speeds from the deeps to night

And this is the song the hern-king sings

As over his children his cloak he flings

“Swim, swim, little ones, swim;

be mindful of nets and hooks and lines;

and swim, little ones, swim”.

The sea is wild and the waves crest high

As the hunter sinks to the deep and dies

And this is the song the hunter sings

As back to his children his last cry rings

“Run, run, little ones, run;

I killed the king and his blood wants yours

so run little ones, run.”

The king may sing as he speeds through night

The hunter cry as he fades from sight

But you and I are safe and dry

and I will sing this lullaby

“Sleep, sleep little one, Sleep;

You and I are safe and dry,

so sleep, little one, sleep.”

The Wrath of the Dragon

The sheriff closed the door behind him and looked at the prince.
"I've just got news that they've attacked the money transport again."
He stopped when he saw the emotionless expression on the prince's face. Very slowly the prince lifted his head and looked straight at the scarred face of the head of his guards
"So just to be clear: We sent out 3 identical carts with identical number of guards on three different routes through the forest and only the one with the tax money got attacked? Apart from us and the inner circle of people, who else knew which was the correct one?"
"Only a handful of people who were involved in loading the carts. Except for two of them, they all were guards who were with the carts and got killed in the attack."
"Who are those two?"
"Two stable boys who dealt with the horses"
"Arrest them and hang them tomorrow morning on the suspicion of working together with Rob Inwood."
The sheriff nodded and was just about to turn and leave the room when the prince continued:
"The emissary of his majesty, the Dragon made it quite clear to me yesterday that the Dragon starts to suspect that we are making up the attacks to avoid paying the tax for this region for our own gain. Should the next tax payment not arrive, they will send out troops to take control and I guess we both know what that would mean. His majesty really doesn't like people who don't pay their taxes!"
"Yes Sire, I heard the stories. I will send out Enric, the tax collector, immediately to get the new shipment together. The people won't like it, but I guess they won't like the Dragon's troops taking over either."
"We have to make it clear to those farmers that collaboration with this criminal in the woods means death. This criminal endangers the peace we have right now and that we pay for by taxes. Do whatever is necessary to get that message across! I trust in your expertise. And before you hang the stable boys, try to find out who their contact was or whether they know where that criminal is hiding!"
The sheriff nodded and turned round to leave the room, closing the door behind him.
The prince walked to the window and looked over the lake and the forest. He heard about the fate of the other leaders who weren't able to pay the taxes. His hand automatically reached up to rub the neck. He can't let that happen. There were rumours that Rob Inwood robbed the carts to give the money back to the poor. That means they have the money again to be taken.

A little bit of story explanation

I sent this very brief summary to Sven - might help answer a few questions:

• The Glintshield clan used to have a stronghold and run the pass - the only way across the Ironwall mountains.
• Then 100 years ago they mysteriously disappeared. Rumours of infighting and civil war.
• Recently the Glintshield clan reappeared and started rebuilding the citadel and re-opening the pass.
• Then their blood enemies - the Severed Eye orcs, attacked them. Those dwarves not killed, fled into the pass and sealed it behind them.

• The Shadowed Chain were a secret cult inside of the Glintshield clan.
• The civil war was over the theft of the rib - used to bind the titan.
• The cultists had managed to recover the rib and spent decades convincing the Thane to reopen the pass. They hoped to return the item to the binding site when the pass was made safe, but fate - and the orcs - intervened.
• This is why they had the rib. The other parts were stolen from the binding site and were in possession of the orcs.
• Note that it is not possible to bind Stonefang without all 4 parts, but one part can be missing for some time (as evidenced by the stolen rib).

The messenger

The dwarf was taken by surprise when the dark shape stepped out of the shadows of the storage room.
"How did you get in here?"
"It is our job to get into places people don't want us to be in. That is one reason why you pay us, I guess! I am here to confirm that the council has received your money and has accepted your request. Things are already in motion."
"And you are here already to do it? The time is not right, yet!"
"No, I'm just a messenger whose job it is to inform you of acceptance. The request will be dealt with at the time and place and with the conditions you have requested in your application."
"Good, see, the reason.."
"The reasons are of no concern to us! If you want to change your mind, now is the last chance! But remember that the deposit is non-refundable."
"No, I'm seeing this through!"
"Glad to hear."
With the last word, the dark shape merged again with the shadows. The dwarf stepped forward into the corner but it was empty. He looked around the room once more to see how the messenger could have disappeared but the only way out was the well lit corridor. It seemed that the praise he'd heard from his contacts about this organization wasn't unjustified.

He went back towards the surface. Now that he knew that the matter will be taken care of, he had to prepare a few things.

Cartoon time

I get knocked down, but I get up again ...

... only to be knocked down again, and again and again until I'm pulp.

The party found their awesome last session with some very effective collaborative fighting. The orcs, despite being decidedly tough hardly got a look-in.

From a position of tactical strength with archers up high and a brute of an orc upon a dire boar down below, the orcs were utterly destroyed. Rudha-an deserves some special praise for his thorny whip as does the incredible Duggin. Without Rudha-an pulling down the archers so effectively you would have had to get up there (as Niema did against one of the archers) or rely on Vogir to pick them off.

As usual, the combination of Ghanash's leadership and rousing along with Bayern's all-round awesomeness insured the party was never facing a fully fit (or vertical!) enemy and that any hit you sustained was quickly healed.

From the courtyard up to the citadel, nothing changed. Now they faced hydra-head orc reavers that grew extra arms and an orc rampager with 90 hit points. Orestes was in his element and there was not a point where the orcs were able to really let loose and before long (an hour max) all the orcs were dead.

Party awesome. DM has to rethink a little. Dragon headed orc leader next ...

Releasing the Chains - Part 2

After the battle with the Troll Shaman and his pet Ogre, the party moved into the rooms at the other side of the cavern. Here they found orcs lying in wait for them. The orcs had been besieging the last group of the Shadowed Chain dwarves. The party could hear them chanting, evidently to keep up their last magical defence.

The party, now adept at dealing with a few orcs quickly dealt with the enemy and came to the 4 dwarves and explained who they were and that they were sent by Rangrim.. The elderly dwarven leader Gwendar, magnificent in his tattoos of servitude introduced the others; Serka, devoted apprentice of Gwendar, and entirely disapproving of the ramshackle party, Rigdin, the young recruit racked with panic of their situation, and Duggin, stout and tenacious warrior.

"Thanks the gods you have come!" exclaimed Gwendar, clearly exhausted. "Now that all the orcs are dead we can finally seal in Stonefang forever" He explains that the body parts of the earth titan Stonefang must be placed in the magic circles around the Pit of Doom to confine the angry beast under the mountain. Without it he would surely rampage the region bringing all manner of giants and ogres to his call.

He goes on to tell the story of how the Shadowed Chain cult was brought into existence purely to bind Stonefang and that they had to call upon Torog, the terrible evil god of jailers and torturers to be able to accomplish the awesome task. With it the freedom that dwarves love so dearly was lost and so only the secret cult was created. In truth the Shadowed Chain was as tightly bound to the Underdark as Stonefang was to the bowels of the mountain.

But, everything went wrong when a stupid jealous member of the Glintshield clan found the Pit of Doom and stole the rib, igniting a civil war among the dwarves. Dwarf fighting dwarf over accusations of theft and sacrilege of Moradin. Worse still, the civil war allowed the orcs to gain the upper hand in their eternal struggle, resulting in the sorry mess that is found today.

The party, hearing the full story, is eager to help and explain that of the four parts they only have the Stone Hand. With Gwendar only having the Stout Rib it quickly becomes clear to the dwarf that the battles are far from over. He urges the party to search out the other two items and bring them to the cavern so that the mighty titan can be bound. he even offers that Duggin could accompany them to lend his axe to the cause.

Never shying from adventure the party agrees to regain the Heart and Eye of Stonefang and even decide that Duggin might be useful, stout dwarf that he is.

They march to the Citadel!