Cresting the dunes, we see:
- Slick
- Jax
- Fulvus
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| source |
Before them were arrayed placer deposits of ruby along the dune faces and valleys. Snogriz Stormvault, dwarven assayer, squealed and trundled off to assess the resource...
 |
| like this, but ruby |
Of course, something else was there. The PCs recalled that the elves had mentioned that any negotiations for the ruby would need to be with "Calaquendi-Culu." The sand shifted, and Snogriz got himself half-buried in the dune face as he attempted to scramble back to the party.
It was a worm, or, at least, a lindwurm.
 |
| howdy |
Because desert, of course. Anyway. It lunged at the party, taking a large chunk out of Jax. Goober thought better and was off attempting to dig out Snogriz, avalanche rescue dog style. Slick disappeared, to go be secret-stabby, and Fulvus did his bouncing halfling thing. Much stabbing, biting, sand-burrowing, and attempted constricting, and the thing lay dead. Head too large to recover, but claws make for a good trophy.
Snogriz, now dug out of the dune, recovered his senses and took over. The party spent a few days winnowing the sands to separate enough ruby (and plenty of surplus) for new lens construction. Somewhere in this, Slick wandered off and came upon a terror-bird nest with a deceased parent and conveniently-hatching egg.
Imprint time!
 |
| I was going to use a cassowary, but they are too cute |
Anyway, the desert elf Imiriel gave Slick the comprehensive care and feeding of terror birds, and Slick was spotted pre-chewing food on a regular basis...
About this time, our old friend Kavderac arrived to see what was happening. A dead lindwurm was interesting, but a ruby-winnowing project was fascinating. Snogriz was happy to explain the technique in excruciating detail, leading to a rapt dragon. But of course a dragon can't be bothered with such base labors... And it would be very thoughtful if he could get some ruby, in the name of hospitality, and he wouldn't steal too much more stuff from the party. Promise.
Two more days sifting sand...
And off Kavederac flew, with a couple of bags worth of ruby dust to add to his hoard.
Back to an elven settlement, where word of Calaquendi-Culu's defeat had spread. The elves with both relieved and saddened at this news, as the beast was an ancient, respected hazard.
Carousing happened. Fulvus invested in a caravan, Jax lost money gambling on the cockfights, and Slick woke up in the local temple hugging a gaudy helmet he'd picked up somewhere.
Back to the port of Gebluff, to load their riches and head to the Smoking Isles.
The second day, a commotion rose from beneath the decks, with screams of bloody murder. The party crowded down into the space to find a dead sailor and yet another chimeric horror, similar to those they had encountered in the sewers under Acroria. More stabbing.
The chimera was assessed to have been one of the sailors, transformed. Faith Perpetual scanned the remaining crew, and found nothing outside of the usual levels of chaos...
Time to get back to the Smoking Isles. The ship docked in the dwarves' cavernous bay and were greeted by the dwarven leadership. The crew offloaded their ruby and were led deep into the volcano's core to the dwarves' pet demon.
 |
| sup? |
A bag of ruby was tossed into his molten pool to awaken him. Time to work. "We get to build? It is been so long since I've been asked to create! This is a joy! We'll get to it...." And the party hung out as lenses were cast and recast to blow out flaws and cracks. Goober gave doggy-rides for dwarven children, Slick tested his lockpicking against dwarven locksmiths, Rondel hung with the archivists, Fulvus drank and shared brewing tips.
A week later, and a ship with the flag of Athenard was escorted in by a pair of wary dwarven cutters. The ship was held as many urgent messages went to and fro amongst the dwarven leaders. Finally, someone found the party. They're asking for you.
Ok, this is new.
The party was greeted on the ship by a pair of distinguished fellows guarded by a pair or hulking, yet nervous paladins. The pair introduced themselves as Grancet, librarian of Athenard, and Alpher, priest of the temple of Garond. Brytha and Alaus, the muscle, were Library Paladins.
 |
| You have an overdue book... |
Alpher stated that a young fellow in their temple's care, a certain Roderick, had told of the party's quest, which drew the the interest of the Library. ("He's well and healing, unfortunately recovering from a curse often takes longer than the curse itself.") Besides, word was, Chaos was on the move, border towns were depopulated. And Acroria had sealed itself off.
Grancet revealed a pair of ancient, iron-bound volumes, each with two complex locks. As the two elders each revealed a key to unlock them, an invisible Slick inspected the mechanisms. And was watched closely by one of the paladins, in spite of his invisibility3. These books never leave the protection of the library.
One has the histories, one the runes and rituals for the lenses. Ancient pages of cramped writing and annotated runes were reveled. Time to really start building.
***
DM Notes:
And again, I absolutely suck at designing combats. An old lindworm barely scratched the party. I'd hoped that they'd get a little nervous. Again, I need to slow down and plan a bit better. I've been running for a few years. I should have a sense of how to counter the party and at least provide a challenge. In the two campaigns I've been playing in, I've felt the challenges were always there, and close calls were common. I'm too nice, I guess.
And I've mentioned that it's time to wrap this one up. Hence a few heavy hitters found the party, rather than having them go on yet another fetch-quest. Time to bring in the last resource, then figure out some end-game. There are a lot of allies and resources out there- we'll see how it all comes together.
And speaking of campaign ends, we got together and discussed our Shadowdark campaign and playing with that ruleset.
Was a good wrap-up and debrief, as well as a bit of a dive into our thoughts on the system. I still need to write my review.
And I'm roped into running a one-shot for those yahoos. I'm a luddite, never having used Roll20 before, so its going to be ugly. And I hope I have something that might be engaging. Not to mention a fight worthy of the players. Oh well.
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