Character sheet upgraded. Helgrim would like the Dwarven ring and were we able to grab the belt on the way out?
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Hi guys my mom has a disease called MSA-C. My dad tried to bring her home from the nursing home she was in. It didn’t go well. She got sepsis and went into septic shock which sent her to the Emergency Room. After which, she had a heart event that placed her in critical care. All this caused my dad, who was understandably stressed out, to go through a spell of high potassium which sent him to the emergency room. My mom is now in a nursing home 40 miles from my house and my dad is home. The Delta Variant just hit the nursing home my mom is in and they are now in a two week lockdown. I am sorry for disappearing. I am trying to catch up with all my games now. Sheeesh!
Helgrim nods approval. He had not planned on giving away any of the coins, gems or the Dwarven ring they had found. He hoped the doll was not something important. He wonders if they have the time to get the Dwarven belt they had seen on the way in.
”Do you think Tweed is in league with them? Maybe the Consortium was looking to create their own realm even?”
”Yeah, that’s what I was thinking Wulf. If I could kill the hags we could save the girls.” The dwarf gets very solemn. ”I can’t believe I didn’t figure out the connection between the girls and the hags. I just thought they were smuggling them in for . . . Um . . . Well, cocktail girls let’s say.” He tries to get his mind off of it. ”And when I get back into town I am going to start workin of getting rid of those Red Rock gang jackwagons too! No one is going to be hurting the wee ones around me anymore. There’s been too much dirty underhanded filth going on in that town!”
”Well, to be fair I have never been hopped up on so many spells before.” He gestures towards the bard. ”And once Freyja started that inspiring performance, well, my courage just swelled up, and my competence just seemed to improve and with my pent up, um, exuberance I started just raging man! I Kinda just lost my poop all over these murdering hags!” ”Heh, that was awesome though. Did you see the jump?! That was stupid, but also awesome, and I made it!” ”Wow. . . That could have gone real bad.”
Seeing his party member wounded snaps the dwarf back into tactical mode. ”Teasel, can you patch our people up with your Fey magic?” He uses his darkvision to look around. ”Lets look alive people, we may have dark dwarves inbound and we need to find a way back up to the surface.” ”Eyes and ears sharp. Who else is banged up?!”
Breathing heavily, Helgrim plants his hands on his hips. ”Sorry Wulf, once they head the call they are lost. At least on this plane of existence.” ”I am going to be honest with you guys. When I tried jumping over here. I wasn’t sure I was gonna make it. And once I did, I wasn’t sure I was going to get off of this platform alive.” ”I just knew I had to do it to protect the little ones and all those these hags prey upon.” ”Thank you all for what you’ve done.” ”Heh! And I felt bad leavin you with the Ettin. You made short work of that monster! Heh! Heh!” Helgrim wipes off his axe on the green hag while deciding if he should take their heads off to be certain they remain dead.
The dwarf turns towards the changeling. ”I am sorry you chose to begin your transformation into a Hag. I can’t let you become what your mother was. A predator reying upon hapless males, then delivering your spawn to families who raise such babies only to have them stolen from them when they reach their teens. It’s an abomination!” He lashed out with his Waraxe.
”I pray Desna may embrace your soul and grant you the peace you deserved without this corruption!”
”Never bring a wand to a axe fight. . . “, Helgrim says with satisfaction!
”Heh! Take to the wind!?” the enraged dwarf scoffs! ”Take this axehead! Take it all! Hag!” he swings furiously hoping to end the coven before they end him!
”Jeva has made her choice! Strike her down as well!”
”Keep it up! Take’em down!” the dwarf bellows as the battle rages on!
I forgot bless. +1 more to my hit. Don’t forget for your attacks guys!
Pumped full of rage, feeling inspired, wielding a magical enchanted weapon, swollen with Bulls strength and safe under his Shield of Faith! — Helgrim brings his Dwarven Waraxe down with extreme prejudice upon the Green Hag. ”Clan Ironstar stands once more Under the Mountain!”
”Taste my Dwarvish steel Hag! I strike for those you have ruined!”
I get it man. I was there. At the same time I am so glad you are back!
Helgrim, bolstered by magic, rage, and urged on by Freyja’s cover of Godsmack—“I Stand Alone!”, runs and attempts to leap the gap in order to close the distance with the Hags! ”Ancestors! See me now!”
Ahhh okay. I was a little confused.
”Well let’s check our preparations and make ready. I will go for the Ash Hag if the way is clear for me. Otherwise I will cut my way towards her.” He taps his armor. ”I can feel the magic has awakened.”
”Can anyone tell me what the spell does?” ”Actually . . . Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” The dwarf rubs his hands together and opens up his pack. ”Okay, here is the plan. Teasel give me Fey Guidance. Freyja, you play me a little dwarf tune to get my confidence up. Van Dorning, you aid me by handing me my tools when I ask for them so I have two hands.”
”What!? Oh I thought you were a bard.”
”Maybe Tarson or Teasel can read the aura?”
”Check for anything useful then we head down. We need to strike while our enchantments are hot.”
”That’s what I’m doin Wulf.”
”Yeah great. Now we gotta get through pissed of Dark Dwarves before gettin past the hideous harpies.” Helgrim mutters with his brows furrowed. After a moment of reflection he allows himself a smile. ”Hummm, I was pretty good though. I was really layin it on thick wasn’t I? Heh, yeah, that was superb showmanship really.” He becomes serious once more. ”Well enough with the praise Tarson. Let’s get on with it.” He leads the way down stairs keeping his eyes open and touching the stone wall hoping it would speak its secrets to him.
In Dwarven: ”You all act like you don’t know about my project. I have no love of your kind either, but If you want your compensation of gems and smelt bars to keep flowing, let me pass so I can get on with my task! The Dark Smith himself could not set a more unrealistic deadline for getting it all done! The hags promised me you would soon no longer be needing your chattel so your efforts will no longer be impeding mine. If you have a problem with how they have been conducting their business take it up with them and leave me out of it!”
In Dwarven: ”The hags do seem to keep their own priorities. Their winged wretches despoil too many of the strong ones that could excavate, on that I will agree with you. But I am not here for useless chatter I have work below.”
In Dwarven: Helgrim barks back gruffly! ”By Droskar‘s beard, why do you try to stop me from my work? Did the Hags not tell you I was coming?!”
Figuring that Wulf and Teasel will be making louder noise than he does, Helgrim continues forward and attempts to get himself out of sight! Internal Monologue: ”Shit! Shit! Shit!”
Helgrim peeks. If the coast looks clear . . .
He sneaks!
Watching for traps as he goes.
”Okay, how about this I will hood up and try to sneak past. If they see me they will attack on sight. If I can get past them, I will see if there is a trap at the next hallway. Remember , they can see down here without light like me so they will likely see your light coming. Maybe you can hide the light and sneak past them because they are expecting the trap to go off? What do you think? Give stealth a chance first, try taking and move on second. Or if it goes right to a fight I will come back in and join the party?” Unless there is any dispute. Helgrim will take 20 to move to the next hallway.
Helgrim takes 20 to sneak back the short way. In a very very low voice he whispers. ”l could pick out at least a half dozen distinct voices, but there may be others remaining silent. Based upon their dialect and inflection, alongside their crappy and uninspired lock work, I strongly suspect them to be duergar.” He licks his lips. ”They would slay me on sight and can become giant sized through their foul magic. ”Terrible foes indeed, I would have attacked by suprise, but they grumble about some pending business deal with the hags, complaining that the monster women are delaying and wasting their time.” ”Do we attack or try to hide my nature and negotiate?”
Helgrim whispers to his companions. ”Toil of Droskar’s folly. There is a trap here set to release gas or project some kind of dust. Worse yet, it’s dwarven, but not dwarves of old. We may have the deranged ones of the deep or followers of the Dark Smith to thank for these.” He pulls out a long bladed screwdriver and an angled engineers square from his pack. ”Its a pressure plate so maybe I can hold the flagstone up, disable or disconnect the trap with Van Dorning giving me a second set of hands. Heh, if anyone has Guidance handy I will take it. Otherwise the rest of you hold your breath for a minute and don’t get hurt tryin to help me if I mess this up. I don’t want you young folks getting hurt.” He gives a serious nod to them and grimly sets about his work.
”Well, nothing’s happened yet, so. I think we are good.” ”Stand back I’ll test out my work.” The dwarf move across the affected flagstones.
The dwarf whispers. ”Well, we don’t have a box and trap man, so we will have to do our best.” ”Detect magic, maybe summon something to walk ahead of us and other than that I will take point and hopefully be able to take the brunt of it with all the ensorcellments you gave me. Keep yer eyes and ears sharp.” The dwarf wishes to proceed quietly, but if push comes to shove he will dive in so the hags don’t get to buff up too bad.
I want to make sure I am not screwing this up. We are starting at the top of the map right?
The dwarf points to the belt and indicates deadly trap. He points a finger to the roof, makes a swirling motion and then brings his right palm down on his outstretched left palm. He looks longingly at the belt, but shrugs his shoulders and points towards the passageway leading further in.
The dwarf reddens a bit and breaks the awkwardness by getting out his tome and a set of calipers.
”Okay folks, based on my calculations this building we are in should be about here, so if we look at this as an overlay of the undercity and use that to create a scale. . . Triangulated with these known survey markers . . . taking into account the topographic margin . . . that would mean . . . we are about . . . “ He makes several reference points and calipers down for scale. ”Here.” ”Um, or at least close to it, and if the ground hasn’t shifted too bad, because like, only the whole mountain moved a bit, but it’s got to be pretty close. . . I think.”
The dwarf grins unable to contain himself. ”I can’t wait to bend your ear and find out what you know about this place Van Dorning.” He gets more serious and responds to Wulf. ”If I didn’t mishear, the coven is split up. We need to strike and kill the ones here before the three link up again.” Helgrim’s face softens a bit remembering something. ”Uh.” ”Freja, do you have any matters you would like to attend to before the battle?” The dwarf is unsure of the human custom in this kind of situation.
The dwarf granted himself a moment to think of the dwarves who once made their lives in the space the party now occupied. He wondered what it had been like in those times. The Dwarven Kingdom was strong in strength of arms and numbers, forge stacks spewing out smoke in volume as smiths piled up works of their trade. He placed a hand on the wall feeling the centuries under the palm of his hand while silently compelling it to whisper its secrets to him. Helgrim refocused his mind to the matter at hand and spoke to the group of heroes. ”I don’t trust these Harpies one bit Wulf. As soon as we show weakness enough they will attack us. If we fight the hags out here in the open and it looks, for even a second, that the hags have an upper hand we will be fighting both the hags and harpies. I think we are better taking our chances fighting the hags in their lair.” ”Once we win, we can find a way out through the tunnels.” ”Also, I’m not giving up any stolen dwarf treasures in there. Well, maybe coins, but not other things crafted by my forefathers.” ”And I am not letting these hags hurt our girls if I can help it.” He delivers in a very serious tone, but then opens up his hands showing he welcomed the others thoughts and council. ”But, I am willing to listen if there is something I’m missing.”
Okay Great!
I think the characters need to get someplace where they can talk freely.
”I am not doing anything that risks the little wee ones in the village.” Helgrim mutters arms crossed. ”Lets find ourselves someplace out I’d suggest so we can make our preparations.” And get a chance to talk without feathered ears on us!”. Helgrim thought to himself.
”Well, if we are ready let’s get on with it. Unless we need to rest and regain spells and what not?”
”We need to kill the hags. They kill and eat children and they and their minions have plagued this land more than once over the years. They will only expand their influence. The Fey are already teetering on the edge of destruction along with what’s left of their forest.” The dwarf says resolutely.
Teasel just nods in agreement. Upon hearing about the changelings she asks,"What happens if we kill the hags before the changelings have a chance to change? Will that save them or are the just forever lost?" The dwarf walks over to the Fey touched woman and whispers, ”What is this you were talking about now? Change? Like, into what?”
”Good point Tarson. We need to kill the hags here and then lay in wait to get the third.” And rescue the girls . . . If they in fact want to be rescued and haven’t willfully joined their mother. the dwarf thought to himself. ”When we go down, we need the harpies to keep up normal appearances up top.”
Woot! You’re back!
I am glad you are back Teasel!
”Okay, which one of you is the main leader?” Helgrim asks, trying to give the other a chance to see to their new party member.
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