Not long after Zargon’s attack upon Dingradur, one of Yspadadden’s regular customers arrived in the Porch and called up for Yspadadden. The dwarven smith came to the gallery and could see no-one there. This was not surprising since the visitor was the Invisible Man and was only ever encountered as a disembodied voice. He was expected, since the Invisible Man had previously undertaken to make a map of the environs of Dingradur for Yspadadden. However, along with the scroll tube lying on the packed earth of the ground in the cavern there was an ironbound chest with a note pinned to it. Descending to the cave Yspadadden read the note. It said, “To the Death Hand for stiffing Zargon.”
Opening the chest Yspadadden found three small animals: an owl; a toad imprisoned in a block of ice; a very fat and pregnant dormouse. There was also a small pouch containing five arrowheads, each inscribed with elven runes and plainly magical. They looked as though perhaps they had at one point formed a necklace. The Invisible Man said that this was a gift from an Orcish “King” called Gamesh who was delighted at the removal of a rival. He said that the orcs assumed that the dwarves of Dingradur were under the protection of some mighty wizard who they called Death Hand. The Invisible Man indicated that though he knew better, he had not said anything to Gamesh.
Ubaron, who happened to be at Dingradur, opined that all three animals were the sort of creature that magicians commonly bound to themselves as familiars. Ulfenir said that the dormouse and her offspring would be more useful bred as a food source in Dingradur. She thought that toads of this sort secreted a psychotropic substance through their skins. She had heard that humans passed them around at toad-licking parties and gave Ubaron a hard stare. She thought that there might be more useful alchemical uses for it. Yspadadden acknowledged that a small owl might indeed be a handy familiar. He was frankly delighted with the elven arrow heads. This was a well thought out gift. Plainly Gamesh was a creature of some intelligence and sophistication who wanted to be friends. However, Gamesh thought he was dealing with a human magician, who were notorious for their moral flexibility. Unfortunately for him, Yspadadden, like all dwarves, loathed and detested orcs, whatever their motives. Nevertheless he accepted the gifts.
Armed with the map from the Invisible Man, Yspadadden suggested an expedition to check it out. He noted that the map was headed “Galendor” which the Invisible Man had said was the ancient name of this land, which had once been an elven place. It was March of the Ice Year and the snow was still thick on the ground, and would remain so for many weeks yet. The two magicians decided to ride the Night Wind to the region marked upon the map as “Dead Trees”. Yspadadden carried Ranulf and Ubaron a dwarven tunnel scout called Gunnri.
Realising the need for shelter they located a cave. This proved to be occupied by a frost giant who they slew. The giant had plainly been reiving in the Chittagong area given the large quantities of treasure of human origin they found there. The cave became a base for further exploration. The dwarves carved it with sigils so that Ubaron could come and go by teleport. On one trip back, Ubaron discovered that Wilf had arrived at Dingradur so swapped him in for Gunnri, who was starting to feel the cold. On another he teleported a bear cub back to Dingradur (they’d slain its mother), only to face the fury of Ulfenir who asked how he expected her to feed such a thing. This led him to be dispatched to Chittagong, from whence he returned with a nanny goat under his arm.
They eventually found the “Dead Trees” which were indeed mostly dead – particularly the deciduous ones. The discovered what seemed to be a giant termite mound in the vicinity and surmised that perhaps this was the source of the delicious pupae that they had captured from the orcs, though they saw no sign of them. They determined to return sometime with Girindor who they thought might make more of it. They dispatched a strong band of orcs, unwise enough to creep up on their encampment and then decided to come home to ale and warm fires.
F-22
OE Date: March 694
Characters: Yspadadden, Ranulf, Wilf, Ubaron NPCs: The Invisible Man, Gunnri
Real World: October 2002 ; Where: Surbiton
See also Salrod’s Diaries