Yspadadden Investigates
Yspadadden had a splitting headache. He’d over-extended himself in using the power of the Shard to teleport the party and their loot from the Dragon’s Den and didn’t fancy casting any more for a while.
However, he was not one to let the grass grow under his feet. His wife brewed him a tisane and with her help he started sorting out and valuing the loot and in particular working out what the potions did – a set of powerful brews, mostly the work of some long passed elven alchemist. There was a fine set of magic elven mithril armour and a small armoury of mundane mithril weapons (swords and daggers) also of elven manufacture. He also discovered many interesting and powerful spells in the collection of scrolls found in the cave. After the usual discussions about who got what, they divided up the loot between Wilf, Trevillion, Ranulf and himself while the elves bore the Shard back to their Galendor grove in triumph.
A short while afterwards Girindor came to Dingradur to warn Yspadadden that he had a presentiment of a Dragon’s Eye searching for the Dwarf and for Dingradur. Yspadadden scoffed at the elf’s dreams. He was not sure that the Dragon had even seen him or Ranulf, but it had certainly seen the elf. Moreover he was pretty certain that it must be able to sense the Shard. He thought it far more likely that it would seek to retrieve that and bade the elf look to his own defences.
It was a visit from the Invisible Man, on the night of the Full Moon, some six weeks after their raid on the Dragon’s Den, that made him think again. He told him:
- A Sorceror is looking for you; he has gone beyond the Deep Gate. He has enslaved orcs and spoken to them. I think they have told him of ‘Iron Beard’ and where your hall lies.
- He asked about dwarves and elves and men in these woods and his slaves spoke of ‘Iron Beard’ who slew King Gamesh and despoiled the Temple of the White Spider, and who lives by the riverside. He spoke in Black Speech and walked without any sound. Huge. They could not describe any face, only darkness…
- He passed into the Sub-World five weeks ago.
This was troubling – although the dwarf did take a perverse satisfaction that the orcs were now at least according these deeds to himself, rather than assuming him to be a mere servant of “Death Hand” (Galendor – F22). Nevertheless, as his wife said, when he told her: “When the dragon knows where you live, it’s time to move”. He had too much invested in Dingradur to simply move out, and he thought the dragon – who had fled from combat and abandoned its hoard rather than fight – might find it a hard nut to crack. However, he did transport his wife and two young sons to Katelgroth for a “holiday” with her folks there. Then he started looking for this “Dragon”.
Amongst the loot from the den he had taken three scales that he thought likely to be from the Dragon. If the Dragon had descended into the Under-Dark as the Invisible Man had said, then it was of no immediate threat but Yspadadden would not be able to detect him there. If, on the other hand, he was in Middle Earth then Yspadadden, armed the dragon personalia, should be able to find him. He cast his spell and immediately detected its presence off to the east and not that far away, as the dragon flies.
Yspadadden did not fancy the idea of approaching a lurking dragon by flying. Amongst the spells found in the Dragon’s Den was one to transform the caster into a centaur. He had already mastered it, so at dusk he spoke the words of power and there stood a centaur in the entrance cave to Dingradur. Ranulf scrambled up upon his back and they set off into the night at a gallop. Yspadadden had ridden centaurs in the past and he was delighted to find himself possessed of all their powers not just their appearance. He throughout the night he sped, traversing all terrain with ease, including the mighty river that lay just to the east of Dingradur.
At dawn he cancelled the spell and the dwarves rested. Casting his divination once more he found their quarry close by. They advanced cautiously on foot, Yspadadden in his normal form once more. Later than day, they came to a huge squat, black, demonic statue that dominated the landscape. Yspadadden rather thought that he had heard of this artefact, which was said to lie north of the lands of Korgar. It was assuredly not a dragon but his divination pointed squarely at it. He cast again from close quarters and it indicated a point high up.
Yspadadden cast Fly and ascended the face of the statue. There in a crevice was a finely tooled wooden box and inside it a carved token. It was a beacon intended to fool scrying – though to what end he found it hard to figure. He looked around nervously, but this was no ambush spot. Casting his eyes to the sky, he could see no dragon hurtling down upon them, or even a distant spec. Perhaps it was a “Trojan Horse” intended for him to take back to his hall and thus reveal its location. He toyed with the idea of taking it to Chittagong (good luck to the dragon that came there) to study it further – possibly with a view to using it against the dragon. However, in the end, paranoia won out and he destroyed it.
There was something odd going on here. This was not the sort of artefact that he imagined a dragon would make – as far as he knew, dragons were not famed for their wood-working skills, though he believed that some knew magic. Allied to the description of the “sorceror” given by the Invisible Man he began to doubt that the dragon was a dragon at all. Powerful magicians were known to be able to shape-shift. After all, had he not been a centaur, but recently.
He teleported to Chittagong with Ranulf, there to take counsel with Wilfred Stefson. Wilf in turn presented the evidence to his masters in the Temple of Mitra. They told him that the Dragon was, amongst other things, a motif in the iconography of the god Set and that it was said that powerful priests of Set might be able to transform themselves into dragons. Wilf recalled the evil altar in the Dragon’s den. It had been too big to move – and anyway Yspadadden already had bitter experience of trying to move evil altars (Liberators of Henikar – F33). Perhaps they should return and investigate.
Fane Hammer
None fancied the idea of teleporting directly into the dragon’s den, so Yspadadden transported Ranulf, Wilf and Trevillion to the elven bolthole that Ashperton the Ent had invited them to use (The Lair of the White Spider – G29), as the nearest convenient point. There they found Tecwin, the faun, who they had invited to make free of the place. He immediately volunteered to guide them.
En route to the cave they were bothered by a couple of trolls who paid for it with their lives. They also a captured a lone orc, who with considerable forbearance they spared. His name was Grubar and he told them an interesting tale that seemed to corroborate the Invisible Man’s researches. It concerned a mysterious stranger, who had slain his leader and taken over his band. He could not describe him beyond saying that he was huge and scary and he never showed his face. This creature had taken them to a cave where there was a large stone that he had them carry northwards for him and bury. He had then taken over another larger band and seemed to be returning to Thangoria. Grubar had sneaked off.
Grubar showed them the spot, but it had plainly been exhumed once more. They let Grubar go. Wilf sensed an evil presence emanating from a nearby lake. Yspadadden cast magics upon Wilf that he might breathe under water, put on the Ring of the Argonian and they descended to the depths. There, guided by Wilf they found the malevolent stone. Huge eels swarmed around it, but together they dispatched the guardians and smashed the fane into small pieces. Then they swam once more to the surface. They had a look in the original dragon’s den, but aside from the missing fane, nothing there had changed.
The Griffins’ Nest
While recognising that doing good was its own reward, there was a general feeling that they didn’t have enough loot to show for their efforts. Someone remembered the secret door they had found on the way to the dragon’s den the first time (A Dragon Calls – G38) in a deep defile above which they had seen griffins flying.
Tecwin knew where they meant and led them there. The combined efforts of Trevillion and the dwarves easily find and and unlock the door. It is elven work. They follow a winding stair upwards. At its summit they find what must have once been a fine solar, but instead of a roof it proves to have a jumble of branches that form a griffin’s nest. The griffins are home and they are not happy at the intrusion. However, it does not prove easy for the two sides to come at each other. Eventually Yspadadden calls his comrades to stand back and begins to work up a spell. It is a slow business for a dwarf to summon cosmic power. However, after a long pissing-while the dwarf speaks the words and unleashes a mighty fireball. The griffins fly upwards in alarm while bits of debris shower the party below. Yspadadden flies up to the nest and sees the griffins flying away.
The party keeps a weather-eye out for their return as they set about systematically looting the nest. In amongst the piles of branches, foliage and griffin ordure, they recover a goodly amount of treasure. The griffins do not return. When they are satisfied they have found all there is to find, Yspadadden teleports them back to Chittagong. Tecwin makes his own way home, wearing a fine elven mithril mail shirt that came from the griffin hoard.
G-39
OE Date: Summer/Autumn 696
Characters: Yspadadden, Ranulf, Wilf, Trevillion NPCs: Tecwin
Real World: Yspadadden Discovers – June 2016; Fane Hammer – July/ August 2016? Where: Anglesey; Bristol