NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 999216" data-attributes="member: 7737">Getting There is Half the FunBrogun still did not own any means of transportation other than his feet, so he walked out of Hammerdal, through the Tunnel of Tarnalin (its normal traffic restored), and into the forests of western Durenor. He tried to locate the spot where he had fought the Helghast, but to a dwarf, all the trees looked the same.A little ways further along the road, Brogun was shocked to discover four arrows bolts streaking towards him. As one of them sunk into his arm, he was further shocked to discover that the arrowhead was coated with a clear, sticky substance that burned as it penetrated his flesh. Fortunately, his inherent dwarven resistance to poison spared Brogun the ill effects of the gnadurn sap that had entered his bloodstream.The ambushers were garbed strangely, in green robes of a sickly hue, and wore glassy but flexible masks of the same color. They attacked Brogun efficiently, coordinating their attacks so that two struck at him with shortspears while the other two continued loosing poisoned arrows.Brogun dropped one foe, then another, but the repeated poisonings had taken their toll. As he sank to the ground in a swoon, one of his enemies approached. “Where is the Shard of Gareth?” the man insisted, his voice strangely accented.Thinking quickly, the dwarf feigned ignorance. “The Shard of Gareth? I don’t know what you’re” – but even as Brogun spoke these words, he felt a hideous pain contort his body, and he sank into unconsciousness.DM’s note: it’s not a good idea to trigger the quest penalty when you are already badly beaten up and poisoned.Brogun awoke several hours later. He had been dragged off the road into the trees, stripped of his equipment and gold (although his gaudy, crocaryx-made periapt of wisdom remained around his neck), and presumably left for dead. Searching the area, Brogun found the bodies of the two ambushers. Under their masks, they were normal men. One of them carried a vial half-full of gnadurn sap, which Brogun pocketed warily. Then, with a sigh, he set off again.A few days later, the cleric reached Ragadorn, the only city in the Wildlands. There he managed to sell the gnadurn sap to an unsavory-looking fellow who asked no questions about its origins and paid in cash. Brogun felt somewhat bad about selling the poison, but with true dwarven practicality decided that his need for money made such an act acceptable.Newly re-equipped, Brogun continued on towards Sommerlund. Another few days of travel brought him to the eastern border of that nation, and he climbed the hills and low mountains that divide Sommerlund from the Wildlands. It was in these mountains that Brogun made a curious discovery: a small, overgrown graveyard, apparently abandoned for years if not decades.The dwarf quickly discovered a cave network underneath one a mausoleum and half-climbed, half-slid down the gnarled roots of a decrepit tree that had grown up around the tomb. Evoking a spell of light, Brogun explored.The entry room held a stone coffin; within rested an unimaginably old skeleton bearing a gold crown upon its head. Brogun wisely decided not to disinter this buried monarch and instead pressed onwards. He discovered another room with a series of skulls resting on plinths on either side of the room. As the dwarf passed them, the skulls rotated to face him; and as he reached the end of the room, from within each skull burst a disgusting creature, like a flying brain with filmy wings. A quick application of turn undead sent the swarm of Crypt Spawn to cower in one corner of the room, allowing Brogun to exit unmolested.Beyond, another room contained a stone throne, bedecked in cobwebs and dust. Facing it upon yet another plinth was a statue of a serpent, its forked tongue outstretched. Upon the top of the throne’s high back rested a stone bowl which emitted an eerie green light.Of course Brogun had to sit in this frightening seat. As he did so, the stone serpent animated, stuck its tongue into the bowl, and emerged with a gold key, which it dropped in the surprised dwarf’s lap. Leaping to his feet, Brogun made his way to the next room; this one contained nothing but an ornately stone door. Carvéd figured twined around each other in a macabre dance, and in the very center of the door was a large keyhole. Brogun inserted the key.The several-ton stone block which fell from the ceiling directly in front of the door struck Brogun a glancing blow, one that nevertheless grievously injured him. “What kind of depraved architect built this place?” Brogun fumed as he expended several healing spells. At last he was able to push through the rubble of the broken stone block and open the door beyond.The final chamber bore another stone coffin, this one in the process of being robbed by a figure wearing familiar-looking sickly green robes and mask. Brogun reacted quickly, casting a soundburst centered directly on the interloper. The noise was deafening in the enclosed room, knocking both Brogun and his target to the ground. By the time Brogun got to his feet, the would-be graverobber had faded from existence and disappeared.Brogun cursed and raced back through the tomb towards the entrance. He began clumsily climbing up the same roots he had previously descended, when he felt said roots writhe and tighten about his limbs, holding him fast.A heavily accented voice spoke from above. “This you shall suffer for meddling in the affairs of the Cener!” the voice continued.  “I, Caligraf, shall squeeze the life from your body.” The figure Brogun had seen robbing the tomb stood above him, sneering down at him… and then yelping in surprise as other loud voices could be heard nearby.“We shall meet again, dwarf!” Caligraf spat before slinking away into the brush.Brogun struggled in the tangled roots but could not free himself. Soon, however, another, kindlier face stared down at him. “You appear to require some help, my friend,” spoke the man above. “I am Larto, of the Sommlending Border Rangers.”Brogun sighed with relief. For the first time in weeks he had met someone who didn’t want to kill him.</blockquote>

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