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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 915112" data-attributes="member: 41">Great Delve 617 FlameruleI absolutely hate goblins.  Wretched little half-men.No more than three hours ago, we discovered a long worked passageway at the Western end of the fungal forest.  Had I known what awaited me, I surely would have carried myself with more enthusiasm.No more than three hundred feet along the corridor, I was taken completely by surprise as a pit opened several feet behind me.  What good is that, you say?  No good at all, until the ten-foot hammer swung down from the ceiling like a Smite from the dwarven gods and struck me square in the chest!  I was blown back into the pit, and luckily the momentum from the hammer flipped me completely head-over-heels and I struck the back wall of the pit with my feet instead of my head.It took me better than an hour to even discern the trigger, so cunningly was it hidden, and I had just fallen victim to the trap!  These dwarves amaze me.(Three pages of notes on trap mechanics follow)Beyond the hammer/pit-trap we found that the corridor exited into an open floorless cavern.  Three bridges lead from the ledge we stood on out to a series of platforms that appeared to be floating in mid-air.Of course, you know and I know that platforms do not float in mid-air, and after traveling a short distance across the bridge, we saw that these platforms were merely suspended, hanging from the ceiling of the cavern like some giant’s party decoration.  The platforms had buildings atop them, and Merkatha and I ventured forth to have a look.We spotted a pair of goblin sentries, and returned to our group to plan an ambush.  Unfortunately, our well-planned ambuscade did not take into account a second group of goblin sentries, who blew a horn, calling no doubt their entire filthy family upon us.  We did not stay to see who answered the call, and retreated back to the fungal forest.Thus, I pen this halfway atop the stairs to the halls of the Filas Hali.  We supposed that five thousand or so stairs should be enough deterrent to any goblin counter-attack, and as my watch is the last, so far we have been right.18 FlameruleInfernal wolves and baatezu fighting alongside goblins?  What is this dungeon coming to?Upon our return to the hanging city, we noticed that the guard had been beefed up at the exit from the long hallway.  Goblins atop fiendish wolves kept a watch, and wouldn’t you know the mangy creatures scented our approach?The rest of the fight was a blur, and I only remember wave after wave of goblins pouring out of the city, led by a flying fiend—a spinagon, no less.  We killed a fair number of them, along with one of their leaders, but the fiend and his wolf-riding cavalry were too much.  For the second time in as many days, we retreated from the hanging city and made the long climb up to our perch on the stairs.18 Flamerule Bastards!  We had rested for no more than two hours before the spinagon found us!  The fiend harassed us, and put some sort of vile enchantment on me.  I have never been more scared of anything in my life than I was of the spinagon in that moment, and I fled down the stairs into the waiting arms of a weary goblin brigade climbing upwards. I think it would have been the end of this journal, save that I pulled a potion vial from my pockets, and threatened the goblins with what I hoped would look like oil of fiery burning.  Next time, I shall not attempt my bluff with an empty potion vial.Fortunately, by the time I ran back to my companions, Merkatha, Enkil and Bern had driven the thing away.We are now encamped at the very top of the stairs, and I dread the morning, and its requisite trek back down into the fungal forest.19 FlameruleAfter the endless darkness and tension in the Great Delve, I have really come to enjoy the rustic charm of Storm’s Rise.  The local brew is not entirely disagreeable, and there are no Zhents waiting to arrest and torture the first adventurer to find himself drunk and disorderly in the streets.  If my handwriting is sloppy it is because I have been inebriated since my return.We have met a new companion, a warrior stranded in Storm’s Rise by a merchant’s caravan.  He claims to be something of an outlaw, and liked very much the prospect of disappearing into the Great Delve for a few months.  Maktar Jai is his name, a pirate from Algarond, fleeing Sembian justice all the way to the middle of nowhere.  Strike that, we are more precisely on the fringe of nowhere, just south of the border to Nothing At All.You’re probably wondering what really happened to poor Bern.  I will tell you, Ashnern, that a command to “jump” can really be disastrous at an elevation of several hundred feet.The spinagon ambushed us again as we were descending the stairs, and sent Bern leaping into his the arms of his god.  (If in fact, his god has arms, which I understand is a matter of dogmatic debate.)But it was a disastrous victory for the spinagon, as we were wise to his other tricks, and this time we sent the little fiend back to Hell.  We found the remnants of his goblin clan at the base of the stairs, apparently unaware that their infernal master had perished.  They fled from us on sight, and we pursued them through the fungal forest and into their Hanging City, which they readily abandoned.  We must have hurt the goblins much worse than we believed in our first battle, judging by their reluctance to face us.We did not catch the lice-ridden vermin, because the chase led into a further complex of passageways beyond the Hanging City.  Wiser heads prevailed, and we gave up our pursuit.A thorough search of the suspended platforms turned up several items of note, however.The place itself is impressive, a score or so of buildings, some of them two stories tall.  The individual platforms are connected by bridgework.  Many of the bridges have been destroyed, but whether by time or intent, I do not know.  We discovered a partially intact bridge that led to the lair of the fiend.  There we found surface-world trade goods, along with a merchant’s account book, written in Infernal!  Apparently, the spinagon was conducting trade here in the dungeon.  Just like a baatezu, I said, to find some way to wrench coin from the disadvantaged.  He had several regular buyers, and the fiend had apparently been conducting trade for at least the last hundred years!  The goods we found amongst his treasure were surface-world goods, but of a completely unfamiliar make. Definitely not Cormyrian, and possibly not Faerunian!  The implications of this are not lost on our group.  Does the First Home possess portals to other worlds? Or did the baatezu simply have some means of travel lost with its death?Unfortunately, my Infernal is as rusty as an orcish stiletto, and I was unable to provide any concrete details about the spinagon’s trade practices.After gathering the beast’s treasure, much of it in trade bars, we made back for the fungal forest to retrieve Bern’s body.  Unfortunately, the section of the stairs he leaped from overlooked a chasm in the floor of the cavern.  Bern’s body lies next to the corpse of the spinagon, in some unknowable depth.I must admit I would love the challenge of retrieving it.The group has determined that we should find Bern’s corpse, and have him raised if possible.  We have decided to send Selise and Bitzfit (the fallen gnome Fitzbit’s sister) to Eveningstar to sell treasure, purchase supplies (including a scroll of raise dead), and find out what the grapevine has to say about the Lady Tess and this new Lord Ilthais Truesilver.Enkil, Merkatha and myself will take Maktar Jai into the delve and see what we can’t do about retrieving the body of Bern.20 FlameruleWe have made a makeshift camp in the armory off the Halls of the Aq Med, and will leave Maktar Jai to guard our things while Merkatha, Enkil and myself attempt to recover Bern’s corpse.  I will go down alone, of course, and it should be an enjoyable climb.  Who knows what mysteries might await me at the bottom of the crevice!20 Flamerule‘Wealth does not come easily to an adventurer’, they say.  They also say, ‘never bargain with a dragon’, and am I glad that we did not!The climb to the bottom was arduous, and as I descended lower, I became convinced that the chasm actually opened into a much larger cave that contained part of the underground lake we discovered near the halls of Clan Thurarin.Fortunately, Bern’s corpse bounced clear of the lake, and was lying on a ten-foot dry outcropping near the water’s edge.  The spinagon’s remains were nearby as well, and after I looted a fine-looking ring and a pair of dwarven-worked bracers from the little leathery corpse, I set about removing Bern’s mangled remains from the wreckage of his armor.  An altogether unpleasant task, I assure you, but quite enlightening in the anatomical sense.As I was regarding Bern’s inner workings, I noticed a light upon the lake, steadily moving toward me.  Damned if it didn’t look like a sailing vessel!  As tempting as it was to lurk down below and see what the vessel was, discretion has always formed the better part of my valor, and I used a levitate potion to return Bern and myself to the base of the stairs.Merkatha and Enkil briefly examined the corpse, and we were getting a litter ready for him when a black snake, as big around as my waist, appeared over the edge of the chasm, and asked us if we were prepared to surrender our magic items!  The audacity of some reptiles, I thought to myself, and prepared to shoot the thing right between its eyes, when the scaly beast transformed itself into a dragon and spat darkness upon us.  Well, it spat darkness upon Enkil and Merkatha.  I was hiding.We fled as fast as our legs could carry us, and as it turns out I am quite a bit faster than the others.  At any rate, the covetous reptilian horror followed us to the armory, and we were forced into a glorious last stand.  I know that we all felt our last moments were upon us when we saw the black monstrosity slither toward us down that long hall.Ashnern, you must be thinking, “Ha ha, that crafty rascal ‘Fernal will never die,” and how right you are!  We surrounded the beast, and I ran it through!  It was glorious!  Of course, the others helped, and we were able to slay the dragon, although Maktar Jai was lost.  I am fairly sure the dragon is a young one, because it is no larger than a pair of draft horses end to end, and its tactics were very foolish.  I think I shall be rich after all. 20 FlameruleUpon our return to Storm’s Rise, we discover that we have been invited to dinner with the new lord.  Festivities await!20 FlameruleI’m not sure which is more dangerous, exploring dungeons or putting to paper one’s thoughts about the Powers That Be.  I suspect that the second is worse, but as I’m never one to shrink in the face of imprisonment or execution, I will free associate:  Loud, smelly, arrogant, boorish and lascivious.Dinner with the lord was trying, but I do think that the Lady fancies me.  Selise assures me that Cormyrian courtly love does not follow the same patterns as it does in Zhentil Keep, so I must improvise!Would that I was one of the plane-touched who did not naturally smell of sulfur.</blockquote>

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