One moment everyone was gathered around Dregz just outside the tunnel entrance in the mountains, with Rog the dire bat perched on the ledge above the tunnel entrance with Jurz on his back … then Dregz spoke the magic word and they were all teleported to somewhere else, once again.

The immediate impression is of coldness underfoot, and a cold breeze blowing all around you. You barely have time to realise you are on a snow-covered ledge on the side of a mountain, standing in front of a large cave mouth, then Rog the dire bat lands clumsily beside Dregz and a large boulder crashes onto the ledge right beside Rog, Dregz and Raven as well.

To the north you look out across snow-covered mountains with a drop of hundreds of feet awaiting anyone careless enough to step off your snow-covered ledge. The ledge only extends about 40 feet to the east and 40 feet to the west before narrowing to a point at each end.

The large cave mouth to the south is easily 15 feet wide and 20 feet high. The cave or tunnel beyond that opening stretches at least 60 feet into the mountain and bends away out of sight to the left. There is a smaller tunnel opening on the left side, just inside the cave entrance, too.

OOC: Main game map updated.

"Dat roof comes with us.  Rog was sitted on its backs t Fe over place.". The goblin states hard at the rock, "Rocks have never comes with us befores!"

Bulldust is glad of the furry clothes keeping him warm.  He does a quick headcount to check everyone made it safely.  "Ooo, so dat was Rog's rock!" he realises in a hushed tone.   "Say, if he can bring a big rock wiv da wyrd-off, den maybe he can bring dat glass dragon dat Dregzie saw?"  Assuming we want a glass dragon... we'll have to find it first.

Stealthily the bugbear stalks down the passage to peek around the corner.
08:40, Today: Bulldust rolled 23 using 1d20+14.  move silently.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:46, Sun 13 June 2021.

Moffdust jumps when the rock falls down then grins toothily at her friends. She sets Frostie the Fiendish Dire Wolf to sniffing about the ledge to see if anyone is hidden there, while she lies down on the edge and peers over into the valley below. And she remembers to look up as well.

"P'raps none ov der uvvers were braves enough," Dregz ponders, prodding the rock with the Magic Stick to see if he can get a response from it, "but dis wun ise a little boulder."

Once satisfied that the rock is respectfully inanimate, the little Goblin priest enters the mouth of the tunnel just a little bit, peering cautiously down the side passage.

<groan> :-)

"We's brings all de live stuffs wiv us ...." Just muses, "Can de rocks be solved.  Mays be dis was de singing ting we heard back at de ovver place?"

Minmorc will nod in appreciation of Dregz adding to the decor. "I like dat boulder, dats a nice boulder. I knew a bloke once wot had a pet rock too, but if yer spend all day rollin stones you can't get no satisfaction." Shifting his tricorn hat a little more firmly down his forehead against the cold and adjusting the grip on his axe he will stride into the cave mouth to see whats what.

Bully, Minmorc and Dregz venture into the cave to varying depths. Min and Dregz can see that the narrow tunnel to the east extends at least 60 feet and has a high ceiling that is more like a huge crack in the side of the mountain. The floor of this narrow tunnel looks like rubble has been dumped in there to make the floor more or less level.

Bully ventures further to peer around the bend and can see that the tunnel continues toward the southeast as far as he can see but the eastern side widens out to form a cave at least 40 feet wide and up to 40 feet high. However, the eastern wall of this cave only extends about 20 feet high with a 20-foot high opening above that looks like it opens out to another, higher level cave at the top of that 20-foot wall.

Moffa and Raven look over the edge of the ledge and down to the valley hundreds of feet below. The valley is blanketed in snow as well but they can make out the dark line of a stream running east west along the valley below. Over on the other side of that stream they spot a single humanoid figure trudging through the snow parallel to the stream. Its coloration is so pale that it blends quite well with the snowy landscape and might be difficult to spot if it wasn't moving. It looks like it is carrying a large club in one hand and has the body of some sort of 4-legged animal slung across its other shoulder.

Meanwhile Jurz is still mounted on Rog's back and speculating on the nature of the boulder that was teleported with them.  Moffa's summoned dire wolf sniffs around the whole ledge and ends up back in front of the boulder. There, it cocks its leg and marks the boulder as part of its territory, the same way as dogs typically do. Then the wolf jumps back as a deep voice whispers from the boulder, [Language unknown: "Thoilloul io sti trakorast?"]

OOC: Main game map updated.

"I fink der dragon is in der big cave, got scratches from big claws ere... oi, dat rock talks when yer piss on it!" He will then wiggle his undercommon pearl and try to talk back. [Language unknown: "Es all havor thu hi ol itwaetch nopabe om arurth ntioel we. Est earch adpo iswil strdinous ort e k oun wer ure ilofle ivtelo?"]
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:25, Sat 19 June 2021.

Bulldust will sneak up to the ledge and look for a way to climb up.
14:19, Today: Bulldust rolled 28 using 1d20+8.  Climb

OOC: The Tongues spell should still be working on Moffa and Min (duration 90 min, cast before Min talked with stone giant kids).

Moffdust pats Wolfie and grins at clever Jurzie. "Youse right Jurzie!" She listens to the rock and translates for the others.

Jurz gets Rog to flap down to the other end of the ledge and waits while Moffa talks to the rock.

Bully sneaks around the bend of the tunnel and disappears from view of the rest of the Team.

Meanwhile, the talking rock holds everyone else's attention. Minmorc responds in the same language and after a moment the rock says a few words in reply. [Language unknown: "Nc ol noas."] Then it moves, revealing that it is a vaguely humanoid shape, a bit like a very crudely carved statue of a bald, very fat, dwarf. It slowly stands up, looks around at the cave entrance then slowly walks over to the edge of the ledge and looks down at the valley below and across to the mountains on the other side of the valley. Raven wisely backs away to make room for this living statue at the edge of the ledge and Jurz flies Rog away to the far end of the ledge too. The statue says a few more words as it looks at the view. [Language unknown: "Whonriet trwielhe. Reniioac letaur. Vorhisouttho ckriec."]

OOC: Main game map updated.

Minmorc feels oddly bad for the misshapen thing. [Language unknown: "Un osprse eenof it beolil sions, ckofek terai olect atitr it. Ive ome osweou p setac orehouwas? Ri me ertoes na ispre t? Orten yinwilyin linek u ivfi i li stawasine omkor a comthuers, omeherill ch meck be esswhison m naie ma etlin li."]
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:24, Sun 20 June 2021.

Halfway up the difficult cliff, Bulldust blows a little bugbear magic into his fist then whispers a magic word.  He gets strong and big.  He silently reaches up to get a handhold on the top of the cliff.

08:03, Today: Bulldust rolled 33 using 1d20+14.  Climb silently.
08:00, Today: Bulldust rolled 24 using 1d20+12.  Climb, big, strong.

Moffdust translates. "Rocky says dis is all different, de mountains, de valleys, de giants. Min asks if dey wants ter comes wid us."

She pats the boulder on the knee and waits for Rocky to reply.

She whispers to Cat to fly around and explore.

Jurz watches from a distance, and nods at MOffa's translations.   However, he takes time to check around for anything else that might threaten them.

Talking rocks is an oddity but not overly disturbing, while large claw-marked caves are !

"Mebbee wese could sneaks up on der dragon dis way ?" Dregz points hopefully down the much narrower (far too small for a dragon to fit down) side passage.

The living statue responds to Minmorc's question at greater length. [Language unknown: "P pa Esswering Tin. Illionhis in re en il hisut. T heons be yinmanica. A es whincemen. Fo urle e k ivri iou."]

Then it sits down again near the edge of the cliff, facing out toward the valley. It draws its knees up to its chin in the same pose it was originally in and, now that it has stopped moving, it once again looks more like a boulder than any sort of living creature.

 Suddenly, a shrill, high-pitched voice echoes from deep within the cave. It sounds angry, but puzzled too. [Language unknown: "Seon hisol u adtear thaan ble? Fi sonut pro ardis ess utfo aveherher."]

OOC: Main game map updated.

Bulldust pulls himself up and stands at the edge of the cliff.  Raising a hand in greeting, he replies in the same language.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:28, Sun 20 June 2021.

The shrill voice echoes from the cave again, even angrier than before. [Language unknown: "O! Ce stindesan iou ngtho, mearpr! Eau moart dinoreres ic naher ndeut tratheshe eius po ard hasof se derndepre strainwil whiionpro o t ilndil haman ave! Uspe, dernceshe iv thowhiallion ckarac I st he iouarewitive ureintovealltho. Ant etday ma witurered eve ureel?"]
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 13:40, Sun 20 June 2021.

[Language unknown: "Mancdi vir dinmenare latsanpre, aladwi in thu ndecpe son comhe limeom lill whepo sstolo."] Minmorc will say to Dregz "Oooh, sneakin up der little tunnel, dats a smart idea..." as he goes running down the large tunnel towards Bully.

Jurz waits for the translations, fairly confident that both Min and Bully can look after themselves.  So long as the dragon isn't too big ...

"Crissal dragin, crissal dragin !" Dregz hisses urgently to those of his companions not immediately charging towards certain death.  He takes a step into the side passage, but only out of a subconscious deep desire not to die.

"Jurzie ... wot sorta breff does a crissal dragin 'ave ?" the little goblin inquires, equally urgently of the druid, hoping it's one of those things from which he might beg Bargrivyek protect him.

Jurz furrows his brow at Dreg's question "I'se don't knows, deys aren't fings you'se find in  der woods or der hills." Then with a glance along the ledge he adds,  Maybes Moffa knows ?

Giant Bulldust does not look worried up there on the cliff.  He waves towards Minmorc with a calm pat-pat motion.  Then turns back to speak with the dragon, a lengthy discourse punctuated with various gestures: rolling up his sleeves to display forearms, finger-combing up his gel-spiked red hair, pointing vaguely towards the tunnel mouth, a clenched fist of rage, and a series of hand gestures to emphasise a sequence of events and an open-handed gesture suggesting sincerity.

The little hairy goblin looks towards Moffa, hoping, indeed praying, for enlightenment ... but as Bully's distant words reach his ears he pales, shrinking back into the shadows of the tunnel and trying not to get noticed, much less look anything like a prophet !

Investigating the contents of her nose, as goblins do when they're thinking deeply, Moffdust translates what the crystal dragon and Bully said. "De dragon's says don't comes no closers, and what kinds of giants is youse? Den Bully says he's a bugbears wots turnin into a dragons, and he's jus got a spells on him ter makes him big, and we'se all here wid him, an we'se righteously lookin fer someting magics wot der prophet Dregzie says is here. An he's askin if de dragons wants ter play." She shrugs, "I doesn't finks it will, cos dragons doesn't plays nice, even wid other dragons. De dragons says it can fries Bully's eyes, so maybes it blows fire or scorchy beams." She digs deep trying to remember.

She walks into the cave (stopping at H12) to see if she can make sure Bully gets a chance to turn into a dragon. Wolfe trails along too.

19:14, Today: Moffdust rolled 17 using 1d20.  knowledge crystal dragon (+1 nature, +8 arcana, +10 planes).

While giant Bully stands at the top of the wall talking to the crystal dragon, Minmorc races down the main tunnel to reach the base of that wall, with Moffa, Frostie the dire wolf and Raven following a bit more slowly. Dregz opts for a more cautious option, hiding in the narrow side tunnel, while Jurz remains outside on the ledge with Rog and the living statue.

The sound of clawed feet pacing closer can be heard by those below as the crystal dragon slowly moves closer to inspect Bully. At least its shrill voice doesn't sound angry anymore. [Language unknown: "Redil n fontsa? Ul a the. M tho laiori. All u o ol as ee aicatr ulma enc res iou, Saosse Ectounwhi. Lent K ou les en olic ac ilred na k ove urece we terwitwhi erathistr. Et anss ratar al thte nccaev icabuthou ck ssulssmo u ionhislat i notca wi noess pl? E eenratenc acicas siwe eeeeeing ac eienma t ck, poil E t sintte iveom ulrewi erofdi to en findal wa oreredere foic'risiie olng whiatinti is ne. A hoel laraverat arofpa mous onssantraine, ss e pl hamaos ven toficati tharomine k ngckil asei waer n derdi sellenusen forverrom nderutnot rietplnt?"]

OOC: Main game map updated.

Jurz raises his eyebrows, and with a caution to Rog, that the  great bat should wait here for him, Jurz follows the others into the main tunnel.

"Fanks Your Crystalness!  Dey all speak da Common Tongue."   Giant Bulldust lowers himself back over the ledge and jumps down easily to the floor below.  He backs away from the cliff until he can see the dragon again then says a word to shrink back down to his normal 7' bugbear size.

Continuing in Common Tongue he introduces the party.  "Dis is me, not a giant, jus a bugbear wiv some dragon blood.  Dis is my big sister Moffa an our friends Wolfie an da Birdie-Girl.  Here comes Jurzie, he's a druid.  An over dere's Minmorc, he's a Nuffle, pretty famous, p'raps you've heard of him.  None of us are as big or beautiful as you!  We don't much like giants eiver, but we saw a big white one down in da valley.  Have dey been bovverin' you?  If youse got a problem wiv giants, p'raps we can fix dem fer you?  Den p'raps you can help us wiv our Magic Quest?"

08:10, Today: Bulldust rolled 34 using 1d20+14.  jump down DC15.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:32, Sat 26 June 2021.

After Bully jumps down, the crystal dragon soon moves up to the edge of the ledge at the top of the wall and looks down at its visitors.

"What an interesting collection of races you are. I am sure there must be a fascinating tale of what brought you all together. What are those Watchers you mentioned? Tell me about this magical quest and what it is that you seek. If it is something I have seen or heard of we may indeed be able to help each other. Those frost giants are, indeed, my enemies. If they were able to climb up here they may even be a real threat. Fortunately, they have not found a way to reach my lair yet, so the only real danger up here is the rocks they sometimes throw," says the dragon in its high, shrill voice.

Cowering in the side tunnel, Dregz tries to remember the details of his last dream, hoping to garner some insight as to the right path forward.

It seems likely that the crystal dragon is the glass statue that moved and spoke, and the white giants are the frost giants that are the dragon's enemies.  Though as he recalls, both were equally scary ...

"An deres de rock man outsides.  Dregzie bringed him here and Moffa can talks to him.  He's might be able to catch de rocks and frow dem back?" Jurz suggests, trying to avoid either of the solutions that Min might come up with.  While Frost Giants might be good at Nuffle Ball,  Jurz worried that he might finish up as the ball.

"Oi Dregzie, der pretty dragon ain't tryin ter eat us, come an show im der stick!" Minmorc will go looking for Dregz.

Bulldust nods at Jurzie's suggestion about Rocky, that's a great idea.  And he hopes Min can find Dregzie to explain the magic stick and prophesies.  Meanwhile he does his best to explain it all to the dragon.  "Well, da Watchers are Da Nights ov Da Watch, dey're humies in iron suits on horses wot's killin' all da gobbos in Da Grain Duchy ov Geoff - whoever Goeff is?  A prince I fink.  Now Dregzie, da prophet wiv da holy book, has been collectin' bits ov a Magic Stick from all over da world an putting dem togevver.  He gets visions ov where da next bit will be, an den da Magic Stick takes us dere by magic.  I fink when we've got all da stick bits stuck togevver den we can defeat da Watchers.  But Dregzie would know fer sure.  Anyhow, he saw a vision wiv you, your beautiful Crystalness, so da Magic Stick brought us.  Da next bit would be black an metal an magic an somewhere round 'ere.  So if you can help us find dat den we can do wotever yer need wiv da giants - talk to 'em or beat 'em up or turn 'em all inta Nufflers - easy!"

Moffdust nods enthusiastically when Jurz suggests how Rocky could help. "Rocky says he likes it here, an he wants ter stays on de ledges where he can looks at de valleys."

She hides her face in her hands as Bully gives his helpful suggestions for how they can deal with frost giants. She stomps on his foot to shut him up. She doesn't really know either why they've been trailing around the world, but its been fun so far. Anything bigger than her is bigger than it needs to be, so frost giants are entirely excessive, a troubling size to brain ratio, goblins being perfect. Where's the fun in being beaten up by those.

Hidden safely in the side tunnel, Dregz whimpers as Bully betrays his presence and moreso as Minmorc comes looking for him.

That the big Orc can and would drag him kicking and screaming from his place of concealment, the little goblin has no doubt ... and is equally certain that any dignity or credibility he might have would not survive the experience.

With much trepidation and heavy heart, the priest marches out of the tunnel, Magic Stick held high, striding forward with a confidence he does not feel to stand besides his companions.

"It ise writtenses !" he formally intones.

"Wese seeks der bits of der Magic Stick so dat we can make der wyrld safe fer der Goblins ... an' Orcs an' birdy-gulz an' lizz'ds.  An' dragins !" he adds this last in a flash of divine inspiration.

"Der great god Bargrivyek 'as sed dat wese'll find der missin' bit ov der Magic Stick 'ere."

Eventually all of Team Arda-Nuff are gathered at the northern end of the cave staring up at the huge crystal dragon in the wide opening 20 feet up the eastern wall of the cave. Even the living statue slowly follows behind Dregz and Minmorc as though finally curious about the high, shrill voice from deep in the cave.

The crystal dragon listens silently to Bully's explanation about Watchers and goblins in the Duchy of Geoff but raises its head more attentively when Dregz arrives and points the Black Mace directly at it.  It is perhaps fortunate that the statue-like stone creature walks in shortly after Dregz and Minmorc, as its arrival distracts the dragon's attention away from Dregz for a moment or two.

"A Galeb Dhur? I never would have expected to see one of your kind travelling with this odd collection of races," the dragon commented in its high, shrill voice.

The dragon's attention soon switches back to Dregz but its initial tension has vanished.

"You certainly are hairy, for a goblin," the dragon observed. "Your black stick, as the bugbear called it, looks more like some sort of weapon to me. I haven't seen anything around here that looks like part of that."

The living statue looks at Moffa and asks a question in the language they have been communicating in, [Language unknown: "Enc en i caekck latrma. Hani he to der?"].

OOC: Main game map updated.

The little goblin frowns at the Magic Stick, holding it up and shaking it before pointing it at the Crystal Dragon once more.  Hlooks puzzled, though sheer terror emboldens him to speak.

"Der Magic Stick wuz a lot more sticky-like when wese firs' started lookin'," Dragz admits.  "Dunno wot it iz now."

"Der ting iz, it iz tellin' me dat der's a bit ov it in your mouf."

"Youse aven' got anyfin or anywun stuck in yer teefs av youse ?"

"I woods make a good toof docta! Shiny dragon, can I ava look in yer mouf?"

Moffdust replies to Rocky in Undercommon.

To the dragon she adds, "Rocky likes de views from youse windowsills. Can he stays dere?"

She listens agog as Dregz reveals where the next piece of the wand is, tilting her head and squinting up at the dragon to catch a glimpse. She even manages to keep a straight face when Minmorc offers to play dentist for the dragon, but her stomach does a flip thinking of an orc with a 'touch of decay' poking at her teeth. Hopefully a dragon will see it differently.

Just for a change, Jurz does what every good goblin should do, and keeps his mouth firmly closed.

Bulldust also leans forward to look when Dregz reveals the prophesy of the dragon's mouth.  Dregz is so brave and so good at talking that there is nothing more required for the bugbear to say, so he too wisely helps his mouth shut.  He nods in agreement when Min offers to look in the dragon's mouth ... he's the strongest, so it has a sort of logic to it.  He wonders what the dragon will want done with the Giants, and if Min will have to look in their mouths too...?

The crystal dragon pulls its head back and up higher and turns its head away when Minmorc offers a free dental inspection.

"No thank you, that will not be necessary. I have already eaten this week," the dragon replies indignantly in its shrill voice.

However, Moffa's question quickly distracts the dragon from the unpleasant thought of Minmorc's offer.

"Stay here? Outside on the ledge? What an interesting suggestion," the dragon muses. Then it speaks directly to the Galeb-Duhr in the language Moffa used to communicate with it. [Language unknown: "A tha wi us us notderman? P eenoutnti ainousome to ilrisi po loith shewhiwil he an, atiareave asth. Na Om ichtheear heri an sspl, ill sa lin nc ar? Ec al ek eaustrtic oreoreour di hopo ithei A nimeth k preforall sset ers ncethoyin al arwion."].

After a few moments the Galeb-Duhr responds in the same language. [Language unknown: "T ave es thutbe. Ee not ousthawhi theoerthu ingticnde T isei. Ivev, p lar hi retiss Ng thfote, th reetfout T ineio offola."].

The dragon lowers its head to the level of the ledge (20ft above the tunnel floor) and replies to Moffa.

"Yes, the Galeb-Duhr can stay here with me."

Moffdust claps her hands and pats Rocky on the knee. "Dey is goin' ter tell eachudders stories an watch de sunsets." She looks at Jurz and shrugs, "Rocky didn't says about catchin' rockses. P'raps dats too soons... "

That settled, she looks to Dregz and Bully and shrugs, "Dey doesn't says anytings about de wands or de giants."

She grins at Minmorc. "She doesn't wants us lookin in her moufs, an she doesn't wants ter eats youse Min."

She sits down comfortably on Wolfie's warm shaggy paw to watch the unfolding negotiations. She waves to Cat to send him flying down the passage to the south for a look.

Leaving the tricky negotiation of how to get something you want out of a dragon's mouth, Bulldust delicately addresses the other topic.  "So, d'ya wan us ter bash up da giants, Yer Crystaless?"

Minmorc will frown at the dragon. "Now I gets dat yer didden ask us ere but wees ere an coz we fink dat der stick wees lookin for is in yer mouf we ain't leavin til we find it. Aint all bad fer yer dough, mebbe we can make a deal an yous can get somefing you wants too."

Jurz nods as Moffa translates, but leaves negotiation to Billy and Min.  However, he does glance over his shoulder, just to check that he can still get outside, if the need should arise.

"Not der mouf !  Not der mouf !" Dregz quickly interjects.

"Ise tinks dat I saws whats wese is afder wen youse turded youses head.  Oh mitey Dragin," he adds, hoping and praying not to have offended the great crystal beast.

"Der bit ov der magic stick seemses tah be stucks to der backs of youses hed !" the goblin priest explains, fearfully and most respectfully.

Jurz blanches and checks the exits again, when Dregz tell the dragon that she has a turd on the back of her head.

"Dragons use shampoo?!"

Moffdust giggles. "No, dey uses real poo!"

Now that Dregz has mentioned it, you can just make out a small black and white shape on the back of the crystal dragon's head, behind where its ears would be.

The dragon draws its head up and back and stares at Dregz.

"So, that is your game, is it? You come to take Forya en' i' Leitha away from me! I would have refused outright to let you have it as I have valued our conversations most highly indeed in this lonely place."

But then the dragon's posture relaxes just a little.

"But perhaps I misjudge you. After all, you have brought the Galeb-Dhur here to talk to me instead. Perhaps we can make a deal, after all. It will be expensive, though. Forya en' i' Leitha is a very valuable magical item but I will not name a price that is too far beyond your reach. Slay one of those frost giants for me, bring me its head as proof, together with 10,000 golden coins or treasures worth that much. Bring them here to me and Forya en' i' Leitha shall be yours."

Bulldust looks at his feet a bit, then up at the dragon.  "Kill any ole frost giant?  Dat's not much of a story, your Crystalness.  Is dere one ov em giants wots rocked yer bod more dan da ovvers?...like e deserves ter have is head off?"

Dregz nods his agreement to the Dragon's offer, sensing that's the best deal his tribe are likely to get this side of the Crystalmist mountains, though his gaze is fixed on Minmorc who's likely to make the decision either way (any attack launched by the big Orc bound to reflect badly on the rest of us !) ... besides, they can always welsh on the deal later.  Killing a Dragon might be appealing to some (eg big Orcs), killing a Dragon that's suddenly richer by thousands of gold pieces, even more so !

On which subject ... one can only hope that frost giants are avaricious creatures and have at least that much coin lying around their abode !

Minmorc grins evilly at Dregz and will wander out to the cliff to look down on the giants :Einy, meany, Minmorc, mo, mebbe wees just kills dem alls..."

"In accordance wid der prophecy," the hairy goblin priest intones glumly in response to Minmorc's well chosen words.

Moffdust screws up her face as she thinks through the possibilities. "Doesn't you tinks, Your Royal Sparklinesses, dat if we's takes de heads off one den de udders wid heads still on will gets a bits motivated ter climbs up dis mountains?" She narrows her eyes thoughtfully. "What dey needs is a fake prizes, or a ..." she thinks really hard "...or a krooze, like de humies do, where dey all squishes onta barges wots stuffed wid foods and drinks, an dey has ter stays dere till dey gets sick an dies. Its like catchin flies wid honeys." She licks her lips.

"An dey's almost as good as de humm-bugs!" Jurz  comments at the thought of honeyed flies.

The crystal dragon looks down at her little guests and, if crystal could smile, you would swear she is smiling.

"One frost giant head and 10,000 gold coins or other treasures of equal value. That is what I ask you to bring here to me. You will not find that much gold on one giant, I assure you. You may need to kill more, or you little folk may be able to sneak in and steal it away from their lair without having to fight them. I want their numbers reduced but I want that gold, too. I will not be pleased if you kill half of them but don't make it out alive to bring me that treasure. Perhaps you will be able to kill all seven of them, and their two younglings, and their pack of winter wolves, too. You will certainly all be rich after that, but I do not want to set my price so high that it seems impossible to achieve.

"They will not suspect me of stealing their treasure. I am too big to easily enter their lair and the evidence will indicate smaller creatures like yourselves. I trust that you will not lead them back here because if they see you leaving they will run you down or slay you with rocks as you climb back up here."

"OK Crystal.  One head, ten fousand gold.  As you said."

Bulldust turns from the dragon and joins the growing crowd out on the ledge looking down at the unsuspecting giant walking in the valley below.  Where the dragon and the Galeb Dur cannot hear he whispers, "Wonder if dey'll come up wiv a better offer?"

"Well I gots a potion o flyin so I was finkin of usin all my magics den goin down an cuttin his ead off. But if yer wanna asks im stuff Bully yer better do dat first, coz yer know, e won't talks so good wid no head. Moffas plan is real good too but we're gonna need a bigger boat."

It doesn't take a prophet to see that his future involves fighting both Ice Giants AND a Crystal Dragon.  If it wasn't that this quest is a religious duty, prescribed by his god, Dregz would already be halfway to somewhere warmer.

"Wese can always use der head fer der next Nuffleball match," the little goblin muses, quietly and wisely.

"Dat wun will prolly throw der rocks at uz," he notes, warily, eyeing the figure below.  "Ise wunder wot Ice Giantses want dat might makes 'im 'old off ?"  Minmorc for one tends to get a bit stabby when someone is trying to kill him, so as the big Orc suggests it'd be best to nip that in the bud.

Minmorc will start to prepare to swoop down on the lone giant. Feet shoulder width apart he closes his eyes and breathes out, a faint breeze stirs around his feet and loose dirt starts to shiver.

Jurz climbs up on Rog, ready to  take flight, then watches ....

Out on the ledge, Moffdust quickly explains what she could offer to the Giants if the party decides to talk with them. "If we'se gonna talks wid dem, tells dem de liddle bat girls is a sorcereresses, an she can carry giants up to dis ledges, or inta de dragons caves... wid de Dimension Doors spellses, jus so's youse knows. Deys big, so I can only gets three of dems up, an jus one at a times, so deys got ter wait nice an quiets fer de udders.  Den I can summons up some more helpers fer de fightin'. Dats wot liddle me can does."

OOC: sorry for not posting sooner...and I'll be a bit short of time for another few weeks yet, so Moffa won't be taking the lead in negotiations with giants if the party decides to do that. Now you know what she can do, so you can make a plan, and she's happy to go along with whatever decision is made... having said that, she does not have any spare cash to make up the 10,000gp or any items she'd he happy to part with if one giant does not have enough shinies...

"Wonder wot da giants fink ov da dragon?"  Bulldust muses, thinking over what Moffa said she could do.  "Wonder wot she did ter dem ter make dem frow rocks at her?"  He ponders his allegiances.  "On da one hand, she's a dragon!  It could be good ter have a dragon on yer side.  But she's kinda annoying an shrieks a lot an I don't like her.  On da ovver, da giants were on our side before da Watchers took over, so maybe dey can be on our side again."

He pushes a small bead of snow over the edge with his toe.  "Wonder what he's like?  I'm gonna talk wiv im before Min cuts off his head.  Anyone else wanna come?"  He swallows a potion of Flying and makes ready to jump off the edge, carrying one small person if anyone wants to come.

Want is a little strong.  Duty-bound to, perhaps ...

"Youse bedder stay 'ere," the goblin priest tells Moffa.  "Don' wanna giant ta treads on youse axy-dent-illy cos youse der only wun dat can cast dose spellz ta pay dem ov."

"I c'n tell youse wot dey're sayin'," Dregz tells Bully resignedly.  Reluctantly the hairy goblin climbs aboard his flight (Brutish Airways ?) and holds on tight, eyes closed.

Jurz really doesn't like the idea of double-crossing a dragon, that just sounds too dangerous.

"And you'se fink we'se can  trust de giantes?" he finally asks, "More dan we's can trust de dragon?"

He pauses for as moment.  "I's more interested in getting back home in de one piece.  Not der lots of pieces dat all haves lots of de gold ..."

"Nah! "  Bulldust replies to Jurz, grinning.  "No one should trust anyfing bigger 'n a goblin."  He digs really deep into his 14-year-old bugbear soul, the effort furrowing his brow and popping off a few of those newly-grown fine scales.  "So, really, I jus' wanna ask 'im wot 'e finks ov da dragon.  Anyhow, I'm not killin' 'im until 'e gives me a reason ter.  An jus cos a whiny dragon said so ain't enouff."

He settles Dregz in the Bag of Holding tied across his back.  "If yer want yer head stickin' out, Dregzie, den whimper quietly cos I'm going down in stealf mode so he don't frow rocks at us."  He glances at Minmorc with a sudden flicker of understanding, then grins and shrugs.  "You jus do it yer own way, Min."

"We'll give yer a wave, Moffa, if we want yer ter fly down."

He's ready to jump off and fly down.

Ear near the opening of the bag, Dregz steels himself for the ordeal, ready to whisper translations and/or suggestions to Bully.

OOC: I have uploaded a sketch map of the valley to "Game Map for Group 0". If you still see the underdark cavern map there, refresh that map using the Ctrl F5 keys.

The ledge where the crystal dragon's lair is located about 400 feet above the valley (i.e. treat as 400ft cliff) and about 500ft south of the stream and trail in the valley. The frost giant is heading east and is now about 300ft past the point opposite the dragon's lair. So, on the map, the frost giant is roughly 600ft northeast and 400ft lower from the dragon's lair, which is a flying distance of about 700 feet.

A dire bat has a flying speed of 40ft, so a double move at double speed = 160ft per round.
A Fly spell gives lightly armoured characters a fly speed of 60ft (so a double move at double speed = 240ft per round) but medium and heavy armour reduces this to 40ft.

It is going to take several rounds to reach the giant. Do you want to revise your plans at all?

"Use small wordses, Bully..." Moffdust advises her brother, "dey aint terrible smarts like goblinses." She casts Protection from Evil on him then takes him by the hand, leads him to the edge and pushes him off. "If you lets him kill youse den you'll be in big troubles."

She waves cheerily at Jurz when he sets off, and at Dregz's ear.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:26, Sat 14 Aug 2021.

Jurz and Rog circle downwards in an easy glide, although Jurz doesn't let Rog get all the way down, instead he stops in a holding pattern at about 75ft above the ground.

All the way down, Jurz is scanning the area for other giants, polar bears or other dangers.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:58, Sat 14 Aug 2021.

Bulldust waves back at Moffa and the others on the ledge as he plummets.  In this first round he'll blow a little bugbear magic into his right fist.  Next round he'll get serious about flying really fast, he stretches his left fist out in front.  He wants to 'whoop!', but this first part is a stealth mission to avoid rock tossing, so he keeps it zipped and silently grins up at Jurz and Rog circling above.

OOC: 60' first round, 240' each round thereafter until they arrive.  He'll stop out of reach, 40' up and 40' west of the giant, then open a conversation if he gets that far.

17:45, Today: Bulldust rolled 25 using 1d20+14.  move fly silently.

Minmorc remains deep in concentration while the diplomatic mission launches. Flickers of static electricity dance over Minmorcs skin providing flickering illumination to the slowly swirling debris. First Minmorcs hair thickens and lengthens then his muscles bulge beyond their normally abnormal bulk. His eyes snap open and with a vicious jerk he pulls the cork from the potion and downs it in a single gulp. With a mighty vertical leap he departs then he twists and dives, shooting off to the East, axe wife trailing and ready to swing.

Raven pulls her golden girdle out of her pouch then she squawks and leaps off the ledge after Bully. She glides rapidly northeast for 240 feet then quickly wraps the golden girdle around her waist and comes to a halt in midair, before slowly rising straight up 20 feet, then unwraps the girdle and glides again for another 100 feet before repeating that move with the girdle again, then finally glides another 100 feet before touching down in the snow. It will take her 5 rounds to get that far and she will still be 160 feet away from the frost giant and still on the south side of the stream.

Moffdust sits on Wolfie's warm comfortable paw and watches everyone fly down into the valley below. If anyone glances back her way that may see her waving her arms around as she summons someone else, then pointing down the tunnel towards the dragon...

Then she waits and watches below.

<sits in extra dimensional space, whimpering quietly>

Moffa casts a protective spell on Bully while he drinks his potion of flying, then he leaps off the ledge and flies quickly down toward the frost giant walking along the trail beside the stream. Bully will arrive at the end of round 4 at a position 40ft west of the giant and 40ft up. Dregz is inside Bully's bag of holding on Bully's back.

Jurz flies down on his dire bat Rog, also arriving in round 4 but remains circling at about 75ft above the ground somewhere near Bulldust.

Raven leaps of the ledge and glides / levitates / glides / levitates / glides for 5 rounds before landing 160 feet away from the frost giant and still on the south side of the stream. At the end of round 4 she is still on her last leg of gliding.

Minmorc cast a Bless spell on the whole team just as the others were launching off the ledge then spent another two rounds casting spells on himself and drinking his potion of flying before launching himself off the ledge as well. During round 4 he flies about 240 feet heading eastwards along the side of the crystal dragon's mountain and steadily descending, but not getting any closer to the frost giant.

Moffa and her dire wolf remain up on the ledge where they are soon joined by the Galeb-Duhr, who just likes to watch.

During this time the frost giant is walking away from the crystal dragon's cave and does not look in that direction at all, so doesn't notice any of the flyers approaching him.

OOC: Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 to hit and +1 on fear saves for 4 minutes.

"Hi!  I'm Bulldust, da magic flying bugbear."  Bulldust announces, hovering in the air.  "We've heard deres a crystal dragon around here.  D'ya know where she lives?  An wots she like?"

<braces for impact>

Jurz, in his reconnaissance role, reconnoitres.

 Moffdust watches the tiny figures below. She hopes Rocky just likes to watch... not tell. Who knows what he'll see. She prepares a spell to cast just in case he sees Bully being beaten up by a Frost Giant.

The frost giant jumps a little at the sound of Bully's voice and turns around quickly to see who is speaking. He still holds a dead, shaggy-coated sheep by the legs over his shoulder but he raises his greatclub ready to strike if necessary. It takes him a moment to finally spot Bully hovering 40 feet above the ground behind him but he spots Rog the dire bat straight afterwards.

He frowns as he peers at the two of them then looks even more surprised when he spots the goblin riding on the dire bat as well. He glances briefly toward the ledge on the cliff 700 feet away to the southwest but quickly returns his attention to Bully, Rog and Jurz.

After a bit of a pause he points with his greatclub toward the cave mouth on the ledge.

"It's over there. Half way up that cliff. Youse can't miss it. The dragon's real flaming bright; bright like the sun. Youse should go visit it. I reckon it would love bugbears and goblins. Probably ask youse to stay for dinner!" the frost giant finally replies. The corners of his mouth twitch upwards, just for a moment.

OOC: This is the end of round 4. The giant has not spotted Raven, Minmorc or Moffa, her dire wolf and the Galeb-Dhur. The crystal dragon is still in her lair.

Bulldust quite likes the giant so far.  He flies down and lands just 20' from the giant.  "Yeah dats her.  We already talked wiv her.  She said you frow rocks at her.  Why'd ya do dat?"

whoooooosh!

Jurz stays in reconnaissance mode, but prepares for a shift to light bomber mode as he readies a Flaming Orb spell.

... at least it hasn't turned nasty yet !  Dregz strains to hear the Frost Giant through the opening in the bag, faithfully translating for Bully, but breaking off when the bugbear starts to reply.

'E sez dat der dragon lives arf-way up der cliffs, and dat she ..."

Moffdust sits on Wolfie's warm paw and watches. She holds the prepared spell in case it all turns nasty.

Bully flies down to land on the trail 20 feet west of the giant, still chatting away and asking the giant why they throw rocks at the dragon. Dregz is still his passenger, like it or not.

Jurz and Rog the dire bat circle overhead (75ft up) while Raven glides down to land about 160ft southwest of the giant, still on the other side of the stream. Minmorc continues flying eastwards, slowly descending and now angling slightly away from the southern mountain.

Moffa and her dire wolf watch anxiously from the ledge as Bully ventures closer to the frost giant.

The frost giant listens to Bully for a moment then stares toward the dragon's lair once more. This time he glares angrily at what he sees on the ledge and in between. It looks like he has spotted the figures upon the ledge and may have spotted Raven’s landing, as well.

"So, the dragon didn’t eat youse? Too bad. I reckon youse gonna come for dinner at our cave instead!" he snarls.

The frost giant suddenly drops the shaggy sheep carcass and steps closer to Bully, swinging his greatclub down at Bully's head. Somehow Bully manages to twist to the side just in time to avoid a direct hit and the heavy club barely touches his armour and crashes harmlessly onto the frozen ground beside him.

Moffa reacts instantly and seconds later she and the dire wolf disappear from the ledge and materialise on the trail 50ft west of the frost giant.

OOC: Main game map updated.

This is the end of round 5. The giant has spotted Moffa, her dire wolf and Raven. Has not spotted Minmorc or the Galeb-Dhur. The crystal dragon is still in her lair.

WHOOOOOOOOSH!

Bulldust grins up at the giant.  "Fought ya might say dat.  Seems da dragon woz right about yer."

He rises 5' off the ground then says determinedly "Bigger 'n dat!"  He grows to twice his normal size, and drifts away to the northwest a little while readying his chainflail.  He calls out to Moffa in goblin tongue "Let's see if Wolfie an me can trip 'im up!"  He prepares to swing his great flail, but cautiously with bugbear cunning, waiting to see what others do first.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:31, Mon 30 Aug 2021.

"Tally Ho, Ginger" Jurz shouts, not really knowing why he did, "Let's get these kites around ... ". He continues, as he steers Rog towards the giant and gets in range.  "Bombs away ...". He shouts, completing the Flaming Orb spell and targeting at the giant.

"Yikes! Dey's much bigger up so closes." She felt a lot safer up on the ledge. "You brings him down Wolfie!" she yells at the dire wolf, pointing to the frost giant.

Moffdust quickly changes into a tiny bat and flies up out of reach, circling 30' up. She wonders if Bully and Wolfie can pull the giant down... at least then maybe no one she cares about will get hurt. Maybe this will help, she casts Grease under the giant's feet.

Bulldust grins up at Moffa and Jurz circling above.  Somewhere out there Raven lurks with deadly arrows, and a terrible storm of Orc is brewing.  He looks down at the giant "I fink yer time has come!"  Timing his swing for maximum synergy with Wolfie's impact, he casually wraps the chainflail around the giant's legs then pulls with all his might.
08:48, Today: Bulldust rolled 28 using 1d20+14.  Trip opposed Str check.
08:45, Today: Bulldust rolled 22 using 1d20+8.  Touch wiv flail.

Snug in the magic bag upon Bully's back, Dregz is safe from the trials and tribulations of the battle in all but his own fertile imagination.  Worried enough about the prospect of instant annihilation, the priest chooses not to attempt any spell, but instead leans into whatever direction he fancies will be of most help to the bugbear.

While Bully suddenly grows as big as the giant, Jurz drops a 5-foot ball of fire on the frost giant and Moffa conjures a 10-foot patch of grease under the giant's feet.

The flaming sphere lands at the giant's feet and rolls straight into its right leg, causing a large and painful burn on the exposed flesh white flesh of the giant's leg.

The giant skids on the grease as he tries to evade the flaming sphere and ends up falling flat on his back on the slippery ground.

Moffa's dire wolf charges forward and bites the giant's right leg as well, while giant Bully slams his heavy flail down hard on the giant's other leg.

Raven readies her crossbow but the prone giant is a very difficult target from that distance, so she hurries forward 30 feet closer to the river as she waits for a better shot.

Minmorc flies another 240 feet, diving for speed as he angles northward this time to swing around behind the fight. [Minmorc is now about 240 feet away from the giant, so he can arrive at the end of next round. He can charge in to attack if he wants to.]

OOC: Main game map updated.

This is the end of round 6. Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 to hit and +1 on fear saves for 4 minutes. The giant is currently prone and moderately wounded.

Jurz makes sure that the flaming orb stays on the giant, moving it if he needs to, but goes back to recce mode for a moment or two, as he checks the area for other potential enemies.

However, he takes a moment to draw his wand of Produce Flame, ready for ground attack mode ...

17:23, Sun 05 Sept: Jurz rolled 14 using 1d20+3.  Spot.
17:23, Sun 05 Sept: Jurz rolled 8 using 3d6.  Flaming sphere damage.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:09, Tue 07 Sept 2021.

The noises from without the bag are alarming ... the hairy little goblin priest can only hope that his tribe is winning !

Bulldust drifts away 5' to the southwest and another 5' up.  He speaks to the bag tied across his back in goblin tongue, "Hey Dregzie, you should see dis!  Da giant fell over an Jurzie's bombin im from da sky.  We're outa reach now, 'e can't get us." ...unless he stands up, but he leaves that bit out.

The chainflail has plenty of reach and the bugbear swings it down again on the prone giant.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:03, Tue 07 Sept 2021.

Moffdust can see Minmorc coming. Yes it's scary but she's used to that now. She lines up Wolfie for flanking, waving her arms and squeaking at the top of her tiny voice to shuffle the wolf across a bit as he worries at the giant's leg. She gets ready to Grease another section of snow in case the giant tries to escape his awful fate.

"Dun duh duh dun dunnn, dun der da dun DUUUNN!" That classic the flight of the Orkies, usually followed by the crash of the Orkies. Minmorc zooms in from above with both feet on his great axe like a man hopping on a shovel.

The Flight of the Orkies !  While he can't see much from his vantage inside the bag, anyone who has fought (or tried to hide) in a battle between the forces of Light and Darkness would be most familiar with the battle cry of those brave stalwarts whose glorious fate it was to be dropped from on high by the Evil Necromancer's flying pets, perhaps clutching but a large rock, perhaps doused in oil and set aflame, their last act to wreak havoc upon their erstwhile foes as they crashed down.

Though sometimes they fell upon their own side.  The Evil Necromancer's flying pets being remarkably ungifted in distinguishing between one group of warriors and another and demonstrably uninterested in any criticism.

With the dreadfully familiar beat drawing closer, Dregz cringed.

From a safe distance, Bulldust grins at the big Orc getting in close.  "Hi Min.  Hey Dregzie, is dere room in da bag fer a head?"

Flying high above the battle, Jurz directs his flaming sphere to roll into the frost giant again. The giant flounders on the greasy ground and cannot evade the 6-foot ball of fire at all, so suffers another nasty burn.

Giant Bully drifts a little higher and a little further away from the fight but is still close enough for his chainflail to land a solid blow on the giant's torso.

The dire wolf circles slightly to the left under Moffa's directions before lunging in to bite the giant, again drawing blood.

Then with a fanfare from his own vocal cords, giant Minmorc literally dives in behind the frost giant with his greataxe swinging. So powerful is the blow that the giant's neck is completely severed and his head rolls across the grease patch until it finally comes to rest in the deeper snow at the edge of the trail.

Raven steadily plods through the snow until she reaches the stream, then levitates high enough to glide across and will finally join the party in a few more rounds.

OOC: Main game map updated.

This is the end of round 7. Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 to hit and +1 on fear saves for 4 minutes. The frost giant is dead. Everyone in Team Arda-Nuff is unwounded.

"Dat went well."  Bulldust lands and places the bag of holding down on the snow.  He rolls the frost giant over to search his pockets.

"mmmmm.... mutton..." Its very possible Minmorc attacked the giant for a leg of lamb. He will hoist the giants catch onto his own shoulders to wait until the others have finished with the giant and decide where to make camp.

Bully's search of the frost giant's body quickly finds that a sack at the giant's waist contains a mix of items all jumbled in together, ranging from several throwing rocks and a number of bones and mummified animal body parts to hundreds of coins, half a dozen gemstones, a gold trimmed hunting horn, a jeweled silver dagger and a jeweled silver chalice.

There are a total of 1500 gold coins, two 10gp lapis lazuli gems, a 30gp bloodstone, a 40gp jasper gem, a 400gp alexandrite gem and a 600gp aquamarine gem. The hunting horn is made from a ram's horn with solid gold lip and mouthpiece (800gp), the silver chalice has blue quartz gems (140gp) and the silver dagger has a jet jewel in the hilt (800gp).

There is also a small bone flask full of liquid with a cork jammed in one end.

The frost giant was wearing a large chain shirt, leather leggings, belt and boots. His only weapons were a heavy greatclub and a large hunting knife.

Just as Bully is finishing his search a bright light suddenly shines from up on the ledge. The crystal dragon has just emerged from the cave mouth and is standing on the ledge, glowing brightly in the sunlight.

Moffdust looks up at the dragon on the ledge then back down at the dead giant and pile of treasure. "Looks likes we's made de right choices. She doesn't stays in her caves while we talks wid de Giants. Now we's jus got ter gets de udder halfsies of de shinies." She never said maths was her thing.

To check for magic items she casts Detect Magic. When all have been found she peers at each one in turn through her monocle to identify them.

"It's a good start.  Shame we have ter give it all to her.  Wonder where da giant lived?  She said dere woz seven of em an two kids.  I'll have a look around."  He leaves the bag of holding open on the ground and takes to the sky, flying at top speed along the trail in the direction the giant was walking and looking for tracks or smoke or cave openings.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:34, Sat 18 Sept 2021.

Assuming he can see no further enemies, Jurz lets his Flaming Sphere die out and brings Rog into land close to the others.  However, on hearing Bully's thoughts about a potential giant's lair, he comments, "I'll look the other way." With a slight shrug, Jurz takes Rog back up, and follows the Giant's tracks back along the way he had come.

However, he makes sure that he stays  close enough that he can still see the rest of the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:00, Sat 18 Sept 2021.

Dregz quickly climbs out of the grounded Bag, not willing to share his hidey-hole with a bloody giant-head.

The bright light outside stands in stark contrast to the comfortable darkness he was enjoying and the hairy little priest makes sure his sungoggles are firmly in place.

Bully's question as to where the rest of the giants are looks likely to go unanswered since the only one who knew is lying on the ground at their feet.  Following Jurzies example, Dregz too chooses to look the other way, if only to keep an eye on the Crystal Dragon now that the beast has emerged from its lair.

"Witch way wuz der giant goin' ?" the goblin asks, thinking its home might lie somewhere in that direction.

"Or we can jus' wander about till sufmin throws der rocks at uz !"

"I reckon we fly back up ter der dragon cave and cook up a nice bitta sheep an ave a nap. We can give em der giant ead an I reckon dey knows where der rest is, dragons knows lots of stuff. Den tomorrow we goes kills giants, take dere stuff an have a nap. Den we go back, kill der dragon an takes his stuff, an ave another nap. Sound like a plan?" Minmorc will make sure that he has his back to the dragon den when he speaks, far enough that the dragon shouldn't be able to hear the conversation with ears or magic but wouldn't put it past the beastie to be able to read lips even at this distance.

The giant was walking toward the east, where the trail curves around the mountain and curves out of sight into a narrower valley about 3000 feet away from where the dead giant lies. Bully is following the trail in that direction. Jurz is following the trail back to the west where the frost giant has recently come from with his freshly killed, shaggy sheep carcass. The giant's tracks are still fairly easy to see and it is clear that he had come from the east sometime since the last snowfall and was now heading back again in the direction from whence he had come.

If anything had walked away from the trail at any point since the last snowfall their tracks would be quite evident to Bully or Jurz, just as Raven's tracks now point back a hundred feet or so, directly toward the crystal dragon's cave.

Moffa's investigation reveals that the small bone flask of liquid is the only magical item the frost giant was carrying.

Since Bully is flying level with the ground (not diving) he travels 120ft per round, so it would take him 25 rounds to cover the 3000 feet to where the trail vanishes out of sight to the northeast, and his flying potion would wear off before he gets back.

Jurz turns Rog around, and heads back towards the others.  The giant's home is almost certainly the way that Bully is heading.

"Mebbe wese could disgu ... discus ... make Min look like der giant an' he could preten' dat wese are iz prisners soes wese can get close an' den leaps out an' kill all der real giants !"  Dregz suggests in a fit of religious fervour as he looks to the east down the narrow valley, his eyes tracing the trail the giant left.

"Mebbe if Bully rides on my shoulders an we wears a big coat... Wees gonna need paint, lotsa white paint..."

"I's not gonna kills de giants' kiddies!" Moffdust folds her arms and nods emphatically. "I has anodder plans, one dat has less nappings an more sneakings."

She finishes identifying magic in the giant's treasure. "Deres only dis bone flasks has magics, it's fer healings." (OOC. Cure Mod Wounds).

She waits for Bully and Jurz to return before outlining her idea. She builds a fire from soggy driftwood and conjures Sparkie the elemental to light it. Wolfie crouches down on the south side of the fire and Moffdust sits against his shaggy hip where she can't be seen from the ledge. When everyone's listening she explains her idea. "We's already has de heads an halfs of her shinies. We's can empty our pockets ter gets de udder halfs. Some of us's can climbs up to de ledges an talks wid de dragons an gets de bits of de black sticks fer Dregzie. While de dragons is out on de ledges talking deres no ones guarding her treasures! So de rest of us's can teleports in dere wid a Dimension Doorsies spells an stuffs our empty pocketses back ter fullsies! Den we's all escapes togedders an is rich!" She claps her hands and grins toothily, then looks at her friends to see what they think of this idea.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:17, Thu 23 Sept 2021.

"You'se don't fink she's will have de spells set up as alarms in der cave, den?" Jurz asks, still atop Rog, and side on to the dragon.

"I finks dat robbing the giantses is better.  We's don't have to kills dem if'n youse don't want to.  Well, we's probably won't have to kills all of dem." he adds, glancing across to Minmorc.

"I fink robbin der dragon is a real good idea, Robin da dragon is sumfin I gots a lotta love for, but it's much easier ter rob sumfin when its dead. I reckon we use Moffa's idea wid der talkin an der sneakin but instead of der robbin we does der killin an der takin." Minmorc will then consider Jurz's words. "Well, yer kill everyone an takes der stuff, dats how yer becomes king, but if it gonna make problems for der tribe I won't. kings gots ter be dippymatic like dat sumtimes. I reckon after we kill der dragon send someone super sneaky in ter see if ders anyfing worth stealin, like if dey only got cabbage we leaves dem alone an if ders trouble I'll be right outside ter come an kill stuff for the tribe."

"I already sends someones super sneakies, an invisible stalkers is lookin in de dragons caves." Moffdust makes sneaky walkie fingers across her lap. "She comes backs here soons an tells me all about dose caves, den we knows if deres cabbages."

She looks into the flames for a while thinking over the options. "How would we's kill de dragons Min, an not gets our eyes fried outs?

Jurz considers the  conversation, he still isn't convinced by the plan to rob and or kill the dragon, and he certainly wants Dregz to have the next bit of the stick before they try anything like that.  Anyway,  giants sound easier than dragons ...

"Oh, we's can kill some ov dem if dey get in der way.  Moffa only said she won’t kill der kiddies.  We's could walks in an say, give us all youse gold an treasure else we's will kill you.  Den we have given dem a chance.  I fink dats bein dippymatic as well."

Minmorc puts a few hard seconds of thought into it and then shrugged "I gots nuffin, but if sum of us woz behind, sum of us woz in front only sum of us might get blind if we don't go aaaah an cover our eyes fast. I means it's gots teefs an claws an magic an its a dragon so its awesum but it ain't ardanuff, we can so kills it and make awesum stuff wid its bits. I wanna make a helmet wid a mask wots solid but yer can see through. Dregz, if we goes blind yer got summat in dat book wot fixes dat?"

Bulldust is scouting and can't join the conversation.  Hopefully he will eventually run back and reports what he saw.

OOC:  for the planning discussion ... We already picked a side - we killed a giant.  Bulldust won't now kill the dragon as well.  He'll only kill giants that give him a reason to.  Everything else is ok with him.

"I din' fink ov dat when I begged Bargrivyek fer favours las' night," Dregz bemoans his lack of foresight, "an' tho I c'n ask nice-ly nex' time, I c'n only 'member twos spells," he holds up two fingers (after some initial hesitation and double-checking) for those who have trouble with big numbers, "so dat's only twos ov uz."

"Der gud news iz dat der shopkeep sed dat my gogoggles," the little goblin points to the Goggles of the Sun which he proudly wears, "not only keep der sun out but dey wills stops mese gettin' blinded by anfin' !"

"Don' know dat dey will stop eyes gettin burnded outs, tho ..." he adds dubiously.

"Prolly much safer ter fight der giants !"

Minmorc will use his greatspear and the giants club to make a spit and will start cooking the mutton over the elemental. "Moffa, can yer ask yer sparkie to show der sheep sum love? Gets im ter caress der meat, gently, softly - dis might be der best way ter roast mutton ever!"

"I's only gots a min wid Sparkies, Min." Moffdust speaks to Sparkie in his Ignan tongue. [Language unknown: "Adplunee, utplmo usar korio ei siprre."]

She thanks Sparkie when his time is up and puts more twigs on the fire. She listens dubiously as Minmorc rates their chances of surviving an attack on the dragon with their eyes intact. She nods her agreement when Jurz and Dregz prefer to rob the giants. "I doesn't cares about de giants eyes, but I likes mine!" She licks her lips at the roasting meat and sits back against Wolfie to wait for Bully and the stalker to return.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:04, Sat 02 Oct 2021.

"I fink de giantses eyes might be quite nice.  I likes de taste of sheepses eye.  So de giantses eyes might tastes nice as well." Jurz offers helpfully.

"Ders a big ole ead right der, jus get a spoon. Don't reckon der dragon will mind if its missin an eye, unless its der eye fer an eye type."

"Der dragin iz probly useter eating 'eads dat 'ave der eyes burnded out !" Dregz puts in, shivering at the thought.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:21, Sun 03 Oct 2021.

Giant-sized Bully flies away out of sight and is away for about 5 minutes before he comes trotting back along the trail, on foot and shrunk back to normal size.

Jurz returned before Bully got back but had not reached the end of the trail or the giant's outbound tracks in that time.

Minmorc and Sparkie (Moffa's little fire elemental) manage to char the outside of a leg of lamb and ensure the middle is at least thawed if not actually cooked while waiting for Bully to return.

The crystal dragon remains up on the ledge, basking in the sunlight and almost outshining the sun in return. It is too far away to hear anything, of course, but it looks like the dragon is speaking with the Galeb-Dhur for most of that time, while casually watching your activity down in the valley.

Just as Bully comes back into sight Moffa turns away from the group and starts making strange noises at something that no-one else can see. She is clearly talking to something, because it is talking back to her in the same language. Not that the conversation means much to the rest of the team, though. It sounds more like the wind whistling through narrow spaces or the fluttering of leaves in a breeze to everyone else. [Language unknown: Chnte somreatho liouth tictioeve Evmiss ers ut sheterrut diarie pohibe unce ing of he ckcom hail ersternte ce icaeareve ie ne ugh foat artnce-witven as u tonoth oul on ndec iess dinic. Om k houhisund ureencith seher ncilil te orereasom nt larwassan p u nenesi ntibutiou eenanytra red houughout font Tioentort me eenundart urenur. Noticaate en nd we omeessvir haear allratvir, comlesfor. Uner ndekorion ekutna m p lecent comiontic iosta witdayhou pl il catiwiad maoer pricit ave taest lar to ri tiat linota ughsontha n ing n t tinwitund theredionwas teason n he ndetraoer aihat.

Etear enic-haos out a u ro n leultr whliwi str aiave there. Ei manbleati ti iou hisla k ounyinith ta perisa ivesar il omepl o arwhprpr unekac io oulundartver ca neul firela hase whbele loie ro iouhasave, pre t atus th houta undticect m inenotbut ect poncwa.

Ditr seat weofle fossecch ounvorain rea il llurchck ratpo eauhatkor tin setpr tholatrut we plha hisredver outaverut na wa il ithredrut lepo. Icundi el os o hermanwil plstnc holoonnt plonpa p oustr hiatfo e manri travereen we hi eierur ssthe icrenc eenallion nd ticwerlin unth llth aditom tichaslin il a ck ain adtin. Lin wit ngnotr ennain p po thloss m th k il Ne nti intri earstaain o whipa mirele k day poll, o Ol werectson’ri atioushou ithise moee ngse. Omeela ro i conblefor mengfi i ha arutin.]

"I'se didn't go all de ways dat way" Jurz hoicks a thumb in the direction he went to search.  "De tracks goes on for a long was, an deys follow de stream.  It looks like dey goes all de ways to some more of de icy mountains."

That said, Jurz is much more interested in vaguely warmed sheep.  Giant's eyes can wait until the dragon has had her pick.

Bulldust trots up and spills what he saw.  "da giants' have a big cave up da way where da trail runs norf, on da west side ov da valley.  Deres lots a deep snow you'd have ter wade frough ter get in dere.  An deres a few winter wolfs guardin da entrance, so yer wouldn't get in wivout bein' seen by dem.  Ooo have we got chops?"  He helps to build up the fire to cook the sheep.

Minmorc will offer Bully his great axe, now that he's amputated a limb or two some of his knives are far more useful for cooking. "Yer can chops it ow ever yer likes." He'll slurp up some crispy meat and offer some to everyone else before returning the spit leg to a better fire.

"Fanks Min, dats a great axe!  Here, you can have da chainflail."  He offers the Orc his second favourite weapon in return.  "Now, I jus need somefing ter cut chops outa da sheep..."

Moffdust translates the whisperings of the stalker into common for the party.

The narrow tunnel inside the left side of the cave extends at least 100 feet but gets narrower as it moves away from the main cave. It is mostly choked with rocks and rubble but there is a still enough space for someone like Moffa to crawl through. Bigguns like the orc might get stuck, though. That narrow tunnel is a crack inside the crust of the mountain and slopes down all the way to the valley where it ends at a narrow vertical crack in the cliff wall.

The dragon's lair is up on a ledge inside the main cave. The floor of its nest is covered in metal coins and bits of coloured stone that sparkles in the light and other bits of metal, bone or wood of all sorts of shapes and sizes.

The main tunnel continues deeper into the mountain and slopes down for about 500 feet before opening out into a larger cave. There are more of those sparkly coloured stones in the walls of the cavern so it might look quite pretty if there was any light there but it is all dark. But the floor bubbled up and tried to hit me when I flew down close to the floor of that cave, so I couldn’t explore there very well. There were no other tunnels in the walls.

She asks just one follow up question and blows Soo a kiss before she leaves. [Language unknown: "Aswesi Ev, saee t eau iefi! Chadom ble osai, les p mowil ac str adomck un thuderour sheromrea i on olisom?"]
This message was last edited by the player at 11:15, Tue 05 Oct 2021.

Minmorc glares at the chain flail "Waddama gonna do wid dat, mince der sheep? Could make burgers but we gots no bread. Jurz, Dregz, I vote kills evryfing, Bully wants ter buy der next bit. Wot yous wanna do?"

Jurz looks startled for a moment, before he realises that Min hadn't included him in the 'everything to be killed' grouping.  But then he comes up a halfway solution. I finks wes should talk to de giantses and tells dem dat dey have to gives us all dere treasures.  Dem you can kill dem all,  when dey's says no. Excepts for de babies," he adds quickly with a glance towards Moffa.

"Den we's buy de last bit from de dragon, just to makes sure dat we's have gots it ...  so Dregz can get us out of here, if'n der rest of der plans goes de wrong way.
Den once we have de bit, youse bigs distracts de dragon, while us smalls sees if'n we's can rob de cave, by goin up der narrow passage way in der rock ... If'n de dragon gets killed, it gets killed." he says finally.

Dregz attempts his best wise look, nodding as Jurz replies to Minmorc.

"As it wuz written !" the hairy little priest proclaims, agreeing with the Druid's plan which seems to be the best compromise to keep all of his tribe happy.

The voice whispers back to Moffa like a gentle breeze rippling a field of sun-ripened wheat. [Language unknown: "Pe eihe. Re diles. Saloaluton wa ll, lestma, moven stace."]

Moffdust nods emphatic agreement with Jurz's plan. "Dat ways less goblinses gets killed."

She listens to the stalker whispering in the breeze just before it leaves. "Soo says dat floors wasn't hots or colds, it jus bubbled up ter gets her. Sounds like fizzy-waters, dey does dat. We's gonna watch out fer dat if we's goes day ways."

Yep, we should kill da giants if dey won't give us dere shinies.  Dat's fair.  Are we waiting fer tomorrow?  We'd need ta find a place ta camp.  Hey Dregzie, can da black stick take us all back up to da dragon's ledge?  We could ask da dragon if dere's a back door inta da giant's cave... dragons know lots of fings like dat."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:30, Sat 16 Oct 2021.

The wise goblin priest ponders Bully's question and other observations.

"While she's sittin' on der ledge I reckon der Magic Stick'd put uz at der bottom ov der cliff," he finally decides on.  He certainly hopes so anyway, as he's a lot more certain that dragins aren't fond of surprises such as a whole tribe appearing right next to her.  "Might after wait till she goeses back ins."

"Dunno dat dragins use back doorses," he suggests. "Or dat she'd fit, even if'n it wuz big enuff fer a giant."

The crystal dragon sits out on the ledge chatting with the Galeb-Dhur, basking in the sunlight and glowing like a beacon, for about 10 minutes. Eventually she retreats into the shadows of the cave mouth where her glow is dimmed to little more than the light of a candle - albeit a large, dragon-shaped candle.

It looks like the dragon might be intending to sit there indefinitely, watching over the valley and chatting with the Galeb-Dhur.

Meanwhile, the bitter cold in the snow-covered valley is slowly but inexorably seeping deeper into the flesh of goblins, orc, bugbear and kenku who are much more comfortable in considerably warmer weather.

Jurz shivers.  "I bets de giants has a good fires ..."

Dregz isn't as inclined to wager on the giants having a fire, as the little goblin is convinced they must like the cold else they'd not remain in these icy wastes ... but at least the forced march through the snow might possibly warm everyone up, and there's likely to be a fair bit more exercise involved once they reach the giant's cave.

Minmorc will alternate between chowing on skewered lamb shank and dismantling the rest of the carcass before packing the pieces in ice and stashing them in leather bags in his haversack. He'll give the headless giant another kick and then heft his spear ready to go. "We get inter a fights wid giants I'm gonna use Vera, Bully, yer wanna play wid der axe or yer gonna keep usin yer chain thing?"

Raven stamps her feet and wraps her feathered arms tightly around her chest, shivering in the cold air of the valley.

"Can we go back up there now and give that ugly giant head to the dragon? Maybe she will let us warm up in the cave first before we go hunting any more giants? Maybe we can even try to talk her into a better deal, like more heads and less shinies?" she squawked.

Minmorc likes this idea "Cleva, that's usin their head birdie girl!"

"I fink der dragin iz much more interest'd in der gold dan der heads," Dregz doesn't like to pour icy water on the suggestion, but fears it doomed to failure.

"Mebbe wese tell der giants sumfin and get dem to help uz fight der dragin ?"  The little goblin is wavering on the idea of getting rid of the dragin now.  "Wese prolly should'n tell 'em dat wese killed der friend - mebbe wese say dat we saw der dragin do it ?"

Bulldust scratches his head.  Just when he thinks he knows who's side he's on, a new plan comes along and he's thinking about changing sides again.  "I like da giants more dan I liked da dragon.  Felt a bit sorry fer dat poor guy... Slipping aroun den havin his head off.  So if da giants would join up wiv us an kill da dragon dat'd be good.  We'd have ter give dem half da dragons treasure, dats fair, an better dan givin da dragon all da giants treasure.  But den I'm not gonna turn around an kill da giants.  If everyone kills everyone, deres no one left."  He ponders that a moment, then nods when it seems to make sense.  "Maybe later dey would help us wiv da Watchers?"

"D'ya fink da black stick could get da giants up to da ledge, when da dragons in her treasure cave?  Den we can all run in after da giants an fight da dragon."

Bully's suggestion surprises Dregz in turn, though he nods widely and enthusiastically to cover his confusion.

"Wese c'n jus make der giants honur ... horn ... jus' tell 'em dat dey're now in our tribe."  He considers that a moment. "Or mebee wese jus' don' tell 'em dat.  Long as wese 're all squashded up real close it'll be good," he stamps out a 10 foot diameter circle in the snow to show the less imaginative in the tribe what they're working with.

"Ow many giants can we fit in dis space ?" the goblin priest sounds less optimistic now he sees the area for himself.

"Mebee dey're small giants ..."

"Ha, ha, awk!" Raven squawks with laughter.

"Yes, small giants, like that small ogre of Bully's!"

Jurz scratches his head, "I fink dats four giantses." he suggests after a while.  "We'sd haves to fly up.  I fink ..."

"S'pose wese could gather dem all at der base of der cliff an bring up up in small groups," Dregz suggests, warming to the theme (which is about the only warm thing in this snowbound corner of Oerth.

"Ise would float down wid my Magic Boots," the little goblin adds, thinking the plan might need that extra snippet of detail to clarify matters/

Minmorc is now confused. "So... wot we doin?"

"Gonna find der giants an' see if dey wanna fight der dragin wiv uz !" Dregz explains confidently.

Jurz shakes his head which starts a shiver running through his body.  "I's cold.  I's very cold and I's don wanna lives up here.  We's needs to get der stick-bit back before we's fight wiv der dragon.  Wot if'n she just flys away wiv it before we kills her?" Jurz looks around at the cold, white, frozen landscape, devoid of life and trees.

"I'd rather be poor and warm and somewhere else, dan cold and rich and stuck heres."

"Der Magic Stick will chase after 'er !" Dregz is happy to pipe up. "Enywhere der dragin goes, we'se'll be taken der."

Moffdust explains what she could do to help with this plan (see OOC thread). She grins toothily when Dregz suggests following the dragon if she escapes. "We's still gets her treasures even if she gets aways, den we's chases after hers!"

"Yeah!  We can't lose!"  Bulldust can see a perfect future all laid out.  "Wiv da giants helpin us we'll beat da sparkles out ov her.  An if she gets away, we still get all da treasure dat Soo da Invisible Soo told ya about.  We could use dat ter buy stuff dat'll protect us from dragons, den go after her when we're all plussed up!"

Once the cooking's done and everyone's feeling sheepish, Bulldust gets to his feet.  "Are youse up fer checkin out da water cave like Moffa said?"  He puts the Giant's head in the sack with all the giant's treasure.  "Let's see if we can get this done."

Moffdust jumps to her feet and shakes off the settled snow. She's still warm from the spell Dregz put on her. "Let's go den. We finds out what's dere when we gets dere." She steps in close to Dregz for the Wyrd-off.

Raven stamps her feet and quickly gathers up her gear. She wastes no time getting ready and is soon crowded in close to Dregz with Moffa and Bully.

"Good, good, let's go! It's too cold down here! I'm just about freezing my pinions off. Jurzie, are you and Rog going to crowd in close too, or are you going to fly back up to the ledge? Is Wolfie coming too, Moffa?"

Minmorc will step in and join the circle, spear at the ready.

"Wes'll fly up." Jurz says quietly, remembering the last trip that had brought the stone man with them.

Moffdust beckons the fiendish dire wolf closer and reaches up to pull his ears. "Wolfie is wid me all of todays."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:23, Sun 14 Nov 2021.

Once everyone is ready, Dregz holds up the Magic Stick and says the magic word ...

While everyone else gathers close around Dregz ready to teleport up to the crystal dragon's ledge, Jurz climbs back onto Rog the dire bat and flies off toward the ledge. By the time everybody else is ready Jurz and Rog are almost at the ledge.

Then Dregz says the magic word, "Wyrd!", and he and the rest of Team Arda-Nuff vanish from the frozen valley and instantly reappear on the ledge in front of the cave entrance, barely 10 feet in front of the crystal dragon.

The crystal dragon is clearly startled and rears back her head in surprise at your sudden appearance.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Technically, this is a surprise situation. You can each make a partial action if you wish to, before the dragon can react.

Bulldust steps in front and makes a 'calm down' pat-pat gesture with his hands.  "Hi Crystal.  It's us again.  We jus popped in ter give ya dis progress payment."  He empties the giant's bag on the frozen floor and swivels the head around with his toe so the face is looking at the dragon.  "Next we'd betta check out da rest ov dat passage."  He points down the way towards the dragon lair and nods like he really means to.

Jurz tries to steer Rog away, slightly, from the rest of the group - hoping to avoid the wrath of the dragon.

Dregz dips his head in what he hopes is a sufficiently subservient greeting.

"Wesejus'needtersayhelloterRocky," the little goblin proffers urgently, making sure his Goggles of the Sun are firmly in place as he heads sideways, broadly hinting by the waving of his hands that Moffa and Raven should follow him ...

OOC: Move to H5, but will take G5 or I5, depending on who's coming with him and which square is free !  :>

"Allo!" Minmorc will stay where he is and will wave his hand like teleportation is the most normal thing that could happen. If his foot and other hand are bracing the spear against a charge that's just a random coincidence... whistle, whistle, whistle.

Moffdust gawks up at the dragon for a moment, then her goblin instinct for self preservation kicks in and she scampers in the direction suggested by the like-minded Dregz, whistling for Wolfie to follow her to cover.

Bulldust cheerfully spills the first instalment of treasure and the giant's head on the tunnel floor in front of the startled crystal dragon then calmly informs her that he wants to "check out da rest ov dat passage" pointing down the tunnel towards the dragon's lair.

The rest of Team Arda-Nuff are so confident in Bully's negotiating skills that they withdraw ten feet or further away from the dragon, except Minmorc, of course. The big orc stays with Bully and simply says "Allo!"

After her initial surprise the dragon lowers her head to bugbear and orc eye level and studies the pair for a long moment before responding.

"Well, it does look like you have made a good start on fulfilling your part of our deal. Put them all back in that sack so I can carry them back to my cave. Let there be no misunderstanding. I will carry them there, not you. You will not enter my cave. You can rest here until the next sunrise, if you wish to, or further down the tunnel away from my cave, but stay right away from my cave."

The clearly menacing tone of the dragon's final words, to stay right away from her cave, leaves no doubt in anyone's minds about the implied threat therein.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

"Yep, sure fing Crystal."  Bulldust returns everything to the bag and leaves it on the frozen floor.  "We'll jus go deeper down dis tunnel past yer cave an outa da wind fer a sleep."  He points down the tunnel behind the dragon and waits for her to move.

The dragon studies Bully for another long moment then reaches her head forward to grip the bag in her jaws before retreating warily backwards down the tunnel. Then she turns, opens her wings and leaps up to the ledge in the next cave where she lairs. She drops the bag in the upper cave behind that ledge and settles down at that ledge to watch while her visitors file past below her vantage point.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Minmorc will stick with Bully.

"I don' fink dat der dragin'd fit down der," from his place of safety, the little goblin points out the narrower side passage to Moffa.

"Youse fink wese should av a looksee ?  Or follow Bully 'n' Min ?"

Bulldust grins hugely at Minmorc then sets off down the tunnel past the dragon.  He holds up one finger in a friendly Team Ardenuf salute as he marches past her and keeps right on going down into the dark.

For the time being, Jurz and Rog will follow Bully into the larger tunnel.

Moffdust waves Wolfie on ahead then replies to Dregz as she walks past the side passage. "Soo says dat goes all de ways down to de valleys. It's jus big enoughs fer a goblins. We's can gets out dat ways maybes." She looks dubiously at Bully and Min then shrugs and walks on. She stops under the dragon, bobs a courtesy then skips the rest of the way down the passage.

Dregz nods morosely, though his long hair covers his grim expression, and follows Moffa, glaring at the side tunnel that so betrayed him as he walks by, then cowering and whimpering as he hurries past the dragon's ledge, fearing an attack at any moment.

Bully and Minmorc lead the way past the dragon's lair and follow the tunnel as it continues deeper into the mountain. It gradually narrows as it slopes down into the mountain. After a few hundred feet it has gotten too narrow for Rog the dire bat to be able to fly anymore, so Rog stops at that point.

The tunnel meanders deeper into the mountain for a total of about 500 feet before Bully finally signals a halt where the tunnel finally narrows to just 5 feet wide. Moffa's dire wolf will still be able to squeeze through this narrow tunnel but would not be able to turn around beyond this point.

But that is not why Bully halted. He can see that the tunnel finally opens out into a larger cave about 50 or 60 feet further on, at the limit of his darkvision.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

"Wese stopped," Dregz notes, wisely if somewhat querelously.  The hairy little priest courteously waves Raven ahead of him if/when the march starts up once more, leaving the three goblins to bravely hold down the rear.

[Language unknown: In iopoan haour rattedwil nde libewe fone setng !]

Jurz looks at the tunnel, "But her breeves will." he says, noting that the dragon's breath can get into the narrower parts of the tunnel.

 Jurz whispers softly,

[Language unknown: Taall str en son ing hili est thukorugh shetionot el icouno k redorerut san nti nd ioad !"] Dregz turns to Jurz with a worried and frightened look upon his face.

[Language unknown: "Ta prca caentipo."]  Jurz agrees.

"Wot is it Bully, is Timmy stuck downa well?"

"Nah, I'm jus takin a breff.  Da tunnel opens out up ahead, we jus gotta squeeze on a bit more"  He steps on quietly, chainflail ready.  He remembers what Moffa said about a water floor rising up at Soo da Invisible Soo, so he'll stop before getting wet.

Moffdust changes into a tiny bat and flies in front of Bully. She lands on the ceiling at G11 and hangs upside down while she summons someone into room ahead. She calls softly to her in Auqan. [Language unknown: "Tarier Ardiouble. Chri Tineararewil. Iouastlat cksi pe ceelce ekho strdinati a meate sseral, ear leta rutss menainiou eiasee ss ovedersan verresoremen."]

She squeaks softly to explain when the party catch up, "Bubbles will tell de monsters dat we's nice." She nods emphatically because she really believes that.

After a brief pause Bully explains that the tunnel narrows then opens out up ahead. Then Bully moves forward to enter what turns out to be a natural cave about 60 feet in diameter and 30 feet high, with a 15 to 20-foot wide depression at the southern end, which looks to be about three-quarters full of inky black water.

Moffa transforms into a little bat and flutters halfway down the tunnel before clinging to the ceiling and squeaking out a spell to summon a little water elemental that she calls Bubbles. It appears in the cave then splashes its way across the cave and into the depression until it is standing on the pool of inky black water.

Meanwhile, Raven and Minmorc follow Bully into the cave so they can see what is there, too, and Jurz and Dregz follow more cautiously but stop inside the tunnel to peek into the cave. Moffa's dire wolf stops back in the tunnel when it starts to become uncomfortably narrow for him.

Raven's rapier glows as brightly as ever and illuminates most of the room with enough light to allow her to see clearly, too. The light twinkles back from hundreds of small, clear crystals embedded in the walls of the cave.

Raven's light is also more than enough for everyone to see what happens as soon as Bubbles splashes out onto the pool of inky black water. The surface of the black pool instantly bulges upward like a wave cresting over the small water elemental before crashing down and completely engulfing it. No sign of Bubbles remains, except a slight bulge in the surface of the big black blob that had been resting in that depression in the floor of the cave. But now it is no longer resting quietly in the bottom of the depression. Its edges are clearly rounded and you can see that this big black blob is about 2 feet thick and 15-feet in diameter. It is already starting to bulge up over the lip of the depression toward Bully, Raven and Minmorc.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. Note that the narrow section of tunnel is still wide enough for two small or medium-sized creatures to pass each other in the tunnel. The dire wolf would need to squeeze through this narrow section and cannot pass another creature in the narrow section (but can in the rest of the wider sections of tunnel).

"Oooo..."

Bulldust understands perfectly... that's Goblin for don't touch it. "Oo Oo!  It's da Blob!  Get back in da tunnel!  Kill it wiv ya spells!"  He shoots a Magic Missile from his hand then retreats to the entrance to watch its effect.
11:30, Today: Bulldust rolled 5 using 1d4+1.  Magic missile at the blob
This message was last edited by the player at 03:32, Thu 30 Dec 2021.

Bully's magic missile seems to vaporise several square feet of the surface of the big black blob, shrinking it slightly.

"I finks de dragon will hear dis."  Jurz says  aloud.  "Dis might not be a good ideas."

OOC: This cave is about 500 feet inside the mountain. Listen checks are at -1 per 10 feet distance.

Moffdust flutters down to land next to Bully. She changes back into her goblin self. She nods at Jurz's warning. "I tinks I can holds it nices and quiets." She conjures a wall of ice in a dome around the rim of the stone basin.

"Let's get de shinies before it gets outs. Raven, your lights makes dem easier to sees." She runs her hand along the wall looking for a good place to start.

Dregz had anticipated Bully's wise advise and had already retreated down the tunnel ten feet or so, the better to avoid any of his companions arriving at full pelt !

"Dragins has big ears," he whispers his agreement in a low tone to Jurz.

The little goblin isn't sure if the creature oozing towards them is a Blob or a Thing or something stranger, but he's certain that he doesn't want to get close enough to ask it !

Minmorc was just about to spring into action when the ooze was trapped in ice. Shrugging he will start gathering big rocks. Once he has four bowling ball sized rocks he will start picking up other rocks trying to find the best throwing rocks he can.

Bulldust shuffles his feet and looks sheepish for running away.  His magic bolt looks puny compared to Moffa's massive dome of ice.  He gapes back and forth between Min and Moffa ... should he pick up big rocks or tiny glitter stones?

OOC:  He has a dim childhood memory of learning a lesson that his best chance of happiness lies in doing what the women-folk want.  Fortunately he's already had a move and an action this round so can legitimately do nothing and wait and see   :-)

When Moffa talks Minmorc will grin "Sure fing Moffa, now I've got sum good killy rocks I'll grab sum little shiny ones!"

Bully retreats to the tunnel mouth then conjures a magic missile that slams into the big black blob, vaporising several square feet of the surface of the big black blob and shrinking it slightly.

Moffa-bat flutters down the corridor and transforms back into a goblin in front of Bully, then conjures a 20-foot diameter dome of ice around the pool and the big black blob, then urges everyone to start prising the crystal gemstones from the cave walls.

Dregz and Jurz wait back in the tunnel behind Bully, while Raven turns her attention to the cave wall and manages to prise a first crystal out of the wall with the tip of her rapier.

Minmorc looks at the shinies in the walls for a moment but quickly turns his attention to a selection of rocks as big as his head around the edge of the cave. He quickly gathers up four rocks, cradling three in his left arm and gripping the fourth rock in his right hand ready to throw when a suitable target emerges.

Moments later there is a loud thud from inside the ice dome and several cracks appear in the nearest edge of the thick ice shell.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Moffdust frowns at the ice dome then shrugs. "I's can makes lots more jelly moulds when dis ones gets brokens." She grins and summons a Xorn. "Everygobbo dis is Z de Xorn. He's come ter helps us pick de sparkles." Then she speaks to the Xorn in Terran. [Language unknown: "Ol K. Hisng Oueearck. K sihimi ureavesta m she oupo ca illoev hatallthunot foore stany altass ad herlinrea wasntired camote prmiom, paic p ck ng, ac utreit for il hoeve. Ad Ca seted entoutder hesan ntenderes preac for at ted. I ieive nthi'ndas es has? "]

Raven prises another crystal out of the cave wall and holds both her crystals up to the light of her rapier.

"I know what these are. I heard some gnomes call them rock crystals, or clear quartz. I think they are worth about 50 gold each. So if we still need at least 5000 gold for the crystal dragon we will need at least a hundred of these rock crystals, maybe more," she squawks.

She slips both crystals into her belt pouch and turns back to the wall to start prising the next one free.

Dregz raises a brow at Jurz, shaking his head.

Moffa summons a Xorn (which she calls Z) and it begins plucking crystals from the wall, collecting 3 in quick succession. Raven prises another one from the wall and identifies them as clear quartz gemstones worth about 50gp each.

However the four boys seem unconvinced that the big black blob will stay contained within the ice dome long enough for enough gems to be collected and they remain ready for fight or flight if it breaks free. It is almost like watching the stereotypical male hunter / female gatherer scenario play out before your eyes.

Another loud thud echoes from inside the ice dome and the extent of cracking in the surface nearest the tunnel increases alarmingly. It is clear that another blow like that one will shatter that side of the ice dome.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

"Shhhhhhsses !" Dregz puts a finger to either nose or lips (it's hard to tell with all that hair in the way), trying to induce the ooze to be a bit quieter, concerned that the noise might perturb the dragin.

"Youse want Ise shoulds make it be quiet ?" the little goblin asks Moffa.

OOC: If Moffa has no objections then cast Silence in that area.

Minmorc will line up three rocks and his spear by his side and will assume a pitchers stance. He will also cast bless on the group.

Bulldust shrugs and starts digging out quartz with his strong dragon claws.  "I'm gonna pick out da shinies.  Moffa said she'd hold da blob off.  If it gets out den I fink we should run away!"  He remembers that his magic bolt did very little damage to it.

07:45, Today: Bulldust rolled 12 using 1d20.  knowledge of the blob.

"Dats good news Birdie Girls! So we's jus gotta picks out a hundreds of dems." She grins at Raven.

She scratches her pointy ears as she puzzles over Jurz's concern. "I doesn't tinks de dragons is gonna gets cross if we's here. She's too bigs ter gets here, an Soo said she had crystal shinies in her shinies piles, so I tinks she'll likes dem."

She shakes her head when Dregs suggests a silence spell. "I wants ter conjure de good doggies ter keep de blobses busy while we's is pickin crystals. I needs ter talks wid dems. If de blobses comes our ways den I'll pops anodder ices on it."

She summons two celestial hounds and sets them on guard at the ice dome. [Language unknown: "Ichatiwer theul thadinson trasi ssonss a k estionrat aiec derthopre latvenday yinwaskor t." ]

08:13, Today: Moffdust rolled 5 using 1d20+1.  knowledge nature about the blob.
08:17, Today: Moffdust rolled 2 using 1d3.  good doggies.

Dregz remains more concerned about the crystal dragon hearing the disturbance than the threat of the big black blob breaking free of the ice dome, so he asks Moffa if he should cast a spell of Silence over the area. However, Moffa points out she needs to be able to communicate with the creatures she is summoning.

Minmorc gets ready to fight and casts Bless on the whole group.

Bulldust and Raven each prise another crystal out of the cave wall and the xorn extracts another 3 crystals.

Meanwhile, Moffa summons a pair of celestial hounds to stand guard at the ice dome.

As soon as Moffa's guard dogs are in position, other loud thud echoes from inside the ice dome and a large section of the ice dome shatters open to reveal the big black blob starting to flow through the hole in the ice.

The two celestial hounds crouch right in front of it, barking as loudly and ferociously as they can.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 on attack rolls and +1 on saves vs fear (39 rounds remaining).

As soon as the ice breaks open Minmorc hurls a rock, scoops up another one and hurls it too. "Rock in der hole!"

Bulldust picks out another crystal with his dragon claws while glancing over his shoulder at the barking dogs, hurling orc and da Blob.  He edges his way back around into the main cavern a bit, not too worried now about having to run away just yet ... Moffa and Min look like they know what they're doing, keeping the Blob busy.

Still not convinced this is a good plan, Jurz  decides that if that is what people want to do, then really he should help out.

With a few words and a casual flick of his fingers, Jurz creates Flaming Sphere on top of the blob.

13:10, Today: Jurz rolled 15 using 3d6.

Moffdust shrugs "If youse guys would rudder plays wid de blobs den I's gonna gets more handses ter picks de crystals." She summons another xorn. "Everyones, dis is Y de Xorns. Y?... because we likes him." She chats to Y in Terran as she had previously to Z.

Seeing the blob oozing out of the ice cap she whistles to her good doggies and waves her arms to spread them out a bit.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:39, Wed 26 Jan 2022.

Raven looks around at the shattered ice dome, the big black blob, the barking dogs and the rest of Team Arda-Nuff.

She gulps but seeing Bully and the xorn still plucking crystals she desperately prises another crystal out of the cave wall. But she looks like she is ready to run at a moment's notice!

"Dat ise a Black Puddin' !" Dregz announces, courtesy of insights provided by Bargrivyek to his faithful servant.

"Dey eatses metal stuffs !" he warns, bravely.

"Sum yoomies in der North eatses dem," the goblin priest notes, his tone balanced on a knife's point between admiring and very dubious.

As soon as the ice dome shatters and the big black blob starts to emerge, Minmorc hurls two of his rocks at it. Both rocks strike true and bury themselves deep in the quivering blob. They don't seem to break the surface of the blob but drag that surface layer deep inside, leaving a pair of large black scars that seem to have immobilised that part of the blob's surface.

Jurz reluctantly joins in the battle by conjuring a 6-foot wide flaming sphere that bounces forward and lands right on top of the blob, scorching and scarring the surface of the blob, too. (Bully's magic missile had already left a smaller scar on the black blob, too.)

Moffa summons another xorn (Y) to help harvest the crystal gemstones and directs her pair of celestial hounds to move further apart to distract the blob.

Bully and Raven continue prising crystals from the cave walls and Dregz finally puts a name to the blob – it is called a Black Pudding.

The two celestial hounds move to the sides of the Black Pudding a little but continue barking loudly and ferociously at it.

The Black Pudding lashes out at one of the hounds (C1), hits and slides forward to completely engulf the hapless hound, immediately silencing it.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. The Black Pudding is moderately wounded. Raven has 4 clear crystal gems so far, Bully has 2, xorn Z has 9 and xorn Y has 3. Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 on attack rolls and +1 on saves vs fear (38 rounds remaining).

Jurz just rolls his Flaming Sphere back onto the, newly identified, black pudding.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:43, Thu 27 Jan 2022.

"Puddins sound worser dan Blobs."  Bulldust gulps, looking over his shoulder.  He can see more sparkly crystals over there near Moffa where Raven's sword is brighter, so he hurries over there to pick out another twinkle higher up above Moffa's head.

The name seems to really amuse Minmorc "Black Puddin? Hur hur hur, icky THUMP!" A new war cry as he hurls two more rocks at an unscarred part of the blob.

The rest of the group seem to be doing a offally good job of entertaining the Black Pudding, so Dregz decides to join Moffa's effort, turning his attention to the crystals thus far garnered and trying to put a value on them, prior to venturing into the dangerous and rocky waters of Advanced Mathematics in an attempt to work out a rugged estimate of how many crystals they're going to need to hit their gold piece target.

Raven already did the maths to save Dregz a headache.

The gems are called rock crystals, or clear quartz, worth about 50 gold each. So if we still need at least 5000 gold for the crystal dragon we will need at least a hundred of these rock crystals, maybe more.

Raven glances round, squawks happily when she sees the blob is still under fire, literally and figuratively, and turns back to the cave wall to prise another crystal loose.

"Aw, poor doggies, he gots eaten by de puddins." Moffdust whistles and waves her arms to move the other dog further away from the puddin. She readies another spell to cast if the puddin gets too close.

Jurz stays back in the safety of the tunnel and waves his flaming sphere back onto the Black Pudding, burning another large scar in its surface.

Bully edges back closer to Moffa and the exit tunnel but perseveres with prising another crystal out of the wall of the cave.

Minmorc sees the humour of the Black Pudding's name and shouts his new war cry "ICKY THUMP" as he hurls his last pair of throwing rocks at it. The rocks hit and bury themselves deep in the black mass, leaving another pair of large, stiff scars on its surface.

Dregz checks Raven's maths and comes to a similar conclusion about the number of crystals required. Raven and the two xorn continue the tedious process of actually extracting those crystals from the cave wall.

Moffa calls to her surviving celestial hound (C2) and it backs away eastwards to the cave wall, still barking fiercely.

The Black Pudding immediately follows the dog, sliding out from under the flaming sphere and showing more speed than you have seen from it so far (speed is 20 feet per move action), and lashes out at the celestial hound as it draws close. This dog proves to be more alert and / or lucky than its partner and somehow manages to dodge the Black Pudding this time.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. The Black Pudding is now seriously wounded. Raven has 5 clear crystal gems so far, Bully has 3, xorn Z has 12 and xorn Y has 6. Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 on attack rolls and +1 on saves vs fear (37 rounds remaining).

"Dat's a lot of shinies!"  Jurz comments as he rolls the Flaming Sphere back onto the pudding.

Moffdust nods agreement with Jurz, that is a lot of shinies. She sadly waves goodbye to her last brave doggie and continues to ready a spell to block the blob if it moves closer.

Minmorc will scoop up a couple of b grade throwing rocks. He has started to develop a rhythm with his throws, each pair of lobs has been a little faster and he is starting to put a lovely spin on the rocks with a deft flick of his wrist.

Bulldust will look up past the b grade crystal rocks. He has started to develop a rhythm where Raven glows, the pair of xorn has been a little faster but he is starting to put a lovely spin on the shinies with a deft flick of his wrist.

Dregz thinks mining the crystal rocks is rather degrading.  He tries to get into the rhythm but nearly throws his back out, the other pair of gobs being a little faster to pin one on the blob, though that's definitely risky.

Jurz waves his flaming sphere back onto the Black Pudding, burning another large scar in its surface.

Minmorc has run out of throwing rocks so he searches around the edge of the cave to find another couple of rocks.

Moffa stays ready to cast another spell if the pudding advances.

Bully, Raven and the two xorn continue plucking crystals from the cave wall and even Dregz starts thinking about following their example.

The last celestial hound continues barking at the black pudding right up until that big black blob slides out from under the flaming sphere again, lashes out at the dog – hitting it and silencing it with a single blow. The black pudding then slides over the body of the dog and completely engulfs it.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. The Black Pudding is seriously wounded. Raven has 6 clear crystal gems so far, Bully has 4, xorn Z has 15 and xorn Y has 9. Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 on attack rolls and +1 on saves vs fear (36 rounds remaining).

Jurz decides to try and discourage the pudding from closing on the party members and rolls his Flaming Sphere to L24.

"Dat's one big puddin.  I remebers dat we's had a big puddin when i'se was liddle.  Dat one had lots of meaty bits in der middle.  An some fick gravy ..."

Minmorcs plans took longer than expected. Now, after the mesmerizing moves of the flaming sphere doth two rocks fly.

Wishing to preserve his aching back and stay well out of range of both blob and the rocks that are being hurled towards it, Dregz elects to forego the opportunities presented to either mine or fight and steels himself for the far more fraught and onerous task of trying to keep track of the number of crystals extracted ... something that may well involve the development of a whole new branch of Goblin Mathematics (a discipline more properly devoted to the enumeration of the quantity of lice infesting one's siblings, at the behest of one's mother - "Ma, them 'as tics !").

Jurz waves his flaming sphere back onto the Black Pudding again, burning another large scar in its surface. He directed it so it is on the party's side of the pudding to try to discourage it from heading toward the party.

Minmorc hurls the pair of throwing rocks he has scrounged from the edges of the cave and those rocks also bury themselves deep inside the pudding leaving two more large scars. The pudding is now looking very badly scarred all over.

Bully, Raven and the two xorn continue plucking crystals from the cave wall while Dregz concentrates on keeping track of the number of crystals they have secured.

The black pudding moves back toward the west and slithers out from under the flaming sphere again. Then it instinctively heads northwards towards the next meals available.

That is exactly what Moffa has been waiting for and she casts the spell she has been holding ready for some time. She conjures a solid wall of ice right across the width of the cave, stretching from floor to ceiling, to block the black pudding's advance.

The wall of ice is sufficiently translucent and the light from the flaming sphere is bright enough so you can easily see where the black pudding and the flaming sphere are located on the other side of the wall of ice.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. The Black Pudding is grievously wounded. Raven has 7 clear crystal gems so far, Bully has 5, xorn Z has 18 and xorn Y has 12, for a total of 42 crystals so far. Less than half of the crystals in the cave walls have been extracted so far. Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 on attack rolls and +1 on saves vs fear (35 rounds remaining).

"Oooh.  Dat's good.  An' I'se can see frew it!"  Jurz grins at Moffa, as he rolls his flaming sphere onto the pudding once again.

"Hmmm, now Ise in a glass houses so I won't throw rocks." He'll pull a dagger from his gauntlet and start plucking shinies.

Bulldust keeps scratching out the crystals.

"Lessee ... wese needs a hunnert or so, and we've got dis many and der's dat many left ..." Dregz delves further into the unexplored depths of Appled Mathematics¹ and Eggy Gnomics² in a brave and selfless attempt to work out if the supply of crystals will suffice to meet the demand.


¹Appled Mathematics - one apple plus two apples equals ... my apples
² Eggy Gnomics - the price a gnome can charge you for an egg before you'll kill him for it instead

Moffdust grins back at Jurz and sits cross-legged on de floor. "We's can jus watch sports on da big screens. No own goalses please Jurzie!" She pulls out a scrunched up bag of popped crickets and passes it to Jurz. "Shame de doggies is gone."

Bulldust goggles in awe at Dregz advanced mathematical calculations.  He's still grappling with that earlier concept of shares - what was wrong with 'one for me, one for me...?'.  Shaking off such complex thoughts he looks over at Min and grins.  "I'm on five."

With the black pudding trapped behind the wall of ice and illuminated by the flaming sphere, some of the party settle back to watch while others continue mining the precious crystals.

Naturally, nothing is quite as simple as it seems. Perhaps Jurz's aim is off because of the distortion of viewing through the translucent wall of ice but somehow the flaming sphere misses the pudding twice in a row and the black menace begins pounding on the wall of ice causing a steadily increasing maze of cracks in its frozen surface.

Finally, the flaming sphere rolls up on top of the pudding and must surely be burning it badly. However, at the same moment the damaged section of the wall of ice finally shatters and the badly damaged black pudding surges partway through the opening. But then it stops halfway though the wall of ice, literally frozen stiff!

The flaming sphere still burns upon the back half of the black pudding while the front half is frozen solid. While the cause of death might be debatable, there is no doubt about the outcome. The black pudding is finally dead.

Moments later xorn Z makes a sort of grating noise, places its crystals on the ground, and seems to rapidly vanish into the floor of the cave.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. Three more rounds have passed. Raven has 10 clear crystal gems so far, Bully has 8, Minmorc has 3, xorn Z had collected 27 and xorn Y has 21, for a total of 69 crystals so far. About two-thirds of the crystals in the cave walls have been extracted so far. Minmorc's Bless spell gives everyone +1 on attack rolls and +1 on saves vs fear (32 rounds remaining).

Minmorc curses as dirt falls in his boot but continues to collect little crystals. "Anyone know hows ter cook black puddin from frozen?"

Jurz rolls the flaming orb onto the frozen bit, before he answers Min,    Wiv Fire, I fink,  an de ovver sides is already cookked."

The Xorn disappearing into the ground  startles Jurz.  "Wheres did hes go?" he asks, deciding that Moffa's spells normally last at least as long as his own, and probably longer.

Moffdust claps and cackles at the ending of the show. "Z's gone backs ter wherever it is de xorns go. We's must loves dems den lets dems go... if dey lives dat longs." She sighs, thinking of the brave doggies.

She gets up and collects the shinies left by the xorn and takes them to Dregz for counting. With a wave of her hand she vanishes the ice so the rest of the cavern is open for collecting. She shakes Cat the bat out of her cloak to flutter round the cavern, and now that it seems safe she walks cautiously past the roasting blob and over to the pool it was lurking in.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:20, Sun 20 Feb 2022.

Bulldust ranges along the wall past where the ice was to pick the last crystals.  "Can ya still eat puddin' if its got dog in it?!!"

"I fink people wot eat black puddin need der hair o der dog wot bit dem. I don't fink der dog still innit, when der magic runs out der critters go backs home, bones an all."

Dregz is really sweating on the count, but "id lookses like der might be jus' enuff !" he announces excitedly if quite quickly, as if to dispel any doubt³ he might have in his own mind on that score.


³ Dispel Doubt - 4th level Cleric spell - lasts 1/rnd per level, allows caster to convince themselves that there's nothing to worry about after all

With the black pudding dead at last, Moffa dispels the wall of ice and the ice dome so everyone can fully explore the cave.

Xorn Y continues plucking crystals from the wall for another couple of rounds before it follows Z's example and vanishes into the floor, leaving its collected crystals behind for Moffa to scoop up. Jurz's flaming sphere dies away at almost the same time after cooking some more of the black pudding from frozen.

The clear crystal gemstones prove to be the only items of value in the cave but when you search the dry pond that was the pudding's lair you find nearly a hundred more of the precious gemstones accumulated among the grit on the floor of the pond.

It takes a few more minutes of concerted effort for the team to finish prising the last crystals out of the walls of the cave but Dregz's final count (and what an agonising performance that was!) is 206 clear crystal gemstones (worth about 50gp each).

The major disappointment is that extensive testing reveals that no amount of cooking or freezing can make black pudding safe to eat. The acid in the gelatinous flesh still eats through any organic or metal substance that it touches.

"Aaaaaaaah by dongue!"

Jurz turns to Bully  "I finks sat youse shouldn't eats puddin wiv dog in.  Its bites back." he says sagely.

While his final tally being rather suspect as Goblin Maths is more (much more) of an art than a science, the hairy little priest is confident that the tribe have excavated a sufficiently valuable pile of crystals to appease the dragon.

"Dat is wot der humies call der hot dogs," Dregz advises Minmorc, seeing the big orc's distress and moved to offer his wise advice.

"So we fink da dragon wants a hunnert of dese.  But we got two hunnerts an a few.  So we can keep some!"  Bulldust is pretty pleased about this, not just trying to proove he was listening to the hairy priest.  He asks Raven "Can you share dem out Birdie Girl?"  Then looking at everyone else he asks "So now we go back up an give a hunnert ter Crystal, right?"  He's pretty sure that was the latest plan, but it doesn't hurt to see if everyone still agrees.

“We gots a choice. We’d can give Crystal all the loot from the giant and half the gems, or all the gems,” Raven explains to Bully.

"De dragons already gots de giant's bagses. I doesn't tinks she's gonna gives anytings back. She's a dragons! An dragons is worser den orcses... or even goblinses!" Moffdust nods her head emphatically. "We's gives her halfs ov de shinies, and we's shares de udder halfs an keeps dem secrets. When we's gots de sticky-bits wot we's come fer, den we's should gets outa heres."

“Did we give the giant’s loot to the dragon already? Oh, I must’ve missed that. In that case, yes, half the gems for the dragon and half for us. I bet Crystal will love these gems, though. I wonder if she has anything we might like that we could trade for?“ Raven wondered.

Dregz will just be happy if he can get out of here without being eaten by the Dragon !  Even happier if he can get away with the piece of the Magic Stick as is Bargrivyek's command !

"'as anywun gotta sack or summat dat wese c'n pud harf der gems inse ?" he asks.  "Don' wan' der dragin ter seese dat's wese gotses eny more ov dem in cases shes changeses der deal and demandses dem all !"

"We's got de big bag dat holds everyfing, dat we's all helped to pays for" Jurz suggests, "An I fink I'se got a sack we's can put der dragin's share in" he adds digging around in  his pack.

"I got da big bag."  Bulldust will make 6 shares out of the party's 106 crystals.  He gives everyone 17 crystals and pokes the 4 leftovers back into the wall.  "Maybe dey'll make new crystals."

When everyone is ready he'll put 100 crystals in Jurzie's sack.  "I don't fink we should ask da dragon about her stuff Birdie Girl, I fink she'll get huffy about dat cos she told us to stay away from her cave.  I fink we should just get da deal done first.  Den when we got Dregzie's stick ready ta escape we might wanna ask her ... if she's  not so uptight den.  So, who's gonna do da talkin?"

"Should we rest here first before we go back to talk to Crystal again?" Raven wondered. "We told her we were coming down this tunnel to get some sleep out of the wind, didn't we?"

"Dat's a good idea.  But I'sl go back a bit and stay wiv Rog ...."

Minmorc didn't know you could plant crystals to grow more, he will think about what this means and where birds and bees come into things as he finds a nice dry acid free place to set up his bedroll.

Moffdust walks up the tunnel to where her dire wolf waits. "Youse too bigs fer dis ones Wolfie dears, so youse can goes till I needs youse again." She hugs his shaggy leg then unsummons him and stalks back to the cavern. "Has wese gots some foods?"

Minmorc will pull most of a sheep leg from the Frost Giant and some hunks of wyvern meat from the cavern. "Yer wanna eat from Woolies or Big W?"

OOC: These are shops in Australia, joke still lame if you know that but hopefully context will separate them from my normal nonsense :)
If adventuring and sports promotion fall through Minmorc may become a butcher.
Shy of a certification Minmorcs pretty much there... Is there a butchers guild he needs to sign with?
Minmorc the rogue butcher, would that be an unlicensed sausage maker or a killer of thieves...
mmm mutton...

OOC: lol ... not as lame as the giant with a missing leg

Bulldust helps with the cooking and eating then rolls out a blanket for himself and Moffa to sleep on.  Feeling pretty safe down here, he's asleep before anyone can say picket.

Dregz is certainly exhausted from all the strenuous counting and figuring and thinking he's had to do ... but he's never had Wyvern meat before and is keen to give it ago before he nods off.

"Ise 'eard dat id tasteses likes childrens," he helpfully adds some culinary notes.

Moffdust shakes her head sadly. "Nah, dey says dat about everytings. Anyways, de childrens gets stuck in yer teeths. I'se goin fer de sheeps - its self-flossing."

Jurz shakes his head, and takes a bit of sheep and a bit of wyvern - after all, variety is the spice of life, and what he doesn't like will likely be devoured by Rog.

The rest period will pass without incident. Anyone who prepares spells after a night's sleep can update their spell choices accordingly. Your friendly neighbourhood sorceress will have all her spell slots available again when you wake.

Bulldust is first on his feet and wakes the others.  He looks for a friendly sorceress but can't find one, only his sister, and he wouldn't dare call her friendly, not if he wants to keep his ears.  He helps share out breakfast and pack away gear.

While some are preparing spells he will listen at the tunnel entrance, maybe catch a faint echo of Rocky's deep voice or Crystal's shrill one and guess what kind of mood they're in.  "All quiet up ahead." he reports confidently.

22:28, Today: Bulldust rolled 0 using 1d20-1.  listen.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:31, Sun 13 Mar 2022.

Jurz wakes slowly, and has difficulty moving away from Rog's body warmth -  but swiftly casts Endure Elements both on himself and the dire bat.  After contemplating the beauties of nature for a while, even in its cold and frozen state, he is ready for the day ahead.

Moffdust huddles into the blanket while its still warm after Bully leaves. The bundle shuffles pitifully across the cavern and shivers in front of Dregz. "Ise cold Dregzie!" Big blinking eyes appear from the folds.

The rest of the day, or the day of rest, passes quietly and everyone wakes fully refreshed and ready for whatever the night may bring. Prayers are said by those who believe strongly enough to bother their gods, leftover mutton is munched cold or warmed by those fussy enough to spend that much time and effort. It isn't long before everyone is ready and Team Arda-Nuff strolls back up the 500-foot length of the tunnel until they come in sight of the crystal dragon's lair.

As the team have already seen, the dragon's lair is a large cave opening 20 feet up on the eastern wall of a particularly broad section of the tunnel, close to the outer end of that tunnel. Tunnel and cave alike are all dark and quiet. There is not even any faint glow of daylight from the outer end of the tunnel, but that is as expected. It must be night time by now. The glow from Raven's rapier is the only source of light in sight and she decides to wait well back from the cave so she doesn't signal the party's arrival just yet.

OOC: Main Game Map updated. The map shows the shape of caves and tunnel as the team have previously seen them. Any occupants are currently out of sight and therefore not indicated on the current map.

I have fast-forwarded a bit to this point. If anyone wanted to make any preparations before reaching this point just include that in your post this round.

Bulldust was expecting a welcome, and is now a little puzzled that its so quiet.  He thinks about making himself big to peer over the ledge, but remembers that the dragon hates giants.  He mimes a 'shush' to the rest of the party to put them on guard.  Then he creeps forward 30' where he can sniff for scents to reveal who's around.

Minmorc will make a blindfold for himself which he will wear as a headband when he wakes up. When the group heads out he has his great spear in hand and will wait to see what Bully sniffs out.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:07, Mon 21 Mar 2022.

Once out of the narrow tunnel, Moffdust conjures the fiendish dire Wolfie back again to be her companion for today, and tosses him a sliver of wyvern liver as a welcome back treat. Along the way she casts Protection from Evil on herself and Bully... just in case. Arriving at the dragon's lair she wonders why she can't see starlight up ahead through the cliff entrance. She moves a little ahead and left to get a better angle. "Why we's can't sees de twinkles?" she whispers.

"Huh?" Jurz responds as he looks towards the entrance, then he sniffs the air, just in case ...

10:23, Today: Jurz rolled 12 using 1d20+3.  spot.

Having cast spells to keep the cold at bay upon both himself and Moffa (and being able to help out at least another two of the tribe if anyone needs it), Dregz makes sure he has his Goggles of the Golden Sun firmly in place before camp is irreparably broken and the intrepid go vaunting !

If the lack of stars is of concern to the hairy little priest, it's hard to tell, for he's already terrified enough at the prospect of facing the dragon without worrying about potential astronomical cataclysms.

The team doesn't have line of sight to the entrance yet, which might explain why it is still completely dark. Bully and Jurz can both smell fresh air. Bully can't smell any particular scents (apart from the team and their animals) but can't remember ever smelling any scents from the crystal dragon or the galeb duhr, which are both creatures of stone rather than flesh and blood.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Bulldust shrugs and skulks ahead 30' to stand before the entrance tunnel where he calls out.  "Hey Crystal!  Rocky!  Youse around?  Its us, Team Ard Enuff."  He squats a bit, getting down low to peer up the entrance tunnel to see the stars.

08:02, Today: Bulldust rolled 19 using 1d20+3.  spot, copying Jurz, hey we got da same mod! .

Bully moves forward until he is able to see the dimly illuminated outline of the cave mouth and snow-covered ledge beyond it. The mountain across the valley still blocks any sign of stars but he is reassured that the cave mouth is definitely not blocked.

His call immediately brings the boulder-shaped galeb duhr shuffling back into view out on the ledge. Its voice sounds like its mouth is full of gravel but it is at least recognisable as the undercommon language.

[Language unknown: "Vorourest. U nde nehat toac ounounine mansettic be ca witiv. Nc ateallive ereus unseni at areestich. Un saetet utanof. Ngre eeenaing andevevir lo ilfiit mi intresill nise riposs. Bece aspa secandev t al pa und elss omes urtahe ted mo ntil. Itwhi icaswe omnt set ananie ing tedel sssti. K witrho staee nc traatiund ere. M she nt les bepl seioin ndecon'ratrom."]

While the galeb duhr is still speaking there are sounds of movement from the dragon's lair and the crystal dragon's head appears at that cave opening up in the eastern wall of this widened section of tunnel. Its high, shrill voice sounds irritated.

"Why are you shouting? It is night time. I was resting!"

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

"Huh?" Bulldust replies to Rocky, clearly not understanding chewed gravel.

He's still crouching, so when the dragon speaks he swivels a bit and adds an upward grimace that might look from above like an unctuous bow.  "Sorry yer crystalness.  We're gobbos.  We don't know wot da sun's doin while we're down ere.  Now you're up, are yer up fer a deal?"

[Language unknown: "Ratderati son lar tra onsilltra waetnota estmanhou ssss icnondal lone ek venho een hocais day orthounde,"] Dregz mutters quietly, quivering dutifully as he tries not to make eye contact with the Crystal Dragon.  [Language unknown: "Sesian hile oer omlin cket earnotcom pre ous.. usfiul.. hi ear ng he."]

"Tanks Dregzie." Moffdust grins when she finally stops shivering. She keeps her head down as she heads across the cavern towards the exit, stopping mid way to bob a quick curtsey at the dragon. She heads for the ledge to see for herself what these giants are doing. Cat the bat flutters on ahead.

Jurz nods at Dregz response, but keeps quiet, and follows Moffa towards the ledge, indicating that Rog should follow.

He isn't going to upset a grumpy dragon, he'll leave that to Bully.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:09, Sat 02 Apr 2022.

As Bully reopens trade negotiations with the crystal dragon, Moffa, Wolfie, Cat the bat, Jurz and Rog the dire bat creep past behind him, heading for the ledge outside the cave.

Dregz creeps nervously forward just far enough so he can see the dragon but still has a tunnel wall to hide behind, while Minmorc saunters out in plain view and Raven scurries straight past Minmorc until the light of her glowing rapier reaches far enough to dimly illuminate the crystal dragon so she can see it as well. Even though it is only the low-light at the outer reach of the rapier's glow, the crystal dragon's body reflects that dim light back too, so it is clearly visible to Raven.

The dragon watches Moffa, Cat, Wolfie, Jurz and Rog warily but with no sign of concern. But Raven's arrival with the glowing rapier quickly becomes the focus of the dragon's attention.

"Such a pretty thing! You are so lucky to have it," the dragon almost squeals with delight. After a long moment of staring at the glowing blade the dragon finally turns back to answer Bully's question.

"What deal do you propose now, Mister Gobbo? The same deal as before, or have you thought of a new one? You still need to bring me another 5,670 gold coins or other treasures of that value if you wish to complete our deal. I am sure you didn't find any more giants down that tunnel, so now you are all well-rested I suggest you go follow those giants back to their lair and fetch me another bag or two of their treasures. When they dragged the dead one away they left a trail that even a sun-blinded Mister Gobbo could follow!

"Unless you wish to trade other pretty things instead of giants' treasure? The blackbird's pretty spike would probably cover half that price on its own!"

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

Jurz waits quietly, more concerned with having a quick get-away route than anything else, but he also wonders if Dregz or Moffa can do the Continual Light thing, and whether that would look just as pretty as Raven's rapier.

Dregz also notices the Dragon's infatuation with Raven's blade ... and is thankful that he's rather more able to summon darkness than light, for he has no wish to become the Dragon's personal light source should she take a fancy to keeping a goblin on hand to perform such duties !

The hairy little priest also worries what tack Bully will take regarding the exchange of the remaining gold, very much aware that someone is going to have to pull the Magic Stick out of the Dragon's head, since she obviously can't reach it herself.

Bulldust zones out a bit when the dragon calls him Mister.  He's never been called that before.  He wonders if he should start smoking a cigar like when Minmorc was a Mister wiv a carriage an stuff.  Oh, she's still talking '...another two bags of treasure...' now dat wasn't part ov da deal, was it?  We already gave her a head an a bag, yup, dat woz da deal  '...blinded Mister Gobbo...'  Woz dat a freat?  Prob'ly not cos she's still talkin - freats usually have more shoutin an hittin, specially when Min does em, sides she's lookin at da birdie-girl again, an da birdie girl never upset anyone.  Oh, right, she's stopped.

Stick ta der plan.  Deep breaff...

"All right Crystal?  We didn't get treasure bags but we got yer dese."  He takes out Jurzie's sack and pulls a handful of crystals, holding them so they catch the light of Raven's glowy sword.  "Dere's a 'hunnert' ov em.  So now can we av da fing on yer head?"

"Oooh, so pretty!" the crystal dragon squeals in its high pitched voice as it stares at the clear crystal gemstones in Bully's hand.

"Did you say you have a hundred or them?" the dragon asks after a long moment of careful study of the gems from afar. "That's still not quite enough. If you have one hundred and thirteen just like those pretty little gems, and twenty golden coins, that would be just enough for us to seal the deal we agreed to."

"I fink we found a few more den a hundred sparkly rocks, lets make dis trade done. Yer mountains is bootiful but I wanna go sumwhere fer a beer."

Bulldust listens to Minmorc, pursed lips and nodding.  Then he shrugs and counts out crystals and gold coins from his pouch - he's watched Dregz long enough so he's pretty sure he's got it right, thirteen crystals and twenty coins, and the light from Raven's sword helps.  He drops them into Jurz's sack and holds it up to the dragon. "Now can we 'av da fing?"

Moffdust peers out over the ledge, getting a feel for the weather and whatever the giants are doing. "Lets hopes de dragons is not tricksie." she comments to Jurz.  She wonders where Dregzie will take them next.

"Dregz is wiv dem." Jurz reassures Moffa.  "He's will keep an eye on de talking and de deal."

Like Moffa, he too peers into the night, wondering what the giants are doing, but he also looks upwards, to try and get a feel for the weather - and what the cliff looks like above them.

The crystal dragon watches the counting until Bully is done, then nods its head in satisfaction. It bends its sinuous neck until it is able to reach the small black and white object lodged on the back of its head behind its ears and eventually manages to pluck it loose and hold it over the ledge in its claws. It looks like a one inch pearl in a black hexagonal setting.

"This is Forya en' i' Leitha, the item you requested. I shall miss its company but the Galeb-Dhur will make a fine companion, too. You may climb up with your little sack of gems and gold if you wish, Mister Gobbo, or simply throw it up to me and I will drop Forya en' i' Leitha down to you at the same time.

"Then perhaps we can discuss other items you might like to trade for. There are still more frost giants out there for you to slay and their treasures to be won. I have several other items that seem unforgivably ugly to me, but I suspect your kind might like them very much."

Out on the ledge outside the tunnel mouth Moffa and Jurz find the weather is cloudy and bitterly cold, but not actually snowing or raining at present. The ledge is still covered in snow but the party’s earlier tracks are still visible, so it has not snowed while you were inside the mountain. The galeb-dhur is still near the edge of the ledge but is watching and listening to what is happening inside.

It is night-time and quite dark because of the cloud cover, so the goblins cannot see much detail in the valley below. There is barely enough light for them to determine that the body of the dead frost giant is gone and there is no sign of any other giants or other creatures in the valley at present, nor on the cliff when Jurz looks over the edge and up above.

Jurz remembers looking back at this ledge from down in the valley and recalls that the ledge is about halfway up the cliff, so presumably it would be no easier to climb down to this ledge than it would be to climb down from here to the valley below.

OOC: Main Game Map updated.

"Is dat da fing fer ya black stick, Dregzie?"  Bulldust asks, wanting confirmation before he makes the swap.

Looking back up at the dragon he asks "For Ear an a Leefa?  Sounds elfish."  He frowns, but then shrugs it off.  "Did it tell yer any stories about gobbo heroes called Ard Enouff?"

He grins at Raven "Get ready Birdie Girl.  When she drops it, you gotta catch it."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:27, Sun 10 Apr 2022.

Dregz is rather wary of revealing the Magic Stick to a Dragon, knowing them by reputation to be greedy, so makes sure to hide his hand holding it around the corner of the tunnel, concealed from her sight as he tests to be sure the whole is drawn towards the part.

Sure enough, the Black Mace in Dregz’s hand points directly at the pearl clutched in the crystal dragon’s claws.

"It's cold, but it is pretty here." Jurz comments to Moffa, as he looks out on the snowscape laid out before them.

Raven comes back to stand beside Bully, glowing rapier in her left hand, staring up at the crystal dragon with her right hand ready to catch the pearl when the dragon drops it.

"I'm ready," she squawks. "I'll catch it."

The crystal dragon watches the movements below her ledge with keen interest but no sign of agitation.

"Ard Enouff? No, Forya en' i' Leitha has never mentioned that name. Forya en' i' Leitha rarely speaks of anything except tyrants that force others to do their bidding. I think goblins would be beneath its notice. Arch-wizards, high priests, kings and queens, giant chieftains, ogre-magi, vampires, liches, chromatic dragons, devils and demons, even a lesser godling or two. Those are the types of subject that Forya en' i' Leitha focuses on. All the time. I will miss those fascinating conversations, of course, but I am sure the Galeb-Dhur will be a fine substitute."

Moffdust nods agreement to Jurz, it is a pretty place. She takes a deep breath of the cold air, warmed by the spell Dregz put on her. "Deres no giants out deres. Let's see if dey makes de deals wid de dragons." She returns back to the entrance to the dragon cavern to watch.

Bulldust has not even heard of most of those tyrants.  "Were dere any elfs on da list?" he asks hopefully.  "Or da Knights of da Watch?"  They're the only tyrants he can think of.  He waits to see what Dregz thinks of the pearl.  He gazes back and forth between the dragon and the goblin.

His mind wanders back over all those different versions of plans for attacking giants and dragons.   He remembers Jurz's advice that made the most sense, we have to get the magic-stick-thing from the dragon before making any more plans.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:56, Mon 18 Apr 2022.

Minmorc will prop his weapon against the cave wall and then will walk towards the dragon. Enlarging himself as he goes he will gently take the sack from Jurz and Bully and will place it on the ledge before the dragon. He will then take the pearl headpiece from the dragon and give it to Jurz.

"Cheers Crystal dragon. If you could show us der ugly stuff yer don't like we could go back inter dat nice little cave we found and talk about wot we can offer for it."

Bulldust pales to lime green as Minmorc makes himself look like a giant. He backs away, grabbing the birdie girl by her wing and hustling her towards the exit.

"Dat's id all righ' ..." Dregz is well in to an enthusiastic affirmation that the pearl is indeed a piece of the Magic Stick, if somewhat confused by the mention of tyrants, as he's not sure there's anything in his Holy Book about evil talking trees being in such lofty company as the others, and so very much looking forward to any clarifications on that score which Bully's question might elicit ... when Minmorc chooses that moment to do his best giant impersonation.

Wincing, gritting his teeth and crossing everything, the little goblin subsides back around the corner hoping for slightly better than relative safety.

Fortunately, or not, Jurz had followed Moffa back from the ledge - and arrived just in time to watch Min's transformation and approach to the dragon.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:42, Wed 20 Apr 2022.

The crystal dragon waited calmly as Bully checked with his little, hidden, hairy, goblin colleague to confirm the pearl was indeed the item they were after.

However, the dragon's calmness evaporated in an instant when Minmorc nonchalantly walked forward and grew taller with every step until he was 12 and a half feet tall. Minmorc calmly plucked the sack from Bully's fingers and held it up towards the dragon's ledge, but even giant Minmorc could not quite reach up 20 feet to the dragon's ledge.

The crystal dragon had reared up away from the ledge as Minmorc reached up toward it but the offered sack of gems and gold finally allayed its concerns.

"Don't ... do ... that!" the dragon finally screeched in its shrill voice. "A giant gobbo was bad enough but a giant orc is twice as revolting!"

However, after a long pause, it finally reached its head down to pluck the sack from Minmorc's hand and, very deliberately, reached over and opened its claws to drop the pearl down to Bully instead of Minmorc or Raven.

Minmorc will shrink back down to his regular size and will walk back over to his weapon. Leaning it over his shoulder he will walk to Dregz and will wait for the group to leave.

Dregz is staying where he is and waiting for Bully, much relieved that the Dragon didn't attack the big Orc ... and trying very hard not to think about the worry that this might be the last piece of the Magic Stick, in which case he's not sure what if anything will happen should he try, as they've done many times before, to use it to transport themselves to the next !  <whimper>

Bulldust relaxes and lets go of the birdie girl to catch the pearl, but is left with puzzling over maths again to decide just how big was that insult.  "If a giant orc is twice as bad as a giant bugbear ... an a bugbear is half ov a giant bugbear ... den you fink I'm a quarter ov 'revolting'?"  He looks ruefully up at the dragon, feeling mildly insulted.  "Dat's not nice, Crystal.  Yer won't get anyone ter trade wiv ya like dat!"

He calls up the entrance tunnel to Moffa and Jurz.  "We got wot we came for."

He walks over to where Minmorc and Dregz are waiting and gives Dregz the pearl.  Its clear he wants to say more, but not where the dragon can hear.  He heads outside wit Dregz and Minmorc.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:54, Sat 23 Apr 2022.

Twice as bad ...[Language unknown: "Est urereatio weronsous maican ertose wheanyles !"] Dregz assures Bully, carefully positioning himself between the bugbear and the dragon as they make their way out to the cave mouth, with the precious pearl clutched tight in his hand and his little legs working hard to keep pace.

Minmorc doesn't care what the dragon thinks of him, he's found the prettier the thing the more shallow it tends to be. However, if the tribe changes the plan to "kill the dragon and take its stuff" he might be even happier with the victory and slower with the kill than normal.

Jurz is quite happy to make his way back towards the cave entrance, and grins at Dregz interpretation of the dragon's words.

Jurz doesn't care, either way, about the dragon.  In the end, they used good old-fashioned and well tried tactics - taking stuff from the dragon's house, and using that to swap for the thing they wanted.  It is a bit like raiding a farmer's fields and then selling him his own pigs!

Ot worries him slightly that the pearl thing they got spoke to the dragon.  But that is Dragz problem ....

Once we're all out on the ledge where the dragon can't hear, and keeping his voice low so Rocky can't listen, Bulldust asks what we're going to do next. "We got wot we came for but we didn't get rich gettin it.  Crystal is rich, so maybe we should rob her.  How about we trick her inta goin after da giants wiv us, den when she's out dere we all pop back ere wiv Dregzie's stick an grab her stuff.  Does dat sound like da start ov a plan?"

Minmorc will encourage Bully to chat in the cave instead of out on the ledge. "I thought der stick brought us ere cause der next bit of stick woz on der dragons head. Do we want ter stash der next bit of stick in dis cave so we can hop back ere or do we wanna put der stick tergether ter see wot it doz? An my vote wood be kill der dragon an take its stuff. Trick it, mebbe fings go ter plan, big mebbe an now a pissed off dragon out der hates you, kill it an yer can add its bits ter der treasure count."

Discussion moved to OOC thread for convenience

The crystal dragon takes the sack of gems and gold back into its lair but returns to the ledge above the tunnel before Team Arda-Nuff are all out of sight. It has several items clutched in its foreclaws.

"Now perhaps we can discuss other items you might like to trade for," It suggests. "There are still more frost giants out there for you to slay and their treasures to be won. As I said before, I have several other items that seem unforgivably ugly to me, but I suspect your kind might like them very much."

"This fist-sized blob of ectoplasm looks disgusting, doesn't it? It is called the Skin of the Fiend. I peeled it off a human who tried to rob my cave years ago. It gave him a number of fiendish powers and protections but it doesn't fit anyone as large as me. Besides, red is just not my colour, but it could be yours if you bring me a giant's head and 3,000 gold coins worth of treasure.

"Or do you prefer the orc god Gruumsh? A nasty old orc thought he could kill me many years ago, but he just gifted me his ugly old shield, spear and gauntlets instead. Look at this old wooden shield – the shield of the severed hand. That blood-stained hand print won’t ever scrub off. Or what about this awkward old spear with its horrible red spearhead? A spear of retribution, apparently. If you throw it away it always comes back. But look at this rusty old iron gauntlet, too. It is still covered in flakes of blood and it looks like someone has actually painted an eye on the back of it in blood, too. Behold the gauntlet of Gruumsh, he said. It will be the last thing you ever see, he said, just before I enlightened him with the power of my breath. Nasty, ugly things, all of them. I am sure you would love them. If you bring me another giant head you can have the shield for 2,000 gold, the spear for 4,000 or the gauntlet for another 4,000 gold.

"Perhaps one of you goblins would be more excited about this little corrosive glove instead? See how badly scarred and pitted the leather is? It does that to anything you touch, too. Or if you throw a rock or a spear it is like you drenched them in acid before you threw them. You like the sound of that, don’t you? Bring me a giant head and 2,000 gold and you can have it too.

"Or is this tentacle rod more to your taste? If all three of those nasty tentacles hit your foe it slows him down so you can kill him more easily or simply run away while he can't chase after you. Bring me a giant head and 7,000 gold and it is all yours."

"I like dose stories Crystal, but yer price is a bit high fer all dat stuff wot you can't use.  An we're da ones doin all da work."  He shrugs and makes to walk off again, then turns back.  "Suppose we were ta go get all dese heads, would youse come along an help?  Maybe youse could fly inta dere cave entrance an fry all da wolfs, den we jump off yer back an run in ter get da heads - how'd yer like ter tell dat story?"  He lets her digest that idea for a moment then adds, "I'm jus supposin, not offerin."  He waits for her reply before joining the rest of the party.

When they're away from the dragon, Moffdust blows out her cheeks. "Dragons! Dey wants too much."

Dregz is one for following divine instructions to the letter and not at all hot on tactical manoeuvres and stratagems.

The goblin priest ignores most of the discussion as he happily puzzles out how to attach the recently acquired bit of the Magic Stick to the rest of the whole, his tongue sticking out as he concentrates on the task.

"I'se wonders if de acidy glove works when I am de polar bear ..." Jurz muses as he watched Dregz play around with the stick and pearl.

"My prices are too high?" the crystal dragon seems slightly offended by that suggestion but does give it some consideration. "I assure you that you would easily be able to sell each of those items and recoup every penny of those prices! But, perhaps, I can see why that might not be enough to tempt you. Very well, I will halve those prices so you could easily double your money if you choose to sell those items. I prize skulls highly enough to make that concession although I doubt you would find anyone else interested in buying them at that sort of price."

"As for the suggestion that I should help you fight the giants, well, you have surely noticed how brightly I reflect any light? In starlight or moonlight I luminesce most beautifully and in direct sunlight I am absolutely brilliant! I can literally be seen a mile away, if not more. That would give the giants far too much time to prepare and I have no desire to fly into a barrage of boulders hurled by those brutes. I am no beast of burden, either. On the other hand, if you were to arrange for a number of those giants to be gathered out there on the trail opposite my cave I might be willing to dive down on them and scour them with my brilliant breath to weaken and blind them so you can finish them off. I would want a share of their treasure, too, for assisting you that way. They would all need to be within a 50-foot area, though, or I could not affect them all, although some of them would probably flee in terror as soon as they saw me attacking. It might also be fun to chase and kill one of those that fled, I suppose. Yes, I am sure I could do that."

Meanwhile, out on the ledge, Dregz finally slides the last segment onto the top of the Black Mace. A sigh of pure contentment fills the air, then a voice speaks from the head of the Black Mace

"I am Forya en' i' Leitha," it says. [Language unknown: "T u Herope al thi Wipe."] "I am the enemy and bane of anything that aids sorcerous enslavement, compulsion, enchantment and domination of free will. Such abominations are evil and cannot be allowed to exist."

Dregz whimpers, staring at the mace, only his utter devotion to his god allowing him to keep his grip on the now completed mace.

"Wese can dos wun ov der magic jumpses ... if wese wants ter ?!" the little goblin priest reluctantly informs those of his tribe out on the ledge with him.

"Fury in a lizard," he makes a brave attempt at the Elvish name, "seemses reel keen on der freedom fingy."

Jurz lets his head nod gently from side to side, with no clear preference for a line of action.  Setting up giants for a dragon attack sounds like fun, but a jump to another strange place sounds equally interesting.

"Yer all ain't happy ere, ow bout we go where we started an kill sum humans?"

"Dunno where der Magic Stick will takes us nows," Dregz warns.  "Wese might find usses taken sumwheres tah free anywun, anyfing."

"We could ask it? Err, mister Forya da magic stick? Can wees now controls where we magic jump to? Cos I wanna go put der hurt on der folks dat been lordin over our folks."

The dispassionate voice of Forya en' i' Leitha speaks clearly from the head of the Black Mace in reply to the direct question asked by Minmorc.

"I am the enemy and bane of anything that aids sorcerous enslavement, compulsion, enchantment and domination of free will. Let he who holds me point me in any direction and I will show him any oppressive enchantment that lies in that direction. Let him say the word and I will transport him and those close to him to whatever destination he chooses. It need not be one of the visions I show him, but be warned, the quest for freedom is like a hunger within me that demands to be fed."

"Mister Forya, doz any of yer visions show people dat need ter be free from a bad guy so dey can play Nuffle ball?"