Expedition 48j - Koko's Account

A sultry welcome spoken from a large reptilian maw sent the strong dwarf scurrying back to us, babbling that he had indeed spied a great wrym in the cavern beyond, so we hatched a plan.

Distributing what we knew as the enchanted weapons between us, one strong dwarf and our new law abiding priest decided to use the secret door to attack the beast from behind, whilst the rest would work our way around picking up the neanderthal army, although somewhat depleted and a little inebriated, their leader was all too eager to march to a firey doom, my words calmed him as we reckoned on subtle diplomacy to catch unaware.

Our passage down the narrow tunnel brought some casualties amongst the neanderthals, one dwarf scouted ahead but saw no sign of the lizard, so we strode bravely forwards, in my head I rehearsed how our message of peace and tranquillity would transpire before our assault, however the fickle of Mar Nod is such that a roll of his dice of chaos is enough to imbue the unwary with foolishness and naivety.

Alas, it is all to easily forgotten that dragons are not known for their willingness to be outsmarted by mere mortals, and as we approached a great frightening roar came from behind us unnerving the gang, and no sooner had we stepped into its lair a voice commanded us to halt. One dwarf decided to rush forward and we were met by a fearsome blast of scalding flame, the remnants of my chaos army immolated along with one trusty hound, as well as a number of others.

Smouldering flesh under our armour and burning vengeance in our hearts we charged the great beast, surrounding it, its scaly skin absorbing most of our strikes although my cursed mace managed to bruise it somewhat, it rendered one dwarf with its great claws, but as it did his shield of retort muttered a curse and the wrym became rather nauseated, sending its claw swishing over my head.

The battle was short but ferocious, our trusty dwarf blacksmith succumbed to a plume of fire, and the neanderthal king disappeared down the beast's gaping throat, but my hound bit a chunk from its thigh causing it to turn its head and meet the blade of another, its head rolled through the air, the great beast was dead and we were victorious!

And to the victor the spoils, a mound of various coins and gems were stuffed into every available pocket, including a ring which caused the wearer to levitate, so the goodly priest placed it upon our fallen dwarf warrior and we guided him loaded with treasure towards to surface, alas he sank to the cavern floor halfway there.

We emerged blinking and blooded in the daylight, the estate now miles above us, we trekked to the nearest fort where our mercenary army awaited, having been chased away by the mountain kings remaining hoards some days ago, the pontificating priest barked an order but it took my soothing words to convince the rabble of their new leader and they returned that night to retrieve our dwarven corpse.

Now charged with two rapidly rotting lifeless heroes, we decided to embark on a journey to find their salvation using our great funds, and for me to raise another army of chaos.