After a small meal the Party heads off to sleep upstairs while Don Jon takes the small room downstairs by the outhouse. Diz tries to sneak in on Don Jon in the middle of the night, but the door creaks very loudly and wakes him up. To play it off Diz runs toward the door and shits herself.
The next morning they all set off together as they are all heading east. Don Jon lets them know that he was hired to see what was going on in a mine by the owners. Along the way he lets the Party know that he has been an overseer, gold prospector, miner, fur trader, privateer, and whaler. He even ran a trading post on the outskirts of Neverwinter for a few seasons. While taking watch he regales Burr with stories of having fought Tiamat, survived a dragon turtle, and met kraken.
As they near the mine they see a low ridge rising to their right, beyond which they see the Sword Mountains scrape the gray sky. Closer in, something is strewn across the rocky ground ninety feet ahead. They investigate and it is two orcs which seem to have been frozen to death. Guarding the entrance are two wererats. One of them says he will bring them to the leader of the group who have taken over the mines.
As they make their way through the Party sees that all tunnels and caverns in the mine are hewn from rock that has thin veins of gold ore running through it. The ceilings throughout are 8 feet high and braced at regular intervals by wooden pilasters and beams. All doors are made of wood with iron hinges and handles. The doors are fitted with locks, but none of them are locked. Oil lanterns hang from ceiling hooks in every room and tunnel.
The Leader of the Wererats introduces themselves as Zeleen Varnaster and her group as The Whiskers Gang. The Party discusses what they should do and let Don Jon know that his contract was technically to see what happened and he has, so he has fulfilled his job and they don’t have to take the mine back. Zeleen motions for one of her followers and asks them to lead the Party out of the East Entrance. Unfortunately what they lead to the Party to is a trap.
After fighting a Carrilon Crawler, a Wererat and 5 Giant Rats the Party makes it out, but not unscathed. Burr has been bitten and Don Jon is paralyzed. Kali has Boreas carry Don Jon down which doesn’t go well. Boreas is still too small to properly carry a human and they have a rather hard fall. After seeing this, Burr pulls out a ladder from his Robe of Useful Items.
They send the dragons back over the mountain to herd the horses around the long way while they take a short rest and head out towards Conyberry, an abandoned town Don Jon is aware of. When they get there, Don Jon heads out towards the Falcon’s Hunting Lodge, and the Party makes camp for the night before heading on to Butterskull Ranch. Burr caps off their evening with a new song he has written:
The Ballad of Don Jon
There once was a traveler
By the name of Don John,
O’er land, sea, and air
He’s been rambling on
He sailed with the elves,
Met a Dragon Turtle - grand!
The pointy-ears drowned
|But HE found dry land!
The Kraken bargained hard
For ol’ DJ’s soul,
But he said, “Not for sale,
You terror of old!”
He then met ol’ Tiemot,
A wyrm big and stout.
One look at her 5 heads
And DJ peaced-out.
There’s never been a scrape
That’s gotten him down;
He returns to the road,
More gold to be found.
If these sound like tall tales,
Not as true as he claims,
Forge your own path
Before doubting his aims!
No comments:
Post a Comment