Varus' Journal: Entry #1: Den of Sss'drak

Den of the Dragon Man (And They Call It a Mine!)
By: Stan Lingle

Varus Silvertongue read the letter with some interest. His traveling minstrel troupe had come back to his home town after being on the road for over two years of performances in towns across the land. One of his first stops once he was back in town was to see his grandparents. They gave him several letters that had arrived during his absence. Only one had arrived recently, and it was only one that intrigued him.

Fair travels,

My name is Tormund Gliviv, master miner and excavator and have received a recommendation of your expertise from a young fellow by the name of Toni Nine-toes, a spritely halfling. He said that you were everything I was looking for in a hire and would be more or less surprised by your “skillful manners”. I am bunked in Norrington and will discuss payment there.

Honorably,
Tormund Gliviv

He spent the next few days with his grandparents, but Varus knew the decision was made. Recently, he had been considering moving on from his minstrel troupe. The last couple of years had been amazing, and he had learned from many talented performers, especially the troupe leader, Gareth. Actors, singers, musicians, jongleurs, acrobats, magicians, and more had been part of the troupe. But it was time for him to move on; strike out on his own and have his own adventures, write his own songs. By the time the troupe went through his hometown, he was ready to say his goodbyes. The letter seemed like a sign to him. The next day, he went to the minstrel troupe and said his tearful goodbyes. Gareth told him that he was always welcome.

Varus set out on the road for Norrington and arrived after a few uneventful days. He reported to the only tavern in town, the Defeated Pillow, and showed his letter to the innkeeper, who told him that Givliv would be in later. Varus also offered to perform each evening if the innkeeper would compensate him fairly. The innkeeper offered him free room and board for two sets nightly, and he was welcome to pass the hat for tips. Varus readily agreed. He had come several days before the meeting date to check out the town. Evidently, Norrington was the type of small town that most folk would never have stopped at except for the fact that it was on King’s Road. He was able to find out that Tormund Givliv had a mine/excavation site about two miles outside of town. Most of the townsfolk don’t like it, as he is not hiring the locals for work. They said he was looking for relics, but were afraid he would awaken the Great Mother. Evidently if that happened, it would be a sign of the end times. End of Days. Apocalypse for the word. He uses gnomes for much of the work, and treated them like slaves.

The night of the meeting, Varus checked out the crowd with anticipation while waiting for Givliv to arrive. The tavern was very busy tonight, and he knew some of them were here for the meeting. He saw several new faces. In one corner, a human dressed as a monk or acolyte was sipping…tea. Another human male that looked like a professor or academic was drinking…water. Then there was the human woman sitting in a dark corner, her bow by her side, obviously, a fighter or ranger. There was something else about her. Varus finally put his finger on it…she might be part orc. Much to his surprise, another half-elf male walked into the bar! Varus had rarely seen another of his kind. The half-elf was ridiculously handsome, drank heavily, and once in a while, little sparklers would fly from his fingertips. Varus knew from his own magical abilities that he was a sorcerer of some kind. Strangest of all, the half-elf spoke and carried himself as if he were a dwarf! Varus had never seen such a thing in his travels. The most prominent newcomer was undoubtedly the dwarf dressed in fine clothing. The way he spoke and his bearing, as well as the way that others deferred to him, he was at least a lord of something or another. He had a retinue of at least five followers, and they commandeered one the tables.

Varus noticed that some of the newcomers were evidently doing some information gathering of their own, as they talked to the serving girl and others in the tavern. He realized they must be as curious as he regarding the purpose of the meeting. As usual, Hammerfist Nobrow, the gnome that worked for Tordek and seemed to be his second-in-command for the mining operation, was getting very drunk at the bar. He was insulting some of the newcomers. Given the way that Tormund treated the gnomes that “worked” for him, Varus was hardly surprised.

Tormund walked into the bar and the conversation dropped to a low murmur. He started pointing at folks. All of the newcomers, actually…and Varus.

“You. You. You. You. You. And You. Over here.”

“A convoy of goods is missing from my mine. Why haven’t you taken care of it yet?” Everyone he pointed to looked confused. There were several people talking over one another.

“What?”…“I don’t even know why I’m here.”…“Why have you summoned us?”…”What is meaning of this?”

Tordek harrumphed. “I summoned you here to find out what is happening to the shipments from the mine. Something has interrupted them. Find out what has caused this, and stop it. Then we can discuss payment.”

Many of the people that he had pointed to raised their voices in protest to this arrangement. Tordek did not speak initially, but rose and approached Tormund. His eyes were bright in the tavern light. He walked up to the dwarf and lifted him bodily into the air. Tormund’s eyes widened and his complexion paled. You could have heard a pin drop in the tavern.

Tordek spoke in a low voice. “If you want them, you will compensate these people fairly for their services. Or else.” He allowed Tormund’s feet to touch the ground again.

Tormund stuttered for a moment, and then recovered. “Ah, yes, of course, of course. You will all be fairly compensated for your efforts. As I was saying.”

After that, the group came together and made their introductions. The human drinking tea was Nagi, a religious acolyte. The professorial-looking gentleman was Basel Gazes, a human paladin. The female was Flidais, a human ranger with orc blood. The other charismatic half-elf was Tomek Lok Stormbeard, a sorcerer. And Mr. Fancy-Pants dwarf was Tordek Frostbeard, a knight and a lord. Varus introduced himself and spoke with each of them in turn. He knew it was unlikely that they would ever have come together but for this unlikely proposal from Tormund.

We discussed Tormund’s situation, and agreed that it was best to set out in the morning to investigate the mine. Tordek dispatched two of his men to go observe the entrance of the mine until morning. Varus was delighted to learn that Fia, one of Tordek’s retinue, was a musician. He requested that she play a set with him, which she agreed to after Tordek agreed to it. They played and sang together with excellent harmony, and the tips were plentiful at the end of the set. Varus offered Fia half of the tips, but she said she could not accept it, as her employer provided for all her needs. Varus talked with her for a while, and the conversation turned to Lord Tordek. He asked why a lord would come on such a task. Fia told him that Tordek owed Tormund or his family a debt. The dwarf had come to repay that debt.

The partying continued for some time. Fia disappeared with Tomek at some point, and the others finally retired to the rooms to get an early start. In the morning, Tordek had his wagon brought around and offered the group a ride to the mine, unless we preferred to walk. It took about an hour to get to the mine, and as we approached, a group of elves came running out of the woods and disappeared across a field. The party approached the mine entrance and found the two members of Tordek’s retinue watching the opening. Sounds of mining came from the tunnel. Tomek and Flidais searched for tracks, but all they found were the party’s own tracks coming from town. Led by Tordek, the party entered the mine. The torches had been extinguished, and Tomek used his magic to re-light them. In the first chamber, we were shocked to find bones. They were fresh; bits of flesh still attached, with teeth marks visible on the bones. They appear to be gnome bones, and were arranged in a semicircle in front of the passage leaving this first chamber. Someone suggested it might be some type of primitive warning system for…something.

We came to a short side passage leading to a second chamber. Most of the party entered while Tomek and Varus stayed in the passageway to stand guard. This chamber housed mining equipment for the workers. Or, rather, it had contained mining equipment. Most of it appeared to be stolen; many crates were missing and there were drag marks on the floor. In the middle of the room, surprisingly, was a lump of worked silver. Basel nonchalantly walked over to it and reached out to touch it. It was a trap! The tarp under the silver collapsed into a pit. Basel barely managed to jump back in time to avoid tumbling in. Those in the room stood looking down in the pit and the silver down there. Flidais nimbly scrambled down and emerged carrying it. She secured it safely.

We also found pieces of parchment. From what we could piece together, it was a letter from Tormund warning of kobolds. Few had heard of these creatures, but evidently, they were cowardly and liked traps. As Basel had experienced firsthand.

Out in the hallway, Varus and Tomek were keeping watch, and Nagi joined them. As the passage continued, it was obvious it had been narrowed recently. The rock and dirt across the passage left only a small area to squeeze by. Yapping sounds now came from beyond. Tordek imitated the sounds, and there was yapping in return. Before anyone could react, a stone struck Tomek in the head.

“Kobolds in the mine!” Nagi dashed up to the corner and looked around to see a small dragon-like creature right next to him and 3 others with slings behind the first. The kobold came around the corner, and Nagi smashed it with his quarterstaff. “To battle!”

Varus moved up and cast a spell—a minor illusion of a dragon flying down the hallway to distract or startle the creatures. Nagi dashed through the narrow opening. Unfortunately, the torches in this part of the passageway were out and Nagi had a hard time seeing as the lead kobold charged him and sunk its dagger deep, badly wounding the monk. Basel dashed down the hallway as Varus squeezed through the opening. With his darkvision, he could see two kobolds attacking Nagi, who seemed in bad shape. Varus started singing what sounded like a lullaby and cast a spell. Sleep. Nagi and two of the kobolds fell down, fast asleep. Tomek stepped through the opening and blasted the final kobold with a firebolt. Basel cast a healing spell on Nagi as Flidais dashed forward and performed a coup de grace on one of the sleeping kobolds.

“Don’t kill that last kobold! He may prove useful,” Varus commanded. He then cast a healing spell on Nagi and woke him. It was obvious that the kobolds had taken over down here. Tomek re-lit the torches down the hallway so that everyone could see. Flidais tied the kobold up securely; Tordek started questioning it and was able to make some headway. His name was Yip-Yip. He and the other kobolds worked in the mine and followed a big, beautiful green man with pointy teeth. A dragon man. His name was Sister Act or Sssdrak or something like that. Yip-yip was not easy to understand. There were also others working with them. Yip-yip pointed to his hand and to each finger. The others used this. Or something. It was a bit confusing. Tordek then…put the bound kobold into a sack, which he then carried on his back.

We moved deeper into the mine and into the last chamber. After a search, we found a trap door. Tordek searched for traps but found nothing.

“How does the trap door work, Yip-yip?”

“Jump,” he replied, and shrugged his shoulders.

Basel went first, followed by Varus and the others. The slide was quite chaotic and abrupt. The party spilled out of the chute into a large bale of hay. Coils of rope and smashed crates littered the room. Varus looked up to see three robed, hooded figures standing in the room. The cultists. He sang a song of sleep again, and two of the robed figures went down. Tomek slammed the last one with missiles of magic. Basel dashed over and coup de graced one of the sleeping robed figures. As he did so, another cultist in a heavy robe appeared and cast a spell on the paladin, and black fire enveloped him.

Unfortunately for this new cultist, he did not see Tordek sneaking up on him, and was quite surprised when a short sword plunged into his back. Flidais quickly bound the remaining cultist and searched him. He wore a necklace—a hand with five fingers. Yip-yip’s comment made sense now. Another had a club with an engraving, which turned out to be a symbol of Tiamat. He also had 26 silver pieces and a potion that glowed with blue light.

Questioning the surviving cultist did reveal some information, although he was practically incomprehensible. Ravings about Sssraq the Watcher, the dragon born, deep, 5 hands all watching, beautiful. Most of it seemed like nonsense, but combined with what we knew and the symbols, it did make some strange sense. Two cults working together? Tiamat and Cult of…the Five?

But there was little time to ponder this, as we were now underground in unfamiliar territory. Climbing back up the chute would be difficult, and would be impossible if we were under attack. Looking around, the corridor ended about forty feet ahead with a heavy wooden door. There were doors visible to the left and right. As we moved down the hallway, we heard chanting coming from a door on the right. Tomek crept up and looked through the keyhole when it slammed open. He blasted something with magic missile. A very large kobold rushed out and grabbed a surprised Basel in a bear hug. Varus reacted and cast a new spell, one that caused dissonant thoughts to assault the attacker, causing pain and even death. The kobold collapsed, blood running out of its ears.

Nagi dashed into the room and attacked a cultist. Tordek ran up to the door and threw a bagful of ball bearings into the room. Nagi attacked, slipped on them, and nearly fell on his face. He recovered and rolled right out of the room. One of the kobolds tripped on the ball bearings as he fired his bow, and his arrow killed one of the cultists! Basel came charging in right after that, hit the ball bearings, and went down immediately. Tomek cast another firebolt spell and Flidais fired her bow from the doorway and another two kobolds went down and did not get back up. Tordek snuck up on the last cultist and finished him.

Searching the bodies and the room took some time. There was an alter with bubbling potions of green fluid. One of the cultists had a locket that contained a key. There was also a scroll, which turned out to be magical. Once the room was secured, we went to the door at the end of the corridor. It was locked, and the key that we found did not fit. We checked out the room on the left side of the hallway. It contained a large bubbling cauldron filled with…some type of meat. No one wanted to find out what kind. Given that we had only found bones of the gnomes so far, it wasn’t hard to guess. There was also a locked chest; Tordek picked it and found a book inside. A recipe book. It seemed to be magical. At this point, most of the spellcasters in the group were low or out of spells. We decided to hole up in the room on the right and rest long enough to recover spells.

Heading back to the door at the end of the corridor, Tordek picked the lock. The door opened on a T-intersection. There was a statue against the wall directly in front. We checked out the door to the left first. While Tordek was examining the lock, the door at the other end of the hallway opened, and several sleepy-looking cultists emerged. They were quite surprised when they saw us. Basel threw a javelin, hitting one of the cultists. Varus used his bardic power to inspire Basel and Tomek. Tordek once again tossed ball bearings into the room as Tomek finished the injured cultist with a firebolt. Varus spell of sleep took down two more. Nagi ran into the room, fell down, sprang back up, slammed a cultist with his quarterstaff and finished him with a punch. At that point, a wall of the room opened to reveal a side room, and five kobolds leapt into the fray. Basel’s next javelin pinned one of them to the wall as Tordek took another down with an arrow. Tomek used magic missiles to drop the last three. As the dust settles, we searched the bodies and the room. There were 2 additional keys and another vial with blue liquid, which we believed to be healing potion. In the bunks were 4 platinum pieces, 10 gold pieces, and 3 silver pieces.

Basel discovered a button. When he pressed it, it opened the door in the middle of the hallway. Upon inspection, that door lead out of the mine. One door left. Was the green dragon man behind it? One of the new keys opened the door to reveal…a small room with another door on the far side. The final key opened this door, and we prepared to strike. Tordek took Yip-Yip off of his back, and without warning, opened the door, tossed Yip-yip in, and closed the door. Yip-Yip yipped in terror, started choking, and then fell silent. We burst into the room as two kobolds emerged and attacked as well. Flidais hit the dragon-man with an arrow as Tordek stabbed a kobold. Basel hit the ball bearings as he attacked a kobold, missing badly as he went down. Sss’drak used the opportunity to breathe a cloud of poison gas on the prostrate paladin. Then it was our turn. Varus cast the spell of dissonant voices on him, Nagi dashed in and landed blows with quarterstaff and fist, and Flidais’ arrow struck true. The green dragon man went down, and Tordek killed the last kobold with an arrow. Varus ran over and cast a healing spell on Basel. The dragon man had a hoard. 11 pp, 201 gp, 317 sp, and 59 cp. He was also wearing a ring that glowed with abjuration magic.

Shattered pots littered the room. One of the intact pots held a glowing, fist-sized gem. Varus had never seen anything like it. Someone said that it radiated planar magic. Was this what Tormund was looking for? And what did the cults of Tiamat and The Five want with it? We needed to find some answers.