The party begins the preparations of gathering supplies such as horses, rations, tents, and weapons. During the preparations, Thrain Stonehammer said, “Friends, given the seriousness of this quest, I do not wish to proceed without the blessing from the Drawven kings of old.”
“The tomb of the great dwarven King Rock lies but a half-a-day travel from here, in the direction of the Magreve forest. I would stop there for a prayer and to seek a blessing.” The rest of the party members quickly agreed, and there were murmurings that they should all seek their Gods for a blessing.
The next day, the party set off towards the tomb of King Rock. The trip was uneventful (mostly because I have not received the 2d6 Realms Overland book yet). But as the party got close, they noticed something was not quite right.
There were no dwarves visible outside the temple. It was eerily quiet. Thrain, Gareth, Seraphina, and Pippen dismounted and cautiously entered the temple. The rest of the party searched the grounds outside the temple.
“Things are not right,” whispered Thrain, and he drew his weapon. The others did the same.
Suddenly, Thrain stopped moving and pointed; there on the ground was a dead dwarven cleric.
The party looked carefully right and left, fully on guard. They continued deeper into the temple and found more dead dwarves. Finally, they found a set of stairs that descended into the dark catacombs beneath the temple proper. They descended the stairs.
The party soon encountered a catoblepas, which they dispatched with ease.
Following the fight, the party pushed deeper and encountered. A minotaur that sliced Gareth in the arm. The party looted a healing potion and 25 gold from those two encounters.
They continued their exploration and encountered 3 hobgoblins, which dropped 6 gold. They had reached a dead-end and had to retrace their steps, but as they were doing so, they encountered a wandering orc brute. He hit Seraphina before the party killed him. He dropped 10 gold.
The party pushed deeper and found an old dwarven armory, but no one switched any weapons. They then encountered 6 skeletons that were easily handled. Next, they found a healer and while the party had taken damage, they declined to spend gold for healing.
The next found nine fungi folk in a room. This fight was the hardest one so far, and Thrain and Gareth took more wounds.
After the difficult fight, the party looted a gem worth 90 gold pieces.
The party had to backtrack again and encountered 8 skeleton rats and then 5 orcs. Both fights were harder than expected, and Pippin was hit.
The party opened the next door and encountered a small red dragon!
The dragon was half asleep, and the party got two hits on the dragon in the first round.
The Dragon stood up and bit Gareth and Thrain. Gareth was very hurt but continued to fight on.
The fight went four rounds and finally, using his “Luck” skill, Pippin rerolled his attack and rolled a 6! As Pippin landed the killing blow, Gareth dropped to one knee hurt. The party found 100 gold, a fireball staff, and a +1 war hammer in the loot. Thrain put his hand on Gareth’s shoulder and said, “Thank you, friend, I call you Rock Friend, and you will be welcomed by all my clan as one of them.”
The party helped a few hiding dwarves put the temple back in order, and Thrian knelt to pray at the tomb of the dwarven King Rock. He asked for the power and might of the dwarven people to provide a boon and he asked for protection for the Shadow Vanguard. There was a slight rumbling from deep within the earth when he finished. Satisfied that the prayer had been heard and answered, Thrian stood to leave and the party continued their travels north.
Pippin Swiftfoot, Thrain Stonehammer, Gareth Ironheart, and Seraphina Lightbringer all successfully leveled up to level 2.
