Never trust a Northrog

“If at first you don’t succeed,” so they say. For those of us that generally follow a more “cautious” lifestyle the motto is “first time or never.” Going back for a second try is almost always fatal—the mark has had a chance to reinforce his defences, probably moved the thing you were after, ... If you want to try again you have to be really careful, do all your homework, and be super, super prepared.

Maybe if I’d been a bit wiser I would have considered the trail of Jerrold close enough and then I wouldn’t be stuck in the crap storm I am now.

We found the cave easily enough, the only fight on the way being with an unfriendly hill giant. It had a really good vantage point and hurt a few people, but ultimately we took it down, down, down.

When we got near the cave the area was shrouded in fog and we could dimly see some sort of large cage so we backed off a bit and after Obegard cast a spell to take a closer look he told us it was actually a rib cage, being the closest part of a skeleton from a silver dragon, which are also called “shield” dragons and are considered good and kind.

It was a really big skeleton and perhaps that should also have been a clue that we didn’t want to deal with what lay beyond.

Everything looked clear so I let Obegard turn me invisible and I went into the cave to scout. In one side chamber I saw four Northrogs with some sort of shadowy lion that Obegard later said was called a Shade Lion. The lion smelled me, I’m sure, but it appeared that it’s no more fond of its Northrog masters than we are because it just looked pleased and settled itself again. Man I’d like to have me one of those.

I moved further through the caves but stopped when I entered a vast cavern full of shrieking mushrooms. This was not somewhere I wanted to go by myself as there could have been anything hiding in the dark, and if I accidentally tickled one of the ’shrooms the Northrogs would cut me off from the others.

It was time to clue in the others so I went back and told them what I’d seen.

The Northrogs provided little resistance, particularly after Obegard partly cooked them with a fireball. I got in a couple of good shots, my friendly lion keeping back out of the fight.

I set the lion free, which I was kind of sad about but he didn’t want to be here and I wasn’t going to try and make him be my best bud. He licked my hand when I removed his bonds and I half thought he was going to stay of his own volition but then he padded from the chamber and, I presume, the cave system.

In exchange for the promise of his life one of the Northrog told us of a chamber with a dwarven statue in it, which he claimed was the only interesting thing in the caves.

We moved as quietly as we could through the shrieker cavern to the other side, where we did indeed find a large double door with dwarven runes carved into the frame. As Barin and I puzzled over the archaic dialect and just as I spelled out the inscription we heard something moving through the air behind us and turned to see a humongous black dragon wreathed in shadows, the mere sight of which filled me with dread.

Before anyone could react it breathed upon us and I felt drained. There was something more in the breath that burned at my eyes but I managed to get my hands up to shield them before any damage was done.

We ran through the doorway, one of the two doors standing ajar in what seemed a small measure of good fortune. When the last person slipped through Son of Clouds heaved at the open door with all his strength, yet failed to move it.

The dragon moved down and pushed its head through the opening, taking a large bite out of Son of Clouds. While the stronger members of our group laboured unsuccessfully to close the door Obegard and I ran to the statue and the altar before it, looking for anything that might help.

There was a book on the altar but it took only a few moments to realise it was just an old copy of a prayerbook to Kor.

Obegard cast a spell to lubricate the hinges on the door and with another almighty heave the others managed to close the door.

What the hell is that thing, anyway? Obegard says it looks like a black dragon but they usually breath acid. I think it’s some kind of undead and I shudder at the power that could do that, as well as the perversion.

So now we’re closed in here with no apparent way out except back past that abomination, I’m looking for anything else that will help us, and I think Obegard is going to use a spell to find magical auras. I hope he finds something because otherwise we’re really in trouble.