Exit the Dragon

What an unusual battle. Our encounters continue to confound my expectations; but what a marvellous learning opportunity it has been.

In constrast to our entry to this complex, my fireballs and scorching rays have been of little use since we were trapped by the dragon. We encountered several groups of Nothrog soldiers, but I conserved my spells as the militant and faithful majority hewed them down (side note: the apparently-secular Son-of-Clouds, Borrow, and I are now firmly in the minority). In the final showdown with the dragon, my only contribution was to entangle it in a corner of the cavern with a web; all my offensive spells were deflected harmlessly. I'm going to have to think on this further: I believe there may be a way to identify weak spots in the magical protections of powerful opponents. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We rescued another dwarf, Barricade, who turned out to be a powerful cleric of Kor himself. These Nothrogs seem to have a thing for Dwarves! Again, the mystery of the day revolved around Dwarven inscriptions, as Borrow was able to activate a huge Dwarven Ancestor statue to aid us in the battle. I've been missing out on so much due to my incomprehension of Dwarven, so I'm glad that my studies with Barrin have been paying off -- I think I've almost got the hang of it (although pronunciation remains tricky). I've also been studying the guttural, animalistic Nothrog tongue, since we're encountering them more and more frequently.

We find ourselves uncharacteristically loaded down with resources; the Nothrog were well-armed and -equipped, and the dragon hid a moderate hoard of intriguing items down in the lake. In studying the construction of my new Robe, I've come to the conclusion that I should devote more of my energies to preparing equipment for our coming challenges; every day seems to stretch our capabilities to the limit, and I shudder to think what might happen if we encountered another dragon without sufficient time to prepare.

Now we must return to Stonyvale with news of the dragon's death. A loose end lurks there, however; we still don't know who or what is responsible for the disappearances and maulings. It's possible that the dragon hunts nocturnally, but one would think Stonyvale a long trip for such a light snack when larger prey abounds in these mountains. I still suspect some subtler and darker cause, perhaps a monster of Bascaron lurking amidst the townsfolk. Regardless, we can't tarry too long in Stonyvale, since we have a duty to escort Barrin (and now Barricade, presumably) to Deverania. I look forward to seeing the mountains, and fabled Denska.

I have but one significant dissatisfaction with our performance today; we let the unusual aquatic creature which attacked Son-of-Clouds in the lake escape. With our rout of the temple, I had hoped that Nassiral Hate or his Mammoth-stinking minions might wait a long time before hearing news of our passage; now I worry that the evil dragonoid will report back, endangering us all immensely. All the more reason to get into Deverania as soon as possible; though other dangers await, Hate's hand is unlikely to reach there.