Joe the Balrog

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Joe the Balrog
GM: Rosemary Mansfield
Season: Summer 802 WK

Party

• Isil Eth, Mind Elf Female (Leader)
• Gerrad, Illusionist Human Male
• Tom, Air Human Male (Mil Sci)
• Ithilmor, Star Elf Female
• Vychan Adam Jones, Earth Giant Male
• Feyan, Earth Human Male
• Basalic, Earth Human Male (Scribe)

Time on adventure

tbc 826 WK to tbc 826 WK

Employer

Kali the Nameless

Mission

Do something about the Balrog inside High Castle

Plane

Alusia

Places visited

Dwarven city of High Castle

TorHold - nearby dwarven outpost

Major NPCs encountered

Joe the Balrog

‘The Scarlet Edelweiss’ - an elf

Tinker - dwarven guide

Garak - head of the exiled dwarven council

Dolgrin - dwarven war leader.

Kundrun - charismatic head of the goblin revolution

Pebble - young dwarf

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snsu0203.zip

Scribe Notes

Kali The Nameless, the current leader of the Guild Council, required a party to investigate the current situation with the dwarven city of Highcastle, located on the western border to Alfheim. She had heard from the nearby Naga community that a balrog had been let loose, that had been under the city, and they wanted something done about it. Those that gathered were: Gerard, the illusionist, Human male from an alternate plane. Dirt I think he called it. Distinguished feature, a blue glowing foot (Wonder what he stepped in). Adam Vychan Jones. Male hill giant and druidic earth mage. 16'4" tall, in plate armour and a chartreuse tabard and wearing a pair of black spectacles. He’s also a ranger and healer. Ithilmor. Elven female, a dark celestial mage, and very strong in her faith of Elbereth. So strong that not even her spells can affect me. This may be useful in combat. Fayan. An earth mage I had not met in a long time, since the affair with the giant rats in the giant castle. Owned a black winged mare and a set of ambulatory luggage. Also druidic. Tom - Air mage from the same plane as Gerard. Isil Eth - Elven mind mage. Kali told us that Highcastle is a dwarvish city, built into the mountain range. It basically consists of two parts, the Vale which are the buildings on top or at least have a surface entrance, and the UnderCity, the sprawling complex of tunnels beneath the earth. Many of these tunnels were old mine workings dating back hundreds of years. HighCastle used to be a prosperous place. The dwarves mined mithral which was sold to the nearby elves. However those mines ran out long ago. Other minerals such as copper, iron and tin are still mined and exported. Mithral smiths still exist but their skills are not in high demand any more. Also the fact that Alfheim has been at peace for the last few hundred years means that the weapon market has fallen through the floor. The civilisation in the city is mostly dwarves but a quarter of the population are goblins who are treated as second class citizens. A Guild party had been in HighCastle in Winter ‘798 (cf scribe notes Kali and the Five Dwarves) but had to leave because of the increased rioting - and they weren’t responsible. Since there had been hardly any money coming in and the city had to import most of the basic necessities, the society there was breaking down with rampant poverty, mostly in the UnderCity. People were scavenging for what work they could and several areas were in disrepair. Some of them had to be abandoned. Currently what work was done was based on the person’s ability to pay for it. Kali had no idea what the current situation was but the message from the Naga had implied that the goblins had revolted. Somehow they had also released a balrog that had been imprisoned under the city and the Naga wanted something done about it. Kali was also able to tell us that the tunnels ranged in size from 4 foot to 7 foot and it is well advised to hire a guide. All the dwarves knew Common. We were warned that speaking dwarven was a grave offense unless invited to do so by the dwarves. It was possible for dwarves and goblins to interbreed but any half-breeds born to dwarves, when detected, quickly meet with ‘accidents’. Rumour had it that there were a community of half-breeds deep in the tunnels. There was a dwarven militia, known as the Force, which mainly patrol the Vale, and nearly all the dwarven youngsters serve in it at one time or another. Some of the inhabitants are addicted to a substance they called ‘tea’, distilled firewater with an additive herb. Fayan was able to recognise it as a mountain variety of hemp. The Naga lived in the swamps to the west of the nearby lake, Lake Evendile. They are very powerful mages and despise deceit. They also read minds as a matter of course. Kali had visited them once and needed a guide to find their loose community. Later, from the scribe notes, we discovered that the trail is marked with small thorn bushes. Kali told us that she would pay us 2000sp each to go and talk to the Naga. That was about when a messenger came into the meeting room with a copy of the scribe notes we were looking for. The library was in the process of being moved to the new building so it had taken some time to get them. Upon perusal we also noted two major hazards: an insane kraken in the lake (Don’t use telepathy at it otherwise you will be driven insane) and a large rock worm in the lower parts of the old mine workings that had very tough skin and an acid interior. The worm eats rock and when bits are removed they crystallise. It may also have two minds, requiring a spell each to control it. I became the scribe with Isil-Eth being the party leader and Tom the military scientist. Those of us who needed Lessers got them off Adam and we made what arrangements we required. I purchased a dozen of the old D10 healing potions for 1200sp as well as a few more standard 10pts, just in case. Also Adam had the ability to ask questions of the Earth. What was asked was: Has there been a Balrog within 50 miles of Highcastle in the last month: YES Are the artifacts used to imprison the Balrog within 10 miles of Highcastle: YES Are there any demonic entities (excluding balrogs within 10 miles of Highcastle: YES Was it the act of a goblin that caused the Balrog to be released: YES Is a Balrog in charge of the city of Highcastle: YES Can the Balrog be banished: NO Are the Calimar involved in any of this: NO Is the balrog being commanded by another entity: NO 2 nd Meadow Took the public portal to Elfinberg then went through the link to MMHS, arriving near an inn around lunchtime. The rest of the day we spent flying over the mountains until we found an alpine meadow to land in. Even though it was summer, it was still rather cold up here. Of course the inevitable argument started between Adam and myself over Earth College philosophies, especially when I refused to summon dinner. It’s much more sporting to go out and hunt it. Watches were set and the night passed without incident. 3rd Meadow We flew west along the southern mountain range alongside Alfheim until we reached the northen spur. A bit more flying and we were able to see our destination. There still seemed signs of life as there were wisps of smoke coming from various buildings in the area but we couldn’t see any movement in the Vale itself. What caught our attention was the lake. There were swathes of mud among the western marsh area as if something large had been crawling along. The paths were straight but not systematic. Fayen concluded there were five separate incursions. Could it had been the worm? There wasn’t much we could learn from the air so we found a flat place to land. .2. Camp was made by an old campsite and the night passed without incident. 4 th Meadow After we had breakfast and purified, we went down to the swamp. Fayan was able to find the thornbushes and we proceeded along the sunken causeway. The thornbushes were spaced between 2 to 20 elvish yards apart. After half an hour the path had been cut by one of those swathes. Inside it, the swamp material had been churned and mixed in a 15' wide, 2 foot deep trench. Five foot to either side, the material had been stirred up. I had originally though that the area had been flattened by the passage of a large entity but this was not obviously the case. Instead, it looked like a team of horses had been through here, at speed, with plows. Fayan flew over, on his horse and was able to find the next thornbush. Tom had an small globe which made the user weightless so we used that in turn to be ferried across. Twenty minutes more and we reached an area that had been completely churned up by multiple passes. We could see a stone pillar in the mix which led to the conclusion that at least part of the naga village had been wiped out. But were the naga still about? Adam decided to find out by calling out to them, but there was no response - at least the kind we anticipated. Within minutes we could hear a roaring sound that was getting louder. Then there was a voice in a Western Marches accent that yelled “Run! Run for your lives!” That was when we saw the huge waterspout coming towards us at speed. We all took to the air. Fayan on the horse. Ithilmor and I carried aloft by Adam, Gerard towed by Tom and IsilEth carried by her bodyguard, Leonard. I couldn’t see our unknown benefactor but I hoped he had reached safety. The waterspout charged towards us at a speed that was faster than any of us so we scattered in a way it could only get one group. The one it chose to get was Tom and Gerard who were swiftly enveloped by the maelstrom and whirled around inside. Occasionally they were battered by the other objects it had picked up, such as bits of wood and the odd fish. It then turned and headed back towards the lake. From what Ithilmor and I could tell, it was not an entity but a spell effect. That implied the lake kraken was responsible. Isil Eth was able to transform Tom into a merperson before it got out of her range. The rest of us were now flying a stern chase and Fayan was the only one who had a chance of catching it. After a few minutes Gerard, who was weightless, was able to reach the outside and was flung out. We would see a flashing blue light marking his position. Fayan went to intercept. Meanwhile I was preparing a rope and clipping one end to my belt If I had the opportunity I was going fishing. Once it reached the middle of the lake, the waterspout started to collapse. As it did, a block of ice appeared on the lake. Tom fell upon it, but after a short interval he was able to fly off again. Meanwhile Fayan was able to catch Gerard on the second attempt. Ithilmor reported she could see a black, cigar shaped, object beneath the surface of the water. We regrouped by the lake shore. As we did so, something odd happened to Isil Eth and her behaviour changed. I Daed her for duration of current curse in effect but got no answer. However, the effect soon passed. Tom, still in merform, splashed down in the swampy water near us and swam in. Isil Eth returned him to his original form and I hauled him out. Much of the lower half of his armour and anything else he was wearing there was ruined so, after drying him off I gave him some of my spare clothing. Fortunately we were about the same height. .3. The furrows only went halfway up the swamp from the lake so we decided to go up to the other end in case the naga retreated up there. So we followed a track that went along the tree covered hill parallelling the swamp. On the way we noticed that there seemed to be an unusual number of ruins about. Once past the last furrow we headed back down to the swamp again. Ithilmor called out to the naga again and we waited. While we did so I did a small campfure then boiled the billy for tea. While I did this we were treated to the pleasant sound of Ithilmor singing although Adam didn’t seem to appreciate it for some reason. Just then we noticed someone moving in the trees and rocks above us. He was a young, beardless, dwarf and the way he was acting, indicated he was trying to hide. I managed to coax him out with a mug of tea and he told us his name was Pebble and he was sent to find ‘the ones from Kali’ and guide them to the Naga. Fortunately he know Common so he wouldn’t have to put up with my bad dwarven accent. We were supposed to go along something called the ‘infolaid’. I guess it’s an elvish word. However he refused to tell us who sent him as that was part of his instructions. He did tell us who he was hiding from though. A goblin called ‘Terror’ who was in charge of recapturing escapees from the city. So we followed Pebble along ridges, down valleys etc until we reached a small side valley off a larger one through which an aquaduct had been built. Pebble told us to wait here. It was a rather tranquil spot with brightly coloured flowers, rich green grass, and some rather interesting rock structures in the cliff. Definitely elvish influence at work here. Ithilmor encountered a young naga in the aquaduct who told us that the kraken had got as strong as it was because someone had been feeding dwarves to it. There had basically been a revolution in the city because of rising taxes and lessening resources to go around. The goblins had obtained a leader, called Kundrun, who had somehow managed to convince many of the poorer dwarves to bypass their clan loyalty and help in the revolt against the rich dwarves. Now they were killing anyone who was rich or attempting to hoard wealth as well as those that supported the old way. The release of the balrog may have been an accident and she wasn’t sure just where it had come from. Maybe the goblins had been hunting for mithral to bolster their flagging economy and ran into it. The war leader of the exiled dwarves, Dolgrin, had been collecting information on the balrog. Finally Pebble returned. As it was getting late, it had been decided that we would camp in a rocky valley not far from here and continue on in the morning, otherwise we would be attempting to climb a mountain in the dark, not a desirable thing to do. So that’s what we did. The night passed without incident.