In which our heroes greased a dead elf and Naergon got drunk . . . Book Two, Chapter 2.1 (session 48, 19 th April 2018) The party clumps together in the northern portion of the stinking ettin lair, safe from the dragon’s breath and in the belief that the last of its minions have been eliminated, they slump to the ground and take a short rest. Beyond, in the darkened lair, Chuth roars and lashes at the corridor entrances but he cannot squeeze into the narrow spaces . . . Naergon uses the short rest period to scout the lair using arcane eye, he finds that the large chamber beyond only has two exits – the one to the waterfall entrance (still blocked by a tremendous growth of thick vines) and a narrow path to the north that leads to two chambers, one lit and one dark – sleeping quarters it appears with a single elf farmer sitting glumly in the dark, his trembling hands clutching a light crossbow. Beyond these chambers a path winds further north and west. There is no sign of Chuth. Refreshed the party decide to make a run for the northern path and explore the chambers beyond. Mads gets shot by the scared looking elf and rushes him, trying to grapple him to the ground but the desperate elf squirms free from his grasp. With an instinctive reaction Mads lashes out in an attempt to knock the elf unconscious but applies to much pressure and caves in his skull, killing him outright. The chambers appear to be the sleeping and living quarters for a couple of dozen or more cultists. Jamna and Naergon search thoroughly but find no concealed exits, Jamna does find a fair bit of loose change and small items of plunder the cultists had obviously kept for themselves. Venturing deeper into the lair through winding narrow passages, the party discover a store room, well stocked. Augustus finds a stash of elven Evermead, a rare and expensive luxury indeed. He and Naergon decide they should sample it and Naergon shows a surprising inability to stop. In the end Mads attempts to grab his goblet from him but Naergon evades him and finishes the bottle in a far corner. Quite clearly drunk Naergon shows a very different side to his character. A passage to the south is trapped, Mad’s devil sight reveals a magic sigil that Jamna identifies as a Glyph of Warding. No one has the capacity to dispel this and it is beyond Jamna’s skills to evade it. A cunning plan is devised wherein the dead elf farmer is coated in lard from the store and then slid across the glyph from a safe distance. This proves more tricky than expected but eventually Mads and Augustus together manage to shove the corpse far enough. And the glyph explodes in a huge shower of thick viscous acid. Entering the lit chamber beyond they find a luxuriously appointed bedchamber with many fine rugs and tapestries (albeit several now ruined by acid splashes). A huge bed and a trunk draw the eyes of all. Mads, using his devil sight, confirms that there is a jumble of magical auras concealed within – multiple magical items he claims. Jamna approaches the trunk with care, examines it carefully and then unrolls her tools and sets about picking the rather complex lock. Successfully fooling the internal tumblers she opens the lock and feels a tiny stab in the back of her left hand – a small needle falls to the floor. Everyone holds their breath expecting the worst but nothing appears to happen. Shrugging, Jamna opens the trunk. Inside are many bags of coin and gems and several potion vials and a small bottle of thick black goo. Naergon turns to the chamber walls and inspects the tapestries, behind the southern wall is another secret door, Jamna opens it and reveals a shrine – a white basin in a black chamber ornamented with a pair of white lidless eyes painted above the basin. Naergon concludes this is a shrine to the elven god of outcasts: Fenmarel Mestarine. Hidden beneath the basin is a journal – clearly the diary of Neronvain. Behind the white glowing eyes, Jamna discovers yet another secret panel. Opening it, she, Naergon and Mads peer into a vast, dark cavern just long enough to see the gigantic dark shape of Chuth fly up to the entrance and breath a blast of roiling poisonous vapours into the chambers beyond. Reeling and badly hurt, Jamna and Naergon scramble to shut the door and the party retires back to the store room. Here they decide they need to take a long rest to recuperate before dealing with Chuth once last time and reclaiming Mad’s Bitch Glaive. As they settle in, Naergon drinking the second bottle of evermead he’d secreted in his pack earlier, there is a sudden scream from Jamna as a spike of pain shoots through her left hand, over the next hour her hand becomes utterly numb and then some 2 hours later turns translucent. Interrupted the party settles back again and rest through to the late evening, at the end of which Jamna's hand appears to be back to normal. Over a supper of trail rations, apples, dried fruit and decent ale the party concoct a plan to lure Chuth from the rear cavern into the pool cavern where he can be engaged from beyond narrow passages on several sides. Now to put the plan into action . . . No levels were gained this session: Naergon 10 th level Mads 9 th level Franz 9 th level Jamna 9 th level Augustus 9 th level XP earnt is now irrelevant as the rest of TOD is based on milestone XP In-Game the session ended at 21:45 on 13 th Ches 1485 DR