AtD: 040 Now That’s a Sword!

Quickly, the party forced the badly injured venomous snake back deeper into its subterranean lair. The creature driven away, they climbed the rest of the slope into the cave above. Regrouping, the heroes decided to collapse the entrance to the snake’s den and then rest.

Sadly, while they were busy trapping the snake in its lair, a group of kobold scouts found them—no doubt drawn to the sound of their demolition efforts. Luckily, the party were not surprised—keen-eared Bodrum having heard the kobolds approaching. Quickly the kobolds were forced back, and the few survivors fled deeper into the tunnels.

The party gave chase but quickly became spread out. Gromm got closest to the fleeing kobolds but stopped when he reached a large cave with many different exits. He heard the kobolds fleeing down what sounded like a staircase to the west and wisely decided to halt his pursuit. Meanwhile, some of the half-orc’s companions explored several side passages. Harald discovered one chamber whose wall was pierced by a ragged door. The discovery of a door in a natural cave system piqued his interest, and he called his companions to his side.

With the heroes together again, Harald forced open the door. Beyond lay a small room with no exits. A plate-armoured skeleton lay slumped against one wall. The man’s platemail seemed slightly melted, as if exposed to intense heat, but his sword was in surprisingly good condition. Investigation reveal the man’s plate armour was functional but needed a bit of work, and so Harald doffed his old chainmail and claimed the plate as his own. Thonn took the sword, and the party decided to take a short rest to recover. While they did so, Bodrum used his divine powers to detect magic and discovered the sword radiated powerful magic—the most the young elf had ever seen! Ozloc then, using his celestial powers of identification, revealed the sword to be a dragon slayer…