Sorry for the long hiatus, I’ve heard of things called internships and grad school and they are indeed a peril.

Following the footsteps of detective Archer it is time for some noir writing.

Looking back at the events that unfolded, it was like seeing this big jigsaw puzzle. Little by little, the pieces fit together. Usually you start at the corners, unrelated pieces, of different colors and shapes. I do remember the duergars’ raid at Easthaven and what appeared to be the usual sacking. Then, there were the missing magic items also stolen by them at Caer-dineval as well as prophecies spoken by an old dwarven lady about a warlord deep in the bowls of the earth and his plans to conquer the ten towns. How these pieces would fit together?

Chardalyn – black corrupted stone used by the wizards of old. This was the missing bit that we would soon uncover as we traveled further south to free the citizens of Good Mead from terrible nightmares. Although their peril was not a piece of the jigsaw puzzle, it lead us to an amazing encounter with a mindflayer’s Nautiloid, where a gnomish mindflayer pointed us toward the duergar’s fort.

We approached with caution yet the thundering sound coming from the fort’s gates caught us unexpectedly. Was it an avalanche? It couldn’t be, the trained eyes of Magnus and Or’o would have alerted us of that. We sought shelter for an avalanche that never came. Instead, we saw it soaring high, the unmistakable shape of a dragon flying towards the ten towns while its master patiently waited for the wave of destruction to come under the shelter of his massive fort. Little he knew we were coming for him.

Storming the front gate was our only option and it would be naive to expect such plan could break through the massive iron doors that barred our entrance if not by Fate’s spell which knocked the door open. Fighting duergar through the corridors and passageways had a sense of rush, since every step we took into the belly of the beast, the dragon flew close to the ten towns. Could we defeat the duergar and find a way to command the dragon to return to its lair?

Wreckage, the artificer, was the first to uncover the nature of the creature. It was as much a dragon as it was a construct. Then, it all made sense, all the chardlyn that the duergar were gathering were for the creature’s armor while the stolen magic items were what kept the beast “alive”. Its creator, Xardorok Sunblight – the duergar warlord – was there at the forge, griming with malevolence. His smile was the only answer the we got about how to stop his creation.

It’s funny, as well as the cogs and gears moved the construct and all the machinery in the forge, so did we. Moving like a well-oiled machine we engaged the warlord and his quaggoth minions, fighting in union and having each others back. Kashir threw a fireball and carved a path through the first wave of minions. Miri, the barbarian, raged and racked through more minions, while I threw daggers through the air and Or’o summoned beasts to strengthen our numbers.

Xardorok was well prepared to counter our efforts. One of his spells paralyzed one of my companions , while another spell made one of my friends’ armour heat and burn her alive. We were in dire need of help, but no one would come. How could they? We were one of the few that could defeat the dragon’s master in the vain hope of stopping the creature’s path of destruction. So we had to find the strength within us to defeat the duergar forgemaster.

It was then that we acted as one. Wreckage pulled one of his artificer trinkets from his belt, he called it a pistol. One shot from the weapon broke through Xardorok’s defenses, and the duergar felt pain. His quaggoth minions all rushed to take down Wreckage but but Kashir conjured magical tendrils that kept them at bay meanwhile Miri and I carved a path through more minions to let Wreckage have a clear shot. At the same time, Fate uplift spells to improve the artificer’s aim while Magnus’ healed our wounds.

And here I chuckle because all I could imagine was what could Xardorok be thinking about as Wreckage’s shot pierced through his heart.

The duergar forgemaster was gone. Would his death mean the end of his creation? We would soon find it out.

Details were omitted and/or modified, so I don’t spoil much of an official Adventures League game. I am not a native speaker and this is a small exercise to improve my writing. Please be kind.