DnDNerds!

Vindalf leads Gemwin, Jendri, Hokan and Grom as they continue to explore the former dwarfhold in Dragonfang Mountain, which they discover was called Khundrukar. They cast Speak with Dead to ask the former lord and master smith Durgeddin 5 questions, including "Can Grom use your Plate Mail?" Hokan does a bit of plumbing investigation on a derelict well, and they get more of the story of how the dwarf halls fell to orcs many years ago as they explore room to room. They speak with a half-crazy ghost, discover a portal room and the key word to unlock one of the portals to somewhere called Greywatch, and discover some secret passages that seem to lead to the duergar-controlled portion of the level. They discover a library and end up fighting an imprisoned lamia calling herself Idalla, and find a few scrolls and bits of dwarven lore to add to their collection.

After some discussion on the direction of the campaign, Gemwin leads Grom, Vindalf, Jendri, Hokan, and the freed duergar Veyra back down into the Glitterhame area, where Gemwin solo-fights two gricks, and then the party is attacked by carrion crawlers. Hokan fails to pick the Iron Door's lock, but luckily a duergar party emerges and the party negotiates up the duergar bureaucracy chain to Morga Ironvein, second-in-command of the gray dwarves. Morga agrees to let them explore parts of the halls the duergar aren't using, but forbids them access to the smithing areas. The party starts with a dwarven shrine where they battle an orc wight and two ogre skeletons, and discover the remains of the great smith Durgeddin.

The dwarves, led this session by Gemwin, take steps to secure the Mountain Door portion of Dragonfang Mountain. They bring Grom's porter Dhosus and the giant goats indoors (keeping them separate from new dire wolf friend Thrag), investigate the other commodity loads the orcs had, and strategize about how to engage the troglodytes below. They hire one of the former captives (Serena Vale), and descend down into the Glitterhame level. Instead of a full-on assault, Gemwin and Hokan negotiate with the troglodyte chieftain Khargaaz for the release of the duergar prisoner he's holding. They agree to pay in metal weapons and armor, and free duergar scout Veyra Blackflint, who tells them about the duergar leader Nimira and the other gray dwarves deeper in the dungeon.

Grom takes the lead in exploring the dungeon ruins within Dragonfang Mountain, with Hokan, Jendry, and Gemwin (Vindalf missing). We playtest our new Dungeon Turn rules for tracking party actions in the delve, and Grom leads the party up to the orc-infested halls. First they battle the shaman and her apprentices, one of whom is allowed to escape, then they withdraw for Grom to heal from the wounds inflicted by her spear. They discover and free two prisoners, and then engage a large orc war-party including an ogre and a dire wolf. We pause mid-moment just after the first few waves of attackers have been slain.

Gemwin leads a dwarven expedition with Grom, Vindalf, Hokan, and Jendri in search of the ruined dwarfhold of Dragonfang Mountain. They visit Llorkh and the other PCs, then follow the road East toward the Dawn Pass, discovering the Valley of Huvrathe (with its weird plants) on the way. Once there, they discover several possible ways into Dragonfang Mountain. When they are spotted by orc guards, they opt for a hidden tunnel, which brings them in to a series of natural caves. They battle some troglodytes and a bear, find a magical sword in a mold-infested corpse, investigate some fungi, and descend near a waterfall to a section where they hole up in an abandoned storeroom.

Grom (a life cleric) leads fellow dwarves Gemwin (paladin), Hokan (rogue), and new adventurers Jendri (warlock) and Vindalf (druid) to explore the regions around Runedarth in the Greypeak Mountains. The dwarves fight off a goblin ambush and learn the location of a crag cat lair, they find the grave cairn of a cloud giant, and they nearly lose some of their mounts to recurring manticore Karg, who is always hungry for a meal or a story. They discover a ruined garrison where they suspect Duergar are hiding, then make their way north to Axeholm to collect supplies before venturing in search of new dwarfhold ruins to liberate and explore.

Neville leads VS, Hokan, Render, and Kain on an exploration of the underground complex they arrived at by magical portal. Taking refuge to rest in a chapel of the divination god Savras, VS discovers a magical wishbone and Hokan gives in to dwarven greed to steal a few (possibly cursed) platinum pieces. They find some creepy corpses, try to navigate across a bridge (Hokan falls down the chasm), and eventually explore upward and out to the surface, where they are in an unknown locale. They return in to the mines, find a really fun slide, and take refuge with Valorean, a dragonborn paladin of Mystra hunting the heretic Sikhil, who he believes is pursuing lichdom somewhere in the Salt Mines of Savras.

In Llorkh, Kain leads Render, Neville, Hokam, and VS in a search north into the hills looking for some ruins supposedly built by a wizard. They find the ruins in a valley of noxious gases, and have to enter the complex by way of the air vents - guarded by a spellcasting Yellowbone goblin. Once inside, they discover strange sigils and a pool that might be a portal, then get into a tangle with the Yellowbones - Render goes down, the others are captured. It's a cliffhanger!

Flip the Sorcerer leads Vond, Lysander, and Kathar back to the Grig Little Kingdom to help overthrow evil vizier Jhabshasid and restore power to King Flibnabmeister and his daughter Hollylollybon. Aided by former captain of guard Bentonkadonk, they infiltrate the Ogre Skull Palace and find the king missing. Princess Holly is found unconscious and attached to a fiendish device that is extracting her blood and transforming it into a serum. They fight the evil guardian and free Holly, then use the serum to get into the magic library of King Filbnabmeister. There they encounter the king's body and a portal to the Shadowfell, and the evil vizier Jhabshasid. Weak from their former battle, he downs most of the party quickly, leaving only Vond able to try to save who he can! Flip is saved, Kathar is slain, and Lysander and the villain disappear into the Shadow realm. Kathar's body is brought to Fort Heartwood, where the archdruid of Lurue is able to reincarnate her - as an orc. Lysander's fate remains unknown, but peace is restored to the grigs.

Floki asks satyr bard Lysander to go see why some grigs and sprites are searching the Dead Magic Zone, so he assembles a team of dragonborn monk Kathar Videro, feytouched human sorcerer Flip, and two new PCs: halfling wizard Vond Lightfoot and dragonborn ranger Balastair. After a nearly deadly encounter with a displacer beast in the night, they talk to the grigs, who seem to be looking for a way to cure their ailing King Filbnabmeister. The party travels to the Grig Little Kingdom, where they drink some "shrinky drinky" and talk to Princess Hollylollybon and the sketchy vizier Jhabshasid in the Ogre Skull Palace. King Filbnabmeister is afraid of the dark and the only person who can access a magical library of some sort, and the shadows seem to behave extra-strangely here. One of the servants, Nannyplumkins, shows the party where to find the now imprisoned former captain of guards, Bentonkadonk. The party manages to free Ben, but in so doing the alarm is raised and the Ogre Skull Palace gets locked down. Lysander sneaks in to find the Princess and King but triggers the alarm once more when Shattering a door. He and the rest of the party flee the village with Ben, and head back to the Dead Magic Zone, where they learn that the grigs and ravens were looking for something there that Jhabshasid wants.

Arty leads Sir Parrik, Bariq, Steven III, and MikMek back into the lair of the necromancer Chetiin to finish the job! They battle watery ghouls and the wraith of former cleric Cassius, then press their way in to discover the eldritch library where the spirit of former warlock Rasprax is held captive by the nefarious Chetiin! An epic battle commences, with clever use of Silence by Arty, Moonbeam by Bariq and Parrik, and other spells to keep Chetiin contained while Rasprax strikes at the characters from within the walls. Parrik summons spectral berserkers with his Horn of Valhalla, and Steven takes blow after blow while MikMek shoots from the shadows. When at last the evil necromancer is defeated, the players regain some old treasures and find a few new ones, including a Cloak of the Bat that MikMek is excited to use.

Jhank leads Gemwin, Bors, and Hokan to attack the Cult of the Dragon in Runedarth, but sidetracks to investigate the foul waters once again pouring from the central fountain, and find evidence of claw marks and acid corruption. They discover a new secret door, and a shaft leading up into the Arcrown's Refuge, a hidden level. Without exploring it, they find another secret room and shaft leading up to a treasure chamber full of magical items, which turns out to be attached to the Temple of Mordinsamman they had previously cleared, except for the Spectator guardian. After a rest, they descend again and battle Antharzyreph, a black dragon, and its bone naga ally. The skirmisher team is wiped out, but the PCs all survive and take the dragon's hoard. They use part of it to bribe the Cult of the Dragon to leave (they were only there for the dragon anyway) and Bors is called home to Moradin.

Neville leads Kain, Render, and VS as they accept a job from the mysterious half-orc bard Karash to break in and steal a book from a group of Blue Bear Uthgardt suspected of trafficking in people. They case the joint, make a new friend (Dmitry) and a couple new enemies (Dunja the Fence and the Stiletto Set kenku gang), and discover that there's more to the situation that Karash told them. With the help of Karash's colleague Fiona, they break in and find their way down into the under-levels, where they encounter poisonous smoke, avoid guards, and find the prison of the former Uthgardt leader Radovan the Mighty, now a monstrously-transformed yuan-ti. They magically infiltrate his cell, assassinate him, then leave Fiona in his place and escape via Portable Hole with the corpse. In exchange, Karash cedes the deed to the butcher shop known as Pristine Pork to Neville, along with some startup cash.

Gemwin leads Jhank, Bors, Grom, Hokan, and a host of NPC dwarves up into the Halls of the Longbeards in the hope of destroying the Direlord Tribe once and for all. They encounter immediate resistance and have to fight foot-by-foot against orcs, goblins, worgs, and two enormous trolls, with Jhank and Gemwin at the front and Korrin Ironaxe and Grom close behind. Korrin falls in battle, ripped in half by a troll, leaving Gemwin or Jhank as the most likely leaders of the dwarves in Runedarth. They confront the demonic Direlord Wartsnak and his fiendish tanarruk bodyguard in the throne room, where Jhank is charmed and Gemwin gets knocked unconscious, before they turn the tide and near victory. At the last moment, the Direlord escapes by a portal, but the territory that his clan occupied is now in the hands of the dwarves, who discover the treasures they left behind.

Grom leads Gemwin, Jhank, Bors, and Hokan, along with a few archers, to invade the territory of the Direlord tribe and take back the halls of Galloglar and Yund for Dwarven glory! They get into a mega-battle against dozens of goblins, orcs, and a couple of ogres, almost dying again and again. After a short rest, they clean out the remaining humanoids and secure the stairway against further incursion by the Direlord tribe.

Hokan, a new dwarf rogue shows up at the Runedarth dwarfhold ruins and leads Jhank, Gemwin, Bors, and Grom in search of treasure in the Halls of Hammers and Mead and the Halls of Hammered Stone sublevels, where they encounter gricks and darkmantles. Then they charge up the back stairs into Direlord Tribe territory and slaughter a room of goblins and multiple rooms of orcs, setting the stage for a large-scale assault on Direlord territory. This episode is extra-raucous with lots of loud laughter!

Jhank leads Gemwin, Bors, and Grom down to the lowest level of Runedarth - The Halls of Hammers and Mead, where they examine a pillar of sealed portals and then proceed into the Hall of the Pool. There, after defeating the gargoyles who dwell there, Jhank experiments with the controls to a large fountain to try to shut off the corrupt water flowing out of the mountain. They are able to get clean water flowing, then go down to explore the access tunnels to the cisterns and find one with clean water and another with corrupt water. They also explore a little bit of the Halls of Hammered Stone level, finding a route from the pool room to an exterior entrance.

Dwarf paladin Gemwin Stonefist leads a large expedition of dwarven adventurers and soldiers through the hills and Greypeak Mountains in search of the ruined dwarfhold of Runedarth! With him are forge cleric Bors McCraw, rune knight Jhank Wildpass, and new ranger Hjalmar Heavyhand (with life cleric Grom and his porter Dhosus along as NPCs). They encounter peaceful ettercaps with woolspider livestock, discover some griffon nests and a mysterious grotto cave (unexplored) and the Sapphire Falls along a fork of the Greyflow River. At the ruins of Runedarth, they make contact with Korrin Ironaxe and the dwarves already there, and set about securing a foothold in the dungeon for their troops. The party mows down an orc/goblin patrol and discovers two magical rune circles with beneficial powers. They stay in the dungeon with the goal of retaking the entire dwarfhold for the glory of all dwarves!

Flip takes over as leader for Za Za Hounddog Jenkins, Grom, Lysander, and new dragonborn monk Kathar Videro, who seems very interested in Flip. They have a tricky battle in a narrow hallway with some vicious redcaps - Za Za goes to death saves four separate times. They all drink from a strange magical fountain and Flip becomes wiser. Za Za almost drowns after finding his way through a flooded passage. The group discovers a kuo-toa shrine (Oop! Ooop!) and fights a few of them, then recovers some treasure including a Deck of Illusions before fleeing the kuo-toa reinforcements. Za Za is given to the nixie Kallista to nurse back to health and serve her for a year, and the rest of the party makes it to civilization in Rickety Bridge. Mike reads a letter received by Gemwin that promises adventure near Axeholm next time...

New rat-shifter spore druid VS joins new firbolg warlock Tharivol and new dwarf life cleric Gorm, along with returning human hotelier/warlock Neville in another Llorkh caper - this time, the Miner's Cooperative is allying with the local wererats to go after a Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals that the Church of Bane has in its temple. They come up with a plan to minimize casualties, case the joint, and infiltrate by night. Killing a few guards in the process, they escape with the stone and several other magic items, only to discover that the stone is a fake. Now the Church of Bane is tearing the town apart looking for the thieves, so the party has to lay low and come up with another plan to go back in and get the real dingus.