Chapter 2: Fell Tunnels

Not rejecting your idea of checking the dungeon, but I'll tell you that anything you missed wasn't treasure, but more like lore and that lore was more a foreshadowing of the boss. As such, you have nothing to back and find.

I'm going to put a quick poll here. Please tell me if you'd like to go back to Fort Triumph for anything or if you'd like to head straight to Anvil, the original destination.


As for combat, I'm going to try and go back to the theater of the mind style for a while and see if that works better than the visual version I've been doing, in case it works better for 13th age.

You return to First Triumph (I was mistaken, it is not Fort but First). The castle is just as eerie as it was before, and the guards that are keeping constant watch are demons that the Crusader enslaved when he took over the hellhole this location use to be. The inside is a mix of hyper military and functional necessities. The echoes of its nature as a former hellhole can be seen all around, but the Crusader's will is clearly in charge.

Edgar will track down his contact. "So, job well done as usual?" Edgar says with a smile once he's found them.

Hrafe did his utmost to be invisible. He knew he was not welcome here.

"Try lookin' in the mirror and seein' a stranger look back," Edgar says with a sigh. "I'm spoken for at moment. Hopefully can get my body back."

You finish your work in the crusader's fort and get on the road to Anvil. You come across a few fellow travelers but no monsters or bandits. You eventually arrive at a fort that is wide and thick. It is clearly of dwarven make. You approach and a dwarf guard asks: "State your name and business."

Edgar stays in the back and remains silent. As long as he's in the appearance of an elf, he's sure the dwarf would prefer not to deal with him directly.

Hrafe had been given a transfusion of draconid growth hormone to rapidly heal his damaged organs. He had been a little off since then. More lucid. But also meaner. He rubbed the wound, it was still looking quite inflamed. But he didn't look sick anymore. He had developed a cough but it seemed to be getting better as well.

"What is this! You do not recognize The Sons of Ironfist? It is I Strongheart, and Skullbreaker come home at last." Hrafe chuckled at the memory. It felt good to be home. He had many fond memories, but as wild he had been as a child. Home might not have missed him.

Ylliane steps forward and raises herself to her full height. There's a crack from somewhere in the vicinity of her lumbar. Her spine is nearly as old as she is. Normally, she'd stay in the back and not say much, but with the dwarves, and all their love for order and hierarchy, the fact she has a rank might come in handy. She looks down toward the short dark blob that spoke, and replied with as much authority as she can remember how to use. "Captain Ylliane Verandre*. We've been sent on special assignment from the Empire to assist Anvil. Not sure of the nature of the mission; we were told we'd be briefed when we arrived. Do you know where we should be heading for that?"

The dwarf chuckles some and looks back up at Ylliane, trying to keep from chuckling further. "You must be the ones they sent to deal with the tunnel issue. Yes, please enter. Ask for Tysnip Stormreach at the Heavy Hammer construction."