Journal of Rollo Lavius 3

Entry #544 - The Stone of the Sparkledingles

(G544 02/12/2023 via Roll20 - JF, KT, AP(GM), AD) YI-B1

[Fenrir, Corhim and Dak have set off for to find the Fortress of the Yaun-ti. Meanwhile I (Rollo) am stuck at home planning a trading empire with my wife, using captured pirate ships.]

DAY 619 (12th Uktar) (November) cont ...

Myself and the wife had been at it for hours. Neither of us liked the idea of the xebecs straying outside of the Shining Sea for now for various reasons.

1. We didn't know the captains all that well

2. We might need them in a hurry to fight off pirates back on the island

3. Lavinia had lots of experience at sea but had never managed more than one or two ships at a time.

4. We needed supercargoes for each ship and reliable brokers at each end. It was better to start with ports that Lavinia knew.

So it was decided to have all four of them trading spices from Sasserine to Calimport and herbs, jewellery, leather goods, armour and books from Calimport to Sasserine. It was a steady, if not very adventurous trade, and with the ships having the ability to go invisible at will the cargo would be very safe.

Anyway, I'd had enough of all that and had gone for a walk when I bumped into Reinward and Fang. We then went for a nice cup of tea at Felia's shop.

Fang was there to arrange the purchase of a magical falchion. He's seen the one Dak wielded and fancied trying one out. She didn't have one in stock but told him she could have it for him in two days.

She also went on to say:

''

I've just heard through the family grapevine that the long lost Stone of the Sparkledingles has been located! This is terrific news and I'm sure my ever so brave cousin would love to go and retrieve it, since he's gone I wonder if anyone here would like to do it? I'll give you a discount on that falchion, Fang, if you go.

''

Fang and Reinward nodded approval. I said nothing. She went on:

''

Wonderful! I have drawn a picture of the entrance to the dungeon the Stone is located in. It should be possible to Teleport there from here. The only thing is I am not able to do Teleports. Do you know anyone that does?

''

Fang and Reinward turned to me. There was also Irritator of course, but to be honest I was happy to get away from all the Shipping Forecasts and Trade Deals.

'Oh very well!' I said taking the picture. 'I'll drop you off, but no more than that!'

We teleported to the subterranean entrance of the dungeon. Judging by the temperature I think we had gone north rather than south, but I didn't bother pulling my magical map out to check as the other two were already going in. Definitely in Faerune though.

I decided to follow along, just in case they needed healing or a few handy crocodiles.

We were already underground, the runes on the entrance were interesting but I had to just let them pass by as we descended into a long narrow corridor. These were rough hewn tunnels, warm to the touch.

I cast Light, then Longstrider and Tortoise Shell on myself.

This was a dungeon of the traditional sense, something carved out of the deep rock for some evil wizard to keep his treasure and monsters.

At first it was all doors and traps, and the ancient refuse of what looked like a long abandoned area of carved out chambers. Rotten crates, bent daggers, secret doors, stone ramps, stone chains, carved faces on the walls - all the things I've come to expect from this sort of place. It can feel quite random sometimes.

We pushed on through it all, room by room, corridor by corridor. When a trap needed to be disarmed, Reinward did that. When a door needed to be bashed in, then Fang did that. He had to borrow my crowbar though which so far had been my only contribution.

Eventually we came to a door where we could hear a loud buzzing coming from the other side. Reinward put out the lights and used that weird blindfold he uses. Seems like a real faff to me.

Anyway, the buzzing was coming from four large swarms of hell wasps. I shut the door again and we decided to give that room a miss!

More doors and corridors. Suddenly a trap was set off and a magical Force Cage cut off Fang and Reinward. Then a bone devil appeared in there beside them. Reinward stabbed it and Fang chopped it with his axe and that was the end of that.

Reinward then disabled the trap and the Force Cage was dispelled.

We moved on. We reached a door that Reinward couldn't pick the lock of, so Fang broke it down with his axe.

We carried on. Deeper into the dungeon. Lavinia was probably wondering where I was by now.