Last session, the party stood atop The Mitten, enjoying a panoramic view of the desert, along with the company of a minor earth spirit named Pellius and his parasite, a lesser water spirit named Koko. After a nice dance, an amulet emerged from the ground, which Pellius told them would detach Koko from his back once put around his neck. But, once they took the amulet, Pellius would become hostile.

So, the group decided to have Balthazar pick up the amulet. If something bad should happen, at least it would happen to Balthazar. The fight began.

They whittled down Pellius and the minor earth spirits he summoned. With an excellent shot of his bow, with a rope tied to an arrow, Zain planted a trap to tether Pellius to a rock when he emerged from under the ground. But, not before the group sliced off a hunk of the earth spirits head that unfortunately for him poked up out of the ground.

When the rest of him emerged, he was indeed bound to a rock. Balthazar proved useless, too cowardly to put the amulet around Pellius’s neck as he thrashed about. He also found himself charmed by Pellius’s flute, so Zain stole the amulet from Balthazar to do the thing himself. The thief climbed the rock behind Pellius, and made a daring jump, flying through the air, and falling practically in Pellius’s arms. He fit the amulet over Pellius’s head, and the spirit relaxed.

Koko popped off his back, and soaked into the ground. Pellius thanked them profusely. But not profusely enough for Orophor. The smooth talker convinced the fucking spirit to give the party both rewards.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

And so the party gained a sigil of mithril. The shimmering blue metal plate looked heavy, but felt astonishingly light. In dwarvish, gilded metal around the rim of the sigil read, “Issued to King Fiddius in Year Three.” Tenli wracked her historical knowledge, and shared with the group that King Fiddius was king of kings amongst the dwarves, the first of kings, and the dwarves would respect their party and allow entrance to their city if they presented the sigil at Mount Ysig.

Pellius also opened a tunnel before the group. It stretched into the ground, its depths unseeable from their perch on the Mitten. Of course, Balthazar was sent down first. His screams quickly grew distant, until they could no longer hear him, and learned nothing of the safety of the descent.

So in they went. Some form of lubrication coated the rock, and when they lowered themselves in, they slid with incredible velocity down the dark shaft. For three hours. And before jumping in, Beorn turned himself into a moose, so he slid even faster, bumping into Balthazar.

Once their velocity slowed, they found themselves still with a long way to go. Spidorian crystals lit the way with a light blue glow. They regrouped, and began their trek. The walk took several days.

But finally, after more time than anybody needs to spend in a dark tunnel with other people, they saw an orange light in the distance, different than the light of the crystals. They approached it, at the end of their voyage to Bastard Nigel’s keep in Videl.

The tunnel narrows as you get closer to the flickering orange light at the end.