Urfengar the dragon slayer.

As we started to sense that the entrance to the dragon hoard was near, we noticed that we were no longer alone in the mountains. A badger advanced on Vanya (the druid's fox) and immediately regretted the decision. The scream of grief coming from the trees indicated to me that a wizard had just lost his familiar, so I thought I'd step in and revive the creature. The rest of the party thought that would a good time to leave me standing alone at the scene of the crime, as it were.

Several individuals approached me and as I asked if the badger belonged to them, I received a bolt of lightning to the face for my trouble. This is the problem with wandering in human lands. If I have a problem with a fellow dwarf, I try to talk things out. Ambushing wandering travelers just doesn't sit well with me. Unfortunately, none of the offenders will be taking this lesson to heart, unless they're busy spreading the good word in the halls of their respective gods.

Interestingly enough, the lass who lit me up turned out to be a small blue dragon. Never thought I'd be fighting dragons when I set out with young Thelonious, but I suppose that's bound to happen when you're trying to steal from a dragon hoard.

We reached the entrance, and as Veya began to prepare her magicks, Maxwell and Kitya expressed. . .reservations about this quest. I'd given my word to the Earl and trusted in Moradin to provide a way for my return. Jackle, Nalathisor, Azraiel, and Rath all seemed to feel similarly, so Veya continued her spells and opened up a portal to the dragon's lair for us. We passed through, leaving Kitya and Max to their indecision.

The five of us found ourselves in a long hallway, with a door at one end. Rarely have I entered a place so full of traps. It required the better part of my patience to wait for Nalathisor to do his best disarming them. When we finally reached the door and peeked inside, it occurred to me that I could call on Moradin for a little help finding traps to speed things up. I suspect that my mental faculties were working on a higher level due to the amount of wealth visible from the doorway.

I helped the crafty elf look for traps as we entered what appeared to be an anteroom. It contained two large dragon sculptures covered in precious stones -- one in sapphires and one in rubies. Beyond that room was a vault that exceeded my wildest dreams. It was full of silver, gold, and platinum pieces covering a mound of magical items. I picked up a beautiful hammer and immediately knew it for a priceless Dwarven Thrower. We began filling our saddlebags with treasure and magical items, but apparently we'd missed a trap. That whole place started shaking like a Calimshan dancer's belly.

I kept shoveling things into my bags for as long as I dared, but eventually I realized that I wasn't going to get any of it out if I didn't flee. The five of us raced through the anteroom into the hallway. A sound followed us that didn't exactly imply rainbows and butterflies. The sapphire dragon had come to life. We turned to do battle with it and noticed Kitya and Max had appeared behind it. At the time, I didn't worry too much about it, but something in the back of my mind registered this as exceedingly odd.

We began to hammer at the beast, and Maxwell did his best to disable the mechanics that made its movements possible. Someone landed the decisive blow that caused it to explode. I didn't see who, because there were sapphires everywhere, occupying my mind with higher matters. I scrambled to pocket as many as possible when I heard a "pop!" I looked around and realized I was in Brindenford. There were no more sapphire fountains, and the rest of the dragon's hoard was forever out of reach.

I began to curse loudly.