Martialis Alienates Agafangul
The Danger Gang and their new-found Dwarven escorts press on through the cursed forest. They notice the trees continue to grow more gnarled and gnarly. Above them they notice a large flying reptile of a vague dragon-ish shape, either green or black, it's tough to tell colors at this distance. Martialis's trusty eagle, Master Chief reports that he saw a couple of gryphons bearing dwarves in the distance. The gang then turns a corner and there they are. Four dwarves, waiting for us, but no gryphons. Whatevs. Gershom casts Tongues and then starts to parlay with the big cheese, a guy wearing a creepy pearlescent hat and some not so creepy mittens. His name is Nothri and he's from the dwarven kingdom of (god help me) Motzanyourmaramunay. While chatting, a familiar shadowy figure emerges from through Marty's horse. It's Artaky. He's trying to back stab Marty. But he misses! A battle commences. The guy in the hat and mittens starts shooting out all types of magic at people, so a couple people zero in on him. Giant beetles go after some other dwarves, and Marty in lion form, starts fighting that Artaky. When Artaky begins to see the writing on the wall, he asks for a ceasefire, but this time, Marty will have none of it. He rends him limb from limb. Agafangul is not pleased. Nothri gets knocked down, but is still breathing. Karl takes his fancy looking stuff before he can do more damage with it, and all the dwarves from this latest party get tied up. Agafangul starts yelling at Marty, and Gershom does his best to translate. You swore not kill any dwarves this, that dwarf was begging for his life and you slaughtered him that, he was a representative from Nethermeria the other. They try to explain that this fellow has tried to kill them before, blah blah blah, nobody really cares what anybody else has to say. Agafangul has had enough. He demands to see the shadow. If it really is ensorcelling as the Danger Gang claims it it, he'll be able to see this ensorcelling power, hopefully resist it, and they can go on their merry way. If not, they have one tough dwarf to fight (plus his friend who has disappeared into the shadows). There's some more bickering and nobody wants to listen to anybody and then the Danger Gang agrees. They blindfold the rest of the dwarves and show Agafangul the shadow. He is not ensorcelled, but can see it's beguiling abilities. He gathers up the injured and bids them adieu. Karl hands over Nothri's fancy stuff, hoping to smooth things over by making it clear he has no desire to steal from the dwarves. As he hands over the hat he notices it was made of finger and toe nails, and feels like he made the right call in getting rid of it. That is gross.
They part ways.
The Gang presses on through the forest. Not too far from their encounter, they find the gryphons throttled by vines. This does not bode well, as gryphons are tough characters. As sunset approaches, they look for a place to camp out. They find a cave, but inside said cave there is a giant slug. Marty casts Invisibility to Animals to scope it out, and finds there aren't any other threats, so he sends in a cadre of Giant Bugs to fight it for them. They set up camp and hit the sack.
