Pride is seldom delicate, it will please itself with very mean advantages.

[Quote by Samual Johnson, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, 1795]
 
So we continued exploring the depths of the crypt were last time we had defeated the aberration that was the Gibbering Mouther. Cid was still suffering the lasting effects of the poisoning from the zombie bite but wanted to push forward nonetheless and so did Varis, despite also being badly injured. Note to self - if you were forced to dispose of Cid, don't use poison, he might have raised resistances.
Anyways, we entered another room. The floor was covered in dust and mostly empty apart from a chandelier that must have fallen from the ceiling a long time ago. The party continued searching for clues and eventually discovered a pair of fresh-looking footprints on the dusty floor. They led us to another door or at least the remains of a door-like structure and behind we could hear an unusual sound similar to the rings of wind chimes.
We halted for a moment discussing the further approach. With two members of the party injured we did not necessarily want to walk into another confrontation and it seemed that we hadn't been discovered yet. Varis however grew inpatient and started knocking at the door.

Facing us stood a giant dragon looking figure in heavy plate armour. Beneath the armour, shimmering metal-like spikes forming a chain mail. He was holding a giant sword in one hand and a serrated short sword in the other. And he didn't look amused by our intrusion. On second look he stood surrounded by shredded corpses.
Varis started mumbling something about Dragonborn and half-dragons then him and Nabi started talking to the creature in a foreign language I did not understand. The entire group grew noticeably uneasy and the moment the hulking beast started charging at the doorway I fired my crossbow. The shot did miss, bouncing off his plate mail. Parts of the group rushed back into the corridor we had come from. Oxton was the first to disappear into the darkness. Cid stood by my side and casted an invigorating spell at me. Varis launched a fiery projectile hitting the monster right in the gruesome visage. I was certain his shot had hit the half-dragon, yet he continued charging and eventually smashing down the remains of the door, seemingly unimpressed by the attack.
In between screams of panic almost everyone had decided on their own that it was probably the safest option to run away from this fight. The corridor grew quite cramped as people kept squeezing themselves inside.

To everyones surprise however, Nabi seemed to have a different plan as she challenged the creature to a match of Dragonchess. I was observing the whole scene through my mirror, still hiding inside the corridor. They sat down in the dirt, Nabi calmly unpacking her game pieces. I was not able to understand what was spoken. Still, judging from the half-dragons' facial expressions and the unpleasant roaring he seemed agitated at best.
Behind me I could hear Oxton, Cid and Varis plotting a strategy to get Nabi out of there safely. We were certain she would be in trouble regardless of the games' outcome.
Oxton summoned his unicorn rabbit and sent it back into the room with the intention to blind the half-dragon. The dragon simply squashed him with a single sweep of his claws. Back to plotting we went.
I sat down in the corridor, my back leaning on the wall. I closed my eyes.

"Calm down Serendipity. Breathe in. Breathe out. Now, think. As soon as the match is over the dragon is most likely going to attack us again. It probably won't matter if Nabi wins or loses. If, and that's a big if, the game even lasts that long. The question is, why did he stop his attack just to play a game? Unless it's simply because he wants to show off. Dragonchess is said to be rather complex after all. So he prides himself with tactical knowledge and skill?"

I remembered about the other undead monstrosity still stuck in its chamber. A warrior, especially a proud one would certainly not deny if he were to be challenged to fight the ogre. For it would bring honor, glory and all kinds of pettiness.
I informed Nabi of my plan and moments later the two got up and walked past us, back to where we had come from. He had taken the bait!
What followed was sparking pure joy inside me. The half-dragon was just about to grunt at Nabi again when a giant decomposed hand reached through the doorway, grabbing the armoured dragon and pulling him into the room. The dragon roared in anger and thrusted his sword into the brute’s head. They exchanged bites and slashes for a while until the ogre came out on top, sucking the life out of the dead warriors' body.
While the proud dragon might have been strong, armed and experienced, he had not spent enough time to sharpen its' wits and ultimately did succumb to his own flaws. Pathetic, really. I shall take a sample of his blood and write about his inglorious demise in Lady Lucks' Diary, as soon as we're done with that ogre! Fortunately, no one seemed to take notice of my satisfaction, mainly because all eyes were watching Oxton mourning his familiar.
 
We then went on to explore another area were strange alcoves filled with partially decomposed parchment had been chiselled into the wall. My companions decided to take a closer look and Oxton managed to copy some of the remaining runes onto a fresh piece of parchment. The moment he drew the final line, the scroll suddenly retracted. When he tried to open it again, a ball of fire emerged from the paper. Only at the last second was he able to hurl it into a corner of the room where none of us would be harmed by the impact.
He then proceeded through another door and disappeared. After inspecting the frame, we came to the conclusion that it served as some kind of teleport. Apparently Varis had encountered a similar mechanism in the past and told us that he suspected Oxton to have been transported back to the entrance of the crypt, at least in the best-case scenario. For all we knew he could have reappeared anywhere. This particular human seems to be rather ingenuous.
 
The five of us then discovered a corridor. Half way through it a skeleton lay on the floor. It was wearing heavy plate armour and missing its head. Varis ripped the armour off the bones and found a necklace with two black gems worked into it. I recognized them immediately as the same kind of craftsmanship we had seen in the temple of Gromman. Surely Rimvault would want to see this.
We eventually reached another chamber. It was much larger than any of the previous ones. Three giant cages reaching from the floor to the ceiling stood in the middle of the hall. The moment I tried to peek into the room with my handcrafted mirror, four stone-like tendrils dashed around the corner and grasped its frame. I startled back in shock and let go of it. Then the tendrils withdrew back into the room and for a moment silence fell upon the corridor as everyone seemed to be holding their breaths simultaneously. A few moments passed. We then cautiously entered the room, our backs pressed against the wall and we got a good look at the creature that had snatched my mirror. A huge stalagmite approximately three meters tall stood next to the entrance facing the wall, its tendrils still grasping my mirror. The one eyed creature was focusing on the image of its reflection and, almost as if charmed by its own gaze, it did not take notice of us entering its lair. Silently without leaving the creature out of our sight we ventured deeper into the chamber. There were a few doors leading out of the room: one to the east, one to the west and one to the north. Before we had a chance to investigate any of them, a slug like creature suddenly fell from the ceiling right in between where Cid and Varis were standing. In fear of more slugs coming down we silently butchered it as fast as we could and then again turned to the stalagmite.
I was determined to get my mirror back and surprisingly at least Cid seemed to be motivated to help me in my endeavour. He started rummaging around in his backpack and fished out a shard of glass. It was of the same material he had used to make the mirror. He then tried to distract the thing by sliding the shard over but it got stuck on a tile half way. This the stalagmite noticed and it turned towards Cid. All four tendrils dashed at him and wrapped around his body pulling Cid near. I conjured a spectral hand and let it pick up the shard from the floor. On my command the hand then started to waggle the shard in front of the creature’s one eye diverting its attention away from Cid and my mirror which it dropped. The hand then floated toward the most distant corner of the room and the stalagmite followed. It wrapped its tendril around the shard and just kept on looking at its self once more ignoring everything around it.
Cid picked up the mirror and handed it back to me. I think I’m starting to like this old geezer. I don’t understand why anyone would behave in a way this altruistic but it’s kind of… nice I guess.
Anyhow, Nabi had apparently found Oxton while glimpsing through those doors. Varis was no where to be seen so I assumed he had just walked off. We might get to loot his body after all if he is not careful.
We then went to inspect the last door to the east of the room. It was barred with heavy iron but Cid was eventually able to crack it open.
Inside we found a vast amount of white-silvery coin and another icosahedron floating over a small pillar. None of us were eager to touch it after we remembered what had happened to Mitchell last time so I decided to circle around the pillar in hopes of finding a hidden mechanism to disable the glowing artefact. Nabi, again, seemed to have had a different idea. She just sat down in front of it, closed her eyes and started meditating, or at least that’s what I think she did.
We stood there for a while watching her as suddenly I felt a tickling sensation running down my spine. Something was happening to reality itself, again. The icosahedron stopped glowing and in the blink of an eye all of us were somehow transported outside the dungeon. We found ourselves standing in the same place we had left behind Rimvault and she was looking at us curiously.
Nabi went up to her and stretched out her hand holding a small stone about five by three centimeters in size. Rimvault’s eyes grew in surprise and she explained that this kind of artefact was called an Apologus and it supposedly bears unimaginable power.
 
[OOC: I was listening to The Wolven Storm (Priscilla's Song) from the Witcher 3 covered by Alina Gingertail while writing this journal entry. It seemed fitting for a song a bard would sing at the half-dragons funeral while his kin stood over an empty grave mourning his disapearance.]