Jhank leads Gemwin, Bors, and Hokan to attack the Cult of the Dragon in Runedarth, but sidetracks to investigate the foul waters once again pouring from the central fountain, and find evidence of claw marks and acid corruption. They discover a new secret door, and a shaft leading up into the Arcrown's Refuge, a hidden level. Without exploring it, they find another secret room and shaft leading up to a treasure chamber full of magical items, which turns out to be attached to the Temple of Mordinsamman they had previously cleared, except for the Spectator guardian. After a rest, they descend again and battle Antharzyreph, a black dragon, and its bone naga ally. The skirmisher team is wiped out, but the PCs all survive and take the dragon's hoard. They use part of it to bribe the Cult of the Dragon to leave (they were only there for the dragon anyway) and Bors is called home to Moradin.

Neville leads Kain, Render, and VS as they accept a job from the mysterious half-orc bard Karash to break in and steal a book from a group of Blue Bear Uthgardt suspected of trafficking in people. They case the joint, make a new friend (Dmitry) and a couple new enemies (Dunja the Fence and the Stiletto Set kenku gang), and discover that there's more to the situation that Karash told them. With the help of Karash's colleague Fiona, they break in and find their way down into the under-levels, where they encounter poisonous smoke, avoid guards, and find the prison of the former Uthgardt leader Radovan the Mighty, now a monstrously-transformed yuan-ti. They magically infiltrate his cell, assassinate him, then leave Fiona in his place and escape via Portable Hole with the corpse. In exchange, Karash cedes the deed to the butcher shop known as Pristine Pork to Neville, along with some startup cash.

Gemwin leads Jhank, Bors, Grom, Hokan, and a host of NPC dwarves up into the Halls of the Longbeards in the hope of destroying the Direlord Tribe once and for all. They encounter immediate resistance and have to fight foot-by-foot against orcs, goblins, worgs, and two enormous trolls, with Jhank and Gemwin at the front and Korrin Ironaxe and Grom close behind. Korrin falls in battle, ripped in half by a troll, leaving Gemwin or Jhank as the most likely leaders of the dwarves in Runedarth. They confront the demonic Direlord Wartsnak and his fiendish tanarruk bodyguard in the throne room, where Jhank is charmed and Gemwin gets knocked unconscious, before they turn the tide and near victory. At the last moment, the Direlord escapes by a portal, but the territory that his clan occupied is now in the hands of the dwarves, who discover the treasures they left behind.

Grom leads Gemwin, Jhank, Bors, and Hokan, along with a few archers, to invade the territory of the Direlord tribe and take back the halls of Galloglar and Yund for Dwarven glory! They get into a mega-battle against dozens of goblins, orcs, and a couple of ogres, almost dying again and again. After a short rest, they clean out the remaining humanoids and secure the stairway against further incursion by the Direlord tribe.

Hokan, a new dwarf rogue shows up at the Runedarth dwarfhold ruins and leads Jhank, Gemwin, Bors, and Grom in search of treasure in the Halls of Hammers and Mead and the Halls of Hammered Stone sublevels, where they encounter gricks and darkmantles. Then they charge up the back stairs into Direlord Tribe territory and slaughter a room of goblins and multiple rooms of orcs, setting the stage for a large-scale assault on Direlord territory. This episode is extra-raucous with lots of loud laughter!

Jhank leads Gemwin, Bors, and Grom down to the lowest level of Runedarth - The Halls of Hammers and Mead, where they examine a pillar of sealed portals and then proceed into the Hall of the Pool. There, after defeating the gargoyles who dwell there, Jhank experiments with the controls to a large fountain to try to shut off the corrupt water flowing out of the mountain. They are able to get clean water flowing, then go down to explore the access tunnels to the cisterns and find one with clean water and another with corrupt water. They also explore a little bit of the Halls of Hammered Stone level, finding a route from the pool room to an exterior entrance.

Artvirious leads Lysander, Sir Parrik, and Flip into the Feywild to find the missing treant druid Shrubritney. There, the servants of the Dewdrop Man take umbrage with the way the kingdom of Upperthorn is building up industry near the Southwood. Floki's heritage as a descendant of the green dragon Mornagauth is also a source of tension for the archfey, and he is confronted with an ultimatum.

Grom leads Gemwin, Bors, and Hjalmar to explore and re-take the Temple of Mordinsamman in Runedarth. They battle a yellow musk creeper and its zombies, during which both Hjalmar and Bors are slain and implanted with foul plant seeds. Through Moradin's grace, Bors is saved, but Hjalmar is gone forever and only narrowly avoids reanimating as a zombie. Exploring the temple areas, the party finds a unique guardian and explores the top of the mountain, discovering another entrance possibly associated with the necromantic Cult of the Dragon. They also discover a curious statue with an acrid green teardrop. Dropping back down to the Halls of Gallowglar and Yund, they explore part of the disputed level and battle a patrol of the Direlord Tribe.

Dwarf paladin Gemwin Stonefist leads a large expedition of dwarven adventurers and soldiers through the hills and Greypeak Mountains in search of the ruined dwarfhold of Runedarth! With him are forge cleric Bors McCraw, rune knight Jhank Wildpass, and new ranger Hjalmar Heavyhand (with life cleric Grom and his porter Dhosus along as NPCs). They encounter peaceful ettercaps with woolspider livestock, discover some griffon nests and a mysterious grotto cave (unexplored) and the Sapphire Falls along a fork of the Greyflow River. At the ruins of Runedarth, they make contact with Korrin Ironaxe and the dwarves already there, and set about securing a foothold in the dungeon for their troops. The party mows down an orc/goblin patrol and discovers two magical rune circles with beneficial powers. They stay in the dungeon with the goal of retaking the entire dwarfhold for the glory of all dwarves!

Flip takes over as leader for Za Za Hounddog Jenkins, Grom, Lysander, and new dragonborn monk Kathar Videro, who seems very interested in Flip. They have a tricky battle in a narrow hallway with some vicious redcaps - Za Za goes to death saves four separate times. They all drink from a strange magical fountain and Flip becomes wiser. Za Za almost drowns after finding his way through a flooded passage. The group discovers a kuo-toa shrine (Oop! Ooop!) and fights a few of them, then recovers some treasure including a Deck of Illusions before fleeing the kuo-toa reinforcements. Za Za is given to the nixie Kallista to nurse back to health and serve her for a year, and the rest of the party makes it to civilization in Rickety Bridge. Mike reads a letter received by Gemwin that promises adventure near Axeholm next time...