Secrets of Dourstone Hall, Part II

General Summary

Flamerule 13th - Year of Rogue Dragons

The party then decided to focus on securing Dourstone Hall. Reed opened the front gates and lured the outer guards into an ambush, which the dwarven crossbowmen joined. It was a lopsided battle, and the Seven, now Five, were quickly victorious. They decided to send the prisoners to Hammerfall Hall to inform Kirin of their progress and gain the clan's assistance in shutting down Dourstone Hall.     Once the prisoners were on their way, the party continued to scour the Hall. Finding a group of Dourstone warriors in the dining hall, Tai let loose a fireball which wiped out half of them and significantly damaged the others, causing them to fall in short order. Off the dining hall they found a few servants chained in the kitchens, with the remains of a former servant who must have continued to serve as a zombie before being destroyed.     They determined that the chambers to the east of the foyer were clan quarters and came upon a number of bedchambers, a workshop suffering from neglect. Finally they found the well room which was guarded by a pair of dwarven hammerers. Once the party had engaged the hammerers, a dwarven wizard opened the far door, attempting to fireball them all. Tai was able to interrupt the spell before it took effect.     Unfortunately for the dwarven wizard, Reed was able to weave through the combat to land a stunning blow, which proved deadly for the mage.     A thorough search of the dwarven wizard's suite of rooms turned up his spellbook. It took another search to find the secret door behind his bookcase, which was alarmed with a long cackling laughter.     Behind the bookcase a cramped passage, never wider than four-feet and never reaching six-foot high led down into the mountain. At the end, they found a chasm spanned by a rickety bridge. Across the bridge were the derro. A derro spellcaster was ready for them, but Tai quickly counterspelled his opening shot. As the warriors moved to engage the derro, four chaos warriors climbed up the chasm walls and attacked the second rank of the party. After Halorin's spell made him fly, Reed's stunning strike again disabled the derro spellcaster.     The chaos warriors moved into and out of battle, breaking off from one combatant to target another, with no rhyme or reason. The heavily-armored derro engaged Ulfgar on the bridge until one of them began jumping up and down, causing Ulfgar and the derro to plummet to the bottom of the chasm. There, unfortunately for the derro, Ulfgar was able to take advantage of the difficult terrain by keeping the derro warriors prone.     Soon the battle was won, but the Seven Now Five heard more derro ahead. They cut the bridge down and moved back to a safer location, awaiting reinforcements.