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Wed 28th Nov 2018 06:20

Crushing the Dourstones

by Pagu

Reed strolls up to main Gates of the Dourstone clan hold and knocks to get the attention of the guards on the outside who haven't heard the fighting deeper inside the clan hold... "Um... The Thane wants you in the Great Hall," quips the smirking hin, "praise be the King in Yellow." The dwarf angrily opens the door snarling, "them ain't the words," and charges into the hold's entry hall after Reed followed by his fellow guardsman... The crossbomen manning the murderholes guarding the front gate open the doors from their hard points to follow the door guards into the entry hall but Pagu and Ulfgar were waiting for the doors to open and hacked down the first set of crossbomen... Tai, Reed, and Hallorin pummeled, hoodwinked, stabbed, and electrocuted the doorguards in the entry hall while Ulfgar and I continued to hack through a pair of crossbomen each to then turn and finish off the doorguards from behind... The Magnificent Seven now control the main Gates if the Dourstone Clan hold! Praise be to Tempus!
 
We send the prisoners with a letter to Ulfgar's father, the Thane of Clane Hammerfall... While awaiting the authorities we clear the rest of the Clan hold... In the clan's dining hall a force of Dourstones are feasting, the festivities end prematurely when our elven bladesinger whips a fireball into the center of the diners... Most of the lesser warriors are killed or nearly killed by the blast... Hallorin covers the remaining warriors in a ghostly faire fire, eerily guiding our strikes truer and deeper... Ulfgar and I wade into the center of the remaining force, him pinning down the maul weilding veterans and I assault the Dourstone Captain at Arms... Reed's karate finishes off the remaining crossbomen reeling from the fireball... Before long the last of the Dourstone military might is broken and bent before the Seven... A search of the kitchens beyond reveals several chained and abused cooks which are beyond console so we leave them for the , hopefully soon to incoming, authorities...
 
Pushing on through the rest of the clan hold, we come across a guarded well... We cross steel and the melee draws the attention of an elder Dourstone, an arcanist who joins the fight... Tai counterspells the Dourstone's own fireball which really gets the old goat really, really angry... Once the veteran guards were dealt with, the crazy uncle Dourstone easily falls to our combined might. Tai and Hallorin scour the wizard, his room, and study for magic or clues... Tai found some spell books and a few valuable tomes of lore... Hallorin finds a release latch that sounds open a stone bookshelf to reveal a crude passageway...
 
We follow this tiny (to my frame) tunnel to a chasm and rickety bridge over it... As Ulfar crosses it several derro emerge from tunnels on the far side and attack him... Several derro hidden by clinging to the chasm wall climb up and charge splitting Ulfgar from Pagu and them from the rest of the Seven stuck in the passageway... The greater derro warriors try to breach Ulfgar's defense but he keeps them at bay and slowly whittles the guards down... Hallorin enchants his fellow hin, Reed, with a flight spell and Reed flts into attack mode like an enraged spider money... Flying across the chasm and above Ulfgar, the hin monk rains down stunning blows from above on the derro veterans and sorcerer... Surrounded by derro on the near ledge the Rageborn paladin starts giving the derro the boot and sends several falling into the chasm below... The only clear danger the Seven faced was when a tactical fallback by Ulfgar is stopped on the bridge, two derro jumped on and starting doing jumping jacks to crash it with the dwarven warrior on it... Luckily Ulfgar lands like a cat and dispatchs the injured derro on the chasm floor...
 
"They were laughing, laughing as I punted them over the ledge and 50' down... Crazy ass derro... I swear They are the hobbits of the Underdark..."
 
As we catch our breath and I lower a rope if Ulfgar... Our scouting report sounds of derro forces in the tunnels on the far side of the chasm... Next move ...