Session 10
General Summary
Our heroes set off through the rain, out of the town down the sodden track which led to Quail
Keep. As they went Elijah confided in them about a quiet conversation he had had with Boris
Stenker, the landlord of the Lonesome Drake inn. It appeared that Regis Baum had offered Elijah
a good deal on his Pembrose Red if the Halfling could find out how come Boris had got the inn
very cheap when he bought it two years ago. Elijah had approached Boris and begun talking to
him about the inn. Boris had confided in Elijah that he had a bit of a problem. Two weeks ago
Boris had discovered a door in his cellar, hidden behind some old shelving. The door was
padlocked and bolted from this side, meaning whoever had locked it was trying to keep something
out. Boris could not find a key to the padlock. He suspected that this door was the reason the
previous owner had sold him the inn cheaply. Boris had asked Elijah if he could find out what was
behind the door and offered him fifty imperials to do so � but requested his discretion at the same
time. Of course Elijah agreed. Boris had taken Elijah down into the cellar to see the door and the
Halfling reported that he felt opening the padlock would be fairly easy. So he suggested it was
some easy money the team could earn after they had returned from dealing with Vordek the wight
at the Keep. The team agreed.
An hour or so into their journey to the keep Fett reported spotting a wagon on the trail ahead. He
told the group it looked like a farmer and so they decided to speak to him. The farmer, who
introduced himself as Jake, was on his way to sell some vegetables at the market in town. He
asked about the road ahead and was told other than rain there was nothing to worry about. When
Fett asked Jake if there was anything odd going on in the area, Jake replied that strangely
something weird had happened a couple of evenings ago. He had seen Delvo, the mad dwarf,
sitting atop a huge wolf, looking down at his farm. As was often the case Delvo was talking to
himself � or his wolf � as there was no one else around to be seen. The whole episode rather
scared Jake. Fett told him that if he saw anything further he should bring word to the group at the
Lonesome Drake. Jake promised he would and the two said their goodbyes.
Shortly thereafter the group arrived back at Quail Keep. All was as they had left it so after a quick
reconnaissance they returned into the dungeon below the keep and pulled out all the stakes which
Elijah had used to block the doors into the dungeon from Vordek�s lair. Prince Lynott then drew
his sword and pushed the door open, carefully moving into the darkness ahead. He muttered a
House Snow word of power and the blade on his sword sprung to light with an icy blue-white
glow. He could see piles and piles of neatly stacked bones in the chamber beyond. Moving in,
with Elijah and Fett dropping into the shadows behind them, Jaina and Lynott edged forward.
Lynott nudged the bones with his sword, disturbing a neat pile and causing it to crash to the
ground. A low wailing cry could be heard from the darkness, �Who disturbs my bones?�, it
cried. The group readied for the approach of the wight, Vordek. But then they heard him calling
out to his �children�, telling them to rise up and destroy the defilers who had disturbed his
bones. Deciding it was best to move forward and take the wight on before he had gathered too
many of his children to him the group rushed down the natural tunnel into the darkness.
The tunnel spilled out into a huge chamber that their lights could not completely illuminate. The
ground was soft earth and there were piles and piles of it heaped up where shambling shadowy
figures had crawled out of their graves and were now lurching forward. These dead bodies were
groaning forbiddingly and shuffling in towards Lynott and his icy glowing sword. In the darkness
at the back of the chamber Vordek�s voice could be heard calling his children to attack. Then
suddenly an arrow flew from the darkness and would have pierced Lynott had he not had quick
reactions. With a flick of his hand he summoned a magical barrier which the arrow ricocheted off.
Vordek screamed in frustration and fired another arrow which flew wide of its mark. The zombies
were surrounding Lynott now. Arrows from Fett and sling bullets from Elijah were doing a job of
slowing them but as the bodies were already dead they were having problems really stopping
them. Then Jaina stepped forward calling upon the power of Pelor. Her new relic from the god
glowed with holy light and Vordek screamed and covered his eyes. His zombie host recoiled from
the holy power of Jaina and moved back away from Jaina, unable to function in the holy glow.
Vordek quickly recovered and saw that she would need to be destroyed. He rushed forward
intending to rip her apart with his claws. But that brought him in slight of Elijah and his sling
bullets. A bullet flew and Vordek toppled. Two arrows from Fett pinned him to the ground and
Lynott blasted him with ice magic, finally snuffing the undead life out of the evil wight. Jaina kept
the zombie horde at bay and the others finished them off with missiles and spells. Soon all was
quiet.
The chamber was searched but nothing much was found, apart from a previously hidden tunnel
out of the south corner of the room. Jaina set to consecrating the graves of all the children of
Vordek � some sixty in total � whilst Elijah and Fett explored the new tunnel to the south. They
returned a short time later telling tales of a further chamber and a couple of small locked chests.
With Jaina having completed her consecration of the graves the group moved into the next room.
Elijah checked the chests and found a trap in the lock of one. Everyone backed away and then he
tried to disable the trap. A cool head and steady fingers meant this was no trouble for the
experienced Halfling and soon he also had the two chests opened. They contained a golden
bracelet and imperial coins from a few years ago � probably Vordek�s stash. As this was
happening Fett�s elven eyes had spotted a further tunnel leading to the south west.
The group moved into this new tunnel and started off down it. It lead approximately south west
and they soon realised it was leading on and on. They were heading into the Underdark proper.
They stopped and had a discussion on whether they should follow this tunnel or not. They
reasoned that it appeared to be leading towards the village of Pembrose and thought that it would
be interesting to follow. None of them had been in the Underdark before and they were not really
sure what they were letting themselves in for � even in this shallow depth of tunnels. But on they
pressed. The tunnel lead mostly south west for miles and miles. There were occasional side
passages � but they were all obviously sub-passages and they ignored them. In places the tunnel
grew thin. In places it expanded out into small chambers. At times underground streams crossed
the tunnel and they needed to be jumped or forded. In places denizens of this dark foreboding
place had placed wooden planks across these streams. The group moved carefully onwards, and
time seemed to blur. Lynott and Jaina used the light of the Prince�s sword to see by and the elf
and hobbit ranged ahead in the darkness their superior vision watching for hidden dangers.
Incredibly the group travelled some six or seven miles underground without any event when
eventually the tunnel lead out into a huge chamber. This chamber was covered with orc totems �
signs of the Green Eye orc tribe, which the party had not heard of. Fett and Elijah scouted out the
grounds and found three sub-chambers off the main area. Each was through a door with a word of
some description scribed above the door in orcish. Elijah took rubbings of the words for later
translation. Behind the doors were small antechambers with sarcophagi in them. Deciding they
didn�t want to mess with this place the group passed through it, finding a passage out the far
side. This new passage lead to a cave in and nearby this to an iron bound oak door �which Elijah
realised was the very same mysterious door which Boris Stenker had shown him earlier that day!
In fact, pressing his ear against it Elijah could make out sounds of a noisy and jolly taproom
drifting down into the cellar beyond.
Unfortunately Elijah realised that this door was barred on the other side and also was further
locked with a padlock. How was he supposed to get through it from this side? Fortunately this
group of adventurers were both resourceful and creative. Jaina muttered a small prayer and a holy
warming light sprang to life in the cellar the other side of the door. Elijah slipped a tool through
the crack in the door and with the bar silhouetted by Jania�s spell he was able to see it and lift it
clear. This left the padlock � which would be next to impossible to open from here. Were it not
for Jaina. Incanting another prayer Jaina summoned a ghostly looking disembodied hand in the
cellar. The hand grabbed the padlock and turned it around so that Elijah could see it. It also moved
the padlock in line with the tiny crack in the door so that he could just about access it. Elijah then
concatenated a couple of his tools together to elongate them and with a steady hand Elijah was
able to pick the padlock! This amazing feat of cooperation and dexterity completed, the group
were able to open the door and get into the cellar beneath the Lonesome Drake � from the
Underdark.
The group began to divest themselves of their armour and weapons � not wanting to appear in the
common room out of the cellar in full adventuring gear. Elijah popped up and found Boris. Elijah
was surprised to see it was dark outside; clearly it had taken a very long time to navigate their way
back to the village through the twisty and turny passages of the Underdark. Boris was even more
surprised to see out heroes in his cellar! They did not reveal from where they had come but they
explained they had come through the door from the other side. They told Boris of the orc burial
ground the other side of his cellar door and the landlord was clearly upset about this fact! He
asked them to go and check that it was safe and not tell anyone as it would ruin business but the
heroes said they had to report this to Lord Kyle. Boris agreed they probably should but asked them
to maintain their discretion less his customers all leave in fear. The group agreed.
The party spent a quiet evening in the tap room. Lynott spoke to the Minx brothers who were in
the inn. He asked them about dragons and draconic lore. Elijah asked them what they knew of the
Green Eye orc tribe � and discovered that these orcs had been wiped out years ago � they were
one of the garrison�s first successes. Regis Baum spoke to Elijah, asking him if he had made any
progress with Boris but Elijah told him it was an on-going project and would take some time.
That night Drax, now in possession of the demonstone which had been crafted by Belzur Orloff
the demonologist, had a powerful dream. He dreamt of Delvo Frostfire and his deurgar
companion, Bak. The two were sat in a comfortable dining room in what looked like cosy room �
apart from the fact it was clearly underground in a cave of some sort. Tapestries lined the walls,
along with book shelves. Rugs lined the floor and a fire roared in a hearth. The two dwarves were
chatting and sharing pipeweed and an ale. Drax also noted the very plush looking waistcoat which
Delvo was wearing. What were the two dwarves plotting?
The next day, the 5th of September dawned. In the common room one of Lord Kyle�s guards was
putting up a notice. This notice was calling for anyone interested in joining the newly formed
Quail Militia to go and see Constable Wershaw at the prison. The pay seemed good � but not
compared to what could be made adventuring. But at least it showed Lord Kyle was indeed going
to put the garrison back together.
After breakfast the party headed up to the manor of Lord Kyle. They reported their success in
finding and defeating Vordek the wight and his undead children. They told of finding a
passageway which lead all the way back into Pembrose and an ancient orc burial ground right
under the town itself. This clearly worried Lord Kyle and he entreated our heroes to go and
explore the burial chambers and make sure they were safe. In their usual mercenary fashion they
agreed to do so � for a small fee, with extra if they had to fight anything down there. Lord Kyle
said that as far as he was concerned this orc burial chamber was more pressing that the tunnels
beneath the keep � as it was directly beneath the town. So the group agreed to go and look at that
immediately. They also discussed with him the possibility of bricking up the door when they were
finished to protect the inn and town from any marauders from the Underdark and about keeping
the discovery a secret. Of course Lord Kyle agreed � also happy to keep this fact under wraps.
Saying their goodbyes to their patron the group returned to the village and prepared to enter the
cellar once more, this time to explore the orc burial grounds which lay beyond�
Report Date
10 Apr 2024
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