Session 2
General Summary
The group crossed the bridge to the huge stone door that led into the Fire Giant controlled section
of the old dwarven stronghold. They opened it and slipped inside to be challenged by the fire giant
who originally guarded the bridge and was clearly still injured. He was holding a leash with 4
snarling hell hounds! The party made short work of the dogs and the injured giant and began to
search the rooms in the immediate area. As they were doing so, another giant stumbled upon them.
He was fairly quickly dispatched but he did shout and scream. A short while later another giant
arrived with 6 hell dogs on leashes. Again the party made quick work of the dogs but the giant
began to wear them down with huge sweeps of his vicious two handed sword. Moments later two
new giants arrived through the smoky corridor - one wearing a cook's uniform, and the other
dressed in full plate mail. The party were suddenly faced with 3 fully armed giants, including the
giant chief! A tough fight beckoned. The group quickly dispatched one giant, the dog keeper they
had already injured, but the cook and the chief stepped up into the fray side by side. Brave Lady
Fortuna stood to face the chief alone and smote him a mighty blow, but he was only angered
further. With amazing speed and agility and strength beyond belief the giant chieftain struck Lady
Fortuna four telling blows, until she lay in a crumpled heap at the giant's feet. This frenzied attack
set Tor off and he raged into the two remaining giants, with support from Arundel's magic and
Flek's bow. The cook was soon dead, but so was Lady Fortuna. The chieftain surrendered and the
group agreed to let him go in exchange for information on how to find Ashardalon's lair.
Arundel used one of the abilities of the Key of Seven Stars and teleported Fortuna's body back to
The Cathedral in Littlebrook. There he spoke with Cardinal O'Connor and explained the situation.
The next day the Cardinal prayed to Pelor and the god of healing returned Lady Fortuna's spirit to
her body and repaired it as good as new. Her time on the earth was not done and she was destined
to do more for the god of Albion before he claimed her for his own. Cardinal O'Connor gave the
knight and sorcerer a collection of healing potions and Arundel once again used the Key's Magic
to return the pair to Khazabard.
The rest of the group had been busy and had searched Khazabard and recovered all the giants'
treasure. They had also found the secret staircase that the chieftain had said lead up to
Ashardalon's lair. They opened the secret door and slowly and cautiously ascended the stairs. The
staircase was actually many miles long and it took them over a day to climb it, being very careful
and going very slowly and cautiously. Eventually they came out into a dwarven constructed
hallway with a single door in it. The heat was overwhelming. They cast a myriad of protection
spells, quaffed potions of protection from fire and opened the door onto Ashardalon's lair.
Ahead of them was a huge cavern, dotted with stalagmites, the ground was covered with great
claw marks, many feet deep. The air was thick and acrid, making visibility short. The air stung
their eyes and made breathing difficult. The heat was so intense the sweat started to burst from
them and they tasted the salty sweat in the mouths. They crept forward into the cavern. This one
seemed big but it opened out into an even bigger cavern, which was a bed of molten lava
crisscrossed with a lattice of natural bridges and spans of hard granite. This cavern rose up into the
sky and high up on one side a vent opened to the air. That was Dragon's Perch.
As they moved carefully into the smoky, sulphuric cavern, crossing the natural bridges and spans,
slowly out of the hazy air ahead of them they began to make out the colossal skeleton of a dragon,
lying in the middle of the lava filled cave. It was easily one hundred feet long and perfectly
preserved.
The group moved on cautiously past this monolith and on to the back of the cavern where a third
chamber was found. This one was piled high with gold, platinum, gems and items of excellent
construction. The fire giants had been getting the dwarves to make weapons and armour as tribute
to give to Ashardalon and they were all here. Lady Fortuna gasped as she recognized a suit of
armour in the pile. It was the Hell shield Armour - her father's! What was it doing here? Did this
explain what had happened to him? They collected all the enchanted items from the treasure pile
and also found a journal - the journal of Lady Fortuna's father, Sir Francis Llud. It made grim
reading.
Suddenly the group felt a rushing of air behind them and plummeting out of the sky inside the
main chamber came a sleek, evil, scarlet, deadly and beautiful shape - Ashardalon! The dragon
landed in the main chamber near the bones of the huge dragon and his landing shook the earth. He
demanded to know what the group were doing in his lair and why they were stealing his trinkets.
After a small amount of banter with the evil dragon, all hell broke lose. Arundel lightning bolted
Blaze, but the powerful beast just shook it off, and launched himself into the air. Once out of the
reach of the fighters the dragon cast spells to protect himself. Flek pelted him with arrows and
Arundel blasted him with spells but the Dragon's skin was thick and he was protected with
powerful defensive spells. They were hardly affecting him. Again the dragon plummeted and
rather than breathing fire as they expected he landed on the two elves with crushing force, then
sprang into the air before they could react. Time and again he employed this tactic, until the group
decided they needed to get him to the ground and into combat with them. They did that by starting
to leave with his treasure. This enraged the dragon and he breathed his magical fire on them, but
their many protective magics held out. The battle was about even when Tor decided that he would
force Ashardalon to land. He took his mighty blade and hacked a huge chunk out of the perfectly
preserved skeleton of the colossal dragon. "NO ONE ATTACKS MY FATHER!!!" screamed the
dragon and came hurtling down to earth with a resounding crash, biting, clawing and smashing the
barbarian till he was prone and on the brink of death. The party took this opportunity to unleash
everything they had on the massive dragon and it was just enough! The mighty Ashardalon was
vanquished for all time by the Heroes of Pelor! They had even escaped alive...
Report Date
10 Apr 2024
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