Pagu
Pagu Haraadar of Palischuck, Sworn Battle Brother of Crom's Hold... Whetted of Tempus
Physically imposing grey skinned warrior with bright blue eyes and a joyful smile, Pagu is large and surprisingly limber… 6’5" and 280lbs with grey skin, black hair, and blue eyes with lightly pointed incisors….
Clearly a trained Warrior, wearing breastplate armour over rugged well made traveling clothes…. An iron holy symbol of Tempus hangs from a cord on his neck… Hand axe and dagger hang on his hips as a great sword lays slung over one shoulder with a bow and quiver hanging over the other…
The first HaRaadDar arrived in Palischuk over a hundred years ago…. We are hardy shepherds, foragers, merchants, and of course warriors… Today our clan can deliver nearly two score warriors to the defense of our home… We stretch 4 generations and led by our patriarch PoDyus… We are well regarded by the public and side with the conservatives in the body politic of the Rageborn city state…
My story is atypical… My parents were told my birth was blessed by the Stars but it turned into an I’ll omen.. My father died while I was still in my mother’s womb, and she passed in childbirth… I was adopted by my father’s barren sister Sildarra a retired sellsword. Raised by her and my uncle Justinian who was an adventurer early in his life, a priest of Tempus… He fell in love with a fierce half orc beauty and ended up a half a world away, a vested brother in the temple of Tempus, Cromm’s Hold… I was afforded the fiercest and toughest training and love an orphan could ask for… It was fun growing up around Valhalla…
During the troubles the Witch King brought to our lands my Aunt fell in glorious battle… It troubled me much… restless Now that I am a man my uncle bade me travel the land and let my blade find the road Tempus set for me…
Frack it, Let's just Jump Through the Fire...
Well this is a pickle... We have a huge blind northern cave troll tied to a chain next to the crank we need to raise up to get on to get down into our destination, the ruined remains of the Demon Prince Mu Taan La's fortress, Slaughterguard... Much like Tai would have done, Tinkerson just wanted to firebolt the beast from afar and be done with it but Goodbarrel strikes up a conversation with the troll and uses hams and ales from his bag of holding to try to turn the troll to our favor... The beast has a modicum of cunning and offers some cooperation... It raises the platform and by that we deduce it's only a short 15-25 foot drop... With that knowledge in hand and my tremendous insight telling me a ruse is afoot I tell Tinkerson to let loose... We fall back to the previous stockade and Big Red starts to light the troll up... Like I predicted, the attack was all the motivation the troll needed to break free... He charges our position but we box him in between Ulfgar, Reed, and myself with Tinkerson able to move around and still rain down the necessary fire to keep the creature from regenerating... The troll is able to inflict some tremendous damage when he lands blows with the heavyweight chain formerly used on him but we are able to fell him and burn away the remaining bits...
We catch our breath and prepare to venture down the hole... Luckily it's only a short climb... As we set forth from the base of the elevator we quickly see the surrounding rock turn to the strange greenish substance that indicated a remnant of Slaughterguard... Guarding this foyer are two mighty frost giants... Whoever is in charge of this gnoll tribe must be special indeed to have frost giants and cave trolls bent to his or her cause... Not wasting time Iluminus springs into action!
Ulfgar and I take on one giant while Reed and Big Red intercept the other... The Giants woefully underestimate our prowess... Ulfgar's and my actions surges create a barrage of critical blows, smites, and power attacks that make short work of our giant... Reed and Red's assault go similar... In a moment of dangerous levity their giant, after being subjected withering flurries of blows from the hin monk, picks up Reed and flings him at the rear wall... Luckily a monk is a poor choice of ammunition for that trick and Goodbarrel escapes without too much damage... With the remaining giant felled we have the courtyard foyer to what we believe to be the "Armoury" section of Slaughterguard...
Here also are 4 flaming archways of a similar nature to what we encountered in a previous segment of the demonic fortress... Without anyone trained in the ways of arcana we are unable to manipulate the gateways and Iluminus is at a stalemate... While we wait and debate over how to proceed we notice the is a rumbling in the complex coupled with a venting of air in and out of the gates... It takes a minute but Ulfgar remembers enclosed elevator shafts in dwarven facilities having venting patterns like that... We decide to risk the flames... We time it to when we believe the elevator is down and we dash into the portal... We all suffer potentially grievous burns but some have resistance to fire damage and that lessons the threat to the group and the danger is equal again when we have to deal with the fire gate at the top when the elevator rises in a couple of minutes....
We emerge, all terrible burned but alive and we use the last of our precious healing potions to get us back into fighting shape... Just in time because the first armoury we entered has a gnoll priest an a flind, a gnoll blessed with Yeenoghu's favor and supernatural might... Normally a leader in any tribe but here just an elite guard... Curious indeed... We are able to make short work of the two.. and on both bodies we find little green pins made from the Slaughterguard stone that seems to respond to the scan from the Arches and turn them off temporarily... So Reed puts one on, doesn't wait, and sprints down to the other fire archway...
I'm pretty sure, "I'm bringing the party to you," means something different in the Halfling Downs than in Palischuck, as Reed comes screaming back with two demonic beasts in tow... Large as the biggest dire wolves I've ever seen complete with chitin plates, bony spikes, and whip-like tails unnaturally ended in poison dripping stingers... Straight out of a demon prince's dream... So Big Red and I brace for the charge in the doorway... The first one barrels in and unleashes a devastating bite on me while the other teleports by us into our backline... Being true demons, Reed's and my divine smites bite extra deep and we are able defeat the fiend engaged with us... Reed and Ulfgar are able to hold off the other fiend until we are able to come and finish it off... Reed babbles about tieflings and a room beyond the other fire arch so don't want to give them time to prepare and we race off to face this next threat...
The token does it's job and the flames diminish to reveal several tieflings, two warriors and a mage... Ulfgar charges the stairwell disarming one warrior and knocks him off said stairs... From his perch on the stairwell, Ulfgar shouts out the mage turned invisible... Nick, Reed, and I rain blows on the prone warrior quickly finishing him off... A fireball explodes all around us testing the limits of how much damage we can absorb... We push into the room beyond the stairwell and I engage my higher self and channel a divine sense to try to pin point the invisible tiefling by sensing his fiendish nature.. I point out his location, just in time to see a cone of elemental frost blast out from said location...
Things get dark from there... my tether to the mortal coil seems tenures at best, and Just as I feel the light touch of the valkyrie preparing to lift me up to Warrior's Rest to drink with my ancestors by the Foe Hammer's side I feel myself dragged back to the light and open my eyes as a Pagu-sickle, Still nearly encased in frost... To a smirking Big Red saying, "we ain't done with you yet"... And then the cold recedes and the pain sets in... They never talk about the pain in the songs do they... Well the battle seems done at least as I struggle to shatter out of the remaining ice as I collapse against the wall and await what comes next...
Gnolls Galore!
As I spin and swing my great sword just over the helm of my good friend Ulfgar I feel the blade dig slice through the tundra gnoll's thick shaggy hide and slice sinew and muscle... Ulfgar hacks out the knees and ends the beast with an upper cut swing that opens him from cock to chest bone... I look to my side and see Big Red finishing off the last two gnolls on him and the two halflings tag teaming the gnoll packmaster with Reed's fists and Hallorin's spells... As the packmaster falls I look back over the hill top to see if the fight drew any attention from our Target below.... Luckily the yips, snarls, roars, and general commotion from the Adept's ruined camp coupled with our distance from it kept our battle with the scouting party from alerting the greater horde... We go back to observing the scene... It felt good to get back into combat and feel the bloodrush and adrenaline of battle after a month or so of soft city life... The big half orc paladin reminisces on what brought them here to the wilds of Western Vassa...
While we waited for Hammerfall's people to sort out the mess over the Dourstone's mines we had some times to ourselves... I spent the first few weeks traveling to Bloodstone City treating with the scholars of the Black Wing Library and at the Damaran Gate dealing with the Order of the Golden Cup at their great Bastion... At both I trade my stories, notes, and fears about the Blackfyre Adepts for their information on them... Those sessions pointed me to this valley in West Vasa as a point of interest and likely a location for a fragment of Slaughterguard...
Back to the scene below... The Adept's camp looks freshly slaughtered by the gnoll band... More disturbing is next to the savaged Adepts camp is the actual gnoll camp and amongst it are several tents of giant size... Not a good sign... After watching the camp we see a path along the right side that has the fewest gnoll bands... We attempt an approach...
In the camp we unfortunately round the corner of one tent into the face of a large gnoll band.... Right away Reed speeds around the flank and cripples one of the gnoll priests... The other priest sees the destruction Reed's fists rain and casts a spell of banishment on him! The rest of the gnolls charges our battle line... Ulfgar, Nick, and I take the charge and fight back while shielding Hallorin.... I hack down the gnoll on me and make a run at the gnoll priest maintaining the banishment... Hallorin kills the heavily wounded priest with an eldritch blast as I land blows on the other... It's still not enough to break his hold on the banishment... Ulfgar and Big Red keep the majority of the warband locked down and slowly hack through them... Finally I carve down the last priest freeing Reed from his banishment, then I run back and attack the remaining gnolls from the rear... Reed does chase down the one packlord that had withdrawn and was firing bowshots... After the last of that band falls we regroup and sneak towards the cleft in the cliff face we believe heads to our dungeon....
After sneaking by a another group of gnolls we get into the tunnel to find a guarded gate... We quickly finish off these gnolls and manage to get inside... This tunnel leads to another strong point guarded by more gnolls... This time the see us and rain arrows down on us... Reed is able to streak right up the wall and bring to fight to a couple of the archers on one side... Tinkerson trades firebolts with arrows on the single archer... Ulfgar and I take a few minutes but eventually he gives me the lift I need to get over the stockade... Once I'm on the other side and open the gates we all pour through and quickly finish off the remaining gnolls thought poor Reed is nearly smashed senseless since he held off two of the vicious gnolls on his own....
Taking a moment to survey our surroundings on this side of the stockade we see a giant elevator platform similar to the one in the Dourstone's mine complex... The only difference is that instead of a winch there is a huge cave troll with a helmet on and tied to ... It seems to be the mechanism by which the winch works... It greets us with a rumbling, "Who goes there..."
Resolutions and Salutations!
Iluminus decides to take a short break in the deep drake's lair... Figuring most things won't disturb a drake in it's lair it would be safe there... Needing the rest to shake off the effects of wounds and refresh mystical prowess... As Hallorin strings out a spell of magical detection Ulfgar and Reed scoop coin and valuables into various sacks to be put into Reed's bag of holding... I stew in a seething rage over my un-glorious ineptitude during the drake fight...
Eventually we pack up and head on... Further into the caves we encounter Underdark vermin know as grick .. The glorified serpents with extra fangs fall easily to our might... Just beyond the grick, a colony of grimlocks layered... Strong yet short and blind grimlocks do possess keen hearing, smell, and tremorsense... A cruel and barbarous species, they are often used as slave labor by other Underdark denizens... They heard our fight against the grick and we're ready for us... We charge, they charge... We first fell the biggest brutes then hack through the remaining warriors... Hearing more deeper on, Big Red stalked ahead... We give him a moment then slink forward...
He then comes running back screaming, "Gorgon!"... Hearing the hoots of more grimlocks scrambling towards us As he rushes past I set to receive the charge of the iron skinned bull monster and hold my breath to protect myself from the gorgon's poison breath... When to my surprise I see a scantily clad and busty lass round the corner into the chamber... Unfortunately the sexy woman also a face of pure hatred with yellow red snake eyes and instead of hair a host of serpents writhe and hiss... The Medusa's eyes meet mine... She hisses and I feel her malice and madness pour into her gaze and I feel my soul start to stiffen... There amidst a battle line with my companions and her grimlocks, I roar out, "Tempus" and open up my heart and let the rage out and defy her petrification! I invoke a vow of enmity on the Medusa and in a surge of action, rain a series of blows ending in divine smites upon the monster! Most of my companions avert their gaze and land strikes upon the grimlocks felling them left and right... But not our most famous hin... Goodbarrel also finds a way to get past the monster's gaze and charges it, landing series of karate strikes on the nearly defeated Medusa knocking out what life was left in the monster... After defeating the remaining grimlocks the complex is our!
As we investigate the Medusa's room we find another secret door to the Underdark waterway we found earlier... Nick takes the Medusa's head and Ulfgar and I take the drake's head... We call out to the guards on the winch... Between the drake and medusa heads coupled with copious bragging the guards are amazed eagerly start heading our plans for defending the Undermines... We meet Lt Ryden and even Commander Dun at the Dourstone complex and makes some basic plans for the future of the mines... It's seems our immediate circumstances are victorious and glorious! I head out from the meeting to get this dream head stuffed and get a bath and massage...
Oh Great...Humans and their "Laws"
Well this is a pickle... Ulfgar, Nickolas, and I are all stuck here at the bottom of the broken chain to the upper mines with two slightly crazy Him up top in charge of solving the situation... At least the two halves of the chain has been lashed together with several cords of rope...We take the chain off the platform removing the bulk of the weight the rope reinforcements have to bear... We determine its Strong enough to hold the chains together for lifting one at a time... So that's the good news... Bad news is that Reed says he hears activity in the upper mines... Sounds like town guards investigating the mess upstairs... Great... We decide to send Ulfgar up first since this is his job... I have reservations because he isn't the best speaker and I don't know how much damage the Hin will have done to our cause.... But we send him up anyways...
After a short time the chain is lowered with a human soldier wearing the livery of the Bloodstone army, not the Virdin constables... Not so great... You can tell he is shook... Nickolas and I greet the Sargent and We warn him of the dangers still here in the cavern and of the remaining prisoners we are protecting... Still not treating us like the heroes we deserve to be treated like, and after his interrogation of the prisoners, he agrees to our plan of sending them up one at a time... We successfully evacuate out...
To my surprise we are told we are going to be detained instead of treated as heroes... We are led to the local Garrison and are imprisoned... I do have to admit we are treated well and our possessions are not taken... One by one we are interrogated and held overnight again... I am nervous this small mining town will use this as excuse to make examples of a bunch of non human strangers... I rashly chide Ulfgar for not asking for dwarven support since this was being done for Ironspur... I start looking for ways to bust out... In The morning the Lieutenant in charge makes his decisions... First, he declined to arrest us for any crimes... Good! Secondly, He then charges us with clearing out the remaining menace in the Undermines... We accept and spend a day or two preparing for a return assault...
After repairing the chain we head back to the mines... The complex is completely controlled by the Bloodstone military... I don't like it... I feel the dwarves, especially my buddy's clan, are going to get cheated out of this resource... The Lieutenant in charge stops my companions and questions them about their former adventuring party the Magnificent Seven... We head back down...
We decide to clear out the gargoyle rookery first... We assault from two different sides... Lacking robust ranged combat options the flying gargoyles appears to be a tough fight... Hallorin's burst of fairy fire opens the battle and makes striking the illuminated gargoyle's far easier! Reed uses his mobility to leap from ledge to ledge striking where he can and hurling his radiant blast when he can't... Ulfgar tries to grab the flying monsters when they come close allowing me to rush over and strike them... Luckily my hight and the reach of my great sword allow me to land a few extra blows... Nick uses his firebolts to blast the flying beasts... The the fly by attacks from the beast's are random and several land critical blows on me as I tend to end up exposed from risky attacks of my own... Eventually we defeat all the gargoyles except one who flees...
I take a moment to lay hands on myself and guzzle a couple of healing potions then chase after my companions who were chasing the last gargoyle... Luckily they had a dwarf with them so I catch up just as the tunnel they are heading down opens into a large chamber... There waiting in the darkness, suddenly illuminated by Ulfgar's axe, is a draconic monstrosity, a deep drake... A huge beast with wings, fore claws, and a serpentine rear ending in a viscous stinger... It has the advantage on us and it opens it maw and blasts us with green energy... The blast devistates my body and leaves me stunned... To my shame by the time I recover from the poison radiation the battle is over and my companions have felled the monster... A dragon is felled in my presence and the hobbit carney shuckster has equipped himself more glory from it than me... I must atone to Tempus for this...
Despite the grumpy half orc paladin the rest of Iluminus celebrate around the felled dragon and turn their eyes to the large mound of treasure the beast nested amongst....
Kings in Yellow No More
The front line of Iluminus charge forth from the hallway and slam into a line of cultists beserkers protecting the a cult leader in the middle of the ritual chamber dedicated to the King in Yellow... In the melee scrum Ulfgar the dwarven warrior, Big Red the human paladin, and Pagu the half orc paladin hack, hew, slash, and stab against the dwarven beserkers recklessly swinging giant mauls back at the heroes... Skirmishing off the edges of the melee the hobbit monk Reed ignores the beserkers and fires off barrages of raidant shuriken at the Cultist... From the rear Hallorin the hobbit bard uses his magic words to distract and disorient the Cultist and berserkers while supporting his allies with rousing speeches... The Cultist summons a defense from the Far Realms, spectral maws of all viscous types manifest around the cultist and snap at any who dare to get close... The battle is closely contested until one of Reed's radiant shuriken barrages breaks the concentration of the cultist and his magic defense wisps away... Just as that happens, Pagu scores a critical blow against one of the beserkers evening the fight... With an even fight, the melee power of Iluminus destroys the remaining beserkers as the hobbits combine their respective firepower on the newly defenless cultist and down him...
We examine the altar and statue, and loot the dwarf... The yellow "cloth" hung around the carvern is cured skin and a strange yellow mold on the ceiling is the source of the light bouncing off the creepy tapestry to provide the ill illumination to this room... The altar is hallowed to elder Evils and clearly needs to be destroyed but we do not have the tools or time for it at the moment... Most alarmingly is a small chamber in the far back of the ritual room... An eerie yellow mist with the same evil vibe as the voidling in Ironspur... We didn't fully examine it and we head on...
Heading north out of the ritual cavern we head into what can only be called a treasure room... Coin and riches are stashed here, likely the plunder of the many sacrifices and descents into madness done in the prior room.... We return to the searching the cult complex...
We enter the Cult leader's chambers... We find a brilliantly detailed map of the local Underdark and some Intel on the activities of the Derro allies of the cult... Securing Intel and treasure, Iluminus heads on...
Deeper into the complex we enter a large changing room with ritual clothing hung and ready for use... Just off the large dressing room is a hallway with dormitory rooms in them... Big Red goes down and sets watch by the back door... Signaling to us he heard dwarven cultists ahead... We quietly ruffle the footlockers and get read to charge into battle...
The corridor out of the dormitory block leads to a recreation room... Tables and couches with nearly dozen of different dwarven cultists chillaxin... We sorta surprise them... Ulfgar and his little legs storm down the corridor to confront the rest of the Cultist horde and parks himself just past the doorway and hunkers down in a defensive stance... I charge past Ulfgar and off to the Left into a pair of guards playing dice at a table... I Cleave a couple of huge gashs into one, felling him before he realized there was even a fight going on... Tinkerson lumbers into the room and sets a battle line off Ulfgar's flank... Reed monk sprints under Ulfgar and several cult dwarfs to reach the Cult casters in the back of the room... Reed unloads several karate strinkes on each Then sprints back into the corridor....The dwarf guards and beserkers charge at the line of Ulfgar and Big Red... One of the cultists casts a spell of holding and I am paralyzed... I focus my will and try to break the hold the spell had on me... Being paralyzed at least makes me look non-threatening and the dwarf on me leaves me to enter the fray by the doorwAy... one dwarf beserker runs out from the chamber and tries to find a quick route through The complex and attack us from behind... Hallorin sees that and goes to set up an ambush...They five on two melee by the doorway rages on and Reed unleashes more barrages of radiant bolts at the Cultists in the back rank... The melee pushes closer to me and I feel Big Red's aura of protection wash over me that boost is potence over my own aura is enough to help me break the magical paralysis the Cultist cast upon me... Breaking free I charge the cultists in the rear with surprise and drop them both with mighty swings of my great sword... As the beserker who ran to flank us rushes to engage us he runs through a caltrop field and is stopped dead in his tracks by the sharpened spikes... Hallorin mocks the beserker and calls for Reed's help when the beserker ignores the pain of the spikes in his feet and advances albeit slowly... Two of the dwarves fighting in the melee turn and attack me, landing wicked blow after blow... Now at a three on two Ulfgar and Tinkerson gain ground and press the attack... In the back hallways the beserker advances on Hallorin who casts an invisiblity spell at the last moment to escape danger but actually a bit too late and the beserker gashes the tiny hin savagely... Hallorin screams for help and invisibly runs hiding amongst the dormitory... Reed hears his cousin's scream and runs like a lightning bolt to Hallorin's aid... The dwarves on me land two more viscous blows, ribs are fractured, blood gushes, and my vision grows cloudy as I start to fall... I think I see Tempus's great Hall as my lips anticipate the sweet ale inside but instead my Rageborn fury erupts and I spring back up in battle and hack one dwaf down and cleave the other... Meeting me in the middle of the chamber by Hacking through the dwarfs from the other side are my bruised and blood splattered companions Ulfgar and Big Red... We hear the beserker smashing furniture looking for Hallorin so we head back to the dormitory to help... Just as we turn into the dormitory we see Reed deliver a leaping kick to the head of the beserker cracking his neck and dropping the dwarf to the floor...
Bruised, bleeding, and confident most of the threat in the complex is defeated we loot the remaining dwarves and search for hidden chambers... We actually find a secret passage!! It leads to a secret door on the banks of an underground stream... A true entrance to the Underdark...
Heading back to the main cavern with the platform and that winches up to the upper mines we are devistated to see the chain chewed through and one of the dead gargoyle head on top of the winch in a giant fuck you from the remaining gargoyles... Hallorin has an epiphany and runs to the chain... He pulls out his mandolin and plays a tune... The chain link he I standing on rises and rises... Once he is riding the rising link 60 feet off the ground a gargoyle takes flight from a hidden ledge and ains for our little hobbit bard... Ulfgar and I fire several arrows and bolts into the beast at he nears Hallorin but it is a firey bolt from Nickolas's outstretched finger that puts beast down crashing into the cavern floor...
After a few minutes of levitating the chain Hallorin fully extends it and is hovering several hundred feet above the floor and about 3 feet separate the chewed links... Realizing we only have minutes for the levitation Reed uses his freakish monk speed to run up the chain jumping from levitating link to hanging link and run up the rest to master winch... He lowers the upper chain it's last length to create a brief overlap of the chains... In the last minutes of the levitation spell the two hin race to lash together with rope the broken chains...
There we are standing in the lower mines with a great chain held together with hempen rope... Bollox!!
Business Closed
The party books rooms at the Snoring Giant and the fill in the new member, Nicolas "Big Red", on what he needs to know and what we are up against... The human paladin of the Triad is surprisingly and welcomingly non-sceptical and commits to the action... Impressed with his character and virtue and Knowing we will be elbows deep in danger I trade my backup sword and shield to our new member to replace his... Mine carry basic enchantments best used in the hands of a man at war instead of strapped to my back waiting for the worst situations...
We gather Intel on the mines and the town's situation from the staff at the Giant... And after dark we move on the mine... The mine's mouth is secured inside a Fortified wearhouse and office complex carved into the hillside... Our plan is a ruse... We approach under target of several crossbomen on the crenalted rooftop... Ulfgar our salty dwarf warrior brazenly approaches the side door with us accompany and loudly bangs on it... Commotion and hushed dwarven voices can be heard for a moment then the sounds of the door being unbarred and opened... A crusty Foreman's assistant asks what's our business and Ulgar hits him with, "All Hail the King and Yellow"... The dwarf backs off and invites us into the voluminous warehouse... A catwalk circles the second story and is manned by a half dozen more crossbomen... "oh you are here for the rituals... Take you clothes off here and we will fetch the yellow robes..." We spread out to undress and then spring into action...
Ulfgar, Big Red, and I smash into the foreman and his four guards... Reed jumps off my shoulders, springs off an ore cot, tumbles up some crates, and then launches up to the catwalk and the hin begins raining punch after kick after chop on crossbomen after crossbomen... Hallorin supports his Reed around the catwalk with magic missles and eldritch blasts... After a brief but violent battle the warehouse floor and catwalk are cleared of combatants... Ulfgar interrogates and then executes a captive delivering the Iron King Under the Mountain's justice... Iluminus quickly spreads into the offices and back rooms of the complex looking for the Dourstone Foreman Ragnolin... In the rear of the complex is a guardpost outside the Foreman's offices and a vault... The cultists fight fiercely but fall as the office door is blown open by Ulfgar stomping in and calling out, "Come get your due Ragnolin!"... From an empty spot in the corner a blast of elemental cold and frost savages the companions... Luckily it is a hard group and most shake off the frostbite and resume the attack... Ulfgar deploys a magical trinket, a small stone dog statuette that enlarges and animates and points out the invisible assailant's location... Reed misjudged the location and spin and chops for 10feet and hit nothing but air... Big Red steps in and smites the invisible Ragnolin and leaves a searing radiant outline on the dwarf... The Dourstone is unable to handle the following rain of blows and falls... Wanting to secure the site the party travels to the rooftop and defeated the last guards...
The mine complex lies secured... Signs of battle erased... The Dourstone line extinguished... closed for business signs are put out... Iluminus begins to explore and investigate the Foreman's office and the vaults and see what secrets are within....
Evolutions...
The seconds seem like minutes and the minutes seem like hours to Pagu as the stout Rageborn paladin stands guard outside the secret passage leading to the Derro lair... Ulgar returns with one of the Ironspur Stone Guard and a company of dwarves... They take up guarding the Clan hold as we show the officer the majority of incriminating evidence and give statements... Our mission for the day finished we return to the Hammerfall Clanhold for rest and healing...
At the Clanhold I experience my first authentic dwarven salt bath as I remove the gore and ichor caked on from battle with the Dourstone... The salts, pumice, and oils are a novel change from the traditional hot bath...
The next day we are summoned to the great Hall of our hosts the Hammerfall... In attendance is an envoy of the Iron Lord Dovak and several of the Thanes from the ruling Concil... Edicts are made, the Dourstone holdings are divided amongst the clans, and plans are made going forward... I notice the dwarven nobility seem to view the Magnificent as assets of Clan Hammerfall and not independent agents... This does raise my ire slightly but I held myself back from demanding independent glory and rewards for ourselves, figuring that at least it seems Ulfgar's clans prospects has increased from this situation... And we did raid Dourstone's treasure vault, so that's good enough...
I did try to press the Dovak representative for Intel on the Blackfyre Adepts but in typical dwarven myopia the couldn't care less about evils outside their granite fortress... As if the evil of the Abyss won't send it's influence into the sunless tunnels under the Mountain... But at least Clan Chief Hammerfall said he would keep his eyes and ears open for any information on them for us...
The Dovak envoy did command Ulgar (and by extension us) to travel to the Dourstone mines in Virdin to root out the last of this evil... After a quick day of tending to our arms, armour, and provisions we set off... Ulgar leads us west via dwarven under trails to emerge in my homeland of Vassa... We emerge east of the tradeway from Palischuck and my heart yearns to head north to see the home I left last year but our mission calls us south to Darmshall to meet our contract... The days roll on and as we head south...
Being known there, we prepare to give the Vassan Gates a wide birth when we are suprised by Magnus Tai... He informs us he will be leaving our company and heading back to the Mage's Guild in Heliogabalus... I am sad to see the elven Bladesinger leave, I greatly admired his skills at arms, his keen intellect, and dry wit... They will be sorely missed... We press on to Darmshall... Along the way we start discussing our company being called the Magnificent Seven since we are down to four... I still like the Seven as it was an integral part of my omens but the rest of my companions are eager for a new name...
Reaching Darmshall we head to the only tavern in town to wait for our contact... During our dinner we settle on Iluminus as the new name of our band... The envoy from Orithor Hall meets us and we plan our trip ahead... We will be her email and she will use her position of privilege to gain us entry without search or inquiry...
We head back to the Vassan gate... Quickly realizing how much the nickname "the innkeeper" was appropriate for Tai as we no longer have the advantage of his magical dome to protect us as we sleep in the wild... At the Gate we escort the Orithor envoy in... A young guard gives her some guff but a senior Captain quickly acknowledges the dwarven privilege and ushers us through the Gates... Past the Gates where the road splits to Virdin and Orithor our envoy bids us goodbye and good fortune... But her companion, this Paladin of the Triad named Nicholas Carpenter, has agreed to join us in the fight the evils within the Dourstone mines here...
As we crest the hill to look upon Virdin I chuckle to myself and wonder what the omens will lead me too next...
Crushing the Dourstones
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 ...
Steel, Blood, and Glory
Ah... The feel of metal rending metal and slicing deep into the thick knotted muscle underneath... Nothing quite like it thinks the Rageborn paladin as he pulls his greatsword out of the Dourstone guard with a cheer to Tempus and raises it on guard against the retalitory axe swing... Ulfgar lands a series of axe cuts of his own against the guards and the dwarf fighter stands shoulder to shoulder with Pagu setting squarely the battle line between the Magnificent Seven and the guards of Clan Dourstone... Our hin charged into the fight, Hallorin our carnival bard enchanted our martial artist, Reed, with super speed who then uses Ulfgars shield to summersault over the 3 Dourstones and finishes the manuever landing a flurry of blows and stunning several... Magnus Tai, our bladesinger deftly puts his skills to work in blur of steel, lighting, and eldritch force... The clan guards are no match for the seasoned adventures and the battle is over in seconds and no alarm is sounded... Catching his breath at the end of his first battle in several weeks Pagu reminisces on how his band ended up here...
Heliogabalus was getting hot... After our work righting the wrongs inflicted upon the Knights of Virdin several of my companions and I received gifts from anonymous patrons... While awesome also means enemies might know of us as well... Conveniently my companions also received Intel on a plot from their past, heads in magic barrels heading to Ironspur... Sounds great to me getting out of this city... Plus I already had to knock out one foppish Deridian cousin who showed up at Goodbarrel Manor defending his cousin's virtue... Taking off might take some heat off sweet Evelaine too... The road North was uneventful... Hallorin kept his carney hands out of stranger's pockets and Reed didn't talk to many strangers... Hopefully we shook any tails from the city...
Ironspur is impressive... A majestic spire with a massive dwarven fortification erupting out of a cavern over looking a small Vale only approached by a well guarded pass... The small Vale teams with trade and activity with the outside world... Ulfgar takes us up into the terraces and sets us up in a local pub while he makes arrangements to get us inside... We manage to stay out of trouble as Ulfgar gets us into the city and to his clan hall... His father's hospitality was first rate and he supports our efforts to investigate the Dourstones... Several days later he informs us a shipment has reached the Dourstones... We spring into action... Magnus Tai invisibly scouts the Dourstones and positions his transformed spider familiar to hear the passwords for entry... Tai returns and informs us the passwords include reference to the great elder Evils of the void... The Yellow King... Raising the confidence this clan Dourstone has a rot to it... We breeze up to the clan hold Gates and use the password to gain entry without a hitch... While being led to the Thane Reed wanders off and opens a secret door leading to this fight...
Shaking his head clear, Pagu reaches deep inside connecting with his oath and casts locate object expanding out his senses looking for the magically sealed cast... He senses pings an area just beyond the walls of the hallway... We spend several minutes searching the hallway for secret doors but are unable to find any... Reed's secret door leads to a secret clan reliquary that has been destroyed and desecrated... We leave the great Hall alone for a minute and scout the outer Hall's for signs of the barrels but we are unable to find the hidden room... Frustration sets in so we go to confront the Thane...
We attempted a ruse of offering a platitude to the King in Yellow but failed when Thane Dourstone's madness recognized our sanity and combat ensues! The Thane spins madness out of the void in a hypnotic pattern of light entancing all but Hallorin, giving the Dourstone forces a great opening... Luckily My armor deflected the worst of the opening hacks from the guards and raging Thaneguards but at least the pain shakes me out of the trance... Reed and Tai shake off the trance... The hin charges the Thane and pummels him mercilessly... Tai enters his bladesong and erects his wards as he tests the fray... I carve one guard deeply with a critical wound and spin to see Ulfgar unable to break his trance so I punch him in the face to help in back into the fight... The might of Pagu, Ulfgar, and Tai is too strong and the guards fall to them... The Thane is unable to shake loose from Reed and he falls from flurry after flurry of stunning strikes from the diminutive yet mighty hin... Pagu goes over to stabilize the Thane from dying so he can be given like a present to the Thane of Thanes to ensure the highest of honors and rewards but Magnus Tai, not willing to take chances with madness, barrages the mad Thanes body with firebolts until death was sure...
Exploring deeper into the hold reveals empty guardrooms and filled prison cells... But nothing is more startling than when Pagu opens up his divine sense and feels elder evil... Following the sense the Seven find a black voidling of dark matter and tentacles bound in a magic circle... The deceased Thane's wife breaks the magic circle and releases the voidling while being grabbed, ripped apart, and smashed against the wall in thanks by it... Wow... Both amazing and disgusting...
Uttering a battle cry to Tempus I charge the entity! I utter my Oath of Enmity and get suprisingly hasted by Hallorin... with Tempus's might fueling my blows I lay devistating smite after smite spreading radiant glow where all there was was the sucking darkness of the void... The being, maybe for the first time in it's existence feels fear and recoils in horror from the assault... Reed follows up my smites with a volley of radiant bolts that damage enough to end the voidling's hold on whatever twisted version of life it had as it collapsed in on itself and vansishes from our reality... The Magnificent Seven raise a cheer over the victory...
The group spreads out to search... Tai finds the Thane's office and finds further information on this conspiracy, linking the Citadel of Assassins, derro, bloodstone mines in Virdin, and Necromancers in the druegar city of Heageraf in the underdark... Much evil indeed... Hallorin finds the twisted ramblings of the mad Thane scribbled on the walls of his trashed bedroom... Eventually the clan hold reveals all it's secrets as we find the hidden rooms that containing the magic barrels amongst the possessions of many sacrifices...
We deduce there must be a derro presence somewhere here in the clan hold that must be dealt with... so we prepare to take a short rest to recoup our strength and prepare to take the main Gates to set the prisoners free and have them run to Clan Hammerfall and update them... Once that is done we will root out these crazed derro...
We rouse and make our way to the front Gates... May Tempus ride the white horse for us!
Cleaning up the Dourstone Mess
After securing the surface complex around the mine Iluminus decides to explore the "closed" section of the mine for Derro or cult activity... Searching the shafts we come across a platform connected to a great chain and a crank to lower and raise it... We get in and I put the biceps to work lowering it... After a few minutes we lower into a very large cavern... Also in this large cavern are several flying gargoyles... Luckily the beasts see Ulfgar and assume he must be a Dourstone master and we are unmolested as we crank the platform to the ground... Several side passageways lead from this grand chamber... Ulgar maintains his ruse as a salty Dourstone and orders Big Red to and fro inspecting the area... Tinkerson comes across a chamber doubling as a cell with several disheveled and debased prisoners... They warn Nick about eyless and tentacled monsters deeper within and cultists dragging people away across the cavern to rarely return and when they do they are crazed and broken... As Big Red stats fumbling with the keys we got from above the gargoyles unravel the ruse and dive in and attack...
The flying creatures of evil elemental earth are difficult for our group to fight... The powerful yet graceful beasts are only in range to be struck for a moment before they wing away... Lacking a substantial ranged offense makes dealing with these flying beasts more difficult than need be... I put away the sword and put my athleticism to work tackling and grappling the gargoyles allowing Nick, Ulfgar, and Reed to more time to hack and bash... Eventually we finish off the monsters and shuttle the prisoners up and out of the mines... Ulfgar impressed upon the captives secrecy about the situation and spread some gold around the captives to seal the deal...
After catching our breath and preparing for more battle we head back down and deeper into the lower mines... Off the main cavern we find cohort of dwarven cultists relaxing in a ready room... Iluminus springs into action... Seizing the initiative, Big Red cast a shielding spell and charges the cultist in the center of the room... most of the guards and beserkers turn on him rain blows after blow... His armour, shield, defense presence, and magic turn away strike after strike... Reed sprints around the scrum and into the rear delivering a furry of stunning blows on the yellow robed cultist leaving him on deaths door before the Hin's mobility allows him to deftly leave the melee... Several guards charge Ulfgar and I... He hacks low and I slice high... We trade blows and we fell our group of guardsmen... Meanwhile Nick finished off the cultist before he can use any mind bending tricks and keeps several guards and beserkers occupied... Reed, Ulfgar, and I fall on Big Red's scrum from behind and the dwarf are filled in order... After a quick looting we press on...
Just off this ready room we find a gargoyle rookery but we don't engage the beasts as we feel the terrain doesn't favor us and the beasts are low priority... Traveling another way we find a room with prisoners chained to walls... We enter to free them but we are exposed to an otherworldly noise, most of us can resist the frightening drone but the madness magic is overwhelming for Ulfgar and he runs from the room... In the confusion several of the chained prisoners come out of the shackles and stagger to attack us... Not feeling they are in control of their minds I use the flat of mine blade, pommel strikes, and gauntlet blows to knock out the attackers... While dealing with the prisoners a monstrosity drops onto Reed... Like a large black devil ray this creature wraps up our Hin monk... We try to attack the beast, but it's madness creates several illusionary images of itself... Nick chops at the images and disrupts them... Down to the real monster we rain blow after blow on it unfortunately we realize damage from the attacks are transferred to our diminutive Ally trapped in this Cloaker's folds... After taking a substantial amount of damage I am able to rip Reed, broken and battered, free from the beast's clutch... With Reed out of danger we finish off the beast... Badly beaten we gather up the remaining prisoners and head up the elevator and regain our fighting spirits after a short rest and head back down...
We press on past the Cloaker's room... A worked corridor leads down into another chamber... At the head of the chamber is a giant carved throne, and seated within is a gilded King in Yellow... The ritual chamber hums with the mad devotions of a group of cultists... We see them, they see us!! I let loose a war cry to Tempus as I charge...
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