Session 23 - Scene 4 (of 7)

The next stop for Leigh and Krolec is over to Sgt. Gerdrand's office.  One of the corporals shows them inside, and Gerdrand comes to meet them.  They notice the insignia on his uniform has changed; he has been promoted to lieutenant.

Krolec congratulates Gerdrand on his promotion, and offers his apologies for what happened with Al when he wasn't around.

Gerdrand thanks him, but then launches into a complaint to Leigh about how he thought everything was moving along smoothly until he got a report that they roughed up some carriage driver.  Leigh immediately realizes their error and looks humbled.

The lieutenant goes on to explain there are witnesses that Scrag was hanging around the guy in the bar and apparently abducted him outside.  Furthermore, it is alleged that Scrag beat the man up and that someone else in the group threatened to dismember him.

Leigh immediately begins apologizing, though spins the story to suggest she wasn't actually there.  She puts the blame squarely on Scrag, and explains she already talked to him about it.  

Gerdrand goes on to say that he can't have her people abducting citizens and beating them up in the streets for no reason.  He'll be able to keep this quiet because the driver's boss, a man named Schlomo, is a suspected criminal and doesn't want too much attention from law enforcement.  However, Gerdrand stresses that any future incidents whatsoever involving breaking the law in town will be dealt with by arrests or worse.

Leigh and Krolec get the message loud and clear.  Krolec seems a bit ashamed that his group didn't come up with a better plan for whatever they were doing when they grabbed the carriage driver.  They both offer their apologies to Gerdrand again, and insist there will be no future incidents.

With the matter resolved, Krolec informs Gerdrand about the High Septarch's warning about Kobold Hall and how they plan to investigate.  Gerdrand is pleased, since he wants them to hurry up and clear it out to appease Lord Hepplewhite anyways.  Before they leave, Krolec also warns Gerdrand about the goblin attacks on King's Road, which he assures Krolec will be looked into.

Session 23 - Scene 5 (of 7)

When everyone gets back together, Challa wishes to say some things.  She explains that they have discussed the matter, and even though they wished to avoid the politics of the town, it doesn't seem very feasible.  Krolec responds that was his feeling on the matter back when they first started as well.

Challa goes on to explain that because their two groups are merging, she wishes to divulge a secret to them, explaining about her telepathic abilities.  Leigh and Krolec both feel such a power will come in handy.

They then decide to divide out their magical treasure before proceeding.  The dwarven armor will be given to Larrak as Merend's descendant and the only dwarf.  Leigh wishes to keep the shroud.  Since Challa already has enchanted plate armor, Tiberius takes the stoneborn plate.  And although Silas and Zena also use longswords, Krolec decides to take the longsword since neither of the two are present, and Zena isn't likely to be around any time soon.

They then decide to stock up on some supplies.  In addition to water and rations, Krolec buys a bunch of extra arrows and Tobolar purchases a staff.

Then, the group heads out west on King's Road, with Tiberius in the lead.

Session 23 - Scene 6 (of 7)

The trip from Fallcrest to Kobold Hall is about ten miles, taking the group half a day of uneventful travel.  Tiberius decides rather than to try and circle around the area, it would be best just to head straight in along the path.  

Krolec isn't so sure he agrees with Tiberius' plans.  He'd rather go on ahead and scout.  But Challa is insistent the group stay together.

As they head into the forest, Challa and Durmindin feel a sense of dread and foreboding.  Some distance in, Tiberius spots the body of an Eladrin lying in a small clearing alongside the path up ahead.

With everyone else stopped, Krolec slowly moves up to investigate.  As he gets closer, he can see that the body is positioned on top of some kind of covered pit trap.  He signals the others and begins to walk back.

Tobolar looks all around for signs of kobolds, but sees nothing.  Leigh then spots them, pointing out a large hidden force of kobold archers guarded by a couple of kobold dragonshields, all a bit further down the road, lying in ambush.  

Krolec also spots a kobold hobbler just a few feet away from the trap.  The hobbler throws his hammer at Krolec, missing, then runs off.

The kobold archers and dragonshields then move into the road, spreading out their formation.  There appear to be eight of the archers in total.  Four of them fire at Tiberius and are unable to penetrate his thick armor.  The others fire at Krolec, impaling him with two flaming arrows in the shoulder and thigh.

Challa begins moving up from her rear position as Tiberius charges the nearest dragonshield, hitting him.  Durmindin assists by summoning his spirit companion over to the dragonshield and using it to blast the kobold with a wrath of winter spell, which strangely does not affect it as much as he thought it would.

Krolec decides to return fire at the archers, hitting two of them with his twin strike shot.

From the back, Tobolar casts his first ever spell in combat, using his specialty in illusions to summon grasping shadows to attack the same two archers Krolec already hit.  Leigh follows it up with a scorching burst that hits them as well as the dragonshield fighting Tiberius.

One of the dragonshields cuts into Tobolar while the other misses.  The archers fire on Challa and Krolec with a mix of regular and flaming arrows.  None of the arrows can get through Challa's defenses, but Krolec takes another couple of hits from the regular arrows.

Challa moves up and slams into the dragonshield with a bolstering strike while Krolec fires another couple of shots at the archers, killing the two wounded ones.

Tiberius gives an inspiring word to get Krolec to recover, then makes a guarding attack on the dragonshield in front of him, killing it.

Durmindin then moves his spirit companion over to the other dragonshield, and attacks it with a protecting strike.  Tobolar attempts to assist by casting nightmare eruption on the creature, but his spell fails.

Leigh moves up and blasts another couple of archers with her scorching burst.

The dragonshield attacks back at Tiberius, missing him.  Krolec, however, is hit by a barrage of five arrows (some flaming).  He collapses, falling on to the pit trap but not setting it off.

Challa decides to focus on attacking one of the archers, moving up and hitting it.  Tiberius also breaks off from the dragonshield, and moves over to Krolec to assist.  However, in attempting to drag Krolec off of the pit, he sets it off, sending the unconscious Krolec falling into the spiked pit.

The sudden shift in weight also causes Tiberius to lose his balance as well, sending him into the pit where he is stabbed by poisoned spikes.  Looking over, he can see that Krolec is dead.

Durmindin immediately attempts to assist by calling a healing spirit to allow Tiberius to recover.

Tobolar, however, stays focused on the kobolds.  He calls forth a phantom chasm, but the kobolds resist his spell.  They can't, however, resist Leigh's fireball, which kills one archer and injures four others.

The dragonshield stabs Challa with his sword and the archers hit Leigh with three flaming arrows.

Challa, worried about Leigh and the others, moves up and blesses her weapon then calls forth a hallowed circle.  The resulting attack kills the dragonshield and four of the archers.

Tiberius says an inspiring word to motivate himself and climbs out of the pit.  

Durmindin, focusing on the remaining kobold, has his spirit attack with another protecting strike, killing the creature.

Session 23 - Scene 7 (of 7)

With the battle over, everyone lifts Krolec's body out of the pit along with the garnet held by the eladrin.  The stone isn't worth much, and the small amount of gold they find on the kobolds won't be much compared to the expense of bringing Krolec back to life.  They know it will take half of their money.

Resigned, they take the body back to town and drop it off at the temple of Erathis so that Krolec will be restored by morning.  Tobolar isn't sure what to think of his first day as an adventurer.

Session 23 - Session Notes

This month was a mess for scheduling our regular sessions.  The first session would have been on the 11th, but I was flying to Pheonix that day for our company's gigantic holiday party (budget - $3 mil).  Then, the next session would have fallen on Christmas.  Obviously, neither day would work.  So, I swapped weeks with the Krolec player who runs a Star Wars game on the alternate Fridays so I could run one game on the 18th (which, due to my travel, recovering from a cold, and remodeling my bathroom, I am just now getting posted).

The line about Larrak and Scrag not paying attention refers to the fact that they somehow missed the 30+ emails discussing the specially-scheduled session and missed it.

The opening scene with Grundelmar was something I'd envisioned a little while ago - surely a priest wouldn't want even his closest friends suddenly turning his place of worship into a clubhouse (it's also an in-joke, as our D&D group uses a church activity room most of the time for our sessions).

The Zena player was actually at the session, despite how it reads.  It was to be her final session (baby coming soon) but somehow it ended up being scheduled on a night her brother came in from Switzerland (he's a physicist at Cern) and one where she had to go pick up her husband from work.  So, she was there for an hour, but between all the chatting and waiting around for Larrak and Scrag to show up, she only got 5 minutes of in-game time before she got the call that she had to leave.

The other special guest star was the 10 year old kid of the Tiberius player.  I whipped up some stats for Tobolar Quickfoot and figured it'd be a good fit (since Tobolar was already established and all).

One annoying thing right off the bat was that the Krolec player hadn't bothered to keep up with what happened in the sessions he missed.  So, we had to waste a lot of time figuring out what he missed and clueing him in.

The Nimozarran discussion was a natural progression of past events - obviously, Leigh is the only wizard of any standing left in the city, so it makes sense he'd try to appoint her.  The player seemed rather taken aback by the whole idea, though, which was a surprise to me.

The group completely abandoning the Vargas connection and looking at Kobold Hall wasn't a surprise, I'm sorry to say.  This group often has the attention span of a lemur.  I swear, foreshadowing is pointless because any time you bring up something that may need to be looked in later, they either completely ignore it or drop everything and change direction.  The concept of making a mental note to follow up on it later is almost beyond them.

The art gallery thing was something else I planned for a while.  IF they bother to follow up on the painting mystery, it will be a very interesting turn of events.  But with this group, that's a big if.  I've said before, they couldn't solve a Matlock mystery (you know, where they show you who did it at the start of the show).  I must be masochistic for trying to include another mystery plot.

Gerdrand chewing the group out was basically me as the DM saying, "look guys - try and play your alignments and come up with better plans."  I'm kind of running out of patience with the "we're the good guys with uncomprimising morals but do things even Tony Soprano wouldn't do" nonsense.

Finally, the battle in Cloak Woods was a lot of fun.  We all about died laughing when Tiberius inadvertantly killed Krolec.  Except for the Krolec player - who thinks I kill PCs too often (he's of the "always make the PCs think they could die but never actually kill them" philosophy, whereas I take a different POV).  The bad part was that the battle was not overly tough at all - it was the usual problem of bad tactics.  Honestly, 4e combat is a breeze for any group with halfway decent tactics even when fighting 3 levels or higher above the group's baseline.

With all of my complaining, it may sound like I hate my players.  That's not the case - the games are often quite fun.  It's more that they frustrate me terribly from time to time - partially because they don't pay enough fucking attention, and partially because they never seem to think, "what would make the game as fun as possible" instead of just acting on whatever they feel their character is like at the moment.

Interlude - Cast of Characters

Madresh - Dragonborn Warlord
Goldar the Mighty - Goliath Barbarian
Berend - Dwarf Cleric
Brandis - Human Paladin
Saxton - Dwarf Fighter
Vector - Human Wizard

Interlude - Scene 1 (of 11)

Forced to stay in the Chamber of Eyes under the hobgoblin leader Krand returns, Berend and Vector work out the shifts for the evening.  Berend and Ragdar will independently go out scouting to see if they get any advance warning on the hobgoblins heading back to the temple.  Meanwhile, the rest of the group is organized into watches for the night.

Goldar finds the first watch to pass uneventfully.  When Vector and Madresh are awakened for the second watch, however, they instantly notice that there are noises coming from somewhere in the temple.  Getting close to the doors to the main temple chamber, Vector is able to deduce the sounds are coming from down one of the halls – it sounds like some people talking loudly as well as some banging type noises.

Madresh wonders if the two of them should investigate a little closer first, but Vector decides to wake the others.  Goldar is surprised to find someone else in the temple; he concludes he must not have heard them come in.

Witch Brandis in the lead, the group of them head down the narrow hallway, where they can more clearly hear the noises.  Saxton stays behind a moment with their hobgoblin prisoner to take care of some business...

From behind the door, it definitely sounds like a group of people speaking goblin, though with slightly different dialects.  They appear to be discussing getting things ready for Krand's arrival.  Vector concludes the group of them must be working in the kitchen, preparing for a feast.

Interlude - Scene 2 (of 11)

Brandis quickly throws the door open, revealing a trio of hobgoblins, goblins, and worst of all – a couple of human collaborators.  Brandis immediately charges the closest hobgoblin, striking him.

Vector maneuvers his way quickly in the room, trying to stay out of the way of others.  Madresh and Goldar follow, with Goldar getting the chance to charge the hobgoblin Brandis attacked as well.  In the back, Saxton rushes in.

The human bandits get to their feet and attack Madresh and Goldar, missing the former but cutting into the latter.  The goblins back near the stove decide Goldar is the largest and most threatening target, and proceed to fill him with crossbow bolts.

Brandis shifts position to get at the other hobgoblin a little further back in the room, striking him with a virtuous strike.  Vector assists by firing out a shock sphere that blasts the hobgoblin as well, also hitting the two goblins.

Towards the front of the room, Madresh stays focused on the bandits.  He strikes out at one with his viper's strike, but misses.  Saxton tries to draw one of the bandits out to him using his footwork lure, but fails.

The hobgoblins attack back, missing Brandis but hitting the vulnerable Goldar.  Goldar responds by striking a bandit with his blade sweep, then unleashing a fearsome growl.  The bandits follow the hobgoblins' lead, also missing Brandis and hitting Goldar.  Goldar has some luck, however, as the goblins' crossbows miss their marks.

Seeing that Goldar is already dangerously wounded, Brandis maneuvers over and lays hands on him.  He then slices into one of the hobgoblins with his valorous smite.  Vector decides to assist by focusing on the goblins in the rear, knocking one down by creating a blast of icy terrain.

Madresh stays focused on the bandit in front of him, hitting him with his viper's strike.

The hobgoblins strike out again, this time hitting Saxton, Brandis, and Goldar.  Still weakened from all the punishment he is taking, Goldar takes a moment to recover himself then unleashes his mighty avalanche strike against the bandit next to him, killing him.

Saxton tries to strike back at the hobgoblin next to him with his brash strike, but misses.  The remaining bandit also misses while trying to hit Madresh.

Brandis lays hands on Goldar again.  He then attempts a forbidding strike on one of the hobgoblins, but fails.

In the back, the goblins fire their crossbows again, striking Goldar once.  Vector fires back with a scorching burst that hits one of them.  Madresh then uses a rousing assault to attack the bandit next to him.  

The hobgoblins stage a counter-attack, but all miss.  Goldar, sensing the opportunity, shifts into position and attacks one of them.  Saxton strikes out again as well, felling one of the creatures with his brash strike.

The bandit tries to attack Madresh, but fails to penetrate his thick armor.  Meanwhile, Brandis makes a charging strike on one of the hobgoblins, killing it.

The goblins fire again, hitting Goldar with another set of two bolts.  Vector's scorching burst, however, manages to kill one in response.

Madresh decides to unleash the flames of his dragon breath, missing the bandit in front of him but hitting the remaining hobgoblin.  He then takes out the bandit with a well-placed viper's strike.

The remaining hobgoblin focuses on Brandis, but fails with his attack.  Goldar moves up and chops into him with his greatsword.

Saxton decides to stay back and hold the door while the others finish up, sensing it won't be long.

And it isn't very long before Saxton is proven right.  Brandis summons his divine strength then chops down the remaining hobgoblin with his valiant strike while Vector blasts away the remaining goblin.

With the battle over, everyone quickly examines the room.  It appears as if the humans and hobgoblins were gambling – a small pile of gold, three gems, a potion, and a fancy broadsword can be found.  Vector examines the sword and determines it is an enchanted lifedrinker sword.  After little discussion, it is handed over to Madresh.

Saxton laments that it is not an axe that is found.  He also starts to suggest ideas about poisoning the hobgoblin dinner, but can't quite decide how that would work, so he drops it.  In the end, everyone decides to go back to sleep for the night, this time staying in the warm kitchen.

Interlude - Scene 3 (of 11)

The next morning, Vector and Saxton decide the best course of action is to search through the rest of the temple to make sure there are no other hobgoblins (or other enemies) in the remaining areas they haven't yet investigated. This leads the group back to the stairs heading north from the main hallway.

The door at the top of the stairs opens into a small sitting room with a large fireplace, now long grown cold. From the sitting room, a short hallway leads down to a couple doors, with a couple doors along the side as well.

Vector heads into the first door along the side of the hallway. It appears to be a small bedroom. A set of old hobgoblin robes lies near the bed, and the small table in the room appears to have traces of arcane symbols on it. Vector can tell the table itself isn't magical, but this is obviously the room of a hobgoblin warcaster. He knows now they will need to be careful when Krand returns, for the warcaster is most likely traveling with him.

Madresh goes to the second door along the hallway. It opens to another small bedroom with a couple of beds. The room has a strange smell, but neither he nor Vector can place it. Saxton, however, can; it's the scent of duergar. This must be their guest room. They search around for anything of interest, but come up with nothing more than a set of manacle keys.

At the end of the hallway, Goldar stands at the far door. After listening to make sure no one is inside, he heads in. This room is larger than the others, and more fanciful. It has its own fireplace, table with chairs, and a chest. Goldar concludes it must be Krand's personal room.

The goliath then focuses his attention on the chest in the room. After finding it locked, he decides to use his greatsword to smash in the top of the chest to open it. A liquid begins seeping from the chest, the result of a smashed bottle inside.

Goldar takes the remains of the chest over to Vector, who is less than thrilled with the decision to smash it open. He identifies the destroyed potion as a healing potion (also confirming the previous potion they found was a healing potion as well). Vector notices the chest holds a fair amount of gold and silver coins along with several jewels, though Goldar's sword has damaged one of them.

While the others are inspecting the chest, Brandis quickly checks the other door at the end of the hall. It leads south back into the main temple chamber, as he suspected. However, he is dismayed to spot their hobgoblin prisoner has a slit throat and lies dead in a corner of the room. Saxton claims the hobgoblin was killed while attempting to escape, but Brandis doesn't believe him.

But rather than argue the point, Brandis decides to assist with the searching of Krand's room. There he finds a contract between Krand and someone named Murkelmor Grimmerhul (apparently the head of the duergar clan) to purchase the slaves for one thousand gold. Vector's eyes light up at the mention of the money.

Everyone discusses what to do next. Madresh and Saxton bounce various ideas off about what to do, but ultimately the decision is made to try and ambush the hobgoblins in the courtyard area outside the temple. Saxton and Madresh will hide behind the closest columns, while Vector will hide back behind one of the rear ones. Meanwhile, Goldar and Brandis will hide out in the doorway of the temple. The plan is to jump the hobgoblins once they spot the damaged temple doors.

Interlude - Scene 4 (of 11)

Not much time passes before Saxton hears an approaching force.  Four hobgoblin soldiers are escorting two duergar, a warcaster, and their leader, Krand.  Saxton and Madresh hold back, hoping the hobgoblins will pass by them before they have to launch an attack.

But their hopes are quickly dashed, as Madresh is not so easily able to hide his large dragonborn body with its heavy armor.  One of the hobgoblin soldiers spots him, and yells out to alert the others.

Vector immediately launches into action from the back of the hall, blasting the group of hobgoblins with icy terrain.  Krand and another of the hobgoblins lose their balance, crashing to the floor.

The other hobgoblins move into position, advancing on Saxton and Madresh, who are both hit by their weapons.  Madresh responds with a call to battle for everyone then blasts the hobgoblin with his fiery breath.

From the doorway, Goldar runs into action, slamming into the hobgoblin on Madresh with his avalanche strike.  The hobgoblin's body crumples as he falls dead to the ground from the force of the blow.

Krand pulls himself up off the ice then begins yelling commands, maneuvering his soldiers into position.  He then stabs Goldar with his spear.

Saxton tries to help, but can't penetrate the hobgoblin's armor with his axe.

In the back, the warcaster points his staff at Goldar, causing a hand of lightning to grab onto Goldar, pulling him closer.  The warcaster then blasts Goldar with a blast of electricity from his staff, stunning him.

Brandis tries to run in to save Goldar, but miscalculates how deadly the hobgoblins are.  Leaving them an opening, he is quickly struck several times while moving by them.  His attempt to strike down Krand with a valiant strike misses, and he and Goldar both quickly fall to the ground as they are assaulted by the hobgoblins surrounding them.

Sensing the battle has grown very dangerous, Vector blasts out at Krand and one of the hobgoblins with his rolling thunder spell, knocking them back.  Krand tries to move back up into battle, but finds his way blocked.  He settles for chopping into the unconscious Goldar, causing him further injury.

Saxton tries to unleash a steel serpent strike against the hobgoblins on him, but fails.

The warcaster blasts Madresh with a bolt of lightning, drawing him in as Brandis lies nearby, dying.

The duergar move in and attack Madresh and Saxton, hitting bother of them.  Vector tries to help out with a magic missile, but missing the hobgoblin he was aiming for.

Saxton is able to fend off the hobgoblin he is battling, but Madresh isn't so lucky, and he falls to the ground as another casualty.

Krand begins making his way towards Vector while the soldiers focus on Saxton.  Saxton strikes out at one of them with his brute strike.  One of the duergar hits Saxton in return.  Nearby, Brandis begins to look pale as he continues to slide towards death.

Vector knows the group is in serious trouble and could be wiped out.  He fires off a shock sphere followed by a scorching burst, hitting Krand with the first and the warcaster with both spells.  Another of the hobgoblin soldiers begins moving towards Vector while another strikes Saxton again.

Just as things look their grimmest, Berend appears from the cavern, having been following the hobgoblins the whole time.

Interlude - Scene 5 (of 11)

As Berend approaches, Krand strikes Vector with his spear while the warcaster blasts him with his staff.

Meanwhile, Saxton misses once but tries again and slams into one of the hobgoblins on him with a brash strike, killing it.

Vector quickly downs the healing potion he found earlier then starts to maneuver, casting his magic missile.  Krand does still manage to hit Vector with his spear, but the hobgoblin chief is killed by the blast.

The hobgoblin soldiers carry on, missing Vector with an attack but hitting Saxton.

Berend moves up into the group of his downed comrades.  Using his beacon of hope prayer and his healer's mercy, he restores Brandis, Madresh, and Goldar to consciousness while weakening the hobgoblin on Saxton.  He then yells out for the hobgoblins to surrender, but they pay him no heed.

Madresh stands himself up then gives an inspirational speech to Brandis.  Goldar also stands, shifts over, and then channels his thunderhooves rage.  He slashes wildly into the duergar, following up with a blade sweep that removes its head.

In the back, the warcaster blasts Vector using his staff, causing the wizard to collapse into a coma.

Saxton continues to fight against the hobgoblin on him, striking it with another brash strike.

Brandis then picks himself off the ground and begins charging towards the warcaster.  On the way, the hobgoblin strikes him, but Saxton strikes the hobgoblin back.

The remaining duergar attacks Saxton, hitting him with another powerful blow.  The hobgoblins press the attack, missing Brandis but hitting Saxton.

Berend tries to help out with a flamestrike against the hobgoblin, but misses.  Madresh, however, hits the hobgoblin with his strike.  Goldar follows it up with a charge of his own, killing the creature.  He then rushes over and cuts down the warcaster as well.

Back at the front of the hall, Saxton grabs onto the duergar nearest him as Brandis uses his divine sanction to kill the last hobgoblin.  Everyone then rushes over and quickly ties the duergar up.

Interlude - Scene 6 (of 11)

Vector, remembering the notes, quickly looks through the carnage to locate the chest containing the thousand gold in payment for the slaves.  Saxton suggests they could even use the money to just buy back the slaves.

After interrogating the duergar and getting the location of the trading post, Saxton suggests the others head out while he "ties the duergar up in the kitchen".  Brandis, however, isn't buying it.  Berend suggests holding a trial, but Saxton quickly comes up with a solution Brandis likes – he'll just take the duergar with them.

The plan is to move out and get close to the trading post, then rest before assaulting it.  They leave a note for Ragdar, should he return from his scouting.  Along the way, Saxton spots a handy crevasse and promptly shoves the duergar into it.  As everyone turns around at the noise, Saxton explains that the duergar "had an accident" and fell to his death.  Brandis can tell he is lying, but says nothing.

As they near the trading post, the group spots a handy alcove in the labyrinth tunnels and uses it to rest.  All is quiet for the first watch of Goldar and Brandis, but Berend hears something on the second watch.  He can tell a group is coming from the direction they are heading.  He quickly wakes everyone.

Looking out ahead, they can spot a dwarf in nice plate armor along with a retinue of human mercenaries.  Saxton decides to go out ahead a little ways and greet the dwarf.

The dwarf announces himself, with a pompous attitude, as Thain Cardanas.  Saxton mentions they are looking for slaves, but Cardanas is not interested.  He does, however, mention his intention to conquer Thunderspire and establish it as a dwarven kingdom.

When asked about his mercenaries, Cardanas simply responds that he'd rather waste human lives than dwarven ones.  Saxton mentions their quest, introducing him to the others, and tries to ask for help, but Cardanas is only interested in his own plans and insists he will deal with the duergar in his own time.

Saxton then offers to sell him the Chamber of Eyes for his new kingdom.  That strikes some interest, but the Thain wishes to see it first.  Saxton gives him a rough idea of where it is located and mentions they can discuss it more in the future.

With everything said, Cardanas and his men continue their travels back down the cavern.  Madresh, Merend, and Vector all voice their suspicions about Cardanas; they get the impression he isn't telling the whole truth and wonder how he plans to establish a kingdom with no other dwarves and only a couple of mercenaries.  They don't, however, think he has anything to do with the duergar.

Everyone decides to head back to sleep.  This time, Merend remembers to use his wizard's curtain ritual to help hide them all.

Interlude - Scene 7 (of 11)

The next morning, everyone promptly heads over to the trading post.  Brandis, in the lead, approaches the door to the building.  It has a coat of arms above it and appears to be open for business, though the door itself is kept closed.  Brandis tries to hear if anything is going on behind the door, but can't make anything out.

It is decided the best thing to do is have someone go in and talk to the duergar to see if they can get an idea of where the slaves are.  Saxton and Goldar are the most logical choices, and head inside.  Madresh sneaks in a little behind them, making sure to keep them in sight.

Inside the trading post is a long hallway with several doors on the sides and leading up to a counter.  A duergar sits behind the counter, eyeing them carefully.  He tells Saxton they look like neither slavers nor merchants, and he tells them to leave.

Saxton, trying to show some bravado, puts his axe up on the counter and begins talking of it containing the blood of the hobgoblins who sold them the slaves.  The duergar responds by quickly ringing a bell behind the desk, as Saxton was expecting.

Several duergar emerge from the doors surrounding Saxton, and they begin pummeling him.  Goldar draws his sword and readies for battle.

Just then, a duergar theurge emerges from a door behind the counter.  He calls forth a fiery spell, blasting Goldar and Madresh.

Seeing the blast, Berend immediately enters the hallway and uses a healing word spell on Madresh as Saxton strikes one of the duergar with a brash strike.

In the back of the hallway, Vector tries to help out with a magic missile, but misses.

Trying to go after the theurge, Madresh moves over to the counter and tries to half-jump over it.  His acrobatic skills, however, are limited and he ends up prone on the ground.

Brandis charges the closest duergar, but misses.  The duergar attack Saxton again, beating on him fiercly.

Goldar goes into a rage, attacking the duergar next to him.  He follows up with a blade sweep, slicing the duergar in half.  In response, the theurge blasts Goldar again.

From back in the hallway, Berend fires off a blast of fire, hitting one of the duergar.  Vector follows it up with his magic missile.

Behind the counter, Madresh stands himself up and attacks the theurge, hitting him once with his viper's strike and again with his dragon's breath.

Brandis, worried about all the punishment Saxton is taking, lays hands of Saxton.  He then attempts to hit one of the duergar with a forbidding strike, but misses.

The duergar attack Saxton again, hitting him further.

Goldar moves over to the theurge, hitting him with an avalanche strike.  He then summons his stone endurance.  The theurge tries to attack back, but misses.  Madresh tries to grab the theurge, but is unable to hold him.

Berend attempts another flame strike, but misses; as does Vector's magic missile.

Brandis lays hands on Saxton again, healing him.  He then strikes out at one of the duergar.  The duergar attack Saxton again in response, but miss.

Goldar then strikes down the theurge as Berend and Vector blast away one of the duergar with a flame strike and magic missile combination.  Saxton attempts a brash strike on one of the duergar as well, but misses.

With the theurge dead, Madresh moves over to strike at one of the duergar, but misses with his viper's strike.  Brandis, however, scores a hit after summoning his divine strength.  The duergar attack Saxton once again, but Goldar finishes one of them off with his foe to foe attack.

Berend and Vector attempt to blast away at the remaining duergar, but miss.  Medrash and Brandis have no better luck with their melee attacks.  The duergar does manage to score a hit on Brandis in return, though.

Saxton moves over to attack the last duergar, hitting it with a solid brash strike.  Vector follows it up with a magic missile blast, while Berend's flame strike fails to hit its mark.

Madresh and Brandis then finish the duergar off with a viper strike followed by a valiant hit, respectively.

With the duergar all dead, there is no one to question about the location of the slaves.  Their previous duergar captive had mentioned something about a base of operations called the "Horned Hold", but Saxton was unable to obtain its location from him.

Everyone begins searching around the area.  Vector goes room to room, finding little to nothing at the trading post apart from some money and a suit of delver's chain mail, which Saxton quickly lays claim to.  The post contains a few storage rooms and an area for sleeping as well as a private room for the theurge.  One thing confusing Goldar is that the theurge appeared to emerge from a closet when the battle broke out, but no one else seems concerned.

Brandis makes sure to specifically check the front desk, where he finds a hidden map.  It appears to give the route from their current location to the Horned Hold.  Everyone readies themselves for the trip, then heads out.

Interlude - Scene 8 (of 11)

The trip through the labyrinth to the Horned Hold is relatively short, but a very windy and tricky passageway.  Eventually, a huge chasm emerges to one side of the path.  Up ahead, the group can see the path ending at the fortress.  The fortress appears to have three sections – two on their side of the chasm, then one large one on the other side.  Two stone bridges pass over the chasm from the sections, connecting them all.

Vector decides the direct approach is best.  The main entryway from the path into the first section of the fortress appears to be blocked by a portcullis.  Several orc guards can be seen inside.  Saxton wonders about climbing up and dropping over the battlement, but abandons the idea.

Vector and the others walk straight up to the orcs and greet them.  Vector explains he has a message for their boss and needs to go see him right away.  The orcs, however, are not quite that dumb.  They tell Vector and the others to leave immediately.

Vector, however, dismisses their commands and continues to talk his way past the creatures.  Saxton even throws a small handful of gold on the ground to get them to open the gate.  Finally, after several warnings, the orcs go for their weapons.

Moving a bit faster than the orcs, Vector gets off a shock sphere spell, hitting four of them.  

Goldar then moves up and uses his massive strength to lift the portcullis open.  As he does so, the two orcs in front stab him with their spears while the three in the back fire their crossbows, hitting him with two bolts.

Saxton immediately moves inside the room and takes on one of the orcs, chopping into his with a crushing blow.  Madresh follows quickly behind, hitting the orc with a viper's strike.  Berend moves inside as well, blasting the orc to a charred corpse with his flame strike.

Near the back of the pack, Brandis finally moves up enough to get inside.  He attempts a valiant strike on one of the orcs, but misses.  Vector elects to stay outside for now, letting off a scorching burst that hits one orc.

With everyone else inside, Goldar steps in and lets the portcullis drop.  He then uses his avalanche strike to deliver a powerful blow.

The orcs all draw their spears and move up.  They pierce Brandis twice and Saxton once.

Saxton attacks another of the orcs with his steel serpent strike while Madresh uses his bloody enmity power.  Berend tries to assist with a daunting light, but misses.  

Brandis moves over to Goldar and lays on hands.  He then lashes out at a nearby orc with his valiant strike.

From beyond the room, Vector blasts two orcs with his scorching burst while Goldar cuts into another orc with his greatsword.  The orcs respond with another series of spear hits on Saxton and Brandis.

Saxton uses a brash strike to cave in the chest of one of the orcs, showering himself in blood.  Madresh stabs another of the orcs through the heart using his viper strike.

Berend says a healing prayer for Saxton to allow him to recover as Brandis attacks one of the remaining orcs with his valiant strike.  Goldar assaults the other with a blade sweep attack.

Vector then fires off another scorching burst, hitting both standing orcs.  The orcs attack back at Brandis, but fail to hit him.

As the orcs miss, Saxton brings his axe down, severing one of their femoral arteries.  As the orc collapses, Madresh takes on the remaining one using a diabolical strategy.

 Berend tries to assist with a flame strike, but misses.  Brandis and Goldar move up, both cutting into the orc, as Vector blasts it with a magic missile.

For his troubles, Brandis is hit yet again by the orc's spear.  Saxton counters with another brash axe strike.  But it is Madresh who scores the killing blow, slitting the creature's throat with his viper strike.

Interlude - Scene 9 (of 11)

Saxton cleans himself off as Brandis locates the gate mechanism and opens it for Vector.  They then get rid of the bodies by throwing them down the chasm, move back inside the fortress, and lower the gate again; they do not want anyone coming up behind them.

Only one door leads out of the guard room in the fortress.  Vector makes sure that it is unlocked then listens.  He can hear some faint noise coming from beyond – perhaps the sound of clanging metal.

The door opens into a hallway with several other doors.  Rather than go for the door with the noise behind it, Saxton argues for making sure they check the others first to avoid getting flanked.

Medresh checks the closest southern-most door.  It opens into an armory storage area.  As the group has no need of any mundane weapons, they leave it alone.  The door next to it is checked my Brandis, who discovers an empty orc barraks.

Finally, Saxton checks the northern door.  It leads into a smaller room containing the fortress' well.  The group briefly discusses poisoning the well, but decides it would be counterproductive (risking the lives of the slaves), take too long to work, and no one is carrying any poison anyways.

They do, however, also notice there is a door to the west in this room as well, which also seems to lead into the metal clanging area (which Saxton is pretty sure is a smith workshop).  

Saxton argues that a double penetration strategy is called for, with one group opening the door in the well room at the same time another goes through the door from the main hallway.  Saxton and Brandis opt to go in from the top door, while Goldar and Madresh come in from the bottom.  Vector and Berend will follow them up from the hallway.