Rel
Liquid Awesome
Battle for the Shrine of Moradin
After a couple of minutes, the large iron door swung open and the party was greeted by a foursome of dwarves. They noticed that these were of normal size and not as invisible as before. One of the dwarves instructed the party to follow them up the stairs.
At the top of a long flight of stairs the party came into a sizable octagonal room with three large statues of dwarves holding axes that flanked a pair of doors. Instead of going through one of the doors, one of the dwarves did something to the ankle of one of the statues and a secret door behind the statue popped open.
Beyond the secret door was a huge room the depths of which could not be seen with the available light. The party was escorted a very short distance to the northern wall where there was an alcove in which rested an odd contraption.
Closer inspection showed a door in the alcove but it was blocked by a barricade that could only have been conceived by the most paranoid of minds. Blocking the door was a stack of stone blocks one foot by one foot by seven feet. Holding the blocks against the door was another similar block stood upright. Two sets of great iron hinges were fastened to this block by a long iron pin. Clearly whatever was behind the door was greatly feared by the dwarves and this caused many a nervous glance between the party members.
The dwarf who had led the party up the stairs asked if they were ready to enter. They replied that they were. The dwarf snapped his fingers and out of the darkness of the hall strode two giant sized dwarves (just over 6 feet tall). These large dwarves began to disassemble the barricade.
As they did so, the dwarf they followed in told the party that after the barricade was removed, the party should hurry through the door and it would be closed behind them. If they did not come out in ten minutes, they would be assumed dead and the barricade would be replaced. The party told him that they would give a password to him and would repeat it if they needed to come out. For some reason the password the party chose was "camembert" (Ah, yes, of course. French cheese is your password. Why am I friends with these people again?).
At last all of the stone blocks had been removed and the party moved into the alcove to prepare their assault. Having quickly been flanked in the battle with the dwarves earlier, they had decided on a buddy system. Ilrath and Rhys would stick together as would Speaks and Krase. That way they could defend each other and possibly even manage a flank of their own. Also they had a pair of torches going but to assure that they didn't lose their light sources, Rhys and Speaks each cast a spell on one of the torches to make sure they continued to give off light even if the torch was extinguished.
They opened the door and had a quick look around the large room. It was big enough that they could only see the central portion clearly with the corners remaining shadowy. Ilrath was the first in and as he moved inside he noticed several piles of bones stir and begin to form into skeletons. Rhys was quick behind Ilrath, moving to back up the barbarian. Krase was next into the room and paused long enough to throw his torch into the part of the room opposite the skeletons to assure that no enemies were approaching from that side. Speaks and Arc came in last with Speaks' long spear protruding over the head of his canine companion. As the skeletons continued to pop up from the ground and advance on the party it was time for Arc to go to work against his natural enemy: Bones!
As the first skeletons began to advance, a squat figure in a breastplate rose from the dimly lit altar at the end of the room and moved toward the closest figure - Ilrath. The other skeletons wore chainmail and wielded war hammers. They closed on Krase, Speaks and Arc and began to attack. As usual, Arc took the first blow but he didn't cower. Instead he bit back at the walking chew-toy of a skeleton that faced him and managed to bite through a couple ribs. He secretly plotted to bury them outside later.
Speaks attacked over Arc's head but having to assure that he didn't hit his friend threw his aim off. Krase slashed away with his short swords and shattered one of the first skeletons. Ilrath prepared for the attack of the undead cleric and as it stepped into range he slashed it with his greataxe.
The skeletons hammered away at Arc, Speaks and Krase but inflicted only an occasional small hit. Arc bit once again and this time the skeleton was shattered. Speaks thrust at another one and although he connected this time, the point of his spear inflicted only minor damage to the skeleton. Krase made another series of chops with his short swords and another skeleton fell. Rhys fired a frosty ray at the cleric, adding insult and minor injury.
The cleric slashed at Ilrath with his claw-like hands but found no purchase on his chainmail. In return, Ilrath made a wide sweep with his greataxe, catching a nearby skeleton who was smashed to flinders before bringing the blade around to bury itself again in the rotting hide of the undead cleric. Rhys stepped up within reach of the cleric and let loose a gout of flame from his trusty wand.
Speaks with Stone thrust his spear again and this time managed to score a more telling blow to the skeleton he fought although it still stood. Arc missed with his bite and Krase landed but one short sword on his next opponent. A couple of war hammer blows found their marks on Krase but he took little damage from them.
The undead cleric again slashed at Ilrath and again couldn't penetrate his armor. But Ilrath answered with another mighty blow from his axe that brought low the dwarven ex-holy-man. Ilrath and Rhys watched as the hideous form of the undead creature took on a silvery nimbus and for a moment they saw the face of the dwarf he once was. The glowing face of the dead dwarf muttered a short phrase that neither the barbarian nor the sorcerer understood and then turned to dust.
Moments later, Speaks with Stones' spear and Krase's short swords finished off the remaining skeletons and the party found themselves alone in the room. Surprisingly, they had fared quite well with only minor injuries.
They quickly set about searching for treasure and made several discoveries. The room they were in was clearly some kind of shrine and Krase identified the symbol on the wall as that of Moradin. That same symbol appeared on the breastplate of the undead cleric. A bit more searching revealed another skeleton of the non animated variety laying behind the altar. This one also wore a breastplate and near to hand lay a battle axe. Both axe and breastplate proved to be made of a particularly light silvery metal that was harder than steel.
The boys from the silver mining town of Glynden looked wide-eyed at each other because that metal could only be the fabled "mithril". Rhys cast a spell to look for magic and the battle axe proved magical to boot. Krase read some dwarven runes carved onto the side of the blade and determined that the weapon was called "Slashbane" and it was the scourge of orcs. Rhys noted that there was a forgemark on the blade and that it was the same as the forgemark on both breastplates.
Rhys also noticed a faint magical aura coming from where the undead cleric had fallen and found a pendant on a chain that was magical. The pendant was in the shape of a hammer and the pommel of the hammer was a pearl that was emanating the magic.
The party took a couple more minutes to completely search the room and then collected both breastplates, the pendant and the battle axe. Then they knocked on the door and said, "camembert". The door was opened and they exited back into the large hall they had entered from. Off in the darkness, the voice of Nimira could be heard and she thanked them for dealing with the undead. She asked if they wished to make a try for the dragon and they told her that they would need a couple days to prepare first. Nimira bade them farewell and looked forward to their return to deal with Nightscale.
As they were escorted back to the Glitterhame, Rhys happened to note the forgemark on the axe of one of the dwarves. It was quite different from that on the items found in the shrine. Interesting…
NEXT: The Dragon
After a couple of minutes, the large iron door swung open and the party was greeted by a foursome of dwarves. They noticed that these were of normal size and not as invisible as before. One of the dwarves instructed the party to follow them up the stairs.
At the top of a long flight of stairs the party came into a sizable octagonal room with three large statues of dwarves holding axes that flanked a pair of doors. Instead of going through one of the doors, one of the dwarves did something to the ankle of one of the statues and a secret door behind the statue popped open.
Beyond the secret door was a huge room the depths of which could not be seen with the available light. The party was escorted a very short distance to the northern wall where there was an alcove in which rested an odd contraption.
Closer inspection showed a door in the alcove but it was blocked by a barricade that could only have been conceived by the most paranoid of minds. Blocking the door was a stack of stone blocks one foot by one foot by seven feet. Holding the blocks against the door was another similar block stood upright. Two sets of great iron hinges were fastened to this block by a long iron pin. Clearly whatever was behind the door was greatly feared by the dwarves and this caused many a nervous glance between the party members.
The dwarf who had led the party up the stairs asked if they were ready to enter. They replied that they were. The dwarf snapped his fingers and out of the darkness of the hall strode two giant sized dwarves (just over 6 feet tall). These large dwarves began to disassemble the barricade.
As they did so, the dwarf they followed in told the party that after the barricade was removed, the party should hurry through the door and it would be closed behind them. If they did not come out in ten minutes, they would be assumed dead and the barricade would be replaced. The party told him that they would give a password to him and would repeat it if they needed to come out. For some reason the password the party chose was "camembert" (Ah, yes, of course. French cheese is your password. Why am I friends with these people again?).
At last all of the stone blocks had been removed and the party moved into the alcove to prepare their assault. Having quickly been flanked in the battle with the dwarves earlier, they had decided on a buddy system. Ilrath and Rhys would stick together as would Speaks and Krase. That way they could defend each other and possibly even manage a flank of their own. Also they had a pair of torches going but to assure that they didn't lose their light sources, Rhys and Speaks each cast a spell on one of the torches to make sure they continued to give off light even if the torch was extinguished.
They opened the door and had a quick look around the large room. It was big enough that they could only see the central portion clearly with the corners remaining shadowy. Ilrath was the first in and as he moved inside he noticed several piles of bones stir and begin to form into skeletons. Rhys was quick behind Ilrath, moving to back up the barbarian. Krase was next into the room and paused long enough to throw his torch into the part of the room opposite the skeletons to assure that no enemies were approaching from that side. Speaks and Arc came in last with Speaks' long spear protruding over the head of his canine companion. As the skeletons continued to pop up from the ground and advance on the party it was time for Arc to go to work against his natural enemy: Bones!
As the first skeletons began to advance, a squat figure in a breastplate rose from the dimly lit altar at the end of the room and moved toward the closest figure - Ilrath. The other skeletons wore chainmail and wielded war hammers. They closed on Krase, Speaks and Arc and began to attack. As usual, Arc took the first blow but he didn't cower. Instead he bit back at the walking chew-toy of a skeleton that faced him and managed to bite through a couple ribs. He secretly plotted to bury them outside later.
Speaks attacked over Arc's head but having to assure that he didn't hit his friend threw his aim off. Krase slashed away with his short swords and shattered one of the first skeletons. Ilrath prepared for the attack of the undead cleric and as it stepped into range he slashed it with his greataxe.
The skeletons hammered away at Arc, Speaks and Krase but inflicted only an occasional small hit. Arc bit once again and this time the skeleton was shattered. Speaks thrust at another one and although he connected this time, the point of his spear inflicted only minor damage to the skeleton. Krase made another series of chops with his short swords and another skeleton fell. Rhys fired a frosty ray at the cleric, adding insult and minor injury.
The cleric slashed at Ilrath with his claw-like hands but found no purchase on his chainmail. In return, Ilrath made a wide sweep with his greataxe, catching a nearby skeleton who was smashed to flinders before bringing the blade around to bury itself again in the rotting hide of the undead cleric. Rhys stepped up within reach of the cleric and let loose a gout of flame from his trusty wand.
Speaks with Stone thrust his spear again and this time managed to score a more telling blow to the skeleton he fought although it still stood. Arc missed with his bite and Krase landed but one short sword on his next opponent. A couple of war hammer blows found their marks on Krase but he took little damage from them.
The undead cleric again slashed at Ilrath and again couldn't penetrate his armor. But Ilrath answered with another mighty blow from his axe that brought low the dwarven ex-holy-man. Ilrath and Rhys watched as the hideous form of the undead creature took on a silvery nimbus and for a moment they saw the face of the dwarf he once was. The glowing face of the dead dwarf muttered a short phrase that neither the barbarian nor the sorcerer understood and then turned to dust.
Moments later, Speaks with Stones' spear and Krase's short swords finished off the remaining skeletons and the party found themselves alone in the room. Surprisingly, they had fared quite well with only minor injuries.
They quickly set about searching for treasure and made several discoveries. The room they were in was clearly some kind of shrine and Krase identified the symbol on the wall as that of Moradin. That same symbol appeared on the breastplate of the undead cleric. A bit more searching revealed another skeleton of the non animated variety laying behind the altar. This one also wore a breastplate and near to hand lay a battle axe. Both axe and breastplate proved to be made of a particularly light silvery metal that was harder than steel.
The boys from the silver mining town of Glynden looked wide-eyed at each other because that metal could only be the fabled "mithril". Rhys cast a spell to look for magic and the battle axe proved magical to boot. Krase read some dwarven runes carved onto the side of the blade and determined that the weapon was called "Slashbane" and it was the scourge of orcs. Rhys noted that there was a forgemark on the blade and that it was the same as the forgemark on both breastplates.
Rhys also noticed a faint magical aura coming from where the undead cleric had fallen and found a pendant on a chain that was magical. The pendant was in the shape of a hammer and the pommel of the hammer was a pearl that was emanating the magic.
The party took a couple more minutes to completely search the room and then collected both breastplates, the pendant and the battle axe. Then they knocked on the door and said, "camembert". The door was opened and they exited back into the large hall they had entered from. Off in the darkness, the voice of Nimira could be heard and she thanked them for dealing with the undead. She asked if they wished to make a try for the dragon and they told her that they would need a couple days to prepare first. Nimira bade them farewell and looked forward to their return to deal with Nightscale.
As they were escorted back to the Glitterhame, Rhys happened to note the forgemark on the axe of one of the dwarves. It was quite different from that on the items found in the shrine. Interesting…
NEXT: The Dragon