Correl: An Element of Origin

[MarauderX]

Session 39: Dragon Forshadowed
The party surveyed the room once more. On the top of each set of steps were two of the lizard-like men with bows. They were reloading just after unleashing a flurry of shots at the party. Immediately the party went into action.

Jerrin cast a spell that created an obscuring mist between the reptilian archers and the party, and it was large enough to temporarily block their sight. Thovaas and Grimnyr crossed each others' path as they each made their way to a stair. Jerrin walked back across the mud he had created to fetch Quentin, and the shadowdancer materialized on his back. Alex clung to the wall above the mud, slipping along it's length until he was on the other side.

Arrows descended on the paladin as he strode up the stair. The leader of the reptilian men shoved his shorter lackey forward to deal with Thovaas. It swung a curved blade that clacked across the thick armor and the paladin swung in turn at the little beast that yelped and ducked to one side.

Grimnyr bounded up the other stairs and gouged a deep wound in the first. It jumped from the stair to the floor below. It was surprised as a rhinocerous burst from the cloud cover to ram with its horn. Quentin rode atop Jerrin and he launched arrows back at the remaining lizardman on the stair near Grimnyr.

Alex twirled his grappling hook before letting it fly over the head of the reptilian leader. The leader ignored him at first, then a sudden yank took him off of his feet, and he gripped the stairs with all his might to stay on the stairs. Quentin dismounted from the massive Jerrin and the shape-changed halfling walked steadily on the air to face the lizard-like leader. Quentin called upon a newfound ability, and his shadow sprang to life and drifted towards the reptilian leader. The shadowdancer's shadow companion materialized behind the leader and with a pass of its arms it sapped the leader's strength. Thovaas dropped the reptile man in front of him and stepped forward to strike at the leader.

Grimnyr slashed into the other lizard archer and it dropped lifelessly from the stair. The barbarian rubbed his hands together and watched Quentin's shadow drain the last of the lizard leader's strength from his body.

The party gathered the lizard bodies in the room with the dual stairs and questioned the leader as it struggled to breath with its leather vest anchoring it to the stone floor. Alex shone his light around the room and noticed two identical panels, one on each side near the stairs. The rogue kept one eye on the swirling dark cavity twenty feet from the floor as he explored the rest of the room. Thovaas and Quentin spoke with the lizard-like leader while Jerrin and Grimnyr used their powers to heal wounds.

Quentin first asked it who it was working for and where it got the poison for the arrows. It hissed a slow reply that was vague, but that indicated it knew it could bargain such information for its life. The paladin detected the stench of evil on the creature and asked who it worked for. It replied that it's father was very close, and that he would be upset the party wasn't dead yet. They asked it about the vile damage the arrows had done, and whether it was curable and by what means. The creature hissed an arrogant retort and the shadowdancer had his shadow drain even more strength from him, enough that it couldn't stand let alone walk. It said that it would help the party through the void. They agreed, and they hefted the lizard leader's body over to the first panel.

The lizard-like man had Quentin guide his arm that he couldn't lift to mash his hand against the tiles on the panel in a sophisticated order. Then they heard the stairs behind them grumble and slide into a position just below the black void on the wall. The lizard-like leader told the party he would tell them the code only after they took him to the circular room that they had come from. He told them to sling his body over the pedestal and from there he was able to press several of the tiles on the panel there. He relayed the code to Quentin, who told Jerrin who told Thovaas, and Thovaas pressed the color tiles in the order the reptilian creature gave.

Suddenly the round room began to slowly turn. Quentin asked what the next colors were and he relayed them while holding his rapier to the leader's throat. It flicked its tongue and Thovaas heard the second stairway grumble and turn into position to face the other. Satisified, Quentin leapt from the circular room at the last moment.

In the stair room, the group watched the void by the two stairs solidify. Inky blackness poured from the hole and became a solid looking platform that spanned the two stairs and led back into the black hole, which had become an archway into the stone. Thovaas made his way up to the black carpet-like platform, and he noticed wisps of darkness rising from it like steam from a large bowl of soup, but it was cool to his tenuous touch. He looked up to see Quentin standing in the middle of the new black platform scanning the black void. Finding the blackness beyond a comfortable hiding place, Quentin Blythe stepped in. One by one the rest followed.


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The blackness surrounded them, and was at first robbing them of air and wrenching itself into their clothes and things to fill every space that it could consume. Direction seemed to disappear and walking became pointless as they seemed to sometimes be spinning or falling, then stopped suddenly. The nauseating effect was negated by the soft blackness, and a moment later a glimmer of light could be seen.

Quentin stepped into a vast room. He was at one end of it, and a trio of steps led up to a pool of dark water. Behind it more stone steps led the way to a platform above the pool, and behind this another marble platform supported a glossy black alter. On the alter viles were full of strange liquids, and the glimmer from a gem on a golden goblet caught Quentin's eye as Thovaas came through the portal behind him. Beyond the alter something massive moved and the glint of gold was apparent as a dragon donned a helmet that fit snuggly over its head.

Thovaas steadied the others as they came through the portal and the dragon waited patiently as several priests drew their robes around themselves and consolidated around the steps. Four elves lumbered forward, their normally lith movements were now stunted and clumsy, and for the party it was cumbersome to watch them as they waved their arms about and dragged weapons along the marble platform. Clearly they were not of their own mind, and Thovaas noted their eyes were milky white as drool soaked the fronts of their tunics.

The dragon introduced itself as Kakuko, and that he was a student and master of the old ways of dragons. He asked what they were doing in his house, and why they would attempt to interrupt a ceremonial sacrifice the great goddess Syn'nestra. Pausing to look at one another, Jerrin cast a spell of protection upon himself. With that, suddenly they realized the dragon had taken a defensive stance. Jerrin released another spell to hide the party from a clear line of sight to the dragon.

The party moved in and struck down several of the robed men surrounding the elevated platforms after seeking them out in the dense fog. The loping elves swung wildly at them as they moved in closer to deal with the dragon. Jerrin summoned forth three dire bats, then used his powers to increase both their size and his. Tempest also increased in size, and together they stormed the top platform where the dragon hid in the grey cloud of mist.

Quentin stayed behind to see if he could find a target for his arrows, and directed his shadow Umbra to fly behind the dragon and attack it. Thovaas slashed at one of the elves time and again, but it amazingly did not fall. Grimnyr bounded past them as they fought and discovered a thick black book on the six-foot tall alter. Jerrin and his entourage struck the dragon several times, but missed more than hit due to the fog. Alex launched his grappling hook to use the dragon as an anchor, and he pulled himself up the line. Jerrin felt the dragon's acidic breath as a cloud of acid billowed forth, nearly hidden. Quentin's shadow struck the huge dragon several times as it bypassed the beast's scaled hide to suck strength from it repeatedly.

Grimnyr hopped onto the altar and without bothering to examine the words on pages, he paused his chant as he brought down his axe with the mightiest blow he could muster. In a flash of brilliant light the barbarian was hurled from the altar. The book was still there, now with a slender cut through several pages. Quentin had ventured up to the altar to see if he could drag it down, but it was too heavy and cumbersome to get it without being seen.

The dragon, seeing what was going on, dove from the platform and glided to the pool of water. Alex caught on that it was soon going to dive into the pool, and he let go of the rope as he rode it from the platform. He landed on the edge of the pool of water, swinging his arms in circles so that he didn't fall in. The dragon splashed into the water and began going downward, and water sloshed up over the edge of the pool, soaking the rogue's boots.

Quentin heard what was happening and guided his shadow to follow and attack the weakened dragon. When Umbra struck, the dragon let out its last breath before disappearing into the murky depths of the water below. The shadow returned to tell Quentin the dragon was dead.

A few moments later, the group petered out of the fog cloud. Grimnyr clasped the Book of Syn'nestra to his chest. The tall man scanned the cover of the book and when Thovaas asked what it was, Grimnyr began spouting about the great teachings of the book, its uses, of the inevitability of sacrifice, and the mysterious workings of the beloved Syn'nestra. Jerrin saw that Grimnyr had used his ability to entrance people with words, and snapped them all out of his considerable sway. Quentin then asked if the markings on the book were arcane or divine in nature. Again Grimnyr began a speach, but this time no one stopped him and he continued for nearly half an hour.


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Grimnyr set the book down on the stone floor. The group healed their wounds and decided they would rest in the room after making sure it was secure. Alex didn't need the hint as he was already examining the jewel studded goblet on the black alter. Jerrin shook his head to clear his thoughts then said he was going to see if he could find the dragon's body in the pool. He transformed into a crocodile and dove into the water.

Jerrin explored downward for several miles before feeling a queasy change in the water. He pressed on in the darkness and felt that the circular tunnel of water wasn't going to end. A few miles more and he could feel the water pressure lessening just before he could see the blackness fade to a gloomy gray. A few hundred yards later he could see the surface of the water and beyond that he could see movement. Without hesitation the druid swam back down into the darkness toward the others. Along the way he felt his scaled claws scrape against something metallic. He felt coins and scooped up some in his mouth. As he was going through the queasy spot, his snout slammed into the softer underside of the dead dragon. It floated in stasis and Jerrin found that gravity was up in both directions from that point. He swam back to the group and reported what he had found after spitting out the coins from his mouth.

The group delighted in finding the dragon's treasure, but using caution they decided to dress their wounds and restore their spells.

 

[MarauderX]

Session 40: Knight Fall at Duergar Mountain

The group gathered in a circle around the Book of Syn'nestra and debated about what to do next. Jerrin had told the group that the water tunnel had gold halfway down it's length, and the group agreed they should bring it up into the large chamber. Together they worked out a plan and ignored the book as it rested on the stone floor.

The three remaining elves in the room thanked the party and immediately went to sleep when the party decided to rest. The elves then told the party that they were party of an emissary that had come to the mountain to begin diplomacy between the elves and the duergar. When the elves revealed their intentions of reuniting with the drow, the King of the duergar smirked. Several of their group first tried to appease the King, then one made boostful promises, then another, a barrel-chested human made an empty threat to behead the King. After a minute of silent pondering by the King, the court then errupted into violence. Their entourage split up and the four elves had wandered into a trap set by the dragon. The next thing they knew they were waking up from a terrible nightmare.

Then the group turned their attention back to the underwater treasure. Jerrin cast an enchantment to allow the others the ability to breath water, with the exception of Alex. One by one they dropped into the dark water and fell slowly downward. Alex stayed behind and searched the large chamber while keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. The rogue managed to work his way around the room and noted that there was no exit, not even a secret door. The only ways out seemed to be down through the water or up into the darkness above where there was no ceiling.

Thovaas, Grimnyr, Jerrin and Quentin stopped falling and Jerrin summoned forth light on a coin he felt floating in front of him. The watery tunnel glowed with the brilliance of the vast hoard of treasure they had found. Quentin blinked and counted a rough estimate of 35,000 gold in mixed coins. Behind them the bloated corpse of the green dragon they had killed was suspended in the water. The group immediately got to work and even began skinning the dragon to use its hide to gather coins. Casting a spell to detect magic, Grimnyr focused on four items; a spear, a warhammer, a scroll case, and Kakuko's helmet. As they sifted through the floating coins, scattering them about, Jerrin saw several coins drop from the tunnel on the other side. The copper pieces clacked against the other coins and thoughts of payment to the dragon went through the druid's head. With their bags full the group began the task of ascending to the chamber once more.

Jerrin shifted into the form of a crocodile and took many of the bags to lessen the load on the others. At the top he handed the bags over to Alex, and the smiling rogue began shoveling piles of coins onto the floor to be organized. The group went down several more times and came back up, until finally they had grabbed nearly every last copper. Alex had split the piles up according to value, and though the platinum pile was the smallest, it was still as valuable as the pile of gold. The group split the platinum to take with them. Jerrin carried his share of the gold pieces, adn the rest of the gold was loaded into the saddlbags of Thovaas' celestial mount. Then the group began discussing where they should go next, and what was to be done.

The next day the group set out to explore to the end of the water tunnel. Again protected by Jerrin's water breathing spell, the party dropped one by one into the water and fell slowly until they landed near the mutilated dragon. Then they began the climb up the other side. The going was slow, but after several hours they managed to see light above them. Jerrin could tell that this was not daylight, nor the moon, nor any other natural source of light - he knew they were still underground.

Alex and Quentin were the first to come up. They felt the pull of a current and they found they had come up on the bottom of a small river. Above them was a metallic bridge with slats that allowed the duergar guard standing on it to see down into the hole they were emerging from. Thankfully the guard above them was lax in his duty and he didn't see the two men as they crept out of the water on either side of him. Just as Quentin had Umbra move into position, the duergar noticed Jerrin's head as it caused the surface of the river to ripple.

Jerrin then swam quickly to the side of the river, his wolfhound close behind. Grimnyr and Thovaas followed, and Quentin moved in to attack the duergar. Alex noticed a second duergar guard standing along the river in the barrel-domed cavern and then saw it sprint towards a mammoth metal automaton standing silently along the wall. Jerrin summoned a massive wolf, and its celestial form appeared on the metal bridge. With a lunge it mangled the dark-skinned dwarf until he fell limp onto the metal bridge.

Seeing the other duegar pressing tiles and pulling levers behind the massive automaton, Grimnyr darted to it and stabbed with the Spear of Dancing. The end of the spear caught the duergar in the chest, piercing his armor, and the barbarian catapulted next to the automaton.

Thovaas looked upstream with his back to the bridge. Further up he saw the deep stream of water end at a shimmering glass-like wall. Through it's slow and steady ripple he could see a gap of five feet splitting the large arched cavern. On the other side he saw more duergar, armored in full plate mail and armed with their signature axes, hammers, and crossbows. Something about them was different;they moved far more swiftly than they should on the other side of this vertical glass wall. One by one they began forming a line on the other side, and before Thovaas could take a single step forward they had organized, readied and loaded their crossbows. Before Thovaas took another step forward their crossbows snapped up with blazing speed. As the paladin's foot touched the ground, they released a volley of bolts at him. The missles snapped toward the glass-like wall and struck it, where they slowed to match the slower speed on the party's side of the wall. Thovaas raised his shield and the clacking of the bolts could be heard reverberating in the cavern. When the paladin looked over his shield again, he saw that the duergar on the other side had already reloaded and were firing again. He had not gone four paces compared to their faster movement.

The party saw as other duergar and humans appeared on the other side of the barrier in the blink of an eye. Thovaas charged as fast as he could at the wall, and still the duergar crossbowmen managed to fire four more volleys at him. When the paladin hit the barrier he felt it tug to press him backward but his strength and shear weight pushed him through. Holding his breath, Thovaas felt the effects of a vaccuum hit him with punishing force. He hit another vertical barrier similar to the other and pushed through with ease before landing, twisting his ankle from the leap.

The rest of the party watched as the paladin now moved just as fast as the duergar and swung his sword with blazing speed. Seeing the difference in speed, the others looked to follow. Grimnyr broke through, and unprepared for the vacuum, exhaled blood when he landed on the other side. Quentin was repelled backward by the wall, as was Alex. Jerrin summoned a celestial bear to aid in the attack, and guided both it and the previously summoned wolf to jump through the rippling wall. The wolf made it through, however the bear was dispelled when it tried.

Thovaas watched as the duergar broke their line and surrounded him. Blows glanced off of his armor all around him, and an occasional strike managed to bruise the large man beneath the metal skin. Then in the back of his mind, the paladine heard a voice speak to him. It was the book, the one he carried with him to protect others from its evil. The book had recognized the knight's plight, that he was surrounded and now several duergar clerics and human sorcerers were slinging spells at him. Thovaas wondered if using the book would mean his doom, and if he could use the evil book against other evil. In his care, the others would still be safe from the book, and using it to quash another threat was for the greater good, no matter his sacrifice. The paladin removed the book from his pack and opened it.

The rest of the group couldn't see what the paladin was doing in the middle of the armored duergar, but suddenly they heard. From atop the wall he had leapt upon, Grimnyr turned away from the sorcerers he faced to look down at Thovaas. Sure enough the barbarian heard the paladin chanting vile words of death and sacrifice. A moment later, as Grimnyr cut down another sorcerer, a massive horned beast appeared next to the duergar. Thovaas somehow instructed the hairy beast to leap upon a cleric who threatened him.

Distracted by the spectacle of the summoned demon, Grimnyr was unable to dodge a swirling ball of utter darkness hurled by one of the sorcerors. As it struck him, he felt an icy blast grip his chest and necromatic magic sapped his life-force from him. The barbarian pulled out his magical rod to absorb any further attacks, and surely enough they came. Each time he waved the rod to soak up the magic that sought to harm him. With his other hand Grimnyr sliced down his foes while starting a warrior chant to Kord. In front of him he watched the demon Thovaas had summoned be dispelled by the duergar cleric, and he saw Thovaas reading more out of the book. Suddenly the evil cleric's eyes exploded in a spray of blood, and he crumpled to the floor screaming. Grimnyr saw the look on Thovaas's face when this happened, and the paladin's smile was frightening. The erstwhile paladin seemed to have lost all trace of his previous purity, and descended completely into the book's clutches.

One of the duergar laid down in the small stream of water that fed the river the group had found themselves entering from. The duergar, propelled by the water, shot through the gap between the vertical rippling barriers and arrived on the other side at the bottom of the river. Seeing this, Quentin ignored the dark dwarf and swam upstream to reach the other side. Alex soon followed, and Jerrin transformed into a massive ape and cast a spell to increase his stature yet further. The single duergar looked over the edge of the water, eyeing the huge unmoving construct, and calculating his chances of reaching it. Whatever his plans, the duergar had no chance to execute them, as he was was suddenly hefted bodily from the water by Jerrin and slammed to the ground where the enlarged wolfhound Tempest ripped him apart.

On the other side of the barrier Jerrin saw that action was happening fast. Thovaas, reading from the book, cast a spell that inflicted wounds on all that surrounded him. Grimnyr leapt across the gap for the steam and landed on the wall on the other side to face another duergar cleric. The cleric motioned to Thovaas, as if expecting the barbarian to understand, and began casting a spell. Grimnyr sucked in his breath and using frictional tones of sound caused the air itself to erupt in a cone of blazing flame at the cleric, dark dwarves, and Thovaas. The lyrical barbarian watched as the duergar recoiled. Thovaas did not. Instead Grimnyr and the others watched the fiery attack blast the flesh from his face to reveal the bones beneath.

Thovaas Stroth, a blackened skeleton sheathed in armor, kept reading from the book.

The rest of the group looked on in horror. Quentin regained his composure and saw that the duergar were in as much shock, but they stood their ground nonetheless. The last of the duergar fell from around Thovaas and the skeletal ex-paladin strode forth over the bodies as he continued reading aloud from the book. Jerrin summoned a massive beast that began wreaking havoc from atop the wall, then as suddenly as it had appeared it was gone. The last human sorcerer smirked at Jerrin's large form just before he was clobbered by the giant halfling.

Grimnyr looked beyond the wall from where he was and saw an immense underground cavern. The oval cavern was at least five hundred feet wide and well over a thousand long. The height soared for hundreds of feet above the thirty foot ledge they fought on, and for hundreds of feet below as well. Other ledges ringed the cavern and duergar started to mass on each of them, watching the fight. Then the group heard the sound of feet marching in unison. Grimnyr saw a phalanx of duergar troops marching along the wall and he cast a spell that threw them into a confused mass of metal.

Thovaas summoned another demonic beast similar to the first, and it first attacked the duergar cleric before turning its attention to Jerrin. Thovaas sat cross-legged on the wide ledge and began a dark summoning chant. With a shudder the weight of two huge tyrannosaurus rexes slammed onto the ledge to intercept the remaining duergar from the first phalanx. A second phalanx of armored duergar troops were marching from the other side as Quentin, Alex and Grimnyr dealt with the duergar cleric. This group was fronted by two constructs, and with a look, a word and a gesture from Thovaas one began melting.

The other duergar pushed in and surrounded the ex-paladin and others attempted to flank Grimnyr and the others. The two tyrannosaurs gobbled up several of the armor clad duergar at Thovaas's direction. One by one the duergar fell, and Grimnyr saw a chance to push the undead paladin off the ledge. He scrambled forward and slammed into the skeletal form, shoving him toward the edge. Thovaas, however, regained his balance and stepped away from the edge to launch a counterattack at Grimnyr. Quentin, seeing what the bard was attempting to do, raced forward and slammed as hard as he could into the undead paladin's side, pushing him squarely in front of the bard and dangerously close to the cliff edge. Grimnyr bull-rushed Thovaas with all his might, and their former companion was knocked back over the abyss.

To Quentin and Grimnyr's astonishment, instead of plummeting from the cliff-like edge, Thovaas stood on the open air with his skull facing the black Book of Synnestra. Grimnyr and Quentin saw the red gleaming beads of light where the knight's eyes once were, and they read sentence after sentence aloud from the book. Then the two men heard the pounding of a massive construct coming their way.

Jerrin and Alex struggled against the wooly horned demon that had been summoned, then against the duergar as they pressed their advantage. Grimnyr fled through the gap along the stream when he saw a another cadre of duergar and metallic constructs plodding their way. Jerrin reached over the wall and grabbed one of the previous human sized constructs with spikes all over it and crushed it with his tremendous strength. It exploded, surprising Jerrin and his wolfhound Tempest, and tiny spiked pieces of shrapnel tore through their skin.

Quentin teetered by the edge and looked down into the bottom of the huge cavern. At the bottom he saw something lying at the bottom that was shaped like a half-dwarf, half-man. It was all metal, and was easily a thousand feet tall. Duergar scrambled over it like ants and the shadowdancer saw the whole cavern was watching him. Quentin pulled himself back from the edge and his mind digested what he saw. Just then the huge metal construct began to pick up speed along the ledge, and it swung a massive blow down at the thief. On the other side, Thovaas had walked back onto the ledge and with a hand wave he commanded the two tyrannosaurs to attack the huge metal construct. They thrashed into melee, and a clawed foot trampled the awestruck Quentin. He ducked and rolled, then sprang away from the three huge combatants to see Jerrin and the others using the wall for cover as a few ballistas and crossbows fired stray shots toward them.

Grimnyr was the first to lay down, head first, in the high-pressure stream of water, and he shot straight through the vertical vacuum barrier to the slower side once more. Jerrin healed himself and wildshaped once more before resuming his natural form and shooting through the water to the other side. Alex and Quentin, seeing that Thovaas was keeping the duergar busy, decided to loot as much as they could from the bodies of the fallen. When Quentin strode on the wall, several blistering balls of flame errupted near the hidden shadowdancer. Grabbing only what he could carry, the pair of rogues dropped into the water and were flushed to the other side.

From the slower side the group glanced back to see the pair of tyrannosaurs clamp down on the metal construct, only to have their teeth splinter and break. The construct spun its mechanical arm around three times before releasing the momentum in an axe swing that decapitated one of them. Several more blasts of fire errupted, and the figure of Thovaas could no longer be seen.

 

[MarauderX]

41

Session 41: Duergar Mountain
The party retreated from the chaos that ensued behind them. Occassionally as the group healing their wounds they glanced back to see the skeletal figure of Thovaas Stroth cradling the vile Book of Synnestra before he walked out of sight.

The group turned and continued down the massive tunnel next to the river. Darkness eventually surrounded them and Alex pulled out his sword of light to guide their way. After a short bit Jerrin tells the others that he saw a glint of metal up ahead. The rest think the short druid is seeing things, but the halfling insisted that Quentin go ahead to scout. Quentin Blythe returned and said that he didn't see anything, and assured the others that nothing strange lay ahead. Before he could close his mouth he heard a clink like the armor Thovaas wore. With looks from the others Quentin shrugged and blamed rats when he knew it couldn't be.

Jerrin cast a spell that mimiced bright daylight on a sling stone and propelled it down the tunnel. It landed and brightly lit a section that had a dark seal that ran like an arch over the tunnel. The group heard a faint female voice and again there was more sound of shifting armor against metal and stone. Grimnyr rushed to the overlap of stone and found a black leather flap covered with lichen that allowed a smooth bond between it and the stone. Yanking it aside, the tall bard saw a grinning elven face staring back at him. Several other elven faces were stuffed in behind his, and each had a weapon in their hands that they couldn't possibly use in the cramped crevasse.

The first elf smiled and foppishly introduced himself as Qua'jere, and with a nod Grimnyr insinuated that he should step out into the open tunnel. The elf skittishly poked his head into the tunnel and after looking left and right he extended a leg and lithely stretched into the open, his one hand supporting his long bow and the other on his hip. With a new confidence he introduced the others as they emerged from the crack in the wall. First stepped a hulking human barbarian named Yenmeer, followed by the elven missionary Olyver. An elven wizard named Zegree came next, followed by a pair of elegantly dressed elves, Urnst and Avaya, that looked to have been invited for their accomplished skills in either diplomacy or for other talents.

The groups scanned each other over and made pleasant conversation for a minute before the fidgeting Qua'jere insisted they continue their stories elsewhere. The party admitted they were looking for a safe avenue to temporarily escape, and the new group said they knew of a place to rest for a while. Qua'jere led them to an open area and upward onto a wet ledge that was hidden in darkness from the dim glow of the tunnel crossroads below. As they rested the party assisted in keeping watch with the others, and through a series of whispered conversations the party learned what the elven group was doing in the Duergar Mountain.


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The group of elves had come as a diplomatic envoy to establish a relationship with the strange new race of dwarves. Qua'jere was an accomplished speaker and was given permission to be the first to contact the duergar. He assembled a team of elves to best represent them, which included Urnst for his fantastic and believeable promises and Avaya for her feminine wiles. Zegree was added for his analytical insights into the duergar culture and Olyver to represent the elven gods and possibly to enlighten the duergar. To the elves, Yenmeer made the perfect human representative - strong and tall yet simple and dim-witted. They set out to first meet the duergar and succeeded after passing through the wintry north. A dozen other elves, mostly of Qua'jere's family, accompanied them to bring food, fine clothing, spices, gifts, and provide protection.

At first the duergar were aggressive and attacked them on numerous occassions. Qua'jere then played to their more curious side and left them a number of gifts near an underground barracks. The elven trinkets did the trick; within a week Qua'jere was learning their tongue and had received several gifts in return. The elf managed to get across to their superiors that he wished to talk to whomever was in charge of the duergar, and soon enough the entourage was being led through the dark corridors of Duergar Mountain.

The entourage found themselves in front of the duergar king after an exhausting journey through the dirty mines of the mountain. The king was silent as they stood before him, and they took a moment to tidy themselves before presenting the first of several gifts to him. He was given a dove made of pure gold which had gems for eyes and outstretched platinum tipped wings. Qua'jere explained that to the elves the dove was a symbol of peace and unity among all beings. The king murmured that they did not have doves underground, just bats. Without being phased, Qua'jere rolled into the next gift of a magical wooden staff that could take the form of a snake, and told the king the command word. The king said that wood was nearly useless to them underground. Qua'jere, now stammering, presented his last gift. Two of the elves brought out a large gilded chest and rested it on the floor. After quelling the guards' fears of a trap, they opened it away from the king. Out sprang reems of cloth that danced and swayed as music came from the chest. This magical performance lasted an uncomfortable fifteen minutes before the chest spun on its own and tipped over to fill the floor with an array of embroidered cloth, any one reem of which was worth as much gold as the chest could hold. The king said that they had little use for such delicate clothing given the riggors of the stone around them. The king held the court was silent for several long minutes as he sat motionless on his throne.

Finally the king stood and walked forward, scuffing the expensive cloth out his way. He asked what the elves wanted from him. Qua'jere pointedly said that they wished to build an alliance of trade to help each nation prosper and become stronger together. The king jeered at the elf then pushed by him and walked out of the court. With a look over his shoulder, the guards pushed the elven entourage to follow the king.

They were led through curved corridors and everywhere they went the duergar would pause and inspect them as they passed. Then the group saw a tall group of... humans. A dozen men were lined up alongside a company of duergar and all were clad in full plate mail. The men watched the elves with wary eyes as they passed. The elves began talking excitedly, but Qua'jere hushed them to continue in silence.

The king led the elves to a room with a crevasse down the middle and a round pool of water on either side. Without hesitating the duergar king jumped in. One of the room's guards activated a console next to the pool, and the king was drawn downward into the water. The whirlpool stopped and the group watched the pool on the other side of the crevasse exploded slowly upward. Out came the duergar king, and he was propelled out of the pool and landed on his feet. On the other side the group saw the king moving very slowly compared to those on their side of the crevasse. The duergar guards also jumped through and then it was time for the entourage. One by one the elves went through the oily water and emerged on the other side more covered in filth than when they had gone in. It seemed as though the duergar never cleaned the pool and the sweat and dirt of thousands of uses for the duergar had built up in the pool. Disgusted, the elves didn't have time to clean off using magic as the duergar king had again walked off through a set of double doors. They looked back to see the guards on the other side of the crevasse were moving very quickly, and the mechanics of the time-shift slowly worked into their thoughts as they walked.

The king of the duergar led them through many twisted tunnels and eventually they stopped at a bare-stone room. On the far side the wall was completely missing, forming a balcony over the scene below. What they saw stunned them. They deduced that this massive mountain must be hollow as a vast cavern stretched for hundreds and hundreds of feet wide, and twice as long. The height in the center was probably a thousand feet, and from the glow from below there must have been great furnaces working. At the bottom of the cavern they saw at first what looked like a metal ship. Then Avaya scanned it and said it was an immense construct, of a size no one had ever seen. The others gasped as they knew she was right.

Before them lay the incomplete Meganaut, the largest construct ever. It would stand a thousand feet tall once completed, and would be home to a duergar army inside that operated it. On the immense construct duergar moved with lightning speed; they were on the other side of the time-wave. The group had stood gawking at the edge, taking in the size of the cavern, the Meganaut, and the amount of effort it would have required to concieve and build this thing.

The group turned from the edge realizing their gifts and offerings were rather meager to the duergar king. Behind them the king sat in a high throne and to his right a beautiful blond human stood smiling with her hands on her hips. Qua'jere cleared his throat before smiling broadly as he imagined aloud of what the Meganaut could accomplish. The picture of destruction and violence brought a grin to the king's face, and Qua'jere offered to take it one step futher. He offered his services, and that of the other Arcane Archers, to help rain down arrows while riding the massive construct. He said that only their arrows would be accurate enough from the shoulders of Meganaut, and together they would be unbeatable. The king's smile slid from his face.

The king summoned a team of crossbowmen, and they appeared clad in full plate like the all of the warrior duergar. With a snap their captain lined them up and they fired a volley at rough stone bust of a strange looking duergar. The bust ruptured from the number of metal arrows rattling against it, and it fell into crumb-like rock fell on the stone floor. In an effort to equal this, Qua'jere fired an arrow at each of the crossbowmen, and each arrow struck the very top of their helms. The duergar king visably gritted his teeth. Qua'jere realized he had insulted the king and his well-trained men, and tried to talk his way into good graces, but the king's silence continued.

Qua'jere then introduced Urnst, and the wily elf made great promises of wealth and glory once they were able to serve each other in a united alliance. The duergar king gave no intention of sharing a victory with the elves, and from the elven gifts thus far, he had no wish to see more. Urnst bowed and said they would return with jewels and crafted weapons suitable to scare any dragon or giant away from the mountains. The king said that he already quelled the giants and that he also had a huge dragon as his slave. The duergar king snorted and spit on the elf. Then Yenmeer stood from his kneeling postion.

The barbarian strode forward with each sentence, claiming the human armies and elven arrows would strike down any foe, no matter how tall or what they were made of. He continued to say that the combined efforts of this army would march over all lands, skys, and seas, and they would rule the fires under the earth, the ice on the mountaintops, and the hearts of all beasts. The duergar king smiled as the barbarian approached him up the dias. When the barbarian reached the king's eye level, the king stood. With a clap duergar guards on either side of the entourage stamped their feet into line and drew their weapons. Yenmeer looked behind him and when he looked back at the duergar king, the head of a flail was coming at his face.

The barbarian tried to swivel but the spiked head of the flail smacked Yenmeer in the face and he recoiled backward. Another blow slammed into his head, followed by two more to the man's defensively raised arms. He staggered backward as the duergar guards closed in on the entourage. Avaya, looking at the odds, yelled for the group to break a hole in their ranks. Qua'jere spotted the doorway they had come in from and dropped several duergar as Yenmeer charged at several more, bowling them out of the way with his girth. The duergar saw what was happening and quickly closed ranks to block the hole, cutting off the rest of the entourage. The king, cackling with glee, descended on the rest of the entourage, dealing a death blow with every swing of his axe. The others saw that it was too late for them and fled into the labrynth of tunnels and caves in the mountain. Zegree, Olyver and Avaya helped to hide them with magic, and after what seemed like an eternity the buzz of their escape died down.

They wandered the halls and dark tunnels with Urnst scouting for traps that sound alarms, and they wandered for perhaps four days before they encountered the party.


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With the party rested, the two groups decided to get moving once again. With Jerrin and Quentin helping, they tracked the criss-crossing paths the elves had taken back through the mountain. They found guard stations where they used magic to bypass, and along the way they ambushed a duergar patrol sent throught the tunnels. Many of the tunnels were empty, and once in a while they stopped after hearing a series of shouts pass back and forth in the tunnels. After hours of walking they found a set of closed doors that seemed familar to the other group. Cautiously they approached the door and Alex noticed it had been hastily shut and that there was something behind the door blocking it from opening. He wouldn't be able to move it without making a lot of noise.

Jerrin cast several spells to enhance their powers, as did Zegree and Olyver. Quentin Blythe blended with the shadows and suddenly he was on the other side. He looked around the gloomy room and saw bags of coins around a pool filled with mucky water. All of the doors had been locked and most had a something heavy in their way to prevent simply walking into the room. Dividing the room Quentin saw a crevasse about five feet wide separating his side from the other where another cess pool lay in the center. Just as he was about to take a step forward, the sting of an arrow hitting his arm stopped him.

Quentin tracked the source of the arrow and saw the bump of a scaly head and a reptilian eye gazing down the length of another arrow. Quentin kicked the metal chest in front of the door aside and called his bow to his hand. As Alex and the others came through Quentin fired two arrows at the lizard-like man.

Suddenly the reptilian man tossed his bow onto the sacks of coins and said he surrendered. He talked smoothly, offering the bags full of money to the large group, and said that he was glad they were still alive. He then offered to send them through the pool-portal to the other side, and claimed that only he knew how to operate the device on the pedestal next to the pool.

The party listened skeptically, but the other group nodded in agreement, and soon the snake-man was pressing the single button on the pedestal while saying a random word and making lavish gestures. One by one they were flushed to the other side, and there they saw a half dozen more bags of coins spilling over around the pool. Yenmeer grabbed several of the bags with silver in them. Once they were all on the other side, they looked back to the slower moving side and saw the reptilian man moving impossibly slow on the other side. Grimnyr fired a warning arrow through the time shifting-crevasse, and he flinched and changed direction. Quentin, growing impatient, launched four more arrows at him, and the slow fleeing lizard-man was pinned to the opposite door by arrows, and there died.

Hearing Quentin mumbling about poison arrows, Urnst hit the button on the pedestal and dove into the pool. On the other side he scoured over the body and grabbed the arrows as well as something that was rolled up in the creature's vest. He quickly returned after going back through the pool connection.

Urnst unrolled the parchment, which felt like stiff leathery skin, and looked at it under the light from Alex's sword. Both groups gathered around it. Avaya and Zegree began to make sense of it and how it was a map of the mountain itself. Avaya pointed to one of a pair of blue dots on the left and said that that's where they were now standing.



As they inspected the map, Grimnyr and Jerrin heard footsteps descending on stairs behind the door they faced. Unblocking the door to have easier access to whoever was coming, they were all quiet as the door opened with a creak. In poked the head of a duergar, and he asked what they were doing there. Avaya, one of the few to speak the dark dwarf language, told the duergar guard that they were on their way to meet with the king, to discuss important financial matters. The duergar gave a confused look then relayed what Avaya had said up the stairs. Soon more boots could be heard scuffing against the stone stairs.

A half dozen duergar joined them in the room, which now suddenly seemed crowded. The leader of the duergar said he would be glad to take the group to the king, once they said they said the king's name. Avaya stammered for a second, repeating the quiz to the others. The duergar snapped at her, and then broke a warning grin, saying that he was only kidding and to follow him.

He led them deeper into the mountain, and at each guard station they came across he spoke a different word to set the guards stationed there at ease. Two hours passed as they went through the mountain, and finally they were escorted along a narrow corridor and told to enter a small chamber. In it sat a darkly cowled figure whose face they couldn't see, but Avaya noticed the hands grasping the sides of the throne were the same as the duergar king's. He spoke softly at first, asking why they were there. Qua'jere and several others explained that they were part of the entourage, and that they were very sorry for what had happened earlier. The elf then tried to make amends by saying he would be glad to give the king his very finely crafted rapier, should it please him. The king was silent.

Then finally he spoke, and asked who the extra members of the group were. Quentin offered that they were also part of an entourage, but came on behalf of the fabled dragon Thermoleth. The duergar king said that he'd already had a dragon working for him instead of working for one instead, but he did take note of the dragon markings on Quentin, Alex and Jerrin. He had them step to one side, then cursed at the rest of them, saying that they should pay for their dishonorable behavior, then again he sat in silence.

It was a long couple of minutes before the king spoke again, and asked the party if they were their to sabotage the Meganaut by drowning the mountain before completion. Everyone looked at him blankly. He then told the guards to guide them to dinner - he would attend in due course. The king suddenly flickered and disappeared; he had been a magically concocted image the entire time. The guards escorted the large group of humans and elves up steps and stairs that became increasingly wider. Finally they came to a tall, vaulted hall, and it was littered with all sorts of tables and chairs. Several long tables were put end to end and the party was made to sit at them. The sat and talked in a low murmur as the hall began to fill with duergar. Only about half of the tables were full when the king sauntered up to the only exquisite table placed at the opposite end of the hall. The same duergar guards watched over the group as battered metal plates with food spilling over the edges clanked down in front of them. Yenmeer tore into the meal with a savage hunger while the others watched for any ill effects to overtake him. When nothing happened everyone ate their servings with much less delight.

The king ate and soon afterwards he started giving instructions to groups of duergar in the great hall. After each command the group would cheer then run out of the hall. When he pointed to the party he told the duergar guarding them to take them to be registered. Then he spoke to the group and said for them to go back to the great dragon Thermoleth and accept her assistance in cornering the Litorians. He left shortly afterward, and soon the rest of the duergar began to filter out. The duergar guards guided the party down the hall and out through a set of tall double doors, away from where the king had exited. They were led down a wide hall and eventually they saw a massive gap ahead in the tunnel. Beyond this a giant wheel lay at the end of the tunnel with many doors branching away from it.

In the gap the group could see branches that protruded from each side to the other, as two huge cogs might meet in a great contraption. The cog teeth provided bridges over the black gap, and each side also disappeared into darkness. The other side was busy with several groups of worker duergar huddled in each corner. Immediately on the other side of the gap were several tables with parchment and books stacked in front of a very sombre looking duergar with pure white hair. The duergar scratched down the number of party members and began recording details on each; what they were carrying, what they looked like, height and approximate weight.

The group milled around the big wheel with the duergar guards trying to keep track of what the party was doing. Quentin used this confusion to suddenly disappear. Grimnyr slowed down the duergar secretary by asking a series of questions about the construct in the middle of the wheel, each deeper and more inquizitive than the last. The duergar told Grimnyr everything he could to impress the tall man, saying that the construct, when inactive, acted as a locking pin to prevent the wheel from turning. He showed the locked drawer where a wand was kept that controlled the huge metal construct, then even made it move to show off to the bard. Then the bard hummed an enchantment that drew in the duergar's fascination with him, and swept over an enchantment to get him to give over the wand. The duergar snapped out back into reality as he heard several of his comrades shouting at him to stop. But it was too late; Alex snatched the wand and with a flick of his wrist he tossed it to Quentin. Quentin's hands called the short, metal, many-buttoned wand to him, and his thumb worked to active the construct. Meanwhile chaos had broken out around them.

Qua'jere shot two of the farthest worker duergar with arrows as Zegree slammed two more with magical missles. Jerrin cast several enchantments and suddenly shifted to become a massive mound of shambling plant debris. Avaya was slashed across her arm but retaliated with a bolt of lightning against the guards. Grimnyr ran and jumped at another frightened worker across the room, felling him with his axe. Alex and Urnst worked with Yenmeer to bring down three more of the duergar guards. Only a few of the duergar workers managed to flee safely out of the room; the rest where soon defeated by the party and their new allies.

The group pulled out the map once more to find out where they were. They saw the cog room and the circular curve of the mountain where they were. They saw the massive area for water and the streams that went from it to the Meganaut Cavern. Perhaps the king meant that the mountain can be moved - spun on an axis with the great cogs like the one in the room they were in. They decided to try.

Quentin pushed the silvery wand with his thumb several more times and it began walking in a circle with the cog. It slammed it's waist into one of the eight pushbars and strained against it. Jerrin then threw his weight behind the wheel and began pushing, his leafy branches straining against the metal pushbar. Them Yenmeer and more joined in. With a lurch it gave way and the wheel was moving.

They spun it around once, and they could see they had moved the tunnel they had come from the dining hall by about twenty five feet. The wheel stuck there, but soon they got it moving again. They kept rotating it with brief pauses when it caught or when someone became tired. When the effort was beginning to affect several of them they had turned the wheel thirty eight times - almost a thousand feet of the entire circumference. Avaya, doing the math quickly in her head, advised that they should continue until they reach one-hundred and eighty turns - that would turn the mountain around completely. Avaya then checked the cliff-like opening and saw that another tunnel would be coming up shortly, and that it had duergar waiting to see them as well. She pulled a flask from her pouch and began emptying it on the stone floor to create a slick greased area next to the precarious edge. Let them come then, she said to herself.