Medriev's FR Thunderspire Labyrinth - Concluded Apr 13

[Medriev]

This is the second thread of my continuing solitaire campaign. It continues where my Keep on the Shadowfell story hour left off with the same PCs. For those who are interested, the PCs at the start of this adventure are as follows:

Dulvarna Human Level 4 Fighter
Litiraan Eladrin Level 3 Wizard
Lavren Eladrin Level 4 Warlock
Telkya Eladrin Level 3 Cleric
Enlishia Human Level 4 Ranger
Erlmoor Dragonborn Level 4 Paladin

As usual grateful for any comments or feedback and hope others enjoy reading this as much as I have enjoyed playing and writing this. Anyway, here is.....

Chapter 1 - Into the Mountain (Part 1)

A swirling thunderhead of black clouds, rumbling thunder, and bright flashes of lightning obscured the peak of the mountain ahead of the travelers. They had turned aside from the Immerflow Valley where an ancient road headed further up into the mountains and followed an equally ancient cobbled path beside a stream that locals called the Khel. At the top of the vale, the stream disappeared into the rock and there, ahead of the small group was a wide gateway carved into the mountainside. Whatever doors had once barred had been long since broken down and had rotted away but the gate was no less impressive for their absence. A bull-headed creature with the body of a man was carved into the stone on either side of the high gateway, each holding a huge sword in a downward, guard position with the point between its feet. The gateway itself was easily the height of eight men and from either side, the bull-headed statues glowered menacingly.

“The Minotaur Gate,” said the dark haired warrior woman who led the group. She pulled a torch from her belt and struck a light to it. A tall elf lord called light to the tip of the wand her held and at the back, a black-scaled dragonborn lit his own torch.
“Shall we go in,” said a woman near the back of the group. She had short, brown hair and carried a sword on her back and a bow over one shoulder.
“I think we shall,” answered Dulvarna, the warrior woman who led the group. She started forward and the others followed her into the darkness.

They followed the wide passage a short way into the mountain but then it splintered into numerous other passages. A wide tunnel with several smaller tunnels leading off it seemed to cut a path towards the mountain’s deep centre. They followed the wide tunnel a little way further on until Dulvarna raised her hand to halt the companions behind her. Light spilled from a partially open door a short way down one of the side passages and as the six companions stopped and listened, they heard coarse laughter and guttural voices from the side passage.

“You’re ours now, halfling,” said one voice. “We’ll easily get ten gold for you!”
“That’s a shame,” another voice responded. “Cause I’m worth twenty. I’ll buy myself if you let me go.”
“Hobgoblins,” growled Erlmoor, drawing his sword quietly. “Just what we came here for.”

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 1 - Into the Mountain (Part 2)

Each of the six drew their weapons or implements of power and together, the group started forward. Dulvarna put down her torch on the floor outside the doors, and with her sword leaning against her shoulder, she pulled open the double doors to the side chamber with one hand. Within, four hobgoblin warriors faced a halfling who was crouched on the floor between them and a hobgoblin shaman in clad in furs and a skull headdress.
“Intruders!” called the shaman and the hobgoblins turned towards the door just as Dulvarna rushed into the room with her sword held high in two hands now.

Dulvarna reached the first hobgoblin and twisted to the left, drawing her blade across the left of the warrior’s abdomen and twisting him around towards her. Light flared from the doorway as Telkya raised her holy symbol and a beam seared into the first of a row of huge tuns against the east wall. It blasted a hole and sprayed dust into the air. Litiraan loosed a silver bolt from the doorway that drove into the hobgoblin’s side and forced it back into the room. Enlishia darted through the doorway, firing an arrow as the came, the shaft flying the length of the room to clatter against the wall beyond the halfling. The hobgoblin drew his flail from his belt and lashed out at Dulvarna, catching her right arm and spinning her backwards against the west wall of the chamber. He snarled and moved forward menacingly as though to finish her.

“Kill them all,” snarled the shaman from the back of the chamber as he advanced. “Teach them the price of interfering with Bloodreaver business.”
“I’ll look forward to that,” sneered Lavren as he entered the chamber. “Because interfering with Bloodreaver business is precisely what we’re here for.” The elf spat a curse at the first hobgoblin and loosed crackling black energy into the warrior’s side, spinning him away from Dulvarna. Then, with snarls and roars, the three remaining warriors came forward with shields raised and flails twirling above their heads.

Dulvarna parried the flail of the second hobgoblin as it reached her and glanced left as Erlmoor charged into the room. His blade lashed out and the wounded hobgoblin ducked back beyond the dragonborn’s reach. The paladin roared and sprayed acid over the gathered hobgoblins and as they retreated, Dulvarna rushed forward, lashing out with her sword. A flail parried her blade and twisted it aside but she tried to recover and drive her blade into the wounded hobgoblin. He turned, sensing the attack and held his flail over his head, two handed to parry the blow. As he stood there, silver bolt flew from the doorway and drove through his body from one side to another before jolting the shield of the hobgoblin behind. The struck warrior opened his mouth in one last gasp and then collapsed to the floor of the chamber.

Enlishia saw her chance and loosed an arrow through the gap into the shoulder of the hobgoblin behind the one that had fallen. The shaman shoved that hobgoblin aside and surged into the gap himself, throwing out a hand and uttering a short, guttural chant. A wave of force struck the four companions, hurling Dulvarna back against the south wall of the chamber and throwing Enlishia from her feet and dumping her out into the corridor beyond the doors.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 1 - Into the Mountain (Part 3)

Lavren turned to see if Telkya had been hurt by the shaman’s spell but she was nowhere to be seen. He looked towards the barrels and saw a faint, fading cloud of light motes there, the telltale sign of an eladrin’s teleport. He drew his sword and rushed towards the barrels and as he neared them, he concentrated on a spot beyond them, behind the hobgoblins. He felt the dizzying sensation of rushing forward and then appeared where he had willed himself, just behind the shaman. He glanced to his right and saw that Telkya had appeared just beyond the barrels. She turned to him and winked and Lavren smiled back. He turned then and with a curse, he loosed black, crackling energy into the back of the nearest hobgoblin. The creature cried out and turned with a hiss towards this new enemy. It nudged its neighbour and together, the two hobgoblins started towards the elf.

Dulvarna shook the confusion from her head and pushed herself to her feet. She raised her blade unsteadily and concentrated on getting her breath back. As she did so, Erlmoor slashed his blade left and right while praying loudly to Lathander. His sword glowed with divine light but each time it struck at the shaman, the hobgoblin met the blade with his gnarled staff. The warrior woman looked around for Lavren and Telkya and wondered where they had got to but then she saw a commotion behind the first rank of hobgoblins and knew the answer. Cursing the reckless elf, she started back to join Erlmoor in battle once more. From the right, Litiraan loosed a silver bolt that struck the shaman in the shoulder while Enlishia, similarly dazed, reentered the room. She leveled her bow and loosed an arrow at the shaman but the hobgoblin docked to its right and the arrow clattered harmlessly against the far wall of the chamber. The shaman roared and struck out with its staff, uttering another incantation as he did so. Lightning crackled along the stave and as it struck Erlmoor’s shoulder, it sent the dragonborn reeling.
“Arte you learning yet?” sneered the shaman. “The Bloodreavers punish any who interfere in their plans.”

Lavren ducked one flail and then parried the second with Lifestealer low and to his left. He lashed the sword back around and slashed it across the left shoulder of the hobgoblin above his shield. The hobgoblin raised his flail above his head and brought it down but Lavren raised his blade crossways over his head and met the descending flail. The ball flew on downwards and whistled past the elf’s nose as he moved his head backwards out of its way. He twisted his blade to the right, throwing the hobgoblin’s flail down and to the right while moving his blade up again to meet the other hobgoblin’s weapon. He twisted his arm back in a desperate parry, keeping the other flail at bay. Telkya rushed in then on Lavren’s left and the hobgoblin leapt back a step to meet this new threat. The elf maid turned and flashed a beautiful smile and a wink at Lavren. His heart soaring, he turned back to his own foe and pushed forward.

Dulvarna and Erlmoor had each flurry of attacks parried as they tried to push the shaman and the other hobgoblin warrior back into the chamber. Silver bolts from Litiraan’s wand and arrows from Enlishia’s bow flew past the hobgoblins but none struck home and the shaman sneered broadly at the enemies before him. The shaman lashed out with its stave and Erlmoor ducked low under the blow but at the same time, the hobgoblin facing Dulvarna surged forward. The warrior shoved its shield into Dulvarna’s sword and twisted it down and to her right while bringing its flail down in a high overhand blow. Dulvarna ducked back but she was not quick enough and the spiked ball cracked painfully into her shoulder. Beside her, Erlmoor stabbed out low with his blade but the shaman leapt the blow and danced backwards.
“If you yield now, you’ll be worth more when we sell you on,” sneered the shaman. Erlmoor responded with a growl and rushed at the hobgoblin again.

Telkya looked over at Lavren and then retreated from the hobgoblin she faced, confident he could keep both from her. Raising her silver star amulet of Corellon, she uttered a prayer and called down a column of searing light on the hobgoblin she had just been battling. She grasped her sword firmly in her right hand and her amulet in the other and prayed fervently. The light came down and the hobgoblin cried out as it seared his flesh. The creature staggered and fell back towards the front of the room.

Litiraan found his aim at last as he loosed another silver bolt from his wand and watched it sear into the hip of the shaman. The bold hobgoblin staggered and lurched to the left just as Enlishia loosed an arrow from her bow. The shaft pierced his right arm and threw him backwards. The shaman lashed out wildly and Erlmoor simply leaned back to evade the swing. He lunged forward then while the shaman was still off balance and plunged his blade into the hobgoblin’s chest.
“You’ll be selling no one here,” snarled Erlmoor into the hobgoblin’s face as the last light faded from its eyes.

Lavren ducked left as one flail descended towards him and then raised his sword to parry the second only for the ball to loop over his raised blade and strike him painfully on the shoulder. He twisted his arm free and looked over his shoulder for aid from Telkya. She loosed a beam of light from her star amulet but the hobgoblin it was intended for ducked to one side and the divine fire blasted a hole in the wall next to it. Telkya uttered a decidedly unladylike curse in elven and drew a shocked look from Lavren before she began to utter another prayer. Lavren hoped it was a good one. They needed all the help they could get, divine or otherwise. Even as the thought passed through his mind, Lavren saw a flash of silver light behind his enemies and another hobgoblin fell beside the shaman. Suddenly, the way was clear for Dulvarna and Erlmoor to come to his aid. Who needed Corellon, Lavren thought to himself. Steel and muscle would serve him greater here. An arrow drove into the back of the hobgoblin before him, pitching the warrior forward a step. Lavren lashed out at the hobgoblin and then darted back as it lashed out angrily with its flail, roaring as it did so. The spiked ball smashed into his side, piercing his leather armour and cracking at least one of his ribs. The other hobgoblin swung his flail high at the elf’s head and Lavren ducked beneath chain and ball easily. Then, Erlmoor and Dulvarna came upon the hobgoblins from behind and Litiraan appeared beside Telkya in a shower of white light motes. The hobgoblins died quickly then in a hail of silver and white light and a terrible onslaught of bloodstained blades.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 1 - Into the Mountain (Part 4)

“What is this place?” Dulvarna asked the halfling once they had tended to their wounds and Telkya had checked that the halfling was unhurt.
“Pleased to meet you too,” came the answer. “I am Rendil Halfmoon and I live here. This is the Labyrinth, the untamed region in the depths of Thunderspire Mountain. We’re not too far from the Seven Pillared Hall where my home is. Adventurers such as yourselves should be able to easily find employment in the Hall, if that’s what you’re looking for. Just stay on Brugg’s good side – you don’t want him or the Mages of Saruun to pay too much attention to you, if you know what I mean.”

“You live here?” questioned Enlishia. “Why would you live here?”
“Many do,” answered Rendil. “Well, not here, in the Seven Pillared Hall, as I said. Thanks so much for helping me. Come with me to the Halfmoon and I’ll buy you an ale or four. It’s the best inn – well, the only inn – this side of the Labyrinth.”
“Why are you here then, if you live in this Hall?” rumbled Erlmoor.
“Those hobgoblins grabbed me a few hours ago,” answered the halfling. “I was tailing them ‘cause they were hanging around my family’s inn yesterday. I wanted to figure out what they were up to, but they caught me.”

“The Halfmoon’s your inn then,” said Dulvarna with a smile. “I think we’ll take you up on those ales then.”
“Room and board as well, if you want it,” the halfling said then. “And if you want to find more of those Bloodreavers like you said, I can help you out. I can tell you how to find the Chamber of Eyes. I’d like to see someone teach those slavers a lesson.”
“We might just take you up on that,” said Telkya.
“Then you’d best follow me,” said Rendil, rising to his feet. He started towards the doorway, waving the others to follow him. They gathered up their weapons and gear and started after the halfling.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 2 - The Seven-Pillared Hall (Part 1)

Beyond the side passage, the wide passage into the mountain was dimly lit by green light from copper lanterns. Rendil led them onwards as the passage turned left and then right and then left again while descending steadily into the heart of Thunderspire. Eventually, the path leveled out and emerged into a mighty chamber. A stream bisected the wide cavern and seven stone pillars connected floor to ceiling, perhaps once stalactites and stalagmites. At the heart of the chamber, just to the east of the stream stood a statue of a minotaur on a stone platform while everywhere, creatures great and small, more varied than any that would be seen on the streets of Arabel wandered between various stone buildings that were scattered across the floor of the cavern. Various side openings seemed to lead to other residences and businesses and were just as frequented as the others.

“Where is your inn?” Enlishia asked.
“Over there,” answered Rendil, gesturing towards the southern wall on the western side of the stream.
“And what of the other places here,” said Litiraan. “What do they offer?”
“they are traders mostly,” answered the halfling. “This is a trading outpost for the most part but others, less desirable folk, live in other parts of the mountain.”
“We go to the inn and then we find the Bloodreavers,” rumbled Erlmoor. “We want no trouble here.”
“Very sensible, master dragonborn,” said the halfling, starting across the open space towards the inn. “Very sensible.” Lavren and Telkya started after the halfling and the others followed.
“You faught well back there,” said Lavren to the elf maid once they had moved ahead of the others.
“As did you,” she answered with a smile.

The Halfmoon Inn was a large building that sat against the side of the Hall and seemed to serve as a trading post, taproom and inn. Rendil quickly introduced them to his aunt, Erra Halfmoon who ran the inn and soon had rooms arranged for them upstairs. They took seats near to the fire for the dark of the mountain was cold and as soon as they had done so, ale began to flow as Rendil had promised. The six companions ate well and drank their fill of ale before retiring to rooms upstairs and sleeping for the first time under the mountain.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 2 - The Seven-Pillared Hall (Part 2)

“We should explore the Hall first,” said Lavren over breakfast as he shoveled a mouthful of meat that he hoped was bacon into his mouth.
“Agreed,” said Telkya and Lavren looked at her suspiciously then. Since they had left Winterhaven, the two had seemed to become closer with each passing day but still he had not yet discerned the relationship between her and Litiraan. Perhaps he should just ask, he mused, but then his thoughts were interrupted by Erlmoor’s rumbling voice.

“We passed a dwarf trading company,” the dragonborn said. “I for one would like to see what armour and weapons they have on offer.”
“And there is a trading post in the eastern part of the cavern, so Rendil tells me,” said Litiraan. “They are said to trade alchemical reagents that may be useful.”
“We have little time for brewing potions, alas,” said Dulvarna. “We shall visit the dwarves and see what they have to offer and then we shall seek the Chamber of Eyes.” None would argue with the warrior woman and so it was agreed. They all finished their breakfast in silence and then made their way out of the inn.

Two large stone friezes of stern dwarf faces adorned the façade of the Deepgem Company and as Erlmoor stepped inside the entrance chamber off the main cavern, he was not disappointed. Fine swords and axes hung in racks to left and right and several wooden dummies displayed finely wrought armour, some even carved with runes that indicated enchantments to protect the wearer.

“Too fine for my purse,” said Enlishia as she surveyed the wears of the place.
“Are ye sure?” said a dwarf who seemed to suddenly appear behind the counter. Enlishia looked over and saw that the dwarf had a long, black beard and bushy black hair and eyebrows. He regarded the six warily as if not sure what to make of them.
“She’s sure,” rumbled Erlmoor. “As am I. But I may be back once we have dealt with those we came here for.”
“Oh really,” said the dwarf. “And who might you be?”
“We’re the Defenders of Winterhaven,” answered Erlmoor, drawing curious glances from the others. “And we have work to do.” At that, the dragonborn turned and walked from the chamber while the others looked askance after him. One by one they filed out behind him and followed him back to the Halfmoon Inn.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 2 - The Seven-Pillared Hall (Part 3)

Dulvarna led them up wide steps and into a large antechamber. If Rendil’s directions were right, this as the Chamber of Eyes, the lair of the Bloodreavers. She looked ahead and saw two fearsome-looking statues of winged demons squatting on either side of a stairway leading up to double doors to the right. Inscribed upon the doors was an image of a great eye with multiple eye stalks, as well as a symbol of a circle with a crossbar rising out of it. Heaps of rubble were scattered across the floor, and to the north a balcony overlooked the room.

“Shht,” hissed Lavren, holding up his hand. All six companions paused and as they stopped, they heard high, rasping voices and the footsteps of several creatures beyond the double doors.
“Goblins!” Telkya hissed. “We should try the balcony.”
“Why not bluff our way in?” Enlishia whispered. “Goblins are stupid enough to fall for it.”
“Worth a try,” said Dulvarna with a shrug. Enlishia strode forward and banged on the double doors loudly.
“Let us in,” called Enlishia. “Khurbok sent us.”
“Really?” came a goblin voice in reply, speaking perfect Common. “We weren’t expecting anyone.”
“Does Khurbok usually send warning?” Litiraan called out.
“Not usually,” answered the goblin. “But then word is he’s dead so I doubt he sent you.” The goblin barked something then in its own tongue.
“I don’t think they’re going to let us in,” said Lavren, drawing his wand and his sword.
“Agreed,” said Dulvarna, drawing her sword.

Telkya rushed towards the balcony and desperately tried, to no avail, to scrabble up the wall that led up to it. Litiraan knelt down and to the surprise of all, began to try to pick the lock with the point of his sword. Dulvarna turned away and rushed towards the balcony while Erlmoor charged, shoulder first, into the double doors. Enlishia rushed to join the others at the foot of the balcony and Lavren turned away from the doors to follow her. The door to the right of the balcony opened and two goblins armed with small hand crossbows rushed out onto the raised platform.

Telkya drew back, praying to Corellon as she did so, and loosed a bolt of bright light from her holy symbol. It struck the wall neck to the head of one of the goblins and drew a surprised yelp from the creature. Litiraan turned away from the door as he heard Telkya chanting a prayer and rushed to help her. Raising his wand, he loosed a silver bolt from it that struck one of the goblins in the chest and hurled it back against the wall behind the balcony. Lavren retreated beside Telkya, cursing the nearest goblin and leveling his wand at the creature. He loosed a blast of crackling, black energy that seared into the goblin and hurled it back against the wall for the second time. Both goblins loosed bolts from their hand crossbows nonetheless but the shots were rushed and the bolts clattered against the stone between Telkya and Lavren. A blast of light from Telkya’s amulet struck the unwounded goblin and a silver bolt struck the other for a second time. Staggering on the balcony above, the goblins desperately tried to reload their crossbows but then Dulvarna climbed up beside them. She swept out her sword and panic possessed the goblins.

Enlishia drew back and began firing arrows up at the balcony, further panicking the goblins. A black bolt from Lavren’s wand struck a goblin again and the creature fell back across the balcony, throwing down its crossbow and fumbling for the axe at its belt. Dulvarna parried as the axe finally swept out at her and behind the first foe, the second goblin’s crossbow bolt shattered in the groove of the weapon as the hand crossbow jammed. Seemingly cursing in its own tongue, the goblin darted back through the door at the eastern end of the balcony and disappeared form sight. A bolt of radiant light struck the stone just behind the remaining goblin and then a silver bolt seared through its side and pitched it from the balcony to the floor of the chamber below. Dulvarna nodded her thanks to Litiraan and rushed off after her fleeing enemy.

Dulvarna dashed through the door and saw that the landing corridor continued through a switch to the left to another door at its far end. To the right, the fleeing goblin had darted down a staircase and as Dulvarna started down the stairs, she slashed out with her blade, cutting across the creature’s back and pitching it forward. From the left she heard a roar and a fierce, fur-covered goblin, twice the height of the one she had been pursuing rushed in at her. It swung out with a spiked morningstar and Dulvarna darted back two steps up the stairs to evade a bone-breaking blow. Dulvarna caught a glimpse of light behind her and glanced back to see Lavren appear from a shower of light motes.
“Trouble?” the elf half-asked.
“You think so,” answered Dulvarna with a sarcastic smile before turning back to her enemies. The goblin she had pursued lashed out with his axe and she pulled her body back out of the way. The goblin leapt from the stairs and toppled a chair in the chamber below as it tried to reach a doorway in the southern wall. Dulvarna turned towards the huge furred goblin, temporarily distracted from her prey and slashed her blade across the huge monster’s chest.

At his fourth attempt, Erlmoor crashed through the double doors into the hallway beyond his sword came up at once and he came face to face with a goblin warrior with an axe held ready. Erlmoor prayed, his blade glowed white and he swung the sword out, only for it to clash against the steel of a goblin axe. Enlishia appeared in the doorway behind him, an arrow nocked to her bowstring. She loosed the missile and it drove into the shoulder of a second goblin standing behind the one that Erlmoor faught. Erlmoor parried the goblin’s counter and twisted its axe down towards the floor but then the second goblin came forward, bringing its axe in from his right and driving it into his hip before he had any chance to parry. Erlmoor staggered and fell against the left wall of the corridor, warm blood running down his leg.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 2 - The Seven-Pillared Hall (Part 4)

Dulvarna raised her blade to parry the high blow from the large goblin but at the last, the morningstar dipped and crashed into her ribs, hurling her back against the wall beside the stairs. From the top of the stairs, Dulvarna dimly heard elven words and then a black bolt struck the furred goblin and drove it back from her, allowing her to move down the stairs towards the chamber floor. Her goblin foe turned then at the bottom of the stairs and lashed out again with its axe but again, she ducked back and the goblin retreated past a table that dominated the centre of what seemed to be a guard room. Dulvarna turned back towards the huge goblin she faced and leveled her sword once more.

Telkya came down the steps behind Dulvarna, her sword in her hand. She recognised the huge goblin as a brutal bugbear as soon as she saw it and stabbed her blade into its shoulder, driving it back a step. Litiraan came to the top of the steps behind Telkya and loosed a silver bolt at the bugbear, only for it to strike the table behind the creature. Dulvarna leapt from the steps, weaving her blade in front of her before lashing out at the bugbear. It stepped back and toppled over a chair behind it. It growled a curse and roared at the goblin to its left which was still retreating towards the chamber door. Another roar answered the bugbear and Dulvarna knew it was Erlmoor. He was in the corridor outside and he was coming to aid them.

Erlmoor sprayed acid over the two goblins before lashing out with his sword to cut it across the chest of the goblin on the left. He heard a thud and saw an arrow from Enlishia’s bow drove into the shoulder of the other goblin and send it staggering back a step. Erlmoor parried a high axe swing from the goblin before him but the one with the arrow in its shoulder came back surprisingly quickly. Its axe swung in at his right side and though he brought his blade down, he could only deflect it downwards into his thigh. He gave a roar of pain then and fell back against the wall of the passage. Pushing himself away from the wall, he came back at his enemies once more.

The bugbear swung out with its huge morning star, smashing it into Dulvarna’s left arm as she raised her blade to parry. She fell back against the wall of the room and held her blade up, expecting a killing blow. To her amazement, the bugbear retreated into the chamber and gave her a chance to recover. It also gave Lavren a chance to squeeze past Litiraan and make his way down the steps. The elf uttered a curse in elven and loosed a black, crackling bolt that flew past the bugbear and struck the far wall of the chamber. The goblin in the chamber reached the door then and peered out into the corridor. It called something in its own tongue to the bugbear and then sheathed its axe to draw forth a small hand crossbow from its belt. Telkya leapt to the floor of the chamber and stabbed at the bugbear but the huge creature just swatted the blade aside. Litiraan loosed a silver bolt of energy from his wand that struck the bugbear in the right shoulder and Dulvarna charged across the room at the creature. The goblin raised its crossbow in a panicky way, moving his aim from Dulvarna to Telkya and then to Lavren. As it made up its mind, another draconic roar filled the corridor behind it.

Erlmoor plunged his blade into the hip of the goblin facing him and drove it back further from him. It lashed out with its axe and he ducked back to evade the swing. As he did so, two arrows flew past the other goblin and it snarled its amusement despite the wounds it had already suffered. It swung its axe at the dragonborn and he brought his blade down to parry the blow, close to his right leg.

Dulvarna stabbed out at the bugbear and nicked its leg above its knee only drawing a wrathful roar from it. It slashed out with its morningstar before she could recover and struck her painfully in the chest, cracking ribs as it did so. The blow sending her reeling backwards and as it did so, the bugbear barked a command at the goblin, who shrugged off a blast of black energy from Lavren’s wand and obligingly loosed a bolt from its crossbow. The bolt drove into Dulvarna’s neck and as she felt blood fill her throat, blackness took her.

Telkya panicked as Dulvarna fell and stabbed out at the bugbear desperately. Again her blow was swatted aside with almost casual ease and she knew that she would likely fall beside Dulvarna very soon. Litiraan loosed another silver bolt from the top of the stairs that struck the bugbear and drew another angry roar from it but it barely staggered as it was struck. Their only hope lay in Erlmoor now. If only he could reach them in time.

Erlmoor lashed out with his blade and cut into the shoulder of the goblin before him driving it back further. It lashed out low with its axe and cut into his already wounded right thigh. The leg buckled and almost gave way beneath him. An arrow struck the other goblin just as it swung at him and he dodged away from the creature’s weakened swing easily. He slashed out with his blade and cut the throat of the goblin before him while it was still unbalanced from its own swing. It fell back on its behind, blood spurting from its neck. Dropping its axe, it reached up to stanch the flow but it was hopeless. An arrow took the other goblin in the throat then and felled it. Erlmoor roared his triumph, kicked over the dying goblin before him and rushed down the corridor towards the sounds of battle.

Telkya backed away towards Lavren and began to pray, her star symbol held up before her. The bugbear leapt forward just as a column of light descended upon it and seared its flesh. Its back singed, it rushed at the two elves at the bottom of the stairs. A silver bolt struck it from the top of the stairs and it faltered but it staggered on to reach its foes. The bugbear lashed out wildly with its morningstar forcing both Telkya and Lavren to duck under the blow. Lavren stabbed his sword into the creature’s left side and then Telkya drove her blade into the creature’s lung on the other side. With a gasp, the bugbear toppled and fell.

At the doorway, the goblin turned to flee but it was met by a roaring dragonborn. It slashed its axe into Erlmoor’s chest, knocking him back into Enlishia who was behind him and desperately sought a way past the wounded foe. A silver bolt struck the goblin in the back and pitched it forward while Erlmoor, his breath coming in ragged gasps, met it with his blade. The goblin skewered itself on the dragonborn’s blade and died there, face to face with its enemy.
Enlishia rushed past Erlmoor and knelt at Dulvarna’s side, desperately applying cloth strips to the wound in the woman’s throat.
“She will live,” said the ranger at last. “But only just.” The others breathed a sigh of relief.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 3 - The Chamber of Blood (Part 1)

Dulvarna led them back up the steps once the worst of her hurts had been tended and healed, turning right along the landing there until she reached another door. Leaning her sword against her shoulder, she turned the iron ring handle of the door and pushed it open. Within, two dwarves with dark grey skin and thick, black beards and hair turned towards the door. Telkya rushed at them before they had time to react, darting right with her blade before her while Enlishia darted left, loosing an arrow into one of the dwarves as she went. Dulvarna followed the elf and the ranger into the chamber, lashing out with her blade at the nearest grey-skinned dwarf and drawing blood from his forearm. Lavren appeared against the south wall of the room and cursed the nearest dwarf in elven before loosing a bolt of black energy that seared into the fireplace built into the north wall. Sparks burst from the flames and as the others shrank back, the first dwarf, wounded by Dulvarna, surged forward and slammed his hammer into the woman. She fell back into the doorway towards Litiraan who was at her back. The elf concentrated for a moment and burst into a shower of light motes that reappeared beside Lavren against the south wall. He loosed a silver bolt into the nearest dwarf and then spat the name of their kind.

“Duergar,” the elf sneered. “Dark dwarves who make pacts with infernal powers. Beware their hair and beards for they hide poisonous quills.”
“Good to know,” answered Dulvarna with a wink at the elf. From a corridor that led east from the room, the companions heard doors open and then voices, hobgoblin voices.
“More are coming,” rumbled Erlmoor from behind Dulvarna.
“Seems about normal,” answered Enlishia with a smile.

A tall hobgoblin with a wolf-skin headdress appeared in the entrance of the eastern corridor and called something over his shoulder in the goblin tongue. One of the duergar lashed a hand from its beard and hurled a sharp quill at Dulvarna that drove into her arm. She staggered back, feeling numbness spreading from the wound. She cursed and then the duergar was upon her, smashing her arm with his warhammer. She cried out and fell back into Erlmoor who now stood right behind her.
“Let my blade reach him,” he growled in her ear.
“It shall,” she answered in a whisper.

Telkya stabbed out with her blade and darted right to allow Erlmoor into the chamber. As she did so, Enlishia shouldered her bow and drew forth her sword. She drove her blade into the hip of the nearest duergar, the one who had hurled a poison quill, and drove him back from Dulvarna. The warrior woman in turn forced herself forward but as her left arm grew increasingly numb, her swing was slow and easily parried by the duergar. Black energy from Lavren’s wand seared over both duergar and then they came forward again. One swung his hammer at Telkya and as the elf ducked back and tried to parry, he caught her right hand a glancing blow. She recoiled and seemingly in anger, Litiraan loosed a silver bolt at the dwarf that seared into the side of the creature. The elf smiled at Telkya and Lavren looked from one to the other, wondering even in the heat of battle what connected the two. Then, he saw a leash of black energy snake out from the stave that the wolf-skin clad hobgoblin carried and wrap around Litiraan’s waist. The elf cried out and then was yanked towards the hobgoblin. Even as Lavren watched, another hobgoblin, a huge creature wearing scale armour and carrying a shield and spear, entered the room. He stabbed his spear into Litiraan’s side and all thoughts of jealousy were banished from the elf’s mind. Survival became more crucial and saving Litiraan was surely a part of that.

Erlmoor entered the chamber with a roar, driving his blade into the shoulder of the nearest duergar and praying as he did so. Lavren felt some strength return to her and parried the next hammer blow from the duergar she faced. Telkya darted right and held forth her holy symbol, loosing a bolt of light from it that missed the nearest duergar and seared into the mantle beyond both. Dulvarna and Enlishia drove back the farthest duergar with combined attacks and dancing blades, wounding the dwarf twice as it retreated. Meanwhile, Lavren sent a searing bolt of crackling, black energy into the other duergar that burned into its side and sent it reeling. It lashed out at Erlmoor but the dragonborn ducked back beyond its reach and roared his defiance.

Litiraan lashed out desperately with his sword as both hobgoblins came at him. The wolf-skin clad creature lashed out with its staff, chanting a dark prayer as it did so and conjuring blue lighting to the end of the stave. The elf ducked under the wide swing but as he did so, the other hobgoblin came forward and drove its spear into the top of his hip. He gasped and staggered back further, sorely wounded. Telkya stood beside him then, lashing out with her blade but even together, the two elves could not hold off the two hobgoblins for long. They glanced at each other and shared a brief look of compassion and what Lavren realised could only be descried as love. Lavren decided that he would ask Telkya what Litiraan meant to her if they survived this. Alas survival here was by no means certain for any of them. The elf drew his blade and rushed forward as Dulvarna and Enlishia drove their blades into the other duergar again. Both dwarves fell back and as they did so, the hobgoblins came forward.

The duergar before Erlmoor lashed out with its hammer and struck the dragonborn on his left arm above the elbow. The paladin paid the blow no mind but saw that Litiraan was drawing further back, trying desperately to summon what was left of his strength as the two spear wounds soaked his tunic in blood. The hobgoblin shaman prayed again and lashed out with a lightning tipped staff and again Litiraan ducked the blow but again, the huge hobgoblin’s spear came in at him. This time it drove into his belly and Litiraan gasped and staggered once more. This time, he dropped his sword, the blade clattering dimly to the floor as the elf’s senses quickly dulled. He sank to his knees, looked up once at Telkya and then fell forward on the stone floor of the chamber. Erlmoor roared and with a huge blow, he beheaded the duergar before him. It fell beside Litiraan to the blood-soaked floor.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 3 - The Chamber of Blood (Part 2)

Telkya cried out and loosed a searing bolt of light into the large hobgoblin while Enlishia came forward and plunged her blade into the side of the duergar before her. The dwarf gasped, staggered and collapsed beside his headless companion. Dulvarna surveyed the fallen dwarves while Lavren spat a curse in elven at the shaman. He raised his wand and loosed purple rays at both hobgoblins that struck them and threw them back a step. The shaman lowered his stave and uttered a dark prayer that loosed a wave of black energy across the room. It struck the companions and hurled them all backwards but Litiraan’s fallen form was hurt the worst of all. His already wounded body struck the west wall of the chamber next to Telkya with an audible crack and then fell like a broken doll to the floor. Telkya cried out again but before she could kneel to check on her companion, the huge hobgoblin rushed at her and drove his spear into her shoulder. She gasped and cried out again.

Erlmoor roared and sprayed acid at the two hobgoblins but both covered their heads with shields or furs to evade the acid. He lowered his blade to point at the shaman and then charged at it, uttering a prayer to the Morninglord as he came. His blade glowed bright and he swung it out but the hobgoblin ducked under the blow and the blade struck the stone behind the foe’s head. Dulvarna rushed at the same hobgoblin and stabbed out with her blade but the shaman dodged to one side to evade the blow. The shaman lashed out with his stave and Dulvarna similarly ducked but the blow glanced the top of her head and sent jolts of pain through her.

Lavren meanwhile, stabbed his sword into the leg of the big hobgoblin and then darted back to give Enlishia a chance. Only as he retreated did he realise how much he had left Telkya on her own, standing over Litiraan’s fallen form. The huge hobgoblin darted forward, feinted high and then drove his spear in low, into the belly of the elf maid. She gasped, staggered back against the wall and then collapsed beside her fallen friend. Enlishia loosed arrows into the room from the doorway and Lavren looked back helplessly at the two fallen elves. Even as he watched, the huge hobgoblin twisted his spear in his hands and drove it down into Telkya’s body. Lavren cried out, thinking that she was surely dead and loosed more black energy at the hobgoblin.

Dulvarna heard Lavren’s cry and surged forward, driving back the shaman with fierce blows to the shoulder and arm. The hobgoblin seemed to smile then and began to chant one of its dark prayers. Lightning wreathed its staff and it swung out, striking Dulvarna in the chest and throwing her backwards into Lavren. The large hobgoblin stabbed at her and she brought her blade down just in time to parry his spear but she was weakened and all but beaten. Erlmoor cried out a desperate prayer and as light engulfed his sword, he stabbed out at the shaman. His blade drove into the hobgoblin’s chest and with a gasp, the creature fell to the floor of the blood-soaked chamber.
Dulvarna and Erlmoor charged the last hobgoblin together but he met their charge with parries and dodges. Arrows clattered against the wall at his back and while Lavren cursed him, even his most powerful incantation had no effect. When he saw his chance, he feinted left and then drove his spear into Dulvarna’s belly, felling her beside her companions.

Erlmoor roared and stabbed his blade into the hobgoblin’s leg but the burly creature seemed to pay the wound no mind. Suddenly, as Lavren completed an incantation, ravenous fangs appeared around the hobgoblin, snapping at its flesh wherever they could. They seemed bestial with the sharp canines of wolves or dogs and their ferocity was unrelenting. The hobgoblin leapt back to the door in the south wall of the chamber, twisted the handle to open it and ducked through, disappearing into the shadows beyond.

******

Enlishia watched the eastern passage with an arrow nocked to her bow while Erlmoor barred the southern door with the chieftain’s spear.
“They are both close to death,” said Lavren finally from where he knelt beside the two elves, tears in his eyes. “But we carry enough gold to save them if we can get them to priests in time. We cannot leave them to die here”
“You’re right of course,” answered Dulvarna. “Though I remember other discussions where you were less willing to offer up gold.”
“Then where will we go?” asked Erlmoor. “I doubt any in Thunderspire will offer to save two elves.”
“You’re likely right,” said Dulvarna. “Which means we must travel out of the mountains at least as far as Arabel to seek aid once more.”
“The Tymorans will help us for gold, surely?” said Erlmoor.
“Like as not they will,” replied Dulvarna. “We shall need litters to carry them out of here.”