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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4577659" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 6 - The Horned Hold (Part 1)The map led them southward through the tunnels beneath Thunderspire Mountain until they took a side branch that led eastward and bent across a bridge that spanned a deep chasm. They stopped on the bridge and marveled at the deep abyss beneath them and the stone span that crossed it before Dulvarna led them on into the darkness. They turned south as the map directed a little way beyond the chasm and followed a narrower way that soon led them out onto the chasm edge and followed the abyss with a steep drop on their right and a high cliff on their left. The path wound along the edge of the chasm for several hundred feet, before rounding a corner to reveal several large bastions clinging to the side of the chasm. Two bridges spanned the chasm’s depths, linking the bastions together. The path ended at the nearest fortress, where a portcullis blocked the way. Two orcs were visible behind the portcullis, keeping watch.Dulvarna rushed forward and grabbed the portcullis bars with both hands, seeking to wrench the thing open. She saw hinges that indicated that it apparently did not rise or lower but swung outwards and so she pulled towards her, seeking to strain and break the hinges or the stone that held them. The portcullis creaked and seemed to give a little but would not come free. Telkya moved to stand at Dulvarna’s shoulder, chanting a prayer as she went. A ray of light lanced out and struck one of the orcs behind the gate, drawing a hiss of pain from the creature as it took up a spear to defend the hold. Erlmoor charged past the priestess and lent his own strength to the efforts to pull the portcullis down but still it would not move. The orcs rallied to the gate then, jabbing spears through the bars and driving one into Dulvarna’s shoulder. Still she held firm to the portcullis. Enlishia moved out to the left and began firing arrows through the bars at the orcs within. An arrow pierced the shoulder of one orc and sent it reeling away from the gate but it recovered quickly and came back with its spear in its hands. Lavren joined the ranger against the cliff wall, furthest from the chasm edge and cursed at the nearest orc in elven. With another word, he loosed black, crackling energy from his wand that seared between two of the orcs and struck the far wall of their chamber. Litiraan joined Lavren and Enlishia next to the cliff wall and loosed a silver bolt into the orc nearest the gate but, though he recoiled, the creature came back quickly, jabbing forward with his spear. Another joined the battle at the gate and jabbed its spear through into Erlmoor’s side. The dragonborn roared his anger and strained all the more at the portcullis. The dragonborn moved aside as another spear stabbed at him and then with another roar, he showered the portcullis and the orcs beyond in a spray of acid. The orcs shrank back but then came forward, their spears stabbing through the bars again. Dulvarna and Erlmoor fell back from the bars, wounded by spear points but as Enlishia loosed another arrow into an orc and Lavren hurled more crackling black energy through the bars, they charged back to the gates and tried again to hurl them down. Litiraan loosed a silver bolt from his wand but two more spears stabbed through the bars into Erlmoor as he charged back in. The dragonborn let out a roar of pain and staggered away from the gate, bleeding. Dulvarna tried to pull down the gate once more but then backed away beside Erlmoor as Telkya loosed searing light to keep the orcs at bay.An arrow from Enlishia’s bow drove through the throat of one of the orcs and felled him at the gate while the others stabbed at Dulvarna and wounded her yet more even as she retreated. Another orc came to the gate to replace the one that fell while Lavren loosed black eldritch energy into the chamber to try to keep the foul creatures at bay. Litiraan called flame from his wand that seared though the portcullis bars and burned the orcs within but still they were unbowed. Each put aside his spear and pulled loaded crossbows from their backs. The weapons clicked and bolts flew forth, one driving into Lavren’s leg, another nicking Telkya’s cheek and another striking the cliff wall next to Litiraan.Telkya prayed again and called down a column of light that burned the skin of one of the orcs close to the gate while beside her, Erlmoor began his own prayer. Searing ribbons of light engulfed the same orc and sent it reeling away from the portcullis. A crossbow bolt narrowly missed Telkya but Enlishia and Lavren answered with arrows and terrible, searing black energy. The orc staggered back and reached for cloth at its belt to bind its wounds but even as it did so, Litiraan loosed a silver bolt into its side that spun it back towards the gate. A hail of crossbow bolts was the orc response which wounded Enlishia and Lavren but they paid the small hurts no mind. Then, a whirring sound filled the ledge and all looked towards Dulvarna. Above her head, she twirled her sling, a weapon she rarely used. She let loose a missile that struck the stone next to the portcullis and orcs jeered in response.“I think I need a bow,” she announced and the others could not help but smile.</blockquote>

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