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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4585190" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 6 - The Horned Hold (Part 3)Dulvarna led them through the double doors once they had tended to their wounds. A wide hallway with doors off it in every direction lay beyond the doors and the ring of hammers striking anvils came from the southern end of the hall where double doors seemed to lead to another chamber.“Check the side rooms,” said Dulvarna quietly. “And be careful.”“An armoury here,” Erlmoor hissed from the northern door to the left of the double doors.“A barracks here,” Telkya whispered. “For the orcs by the smell of it.”“And a well here with a door to the south,” said Erlmoor as he drew up behind Dulvarna near the western door and the southern double doors.“The southern doors it is then,” said Telkya as she joined the others from the barracks room to the east.“Maybe for most of us,” said Lavren. “But I for one think I’ll go through the well room. We should end up in the same place.”“Or you hope you will,” rumbled Erlmoor. “The rest of us are going through the double doors. Good luck.”The others glanced over at Lavren with nervous looks, hoping as he was that he wasn’t walking into a trap. Telkya winked at him and he winked back and at a nod, they flung both sets of doors open. Lavren and the others all saw the same thing – a large furnace burning loudly the far side of a large chamber, stoked by an orc at the bellows. A dwarf with sooty black skin and a stiff, rust-coloured beard worked at an anvil nearby, beating a glowing blade into shape. Racks full of recently finished weapons lined the walls while orcs stood on guard near the two doors that led out of the chamber.Dulvarna rushed at the duergar at the anvil, her blade swinging out as she reached him and cutting into his shoulder. He spun against the anvil, spilling the hot blade he had been working on but keeping hold of his hammer. Dulvarna looked right and saw that another duergar had been working at an anvil in the western portion of the room where Lavren had entered. This gray dwarf was now looking aghast at the warrior woman and her blood stained blade. Enlishia came into the room behind Dulvarna, loosing an arrow into the nearest orc. The creature wheeled around, reaching for a huge axe on its back as it spun. Lavren stopped in the doorway and realised that he had made a big mistake. The orc at the bellows turned towards him as did the duergar working at the anvil and another orc at a door in the southwestern wall. He cursed the duergar and uttered a spell quickly, loosing purple rays of fire at the nearest orc and duergar but both flew high and wide to strike the far walls of the chamber. Lavren stepped back as his enemies turned towards him but as he did so, a fierce, roaring form, clad in armour and black scales surged past him. With a roar, Erlmoor rushed into the chamber ahead of the elf and sprayed acid from his mouth. He slashed out with his blade and struck the anvil, driving the duergar away from it. The dragonborn looked back over his shoulder at Lavren.“Well who else was going to save you from yourself,” he snarled and Lavren could only shrug in response.Telkya rushed into the chamber behind Dulvarna, chanting a prayer as she ran. Light lanced from the amulet in her left hand to strike the orc that Enlishia had already wounded and send him reeling away. Litiraan loosed a silver bolt towards the orc as he came into the room but it flew wide and struck double doors in the southeastern wall. Dulvarna slammed the hilt of her sword into the duergar’s face and Enlishia fired wildly at the orc again. Finally, the orc drew his axe and snarled its anger at the companions. It started forward with deliberate steps, barely flinching as Telkya called another bolt of light from her amulet to strike its chest. Litiraan hurled a more accurate bolt of silver fire into the orc’s chest but still it kept coming though its flesh was burned and it bled from several wounds. Suddenly, with a roar, it charged at Telkya with its axe raised and the elf maid desperately tried to raise her sword.Lavren stepped into the room behind Erlmoor and hurled black energy from his wand but again it flew wide and struck the wall above a torch close to the southwestern door. Erlmoor lashed out with his blade, praying loudly as he did so and as the blade glowed white, it cut deep into the duergar’s arm. The gray dwarf fell across his anvil and then twisted away to avoid any killing blow that followed. Erlmoor roared his derision and pursued his enemy, stepping forward. The orcs, meanwhile, drew axes from their backs and moved to attack the newcomers. Lavren turned towards them and wondered whether, even with Erlmoor beside him, he had not taken on more than he could handle.Dulvarna lashed out again at the duergar as the dwarf turned to face her but then her foe vanished. She turned left and right and then felt a hammer blow narrowly miss her right leg. She turned around and the dwarf was there but as she turned, the orc charged, coming at her from behind. She twisted to one side but its axe cut painfully into her shoulder blade and forced her to turn on the spot to face both of her enemies. In the northeastern corner of the room, Dulvarna thought she saw a door open but nothing emerged and so she turned her attention back to her enemies. It was only when a bone-like quill clattered into the stone next to the forge that she knew another duergar was in the room.“They can become invisible,” Dulvarna called to the others. “Another lurks close to the orc.”Lavren raise his sword in his right hand as the orc came at him, seeking to parry its huge axe as it brought it down towards his head. He deflected the blow to one side but the blade still tore down his left arm, tearing cloth, scoring leather and then cutting the flesh beneath. The elf cried out and drew back but as he did so, he heard the duergar chanting as he retreated from Erlmoor. Suddenly, Lavren’s sword grew painfully hot and the skin of hiss hand began to smoke. He wanted to drop the sword but knew he could not stand defenseless before the axe-wielding orc he faced. He gritted his teeth and looked to Erlmoor who was looking down at his own sword in puzzlement more than pain. The dragonborn roared his defiance and Lavren took heart from that. The second orc ran at Erlmoor then raising its axe high and bringing it down. The paladin raised his sword and in a spray of sparks, blade met axe and held it at bay. Once more Erlmoor roared his defiance but as Lavren parried another axe blow, he wondered still how long the two of them could last without aid.</blockquote>

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