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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4603683" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 8 - Across the Chasm (Part 3)When breakfast was done, the six companions led the three former prisoners to the gates of the northern hold and told them to flee northward if they failed to return or if anything troubled them. Then the six made their way to the barred doors of the northern hold that led out of the smithy. The fire of the forge was dying away now and the smell of death filled the place as the smith and his guards bloated and began to putrefy. In silence, the companions dismantled the makeshift bars that they had put on the doors and opened them. With blades and wands at the ready they made their way out onto the bridge.They reached the single door at the far side untroubled by any enemies but found the single door at the other end of the bridge locked. Dulvarna slammed her shoulder hard into it and with a  crack, the door fell inwards, hanging off one hinge. Within was a ruined chamber that bent around from west to south east with piled of rubble in the western half. Doors led out of the chamber to the south and southwest while double doors led to the north. Dulvarna led them along the wall to the left and opened the southwestern door. Beyond was a hallway that followed the outer wall of the fortress and then opened up in a foyer to the south. Two statues depicting stern-looking female minotaurs in ornate gowns stood in the southeastern corner of the room while two duergar stood beside double doors, accompanied by a pair of strange clockwork mechanisms that resembled crossbows on articulated legs.Enlishia ducked into the room and darted left, loosing an arrow from her bow as she did so. It flew past the nearest duergar and the mechanical crossbow behind his to drive into the nearest minotaur statue. The duergar began shouting the alarm and behind the companions a door opened to admit another dwarf warrior into the ruined chamber. Litiraan turned and moved along the wall before loosing a silver bolt from his wand that struck the newcomer in the shoulder. One of the crossbows marched jerkily forward and loosed a bolt that drove into Dulvarna’s right arm. She fell back and ash she did so, the duergar before her charged with its hammer held high. The weapon swung out and Dulvarna raised her sword to parry it with a loud clang. A second duergar charged in then and his hammer came in low, too low for Dulvarna to parry. The hammer struck her ribs hard and winded her, forcing her back another step into the doorway.Lavren moved to aid Litiraan, cursing the duergar in the southern doorway as he did so. He leveled his wand and loosed a bolt of crackling black energy at the gray dwarf. The bolt struck the enemy in the chest and hurled him back against the doorframe once more. Erlmoor rushed at the duergar then with his blade before him. He thrust the blade forward but at the last the duergar raised his hammer and parried the sword thrust. Telkya sent a bolt of light to strike the dwarf and it fell back into the chamber from which it had emerged.Dulvarna slashed her blade across the chest of the dwarf before her and drove its point into the hip of the other gray dwarf. Both fell back for a moment and gave her some breathing space while the mechanical crossbow creatures stood back, their weapons loaded and ready to fire. Enlishia slashed out with her sword but the blow was parried and then a furious exchange of blows resumed as the duergar came forward again.Erlmoor saw another duergar moving within the chamber, this one wearing robes under his armour. He extended his hands and uttered a chant that the dragonborn felt sure that he had heard before. Sure enough, a bolt of fire lanced out from the outstretched hand and seared into Erlmoor’s side, throwing him back from the doorway. The duergar before him smashed the hilt of his hammer into the paladin’s chin and sent him reeling. The duergar came through the door but as he did so, Litiraan loosed a silver bolt from his wand that blasted the gray dwarf back again. A bolt of black, crackling energy struck the doorframe next to the dwarf and Erlmoor surged forward with a roar. He sprayed acid into the room from his mouth and lashed out with his sword, forcing the duergar to parry desperately. The dwarf twisted the dragonborn’s blade aside and snarled as the acid seared his skin. He staggered back a step and Erlmoor pressed forward as light from Telkya’s amulet struck the wall behind his foe. Another bolt of flame struck Erlmoor then and halted his advance. He roared his defiance and pushed on nonetheless.The duergar before Enlishia struck her leg with his hammer but she paid the painful blow no mind. She was more concerned with Dulvarna and even as she looked over to her companion she saw the warrior woman struck in the jaw by a hammer blow and sent reeling. Dulvarna spat out the blood in her mouth and then drove her blade in low, piercing the leg of the duergar just above the knee. The leg gave way and the duergar fell back from his fierce enemy. Enlishia meanwhile darted back to avoid a wild swing from her duergar foe and then leapt forward again, thrusting out with her sword. The point drove into the dwarf’s side and he fell back from her. The duergar lashed out with his hammer but Enlishia jumped back again evading the blow by mere inches. Dulvarna fell back as the hammer of the dwarf she faced struck her shoulder but as the dwarf came on she raised her blade and wove it in a dance before her. Suddenly, she darted forward, driving Aecris into the dwarf’s hip and forcing him back from her. The duergar staggered again and seemed about to fall but then he came forward again.</blockquote>

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