As our last session came to a close, the members of the party that were inside Migdhal Yar had finally gotten to a location where they could attack the flaming skull creature that had been periodically attacking them with magical fire from a distance. The thing was joined by some skeletons and then an undead elf of some sort. That last creature was wielding a famous elvish blade, Morgil also known at the Questing Blade. Meri was quick to snatch this up. As she did, the sound of shuffling walking could be heard coming from down one of the nearby corridors and so the party prepared for more battle…that’s were we pick things up after the break.
This recap is from Todd. My GM comments, as usual, are in [brackets and italics].
A shuffling noise is heard from around the corner. Six squat figures come around the corner. They are emaciated, flesh hanging off the undead dwarf bodies. Even though some of them are carrying weapons, they attack with their claws. The group makes fairly short work of the zombies.
[Although Skarr took little note of it, the others (especially Verrak) found it intriguing that these undead dwarves were wearing the tabard and symbol of the last king of Thaltekhth. While Migdhal Yar was part of that kingdom (its westernmost outpost), it certainly was not the seat of the king.]
Behind the doors [of this as of yet unexplored section of the keep], they find rooms with a single bed. They continue around the halls, and find more rooms. Eventually, they find a room with six wheels protruding from the wall. The first three wheels would not turn. The next three turned and raised portcullises. Dench changed to his bear form and tried to turn the wheels. He was able to get the main gate raised. Verrak and Skarr are finally able to join the others in the keep.
[Dench-bear was able to turn two of the three stuck wheels. With this done, it turned out that all of the portcullises on this level were now open with one exception…the on that Adran had shrunk before to give the party access to this area of the keep. I wonder that somehow damaged the gate and that’s why the wheel couldn’t turn to open it.]
We go downstairs. An arrow, from down the hall, strikes Merri. Everybody scrambles. Adran [ducks into a side room with two portcullis wheels and] turns the wheels in the wall. One wheel turns a little then stops. [A voice from down the hall from which the arrow had come yelled out in Undercommon, “Now!”] A couple of dark skinned dwarves appear and grow, attacking the group. Skarr takes a couple of hard hits. They kill a duergar.[…actually both duergar were killed.]
[The wheels in the small room where the ones that the party had two of the “wheels” previously and had turned. This action, however, did not open of the portcullises above like they had hoped and they hadn’t explored farther on this level previously. So, at this point, they still did not know what the turning of these wheels had done or why one could not be “closed” now.]
Adran makes Rory invisible and she scouted the hallway. Looking into the rooms, they had very nice furniture. At the end off the hall are a set of double doors, slightly open. Looking through the doors she sees a large round room, an amphitheater. A set of stairs go up to a statue of Dolan the Chanter and a forge [an anvil]. The seating faces a raised stage. Rory finds a hallway with statues [in alcoves] and pillars on [through] the left [door] and a grand stair on [through] the [door on the] right.
[Dolan is, at least in this campaign, the god of dwarven poetry and the like. Thomas had started to kind of improv how exciting the discovery of this amphitheater had been and I went with it. We ended up with Dolan who forges words into artistry…at least as far as dwarves are concerned.
The statues in the alcoves are later identified (by Verrak) as some of the greatest dwarven heroes from history.
All of these doors were at least slightly open so Rory could slip through easily enough.]
Rory comes back and tells the group what she found. Verrak examines the sleeping quarters but finds nothing of importance.
Rory goes back to the pillared hall. She goes to the open door at the end of the hall. She sees two portcullises, each in a natural tunnel. One of the portcullises is being held open by timbers. Merri moves up to provide support for Rory.
A duergar appears, grows, and attacks Merri. Another appears in the amphitheater and attacks Adran. Combat ensues. Again, Skarr takes some hard hits.
After the duergar fall, we go down the staircase. At the bottom is a large room. [An antechamber had statues of the dwarven kings of Thaltekhth prior to this large room.] Statues of dwarven gods line the walls. On a dais is a sarcophagus, surrounded by [seated] bodies of dead dwarves. Verrak examines the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus’ cover is smashed in and contains the remains of Drokki Hugnirsson. The story of his demise is engraved on the coffin. The story tells of the battle and that the axe of the dwarven lords was entombed with the king. The axe was not with the remains.
[The skeletal remains of the seated dwarves all wore the livery of the High King of Thaltekhth like some of the ones above. None had any apparent injuries that led to their deaths; instead, they looked as though they had arranged themselves in a protective circle to guard the sarcophagus and eventually died of natural causes (or dehydration).
The story on the sarcophagus spoke of the battle in which Migdhal Yar fell and that King Drokki fell in that battle. As Todd mentioned, it also spoke of the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords being entombed with the King.
It also seemed strange to the party that none of the statues or bodies or really anything here had been defaced by the duergar. Only the sarcophagus looked as though it had been touched by the duergar and even that was to a limited extent. The King’s body was untouched behind it looking as though the Axe had been removed from his hands.
The party followed suit and left everything as it was.]
We go back to the pillared hallway and down the tunnel that the duergar had come from [not that anyone actually knew that was where the duergar had come from]. It leads to a large cavern with a giant crystal. Dead duergar lie about the cavern floor, arrows protrude from the bodies. There are also crates of mining equipment. The arrows are scaly, like a reptiles skin. Dench hears skittering. He turns and warns the others.
[It was actually a lot of crystals that were joined together and stretched down from the ceiling, some sixty-feet above, to the floor. The crystals almost looked like a whirlwind, wide at the top and narrowing to a relatively small point when they reached the ground. The crystals glowed with an inner luminescence and Dench was the first to notice the magical power that thrummed from the crystals. Presumably the “earth node” that the party knew was somewhere in the vicinity, but before much else could be done in terms of exploring the cavern or crystal…]
Swarms of cockroaches emerge from holes in the cavern walls, two giant ones too. Although Merri was overwhelmed by the swarms, the party was victorious.
Rory retrieves the arrow from upstairs. It is the same [design as those in the duergar bodies around the crystals]. We decide to go back to Cagair Keep. We move the duergar equipment from the cavern. Back upstairs, we find a dead dworc and hear a familiar cackling.
[Berguk and two other dworcs had still been with the party at the start of this session. Thinking that the two upper levels of Migdhal Yar were now cleared of dangers and save, Adran had given them permission to begin making repairs as they saw fit…preferably starting with the jammed wheels in the room holding the six portcullis wheels. The dead dworc was one of these three (not Berguk) and was found in a hallway leading to this “wheel room,” in the same area that the flaming skull had been defeated.
The cackling was familiar in that it sounded just like the cackling of skull thing that they had defeated. That is where we ended the session.
There was a lot of information learned this session that gave clues to what had happened at Migdhal Yar and Thaltekhth. Todd glossed over pretty much all of it and I’ve filled in what I recall mentioning…sometimes it is hard to remember what information was actually learned and what is still unknown but in my head. đŸ˜‰
Beer Log: Using our hit, miss, crit, and fumble rating scale, below is what we sampled this session.
- Pretty Things Fringe: Courtesy of Craig. He had missed our prior session devoted to Pretty Things beers and so it was both ironic and nice that he brought one of theirs that we hadn’t had. A very good Pale Ale…and a solid hit.
- Rekordling Wild Berries Hard Cider: I’m not a huge cider fan…I’d prefer beer typically…but this was good. Nice berry flavor and a hit.
- Westbrook Shane’s Big DIPA: Courtesy of RJ. A nice malty DIPA with a hint of the floral often characterize better IPAs for me. A hit.
- Terrapin Poivre Potion: A saison with pink peppercorn with a nice earthy and herb flavor. A hit.
- Terrapin Liquid Bliss: Love the aroma and the cocoa flavor with peanut butter. This and the Fringe were my favorites of the night. A solid hit.
