The Road Thus Far....
GM: Myles
Players: "Iaqino", "Geoff", "Gloff", and "Khan".
"Caleph", "Enolo", "Gordok", "Tyra", "Yew", and the killer Halfling.
Missing or Presumed Dead: "Willow", "Valen", "Caleph", "Glagg", "Crash", "Konato", "Timozar".
The Duegrar Fortress
In the aftermath of the first wave, the remainder of the duergar forces fled to the safety of the main keep. The party had just taken another captive, a duergar captain. Tired, but willing to press on they quickly interrogated him for more information. Khan had intimidated him and the he let them know that the entire place was on lock down, the King and Queen were more than likely held up in the keep preparing an escape with the rest of the king's guard.
Tyra went through the defeated forces of duergar, looting their bodies and giving booty it to Enolo for safe keeping. The rest of the party decided it was best to split up; Iaquino and Enolo would check out the southern building were Crush was last spotted and the rest would explore the northern building. Gloff would stand guard, remaining as a Giant Toad with Khan 's charmed dwarves.
Iaquino quickly blended in the shadows and began exploring the building. It seems that a trap may have been laid as there was a bunch of ball bearings on the floor. As he was checking the doors with the ball bearing he noted that it seemed to be a laboratory. Another room he checked seemed to indicate that it was also a laboratory of some sorts, however he noted a strange glyph within the doorway and did not proceed further. Instead he headed to the second floor. The second floor held a few bunks and also a distillery in which some very potent duergar vodka was made. Enolo loosing track of Iaquino wandered around carefully, noting the balling bearing and made his way into the room by crawling on the floor. When he saw the beakers and bottles, he excited took some to offer the rest of the party. He slipped over and over again when he exited the room on the ball bearings. Finally dusting himself off he decided to go outside, as he past one of the doors he was smart enough to notice it was slightly ajar, and likewise saw the glyph. Not wanting to test his luck he exited the building.
Meanwhile the other were busy ransacking which seemed like the barracks. It was a very simple building which contained a small armory and sleeping quarters. Not much of interest was there.
Someplace far and away....
Timozar and Caleph had vanished in a puff of green smoke. Caleph found himself alone and wandering some green forest in which he encountered a halfling just sitting there. Caleph sat down next to him and explained his worry as he was whisked off to someplace and needed to get back to his mission. Thousands of details to be taken care....when he mentioned the skirmish with duergar, the halfling smiled and said he would be more than happy to assist. With that they both popped back to the cavern that Caleph had just left. Strangely it seemed that more than a couple hours had passed while he was in this other place, but when he got back to the cavern he noted that only a few moments had actually passed.
Caleph was very confused, there was a tied up dwarf, two dwarven guards and a giant toad in the center of the courtyard. He demanded immediately what was going on and who are they? The dwarves were just as confused, but didn't seemed threatened as the Giant Toad just calmly sat there. Enolo heard his employer and greeted him and quickly filled him on on what had happened. As they began talking the others had joined him. They told they found a barracks and were glad to have Caleph back. He introduced to the halfing who would be helping them out.....
The Adventurers Guild of Gnomenheim
Yew and Konato had informed Guildmaster Vern, that they had accomplished Khan's mission. They had information of the duergar and their forces, as well as the location of the duergar King. Additionally Iaquino's party had managed to secure part of the lower mines from the duergar incursion and were currently assaulting the duergar stronghold and needed assistance. the Guildmaster chose to do something for fun and would join them, claiming the keep in the name of the Guild. He called for Erik and Steve to join him, two senior warrior in his employ. Before they left, Yew got some sorely needed supplies for Khan. Konato would join them soon, but needed to prepare a few things himself and would joining him with the next wave of backups.
Back to the Keep
When they arrived outside the Duergar keep, Yew could here Caleph and the others from opposite the wall. Yew began to play his flute to attract their attention. Caleph came over to see what happened and was surprised to see that some back up arrived. Yew requested that the gate be open, but despite having a dwarf with the party...they could not figure out how to operate the mechanism. Instead they had to climb over to join everyone else. The Guildmaster and Yew passed out much needed supplies, and Yew singled out Khan. he walked right up to him throwing at him new clothes, a quarterstaff, and his much needed component. Yew even managed to squarely hit Khan on the headed, reprimanding him for calling him a coward. Khan was glad to have what he needed, and felt a tinge of remorse for what he said.
As everyone was here, they focused on the deurgar captain once again. Caleph used his wit and charm, gaining the confidence of the captain and charmed him.They interrogated him once more, this time finding out that there was at least a squad of royal guards, two spellcaster's one of which was a diviner, gargoyles,and some gricks. They also managed to find out that there was at least a secret entrance.
As Iaquino was exploring the second floor, he had tripped a glyph in one of the rooms that set the place ablaze. A fire was now breaking out in the southern building, before anyone could say anything they saw Iaquino run out. He quickly informed them what he found, and it seems the place just held a distillery and a few laboratories. He had managed to find two vials, and Tyra and Khan figured out these were potions of speed.
The Final Countdown
Khan and Caleph ordered the dwarves to simply walk up to the front of the keep and open the doors. As they entered grease was thrown on the ground followed by flames. Both of Khan's charmed dwarves instantly ignited in flames and died. The Captain managed to escape and rejoin the party. It was decided to explore the secret entrance around the keep.
Yew and the guild members meanwhile would provide a distraction. Using his knowledge of stories and legends (and counting on the duergar's lack of familiarity with bardic magic), Yew came up with a mock ritual. He made summoning circle and began playing his flute ominously...causing odd series of flashes to appear around the circle while he was playing.
Iaquino and Caleph managed to find the secret entrance, Geoff and Iaquino entered. They were met with a squad of dwarves and some gricks that attacked them. Geoff and the other managed to easily deal with squad and found the way to get in. As to be expected, behind the throne within the keep was the escape passage. They could over hear the dwarves discussing as to what was going on...they seemed distracted fixed on something that the diviner seemed focused on. The dwarven captain told the party to have the bard outside attack. It seems that the duergar were focused on the ritual he was performing. If Yew initiated the attacked, thee duergar would be distracted and the party would gain the upper hand. Khan quickly quaffed down a speed potion and ran within range to signal Yew to attack with a message cantrip. Yew did so and shot sparkles at the keep and told Vern to charge. Yew and the guild members rushed through the keep door and into the Throne Room.
The Duergar King and Queen, along with the royal guard were prepared for the frontal assault. However they were quickly taken by surprised when Iaquino threw back the throne and rushed in with the rest of the party. Enolo quaffed down a potion and passed out as he swelled up with rage and feinted. Geoff simply rushed out and took out the Queen, cleaving her in two. Before he could get to the diviner, they succumbed to their woulds. Enraged further, Geoff took that momentum and slammed his way to the abjurer and batted there head off.
Vern and the others at the front were taking care of the gricks and picking off the duergar on the balcony. Yew had place a field of force to use cover for them. The rest of the party made short work of the gricks and the gargoyles that came upon them all. Geoff face to face with the Duergar King slammed down on him, killing him. It took a moment for the other duergar to realize what had just happened before they surrendered.
Aftermath
Yew returned back to Gnomenheim with the Guild Members. He did not say his good buys to the party as he felt they would not miss him. He had earned no coin at all from this adventure. As usual he felt misunderstood and alone. Hopefully the tale would make up for it in the end, when he got back to the inn in the elven quarter this time....he relaxed a bit after his set in a cool bath.
He thought of his allies, after all the people were interesting. The tale of Vespa and Caleph would make a popular tragic song, Tyra and her mysterious book would make great story, as well as the adventures of "Peanut" and Crush. He would leave soon, heading off into the sunrise the next day and disappearing
XP AWARD: Bumped to 6th Level
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