The members were all in attendance this Sunday and had quite a conundrum in front of them. They had cleaned out the first two portions of the Horned Hold but were pretty beaten up and could really use an extended rest. The rescued slaves had agreed to deliver the food packets per normal to the other slaves in the slave pens across the chasm in return for their freedom. Assuming the slaves did return and tell the party everything they saw, how could the party get across the bridge - either bridge - and into the remaining part of the Horned Hold?
As the party discussed their options the rescued slaves stepped through the door, walked across the hallway, but the party had to close the door at their end, ending their ability to see if the slaves actually got through. Jenneth looked through the various Duergar tool boxes to see if she could find something that could drill a hole in the doors that would at least provide the party a basic peephole. Bogar tried on the set of Randarr's Dwarven Greaves, and the other party members further discussed possible battle plans.
After a few minutes there was a knock at the door. Weapons at the ready, the doors were opened and the rescued slaves successfully returned. Everything was as they had described it before and the rescued slaves were even able to draw a crude map of what they saw on the other side.
As the party discussed their options the rescued slaves stepped through the door, walked across the hallway, but the party had to close the door at their end, ending their ability to see if the slaves actually got through. Jenneth looked through the various Duergar tool boxes to see if she could find something that could drill a hole in the doors that would at least provide the party a basic peephole. Bogar tried on the set of Randarr's Dwarven Greaves, and the other party members further discussed possible battle plans.
After a few minutes there was a knock at the door. Weapons at the ready, the doors were opened and the rescued slaves successfully returned. Everything was as they had described it before and the rescued slaves were even able to draw a crude map of what they saw on the other side.
There were a pair of Duergar Guards in the room across the bridge, along with two of the crossbow things on metal legs. The slaves went through the door that was straight ahead, but there were two other doors in the room. They next went through a short hallway and into a room that housed the orc's, including what they described as a "Giant Orc." This room also had a door that the slaves thought actually exited the hold, but their path led through a door to the right and into a small room. From there they turned left and went through another door and into the room with the slaves.
In this room were three pits, one filled with water and the other two filled with slaves in manacles. There were some Duergar Guards in there, some kind of Duergar magic user, and the two creatures the slaves described as "Devils." The rescued slaves distributed their food packets per normal to the dozen or so manacled slaves and exited, eventually returning back across the chasm to the party.
The rescued slaves answered every question they could, but once they ran out of information to provide they demanded the party hold true to their end of the bargain. They were provided daggers and were lead outside and through the secret passage that led away from the hold, but not before telling the party they had told the Duergar Guards on the other side that Randarr was in a particularly foul mood, so they might want to see that he wasn't disturbed.
Given at least some hope they might be able to get their extended rest, the party pulled out their bedrolls and went to sleep. Jenneth took watch, using the time to drill peepholes into both doors that lead to the bridges that lead over the chasm. It turned out to be a quiet evening, with no duergar coming over from the main portion of the hold. Jenneth was able to see the view slit on the door across the way open and close a few times, but nothing regular.
With an extended rest now completed, the party arose and began to make preparations to cross the bridge. It was decided that Oester and Jenneth would sneak across the bridge and Oester would pick the lock and once the door was opened the rest of the party would rush the ~60 feet or so across the bridge to join in the attack. The rescued slaves had reported the door and to be unlocked before they could enter, and while there was a bar for the door, it had not been in place for the last several of their trips across.
Oester and Jenneth were successful in being able to sneak across the bridge without being detected, at least as far as they could tell. The two crouched down next to the set of double doors to minimize detection should someone open the viewing slits to look outside. Oester then pulled out his lock picks and began to fiddle with the lock. With a final twist the lock was opened, but not without giving a loud THUNK sound. With any hope of stealth removed, Oester and Jenneth pushed opened the doors and the rest of the party began their sprint over the chasm.
The two Duergar Guards were able to react quickly, but most surprisingly was the sight of the two "crossbow machines" seemingly come to life and begin to walk across the room to take up a position where they could fire at range at the party. Oester and Jenneth were able to survive the initial onslaught and once the rest of the party arrived, as well as a third Duergar Guard and then a Duergar Theurge, the battle was on.
The Arbalesters, the clockwork-looking "crossbow machines" were able to throw two crossbow bolts apiece, plus the Duergar fought like demons. Several party members were bloodied, and Krstic managed to find himself bloodied, slowed, dazed, and poisoned all at the same time. Renny and Oester managed to both Tumble behind the Arbalesters and both of the machines were soon reduced to rubble.
Bogar, Eldred and Akta fought the Duergar Guards, Krstic focused on the Duergar Thueurge, and Miave shot her arrows with good effect, including a 25 HP shot on the theurge. With a last surge the final duergar went down and a temporary silence returned. Akta took the unused door bar and used it to bar the door straight ahead from the entrance, and the rest of the party began to explore the other two doors.
The door from where the third guard and the theurge had appeared led into a large bedroom area with three beds, a couple of chairs, and a fire place. There were two smaller bed rooms, each featuring a bed, chair and a table just off of this room. Just to the north of this room was another large room, empty, but included a barred door that if the party had their orienteering correct likely led to the other bridge over the chasm.
Before any further exploration could occur there came a large BOOM from the door that Akta had barred. The door was still closed and was still in one piece, but it was obvious something had hit it pretty hard because there were obvious fissures in the otherwise solid door. The party scooted around and waited for another blow and it came - BOOM - and while the door remained in one piece, it was apparent that it was on its last legs and one more blow would splinter it.
With a final BOOM the door bar and the door split and revealed what the rescued slaves had described as a "Giant Orc", but which the party was able to identify as an Ogre. Behind the large Ogre were four orc's, ready to follow the ogre into battle. The party fired off their ranged weapons and managed to bloody the Ogre quickly, but he still came forward and delivered a mighty blow to Krstic. The ogre then quickly died from another round of blows. The orc's had thrown several hand axe's at the party, but with the ogre suddenly dead they started to have second thoughts about attacking further. The party quickly closed and killed three of the orc's, the fourth one having attempted to make an escape back into the room where they had been seen by the slaves.
His escape was short lived though, and with his death the quiet returned. As the party looked around they saw:
3 Duergar Guards, each wearing chain mail and wielding a war hammer
2 Arbalesters, currently a crumpled metal mass of what originally looked like a clockwork-type mechanism on articulated legs
1 Duergar Theurge, wearing robes and wielding a war hammer
4 Orc Raiders, each wearing leather armor, carrying four hand axes, and wielding a great axe
1 Ogre Savage, wearing hide armor and wielding a great club
Time ran out at this point so the party had not completed exploring several as-of-yet unopened doors and rooms plus they will find out if the rest of the hold had been alerted to their presence. Each member of the party earned 255 XP for the encounter.
Score Card: With the completion of this encounter the party had accumulated an additional 455 GP, 578 SP, and 550 GP in gems. A pair of Dwarven Greaves had been claimed Bogar. With the 255 XP earned during this encounter the party had accumulated 6455 XP (7500 needed to reach Level 6). Including this encounter Renny was sitting at 3475 XP (3750 needed to reach Level 4).
In this room were three pits, one filled with water and the other two filled with slaves in manacles. There were some Duergar Guards in there, some kind of Duergar magic user, and the two creatures the slaves described as "Devils." The rescued slaves distributed their food packets per normal to the dozen or so manacled slaves and exited, eventually returning back across the chasm to the party.
The rescued slaves answered every question they could, but once they ran out of information to provide they demanded the party hold true to their end of the bargain. They were provided daggers and were lead outside and through the secret passage that led away from the hold, but not before telling the party they had told the Duergar Guards on the other side that Randarr was in a particularly foul mood, so they might want to see that he wasn't disturbed.
Given at least some hope they might be able to get their extended rest, the party pulled out their bedrolls and went to sleep. Jenneth took watch, using the time to drill peepholes into both doors that lead to the bridges that lead over the chasm. It turned out to be a quiet evening, with no duergar coming over from the main portion of the hold. Jenneth was able to see the view slit on the door across the way open and close a few times, but nothing regular.
With an extended rest now completed, the party arose and began to make preparations to cross the bridge. It was decided that Oester and Jenneth would sneak across the bridge and Oester would pick the lock and once the door was opened the rest of the party would rush the ~60 feet or so across the bridge to join in the attack. The rescued slaves had reported the door and to be unlocked before they could enter, and while there was a bar for the door, it had not been in place for the last several of their trips across.
Oester and Jenneth were successful in being able to sneak across the bridge without being detected, at least as far as they could tell. The two crouched down next to the set of double doors to minimize detection should someone open the viewing slits to look outside. Oester then pulled out his lock picks and began to fiddle with the lock. With a final twist the lock was opened, but not without giving a loud THUNK sound. With any hope of stealth removed, Oester and Jenneth pushed opened the doors and the rest of the party began their sprint over the chasm.
The two Duergar Guards were able to react quickly, but most surprisingly was the sight of the two "crossbow machines" seemingly come to life and begin to walk across the room to take up a position where they could fire at range at the party. Oester and Jenneth were able to survive the initial onslaught and once the rest of the party arrived, as well as a third Duergar Guard and then a Duergar Theurge, the battle was on.
The Arbalesters, the clockwork-looking "crossbow machines" were able to throw two crossbow bolts apiece, plus the Duergar fought like demons. Several party members were bloodied, and Krstic managed to find himself bloodied, slowed, dazed, and poisoned all at the same time. Renny and Oester managed to both Tumble behind the Arbalesters and both of the machines were soon reduced to rubble.
Bogar, Eldred and Akta fought the Duergar Guards, Krstic focused on the Duergar Thueurge, and Miave shot her arrows with good effect, including a 25 HP shot on the theurge. With a last surge the final duergar went down and a temporary silence returned. Akta took the unused door bar and used it to bar the door straight ahead from the entrance, and the rest of the party began to explore the other two doors.
The door from where the third guard and the theurge had appeared led into a large bedroom area with three beds, a couple of chairs, and a fire place. There were two smaller bed rooms, each featuring a bed, chair and a table just off of this room. Just to the north of this room was another large room, empty, but included a barred door that if the party had their orienteering correct likely led to the other bridge over the chasm.
Before any further exploration could occur there came a large BOOM from the door that Akta had barred. The door was still closed and was still in one piece, but it was obvious something had hit it pretty hard because there were obvious fissures in the otherwise solid door. The party scooted around and waited for another blow and it came - BOOM - and while the door remained in one piece, it was apparent that it was on its last legs and one more blow would splinter it.
With a final BOOM the door bar and the door split and revealed what the rescued slaves had described as a "Giant Orc", but which the party was able to identify as an Ogre. Behind the large Ogre were four orc's, ready to follow the ogre into battle. The party fired off their ranged weapons and managed to bloody the Ogre quickly, but he still came forward and delivered a mighty blow to Krstic. The ogre then quickly died from another round of blows. The orc's had thrown several hand axe's at the party, but with the ogre suddenly dead they started to have second thoughts about attacking further. The party quickly closed and killed three of the orc's, the fourth one having attempted to make an escape back into the room where they had been seen by the slaves.
His escape was short lived though, and with his death the quiet returned. As the party looked around they saw:
3 Duergar Guards, each wearing chain mail and wielding a war hammer
2 Arbalesters, currently a crumpled metal mass of what originally looked like a clockwork-type mechanism on articulated legs
1 Duergar Theurge, wearing robes and wielding a war hammer
4 Orc Raiders, each wearing leather armor, carrying four hand axes, and wielding a great axe
1 Ogre Savage, wearing hide armor and wielding a great club
Time ran out at this point so the party had not completed exploring several as-of-yet unopened doors and rooms plus they will find out if the rest of the hold had been alerted to their presence. Each member of the party earned 255 XP for the encounter.
Score Card: With the completion of this encounter the party had accumulated an additional 455 GP, 578 SP, and 550 GP in gems. A pair of Dwarven Greaves had been claimed Bogar. With the 255 XP earned during this encounter the party had accumulated 6455 XP (7500 needed to reach Level 6). Including this encounter Renny was sitting at 3475 XP (3750 needed to reach Level 4).
Actually Krstic was bloodied, slowed, dazed, poisoned, and unexpectedly teleported all at
ReplyDeletethe same time. - Leo.