Saralas: Session 58

7 Elient, Morning

• We are at the Militia camp near Sunblight's lair
• Team plans to sneak in through the window to try to secure the gate room, then signal and the militia will head in behind
• Resda plans to go in with See Invisibility
• We share our plans with Rogarth and plan to head towards Sunblight, it's close
• We head towards the lair, up the stairs
• It is cold, windy, and dark
• Bun flies out and tears through the arrow slit
• Screaming can be heard from inside the fortress, and not long after a bell starts ringing
• Someone is swearing in Dwarvish, and then is cut off abruptly
• Korag casts Stone Shape to open up the arrow slit. It appears to do nothing for a moment, then seems to turn into a liquid that flows and separates into a wider opening. As soon as that happens a trickle of blood flows out onto the landing.
• Min goes in. The first thing she notices is two dead Deurgar that look like they have been stabbed and stabbed and stabbed
• The room has an iron level, iron winch, and an iron cage that appears to be an elevator. A double door is in the middle of the east wall. The door to the north is slightly ajar
• Karthos and Korag enter as well. Korag pulls the lever he sees, and the main doors open.
• Inside we don't see Deurgar, but we do see an iron portcullis. The bars begin to raise.
• Korag uses Stone Shape to secure the controls
• Bun, covered in blood, zooms back out, give Saralas a big hug, and then heads through the main gate. Saralas cleans himself up
• I head in and peek through the arrow slit in the entryway. The room appears to be a barracks. A low stone table surrounded by stone benches dominates the room. Through the smoke I see featureless stone doors lining the walls.
• One of the doors is flung open and a Deurgar appears. I duck out of the way and inform the others that the room to the west is a barracks and there are Deurgar guards
• We hear commotion, yelling, and even an explosion that shakes the mountain
• The explosion seems to have come from below
• Korag and Karthos kick the barracks door open. The Deurgar shouts and two more doors open. Battle.
• I kill one of them and min attacks another. It quaffs a purple potion and begins growing, until it grows so large it explodes. We wonder if Wodna maybe tampered with the last batch.
• I kill another while Karthos continues to try to hold persons. I continue to kill.
• There are a few Deurgar left. As we fight, another explosion rocks the fortress, bigger than the last one. We also hear, somewhat distantly, the yelling of the militia. It's feeling like we should try to wrap this up quickly.
• We kill a couple more, there are only 3 left.
• At this point Resda recognizes the members of the Unseen Hand who enter through the main gate and head down the hall with Wodna following them.
• We kill all but one of them and Karthos tackles him.
• "Let's ask this dude some questions."
• He does not seem opposed to regime change. We let him go and he opens a secret passage in the wall.
• Karthos heads down the passage and pushes his way into a tunnel and then into the next room. In the middle of the room is a low stone table. On the top of the table is an illustration that looks something like a map. Karthos inspects the map. It's an accurate depiction of the ten towns and its surrounding environment. Mounted on top of a thin stand is a 6 inch tall miniature of the black ice dragon. It's attached to a groove carved in the table, allowing the figuring to move across the table from one town to another.
• I pull the lever. The dragon begins to move along the groove, tracing out a path between the ten towns. I mark it down on the map.
• Min snatches the dragon and pockets it.
• Karthos opens the door to the north. It is clearly Xardorok's bedroom. There is a trunk on the floor. The trunk if filled with expensive items.
• Min takes everything, and the stone carving of the dwarf opens its mouth and poison fills the room.
• I take and inspect the rolled-up leather scroll from Min. It contains a sequence of numbers written in dwarvish. It's 8 groups of 3 numbers under 10. They don't make much sense. I stuff it in my pack.
  • 1-3-6 2-5-2 9-7-5 4-3-4
  • 8-2-7 5-6-3 7-1-4 2-9-9
• We open the doors to the hallway. There is no one immediately visible in the hallway.
• We head down the hall a little ways. From the pit we hear Wodna yelling. She sounds like she's barking orders but we can't make out the words.
• Min opens the door to the north, revealing a private dining hall. Seated in one of the 6 stone chairs facing the door is a haggard old Deurgar with long black hair streaked with ribbons of white and fingernails sharpened. She is eating dinner. Lurking next to her is a small mechanical dragon made of a black substance.
• At the site of us the guards grab their weapons but at a word from the woman they hold.
• She invites us to come have dinner. She seems unconcerned with the fighting and explosions. Her name is Grandolpha Muzgart
• Karthos introduces himself and says we are there to take care of Sunblight. She seems relieved by this, and says she is his lover.