Session 2 Report

General Summary

The Party starts at the foot of the old tower in the middle of the Pale Pass, an untold number of foul beast hot on their trail. Hoping to seeking refuge from in the encroaching storm, the tried to enter the tower to find it locked. After politely knock, much to the dismay of the party, and gentle old man answers the door and invites them in, Hargrave and is men stay out side to start setting up defensive points as conflict with the horde is inevitable.   The party enters into the main hall of the tower it is warm and inviting, the smell of a rich and delicious stew tantalizes the air around them. Thoril brings them in and sits them down and ask them what troubles the party what brings them to the middle of no where. The party explains that they got trapped in the pale pass and there is a horde of goblins, orcs and ogres headed their way. Thoril is moderately distressed by this news and informs the party that they can rest here a spell and offers the part some of his stew. The party immediately suspicious of a random old man in the middle of no where serving the party hospitality.

Praist, the Cleric, senses something is off and detects and evil aura around Thoril and immediately assumes a violent posture and threatens the gentle, nice old man. Thoril explains he is a deserter from the Midden Incursion and he has been living in this abandoned tower. The Cleric cast Zone of Truth and interrogates the nervous man, knowing he is an evil entity. Thoril, compelled to the tell the truth, start choosing his words carefully and Praist, who is quick to judge and quicker to condemn, attacks Thoril. Thoril fights back only to be slain by the party, who on their brother's lead, jump into the fight killing the man, revealing he is a doppleganger. After the brief encounter the began to search the tower looking for clues and anything that would help them in their fight against the horde encroaching on them.

• On the first floor the find a key on the body of the fake Thoril. Investigating further arounf they discover that the stew was in fact poisoned, but failed to learn the nature of poison. The chair that Thoril sat in contain runes from the old Eradrani Empire, revealing the nature of this tower as an old fort from a long dead civilization.
• The Second floor the group finds a hatch that leads to the room via stairs. There is alot of currently in use beds here, more than one man would need. The rest of the furniture is stacked in the corner of the room purposefully, investigating revleaed a second hatch which lead them to a small hidden room with ballista bolts and hand thrown fire bombs that they re-purposed to help with the defenses.
• The top most floor, the roof, contained 4 ballista's in varying states of disrepair. Hoth, the Fighter, took parts from two of them to repair the other two. There was a large brazier on the top of the roof, that if it was lit would have kept who ever was up there warm, but the party did not light the large brazier.

Damien, the ranger, and Praist were exploring the magazine, Affyria, the Rogue, stayed in the dormintory where she was ambushed by two Dopplegangers. One took her from behind, muffling her screams and began to choke her out, while the other carried a syringe of a unknown fluid and attempted to inject her. In the struggle the syringe weilding dopplegange ended up stabbing himself with the vial and it caused him to lose conciousness, while the other seeing this, increased his efforts to knock her unconcious. Damien came down during the struggle, moving outside to tell Hargrave's men of the stores they had found to see two Affyria's fighting one another. Fake Affryia tried to reason with Damien, while the real one chose to attack her double. Affyria ended the doppleganger's life without much effort and Praist came down after hearing the commotion and killed the other one with a swift blow.
Hoth during this time was on the roof repairing the ballista's only to see the encroaching army approaching, lighting bonfires in the field. Hoth was able to repair two of the ballista's, cannibalizing the parts from the other two broken ones.
Downstairs, Praist and Damien started to move some of the fire bombs to Hargrave's men only to encounter a wight downstairs. The wight, cornered attacked Damien and Praist only to be subdued with ease. The Wight mentioned they were strong enough to help him kill his master, Nezuereth, and the he would help him. Praist interrogated further to find out that this wight was in fact, the real Thoril, who was imprisoned by the doppelgangers and the Mindflayer, Nazuereth, Who was using the weather controlling powers of the tower to force unwitting travelers into the pass and to the tower where they were subdued and then killed and experimented on by the Illithid. He mention that there is a tunnel under the carpet where the chair was, and Damien the skilled tracker and hunter feels like a total idiot for missing the trap door 3 times in the short course of their visit. Damien goes to the roof to tell Hoth what has transpired and Praist and the wight have a short conversation before the cleric, ends his unlife.
On the roof, the bonfires in the distance have been lit and Damien and Hoth set about firing the ballista's at them, causing them the exploding in flaming shrapnel and killing the occupants around the fires. During this time the first wave crashed into the battlements below, fighting with Hargrave and his men. The ballista continued firing until Damien's clumsiness caused one of the ballistas to break, Hoth continued firing with the other one until it was out of ammo. They were unable to extinquish all the fires. Both returned to the ground floor to assist with the battle.
Down below, Praist attempted to take a rest and pray to his god,Pelor, while Affyria watched over him making sure no harm would come. Hoth and Damien ran outside directly into the fray, attacking the Horde of Goblins, Hobgoblins, Ogres and Bugbears with arrows, swords, hammer and firebombs. Damien became greatly wounded outside and returned inside to trade places with Affyria who rushed out to help Hoth with the battle. Hargrave's men were not fairing well in their areas and some of the enemies broke through the lines. They party members outside, during a lull in the battle, saw the full force of the army coming through the pass lead by a large intelligent Ettin. Hoth, being an ex solider, knew the battle was going to be a loss and told his sister to return inside. They pulled Praist from his slumber early and decided to retreat through the tunnels that Thoril had explain eventually lead out of the Pale Pass and to the Chasms near the Kassiden pass. Inside of the tunnels they came across and old dungeon filled with bones, manacales and the bodies of dopplegangers that were killed by the real Thoril. They continued on, almost trigger a few traps in the tunnles and at the chokepoints barely escaping their damaging ways. At the end of the tunnels they reached a makeshirt labreatory that was dimly lit and filled with baubles and beakers full of strange fluids and parts of bodies. There they heard the voice of Nezuereth.
He parlayed the party and told him that he had no desire to engage with them and they could pass on one condition. This detachment of the army was being lead by a particularly smart Ettin named Gum Gum. He wagered that if they brought him the heads of the Ettin he would let them pass, as he didn't need the brains of the party and there was a couple hundred good ones in the pass above him that would keep him busy for quite some time. The party didn't trust the disembodied voice and began cautiously probing the room for the Mindflayer. Knowing that the party wouldnt let him leave there alive, the Mindflayer began to goad and insult the party. Jumping out of a dimensional portal, he threw an aerosol version of his paralytic poison that Dopplegangers had attempted to use on the party before. The poison paralyzed Praist and Damien, but the other members of the party were able to move out of the way as the cloud filled the room. It dissipated leaving a dense fog int he room that made it hard to see, the Mindflayer then captured Damien and moved him to an undisclosed location.


Hoth moving around the room, weapon in had was ambushed and thrown to the ground by a powerful blast. The mindflayer than began to attempt is macabre extraction. Hoth was unable to resist as much as he wanted and he was only saved by Praist, who had jumped to his feet after resisting the effects of the poison. There the party used fire to dissipate the fog and fight the Mindflayer, who try as he might could not maintain his grip on the back of Hoth's head. There, they put and end to his life once and for all, as Hoth in with all his might crushed the skull of the Mindflayer with his mighty hammer.
After searching the room they found a secret door opened by an ancient comb, and inside was Damien, who was still paralyzed and unconscious. A few of the members nursed him back to health and the other explored the room finding a book and a pedestal with an orb. When they were moved close together a map of the passes appeared and pressing the room in a order dictated by the cook, allowed them to change the weather. They made the weather brutal and as cold as it could be, freezing the armies in the pass, preventing them from being able to move further, causing their retreat for this still able.
After a few hours, they moved through the tunnels that left the laboratory moving further on towards where the pass was. They eventually happened across a great chasm, where hobgoblins were running out of a entrance on the far side of the chasms, haphazardly falling to their deaths. Knowing, there was nothing for them behind, they moved forward into the tunnel, where they encountered and dispatched a Spectator. Moving further throughout the caves they found dead traveler and a Minotaur which attacked and was killed by the party.
Eventually they came across a barracade made of furniture and peices of wagons. They took it apart onlly to have teh tunnel collapse behind them leaving them with one way out. Outside there were ina large opening and straight up they could see the sky, in the middle of hte opening was a lrge pit that went down to the depths. The area was clearly a nest of some sort and were immediately set on by weak looking hippogriffs. They were going to fight back when they were stopped by a large Aarakocra who spoke to them. He stated that he would no let the harm the creatures and they had no business here.
They ask him for a way up, and he said no one can go up without wings, the only way was down trhough the tunnels. He also stated that he remembers the two men on the top of the chasm and Praist must be related or know the man as he recognizes the sword on Praist's back. When they question him further they learned that during a battle some many years ago, the Aarakocra had noticed two men on the top of the chasm, The blonde man gave the dirty man a stone and the dirty man gave away an axe, signifying some kind of deal. The party knows the legend of The Midden Incursion , where tehy father had killed Gogoroth on top of the chasm and kicked his body into it. But they are learning something else happened. The Aarakcora helps they leave and they enter into the bottom of the Chasm, the heart of the truth to their first clue and first piece of the relic. There at the bottom of the cave, they found nothing. But before they could figure out what that meant, thier peice of the relic begins to thrum with power as if attracted to something and they heard a deep voice echo across the cave.

"What did you think you would find down here? The body of a defeated man? The end of a terrible invasion as told by your great war hero? The only prize you will find down here is the truth... and death!"

Standing on the other end of the chasm over the pile of animal bones and offal, is two large men. Mollok the large quite beast of a man, and the one speaking with a cool aura about him, Konarath, leader of the Horde they just put an end too. A around the neck of Konorath lies a peice of the relic. One of the eight in the world, a link to their father. And Konorath's swords are drawn, ready for a fight.  

Rewards Granted

Four Rubies
Masterwork Thieves Tools
Silver Bell inlaid with Onyx
Pink Pearl
Rose Agate
Scrolls (Shatter, Lightning Bolt, Turn Undead
Leather Belt Set with Pearl
Sustaining Spoon

Missions/Quests Completed

Survived the Siege and Escaped the Pale Pass

Character(s) interacted with

Thoril
Nezuereth
Hargrave
Gum Gum
Konarath
Mollok
Pelluack (Aarakocra)

Created Content

Pelluack (Aarakocra)
The caves around the chasm

Notes

Hitsuki, the Druid, was a no show and there for did not have any pull on the story or decision making.