Thieves Unseen Part 2

General Summary

Waking up early, the party sets out to find Nildar Sunblight and put a stop to the thefts and perhaps discover why there is this interest in Chardalyn.
Sometime later, as the group is traipsing in a sparsely wooded area east of Kelvin's Cairn, They spot a male yeti blocking their path forward. As the group pulls up short, Jorg motions with his war hammer towards the yeti, "Haven't we seen this one before?"
Before the yeti can make a move, Korith disappears in the underbrush while Hollow Phoenix moves to place a large fir tree between him and the yeti. Jorg readies his war hammer and shield, "Come at me me, ya big bastard!" The yeti focuses his attention on Jorg while Chalmir holds his hands close together gathering lightning before thrusting them towards the yeti. The ball lightning hits the yeti in the chest and fizzles out.
Slapping at his chest, the yeti charges at Chalmir. Pulling up short he opens his mouth wide, fangs showing, and breathes a cloud of ice crystals at his face. A sheen of frost covers Chalmir from head to toe.
As Bruce Leroy moves up, a female yeti appears farther down the path. Just then, Korith emerges from cover and slices his short sword, just grazing the male yeti's face. He follows up with a thrust of the rapier. The yeti turns at the last moment and takes the thrust deep into its thigh. It staggers back a step roaring in pain.
Chalmir mumbles, "Two can play that game." Drawing in a deep breath, he lets loose a thunderous roar of pure sonic energy. The soundwave slams into the yeti, pushing him back, with an audible boom. Jorg, seeing his chance, mutters a quick prayer to Moradin and his war hammer lights up with fire. Charging in, he swings at the yeti, but misses.
Bruce Leroy leaps at the yeti. All fur and claws and fury, but still not completely used to his metal leg, he misses his target. The crag cat flies past the yeti and slams into a tree, stunned.
Standing toe to toe with Jorg, the yeti swings both massive claws at the sturdy dwarf. Jorg catches both with is shield, stopping the attack in its track.
Seeing an opportunity, the female yeti charges at Bruce Leroy. Swiping both claws at the still stunned cat, the first misses as Bruce Leroy stumbled to the left, but the second hits him solidly in the ribs tearing a large bleeding gash.
Korith, small and forgotten by the yeti, comes up and sinks his dagger into the side of the male yeti. Grabbing hold of the dagger, he vaults up onto the yeti's shoulders and stabs his short sword into the side of the yeti's neck. The light dimming in its eyes, the yeti stumbles to its knees and then crashes face down. Korith nimbly leaps off and lands lightly on his feet.
Hollow Phoenix comes out from behind the fir tree and rushes to defend Bruce Leroy. He launches his fists at the female yeti. She stumbles backwards out of the way but is slammed by a ball of lightning from Chalmir. This time, the lightning hits and the yeti's muscles twitch uncontrollably for a second before she turns and starts to flee.
Jorg comes charging up, armor clanking, swings at her back. The war hammer just grazes her, but it is enough for her fur to ignite. Bruce Leroy starts licking his wound. An enraged Hollow Phoenix charges leaping onto the fleeing yeti's back. His powerful kick thudding into the kidney of the yeti while is punch smashes into the back of the yeti's skull. Jorg takes another powerful swing of his war hammer connecting with the yeti's lower back, killing her.
As her corpse lies smoldering, Hollow Phoenxi starts to skin her, "This will make a fine cape and I'm sure Sahnar is looking forward to his next meal." Tossing Bruce Leroy some bits of liver and kidneys, he the asks Jorg to hold open the bag. "Incoming!", as he tosses down chunk after chunk.
Sahnar starts tearing into the feast. After gorging at first, he starts to slow down while his flesh knits back together. Now looking almost alive. "Moorree?", he plaintively cries?
"We should have more duergar soon."
"Yeessss," as he turns back to the scraps he has left.
Jorg noting the position of the sun, "It's going to be dark soon. We should make camp. Who knows what else is out here? Chalmir, make with the finger waggling and get us a bonfire. Korith and Hollow Phoenix find us some wood so this fire will last the night will ya?"
With the bonfire made and wood gathered, Chalmir volunteers for the first watch. After an uneventful few hours, he wakes Jorg. "Nothing to report, other than I wish there was some ale to be found in this forsaken wilderness!"
Jorg nods, "Aye, will be back to civilization soon and the first rounds on me. Now get some sleep."
Noting the dwindling pile of wood, Jorg tries to stretch it for as long as possible. When his watch is up, he wakes up Hollow Phoenix, "Might need some more wood. That pile is almost gone."
"It'll be alright. If it bothers you so much, maybe you could scrounge up some more before turning in?"
Jorg grunts and then trudges off to see what deadwood they might have missed. Returning shortly with an armful, he dumps it by the fire, "I hope that'll do."
"I'm sure it will."
Jorg drops down and promptly starts to snore as only a dwarf can.
Hollow Phoenix managed to stretch the wood through the night.
Waking early and breaking camp, the party heads out towards the suspected duergar base. Following Hollow Phoenix, they eventually arrive around midmorning at what looks like a small crevice. After slowly entering, it widens out a bit showing buildings on the sides of the cliffs.
Korith notices a a tower against the cliff wall to the right. There are numerous murder holes waiting to rain down death on any who approach the main gate at the canyon's end. As he makes his way slowly towards the tower, an arrow comes flying out, just missing his cheek and planting itself in the snow behind him. The group can hear bells tolling as the alarm has sounded. A distant figure along a wall takes off running.
In the meantime, Hollow Phoenix has worked his way up the path towards the gates, crossing a short bridge over a stream. 
Chalmir starts off running towards the Korith and the tower. "Now he's done it! This place will be swarming with enemies."
Jorg takes a more cautious approach and hefting his shield up in front and warhammer loosened in the belt loop, he starts heading towards the tower as well.
As Korith tries to avoid any more arrows by pressing himself closer to the canyon wall, Chalmir comes running up with the speed of the wind under him. As he nears the tower, another arrow flies and narrowly misses him. With the wind and momentum under him, he seems to fly up the side of the tower. As he lands at the roof of the tower, he sees a lone duergar with a bow turn to look at him with shock and surprise on his face.
The duergar growls, "Now you're in fer it!" He starts towards Chalmir, growing to twice his normal height. He swings his giant hammer down at Chalmir, "Die you puny bug." But Chalmir slips away to the side as the hammer crashes into the stone floor. Chalmir then whispers some words of power and the duergar is frozen in place, muscles straining to break the spells grip.
Chalmir yells down to the others, "There's a dark dwarf here. I need help!" As he thinks about tossing down a rope, his concentration slips. The duergar rages free and slams his hammer into Chalmir's shoulder. As Chalmir spins with the blow,  he quickly casts Misty Step to gain distance and unleashes a ferocious lightning bolt at the duergar. The duergar twists out of the way, avoiding the worst of it.
Jorg, reaching the base of the tower, starts to search for some kind of entrance. Korith joins but neither can find it. Hollow Phoenix joins them but none can figure out how to get up without Chalmir dropping a rope.
The duergar charges at Chalmir sweeping his hammer horizontally. Chalmir manages to step in closer as the shaft, and not the head, connects with his ribs cracking them and sending him flying across the roof. Chalmir, dazed, quickly casts the bonfire cantrip under the duergar.
Howling, the duergar shrinks down to normal as his clothes and beard blaze. Taking a few steps towards Chalmir, he collapses into a smoldering heap.
Chalmir hauls himself upright muttering, "Where's your friends when you need them."  Spotting a trapdoor, he attempts to use Mage Hand to open it, but it seems barred from the inside. He then tosses a rope down to the others.
As the group gathers on the roof of the tower, Korith uses a waterskin to put out the embers on the dwarf. Taking some time to let Hollow Phoenix check on Chalmir's injuries, Jorg and Korith dismember the duergar and toss down the bits to Sahnar. 
After that, Jorg takes a look at the door. Reaching down and managing to get his fingers under an edge, he gives a mighty heave and with a loud snapping noise, the trapdoor opens. 
Chalmir, looking towards the gate, notices another duergar and a large shambling Ogre coming out. He whispers to the others, "Hurry! Let's get inside before they spot us."
They climb down a ladder, finding only a long hallway leading back deeper into the canyon wall. As they reach the end of the corridor, they come upon a storage room. Crates and piles of equipment stacked along the walls. 
Seeing stairs to the right, Korith stealthily heads down to find a large nearly empty room. There are some piles of snow that had blown in through the openings to the canyon and a door slightly ajar at the end. 
Jorg opens the bag of holding, "Hey, would you like to stretch your legs a bit? You're looking almost normal now." 
"Yeessss"
Jorg reaches in and pulls the elven mummy out of the bag before tucking it into his belt again.
As they slowly approach the partially open door, Chalmir steps in to listen but hears nothing. As he is doing that, a female duergar rounds the corner. Stopping in a moment of stunned silence, she screams in an unknown tongue for help.
Bruce Leroy starts to charge at her from across the long room while Korith reflexively throws a dagger at her. The dagger plants itself squarely in her chest and she staggers back a half step. Chalmir follows up chanting with his hands cupped and lightning crackling between as the power builds. He unleashes the orb at the duergar. The ball of lightning vaporizes her chest as it passes through her.
Just then, the undead Ogre charges into the room. Jorg, holding forth the holy symbol of Moradin, prays to his god to turn away this abomination. But Moradin seems far away and distracted and no help is forthcoming.  Jorg, growling in disappointment over this momentary abandoment, instead draws deeper on Moradin's power and blasts out a bolt of blinding radiance at the shambling corpse. The bolt slams into its head, rocking it back a step. 
Straightening its neck, it focuses its dead eyes on Korith and swings a vicious backswing with a morning star at him. Korith rushes forward, sliding under the swing. As he slides across the floor, he slashes at the calves of the ogre. The short sword connects and slices a deep furrow on the inside of the ogre's left calf, but the dagger comes up just short.
Chalmir once again channels lightning into his palms and unleashes another ball of lightning that slams into the ogre's chest. Hollow Phoenix, waiting for this opportunity, followed up and leaping on high, unleashes a flurry of blows. The undead's rib cage explodes under the pounding force and it drops to the floor as Hollow Phoenix kicks off of its thigh to back flip and land lightly near Chalmir.
Chalmir and Hollow Phoenix search the corpses for anything useful as Sahnar finally shuffles into the room.
Noticing some cages in the corner, Jorg heads over and notices one is open. The others are empty, but the open one obviously held the undead ogre. Korith explores the room and notices a door to the south. Sliding out a small mirror on a telescoping rod, he tries to see what is in the room, but nothing stands out.
Jorg sees the room goes off to the west. There is a long room divide by two doorways and an iron lever is sticking out from the wall near the far end.
As the group confers near the middle about which way to go, Jorg says a quick, muttered prayer to Moradin and heals Chalmir's wounds. Deciding to check out the lever, Korith moves stealthily down to the lever. Looking down a hallway beside it, he sees a well dressed duergar waiting in anticipation of the groups approach.
Slowly drawing out his short sword, he swings the sword and brutally slashes  the duergar across the inner thigh. As the duergar starts to howl and backpedal down the hallway, Korith, noticing the finer clothes, tries to tackle him. The duergar shrugs him off and makes it back to a room and positions a heavy desk between him and the group.
Jorg tells him in dwarvish, "Surrender now or die." The duergar eyeing the group, the duergar snarls, "My father will kill you for this, fools."
Jorg shrugs his shoulders, "The hard way it is." and charges in swinging his war hammer across the desk. The duergar ducks, but Jorg was ready and chanting to Moradin freezes the duergar in his tracks.  
Chalmir swiftly ties him up. Korith knocks him over to the ground and holds a dagger to his throat, "Jorg, release him. We need him to talk."
Sputtering with rage, the duergar spits out "You will pay for this! All of you will pay!"
Korith nicks his throat and says, "Who are you and why are you robbing towns?"
The duergar spits at Korith.
Chalmir kicks him in the ribs, "Answer him or you will regret it."
Korith looks over at Sahnar, "Would you like some meat? Really fresh this time."
A look of fear appears in the duergar's eyes as Sahnar walks over. "What the fuck is that?"
Sahnar leans down and licking the tiny flow of blood from the nick utters a sigh of satisfaction before suddenly tearing a chunk out of the duergar's shoulder.
The duergar screams, "Seriaously, what the fuck is that thing?"
Sahnar leans in taking another chunk and slurps it down greedily.
The duergar again screaming, "Get it away from me! I'll talk. My name is Nildar Sunblight and my father, Xardorok will have your hides for capes!"
Korith snorts, "Who's this Xardorok? Never heard of him."
Nildar, looking surprised, stammers out, "He's conquered many towns and slain many enemies. His name brings fear to all who hear tell of it in The Spine of the World. You've never heard of him?"
Jorg scratches his beard, "Can't reckon we have. But we aren't from around here. Where's this dad of yours?"
"He's in his fortress in The Spine of the World. It will be your death to go there. He has a force the likes you've never seen before. Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Fine, whatever. What's with this chardalyn you sent your men out for? What's it good for?"
Regaining his composure a bit, Nildar states proudly, "Power. Pure power. We are creating a force that none can stand against. We will sweep all of the Ten Towns before us. Let me live and I'll tell you how to find it, not that any of you would survive the effort."
Jorg looks around, "Do we care about this fortress right now?"
After a brief hesitation, no one seems to care about this fortress or this mad duergar right now.
Jorg looks down at Nildar, "It's not your lucky day. No one cares about your daddy. What we do care is to know how many others are in here?"
"Four. There are four others with me."
Stuffing a rag into Nildar's mouth, Korith says, "Let's take him back to the dwarves. This'll be the proof they need of their innocence."
After a quick nod of agreement, Korith tells Sahnar, "Stay and watch him. But no more bites unless he tries to escape."
Sahnar looks disappointed but nods his assent.
Recalling the trap door and the room of supplies, Jorg and the rest hastily create a sled to haul Nildar.
Jorg tells the others, "There's two more of 'em. They must be through that door to the south. Let's take him hard and fast before they know it."
He raises his shield and charges the door. It bursts asunder and he enters a room with two surprised dwarves. One seeming to have mechanical parts replacing some of his limbs, one of which ends in a claw. One wearing mage robes yells a command in a strange tongue and five cells at the back of the room fly open. Five humanoid forms, covered in a green glowing fungus start to shamble forward.
Korith comes in behind Jorg and engages the mechanical duergar. He manages to land a solid hit with his short sword, but he just laughs and raises his clawed hand. Swinging the clawed hand at Korith, he misses as Korith rolls to the side. He follows up with a hammer swing, but Korith continues his roll and it just grazes his back.
Chalmir chants the cantrip for a bonfire directed at one of the fungus covered humanoids. His aim was off and the bonfire ignites in the corner of the room. Bruce Leroy comes in spitting and yowling and pounces on the fungus zombie, knocking it prone.
The robed duergar starts saying words directed at Jorg. Jorg hears the words like thunder in his head tearing at his mind. Saying a prayer to Moradin over and over seems to shield him from the worst of the effects. Jorg retaliates with words of his own and a blinding bolt of light flies out slamming into the duergar mage, staggering him.
The fungus zombie under Bruce Leroy struggles back and slices his claws across Bruce Leroy's side. 
Korith springs at the mechanical duergar. Dodging a swing of his claws and hammer, he vaults up and with a mighty slash of his short sword, shears the duergar's head off at the shoulders.
Hollow Phoenix approaches another of the fungus zombies and pulling up into a cat stance, unleashes a kick followed by bending at the waist and sending a double punch its chest. The fungus zombie collapses immediately but explodes into a cloud of spores.
Another zombie attacks Hollow Phoenix but Hollow Phoenix rolls to the side as he comes up, roundhouse kicks the fungus zombies head off. Again, it explodes into spores.
Bruce Leroy clamps his jaws down on the fungus zombie under him and bites its face off. Once again, there is an explosion of spores.
Chalmir inadvisably casts lightning bolt in an enclosed room at the duergar mage. The mage dodges most of it but the lightning still causes his muscles to twitch uncontrollably. The bolt ricochets off of the wall behind him, but miraculously hits the last two zombies. The explode into another cloud of spores. 
The duergar mage, recovered from the shock, starts whispering to Hollow Phoenix. As the words roll through his mind, Hollow Phoenix charges Korith and tries to deliver a series of blows. Korith, shocked by his friends attack, barely dodges out of the way. Taking some glancing blows in the process.
Jorg once again praying to Moradin, casts another blinding bolt of light. As it slams into the duergar mage, he explodes into a shower of glowing bits of light.
Hollow Phoenix regaining control of himself, "Sorry, Korith. I don't know what came over me. I couldn't stop myself." 
Korith dusts himself off, "It's fine. But look, you now have a neat scar on your left arm!"
Hollow Phoenix hold his arm in front of him, "Now what in the world?"

Dramatis Personae

• Jorg Ancrath
• Chalmir the Galvimancer
• Korith
• Hollow Phoenix
• Bruce Leroy

Report Date

02 Mar 2021