Session 8: ... Here We Come!

General Summary

Xabu: These caves are dark. Very dark.  This darkness must be more than just the work of orcs and orc-gods.  Orcs with the power to reanimate the dead? These are no ordinary orcs.  There’s something more at work here...this desecration runs deep through these caves. What else will we find? This troubling darkness...I am not eager to return, and yet I know I must....darkness...desecration...Perhaps the darkness attaches to my companions? Or perhaps it was always there.  How can I cleanse and purify these lands while this darkness walks by my side?  How can I honor that which is sacred while in the company of beings to which nothing is sacred? Troubling, troubling, this is very troubling..........I must pray. ~Xabu

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What a fussy bunch of fuddy duddies.  Sheesh, what's a crumby skeleton need with a belt anyway?  It doesn't even wear any pants!  This belt needs to be worn with class, and style!  CAT CLASS and CAT STYLE!!  Gosh this will make one dynamite outfit.  I can see it now.  Sunset on the shelf, that slick cat silhouette on the treetops...aaaaaand hit it!!  Ba dum bit da czzah  ki-tzaa ba ...

Hey I wonder what dance moves that skeleton knew back in its day?  I'll bet he busted some sick moves wearing this bad boy.  But what were they?  Hmmmmmmm...
*Tries on the belt and closes his eyes, begins hula hooping and singing*

Spirit of the dead dwarf,

What did you move like?

What did you move for?

Did you dance for stars?

Or hearts?

Or fish?

Or stones?

Or bones?

Did you dance alone?

Show me your secret

And I'll bring you back to life.

~Dances on Stumps

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First encounters of the Orc kind

The heroes start into the worked tunnels of this ruined dwarven mine, hearing the sound of orc language echoing along the walls.  "Relic", ignoring stealth, walks ahead of the rest of the group with a torch and hears a group of orcs around the corner.  The team quickly finishes off this guard station without an alarm, and sneaks into the side guard room.  They find a leg of some game animal, which Dances on Stumps takes a bite out of, and several ruined weapon racks with dwarven runes on them (maybe labels?).  As "Relic" investigates these racks, he accidentally opens a secret passage into a squat tunnel.  At the opposite end of the tunnel, he sets off a magical trap with electrical damage, but makes his way into an ancient tomb, untouched and never found by the orcs.

An accidental(?) desecration

As Althea and "Relic" make their way into this tomb, they find another side passage, similar to the one they entered, and guarded with similar protection (electric) magical wards.  Two well-made stone sarcophogi, of varying sizes, are set against each of the four walls of this chamber, and as Xabu enters the chamber to see what the group found, he recognizes that amidst the dwarven runes on each of these caskets, are symbols of eight different gods (Garl Glittergold, Moridin, Dumathoin, Pelor, Melora, Correlon Laraethon, Deep Sashelas, and Kord).  "Relic" still has his detect magic spell going, and recognizes an aura of magic coming from the smallest casket.  Without a second thought, he takes the lid off of the sarcophagus (accidentally smashing it on the floor in the process) and begins to remove a magical belt that he finds on the skeletal remains of a Gnome.  Xabu quickly (as quick as he can) chastises the warforged for disrespecting the dead and demands he put the belt back. Gnarly Toes also seems upset about this desecration, as does Althea (though she is more upset about the destruction of artifacts before she could catelog them). Dances on Stumps on the other hand, tells "Relic" that they are going to ignore Xabu and steal the belt.  "Relic" ignores Xabu and instead gives the belt to Dances on Stumps while the tortle isn't looking.  Althea  spends some time committing the writings on the sarcophagi to memory before the group reminds her of their mission, and they travel forward through the other secret passage.

Captives freed

As the group exits the secret passage, they enter a stone unfurnished room and here the whimpering sounds of a human pressing themselves into the corner.  Dances on Stumps tries semi-successfully to calm the teenager with a song and dance, but the dim light and sudden appearance of the heroes is mostly confusing to the youth.  In the next room, however, a beaten but stout dwarf woman named Emery Flamelocks triest to calm down this youth, named Qambolat.  She explains that she is a priestess from the Forge of Souls and that she has been listening while five of their number have been taken to the main hallway beyond, one every 2-4 hours or so.  She also recounts the travel to the orc stronghold, during which several of their number were killed by hook horrors.

The heroes look into the hallway, seeing two figures to the right.  Althea alerts them with a cry and the larger one barks an order to the smaller one in orcish and starts toward Althea.  As he gets closer, the team sees that he isn't an Ogre, but is in fact a large orog.  Emery Flamelocks identifies this being as Bhurall the Colossal, the orog that tore the arm off of Lasras and killed her during the orc attack.  The team coordinates their efforts and kills this threat, but not before he calls out a alarm, alerting the orcs and ogre nearby.

The alerted ogre and orcs advance from a large chamber to the right, but are stymied by Dances on Stumps and his gust of wind.  The team makes quick work of the group and proceeds to free the remaining captives.  While the captives are put into the secret passageway for safety, Seowin investigates the large chamber to the right, seeing vast scaffoldings along the walls, several cold smelting furnaces, and a strange stone statue in the likeness of a dwarf that is covered in runes.

Nobody blows baby into a corner

Leaving the captives in the safety of the secret passage, the team heads to the left to large double doors.  They open into a large throne room that has been rent by a earthquake in the past, leaving a 10 foot cliff in front of the heroes.  At the far end of the chamber is Zhall the Defiler, an eye of Gruumsh, in the middle of some sort of fiendish ritual.  Four orc figures surround the shaman, and a limp form hangs between two wooden post, draped slightly forward over a cloth bundle on the floor.  The friends charge into action, meeting the orcs and orc zombies in the middle of the chamber.  Dances on Stumps recognizes the bundle as a baby and quickly blows it away to the far corner of the room so that more blood does not drip on its form.  As the battle commences, Zhall pulls the lifeforce from the lying orc baby, killing it and transforming himself into a dreaded tanarukk, half orc and half fiend.  Gnarly Toes is knocked unconcious, but the team prevails against this threat as well.

Attempts to purify the place with the Silver Flame are unsuccessful today, but the team does their best to deface the scratchings and markings of the orc gods from these walls.  Relic crushes the Gruumsh-Eye amulet under his foot and the team travels back to the captives, leading them back down the tunnels to the light of day at the base of the ravine.

Rewards Granted

Unidenfited Magic Belt
Gruumsh Eye Amulet - crushed underfoot by Relic, irreparably destroyed

Missions/Quests Completed

Brevin's Gap captives rescued!
Mask member identified - Varad

Character(s) interacted with

Emery Flamelocks - priestess at Forge of Souls
Varad Verdoorn - Humble fisherman, and nothing more *tap tap*
Qambolat - Teen-aged man, captive of the orcs

Report Date

12 Oct 2019

Primary Location

Hal Durahl