Session 04
General Summary
Gotrek, Morgan, Harley and Camero found themselves in the main temple of the fortress having
just had a huge battle with many kuo-toans and the demon their whip summoned. Looking around
they determined they had many options of where to go next. There were three sets of double doors
in the southern wall, one at ground level and the other two on each of the balconies. There was
also a pair of single doors leading north off the balcony on which the whip was summoning the
demon during their last fight. They determined that the probably had come into the fortress in the
middle level and that they were currently on a lower level which they had descended to from the
jail cells. So they decided to try their luck through the double doors in the south on the lower
level.
These doors led to a ten foot side corridor which split into a cross roads. To the east was a series
of curtained alcoves, to the west was an octagonal room with water pooled in it and a staircase
leading up to a door. To the south was a further pair of double doors. They decided to head east
and explored a short corridor of alcoves which were curtained off with red tapestries. Searching
through them they appeared to be a series of crafts chambers with a forge, pottery and
stomemason part of the complex. The last room in the complex was part flooded so they did not
explore it, but as they turned to head back to the cross roads a kuo-toan rose from the flood and
attacked. This harpooner was a hero of the kuo-toan tribe but he was alone against four hardened
adventurers and it wasn't too long before he was felled.
Back to the crossroads the party saw that two kuo-toans were now guarding the staircase leading
up out of the far room to the west. Here they saw that in the south of this room was a portcullis
(currently shut) leading on to a flooded corridor heading southwards. They went and tried to
intimidate the kuo-toans and indeed the guards fled up the staircase but couldn't get through the
door at the top. The party noticed something swirling in the pool so decided to head back to the
cross roads and go south. As they did so they saw that the two guards dived off the stairs and into
the water and swam to the south towards the portcullis.
The party reached the double doors to the south of the crossroads and opened them to reveal a
temple of some sorts, dedicated to the evil kuo-toan goddess. They decided to smash the altar and
Gotrek headed in. As he did so the floor dropped out from under his feet and he plumetted 20 feet
onto poisoned spikes. As if that wasn't bad enough four insubstantial undead spirits swarmed out
of the walls and attacked him as he lay impaled on the spikes! One of the wraiths wailed a hideous
wail and Gotrek felt its dizzying effect, stopping him from doing almost anything. Gotrek was
nearly dead and it would take some quick thinking and heroics to save him. Morgan threw the
rope into the pit, him and Camero taking hold of the other end and preparing to pull the dwarf to
safety. Harley then lept into the pit! He landed safely, avoiding the poison spikes but the wraiths
swarmed over him. However this seemed to be his intention as when the wraiths hit him they were
struck by holy light from his armour. This seared the wraiths and was enough to stop the wailing
of the mad wraith for a few seconds. He also managed to use his quick wits to tie the end of the
rope around the dwarf as the wraiths recoiled from the blast of holy light from his armour. The
few seconds granted by the wraith stopping howling was enough to let Gotrek recover his wits and
he climbed quickly from the pit, with Camero and Morgan helping pull him up. This left Harley in
the pit alone. The wraiths attacked en masse and the mad wraith touched Harley and for a moment
he lost his mind and climbed out of the pit to attack his companions! However this worked out for
the good as once out of the pit, before attacking Gotrek, he got himself back under control. The
party dropped back and Camero closed the door. Mercifully the wraiths did not follow the party
back out of the temple and the group were safe.
A tired and beaten up Magma Force decided they needed to rest up. They contemplated travelling
all the way back to the surface but realised this was a 4 hour trip through the Underdark, so they
used all the tools and tables in the alcove rooms to construct a barrier and some shard of pottery as
an early warning system and bedded down in the alcoves, using tapestries for bedding. Their night
passed nearly uneventfully but in the last watch Camero heard approaching kuo-toans. He had
time to wake the others and they readied. Harley snuck behind the barrier and then as the kuotoans approached Camero stepped out and fireballed the room. Bits of Kuo-toans flew everywhere and then a headressed kuo-toan whip came around the corner twirling his staff and throwing a swirling vortex of muck into the party. People were thrown everywhere but getting back to their feet quickly they swarmed over the kuo-toan. However he squirmed his way out of the melee and fled off into the main chamber. The party let him go, formed up and then headed off to the
crossroads, over this to the west chamber and inside.
Ahead they could see the chamber with the staircase. Either side of the stairs was a kuo-toan
guard. Morgan wasted no time hefting his throwing axe with a view to throwing it at a guard but
they weren't hanging around and they swam forward, calling out in their weird language. As they
moved in the portcullis to the south opened and a large force of kuo-toans swam into the room.
Battle was joined! Gotrek moved in an downed two minions. Harley threw his shuriken and took
out four more as the throwing star span around the room in a circle slashing throat after throat!
Then Camero conjured a burning sphere in the midst of the three headressed whips at the back of
the room. But at this stage a large swarm of tiny half dragon, half kuo-toan hatchlings swarmed
out of the pool and all over Gotrek, biting, nipping and pulling, trying to pull him to the ground
where they could devour him! The party wondered if these were the spawn of Dhorlot the Dragon
Father. The whips used their swirling vortex spells to knock the party prone in the water where the
swarm of hatchlings tried to eat them all up. Meanwhile the whips also blasted the fighters with
lightning which blinded them. It was a tough fight and at one stage Morgan got knocked
unconscious in the water and began to drown. On top of that he was being swarmed by hatchlings.
But in another brave move Harley dived into the water, grabbed his companion and dragged him
to safety. This enabled Camero to use his scorching burst of fire and soon all the hatchlings had
been burnt to a shrivelled pile of stinking mess. Had Camero just slaughtered lots of his half
brothers and sisters?? With the swarm of dragon hatchlings gone the last two whips were easily
brought down and the party had prevailed.
So, what was up the staircase? Was this where Zenith Splintershield was held captive? Or was the
dwarf elsewhere in the fortress?
Report Date
11 Apr 2024
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