Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony
As Amber returned to the air, Garlen, still in centaur form, called out to her "you look like a tasty dragon-snack flying all alone up there. Ride on my back where it'll be safer." Rain led the way, with Amber and Garlen directly behind and Grokk and Horkina off to the sides. As the party approached the next large area denoted on the map, Amber cast Death Ward on herself. Soon, the party was met with an explosion of acid and negative energy, which Rain identified as a mix between black and shadow dragon breath. Grokk and Horkina took the brunt of the blast, feeling significantly weakened. Garlen hasted himself and rolled behind the colossal dragon, taking Amber with him as he yelled out "we don't want to kill you, we just want to kill the demon-dogs, so get out of the way." The dragon bellowed back that no upright-walking creatures were allowed in her lair. Rain called out "it's your funeral" in Draconic as he charged and swung with his dragonbane sword, but he missed the blurry beast. Amber dispelled a series of protective spells from the dragon and triggered the fire seeds Rain was carrying. The dragon's breath had a lingering effect which further drained Grokk and Horkina, who continued to move toward the combat. The dragon slapped Rain with her tail and attacked Amber with her teeth and claws, causing significant injury. Garlen and Rain jabbed at the dragon several times, causing her to crumple to the ground dead, and Rain resisted a Finger of Death that triggered as he attacked. Rain continued to taunt the dead dragon in its native tongue as the party moved onward.
Immediately after the dragon fell, Horkina started hearing whispers that sounded like dwarven voices. Garlen and Rain listened carefully but didn't hear them, leading them to think maybe Horkina had a little too much to drink. Continuing along the mapped-out path, the voices became more and more distinct to Horkina, but were still inaudible to the others. As the party approached the last area marked on the map, the voices were almost clear enough for her to understand, but still, nobody else heard them. Amber boosted the party with spell resistance and conviction, and gave Grokk freedom of movement, and Rain and Garlen silently approached the marked chamber. The corpse of a male dragon, about the same size as the female the party had just fought, lay across the stone arch leading into the rubble-filled chamber. Two wolf-like creatures were behind the corpse, munching on it. One was a Brachyurus , large and white with oversized claws and fangs. The other sniffed the air, shifted form from wolf to bugbear, and called out "someone has brought dessert!" The bugbear stood upright with his maul raised overhead, proudly displaying symbols of Orcus on his armor.
Garlen, already airborne, flew over the dragon corpse and stabbed at the Brachyurus, which responded by failing to trip him. Rain tumbled past the dragon and waited for an opportunity to move closer. The werewolf-bugbear bit at Garlen, draining a significant amount of blood, and faded out to the side. Amber moved closer and cast invisibility purge, holy word, and greater dispel on the servant of Orcus. Horkina ran forward and jumped over the dragon corpse, but the brachyurus knocked her on her back. Grokk flew into a rage and made the same maneuver, but was knocked backwards by a powerful blow from the maul-wielding foe. The brachyurus continued to focus its attacks on Garlen, but was unable to make him fall. Garlen attacked the bugbear, but found his attacks were less effective than normal. Amber healed the party, restoring Garlen's constitution but not all of his health, and then fired a moon bolt at the bugbear, who completely resisted. She triggered her amulet to reverse time, and instead fired the moon bolt at the brachyurus, weakening its muscles. The bugbear replaced the curse Amber had dispelled from his maul, allowing it to again deal damage that was more difficult to heal. Rain's quicksilver boots let him slip into position behind the Brachyurus, which he stabbed several times, though his balance was slightly off and he missed badly with a pair of strikes.
At that moment, a dwarven voice yelled out to Horkina "stand up!", though she was the only one who heard it. She responded "I don't let anyone tell me what to do" as she swung at the soft underbelly of the brachyurus. The voice called her stupid, but she was pleased with the damage she'd done with three solid blows from the ground. Rain used the distraction to take a stab at the brachyurus, further damaging its muscles. Grokk stood and moved near the brachyurus, which bit Horkina and then turned and tripped Rain. Garlen flew over the top of the brachyurus and attacked the bugbear, who tried to push him back with his maul but found the centaur was a bit too large to be moved. Rain took a shot at the brachyurus' underside. Amber dispelled the maul, suppressing its power for a few moments so the bugbear could not continue to draw on its powers. The bugbear cast a spell to enhance his bite and then bit and clawed at Garlen. Rain tried to stand but was tripped by the brachyurus, so he tumbled away and waited for healing. Horkina decided to stand, but didn't heed the voices' instructions on where to place her feet, and she found herself lying on the ground and unable to land a solid blow with her axe. Grokk leaped at the bugbear and landed a powerful blow with his axe, taking one from the maul in the process. The brachyurus again bit Horkina, and then turned and clawed at Garlen. Garlen stabbed furiously at the bugbear. Amber fired a lucent lance and a moon bolt at the brachyurus and again healed the party, though Garlen had some wounds that resisted the healing magic. The bugbear continued attacking Garlen, who fell dead to the final blow. The bugbear then faded out and reappeared on the other side of the dragon's corpse.
Horkina stood and avoided the brachyurus' attack, telling the voices that they're awfully bossy and that she'd succeed her own way. She and Rain landed several solid hits on the brachyurus, and Grokk jumped in from the side to deliver the killing blow. Amber flew away from the werewolf-bugbear and fired a sunbeam at it, but it resisted, and its maul regained its magical power. Horkina jumped over the dragon and Rain sneakily approached the bugbear, preparing to stab it in the back when Horkina finally approached. Grokk leaped over the dragon and swung his axe furiously, but the bugbear's maul tossed him backwards. Amber tried to make his metal armor heat up, but this did nothing. The dwarven voices continued instructing Horkina, but she called out "I'm not listening to you, la la la la la!" and charged at the foe. Just then, a dwarven ghost materialized behind the bugbear, distracting it while sarcastically stating "I'm dead, maybe you shouldn't listen to me." Horkina landed a perfect strike on the bugbear's head, but his stance allowed him to move with the strike and shrug it off completely. Rain stepped into the space the ghost had been and took a swipe, dealing a trivial wound to the enemy. He responded by hitting Horkina so hard that she dropped her axe and became disoriented. Grokk tumbled into position to flank for Rain, summing up his feelings by saying "Grokk feel need for retraining. Perhaps Grokk become accountant." Amber's sunbeam scratched the enemy, and then Rain took 8 stabs at him (107 d6), several of which seemed like they should have killed him. The bugbear remained standing despite his many serious wounds, and he called out "there's more than one way to get through a stone wall." He grabbed on to the corpse of the dragon and touched his brooch, and both disappeared.
Six dwarven ghosts materialized and spoke to Horkina, saying "thanks for freeing us", but with a gruff demeanor that showed they were displeased she hadn't taken their advice. Amber brought Garlen back to life and the party picked up the dragon's hoard before returning to speak with Uther. The six dwarven ghosts stood with Uther in the throne room, and explained that Horkina was entitled to the axe above Uther's throne by virtue of being the first dwarf to survive the area since the dragons had taken it over, though they weren't interested in training her like they'd planned to do with whoever eventually earned the axe. One of the ghosts touched the axe to reactivate its magic abilities and passed it off to Horkina. The ghosts told Uther he could find a mithral mining golem named Lenny -- the "key" from the poem -- buried deep in the mines, and that he could be activated by speaking his name.
Roland's magical book provided the party with its next clue:
"Walls will be breached and power lent
In the frozen wasteland north of north
Where breath has a crystal sheen
The key of ice lies in a solid sea
ruled by a Snowbound Queen."
The party reached level 24.
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