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Day 38 - The Barracks Continued

Nowhere, still trying to figure why Gundren might have pulled his punches against the bugbears from the previous day, confronted Gundren again and he stuck to his story.

"I still don't trust you Gundren, I can't thin of a reason you wouldn't kill the bugbears when you had the chance."

Gunren replied, "You're mistaken, Immeral is mistaken. Our lives are on the line here, and I have just as much to risk as you do. As a matter of fact, I have more, I have my family. You can leave at any time, and maybe you should. If you want out, get out, but I don't want another accusation or you can forfeit your share of the mine."

"You can forfeit your life if I don't get some answers." Nowhere responded.

"And my soldiers will kill you where you stand if I order them to." Gundren menaced.

"Stop!" Lieutenant Frant interjected, "we need to cool down, this is no place nor time for argument. We still need to find Nundro." And it seems like, at least for the moment, the fire is diffused.

The party thinks about their next move, and decides to pry down the barricade on the eastern door. They do so after a few minutes and the door is opened. Beyond is a hallway with a stairway down some 10' beyond their door, and a wider cavern some 30' away. Barely visible in the darkness of the cavern is a giant bellows. The group gathers and decides to head into the cavern.

As they enter, groaning can be heard and within moments a quad of zombies appears and shambles towards the group. They engage the zombies and start hacking away at them as even more close in, but a glowing green light emerges from behind the bellows and rises to the ceiling. As the party fights the undead from the ground, a skull, bathed in green flame floats upward, its glowing eyes glaring menacing evil hate upon the adventurers. It launches a first attack of magic missiles at the group, attacking Immeral and driving him back into the barracks. The hired fighters stick to attacking the zombies on the ground, and perform admirably, as the party throws arrows and spells at the monstrosity floating out of reach. Lieutenant Frant and a couple of others hit the flaming skull with arrows, and prove it can be hurt with normal weapons, but the creature opens it's jaw wide and launches a fireball. The magical fire explodes amidst the group, killing the last of the zombies and blasting the group in every direction. Three of the party are knocked unconscious, Atlas and Dain and K'ronk, and one of the mercenaries killed, but Nowhere rolls out of range with minimal damage due to her speed and fire resistance.

Immeral continues to cast spells from the protection of the barracks, and between him and an attack from Nowhere, knocks the flameskull down to the earth as it's green flame flickers and dies. Orryn and Nowhere jump down into a trench where the skull fell, and they smash the skull to smithereens. As the party looks around, they see a blast furnace and a mechanical bellows powered by a water wheel dominating this large chamber. The furnace is cold and dark, but heaps of coal are piled nearby, along with carts full of unrefined ore. The waterwheel sits in a ten-foot-wide channel cut into the floor of the room, but the channel is try. Passages exit to the west, south, and east. The empty channel exists to the north and east.

More than a dozen withered corpses are scattered around the room. These slain dwarves and orcs are still wearing the remnants of their armor, but little is left of interest for the group, and the ferocity of the attack has them re-think their direction. Seraphina casts healing, they use a precious healing potion, and they patch up the group as best they can. While some of the hirelings grumble with desire to leave the complex, Gundren is clear, his brother's life hangs in the balance, and they need to rest and press on in the morning.

They barricade the doors and take shifts on watch through the night, gaining strength and power back, and in the morning, decide to go back a bit to the northern stair.

Day 39 - The Mines of Phandelver

At the top of the northern stairs, there are passages left and right and Gundren chooses to go right. The party presses forward and finds a collapsed cavern. A wide rift fills the eastern half of this cavern. A stream pours out of the west wall, then tumbles down into the rift and flows out again to the north. Several ropes are secured to iron stakes along the western edge of the rift, leading down to the chasm floor.

The group is suddenly attacked by a squad of five bugbears who throw javelins from a man-made passage off the raw cavern. The first attack wounds several of the party, and they strike back with a ferocity except for one. Gundren is gone. He disappeared somewhere after the first attack. Dain, who is badly wounded, moves back into the hallway behind his companions, searching for Gundren, when a drow enters the corridor before him. He tries to parlay with the man, but it charges with a staff tipped with a large black spider.

The party battles with the final drow as Orryn and Immeral stand at the juncture of the cave and hallway, when one of the mercenaries screams. Orryn and Immeral turn to see another drow, this one also with a spider-tipped staff has knocked out or killed two of the mercenaries who were dispatching the bugbears. He drags behind him Gundren, bound and beaten. The newest drow calls out to Orryn and Immeral to "Back away down the hall or the dwarf dies!", and he holds his staff to Gundren's head. Orryn and Immeral call out to their comrades, who have just taken down the second doppleganger, and they rush back to the confrontation. The drow drags Gundren closer to the group and makes a final demand.

"Stand out of my way or his life is over, then yours."

Immeral speaks in Elvish. "Perhaps we can discuss this as fellows of similar heritage."

The Black Spider replies, "Don't speak to me in that tongue you filthy white elf."

Immeral speaks again, although stunned by the rebuke. "Leave him and we will let you go."

Nazzanar replies, "And I am supposed to believe your word?"

Immeral returns, "Of course, all we want is his safety."

Nowhere decides the time for parlay is over and casts a dagger into the face of the dark elf. Nazzanar reels from the blade sticking out of his cheek and he turns and throws Gundren into the chasm. He then disappears!

K'ronk casts feather fall on the plummeting elf, and the group races to the edge to confirm their friend is drifting slowly to the floor, some twenty feet below. Indeed, Gundren floats safely downward, but an invisible force kicks Dain from behind, and he goes falling into the rift, reaching the floor and laying unconscious below.

The others back away from the chasm and Orryn starts swinging his grappling hook around in a circle. The others back to one side and Orryn feels a bump in the line someplace north. K'ronk casts detect magic and he feels the presence still in the room and tries to cast a fire bolt at the location, but misses. He quickly detects that the invisible creature has left the area, and they are momentarily safe. He also detects a magical aura beneath some stones in the fissure, and tells this to the group.

The group gathers and some rappel down to the bottom of the chasm to collect Gundren and Dain. Dain is badly hurt, but he is not the only one, several of the group are still unconscious. The group is hesitant to move Dain, worried that dragging him up via ropes might kill him. And although Gundren wants to get his brother Nundro from the next room, the party is wary and cautious. They tell him that they have to be careful, having been fooled by the dopplegangers and nearly killed. He resists, but he understands. While the group takes a short rest, especially Seraphina so she can heal the others, the group investigates the area of the aura.

There are a half-dozen shovels in the pit, obviously someone was digging for something. They quickly find the body of a dwarf, long dead, its garb and armor decayed, but its gauntlets shiny and new. Atlas gathers them up and feels the distinct power of magic in them. He keeps them close, hoping to discern the power that they have, and hoping them not cursed.

Then Orryn asks Gundren, "When was it when you last saw us Gundren, we thought you were with us the whole time." and Gundren begins his tale.

"I last saw you at the orchard yesterday. After getting back to town, I thought I would be safe at the Stonehill Inn, but I was wrong. I think I was followed by one of the dopplegangers, either that or someone in town sold me out to them. Either way I was overpowered as I slept, dragged outside and thrown over a horse. We arrived at the cave by morning and I learned of my brother's death." Gundren's voice breaks a bit during the tale.

"The doppleganger took me to the Black Spider, he beat me and wanted to know who else knew about the cave." At first I told him nobody, but then I told him that the adventurers that I hired now knew. He cursed me and beat me more, and threw me in with Nundro, in a room just up the hall. The room is an old priests quarters next to a temple. The temple is now the Spider's workroom. He is trying to figure out how to get to an area of this complex called 'The Forge of Spells'. I overhead him say something to the shapeshifters about coming so far, escaping some place called 'The Underdark', and not being stopped by a room full of zombies and a flying skull.

I can't thank you enough for all you've done to save my brother and I. I wish it was the three of us, but I'm still appreciative."

Gundren then settles down on some rubble, lays back his head and closes his eyes. A couple hours later, Seraphina uses her restored power to partially heal Dain, and they head up the stairway Gundren directs them to. The room is opened and it is indeed a priest's quarters, at least it was long in the past. A beaten and emaciated Dwarf lays tied up on the floor, and Gundren goes to release his brother.

NEXT - Mormesk the Wraith