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Campaign Journal 51 -
PREVIOUSLY - CAMPAIGN JOURNAL 51 - Decimation of the Invaders
After decimating the invaders of Firehammer Hold and rescuing the prisoners of the duergar, the Owlbear League focused their attention on finding and hopefully saving Jekk Ironfist. They have pinpointed Jekk's location, and from the ethereal plane Immeral was able to confirm Jekk was still alive, but is a prisoner of Nalifern the Durzagon - a duergar fiend. He is well protected unfortunately, with a room of guardians outside. The League laid siege to the room, having cast silence to keep the battle with Nalifern's guardians stealthy. The first duergar guardian was killed by Nowhere, Atlas and Immeral. A second has turned invisible. A third was hit by Dain, but is still somewhere in the room. A fourth was blinded by Seraphina, and also became invisible. The League members then positioned themselves at the doors to block egress, and the silent battle continues.
CAPTURE from 3:35 - Bonnie, 4:45, 6:45 - 8:45
The invisible duergar swings a war pick blindly and manages to hit Nowhere, turning visible in the process.
The blinded, invisible duergar thrusts Immeral to the side, flying into K'ronk, and the door Immeral was blocking was thrown open.
Immeral races through the doorway and out of the area of silence, then casts chill touch in the direction of his invisible opponent, and the spectral hand misses the fleeing duergar.
K'ronk races through the doorway, following Immeral and casts fire bolt. It flies to the distant wall, but it does not hit a target.
Dain focuses on the one fighting Nowhere, and supposing there might be another invisible enemy, Dain swings his flail in a wide circle, but he hits no one.
Atlas is guarding the northern door, but races over and shuts the eastern door. She pulls out her bow and shoots towards Nowhere's blinded duergar opponent, hitting him, but he still swings wildly.
She quickly draws again and puts a second arrow in the battling enemy.
Orryn draws his bow too, and shoots at the same duergar, putting a third arrow into the wildly swinging enemy, and he howls in magical silence, but still stands.
Nowhere swings Icerazor at her opponent, slicing through his armor and drawing dark duergar blood. The duergar reels and she swings again and slices into his arm, making it useless at his side and bleeding heavily.
Seraphina moves towards the blind duergar, swinging her mace Lightbringer, striking a hearty blow at his legs and knocking them out from under him, and he falls unconscious to the ground.
In the eastern hallway, the door to the south flies open. Immeral moves to close the southern door, but it is not lockable.
K'ronk opens the door back to the guard room. He sees their companions have vanquished all enemies, and Seraphina drops the silence spell. He steps back to keep an eye on Immeral.
The League quickly searches the room and the bodies, and they find a bit more coin on these duergar than the regular warriors a total of 400 gp which seems like a lot of money for the duergar to casually have. They find a backpack which looks clearly like Jekk's gear, as the armor has big burly shoulders and his signature greataxe.
As he is stepping back into the room, a tingling sensation comes over his mind, and he is nearly compelled to attack K'ronk, but he pushes back on the urges and warns his companions. "Someone was just trying to take over my mind. Watch each other."
Nowhere says "It's time to take out the leader."
The League lines up at the doorway to the west. They know from Immeral there is a short hallway, and they stealthily line up behind the entrance door.
Orryn checks the door, it is unlocked, and he throws it open.
Nalifern has just punched an imprisoned and beaten Jekk in the face, adding to the bruises and bleeding.
The Owlbear League races in as Nalifern turns in surprise, he looks wounded from earlier attacks.
Atlas races in with lightning speed and throws a blistering flurry of blows, pushing him fifteen feet back into a desk against the western wall, where she unleashes another attack on him, battering the fiend, but he remains up.
Orryn follows Atlas, racing across the room to press the attack and he slashes at the villain with his dagger of venom, but the white-eyed man fends off the attack.
Nowhere is able to squeeze in with Icerazor, and she slashes him brutally and Nalifern falls unconscious.
Seraphina and Orryn rush over to Jekk and he weakly thanks them for his rescue. "Dear friends, I cannot believe you are here. My life is slipping away." Orryn starts picking at the chains that bind him.
K'ronk casts detect magic to ensure there are no magical traps waiting for them, and discovers there are three magical scrolls on the table (later identified as cause fear, gust of wind, and sound burst).
They also find two potions of healing as well as a magical pearl in a small case.
They also find a ring of keys on Nalifern, and a chest. One of his keys opens a chest, where they find clothing, bedding, a writing kit, and a spell book. SPELL BOOK TBD.
Also in the chest is a locked steel box with 280 gp, 345 sp, two gold loop earrings that they return to Jekk. Three yellow topaz gems. There is a potion as well, and K'ronk identifies that as a potion of longevity. Finally, there is one last item in the chest - Nowhere's heart skips a beat for a moment, but she realizes that it is only a copy - it is the plaster Bloke.
On the table Dain finds a silver bowl (worth some 75gp), a silver chalice (worth about 50gp) and a wooden box containing cheese, dried meat, and bread.
Dain finds a keg of beer under the table and uses the chalice to have a drink.
Orryn finds three flasks labelled "flash" in dwarvish, three labelled "smoke", and three labelled "acid".
Immeral is familiar with this alchemy. "These three flash when smashed, potentially blinding someone temporarily. These three produce huge volumes of smoke when they hit the air. These three burn like hades, even through metal."
Nowhere looks over the Bloke as they get Jekk to his feet and give him one of the healing potions they have found. Nowhere drinks the second. He immediately recovers some of the correct color in his face, the bruising magically abating, and he stands taller.
"That is much better!" Jekk says. "Where are all the people from Julkoun?"
Atlas says "Were those the prisoners in the mines?"
"Yes." Jekk says, concern in his voice. "Mostly halflings".
Immeral says "Lady D. is guarding them by the mines, not far from here. The duergar are dead."
Jekk asks "Did you find any of the dwarves of Firehammer?"
The Owlbear League stays silent and Jekk starts sobbing. "I saw the duergar dragging some bodies out from the mines, I think they have killed them all. The Firehammer clan is no more."
Nowhere asks Jekk, "What does this say again?" holding out the faux Bloke.
Jekk says without looking "Friendship is more than a word, weigh it carefully." He then continues. "I have something to show you that I learned from an old dwarf of Firehammer before he was brought to the mines." He chokes back a sob and leads the way.
They give Jekk all his equipment back and he says "I feel better with my armor back, there are Red Wizards to worry about." Jekk says.
"We killed one." says Immeral.
"There are several about." Jekk replies. The one I saw was leading a group of Thayan gnolls down to Phylund lodge. Nalifern took payment for weapons they were bringing south, but I don't know where."
"We might have killed that one, but it seems there are more than we really would want."
Jekk nods and says "I was able to keep one secret back from Nalifern. Let me show you."
He leads The League through the barracks and out the southern door, but as he turns east, Orryn says "We have to get the prisoners. This way." and Jekk nods.
Orryn leads them back west through the kitchen and finds everyone still in the pool cave.
Ex-prisoner Geoffrey says in a slightly shaky voice "The owlbear has been eating all the bodies."
Immeral says "I'm sure she just needed a snack." and looking over to Lady D, the League sees that the heads of several duergar have been ripped off and eaten by Orryn's owlbear companion. Lady D wanders over to the pool and slurps some of the water.
Jekk speaks to them. "Friends, we will get you out of here, but we need to make one short stop." He leads them all back down the hallway to the east, across the mine tracks to a door to a room and opens it. Within, the east wall of this room is adorned with a 10-foot-tall bas-relief in crystal. The carving is of a dwarf with a crystalline body, a mattock in hand, and eyes made of green jewels. In the northeast and southeast corners stand stone braziers. Four stone chairs are lined up on the west wall.
Jekk tells them "The relief is of Dumathoin the dwarven deity of buried wealth and exploration, and he is the guardian of the dead. There are crypts to the north, but what we want is below here to the south. Piradell told me of the lower tombs. I wish I could thank the old man," he says sadly.
All the rest of you stay here, we will be back shortly. He turns to Orryn "Can your magnificent owlbear protect them for a bit longer?"
Orryn answers "Of course." and communicates the same to Lady D.
Jekk then leads The League south, way down the dark stairs, using just his darkvision to see, and then even further down into the earth via a spiral stair. There is a moment where The League worries he is leading them to a trap, but Nowhere believes that his thankfulness is true, and they follow.
The spiral staircase descends more than 50 feet to a square landing. A life-sized statue of a masked dwarf warrior armed with a battleaxe stands in a niche in the east wall, beside a set of huge bronze double doors leading north.
The statue's battleaxe is real, but not of high quality, the blade edge is rusty and chipped.
Words carved on the statue base, and Jekk translates - the dwarvish text, “The way forward is in every dwarf's dearest companion. Friendship is more than a word. Weigh it carefully."
"The Bloke!" Nowhere cries. The League perks up.
"There is something related to The Bloke within here, but I didn't get any more information."
The Owlbear League ponders. Immeral asks Dain "who is your dearest companion?"
"Atlas is my drinking buddy." he replies
"I win!" Atlas says.
Orryn says "Something tells me it is not a person."
Immeral starts looking on the ground for differences in the tiles.
Orryn says "what about your weapons?"
Dain says "My Javelins!"
Jekk says "My greataxe!" looking at Dain strangely.
Immeral looks back to the statue with the real axe. "Maybe we need to replace the weapon in the statue's hand."Atlas removes the rusty greataxe.
Dain is hesitant to give up a javelin, but does so reluctantly. The javelin fits poorly. Jekk tries his greataxe, but nothing happens.
Dain kisses his greataxe and then tries it, but nothing.
Atlas moves to return the greataxe, but notices a rattle felt within it as she moves it. She examines the weapon and finds the base of the handle can be removed like a cork, and within is a brass key. Atlas brings the key over to the doors, and trying it, finds it works perfectly.
Upon opening the doors, a warm light starts glowing magically from the ceiling of this room.
This 40-foot-tall arched hall has walls adorned with bas-reliefs of dwarf warriors. The warriors are arranged on the west and east wall in two 10-foot-high friezes of twelve warriors each. On the floor is a grid of stone slabs, eight slabs wide and six slabs across. Each slab has a stylized engraving of a round shield with a sword above it and javelins flanking it. A rectangular plaque on each slab contains a single word written in Dwarvish runes.
They look over the tiles for a moment and Jekk announces that the tiles are names, likely the names of the warriors on the walls.
Atlas squeels "A puzzle!"
Jekk looks upon the tiles with annoyance. "What kind of trickery is this? Give me an axe and an enemy to fight!"
Dain looks over the tiles. "The tiles each match the names of the dwarven warriors on the wall."
Orryn examines the tiles and says "The tiles are all moveable. There is a mechanism at play."
K'ronk uses mage hand to press on the fourth tile over (bottom row). He hears several rounds of clicking from underneath the floor, but there is no visible effect. He tries a press on a second tile, but now there is no movement.
Orryn states "It may need to be reset now."
They look around for a lever, but see nothing that might reset it.
Nowhere says "Can we walk across now?"
Orryn says "No telling what might happen."
Nowhere of course walks across the tiles and checks the doors to the north - they are locked, with no visible mechanism, and a knock proves them to be impenetrable. She returns to the south side of the room.
A few minutes go by as the others look around and search for a clue, when the flooring starts making some more clicking sounds, then silence.
Orryn says "I bet that's the reset."
They stare at the puzzle and the plaque out front.
Nowhere says "I wonder if we have to pick out certain names?"
K'ronk says "Maybe the phrase out front is the clue."
Immeral says, "Maybe part of the words lead the way. The third tile from the left begins with the first letter of the dwarven word for friendship."
Atlas says "I have it! The next tile to the north is the second letter, the next tile north is the third letter of friendship, then fourth, then you move to the right. The word 'Friendship' spells the way!"
The League nods, and Atlas follows the path she has deciphered, and when she reaches the end, a mechanism beneath the floor clicks and grinds and the doors open!"
The League follows the path across, and into the final room.
From the doors, a set of steps leads down to a 30-foot-high chapel divided into three aisles by two rows of three pillars. A 20-foot wide niche in the northern part of the room is walled in dark stone, carved with stylized mountains, and has a floor of gravel. In the niche stands the statue of a stylized dwarf warrior with a rectangular recess where its face should be.
Just in front of it is a pedestal with a golden great axe set upon it.
Immeral says, "It looks like The Bloke would fit in there. That statue glows with magic. If only we had the original, I don't think the copy would have any effect."
Dain looks greedily upon the great axe.
Jekk says "I know of this weapon" and he picks it up. "This is Bloodstorm, the great axe of Gorm the Bloodletter, the greatest warrior of the Firehammer tribe. Gorm and Bloostorm defeated all their enemies." He turns to Dain...
"Dain, take this axe. Fight your great fights with it. It belongs to the Firehammer tribe, but they are no more. Take it if you would honor it's history."
Dain cries "Yeeeesssss! I have greatly needed a weapon of magic. I swear to honor it."
Jekk says, if you ever find this bloke, return here and see what the magic of Firehammer will do."
The League nods and they return to the former prisoners.
"Can we get out of here?" one of the former residents of Julkoun states. Others plead the same.
Dain raises his newly found axe Bloodstorm, and stays "follow me, but keep quiet".
They form a line and file down the passage with the Owlbear League taking up the front and rear.
They march up the stairs to the main level, passing through trap with the iron bars, which they ensure are not dropping, and find nobody has returned to the guard posts watching the trap.
The league and the refugees march southward silently in the main corridor of Firehammer. The ice wall K'ronk cast has melted, the bodies dead on the floor. No living duergar appear visible, but they proceed cautiously, knowing that the duergar invaders have the power to turn invisible.
The group ascends the stairs, up to the main entrance room of the hold, and finally out the doors into a cold gray day. Sobs of relief can be heard from the rescuees as they make their way down the path to depart Firehammer. As they descend the road, a group of men on horses emerge from the trees, and the Owlbear League takes the forefront, but there is no need, they recognize at least the man at the front of the party.
Kelson Darktreader, huntsman of Daggerford and friend of Sir Isteval leads the horsemen. "Greetings to The League." he calls out, and they ride up to the party.
"You are one step ahead of us. Our track from Julkoun was difficult. They took the halflings..." nodding at the refugees, "upriver and marched through open country to Firehammer". "It is good to see you Jekk."
The exhausted dwarf nods, but says little, likely still shaken from his ordeal at the hands of his duergar captors.
Nowhere says "Firehammer Hold was invaded by duergar, we killed enough of them that we believe they have fled. But we did not go room to room since finding the halflings and Jekk.
Kelson nods as his companions dismount and start attending to the refugees from Julkoun.
"Maybe that is something we can attend to after seeing everyone safely to Uluvin."
The men and women of Kelson's group cover the refugees in their blankets and pass out some food and put the weakest on their horses for the ride to Uluvin.
The party starts along the road back to the city, having to spend one night along the roadside against a rocky crag wall. The huntsmen and woman are experienced outdoorsmen, and in no time a camp is set up with a roaring fire.
The League shares more details of their invasion of Firehammer, and their battles with the duergar, fascinating and entertaining the survivors. A few younger ones even ask to pet Lady D. They form a tight group near the campfires and the huntsmen maintain a perimeter and keep watch.
"I don't know what happened to the dwarves of Firehammer." Jekk says.
Immeral says "I believe they are in a mass grave east of the fortress."
Nowhere says "We should let Isteval know.
Jekk nods solemnly and heads to sleep. The night passes uneventfully.
The camp rises slowly in the cold morning. It is near the end of the 10th month of the year and frost is on the ground this morning, although it vanishes in the morning sun and near the fires, which have been kept stoked through the night. They break camp, the refugees remounting the huntsmen's horses, and they finish the journey to Uluvin by mid-day.
Just outside the city, Kelson offers to get the Julkoun refugees help and food and shelter for a few nights. "Then will see if they want to return to Julkoun."
"I am going back." Jekk says firmly. "If there is a grave, the dwarves of Firehammer need a proper burial."
Kelson nods and says "We can help." and his companions agree. Kelson turns to The League and says "Head back to Daggerford. Warn Isteval. There is much afoot and something tells me we are in greater peril than we believed. It is no coincidence all of these evils are happening at once. I will return as soon as possible."
There are many thanks from the survivors of Firehammer, and then the Owlbear League marches south.
Nowhere says "We should let Isteval know."
K'ronk casts sending and sends a telepathic message to Isteval. "This is Kronk, we found Jekk and imprisoned people of Julkoun. They're safe. Jekk staying behind to bury dead dwarves of Firehammer."
Istevel replies "Thank you for the message and for your efforts. I'm distressed about the dwarves of Firehammer, but happy Jekk is alive. Return safely."
They walk long days, but heal and prepare the spells they need for whatever challenge will arise next.
By the time The League arrives in Daggerford, it is full dark, being some of the shortest days of the year now that they are in Uktar, the 11th month of the year. As they pass the caravan grounds, they notice under torchlights and bonfires several squads of soldiers camped outside the gates flying the banner of Waterdeep. This mush be Isteval's reinforcements, but it doesn't seem like enough.
They are happy to return to Isteval's townhome after setting Lady D in the stables.
Smithfield welcomes them and Serai prepares some warm food. The urchins are excided and amazed by K'ronk's familiar, the newly hatched pseudodragon he has named Traven, and K'ronk introduces the pseudodragon to them and they start playing and feeding the creature, and Traven is loving it as much as the urchins.
They check their message boxes and there are fresh notes from Tinkerchap to Atlas, sharing Harbin Wester's rise to even greater power and how the town has changed for the worse, with much more crime and "strange people". Garaele to Immeral about the ongoing tragedy and humanitarian efforts of the clerics in Yartar and how Clinker somehow has donated enough money to rebuild the town. Drask Polou, the contractor working on the Trollskull for Nowhere writes that things are proceeding well, but apparently there were some unusual findings in the basement, but nothing he could not address. They have dinner and retire to Isteval's study to discuss the events of their trip.
It takes some time to replay events of the last tenday to Isteval, but Nowhere takes the lead storytelling, sitting close and looking into Isteval's eyes. Seemingly annoyed with anyone else's commentary. The tale is told and Isteval chimes in: "You've learned valuable information, the Red Wizards are definitely involved, and if they are amassing weapons, they are forming an army, but where, and whom is this force made of remains.
Immeral says, "I wish we were able to capture that second red wizard running around Phylund Lodge. Or that we could have questioned some of the duergar."
Isteval replies, "Do not think me ungrateful, but your preferred methods of handling threats do not seem to leave much room for interrogation. Mayhap sparing a few would be possible in your future endeavors."
He continues "I also have some great amount of disappointment at the Lords of Waterdeep in granting me only two dozen soldiers. Apparently there is a bit of a gang war in Waterdeep and the forces are needed to support the City Watch. I don't think Duke Daggerford's behavior of late helped the situation either. Though I am sure it is enough to investigate Firehammer Hold. I wished Kelson had not delayed his return, I believe the time to act is now."
Orryn adds "We could go without him."
Immeral interjects "We don't know how big a force is there."
Isteval states "You've already proven you can overcome obstacles few others could, even without a score of soldiers at your disposal. I am astounded you were able to vanquish the invaders of Firehammer Hold with maybe 50 duergar."
Immeral replies "We need more time to prepare, maybe new spells and weapons?"
Orryn says "I don't think we could get back to Waterdeep, order magic, and get back before Kelson. Remember Sumat Pol ran a magic acquisition company, not a shop full of magic."
Immeral says "I would like to check on the tavern too."
Isteval says "I understand if this is not your battle. Especially with Red Wizards in play. If you do not go I would be forced to take the men into the field immediately."
"Yes, but we need to be better prepared."
Isteval replies "I have found evil will not often wait for your preparedness."
Immeral with some regret says "Perhaps we can have Kelson meet us at Harpshield."
K'ronk says, I can send a message to Kelson. How about "Meet us at Harpshield Castle as soon as possible. Isteval requests your help immediately. Red Wizards in the field. Potential for war."
They nod and he casts the spell, receiving back a message. "Understood. Will wrap up immediately."
Isteval nods and seems relieved.
The exhausted party breaks up, the spellcasters discussing the fact they need backup copies of their spellbook in case of the worst case.
It is late, but Nowhere and Istevel remain up and talking in deeper detail about her recent adventures, Nowhere showing off new skulls she has "acquired". They are growing closer, they both know it, the attraction is irresistible. But before attraction turns to action, Isteval says to her "Dear Nowhere, you are an amazing being, but I hope you understand that with a succubus enthralling people in Daggerford, working with the Red Wizards, and some sort of army rising out in the unknown, I must keep up my guard."
Nowhere's heart sinks. "It pains me to guard against even you, but guard I must, even retired, even as my body fails me, I am tasked by Lathander, the god of dawn to protect these people. So you, and all the temptations that you embody, I must resist right now. Until the enemy is met and defeated, and I will pray to my deity tonight that will be soon."
And with that, Isteval takes his leave and retires to bed.
NEXT - CAMPAIGN JOURNAL 53 - APPROACHING HARPSHIELD
This adventure used material from the D&D Module "Scourge of the Sword Coast".
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