Session 008

The session opened with our players deciding which pathway to take out of the entirely unexplored north pathway, the somewhat explored southern pathway, or the blocked eastern pathway.

The party decided that it was worth investigating what is on the other side of the blockage and began to work out how long it would take to dig through the rubble. Fill Werrell and Salvador worked out that it would take 40 hours for a single person to dig through entirely, but Fill Werrell discovered that it was safe for multiple people to dig simultaneously reducing the time in a linear fashion. It took the party over 6 hours to dig most of the way, before needing a bit of a rest. While resting they noticed that the hallway was increasingly ornate the closer they got towards the end of the collapsed tunnel. They also noticed red dwarven runes glowing on the walls, but they could not read the words. They decided to keep digging and Uganda Pickles blew away the final pieces of rubble. Before they entered an Octagonal chamber with a pile of rubble in the Southern alcove and a statue in the northern alcove. The party noticed a green glow emitting from a gem in the statue’s hands and upon further inspection by Fill Werrell, they noticed the statue was depicting a dwarf with a greedy grin on his face.

The party investigated the room by checking for traps and seeking information; of which Fill Werrell discover this room with something of a test and the gem was linked to a mechanism that was contained in the statue. Alberic came to the conclusion, after investigating the rubble on the other side of the room, that the statue was a test of greed and they should be careful attempting to take the gem. The party agreed to throw a firebolt at the statue from a distance. Uganda Pickles shot a firebolt directly statue and noticed the gem fell forwards and immediately disintegrated into dust, while the statue exploded. The party heard a mechanism engage in a previous room directly following the statue’s explosion.

The party decided to head back to the crossroads and explore another of the two pathways remaining. Progressing up the northern pathway, the party entered a chamber with a stone construct jutting out of one of the walls and a pathway on the northern wall that lead directly further north. Fill Werrell investigated the wall and found rotted robes of the followers of Abbathor and some gold in the stone wardrobe the room contained; also unlocking and leading the party through a secret door into what appeared like bed chambers. The party searched the room for resources and information. The room had a damp pathway on the western wall and three separate beds alongside another stone wardrobe that Fill Werrell investigated to find 2 more pieces of gold.

Uganda Pickles, unhappy with his findings so far, decided to head toward the damp hallway before anyone else could, only finding very old muddy footprints that looked to be from dwarven feet heading back into the room the rest of the party was in. Salvador looked under one of the beds and found an ornate silver dagger with yellow runes carved into it. Uganda Pickles called out to the party informing them about footprints and they followed down the hallway to investigate. The hallway contained nothing of value, only leading to the backside of a secret door placed on the northern wall of the chamber they had fought the original two Ochre Jellies in.

Upon entering the main chamber, the party noticed it was now illuminated by light stones in the corners of the rooms and they found green runic words written on the walls of the chamber. Alberic had the idea of showing the artefacts and the words on the walls to Dazlyn and Norbus as they were the only ones who could speak Dwarven. Dazlyn was curious about the markings on the walls and begin deciphering them immediately, only stopping to inform Salvador that the markings on the dagger were not Dwarven at all. Fill Werrell noticed the writing and recognised the script as Sylvan; translating the words in essence as “Beware the greedy god - he lies to all and for no reason other than because he can. He is evil and betrayed those who called him their god”. Dazlyn began deciphering the script as it was based on ancient dwarven runes no longer used today. 

The party decided to explore the one remaining pathway left, finding the other side of a caved-in tunnel they explored previously. The cave-in rubble was unstable and couldn’t be cleared without fear of causing a seriously worse cave-in. They found the top half of a dwarven skeleton trapped under the rubble and around his neck was a necklace with a smaller version of the dagger Salvador had found earlier. Dazyln would later confirm this was a holy symbol of Abbathor; likely used by Clerics of the time to channel his divine grace and gifts.

The party were confident they’d cleared out the ruins entirely and Dazlyn’s efforts deciphering the script resulted in the following translation “The god of greed is no god at all. He is evil, he is sin. He betrayed those who did not satiate his avarice and punished them with death or worse” Dazlyn commented that the “or worse” part had connotations of transfiguration but wasn’t sure what that could exactly mean. The party came to the conclusion that Abbathor likely turned those who didn’t die into the Ochre Jellies they had recently killed (GM’s note: Alberic would recall that he felt a weird lifeforce in those creatures upon punching the with Ki - this was a nod to the fact that while their form had been transfigured, their raw essence could not be and that they likely would have felt much discomfort as Ochre Jellies)

The party wrapped up their business with the Dwarves, receiving the promised Sending Stones for clearing out the excavation and a signed rite that proved they had completed their mission from the Townmaster’s Hand. They began to walk back to their cart to check on their horses - not realising nearly two days had passed without attending to them. Upon passing into the cavern opening beyond the giant mechanical gates, they heard unfamiliar communication and horses neighing in fear before seeing six battle-ready Orcs charging towards them.

The Orcs got an early advantage in the battle due to their long-range spears and the lack of resources available to the party, having used their spells in battles against the Ochre Jellies and with Mike Hawk still struggling with the sudden and visceral death of his father. Leodel was also struggling with the situation surrounding Lemoira and his employer. Mike Hawk, being the only member of the party to actually fight and kill Orcs in the past, immediately began to run and incited the party to do the same. Alberic attempted to hit and run to buy his comrades some time but ended up taking a few too many hits. Salvador resurrected him using a greater health potion and the party began making some headway back on the Orcs - killing a couple including the Orc chief. One of the orcs threw his javelin a little too wide and it hit a stone on the gate behind its intended target causing the mechanical gate began to inconsistently whir to life; the centuries of rust and erosion caused it to close in stages rather than smoothly. Each party member was forced to make a very rapid decision about which side of the gate they wanted to be on. Over the next 12 seconds, the party whittled away at the remaining Orcs - including Fill Werrell tricking one of them into activating his seemingly enchanted armour to disengage from Alberic in a dire moment. As the gate screeched shut, the party was split with Alberic, Fill Werrell, and Mike Hawk safely on the stair-side of the gate, while Salvador, Leodel and Uganda Pickles were on the side with the remaining Orcs. Leodel, exhausted and out of magic and potions, was barely clinging to life while his comrades fought off the two remaining Orcs. The gate seemingly engaged a safety mechanism as it wasn’t able to shut properly and reopened wide enough to allow Alberic through to tend to Leodel right as the final Orc ran in a desperate charge towards him and slashed Alberic’s back open with his great axe - knocking Alberic unconscious for the second time in approximately 30 seconds.

Mike Hawk managed to shake off his mental block temporarily long enough to move into range with the Orc who had downed Alberic and dismembered him with ease. Mike Hawk once again succumb to his demons and fell silent afterwards. The party tended to Alberic’s situation once again as they scattered; with Fill Werrell and Alberic tending to one of the horses that had been injured by an Orc before the attack. Uganda Pickles banged on the walls of the cave trying to find loot that would make him richer than Fill Werrell; he did not. Salvador tried to analyse the Orc’s fighting styles and equipment - only managing to recall that one of the Orcs had armour that allowed the channelling of some form of a blink-dash; much like Mike Hawk has done in the past. Unfortunately, he could not work out which armour was enchanted as they all looked the same.

The party took a long rest to recover from their adventures before Leodel helped Salvador pick out the enchanted armour. The party then gathered their things and headed back towards Phandalin; with Leodel seemingly oddly eager to leave the cave and receive their payment.