The heroes pass through the Mountain Door and meet the orc inhabitants of Khundrukar. Things do not go as planned, and they soon find themselves getting in deep water. After a narrow escape, they plumb the hidden depths of the mountain and discover that orcs are not the worst of its dangers. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Player Characters
Dax, human ranger 4
Amira, human (life)cleric 3
Rex, wood elf ranger 3
Gydean, v. human rogue 1
Varrick, hill dwarf (forge)cleric 1
Part 2. Out of the Cauldron
1.
After encountering orc raiding bands on the road, the party had arrived at the Mountain door. In the rush to reach the door, Eliza the kenku sorcerer became separated from the party and was nowhere to be seen. But the heroes reunited with another friend.
Dax, a former traveling merchant turned ranger, was a former companion of Amira and Rex. He had arrived with them in the North and explored the region surrounding the Stone Tooth where they discovered a warren occupied by a vicious kobold tribe worshipping a black dragon. The encounter led Dax to believe that a dragon lurked somewhere within the Stone Tooth. Dax’s own family and entire village had been wiped out by a black dragon. He was determined to find and slay the evil creature before harm befell anyone else.
Dax opted to remain near the Stone Tooth and explore the surrounding countryside while Amira and Rex returned to Blasingdell to replenish their supplies. Several days had passed but Dax found little to aid in his quest. Then on a night when he was returning to the main road, he heard a terrible scream and the sound of warhorns in the distance. He rushed to the road near the Mountain Door. There he found his friends Rex and Amira along with their new companions, Gydean and Varrick.
Rex realized that he could make out the dialect of the northern orcs. He suggested disguising the party as orcs with the gear from the raiding party they had ambushed. Varrick offered to be their prisoner and bound himself. Gydean tried to craft a disguise, but in the darkness he only managed to smear some blood on their faces and haphazardly threw together their orc costumes using armor scraps. When the party realized they looked little like the orcs they had killed, Rex devised a new plan.
The party approached the Mountain Door pretending to be mercenaries in league with Great Ulfe. As the party had feared, orc archers stood ready behind the murder holes of the keep. Fortunately, they were convinced by Rex’s voice speaking crude orcish and unbarred the door.
When the heroes entered, they found themselves in a large antechamber lit by braziers. In front of them, the floor ended where a great chasm opened wide. A flimsy rope bridge extended to the far side of the rift which was barely visible from the light of the braziers. Varrick, with Rex close behind him, began to cross the rope bridge with bindings loosely wrapped around his wrists.
A pair of orc guards on the far side of the bridge saw the party wearing the tattered armor and clothes of their fellow raiders with blood and gore on their faces. They were aghast and attacked the party. The party made quick work of the orcs, killing one and putting the other to flight. But not before one of the orcs cut the rope bridge and caused Varrick to fall into the chasm.
“I’ll come back for your head, orc!” Varrick screamed as he fell into the subterranean river below, causing a loud splash to echo through the chasm.
“Varrick! We must save him,” Amira exclaimed. “Quickly, give me your ropes. I will tie them together so we can climb down the rift.”
“You’d better hurry,” said Gydean coolly. He had discovered a secret passage where he found a stray orc archer. Gydean casually shot the straggler in the neck, but he heard more orcs further down the passage, mustering their forces.
“We’ll have company soon,” he added as he closed the secret door and jammed it shut with his thieves’ tools.
As Gydean predicted, footsteps were heard, and someone began to bang upon the secret door. It did not hold for long. Soon, the door swung open, and half a dozen more orcs led by a fierce orog emerged from a secret passage. He was wearing dwarven made plate armor with the mark of Durgeddin upon it. It was not made for one his size, but he had stretched the bindings and pounded the plates crudely to fit his body.
The orog shouted, “Old Yarrack will teach ya intruders a lesson! Get ‘em, ya orcish scum of Gruumsh! Bring back their heads for Great Ulfe!”
The heroes found themselves trapped between an orc horde and a great chasm in the earth. Amira stood bravely against the orcs, but the orog swung his mighty axe and sent Amira crashing onto the stone floor, nearly shattering her shield arm. Gydean, seeing his opportunity, found a weak spot in the orog’s armor and stabbed him in the side. Then he threw himself into the chasm.
Old Yarrack screamed and swung his axe in a whirlwind of terror, but Gydean was already gone. The orog only succeeded in terrifying his minions who cowered down momentarily to avoid losing their heads. Rex, seeing his opportunity, grabbed Amira and leapt into the rift. Dax knocked one of the orcs into the rift before he himself leapt over the edge, the sound of orcish curses following him all the way down.
2.
Amira dreamt of an endless field of golden wheat. The wind was cool, and the light of the sun rising on the horizon was exceedingly bright. Far away in the brilliant sunlight, there was the silhouette of a beautiful woman wearing a simple robe, casting seeds into the field. The woman saw Amira and waved to her with a bright smile. Amira felt as if she was beckoning her. The woman spoke in a warm voice like rain caressing a freshly planted field.
“Come to the eternal fields of Chauntea, my child. There is always much work to be done before the harvest. Come to us… Come to…”
She walked forward, but as she took her next step, she was no longer in a field. Instead, she was in a dark cave, and Rex knelt over her, slapping her gently on the cheek.
“Come to, Amira. Come to and wake up. This is no place to take a nap.”
Amira coughed and vomited water from her lungs. She was in a natural cavern, deep underground. A waterfall crashed noisily into a nearby subterranean river. There were passaging leading north and south. To the east side of the cavern, a large dwarven-made wall could be seen with two doors, swollen with dampness.
Amira was utterly exhausted, but she was glad to see that her friends were safe, though they were all drenched in water. Dax, Rex, and Gydean stood around her. Varrick was there, too, puzzling over the dwarven doors. When he turned to the party, he seemed excited about his discovery.
“My friends, I am glad that we have fallen into his place. For we stand in the halls of my dwarven kinsmen. Behold the mighty works of Durgeddin and the dwarves of Khundrukar!”
“Well, let’s take a look,” said Rex with an evenness that belied his own eagerness. For he too wanted to look upon the masterfully crafted weapons of Durgeddin the Smith.
“Stand aside, friends,” said Dax, striding up to the first door. He pressed hard upon it and forced the door open. But behind the door there was only an empty chamber. It had once been a storage room, but the orcs had long ago plundered the place.
Dax tried the second door. Behind it, the party found an even larger chamber. This one was filled with supplies – wheat, grain, and clothes – but all of it was spoiled. Disappointed, Dax closed the door.
“There’s nothing to see here,” he said.
“Ah, but look on the bright side,” Gydean said to him. “Now we have a spacious chamber with a door. Perhaps we can rest here a while.”
The party took a much needed rest inside the empty storeroom, barring to door but still keeping a watch upon it. For they knew that they were not alone in this place.
With their ranger’s senses, Dax and Rex felt the presence of the orc that fell into the chasm with them. During the fight at the entrance to Khundrukar, they had placed a mystical mark upon the orc. Now they could sense that he was moving away from them, but soon they felt a pang of terror as the mark suddenly vanished. Something terrible had happened to the orc, but they knew not what it was.
3.
The heroes could not tell whether it was day or night. They tried to sleep, but it was not a peaceful rest. Varrick muttered and cursed the orcs in his sleep. His words seemed to be echoed by faint voices in the halls. The voices seemed to be chanting an old dwarvish song, full of mourning and malice toward the orcs that he laid waste of Khundrukar a century ago.
At last, they rose from their fitful rest and set out. Rex, remembering the faint voices, spoke to Varrick.
“Master dwarf, can you beseech the spirits of this place for guidance on our quest?”
“I do not think they will answer me yet, sir elf. But last night I did remember an old song about Durgeddin and his people.”
The Song of Durgeddin (adapted from Song of Durin’s Awakening, JRR Tolkien)
The world was dark, the mountains gray,
No rain had washed the stains away,
No words were laid on stream or stone,
As Durgeddin’s folk walked alone
They passed the endless hills and dells;
And looked for yet untainted wells;
Until they delved beneath the mere,
And saw a crown of stars appear,
As gems upon the silver threads
Above the shadows of their heads…
The world was dark, the mountains red,
In days of mourning for the dead.
The dwarven heroes proud and tall,
The mighty kings of Mithral Hall,
To Moradin they passed away.
The world was dark in Durgeddin’s Day.
A smith he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With iron roof and granite floor,
And runes of wrath upon the door,
The light of sun and star and moon
Did shine like lamps in gems unhewn.
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shown forever far and bright.
There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote;
There forged was blade and bound was hilt;
The delver mined, the mason built.
There beryl, pearl, and opal pale
And metal wrought like fishes’ mail,
Buckler and corslet, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in horde.
Unwearied then were Durgeddin’s folk;
Beneath the mountains music woke:
The smith rejoiced, his people sang,
And at the forge the anvils rang.
The world is dark, the mountains old,
The forge’s fire is ashen-cold;
No song is sung, no hammer falls:
A darkness dwells in Durgeddin’s halls;
A shadow lies upon his tomb
In Khundrukar, the mountain’s womb.
“That’s a very nice song, but what does it mean?” Rex asked.
Varrick explained that the song was a record of the discovery and excavation of Khundrukar by Durgeddin and his folk. Deep beneath the Stone Tooth, they had discovered a vast subterranean hall whose ceiling was lit by glowing crystals like a sea of stars in the night sky. They had called this place the Glitterhame. Above it they had built the keep of Khundrukar and the Mountain Door to defend their realm. And beneath the Glitterhame, they built their hidden forge. After falling through the chasm and being swept by the underground river, Varrick guessed that the forge was somewhere nearby.
4.
Dax and Rex picked up the tracks of the orc that had fallen into the rift. It led across an old stone bridge and through a deep passage. But the trail ended at the middle of a passage that led up to a flight of stairs. The river was on one side of the tunnel, and across the river was a narrow bank against the cavern wall. A large stalagmite stood on the far bank. Rex eyed it suspiciously.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
As the party marched toward the flight of stairs, the long rocky formations at the base of the stalagmite came to life. They were no rocks at all but long tentacles. And they lashed out at the heroes with remarkable speed.
Rex chopped at a tentacle with his axe and it went limp. But he saw that Amira and Rex were not so lucky and were caught by the tentacles. They were pulled through the river toward the far bank where the stalagmite stirred. Upon its rocky surface, a great mouth opened up and revealed row after row of vicious teeth. Above the gaping maw, a single orange eye appeared. It fixed it’s gaze upon the two adventurers in its grasp.
Seeing his friends in danger, the Varrick made a mighty leap over the river. Rex followed him, but landed in the water and was caught by a tentacle. He was dragged ignobly through the river and found himself next to Rex and Amira.
Varrick alone was free from the creature’s grasp. He thrust his shield into its open mouth with all his might. Its teeth crunched down on his shield, nearly crushing Varrick’s shield arm. Varrick cried out in pain. When he turned to his friends, his face had gone pale.
“Fly, my friends. Fly…” he said. Then he collapsed.
The tentacles released Rex, Dax, and Amira and flailed wildly in the air as the monster struggled to dislodge the shield from its mouth. The party saw their chance and crossed the river, grabbing Varrick’s mangled body. Up the flight of stairs they ran. At the top of the stairs, Gydean was waiting beside an open door.
“Hurry! Get inside!” he shouted.
When the last of the party had rushed through the door, Gydean slammed it shut just as a tentacle reached inside. The severed tentacle fell writhing on the floor. It flopped around like a grounded fish for several moments before finally going still.
The party breathed a sigh of relief and tended to their wounds. They revived Varrick, but everyone was utterly spent and exhausted. Then they looked around the chamber for the first time. It was a squalid cell with several cage doors. This was the prison of Khundrukar. Apart from the heroes, there was only one other occupant: the skeleton of a female dwarf warrior. It seemed that she had been captured by the orcs and shut inside the prison to rot. One could easily discern numerous fractures and broken bones, but no mortal injuries. She had evidently starved to death. But not before covering the walls of the prison with dwarven runes, songs of rage and lamentation for the tragic fate of Khundrukar.
To be continued…
Session #2 Rewards
4 Advancement Checkpoints
4 Treasure Checkpoints
10 Downtime Days
Character Advancement
Dax, human ranger 4 (slow)
Amira, human (life)cleric 3 (slow)
Rex, wood elf ranger 3 (slow)
Gydean, v. human rogue 1 → 2
Varrick, hill dwarf (forge)cleric 1 → 2