The party is caught in the middle of a conflict between troglodytes and orcs. With a clever plan they manage to narrowly escape, only to find themselves facing the traps laid by the original inhabitants of Khundrukar and new denizens guarding the ruins of the foundry.  SPOILERS AHEAD!

Player Characters
Dax, human ranger 5
Gydean, v. human rogue 3
Nyr, firbolg druid 2
Kane, human fighter 1
Anna, human fighter 1

Part 4. Troglodyte Treachery

1.

After a brief hiatus in Blasingdell, the party returned to the Stone Tooth. But their entourage had dwindled. Varrick, seeing the challenge that lay before him, resolved to leave the party, swearing to return when he had the strength to reclaim the stronghold for dwarvenkind. Amira had joined the party to pursue clues that might lead her to a certain fiendish cult, but a more promising lead drew her away. Puddle of Ocean and Rex quietly departed to pursue new quests. They would accompany the party to the Dark Lake, but they would go no further.

Yet the remaining members would press on. Dax the Ranger wanted to find the monster that lurked in the subterranean depths of the Stone Tooth. Nyr the Druid, in truth a firbolg from distant woodlands, was curious about this monster and the other creatures that lived in the deep places of the earth. And Gydean, having gotten a taste of the relics of Khundrukar, was eager to find more treasure in the ruins of the dwarven fortress.

But with less than half of the original expedition remaining, help was needed. Before leaving Blasingdell, the party recruited two new fighters named Anna and Kane to join them on their adventure. Anna’s interest was piqued by the legends of the old dwarven forge. Kane was simply trying to lay low and stay one step ahead of trouble from his past.

When the party arrived at the Dark Lake surrounded by burnt trees and found the black scale on the polluted shore, Kane was taken aback by the danger ahead.

“No one told me anything about a dragon at Blasingdell. This is not in my contract!” Kane exclaimed.

“Fear not, Sir Kane. Where there is great danger, great reward also awaits,” the party assured him.

Dax, Nyr, Gydean, Kane, and Anna entered the orc tunnel. They walked a great distance, passing the place where the bear had been caged. They were disturbed to find that the wooden palisade and door were both destroyed.

Not far beyond the tattered wooden beams, five troglodytes were waiting in hiding, camouflaged against the tunnel walls by their chameleon skin.

Gydean alone saw the danger, and warned Dax with a telepathic message. The ranger charged one of the creatures, who wore a tall headdress made of bones and held a staff, but stayed her sword when she saw that he was not immediately threatening her. She was surprised when the troglodyte began to speak in Draconic.

“You… kill… orcs!”

The Dax could not tell whether this was a statement or a request. But Gydean had gained the eldritch gift of speaking into people’s minds and reading their thoughts. He knew that the troglodyte leader’s words were a command, and they contained an ultimatum.

“You kill the orcs… or we will eat you.”

The troglodytes had been cowed by the orcs at the Mountain Door and paid tribute to great Ulfe. This did not sit well with them, and they wished to be rid of the orcs. They intended for the adventurers to attack the orcs and weaken them enough that the troglodytes might finish them off with a swift assault.

Gydean attempted to parley with the troglodytes by feigning obedience.

“Show us the way.”

2.

The party followed the trogolodytes to the long stairway leading to the upper level of Khundrukar. Kane, being the only member of the party with knowledge of the orcish language, went up first. Gydean followed him, for his eldritch powers allowed him to wrap himself in an illusory disguise and change his form into that of an orc. While Kane fended off the giant subterranean mosquitoes that infested the stairway, swatting them away with his shield, Gydean tried to memorize the orcish words that Kane had taught him.

“Orcs… murdered… help…”

At the top of the stairway, there were two great doors of iron which were open. Smoke came through the open doors, and shouts in orcish were heard. They were calling for buckets of water to put out a fire in the kitchen – the result of Varrick’s last act of defiance against the orc raiders when he dropped a flask of alchemical fire down the chimney.

Gydean spotted a passing orc and emerged from hiding. Speaking broken orcish words, he lured the orc to the stairway. Then he put on the performance of his life.

When the orc peered over the stairs, he saw Kane dragging Gydean’s limp body down the stairs.

“Over ‘ere, boys! There’s a filthy spy down ‘ere, draggin’ one o’ our boys down the stairs! Git ‘im!”

Soon, Kane and Gydean were fleeing down the stairs with an orc posse hot on their heels. The rest of the party was ready for them. But instead of attacking the orcs as the troglodytes had wished, Dax cast a ranger’s enchantment to camouflage the party, and they quietly snuck past the troglodytes.

As the heroes pressed themselves against the tunnel wall and passed the troglodytes, they nearly suffocated from the foul stench that surrounded these reptilian creatures. Dax quietly vomited from the smell, being the last to pass them as he ensured the others fled to safety first. Thankfully, the odor of his vomit was masked by the troglodytes’ own stench, and they did not notice him.

Before he departed, Dax used his ranger’s arts one more time to conjure a mystical fog that filled the tunnel behind him. The troglodytes began to shout, but it was too late. The orcs arrived and rushed headlong into the fog, crashing into the troglodyte band. The two groups collided in the fog and a chaotic battle ensued. When the shouts and clashes of steel died down, the surviving orcs yelled and muttered.

“Damn stinking troglodytes! Let’s get back and tell Great Ulfe about their treachery!”

When the orcs had left and the fog dispersed, the party went back to check the scene of the battle. Three orcs and four troglodytes lay dead, but the troglodyte leader was nowhere to be found. He had seemingly escaped the carnage.

“Let’s get moving before the troglodytes find us again.”

The heroes hurried through the caverns, swiftly yet quietly. Dax summoned the last of his strength to cast a veil over his companions before his magic was spent. Keeping along the left wall of the caverns, they passed the vast mushroom forest of the Glitterhame. Along the way, they found a high cave which contained a nest filled with old bones and a suit of dwarven armor. The bones were the remains of an adventurer that had perished here. The armor belonged to a warrior who must have died a century ago during the siege of Khundrukar. It carried the mark of Durgeddin’s forge. The party retrieved it and continued on their way.

“This will be worth quite a sum, if we ever make it out of here.”

The heroes continued until the cavern turned to masonry. They came upon a great stairway that led to a chamber with two mighty doors, inlaid with silver runes, with a large key hole in the center. They remembered the ceremonial key they had found in the prison, and fitted it in the key hole. Slowly, the doors opened, and a great cloud of dust was lifted up. Inside the gateway, mounds of bones were pushed aside to either side by the doors. They were the bones of orcs and dwarves that fell during the battle of Khundrukar a hundred years ago. The heroes removed the key, causing the doors to close behind them, and passed the grim hall in silence.

After descending a long flight of stairs, the party arrived at a large octagonal chamber. Inside, there were three stone statues of dwarven warriors. Each statue held two axes above its head. There were two doors between the statues and no other exits in sight.

Gydean saw slash marks on the floor in front of the doors. Sensing danger, he borrowed Dax’s quarterstaff and stuck it out, poking one of the doors. Immediately, the arms of the adjacent stone statues swung down, slicing the quarterstaff into pieces.

Nyr used his druidic arts to cause parts of the statues to crumble. The stone arm fell with a loud noise, disabling the trap. But when the heroes opened the door, there was a blank slate of wall behind it. This was a dead end.

That was when they heard it. At first, it sounded like a pin dropping a great distance away. But soon, they realized that it was the sound of a hammer striking an anvil. It was coming from beyond the wall just behind one of the stone statues.

The heroes carefully walked around it to get a closer look at the wall. The seams along the wall indicated it was a secret passage. When they pushed on it, sure enough it opened onto a hidden stairwell that led to another door. The heroes descended the stairs, but halfway down the steps a magical alarm was triggered by their presence. A loud voice rang out in the dwarven language.

“Urk bin kazad! Urk bin kazad!”

Enemies in the keep! Enemies in the keep!

When Kane opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, he was greeted by a crossbow bolt that struck him in the shoulder. The door opened onto a wide hall with two rolls of pillars leading to a plain, spartan throne made of carven stone. In the center of the hall, there was a makeshift camp whose flame was still lit. Out of the corner of his eye, Kane caught sight of a female dwarf with gray skin and pale white hair darting behind a pillar, the glint of her hand crossbow flashing in the light of the campfire. From behind the pillar, her deep voice rang through the hall, speaking in a strange dwarven dialect.

“Strangers, go back from whence you came! This is your only chance. You will not get another warning!”

To be continued…

Session #4 Rewards
4 Advancement Checkpoints
4 Treasure Checkpoints
10 Downtime Days

Character Advancement
Dax, human ranger 5 (slow)
Gydean, v. human rogue 3 → 4
Nyr, firbolg druid 2 → 3
Kane, human fighter 1 → 2
Anna, human fighter 1 → 2