The natural cave is oriented East-West. The dwarves are progressing from the East. They crossed a door some 300 yds earlier where the cave had been walled in. The ceiling of the cave drops to 3 ft in many places, making the progress difficult and forcing a crouching position (-2 attack). On the ground, there is a meandering frozen stream. The stream is covered in rubble and ice, making it rough footing (-2 attack, -1 defense). The echoes are severe, making Per checks -3. There is only a single torch lit, held by Goldo, the vision penalty is -1 per 2 hexes beyond a range of 3 from the torch. Finally, the air is thin and toxic, causing double FP damage.
The dwarven company turned to Drolf for guidance. Gimvar's shoulder was mangled and the ranger was on the cusp of collapse. The wraith had had the best of Donarik, which was laying on the ground, breathing weakly. Gimvar, usually a go getter, reminded the company that to get in the Obsidian Tower, they had to bypass a large force of Mirkwood orcs camping a few kilometers down the vale.
Vadek was fidgeting with the obsidian rod. The air coming from beyond the gate was bad. Any dwarf could tell that unless some mechanical pumping of air from the surface was arranged, that this cave would soon become dangerous. Drolf, Kalin and Khazek seemed to be more interested in the daggers pulled out of the elves. Without much debate, they agreed to try to get out of the tower before the trap sprang on them for good.
They dragged Donarik up the tunnel, into the great hall where the Huorn died. As they passed by the hall's door, Khazek noticed that the elven wraith was circling slowly above the green orb. Donarik was put down against the stairway's walls. Gimvar and Kalin sat down for a rest. Khazek, Vadek and Drolf entered the hall to inspect the orc once more.
The company of dwarves had barged into an obsidian cave. In this cave, a statue of the now dead green wizard towered over an orc's nest. Drolf jumped down and hit an orc hard that the orc expired on the spot. Kalin and Vadek engaged the two other orcs that had once worked by the mud pit. The orcs didn't last for long.
This report is the second part of Session 10 - The Botanical Educations of dwarves. The first part can be found here. This report is incomplete and will conclude during our next session. +Douglas Cole posted some notes about this session here.
Barging in...
The companions caught their breath after the fall of the huorn. The defunct tree straddled from the edge of the cliff down to a small opening leading down deeper under Sarn Goriwig. The dwarves decided to explore the way down in hope to find what the wizard didn't want them to find.
The orc's nest under Sarn Goriwig
The tunnel was winding at a steep angle. It lead some 50 yards below into another large chamber made of obsidian. The dwarves were advancing at a good pace and found themselves on an elevated platform. The platform turned into a wooden bridge. The pavement of the bridge crossed most of the room some 2-3 yards above ground. The front dwarves spotted right away an orc archer on guard beside a rough statue made of wood. To their right, there were at least two more orcs working around a large pit of mud surrounded by pillars.
The dwarves charged ahead at full steam. Donarik stayed behind to take aim while Khazek, Vadek and Drolf rushed through to get to the archer. Uncle Kalin and Gimvar slid down the way to get to the other orcs faster.
Drolf blocked an arrows and overran the archer with a sweep. The orc tumbled to his knees as Donarik's arrow hit its chest. Seeing Khazek and Vadek barging in, he slipped down the way to hide by the base of the statue.
I banked a lot of hope in severing the orb from the roots of the wicked tree. This didn't work. After I chopped it off, the Huorn's full wrath rained down on me with fury. I felt something slip through my armor and sting me on the chest. I dodged the giant whips and found my way back to my men. Donarik was making good progress in attacking the trunk. From up above, Gimvar managed to pull himself from his impaling grip and fell with a thud at my feet. The rattle of heavy armor could be heard behind me, I bent down and watched Kalin's poleaxe slice into the Huorn. The sap sprayed around and left a bitter taste on my lips.
Khazek dots the "i"s
This wizard was so dead from the start. I held him tight with both arms and legs, hard enough to make him gasp. He uttered a few words in an obscure language, which made me nervous. My right hand slipped off and in a flowing motion I drew my knife and sunk it into his heart. The wizard spoke no more. Senseless violence you may say, I though that was pretty cool. Thus died the villain.
Quick glance around, Donarik made a twirl and got off balance. The Huorn slapped him across the chest: that looked like it hurted. I looked up to try to find a face, an eye... anything to strike hard at. I thought that I caught the glimpse of a face high overhead. As the rest of the dwarves had regrouped and were poised to strike again, I fearlessly made for the trunk and started hopping up.
Vadek's recollection (not that he'd share even if you asked)
Garg, why do you care about what I've seen? After I did the orc and snatched the obsidian wand from his armless body, I made my way back up the stairs to find that my lazy colleagues hadn't finished the tree yet. The wizard was dead alright. Khazek has already walked away and was climbing up the tree with his bloodied knife in hand. Gimvar was lying on the ground, covered by his companions as a storm of heavy limbs struck down on them.
Kalin holding on to his dear life while the
huorn takes him for a ride.
A big sweep came from the left. Drolf artfully jumped over and so did Donarik. However, Uncle Kalin and his shiny armor didn't get airborne quickly enough. The root caught his foot and flipped him sideways until his legs were fully dangling off the ledge. Luckily, the drop underneath was only 10 yards... still a painful fall. Poor old Kalin pulled himself back on even footing just in time to be swept once more. This time, he grabbed on to the root and held tight (the other option was to take 3d6 of fall damage).
Once in range, I shot one of my trusty hatchets at the huorn but the tree got out of the way, if that is possible (Note: this may be the only dodge that the huorn made all night). I tried to keep my eyes on the hatchet to find out where it went but Khazek and his antics caught my attention.
Donarik's take on the Huorn's last moments
I think that I was the belle of the ball on that day. I must have hit the bastard more than anyone else combined, and I kept on going. That tree was about to call me uncle! My axe made it passed the sapwood and into the dark heartwood when Khazek-boy stole the show. I could see it as he managed to pull himself about 8 feet over my head. He stabbed at the huorn twice in fast succession. The first strike chipped the trunk but the second strike seemed to meet no resistance. His knife went in like a needle. A tremor traversed the huorn through and through.
The tree started to topple into the chasm on its right. Kalin, passing over the heads of the others and dropped to the ground. He roughly bounced a few times on the way down. Khazek-boy dramatically took a running jump just as the huorn started to tumble down.
Flashes!
Vadek didn't seem stirred by the turn of even, I guess that he expected that to happen. He walked to the wizard's corpse and really really made sure that he was dead. In the process, he recovered his hatchet and a second obsidian wand. Khazek got back on his feet and busied himself at controlling Gimvar's bleeding.
Drolf was particularly interested in the orb. A 2.5' in diameter glassy orb with a satin finish. For a brief moment, he thought that he caught a glimpse of Browek Bridge. The vision was short, but Drolf managed to see his command post and a bunch of dwarves hanging out in the trenches. The vision was then gone and mere flashes of light would show every now and then.
Kalin was tired, Gimvar was reeling. Gimvar pointed out that to get in the tower they had bypassed a thousand orcs "and it'd be uncool if they found out about it". The rest of the companion gave him a glazed look. In Khazad-dum, a thousand orcs will be called "breakfast".
The companions decided to head down the path an find out what the Green Wizard didn't want them to get to.
This session was all combat, it started one that has yet to be finished. Here is the update so we all remember how the last session ended. The session started with this scene:
The orc sarge was excitedly shouting at the Green Wizard.
"Bimbo" the troll gets a hatchet blow in the kidneys and another one in the guts
from an unseen dwarfy thing.
Once that the screaming in our heads stopped, we noticed two large trolls coming out of suspended animation from alcoves in the walls. Khazek-boy and I shot but hit the wall instead. I dropped my bow, drew my axe as I stepped back. I hit the troll really hard in the face and knocked him senseless. As he was teetering, I hit him again on its skull. This seemed to snap him off of his stupor. The troll grabbed me and used me as a projectile on my leader. Khazek dodged, I landed heavily on the ground. Rough day.
Around me, Khazek took over to push the troll back. Drolf and Vadek were about to fell the other troll. A number of orcs were streaming into the hall. Khazek and Vadek covered my flank as I stood up again. Kalin and I pushed the troll back into its alcove and finished him off as the rest of the battle unfolded.
This encounter is a continuation of the previous session. I was trying to imagine how I'd think if I was a few thousand years old, on a delayed trip to the undying land. I don't think that I'd care either. I kind of dropped the ball as a GM in this session and left unexplained most of what happened underneath. Herion's backstory is funny and related to some of the trouble in this adventure, but maybe this will come back so I'll keep quiet. But that's OK, elves care about the world only on an elective basis. Getting down to the bottom of things of people living idle for millenia is probably worst than fighting the Balrog all over again.
This gaming session took place on May 14 2013 and involved +Arne Jamtgaard (Bain Stonetongue, viceroy), +Alex Safatli (Donarik Swiftfoot, ranger of the Ardacer), +Justin Aquino (Gimvar Arrowroot, ranger of the Ardacer) and +Jason Woollard (Khazek Strongmoss, Leader of rangers of the Ardacer). It was a continuation of K05 - Prisoners or visitors? , where a dwarven diplomatic mission had to contend with a lukewarm reception in Thranduil hall. A visual representation of the social network is available here.
Act 6, Scene 1 - Breakfast with elves
The morning air was cool and crisp. The dwarves left their cottages and found their way to a nook in the Queen's ground where they were expected for breakfast. Already waiting were three of the Queen's retinue: Akshana, an haughty close advisor of the Queen, Lord Meldor, the Queen's administrator and Ngai, the Queen's stepdaughter and youngest child of the King. Bain sat first, followed by Khazek and the rangers. More fruits on the menu it seemed. Donarik and Gimvar were drawn to a gold carafe containing a sweet and sparlink fruit juice. "It's got alcohol in there", though Donarik. Good enough. Elves really don't drink ale for breakfast.
Lord Meldor proceeded to ask Bain a number of questions. Bain ran through his many-times rehearsed explanations while Meldor took notes. Then, out of the blue Akshanna asked whether business had anything to do with the Grey Mountain expedition. Bain and the other searche through their recollection but couldn't figure out what she meant. Bain, a strongly empathic dwarf, got the strange vibe that Akshanna had broached a taboo topic. The others looked nervously at her. There was an awkward silence, then Meldor excused himself from the table. Soon the dwarves were left on their own.
