K45 - Poking a sleeping Balrog

Taking care of business

The viceroy, Bain Stonetongue, resumed his command of the expedition and immediately dispatched the ragged remnants of Battlegroup-West to recuperate away from the Balrog's curse. A "lot" from Bronze-Attack was moved forward to keep an eye on the mutinous Mithril-Attack dwarves and the mercenary dwarves of the Adarcer-Attack. 

Bain promoted Roghel MoonOath, Attack-Lord of the Silver, into the inner circle. This was a fitting reward for showing such loyalty during the mutiny while he had been slated by the rebels to become the new viceroy. Bain also covertly entrusted to Sanddan Shieldcrusher, Lot-Herd within the Mithril-Attack, to hound and expose all of the leader of the mutiny such as to sanitize the Mithril into a reliable attack-unit again.

Food for Deema

Khazek had fathered a very live son with an ambiguously alive bride. He returned to Deema, hidden in a lost dwelling off the Hall of Trees. She was well, but getting hungry. Khazek went back to the East Gate and seeked the loremaster. Gesdrek was beyond caring and, althoug capable of speaking with the wraith, ignored his plea. Khazek then proceeded to convince Thordar to follow him and stock up on food. Thordar got a bit nervous when Khazek lead him to leap over the endless chasm by hanging on miner's chains: a setup virtually identical as the moment of Khazek's death where Thordar had been suspected to murder him at the time.

Thordar eventually met with Deema and agreed to bring food on a regular basis. The obsessive curse for Deema had been lifted, and honestly Thordar couldn't fathom quite why he had behaved so irrationally with respect to the bride.

Trolling for a soul

The Viceroy and the inner circle met in his study to decide on the next course of action. With the slaughter of the ancestors at the hands of Battlegroup-West, the loremaster was worried that much of the Balrog's soul had gone back to his reposing corpse. The question was: where could the body be?

Thordar suggested to sacrifice one more ancestor soul and entrust to Khazek the task to shadow the soul on its journey back to the Balrog. Khazek did just that: he flew across the chasm, slew an ancestor and followed its soul down into the depth of Khazad-dum.

Thifaim Chertfoot and the Flint Attack

Soon after Khazek's departure, messengers from the Flint Attack arrived to announce the arrival of the last component of the Emerald Unit. Thifaim Chertfoot was the Flint's attack-lord. The viceroy filled him in on to the situation. Thifaim proved eager to get into the action. He unloaded months worth of food and carts full of tools. His fresh troops showed a marked disdain for the Mithril-Attack and their mutinous reputation.

When Gror reported back for duty, Bain sent him to the 4th deep to scout ahead and find out more about the siege of the Infernals on the Durbagash orcs. Thifaim immediately volunteered to be part of the expedition.

Settling into the 4th Deep

Gror was released from its cell when his father returned and uprooted the mutinous elements. It took him a few days before he returned to duty. Gror insisted to command the scouting and occupation operation on the 4th deep. They descended down to Halin's mine and established a base camp. Gror then sent two lots to explore in a sweep from the East and heading into the city.

Meanwhile, Thordar smelled opportunity and requested his leave from his duty as the viceroy's butler. Bain released him so that he could infiltrate the Flint-Attack. The hitch was that Thordar was already infamous with the Flint-dwarves, much to his surprise. Thordar has offended much of the NCOs in the units in the past, and there he was today, beardless and disfigured: a huge slash across his neck and an unhealing wound caused by blighted corpse in recent past. Each dwarf in the Flint would have gotten out of his way to get Thordar in trouble.

Thordar approached it professionally and linked with the officers in his official position as the viceroy's right arm.  What really normalized his relation with the dwarves was his ability to laugh it up and be one of the boys. Thordar, through professionalism and his natural carousing demeanor had managed to be accepted, although not particularly liked.

This would come handy soon enough.

Flicking a booger on the Balrog

Khazek followed the soul down to the 6th Deep. He passed by richly decorated areas which he assumed to be near Durin's palace. He had to dodge into the dark near the ceiling to avoid detection. He encountered more and more units of infernals busying along the main highway. He passed the endless stairs, but the soul was accelerating and he didn't have much time to explore. 

He followed up until he got to a large hall where a 6m diameter well was spewing hot air and sulfurous fumes. The soul of the ancestor evaporated and got stuck at high speed into the well. Khazek dove as well and suffered a grievous wound from the arrow of an infernal sentry. He went down into a huge cave, some thousand yard below. The cave was filled with steam and a river of lava was flowing from North to South down below. 

Khazek wandered for a while and decided to follow the river of lava to the North. Time passed, hours, maybe days. Until he managed to arrive into a gigantic chamber.

The Balrog's tomb

At the far end of the cave, which spanned maybe a mile long, was a lake of lava. In the middle of the lake, a hill protruded and on it lay the body of the Balrog. Khazek flew over the cave, bypassing a number of infernal priests and approached the body. Up into the vaulted ceiling, he hid between a number of suspended iron chests. 

The priests were performing some kind of ritual while the Balrog's body was laboriously breathing fire. It was, however, not moving. Khazek floated over the maiar and, true to his old living self, got the urge to spit, pee or flick some kind of bodily fluid on it. The Balrog was half alive, struggling to open his eyes as Khazek flicked his fingers overhead. A burst of fire filled the place, Khazek nearly got roasted in the blast. The priest got excited and started to shout as Khazek understood that it was good time for him to leave the place and head up. 

A powerful earthquake shook Mount Silvertine. Thousands of yards above, as the ground roared and the stonework rattled, Bain and the other had a sinking suspicion that Khazek had something to do with this.

K44 - The long and painful march of Battlegroup West

Life beyond the gate

Bain and Thordar were last pushed out of the East Gate Hall by a mob of mutinous dwarves from the Mithril Attack. Bain had been injured at the hip by a bolt, Thordar was still grievously wounded during the battle with the infernals and was still on the mend. Some 25 loyal dwarves, unarmored and pockmarked from the brawl made for a jolly company.

They descended to the 4th deep to find weapons and a place to rest. Down into Halin's cave, they found old tools and weapons. They rested and launched a number of exploratory scouting parties in all directions. They decided that the gold mines to the South bored the best chance to break into new territory. They explored south but discovered nothing by a fraying network of caves and mines, and no real evidence of a fresh gold vein.

Bain traveled in dream to the surface and found his son, Gror, whimpering in a jail cell. He figured out that Deema was probably dead by then as there were lots of dwarves set on getting rid of the witch. Bain snapped Gror back into the old grumpy and mean commander that he is and took his leave. Work in the real world had to be done.

There was some noises coming from up above into the Endless chasm. Hungry, tired and weary of the growing curse on them, Bain lead the dwarves back to the 1st deep to meet their fate.

Meanwhile in Hatchet Dwelling

After repelling the dwarves that came for the "witch", Khazek figured out that he had to find out that was going on at the Gate. He found Deema behind the door, a silver hatchet in hand, ready to smite the next living dwarf to invade the room.

Khazek approached the dwarves through the Endless Chasm. He found some Adarcer dwarves guarding the ruins of the bridge of Khazad-dum. They were discussing of a mutiny going on. Khazek slipped into the shadows overhead and set out to find out about the mutiny.

In the East Gate, he found two groups of brawling dwarves. One of the group was protecting Bain and Thordar while a group of armed ones was attempting to arrest the viceroy. Khazek intervened by showing himself and sowed terror to anyone watching. It disrupted the brawl such that it became possible for the viceroy and his supported to withdraw beyond a large gate. His attention was drawn to a group of going North to get to "the witch". Fearing for his bride, he left Bain and Thordar to their fate and flew ahead of the withc hunters.

They crossed the Endless Chasm using the miner's chains. Ironically, the very same kind of chains that had costed Khazek his life. Beyond the chasm, they found dwellings that had not been deflied by orcs over the years. Khazek was satisfied that Deema and their unborn child would be safe there. Then, they fell asleep with the sleep of careless child and didn't pulled out of slumber for what looked like days.

A mutiny suspended

Thordar was sent ahead of the dwarves to scout near the East Gate. Instead of an organized hunt for them, Thordar found a feverish scene bordering on panic. There were dwarves from the Ardacer, the unit on garrison duty, begging for guidance regarding what was going on into the Hall of Trees. Thordar was spotted, but nothing came out of this. Thordar figured out that there was worst on their mind than the misguided impulses of the mutinous dwarves.

Bain arrived with Thordar and descended to the Hall of Trees where the source of chaos seemed to emanate. There, he found Drolf ordering volleys of crossbow across the chasm. Gesdrek the Loremaster was there, carefully observing something in the depth of the Hall.

Bain approached Gesdrek and asked for a report. Gesdrek cued them to listen for the sound of war drums. The dwarves from Battlegroup West had made it all the way through and were fighting the ancestors at the far end of the Hall. A faint light from torches could be seen amidst the rows of pillars. All present understood that dwarves killing ancestors was a bad thing for it was slowly releasing fragments of the soul of the Balrog back to its body.

Going in

They resolved to cross the chasm and link with Battlegroup West to order them to stop. Messages using war drums remained unanswered. They piled combustible on a cart and wheeled it on the beams, across the chasm. A Lot (50 dwarves) was tasked to block while the Viceroy and his entourage would advance beside the burning cart.

The ancestors were frenetically engaged against Farin's dwarves and didn't interfere with the party until much later. The order was to strictly push back without "rekilling" the dead until the cart had reached the line of Battlegroup West. It became quite clear that by then, a lot of damage had been done on the precious ancestors. Thordar went ahead to locate the commander of the force while Bain busied himself to order a withdrawal.

The BG-West dwarves had been distorted into ragged shells by the curse and the continuous fighting since their entry in the city, some 3 weeks ago. They were barely controllable, but the Viceroy's legendary leadership prevailed. Thordar found the leader and "convinced" him to order a break from assault. Farin was apparently long-dead, only 300 or so of the 900 original dwarves were still standing.

As they pulled out of the Hall of Trees, Khazek roused from his sleep and ran into them as they marched back across the chasm. Gesdrek told them that he feared the most for the fate of the Balrog as much of his soul had been released back to it by now.

Time was getting short, assuming that he is right, for if the old King of Moria was to rise again, Khazad-dum would be lost for another 1000 years.

K43 - Beer hall putsch

This session is a continuation of the previous session: "K42 - Much ado about a bride".

Sparks

A group of battle-dwarves from the Mithril-Attack had gathered in the beer hall without drawing too much attention. They were conspicuous: in full armor while everyone else was busy shooting the breeze with friends. 

When another group of Mithril-Attack dwarves burst into the hall, screaming to high murder. Apparently, the witch was real and had killed a few of them a few minutes ago. This sent a wave of panic in the hall. Gror understood right away that the bride was in danger. He had been drinking for a while to gather liquid courage and eventually talk to her. He took off immediately towards Deema's quarters and was followed by a few other dwarves willing to avenge their comrades. 

Thordar read the situation similarly. However, his eyes caught the Mithril dwarves and identified Nair Marbleminer at the other end. He was trying to organize a group of fully kitted dwarves amid the chaos. Thordar sneaked to them and hid behind a pillar. They were getting ready to take advantage of the situation to capture the viceroy.   

Thordar headed to Bain's quarter to warn him of the impending trouble to his reign. 

Interrupted

Bain was at the time debriefed by a Lot leader from the Adarcer-Attack. Apparently, six dwarves from the Silver had crossed the chasm to adventure beyond the defended perimeter. Thordar, entered and explained that the threat of putsch was materializing. 

Bain led Thordar and the lieutenant into the hall. They walked to the mutinous dwarves to confront them. There was five crossbow-dwarves and six battle-guards. The hall grew silent as Bain's voice rose to a spine chilling command to stand down. Nair, the leader, was taken aback and hesitated long enough to kill the momentum. 

Bain demanded to know why they wanted to arrest him. Nair replied that the dwarves has lost confidence in his ability to lead.  The viceroy began to rough up Nair in a brutal but theatrical display which lead to the young officer to fall flat on the floor.

By them the noose had tighten around the pair, the lieutenant from Adarcer had melted away, and so had all of the Adarcer soldiers on duty.  Clearly, this would not end well for someone.

Food fight

The mutinous dwarves moved in to neutralize the pair as anger broke the heavy air in the hall. Dwarves from the Silver-Attack moved in to pull the viceroy out of trouble but were opposed by others. And so began a long brawl with no evident structure at the onset. 

Thordar and Bain didn't leave time for Nair to get back on his feet and had him nailed to the floor with a broken hand and a deep stab wound to the opposing leg. Bain put up a good show, climbed on a table to coordinate the efforts on his side. He absorbed a bolt at the hip which made walking more difficult. Thordar and himself managed to drift across the room, blocking attacks with his cloak. 

Unfortunately for the pair, despite the neutralization of Nair, the Silver dwarves were beaten down to the far corner of the hall and had to withdraw beyond a gate and close it solidly. 

Fallout

With Bain hurt, Thordar still in bad shape from the last beating at the hands of Gror (and earlier the infernals), and the impromptu supporters looking for cold slab of steak to cover their bruises, the situation was taking a turn for the worst. The good news is that it looked like the Silver-Attack dwarves were on the viceroy's side. Hopefully, Roghel would too and take control of the rear to finally cow the rebels. 

And meanwhile, some unspeakable other trouble were being resolved in the Hatchet dwelling where Khazek and Deema were quietly pondering on their next move.

K42 - Much ado about a bride.

Summary of the campaign so far

The date is June 24th of the 15th year of the Fourth Age. We are approximately three months since the expedition to reclaim Khazad-dum left Erebor. Since, they visited Thrandhuil hall and chaseda wraith there. They then entered Mirkwood, fought off orcs, killed a sorcerer, discovered a way to the underworld and were humbled by blighted-corpse. Thordar got cursed and knows that he will, in turn, become a blighted corpse upon his death. They made friends with the new elf Queen of Lothlorien, entered Moria and found it littered with the animated bodies of generations of ancestor dwarves. They fought off hunting orcs, delved to the 4th Level to discover that the ancestors had been animated by a race of canine creatures known as the Infernals (The infernals were released in Middle-Earth upon the slaying of the Kraken by Gandlaf, Elphir of Dol Amroth, Beorn, Gwaihir and Quickbeam during a side quest). There, they pried the mythical mother of the 7th incarnation of Durin from the clasp of a black pudding. Deema (aka "The Bride") unwillingly (?) bewitched all dwarves who set eyes on her. Mayhem ensued amongst the accursed dwarves. Their loremaster discovered that the ancestors' souls were harvested to revive the Balrog. 

On their way to the 4th deep, they ran into Durbagash orcs and an important goblin prisoner. The prisoner was a prince of the Snagaii kingdom of goblins. A deal was struck to cooperate to defeat the orcs and the infernals festering in the depth of Khazad-dum. While attempting to rescue the viceroy's butler, Khazek, a dwarf secretely  prophesied to sire the 7th incarnation of Durin, plummeted to his death in the endless chasm. The expedition to recover his body met the ranger's wandering soul, and ran afoul of a small number of infernals. 

Elf-sorcery

Roghel MoonOath, reluctant coup leader.

Bain, the Viceroy of Khazad-dum, was pulled out of his dream travels through the old city by an aide. Attack-Lord Roghel MoonOath was demanding an audience with him. Bain made him wait in silence while his aide pulled together a breakfast and a huge mug of coffee.  Roghel explained that the dwarves were weary and rumour was that they were slating him as a replacement for Bain's failing command. Roghel confessed that Bain was seen as too close to elves for the dwarves' taste. He demanded that Lathmelen be expelled, that he gave up his elven amulet, and cleared the rumour about a witch clouding his judgement. 

Bain use a straightforwards approach and explained in details the reason why the elf was useful to the expedition. He also explained that the amulet was critical to speak with the spirit of Khazek, and that anyone seeing the witch would be prey to an irrational obsession. Roghel was most satisfied by Bain's diplomacy, and felt privileged to be now included in the viceroy's inner circle. 

They decided to rotate the troops such that Mithril and Silver attacks would stand down to recover from the curse. In their stead, Drolf's Adarcer-Attack, Drolf's private army, would move forward to keep the approaches from undead and orcs alike. 

Little murder between friends

Thordar and Gror were laid side by side in the infirmary to recover from life threatening wounds. The cuts, made by infernal blades, reluctantly started to scar with the help of elf magic from Lathmelen. A disease was growing in the mind of Gror. He was convinced that Thordar had killed Khazek during his rescue so as to eliminate romantic competition for the heart of Deema. His rumination grew until Gror reached the tipping point. He slipped out of his bed and climbed on Thordar's. He began smothering the butler with a pillow. 

Thordar tried to fight back while he still could. He eventually managed to stun Gror using an ear clap (good thinking here, son). He tossed him to the ground and regained his breath. Gror convinced the orderlies rushing in that Thordar was a murderer. The orderlies did not even paid attention to the protests of the butler and isolated him into another room. 

When informed of the event, the viceroy met with both dwarves. He forbade Gror from approaching Thordar. He then ensured that Thordar had done nothing wrong once more. Thordar suspected that his liege had a hand into the attempted murder. The viceroy made a concinving case against this delusional belief. 

Beardless in Khazad-dum

Thordar was in a terrible shape. A eunnuch, he spent the best of his life compensating with outrageous machismo. But now, his false beard had fallen in the endless chasm, revealing a unhealing wound to his cheek where the blighted ghouls had tore his flesh. He felt exposed, weakened. 

A walk to the dining hall didn't help. Dwarves were laughing behind his back. He could feel now that the respect due for being the viceroy's string man had somehow vanished. For the first time in his life, Thordar felt weak, his legendary and foolhardy self-confidence melted away. In an audience with the viceroy, his request to be released was turned down. Bain explained that his wild ways weren't the reason why he was his butler, and that much work was to be done to unravel the leader of the Putsch against him. 

Bain just knew which button to press and Thordar felt better about himself. The survival of the viceroy depended on his ability to find and eliminate the threat. Who else would be able to do this?

A wedding since death do them apart

Deema the irresistible.

Khazek wandered away from the living as they hiked back to the Eastern Gate of Khazad-dum. The torches, the chatters and the living folks were grating against his better nature. He set out to visit Deema. Although he was dead, his attraction to the mother of all dwarves was still strong. 

He found her quarters by flying through the endless chasm. The guards were clearly instructed not to approach and were playing dice on the floor at the other end of the atrium. The place, a former dwelling for surface farmers, was quiet as a tomb. He hid his elven sword on a high ledge, and entered her room through the front door. He found her quietly sitting on a chair, cross stitching. 

She was visible and audible as her body existed both in the real and the world of the shadows. Unlike in the past, she was relaxed and pleasant. She asked many questions to Khazek, and revealed that she knew that her husband would reveal himself as a spirit rather than a dwarf in the flesh. She insisted that Khazek's body be given a proper burial and be laid to rest on the 4th level when all this madness was sorted out. 

Their souls and their hands touched as another page in the history of Middle-Earth was being written. There would be no need for fanfare nor large ceremony. Their communion was sufficient to ensure that the last of the Durin was to rule once more. 

They were both happy, peaceful.

The inquisitors

Peaceful that is until a loud knock on the door interrupted their private time. Khazek poked his head through the door and sent half a dozen running in fear. The light of the torches was irritating, but Khazek was capable to see enough to act. He reached for the chest of two of the nearest dwarves. His icy wraith hands chilled their hearts and the two dwarves fell to the ground either stunned or unconscious. The other dwarves got so frightened that one of them fell from the balcony to the ground a story below.

Khazek recognized the insigna and identified the dwarves as part of the Mithril attack. All now seemed quiet, so Khazek returned to Deema.

A wheel set in motion

The session ended as Gror was consuming liquid courage (we'll roll for your inebriation level next session) so as to pay a visit to Deema himself. He was sure that she would choose him now that Khazek was dead and Thordar disgraced. This is when a group of Mithril battle-guard burst into the dining hall, spouting that the witch was real and had killed many dwarves. A general call to arm was raised. Terror and panic had come to the dwarves from within.

K41 - The infernals are here!

This report covers a two-session encounters against the campaing's villains and the PCs. To make things more interesting, I gave the steering wheel to one of the player whose PC was there only through a dream projection. What a good move on my part.

Where we left (A month ago)

We're on the 4th deep of Khazad-dum. Gror lead an expedition of Axe-dwarves to recover the body of Khazek, friend, colleague and dead PC. They ran into Khazek's wraith instead and things went sour. A mutiny took over the expedition and the bulk of the dwarves ran back to the East Gate. Gror lead 5 dwarves to find Lathmelen, an ally elf noble, struggling in the dark and calling for help. When Gror saw Khazek's wraith, he fell to a panic attack while the others kept their distances. Khazek tried to help Gror, but his wraith body nearly drained Gror off of his life force.

Tordar, the Viceroy's butler and spymaster arrived late and tried to talk to Khazek. Meanwhile, Khazek was in a conversation with the Viceroy who had traveled to the 4th deep in a dream using his amulet of Irmo.

Snuff out that light!

Khazek was most offended at the torch light and wandered away, barely able to contain his anger. Bain, overing in dreamscape, tied to calm him down while Thordar passed on his torch to Shortneck. Lathmelen roused Gror from his embarrassing slumber and brought him back to his feet. He was cold and pale after an accidental body slam with a wraith.

In the distance, goblins from the Snagaii kingdoms were coming down (or up) the endless chasm. They got near, then faded out to silence.

The Infernals are round the corner.

Unblurred infernals: Now imagine an army of 'em.

Three shapeless masses appeared from their rear. They couldn't pin down their appearance as their body seemed to flicker like the flame of a candle. They were tall, canine looking, armed with shortswords and shields and moving in rather fast. Without skipping a beat, they engaged the company.

The combat as difficult, in between the blur and the low light, the PC had to set their strikes very carefully. The infernals fought together very well: keeping close and striking hard.

One of them dropped his sword as he was pushed back. The third one entangled Lathmelen with his whip, but got skewered by Thordar Ithilnaur's knife (which cuts through steel like it was lead). Khazek joined in. All 8 dwarves struggled to keep on top of the two infernals. Thordar neck nearly got severed by a powerful attack to his neck, he got whisked away by a dwarf and healed by Lathmelen. The other infernals delivered a deadly blow to Gror, who fell to the ground bleeding profusely. By then, Khazek had knocked the last burning torch off the hands of Shortneck and the light was waning. The two most powerful warrior were on the threshold of death (nearly -1*HP). Khazek managed good strike from an overhead position and sent the infernals running. One was knocked down the stairs, the other barely escaped with his life.

Thus ended the combat. Blood loss was put under control despite the evil properties of the infernals' blades. The dwarves didn't spend too much time reflecting on their victory and left the two dead infernals behind on their way back to the East gate.

What about the dreamer?

Bain, Viceroy of Khazad-dum and dreamer was roused by an aide. He rushed to his feet. While he was rubbing his eyes, Roghel MoonOath entered the room with a serious look in his face. Roghel was the commander of the Silver-Attack, the elite unit of the invasion force. Bain understood that this was not a social call.

"We need to talk.", he said in a grave voice.

Gaming note

Giving the villains to a player meant that Arne got to play, try something new, and give a rough ride to the PCs. This is the second time that I give monsters to players: the stakes are higher, player death more imminent. I will reward Arne's character for his ruthless playtest of the infernal with bonus on all important loyalty check at the onset of the next episode. 

K40 - A gathering of friends

This session continues the adventures of the Viceroy of Khazad-dum and his entourage as they reclaim the old mountainhome from orcs, puddings, krakens and an irresistibly charming dwarf bride (Campaign home).

Don't shoot the messenger, maybe

The last that Thordar saw of Khazek was his brown locks flapping in the air as he fell to his death in the endless chasm of Moria. Thordar was himself a sight for sore eyes: pale from the loss of blood, a permanently openned wound oozing from his cheek now revealed since his prosthetic beard got kicked into oblivion. He hung on a chain over untold depths until he managed to swing himself to the cliff's wall. The climb was hard, but he made it to the arch of Hatchet Dwelling where the rangers were waiting. They propted him up, he pushed back and demanded to be taken to the Viceroy.
The Hall fell silent upon his arrival. Thordar looked like death. The absence of Khazek was noted immediately. Thordar explained in an unusually sad tone how his friend had fell into the shadows. People were incredulous, Gror simply didn't buy the story and assumed that Thordar had conveniently eliminated a romantic rival.
The Viceroy was upset at the loss of his chief ranger. He grilled Thordar and got a full story out of him. He summoned the two surviving ranger leader and promoted Donarik. Donarik may have been brazen and insubordinate, but had the respect of the rangers while Gimvar was more a good second in command. They discussed options and concluded that something had to be done to recover the lotus eaters stuck in Lothlorien. Bain dismissed the rangers, and sternly ordered Thordar to get out of his sight.
Thordar found a cot in the infirmary and passed out.

K39 - Shaking hands with a goblin

<confession>

I have been a naughty GM. The last session was on October 28th 2014. Life sucked fun out of everything, including gaming. But this is hopefully over now. And we're to resume Reclaiming Khazad-dum in a few days.

I didn't keep good notes from the last session although it turned out to be a very eventfull one. So, from memory... 

</confession>

This reports is a continuation of K38 - A Beard in Hell.
(Campaign home)

Shake hands with a goblin

Theomedonus was the son of the Snagaii king. The Snagaiis were goblins used as a food source by the other orc nations in Khazad-dum.  Bain, the viceroy, met with the emissary in an antechamber. There was talk of a goblin envoy speaking with him, so they thought best to keep things out of the gossip gallery. 

Theomedonus was forward with information. He explained that the Infernals had been released some three years ago (yes, the day that the Gandalf and friends killed the Kraken). He explained that the infernals were working to revive the Balrog and had conquered the most fierce of orcs from the depths: The Uruknais and the Trolls. 

Theomedonus proposed a treaty with the dwarves to help the dwarves to regain their old homeland, against a passage to the underdeep. Bain agreed for an alliance against the promise never to return once they left. 

Theomedonus also revealed that the Infernals were slowly winning against the Durbagash orcs on the 4th deep. That, the time for striking was coming soon or may never come back. 

This is when Lathmelen, the elf from Thrandhuil hall, entered the room and started to ramble about a key. Bain did his best to keep on track, dismissed the goblin and returned to other business.

K38 - A beard in Hell

Dude, where is my butler?

Bain toured the HQ once more in East Gate hall and started to wonder about Thordar. He hadn't seen the dwarf in over a day. He asked around: no one seemed to know where he was, as usual. Bain had a hunch that something could be wrong, and ordered his sub-commanders to find his butler.

A dwarf from the Mithril reported to the viceroy 30 minutes later. According to him, Thordar may have been caught on the wrong side of the cave in. Bain demanded explanations as to why no one informed him of this. The dwarf replied that he just assumed that someone else had reported.

Both accesses to the Marzabuul stairs were now collapsed. The only way to bypass the cave-ins involved a daredeath hike on the cliff walls of the chasm. The viceroy tasked the rangers to find a path there and ordered his son Gror to descend into the 4th deep and scout the North-South highway that was just discovered.

K37 - Stress testing Thordar the fearless fencing dwarf.

The 31st session of Reclaiming Khazad-dum took a turn for the interesting when it became a single combat pitching one dwarf PC against temporarily PC'd orcs. Thordar has an interesting concept, embodied by his daredevil advantage and a selection of cinematic combat technique, machismo, reverse grip antics and overconfidence. Thordar shredded through two large panthers using single strikes to the vitals in the past, greatly simplifying an otherwise difficult encounter.  I wanted to stress test the PC while he ended up isolated and hurt. NPC orcs were given to other players to ensure that the brittle orcs got their very best shot in this fight. 

The background

Thordar was a bit too enthusiastic as a rear guard on the day that the dwarves collapsed the two approaches used by the orcs to assault Erebor's positions. Consequently, he got cut off from the main body, alone in the dark. His only known option was to follow a breakneck footpath on the wall of the unending well up to a small footbridge across. Scouts reported it, but never investigated the location. 

K36 - Cave-ins and squeezes

We are back to our main campaign after an eventful side quest where the Kraken died. The PCs are now free to move forward in any direction that they choose. This session was short as we played a metagame just before to set the stage. 

The initial situation ( a recap )

The viceroy's retinue returned from a venture in the 4th level with the Bride in tow. Deema, the bride, is prophetically bound to marry Durin's heir and produce the next and last incarnation of the mythical King. All dwarves seeing the bride are falling inexorably in love with the woman. The romantic tension is a bit much for everyone. She was farmed out of sight in the "Hatchet Dwelling", a small compound near the East Gate which was inhabited by farmers in the glory days of the old city. 

It was discovered during the delve that a great curse, probably the soul of the Balrog, had invested the bodies of the dwarven ancestors. The lot was now standing in the Hall of Trees, blocking the way forward along Durin's way with more than a thousand aggressive animated corpses. More worrisome is the fact that upon their second death, a shard of the curse is release and makes its way back to the bowels of Khazad-dum. 

Lastly, the curse is driving the dwarves mad. Their Will degrade over time until they turn into a rabble of incoherent, mad warriors that are virtually impossible to command. This is not helping that one orc nation called the "Hunters" is pushing them back from forward positions on the 2nd and 4th level. 

Getting caught on the wrong side of a cave-in (Bain, Thordar)

As first order of business, Bain sends scouts to identify the most effective chokepoint to block the hunters from attacking. They begin caving-in operations along the main road, the aqueduct underneath and a side passage from the Hatchet dwelling. The rear guard action is done by a small group of volunteers from the Silver-Attack. Thordar is also part of the rear guard as he can't pass on an occasion to be reckless. 

In the last moment before the final which is to seal the access to the hunters, Thordar gets carried aways on a pursuit and gets separated from the rear guard. By the time that he realizes that he is alone on the other side, he can hear the last warning of the imminent cave-in. Then comes a huge grinding noise and the underground road fills with dust. He is caught, alone, on the wrong side of the collapsed tunnel. Thordar quickly thinks and remembers a known footbridge discovered by scouts last week. That would be his only chance to escape before the hunters fill the base of Marzabul's stairs.  

Without looking back, Thordar slips west into the darkness in search of a way back to the East Gate. 

Bain had a great idea here and it worked quite well. To their knowledge, there are no alternate ways to reach their position from the stair from where the Hunters lauch raids. Thordar was involved in an abstracted MASS combat. He selected +2 for risks and lucked out. This is why he ended up separated from the main body and onto an adventure of his own.

Down they go: looking for a way to the underdeep (Khazek, Lathmelen)

Khazek was reunited with his rangers when they came back from across the Misty Mountains. The news from there were good and the danger of the watcher had not materialized. Khazek was looking for a way to get to the underdeep, get rid of the curse somehow and marry the bride. A logical first step was to descend through the known passage's to Halin's mine and try to break west from there. He considered taking a Lot (47 battle-guards, Axedwarves and crossbowmen), but decided to travel light with only his rockwalkers. 

The descent took about an hour until they got to a crossroad where all access had been caved-in by Halin some 15 years ago. The only way out was a gold mine to the south. The rangers started to look for alternatives. They found an aqueduct underneath the westward road that didn't get properly caved in. Or at least, Lathmelen's elf magic detected the weakness in the mess. They managed to get a squeeze opened that was large enough for broad-chested dwarves. They all crawled through and headed west. 

Just how big is Khazad-dum?

They spent about 6 hours traveling a well kept east-west road. They encountered multiple crossroads but kept on moving forward until they arrived to a major highway. There, they detected recent orc tracks, as well as cart tracks and fragment of the strangest of gold ore. Lathmelen positively identified it as gold ore, but there was something odd about the metal. She pocketed a few rocks and the ranger returned to the East gate to report on the finding. 

Upon their return, it was decided that a sizeable force would have to support the operation on the 4th deep. Elements of the Mithril and Bronze were ready to go while the Silver-Attack was paralyzed by an epidemic of dysentery. 

Meanwhile, in a folder full of parchemins nearby (Bain)

Bain decided to do a little HR work to place the best leader in the best positions. Particularly, in logistic posts where the long-term success of the venture resides.  While the rangers were deep underground and Thordar was lost and no one knew about it, Bain poured over rosters to identify candidates. Using his cunning, he met with sub-commanders to weed out the least competent and promote the best suited for a long underground offense in a terrifying environment (Leadership support check passed).  He identified the key roles, particularly in logistical positions, and matches the two lists (Admin check, supported by leadership).

As a consequence, a bunch of points will be awarded to decrease the dependence of sub-units to more convenient levels. 

K35 - A character sheet for a campaign

In this post, I present some ideas on sandboxing that I tried in my Reclaiming Khazad-dum campaign and report on how it went. 

The Gist

I made a character sheet for the campaign and I gave campaign points for the players to shape the campaign to their liking. 

The motivations

There are a few:

1. It feels like personal awards are not always appropriate as most PCs are well into the 300 points range, yet I want to give awards for good play.
2. I want the players to approach the Reclaiming part as a complex problem with lots of fire to put out, and complete freedom to decide how to go about it.
3. I enjoy having dice tell me which way things are going to go.

K34 - and thus died the Kraken

This session is the conclusion of a side adventure with alternate characters that pitched the Kraken against Gandalf, Quickbeam, Elphir, Beorn and Gwaihir the Eagle-Lord. 

The setup

Time 0 for session 3

It all resumed with the Eagle-Lord lying face up under a yard worth of water, grappled by the Kraken. The Kraken had been lured in really shallow water after the lake was partially drained and Gandalf lured it from the depth using a blue sphere of light. The blow from the diving Eagle was harsh, but the Kraken was still a serious threat.

Quickbeam was then carrying Elphir of Dol Amroth on his shoulder while Gandalf was slinging anemic fireballs to the beast. 

Felling the beast

If you laugh at the GM's artwork, you won't be invited anymore.

While Quickbeam and Elphir were wading to the Kraken, Gandalf propelled Beorn (in bear form) halfway to the beast.  Gandalf then offered a reprieve to the Eagle-Lord by casting a spell to push away water around both creatures' head. This beached the Kraken which was embroiled with the Eagle. By then, Beorn caused much damage with its claws and disabled a basal tentacle. Quickbeam put Elphir on the ground so the knight let out a power-blow that tore a large gash in the beast's side. Beyond the gash, a void full of stars was sucking in air. Elphir was struck by horror at this sight and failed to prevent tipping over into the emptiness. 

By his side, Quickbeam tore an even bigger hole in the Kraken's side while Beorn knocked one of the large eye off its socket. The beast had absorbed by then well over 100 HP of damage to its head and became unresponsive. 

Quickbeam used a tentacle as a rope to climb down into the oblivion while Beorn simply jumped straight in to follow the listless Elphir. When Gandalf arrived, all that he could see was Quickbeam hanging over a bottomless void. His intuition told him to Jump!, and so he did. Quickbeam let go and all fell into a maelstrom.

K33 - An unlikely patch of green

This session is part of a mini-side adventure for the campaign "Reclaiming Khazad-dum". We transport ourselves in the 12th year of the fourth age, some 2-3 years before the start of the campaign itself. The PCs are here a collection of high-powered, A-list Tolkien characters. The outcome of this side quest will determine what Army Group West will run into. 

The Characters

Each players was given complete creative license and 500 cps to create high-profile characters from the Middle-Earth lore. +Paul Stefko decided to play Elphir of Dol Amroth, the heir of Dol Amroth and a damn great Numenorean knight. Paul has posted some design notes on his blog.  +Jason Woollard  create his version of Bregalad (Quickbeam) the hasty Ent. +Arne Jamtgaard traded Bain the Viceroy for Gandalf the White. He modeled Gandalf's magic using effect shaping syntactic magic using the verb and noun variant. Finally, +Alex J. has crafted Beorn. In the next session, +Alex Safatli will be joining the fray with Gwaihir, the Eagle-Lord.

That, friends and fellow gamers, is a 2500 cp worth of protagonists, soon to swell to 3000 cps. 

K32 - Insanity and Hatchets

The royal party has freed a mysterious bride from a sarcophagus and pulled her our of her own crypt despite the protest of kleptomaniac wraiths and a hungry hungry black pudding. 

Bain's dream sequence

Bain fell asleep with his body straddling a narrow hallway. They found a safe haven in a side crypt that wasn't defiled like every others that they had run into so far. As Bain drifted to sleep, an aura built around the viceroy. He slipped out of body in the glow if the Eye of Irmo hanging around his neck.  On the other side, he could make out the shapes of his companions. He headed for the Bride, and zoomed into her inner sanctum as he was sucked into a slow vortex. 

He found himself attending a wedding. A large hall, the bride was standing there but there was no groom. She was walking to a sarcophagus. Bain probed the dream, wondering what he could find. He heard the name of the bride uttered: Denma. Bain was wondering whether he could find out whether Denma liked Khazek. His answer came from behind a curtain where Khazek, as a groom, moved forward with a smug smile on his face, and the head of the Balrog in his hand (a tiny version). Bain wondered whether the bride knew about the Balrog. A drop of black shadow dripped from the Balrog's head. The shadow crept along the floor, passing between legs in the crowd and slithering at a dazzling pace until it reached a deep well. Bain felt himself falling and woke up suddenly. 

The conspirators

Khazek was half asleep when he heard the muttering coming from Helg. Helg was on guard duty. He slipped towards the sleeping body of Lathmelen. The elf was, awkwardly enough, wearing on the dowery dress of the bride. By the time Khazek smashed Helg's knee with Oin's staff, Helg had the time to lodge his hatchet between Lathmelen's shoulderblades. 

A lot of dwarves into a small area

Gror was also on guard duty. He ran over his father to wake him up and rammed his forehead into Helg's shoulder. Helg rolled sideways and turned just on time for Gror to smash again through the bridge of his nose. Lathmelen utters an elven word and Helg dropped his hatchet then dropped to the ground. 

In Gror's wake, Nalik followed with his axe over his head. he was responding to the call by Helg to do away with the elf. Bain tripped him. Nalik fell over the bridge and grappled her body. Bain kicked him hard enough to make him snap from his compromising position. 

Rogi moved into the fray, responding to the renewed calls to eliminate the elf. By then, Gror was in a scuffle with Nordan who was trying to save Helg from further harm. Bain let out a loud yell which paralyzed everyone where they stood.

The dwarves of the battleguard were driven nearly mad by the curse by then. Some had convinced themselves that their predicament was the fault of Lathmelen the elf. Many blamed their commanders for associating with her. Thordar, drew a line with his smallsword in the air, Lathmelen said something obnoxious inadvertantly, but in the end Bain explained in no subtle terms that the elf was a mean to an end and was to be used to complete their mission. This seemed to appease the dwarves, but left Lathmelen perplexed. They set out for the known exit of the 4th level before more insanity would set in. 

And thus concludes another Chapter of "Reclaiming Khazad-dum"

The dwarves returned to the towers and made their way back to the Rising hall on the second level. The dwarves of the Bronze Attack had repelled the hunters once without too much trouble. They covered the bride with Thordar's cloak to avoid her curse to ensnare yet more dwarves.  They settled in the dwelling of the Hatchet farmers. 

Gesdrek conjectured that the Balrog's repose must be the seat of the curse. They decided to delve deep into the underdeep to find what is there and deal with it. The little folks won't do: the curse is too powerful. However, the most heroic elements were eager to get going. 

Let's return to Arda's hell: the bowels of middle-earth opened up by those who delved too deep.

K31 - Dear Diary...

This session continues on the dungeon delve involving all PCs deep into the 4th level. They left to find out more about the curse of the Balrog. They found it. The following is the narrative as recounted by the mysterious bride that just got rescued.

K30 - The Love Polygon

The bride of the unborn reincarnation of Durin had to be put away into a hidden chamber of Khazad-dum until the day of her wedding would come. The viceroy saw her in a dream, and so the Royal party left the Tomb of Arvin in a quest to find that pretty needle in a wraith-infested heystack. What they found was a giant black pudding guarding the sarcophagus of the bride where she lay, at the threshold of bonified death. 

Both Khazek and Thordar saw in her eyes what they interpreted as the promise of true and everlasting love. 

The black pudding is playing with its food

But hey, the job wasn't done. Khazek pulled the bride from the sarcophagus. She was frail, pale and shivering. Her knuckles raw from beating from within the stone receptacle. Khazek pulled her gently and huddled her, careful not to smear her with the acid burning through his heavy chain. He gently kissed her, she was gasping for air. Was this passion? Thordar, boiling with rage lunged forward and punched Khazek in a mad hope to make him drop the bride into his hands. Khazek avoided the blow and misinterpreted it as an overenthusiastic offer to help carrying her to safety.

Lathmelen stumbled while jumping over the pudding, she fell feet first into the caustic mud. Her boots were now smouldering with a brown smoke, but her adarcer shin protector remained unaffected. A foot slipped out, but the second foot stayed stuck. The wraith that was wrestling her for the sword wandered off as she became invisible to it once that she let the sword go. A second attempt to free herself sent her face first to the ground with one foot still mired into the muck. The black pudding rolled over her body and began burning at her clothes and hair.

K29 - The dwarf bride

In the previous episode, Interview with a tombstone, the intrepid royal party has made their way to the crypt level of the old city. Bain, in a dream, can hear the plight of a young female trapped in a sarcophagus. The dream is true alright, as he is wearing the Eye of Irmo, which lets him travels around during his sleeping hours. 

The party is made of 13 dwarves: Bain, viceroy of Khazad-dum (PC ); Thordar, right-hand of the viceroy and daredevil-fencer-rogue (PC); Khazek, irreverent ranger-extraordinaire (PC); Lathmelen, Niece of the Elf-Queen of Greenwood (PC); Gror, son of Bain and frontline commander; Gesdrek, Maiar loremaster; and 7 dwarves from a Battle-guard of the Bronze Attack (Nalik, Rogi, Helg, Kelvar, Volkvak, Rakmir, Nordan). 

Delving silent, delving deep

Gror "butterfinger" faces off with the pudding while a wraith
prances around with Khazek's elven blade.

The night was long for the dwarves as they bunked deep into Arvin's crypt. There was whimpers, and Volkvak certainly lost sleep and looked terrible when the delvers woke up.

Bain explained to the other how to get to the Bride's crypt. The party ate a bit and set out along a major artery to the West. Khazek demonstrated an almost prescient sense of direction and lead the dwarves soon into a side passage in order to keep as close as possible to the description provided by Bain. Lathmelen stayed close behind, as ever impressed by the "young prince".

They wove deeper to the the far reaches of Khazad-dum. Khazek had a close encounter with a wraith and swing wildly into the dark. The wraiths had started to accumulate on their tails, both repulsed and attracted by the dwarves' torch light. The wraiths were particularly interested in Khazek's Ghost Blade and Lathmelen's glowing sword. It occurred to Bain that, after seeing Khazek nearly trip and struck down by a wraith (a pissed one), that if their guide was to go, they would be prisoners of an impossible labyrinth.

Bain's pulse quickened, he started to stumble. He was acutely aware that the minds of his dwarves had started to fade because of the Balrog's curse. He became agitated, jumping around to dodge the real and the imaginary wraiths of his ancestors. Khazek picked up on this and became agitated as well. The other dwarves grew concerned, but did their best to sooth the torment of their friends.

Lathmelen kept a steady eye and found a hidden passage which concealed entrance had been damaged in the past. They wondered about the architectural patterns, but none of the party member could identify details. They proceeded inward to eventually enter a large hall.

K28 - Interview with a tombstone

We left our intrepid heroes all panting after a dash up a 80 yds high ladder while taking fire from above. By the time that we hit the pause button, many goblins were freshly slained, and Thordar's blood was making a mess on the floor.

The toe-hold on the fourth level

After severing the left foot of a fleeing goblin archer, Gror roared down a flight of stairs. He was preceded by said archer, tumbling down said stairs to land by the feet of two goblins taking on a retreat.

Lathmelen ran to Thordar and dispensed as much of her healing magic as she could muster, leaving her out of breath and barely capable of running. The gash in Thordar's leg sealed, he nodded and ran after the pursuing dwarves. Lathmelen, on the edge of losing consciousness, reached for her bow and followed. She met with Gesdrek, Loremaster, and a group of 7 battle-guard dwarves arriving late to the party.

Khazek took to his feet to follow the other archers leaving through the second passage. One of them demonstrated that these goblins were well capable to walk and walls and ceilings as they fled down another set of stairs.

Gror charged with utmost vigor down into a larger hall where about 10 goblins were scurrying through an open door. The door shut, leaving a small number of them on the wrong side. The beleaguered goblins turned back to fight and slowed the progress of Gror, Bain and Thordar towards the door. Thordar got a four-limb grapple by a goblin which placed him in an awkward positions as the other goblins were dealt with.  The Viceroy pinned one of the demoralized goblin against the door with his shield as Khazek and the other cleaned up what was left. 

Journey to the Arvin's crypt

The goblin pinned against the door was named Mik, or at least this is what Bain heard through the whimpers and decided to stick with it. Once that Mik figured out that he was NOT to be killed, his hopes rose and he became very eager to please the dwarves. There appeared to be very little love lost between Mik and whoever shut him up on the wrong side of the gate.

Gror ordered that two more battle-guards be hauled up to the 4th level while Lathmelen and Thordar tried to recover from their wound/shock/exhaustion. Mik kept on bleating nonsense, but a little usable information could be parsed from him. The hunters were regularly raiding the Snagaii kingdom for food. The King of Snagaiis was located on the level below. The dwarves also learned that goblins were terrified of the crypts to the north since the "great rousal" of the dead dwarves a few years ago. Finally, Mik revealed a hard to find passage to get around the stockades protecting them from the hunters and leading into the crypts.

Once the warriors from the Bronze attack arrived (The Silver-Attack was relieved as they started to go loopy on Gror), they ordered 14 of them to keep the hall while 7 would follow the royal party into the crypts. 

Interview with a tombstone

Gesdrek explained that Arvin's tomb should be about 2 hours' travel due North from their position. Mik walked them through a few side passages to get around the blockades and the party ventured deep into the Crypt level of Khazad-dum. The place was noticeably more luxurious than the first and second levels. As they proceeded deeper into the complex, they encountered little evidence of recent passage. The artwork on the walls became more intricate, the place darker and colder.

Poorly defined shapes seemed to be wandering aimlessly through walls, ignoring the advancing party. By early evening, the dwarves had made it to the far corner of the crypts where Arvin was buried. Arvin was once Durin's butler; a very influential dwarf of his day. His tomb was unusually ornate. They entered the crypt and proceeded through a hall covered in engraved and inlaid scenes. In the far end, a phosphorescent glow could be seen coming from a well in the ground. To their left, there was a chapel, to the right, more crypts of what would have been family or close servants.

Gesdrek prompted all to assist him with the ritual. The dwarves chanted while the battle-guard escort keep watch at the crypt's entrance. Mik refused to go in his own way and told the dwarves that he prefered to stay with them until they'd return to the gates of the Snagaii Kingdom. Something spooked him out of the adjoining crypts and he spend the next few hours tormented by the warriors in the central hallway.

The chanting lasted 4 hours until Gesdrek began a silent interview with the opened sarcophagus. He conversed with moans for about 10 minutes; the room fell silent. Gesdrek explained that the Sarcophagus had been defiled by canine-looking creatures which came to free Arvin's body from its final repose. Arvin, however, was now trapped in the crypt as a wraith. He couldn't really see nor hear the living and therefore was not a threat to the others. Gesdrek also got from the tomb that a dark shadow had crawled into the corpse, suggesting that the spirit of the Balrog indeed was the power that moved the ancestors. "I fear that smashing through them may be freeing the Balrog from its current predicament.", concluded the loremaster. They made a mental note to stop slaying ancestors from then on.

Because it was now rather late, and that they were quite tired from the last day. They decided to sleep in the crypt before setting back to the 4th level's entry point in the morning.

Arvin's crypt

The dreamwalker

When Bain fell asleep, he felt his soul split from his body almost right away. Strangely, he felt safe and secure as he realize that his soul was floating in a sea of dwarf wraiths lingering in the area. The eye of Irmo, the jewel given to him by Queen Ngaii, was glowing faintly around his neck. He wandered around, he could see the dreams of his companions, but walked away towards the chapel where the wraith of an imposing dwarf was praying at the altar. The dwarf didn't respond to Bain's calls. However, a cry in the distance caught the Viceroy's ear. 

Bain proceeded west through walls in the search of this call for help. He approached another crypt, ten times more majestic and ornate as Arvin's. At its centre, there was a sarcophagus what didn't get defiled by the infernals. In it, the most beautiful dwarf female was lying and stirring uncomfortably. 

Bain approached the sarcophagus. He could hear the moans, and other sounds that he couldn't fathom. He peered into the stone altar, held the Eye of Irmo in his hands and tried to pry into the beautiful woman's dream. Unfortunately, he got winded and started to lose control as his soul got aspirated back to his body. 

Bain stirred for a long time before falling asleep again. 

In the morning, Bain told of his journey. Gesdrek told him that he probably had encountered the bride of Durin which, upon realizing that Durin wouldn't incarnate during her lifetime, had the dwarves of Khazad-dum put her in stasis until the right day would come. Gesdrek didn't know any more than this about this legend, but felt confident that this bride must have been the long lost maternal side of the line of Durin.  More importantly, the bride appeared to be still unspoiled by the infernals. 

The decided to seek a path to the West to find the Bride's repose before returning back to their lines. 

K27 - Stairway to Heaven

In the previous session, the viceroy's retinue cleared the Rising Hall which had been reported haunted by the scouts. It was, and infested by black panthers which looked like they were feasting on a regular diet of small orcs. 

Orc on a Hook (play-by-post)

Lathmelen, Khazek and Bain are contemplating the chasm below. They can hear the growls of the ancestors some 150 ft below, out of sight. The chasm here is not as wide. Lathmelen established that the vines spanning across the chasm are strong enough to hold one individual at the time.

Khazek, as usual, is the first one to cross. He is followed by Lathmelen. Bain remains behind, surrounded by the axedwarves while Thordar is catching his breath outside.

On the other side. Khazek looks on the ground for signs. He sees that the panthers are commonly passing by and heading West into the hall. He finds evidence of blood, as if wounded bodies are dragged by the animals. Some of these tracks are recent.

While Khazek is looking for clues, Lathmelen advance into the hall and finds a rustic barricade. The barricade seems to be designed to be protecting from threat from their side of the barrier. She inspects the stockade and finds a squeeze near the top. Khazek can trace the paws of the panthers all the way to this squeeze.

“This is where the panther are coming and going.”, the ranger whispers.

There appears to be be no other ways other than forward. The place is deadly quiet, but the two companions can hear a lone snore beyond the barricade. The smell of orcs is also competing with the musk of the giant cats.

Khazek 20140309 - Khazek studies the barricade, trying to get an idea of how long it’s been there. He keeps an eye out for any dangerous looking areas or traps as well. He then carefully and quietly begins to climb up toward the narrow opening, trying to get a look at what lies beyond.

Bain 20140309 - Bain looks at his axedwarves.  “Well?  Don’t just stand there, get moving!”  He grabs the last Dwarf in the line.  “Go back and tell Gror we went on a scouting mission.  Then come back here with another lot and secure this area.”  After the axedwarves finish crossing, Bain will follow.

Lathmelen 20140309 - Lathmelen approaches the barrier and attempts to cast Find Weakness (M116) on it. This is in order to investigate the material and determine if there is a way to create an opening without disturbing it excessively and causing too much sound. She spends two seconds to cast the spell, performs the appropriate ritual most likely involving hand movement, and rolls a 7 which is a success. She will report to the others, enigmatic as usual, the results of her investigation.

The reinforcements

Bain sends out an axedwarf to contact with the Silver to the North. He estimates that if everyone rushes, a lot could be here as soon as in about 20 minutes. Bain can barely make up what is going on across the chasm other than something glittery has snaked up the barricade from the ground to the ceiling...

The barricade

Time T - Khazek approaches the barricade and notices that this is used as a passage for the felines. He looks very carefully amongst the coarse woodwork and sees no treachery. Bain is showing signs of impatience somewhere in the rear. Lathmelen utters are few words in old Sindarin and light a sequence of boards and stakes with the faint glow of a glittering light.  Lathmelen feels a little weak from drawing so much upon the valar in the recent past.

“This is the weak spot in the structure”, she whispers. Khazek plans his climb to the squeeze of the barricade against the upper right corner of the hallway. He identifies a path to climb up. Unfortunately, the shoddy structure gives way and Khazek causes the structure to creak as his footing shifts by a few inches.

The squeaky voice of a goblin comes from over the barricade. It is both raspy, and high-pitched as if he had inhaled helium the moment before.

“Come over! Demon, feast on this orc’s flesh.”, the voices calls out. Khazek can hear the difficult breathing of a lone orc over the edge. There are no audible footsteps, maybe the rattle of something wooden dragged on the ground.

Khazek 20140310 - Khazek stops short when he hears the voice call out. He does not reply just yet, but looks back questioningly at Lathmelen. He pauses for but a moment until curiosity overtakes him and he continues forward, trying to get a look at what is going on up ahead. “But I’ve just recently eaten, thanks though. They call me Rock Walker, and who might you be?”

Lathmelen 20140310 - Lathmelen readies her blade and attempts to find a spot nearby that could serve as a hiding spot and from which she could strike at someone coming out from the barricade. Moving there, if one is found, she then looks to Khazek to gauge his reaction, raising her eyebrow at him and mouthing, “Demon?”

Bain 20140309 - Bain slaps his forehead at Khazek’s impudent reply.  “No!  Demon was the voice’s pet, probably one of the panthers” he thinks, but holds his tongue. That stone had fallen, time to see the nature of the avalanche.

Khazek gains footing to peer through the squeeze. The weak flicker of his torch suggest the shape of a lying orc of a small size.  His left leg appears to be impaled by a large barbed hook that is chained to the ground. He lies on the ground, breathing laboriously, staring up to the ceiling. Beyond, the hallway expands into a hall which the weak torchlight can’t light all the way through. The room is cluttered, but quiet, and cool.

Khazek can squeeze through and slide to the other side. It implies an awkward moment, but poses no real challenge. The area still looks to rustic and simply laid out to be dangerous. Lathmelen is a yard behind, unable to see inside the hall.

“These tricksters talks.”, the goblin whispers in a gargle. “Do your bidding, make it quick, Ghost walker!”, he yelps. The sound echoes back from the far end of the hall. The only noise to be heard is the crackling of the torch and the goblin’s plight.

Khazek can’t help but to slip through and belly slide a few feet before getting on his feet. The goblin still lies there, his eyes appear to have been gouged out. He is waiting for something really bad to happen to him, teeth clenched.

Khazek passes the squeeze and make his way on the other side. The goblin is a sad sight to see. His wounds are not recent: he must have been lying there for a few days. The goblin is conscious, but not particularly aware of its surroundings.  As Lathmelen crawls in, he run his sight along the hall’s wall to scan for danger. There is a door at the far end of the hall, maybe 20 yards away. There are also a set of spiral stairs on the left and right walls.

Khazek 20140311 - Khazek tries not to make a sound. He continues to scan the area looking for signs of danger or escape. Very slowly, Khazek moves very slowly to make room for Lathmelen, keeping his weapon at the ready.

Lathmelen 20140311 - Lathmelen, as amused but frightened as she is of the scenario, moves to action and follows Khazek through the barricade, spending two turns to crawl through. She tries to hold her sword while crawling through, but with sheath it if this proves to be difficult. Speaking carefully, once she acquires her bearings on the other side of the barrier, she asks the goblin “The demons in this place are countless. But I am not quite sure we are those who you should be frightened of. Maybe you are willing to accept our help?” Her eyes immediately go to Khazek in question, hoping he understands her reason for her abysmal attempt at diplomacy. They might learn something from this one.

The goblin seems to hear Lathmelen but doesn’t respond. His grin has faded, his fists are no longer clenched. It is unclear whether he even understood the elf but certainly isn’t inclined to start a chat with the unseen visitor. As far as you can tell, he may not even be aware of Khazek’s presence.

“Me no talky”, he squeaks with half a voice.

Lathmelen 20140312a - Lathmelen shakes her head at Khazek and dismisses the idea of questioning the goblin. She quickly walks over further into the room, to where the left stairs are, and glimpses around the corner, investigating where it leads.

Khazek and Lathmelen look around the hall. There has been a lot of fighting in this place a long time ago: there are broken arrows, the remains of a warg, a panther. The hall was once a gathering place and probably part of the Rising Hall. The tracks on the ground suggest that goblins come in numbers, maybe 10, regularly and drag a goblin to the meat hook. There is little evidence of traffic up and down the stairs.

The door at the far end is shut. The goblin on the hook is moaning quietly.

Lathmelen 20140312b - Lathmelen looks to Khazek for direction, “There is a stairway up and down, but they look hardly travelled. This is a rather dragging scenario. What do you suggest, prince?”. She looks at him amusedly.

Khazek 20140312 - “Well, if the Goblins can move in through here freely, then we need to figure something out, find out where they’re going, figure out what this is,” indicating the hooked Goblin. Khazek moves toward the Goblin slowly, taking his canteen out from his pack. “You, Goblin, you want water? Why are you here? What did you do?”

The goblin is at first ignoring the offer and avert his eyes, as if he still had his eyes that is. The offer for water is too much for him and he opens his mouth. Khazek let a thin strand of water dribble down to its mouth.

“You give me water. You speak different. Here I am, an offering to keep the peace with the demon across the chasm. I bet you are not a demon.”, he turns his face towards Khazek. “I broke my arm, that’s why I’m now as good as meat. Maybe us Snagaiis are only good for this in the end...”

The hall and the boiler room.

The thousand-year old boiler (live play from here on)

Khazek and Lathmelen shake their shoulders and summon the Viceroy to come forward. Bain steps over the chasm and squeeze over the stockade. Khazek explaines the situation and leaves Bain the task of interrogating the delirious goblin. 

While Bain is talking sweet with the goblin, Khazek and Lathmelen inspect the door leading to the city and find it locked. They rig some pieces of wood to secure it from opening from the other side. They decided to look at the spiral staircase to the right. 

They find the stair unused for many long years. It leads to a large and warm room some 20yds high above. The room if filled with refuse and a large boiler powered by a magma pipe. The construction is dwarven, and miraculously still functional. 

Lathmelen returns to the lower level while Khazek inspects the rubbish. The temptation is too strong, and he engages the mechanism. This sends water into the boiler and starts to push steam into a pipe heading towards the cliff. 

Downstairs, Thordar has joined the Viceroy. He explained to him that he spotted a subtle plume of smoke on the 4th level, suggesting that the end of the ladders up the cliff are guarded. Bain, in turn exasperated, begs Thordar to make the goblin talk. Thordar, now a pro at it, uses the tip of his smallsword to prod into the goblin's eye socket. The goblin breaks down and begin to cry. 

The goblin explains that he is a tribute sent to feed the demons from the outside. He points at the locked gate and confide that the Snagaii kingdom lies beyond. The dwarves, disgusted by the sight of a grown goblin crying all over the floor, puts its miserable life to an end. 

Bain turns to the gate: "A Kingdom of Snagaiis, hey."

Five little dwarves climbing up a ladder

Thordar lead the others to the terrace outside the Rising room. They were met by Gror, announcing that he had decided to rotate out the dwarves from the Silver-Attack with fresh troop from Bronze.  "They are hard to keep in check, Father, the curse... I guess.", he explains to Bain.

Once outside, they marvel at the sight of Dimrill Dale down below. Lathmelen uses her elven sight to inspect up above. She sees that the two ladders are climbing to trap doors underneath the terrace on the 4th level.  She spots the plume of smoke, and more seriously the wavy air around the steel ladders as if they were very hot. Khazek figures out that the boiler was probably connected to the ladder system as he had seen such mechanism in Erebor. He quietly returns to the boiler room and turns off the mechanism. 

They decide to climb up the 80 yds by daylight after the ladder cools down. About halfway to the terrace, arrows begins to fly down to the climbers. Thordar is shot on the hand and brush off the pain while the crew accelerate their ascent. As they get closer to the trapdoor, the volume of arrow fire increases. Many arrows would have caused mortal wound had the dwarves not be protected by sturdy dwarven armors. 

The dwarves sprint up the ladder to enter firm ground, as falling off 400ft down to the foot of the cliff isn't an attractive prospect.  

The Eastern eyes of level four

Thordar is the first dwarf to enter the towers. He dodges a few arrows and skewers an archer. Khazek enters next and dispatch another archer with his stick. Lathmelen comes next and attempts to create an illusory panther, but fails to summon the dreadful sight. While Gror slips in and chase a fleeing archer, Thordar lunges recklessly into the goblins, dispatch another with his smallsword and ends with a goblin's arrow deeply embedded into his thigh (Funny bone critical). Khazek fell the goblin's NCO in a dramatic knife throwing one-shot death. This opens the way for Thordar to roll back toward his friends while Lathmelen meets him to deliver some elven healing. 

Thordar is reeling and in terrible pain, Lathmelen is on the brink of collapse. The goblin archers recoiled away but are not defeated. Bain climbs up into the tower to catch sight of his son severing the foot of a fleeing goblin. 

Are things going well or not? Well, they are at least on the fourth level. If they can make it passed the Snagaiis, Gesdrek should be able to lead them to the crypts to interrogate them about the rise of the ancestors. 

Final scene as seen by Bain.