Hogar's Journal (Translated from Giant)
Year 781 of the founding of the City
8th Day of Meloramensis – Part I
Thunderspire Mountain – The Horned Hold, South Gate
I was roughly roused from fitful dreams of Diefenbaker's last moments by Glen who was on watch. He was alerting us to a presence in the chapel. As we sprang to our feet and readied weapons a deep rumble echoed around the chamber. The rumble was pierced by an ominous cracking as a large section of ceiling fell to the ground. As the dust cleared it became apparent that a large chunk of masonry was blocking our progress through the chapel. After some arguing as to what to do next we settled on what was really our only option, to retrace our steps and look for another route to Mirklemoor.
Moving back into the landing where we encountered the foul smelling zombies we proceeded along another corridor. As we approached an iron bound door loud voices became apparent. They were speaking in what both Eligos and I recognised immediately as giantish. My heart raced at the prospect of facing orcs. Killing some of my despised kin would be some solace in the face of the loss of Diefenbaker. Eligos could make out four distinct voices bawdily discussing their success in some previous skirmish. I motioned for the others to drop back into the darkness of the corridor and barged my way into the room. Three orcs sat around a rough wooden table clutching tankards. Their discarded weaponry carelessly rested against thighs or on the table top. In one corner crouched an ogre gnawing on a suspiciously large looking bone. Between mouthfuls of marrow he was regaling his comrades with tales of the loot he had taken from some town or other.
"You dolts! The prisoners are escaping". I barked at them as I burst through the door. Four fanged faces turned to look at me without comprehension. "Fools!" I screamed. "Get over the bridge and after them before they get away".
As dull witted as they looked none of the four dared to question someone of the orcish race who spoke with such authority. They lumbered to their feet as one and moved towards the door. Barely had they got into their stride when Minron came barrelling through the door head lowered and charged into the nearest archer. Tankard, orc, chair and bow went crashing to the ground. I quickly sank an arrow into one of the other orcs as the rest of the party came through the door, weapons at the ready.
As he came though the door Vic made use of the black magic he has been studying of late and uttered a curse at the nearest orc. As he did so I noticed a change in him that I could swear has happened overnight, though perhaps I've just failed to notice before. He had taken on a sallow hue. His waxy skin seemed to hang taught over his bones and his eyes were dull and hollow with a haunted look about them.
As we moved to attack the slavers the ogre reacted with a lightning speed that we did not expect. He smacked Minron with a wooden club itself nearly the size of the massive minotaur. Glen, immediately reacted to the threat posed by the giant ogre by circling around behind him to take advantage of the brute's preoccupation with Minron and sliced him with his ugrosh. Though not devastating the attack clearly surprised the ogre who yelped out in pain and turned his attention to the plucky dwarf. Amazingly, despite being five times his size the ogre seemed somewhat cowed by the determination of the stalwart fighter.
The orcs, though much more nimble than the orge must have been considerably slower of wit. Throughout these initial moments of struggle they remained standing around the table open mouthed. Rodney ensured that such reticence did not go unpunished as with a gesture he caused the table to erupt into a searing column of flame which roasted the flesh of all three of them. The stench of seared orc awoke my hatred of the creatures that have caused me so much suffering over the years. I notched an arrow and loosed it to bury itself in the breast of the prone orc as he struggled back to his feet. Quickly I notched another and put it through his left eye and into his brain thus ending his life. Another of my evil brethren sent to collect the skulls of his dispatched foes from Grummush.
The death of his comrade unnerved one of the remaining orcs and he ran towards a double door at the other end of the room. His friend showed altogether more bravery and stepped across to cover his retreat and throw a poorly directed hand-axe at Minron. Eligos saw the fleeing orc and transformed herself into her brute form to give chase. As he placed his hand on the door handle the unfortunate orc was hit full in the face by Eligos' flail. Blood erupted from his snout but to his credit the beast did not go down.
Despite the failure of the orc to reach the door it swung open unaided, creaking on its hinges to reveal a pitch black void beyond. Rough moaning emanated from the darkness, the unmistakeable tortured voice of the long undead. Slowly a mummy shambled forth, foetid strips of linen hung loosely from him swinging in counter-motion to his pendulous gait. The sight of the creature made my heart constrict in my chest. Somehow he seemed to emanate a feeling of dread. Minron, who later admitted to experiencing the same fear, dealt with it by charging headlong into the mummy sending the reanimated corpse crashing to the ground.
Our attention was drawn from the new arrival by the smack of the ogre's club connecting with Glen's head. However by turning to face the dwarf the ogre left himself open to an attack from Old Vic who unleashed a dark bolt of energy from his wand. A shadowy tether formed between the orge and Vicrael's wand that seemed to drain the beast's energy. His misery was further compounded as Glen and Rodney followed up with vicious attacks of their own. The valour of my companions had left the ogre visibly stunned but still he fought on. My thirst for the blood of orcs temporarily sated at the death of the first orc I turned my attention on the ogre and sent two arrows into his gullet, killing him. As the giant toppled I glimpsed an orc drawing back to strike at Minron. I put a third shaft into his armpit causing him to miss the minotaur. This last misfortune and the death of two of their comrades was enough to send both remaining orcs fleeing through the door and into the darkness, Minron's assailant trailing black blood from his wound.
Only the mummy now remained to threaten us. Eligos and Minron bore down on his prone form slashing at him with sword and flail tearing putrid flesh from rotten bone. Even under such an assault the mummy managed to regain his feet. As he did so flesh and bone knit together to make it appear that his ordeal had never happened. Thus unscathed he swung a fist at Minron and struck with such force that the mighty minotaur staggered back a step. The attack availed him little though as Minron simply used the space between them to charge the mummy and once again send him sprawling on the floor.
Vic stepped forward and engulfed the mummy and Eligos in a gout of flame. The flames had no effect on the tiefling but the mummy fared less well. The musty linen enshrouding his entire form burst instantly into flame. His low moan raised several octaves to become a shrill squeal as he staggered about in agony his arms flailing wildly. Glen took a step towards the mummy and with a mighty heave sent the blade of his ugrosh into his exposed neck to cleave halfway into the creatures chest. The mummy grasped the shaft of the axe even as he dropped to one knee. Glen placed a boot on the mummy's shoulder and heaved the weapon free, releasing a torrent of blood and another scream from our foe. Eligos and Minron both charged into to stricken mummy sending it crashing to ground to ooze blood and other unspeakable substances into the flagstones. An eerie silence filled the room.
The silence was broken by a wet sucking noise and the return of the familiar undead moan of the zombie. The creature rose to its hands and knees, all the while dripping gore onto the floor as the great rent in its torso sealed itself before our very eyes. The monster, bandages singed and soaked in crimson blood, turned on Glen and punched him in the face. The blow splattered the dwarf's face in gore. Minron rushed to Glen's aid and knocked the mummy over once again. Glen immediately chopped his axe down on the creature's neck nearly severing it but even with the merest slip of flesh holding his head to his shoulders the mummy tried to rise and continue its attack.
Rodney brought matters to a head by calling for us to step aside. He raised his magic orb above his head and engulfed the mummy in a blast of searing energy. The creature screamed one last time as his body disintegrated to land on the floor as a pile of dust.
As we followed the trail of orcish blood into the darkness Glen fell in beside me to point out to me that the ogre was on his last legs when I stepped in and dispatched him. Utter nonsense obviously but I've learned that it's best to humour him. I noticed that he was sweating slightly before the dark engulfed us, I hope that mummy wasn't carrying some sort of contagion.
8th Day of Meloramensis – Part II
Thunderspire Mountain – The Horned Hold, Slave Pits
Pitch darkness slowly gave way to a deep red glow cast by dying embers from an abandoned fireplace. The dim light revealed a wooden door through which muffled voices could be heard. Eligos pushed through the door and into an antechamber from which two further doors exited, one to the left and one straight ahead.
The threshold ahead lay open to reveal a bedchamber. The room was split into two levels by a small flight of stone steps and bathed in the orange light of two further fires, these were well tended and roared warmth into the room. Their low illumination flickered over the sardonic countenances of several gargoyles adorning the walls. The dance of light and shadow across their features gave them a somewhat mischievous expression, perhaps even the impression that they were laughing.
On the raised level was a grand bed and next to it stood a duergar who regarded us coolly. He stood at over five feet; a giant for one of his people. Kneeling before him was a ragged looking human, covered in grime and barely conscious. The duergar had one hand around the man's shoulders and in the other, one of those poison quills from his beard, the point pressing uncomfortably at the human's throat.
"Glen of Zaram." He said turning his crimson eyes upon the dwarf fighter. "Your fame precedes you. Turn around and leave immediately or I promise things will get very messy, starting with this unfortunate wretch." He violently jerked the head of his hostage who whimpered in fear. I glanced at Glen. Beads of sweat had formed on his brow and scattered the firelight in all directions as a look of non-recognition and confusion crossed his features. The dwarf is unmistakeably suffering from some sort of affliction.
"You must be Mirklemoor." Vic interjected. "We've come for the humans you kidnapped. If you just hand them over we will gladly leave you in peace".
I suspect the old man was lying to Mirklemoor, there's no way we were going to leave his operation in tact after all we have been through under this mountain. Not that it mattered in the end, the duergar didn't go for it anyway. He snorted his derision at us.
"Hah! Those prisoners are going nowhere that doesn't bring me gold old timer and now neither are you. You will fetch a good price from the mind flayers, despite the lack of brains for them to feast upon." With that he thrust the spine into the gullet of the human hostage. His scream quickly turned into a gurgle as he collapsed in a fountain of blood at the slave-master's feet. Before we could react two further duergar of more normal stature and a human priest of Orcus emerged from the shadows.
The two nameless duergar moved forward to peg us back in the doorway as the priest summoned hexes and Mirklemoor advanced towards us. He was now wielding a massive maul sheathed in flames. I have encountered the priests of Orcus on many an occasion in the past. I knew therefore that their hexes caused such confusion in the midst of battle that the presence of even single one of them boded ill for us should he be allowed to dictate the terms of the struggle.
I wasted no time putting two arrows into the priest as the others rushed the duergar lackeys in an attempt to force our way into the chamber. Under the force of my companion's onslaught the duergar quickly moved back leaving an opening into the room, an opening that Rodney was quick to take advantage of. He ran into the chamber to blast the priest and Mirklemoor with bolts of ice leaving both frozen on the spot. Even frozen in place however a priest of Orcus is still a threat and exposed as he was Rodney quickly found himself transformed into a toad!
The priest also summoned a hex and made to cast it at Eligos. I shot him again but although thrown off balance he still managed to hex the tiefling. The others continued to press forward reigning blow after blow on the duergar blocking our path into the room until eventually one dropped to his knees. As he did so he suddenly expanded to four times his original size and then stood to menace us once again by striking Eligos.
Despite this new threat I decided to focus on the priest, knowing full well how dangerous he could be if left unattended. I muttered an enchantment at my nocked arrow that caused it to shatter shortly after impact and bury splinters in the flesh of my quarry. Sadly my aim was not true and the arrow struck his shoulder rather than his heart. Though not a fatal wound the priest was clearly in some discomfort, Vic promptly stepped in and finished him off with a burst of energy from his mind. I'll have to have a word with him later about stealing my kills.
At the death of the priest Rodney returned to his human form, although he was clearly still befuddled by the ordeal. To make matters worse for the mage Mirklemoor managed to free himself from his cocoon of ice. He immediately turned his fury on Rodney, attacking the mage with his maul and knocking him into one of the fireplaces.
We redoubled our efforts to get into the room but met with little success against the duergar as the newly giant one blocked even more of our route in. Eventually Vic dispatched him by summoning an equally giant fist of iron which grasped him about the middle and with a series of sickening pops and cracks crushed him to death. The gap created was large enough for Minron and Glen to rush to Rodney's aid. As usual the mage was far from helpless. Upon entering the fire he had conjured a cloak of flame around him which shielded him from the worst of the fire.
Eligos took a swipe at the remaining duergar guarding the door and he also grew to four times his original size, once again blocking our path into the bedchamber. Just as his guard succumbed to gigantism Mirklemoor shouted into one of the fireplaces.
"What are you waiting for? Get in here you idiots."
As he finished speaking, the other door leading from the antechamber burst open and another two duergar entered to my left and attacked Minron. Behind them there appeared a Theurge who raised a thick cloud of choking gas around me. As I hacked and coughed my field of vision was reduced to no further than the end of my nose. In my blindness I felt Rook's presence intensify in my mind.
"These duergar are troublesome." He said and I experienced the sensation of intense energy radiating from my outstretched wings. Except of course they weren't my wings, they were Rook's.
The sounds of battle continued to penetrate through the fog including what sounded very much like a clap of thunder and screams of pain, mostly from voices which I did not recognise. Whatever magic was holding the cloud in place around me did not last long. As my vision cleared I noticed that two of the duergar lay dead on the floor with only one further guard still standing. Another cloud of gas, quite separate to the one which had blinded me lurked beyond the door to my left and Mirklemoor was nowhere to be seen.
Rodney gestured at the cloud and at his command it moved away from the door and further into the room. With the way clear Eligos transformed into a humanoid ram and charged through the open door and into the room beyond. As she disappeared from view a cacophony of desperate wails sounded through the door. In response five burning demons materialised in the centre of the room and moved off in the direction in which Eligos had disappeared. The rest of us moved in to aid the tiefling lead by Minron and Glen who went in at at a dead run and disappeared in the direction of the fighting to the accompaniment of a loud crash.
Rook landed on my shoulder and I moved up to the door with my bow at the ready. I entered a large chamber which was originally a reservoir for the fortress. There were three large cisterns in the room though only one of them now held water. The others were empty and had ladders placed in them allowing descent to the bottom. One of them, to my right, had seven ragged and dishevelled humans crouched in it, each of them manacled to the floor. Two spiny demons known to Eligos as spinagons hovered menacingly over the slaves whilst Eligos, Minron and Glen stood over the prone figure of Mirklemoor.
I loosed an arrow into the chest of Mirklemoor and another into one of the spinagons, though this seemed to have little effect. As the fire demons turned to regard the new threat Rodney once again gestured at the poison cloud commanding it to coalesce over the demons. As one they began to hack and cough. Very quickly all five of them fell to the ground in agonised death throes.
It was at this point that I became aware once again of the presence of the duergar Theurge. I was alerted as he uttered some sort of arcane chant which precipitated a storm of molten hailstones falling from the ceiling directly above my head. As the first stone struck me and singed my armour I felt Rook take flight from my shoulder as the impact sent me crashing to the ground.
As I struggled to dig myself out from underneath rapidly solidifying molten rock I noticed that Minron had also been brought down by the hailstorm. Glen, Vic and Eligos continued to engage with the spinagons and Mirklemoor. The spinagons tore spines from their flesh and hurled them at my companions. As the spines streaked through the air they burst into flames. Mirklemoor summoned a gout of flame which rather than attack anyone, flickered over him and caused his wounds to heal and his energy to return. Rejuvenated as he was he turned to Eligos and struck her with two vicious swipes of his maul.
With a furious roar Minron erupted from the rubble which entombed us and hurled himself at the duergar slave-master. His sword struck home with such vim that it rent Mirklemoor's black armour and added a new wound to replace those recently healed. Glen quickly moved in to back up the minotaur by swiping his axe at the duergar's knees, hobbling him and then striking him again. Rodney sensing that the slave-master was in a weakened state blasted him with a bolt of energy, killing him instantly. Mirklemoor thus dispatched, the mage gestured once again at the poison cloud and it moved to envelop the Theurge.
The Theurge immediately moved out of the cloud in an attempt to cast spells at us. In doing so he moved perilously close to Glen, Minron and Eligos. A mistake which he paid dearly for as Minron charged into him and knocked him prone. Glen followed this up with a vicious attack to his exposed neck before Eligos joined the two of them in hacking the helpless creature to pieces. As this was happening Vic, Rodney and I sent attack after attack at the hovering spinagons. For a long time the attacks seemed to have little effect. Eventually one fell and the other was left severely injured and with little hope of getting out of the chamber alive. As a last vindictive act it swooped into the occupied slave pit and executed one of the humans just before my arrow finished it off.
With all of the slavers dead we started to free the terrified looking humans from their prison. There were six survivors. Including the two executed by Mirklemoor and the spinagon respectively gave a total of eight accounted for leaving two prisoners at large. Vic asked the survivors what had happened to their missing comrades. Apparently they were taken away by a gnoll perhaps two days ago. When asked which direction they had gone their leader pointed out a hidden tunnel which seems to head in the direction of the Seven Pillared Hall.
We have decided to hole up here for the night to regain our strength, Glen especially looks as though he could use some sleep. Vic and Rodney are going to loot the corpses of our fallen foes whilst Minron tends to Glen. Eligos and I are going to fetch the other humans we left in the Great Hall back here to travel with the rest of us. Tomorrow I will lead us all back to the Seven Pillared Hall where we will make preparations to track down the missing two.