Daria pulls the wand of healing from her polymorphic pouch and heals people as they move through the tunnel. She stays in earth elemental form to make sure the tunnel doesn’t collapse on them as they travel.
"I thank you, Daria," Thorek considers the tunnel while the mayor makes his report. "They'll have a vanguard ready to push through the tunnel, but nothing for it. It's a straight shot to their siege camps."
He steps over to be more visible from the top of the pit and calls back up to Crawbert. "You needn't hold long! This tunnel will lead us straight back to their camp, and I mean to have their commander's head ere long. You and your people have shown remarkable courage, Mayor Crawbert--if we haven't returned in three hours, evacuate everyone you can by river. Gods keep you." And with that, the dwarf turns and marches off into the darkness.
Lily looks at Thorek a bit despondent and sighs. Slinging the bow behind her back she says," Hopefully, we can learn more about what their plans are for the area."
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The tunnel, roughly dug by the immense ankheg, winds at least a half mile eastward, providing you an ostensible subterranean highway past the no man's land stretching between Longshadow and the Legion's battle lines. The tunnel creeps beneath the barricades, trenches, and other obstacles constructed by the Legion forces, giving you a sorely needed hole in their camp's defenses.
The tunnel eventually breaches the surface, with the wan purple light of predawn visible in slivers of the sky. The tunnel emerges within the easternmost pen of the camp's warbeast pens. A dozen cages of iron and timber fill this area, alongside another two dozen stout iron rods driven into the rocky soil and strung with chains as thick as an orc's arm.
Moving through the tunnels in earth elemental form, Daria makes many short detours as they progress, doing her best to quickly compromise the structural integrity of the legion’s embedded barricades. As she arrives at the exit, Daria/Rock goddess pokes just her head above the surface while her bull is hidden in the ground (earth glide), looking around for potential dangers.
Hoping his marching sounds more hobgoblin-y and less dwarfish, Thorek moves determinedly towards the tunnels opening. Get out of the tunnel before the Ironfangs can trap them in here, get to the command tent, kill the minotaur. It wasn't a complex plan, but that didn't make it an easy one either.
Lily just shakes her head as she her friends make a bit of noise. Hiding in the shadows she ends up looking ahead hoping to see any signs of the Ironfangs.
The warbeast pens occupy the southeastern corner of the main encampment. Clusters of tents sit to the north, while barricades manned by troops of Legion heavy infantry line the western and southern sides of the camp. Your view of the northwestern corner of the camp is obscured by the stark, black tower occupying the heart of the camp.
Your immediate attention is drawn, however, to the massive warbeast still skulking about the pens. You spot a slithering, multilegged blue reptile with a fearsome head crowned with two large, curling horns - one of them snapped off into a jagged stump. The creature bears many scars and missing scales, suggesting it is a particularly old, cantankerous specimen. The creature looks about 40 feet long, and it must weight two tons.
The huge, serpentine creatures stalks through the warbeast yard, as though hunting prey that it senses but has not yet located. Whether it heard Daria or smelled Thorek, it seems to know that some manner of intruder is nearby.
Gaining her bearings on the tower, Daria/Rock Goddess draws in the dirt to communicate, writing, "I can lure beast away, if you want sneak towards tower."
"Or Thorek could grab its attention," Esperanza says, shooting the dwarf a grin, "and I could carve it up."
"Let's try both," writes Daria, then she disappears into the earth.
Daria/Rock Goddess glides below the surface of the ground, headed north towards the tents past the massive creature. She then starts rolling the ground underneath one of the big barrels on its side, trying to guide it towards the tents and draw the beast to follow it.
She hopes to draw it into the tents after her and create some chaos and confusion...
Intoning a prayer of protection from electricity, Thorek holds just a moment while waiting to see if the creature will take the bait.
Too old and disobedient to be a useful frontline soldier, yet having learned painfully not to attack minotaurs or hobgoblins, this beast has been left behind with free run of the pens. Thus, it is not restrained by chains or ropes, and thus is free to investigate the disturbance near the barrel and tents.
Fooled by Daria's stratagem, the creature follows her diversion into the rows of tents to the north. Although it does not begin rampaging, it does upend some of the tents and stacks of supplies, resulting in a lot of angry rear echelon troopers hooting and hollering at the big monster for the disruption.
Once the distraction is well underway, Daria goes deep and speeds her way back to the others. When the others are ready, Daria / Rock Goddess glides along to the tower.
With a small surprised-but-pleased grunt, Thorek turns and follows the others through the camp towards the tower.
Lily nods in approval at the chaos and carefully follows Thorek. Staring a bit in disbelief as despite trying his hardest still is pretty noticeable.
Between the active battleground to the west and now the serpentine creature creating a commotion to the east, even Thorek finds it comparatively easy to sneak through the camp and reach the tower at the center.
A tower of obsidian juts up from the ground. A wide stone arch opens at the tower's western side, with a fifteen-foot-wide hallway that extends into the gloomy structure. Glittering runes run up and down the surface, refracting even the scantest light.
Additional notes list thousands of archaic dwarven names, members of clan Kraggodan who made the Quest for Sky in ages past.
It is hard to get closer to the tower, much less enter it or ascend the stairs leading to the command post at its top, due to the hobgoblin phalanx troop left behind to guard the tower.
It takes a moment for the realization to sink in that he can read the inscriptions on the tower--his people's tongue! This strange tower, whatever potent magic allowed the Ironfangs to summon towers and move their armies around...it was a relic of his people! After a moment of astonishment Thorek feels a terrible wrath filling him. How dare these villains use his people's lost arts as a weapon? How dare they besmirch the honor of Kraggodan by turning this great work to a tool for massacre and enslavement?
It would not be borne.
Daria will make sure everyone is appropriately healed up from their injuries from the previous battle and prepare to drop an spell on the phalanx once battle is joined.
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Daria pulls the wand of healing from her polymorphic pouch and heals people as they move through the tunnel. She stays in earth elemental form to make sure the tunnel doesn’t collapse on them as they travel.
[dice=Thorek Cure Serious Wounds]3d8+5
[dice=Thorek Cure Serious Wounds]3d8+5[dice=Esperanza Cure Serious Wounds]3d8+5
[dice=Esperanza Cure Serious Wounds]3d8+5[dice=Lily Cure Serious Wounds]3d8+5
[dice=Daria Cure Serious Wounds]3d8+5
[dice=Daria Cure Serious Wounds]3d8+5
Lily carefully peers at the tower,"Well I presume that's where they are coming from but I've never heard of anything like this before."
"Nor I. Perhaps the lore halls of my kin will have more information. A matter for another time--we have a general to kill."
As the others signal their readiness, Thorek invokes a mighty battle-prayer to suffuse his allies with power and alacrity.
Also in preparation for battle, Daria casts Call Lightning Storm. She transforms back into her snow elven form and says, "Let me try the air elemental attack on the phalanx again--that seemed to work pretty well."
Daria transforms into a large air elemental and prepares to attack the hobgoblins .
As his spell completes, Thorek takes up his dorn-dergar and rushes forward. He declines a battle cry, knowing every second without a general alarm increases their odds of success.
The defenders of the tower take notice as you storm their stronghold, and the move to face you in a final battle.
Now in air elemental form, Daria calls down a lightning strike on the troop then glides soundlessly through the air and into the tower. She moves forward with perfect maneuverability until she is inside the structure, her air elemental for allowing her to move at incredible speed.
Lily hustles ahead up the stairs next to her compatriot Daria.
Daria's bolt of lightning catches the phalanx by surprise and leaves many rank-and-file hobgoblins dead. Their disciplined comrades do not countenance the losses and turn to march towards the rear of the tower to intercept the infiltrators.
"Evil general up in a damned tower belonging to my ancestors, but do I get to teleport or fly around? No no, of course not, Thorek gets to trudge up the stairs!" Continuing to grumble, Thorek hustles around the tower's base and up the stairs, legs pumping to carry him towards Kosseruk.
Esperanza also charges up the stairs alongside her hearty friends.
Kosseruk and her personal guard atop the tower, hearing the infiltrators making their way up to their command post, prepare their own magical defenses. The bodyguards lay protective spells on their master, while Kosseruk herself reads and invokes a spell from a scroll upon herself.
Daria listens to the spellcasting, hoping to figure out what is being cast...
Then she continues wafting up the stairs. Coming up on the window, she sees the squad outside and calls down another bolt from the lightning storm boiling up outside.
As they wheel around the tower, the phalanx lacks the space needed to maneuver effectively. Thus, they are packed just tightly enough to be unable to avoid the latest bolt of lightning called down upon them, felling more hobgoblin heavy infantry.
Daria recognizes one of the spell laid upon Kosseruk: Protection from Energy, attuned to electricity. Their scouts have likely reported the party's predilection for using magically called lightning in its battle strategy, so they have accounted for this.
Lily continues running up the tower panting a bit. Looking at Daria she says,"I wish I could fly. This would make my life so much easier."
The phalanx does and about face and reverses course. They take up position where they can view the top of the stairs leading to the command post, and they ready their bows to begin harrying the intruders in order to lend fire support to their commander.
His steps enhanced by divine will, Thorek continues his sprint up the spiraling staircase. "Kosseruk! Come fight you miserable coward!"
Esperanza and Thorek lead the continuing charge up the spiraling stairs.
You can hear Kosseruk and her personal guards invoking more spells as they prepare for the coming confrontation.
"So many stairs.... So many stairs...," Lily pants as she continues running up the stairs.
"Indeed," Esperanza huffs, for once jealous of Thorek's unburdened pace. She leads with her glaive, hoping they reach the top soon.
Another bolt of lightning streaks down from the sky at Daria's command, crashing down upon the hobgoblin phalanx and electrocuting more of the heavily armored soldiers.
However, enough of their numbers and discipline remains for them to unleash volleys of arrows upon you as you ascend the stairs winding around the black tower.
Daria responds with another stroke of lightning down at the troop and continues winding her way around with the rest of them, though her speed allows her to get around the corner a bit and out of direct line of fire from the troop.
Grimacing against the rain of arrows, Thorek pushes further up the stairs to get out of their line of fire before invoking Angradd's blessing to wreathe himself in golden fire even as his wounds close up.
You can hear Kosseruk and her coterie readying their weapons and other accoutrements, but no new spellcasting sounds can be heard from the command post.
The latest bolt of lightning called down upon the phalanx devastates their formation further, whittling down their numbers and their resolve.