Rook's bomb hits the skeletal warrior attacking Erna and reduces it to a smoldering pile of bones and armor.
Danduun attacks the next one down the road and gnaws on one of its leg bones.
Waiting on Gru'Gar at the moment.
Erna:
DC 19
Skeleton 3:
Gru'Gar, AC 20
Gru'Gar takes a might swing with his greataxe, hoping to hear a few undead bones crack.
A moment later the sound of several bones cracking resounds along the nearly empty street. The rogue does notice that his axe glances off the armor and bone, diminishing the damage some, but his brute strength still inflicts disruption on the undead warrior.
The skeletal warrior attacked by Danduun turns and swings his dwarven ax the the animal. He wounds Danduun with a solid hit.
Erna advances to join Gru'Gar and strikes a blow with her handax, but the blade has little effect on the bones and armor.
Lukher's footsteps can be heard running along the next street over, heading back west as fast as he can move (not that fast, alas).
The skeletal warrior fighting Gru'Gar and Erna swings his urgrosh at Gru'Gar, but the blade glances off the half-orc's armor.
Round 2
Vinnie
BLS 2 (7 lethal)
Round 3
Trevor
BLS 1 (43 lethal, destroyed)
Rook
Needles
Sadaf
Danduun (15 lethal)
Gru'Gar
Erna (9 lethal)
BLS 3 (8 lethal)
Lukher (2 lethal)
BLS 4 (13 lethal)
Vinnie cracks a few more bones in the skeletal warrior now being attacked by two Pathfinders and the Captain. It is much worse for wear, but still dangerous.
The skeleton that had Lukher in its bony grip and then lost him chases after the merchant. Its clanking armor can be heard moving west along the next street north, although tents and shops prevent a view of the chase.
Trevor
BLS 1 (43 lethal, destroyed)
Rook
Needles
Sadaf
Danduun (15 lethal)
Gru'Gar
Erna (9 lethal)
BLS 3 (8 lethal)
Lukher (2 lethal)
BLS 4 (22 lethal)
Vinnie
BLS 2 (7 lethal)
Sadaf cannot do anything and just order Danduun to continue to attack the creature in front of him!
Trevor's magic missile zig-zags its way through the tents to hit the skeleton, cracking several bones.
Lukher smiles grimly and keeps running.
Danduun nips and claws more on the warrior.
Rook
Needles
Sadaf (no action)
Danduun (15 lethal)(full attack, 2 hits, 11 to BLS3)
Gru'Gar
Erna (9 lethal)
BLS 3 (19 lethal)
Lukher (2 lethal)
BLS 4 (22 lethal)
Vinnie
BLS 2 (10 lethal)
Round 4
Trevor
Gru'Gar vs BLS AC 19
BLS 3 vs Danduun AC 21
BLS 4
Vinnie AC 21
Vinnie AC 21
Rook advances past the scrum with the nearest warrior and tosses a bomb at the one fighting Danduun. He hits it and successfully sets the bomb's contents to avoid any of the flaming liquid from hitting the dinosaur.
That skeleton is looking ragged, but is not yet destroyed.
Gru'Gar continues to attack the skeleton in front of him. He hits again, although, again, his axe proves less than totally effective against the hard bones of the undead.
This skeleton too is near the end of its existence, but still doggedly fighting on. The way these skeletons fight suggests a much higher intelligence than typical boneyard undead.
Erna withdraws from the fight because her handaxes are even less effective in damaging the skeletons than Gru'Gar's greataxe. She chases after Trevor to try to help Lukher.
Danduun is attacked with both ends of the dwarven urgrosh. His tough scales and his little suit of leather armor protect it, however.
Lukher continues to run as fast as his legs will carry him, which is about as fast as the skeleton chasing him. He almost runs into Trevor coming to the same corner at almost the same time.
"Thank Torag! Skeletons are trying to kidnap me!" he yells.
Meanwhile, the warrior fighting Gru'Gar and Vinnie focuses on the vanara. He stabs Vinnie with the spear end of the urgrosh and wounds him. Then the axe end of the weapon is whipped around to cut him as well.
Vinnie (17 lethal)
BLS 2 (10 lethal)(double Move)
Round 4
Trevor
Rook
Needles
Sadaf
Danduun (15 lethal)
Gru'Gar
Erna (9 lethal)
BLS 3 (19 lethal)
Lukher (2 lethal)
BLS 4 (25 lethal)
Danduun continues to attack the creature in front of him!
Danduun manages to bite or rip at the extremities of the skeleton, breaking or cracking more bones.
DC 18 Reflex save for half damage from bomb spash: 12 points fire
Gru'Gar: No damage (w/ Evasion).
BLW4: Half damage: 6
Erna vs. BLS2 AC 19
Vinnie's first punch just connects, causing the skeleton some more disruption. The second punch hits a solid part of the warrior's armor and does no harm.
The skeleton looks like it will only take one more hit to destroy it.
The skeleton sees Rook's bomb coming and dodges it. The bomb sails over the melee and hits the shop stall just north of Gru'Gar.
Gru'Gar deftly avoids any of the flaming liquid. The skeleton avoided some of the splash, but enough of the burning chemicals landed on it to burn away the last remnant of magical energy holding the undead together. It collapses into a smoldering heap of armor and bones.
Over near Lukher, Erna steps in front of the merchant and tries to assault the skeleton with her handaxes, but she fails to come close. She calls out, "We need help over here!"
BLS2
Gru'Gar decides to race around to help Erna and Trevor deal with the skeleton harrying Lukher. He adds to a defensive line already started by the other two, with Lukher behind and out of reach.
The skeleton that had been fighting with Danduun, now has a choice of targets, as Sadef has moved close. It swings the axe-end of its urgrosh at Sadef and stabs at Danduun with the spear end. The ax hits Sadef's armor but does not penetrate. The spear misses Danduun entirely.
The other skeleton has a choice of targets as well. It swings the axe at Trevor and the spear at Gru'Gar, but both miss.
The sound of footsteps gets louder and louder and anyone turning to look sees several city guards running toward the melees. These reinforcements ensure that the skeletal warriors are defeated. Other support arrives shortly, including clerics who can heal any who were wounded.
Inspecting the remains of the undead reveals a few things. Dwarves who arrive at the scene recognize the insignia on the tattered uniforms of the warriors, a double-headed waraxe as the house crest of Lady Delbera.
The other thing is that each undead warrior has a spike made out of onyx and embellished with tarnished silver designs driven into its chest. The spikes are non-magical, but could perhaps be used in necromantic spells or just sold for the onyx and silver .
Most of the guard members leave to look for other security threats. Erna remains with the group, concerned to understand what lead to this strange encounter. She doesn't know much about the house of Lady Delbera except that she was an influential leader and hero in the past.
Lukher knows more. He reveals that the flaming axe head was the symbol of the Firebrand Legion, a group of local heroes in Davarn. Based out of a subterranean fortress several hours east of the town, they patrolled the underground roads and fought against threats from the Darklands. The Firebrand Legion was disbanded when many of their number—including their leader, Lady Delbera Axebringer—perished while repelling a larger duergar force 40 years ago.
Once the city's leaders gather at the site of the battle, they confer and make an offer to the Pathfinders. Preliminary reports are that other citizens may have been kidnapped. Mayor Benik offers each Pathfinder a reward of 3500 gp if they can figure out where these undead came from and rescue as many of Davarn's citizens as possible.
Rook doesn't find out much from asking around. People are respectful, but don't open up to him, for some reason.
Trevor, Vinnie, and Gru'Gar fare little better. The people they talk to were at the festival and at that time most of the rest of the underground city was largely empty.
Sadaf finds people much more talkative perhaps because he is a fellow dwarf. They tell him a number of other citizens of the town went missing, so they too may have been abducted. All of these victims are related to the late hero, Lady Delbera, who spent over a century defending Davarn from foreign threats.
All the skeletons’ victims were seen being dragged down Taggun’s Crawl to the east, which connects to other dwarven cities, but the tunnel is hazardous and unpatrolled beyond Firebrand’s Redoubt, which is where the old Firebrand Legion made its last stand some four decades ago.
Both Sadaf and Trevor get a lot of information about Firebrand's Redoubt when townspeople learn that is the direction the victims were taken and that the Pathfinders are voluntarily likely to head that way to try to find them.
Firebrand’s Redoubt is an old fortress that marks the farthest eastern influence of Davarn and its guards. Local hero Lady Delbera Axebringer constructed it. This result also yields the fortress’s precise location.
Lady Axebringer had her keep constructed after a relatively long adventuring career, both as a place to keep her trophies and as a forward position from which she and her assembled mercenaries could defend her hometown.
A large group of duergar assaulted Firebrand’s Redoubt about 40 years ago. The dwarves ultimately repelled their Darklands cousins, but many members of the Firebrand Legion died in that defense, including Lady Axebringer. Unable to finance the fortress, Davarn consecrated most of it as a mausoleum for the fallen, only maintaining the foyer as a remote guard station.
Firebrand’s Redoubt had a concealed sally port a quarter mile west; sometimes local kids used it as a clubhouse.
Once this information is shared, Erna leads the team to a gate that normally is locked and guarded by the city watch. There were four guards there, all killed and the gate was open. Puncture wounds on the bodies suggest they may have been poisoned, suggesting that someone with sinister resources committed the murder. Erna says she'll start an investigation into the deaths, but doubts it will bear much fruit in time to make any difference in rescuing the kidnapped kin of Lady Delbera.
Erna speculates that the skeletons were once part of the Firebrand Legion, who wore the double-headed axe emblem on their uniforms. They were all buried in the mausoleum part of the redoubt. This makes her think someone used a raise dead spell on the dead legion members. If this is true, there may be many more undead to deal with. Erna knows about the concealed sally port and gives them detailed directions on how to get to the port as well as the fortress beyond. She thanks them for being willing to help.
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Sadaf listens to the whole story and is very upset.
"They used fallen dwarven heroes as vessels to raise undead??? They kidnapped dwarven relatives of one of the most important people of this town? They poisoned defenders of this town?? Whoever did this might have a connection to the duergar that were mentioned!?" he asks the group.
"We have to find out what they are planning and have to investigate the tunnel here! I am ready!!" he says and pets his dinosaur companion!
Trevor:
Sadaf:
Rook:
Vinnie:
Erna enlists Gru'Gar's help on some matters needing his expertise in Davarn. The rest of the Pathfinders set off into the tunnel known as Taggun's Crawl.
Taggun’s Crawl is a well-maintained tunnel winding its way east to from the town of Davarn to Taggoret. It was once quite secure thanks to the efforts of the Firebrand Legion, but in the decades since their collapse, Davarn has focused primarily on defending the 6-mile stretch between the town and Firebrand’s Redoubt. Dwarven bandits or creatures from the Darklands below sometimes besiege points east of the redoubt, and most dwarven caravans traveling Taggun’s Crawl bring guards to defend themselves.
Despite its excellent condition, the Taggun’s Crawl doubles back on itself repeatedly and sees several steep elevation changes—travel along its length takes longer than expected and the group must pause to rest for a good night's sleep to recover from the efforts of the contest and the fight afterward. Fortunately, the tunnel has lots of minor offshoots and small caves with no nasty creatures using the space as a den.
After a bit of cautious exploration, one such place is found that allows everyone a good rest while others keep watch. Although some sounds echo through the caves from time to time, nothing disturbs the group and they wake refreshed. After a bit of time for spell preparation and breakfast, the Pathfinders continue. It does not take long to locate the secret entrance to a passageway Erna described exploring when she was a child.
Inside the passage, they find the bodies of two deceased dwarves beginning to decay. They appear to have died of wounds received in combat. They each have a masterwork dwarven waraxe, and there is an everburning torch half hidden under one of the bodies.
The passageway located, the group advances to at least locate the normal entrance to the redoubt, which is supposedly now functioning as a mausoleum. There are supposed to be guards at the entrance, but the post is deserted. Perhaps the two corpses were part of that guard unit.
A dwarven-built wall surrounds a courtyard cut into the cavern. Grand doors depicting dour, dwarven faces and angular glyphs stand beyond that open space. The metal doors to the redoubt are ajar, twisted and bent by brute force, and a line of light spills out from the opening. Statuary of dwarves decorates the courtyard, some of them showing signs of recent vandalism. The walkway from the main gate to the front door is littered with debris from the broken statues and overturned benches. This courtyard is otherwise unoccupied.
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Sadaf says farewell to Gru with spit and a hug. “I am sure our paths will cross again!!“
Sadaf is ready for Taggun’s Crawl.
During the cautious exploration he really feels a sense of pride. He did not grow up with many dwarves. Now he can help his people!!
Sadaf and Danduun take to first watch before sleeping and are eager to continue to the secret entrance to the passageway Erna described exploring when she was a child.
When they find the deceased dwarves beginning to decay, he is really sad. “So much blood has been spilled! We have to end this!!“
Sadaf is in awe at the sights.
“I am for the secret entrance!“ he says.
Sadaf directs Danduun to track and go at the front of the party and also look around.
Haab Nuervagen
Ashen Co Foot soldier 1
Ashen Co Foot soldier 2
Ashen Co Mercenary 1
Ashen Co Mercenary 2
Haab Nuervagen
Ashen Co Foot soldier 1
Ashen Co Foot soldier 2
Ashen Co Mercenary 1
Ashen Co Mercenary 1
Sadef
Danduun
Trevor
Vinnie
Haab
ACF1
ACF2
ACM1
ACM2
AF1:
AF2:
The Pathfinders move through the secret tunnel past the dead dwarves. It is big enough that no one has to squeeze through any parts although Rook finds he must watch his head for rough places in the ceilings that remain well above those of more modest height.
After about a half mile of walking, the tunnel approaches a door made of wood with a release that opens it from inside the tunnel. Listening at the door reveals someone speaking in a unknown language, footsteps, sounds of metal on leather, chairs being shifted, etc.
The smell of stale beer and whiskey hang in the air of this room. A large wooden bar, complete with taps and a mirrored backsplash, runs along the far curved wall of this room. Tables, chairs, and barstools are scattered with use, while dirty glasses and empty bottles litter the sticky floors and flat surfaces.
In the room, already preparing for trouble, are five humanoids. Two are the size and general shape of other dwarves except their skin is dull grey and their heads are bald. Their eyes are dark and cold. Their beards are dull brown or dark grey. Three appear to be of the same race, but they are larger than the others, rising over ten feet. The two large ones nearest the secret door wear banded mail armor and have dwarven waraxes ready. One of them looks a little unsteady. The third large one wears a fine looking breastplate and a heavy shield, with a war hammer and a loaded heavy crossbow on the nearby table. The two shorter ones wear chainmail and have warhammers and heavy crossbows.
Sadef:
Sadef recognizes what type of creature these are. He may read the general information spoiler and two other spoilers of his choice.
[dice=False Life temp hp]1d10+4
Vinnie calls upon the spirits of battle to aid him and his comrades in this fight!
Large #2:
Vinnie has partial cover (+2 to AC)
Large #2: vs Vinnie AC 29
Med #1: vs Vinnie AC 29
Med #2: vs Vinnie AC 31 (due to cover from the other one)
Leader: vs Vinnie, AC 31
Rook's bomb hits the large dwarf-like creature, who becomes engulfed in flames and suffers very serious injuries. His partner makes a wise shift in position in time to avoid some of the flaming material.
The normal size enemy behind the bar steps over and swings his warhammer at Vinnie and manages to bonk him in the chest.
The apparent leader, based on his superior quality armor and weapons, steps back to the far corner of the small room after picking up his heavy crossbow. He bellows in a strange language, a smile on his dark face. He fires his crossbow at Vinnie which thunks into the wall and falls to the floor.
The badly burned large guy quaffs a liquid from a small bottle and some of his wounds heal.
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Sadaf tries to understand what they’re saying and hopes that his dwarven will help.
But it’s in vain.
Sadaf shouts to the team, ”These are dark dwarves or
Duergar. They detest all races living beneath the sun, but that hatred pales beside their loathing of their surface-dwarf cousins. Dwarves and duergar once were one race, but the dwarves left the deeps for their mountain strongholds and Duergar remained! They are immune to paralysis, phantasms, poison and have no damage reduction!“
He is angry now.
"You Duergard monsters! I will show you nature's might for this transgression!!" he shouts.
Sadaf starts to summon a reptilian creature.
The crocodile attacks the first smaller Duergar in front of it and is inspired by Vinnie!
Danduun moves in to attack the first smaller Duergar in front of him with Vinnie’s support!