Thunderspire Session 2 part 2

This session was played on 7/23.

Cory ran:
Dietrich the Human Knight (formerly the Dragonborn Paladin)
Ander the Halfling Rogue

Alex ran:
Barakas the Tiefling Warlord
Chan Lee the Human Monk

Opting to avoid crossing the chasm for the moment, the runemarked adventurers continued deeper into the gatehouse complex. After following a long hallway they found themselves in what seemed to be a new area. They avoided the big set of double doors, and opted to check out the side rooms first. First they quickly scoped out a store room, and then moved onto a poorly appointed barracks. They then moved into an almost overwhelmingly hot kitchen, nearly scaring to death a slave servant. From him they found out what was in the next room, namely the Duerger lord Rundarr and a few of his lackeys.

The party decided to split up, sending the knight and warlord to the main door, while the monk and rogue would come in through the kitchen door.

Ander and Chan Lee charged in first, charging straight for the dueger sitting behind the head table. Chan Lee made it through the door first, performing a bounding leap over the table, and slamming hard into Rundarr trying to slide him. Rundarr, in spite of barely having stood up from his soup, didn’t even stagger from the blow, grabbed Lee’s foot and slammed it into the floor, embedding it hard. Bounding over the table Ander stuck the distracted Rundarr, but failed to land a telling blow.

Hearing the commotion Barakas and the knight charge in. Barakas ignored the guard standing dumbly by the side of the room and charged Rundarr whiile the knight charged the guard.

Rundarr swung his warhammer with some precision, connecting more often than not with Ander and Lee. The arrival of another guard, and two scouts added some distraction to the party, but Ander and Lee continued to pound on Rundarr, each hit causing his beard to smolder, glow, ficker, and finally burst into flame, pushing back the adventurers as Rundarr suddenly tripled in size. With a roar he swung at Ander with his giant warhammer again and again and again and again (action point) yet managed to connect with the halfling only once.

As the rest of the duerger fell, a lone scout who had been harassing the party with his crossbow turned tail and ran. The monk circled around, cutting off his escape, before a flurry of blows laid the scout out. A pair of magical greaves that Rundarr wore went to Dietrich.

The party then consulted with the slaves, arming them with spears gathered from some of their previous opponents and told them to go hide in the gatehouse. The slaves told them of a large group of slaves across the chasm that they had seen while delivering food. Unfortunately the main bridge across was heavily fortified, and the slaves didn’t know anything about the smaller bridge.

Spending a mere moment to discuss their options they returned to the smaller bridge, and sent Ander across alone to check the far gate. Sneaking across, he pulled out a sunrod only after he was concealed in the doorway. He listened at the door, and examined it for any traps before focusing his attention on the large elaborate lock. A few moments later he flashed the sunrod’s light across the chasm, and the rest of the party joined him. Beyond they found a disused corridor littered with rubble and trash and 3 doors. They decided to try the door that they believed lead to the gate room. It did, and they quickly engaged the duerger and the animated arbalests that guarded the room.

The duergar thurge blasted the party with a wave of despair that only the rogue suffered the effects of. He then followed it up with a brimstone hail upon the knight and the monk, unconcerned with his allies in the blast. Feeling a little overwhelmed both the warlord and the monk used their daily powers - the monk dishing out 6 solid hits all doing between 15-20 points of damage and felling 2 of their opponents!

Moving deeper into the complex the party next encountered another gate room guarded by orcs. Upon entering they discovered the 4 orcs had backup in the form of an ogre! The ogre was fast for a creature of his bulk, and hit fairly frequently, but not with much more force than the orcs. The knight really shined in this fight, landing 2 criticals on the orcs.

Just off the guard room was an antichamber that had 2 doorways. The main one was a giant bronze double door emblazoned with the image of a great minotaur’s head. The other door was also large, but its reinforced wood construction didn’t draw the eye like the bronze doors did. Once again the party opted to go for the less flashy door...

To be continued...