Clearing the last 40 feet to that tower, we said last time.

The party had lost the advantage of an invisible man, but in true Old School manner Darion dug out his little steel mirror and used that to scope out the orc guards around the corner. There were three of them, and one with strong armor and potentially levels. Way too risky to try and wait for a moment to sneak past.

Instead, we invested a “Silence” Spell, placed it strategically, and crawled past them on our bellies behind piles of rubble and a thicket. Normally impossible to pull off quietly, but with sound blocked they manage with the orcs none the wiser.
The back of the tower was open, and inside a staircase curved downward. Darion watched with his mirror and just wondered if the party should dare to dart down the stairs, when a full 10 armed orcs trooped up from there. Lucky that we hesitated!

Darion pulled back his mirror and we listened as the orcs got hounds or dire wolves from somewhere with a metal gate, then they discussed food and moved out – a hunting party.

The hunters moved out, the guards went down into the basement with their shift done.

Moments later we got a chance to sneak downstairs, and took it.

Darion doubted that this could be the right tower after all. Dura must have lied, he figured. 10 orcs stomping up the stairs, that’s too many for comfort. The rest of the party was not so perturbed and started exploring the twisted tunnels and marking potentially trapped spots, all with no or little light, because we knew there were orcs down here somewhere, in unknown numbers.

The Door that Talks

Suddenly: A golden portal, complete with dwarven runes. Fine, the right spot then, and Dura speaking true. Some ways down the corridor, though, there were many loud noises. Orcs were gathered there, and a door that talks will be heard and alarm them.
They would not likely allow us to roam around here. Even Azequia was only allowed to pass after she proved her strength.

So we had only one chance, one way to go: All out attack.

That turned out difficult going through a narrow corridor, getting in each other’s way, and confronting a solid amount of orcs all gathered in front of a mockery of a throne. The Headquarters of chieftain Bhubrug Spinebreaker… just 40 feet away from our goal.

We made as much of a dent in the first round as we were able, even toppling their boss from his seat in a mad rush. Then a drastic battle raged, in tight confines. Magic Missiles brizzled, necks were slashed, warriors hemmed in soldier to soldier on minimal space, axes grinding against armor, Endbringer flashing in the tumult.

Soft Humans, Stone-born Dwarves

Their chief was very tough, but with luck and tenacity, bruised, cut, and out of breath, we succeeded: Bhubrug Spinebreaker fell and lay in front of us. Still alive … and there Apoqulis stayed his hand. His morals tormented the cleric, and he thought hard. Can we keep him alive? A hostage? Maybe negotiate?

The cleric froze up in indecision.

Dwarves are more practical than humans: Heidel saw Apoqulis’ plight and knew that we could win nothing dragging that chieftain with us into enemy territory. He went in and crushed Bhubrug’s head with his warhammer. Thus ended what could have devolved into an agonizing nightmare of guard duty around a high level prisoner who would never yield.

Riddle

We looted gold and equipment from the fallen foes, including a silvered battle axe and a locked map case, as well as a small dragon statue made of jade. Then we took healing, and Darion girded himself with the late orc-chief’s well-tended splint armor to better his AC by one.

That was enough tarrying. We confronted the door and got a riddle that we struggled with way more than we should have. But we cracked it at last, thanks to Heidel’s cultural knowledge.

The door opened, and we entered a hall with a huge Dwarven statue and an altar.

Behind us the door swung shut, just as a gaggle of carnivorous insects descended on the dead orcs. The door locked these unwholesome noises off, and sealed us in with our fate, and our mission: To stop Azequia, and to save the world from the armies of the Infernal Realm.

More riddling and searching for clues, and we found our way deeper into the bowels of the Hill under the Keep.

Dust and Death

Here Gutter the Thief took the lead, defying darkness and illusion to lead us well and hale down, through a challenging bit and further down into a huge hall of dwarven make, with a ceiling lost to darkness, and the dust of aeons on the flagstones.

A giant-sized warrior statue with an enormous sword dominated the hall. Three archways led out on the right, one on th left, and a double door in front. Where to? Darion inspected the floor and discovered tracks leading to the last archway on the right. This was the path Azequia must have taken. Yet Apoqulis went along the left wall and discovered more tracks in the dust: Azequia had moved around in more places than one. And moving deeper into the hall – ever vigilant lest the giant statue might spring to life – we noticed a disturbing stench farther to the back.

But then they dropped onto us: three giant flies buzzed down from the dome and attacked.

Darion waved his two-hander ineffectually, missing the nimble insects time and time again, making a fool of himself, while the others concentrated on one fly first, and took it down, then the next… Alas, suddenly one fly got Gutter the Thief! Sharp fly-claws dug into his lithe body, blood splattered. Gutter coughed: “I never got my share of .. the treasure…” then he gurgled, and the brave young thief was DEAD!

A fatality that left the fellow players stunned, but Gutters player took it in stride, and simply started to roll up a new character, as befits a true solid gamer of the Old School Renaissance.

Hunger

With the combat done the party kneeled next to the thief, but nothing could be done. So they looked through his tools and items and divvied them up.

The right-hand arch led into a room full of spider webs. Darion stepped to the second entrance, and found that it led to THE SAME room full of spider webs – and he even saw the spider. A massive Black Widow the size of a wild boar, which stalked closer without a sound.

Darion stumbled back from the entrance and discovered that Gutter’s body lay way too close to the first entrance. “Aretain!” he yelled, “Throw a dead fly!!”

Aretain was confused for a moment, but Darion shouted again – and she did it, rolling a fly corpse to that entrance.

Just in time! 

The spider extended her long limbs, grabbed the fly and dragged it away to feast.

So we could pull Gutter’s corpse away from there and rather lay out the other flies for the monster. Gutter deserved a fine burial, not a grisly end in a spider’s ugly womb.

Deeper underground

We had to go on. So we did. We pressed on into the third arch, where Azequia’s original trail led. Here the stench was getting ever worse, and we found stairs leading deeper, but also a storage room. Rotten food, broken tools, spoilt things in split crates … and a desiccating body of a weird, lizardlike creature unlike any we had seen so far.

The creature, a Troglodyte, had died from a single decisive stab to the heart. Azequia’s work no doubt.

Heidel and Apoqulis went on while Darion and Aretain still checked the room – and promptly ran into three more Troglodytes — alive ones — in the next corridor. The unholy beasts exuded a terrible stench that made the clerics retch and gasp for breath … weird to think that a godless demon-lover like Azequia was somehow still closer related to us than these terrible denizens of the Deep, and even worthy of respect for disposing of one of them! And yet, we must be enemies, for the sake of the world. A tragedy.

Desperate battle

Darion attempted to drive the beasts back with a flaming torch, alas, but the terrible airs made his eyes water and he missed the creature completely, retching against a wall.

Heidel took heavy damage and fell to the floor, vomiting, while Apoqulis somehow managed to stand fast. The others could not intercede with Darion blocking the only small access tunnel.

Darion dropped the useless torch, missed with Endbringer too, and retreated out of the noxious cloud to expose the enemies to Aretain and Maetrius — a good decision, as their combined shots actually killed one of the enemies.

The other two concentrated on Apoqulis, but one of them stumbled over Heidel and fell into its own weapon. Darion rushed back into the fray, but still the stench overwhelmed him and he failed to do any good. Frustrated, Maetrius dropped his trusty crossbow and rushed in for melee.

Then Apoqulis managed to hit again: He had whittled down one Troglodyte’s strength this whole time, and finally struck it true, and it died. The last Troglodyte turned and ran deeper, down some stairs, but on his way out he was struck and mowed down.

Meanwhile, Apoqulis looked after Heidel and found his wounds terrible and deep. He attempted to aid him with a healing cantrip to lend a bonus to his struggle for survival … but it was too late. Heidel needed to roll a 4 or higher to survive, but the cruel die rested on a 1. Heidel the heroic dwarf was DEAD!

The Call of Duty

Stunned witless by grief, the party despaired. Apoqulis suggested we retreat, back up and out of this terrible labyrinth, to rest, heal and regroup.

“We can’t!” cried Darion. “We must stop Azequia, or all is for naught!”

We did not know where Hezeroth was, and it might take only a day for Azequia to learn how to raise

With muted spirits, we forced a door in this corridor and found a small refuge: An unguarded room with two marble tables, tools, trinkets and old tomes. On the wall a large dragon painting, damaged. A veritable treasure chamber for magic users, we can hope that Aretain can decypher the tomes. For all of us, in any case, a place to hide our fallen comrades and regain our resolve to finish this delve and save the world, or to be the first to succumb to a new era under the rule of Infernals.

Player: “There has to be risk to feel the danger.”
GM: “It has to be that way.”

More Morgansfort: The Campaign