Kharak Sanbell, Home of the Goblins
The party reassembled after a day’s rest, during which Timble “Lizard Slayer” had gone out on a reconnoitre task for Blacktooth, coming back with tales of the Nogrod, a cloaked assassin, crazy Gnomes and talking felines.
Karandar witnessed Sal dragged away screaming into a portal, but was unable to help her at the time. Having no clues to where she had been dragged or why, he chose to continue his journey into the mountain instead of aimlessly searching for his companion. A Halfling ranger named Kivan had joined the party, having travelled to the area in an effort to escape a debt owed to the Nestorian Thieves Guild. The Halfling seemed to kneel a lot, but seemed a capable ally.
Timble spent some time shopping in the goblin town, before Blacktooh asked to do another reading for the party, concerned by what he saw from Timble’s reading. As the goblin king arrived, he was joined with his two Bugbear bodyguards and his apprentice shaman Kurz. Karandar draws blood with the shattered remains of the Vord blade, before drawing the cards as Blacktooth channelled his energy.
The Reading
Cards Drawn
Guidance: Sorrow
A Failed Roll
Risk: Calm
When first drawn, this card looks torn and tattered, with shreds hanging loosely. Upon a second glance though, it’s as normal as ever.
Deceiver: Slerikek
A Failed Roll
Adversary: The Giggling Terror
This drawing causes Blacktooth to start looking nervous.
Patron: Calm & Change
Stuck together, back to back
A Failed Roll
Focus: Guardian
This card shows a knife, on a grey background.
As the last card settles, a savage gust of wind blows through the Kharak, whipping the cards around and throwing all bar one around the room. The only card left on the table is Calm, returned to the tattered state it was in when first glanced. One last card flew off the deck on its own, landing on Calm perpendicularly.
Blacktooth, snarls commands at his Bugbear guards, who run off immediately in differing directions, before he turned back to the party, strokes his chin fuzz (goblin beards, amirite?) and thinks for a moment before responding:
You, all of you, stand near the centre of a great Web of deceit and potential destruction all of which is seemingly focused in northern Vestar. You have inconclusive alliances, yet the sides still have not yet been decided, even that is unclear.
You appear to have made allies and enemies far beyond your own abilities and you run the risk of being absorbed into their retinue or simply even just wiped off the game board. Your patrons are completely misaligned, at odds and ends with each other, their alliance one of pure coincidence. I know nothing that can aid you yet, your adversary is a newer card, and much of its intentions are still unclear. We shall try this again as you leave the mountain, and see if things are clearer.
Something… significant is coming between the darkness and the shadow and you seem to be central to the change that will take place. Be wary, both shadow and darkness are known for trick those they need to get them on side.
I will send Kurz with you, she is a capable healer and will assist you on the way to the dwarves. She will also show you the way out to the Gate of Skyshaft, but past that she will not be able to guide you.
Blacktooth leaves the party to get to know one another, having many things to now think about.
Delver’s Pass
A short trip, escorted by a handful of goblins leads them to the rear entrance of Kharak Sanbell. Outside a storm blew, but the goblins were quick to point out that there was nearly always snow falling on Sanbell’s northern slope, and waiting it out might take days. Start on their way down the snowy path, having a few stumbles at first, then a near miss with a stone giant, and Timbles brief encounter with the Kot Bayun, they arrive at the entrance to Delver’s Pass. A nondescript opening into the side of the hill Kurz filled the rest of the team what was ahead.
Moving into the pass, they immediately found it to be a wet, humid, and exhaustive mess inside, with a small stream flowing down the stairs they were climbing. Kurz and Karandar worked to snap some glowing quartz off a pillar for light, and the party set off in full.
‘Ware the Dead!
They soon come across a door slightly ajar in the side of the cave with the words “’Ware the Dead” scratched in the stone above it. Kurz, using detect magic, notices two slightly magical beings within, along with some small item. Timble, scouting it out, found a Spectre within that was quickly dispatched by the group, who were then hit from behind by the other magical figure, a Poltergeist. Slamming them forward into the tomb with a wave of force dealing 35 damage, he cackles and slams the door shut on them with a sly wave.
The party erupt from the tomb, expecting a fight, instead finding nothing in the passage at all. Searching the tomb, they found a worn ring of spell storing, only capable of a single lvl1 spell. Timble & Karandar, both having failed the check, gained a stack of exhaustion from the encounter, due the humidity in the passage.
Silencio!
Moving onwards and upwards, they find the tunnel opens up into a small clearing, and within can be heard something similar to blades being slapped together, along with a strange noise, almost like a hollow echoing pulse.
Timble, remembering the noise from a previous adventure long past, snuck into the clearing and ambushed the first Hook Horror he saw. Dramatically leaping with two knives out, just as Kurz dropped silence on the Hook, he landed on it’s back and driving the blades home multiple times, badly wounding the beast. Karandar then stepped up and started hacking the thing to pieces, with some further assistance from the rest of the party, before a second Hook Horror appeared, quickly demoralized by the Baron and the Ranger, leading it to flee.
Timble put some work into trying to keep a separated Hook hand, before finally acknowledging the futility of his efforts and the lack of support from his friends (aww). However, he had already accrued his 2nd stack of exhaustion. The poor little drenched mouse was starting to breathe raggedly and with an occasional wheeze.
Of Mice and Monsters
The next encounter on the path was none other than a sleeping Rock Troll, snoring louder than a small earthquake. Karandar chose to toss Timble across the gap first, leaving the mouse folk time to pick the trolls pockets before Kivan arrived as well. Timble, finding a dead Cave Mouse, decided to bring the corpse along and give it a proper burial. They made their way past the cave troll before hearing a new rumbling sound, accompanied by a sharp increase in water flowing into the cavern. During their discussion about what to do, a wall of water appeared, forcing them back towards a ledge back behind the sleeping troll. The party set off at all possible speed, arriving at the ledge just in time but finding the troll already occupying the space within.
Karandar tossed Timble up first, who seized the opportunity to drive some blades into the Troll and leap off kick it forwards, just as Kivan looped his self-knotting rope around the trolls neck and pulled with Karandar, bringing the beast fast down onto the floor. Using the troll as a stepping stone, they jumped onto the ledge just as the water swept past, taking the poor troll with it. Timble suffered most from the exertion and gained a 3rd exhaustion stack.
Aldritch Banhammer
Hours and hours later, the stairs finally gave way to a large open area, leading to a large abandoned dwarven forge suspended above a pit of magma. Exploring the area, they found a large number of runes emblazoned magically on the wall, before Timble made contact with Aldridge Banhammer, A runesmith who was left behind in the initial invasion who had been surviving on summoned food and what he could take from the orcs he killed and dropped in his lava pit afterwards.
Striking a bargain with the players, he used the Spectre dust to enhance both Karandar’s Greatsword (+1d6 Dmg, 3 Charges, Each charge allowing Karandar to do 1d10 Poison damage on an attack of his choice, regaining one charge per short rest or all for a long rest. If the target fails a DC 16 Con Save they take 1d6 Poison damage for 1d6 turns. (‘’’DM Note:’’’ You were right, I regretted it.) ) and Timbles Hand Crossbow (+2 Magical Weapon). Promising to tell the dwarves he was there, they headed off, finally arriving outside again in to the sun.
As they exit the tunnel, they are on an open clearing that looks out over the entire valley. Below them is short path that leads down the mountain for maybe 5 minutes’ walk, before it strikes out across the empty void as a tiny stone bridge. It spans the entire distance to Misty Peak, across the way, and is 10ft in diameter at it’s widest points. Misty peak is shrouded in…. mist. The top of the mountain disappearing into the cloud, along with the final parts of the span below.
Back outside
Deciding to setup for camp first, Kivan taking the first watch, he noticed a boulder flying at them just in time, getting all of them out of the way just in time. Using his ranger skills to help them stealth, they set off down the hill, hoping to get out of the target zone of the Stone Giants, successfully dodging all of the rocks, before arriving at a campsite on the face of Misty Peak, having crossed some crazy dwarven sky bridge to get there. As they arrive at Misty Peak, the Giants die down and go back to what they were doing, over the sport of the hour.
After resting for a long enough to regain all health and stats, the party sets off for the Skyway, the last obstacle between them and the mountain of Skyshaft herself. As they first set out, a monstrously large Black Dracolich flies overhead, snapping at creatures on it’s back, bellowing in pain, while the whole party suffered from dracofear.
Musing at the sight, they set off again before coming to a gap in the path, about 10ft long. Timble set off at a run to jump over, failing miserably, but showing that it was instead an illusion to show the path missing, and landed squarely on what looked like just air. Treading carefully they joined him, and set off, finding another illusion an hour or so later.
As they finally came within sight of the mountain, a black cloud seemed to come off the side of the mountain, swarming the players and mobbing them, forcing them to run for the end of the way or be overwhelmed. Charging forwards, they come to another gap in the path. Timble, expecting nothing more than another illusion jumps for it, passing through where the illusion was and sailing down to his death.
Quick thinking on his part led to him hooking his grapple into the broken path as he fell, arresting his fall. Karandar, seeing this from behind, tossed Kivan across the gap and grabbed Kurz and leapt over it himself, all while on the run. Dragging the mouse up from his dangling leash, the party continued to run for the gates, passing through them and losing the ravens behind them.
Skyshaft
Kharak Carosh lay within, a defensive keep that lay in complete ruin. The city inside the gate has been gutted and looted by successive invaders, with nothing left now but potential shelter to those who might wish to rest. The Kharak is un-gated, relying on the main gate for defence, and is built into the left wall of the chamber that the gate opens in to, with tunnels going back into the mountain for days. As the players pass through, the cross into area that would have once been only accessible to pure blooded dwarves, causing Karandar to wondering to himself if he was breaking some ancient treaty, before shrugging and continuing on anyway.
An amazing carving ran along the wall, showing the history of the storm dwarves from the dawn of time. Reading as they went, they had an odd premonition of being watch. Thinking it just a scrying, Kurz used detect magic, scaring herself when she saw twenty some greenskins standing not 20 feet away from them, invisible. One, are large ogre with a twisted metal arm, snarled and strode forward, accepting a challenge of single combat with Karandar crying “To Death!”.
An unexpected duel
The duel erupted in savage violence, neither rager holding back, nor thinking of their own defense, just trying to cut down the other. While that was taking place, Kivan and Timble, expecting the orcs to backstab them, hatched a plot to sneak around and hit the orcs the minute they did something bad. As the half-ogre started to lose his health, Karandar could see his wound’s clearing, implying the shamans to be cheating, but chose not to tell anyone.
As the baron gained the upper hand, the Ogre had had enough and ordered his men forward, triggering a response from the hidden party members. A savage fight broke out in the cave, orc and human/goblin/mouse/Halfling straining to win when survival was on the line.
A 4-man pincer
Thanks to some trick shots and nice AoE, the battle started to turn in their favour, first as the archers started to go down and then when Timble took down both shamans. One of the Shaman managed to get a summoning spell off, bringing in an Earth elemental that seemed familiar to Karandar. The Shaman died before the elemental could be put to use, and now it was freed from the shamans influence, quickly starting to squish archers, turning the tide completely in the favour of the adventurers.
Karandar, getting the crit he wanted, smashed the orcs twisted eldritch arm off it’s body, “TUHDING!” Into the floor below, and the Orcs started to flee. Knowing the shamans and their resurrection abilities were key, Timble worked on stopping the orcs take the corpses with them, Kivan quickly realising what was going on and used the card of winds to assist. The Elemental turned at the noise of the oncoming Ogre and smashed it with an arm as it fled past, throwing it against a wall 40ft away to slump down dead before saying goodbye and de-summoning.
The party was left standing among a pile of corpses, surrounded by even older bones, wandering what kind of mess they’ve gotten their selves into.