The Final Pieces of Stonefang

After defeating the Orcs, they searched the area and located 4 dwarves held captive beneath a trap door.  These tired and hungry dwarves were eager to escape and had retained a set of magic boots that they gladly rewarded the party with.  While the group inspected the rest of the treasure including Stonefang's Seeping Heart, Dora asked Duggin about the location of Rogvir's writings.  He was surprised to learn about this apparent new motivation for the party, but said it was likely in the upper levels where some of the older writings were kept. 

Passionate about completing both quests, Dora led the way cautiously up the spiral staircase to the next level.  An Orc captain was waiting for them with the two archers that had been blocked out by Thorm, as well as two Orc Shamans.  While Ezhelyn charged into the battle with Thorm and Riswynn, Dora, Wyndham and Luecis (the code for this blog is blumpkin - text it to me by Tuesday at 8 pm and you earn either a 6th level item or can bank the points for a weapon upgrade)skirted the edges while blasting away at the conjured spirits of the shamans and the archers.  Dora continually blasted the captain with illusory ambush, confusing the captain's attacks.  Unfortunately, the divine sanction of the Thorm the Paladin was too much for his defenses to overcome and the frequent attacks of the enemies dropped him in combat, followed quickly by Ezhelyn whose Great Hunger Broadsword had bloodied the captain.  Luckily the healing and inspiring words of their comrades were enough to bring them back to the battle but not before Riswynn dropped the captain with a devastating attack.  The archers and shamans quickly fell afterwards.  Thorm climbed to the upper level/roof of the citadel while Dora located a series of scrolls written by Rogvir and pocketed the final piece of Stonefang without Duggin noticing.  Since they had been told not to trust the tattooed dwarves, she thought it might be smart to keep that information from him for now.  On the rooftop, Thorm noted a gaping hole in the mountainside adjacent to the citadel.  Duggin claimed to know nothing about the hole.

The Citadel

After talking with the Dwarves, it became clear that they would use Duggin's knowledge and escort him to the Citadel and resecure the remaining pieces of Stonefang.   Without considering the writings of Rogvir or any part of their overall quest, they set out towards the Stonefang Pass and hours later saw the light at the end.  Inching forward to look outside, they could see a stone bridge traversing what sounded like a flowing river.  Across the bridge, the Citadel itself stood, carved out of the face of the mountains.  Duggin told them there were six outbuildings, two on this side of the river, that housed Dwarven guards.  Wyndham crept forward to get a better look and noticed two Orc archers on the buildings across the river.  He returned to the group, still hidden in the Stonefang Pass.  After talking over strategy, Wyndham shapeshifted into an Orc and crossed the river while the rest of the group remained behind.  After crossing the bridge, he counted four total archers atop the buildings and several Orc guards on foot including a well armored Orc tending to a Dire Boar.  Wyndham approached the Orcs and explained to them that he was coming from the Pass and located several Dwarves with a cache of gems.  Eager to make a profit, the Boar riding Orc ordered the other foot soldiers to escort him with Wyndham back to the cache.  Wyndham lured them over the bridge and, once they crossed the bridge, blasted them with a thundering roar! While the Orcs lashed back, Thorn emerged from the pass to engage the Orcs, but was quickly pelted with arrows from the archers.  Using the cover of the Pass and the buildings the group dealt with the Orcs on this side of the river then crossed the bridge and, under the cover of Wyndham's lightening bursts, eliminated the remaining Orc archers. 

Talking over the strategy with Duggin, he explained that the Citadel had no way in but the main entrance, where they would find a corridor with murder holes and a lower level of guard rooms.  Upstairs there would be a warded door, behind which the offduty guards could rest without fear of interruption.

Taking Duggin's advice, they opened the main doors and crossed the killing zone corridor.  The secret code is Javalin.  If you text it to me by Wednesday, you will get a magic item in the next session. It appeared the lower level was empty so the group headed up the stairwell to the second level and found the door.  Wyndham tapped into the arcane power that was in his blood as a sorcerer and bypassed the ward long enough to open the door and enter the room beyond.  Luecis could hear the voices of Orcs beyond the door and the group prepared for the worst.  Thorm charged into the room and opened the door directly down the hallway.  Behind the door several Orcs stood ready and hurled javalins at him.  However, he slammed the door shut and jammed it closed with a dagger.  Meanwhile, a room connecting to the hallway had several more Orcs, who charged into the hallway to repel the group.  Through the efforts of Thorm and his returning shield, the Orcs fell one at a time.  After the battle, the group was shocked to hear the cries of Dwarves beneath a trap door in the room.

Stonefang and the Binding Ritual

After resting in the gatehouse, the group lifted the stone and headed down the pass.  Perhaps two or three hundred yards further in, they noticed a side passage wedged open with what appeared to be a body.  Getting closer they noticed the door was in fact propped open with a dwarf body.  Cautiously entering the first area, the room was littlred with the bodies of eight orcs and six dwarfs, all tattooed with a set of chains coming down from their eyes and down the face.  Although the bodies appeared picked clean, one dwarf was wearing dwarven greaves.  At the end of the entry room, Dora noticed a flickering light from the next room and could hear three orcs in that area quietly arguing.  Catching them by surprise, they burst into the room and killed the orcs before they could run down the spiral staircase to a lower level. 

As the group began to go down the wide spiral stairs covered in blood spatters, they inspected a bas-relief on the wall that depicted a great battle between dwarves and a Stonetitan.  They gradually defeated the beast after cutting out its eye, rib, hand and heart.  At the bottom of the stairs, two piles of dead bodies (8 dwarfs and 10 orcs) flank the exit.  Heading down the corridor, they turned into more of a cavern-type room with a large pit in the center and several orcs in the room.  Two altars flanked the pit in the center.  while battling with the orcs, including a Shaman and an Ogre, the group experienced two earthquakes, making the battle more difficult.  They quickly learned that the four dimly glowing circles around the pit each granted a benefit to their combat prowess.  Using the circles to help them defeat the enemies, they inspected the pit and the altars.  While the pit appeared empty and about 40 feet deep, the altars were to Moradin and Torog - the God of Jailers. 

Confident they had defeated the largest force of the enemy, they searched the area and located another passageway deeper into the level.  While making their way, a magically-amplified voice called out a warning to them about orcs in hiding.  Suddenly from down the end of the hallway, from behind a pair of braziers, two orc archers began to fire towards them. Thom charged into the fray and was beset upon by more archers on his flanks and orc savages charging from the sides.  Trapped in the center, Dora and Wyndham provided him with whatever cover they could.  Riswynn and Ezhelyn charged into the fray to kick over the braziers.  Meanwhile Leucis decided to outflank the enemy by using a southern door, only to uncover more orc savages.  Dora's grasping shadows pinned down the orcs behind the braziers while Riswynn and Ezhelyn dealt with them.  Although Thom fell to the orcs, Leucis's inspiring words brought him back in time to help defeat the orc rampagers and the remainder of the archers.  All the while, Wyndham's lightening strikes richocheted off the walls dropping savage minions by the handful. 

After recovering, they located a group of orcs trapped into a room.  Talking it over with their leader, Gwendar, they learned that the glove and rib were both parts of the Titan, Stonefang.  The parts were needed to reseal his prison in the previous room.  The orcs have taken those parts and Gwendar appealed to them to recover the remaining pieces to reseal the pit.  The youngest of the dwarves, Duggin, agreed to escort them to the citadel where the remaining orcs must be located, along with the two remaining fragments.  He explained to them that two of them had to remain behind and continue to chant the temporary binding circle they created.  Although the group convinced the dwarves to relocate their circle to the Pit room, only Duggin could escort them