Session 4 - Umbridge Hill

The Party heads out of town and towards Umbridge Hill with their new dragons; Voreas – (Blue), Sutton-Hoo (Bronze), and Cyrpus (Copper). On their journey there, they discuss Evermeet Island. Kali recounts some stories she heard as a child describing Evermeet as the last true kingdom and final destination for all non-drow elves on Fearun. It is protected by both naturally occurring and magically created defenses. The island itself is shrouded in a powerful illusion, crafted by the deity Sehanine Moonbow, that concealed its view from non-elves eyes. Smaller illusory spells gave the appearance of phantom keys, reefs and other nautical hazards that would ward off seafaring races. Among the isles known protectors are a kraken, a leviathan and a dragon turtle.

They come to a hill and look up. Built on the slope of Umbridge Hill is an old stone windmill surrounded by an iron fence. They also see piles of rocks at the top of the hill to the east of the windmill. They decide they will climb there first to get a good vantage point on the windmill and check out the rocks. As they get the top, Diz realizes this is a sacred burial area and each rock mound marks the grave of a dwarf. Kali notices three skeletons in amongst the stone piles. She sees that they appear to be burnt. Diz and Burr investigate one of the bodies together and they find the thieves tools that Telbor had showed Diz on their way out of town towards their first quests. The Party looks around further but does not see their Dragon Eggs anywhere.

Burr notices a large winged monster with a spikey tail trying to knock down the windmill’s front door. A woman appears in a second-floor window, waves at them and yell’s, “A little help?!” At the sight of her, the beast flies up to the window and bellows “Shinies or meat!” The Party looks down and sees that surrounding the windmill is a tall iron fence and there are the ruins of an old house in front of the windmill door. They decide to try and sneak down and get inside. As they make their way down everyone is being as stealthy as possible but Kali makes a bit too much noise as she steps on a branch, bringing some attention to the side of the fence that she and Burr are hiding on. The creature turns its head from the window and calls down, “Who’s there? Do you bring shinies or meat?”

Kali motions to Diz to hold and she gets ready to run in at her order. She casts a cloud of fog over the area. Diz takes the opportunity to run into the windmill and sees a millstone in the middle of the room with tables all along the walls holding potions and component’s. Herbs hang from the ceiling. Burr heads forward a little ways and attempts to cast sleep on the creature. It doesn’t seem to work.  Diz heads up the stairs to the second floor and calls for Adabra to get away from the window. He then rushes forward and sends out an energy blast, making the beast angry. Kali takes this opportunity of distraction and rushes past and into the windmill while Vereas speaks within her mind, “The shinies are mine. There are no shinies for him.”

Burr also rushes into the windmill and casts Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on the beast. It falls to the ground unable to stop laughing for a time but quickly recovers and flies back up the window. Diz sends out Cyprus who uses her slowing breath, halving the speed of the beast and making it incapable of using more than one of its attacks. Kali sees this and sends out Vareas, who uses his lightning breath causing a large amount of damage to the creature. Burr, seeing everyone using their dragons decides to let Sutton-Hoo have a go with his repulsion breath. It knocks the creature 30 feet back and he viciously mocks it, causing it mental anguish.

The creature then flies back towards the window and lets off one of its tail spikes, narrowly missing Diz and sticking into the back wall. Diz attempts to fire an arrow at it while Cyprus jumps on its back but as it reaches back to keep it’s throat out of Cyprus’ grip, the arrow flies past, narrowly missing.  Kali makes her way towards the window and sends off a firebolt just as the creature is distracted by Voreas to the north. She hits it on the side of his head causing it to scream and flail. It bite’s at Cyprus sinking it’s teeth into the dragons back. Seeing this, Diz screams out “Not my dragon you bitch!” and fires off a shot hitting it square in the chest. Its jaws go lax and it falls to the ground dead.

Adabra immediately runs downstairs and beings taking inventory of all of her things and making sure nothing is out of place. She thanks the Party for assisting and tells them that usually she’s able to pay off the Manticore’s but she didn’t have any gold. She hasn’t had very many pregnancies in the last few months. She also states that she has an overflow of potions at the moment and offers the Party their pick of one potion and one tea each.

Potions available at Adabra’s:

Potion of Bolstering: You gain 10 temporary hit point. This brown potion tastes and smells like a hard whiskey.

Potion of Sustaining: When you drink this potion, you do not need to eat or drink water for 48 hours. A floating bean inside a thick, green much.

Potion of Growth: When you drink this potion, you gain the “enlarge” effect of the enlarge/reduce spell for 1d4 hours (no concentration required). The red in the potion’s liquid continuously expands from a tiny bead to color the clear liquid around it and then contracts. Shaking the bottle fails to interrupt the process.

Various Teas – Ginger, Chamomile, Honey Lemon, Fennel, Peppermint, Licorice

The party convinces her to go back with them to Phandalin. They ask her if she saw what happened to the other 3 Dragon Riders. She said she saw a battle taking place up on the hill, but it looked like dragon business and she doesn’t involve herself in dragon business. They asked if she had seen the dragon eggs. She said she hadn’t but that usually the Manticore come in a pair. This time only the male came, so it’s possible the female had seen the eggs and flown them off to their den. As they get back to Phandalin, Adabra doesn’t want to go see Ilyana. She says she can’t stand her attitude of wanting to be in charge of everything but Burr convinces her to come.

As the Party discusses all of the events of the day with Ilyana, Diz makes quite a few snide remarks which seem to please Adabra. She palms her an extra Bolstering potion for the good laugh. Ilyana agrees to give them 1,000 GP each if they go to Gnomengarde and she will set some of their more knowledgeable Riders on the task of finding out where the eggs may be. The party stops at the Feather shop to pick up their previous order and put in an order for (3) Manticore Spike pens. They also stop at the seamstresses to have the Maticore’s mane added to Kali’s cloak.

They head out and make it to Gnomengarde. A stream leads the characters to a pool fed by a waterfall that tumble does the mountainside. They follow the stream uphill to the base of the mountain, where waterfall erosion has carved out a natural concavity. The roaring waterfall creates a cloud of mist as it plunges into a shallow pool of water, within which rise two small islands covered with two-foot-tall red, green, and purple mushrooms. Several cave openings overlook the pool from rocky ledges twenty to thirty feet above. The mountain blocks any sunlight from reaching this place. Burr and Diz send Sutton-Hoo and Cyprus to the islands to gather some mushrooms. They then follow a narrow footpath that ascends northeast and into an entrance to the cave.

The Party enters a Dining Room containing several dining tables and chairs sized for Small folk. A stout wooden cabinet against the east wall holds tin dishware and utensils. They continue North and come to the Kitchen. It is furnished with gnomes in mind, so everything is either close to the floor or readily reachable by tugging on an overly complicated rope-and-pulley mechanism. Five rock gnome recluses busy themselves here. Joybell (female) uses a poker to stoke the fire of a hot iron stove standing against the east wall. Dimble (male) uses a complicated press-like contraption to squeeze oil out of a big red mushroom and filter the liquid into four oil flasks. Panana (female) stands atop a low table and uses a mechanical rolling pin contraption to kneed green bread dough. The severed caps of several big green mushrooms are set around her. Uppendown (male) forms the dough into loaves of green bread, his tongue sticking out as he carefully shapes each loaf like a master sculptor. Tervaround (female) teeters on a stool as she stuffs a big purple mushroom into a barrel, so that it can ferment and be turned into mushroom wine.

The party questions the gnomes and are urged to speak to Fibblestib or Dabbledob in the workshop as they know more about what’s going on than any other gnomes in the complex. These gnomes won't leave the kitchen, but they point the Party south. They let the Party know that Gnomengarde has two married kings who rule in tandem, Gnerkli and Korboz. Korboz recently lost his mind and is keeping Gnerkli as his prisoner. In addition to the danger posed by the mad king, two gnomes have mysteriously vanished within the last tenday. The party heads south and enters a room that looks like it has a couple of the wine barrels in it. Diz goes to open one and is attacked and grappled. Everyone rushes in.

Session 3 - Wyrmlings Emerge

The party enters the Hall of Greed. They see an alcove in the south wall which holds rubble of a shattered statue. An alcove to the north holds a statue of a dwarf with horns, which stares greedily at a glowing green gem in its hands. In the middle of the room is a rug showing all of the constellations in the Fearun sky. Kali investigates statue and realizes that it is of Abbathor. Diz rests and rolls up the rug, while Burr investigates the skeleton and sees that it must have been from a dwarf, gnome, or Halfling. After he has finished resting Diz investigates the statue and takes the gem off. Kali tries to replace it with a rock but is not fast enough. They all fall unconscious as the statue explodes.

Kali opens her eyes and finds herself on a snowy bank in front of a frozen lake. She sees about 100ft out, her dragon egg. It is beginning to crack, and so is the ice. She rushes forward attempting to get to the egg, but the ice cracks underneath her feet. She treads water as she sends a gust of wind attempting to blow the egg to safety. It pushes away from the cracks but it is still on the ice. She manages to pull herself and runs forward grabbing her egg, she again falls through a spot in the ice but is able to throw her egg onto the bank. As she struggles to get back up, the ice begins to freeze above her. She swims closer to the bank trying to find a thin spot in the ice and sends a firebolt at it, freeing herself as she crawls on the bank. She sees her egg, broken open and looks around to spot it, she sees its’ blue scales shining in the winter sun. It places its forehead on hers and within her mind she hears, “Thank you little one. I had to be sure you would risk your life for mine. It is the final test before we can be truly bonded.” As they stare into each other’s eyes they feel an incomprehensible love and attachment like they’ve never felt before. Golden tethers extend from Kali to the Wyrmling and back again, encasing them both in a bright almost blinding light. When the light subsides Kali is again in the room at the temple, but now her Wirmling is there with her.

Burr opens his eyes and finds himself on what appears to be a pirate ship stuck on a beach. He sees about 100 feet in the air in the ships crow’s nest sits his egg. It begins to crack but as it does he sees a bolt of lightning crack across the sky, coming dangerously close to hitting it. He attempts to climb to the nest but only makes it about halfway up before falling down. As another bolt of lightning crashes through the sky narrowly missing the egg he gathers all his strength and tries again, this time he able to get to the top. Just as he grabs his egg, he is hit by a bolt of lightning and everything goes black. When he wakes up he is in what appears to be a never ending black abyss. He looks down and sees his egg, broken open He looks around worriedly and spots the bronze scales of his Wirmling. It places its forehead on his and within his mind he hears, “Thank you little one. I had to be sure you would risk your life for mine. It is the final test before we can be truly bonded.” As they stare into each other’s eyes they feel an incomprehensible love and attachment like they’ve never felt before. Golden tethers extend from Burr to the Wyrmling and back again, encasing them both in a bright almost blinding light. When the light subsides Burr is again in the room at the temple, but now his Wirmling is there with her.

Diz open her eyes and find herself in a cavern. She is on an outer rim of stone surrounding a chasm. Suspended in air, about 100ft away, in the middle of the room is a small 10 foot wide floating island she sees her egg. There appear to be 4 separate ropes that lead out to the island attached to the cavern walls. It begins to crack and rolls precariously close to the edge. Diz runs to the nearest rope and secures herself to the stone floor with a piton and rope. She first tries to climb to the other side hand over fist but loses her grip and falls. Luckily she is held by her rope. She climbs back up and decides to try and make her way across by walking across the rope. This she manages. She reaches for her egg and sees that it is empty. She looks around and sees it’s copper scales. It places its forehead on hers and within her mind she hears, “Thank you little one. I had to be sure you would risk your life for mine. It is the final test before we can be truly bonded.” As they stare into each other’s eyes they feel an incomprehensible love and attachment like they’ve never felt before. Golden tethers extend from Diz to the Wyrmling and back again, encasing them both in a bright almost blinding light. When the light subsides Diz is again in the room at the temple, but now her Wirmling is there with her.

The Young Dragonriders gain the following attributes:

Bonded Dragon

This dragon is very loyal to you, since you are the one who is raising it. You and your dragon share the same languages and can communicate telepathically with each other up to a distance of one mile. This only works with you and your dragon, you and your dragon are treated normally as far as telepathy with other creatures. You also have a lifespan equal to your dragons. If you or your dragon start making death saving throws, the other is distracted over concern for their partner, they have disadvantage on all checks, saving throws, and attack rolls not attempted to help their partner until their partner is either stabilized or dead. If either you or your dragon dies, the remaining one makes an Intelligence saving throw (DC 20). If they succeed, they retain their sanity, if failed, they become permanently insane (permanent madness) until their partner is resurrected. They cannot be cured of this madness through any other means. They will pass away from a broken heart within the next 100 years. Your dragon has its own personality as well as fears and dislikes.

Energy Points

At level 2, you find that you can draw on your own strength and use magic. You have 1d4+your Constitution modifier Energy points (minimum of 1). You gain a level of exhaustion for every 4 Energy you spend, rounded down (spending 4 Energy is one level, while 8 energy would be 2 levels. 3 or less energy would be 0 levels of exhaustion). You may do anything within the bounds of what you can create and manipulate, at DM's agreement, however, the DM can adjust costs as needed (Example, it could cost extra for ranged fire attack or an exploding fire attack or both, though both would cost the most. You could create a wave of fire that could cost a lot of Energy, perhaps more than an exploding ranged fire attack (i.e. a fireball)). For all intents and purposes, effects preformed through these means are spells and are treated as such on all occasions. Your Rider spell save DC= 8+Charisma modifier + proficiency bonus. Your Rider spell attack modifier= Charisma modifier + proficiency bonus. You recover 1d4 Energy after taking a short rest and recover all your Energy after taking a long rest. Concentration may be required. Concentration spells may not require much Energy at one time, but can cost extra Energy over time.

You have the following abilities:

Pyrokinesis

You can manipulate and create fire. You may describe any effect that focuses on fire (creating a campfire, shooting a fireball, sending a fire wave, even spontaneous combustion, ANYTHING with DM's agreement, but fire must be the primary focus, no levitating objects and causing them to catch on fire, just catching them on fire). Spells will cost more as their effects become more potent.

Magic Blast

You can use energy to create a blast of magic. You may spend 1 energy point to create a small ball of energy that does 1d6 force damage and has a range of 60 ft. This can be modified to add more damage dice, increase die type, increase range, even change damage type, but each modification would increase Energy cost.

The Party searches every inch of the Hall of Greed before leaving and find the green gem as well as a chest with 500 GP and a paper that states: The fabled sword rests at Evermeet. One the back is a series of constellations. They bring the two dwarves back to Phandlin and to Ilyana. When they enter the Townhall and see Ilyana talking in hushed tones with some of the Elder Dragon Riders. As the party approaches she says she’s so glad to see them because the other Dragonriders have disappeared and they can’t find them. She divulges that they have magical ways of keeping tabs on the riders across Fearun and the other new riders have been lost from view.

The party is offered the choice between going after Team Metallic or Team Angst. They choose to go after Team Metallic. Diz attempts to persuade Ilyana to up their reward for completing the quest but is a little too aggressive in her negotiations. Ilyana thanks for their help and hurries them out the door, telling them to get a good night’s sleep and head out in the morning.

They ask a passerby on the street to tell them a little about the two different inns that they have to choose from in town. The young boy lets them know that the Sleeping Dragon Inn is on the outskirts of town and for those travelers who really want a good quiet night’s sleep. He says that if what their looking for is a good time, they would better off at the Stonehill Inn. It’s right in the center of town and it’s where everyone goes to blow off some steam. The party decides to head to the Stonehill Inn.

On the door they are greeted with a flyer for an upcoming comedy show. The entrance fee is 10,000GP but there are 3 prizes; a Cli Lyre, a Deck of Illusions, and a Box of Applause. Burr is intrigued but worried that he won’t be able to save up 10,000GP in time. After they have gone inside and had some drinks, Burr overhears some patrons discussing the comedy show and they bring up the name Bo Burnham. Burr is immediately sent into a tirade. He finds out that in a month’s time, Bo will be here and performing at the comedy show. He vows to come up with an amazing act to win the competition!

Diz orders some raw meat for his dragon and it gobbles up one piece before Kali’s dragon dashes over and snaps up the other. Once they notice some of the members of the Thieves’ guild in the corner, Diz attempts to sell his necklace. They back away quickly stating that it is a cursed item and they don’t want it for any price. They suggest he stop by the Apothecary. They all decide to go to bed for the night. They are offered a Dragonrider Suite for 100GP/month. It contains 4 beds with alcoves above them for the dragons to sleep in. Along the far wall there is a writing desk, a bedchamber, and stone washing basin. As they head off to bed Diz begins telling stories to her dragon, Kali’s dragon begins pouncing around the room at bugs, and Burr and his dragon begin coming up with a great comedy routine.

The next morning they all get ready and head off downstairs to the smell of bacon of eggs. They have a quick breakfast and ask the barmaid if they have heard anything about the midwife. They say that the only thing they have heard is that the White Dragon has been spotted. The party thanks her and they head off into town to buy some provisions. They first stop at the Apothecary and learn that the necklace Diz put on is cursed and that anyone who does not serve Abatthor should fall dead upon wearing it. She says the only reason she can think that he is still alive is that it must not affect Dragonriders. She offers to destroy it, but Diz decides to keep it since it will cause him no harm. They buy a few potions and head out.

Their next stop is the feather shop. Navin is very excited to see everyone and hopes that Diz’ pen has been working out. Diz gladly shows all the stories he has been writing out with the pen. Navin offers to make him a commissioned Dragon pen with some stationary. Diz takes him up on the offer. Kali and Burr both buy some stationary as well.

They next head to the jewelers. They meet up with the little girl Ranalia who is excited to see that their dragons have hatched. She asks Kali about their adventures and asks to see her doll. For a few minutes her eyes glaze over white. When they go back to normal she laughs and thanks them for the grand adventure. She hands the doll back to Kali and asks her to bring it on another adventure. After seeing what the little girl did, she accepts the doll but it puts it inside her pack this time. They then go to the counter and are able to sell the green gem for 500GP.

Their final stop is at the General Store. They buy some basics that they will need for travel. Burr also inquires about a hat for his dragon. Maxon is sure he has just the right thing and brings out a rather dashing hat which Burr takes happily.

As they are heading out of town, Kali sees a Shrine and decides to stop in to see if they have any spell scrolls. This is Phandalin's only temple. It is a small shrine made of stones taken from the nearby ruins. It is dedicated to Tymora, goddess of luck and good fortune. The shrine is in the care of a scholarly acolyte named Sister Garaele, a zealous young elf who despairs of ever ridding Phandalin of the Redbrands. Sister Garaele is a member of the Harpers, a scattered network of adventurers and spies who advocate equality and covertly oppose the abuse of power. The Harpers gather information throughout the land to thwart tyrants and any leader, government, or group that grows too strong. They aid the weak, the poor, and the oppressed. Sister Garaele regularly reports to her superiors on events in and around Phandalin. She is able to offer Kali scrolls with the following spells: chaos bolt, bless, augury, enhance ability, clairvoyance, protection from energy, arcane eye, freedom of movement, skill empowerment, and mislead. Kali buys the scroll of Bless and thanks Garaele before they depart.

 

Session 2 - Dwarven Excavation Site

As the party enters the temple they see that the ceilings are ten feet high and flat. The doors are made of carved stone with stone pins for hinges. The temple is choked with dusty rubble.  There are no light sources in the temple, since the dwarf priests of Abbathor relied on darkvision to see. The foyer has two sets of double doors held open by spikes hammered into the floor. A once secret door to the north stands open. Peering ahead they see that there are two slimes sitting atop an altar in the room ahead. Diz knocks an arrow and a fight ensues.

As Diz lets her arrow fly and strikes the slime on the left, Burr unleashes a psychic mockery on the slime to the right. As the slime on the right begins to sob from the vicious onslaught, Kali attempt to hit it with a burst of ice that unfortunately flies over its head and onto the wall behind. The left slime seems to be angered by the treatment of its comrade and begins crawling toward to the party. Diz unleashes another arrow causing even more damage to the left slime as Burr casts Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on the right slime. It is now laughing and sobbing uncontrollably, confused and incapacitated. Kali unleashes a thunderous wave throwing the slime from the altar against the wall behind and to the ground. Diz knocks another arrow and lets it fly toward the right slime, now barely hanging on. Burr rushes forward and slashes at the left slime with his rapier, causing it to burst in every direction. He manages to dodge the slime as he continues forward. Kali unleashes another burst of frost, but it again misses as the slime flails between laughter and sobs. Diz unleashes a final arrow putting the slime out of its misery ending the battle.

Looking around the inner temple the party sees that the area contains a bloodstained limestone altar standing at the far end of the room. Everyone begins investigating the area and Diz finds two secret openings at the right side of the room. The party first travels down a long hallway leading to a partially collapsed room. It appears an earthquake has collapsed part of this room and after looking around Diz and Burr decide it holds nothing of value. Kali takes a second look and is able to find an old scroll. It is written in dwarvish, so she hands it to Diz to translate:

The Lost Sword of Filarion, Dragon Rider of Xiuhcoatl. Rider's Sword of the Dragon's Bond.

A single-edged longsword with a curve blade with a ridged edge that is sharper than any known blade forged in the Realms. Its handle is wrapped in black leather. Its guard is a thick, bronze instead of a thin square cross guard. The blade is inserted deep within. The Guard has two runes that are both marked with cravings meaning "bond", and magically glow by a dragon and its bond with the user. The weapon is unbreakable and unable to be pull apart, piece-by-piece.

Bond Charge: When you have your dragon alive and in clear sight of 50ft., Rider's Sword of the Dragon's Bond will have its runes glowing with mana, upgrading the attack to an additional attack bonus of +3 and 5d10 of slashing elemental damage based on your dragon's ancestry. While its runes are glowing, you can take an entire turn to form a magic aura around the blade and adjust its length to expand its reach range up to 25ft. When adjusted to more than 5ft, when making an melee attack using Rider's Sword of the Dragon's Bond, enemies within the weapon's range must make a save DC of 8 + your Charisma modifier. If the save succeeds, all the damage dealt is reduced by half, if failed, they must take the entire damage. After use or attack, the blade's length and aura will disappear, and will recharge at dawn. If your dragon is dead or not in clear sight, Rider's Sword of the Dragon's Bond will only deal 2d6 slashing damage.

Traveling back they continue down the hallway in the opposite direction and are surprised to end up back in the temples foyer. They take this opportunity to search the area through the secret door that was already discovered when they entered. They search through the rubble but it appears that anything that may have been here has already been scavenged. Diz calls the dwarven archeologists to see if they know anything about it. They state of course they were able to make it that far into the temple before they spotted the slime and immediately retreated. Diz is visibly annoyed that they were not warned about the slime and begins to distrust the couple, suggesting to her party that they should lie about what they find and keep most of their possible treasures for themselves. She closes the outside set of doors and uses spikes to lock them in place.

They then go back to the inner temple and travel through the second door Diz had found. She spots another slime and backs out. She pours some oil on the ground and Kali sets it on fire. Burr then attempts to cast a sensory effect on the slime to make it believe that the fire is not harmful and make it come forward. It enters the fire and is soon burnt up. After they wait for the fire to die down, the party continues through the path and sees that it loops back to the inner temple. They decide that there has to be something else to this tunnel and go to the area directly behind where the altar would be. As Diz investigates the eastern wall, Kali begins using her staff to investigate the western wall. She manages to poke it in just the right place, revealing another hidden door.

Diz offers to be the one to investigate. She travels down the hallway and in a room to the north she finds a wardrobe that she can’t seem to open. She then investigates the room to the south. Here she finds another cave in. There is a skeleton in the center of the rubble wearing torn and weathered leather vestments. It is wearing a necklace with a charm on it. The charm is that of a tiny jeweled dagger. On the back of the charm it reads in dwarvish “Greed is good.” Diz slips this on her neck and goes to investigate the rest of the hallway. At the far east end there is rubble, but it appears to be different than the piles caused by the cave ins. It looks more like someone has been recently mining.

Diz proceeds back out of the hallway and lets her party know that all is safe. As they all venture forward, she lets them know that the tunnel looks freshly mined and again voices her concern about Dazlyn and Norbus. Kali lets Diz know that it’s not the best idea to wear the symbol of Abbathor around her neck and Diz admits she didn’t know what it was. Kali continues up to the northern room while Diz and Burr call Dazlyn and Norbus to see if they knew anything about the freshly dug hall. Kali is able to open the wardrobe and finds two worn and no longer useful leather vestments once worn by the followers of Abbathor. She reenters the hall as Diz and Burr are asking the two archeologists to enter the temple and help them dig out this hallway. The party reenters the inner temple to unbar the doors. After the dwarves have entered, Diz shuts and bars both sets of doors. Everyone helps dig until they are tired. The dwarves decide that they will work through the night, and the party takes shifts sleeping and keeping watch.

Just as the night is coming to an end, Burr hears someone banging on the outside set of doors. He runs back and alerts his party. They tell the dwarves to continue digging and that they will handle whatever is making the commotion. Burr and Kali go back to the inner temple to listen by the inner set of doors and Diz goes back through the southernmost tunnel that leads back to the Foyer. As they all listen at their respective doors, they hear the outer doors burst open and banging begin on the inner door. Diz attempts to stealth open her door and pour her oil again on the ground, lighting it on fire. Two of the Orcs notice her and begin to follow down the corridor, one managing to stab her. She runs as fast as she can back to the inner temple alerting the others that there are orcs coming. The other two orcs rush down the corridor after reorienting themselves.

Burr attempts to Viciously Mock any of the orcs that he can, causing two to take psychic damage, while Diz throws down a bag of caltrops that manages to trip one of the orcs while Kali casts her mage armor and begins to run for the secret door behind the altar. The Orcs attempt to throw their Javelins at the party but all of their attempts fail. Burr Viciously Mocks them again causing one of the Orcs to fall dead and Diz takes out another with her arrows before disappearing into the secret door. While the tripped Orc attempts and fails to right itself, the final standing Orc runs towards the door. Kali manages to hit it square in the face with a burst of frost causing it to miss its strike against Burr. She then runs down to protect the dwarves should the Orcs make it past Burr, reading a Firebolt. Burr then slices opens the Orcs from navel to chin with his rapier. By this time Diz has managed to make it to other side of the secret hallway and opens the doors, managing to impale the tripped Orc, the battle again ending. The party makes their way back to the dwarves and just as they make it down the hallway Dazlyn’s pickax hits the wall one last time causing the rocks to fall inward into yet another hidden chamber.