The Ragath Mountain Campaign
After finding the boats gone and Rugoth missing, the party and four volunteers from the mine guards took two boats up stream. The underground stream was slow and travel was easy against the current, but the darkness of the cavern made navigating difficult. Several areas were large enough that their light could not reach the the ceiling or the banks and they had only the current by which to navigate. Xendra's owl, Octavious, flew ahead frequently with Jacen's light coin (a coin with Light cast upon it that Jacen used to see in the dark) to help them avoid rocky portions of the river.
After about four hours they found several boats along the bank and headed toward them. The lead boat suddenly lurched as two spear points pierced its hull. It quickly started filling with water and they barely made it to the shore. Dagmar, never a fan of water travel, cursed and yelled to the rear boat to be wary of traps in the water. The rear boat swung wide and made it to shore unscathed.
On shore, the party looked at the other boats. Blood stains were in the hull of one of them and there was a trail leading toward a heavy wooden door in the side of the cavern. They also found a chest and a fire pit on the shore. The chest contained well made fishing gear, nets, and rope.
"We should destroy the boats except for those we need to return," said Dagmar. "We won't want them to be able to get reinforcements or escape."
The party agreed and destroyed all but two of the boats and then set themselves on following the trail. Jacen led the way with the others following close behind. After opening the unlocked heavy wooden door, they continued down a musty passage strewn bits of discarded planks, used bits of rope, and fish bones. While carefully stepping around these, Xendra plunged into a well-disguised pit.
"Aiee!" cried Xendra as she looked down at the slimy spike piercing her leg, "I don't feel sooo..." her voice faded as she slumped into unconsciousness. Triblet was lowered into the pit and they hoisted Xendra's body back up. Dagmar laid on hands and although the power of her faith closed Xendra's wounds, the elf was still unconscious.
"Poison!" said Triblet, "Powerful enough to make an elf sleep, too."
After two hours of attending to Xendra, she slowly woke.
"How long?" asked Xendra.
"Two hours. You were poisoned." said Dagmar.
"Maybe we should take some of that poison to fight them." suggested Jacen.
"No. It is evil." said Dagmar.
The party continued and came to a locked iron door framed by burning torches. After Triblet and Jacen listened, they determined there were orcs on the other side.
Jacen and Dagmar put their shoulders to the door, but the door held fast. They tried again and the orc voices stopped on the other side. They heard shuffling on the otherside and then oil started pouring from a spigot above the doorway which soon turned to flame as it struck the lit torches around the doorway. Quickly everyone retreated down the stairs as a river of fire followed them. No one was harmed, but they realized a frontal assault was not going to work.
The flames burned down and the party took their bows and crossbows and aimed for the door.
Two orcs poked their heads out the doorway and their bodies crumpled to the ground as the party shot them down. The party charged before their bodies were dragged free of the doorway, and burst through the door. Orcs on platforms hurled down flaming spears at them and one of the dwarven guards hit the floor clutching a flaming shaft. Xendra waved her arms in a quick spell and with arcane words sent two magic missiles into an orc holding a spear. He dropped the spear and fell from his platform. The others used their bows and crossbows to cut down the rest of the orcs on the platforms. Soon they secured the room and counted their losses. Two of the dwarves they had brought with them were dead and Dagmar and Jacen were hurt. Dagmar healed herself and Jacen and then looked around. The room had doors on each of the four walls.
Suddenly more orcs flung open the south door and a hale of bolts flew into the room. The party responded by charging the orcs before they could get into the room. Jacen and Dagmar took the lead. The orcs in the hallway were no match for them individually. The party advanced on them and soon the last of the orc guards were slain as well. Once again, they healed themselves from the battle.
The hallway continued and the party went left when it met another corridor. They found four empty barracks with ten beds piled with dirty animal skins and footlockers at the foot of each bed. Triblet, who had for some reason become the designated locksmith of the group, found all of the chests unlocked and full of treasures: coins of silver, gold, and platinum, three gems, plate armor for a halfling or gnome as well as a normal human, banded mail of orcish make, a finely made great sword, and a scroll in a case with Protection from Arrows, See Invisibility, and Unseen Servent written on the outside of the case.
Searching further, the party heard snoring and followed it to a sleeping jailer. They made quick work of him and took his keys to search the cells. Inside two cells they found dwarven bones of which several teeth were missing. At the end of the row of cells, they found a torture chamber with horrible implements, some of which looked recently used by the blood stains. They also found a small pile of teeth on a nearby table and Dagmar shuddered.
Walking further they heard the sound of metal on stone and went to investigate. The burst into the room with weapons ready to find a startled dwarf chained to a table making a large obsidian eye. The dwarf's eye sparkled with hope when he saw Dagmar. The Dwarf took his stone chisel and started to free himself from the chains, but he was too weak and the party had to help him.
"Thank ye," he said with a grin missing a few teeth, "My brother is in the next room. Please free him too!"
Across the hallway, they opened the door to find another dwarf chained to a table making a large wooden hand-shaped pedestal. He looked up at the party and his brother and scratched his red beard and sighed. The party freed him as well and asked how they ended up here.
"Four of us were taking the river from the mines to Jotsplat about a year ago when we were ambushed in our boats at Emerald Lake. These orcs, lead by Roguth, took us back here and tried to get us to tell them where the gems and coins we had were from. We didn't tell him, but then this strange black elf somehow made us tell her against our will. Hathgrim and Neytel were guards and couldn't do anything for the orcs so they were killed. We've been here making boats, chairs, and trinkets for them since," said Sedrek, the older of the two brothers.
"Can you fight with us?" asked one of the dwarven guards.
"No, we are not skilled at arms and are probably too weak," said the red bearded brother drooping his head.
"Then go to the guard room with us. Bar the doors and don't let anyone in but us. If we don't come back in two hours, go out the north door and take the boat back to the mine and let them know what has happened," ordered Dagmar.
The party escorted them to the guard room and heard the iron bar put in place. They continued from where they left their explorations and found a room with a large well-carved stone bed with clean animal skins. The room had well-made wooden furniture and several pieces of art depicting mountain scenes. The foot locker was made of oiled wood and ivory inlay. The night stand held an oil lamp and several leather-bound books.
Xendra took a look at the books and read the titles (which were in Dwarven and Draconic): Siege Machines and their Construction, Excavation and Construction, and Morgox's Architectural Designs of the World which was actually autographed. On a small marble desk was a thick journal next to quills and ink. Flipping the journal open to a random page, Xendra read a paragraph, translating from Draconic:
...
His sword freed from Norda's bones
raised high against the frozen night
the hilt aglow with golden runes
Against the wyrm above in flight
...
"It goes on like this for at least a hundred pages. Quite the long-winded orc!" she said as she stuffed it with the other books into her pack.
Triblet called to the party and pointed at a tapestry on the south wall.
"Notice how the tapestry seems to be a bit worn and wrinkled on the right side at about an orc's chest-level," he said with a bit of pride and then pulled the tapestry back. He used the hilt of a dagger to tap on the wall and found it hollow. He pushed and a door swung open into a dark hallway which ended abruptly. Triblet smiled and quickly found the secret door in the south. They opened it and entered a long east-west corridor.
They went west until they came to the end of the corridor. The door to the south was opened carefully and they found what looked like a healing room. They grabbed two healing kits and six potions labeled Cure Light Wounds in orcish. To the north the door opened to a short corridor which ended abruptly. Xendra and Triblet pointed out the symmetries on the map they had been making of the place and deduced that there should be a secret door at the end. Triblet found it immediately and they burst into the room.
The room was similar to Roguth's except it was sparsely decorated with religious knick-knacks relating to Grummsh, none of which looked particularly valuable. However the dark female elf standing from her desk and reaching for a bow caught their attention immediately and they fired their readied weapons. Bolts and arrows pierced the drow as she staggered to her feet to let loose an arrow which flew wide of its target. She pulled another arrow from the quiver near her desk, but was felled by Xendra's magic before she could nock it.
They stripped her of her armor and weapons and found a small bronze chest under the bed. Triblet looked over the chest and found a clever trap on the lid of the chest which he disabled. He opened the chest and the found a small vial of thick liquid labeled cure moderate wounds and a platinum goblet with spiders on opposite sides. Casting a spell, Xendra was able to detect magic on the drow's rapier, chainmail, the vial, and the goblet.
The party left the room and came to an intersection with clerical dormitory rooms. Each of the four rooms had four beds over which a large painting of an eye looked down. The dormitories were empty. They then turned to the door just south of the guard room.
They found the door locked and Triblet picked it. The party arrayed themselves for a charge, kicked open the door, and raced into an enormous room filled with orcs. The warriors fired their bows as many in brown and a few in black robes began guttural chants and took up their greataxes to prepare for battle. The warriors arrows missed and the party slew two of their number, but the rest of the 30 orcs were suddenly coming their way with weapons drawn.
Jacen and Dagmar led the attack with Xendra, Triblet, and the two remaining dwarven guards defending their backs and flanks. The battle raged with Xendra casting Sleep over the orcs and Triblet using his longbow. The dwarven guards fell quickly under the onslaught and soon Jacen fell under their axes as well but Dagmar healed him quickly with a touch of her hand. Triblet sent an arrow into the face of a charging warrior just before he could bring down his axe on Xendra's head, but another struck Dagmar and she fell to the ground. Jacen's blade took two of their number and he covered Xendra as she poured a healing potion down Dagmar's throat.
Coughing, Dagmar, jumped to her feet and hewed a leg from a cleric in black robes just before his glowing hands could reach Triblet's back. Triblet fired his bow again and struck another black-robed cleric with glowing hands.
"Get the guys in black!" he yelled out.
Xendra saw two more coming right for her, but she quickly cast a Sleep spell on them and they both slid bonelessly to the ground along with two more nearby orcs. But the victory was short-lived as a greataxe blade caught her in the shoulders from behind and she hit the ground. Dagmar went to heal her with a potion, but a black hand shot searing pain through her and she too fell. Jacen swung wildly as four orcs surrounded him and disarmed one at the elbow. Triblet's bow found another in the back. The last two orcs swung their heavy axes at Jacen and connected with meaty thuds and brought him down.
Triblet backed up and fired his bow at the two remaining orcs as they closed in on him with bloody greataxes. He struck one, but he continued. The other orc reached him first and brought down the heavy blade toward him as he rolled away quickly. He dropped his bow and pulled out his shortsword and dagger and struck at the wounded orc. His dagger struck deeply and the orc fell to the ground. Triblet dodged a blow from the unwounded orc and struck back and missed as well. The orc then rushed him and his greataxe cut him across the chest as he leapt back. But before the orc could bring his axe around, Triblet charged in close and scored with both his short short and dagger. The greataxe dropped noisily to the floor and the orc stumbled and fell to the side.
Triblet quickly gave the rest of the party the Cure Light Wounds potions that were left and once Dagmar was back from the brink, she was able to bring the rest back from the edge of death.
The party went back to the healing room to look for more potions as they were still badly hurt, but found none. They did however find another secret door nearby and behind it a small library. They found maps and books in orcish as well as a thickly bound book on a table in the middle of the room. The book had the single word "Mershan" written on it. Xendra looked at it closely and opened it. It was a spell book with several spells from elementary first level spells to a few more difficult third level spells, many of which Xendra had never heard of before.
They gathered the maps, books, and spell book and were about to reenter the huge room from the alcove to the south, but Jacen noticed that there were familiar drag marks on the floor heading to the south wall. Triblet checked and found a secret door. After the party listened carefully and nothing was heard, they opened the door and very cold air rushed up the staircase on the other side of doorway.
"We should wait," said Xendra, looking very tired, "we're wounded, we have few spells, and we're almost out of healing potions."
The party agreed and they headed back to the guard room where the two previously enslaved dwarves waited.
The all headed back for the underground river and realized they only had one boat after they had destroyed the others. Xendra took out a quill and scribbled a note to the dwarves in the mines to send enough boats to take back themselves and some of their loot and affixed it to Octavious' leg and sent her back.
They all sat and waited by the stream in the cold dark cavern and tended their wounds.