Story Hour: Part 2

So it is Sunday again, and you all know what that means right? Story Hour Sunday! Today we'll continue the story where we left off last week, following the next big adventure in my campaign. This time, however, I won't bother with trying to teach anything; I'm just going to ramble through what happened in my campaign.

Thunderspire Labyrinth

This is a big adventure, but I'll make it as brief as possible without missing the highlight, if I can remember them. We left off last week after the players slew a cult of Orcus leader around the city of Winterhaven. We pick up this week as the characters, heroes as they are, were asked by the lord of the city to investigate some reports of missing persons in the area. Not only that, but with a letter found on the corpse of the necromancer (yay plot hooks), they were able to deduce that these people were kidnapped as slaves to be used by some group called the Red Hand. They found out that this group was located inside a large mountain a weeks travel away. So off they were, heading towards - dun dun DUUUUH - Thunderspire Mountain.

There were no problems getting to Thunderspire, but as they entered the mountain they came upon their first problem; a side-room filled with hobgoblins, and a halfling prisoner. Being the heroes they were, they slew the hobgoblins and rescued the halfling, and took him with them. This halfling lives in a city within the mountain, called the Seven-Pillared Hall. This outpost is the entrance into the lower, labyrinthine parts of the mountain, and has an inn, an alehouse, and several shops where merchants take up.

So they get to this hall and are greeted by an Ogre, Brugg. Brugg doesn't like outsiders, but he grudgingly lets the PCs past. This halfling they rescued is the son of the woman who owns the inn, so they got free room for the night. The next day they began investigating. There were lots of plot hooks here: A dwarf who's pet boar had gone missing, a drow who wanted an item back from some dwarves that stole it, but perhaps most importantly, one of the Mages of Saruun who first created the hall, hailed the PCs and told them that slaving was done by the Red Hand, who usually stay in the Chamber of Eyes. 

So the characters headed off to the Chamber of Eyes. This was a smaller complex that housed lots of hobgoblins. There wasn't anything really special here, save that the players learned that the slaves were traded to a group of dark dwarves (I forget the organization's name). To the players' surprise, they remembered that there was an outpost for of the duergar (dark dwarves) in the Hall, and so they had to treck all the way back. 

Back in the Hall they investigated the duergar outpost. With some lucky diplomacy and intimidate checks, the characters coerced the duergar into revealing the slaves were taken to the Horned Hold, a duergar fortress deep within the mountain. So off to there they went. This place was a series of two fortresses separated by long bridges over a bottomless ravine. The buildings were locked and the PCs had to battle their way in. Here they fought all sorts of duergar, and it was a tough battle, but they managed to clear out the place. During the fighting, they ran into 3 human slaves who were imprisoned. These slaves were the ones taken from Winterhaven, but there were more that were from other parts of the area, and those were taken away. The only clue is a place called the Well of Demons. Also, in this area the players found the artifact the drow wanted hanging on a duergar's bedroom wall.

So back in the Seven-Pillared Hall the players were attempting to find out what the heck the Well of Demons is, with little luck. However their good friend the Mage of Saruun they met earlier offered to give them information if they did something for him. They agreed, and the mage told them were the Well of Demons was. In return, the Mage (his name is Orontor) told the players to investigate one of the other Mages of Saruun, Paldamar. Orontor feels that this mage has gone rogue, as he hasn't reported in for several weeks, and was acting strange before hand. The players make a mental note, but move to the Well of Demons. Upon arriving, they find out that this whole place is a huge religious proving grounds that was used by minotaur that worshipped Baphomet (demon god of chaos and destruction). This is where the real craziness begins.

Map of the Well of Demons

Very quickly the players find out that there aren't minotaur here, but rather the are has been taken over by gnolls. After slaying a few and finding that pet boar they had been asked to find. This was a fun encounter with the players trying to calm and free the boar, which then rampaged through the rooms slaughtering any gnolls left over. Moving to the next sub-section the players had a brief encounter with the ghosts of previous adventurers who had died. Thanks to some swift talking the ghosts told the players that the whole complex was home to 4 artifacts that, when put in the appropriate places, triggered a gauntlet that would open up the doors to the inner sanctuary, and that's where they wanted to go.

From here the game is a series of fun encounters that got the players to the 4 artifacts. There was a room filled with mirrors that, when looked through, did something random (summoning a monster, doing damage, even sending the player to a demi-plane). There was also a room filled with pillars of semi-mutilated corpses that would reach out and grab players; that creeped them out a bit. Possibly my favorite room was a large square chamber filled with pools of blood, and several platforms. These platforms had statues that would attack players, as well as demons that hid in the pools of blood. It was pretty fun watching the players flounder as they jumped between platforms only to be pulled into the blood.

Entrance to the inner sanctuary

Now when the players finally got all the artifacts together, they had to put them on a series of magical circles simultaneously, and once they did, a huge gauntlet started. Several traps within the area triggered, and as if that wasn't enough, a green dragon known as The Guardian appeared in the center, and began chasing the players through the halls. As with any good trap gauntlet, there was a time limit. Several doors blocked the way into the inner sanctuary, and they opened slowly, making the players survive for several rounds. They just barely slew the dragon and made it to the inner sanctuary, where they found the other kidnapped prisoners... being prepared to be sacrificed for a ritual by an evil gnoll warlock! The battle that followed had two issues: the players needed to stop the ritual and distract the warlock, while pulling the prisoners out of the ritual circles. The fight concluded when the fighter in the group pushed a vat of acid onto the warlock in a most awesome fashion.

So with 2 of the 3 prisoners still alive (one was sacrificed, sadly) the players returned to Seven-Pillared Hall. One the corpse of that warlock they found a note signed Paldemar (again, I don't remember what about), and a key. With some magical divination rituals the players found out that the key led to a place called the Tower of Secrets. To get into this area the players spoke to an image of Vecna himself (deity of secrets and mysteries). This image required secrets from the players to enter the tower. Once inside the  players fought their was up the tower. It was a fairly straightforward race to the top, where they faced off with Paldemar, the rogue Mage of Saruun who's goal was to turn all of the mountain's defenses against their masters and take control of the area.

In the end the players won, of course. This fight wasn't as fun as the battle with the warlock, but it was alright. With the demise of Paldemar the players could relax a little with their new loot and reputation. They did find out that Paldemar was looking for a source of power with something called the Pyramid of Shadows. They would go investigate that next. Also, a bard named Spaffy in the hall talked to the characters, and ended up telling them of rumors of dragons in the area, and hobgoblin armies, and even hobgoblins riding dragons! it was just rumos though.

So that concluded the players' second adventure. Sorry this post was so long, but this adventure did take place over several months, which is why its so long. Next week we'll find out what the players did about this strange Pyramid of Shadows clue. Until then, happy gaming!

Orsik relieving himself down a pit