Session 7½ Summary

Pressing On

The heroes resumed the attack on the Horned Hold after a very long break, continuing the search for Murkelmore Gimmerzhul. The heroes left the blacksmith in ruins from Urwol's final attack and continued through a tunnel to the west. Entering into an entrance hall of sorts, Merryweather scouted ahead and heard voices to the south. Deciding to avoid them, the heroes entered into the great hall, where a (relatively) huge duergar stood. He introduced himself like a James Bond villain as Rundarr and another battle began. Rundarr immediately charged at the heroes, wielding a warhammer in each hand. Meanwhile, more duergar poured in from the doors on the sides of the room. Merryweather, hoping to gain (combat) advantage, ran around to a side door and opened it, alerting more guards. Even though the other heroes had encouraged Merryweather to do so, they got pissed at him when it turned out to be a bad idea. The battle raged on and Rundarr took Chase down with a flurry of warhammer strikes. Meanwhile, outside the great hall, Travok made life miserable for a duergar by freezing him in place and shooting him. Merryweather attempted to sneak up behind Rundarr, but was shot in the back by duergar archers who somehow had the ability to turn invisible at will. Merryweather found this extremely unfair and wished that he possesed the ability in order to gain combat advantage more easily. The archers took Merryweather down, but the battle was quickly ending as the Judge had engaged Rundarr and was clearly winning. The heroes took down Rundarr and cleaned up the stragglers. However, they remembered hearing voices to the south earlier and wondered who they came from. Investigating further, the heroes found some slaves from Fallcrest in the kitchen. The slaves were grateful to be rescued, but informed the heroes that there were more captives ahead. In the true style of most video games, the slaves said that they could find their own way out and left, providing maximum convenience for the heroes. The heroes were very tired and found an old store room that looked like it was rarely used. The heroes barred the door and rested for several hours. It was worth noting that the Judge did not insist on returning to the Halfmoon Tavern. Mialee remarked that it was strange and poked some fun at the Judge, who was not receptive to the jabs.

The Two Bridges

After resting, the heroes continued to the north, where they entered onto a bridge over a deep chasm. At the end of the bridge, Travok spotted something taking aim at him with a crossbow. He immediately slammed the door and several bolts thudded into it. However, he had noticed another bridge back to the east and the heroes decided to try out a pincer attack. Travok and Mialee stayed and decided to deal with the arbalesters since they could fire through the portcullis. Meanwhile, Chase, Merryweather, and the Judge headed back over to the east to try to sneak around the back. The door was locked, but Merryweather easily defeated the lock. The heroes, with a strangely well-coordinated plan, launched the attack. Travok and Mialee ran up to the portcullis on the other side of the bridge and launched some spells. In particular, Travok cast his favorite spell, Stinking Cloud, but found out that the arbalesters behind the portcullis were constructs (and were immune) and also that duergar have a pretty hefty natural resistance to poison. This filled Travok with despair and he began to question the meaning of his own existence. The battle was easily won, and the heroes looted a treasure box using a key found on Rundarr's corpse. Unfortunately, the heroes realized that they were all very different and had a lot of trouble getting along. Travok even contemplated jumping off the bridge into the chasm below, but a higher power seemed to prevent him. The heroes questioned whether or not they even wanted to continue searching for Murkelmore, or just give up entirely. With the future uncertain, we will have to see what the heroes decide.