bluegargantua

Hi,

As I sit here with my feet dangling over the remains of the bridge staring out across the chasm to the far side, I am reminded that the gap between me and my goals may also appear to be an unbridgeable fissure yet still I have hope that I will find a way through to the other side. If only I can get my merry band of idiot beavers to start felling a few logs, I might finally cross this deathly hollow into the sunlit lands of occult knowledge and leave all these tortured metaphors behind.

You will recall that I single-handedly did the job of all the front-line fighters by slaughtering the drake hounds. After a period of recovery, we returned to the Shieldwall to report on our findings. Dunhouse was suitably impressed by our efforts and as a reward told us to go back and explore the ruins some more after a good night's sleep. Once more, it seemed curious that our small group was being sent out to explore a vast, trap-filled facility, full of enemy troopers when (as I may have mentioned) entire legions fill this valley. Even though I fully acknowledge that scouting units such as ourselves would lead the main body of soldiers, at least the regular grunts could hold areas we had secured. Further, we could draw upon specialist units within the legion to provide support (assault, logistics, engineering and so on). As it is, although we bloodied the snouts of the Gibbers, who knows how many more remained and what kind of warm reception we could expect upon our return to the lair? Once more, I am sadly reminded that my brief encompasses the arcane arts and not the screamingly obvious. I am also of the opinion that Dunhouse is not over-fond of simple solutions to simple problems. Or perhaps there is some inter-service rivalry between him and that Captain that takes priority over the lives of his underlings. Whatever the case, I resigned myself to a fatal Gibber ambush and got what sleep I could.

The next day, Dunhouse presented us with a new teammate to replace the unfortunate...um..Evan? Evar? The warlock fellow? Ah, Erevan. Yes, that was his name. So we got a replacement for Erevan and something useful. Each member received 2 potions of healing. No longer will I be forced to rely on unconscious paladins or unreliable clerics. A good solid potion will see me through.

Despite the general protest of the group, the new guy told us his name is Ander and now I suppose I must describe him. Ander is a halfling and, as far as I can tell, he's a gym teacher with delusions of grandeur -- which is the most pure tautology I can imagine. Anyway, he's all cheerful smiles and buddy-buddy and back-slapping...well, he's a halfling so it's either a kidney punch or sexual harassment depending on your size/gender. Anyway, clearly far too gung-ho for this job, but he'll certainly give the rest of us time to get away.

We returned to the complex the next day. On foot. Even the simple expedient of providing horses to reach the complex more quickly was considered impractical. Although Hendel suggested that he might "ride me up there if I didn't get a move on". I've long wondered how delicately I can manipulate my mage hand spell. Remotely shaving the Dwarf would prove most enlightening. Still, I sure the Dwarf thought he was being funny so we'll save that particular test for a truly spectacular failure on his part.

Despite my fears, it seems as though Gibbers are less tactically adroit than we are. There were no ambushes, traps or other obvious defensive obstacles place in our path and we returned to the large chamber where I conquered the drakehounds. The Gibbers cleaned up and we determined they left via a door on the second floor balcony. So up we go, where Kestrel wastes a bunch of time with the locks before it opens up and in we go.

There's a short corridor that opens up into a large room. The most striking feature of this room (besides the 200' ceilings...Dwarves have serious compensation issues) is a series of stepped pillars that start about 10' high and quickly rise up about a dozen pillars to a top height of 60-70'. Kestrel makes the mistake of touching the thing and all the pillars slam down into the floor forming a pit that quickly filled with water. It also threw us all to the ground and slammed a wall shut behind us.

Seeing as we're trapped in the room we have a look around. There's the shallow pool of water, two alcoves and a set of stairs revealed when the pillars dropped. One of the alcoves used to be a dumbwaiter of some sort, now it's just a deep shaft where the Gibbers dumped the bodies. The other alcove had a bland statue of a Dwarf in it.

Closer inspection of the statue by Kestrel revealed a hidden compartment in the forearm. In the compartment was a lever. It had "trap" written on it in every known language, but really, what would you do? Just leave the lever there? Kestrel was keen to give it a pull and we were keen to try and avoid the inevitable doom sure to follow. My bet was that the ceiling would collapse and so I chose to head down the newly revealed stairway. Thrace joined me, which made me feel somewhat better until she announced that her action was "in accordance with prophecy". Quite.

Kestrel gave the lever a common, gutter-trash jerk, hardly befitting such a wonderful machine. I, myself, have studied the various manuals and know fifty ways to love a lever. However, the trap was sprung and there was no time for critiques. It turns out the ceiling wasn't trapped, but the stairs were. The stairs became a ramp and we slid headlong into a wall of spikes. Luckily, my scrawny physique served me well and I wasn't skewered (though I did hit the wall rather hard). Thrace and I shared a bonding moment over common misfortune and then scrabbled up the ramp to help out in the fight.

At the top, we discovered that a section of wall had slid aside and two animated statues were hacking into the party. I applied a barrage of magic missiles and we quickly disabled the constructs. Behind the statues was a large door. Kestrel searched the door, set off the trap, successfully disabled the trap and opened the door. Past the door was a small, unfinished room with a pair of ruby encrusted hammers and a magical axe of Elven manufacture. The hammers were some sort of religious symbol (those old-fashioned Moradain icons again) and the axe was apparently a gift. We collected the relics for further analysis and returned to the main room.

This recent confrontation with the past gave Hendel the idea that the pillars were a sort of animated diorama representing the destruction of the first Dwarven Empire by a Titan. Essentially the Dwarves lived in a carved mountain and the Titan sank it beneath the waves. Fascinating. Kestrel got the back door open and we decided to see if the stairs led anywhere besides a new career as a colander.

Kestrel retracted the barrier and began to sneak further down the steps. I really don't see the point, our recent activity in the room above was probably audible all the way back to Tenbrooks. So I can hardly fault Kestrel's misstep. The excited Gibbers below weren't about to be surprised by anything. How the Gibbers managed to get through the room above without hell and damnation crushing them is a bit of a puzzle. Probably they weren't interested in levers the philistines.

With our cover blown, it was hardly surprising that Anders went bounding forward loudly proclaiming "YOUR DOOM HAS ARRIVED!". Although he did collect an impressive number of crossbow bolts in his hide for his trouble, I was fully expecting him to fall over dead then and there. Apparently he's "got the fire in his belly" or whatever and soldiered on.

Although perfectly ready to assail the enemy with my magics, there was the small matter of everyone else blocking my way and I'm not about to get in front of the party any time soon. So I sauntered along behind the cattle train as it made its way down the steps and into the room.

Another large room. This one split in two by a 30' wide trench that appears to have no bottom. There are large corridors leading out north and south and a bridge between them that spans the gap. The group opposite the stairs was pretty well chewed up by the time I reached the bottom of the steps and most of the party was after the group that attacked them from behind the stairs. A well-armored Gibber and a Varten (lizard-like spellcaster type) came up of the edge of the pit. I was prepared to go after the Varten when Thrace and Hendel were suddenly engaged by dwarven skeletons emerging from the northern corridor. Arcane artillery is my job and so I positioned myself to deal with them, while Blaze ran after the varten.

Accurately placing spells in a whirling melee is a difficult business at best and finding the correct range to take out the maximum number of skeletons was proving thorny. I was not as telling in the fight as I had hoped and spent far more time on it than I should have. Ander, Kestrel and Taras went after the Gibber Captain, finally slaying him on the narrow ledge next to the edge of the gap that he'd come up from. They were then assaulted by another group of Gibbers and a Captain. Most of the Gibbers fell to Taras's lighting breath -- a factor to consider for Taras's upcoming comeuppance. But with a lot of "walk it off soldiers" and "I'm too pretty to die", the front-line fighters did their job and held off the onslaught.

Meanwhile, out on the bridge, the Varten was remembering the notable racial characteristics of Tieflings. Specifically that they're rather resistant to fire so spell effects that rely on it are less useful than might otherwise be the case. Blaze, however, clearly displayed the failure of generalization over specialization that plagues all so-called "warrior-mages". As a jack of all trades, master of none, she couldn't provide a clear knock-out blow with either sword or spell. She certainly hurt the wretched thing, but going the last mile and actually killing it eluded her -- even with Alanna's assistance soon after the duel began. It was nearly a fatal weakness as the Varten fled to the far side of the bridge and tripped a trigger causing the bridge to collapse. Blaze nearly fell to her death, but Alanna hauled her back up and the pair retreated to our side of the bridge to mop up the skeletons.

A most disappointing turn of events. Clearly the spellcaster is the most important threat to eliminate and not only did Blaze fail to silence his mumblings, she allowed him to seriously impede our progress and alert reinforcements. Clearly I did not properly evaluate her potential and in the future, I'll have to make more serious efforts at counter-battery fire even at the expense of my primary mission. Most distressing.

At any rate, now we need a moment to rest and consider our options. We probably can't cross the gap without some assistance from legion pioneers, but it might also prove a barrier for the Gibbers. I also suspect that this bridge connects two discreet sections of the complex and that we might now take our leisure to explore our side more fully.

Or perhaps we'll use the halfing as a grappling hook.

later
Tom