Forges of the Mountain King, Session 7: Finally, the Freakin' Forge!

Jym, Dawn, Lethe, Rael, Vismund, and Mike spent another night in the halls of Tannheim. Mike summoned up a wizard's curtain for them to rest in peace down a dead-end passage. During their rest Lethe kept watch as a pair of giant centipedes and a large shadow-bat went on their nocturnal hunts, passing very close by to their camp.

Once all were rested Vismund led them on their way toward the temple district. As they drew closer they discovered the corpses of ancient dead dwarves locked in death embraces, signs of some previous civil war that wiped out their kind in this area. Soon they were outside a massive temple complex and Vismund rushed anxiously up the stairs and in through an open door.

Jym followed and peered inside to see the crazed dwarf hurrying around a large hole in the floor and toward a kind of throne on the other side of a large chamber. More ancient corpses littered the floor here as well. A stone plug swung high from a chain and pulley system directly over the hole in the floor. Vismund was now in front of the throne where a mummified figure sat. As Jym approached and the rest of the party filed into the room Vismund tore something from the mummy's neck, causing the head to bounce onto the floor, and then clutched the thing to his chest declaring "It is mine! My time is now!". Jym tried to see what it was and caught a glimpse of an amulet made of seven brightly colored stones as Vismund placed it around his neck and then the room was plunged into darkness.

Before their vision returned the party could feel things brushing past their legs in the dark and could hear the sounds of high pitched squeaking of thousands of rats filling the room. As sight returned they made out the shape of a massive mound of vermin engulfing the area that once contained Vismund. The mound of rats soon formed itself into a writhing sphere of fur, claws and teeth which then rose into the air and began floating menacingly toward the party to their astonishment. It was impossible to tell if Vismund or what if anything was inside the globe.

Lethe, Jym, and Rael were assaulted by gnashing teeth as the sphere attempted to engulf them. They fought back with their blades and Rael kept the others shielded as best he could from the worst of the attacks. Mysterious beams of multi-colored energy shot out from somewhere deep inside the writhing mass striking random party members who were burned, scoured, pushed, immobilized, weakened, frozen, or exhausted. Dawn and Mike attempted to keep their distance from the thing and blast at it with their range powers. Mike even threw a sack of acid he'd found somewhere along the way at the thing. As they all did damage the rats began to die and fall away from what was in the middle. They slowly revealed an abhorrent beast comprised of a single central eye, a large mouth lined with sharp teeth, and several lesser eyes mounted on long tentacle-like stalks all covered by a hard chitinous shell. Once the outer shell of rats was destroyed the beholder rose slightly higher off the ground and floated out over the hole in the center of the room. It was shooting blasts out of all of its eyes at the party as it shouted threats at them claiming that "Naurorc will devour you all!". Rael and Mike used their powers to maneuver the creature into a more advantageous position where the party could reach it and they finally cut it down. As it died it exploded and seven gems went flying in all directions across the room. When the smoke cleared they found Vismund laying unconscious and apparently unhurt on the ground where the thing once was.

The party gathered up the seven gems and revived Vismund. He claimed to be once again in control of himself and thanked the party for freeing him from his mania. The spirit of Naurorc no longer possessed him, and as a happy side-effect his crippling fear of vermin also seemed to have been cleansed. The rest of the group wasn't entirely convinced he was back to normal and continued to keep a close eye on him. He attempted to help the group make sense of the gems and the room they were in.

There was a door behind the throne that Vismund guessed would lead to the ritual chamber which might contain some useful items in dealing with the forge-bound demon. The hole in the floor contained a ramp which presumably led down to the forge itself. The mummy of Naurorc appeared to have once clutched an item in one of its now missing arms, and they assumed that they would find it below at the forge with the minions of the Mountain King. The doors to the ritual chamber contained a magical lock in the form of a puzzle. Using the dwarven runes inscribed on the door and the gems the group eventually worked out the mathematical solution, after only one failed attempt.

Beyond the door was the ritual chamber which contained many books, scrolls, and tomes. One of which was a ritual scroll which could be used to banish the demon Azan-Zog once it was freed from the chains that bound it. Jym discovered a chest under a bed which Lethe unlocked and de-trapped. It contained many valuable items. Mike and Dawn found another door locked with a magical puzzle mechanism and used the gems once again to bypass it, this time without any missteps. Behind it was a small vault which contained another sample of the rare meteoric filings, a pair of fleetrunning boots and fullblade of wounding +1.

The party gathered up their new treasures and then turned their attention to the hole in the floor. Mike used his skittering sneak power to wildshape into a stealthy form and scouted ahead. Below he found the forge, the demon Azan-Zog with heavy shackles and chains forged of the rare meteoric iron leading back into the forge, and many dwarves at work. The master smith, Urwol, appeared to be wielding a special hammer that controlled the demon and forced it to do his bidding. At his command Azan-Zog would use his control over the element of fire to heat the metal as Urwol pounded it into shape. Massive piles of unrefined and finished weapons littered the floor. Urwol seemed to be able to move the weapons about at-will with the power of his mind or by his command of the hammer.

The party decided to focus their attack on Urwol and wrest the hammer from his control. Mike gained surprise using his skittering sneak ability, but failed to strike Urwol with the full force of his flaming seed. Urwol summoned a whirlwind of deadly metal blades to hack and hammer on Mike. Blackhammer dwarves rushed to their leader's defense and Mike was driven back into a corner of the room. Lethe crept down the stairs and sneaked up on one of the blackhammers. Rael raced down the stairs and then used his feystep charge to avoid the chained demon and gain the center platform where Urwol stood and commanded from behind a massive anvil. Jym leaped down the stairs and granted Lethe an extra attack on his opponent while shrugging off the effects of standing so close to the heat of the forge. Azan-Zog was commanded by Urwol to attack the intruders and summoned the flame of the forge to heat the weapons in Lethe, Rael, and Jym's hands. Lethe and Rael were burnt badly but managed to hang onto their swords. Jym was barely phased, due to his infernal heritage and just laughed at the demon, "Is that all you've got?". Enraged the demon engulfed Jym and Rael in balls of fire which slowed them down a bit. Dawn and Vismund watched from the balcony above and launched their attacks on Urwol from a safe distance.

Urwol shifted his zone of swirling iron over to engulf Lethe and Rael once they had dispatched a pair of blackhammers. They moved out of the cloud and surrounded the master smith. Urwol brought down a thundering hammer blow which knocked Lethe away and to the back of the room near Mike who was still fighting with a blackhammer minion. Rael clung to the anvil and managed to stay near Urwol. Jym, struggling against the slowing effects of the forge fires, finally reached the center of the room and lent aid to Rael and urged him back into the fight. Vismund came up as well and aided with his magical craghammer. Dawn rained cosmic death down on Urwol from above and he was finally taken down.

Jym was first to snatch up the hammer of the forge and commanded Azan-Zog to stop fighting. With reluctance the demon obeyed. They needed his help to forge Lethe and Dawn's blades into weapons that could cut the chains. Dawn was tricked into burning herself with her own blade. Jym held Lethe's fullblade and Dawn's dagger as they were covered in meteor filings and Azan-Zog heated the weapons fusing the metals together. Vismund took up the hammer of the forge and completed the process creating two new powerful weapons who's surfaces resembled the night sky. Jym took up the fullblade and approached the demon. Mike held the scroll of banishment at the ready.

With two mighty swings Jym freed the demon of his chains. Azan-Zog gave a mighty cry of triumph and then attempted to push past Jym and Vismund to get to Mike before he could complete the ritual. Jym and Vismund struck out mightily as Azan-Zog flew past but were unable to stop the beast. Mike stammered out the words of the ritual as he eyed the demon baring down on him. Azan-Zog's flaming claws tore into the druid, but Mike was able to scream out the last few magical phrases on the page. As the last words were spoke Azan-Zog howled in fury and was forcibly ejected from the world and back into the elemental chaos of the abyss.

As the party sat and regained their strength they witnessed a host of ghostly dwarves marched down the stairs and into the now cold forge. The last dwarf was the shade of the underking who turned and saluted the party before following his subjects and disappearing forever. The curse of the forge had been lifted. The party gathered all their treasures and found their way out of the halls of tannheim and back to the circle where they originally appear through the portal and used their recall stones to get back home.