Scions of Punjar, Session 4: Searching the Abandoned Iron Mines

Corvus Tremaine had lost track of time while in the Raven Queen's Temple scriptorium and archives. He was following a hunch of his based on something Latimer had said the previous day. Corvus located crumbling scrolls that detailed a battle between followers of the Raven Queen and their ancient enemies, Orcas cultists, during the early founding days of Punjar. The Raven Queen eventually won and drove many of Orcas's followers out of the city. It was rumored that a charismatic cleric of Orcas set up a secret temple in the abandoned iron mines out side of town, but it was never found and destroyed. When Latimer mentioned something about "dead things" wandering the old mines near the bandit hideout during his interview it immediately triggered a half-memory of these tales in Corvus. He confirmed his suspicions that these mines were the same, and then looked up to see that he was late to his meeting with the other members of GoHAC.

Corvus headed out quickly after them and came upon the carcass of the young green dragon that Jym, Regnor, Mongo, Chiana, and Aletha had slain earlier in the day on the road. A low green poisonous mist clung to the area immediately around the corpse, forcing Corvus to cover his mouth as he passed close by. Crows had come back and were dining on its remains, some even lay dead nearby, killed by the escaping poisonous gasses.

Corvus eventually caught up to the rest of the party just outside of the abandoned iron mines. He came upon a scene of carnage, a pile of Orcish bodies lying dead at the party's feet. Introductions were made and they brought him up to speed on the situation, including Mongo's situation.

The group proceeded cautiously into the mine entrance and to a T-intersection. A pair of rusty rails set in the ground bent around the corner to the West. To the East the passage appeared to end abruptly at a wall, but there was something odd about that wall. Sharp eyes spied a large rat looking at them with malevolence from down the Eastern passage. Regnor moved to stomp on it, but when it noticed it was spotted it quickly ran away and disappeared under the Eastern wall. Chiana shouted a warning to Regnor as he pursued the rat and he stopped just short of a trip wire stretched across the passage. The party cautiously climbed over the trip-wire and examined the "wall" which was only a canvas sheet pinned to a beam in the ceiling. Chiana was the first party member to bravely peek behind the curtain. Behind it a quartet of crossbows were rigged to fire through the curtain and down the hall at anyone tripping the wire. The large rat was behind the crossbows, watching and waiting to see if the trap would be sprung, then squeaked and streaked for a small rat hole in the wall. The passage beyond the curtain was short and ended in a cave-in. Mongo moved a largish boulder in place of the rat hole, blocking the rat's return. A faint scent of old fish hung in the air here, and reminded Mongo of something he smelled the previous evening when he was rudely dragged from his bed.

Jym dismantled the crossbow traps and took some of the bolts which appeared to be smeared with some sort of poison. The party then followed the Western passage which led to a crude door made of rotting wooden boards scavenged from old ore carts. Some of the boards still had brands and markings of the old mining company that opened these mines. The band passed through the door and into what seemed to be where the Orcs had set up camp. Regnor found a sack of coins under one of their piles of sleeping furs. The set of rails in the floor continued under a table and apparently through the far wall. Mongo smashed the table and Chiana discovered a secret door behind which the mine shaft continued on.

The rails turned a corner and proceeded up a steep ramp. As the party followed them they heard a challenging shout from the top of the ramp, "Stop! Who's there?" At the top of the ramp they could just make out the shape of a mine cart leaden with spears, axes, and swords pointing out in all directions and a figure standing close beside it with his hand on a lever. Chiana, thinking quickly called back the password Latimer had told them "Kaz-Gar wets the bed!" The voice responded "I do not! Besides that's the old password. What's the new one?"

A female voice at the top of the ramp encouraged Kaz-Gar to "Just pull the lever already!" Chiana attempted to convince them that "We're here to speak to Haledon. He'll be mad if you don't let us pass." To that Kaz-Gar replied, "I don't know, Aneurine, maybe I should let them by." Aneurine was getting frustrated with Kaz-Gar and threatened to pull the lever herself if he didn't do it soon.

Chiana's delaying tactic allowed Mongo, Regnor, and Jym to start moving up the ramp to engage the pair of bandits before they could launch the mine cart trap. Kaz-Gar panicked and tried to release the break while Mongo bared down on him. Regnor came up on the other side of the cart and attacked Aneurine who was trying to help Kaz-Gar. Jym borrowed Mongo's trident and ran up the ramp to jam it into the ground in front of the cart to keep it from moving. Kaz-Gar tossed a lit torch into the back of the now stationary cart. Jym could see that the inside of the cart was filled with explosives that would go off at any moment.

At the base of the ramp, Corvus, Aletha, and Chiana attempted to stay well away from the potential blast and directed range attacks at the pair of bandits. Jym commanded Regnor to "Put out that fire!" Regnor shoved Aneurine out of his way and into the blades of the cart and she screamed as she was impaled on them. Jym pushed past them and put out the torch before it could ignite the explosives. Kaz-Gar turned to flee after Mongo bloodied him and he was followed by Aneurine when she extricated herself from the cart. They ran through a door and further into the mine. Aletha slayed Aneurine with an eldritch blast and misty stepped into the next room and Mongo caught up with Kaz-Gar with a mighty charge, dropping him in his tracks.

The next room contained a group of bandits and a pair of elves that looked to be twins. One of them was armed with a massive sword and wore heavy armor, the other was dressed in robes and wielded a wand. Chiana identified these two as Fenn and Finn from her interview notes.

Fenn charged the group along with the other four bandits in the room. Finn stayed in the back and fire balls of lightning at Jym, Regnor, and Mongo. The bandits went down easily, and so did Finn once Mongo got toe-to-toe with him. As his brother died, Fenn flew into a bloody rage, but he was the only enemy left in the room and suffered the full focus of the party's powers. When they were done with him they caught sight of the same giant rat from before sitting in the corner of the room watching them. It quickly ran from the room under another door and deeper into the mines. The smell of rotting fish seemed to cling to and follow it.

Mongo chased after the smelly rat and struck it when he caught up to it. The rat squealed and immediately vanished leaving Mongo in a new room surrounded by surprised bandits. In this room there was a burley dwarf wielding a nasty looking morningstar. Latimer had described this character as Bramm. Another brief fight took place in this room. During the fight Aletha moved toward the door leading to the next room, but failed to notice the hulking female half-orc, Borsc, lurking behind the open door. Borsc snuck up on Aletha and wrapped her meaty hands around the eladrin's thin neck and began to strangle her. Luckily Aletha was able to fey-step out of Borsc's grasp and eyebite her.

The party easily defeated the bandits in this room before chasing after the elusive rat and continued into the next room. Corvus stayed behind with Chiana to search for treasures. The next room was empty of bandits. There was a tidy bed and a small make-shift altar made from a wooden crate in one corner of the room. The other side had a very messy bed, empty bottles, and a wicker basket in the corner. Something under the messy bed glinted in the light. Corvus and Chiana found a locked and trapped wooden chest in the previous room. Chiana disarmed the trap but was unable to pick the lock. Corvus smashed open the chest to get at the gold inside. Mongo opened the wicker basket and discovered Latimer's pet snake, a deathrattle viper, that rose up and attacked. Everyone in earshot of the snake's rattle was struck with irrational fear, weakening them. Mongo tried to wrestle with the serpent, but it slithered easily away. Regnor, Jym, and Aletha closed in and helped slay the vicious creature. Mongo spotted something at the bottom of the basket, an iron key. Regnor drug a metal chest out from under the bed and the key opened it. They looted the treasure before moving into the next room.

Corvus came into the room and noticed the small shrine. He identified it as being dedicated to Orcas. In anger Corvus smashed the altar, discovering a hidden cache of treasure inside the wooden crate. He gathered these treasures up, before following his companions into the next room.

In the final room, they confronted Haledon, a burly man with a bald head, a scarred face and bushy red beard. He wore a bandoleer of knives across his chest and held a longsword in one hand. Jym shot him with a poisoned bolt, slowing him down. Then Regnor, Mongo, and Jym rushed forward to fight him. Aletha struck Haledon with eyebite keeping him blind to her. Lem Kipper, the gnome wererat, took advantage of Aletha being distracted and sneaked up behind her to deliver a nasty stab from the back. Haledon alternated sword attacks with thrown knives, while also barking commands at Lem Kipper, granting him additional attacks.

When Lem was bloodied he morphed into his half-rat half-gnome form. As he attempted to bite someone to infect them with filth fever he was finally brought down. Haledon lasted only a moment longer.

The party searched the rest of the mine for treasure and clues. Jym, Corvus, and Rengor each found magic items they could use. Amongst Haledon's items they found a contract signed by him and Cadavra, regarding grave-robbing and placing bodies around the Punjar area. They also found a box of jewelry containing many items belonging to the Dev'shirs. Mongo did not find any sign of his half-brother, Ecamirg, but a note written by Haledon mentioned that he had been cheated out of payment by Ecamirg and planned to follow him to the North.

The party took their loot and headed back to the city of Punjar. They planned to return the jewelry to the Dev'shirs and potentially gain some more information about this Cadavra and what happened to their daughters Dugesia and Lukasia. Mongo returned to the city in the hopes of getting GoHAC to help him pursue Ecamirg into the mountains to the North.

Scions of Punjar, Session 3: Mongo the Massive

Aletha, Regnor, and Chiana were surprised to see Jym waiting for them at their customary meeting place the following day. He summed up his experiences with Lethe, Dawn, Rael, and Mike at the Halls of Tannheim and then cautioned them against Vismund who turned out to be the real menace all along, although he claimed to be "cured" now. Aletha brought Jym up to speed on their current mission, locating the hideout of the Crimson Hand and interrogating their leader to find out who hired them to steal corpses from their graves.

They waited until it was clear Corvus was not joining them this time, he apparently had duties at the temple of the Raven Queen to attend to, before they gathered up some supplies and headed. Guided by the directions Latimer gave them, they headed out of the city of Punjar and to the Northeast toward the old abandoned iron mines. An hour or so of traveling took them out of the well traveled lands and into unfamiliar territory. Off in the distant the could see a murder of crows heckling something small on the ground. An occasional gruff shout would drive the birds into the air to circle briefly before settling back down down again. The shouts came from the small thing on the ground, which turned out to be the head of a goliath who was buried to the neck in the dirt. The party shooed away the birds long enough to talk with the giant.

He introduced himself as Mongo, a prince and son of Dlanor Dlanodcam ruler of a kingdom to the North. He claimed that he was given a magical bracelet that was important to the line of kings of Dlanodcam, but was forced to leave when his half-brother, Ecamrig, attempted to get the bracelet back from him. He was pursued across the land until Ecamrig eventually caught up with him. Mongo defeated him after a fierce battle, but was forced to take a room and rest in Punjar. During the night he was seized by many strange hands and drug out here and buried by a band of mercenaries. One of them, a filthy gnome, dropped his pants and left a smelly gift right in front of Mongo's face. The last thing Mongo remembered before passing out from the smell and rough handling was Ecamrig's laughing face as he held the magic bracelet aloft and turned to leave him there.

Mongo asked that the party help dig him out so he could pursue his brother and punish the mercenaries. He heard them call themselves the Crimson Hand. Since their goals were aligned the party decided to help Mongo. While they were discussing Mongo's back-story Chiana had noticed that the crows had sensed something and flown off. She caught sight of a large winged creature heading their way and as it got closer she could see the distinctive shape of a dragon. It appeared to have seen the group on the ground and began diving toward them. Chiana gave a cry of warning to the group and then prepared for a fight.

The dragon, a young green but still a large specimen, swooped low and bit Aletha as it passed. As it landed in their midst the party was stunned by its frightful presence. The young green dragon took advantage of their fear to taunted them "Hahaha, I will feast on your flesh after you have fallen." and then belched out a cloud of poisonous gas to engulf them all. Choking and coughing on the fumes, Jym staggered forward to slash at the great magical beast and then dodged aside as its great tail came lashing down to strike the ground were he stood. Aletha blasted the dragon before running to take cover behind some rocks. Mongo struggled to free himself from the ground and Regnor moved up to help and started digging. Chiana struck the dragon with cutting words, which made it howl and leap over Jym to get to her. Jym slashed at and cut the beast as it did.

Mongo with Regnor's help finally got free of his earthen prison and joined the fight. Chiana was struck by the dragon's claws before she used one of her powers to make it blunder backward past Regnor who took a swing at it with his greataxe as it passed. Aletha stayed safely behind her rock, cursed the dragon, and vexed it with eyebite. The dragon lured Mongo into range and then blasted all but Aletha was another cloud of poison.

Things were looking grim for the party at this point. The poison was slowing them down and making them weak. A few words of inspiration from Jym and majestic words from Chiana were needed to get the party back on their feet and into the fight. Regnor, Jym, and Mongo closed in and hacked away at the dragon bloodying it, all the while keeping mobile to avoid its lashing tail. It bit and clawed at them and spewed forth poisonous gas yet again, this time only managing to catch Regnor, Mongo, and Chiana in it. A few lucky critical hits from the party staggered the dragon and it attempted to flee while it still had its life, but it could not escape in time. Its wings slashed to ribbons, it crashed back to the ground and died.

Chiana played her restful song as the party searched the dragon for treasure. Aletha discovered a magical rod somehow, whether it carried it or had swallowed it wasn't quite clear, but she decided it would come in useful and kept it for herself. After everyone was rested they continued along the path toward the abandoned iron mines. They eventually left the main path and followed a side track that led to a rocky ravine riddled with caves and mine shafts. A barely discernible footpath weaved its way toward one of the mine entrances near the base. Large trees grew nearby overlooking the path.

Regnor and Jym caught sight of movement in one of the trees. A wooden platform was built up in the branches and was partially obscured by the leaves. A pair of figures were standing watch from up on the platform. One of them had a bow drawn and pointed at Jym and called out, "Come no further or I'll put this arrow through your neck". Mongo took up his trident and hurled it at the bandits but his aim was low so it struck and stuck into the trunk of the tree.

Chiana called out hastily, "That was a warning shot! We're not here to attack you, we need to speak with Haeldon. Let us pass."

The bandits were confused by this. The bandit with the bow looked down and recognized Mongo and said "He's supposed to be dead by now! What's he doing here?"

Chiana tried to explain that Mongo wasn't a threat and that they really needed to see Haeldon. Mongo had moved underneath the platform by now and the others were preparing to attack if things turned for the worse. The elven bandit with the bow, Selvin, told the party to "Stay there." while his partner, Bork, summoned some help. Bork moved over to the opposite side of the platform and jerked repeatedly on a rope that ran from the platform and into a small hole in the side of the ravine wall. The party decided that their bluff was called and moved into action.

Mongo scaled the tree and onto the platform, drew his axe and slashed Bork. Regnor spewed acid breath up onto the platform singing everyone up there and melting away some of the leaves. Selvin jumped off of the platform to get away from Mongo, landed gracefully and dodged opportunity attacks from Mongo and Regnor. Selvin took cover behind an old overturned mine cart and shot Regnor. Regnor charged him. Aletha cursed and blasted Bork, who took a wild swing at Mongo. Jym commanded Mongo to return the blow, killing Bork, and Aletha used her pact boon to misty step up onto the platform with Mongo. Chiana helped Regnor finish off Selvin before the reinforcements arrived.

Then came the next wave of attackers. As orc mercenaries began to pour out of the mine shaft, Chiana shot one of them with her bow. Regnor caught one of the orc mercenaries off-guard as he leaped out from behind the cart. A third orc charged Jym and struck a lucky critical hit against him. Mongo leaped down from the platform and a fourth orc came up to challenge him. The last orc out of the passage was an Eye of Gruumsh, a shaman, that stepped into the middle of the battlefield. He directed his Eye of Wrath at Regnor, temporarily lowering his defenses and then struck Aletha, Jym, Mongo, and Chiana was a Hammer of Chaos blast, knocking many of them prone. They picked themselves up and retaliated. Mongo used his Vault the Fallen power to slash at one of the orcs, maneuver close to the shaman, and then strike him with a pinning blow with his axe. Regnor blew acid over three of the orcs and then struck two of them with a sweeping blow of his axe. Althea cursed and blasted one of the orcs from above, while Jym and Chiana combined attacks on the last orc. The mercenaries struck minor blows on the party while the now pinned shaman was at a severe disadvantage being next to the barbarian. Jym moved into a Myrmidon Formation, getting back to back with Mongo.

The party was able to defeat the orc mercenaries and the shaman soon after. The last of the mercenaries had a brief surge at the end, but was quickly overpowered by the combined attacks of the party. Aletha searched the platform and tested the rope again. She could hear the distant sound of a bell clanging as she did. The group waited for a fresh wave of defenders to come out of the mine, but none did. They decided to take a short rest before heading into the dark mine.