Session 16 Recap

Having spent a long day treking through the desert and clearing the fortress of unwanted guests, the adventurers turned in for some well deserved rest. The place appeared to be clear of trouble & secure (other than the second floor demon), but they set watches anyway. And it was a good thing they did.

Teregor heard noises in the middle of the night (day?). He grabbed Peleus, and they went to check the front gate. It was still all locked up. On their way back, five Troglodytes emerged from the barracks. Things could have been nasty for the two of them, but they reacted quickly & ran for the throne room where the others were still fast asleep. With the full party engaged, the Troglodytes were neutralized. One surrendered and was tied up for questioning in the morning.

The second floor demon turned out to be an Immolith. He had 6 skeletons in his service. Teregor charged in & scattered the undead with his turning. This left him in a bad spot. Luckily his bracers provided some resistance to fire, and several of the enemy were attacking with fire. The heroes mopped up & moved on.

The captive Troglodyte led the heroes to an empty cell in the dungeon. "We came in through here." Everyone looked around, but found nothing. The secret door was so masterfully built, the Troglodyte had to point it out to them.

A lift descended into the earth to mines. There was good mining equipment stashed here, recently used. There were bedrolls for over a dozen of the stinky lizardmen. And tunnels... The numerous tunnels twisted & turned, sloped up & down, and most were dead ends. The recent mining had stripped many of the upper tunnels of their minerals. Tracks led down several main corridors though, and the adventurers followed those.

Many of the 900 year old dwarven skeletons here lay where they fell, minus their heads. Judging from their positions, they had killed each other. What drove the clansmen to kill their own blood? That soon became apparent. Some of the rock formations throughout the lower mines had a strange red glow. They had been irradiated by energy from the Elemental Chaos. This energy, while much weaker now, must have driven the dwarves mad.

It had also affected the current residents. A dwarven zombie, a Barlgura demon, spiders and crawlers jumped the group at a major intersection. The energy had made all of them chaotic evil, and it boosted their combat abilities. The heroes found that it gave them strange sensations and confused them in combat. The group cleared the attackers & learned to avoid the glowing veins of mineral.

The frost zombie still had identifiable clothing and gear, the cold having preserved it. He appears to have been important. His weapons and 2 fingers were missing.

Pressing on, the heroes came to the lowest mines. The glowing mineral was more abundant here, leading one to believe the source was close. Rounding a corner the group came to a chasm. The same glow rose from it & magma flowed through it. But there was no time to analyze things. The true Queen of the desert wasn't very inviting. She immediately attacked with her bodyguards.

The Naga sat on a mound of dwarven skulls and rained attack on the intruders from a distance. Her Mezzodemons guarded the far side of the chasm. None of this frightened the stalwart champions though. They raced forward, leaping the chasm to attack. They gained little ground on the far side at first, and Peleus was shoved into the chasm. He fell 20 feet into pure Elemental Chaos magma. Fey step may well have saved his life.

As the fight drug on, a fourth enemy revealed itself. A large fire elemental emerged from the chasm to attack the ranged heroes in the back. It charged in blasting the three of them with fire. The forward group was left on their own as healing resources dwindled. The three meleers focused their efforts though, and enemies started dropping. The Naga was tough, but less effective in melee. She fought on for a while, but could do little. The heroes had her locked down. The two groups defeated their opponents, then stopped to catch their breath, bloodied and worn down.

Before lo