Post by hubertbartels on Feb 7, 2021 15:08:50 GMT -5
With two days to go until Scardos’ plans start, we decided to investigate the rumors of the beast killing solitary people in the tunnels of the pocket dimension. Focusing our attention on the most recently excavated tunnels, we sent Saphy ahead as our stalking horse.
Heading down a recently dug tunnel, Saphy is ahead of us by 60 feet when she thinks she sees red eyes glaring at her from a mirrored wall. Then a shaggy beast with long claws and sharp teeth jumps out at her. Dunkin runs up and tries to reason with it; it does not seem that intelligent. I (Aerwyn) run up and try to put the beast in a field of Evard’s Black Tentacles – it jumps back into the mirrored wall.
Then it rises out of the mirrored wall behind me. Gideon changes into a large cat and tries to pounce. The beast sinks into the mirrored floor. Smashing the walls and floor did not make the shaggy beast return.
Back in out camp in another tunnel, we settle for the ‘night’. But the creature comes out of a near by wall and attacks as Gideon and Dunkin are on watch. As we are scrambling to respond, it vanishes into another mirrored wall.
The second time it ambushed us, we decided to move our camp onto the main floor. The rest of the ‘night’ passed quietly.
The following day, Scardos’ ally, the woman with the lute, brings the cauldron inside the pocket dimension. There are no more troops being brought into the mirror. Orders start going out to the mercenaries, telling them where to form up. Gideon uses the day to cast Spider Climb and travel to the roof of the pocket dimension in the form of a spider to look inside the fort that the miners had made. He came back, reporting that the walls contained more supplies and little more.
Settling down in our crowded and noisy camp for the final ‘night’ in the pocket dimension, we discussed what our options might be. The final day started with mercenaries moving in all directions. The woman with the lute begins casting a spell.
The mirrored walls begin to vibrate. Cracks begin to form in the floor. The humming gets louder and then there’s a bright flash as the pocket dimension fails.
We’re standing in the Royal Catacombs underneath the Midmeadow Palace. In the immediate area, there’s a larger group of mercenaries forming up. The officer orders his troops to follow the sound of the clicking coming from somewhere upstairs. We quickly cut them down and go up the steps.
In the basement of the temple of Zilchus, we find a larger grouping of mercenaries. I (Aerwyn) launch another fireball into their midst while Sir Thabo, Saphy, and the others run in to attack. Some of the mercenaries get on the steps leading toward temple – I was able to drop them with Firebolts.
When the fighting ended, Dunkin picked up the brass clicker dropped by the commanding officer. Summoning the Onyx Hound, Dunkin ordered the hound to run into the catacombs, stopping every few moments to click the device and continue. That way, we hoped to confuse the mercenaries still in the tunnels.
Climbing the steps into the temple of Zilchus, we found mercenaries blocking our way out. Dunkin’s Fireball dropped their numbers while Saphy’s charms took out another seventeen of them. Clearing out the mercenaries, we entered the temple. Here more mercenaries were fighting a few temple guards while priests of Zilchus were trying to hit them with Sacred Flame. We charged the mercenaries, clearing the temple and taking the pressure off of the temple guards.
The doors of the temple were open to the Midmeadow Palace courtyard. From under the eaves of the temple, we could see fight throughout the palace grounds. Our biggest concern was the large numbers of mercenaries fighting at the gates to the city outside. A smaller number of palace guards was struggling, trying to keep the gates from being opened.
As we watched, a small spark rose into the air and into one of the gatehouses – then a fireball blew the defenders apart. The spark came from a small grouping at the back of the mercenaries.
We needed to keep the gates shut, we needed to take out the officers and mages directing the fight.