Hammer 17, 1489
Dre'zel my love,
From inside Talyth’s Tiny Hut, safe from the smoky haze spilling from the fortress, Talyth pointed out that the noxious vapors would most likely impede us, should we spend too much time breathing them.
After casting Clairvoyance and sitting cross-legged for ten minutes in one corner of the hut, Saritu’s eyes rolled back around to point out the usual side of her skull, and the duergar woman sighed, shifting her stiff limbs.
“The causeway door may be difficult,” she announced grimly. “It leads into a murder hole with an iron portcullis barring the way, and it’s guarded—seems to be guarded at all times, the woman there was complaining about the lateness of her relief.” She frowns. “There was something said about a man ‘chasing a dragon around a table’…that surely can’t be referring to the chardalyn construct, can it? It seems too large for such antics. Perhaps there’s another dragon…” She chews her lip for a second. “As well, something seems amiss with the duergars’ captain. Not sure what, but perhaps he’s—or she’s, or they’re—out of commission? That might give us some sort of leverage; it seems like a bit of a taboo subject. But the worst of it is…the whole place is filled with some sort of smog. From the forges, no doubt. And if Talyth thinks that it would be bad to breathe in the vapors out here, I worry about the noxious fumes indoors.”
We contemplated how we should infiltrate the fortress. The doors at the top of the stairs were the easiest approach, but we were unsure how we would get past the doors and then the portcullis. I suggested that, if our goal was to stop the dragon, we should consider entering from the top.
JoJo performed the necessary rituals to Speak with Animals and used Beast Sense to use Sssusssanah’s senses as the flying serpent scouted the upper level. The snake rose until she disappeared into the haze. Then she emerged 200' up and skirted the exterior, peering into the arrow slits.
JoJo said he saw machinery turning and heard a duergar muttering to himself. Then the serpent flew in an arrow slit and JoJo said he saw a ten-by-ten foot wide shaft descending down, surrounded by an iron gate, and controlled by massive wheel. Nearby, he said he saw an even bigger wheel, unmoving, connected to a larger shaft. He said he heard the sounds of hammers, anvils, and machinery.
We discussed how we might infiltrate the upper level, but we could not figure out a way that didn’t leave half of us waiting outside. One by one, my companions drifted off in the comfort of the Tiny Hut.
We detected no visitors entering or leaving throughout the night.
In the morning, we met up with Vellynne and Graven, who had been driving their sleds hard, carrying Steve and Amrose. We shared our plan with her, but she said she was too tired to join us and would wait below while we did what must.
While Vellynne and Graven raised a shelter of their own, we began the ascent up the stairs within the shadows of my Pass Without Trace.
We stopped just below the landing by the door and Saritu used her slippers to scale the walls below the landing and the arrow slits.
When she found a suitable entrance, she shrank down and disappeared into an arrow slit.
The wait felt like an eternity, and I feared we had lost our half-elf-turned duergar companion, and this time, Talyth might not be able to revive her. It had been a relief to no longer be burdened by suspicion, with Saritu returned to her former, practical self.
Suddenly, the doors and the portcullis opened.
We rushed to the doors, where we saw almost ten duergar rushing toward the portcullis. I cast Spike Growth between us and them and hid behind the great doors.
Saritu was in the side chamber from which the duergar had emerged, and they had just realized she didn’t belong as she climbed the walls and walked across the ceiling. One by one, we picked them off until Ambrose ran in and dropped the last one who had been threatening Saritu.
It seemed that Saritu had made an ally in the duergar who had been watching the landing, who was in allegiance with Grandolpha Muzgardt, and sought to bring down Xardorok Sunblight. And just then, Grandolpho appeared, simultaneously dismissing Saritu’s chicanery, praising our progress, and encouraging our success against her unwanted suitor. When asked about the dragon, however, she said we were too late, and just then we heard the grinding of gears stop and a great wind blew in from the arrow slits.
I rushed to the main doors, where I saw the black chardalyn dragon construct fly north. I left two arrows fly, and one struck true, but it barely scratched its hide.
Meanwhile, Talyth had found the dragon’s flight path in Xardorok’s war room. It seemed it would attack the towns of Dougan’s Hole and Good Mead before reaching the city of Easthaven. From there, it would continue north to Caer-Dineval and Caer-Konig before flying west to Termaline and then Lonelywood. Bremen, Targos, and Bryn Shander, respectively, would be last.
We wrote a note to Vellynne, asking her to warn Easthaven of their impending doom and advise them to evacuate to the caves on the eastern shores of Lac Dinneshere. Taimen sent Princess down the stairs with the note while we rushed to take the elevators down to the forge, where Grandolpho said Xardorok was celebrating.
As we descended at least one hundred feet, it grew hotter as the sound of cheers and applause grew louder.
At the bottom, we encountered two guards who yielded at the mention of Grandolpho and told us Xardorok’s throne room was just beyond the double doors.
In the throne room, we found the myconid sovereign chained to the wall, surrounded by a quaggoth and quaggoth spore servants.
Ambrose rushed in and soon transformed into something inhuman, like a fungus-infected corpse. But he was aligned with the sovereign, who I knew to be benevolent, so I wasn’t immediately horrified as some of my companions seemed to be.
As we were taking down the quaggoths, ten enlarged duergar stormed into the throne room, forcing me to retreat into the guard chamber, where I convinced the guards to put out the braziers. From the darkness, I was able to take better aim at my targets.
Meanwhile, JoJo cut down the quaggoth and broke the chains, freeing the sovereign! One by one, the quaggoth spore servants and duergar fell until the battle was over.
Aiming her crossbow at Ambrose, Talyth demanded answers. The Ambrose fungal corpse provided a convoluted explanation of their mission to rescue the sovereign until Talyth was appeased, and we agreed to press on together.
Passing beyond a previously guarded choke point, we entered a large cavern. To our right was a massive iron gate. Saritu quickly pulled out a scroll and cast Knock.
As the massive doors swung open, searing heat washed over us from the enormous forge chamber beyond. A massive duergar turned to face us.
“Soooo, three men, two drow, a dragonborn, and a duergar? Enemies from above, enemies from below. It makes no matter: you’re too late! The lights of the Ten Towns shall be extinguished beneath wings of shadow! This land is not yours to save; it is mine to conquer!”
Large as an ogre, standing on a platform littered with scraps of chardalyn, he wore a spiked crown and armor of black plate. His gray, soot-covered beard barely contained his fiendish smile.
As Saritu blasted him with a radiant bolt, he winced and raised a gauntlet-clad hand in our direction. Over a dozen duergar positioned on towers and the forge floor began to bellow a war cry. A cadre of quaggoths began to work themselves into a frenzy, their white hair standing on end. From the north, we heard unnatural screams and the sound of metallic clanking.
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