The Battle of the Earth Bridge

In the few moments after the guards flee, the dwarven cleric of Moradin heals his comrades and the ranger uses his wand of cure light wounds. Shangor barely finishes a cure serious wounds spell on Aldoroc when they hear a loud roar coming from the open side door. Verilia immediately recognizes the sound of a bear, a large bear. She activates her torc of animal speech and listens to the animal.

“Pain! Death! Hunger!” The words are like thoughts and express what the bear wants. Concerned, the halfling druid leads the adventurers forward after they light the trolls on fire with torches.

The side door leads to a luxurious lounge, fouled only by the stench of trolls and the troglodyte stink originating near the locked door to the north. A couple of plush chairs sit in front of a fireplace to the east and a hallway leads south, the obvious source of the bear’s growls. Verilia quickly moves off in that direction, followed by Aldoroc, as Kale and Aramil investigate the door. Shangor stands at attention in the center of the room while Sylvan watches out at the rear, making sure the trolls and, more importantly, the tattooed gray render do not get up.

The room to the south is a huge mess, littered with broken bones, patches of dried blood, and bear crap. The bear itself, a dire bear, is chained to the east wall with a massive chain. It growls menacingly at the new targets and stretches its chain to almost forty feet, long enough for it to reach any part in the room, but not extend outside it. Lacerations, enormous burns, and open wounds cover the bear. It is obviously in pain and expresses his anger and hatred to Verilia. Finding no way to calm the beast, Verilia casts dominate animal and forces it back into the corner.

Meanwhile, Aramil opens up the door to the north with a knock spell. The next room is well-furnished and filled with spices, a silver dinnerware set, and similar items. It also leads to another door to the north, requiring another knock spell. The last room is a bedchamber, reeking horribly of a troglodyte, though no monster is present. Clearly the foulest smell ever, this must be the bedchamber of Reokallitan. On the bed is an open book, which Kale quickly takes, holding his breath and darting back out of the room.

The heroes continue without pause through the door to the south, beyond the bear’s prison. The door is locked, but that is easily cured by a wood shape spell from Verilia. The door creaks violent and twists uncontrollably of its hinges and falls away with a crack. The next oddly shaped room is filled with two black and white spiral colored rugs and more human guards. Aldoroc bellows a challenge and charges forward into the center of the room, staying off the rugs. Unbeknownst to the heroes, the battle of the earth bridge is on, and deadly peril awaits.

The guards are no match for the seasoned veteran as Aldoroc cuts them down like wheat before a scythe. Verilia rides her tiger into the room behind Aldoroc and begins casting call lightning, prepared for additional guards around the corner.

The remaining members join the advance team. Sylvan stays at the rear and casts greater invisibility on Aramil. Expecting real trouble, Kale furiously starts quaffing healing and protective potions. Shangor uses his prayer bead to bless the party.

Just then, eight more guards join the fray. These are more heavily armored than the others and wield battleaxes. One yells, “There’s the tiger! Get Her! Lord Hedrack wants a new rug!” Two fire heavy crossbows, and then two more step in front to fire their heavy crossbows as well. The other four, waiting for the missile volley to complete, then move into position around the tiger, swinging wildly with their weapons.

Furious from the taunting, Verilia blasts the guard with a lightning bolt. Summer rips another apart with her claws and teeth, while Aldoroc and Kale engage the others. Another combatant emerges from around the corner, a tall, lanky man with greasy hair and wearing only a simple robe. A whip for self-flagellation hangs on his belt. He steps past Summer deftly somersaulting over the tiger. He moves more than sixty feet, eventually standing in front of Shangor and punching him in the face with his fist.

Shangor draws out his holy warhammer and studies his opponent, commenting, “If it’s a fight yer lookin’ fer, laddie, ye come ta the right person.”

The monk smoothly avoids the blow, however, and continues his movement to Sylvan. He says, “Here you are, Azzalin, way in the back as I expected. I’m Tac. Remember me?” He then grips the back of Sylvan’s head and brings his knee up into the wizard’s nose. Fortunately, the elf avoids a bloody nose by virtue of his false life spell.

Aramil launches a well-placed fireball around Verilia, killing two or three of the guards. The others are struck unconscious by Verilia, Aldoroc, Kale, and Summer. Suddenly, a lightning bolt erupts down the corridor, blasting the druid and her animal companion, Aldoroc, and most of the guards. Aramil then targets Tac with a magic missile and moves down the corridor to engage the unseen spellcaster, apparently also affected by a greater invisibility. Aramil protects himself with resistance to electrical energy.

Shangor returns the favor on the monk, and Sylvan also targets him with a magic missile. In response, the monk launches a flurry of blows on the elf, but cannot seem to penetrate Sylvan’s mage armor, shield, and mirror images. Aldoroc spring attacks from across the room and further injures the monk.

Verilia dismounts and sends her badly damaged tiger to safety outside the corridor. She moves up, looking for a target for her lightning bolts. The next area is an intersection as the corridor continues west into another hallway with a door and curves out of sight. To the south, a wider hallway joins up with the main bridge staging area. To the north lies a very large room, lit by the unholy, reddish glow of a protective summoning circle. The intersection has four stone statues in it, each about eight feet tall and comprising the four facets of the elements.

Kale moves down the corridor, past Verilia, but gets bit as he moves between the four statues. Potion already in hand, he drinks it and disappears from view. The invisible spellcaster moves further down the hall past Kale and casts another lightning bolt down the hallway, hitting Kale, Verilia, and the protected Aramil. Aramil then moves into the statue room as well, unknowingly past Kale and into the southwest corner next to the air statue, one comprising a whirlwind in stone with outstretched tentacle-like appendages.

Heedless of his grievous wounds, seemingly even enjoying the pain, Tac continues his ferocious and ineffective assault on Sylvan, eliminating only one more image. He dies shortly thereafter from a combination of Shangor’s warhammer, Aldoroc’s battleaxe, and Sylvan’s magic missiles. Sylvan then protects himself from lightning with a newly acquired resist energy spell.

The invisible caster fires yet another lightning bolt down the hall, hitting Verilia, Shangor, Aldoroc, and the protected Sylvan. His hoarse cackling is heard from the intersection as he moves towards the north into the larger room. Kale also moves towards the north, not realizing that the sorcerer went there as well. The ranger starts another round of potion quaffing, hoping to heal himself enough to continue the battle. Shangor takes a moment back in the room to the east to heal himself, Aldoroc, and the tiger.

Verilia steps forward, calling out, “Show yourself, coward!” She then tries a faerie fire, but chooses her location poorly, failing to highlight the enemy.

Eeridik, leader of the Earth Bridge Complex, bellows in a deep-throated growl, slightly hampered by his hybrid wererat form, “I’ve had enough playing games with you. Now say hello to my little friend!”

He then steps across the glowing circle, breaking the protection and activating the summons.

The Summoning of the Bebilith

Eeridik steps across the circle, and casts magic missile at Verilia. The badly wounded druid looks on in horror as the magic of the circle calls forth a giant spider-like demon. She doesn’t need Sylvan or Shangor to identify the bebilith to let her know she’s in for a world of hurt.

The bebilith takes a moment to look for a target, seeing only the druid. All three others in the area are invisible, and the demon’s scent does not pinpoint them right away. As it moves forward to engage the halfling, Kale drops prone, letting the monster walk over him. The bebilith sends a quick telepathic message to Verilia, Little morsel, and then rips her throat out with its giant mandibles.

Aramil is stunned at the ferocity of the beast and the ease at which it killed the powerful druid. He thinks, perhaps she was more injured than I thought from those lightning bolts and that magic missile. The dragon disciple backs away into the corridor, planning to kill the enemy sorcerer when his invisibility wears off.

The location of the enemy caster is made evident by another lightning bolt from down the corridor, doing only minor damage to Shangor and Aldoroc. Sylvan’s resistance negates the effect entirely. Aldoroc spring attacks from the eastern hallway and hits the mammoth demon, who takes a few moments to rip apart the interfering statues. It is too large to maneuver around them and attacks at the annoyance in the hallway.

Summer, feeling the pain from the loss of her druid companion, recklessly runs forward and attacks the demon. Having a stationary opponent, the demon rips apart the tiger and then finishes off the remaining statue and blocks the entire intersection. Summer drops dead to the floor in a pool of blood beside Verilia.

Sylvan, perhaps not thinking in his right mind, or feeling a debt to the druid, bravely steps forward to recover the halfling’s body, hoping beyond hope that she still breathes. The bebilith eliminates a few of the wizard’s images, but otherwise causes him no harm. Unfortunately, his heroic deed is for naught as the druid lives no more.

In anger, Sylvan drops black tentacles down the western hallway in an attempt to capture the lightning-throwing spellcaster, knowing that the spell would have little or no effect on the gigantic demon. It is also an attempt to allow them to concentrate on the demon and ignore the sorcerer.

Aramil starts targeting the demon with fireballs, at first not expecting them to be effective. The bebilith is not a tanar’ri, however, and does not enjoy protection from fire. Magic missiles from Sylvan and a flame strike from Shangor ensure its fate as Aldoroc and Kale attack the beast with melee weapons. After a few tense moments, the monstrous demon finally falls to the ground, dead.

The caster escapes the tentacles and enters his room to the north, calling for a truce. Angered at the death of the stout halfling, the heroes ignore his plea. Sylvan dismisses the tentacles and the intruders enter the hallway on mass. Shangor casts spike stones in the intersection, blocking out some trolls, ogres, and gnolls from the south. Aramil further blocks the hallway with a grease spell, then pulls out his bow Cumulonimbus and targets the lead ogre.

The ogres throw javelins and the gnolls return fire with their bows, but they are clearly outmatched and soon retreat around the corner. Aramil then drops a fireball in the area, killing all the remaining gnolls and an unseen ogre. Eeridik closes the door to his room as Aldoroc tries to break it down unsuccessfully. Fearing that the wererat has other means of egress, Sylvan touches Kale and uses dimension door to enter the room.

Shangor and Aldoroc enter the room as Eeridik surrenders. The wererat says, “Let me live and I will tell you all I know!”

Shangor accepts the surrender, but Kale doesn’t, thinking only of his close friend, killed by the demon that the wererat sorcerer summoned. Kale curses at Eeridik, “You will not live to see the outside of this rat infested hole in the wall!” He then lunges at the lycanthrope and attacks with both weapons, his magical longsword in one hand, and the flaming short sword in the other.

Eeridik growls and then flees, running through a veritable gauntlet of foes, provoking attacks from Kale, Aldoroc, and Aramil. His expeditious retreat spell helps him elude the pursuing heroes as he manages to pass through the deadly field of spike stones and even the grease. Badly wounded, he escapes to the south and taunts the heroes one final time, “Follow me now, fools!” His maniacal laughter echoes down the hall, accompanied by the retreating sounds of him and his band of trolls and ogres.

Shangor casually slays one of the dire rats infesting the pile of litter in the makeshift bedchamber. He mutters, “Rats! I hate rats.”

The Dwarven Bolt Hole

The remaining heroes gather their fallen comrades and perform a quick search of the rooms north of the bridge entrance. Aramil easily figures out the mechanism that controls the chain for the bear and forces it into the corner. Summer is not so much gathered as she is dragged past the bear. The bodies are brought into the lounge and they rest for a moment, trying to decide what to do.

Sylvan says, “I cannot teleport everyone back to Khorasan, or even Rastor, and without Verilia to reduce Summer, I can’t even bring the tiger along. Perhaps we should just give Summer to the bear?”

Aldoroc thinks a moment and then adds, “I know Verilia would not want us to harm the bear, but feeding it Summer is probably not something she would like. I suggest we feed some of the guards to the bear. Looks like it deserves some retaliation, so to speak, on its former captors.”

Kale, walks over to the fireplace, still lit, to get some warmth, and notices an odd stone over the mantle. “Hey, guys, I think there’s a door by this” …click… “fireplace.”

A panel of the stone wall swivels and reveals a secret room to the east. The room contains a large statue of a dragon with an upraised paw. Inspection from Kale reveals that the arm of the dragon may be lowered or raised even further. Everyone enters the room, leaving the bodies of Verilia and Summer in the lounge. Aldoroc finishes tossing a few of the guard’s corpses at the bear and joins his companions.

Sylvan prepares levitate from a wand and says, “Ready.”

Aramil pulls the arm down as the entire twenty foot room descends slowly, statue and all. The ceiling remains in place, however, and the room does not stop until the shaft is one hundred feet deep. Another stone door appears at the bottom of the shaft, towards the west. Kale opens it, ushering a tremendous flood of water.

Everyone is smashed into the floor or walls by the rushing water and most have trouble staying above the quickly rising water. Sylvan levitates above the water and uses the wand on everyone except Kale, basically saving their lives. The ranger, an accomplished swimmer instead swims down to the statue and pushes the dragon arm up. The room slows ascends, pushing the water upwards with it, and draining it into small grates about halfway up. The room stops at the previous location and the arm clicks back into position.

Aramil cleans everyone off with liberal usage of prestidigitation as Kale prepares to lift the arm up. As expected, the room moves upwards, with the ceiling and floor moving with it. It stops after about another hundred feet, according to Shangor’s best estimation, and another door to the west is revealed. This one has no water marks, however, and it opens into a large room filled with comfortable sleeping pallets, a table, and some chairs and benches. A small keg, a box, and some goblets rest on the table as if recently used. A weapons rack stands in the corner, adorned with a number of battleaxes, warhammers, and urgroshes, all clearly of dwarven make and finely crafted. The room is strangely unaffected by time and not filled with dust.

Shangor points out the painting on the back wall, a holy symbol to Moradin and a tribute to the dwarven culture. As the cleric steps into the room, the torches on the walls light up and fill the room with a warm glow. Open the keg reveals fresh water and the box offers six steaming fresh, hearty biscuits. Kale and Aramil experiment with the keg and box, finding out that they can be reactivated a number of times.

Tears stream down Shangor’s eyes as he sits on one of the benches, staring at the mural on the wall. A dwarf in fine plate mail inscribed with the runic symbols of Moradin swings a mighty warhammer at enemy orcs. Shangor whispers to the wall, “Aye, lad, ye give the orc one fer me, too. The Saltheart clan will be avenged, this I swear upon the holy hammer and anvil of Moradin.”

The heroes sleep the night peacefully in the bolt hole, bringing the bodies of their comrades with them. The next day, Sylvan teleports with Verilia, Kale, and Summer to Khorasan. They sell some loot, buy some consumable items, and bring the corpses to the grove.

The following day, the grand druid casts true reincarnation and brings Verilia back from the dead. Fortuitously, perhaps influenced by the night her corpse spent in the bolt hole, she returns as a male dwarf. He decides upon a new name, Verrick. It is similarly to Verilia, but different, proclaiming the changes infused by Obad-Hai himself in granting him the new body. Verrick considers whether Obad-Hai and Moradin are working together.

Verrick spends another day in Khorasan, searching for a new animal companion. He finds one, miraculously within the city itself. Perhaps Obad-Hai is looking out for him already.

A light warhorse whinnies from a nearby stable as he exits the grove. The warhorse is costly, but no price is too high for a servant of the Green God. Verrick takes the warhorse, named Bucky, back to the grove and performs the daylong ceremony. The following day, Sylvan, Kale, Verrick, and a reduced Bucky return to the bolt hole. Ready for revenge against the Fire Temple and Eeridik.