Last week we played the seventh part of our UrHaunt Warrens arc! This is based on the King of the TrollHaunt Warrens adventure by Wizards of the Coast. Marcus provided the text! Thanks!
Last week our intrepid heroes began picking up the pieces after the near-total destruction of the town of Jorvik. Though they were victorious in battle, most of the town's buildings had been destroyed and many of its fighting men killed. The refugees from the town headed through Chrym's portal to the Seven-Pillared Hall, near the town of Rivershard and a huge hop closer to their home town of Gaermund. The Mages of the Seven-Pillared Hall were none too pleased at this invasion (in fact, Erik had to do some talking to persuade them that it wasn't an actual invasion!) but agreed to let the refugees spend the night. The next day, the refugees headed out, shepherded by Terik and Hermiad, and Hermiad's pet rage drake, bound for Gaermund and the hospitality of Earl Rurik. Gaermund had always been long on fighting men and short on women of marriageable age, and the last leader of Jorvik had already formally submitted to the rulership of Earl Rurik, so this should be a good match (though Jorvik had a lot of orcs... there may be a lot of half-orc Vikings in the next generation). After things have settled they can look at rebuilding Jorvik.
In addition, one of the Eladrin reported a great disturbance in the Feywild, as if millions of voices had cried out - wait, no, wrong disturbance. This one was as if a powerful being had resurrected himself. Akashtar! Yep, he's not named 'The Deathless' for nothing.
Besides that, though, things are looking good for our heroes. They've impressed the Eladrin, who were worried about Akashtar gaining control over the Feywild portal; the Mages of the Seven Pillared Hall have expressed interest in any artifacts found in the UrHaunt Warrens, and in the Warrens themselves after they're cleared out; and our heroes have fought side to side with Prince Bax, cementing an alliance. Though the use of that alliance kinda depends on what Prince Bax decides to do; their initial idea of hooking him up with Princess Kava of the nearby town of Rivershard was foiled when everybody remembered she's like 14 at this point. Oh well.
But first - they've got to finish clearing out the Warrens, and they've got to take out Akashtar for good! Our heroes realized that swift action could take them back to the Warrens before they could regroup, so they used another of Chrym's portals to return back to the spot they'd left, a now-permanent rift portal in the first large room. They first checked out a small passage to the north, which led to a large cavern with an underground lake. Across the lake, lights glimmered... no, eyes. Lots of large, snakelike eyes, attached to a large Beholder! The party readied themselves for battle against the fearsome magical monster, who inquired mildly what they were doing in its cave. Um... well, they were looking for Akashtar, have you seen him? Not lately, but he does after all reincarnate, so who knows when he'll be back. The Beholder gave the party the impression that while Akashtar was its... well, roommate, and it would fight in his defense if called upon, it would have no problem if Akashtar got himself quietly assassinated and the Beholder could take over the cave complex itself. The party agreed and backed off carefully.
Enough of that, though, now we need a fight! Behind the next door the party found a Draconid Smith, forging weapons for Akashtar's troops, backed up by another couple of Red Spawn and a small host of troglodyte minions. Charge! The ensuing battle was fairly short, but had some interesting moments, including the Smith smashing Motull into a flaming pool of pitch; Motull charging out of the pool and bisecting the Smith, and getting himself showered with acid as it exploded; the Red Spawns lighting people up; and Oddny bull-rushing the last remaining Red Spawn off a cliff, where it fell to its death. Nicely done!
The party looted some gold and several barrels of pitch, and Chrym melted the poorly-made swords the Smith had been working on into one unusable mass. Meanwhile, Mendas scouted the two easy-to-reach exits from the room. One led to a suspiciously straight stonecarved hallway, which opened into a tall cavern. Mendas could make out a number of flying creatures, including Draconids. Then Mendas checked out the other passage, which got darker and darker until Mendas was completely blind. But something in the darkness knew he was there, and struck! Fortunately Mendas is hard to hit, and scampered back to the party unharmed. So... vertical battle, or the beast in the darkness? Find out the party's decision next time, on... SAVAGE VINLAND!
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