Into Gadûhvrás

Regaining their breath, the companions wandered around the trampled, bloody snow, collecting missiles and checking the orcs were all dead. Hildraft used his Stone Shape again and made a doorway in the bastion, and Warded it to make it harder for evil creatures to use the road.

Half a day later, they reached the lip of the valley directly south of Gadhûvrás. Across the gap, the mighty mountain loomed above them, its' three peaks utterly distinctive. On th eastern side was the Twisted Peak, spiralling up and out; in the centre was the Great Spire, taller and straighter than the others; to the west was the Cloven Peak, slashed deep with a ravine which looked for all the world as if some mighty blade a mile wide had slashed the mountain.

At the base, the main gate of the ancient orcish fortress was visible. In a piece of considerable irony, the orcs had shaped and carved their barbican in the shape of the head of a huge dragon. Jaws seventy feet high framed the massive doors of the gate, and giant hollow carven eyes stared out over the valley.

Finding a place of concealment, the group settled in to watch the gates. Over the course of half a day, they noted that there were rows of archery loopholes sunken into the mountain-face, either side of the Drake Gate, and that on at least one side there was one or more creatures moving around inside. They considered the eyes for a while, but dismissed them as the process of climbing to them was likely to make too much noise.

Sack, shedding his armour and wearing his chaemelon ring, sneaked in through the main gate and discovered that, as a secure defence, it was not in the least viable. The gatehouse had once contained three mighty gates, each with a portcullis, set one after the other back down the "dragon’s" throat. These had been smashed down, a long time ago by the look of it, and split, shattered wood and twisted metal sections of portcullis were scattered along its’ length.

At the far end, he found the passage opened into a large, bowl-shaped hall, clearly designed to provide a warm welcome to invading enemies. The walls and floor had been subjected to intense heat at some time; the stone was melted and had slumped in several places. Again, loopholes lined the walls high up, and twenty capable-looking orc guards were on watch. Two were on guard right at the foot of the stairs leading up out of the chamber.

Concealed in the shadows at the entrance, Sack studied them, concluding that there was no way he could sneak past to reconnoitre any further. Returning the way he'd come, he slipped back up to report to the others.

It was clear that Billy the Bear was going to have trouble sneaking anywhere, invisible or not. So Sack sent him back into the mountains, with instructions to wait for the party to emerge from the city and to forage while he waited.

Kobort rendered the whole group invisible, and they cautiously worked their way in through the gateway, slipped past the guards on the stairs, and on up.

At the top they found a flat square landing, and then a single narrow corridor stretching away, 300' long, lined with carven dragonheads every 10' facing into the corridor. Sack's specialist skills weren't really needed to divine their purpose; the whole thing screamed "trap!" to anyone's eyes.

Whatever these things were going to do to the unwary, it was unlikely to be un-noticed by the guards below, so Surya, Sigred and Kobort posted themselves at the top of the stairs, ready to hold off the guards if they were alerted.

Sack unpacked his tools and set to work, Hildraft nearby. There was a series of clicks and taps, then a gasp and a scrambling as the half-orc flung himself backwards.

With a dull "Whomph", a gout of flame spurted out from all the dragon heads, filling the passage. Sack's inhuman speed saved him from almost all of it, but he was still smouldering and aggravated when he returned to start work again. Belatedly, Hildraft worked a spell of fire resistance on him.

Back at the stairs, Surya could hear the orcs below talking "What was that?" demanded the captain. "Dunno; 'nother rat probably," replied the guards at the foot. "Go and look, blockhead!" growled the captain. Muttering, the guards turned and started climbing. Surya and Sigred readied their missiles.

When the ascending guards reached a point around three-quarters of the way up the stairs, Surya and Sigred - still invisible - unleashed a storm of missiles that fairly skewered them where they stood. One slumped down without a sound, but the other cried out in pain and toppled backwards, crashing and bouncing down the stairs until his body lodged near the bottom.

Now the hunt was up, and the guards crowded to the base of the stairs, weapons ready, and started up, yelling and snarling. Standing firm, Surya rained arrows down the stairwell, felling orc after orc; they were so tightly packed that he could hardly miss. Behind him he could hear Sigred frantically cranking his crossbow for another shot.

The front half-dozen guards were cut down in seconds, their riddled bodies tumbling backwards onto their oncoming comrades. Dropping his bow, Surya drew both his swords and charged down the stairs with a bloodcurdling yell. Plunging into the midst of the orcs, he began hacking them down.

Hildraft, looking from above, could see the slain and wounded orcs being flung away as Surya smashed his way through them, though he couldn't see the Tellaran himself. What disturbed him, though, was that he could ...feel... arcs of darkness cutting through the air around the fighting man, and he realized that he was sensing the tracks made in the air by the two dark swords his friend was wielding.

This was clearly too much for the orcs, and the half-dozen survivors broke and fled back down the stairs. As they did so, something small, bright and warm shot past Surya and down the stairs after the orcs. Striking the ground beyond the stairs, it erupted with a Whoomph! into a spreading burst of bright flames. Screams and shouts sounded, and burning orcs went staggering across the entry hall. Kobort chuckled.

Descending the stairs to the hall, Surya found the floor around the stair arch littered with dead orcs, and the two captains, scorched but defiant, standing back to back ready to defend themselves.

"Drop your swords - and I'll let you live," he offered, speaking in their own horrific language. Staring wildly around, the pair hefted their weapons and shields, but made no move to surrender. Sighing, Surya moved in, and sliced the head off the smaller of the two; it dropped with a crash, and the other saw his error and relinquished his weapon.

Surya demanded the code-word to disable the trapped corridor. "Gomóz" [darkness], replied the orc, clearly terrified. "Good!" said Surya, "you can go." The orc hesitated for a moment, and then bolted for the gates.

Reclimbing the stairs, the Tellaran boldly strode past where Sack was still patiently disarming the traps, one at a time. "Gomóz!" he declaimed as he stepped forward. A faint click warned him he might have been misled, and he hurled himself backwards again as the flames washed down the corridor. The orc had lied to him!

The Improved Invisibility chose that moment to expire, and the group popped back into sight.

Hildraft experimented by rolling an object down the corridor, and nothing happened, leaving him unsure quite what he'd just proved. Surya went back down the stairs, and located the body - and head - of the other orc leader. Extending the Sword of the Dead Legions over the corpse, he put forth his will and dragged the departed spirit back. The eyes cracked open, and the orc groaned in torment.

"Give me the password!" demanded Surya. "Damn you," gritted the orc, "no, never," Surya was surprised; he'd never encountered such resistance before. He concentrated his will a bit more. "You're the damned one," he pointed out. "No! The One-eyed will come for me," replied the orc, "I died in battle; he will enlist me in his eternal armies, and I will battle and slaughter for him - forever!".

Hildraft was appalled. "And that's your afterlife?" he said. "They are stupid!" The dead orc paid him no heed, but continued snarling at Surya. The necromantic power of the Sword was too much, however, and finally his will broke. "The word is Snarush," [moonlight] he grudgingly revealed. Surya held him gripped while Hildraft said the password and Sack adventured the corridor; when it proved safe, he allowed the tortured spirit to escape.

At the far end, the corridor opened into a small antechamber with more than a dozen archways leading out. Mazahir's maps marked this as "Labyrinth", and indicated it was a dangerous place. However, the danger was not that of getting lost; directly ahead, the stone was melted and smashed, with a rough hole (large enough for, say, a big dragon) being broken straight through the wall and, aparently, right across the maze to the other side.

Moving along this, the party marvelled at how the new passageway had been smashed across the myriad cross-corridors running back and forth across what had once been a skillfully designed maze. As they reached the middle, though, they came on something different; a hole smashed into the floor.

About thirty feet across, and almost blocking the passage, the hole looked more recent than the passage they were following. Its' depth was beyond either light or darkvision, and the part peered rather anxiously into the depths; there seemed to be something indistinct moving around down there... Abruptly, they noticed three sinewy tentacles, a good foot thick, feeling their way up the side nearest them, and - as they watched - emerging over the lip and seeking around on the floor. Their tops were heavily scaled and tough, and their undersides were lined with hooked suckers.

Surya suggested to Sigred that he should see if fire would dissuade the tentacles, and - perhaps unwisely - he applied the torch he was carrying to the tentacle. There was a sharp sizzle, and an appalling smell, and the tentacle drew back for an instant - and then all three lashed forwards like lightning and seized the unfortunate priest of Aderra, pinioning him and lifting him off his feet.

Dashing to assist, Surya and Sack hacked at the tentacles, managing to cut through one each; then Hildraft cast his Flame Strike spell. A roaring column of eye-blinding flame erupted downwards, filling the pit and plunging to its' depths. A hideous, inhuman screech floated up, along with a dreadful stench, and the tentacles whipped back and down the pit - carrying the unfortunate Sigred with them.