Kythorn 27, 1491
The large chamber fell into silence as the group came together to assess their situation. The crashing sound of waves had gotten louder as they travelled north through the tunnels and in this room it seemed to be close to the source of the sound. A large blast furnace and a mechanical bellows powered by a waterwheel dominated the area. A five foot deep, dry channel cut through the room, once powering the water wheel.
The channel continued on, north and east, into darkness and a door was discovered on the west side of the chamber, beyond the strange apparatus. Gundren and Finder were very interested in investigating the furnace while Ara checked around in tiger form. The north channel led to the sounds of stone working and was left for the moment. The Door to the west was quiet. The east channel led to a large subterranean lake, which proved to be the source of the crashing waves, as every two minutes or so a large wave would come and crash against a cliff, raising the water level by several feet before slowly returning to its normal depth.
Another eastern passage let to a section of the tunnels with a few doors which seemed to be quiet when they were listened at. The doors looked as if they had suffered from some sort of long ago battle. With that investigation concluded and still wounded from their last battle, the decision was made to investigate the only option presented which guaranteed a battle - They headed north through the channel in the furnace room and soon discovered a large cavern with a 20' deep rift running through it. They could just see the far side of the rift and a splashing waterfall fed by a stream which continued off to the north through the rift.
Bugbears could be seen working in the rift and took cover when they noticed the PC's. One Bugbear stood across on top of the far side of the rift. Arrows flew at the Bugbear across the way, felling it, while Farooq attempted to climb down the almost sheer cliff face and ended up falling to the rift floor, wounded. This didn't stop him as he quickly jumped to his feet and ran to meet the bugbear nearest him. He took some damage from the bugbears as they threw javelins as he approached. Soon there were two battles going on - a melee in the rift with Farooq and two bugbears and a ranged contest between Keeper, Nash and Finder on one side of the rift and a growing number of bugbears with javelins on the other.
Ara transformed back to his elven form and tried his rope trick on the western door in the furnace chamber. He had to gather some extra rope from Keeper, but managed to tie off the pull ring on the door to a part of the bellows apparatus. Gundren came down to assist and watch their rear.
A dark figure across the rift engaged the PC's across the way in an exchange of arrows - he would sneak forward and fire and then retreat into shadows. The decided they needed to hold their actions and shoot him when he came forward. This had some success as after a few more exchanges he was wounded, backed off, and did not come out again. Farooq had dispatched the two bugbears and began climbing up a rope that was found hanging on the west side of the rift that the bugbears were using.
With the mysterious archer gone and Farooq about to engage in melee across the rift, Finder and Keeper both tried to climb down the cliff to get across the rift. They both fell and severely hurt themselves but managed to cross and begin their way up. Gundren stayed behind to watch the door he had been guarding while Ara turned into a giant spider and took Nash on a terrifying ride across the ceiling of the cavern to the other side.
Farooq was up and battling the bugbears as Finder and Keeper made their way up the rope. A few more bugbears were killed while a remaining one retreated up some stairs and around a corner to the south. Soon, all the PCs were gathered across the rift, sneaking up to the tunnel the retreating bugbear went down. Keeper noticed one around the corner and took a wild shot which missed. When they rushed around the corner to do battle there was no creature there. They had retreated down some stairs and were out of sight.
Knowing it was likely an ambush, Farooq cautiously led the way down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs there was a 4 way intersection and that is where the bugbears lay in waiting. Farooq was in full defence mode when he went around the corner and was able to dodge out of the way of the ambush that was waiting for him from three bugbears - two in the west tunnel and one in the east.
This battle was fast and furious with courageous fighting from all involved but the result was far from what was hoped. Two of the three bugbears were down and Farooq now lay defeated with his bugbear opponent tearing into his already fallen body with vicious blows of his great morning star. Finder lay bleeding upon the stone floor. Gundren had screamed from across the rift cavern that enemies were coming up behind them! Sure enough, the dark archer had crept up behind them along with bugbear reinforcements.
Gundren has run south, cut the rope, and entered into the room they had been trying to hold fast and the PC's can hear him shouting to retreat in his direction. With all of the PC's drastically wounded, 2 of them down (one being a mere coins toss away from absolute death), and enemies rushing them from behind them in the north, this battle is far from certain and looking very bad for the PCs. Actions have consequences. Will the PCs make the right choices in the small amount of time left…..?
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