Into the Dourstone Mines, Part 2

[The first installment can be found here.]

   It's been a few weeks since the last update on Our Heroes. The delay is caused by one of the player's continued absence due to military service. It's just one more sacrifice the military makes, friends, to safeguard us. But it sure puts a dampener on the roleplaying! So, I thought I would at least let you all know how the big battle turned out while we wait to move forward...

 

   Our Heroes consist of:

•  Wren, human male Warmage, 3rd level
• Xavier, human male Fighter, 3rd level (minor nobility)
• Sarmek, human male ranger, 3rd level
• Brother Tigh (nee Norman the Interchangeable), human male Cleric of Hieroneous (Order of the Sword)
• Wren's guard dog

   To re-set the scene, the party has been suckered into a trap in an underground temple dedicated to Hextor, the god of battle. Hextor is Heironeous's evil twin, and so Brother Tigh is ramped up to cleanse the place. The party is in an arena, facing greater numbers and almost certain death. Most of the enemy is on balconies above the arena, able to rain down spells and arrows. Things look bleak for the party...

 

   Sarmek begins sending shafts at the nearest tiefling archer on the balcony. Brother Tigh and Xavier charge the fanatic spearmen on the arena floor. Wren flings magic missiles about the room. The tieflings shoot back with their arrows, the zombie troglodytes sit still, the evil clerics begin casting spells. Their leader summons a fiendish ape on the arena floor and sends it after Xavier. One of his assistants casts Hold Person on Xavier at the same time, and he is paralyzed! Sarmek shoots another arrow at the tieflings, causing a critical hit and 30 points of damage! This slays the guard (who only had 5 left). Sadly, it could have taken out the fiendish summoned ape as well. Instead, the ape begins to shred Xavier. Brother Tigh takes up the attack against the ape, and Wren finishes off the fanatics with some help from his faithful mastiff.

 

 Sarmek continues to keep the tiefling archers busy ducking, because they shoot as if they were blind, ham-fisted schoolgirls, not deadly warriors of infernal origins! Meanwhile, the enemy clerics continue to cast spells on Our Heroes, causing fear, and bane upon them. One evil cleric, a male half-orc, is chugging potions like no one's business. Looks like a sorority girl getting ready for a 'date.' Once the foes on the ground level are taken care of, and a few healing potions and spells are used up, Brother Tigh notices that the large statue of Hextor in the center of the arena looks a bit poorly balanced (Spot check of 26!). With some aid from Sarmek, he manages to topple the vile thing over, and creates a treacherous but useable ramp up to the balcony level!

 

 Evil cleric lady sees this as a danger, and sends her zombie slaves (those big nasty troglodytes, remember?) out on the statue to deal with the riff-raff. Meantime, Wren pumps a pair of magic missiles into the half-orc, the tieflings keep missing the ground with their arrows, and Sarmek nails a broadhead into the half-orc as well. This deflates him rather thoroughly with a second critical hit, taking him off the board. Brother tigh calls upon the power of the Valiant Lord in this place of evil, and power courses through him, terrifying the zombies. Both of the remaining enemy clerics fail to recall the undead lizards to their duty (Holy crap! I can not roll dice tonight!). One tiefling manages to wing Wren, but rolls a miserable 3 points of damage. All of Our Heroes have now been scraped up pretty badly, and the dog has been saved from death not once, but twice, with first aid and potions.

 

 Xavier manages to get to the top of the ramp, and goes after the remaining tiefling archer, cutting him down quickly. The primary cleric of Hextor whirls his flail at his foes, and goes down fairly quickly as well, with everyone concentrating on him and ignoring the less competent female cleric. After the clerics are downed, the fighter carves up the zombies as they continue to cower in fear from the might of hieroneous.

 

   As the last of the unholy defenders of this shrine of evil fall, everyone except Brother Tigh freezes in place. A golden mist arises from the sands, and a sword archon appears out of it. The archon, a favored servant of Hieroneous, tells Brother Tigh that Heironeous is pleased with Our Heroes for destroying this vile nest in such a straight-forward and upright manner, and asks for Tigh's sword. He blesses the weapon (making it a +1 holy longsword) and returns it. He then fades out, and the mist recedes. When the mist is gone, no sign of Hextor remains, and the banners have all been transformed into Hieronean flags, the holy syumobls of Hextor are melted into slags, etc.. The statue crumbles to black dust.

 

   Loot -pardon me, treasure -  is pretty good, especially in the armor department. And the re-sellable weapons department. And several cure light wounds potions are located, and handed about. Once the group finishes clearing out this section of the mine, they can rest and probably level up. And that's where we leave them for now...

 

[You can catch more of the adventures of this group on my other blog, The Scattergun Gamer. Many thanks to Eli for letting me post here as well!]