The Halls of the Ffydd

## The Ruins Await

After the Dreamwarden Elyndor Eseyn contacted Wubba, the party regrouped and set their sight at heading north into the Ffydd Mountains. The ancient road for the Ffydd Dwarves was in poor shape, and few travelers used it anymore except for the random mountain creature or an intrepid traveler. There was a time, however, 400-500 years ago when the stone road and its many steps and ramps were used by merchants and dignitaries heading to the great halls of this Dwarven kingdom. During the Demon Wars, the glory of the Ffydd Dwarves was no more, but at least they were able to keep the Unraveler from expanding his domain on Eirethune. It was just so sad it was at such a great cos.

   After the Demon Wars concluded, there was a thought of trying to clear out the great halls, but no one knew what was still held deep inside the Halls. Scouts were sent to see what came out of the halls, but virtually nothing left. A few dwarven families escaped the destruction, but they only spoke of horrors who came in to try and release the Echo. Many of the dwarves there never made it out, but neither had the Echo of the Unraveler. Wubba had the most knowledge of these stories and passed them on to the group as they traveled north along the path.

For the most part, the travel was relatively quiet in the Ffydd Mountains. It is known that these peaks can be harsh and devastating to anyone who ventures to penetrate their austere barriers, but at first, the group only encountered simple game or an errant pack of dire wolves. There were a couple more fierce encounters that the party faced. Another group of manticores descended upon the party, but as before, they would be no match for them. You could tell the manticores were not the wisest of creatures or the most social, as they would have avoided the party given the other group of manticores' poor results against the group.

Secondly, the party faced a pair of chimera who faced the party at night. Fortunately, the group was awoken quickly and launched against the two multi-headed beasts. Fire rained down from the dragon mouths, but the party countered with magic and sword and hammer. The great beasts fell, and the party continued on their way north.

Finally, the group approached the valley signifying the entrance to the Great Halls of the Ffydd Dwarves. The valley is surrounded by towers and the valley itself is gated by a great barbican. Zak turned into mist and began his survey of the valley. The towers were mostly destroyed, but he could view only one closely, one still occupied by the ghosts of a few ancient dwarves.

Zak could see the inner valley, but with his remaining time in mist form, he ventured into the barbican to see what inhabited now. There was another ghost of a dwarf, but also a few other creatures that he had never encountered before.

Two large winged beasts, called Vrock, which stank of decaying flesh, sat atop a pile of carrion, probably pulled from creatures and game in the mountains. And just down the hall from them was a great tall beast of a humanoid with large claws, horns on top of their head and a grin which exuded terror. The Kashtighur fortunately thought nothing of the mist moving through the barbican.

Zak was able to return to the party, and now they must determine their plan for entry into the Great Halls.

### New Allies and a Barbican of Foes

Instead of embracing the challenge of entering through the portal of the ruins of the Grand Barbican, the party decided to climb the nearby bluff to the west and investigate the tower where the Dwarven Revenants were present. Kazin introduced the Dwarven ghosts to the party by summoning an illusion of *Hrongmar, the Great Spiked Hammer of Thelban Font* before the dwarves. The ghosts rose and beheld the spectacle in amazement. They were then truly amazed when Freya stood above them, with Hrongmar in her hand. The revenants saluted in their ancient way of holding their warhammers high in one hand, and fist pumping their chest with the other, hailing the giantess and wielder of the famed hammer of Ffydd Dwarven kind. The three Dwarven revenants, Drahn, Dornim & Hrorbar, could not speak in a way that was audible to the party, but they could seem to understand the party when they spoke the languages of Gagged-Baar (NW Dwarf & Giant tongue) and Shaken Nun (SW Dwarf) with reasonable ease; even though these were more recent tongues than the time for the period of material existence for these ghosts.

With their new non-corporeal friends in tow, following the wielder of Hrongmar, the party headed north to investigate the Barbican from above. The barbican, once 40'+ high, had been torn asunder hundreds of years ago, but a few of the interior walls of the first floor remained amidst the rubble. From their vantage point, the party could see another of the Dwarven revenants, and the top of the beast known as Kashtighur. The beast was staring off into the sky for some reason, so the party would have the jump on him.

Brocktharian leapt across the chasm of the first room, briefly balancing himself on a wall before dropping down and slashing the gruesome Kashtighur with all of his strength. The rest of the party swarmed in, even the Dwarf revenants descended into the fray, with their new companion, Bjornar, joining as well. Zak ran across the tops of the walls as well, jumping down to attempt to butcher Kashtighur with a dagger of paralysis, yet alas the beast was immune. The demon creature attempted to burn and slash at Zak and Brocktharian, unleashing terrible damage, but the vicious resolve of the party to end this creature would result in ending the battle quickly.

Next, the party would investigate the northern section of the Barbican. Kazin heading up the western corridor,

while Hormish advanced through the east. The stench of ripe decay filled the main chamber, although there were no bodies to be found to create such a smell. Finally, when the party had fully assembled into the main assembly hall, they saw that the 2 Vrocks were still gnawing at some recent kills in a room just to the north of where the party prepared. Finally, Zak let loose and arrow into one of the large leathery winged beasts, and then Freya dashed into to crush the skull of the same creature with little time for the Vrocks to react. The group now knew that these Vrocks themselves were the cause of the stench, and when one was in close proximity to them, the stench was actually poisonous and painful. The party and Dwarven ghosts rushed into to dispatch these vile foes as quickly as they could. The Vrocks were brutal, but no match for the party at their near best. After the beasts were torn asunder, the Dwarven revenants stood guard outside the Barbican while the group uncovered some scattered mithril and gold coin, a strange pouch which could energize a stone with the power of thunder, and a 12-sided shield which could determine altitude and depth as needed. Aterean began dissecting the Vrocks and Kashtighur for any extract that could benefit the party's alchemical supplies.

### The Shadowy Swords of the Southern Plaza

After a brief rest, the party ventured west, into the valley before the great gates of the Halls of the Ffydd. There they found 2 monoliths positioned along the road, one on the north side, and one on the south side. The northern pylon had magical glyphs written in Abdor-Gwr, the ancient tongue of the Ffydd Dwarves, that there was to be a caravan from Anglehome in 18 days. The southern pylon's glyphs welcomed a caravan from the great trading city of Sadav, the independent port city south of Banor. Beyond the pylons, there stood empty plazas to both the north and south. Nothing was stirring, so the party ventured south to investigate the ruins of a plaza, apparently used by the traders when they visited. In fact, it was the party's group perception that there were strange mountain frog tracks heading that way, so they needed to investigate.

There were collapsed stones everywhere in the plaza, as well as bits of armor from the guards that once were stationed there. Just as the party investigated, they were suddenly struck by 3 shadowy humanoids with great black swords who appeared out of nowhere. These undead creatures, the Thandwyn, were taunting the party with their great speed, dexterity and ability to disengage and go invisible at will. Although the Thandwyn could only engage in melee combat, their speed and stealth made it difficult for them to tracked by the party. Faerie Fires were sent out, to no avail. Only when the Thandwyn closed, would the party get a brief opportunity to attack these miserable creatures of the underworld.

At one moment, Hormish was caught off by himself by one of the Thandwyn. When Hormish attempted to rejoin the party, he slipped on some of the ruins, slapping his head down and giving himself a bloody lip. Brocktharian came to his aid, but he too slipped and fell. That gave one of the Thandwyns the opportunity to stab and stun Hormish before turning invisible again. To flush out that undead foe, Wubba shot a fireball blindly towards where he and Cooper thought the nefarious Thandwyn would be, and it appeared that they caught them in the burst. Meanwhile, each of the party members were on their guard, waiting for a sign of these foul, invisible creatures to make themselves known. Each member of the party would be near the sharp sword of the Thandwyn, but little by little, they were beginning to get a sense of where these beasts would go after they appeared.

Kazin taunted one of them, which resulted in an attack by the Thandwyn, but then members of the party would do their best to strike down the beasts. The Thandwyn that had been hit by the fireball attempted to attack Brocktharian and Hormish again, but the radiant power of Brocktharian blasted the Thandwyn into non-existence, causing the creature to slowly melt away into ectoplasm.

Next, the one that had accosted Kazin fell, as Brynda blasted it with more radiant energy. And finally, Zak tracked one down and between him and Freya the final Thandwyn was removed from our plane. What horrible beasts of the underworlds!

The party regrouped in the south plaza and began searching the ruins for anything that remained from its glorious days hundreds of years ago. There was decent guard armor and weapons from the caravan, marked with the sigil of Sadav. There was also a fair amount of mithril coin present in the plaza, which made the entire group happy, as they prepared themselves for exploring more of the ruins.

### A Place to Keep the Carrion

After the party took care of the southern plaza and the deceptive Thandwyn that lay there, the party moved north to investigate the other plaza. One of the monoliths had indicated that the *Trade Caravan from Anglehome would be arriving in 18 days,* but that was 400 years ago, and no such trade caravan ever arrived. The plaza was bare and the party returned to thinking about what they could investigate next.

There were a set of three ancient towers to the northeast which still needed to be explored. There were also a pair of stairs and ramps to the north which seemed to dive down into the earth. There were also a couple large towers to the west, shouldering the large Great Gate of the Halls. The party felt they did not wish anything to be following them, no matter where they went, so they scouted out the northeastern set of three towers to determine what may still lay there.

Sadly, the Dwarven revenants could not join them there. These spectres were bound to the tower in which they had fallen into shadow, and they could only venture so far from their eternal home. They saluted Freya, wielder of Hrongmar, and returned to their tower.

The party headed up into the hills north of the barbican to investigate the three towers. The first two towers were empty, save a few large black feathers and piles of dung, lingering on top of some bones and sinew of some sort of recent kill. As they approached the third tower, however, they were accosted by three large strange avian creatures with the black feathers which they had encountered.

    These creatures, Sythoks, had no real head, nor eyes, but a huge great maw between two shoulders, where the maw itself had supplementary tendrils capable of latching on to a victim and drawing them in for the kill. The creatures were massive and strong, but the party met them with their own renowned strength and power. Blasts of lightning and fire came down upon the Sythok, ravaging them again and again. The Sythok were butchering Brynda, but soon the party was able to concentrate their power and take down these evil beasts once and for all.

After digging through the towers for a few more mithril pieces, they party returned to the stairs that seemed to dive down into the earth. The stairs seemed to be blocked by some sort of cave-in, but it was Freya that offered some light on the situation, given her expertise with smithing and understanding of principles of mining. These stairways had been blocked by rock-fall from the inside. Perhaps when the Halls were attacked by the demon hordes some 400 years ago, the miners sought refuge inside the mines, and then collapsed the tunnels behind them. The rock-fall could certainly be excavated by the party, but it was probably not a pressing matter, given the length of time the cave-in had already been stationary.

The party investigate the huge broken tower to the northwest, but there was nothing there other than the sight of something that had once been great and strong, but had also been pushed over by some creature even stronger. It was good that creature was not still around to be fought.

The party then decided to investigate the Great Gates of the Halls of the Ffydd. The Great Doors were made of an extremely heavy and sturdy mineral known as Mahdrat, Freya surmised. There were inscriptions above and to the sides of the great portal in the ancient Dwarven language of Abdor-Gwr. There were also two granite basins to either side of the great doors with engraved handprints above them. After considering the words of the portals, Brocktharian and Zak placed their hands upon the handprints and dropped mithril pieces through the basins. This caused the great Mahdraht doors of the Halls to slowly and smoothly open, revealing the dank and eerie world of the once great halls open for the party to investigate.

What would the party find? Were they empty now of the demons that had destroyed the dwarves hundreds of years ago? Were there any spirits of the lost to be found? What would they find in these once great halls?

### Alarming Bones

The first sight of the interior of the Halls for the party was two large piles of ancient bones and blood. Lost warriors, gathered into piles stretching 20' long, left immediately in the center of the entry halls. The party noticed that getting within any close proximity to the bones caused fearful chills and uncertainty in their minds. Some of the group were more dramatically affected, but they rallied and continued down the great hall to an intersection.

To the north, there was a passage leading up a short flight of stairs to an area of blackness and horror. Not unlike the corruption and contamination the party faced in Canthur, down that passage was that otherworldly decay, topped with a tripod of bones, and a soft infrequent, arhythmic chattering coming from somewhere. The chattering didn't seem to change in frequency or rhythm, so the party left that corridor for now.

To the west, the halls opened up a bit more. There was some sort of ancient sign, not of Dwarven manufacture in the center, and some rubble on its sides which had once been pillars. Cooper initially thought he had heard something down into the greater hall, but additional listenings resulted in complete silence.

To the south, the corridor rose to a single door, with a strange humanoid skeleton apparently praying at it. Kazin investigated the skeleton, and with a magic hand, pushed the skeleton over, revealing the skeleton's skull, with a dark yellow glow emanating from the skull's eye sockets. As more of the party approached and light hit the skeleton, the glow from the eyes began to transition from gold to red and back again, slowly increasing in frequency.

The party started their investigation of the southern door with Zak opening the lockless door and then peering into the blackness to reveal a large room with piles of bones and animated skeletons and ghasts rising to greet them. Aterean summoned a large pack of giant rats which went scurrying towards the door. Brocktharian moved into the threshold and Kazin hasted both Zak and the paladin to assist with their advance into the room of undead.

The skeletons immediately engaged the party, fighting several rats as well as Brocktharian, Hormish and Zak. However, more skeletons arose from the piles of bones in the room, making the entry into the chamber a bit slower. Firebolts, Rays of Frost, sling shots and more flew into the room, whittling away at the group of undead fighting them. Freya took down a ghast with Hrongmar gloriously bashing it back to the land of the dead.

Aterean lit up one of Brocktharian's javelins with a light spell and then it was thrown into the rib cage of one of the skeletons to light up the back part of the room. Although it hadn't been noticed before, far back in the room was a magic circle that was surrounded by two motionless skeletons, in praying positions like the skeleton that was initially by the entry door. These two motionless skeletons had red eyes and Kazin noticed that there were some sort of conjuring sounds coming from them. The party was making progress eliminating the skeletons, but their new target needed to be these skeletons which were up to nothing good.

Shots rang out at the statues, but it was a little too late. Suddenly, the magic circle erupted with a burst of black magic. Zak felt the chill from the smoke and magic, but fortunately was unaffected. Yet there amidst the burst was some new foe. Gorkahn wielded some sort of morning star with a thuribel, filling the area around him with a smoke of terror and death. Next, Gorkahn transformed three of the normal skeletons near him into some sort of Nether Skeleton, each rising up and writhing with increased dark power. Brocktharian bashed a few more of the standard skeletons around him, but then charged up to engage Gorkahn with renewed fury.

What would happen to the party now? Would Gorkahn transform the party into undead to do his bidding, or would the party send this foe back to the grave?

Gorkahn attempted to drain friend and foe alike of their energy, increasing his own as he transformed more of the undead into Nether Skeletons. In turn, these Nether Skeletons were no simple undead creature, but horrible beings in their own right. The Nether Skeletons could draw from the nether world to send bone shards out in a large spray, festering wounds and slicing away at the flesh of Brocktharian and Freya. These nether beings could also draw bone matter from the fallen and heal themselves. All while Gorkahn continued to swing his thuribel of dread terror and bring more to his aid.

The party was relentless, however, having killed most of the initial set of skeletons that they faced. Every few seconds more skeletons would arise, providing more fodder for Gorkahn to transform, but the party would not give up. Wubba threw a fireball into the midst of the undead throng and savagely put several down. The rats that were summoned by Aterean from the Cloak of Adurn were still biting away at these undead foes. Tindora, Kazin, Brenda and Zak all downed foes at range, making sure that they could better target Gorkahn and his Nether Skeleton companions. Aterean blasted a moonbeam against this dark foe, shattering him with radiant energy. Little by little the party was gaining power and the undead were being sent back from whence they came. Finally, with the constant pounding of Freya and Brocktharian, Gorkahn was defeated and the aura of misery and terror would leave the room. The terror was gone for now.

The room in which they had been fighting appeared to be some sort of ready room for the guards that once patrolled the main corridors of these halls. There were three different quarters leading off of this ready room that once held the guards. In these rooms, the party found some minor treasure but also four strange, differently colored keys. They hadn't run into any locks yet in the Halls, but perhaps they would soon.

The fourth door off of the ready room led to a small armory, and that room led to a much larger armory. The larger armory was filled with masterwork axes, hammers swords, shields and armor. Here, one could see the excellent workmanship of the Ffydd Dwarves. In addition, there were two exquisite hammers aligned to some of the favored deities of the Ffydd.

They discovered a manganese bronze warhammer dedicated to Thadaok, Lord of Storms. Engraved on the warhammer were the words "*Without the storm, there is only sleep. Bring the storm and I shall be its messenger!"*

Nearby also lay a darksteel great hammer dedicated to Thakune, Lord of War. Engraved on this great hammer were the following words: "*One conflict is not enough for Thakune the Glorious! With each conflict, my power grows strong! Hail Thakune! Hail Victory!"*

These weapons were tuned to worship of these deities, and to use them in honor of those deities would certainly grant some boon akin to their masters.

### More Sentries Await

The party took a few moments to investigate the armory in which they had found themselves in, but soon it was time to press on further. They investigated the doors to the north which were a set of double doors with a pillar in between. Each of these doors had locks and in the pillar were slots near each of the two doors. After careful inspection, it was seen that these slots could fit a person's hand and in it was some sort of cipher lock. None of the party could remember anything in their historical readings of these Halls that would give them an answer, although Freya's great spiked hammer, Hrongmar, did remember something about there being different keys for the different castes within the Halls. They party tried the keys they had discovered from the room with Gorkahn, but none were able to unlock the doors. So with careful guidance and a calm mind, Zak took to investigating the lock and, after a while, was fortunately able to unlock the doors.

The party ventured back north where they found a corridor heading off to the west. At the range of their darkvision, they could see a fountain in the middle of the halls and near it...more of the corruption that they had seen earlier, both back in the main corridor and way back in Canthur.

They approached the fountain and looking south down a short corridor, they saw the corruption was spread everywhere in that direction. Another set of open doors were only a few feet away that direction and beyond it a skull sat on a tripod. When Brocktharian started south to investigate, the eyes of the skull lit up, dark red. A chill and sense of fright washed over the paladin, but he remained stalwart in his investigation. As more of the party approached, the eyes of the skull turned deep scarlet, and then around the tripod, it could be seen that there was a simple magic circle present, very much like the one in Canthur, but this time there were orange bolts of light moving around the circle.

Beyond that circle, it was also seen that there was a small pool and around that pool was another, different magic circle, inscribed with Dwarven runes in the Abdor-Gwr tongue, the language of the Ffydd Dwarves. This circle, however, seemed to be keeping the corruption away from the pool.

Finally, it was time to test the merit of this situation and Kazin sent out a firebolt to hit the skull on the tripod. When the skull was hit, flames shot out of the eye sockets and a cylinder of black and red flame shot up from the coarse red circle causing a new sentinel to appear...the Fadroosh.

Swirls of fire burst from the empty ring that was the Fadroosh's head and blasted at the party. Several of the party closed to melee the horrible creature while others either used magic or missile to combat it from afar. The corruption all over the corridor screamed words of terror and fright into the minds of the party, but only a few were affected thanks to the aura surrounding the paladin.

Sword and sling and bolt of cold and radiance blasted at the Fadroosh, but it remained there fighting back with fire and horror. With a sweep of the Fadroosh's skeletal hand, the entire area of corruption burst into necrotic fire, damaging all who approached this beast. Yet it would not be enough for Fadroosh to fend off the party. They were focused and determined to rid Eirethune of this horrible manifestation and cleanse it from these ancient Dwarven Halls. With a few more stabs and blasts and slashes and poundings, the Fadroosh was no more. As the party stood above its dissipating remains, the corruption in the hall diminished as well, and the skull's eye sockets would be red no more.

### Approached by Light and Dark

After the Fadroosh was dispatched and the corruption diminished, there was still the strange magic circle with writings in Abdor-Gwr to the south. This circle had been pushing away the corruption while protecting a deep pool at the same time. Wubba went to investigate and there, for a brief moment, appeared to be 6 set of eyes appearing from the deep. The circle read "*Ancestors Glory Revenge Protection"* around it and both Kazin and Wubba surmised that this was some sort of enchantment and abjuration ring.

Meanwhile, Zak and Freya investigated the urns that were positioned by the pool to the north. In the northeast corner, Freya found a strange unfettered paper in one of the urns. Freya noticed that it probably should have been a bit more worn given its age, but the paper only had scribbles on it. Kazin and Wubba thought about it for a bit and then determine that it was possible that someone may have left secret messages on the paper. After a moment of arcane divination, the message was revealed.....

*“They have closed it off.  Brought their minions in as an attempt to corrupt what they could.  Yet, we save souls below in the bath south of the pool.  Here are six souls willing to fight.  You won’t see more than their eyes, unless you speak the following words ‘Our ancestors count on our present to keep what is our glory, our name, our life’  Once you speak these words to them, they will follow and enhance you as best they can, fighting within each of you to clear these Halls from the Unclean.”*

The party went to the pool and spoke the words,  *‘Our ancestors count on our present to keep what is our glory, our name, our life’,* and then six dwarven revenants came forth to be joined and to protect the party: *Eli, Bain, Thandir, Rend, Myrda, and Rok.*The party was invigorated and stalwart in their resolve as they marched forward to investigate the Halls further.

The party decided to head south and when they did, they discovered to large sets of doors on the southern wall. Kazin briefly went north to investigate what they might find there. A large east and west travelling hall lay there, but Kazin stealthily return to the party to make sure nothing else would know of their presence.

Meanwhile, Brocktharian and Zak tried the various keys they had picked up in the other room. Finally one key, the amethyst, worked in the lock of the great doors. At nearly the same time, Zak found another of the notes covered in scribbles in one of the urns. Before opening the doors, the party would decipher this note as well.

*“Nothing alive remains here, but there is plenty of things that are not alive.  Beware the hordes of the dead that now room the great hall.  The rest of the rooms are overrun by fiend and foe alike.  Guildmaster Duurn of the Smelters was lost in combat here, but I fear so were his men that tried to get his prizes from his demesne.  The contaminated water at the pumps was cut off from the rest of the Industrial caste, perhaps letting some of the caste survive a bit longer.”*

A door slowly opened and Zak peered in, seeing a long and wide corridor south. Brocktharian pushed south and there he saw the tip of a host of undead.

### The Assault of the Lost Souls

The paladin surged forward and the undead host came to meet them. Skeletons, zombies, ghouls and ghasts all approached the party with their undead hunger for the living. Firebolts, slingshots shot out, even a fireball! The party also jabbed and crushed and slashed at these foes, tearing them down as they held there own.

Kazin created a sleet storm in the area and the host of undead began sliding everywhere. Sadly, a small portion of the ghouls and ghasts made it through the sleet and would now tear and slash and gnaw at the party. But with careful concentration, Kazin would be able to greatly deter the onslaught of the horde by keeping the masses sliding and slipping on the floor.

For the next few minutes, the ice showered down keeping the undead host from reaching the foes en masse. Wubba through fireball and fireball at the crawling undead, At one moment, Wubba strode upon Freya's shoulders with to gain vantage through height as another fireball shot out and blew apart these horrible creatures. The devastation was tremendous against these wretched souls, and Wubba used every bit of his energy and power to accomplish the feat. Likewise, Aterean sent forth a radiant moonbeam, blasting the undead foes as they approached; letting the light of life tear down the horrible beasts that kept plaguing the party. Kazin shot flame after flame at the undead foes, splashing several with fires to which they would succumb. Brynda called out to Kaelia and Thadaok to send the undead back to their resting place, causing several of the lesser undead to dissolve into dust and many others running from her divine presence.

Zak, Freya, Brynda, Tindora, Hormish and Brocktharian held the line, keeping the clawing creatures of the Underworld from finding swarming over the party. The gleaming aura of the paladin saved the group more than once from the potentially devastating paralyzing grasp of the undead beasts. Each of these allies risked all to keep back the seemingly endless stream of the animated long dead in hopes of surviving the assault.

Eventually, the battle was won, but what carnage they had faced. The party was now drained and needed to investigate this massive Hall of Industry that they had been fighting in. The halls were left in the same way as they had been 400 years ago; a massive place of building and construction. Yet they needed a place to rest after such a battle. Kazin found a worthy storeroom and the party set up for the night...hopefully a night that would include another assault of undead foes.

### Shudder and Slide

The night wasn't particularly restful, but it was fortunately not eventful either. Aterean found some time to get some potions made, Kazin looked in at some crates in the storeroom, and Freya grabbed supplies for the next morning which fortunately came without terror.

The party moved outside their little hovel in the deep and began the exploration of the great Hall of Industry in the once great Dwarven kingdom. In a simple clockwise pattern, the party found themselves at a set of double doors to the east. After careful inspection for traps by Zak, Brocktharian went to open them with the purple amethyst key that they had gained, but realized, even before he placed the key to the door, that there was a stark cold present. Perhaps the hill elves (drow) were more accustomed to the cold, but the paladin wasn't so certain. At that point, they called in Wubba to check out the doors further for magic, while Zak went south to investigate the corridor leading to yet another set of doors surrounded by skeletons. Fortunately, these skeletons were not animated, but nonetheless, these halls were clearly the realm of the dead.

After Wubba's analysis, it was determined that these doors would be safe to open..at least...if not pass through their threshold. The party moved in and found another set of doors, but with these, there was something a miss. Some water and some ice appeared to be projecting forth, under the door. The cold that they had felt earlier was definitely coming from somewhere inside, beyond these doors.

The party prepared and Brocktharian opened the doors to investigate inside. The floors were covered with a thin film of water and ice underneath, making a slippery platform for any who would enter inside. Slowly and carefully Brocktharian and Zak moved inside to investigate. There were large drums as they entered and massive levers against the wall to the east. To the north and south, the room sloped down into more ice and cold, frigid water. Yet before they could investigate, strange grey, boney humanoids quickly moved through the water and attacked the party.

The Szazuun had strangely long and boney arms, pallid and cold flesh and could move faster than their boney demeanor may indicate. Freya was trying to sense what was present in the area, and her sense that there were demons and undead present would be clearly correct. The Szazuun moved forward and shuddered, sending necrotic and cold chills into the party as they approached.

Several of these creatures appeared, and one was able to start to drag Hormish down towards their watery lair. Aterean summoned a polar bear to help with the fight as Wubba and Kazin threw balls of fire at these cold, dead creatures with great success.

With great organized commitment, the party was able to wipe out all of the Szazuun, although Hormish was close to death by their end. But it was not the only fiend they would meet. Soon after the Szazuun approached, the party was confronted with an extremely fast moving foe who could travel in the smallest amount of water. The party could not initially remember what these creatures were, but as one grew out of the water and struck its pseudopods at Aterean, the realization that they were again encountering Shikagwash caused them all to reel back.

How did we kill the last one we encountered? It was terrible and annoying before, but how could we now take care of two of these horrible annoying demons? The last place we saw them was a corridor, but this was a great multi-level pump room with water and ice and plenty of area for these fast moving demons to hide. What was the party to do?

### From Ice to Where?

The Shikagwash proved as annoying as the first time the party met them, so long ago, back in Bandraht Manor. These demons were so furtive and quick in even the slightest film of water that it was difficult how to predict where they would attack next.

First, they challenged Hormish, throwing him further and further into the room with their great strength and long pseudopods. Hormish was knocked unconscious, but Aterean directed Iorek, the polar bear, to grab the fallen comrade and drag him back to the party.

Then Zak was next, being thrown several times to the north and into the darkness of the room where none of the other party members could see him. Past the large barrels and water pumps in the room, Zak found himself floating in a deep pool at the far north of the room. Fortunately, for him, he was able to scamper out of the water and find dry ground near an ancient dwarven corpse and a large valve handle, casting *Darkness* all around himself in hopes these watery demons would not perceive him.

The party attempt to hit the Shikagwash each time they appeared, but it was a difficult challenge. Finally, ropes were set up from the dry corridor into the center of the room and down to the northern part of the chamber to see if the party could rescue Zak. Freya was wise to have grabbed the ropes and spikes from the storage room and stood stalwart in the center so the party could make their way to an advantageous position.

Brocktharian finally yelled out to one of the Shikagwash and compelled it to a duel, giving the party a better chance at unleashing their fury at the demon when it appeared to fight the paladin. Sling bullets from Tindora, arrows from Zak (now high atop some dry barrels), firebolts from Kasin and Wubba, all rained down upon the demons. Wubba was wounded a bit, but remained strong. Only when the demon rose up against Freya, did the onslaught of the party finally finish one of them off. Now it would be only time before the other was compelled to seek out Brocktharian, but the party was ready to unleash what they could. The demon rose and swung its pseudopods against the paladin, but could not find a way to penetrate his armor. The party, however, sprung into action and sent the last Shikagwash to its watery grave.

There wasn't much else in the room, other than equipment to pump water, but there was the ancient dwarven skeleton near the valve handle, and a note written in Abdor-Gwr that he had left. There was also an *Emerald Key* in the tattered clothes of the long dead pump worker who was trying to save his kin.

Aterean went to work capturing what essence he could from the Szazuun and the Shikagwash, the demon eyes that the water demons left were grabbed, as well as the *Emerald Key,* and the party left the pump room to explore more of the other chambers in the Halls of Industry.

Next, the party head to a locked door in the southeast corner of the great hall. It had the same two locking mechanisms as other doors, the cipher and the well-constructed door lock, and Brocktharian began testing the keys. The purple amethyst key that had worked to enter the Hall of Industry did not work here, but the new emerald key did. When they opened the door, however, they were taken a back for what they beheld.

In the corridor to the south of them were sheets of opaque corruption, reaching from floor to ceiling as they entered. It was not like the corruption that they had witnessed in Canthur, nor even in the Halls of the Ffydd Dwarves so far. This was some other strange occurrence that seemed to break apart the dimension that the party was now to travel.

There was a thin passage between the sheets of strange vertical corruption...perhaps just enough space to carefully slide through. Hormish wandered through the passage, jumping successfully to reach a more open passage on the far side. Next was Iorek, although Iorek didn't quite make it through. Iorek started in and then jumped to try to make it through, but he barely touched the corruption while in mid-air. When he did, Iorek was locked motionless in the air as some sort of strong paralysis or petrifaction had taken place. Iorek was slowly taking damage while being stuck in this inter-dimensional stasis, but the party wasn't going to lose poor Iorek to this strange world.

Zak threw a rope around Iorek and dropped it quickly prior to the rope actually hitting the bear. The rope seemed to swing freely, so it was not affected by the dimensional rifts that plagued Iorek. Then the party pulled on the rope and was able to free Iorek from the rift and to relative safety on the far side of the small passage. The party continued their trek through the passage as well, although Freya remained behind with a rope to make sure she could pull people back should they need it.

The strange rift continued south through this passage, creating an eastern wall of strange, scintillating colors. As Brocktharian looked further, he found another passage through the rift to the east, revealing another corridor with a few doors consistent with what they had seen in the dwarven halls so far. Zak, Hormish and Iorek headed south to investigate the rest of the corridor, and Zak found another easterly passage through the rift leading into that same corridor.

The party slowly and carefully made their way into the eastern section of the halls and approached the two doors. Iorek was very confused as he sat in the southern area, staring and sniffing at the door at the southeastern corner. Zak went to investigate the door and he heard birds and smelled swamp grass from the other side; a strange scent indeed when one is inside a 15,000 ft. mountain.

As Brocktharian had the keys, he approached the northern door and unlocked it. Inside was a strange little room with an earthen floor, a shoddy chimney, some arm stocks, a hay bed, a burning candle and a few small books in a language that Kazin could not quite understand. Kazin grabbed the books and a birch switch from the room and the two moved out to help the others investigate the strange smelling room to the south.

When they opened the door, this room, too, was quite strange. The room filled with light from a glass window on the eastern wall. There was a better made chimney, a nice bed, a bookcase and stool in this room; and one could smell swamp gas wafting in through the window. Looking outside the window the players saw that this little room looked out towards a city wall on a bright sunny day. There were no signs of swamp, but the scent still remained.

Now the party wanted to know where this little room truly was, and how a town was showing up in the center of a mountain. Zak started to open the casement window of the room, but when he did, everyone in the room was flushed out of the room and back into the corridor by some sort of interdimensional vortex. Another attempt was made, this time with the door closed, but again the occupants were forced out into the corridor as the outer door seemed to not hinder their vortexing.

What world has the party now found? Why were these two rooms present in an ancient Hall of Dwarven Kings? Was it madness, perversion or just a dream?

### An Amalgam of Horror

The investigation of the strange rooms continued, but without a concrete conclusion. The rooms seemed to be references to places away from the mountains, but it was not clear how they were related or why they were here. It also seemed strange that the areas of the corridor on either side of the rift didn't really match up. There were many questions and not many answers.

The books found in the two strange rooms were collected. These were all written in Goldar, the language of Aden Shahn, and pertinent to magic and religion, although at a basic and intermediate level of understanding. There wasn't much time to investigate them now, but there were curious written inscriptions in several of the books which also offered some possible information later on.

Now the party went to the southwest corner of the great Hall of Industry to determine what other strange episodes would be found there. There was something at the double doors that intrigued Zak, so much so that he had to lick them to test what sort of lacquer or flavoring the doors provided. Brocktharian was put off by this act as it was quite below his station, especially when the odor of bile emanated from the room beyond the doors.

Finally, the group entered the room and what they beheld was something beyond their worst nightmares. A multi-headed, armed, clawed and footed amalgam of bodies that spewed forth bile and blood assaulted them. This *Monglork*, a demonic conjuration sometimes brought into being under only dire circumstances, when the bodies of your comrades can only serve a purpose in death. However, this Monglork, left here for centuries, was ready to consume and gather the party into its mass.

The Monglork shot out a huge spray of bile, burning several of the party with the horrific acid. Claw and Fist and Teeth lashed out at Freya, Hormish, Brocktharian and Iorek, gashing each as the monstrosity attempted to consume them. Kazin attempted to slow the beast, but to no avail; the creature was horribly resistant to such attempts. Firebolt, sacred flame, color spray and more rained down upon the Monglork, and yet the many appendages of this horrible beast continued to gnash and claw at the party. Freya brought down mighty Hrongmar again and again on the beast, and little by little this horrific creature began to weaken. Finally, it took a great guided bolt of Thadaok from Brynda and the divine slashes of Brocktharian to take the creature down and end its miserable reign in this corner of the Halls.

This area in which the Monglork had roamed was a series of offices, waiting rooms and storage areas. There was also a small guard post off of the rooms, although no weapons or armor were found therein. In the stores, there were fine masterwork equipment used in armor, smith and leather craft, so more searching needed to be done. At one point, Freya kept the party from uncovering an urn of potassium cyanide used for flux in forging; sometimes it's best to let the dangerous lie until its needed. They also found some gem samples and an old book showing pictures and information about gems and minerals found in the mountain. Coupled with four, extremely heavy bars of Mahdrat, there were many items related to the once great mineral riches of the Halls of the Ffydd Dwarves.

The next area the party would focus upon would be the strange doors to the west where a sheen of corruption permeated. The area around the doors smelled of sulfur, so perhaps there were forges or smelters therein. When they opened the doors, the party would find both, and more.

The Great Forge lay at the western end of the room, but most of the room was filled with ash, smoke and corruption. There were also three smoldering, blackened, wizened creatures, known as Shaazgaad, moving slowly towards the party. The party slowly backed up, but from beyond the corner of one of the chambers of the Great Forge came a fiery creature they had seen only yesterday, the Fadroosh. The Fadroosh sent out a bolt of fire from its strange head and blasted several of the party members out in the Hall.

The party had defeated a Fadroosh before and now scrambled to remember the kinds of terror it could unleash. But this time, the Fadroosh was accompanied by these ashen Shaazgaad, and who knew what they could muster?

### Fear of Ash and Fire

The ashen Shaazgaad moved forth and surrounded Hormish and Iorek. Fortunately, Kazin was at the ready and used his arcane powers to slow two of these foul creatures of death and fire. Even with this disadvantage, these Shaazgaad were able to bellow forth a *Nether Scream* of fire and death, causing damage and inciting fear in those near them. Brocktharian and Hormish now shuddered at these creatures from the realm of the undead.

The rest of the party took positions just outside of the doors to the Great Forge and began attacking these creatures from the realm of the dead. The party learned quickly that the fires of Govord would heal these ashen beings and that even cold would not work well against them. Regardless of these creatures' resistances, the party continued to blast, shoot and pelt them with damage, being ever mindful that if they exposed themselves too much, the fiery eye of the Fadroosh would seek them out with its destructive ray.

Freya moved in to assist Brocktharian and Hormish and this would turn the tide. With multiple massive swings of Hrongmar, Freya began to shatter the Fadroosh and break the ominous spell it emitted on the party. Kazin attempted to break up the ashen fiends by creating illusions to confuse and befuddle them. Wubba shattered their ears with great thunder and Aterean sent down a moonbeam blasting the Shaazgaad. The hexes that the Fadroosh cast upon the party facilitated the necrotic doom that each of the fiends could muster, but it would not be enough. Iorek would sadly fall to the fiery, necrotic slams of the Shaazgaad, but quickly after, the Moonbeam would avenge Iorek's death by eliminating one of the ashen foes. The Fadroosh would light up the entire field of corruption with fire and death, but another pounding from Hrongmar and a sacred flame from Brynda would end that foe as well. Now the party found renewed strength and focus and the last two Shaazgaad would fall, and the contamination that surrounded them would begin to dissipate.

The party searched the area of the Great Forge and found countless ingots of various metals. Hundreds of iron and steel ingots were coupled with some tempered bronze, silver and gold ingots. Against the western wall, a dark steel strengthened chest was unlocked with the amethyst key and more strange ingots were found. There were some more of the Mahdrat ingots that were found in the Guildmaster's office, but then there were some other ingots as well which were not easily identifiable. In addition, a heavy, red velvet cloth with something long inside it. When opened, Hrongmar recognized the red outlined scimitar inside - Kardŵr, the scimitar of the Guildmaster. The party carefully rewrapped the scimitar and left the Great Forge for now.

The party investigated the central south hallway leaving the Hall of Industry and there they found the stairs down to the workers' level. The stairs here, however, were completely blocked. When the attack of the fiends was underway 400 years ago, the dwarves probably protected their own by sealing them deep into the mountain. The dwarves were miners after all, and they might be able to find a different way out.

Having flushed out all of the Halls of Industry, the party returned to the Main Hall to investigate what other horrors lie in wait.

### Animous from the Shadows

The party slowly moved north back into the main halls. The party had not ventured north of the central east-west passage they entered from, but now they determined it was time. Slowly and carefully the party made their way into the central passage looking about at the high hall. A hundred feet east or west, and sixty feet high, the passage was tremendous, held together by great pillars of dwarven manufacture. As the party marveled at the craftsmanship, Hormish noted there was blood at the base at one of the pillars; and suddenly, he heard a sound, though he was unable to report that to the party.

From high in the shadows of the great passage, a flying foe swooped down at Hormish, clawing at him and striking him hard with their barbed tail, causing a quick paralysis in Hormish's bones. Before the party could react, this *Watcher* grabbed Hormish and carried him upwards. Arrows and sling bullets went out at the flying creature, but soon there would be more to worry about. These faceless, leathery winged creatures with devastating claws and tails had crossed paths with the party before, but then, there were only two, now there were more.

The next attack of the *Watchers* struck Aterean, stunning him instantly. Fortunately, Freya, Tindora and Zak were at the ready and took that Watcher down instantly. Freya was attacked, but Hrongmar found home against the Watcher and it was shocked at the mighty blow it received. More shots and spells rang out at these beasts, and Kazin was able to slow the three they saw, giving the party a great advantage. Wubba cast a chromatic orb at one of the beasts, damaging it greatly, and then hid behind a pillar. Little to Wubba's knowledge, however, another Watcher peered from above Wubba's hiding spot and then dashed down to slash, tear and paralyze the poor gnome.

Quickly, Brocktharian grabbed Wubba and rolled him back to save the gnome from further harm. Again, the party focused fire and attempted to take down these creatures as fast as possible. Even the Watcher carrying Hormish high in the air was hit hard; so hard, that it had to drop Hormish and flee for its continued existence. Hormish was completely knocked out, but at least he wouldn't be a feast for these beasts.

With careful aim of spell, sword and bow, the party took out the rest of the Watchers. Although the damage these beasts caused was severe, the party could now recover and revel at the majesty of the great halls.

The party now moved north quickly in pursuit of the Watcher that had dropped Hormish. These creatures were so furtive, that the trail and sight of this fleeing beast was nowhere to be perceived, but still the party searched on. After careful observation and exploration, the party found a room with a fountain of clear water, just as they had south of the main passage. But something else caught Hormish's eye.

Along the northern corridor, there were a small group of dwarven footprints visible. The halls had been found in either total corruption or complete immaculance, but this was strange bloody remains of the dwarves along the corridor's edge. When Zak took a look, he found that the footprints led up to a wall, and that the wall itself was hiding something from the party. The walls of the passages had all been made with great care and perfection, but in this one small area of the corridor, it appeared that something had made a clear outline of a section of wall, quite different than could be found anywhere else. Without another thought, Brocktharian moved up and attempted to push the wall, which suddenly opened revealing a short corridor. More blood lay on the floor, leading to two sets of doors in a wall just 30' to the west. Zak and Brocktharian moved again through those doors which opened upon a special room.

This room was relatively large, with a great desk in the center. In front of the desk on the floor, lay a massive dwarven skull that was no less than 7' across. What a strange object!

There was a small storeroom to the northeast, a hanging cage for potential detainees to the north, a small cell to the northwest, and the other walls of the room were lined with bookshelves. A strange room indeed, but it would become even stranger in short measure.

Out of the shadows came a flickering blue and black shade - a shade with what appeared to be a spectral face, although no sense of undead or fiendish behavior was detected. But these creature were certainly foes. These Plane Vaporin shot out mutations of the world at the party, damaging both Brocktharian and Kazin with their first salvos. Another of the Plane Vaporin cast a strange spell on Kazin which made him grow 5' in a matter of seconds. Who knows when that growth spell would stop? What kind of creatures are these and what would the party do to defeat them?

### Faces from In-Between

The Plane Vaporin are creatures from in-between different planes. Something that finds its way into one world or another when gates and rifts are opened, and not enough precaution is taken to keep them out. These Plane Vaporin had arrived hundreds of years past, when the Echo of the Unraveler was wreaking havoc upon the Dwarven Kingdom. Yet, somehow, they were trapped in this strange hidden room along the corridors of the main hallways.

The room of investigation that they had found themselves in was probably bound for other reasons. Often when something would go awry with visitors to the ancient Dwarven halls, culprits or forces were taken to the investigation room to determine more about the intruder. There were probably ancient rituals placed on the room to insure that nothing could escape and endanger the halls, and those same rituals kept the Plane Vaporin locked in as well.

Now the party had to face these creatures. The Plane Vaporin shot forth trans-dimensional forces which temporary broke apart the material plane on which the party found themselves, and were therefore ravaged by horrible force damage. Kazin grew some more, but finally gained focus to break the spell and return to normal size. Brocktharian was hit by the same strange enlarging power, making it more difficult for him to maneuver as well, yet the party would continue their fight all the more.

Sling and arrow and bolt of magic rang forth to diminish these extra-dimensional foes. One by one they dropped, although they reciprocated in turn with great damage to the party. Fortunately, however, the party would be victorious and all would be safe, and not suffer the same fate as the dwarf who left their 7' diameter skull behind.

Now the party would investigate this room to see what it had hidden inside. Hidden inside the large skull, the party found a *Ring of Scribing*, which allowed the wielder to create and read texts that were otherwise indiscernible without use of identification spells. When wearing this ring, the party was able to read some scribbles on the main desk in the center of the room:

> *Dire times are upon us with none to help. This may be our own doing, but none of that matters now.  I have hidden in my office, but have sent out a couple pages with instructions. Hopefully you can find what I have written.  We are compromised from the demon kind and they have taken hold of the Grand Audience Hall to the west.  I heard an eruption and then a storm of horror coming from below.  I believe the Unraveler has beset the Lords of the Realm and has descended for more.  I know the King is below and has a plan, but I know success will come at a cost.*
>
>

> *A few of us have tried to save some and I hope to have a note by these havens for you to read and understand our plight.*
>
>

> *I wish you good luck for I think mine has run out.  I see veils from afar coming through my hidden portals and I think the fight is upon me”*
>
>

In addition to the note and ring, there were various magic scrolls that the party could find useful (e.g.; *Cure Coming Wound, Nystul's Magic Aura, Alacritous Interpretation, Ancestra Guidance, Astral Awareness).* There was also an *Ivory Medallion* which Aterean pinned to Freya's lapel, as it assisted the wearer with momentary protection during combat, something that Aterean knows Freya could find use in.

### But Would the Voices Lie?

The party barred and alarmed the doors to the investigators' room and awaited what horrors could infiltrate their stead. However, this night would be safe for the party. All rested and ready for action the party conversed and prepared a plan. Where would they go next? North into the unknown or south where they knew something lie near the Great Audience Room? The party commiserated and determined they needed to flush out whatever was in the Great Audience Hall. The group buffed up a tad and then headed down to investigate whatever was present in the halls.

The first thing the party witnessed was a light red glow a ways off in the corridor. As the group got closer, they perceived a 6' diameter red orb of nearly perfect spherical surface. The orb emitted a very light red glow, but otherwise was strange, featureless and almost blocking the end of the corridor as it lead into the Great Audience Hall.

At first, Zak, Brocktharian and Aterean approached it, and as they did, they heard voices in their heads, speaking in their mother tongues about how someone or something needed their help. Zak was confused why anyone would listen to a large red orb in a corridor of dead people, but this did not really occur to Brocktharian or Aterean. They were not compelled to do anything, but it was obvious to them that the orb was not going to be a problem, and perhaps they could learn something from it. Brocktharian caressed the orb for a time, but within a half a minute, it became obvious to him that something was going on. Although the orb was warm and comforting, there was something else tearing down Brocktharian's resolve when he was too close to it. In addition, the red orb appeared to be sending (or receiving) a semi-transparent red beam of 1" diameter travelling to some point to the west. Each member of the party also heard these voices, but were mostly abel to travel on without incident. Only Freya really wanted to stay and investigate the orb further, but Hormish and Brynda were able to shake her out of the situation and focus on whatever lay beyond.

What did lay beyond was a huge room with four more orbs. The Great Audience Hall had a large broken shaft leading down (who knows how deep) with a strange, multi-colored, shifting orb floating above it. To the north was a black orb, to the south a white orb, and to the west, a pink orb sitting on a metallic stand, not unlike what they had encountered in the non-Euclidean space below the Blending Circle.

Zak stabbed at the strange orb in the center, but when he did, his arrow entered ever so slowly, and revealed to him a large eye, which became many eyes, and then a tooth, which became a mouth, which became thousands of teeth and then receded to become the strange multi-colored orb he had first witnessed. There were beams from each of the other orbs connecting to this strange orb floating above the floor rift, but who knows what it could be doing there.

The party eventually felt that they needed to prod the other orbs to see what they would do. As soon as flame touched an orb, some deviations in the atmosphere manifested, and the party would soon find out what was protecting these strange edifications. Brocktharian had called upon his gods to better sense and protect himself against what was present, and then he also noticed these creatures from other planes appearing; neither good nor evil, but definitely not of this world.

It wouldn't take long, but soon these creatures, covered with barbs and spikes and claws came forward to meet the party. The Foordradj have control over gravity and used it to pull members of the party around, creating vulnerability where there had been one. Aterean hasted Freya and the ranger burst into action, crushing one of the Foordradj as fast as possible. Wubba and Kazin were grabbed and pulled into the clutches of these beasts, but the paladin, rogue, ranger and warriors were ready to respond, trying to focus the attention of the Foordradj upon them.

Wubba was shot across the room next to one of these beasts, so Freya and Brocktharian ran to assist him, killing one of the strange outsiders along the way.

What would happen next as these beasts rained down damage and powers from some other world? The party would have to remain strong and connected to make sure these beasts would not defeat them...but when would the Great Audience Hall be ready for them to investigate?

### Conjunction of Strange Orbs

The Foordradj were fiends and terrible villains. They would jump about the room without regard to space or dimension, and lock people down where they could - driving the forces of gravity against them. It was all Aterean and Brynda could do to keep people alive while the cylinders of gravitons pounded and pulled the party apart.

Shot after shot, spell after spell, swing after swing would slowly bring these creatures to their knees; but honestly, the massive pounding of Freya and Hrongmar was a major component in the destruction of these foes. The Divine Smiting of Brocktharian was not slouch either - burning these fiends time and time again to try to keep the party safe.

At one point, Wubba noticed again how one of the 4 orbs truly resembled one they had already encountered. There was the orb in the strange underworld of the Blending Circle that was nearly identical to what they encountered in the great audience hall here in the Dwarven realm. The orb in the Blending Circle was occupied by a humanoid shape or form that was curious and somewhat bewildered by the presence of those who were outside it. Yet while that being who was projected inside it was not certain or could not directly interact with those around it, there was the side effect of that orb producing or at least summoning creatures from worlds far and strange to Eirethune. Why were these conjured creatures appearing? Did this shape have anything to do with it, or was it just something that was projected from it? No one really knew. What they did know however, is that this pink orb did summon horrible and bizarre creatures which were hostile and destructive; and this orb must be destroyed.

As the Foordradj were finally being vanquished, it came time to destroy the orbs. And as they were destroyed, the bodies of these fiends were being changed. Changed in a way such that they were no longer part of this world, but perhaps being reassembled in another to be used again. As the damage to the orbs continued, the parts of these Foordradj were being reconstituted, brought forth and brought anew to protect the orbs that remained.

In a matter of seconds, the fallen Foordradj would reappear. It first seemed like a heat perturbation, but with Freya's keen eye, it was clear that these fiends were going to manifest in physical form in their world again. Freya stood at the ready and brought Hrongmar down as soon as one of the Foordradj appeared again.

Two more were starting to appear near Kazin, and Brocktharian moved forth to create the *Circle of Shadows* around where they would spawn - a leftover artifact from the vile Abbot Akakruhn in the Abbey Beodrahn. Cooper flew back towards the original red orb and saw that yet another creature of the other worlds was spawning. When the battle seemed almost over, it would now seem to be renewed.

First, the Foordradj near Freya appeared, but it would jump quickly away and begin to cause havoc upon the group as quickly as possible. Fortunately, however, the party was to crush and destroy the blue-white orb, which caused this Foordradj to squeal in pain and agony. The orbs were to be the key to these creatures destruction.

Another possible key was what was in these orbs. The pink orb had the image of a reclining humanoid - very similar to what they had seen in the Blending Circle. In the Blending Circle, the image was asking the people what was going on, and who was the party, and what was going on, and what were they going to do? The party heard none of that from the orb this time, but there was also nothing nefarious about it either.

From what Kazin could tell, the blue white orb had 3 people present inside - a human, a high elf (rare) and a gnome. They were conducting some sort of strange, rapturous ritual in the mountains by a strange temple. It was hard to tell, but with Wubba's divining, it was determined that none of these beings had any whites in their eyes. Something was otherworldly in their beings.

The black orb was so opaque it required close observation to see. The party never investigated at the end, but at the beginning of their encounter, they observed that there were strange beings shimmering inside. These strange beings were not unlike what was being summoned to the pink orb in the depths of the Blending Circle. Beings not of this world, but beings being brought here.

The pleas for help from the red orb were always strange. Even though Freya had trusted the orb's message in the past, it was time to protect her own world so she attempted to strike the orb again and again to end this madness. Unfortunately, the Foordradj next to it would jump and pull Freya towards it, keeping the orb safe for at least a short time more.

The party answered with power and skill. Whatever damage they could put out, they did. The red orb stood no chance against the party's focus, and when the last orb, the misleading red orb dropped, the Foordradj disappeared into nothingness.

### The Trek Below

Now that the orbs were gone, a large geyser of corruption blasted from below smashing into the ceiling of the Great Audience Room. The room's ceiling seemed to be holding without effect for the present, but this fount of horror was free to attempt to destroy whatever came in contact with it.

As party members investigated in proximity to the geyser, an overwhelming feeling of dread and mutation came over them, causing them to be quite unsteady when thinking or protecting themselves. Nevertheless, the chasm from where the geyser came was certainly of interest.

The party could not see the bottom of the chasm, but the party discussed methods of getting some visibility in the deep pit. Meanwhile, Brocktharian and Zak investigated a set of doors at the south wall of the Audience Hall. Freya asked Hrongmar about these doors, and Hrongmar knew that these were indeed the doors towards the Royal Lift. The party seemed to abandon the chasm for now and went on to investigate the doors and what lay behind them, towards the Royal Lift. That is, except for Kazin and Freya. Freya had gathered about 420' of rope and tied it to one of the pillars in the Audience Hall, giving some protecting and direction should people want to descend, or ascend, from the depths below. Kazin, for his part, threw a levitation spell on himself and began the descent. The eerie horrors of the corruption geyser caused Kazin to keep to the perimeter of the hole as he descended, but nevertheless, he continued. Finally, more than 100' down, Kazin saw the bottom and what horrors awaited the party there. The beam of corruption was coming from something straight north from where the geyser went up, but in order for the beam to change direction in a 90 degree angle to turn straight up, it was hitting a large convex shape made of hundreds of contorted bodies and skeletons. In addition, it appeared that next to this lens of bodies, there was another set of bodies piled in a way that they made out a word in the ancient language of Fyr-Mahr: "***SOON***". Kazin immediately ascended.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party ventured south through the doors, finding an intersection marked by a basin and a few well-made stools. To the east, a single door opened into fine quarters for 4 of the Royal Guards. In a chest which was opened by the *Emerald Key*, the party found mithril and yet another fine, mastercraft hammer. To the west, the double doors opened into the Royal Lift.

At this point, the party gathered and heard what Kazin had found in the depths. Now, the party contemplated how to get this Lift to work. Brocktharian actually remembered an old tale about the Royal Halls that claimed no thief had ever made it successfully to the Royal levels. Even though people knew about the Royal Lift, something had been able to keep the lift safe from greedy hands. Either that or the thieves who had figured it out were smart enough to never reveal their tales.

Now it was the party's turn to figure out the Lift. Hrongmar had traveled on it during his tenure hundreds of years ago within the Halls, but he never operated it, nor was he *part* of the operation of it. Brocktharian went to the western wall and pulled the giant lever up from its position of long rest. On the second attempt, he was able to raise it and with it the great spool of Astelion cable began to pull the ancient lift up from its resting place. When the cage of the elevator reached the room, the grate over the shaft opened and the cage entered the room.

The 8' high by 9'x18' cage had a slate floor, but the rest of it was finely milled and constructed Astelion bars - among the hardest substances known in Eirethune. The cage itself was strange, however, for there were horizontal slots present at 2' intervals on each side of the cage at 1', 3', 5' and 7' from the floor. There was no lever or anything else inside the cage. This was quite ominous to the party and none were willing to immediately descend.

Meanwhile, Wubba continued a ritual of identification to determine the quality and powers of the hammer they picked up in the Royal Guard Quarters, and the scimitar that was found in the Great Forge of the Halls of Industry. While that was going on, however, the party wanted to continue to investigate the lift. The first to attempt to make the ride down, would be Cooper. He was small and could offer some insight (and sight) as to what the party would encounter when they descended in the Lift.

Cooper entered and Brocktharian threw the switch to cause the Lift to descend. About 15 seconds into the travel, the lift paused for about 15 seconds without any indication of what was going on. Thereafter, the Lift continued its descent. At first, everything seemed fine, although Cooper kept losing his footing on the bars with the minor jolts of the elevator. Cooper did notice, however, that on the walls of the shaft, there were horizontal slots, about the same size as those slots in the cage, every 6" - all along the shaft. In another 30 seconds, however, just as Cooper had slipped again, a large sheet of metal burst from one of those slots in the shaft wall and straight through the cage, unfortunately cutting Cooper in half. Wubba revealed the demise of Cooper to the party, and Brocktharian sent the Lift upwards.

Since Kazin was still levitating, he was thinking of whether he could float and then bind himself to the bars to keep between the slots for the entire descent. First, however, the party decided to try with an inanimate object to see what would happen. First, the party tied a rope from the ceiling to a point near the floor and sent it down. The trip to the bottom of the shaft took a bit more than two minutes, but when it returned to the top, only the top 1' of the rope still remained fastened to the cage. Next, they tried to tie the rope horizontally between 2 of the slots and sent it down. This seemed to work fine as on its return the rope was still intact. However, this strategy would probably not work well for some of the larger party members, like Freya, so the party was not sure yet what to do.

Wubba finished his ritual and the hammer and scimitar were revealed. Kardŵr was the name of the scimitar, and it was both deadly and fiery. Zak was going to take the fine scimitar, but the weapon was sentient and quite tied to the Guardian God, Govord, Master of Fire and Mountain. Zak's disdain for the deities was too great for him to wield such a blade, so he presented it to Aterean for his use. The hammer was known as *The Good Ally Hammer,* and it allowed the wielder to assist their allies when they truly needed it.

But now, the party was flummoxed. How would they descend the Lift? The more they thought, the more they thought that going down the chasm by the geyser of corruption sounded like something more achievable. Even with the dread and horror that the geyser could cause climbers, Freya and Brocktharian could lower people easily via the rope rather than having them climb. Aterean could turn into a spider and descend without failure. Kazin could cast his levitation spell on Freya and Freya could carry Kazin down without a single piece of slicing metal being shoved through their bodies. This was a much better plan, and so they executed it without fail.

The bottom of the shaft was as Kazin described, with bodies forced into some weird lens for the corruption beam to turn and the words of some horrible master written out for all to see. In addition, the entire room in which this horror was found was transformed into some sort of skewed space, not unlike what the party had encountered under the Blending Circle.

The beam of corruption was horrible and gravely affected the party if they were in proximity to it. But the party needed to venture forth and find out what was going on here. As they moved north, they saw something bizarre. On either side of the beam of corruption, there were two dwarven revenants standing in magic protection circles, casting some ritual for all eternity. Yet, while they were chanting their incantations, they spoke to the party to attempt and discover their motives.

The party was willing to help end the chaos in the Halls and the revenants were insightful enough to understand their honesty. Then the dwarves, Heimjar and Thormahn, told the party a story.

> *When the Echo of the Unraveler was initially bound, it created the lenses made of bodies from all of the living guards, servants and prisoners present off of these corridors.  With those lenses, the corruption was able to break into the Great Audience Room above.   It had been stopped there and had remained visibly powerless for hundreds of years. Only recently, however, did this creature or creatures from outside make contact with the Echo of the Unraveler, worked with him to corrupt more outside the Halls.  Some power outside of these Halls allowed the Unraveler to spread its influence, while seeding other realities in and out and back into our own world.*
>
>

The ancient Dwarven guards could not leave their post lest the Echo truly be unleashed, but the party could help them close off the Echo to the world above. If the party forged the ***Barrier of the Peaks*** with the ***Chain of the Mountain*** and inscribed the Barrier with ***Hahmgill - Support of Man,*** it would produce a tremendous barrier that the Echo could not easily mutate. If the party could bring the final, quite heavy, forged item to them in their magical circles, they could use it to block the beam of corruption that the Echo was sending above to augment the transformation of the world.

### Hooves of Death and Cold

The Dwarven Guard Revenants indicated that the items that could help them lay to the west. They probably could not get through via the south, yet they could find help there from **Lady Therna**, a relative of the Royal Line whose soul still remained protected and isolated on this level of the Halls. Otherwise, they would most likely have to travel back through the prison level and the guard quarters directly west of them, in order to enter the Royal Halls. The guards indicated that there were horrible other-worldly manifestations plaguing the levels around them, but they had no power to see what creatures were where. The party decided that they would try and make contact with Lady Therna in hopes that her venerable spirit would be able to help them in some way against whatever inhabited the Royal Halls. As they headed east away from the Dwarven Revenants, they heard strange clopping in the stone halls. The clopping was reminiscent of a horse, except that it seemed like the ability for these horses to turn around was much quicker than a standard horse. In a few seconds, they would see what strange beast had been brought to roam these halls by either the Unraveler or his minions.

A strange multi-faced creature with hands, crustacean like claws and equine legs stared back at the approaching party. The Kiko-Ra named Iba stared once more, dropped a steely, icy blue moon beam blocking a portion of the corridor, and then sprinted with all haste away from the party to the south. The party grouped and turned the corner, but could not see what became of the Kiko-Ra in the darkness beyond.

With the assistance of *Adurn's Cloak of Rats*, Aterean summon several giant rats to assist in the investigation of the halls. Aterean then asked *Tanya*, one of the rats, to investigate the icy moon beam, but it would be the last request of the rat as the power of the beam caused Tanya freeze and decay. The party surged south along the corridor and another Kiko-Ra named Iba ran up to greet them, throwing down two more of these icy moon beams, separating Zak from the party and causing him to jump dramatically away.

Brocktharian charged through the moonbeam, surviving the horrible freeze, in hopes of protecting Zak from a direct assault from these strange beasts. Brocktharian and Zak slashed and jabbed against the Kiko-Ra, this time, with Zak's paralysis dagger working well against the strange creature. Yet a moment later, the other Kiko-Ra Ita charged up and threw two more moonbeams into the party, causing more disruption and damage to several of the party.

Freya and Hormish charged into the fight as well, bashing Ita with Hrongmar as the moonbeams dropped again. Ita continued to charge forth, but the party was ready to destroy the creature with hammer, sword and spell. Once Ita fell, the moonbeams that it had created dissipated and the party would have an easier time finally destroying Iba as well.

The party had taken considerable damage from these strange creatures, but they progressed further to seek out Lady Therna's room. They found another quarters for the Royal Guard and the bottom of the Royal Lift before coming upon a strange door with a magic circle blocking the entrance to a door - most likely that of Lady Therna.

### En Route to the Royals

The party investigated the area and Wubba and Kazin determined that the magic circle by the door to the southwest was a protection circle. Brocktharian then slowly strode up to it and began to cross the plane of the circle by the door. Almost immediately a female voice in Abdor-Gwr rang out asking who they are and what are they doing here?

Brocktharian indicated their mission of ending or at least disturbing the power that the Echo of the Unraveler was projecting against the world. He also mentioned that they were helping Heimjar and Thormahn in this quest and that they needed her help. Lady Therna cast a divination spell to determine the truthfulness of Brocktharian, and she was satisfied with his explanation. Lady Therna opened the door and allowed the group into her chamber.

Lady Therna told the group that they probably couldn't enter the Royal Wing through the doors to the north unless they either had the Royal Family key (black) or a hand of a dwarf related to the Royal family to work the cipher lock. Being non-corporeal, Lady Therna could not open the door for them, nor would she want to leave her abode while the outsider guardians of the Unraveler still roamed the halls. She told the group that they should return to Heimjar and Thormahn and pass through the guard quarters to get to the Royal Wing. Lady Therna also gave the group a *Necklace of Elemental Capacitance*, which allows the wearer to store up power when a select elemental force is used against them, and then later, they can release the force against a foe. She will also help them with whatever information or spells she can muster once she is released and the threat is gone, as long as they return to her once the Halls are again safe. Lady Therna wants to help any of her kin who are willing to return to the Halls once this is all over.

The party retraced their steps and again spoke with Heimjar and Thormahn. The two dwarves hadn't left their position in 400+ years, but they were aware there were lesser demons and a couple archer demons nearby, within the halls of the prison. In addition, the dwarves indicated the guard quarters at the end of the prison hall was probably trapped. The key to the traps was being able to find and destroy the trigger orbs within the quarters without the force walls touching you. The dwarven revenants didn't know exactly where the orbs would be, but the party should look for them.

The party prepared themselves and then walked into the prison hall to see what lesser demons awaited them. As they reached an intersection, a group of ***Maw Demons*** poured out to attempt to consume the party. The party engaged the hungry creatures and began to dispose of them quickly. Unfortunately, however, there were other demons waiting in the wings. A thick arrow shot out from north and hit Hormish hard, sending him tumbling over one of the Maw Demons to the south.

The party reassessed and then sought the creature out and likewise the demon sought the party out. The ***Leraie*** came forth and attempted to push the party back with a horrible roar, though it did not succeed. The party continued to lash out at both the *Maw Demons* and this *Leraie* and in a short time, these demons were vanquished as well.

However, another bolt shot out from the south and struck Hormish again, this time knocking him unconscious. The party circled and peered to the south, preparing to investigate what demon or demons still remained there....

### Bolt and Orb

Slowly, the party explored south into another wing of the prison. Their eyes fixated on any movement in the space as the darkness was pushed away by their light. Freya and Brocktharian, still hasted, made a quick pass around the perimeter of the prison wing, but there was nothing to see. Something was either invisible or well hid among the shadows, waiting to send out another bolt of pain against the group. The rest of the party followed the vanguard as well, peering into the dark, searching for the demonic foe.

In frustration, Freya began to swing Hrongmar down upon the basins and wash buckets in the cells. *Where are you, demon archer!?!?* Again, and again, Freya swung the mighty spiked hammer down at the basins, breaking them to pieces. When Freya reached the northwestern-most cell of the wing, she again prepared to destroy another basin, but she was prevented by the demon unfolding from of the darkness, attacking Freya with bow and claw alike. Now, with the foe's position identified, the fighters rushed in to enclose and crush the demon, Sword and axe and hammer all swinging. The rest of the party, focused on ranged attacks and healing from the other side of the wing. Yet, something was waiting to the east as well.

Brynda had just taken a step up towards the eastern cells when a second *Leraie* appeared out of the gloom. This beast shot their bow at Wubba and then preceded to claw into Brynda with terrible savagery. The party responded with magic, while the fighters tore down and vanquished the Leraie to the northwest. The demon continued to roar and claw at our friends, but the hasted fighters were quick to respond and intervene, keeping the more vulnerable party members from any further direct harm. In a few more rounds, this demon, too, would be no more.

Now the party needed a moment to regroup, so they returned to the great magic circle of Heimjar and Thormahn, to rest a bit, and discuss with the dwarves what lay ahead. The dwarven guardians indicated that the rooms to the west were the Royal Guard Quarters, but they would be protected by a trap, still in place from long ago. There would be 4 magic orbs in the space that they would have to destroy in order to deactivate the *Walls of Force* which moved through the space, stunning and pounding any invader. The two tricks to the space were that the orbs will retaliate when attacked with a great magical beam, and that only one of the four orbs would be visible at any one time. The party would have to be swift and decisive.

The party readied themselves and moved on to the west. Zak and Brocktharian would open the door with the emerald key and behold the quarters. The main room appeared normal and expected, with bunkbeds, foot lockers, tables and benches all in good order. However, in the room, were two semi-transparent force walls slowly moving through from end to end, certainly manifestations to avoid. Yet there in the center of the room was a single red and black orb.

The party waited until the wall was moving away from the orb and then the party sprung into action. Freya jumped up and attempted to destroy the orb in a swing, but it would take a few, with the orb retaliating with each mediocre swing. Meanwhile, the northern portion of the room was explored, where the party found another force wall moving north to south. Cooper attempted to be very still to see what would happen when the force wall moved over him, but alas, the poor pigeon was blasted away by brutal magical energy.

Once the orb on the table was destroyed, to the north, however, another orb appeared near a set of doors leading to another room. Brocktharian and Aterean raced up to see if they could destroy the orb quickly and then open the door to escape the oncoming wall of force. The orb was quickly destroyed, and then the two managed to open the door to reveal the guards' armory, but it was also plain to see that the entire room was engulfed in a force wall. They would have to make haste southward to escape the oncoming wall of force, and to destroy the orb which just appeared toward the west.

Brynda and Freya now pounded on the orb to attempt to destroy it, receiving great painful retaliations of force-magic from the orb. Finally, with a bit more magic, Wubba was able to destroy the last of the western orb. Now where was the next orb?

The party waited a moment for the walls of force to pass and then gingerly moved out trying to espy the last orb. Finally, Brocktharian and Freya spotted the orb tucked behind the central support pillar and they followed the wall of force back towards it. Meanwhile, Tindora jumped up on a chest and flung her charged sling bullet at the orb, doing damage, but with her taking retaliation for her act. Finally, the fighters moved up and with a few great swings, the last of the orbs was deactivated. The walls of force were now gone and they could explore the guards' armory to the north.

The armory was filled with high quality, Dwarven plate mail, battle axes, maces and shields. There were some crates of 400 year old iron rations and a few barrels of lamp oil. They searched for more there and in the footlockers in the quarters, and there were some potions, gems and even a magic ring that were present. Now the party returned to the dwarven revenants to rest up before they ventured south into the Royal Halls.

### Royal Darkness

The party prepped for their journey into the Royal Halls. There were scrolls scribed and potions prepped. Rats were summoned and spells were thrown. The items of strength were passed between the party members to attempt to best face whatever lay ahead. When the time came, Freya brought as much luck to the party as could be had, and then Zak opened the door from the Guards Quarters to the Royal Halls.

At first, nothing was seen save a long dark corridor leading to an intersection a ways below. The party slowly moved forth, with Freya venturing down first. There she beheld some strange motionless creature, standing in the hall, waiting for something. This creature was tall, sinewy, and almost a metallic humanoid with no face save a hole with dark flames protruding from it. The arms of the beast were strongly muscled, ending in great hands with claws. Tindora followed Freya, pulled out her sling, and attempted to hit one of her charged thunder bullets at the creature. Although she missed, it was enough to awake the creature from its slumber.

The Khaluub responded by cracking open its fiery head, and sending a blast of dark fire 120' - singeing almost everyone in the party with fire and necrotic damage. The range and power was devastating, but the party closed upon it. The group quickly surrounded it, hoping to destroy it before it could do more harm. Unfortunately, however, the next trick of the Khaluub presented itself. With a crunching sound, the Khaluub's chest open to reveal a hole of more dark fire, which burst forward in a cone, causing horrible damage to several members of the party.

Nonetheless, the party seemed to be winning the day against the Outsider. That is, until another foe appeared directly next to the casters in the back of the party. A slick, opaque black humanoid form appeared, and then burst with horrific, dark fire around Aterian, Wubba, Tindora and Zak. The creature had no details on its face, but a fiery red crown hung above its head with smoke and sulfur emanating from all about it.

The other horrible feature of this Sarzuur would be found out in a moment. Kazin prepared a spell to blast the creature with cold. When the cold blast hit the Sarzuur, it did some damage, but some sort of magical feedback built up and blasted necrotic and force damage up to 25' away in every direction. The party would attempt to surround this creature and pound it further with their weapons, but again, the Sarzuur teleported away and burst into dark flame, this time injuring Kazin who thought himself safe in the guards' quarters.

The party moved up to surround the Sarzuur, but moments later, another dark blast from the blackness of the corridor of the south rang out and burned the southernmost members of the party. Another Khaluub had presented itself on the edge of the emptiness and was now heading up to face Hormish. Freya ran down to assist Hormish as the creature opened its chest again and shot out black fire at the two warriors.

Meanwhile, the party continued to chase the Sarzuur. The swings and jabs were slowly working, but when the Sarzuur got its chance, it would explode next to a group of the party and regain some of its strength. A horrible creature of damage and draining who seemed to be resistant to both cold and fire.

Finally, the Khaluub to the south was being diminished. Brynda had called out to Thadaok who came through with raging power to help finish the horror. The rest of the party gathered what they could against the Sarzuur, and little by little they appeared to be winning. Each party member was being damaged, and Brynda was quite near death. Finally, before the creature could get off one more drain, the party's spells and swings would be enough to silence the beast forever.

### The Halls Reveal Themselves

As the party recovered from the wounds that they had suffered at the hands of the Sarzuur and Khaluub guardians, Brocktharian and Zak decided on a short distance reconnaissance of the rooms that no long had doors on the Royal Hallway. First, they wandered through a devastated doorway, and discovered an ornate and prestigious bath. Large marble figurines with platters stood over a central, perfectly crafted bathtub. Near to the bathtub sat a few buckets and a pool that still had water lightly flowing in and out of it. Not much was found, although Kazin was happy to have found a source of water to use with his newly found ring.

After Aterian's healing faerie had completed its mission and the party was more or less completely healed, the party decided to investigate a couple more rooms.

The party approached a set of double doors which were locked, right near where they had been resting. The emerald green key that they had been using for most means of entry did not unlock the doors, but Zak investigated further. Zak was sure there was a trap present, and try as he might, he could not relieve the door of its danger.

Rather than spend anytime on it for the present, the party headed south. In that direction, there was another room with its door ripped off its hinges, and inside they found a well-decorated, ostentatious bedroom. There was a fireplace, some armoires, a vanity, a canopied bed, and a large metallic chest surrounded by an extremely heavy chain, bound by a lock of similarly heavy metal. Zak attempted to disable the lock, but it was Freya (having just grabbed a black diamond key from underneath one of the bed's pillows) who opened the lock.

Once the chest was unburdened by the heavy Astelion chain, Zak opened the chest to find two items, both of which were ancient and engraved with a strange script. Although Kazin could not read the runes, he was aware the the script was that of the ancient Dwarven tongue of Khazin and Kazden Dûn. Only the dwarves of the ancient citadels in the far northeast still spoke this tongue, but the mages would probably uncover the meaning of the runes sometime later. Regardless, this chain that surrounded the chest was mostly likely the ***Chain of the Mountain*** that the dwarves had mentioned. Freya added the massive chain to her collection of items to carry.

With the black diamond key in hand, the party returned to the doors they had skipped before. This time they went to the other of the two double doors and tried the black diamond key. The door was unlocked, and without further thought, Zak and Brocktharian entered the room.

The room was large, with a small antechamber leading to a greater room with a massive table in the center. The perimeter of the room was mostly bordered by bookshelves of ancient tomes and scrolls. To the north was a mithril shield, and to the south were two great chests. Brocktharian, remembering that they needed a shield for the task that Heimjar and Thormahn put forward, and also because Brocktharian likes shiny objects, headed towards the mithril shield and took it down from the wall. This was certain to be the ***Barrier of the Peaks.*** Zak, being one to love the challenge and prizes that chests might have to offer, headed to the south. The rest of the party began working their way around the bookshelves, to see if they could find the book on *symbols* that the two dwarven revenants had mentioned.

In one chest that Zak was investigating, there were parchments and dried up inks, but in the other chest, there were four items. First, there were two identical necklaces with small lapis lazuli horns mounted on them. Next, there was a black feather whose quill was inscribed with the symbols, *Deegon* and *Ir'Thrat.* Lastly, there was a fine longsword with the engraving "*The Griffon's Claw Shall Rend the Unjust"* upon it.

The sword had the symbol of the grfffon and the lance on its hilt, which matched the large emblem on the chest piece of Brocktharian's armor. Immediately, Brocktharian sought out this longsword so that his set pieces would shine together. Meanwhile, Wubba remembered that the sword was indeed the sword given by Lord Bandraht to the Kings of the Ffydd in exchange for Hrongmar, which the party had obtained at Bandraht Manor.

The party also found a couple books of interest. **Portals, Gates and Holes**, written by Izbahd Thlyrwyn, is a tome primarily about interdimensional portals that both exist naturally in the world or are brought into being through conjuration and summoning magics. **Symbols of Power, An Illumination** is tome focused on the presentation and description of the most common magical symbols used. The book also had the information permitting the reader to learn the cantrip, *Symbol Engraving*, which grants the ability to inscribe one of the symbols in the appropriate way.

Next, the party ventured south, where they came to the intersection. To the east was a corridor leading off, probably close to where Lady Therna is resting. To the west, the corridor becomes skewed, similar in the way to what they had found in the Halls of Industry. There was the same inter-dimensional corruption present along the stone corridor, at least until it hit a break opening into a large grassy field. Zak transformed into mist and moved through attempting to scout out the strange area. As he investigate, it appeared that the grassy area that was at the end of this corridor was at least part of the realm that they had experienced before in the Halls of Industry. At that time, there was a small room with a glass window, looking out on to a field, with a small staircase leading somewhere. Now Zak could see the window from the other side, and that the small staircase led up to a door to another house or building. Also off of the grassy field was a break and a stone corridor leading to more dwarven doors.

The party followed behind and beheld the strange sight. Instead of investigating the strange staircase and door, or the window which they thought they had been on the other side of, the party headed to the dwarven corridor, focused on their mission for Heimjar and Thormahn. The black diamond key unlocked the door and the party moved in. They now stood in the Royal Workroom of the Halls, complete with forging and alchemical stations so that the party could complete their task.

### A Look Beyond

The party, comfortable in the relative safety of the workroom, now had time to investigate what they had found and what they could make of it.  They now had all of the ingredients and information necessary to build the artifact for Heimjar and Thormahn to contain the Echo of the Unraveler again.   The Mahdraht and Astelion chains and shield could be forged together with the skillful hands of Freya at the forge.  After careful investigation of the alchemical ingredients, Aterean could now assist the forging by mixing up some of the finest smithing fluxes that Freya had ever seen.

The last piece to manage for the artifact was the engraving of the symbol, Hahmgill The Support of Man. The book the party found in the war room, Symbols of Power, An Illumination, had enough basic information present in it for the group to know what each of the main arcane symbols were typically aiming for.  In addition, the tome had a cantrip of Symbol Engraving which could allow any who knew it to attempt to imbue more strength into their symbol designs when used.  The symbols could be used in engraving, but also tattooing, embroidery, jewelry, and more.  Freya was planning to engrave Hahmgill on to the Barrier of the Peaks, but first she wanted to test out her skill on a masterwork smithing hammer that was present in the Royal Workroom.  Freya took care, and made a nearly perfect engraving of Deegon The Crafter upon the hammer.  It was only when Freya began to use the hammer, that it was revealed what additional powers came into the hammer for Freya to muster.

With that level of success, the entire party began thinking of different symbols and items that they carried or used that might benefit from a symbol.  Whether it was Kazin's hat, Wubba's focus, Brocktharian's or Aterean's shield, Zak's armor, or something more, the party took some time to engrave or embroider the symbols into their gear. There would be time for more investigation of the symbols, but perhaps after they delivered the artifact to Heimjar and Thormahn.

Now as the party prepared to deliver the artifact using the dolly present in the workroom, they re-entered the strange grassy field that lay outside the workroom. To several of the party members, the field was another piece of what they had experienced in the Halls of Industry, above in the Halls of the Ffydd Dwarves. The lure of the stairs that stood outside the windows was now in their reach, and it was too tempting for the party not to investigate.

Zak climbed the stairs and investigate the door at their top. The door slowly swung open revealing a simple house, but in the next room, there was some wall of undulating blue forms obscuring the area. Zak moved to a corner to let Brocktharian slowly move in. In the dining room, there was a parchment, ink and quill, with a personal entry written in Goldar (the language of Aden Shahn and the Mote)...

> *I thought the return from Aachnarn to Bog’s Head would help me regain some of my memories, but visions are clouding much of what I have done even yesterday.  I attempt to go deep into trances to dig out what has recently happened, but it seems as though something or someone has clouded them.*
>
>

> *I vaguely remember being in the Great Library tower with my apprentices, working on a new passage into dreams and worlds, but then I was on a ship across The Bryan, heading for Teldor and south.  Then here.  In the house the Idbards once owned when I was a child, next to where I grew up.  Such memories.  If my father was still alive, he would be appalled with my lust for knowledge of the worlds around us.  Such a wondrous multi-verse in which we play a part.  I know I can bring more together…if I can find my friends to help.*
>
>

> *Although my experiments and delvings continue, I think I should go to the small dacha to the west, outside of town rather than continue here.  Perhaps I will do that next week.*
>
>

> *For now, I will seek my friends and pathfinders again, to see if I can find out what happened to fellow scholars in Aachnarn.  I miss Mydroth’s humor.   No matter what ill we might face, he always brought something bright out of the gloom.*
>
>

> *I’ll report more later, after the next travel.*
>
>

Zak presented the note to Freya would could read Goldar perfectly while Brocktharian took a peek into the next room.

The entire room was swarming with the undulating blue translucent walls, which Wubba identified as a transdimensional manifestation. As Brocktharian turned to the right around the corner, the rest of the room revealed a man asleep in a bed. The bed was surrounded by a magic circle, but more worrisome were two Sarzuur standing by the sleeping man's bedside, just outside the magic circle.

The Sarzuur turned towards Brocktharian and now the party would have to deal with these wretched Outsiders again.

### Breaking the Bond of the Echo

As luck would have it, there were two of the dreaded Sarzuur outsiders surrounding this strange bed within a veil. The party took up arms closing in on these fiends to make sure their ability to teleport and explode into *necrotic* and *force* damage could be thwarted. It would not be without danger, however, as these creatures drew upon those around them to regain in strength. It would take concerted efforts, perseverance, and fortitude to stand by while these creatures drew out strength from all those who stood against them. As the fight ensued, more and more of the party filled the chamber of this strange wooden house in a grassy field in a city which was cut away and placed inside the depths of a Dwarven mine. By hammer and sword, by dagger and bolt of magic, the Sarzuur were failing to take the party down. The entire time, heals shot out to keep the party alive while the onslaught continued. Whether it was Freya's Hrongmar or Kazin's Black Feather, the party stood strong to keep these creatures from getting the best of the battle. Difficult it may have been, but the party would be victorious again.

Now the party went to investigate the strange room - the sleeping man in a bed surrounded by a magic circle within a trans-dimensional barrier. What was the story behind this man? On the table next to the bed within the barrier, it was observed that there was more writing in the same Goldar script that was present outside the barrier on the kitchen table. It was also determined that the writing was the same as was found in some of the books that were recovered from the strange rooms in the Halls of Industry. There was certainly a link here.
Next, the party tried to waken the sleeping man, and in this case, the half-wood-elf man opened his eyes and was both frightened and confused. Yet only a moment later, the entire space collapsed and the party was cast out on to the grassy knoll away from the buildings. As the recovered, the party saw the corruption that had been encroaching on the buildings finally cover them up, ceasing the opportunity for more investigation.

Now the party went on. Freya dragging the dolly carrying the Barrier of the Peaks and the Chain of the Mountains. Back to Thormahn and Heimjar where they could use it to cut off the *Echo of the Unraveler* once and for all. As the party watched the two dwarves finally bridge their circles with their forged items, they felt the crushing weight of interdimensional power fire back into the hold where the Echo of the Unraveler was kept. A shaking of the ground, but a shake from the world beyond as well.

When the party rested after their exhausting day, Dreamward Elyndor Eseyn came again in Wubba's mind to deliver information...

> We have sensed a crushing disruption in the coherence of the vision-stream attacks and creations. Something has happened that has caused chaos in the ranks of the Order and all that they manifest in their plight to increase the power of the Unraveler.
>
>
> This disruption has not turned the tide in West Eye, but due to the disruption, the sages there have made progress in containing the funnels present there.  The funnels there now seem almost chaotic.  The fact they are less bound has reduced their strength, offering us greater chance to defeat them.  Lady Rhiddar has also indicated they have been able to press against the creatures and powers in Canbrunt as well.   Without the consistency of the black vision stream that seemed to have come from the Ffydd Mountains, perhaps we can finally gain the upper hand.
>
>
> I sense that their ability to stabilize their summoning of outsiders outside the Mote is in chaos now, and that we should seek out more of the places where they have attempted to change Eirethune while they cannot control fully what they have unleashed. I believe by seeking out the funnels, they will direct us to these vulnerable locations, if you can see, hear or otherwise perceive them.
>
>
>
> I have conveyed my thoughts about the funnels to Lady Sylea Rhiddar in Angleside, to Lady Lisbet Alurian in Teldor, to Beryl Adreenean in Bavarin,  and Lord Ainish Fahnde here in Aden Shahn, leaving it to them to pass on my perspective for what is taking place, and perhaps to coordinate attacks when possible.  Should you and your brave party observe a funnel in your area, I’m sure that any investigation would greatly benefit our cause.  If you find anything or anyone that focuses or reflects the vision-streams, disable them if you can.
>
>

The news seemed somewhat hopeful. Perhaps the outer world would have a chance again. As the party rested, Lady Therna rejoined them and promised them all an eternal welcome to the Halls. It was her job now to contact the ancestors of the Ffydd and bring them home. Perhaps the Halls would become whole again now that the Echo was being kept at bay.

The party was pleased with their success, but they knew more was to come. They contacted Dreamwarden again, and he helped the party with some spells and magic that they needed. Then the party wished to go forth and find this Harbinger that someone named Madjahn had sent to scout out the gates of the Ffydd outside. The Order needed no more information. They needed to be stopped.

### Chattering in the Dark

Now the party ascended from the Royal Level of the Halls and now sought to finish exploring the main central halls. There was a section in the northeast corner of the halls which was left unexplored. It would probably be similar to the guard quarters they found in the southeast corner, but they had to make sure.

They passed by the Inspection Hall and fountain on the northern side and now approached a set of double doors. As Brocktharian opened one, Zak looked in and saw that in the center of the room, there was a magic circle akin to what they had seen in Canthur so long ago. It had the same swirl and 7 stars of the Order. Something was not right here.

As they peered more into this room which was clearly and armory, they saw a strangely obvious set of footsteps leading from the magic circle towards a corridor heading out to the southeast. Now the party entered and began searching around the perimeter. As they did so, two things were noticed. One, a strange semi-transparent form of a humanoid began to slowly appear in the center of the magic circle. Two, a chattering of bone or teeth was heard down the corridor to the southeast.

While the party prepared for whatever was to come through, the dark shape of a Soul Knight materialized within the circle. The party immediately descended upon it with great force, and sent the undead creature back to wherever it came. Yet moments later, a second Soul Knight appeared in the corridor to the southeast. This Soul Knight was surrounded with a field of bones which were suddenly cast at the party, causing those in its wake painful damage. The party challenged this second Soul Knight, and again, destroyed it.

The chattering was still heard down the corridor to the southeast, but yet, another Soul Knight began to slowly arrive at the Magic Circle. Zak had found a couple barrels near the circle and thrust his dagger into the base to see what was present. There seemed to be some sort of oil pouring out. He, Brynda and Wubba began to make sure the oil would go into the circle, and then they headed out to see what the rest of party, who ventured towards the chattering, was about to face.

Past a large pile of bones and blood, the footsteps to the southeast led to a larger guard quarters. In the center of the guard quarters was a large pile of bone and corruption with a strange bony, angular creature sitting atop - the Kwargot. It was the source of the chattering that they had heard, but it was also the source of a black beam that was being sent south into the darkness of the southern end of the quarters. After a few moments more, the Kwargoth went into a chattering frenzy and then it and its black beam stopped.

Meanwhile, Soul Knights began to appear back at the circle and also amidst the corruption in the quarters. Brocktharian, Freya, and Hormish stepped up to face the Soul Knights and knock them back down. When Brocktharian took a great swing at the Soul Knight with the \_Balefire of the Marches\_, it caused a \_Daylight\_ to burst onto the Soul Knight lighting up the rest of the room. Then the group saw that to the south, another pile of bones and corruption lay. In this pile, however, was a bone tripod like they had seen before, and something they had never imagined seeing before, the Oodreth.

The Oodreth came forth and swung wildly at Freya and Hormish. Then it bellowed out a dark screech which stunned Freya, who had just recently been hasted by Aterean. To counter-balance, Kazin cast a slow spell on the Kwargoth, granting more of a leveled playfield. Soul Knights began to appear again, the party took the Oodreth down with great smites and blasts of power.

Now, the party only had the Kwargot and the train of Soul Knights to fight. Hopefully, the Oodreth would not be able to reappear...

### Bewildering Sight

To keep this foe from wreaking any further havoc upon Eirethune, Brocktharian leapt into the corruption that surrounded the Kwargot to try and drag it out. The terror and fear that emanated from this fount of evil surrounded the paladin, but he persevered and was able to grapple the beast and drag him out. Fire and bolt of energy blasted at the beast while it tried to push Brocktharian away. Freya broke out of her stun, and then advanced and swung Hrongmar again and again at the horrible creature. There were other Soul Knights approaching the party, but the focus remained on this creature of the nether regions. Finally, with a bolt of fire from Aterean, the creature fell and his minions with him.

While Aterean began to examine and collect samples from the fallen creatures, the rest of the party investigated the rest of the guards' quarters in which they found themselves. In most cases, the beds and footlockers were torn apart and cast aside. Yet, amidst the rubble, beside some coin left behind, there were a few objects of interest that they found: a spyglass, a set of eye goggles, and a Dwarven belt. The brass spyglass was useful just on its own merits, but it had a special ability which allowed one to see through blocking terrain, such as a mountain, forest or castle, once per day. When worn, the goggles would help an individual with any jewelcraft, as well as assessing gems and the like. Lastly, the belt, although dwarven sized, would grant the wearer the ability to have resistance to poisonous effects.

Next, the party was determined to travel outside again, to see whether they could find any trace of the Harbinger that was supposedly watching the Halls, as well as see the skies again. Upon exiting the Halls, the group saw that clouds were forming over the mountains to the east. As Aterean noted, it was common for clouds to form over the peaks and roll out to the east over the plains. Although the clouds could present difficult travel conditions, they were not an obvious threat...except perhaps for Zak, Freya and Brocktharian.

Though the party just saw clouds, Zak, Freya and Brocktharian viewed a different sight. They saw red streams pouring down from the sky amidst the clouds, uncertain of what horror could be occurring in the distant east. To their eyes, something was clearly amiss. Though there was discussion amongst the party as to who was telling the truth, all did concede that there was something that wrong in the world.

The party returned to the Halls to work on some alchemy, smithing, and spell research for the evening, and again, Dreamwarden Elyndor Eseyn visited them in their dreams....

> *Great disruption has occurred between the worlds, and some of the control that the Order and their ilk have exerted has broken down in different places. Somewhere not very far from you, there is a place which is being broken apart and fought over. Around the barren and long unoccupied keep of Biergen in the northern Athro Valley, there is some anomaly occurring. I cannot see it clearly, but there are worlds colliding there, and it could tell us more. Head to the keep which lies to the northeast if you can.*
>
>

> *Baronet Realnore is also not far from there as he is investigating a strange occurrence outside of South Gate, but I suspect he may not be able to reach Biergen in time. Investigate Biergen, determine what is happening, and perhaps gain a foothold there if you’re lucky. It’s a gateway into the center of the Mote from the west that will benefit forces from both Angleside and Bavarin.*
>
>

> *When you need to contact me, either eat something hard to digest - cheese, animal organs, or something like that - and then fall asleep; or be healed as you sleep by spell or potion. If you need me once you have done that, you should be able to make contact with me.*
>
>

### A Journey in the Dark

The party was now committed to discover what the strange sky foreshadowed, but first, they would make sure they were rested and ready. Wubba spent his mana casting the *Alacritous Interpretation* spell on the party members so that they could read some of the various books that they had acquired over their adventures. Everyone was busy reading for at least an hour per day to see what they could learn from these tomes of knowledge and wisdom. In addition, Freya returned to the Royal Workroom (through the Royal Elevator this time) to work on boots, hand axes and a breastplate made of some of the finer Mahdraht alloys that the Dwarven kings had to offer.

Meanwhile, Brocktharian, not much of a book nerd, wanted to continue his strength training by starting to remove rocks that were covering up some of the mine entrances on the outside of the Halls. After a good day of rock removal, he was pleased to announce to the party that he thought he could clear a path down into the mines early the next day.

The next morning the party helped Brocktharian move the last rocks away and finally, the group (minus Freya who was still smithing) made their way down the dark stairs into the Dwarven mine. A few of the rocks fell down on the party members, but for the most part, the group was safe at the bottom, wondering what they had gotten themselves into.

As the party moved forward, the first branch in the road was an easy one upon which to make a decision. To the right was a corridor filled with webs, while the left was open and easy to traverse. Further along that corridor to the left, they came upon a couple of collapsed ceilings, blocking the way further on those passages. Brocktharian could barely see through one to the right, while Hormish could also see through the rocks that blocked the passage straight ahead, so both started working on clearing the paths. Brocktharian was further helped by Aterean, who transformed himself into a Giant Badger, who could muscle and claw through the rock pile with relative ease.

Meanwhile, the tail of the party still examined the webs to the right. Brynda through she had seen something amidst the webs, so she summoned a *Spiritual Weapon* and began hacking at the webs to try and make some room. Cooper XVII looked around the webs as well, but nothing was to be seen. Tindora and Wubba had been looking as well, but when nothing seemed to be present, they started along the right corridor to join the digging vanguard.

Aterean broke through the rubble to reveal the corridor splitting in three directions. The Badger took the right turn, but unfortunately was struck by a collapsing ceiling, causing the Badger form to fail from heavy damage and Aterean to roll out of the way. At the same time, a different fate was about to occur at the tail of the party.

While Brocktharian and Zak moved up to Aterean to see what was going on, Brynda shouted as she was being attacked by some horrible creatures among the webs, the Drignith. The horrible half emaciated humanoid, half spider clambered over the webs and struck Brynda with her claws. Brynda returned in kind with her Great Axe and spiritual weapon. At once, Tindora and Wubba turned around and returned to help out Brynda with her foe.

While Aterean brushed himself off, Brocktharian, Kazin and Zak began to explore the other passages beyond the collapsed corridor. At the end of a couple of the short corridors, the group found some coins which they quickly picked up.

Back at the other corridor, Hormish believed that he saw some sort of glimmer through the rocks in which he was digging, yet that only served to further pique his curiosity. After a bit more digging, Hormish looked up to find some gelatinous pseudopods attempting to strike him. Fortunately for Hormish, he was an accomplished fighter and these pseudopods would not be able to penetrate his defenses. As Hormish broke out his hammer to smash this jelly, another jelly slurped up behind Hormish and began attacking him there. Brocktharian, Aterean and Kazin returned to make sure Hormish was not being overwhelmed, while Zak continued his search of the corridors beyond.

However, at the tail of the party, it was Brynda that was being overwhelmed. It was not just one Drignith that Brynda was facing, but several, The Drignith, being very adept at climbing ceilings and walls dropped beyond Brynda, endangering Wubba and encircling Brynda. The Great Axe continued to swing, Tindora's sling bullet shot out again and the Chromatic Orb blasted into these dark creatures, but yet they continued their assault.

With the party still not fully grouped up, would Brynda be able to survive?!?!?

### Webs Aflame

As Freya was finishing her morning coffee up above at the camp just outside the main doors to the Halls, she heard a booming sound come from below ground. Perhaps the smithing would be delayed a bit while she went down into the mines to discover what the hubbub was all about.

In the caves, the situation looked dire for a portion of the party. The abhorrent Drignith were surrounding Brynda and closing in on Wubba. Brynda had her spiritual weapon and Great Axe out, doing what she could to fend off the lethal claws of the Drignith, but it was Wubba who set the fight ablaze. Wubba sent a fireball out at point blank range, but was able to use his skills in *Evocation* to keep the party from burning asunder. Some of the webs were burnt away, but the attacking Drignith were aghast as the flames burned their strange, emaciated bodies. Wubba moved back, after taking a vengeful claw from the burning Drignith, and Tindora stepped up to guard Wubba and Aterean from direct contact.

Hormish and Kazin were now facing a couple of the jellies in the other part of the tunnels. Kazin attempted to send waves of chaos at the jelly, but instead the confusing magic enchanted Kazin with extremely bright light. To help out Kazin, Aterean sent a bolt of fire, damaging the jelly. Kazin turned to his Black Feather in turn, which did damage the Jelly, but also split it.

After investigating a chest further up in the tunnels, the gold lust subsided from Zak and he heard the sound of fighting in the distance. Zak readied himself, and headed back down to see what had befallen Hormish and Kazin.

On the other side, Freya charged up the hall and engaged the burning Drignith. Between her, Tindora, Brynda and Wubba, they were able to send the Drignith between them back to Hell. Now the fight would be in the webbed tunnels beyond Brynda. The fireball had cleared away most of the webs in a small opening between the passages, but now the party would have to investigate the Drignith home.

From out of the darkness, one Drignith sent webs to cover the party, attempting to restrain them and pause their entry into their area. Brynda was entangled, but at least Freya would be able to advance. Another Drignith, however, shot some sort of draining beam at Freya and Brynda, draining them of health and stamina. It was not enough to halt Freya on her advance, swinging Hrongmar into a Drignith, devastating it with each massive blow.

Between Hormish, Aterian and Kazin, the jellies would not last long. They were agile and defensive, but they served little threat to the party. Zak moved through their acidy bodies to get through, and then joined the others on their invasion of the Drignith lair.

Again and again, the party would slash and burn the Drignith, pushing them back and ending their horrible lives. When the party had vanquished all but one, the last Drignith fled through the tunnels to the north, into the dark, webbed unknown. Freya heads out, deeper into the webs, while Zak and Brocktharian headed after the fleeing Drignith in hopes of ending the threat it posed, once and for all.

In either direction, there was no Drignith to be found, but the party decided it was in their best interest to group back together, so the party headed north towards where Zak and Brocktharian headed. They found a few more gems left over from the miners, and a few chunks of gold. There was also a large arch in one of the caves that was interesting from a geological perspective, but still no sign of the spider creatures.

Kazin noticed in one corridor, that there were some loose stones in a section near the ceiling. Hormish and Freya went over to pull more out and it revealed a small crawl space leading to another corridor of the mines. But before they could investigate that, the party heard yelps from Brocktharian, further in the tunnels to the west.

Near a great stalagmite in a cavern to the west of the party, Brocktharian seemed to have been entangled in a series of webs, restraining him and covering most of his body. He also felt the same sort of physical exhaustion that Freya and Brynda had previously when around the Drignith; yet no sign of the Drignith was visible.

Zak came to help Brocktharian get out of his predicament, but still no sign of the Drignith could be found. Zak was going to venture down one of the tunnels leading out of the cavern, but the tunnel's ceiling collapsed; forcing Zak to quickly jump away to avoid being bludgeoned by the great rocks.

The party was now growing tired of the chase and sought only to figure out what that tunnel Hormish had been in was leading before leaving the mines all together. Brocktharian shimmied over through the crawl space and into the hidden corridor. As the paladin ventured further down the corridor, he found that there was light coming from it further away; and in fact, the tunnel lead to an exit on the other side of the hills surrounding the entrance to the Halls. Perhaps this was how some of the miners escaped the onslaught of the demon-kind hundreds of years ago. With this mystery solved, the party agreed that after Freya finished her smithing, they would head away from the Halls, and follow their destiny towards the strange red funnels in the sky.

## Links

Previous, To the Blending Circle

Next, To the Funnels