Part 33: Wrecking Wren
Shivering in fear, the Drow named Omoor asks that his life be spared one more time. Ulrich nods, and the rest of the party lower their weapons just as Aluran comes bursting through the portal which rapidly closes behind him as he emerges. Without pause he continued his forward momentum bringing the flat of his axe to the side of the Drows fragile face before a two-handed strike to his rib cage splits his chest open, Omoor shakes and gargles on the brink of death as Aluran recklessly tears his axe free. Amber and Ulrich hurriedly rush to the aid of Omoor and use their healing abilities to stabilise him, much to Aluran and Clyde’s disgust.
Panting, Omoor bargains his life in exchange for information of the area. He talks about the route to the city of Lau and encounters en route. He tells them to steer clear of the temple of Lolth and unveils some of the mysteries of the phase spiders which are neutral for all intents and purposes until a nearby worshiper of Lolth is attacked, or prey is found. The Leader of house Wren then aids the heroes in devising a plan that benefits all parties. He would cal the other Drow to the meeting hall under the guise of his own cunning truce and the party would have aid traversing Laubarrow and assassinating King Hashriel without alerting the rest of the Drow to their purpose.
After all the Drow are gathered and disarmed, Omoor tells the group about a caravan due to Wren that will pick up a predetermined amount of slaves before continuing its journey to the other houses of Laubarrow. The heroes come up with a plan to ambush the caravan upon its arrival, freeing any slaves it contains and using the caravan to travel to Tern, the supposed termination of the caravan before it heads back empty. The parties agree to the plan and the Drow reluctantly agree to help.
The party gets to work freeing the prisoners from their helms and shackles, calming them as they go. They then discuss the fate of the prisoners and result in aiding the prisoners out of the maze of Laubarrow. They pass some of the weapons from the captured and slain Drow from Wren and the strong individuals of the group lead the weak southwest to Slar and away to safety. Ulrich changes his mind and uses the helms and manacles to capture all of the Drow, binding them, muting them with the familiar helms and imprisoning them in the cages of the former prisoners of Wren. The heroes prepare to ambush the caravan by placing blockades between the buildings and finding places on rooftops where they could launch an ambush from. They then settle in the northernmost building and take a long rest.
During the night shifts some voices talking in an unknown language which isn’t uncommon are heard faintly from the north as well as some overconfident bats flying lower than usual in the area, but no encounters or major events partake. The party wake up and feed the chained up Drow and release Omoor and one other Drow to use as lure for the caravan, as Amber removes the helms to feed them Clyde decides to snidely turn and impale a Drow, killing him instantly as soon as his helm is placed on his head before uttering a sarcastic ‘oops’ to Amber. As he turns to walk away, Amber swings for Clyde who dodges out the way swiftly before sizing up to Amber, towering over her with rage etched upon his features. A confrontation begins where Clyde convicts Amber of being soft and too trusting of the Drow and reminds her of the time they were captured and would share these same cages were it not for the brave actions of Aluran. Amber counters this by arguing that she is rising above them and that they shouldn’t give the Drow more reason to enslave people, but quickly becomes quiet when reminded of Aluran’s rescue many months ago. As the row peaks, the others come to investigate. Aluran stands strongly with Clyde whilst Ulrich and Amber keep the moral high ground and Elune sits on the fence. What the do agree on is that this should continue after their business with the caravan is concluded.
An hour or two passes as they wait for the caravans where final touches are made before the pitter of 48 feet is heard and a pair of attached prison wagons pulled by 6 reined spiders arrives with two Drow sitting at the front and two clinging to the sides of the rear wagon. The ambush is sprung as they close in, the Drow suspicious of the lack of reception from Omoor. Too late they realise as spikes are grown underneath the wagon holding it in place, Aluran jumps from a rooftop onto the front whilst Clyde climbs up the left side and Ulrich charges to the front with Elune supporting. The Drow show no mercy using poisoned weapons against the party and three of them gang up on the raging Aluran eventually taking him down. Amber holds her ground well against a single Drow whilst the others work together to finish off the Drow wrecked by Aluran’s vanguard strike. All finished with the three elite Drow, the group rally but Aluran storms off to kill the last Drow – Clyde hot on his heels – the three heroes take down the final Drow with ease.
With the wagon theirs, the party decide to release the prisoners and talk to them about their future. Half of them (mainly women and children) decide they want to get out of here and the few men who go with them take up swords to protect the weaker prisoners. The other 10 decide that they want to take the fight to the Drow and take up the better weapons scattered on the bodies of the elites and in Wren’s armoury and decide to join Ulrich’s side as he uses his experience training Tild’s militia to instruct them on some basic combat maneuvers. In under an hour they are all back in the wagon, heading to Tern via the outskirts of Slar and the portcullis. As they leave Wren, the horns of Rindhole blast out, and after a ceremonial armour stripping of Ulrich in front of his new troops (which confuses them greatly) they eventually make it to the portcullis to disembark the ex-prisoners and to their joy, the party find tracks and others signs that the first batch of prisoners that walked from Wren had also made it out.
Part 34: Terning the Tide
As the wagon heads further south they approach the stalagmites and stalactites known to house Carrion Crawlers, clicking is heard in the distance but despite the party taking several more hours to navigate the bulky wagon through the tight spaces of the stalagmites no Cariion Crawlers are seen at all. The party ponder that this could be for several reasons – fear of spiders, recognition of the wagon, busy elsewhere – but are unsure as to which one. Exiting the maze, they head across the long bridge and the silhouette of Rindhole before arriving through the passage that takes them to into Tern.
Elune, Ulrich and the ex-prisoner force disembark leaving the two barbarians and Amber on the prison-wagon, the lightening of the load causing the spiders to pick up a little speed but not much. A distant Drow glimpses the wagon and Aluran and beckons him for identity (no recognising his silhouette) Alurans failed attempts to even reply in the correct language panics the Drow who yells in alarm as the wagon approaches. Aluran whips the spiders but they only pick up fractional speed, they are travelling at a relaxed running speed with the Drow organising before them, they need more speed. Aluran shouts at Clyde to unbolt the back carriage and he does so, slowly climbing down the outside of the bars to the join before pulling out the peg with only minor struggle. The second carriage rolls behind and the spider pick up to a sprint. Now seconds away from the Drow lines Clyde and Aluran pick up Amber, a glint in her eye, and toss her headlong into the Drow lines. Elegantly, she twists in mid air and gracefully transforms into a Giant Constrictor Snake before wrapping herself around a Drow, knocking him to the ground and making his eyes pop on the landing as she squeezes the life (and some internal organs) out of him in half a second. Seeing this monstrosity, the Drow immediately swarm the horrifically outnumbered Druid as the two barbarians run away from the impending murder.
As things look hopeless for the poor Dwarf, the cavalry arrives in the form of Elune, Ulrich and ten fighting men, elves, dwarfs and half orcs. Ulrich’s battalion unleash volleys of crossbow fire into the Drow surrounding Amber and Elune Fireballs the conglomeration of hostile Drow beating the living daylights out of Amber. The blast damages Amber too but severely weakens and even kills all of the surrounding Drow. Eventually Amber loses control of her transformed snake body after taking repeated damage and the Dwarf herself is also beaten down to nothing whilst being constricted by a real Constrictor and unable to move. Aluran and Clyde forsee the events and rush back into the fray but are both unable to reach the entanglement of Drow and snakes. Ulrich’s battalion are also unable to assist as they are staying at crossbow range and are tryng to deal with an Elite and his snake tearing up through their lines and Elune cannot get there in time to assist regardless of what happens.
Amber falls, the constrictor snake squeezing tighter around her and on the verge of death she thinks of Flint, her brother, and the image of him dying outside Grimrokk. This isn’t her time, this isn’t the right place, she cannot fall. Reaching into reserves she didn’t know she had, life returns to her like an electric charge and she stands, flinging the hungry snake off her like a rag-doll before transforming once more into a Constrictor snake and continuing the fight once more just as Aluran rages into the fray, the pair of them finishing off the remainder of the Drow, including the House master of Tern, with support from Elune.
Ulrich’s battalion are still in danger however, a single Drow deprived of his snake and entering a rage hacks the ex-prisoners to bits until Ulrich intervenes, challenging him to combat using ‘compel duel’ after the Drow’s frustration of catching nothing but a few dozen puny crossbow bolts causes him to blare out his challenge. Drow don’t play fair. Using his twin swords to disarm Ulrich of his sword and shield at the cost of his own blades, the Drow reaches into his belt pulling out two poisoned daggers sheathed there in one swift motion and plunges them both into the chest of the unarmed Ulrich, both piercing straight through his ruined chestpiece. The shock and poisons entering Ulrich’s blood so ferociously that he falls unconscious as the smirking Drow picks up his blades and continues hacking into the soldiers. Clyde and Elune intervene after this, and finish off the final limping Drow simply trying to take down as many of them down with him.
Silence falls on Tern. Ulrich is helped up. They have won, just.
To be continued…
Heroes of Ygrosil 