Deeper into the Depths of Orespire

June 15, 3430, Age of Kings

After their harrowing encounter with bugs and kobolds, the party decided to make an attempt at regrouping and healing their wounds with a short rest in the hall. Shortly after sitting down to and pulling out their healing packs, the sound of chittering and chitinous feat on the stone floor could be heard from within the nearby pit. When Audrey approached to peer over the edge she was met by four giant centipedes making their way up the pit's walls.

The party quickly dispatched the vile creatures, with Audrey taking some bites during the melee. The group's wounds adding up they decided to find a more secure area where they could rest for a longer period of time to recover. They continued through the door to the north, which lead to another small T-junction. They decided to head west into a small storage room, filled with rotting wood shelves and old, rusted metal-working tools. Within the refuse they found a sledge hammer and a crowbar, which they took.

They then moved back out into the hall and traveled east. Checking the door for traps, Grabby indeed found a trap mechanism attached to the doors. Using his tools he carefully fiddled with the mechanism and... maybe disarmed it? He wasn't sure. Broak moved up to push the door open with a javelin, which triggered a massive axe blade to swing out from inside the room, which he managed to avoid.

Once inside this small room, they found it was once used as a larder, again filled with rotten and destroyed wooden furnishings and food so spoiled and old it didn't even hold Grabby's interest. While searching the room to secure it, Audrey found to small casks of dwarvish ale (which they decided they'd come back for later)... and more centipedes!

Taking more damage from the centipedes, Audrey beame more weakened, but they manage to kill the creatures with Bloo managing to grab hold of one and turn it into a doggy chew toy-ipede.

With the three centipedes dead they set about rearming the doors' swinging axe trap to make an attempt at taking a nice, long rest. During their rest they heard the sound of scratching at the door, that eventually stopped (I rolled some giant rats for a random encounter). When Audrey woke from her rest, she felt much more level two-y.

Fully rested, the party set out again, returning to the large chamber with the statue of Moradin to bash down the bricked up doorway with a sledge hammer. Audrey did the honors and took the sledge hammer to the bricks while the others stood guard. This only took a few minutes (I increased the odds for an encounter because of the noise... nothing. Dammit.)

Beyond the broken bricks they peered down into another steep staircase leading down into the dark. Ander and Grabby snuck down first to make sure it was clear, it seemed to be, so the others followed.

The group entered into another massive, vaulted great-hall, lit by wall sconces: The Great Forging Hall. Adorned with statues of Moradin, strewn rubble, and a large, circular forge pit near the opposite end of the hall, the party cautiously entered the hall. Along the east and west walls were two sets of double doors leading out of the hall, and, of course, several more kobold holes.

Audrey and Grabby walked the length of the hall to examine the forge, now filled with old coal and soot. While examining the pit, the silence was interrupted by the sound of a sling stone clumsily cracking against the stone wall as a kobold attempted a sneak attack, and instead swung his sling too close to the wall (I rolled a 1).

Within moments three more kobolds emerged from their holes firing off slings at Audrey and Bloo at the other end of the hall. With so few worthy adversaries, the party managed to make short work of the kobolds, none of them managing to escape into the darkness to warn their allies...

Nothing Motivates People Like a Dog in Peril

June 15, 3430, Age of Kings

Seeing the oddly wet crumbling stone statue of the dwarf god, Ander, Audrey and Broak all moved in to inspect in closer. Without warning, a slimey stone-grey blob whipped out towards Audrey, but she managed to duck clear. They found themselves confronting a grey ooze laying in wait on the statue.

Battling the ooze, Broak landed a blow on the amorphous blob, only to pull his warhammer back, it's head smoking and hissing from the creature's acids. The others struck from afar and, in an attempt to get some distance, Broak stepped away only to be attacked by the ooze. The attack left parts of chain mail ruined. In the end, Audrey manages to drive her torch into the blob and finish it off.

To the north the party found a small hall that ended in a small room, with its only exit being  a crudley bricked up doorway—they need to find someway to smash it down, or another way through.

Heading back where they came from they decided to head to the passage to the east, a long corridor ending in a T-junction. Broak and Audrey led the party down the corridor, passing a kobold hole in the northern wall. As they went Audrey tapped the flagstone floor with her halberd in hopes of finding any traps—luckily she had Broak with her. As the two moved closer to the junction, the flagstones gave out beneath them, revealing a 10 foot pit. Audrey managed to jump back in time, but Broak—in classic Broak fashion—rolled a 1 (but a heroic 1). He fell flat into the pit, occupied only by some scattered coins, a human skeleton and some kobold skeletons... and that's when he noticed the insect swarm.

Working quickly, Audrey began throwing down a rope to help her hapless, insect-covered dwarf companion. This commotion of course attracted a team of kobolds to the area. They could hear the yapping creatures making their way through their tunnels towards them.

While Audrey rushed to pull Broak up, Ander and Grabby edged their way to the opposite side of the pit to get some distance from the oncoming kobolds and search for some oil to douse the swarm of insects. Soon enough, the kobolds were popping out from around the corners and out of their holes to whip sling stones at the party. With Broak still in the pit and Ander and Grabby too far away, their only targets were Audrey and the ever-faithful Bloo, Ander's war dog. Bloo was struck in the head by a stone dropping him like a sack of puppies (he was still alice, just unconcious). Audrey, with her back turned and unable to move around, was struck by another stone but managed to keep her hold on the rope to help Broak up.

Clambering out of the pit, Broak was still being pursued by the writhing black mass of biting and stinging insects. Ander was able to fell a few kobolds with his long bow as they sprang out from cover to attack (a nice change of pace for Ander).

Audrey made her way to the other side to join her other two companions, who were now rifling through Ander's pack to find some oil (Grabby decided to swipe some chalk out of Ander's pack while he was distracted with riddling kobolds with arrows). Grabby then doused the edge of the pit with oil and waited for Broak to cross.

Seeing his chance for heroism, Broak hurled his shield and war hammer across the pit (his shield wound up falling into the pit), scooped up Bloo and edged across to the other side with the insects swarming after them. Just in time, Grabby set a torch to the oil as the insects scurried through it (and Broak's warhammer also happened to be in the oil), and the party eventually stomped and bashed their way to victory, killing the swarm.

Too far away and around the corners, they could hear the kobolds retreating back into their holes to regroup. Once the fire subsided, Broak returned to the pit (intentionally this time) to retrieve his shield, and a handful of coins and a couple of gems. They were now standing in a hall with double doors at either end...

It was a successful evening: Ander was actually hitting targets, Broak never dropped to less than zero hit points (and he got to save a dog), Audrey got to help a dwarf, and Grabby managed to steal a piece of chalk from his friend.