As the platform landed, the dwarves looked expectantly at the group, no sure what was happening at the moment. Sevlah, like the first group they met, reassured them with a quiet shushing, and motioned them to keep mining. The group decided to send the ranger ahead to check out the situation.
Ahead past a winding "S" shaped tunnel, the ranger saw some gnolls, tormenting yet more miners. He also noticed the dull reddish orange tinge that covered the rock they were mining. He withdrew back towards the party to come up with a plan. They decided to have a couple of the dwarves stop mining and hopefully draw the gnolls back one at a time. One of the slaves agreed to help out, as this seemed to be a good chance at freedom.
Once the clanking stopped, two gnolls barked and yelled at the miners to keep working. When they heard the silence of disobedience, they came determinedly into the elevator tunnel.
The party got a surpise round and they ambushed the gnolls hovering over the slave, ready to whip them. One of the large hyena beastmen was seriously wounded, while the other was rushed by the tanks, Ka-Amar and Quinn. Keeping the gnolls seperated was key as they learned from an earlier fight.
Suddenly an arrow shot from across the farthest reaches of the other side of the room.
In the distance, beyond the first room, four gnoll hunters fired from across a retractable bridge barely missing Riardon. The first group of gnolls were successfully brought down, but the party was at ends and how to deal with the ranged foes. Sevlah fired back and seriously impaled one of the hunters.
Just then, one of the gnolls pulled a lever retracting the bridge, leaving a gap that fell over eighty feet into rushing water below. After the bridge finished withdrawing, the gnolls fled into a nearby doorway and closed the entrance.
The party talked quickly with the new group of enslaved dwarves, and learned they were mining a substance known as Godsdream, yet then didn't know what it was being used for, or how it was transported.
Godsdream Rock:The energy remaining in this stone provides creatures with the certainty of one incredible blow against a foe.
The party faced the task of getting over the chasm to the other side and defeating the gnolls. While the party members started coming up with ideas, Riardon, being an eladrin simply fey stepped across the way and pulled a release lever that extruded the bridge to its former state. The party scampered across, leery of looking down at the rushing water below them.
The party opened the door and rushed inside, only to be met with a room full of gnoll archers and a gnoll mage wielding a war staff, and finishing an incantation. Soon the room filled with a few spirit wolves that materialized next to the adventurers, causing havoc and creating a menace to the party. The gnoll leader fired necrotic bolts at the tanks and the archers fired arrows at the members in the back. Slowly the hunters were brought down, but the real peril was the gnoll mage who was constantly summoning spirit wolves to hinder the party. Finally, the tanks and damage dealers focused on the leader, pressing him up into a corner and bringing his foul existence to an end.
Riardon picked up the war staff, and glady equipped it, allowing some of his magic to cover a greater area now.
The party searched the room and surrounding area. After finding no additional ways to go, their only seemingly viable exit was down into the rapid river.. unless Riardon had something else up his sleeve.
GM's Note: The party is 5th level at this point. The godsdream ore provides additional critical range on a chance to hit while it's being stood on.
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