Part Four: How much for the doggy in the window.. the one with the spiked flail?

The tunnel curved constantly to the left, always seeming to wind downwards. Makeshift steps in the stonework gave clues to the party that this was a constructed, yet crude area. The faint tinking of minepicks on the rock walls was heard up ahead, as well as the sound of whip cracks and whimpering laughs.

Not certain what lay ahead, the party moved slowly and cautiously on. The laughs and whip cracks gave way to an audible sniffing sound, and large cast shadows reared around the bend. The scampering of paws and growls drew closer.

Soon the party were face to face with two of the largest gnolls they'd ever seen and a lesser group of pups, significantly smaller than their counterparts, but big enough to still be a threat. Large bony spikes hung from thier forearms as they charged Korgul, tearing deep into his unarmored body. The barbarian almost collapses from being surrounded. After some quick massive healing from Japeth, Korgul regains his composure and sets about situating himself and the party as not to be circled like that again.

Soon one of the gnoll goes down, but not without a furious bloodlust, striking out a final lash at the party before it drops. The pups go down fast and easy that round as well, thanks to Ki-Amar's channeled lightning that leaped from beast to beast, making the battle turn quickly in favor of the heroes. Soon the final gnoll, in howling death throes, is dropped. Despite being almost vanquished himself, Korgul finds some bracers on the large hyena like beast and puts them to good use.

The clinking sounds had stopped from slaves down the tunnel, unsure whether friend or foe approached. The archer scouted on and came across a group of tattered dwarves. When deciding to make his presence known, Sevlah noticed the miners had been hobbled beneath their knees. Their legs were twisted and unusable, shaped by some malicious ritual as determined later by Japeth. The ranger pressed his finger to his lips to signal the miners to be quiet and motioned for them to continue mining, to mask their presence to any future caretakers.

The tunnels continued on, still veering downwards and spiraling to the left.

Soon the party came across another elevator in a shaft with a cable descending down into darkness. A whirring sound was heard as the platform ascended slowly to the top. The party readied themselves with arrows knocked and weapons at the ready.

A drow cleric and her two bodyguards were suddenely surprised when the lift finally came to a stop. One of the dark elves was dropped immediately after being focus fired by the party, and although the drows might have been a threat on equal ground, the dark elves found themselves in a dire situation. They were easily outmatched and overthrown, hardly a match for the six bold adventurers.

After the brief fray, the miners tell their story to of being a band of explorers themselves, not unlike the party. They said while nursing their wounds from fighting some drow scouts upon the surface world, they found themselves kidnapped and hooded from a wandering. ravaging band of gnolls. Mercilessly dragged down into the shallows, they were brought before a taskmaster, who had the physically impairing ritual performed on them. They said legs were wracked and then placed upon wooden slats, furnished with crude wheels. The condition left them unable to run away making any escape from their captors impossible.

The party also learns there are more dwarves below. While they find the tale disheartening, at least there is hope for a way out of this dungeon, and it should be nearby.