Session 10: The Siege of Dur'Khazun

General Summary

A dreary silence lay over the army that surrounded the town. The group looked out and saw endless hordes of skeletal soldiers and constructs. Around them dwarves scrambled to pack their belongings and make for the underground paths, or to arm themselves with the magnificent heirlooms of their ancestors. In the midst of the chaos, a procession cut through the streets, halting the dwarves and demanding the attention of all around. A dwarf stepped up onto a raised shield to speak. This was the Lord of Dur’Khazun, Grumdir Barathane. He spoke about hope, and the perseverance of their kin. He spoke of the ancestors and the Anvilfather. He ended his speech with the Ahldurian motto:
“Strength in Stone, Unity in Forge, Against the Shadows, We Emerge! For Gungnir! For the Ancestors!”

As Lord Barathane stepped down the dwarves roared in defiance of their enemy. The group approached the commanding procession, and Captain Brynja Goldmark of the Veinwatch. She asked them to come with her, as their presence had been requested by the Dwarf Lord. They made their way up to the central square outside the Everforge, where Lord Barathane was issuing orders to his commanders whilst sharpening his axe. At this point it also became obvious that the rank of a dwarf seemed to coincide with the length of his beard, or hair in the case of the women. 

They approached the Lord, who was joined by what seemed to be the eldest dwarf in Dur’Khazun. He was clad in a ceremonial orange and silver robe, with the longest beard of any dwarf they had seen. Lord Barathane introduced the elder as High Flamekeeper Odrik Anvilchant, leader of the clergy of the Ember Oath. They had a mission in mind for the group. Geneviéve tried to advise the use of skirmishing forces, but this was shot down by the Lord, who thought the danger too great and remarked that all losses taken would become enemy reinforcements. 

They were then informed of the fact that the Flamekeepers of the Ember Oath had been taken captive by the enemy. For reasons unknown they had not been killed, of this Odrik was certain. But prior to the attack they had been lured away by a force unknown. The mission, proposed by the High Flamekeeper, was for the group to try and take an ancient, abandoned passage around the enemy force, to a point where the Flamekeepers had been sent, and try to find them. The group offered their aid, and to Captain Brynja’s surprise they did so free of charge. Lord Barathane thanked them and assured them that all of Dur’Khazun’s might stood at their disposal. 

Geneviève, Ki’tor, Volodomyr and Zalia went to arm themselves at Rurik Deepforge’s smithy, before fetching some healing potions at the local alchemist. Geneviève finally got her enchanted spear, Ki’tor got himself a staff, Volodomyr a warhammer, and Zalia got a magical knife that she could attach to her necklace. In the meantime, Jane had followed the High Flamekeeper to the wall in order to collect as much information as she could. Well there, she bore witness to massive bone golems approaching the walls. Odrik and his acolytes began a ritual that created a massive wall of light around the town. As the bone golems threw piles of skeletal soldiers at them, they turned to ash as they passed the light. Hopefully this could hold the army at bay for a while. 

After witnessing this display of power, the group reconvened and left for the abandoned pathway. They wandered the darkness for several hours before passing a gate that almost seemed ready to collapse. Continuing they suddenly heard a rattling sound from up ahead. They couldn’t make anything out in the dark, and to remedy this Ki’tor got the idea to create a massive magical lightsource in his hand. He successfully did so, and they could now all see the column of Skeletal warriors marching across the path ahead of them. They were spotted immediately and the undead turned to attack them. 

Jane tried to shoot one of the undead, and even fractured its skull, but it did little to stop it. And that was one of two dozen. They were overwhelmed and made a hasty retreat, whilst Volodomyr and Geneviéve tried to hold the line. With Volodomyr being the slowest of them, they knew they couldn't outrun the undead, but Jane remembered the pathway they had passed to get there. As they made it back past the crumbling archway, Geneviève and Jane managed to dislodge enough rocks to cause it to collapse. They then had to find a different path.

Following a longer path that led them up and out by the mountains overlooking the army of undead. They could then see how skeletal mages were siphoning dark magic into the wall of light. It wouldn't hold for long. As they once more passed into the dark of the underground paths, they found themselves entering the same path that the skeletal column had been taking, but way further back. Here they met a familiar face. A scarred, pale face. Ezzan the Rememberer. 

He greeted them and told them that he had only come to talk. Jane, visibly pissed at the sight of this fiendish man, asked him what he was doing there. He dodged the question for a while, whilst trying to probe for information regarding the party’s business. In the end he offered to take them to Moorbrand, who was leading the army himself, but knew nothing of their current meeting. Jane then realized that she could use her new glasses to try and search her memories of her first encounter with Ezzan. A vision flooded her mind. Ezzan’s face free from scars, wielding a shortsword freeing some children from cages before turning to face her. As they talked Ezzan managed to figure out that they were heading to free the dwarven clerics. He said that he wouldn’t stand in their way as he had been sent on other business, and instead offered a warning. He then faded into the shadows behind him.

The group pressed on, and finally made it out on the other side of the army. Seeing the warcamp along the backlines of the horde. Necromancers were puppeteering the army from great lookouts, and they could see bone golems peltering the walls with massive rocks and undead troops, as the wall of light faded into a pillar around the Wyrmgate. They could see that the largest tent in the centre of the camp had a faint ghostly glow above it. The second largest tent, however, was located closer to the northern edge of the camp, and thus closer to where the group was standing. It was heavily guarded, and they theorized that this might be where the clerics might be held. 

To investigate Zalia took the form of one of the necromancers they had seen in the camp and went down to scout. As the undead let her walk freely, she could even enter the large tent close to them, and there she found the Flamekeepers being held in a catatonic state by a spell. In front of their cages a blind mage holding an orb of power was focusing on upholding the spell. She walked back to the edge of camp and through messages she communicated her findings back to the group. After much deliberating, they decided to use Jane as a distraction, with Zalia acting as if she had taken her prisoner, whilst Geneviève, Ki’tor and Volodomyr freed the dwarves. When Jane approached the camp they saw that she immediately drew the attention of the undead. All of them. 

With the undead following her, and almost ushering her towards the largest tent in the centre of the camp. Jane became unsure, but in the end she decided that the need for answers outweighed the need for safety. And in this way she could lure away as many undead as possible from the dwarves. So she continued into the camp, alone. She walked towards the ghostly glow and entered the tent. Inside she was met by a floating figure above a cauldron filled with some unnatural, swirling substance. This had to be Moorbrand. The being turned its skeletal face towards her. It laughed and began to descend towards her, its shape changing. Its legs grew muscle, its form more human, and as blue skin grew back around its face Jane could see not just a familiar face. But a face that was her own.

Meanwhile, Zalia entered the tent and approached the mage holding the spell. Drawing her magical dagger from her necklace, she stabbed it into his neck three times. Critical bleeding meant that he stayed conscious for a few seconds, as Zalia covered his mouth, before his life faded away. Zalia grabbed the orb, and realised that the spell over the Flamekeepers hadn’t lifted. When she understood that no physical force would destroy the orb, she put it inside her book, kissed it and threw it outside where it blew with a deafening boom. The Flamekeepers immediately awoke and freed themselves. Zalia, who now had taken the form of a dwarf, explained the situation and was thanked a thousandfold. She also told them about Jane, and the Flamekeepers took their holy symbols and marched to her rescue. 

Jane hadn’t even given Moorbrand a second to introduce himself before she screamed at him:

“What did you do?” He explained that he had broken the cycle, given himself the time to finally find a way out of the curse that bound them to eternal reincarnation. Jane was disgusted, and made this fact clear to Moorbrand, who was her former reincarnation. He explained that he was no longer a part of her, or any system of being. He was Moorbrand, and he was his own. And now Jane would be at his disposal once more. A spell stunned the samsaran, rooting her in place, as the lich prepared an even greater spell.

Suddenly a great light shone into the room and all the undead around Jane turned to dust. The Flamekeepers yelled curses and insults, as Moorbrand retook his skeletal form. He cursed at Jane and assured her that this wasn’t over, before he dove into the cauldron and a ghostly beam blasted off, through the roof and to the south. Together with the Flamekeepers, Zalia and Jane made it back to the party. They ran into the underground passage and the dwarves raised a wall of stone to block the way for any pursuers. They then began a hasty retreat back to Dur’Khazun.

Rewards Granted

• Level Up!
• +1 Golden Legionnaire Spear
• +1 Dagger
• +1 Warhammer
• 15 Lesser Healing Potions

Missions/Quests Completed

• Ezzan the Rememberer confronted.
• 10/10 Flamekeepers freed.
• Moorbrand confronted.