Chapter 14: Raising Magnus
14.1: Longbeard Hall
The first step on their journey to find the temple of Fharlanghn was a trip north on the now-familiar train from Stonehome to Goldarim Station. They stayed there for the night, then caught another train further north and east, to another station very similar to Goldarim. From there, they rode a trolley cart to Warmaul Hall, the last dwarven hall before the abandoned tunnels leading to the "old highway" they had heard about.
The old highway had been closed down close to 100 years ago. Rumor had it the land beyond the mountains had become overrun with trolls at that time, and the gates were permanently closed to keep them out of the dwarven lands. It seemed like it might be trouble, but the alternative was a lengthly voyage to the southeast, then north around the coast to reach the northern lands.
The Warmaul guardsmen didn't seem impressed with the trio of misfits that almost smashed their trolley cart, but quietly directed the party in the direction of the tunnels leading further north.
A day's journey, and a close battle with a giant gelatinous cube (during which both Morgrim and Hork were partially digested, and paralyzed) later, the party arrived in the remains of Longbeard Hall. The Longbeard clan had abandoned their hall around the same time the gate to the north was sealed. Already known for their adventurous and exploratory nature, the Longbeards left the dwarven lands in search of a new homeland.
As the party explored the hall, Daergel heard a faint sound of scraping metal down one of the side tunnel-streets. Hork took the opportunity to throw a large boulder into the middle of the hall, making a booming crack upon impact. Whatever was making the metallic noise drew closer, and soon revealed itself.
14.2 The Eviscerator
It was a slaughterstone eviscerator, a large, beetle-like automaton forged of stone, and iron, with adamantite armor and four scything adamantite blades. Morgrim attempted to command the thing, but it merely climbed over him and attacked Hork. A hard-fought battle ensued, during which Hork discovered an entirely new (to her) tactic: running away. The eviscerator's blades struck unerringly, doing massive damage with each strike, and it was all Hork could do to stay out of range. Luckily, the automaton refused to attack Morgrim. Daergel was able to disable several of the weapon-arms after clambering onto the thing's back, but after being struck twice by it's blades, was forced to flee as well. Morgrim did his best to stay between Hork and the eviscerator, pounding at it with his warhammer, slowly racking up damage to it's hardy shell. In the end, Morgrim convinced Hork and Daergel to make a break for the gates leading back the way they had come. They made it through the gates, and slammed them shut, but the eviscerator's immense weight and strength were too much even for Hork, and it forced the gates open before too long. Luckily, Morgrim, his arm weary, dealt a final blow which brought the eviscerator down.
What followed was a long, exhausting journey back to Warmaul Hall, Hork dragging the broken eviscerator behind her. The Warmauls were shocked to see a mere three adventurers dragging a defeated eviscerator behind them, and quickly warmed up to the party. Morgrim brokered a deal to sell them the eviscerator (for either repair or scrap), and they were invited to stay for a couple days while the deal was finalized. That involved sending a messenger to fetch a dwarven mechanic and gnome engineer from the "Southlands", the southernmost region of the dwarven mountains, to the east of the Gnomish Hills. The gnomish engineer was delighted with the condition of the eviscerator, and the sale netted the party 300 thorium pieces. Daergel also expressed interest in the workings of the automaton, and the gnomish engineer offered to take him under his wing. Before he left, he gave Daergel a small automaton, a pocket toolkit, and a well-worn junior field engineer's pocket guide. He told Daergel to learn all could from the book, and then come visit him for further training.
After seeing the gnome and dwarf off, the party made the long journey back north to Longbeard Hall.
14.3: The End of the Tunnel
After making camp in Longbeard Hall, the party spent the morning exploring the Hall and surrounding tunnels. They found a large iron gate, barred shut and held closed by two large iron rods that had been hammered into the ground flush against the surface of the gate. Over the gate was an inscription which seemed to indicate that this was the way north to the lands beyond the mountains. Eventually, the party managed to dig out the rock surrounding one of the iron rods enough to pry it loose and open the gate.
On the other side was an old dwarven highway leading north. Daergel scouted ahead and discovered an abandoned tin mine off to one side of the highway. One branch of the mine had been collapsed, and a dessicated troll arm was sticking out from under the rubble. It seemed that the trolls had attempted to dig into Longbeard Hall from here after the gate had been barred, and had caused both this collapse, and the one in the northwest corner of Longbeard Hall.
Morgrim explored the mine a little to determine it's value, since he had been considering re-populating Longbeard Hall. The tin mine would make a reliable, but not strong, income source. After the mine had been explored, the party moved on along the highway to the north.
They made camp for the night, and the next morning saw a brightening light from the north. They approached it cautiously, and eventually realized it was sunlight streaming in from outside. The end of the tunnel was ahead.
14.4: Escape From the Trolls
Beyond the tunnel, an overgrown road led down through steep hills dotted with copses of threes for about five miles. Beyond that was a mile-wide band of burnt land, devoid of living vegitation, and beyond that to the north were plains and low, rolling hills. The party began making their way down the road, but before long, Daergel spotted six trolls hiding in the trees on either side of the road ahead. He warned the rest of the party. As the trolls realized they had been seen, and began loping uphill towards the party, Morgrim took the opportunity to cast a few spells, increasing his strength and then doubling his size. The trolls arrived and surrounded Magnus, but had trouble getting past his formidable armor with their claws and teeth. Soon, they were all wounded or dropped by Morgrim's hammer, Hork's axe, and Daergel's flaming sword. Four fled, while two were left for dead on the ground.
The party, remembering that troll blood was one of the ingredients in Mork's healing potions, began filling Magnus's keg with troll blood. As they finished filling the keg, and began preparing a fire to finish off the troll bodies, they were interrupted by the baying of trolls echoing through the hills. More trolls responded in kind, and it seemed it would be wise to move on quickly.
A couple of miles further down into the lowlands, they were intercepted by another gang of six trolls. This time, defeat was not so easy. Hork rushed to trolls, leaving Daergel and Morgrim behind, and was swarmed. With her lesser armor and careless fighting style, Hork could not protect herself from the trolls' claws. She was nearly torn to shreds as she was mauled by the trolls. She managed to escape with her life, and eventually the three of them dropped two of the trolls and forced the rest to flee.
They continued on, Hork completely exhausted, as the baying of the trolls grew closer behind them. As they stumbled forward, they saw dozens of trolls circling around them to the left and right to block their path. As they emerged into the burned land, things looked grim.
Luckily, the commotion amongst the trolls had garnered the attention of the halfing plainsfolk, and a contingent of 50 halfling archers, mounted on swift riding dogs, waited at the edge of the plains. As the party drew closer, the launched volleys of burning arrows at the trolls, forcing them to turn back. The party stumbled to an exhausted halt before the halflings and gave thanks.
14.5 The Halfling Plainsfolk
The party accompanied the warband of halflings back to their stronghold further north. They passed several halfling villages situated in the tall, broad trees that dotted the plains. Their guide Inuktuk explained (with the help of a spell that allowed him to speak Common) that that made defense against the trolls easier. The stronghold the arrived at was different, however. Because it was further from the trolls' hills and defended by a greater population, it was safe to build permanent structures on the ground there.
The halflings were a primitive people, with mostly stone and bone weapons and tools. Keeping the trolls at bay and just surviving were challenging, and as a result, their culture focused on the skills and victories of their hunters and warriors. The halflings were expert archers and dog-riders, and had developed a number of clever tactics for nullifying the trolls' advantages of size, strength, and regeneration. These were not typical halflings by any stretch, but they were generous hosts, and likable. Morgrim's idea to re-populate Longbeard Hall was given more consideration, since there would be the added benefit of re-opening trade through this region, although that would necessitate wiping out the hundreds or thousands of trolls that roamed the hills.
The party stayed with the halflings for several days, helping to train their young warriors, learning their ways, and investigating what trade goods they might have and need, before accompanying a caravan to another halfling settlement further north. Human lands lay to the north of the plains, and the halflings reckoned that there was where they would find the temple they were looking for.
14.6 Into the Hills
The party traveled north into the hills. As they drew nearer, they spotted a watchtower overlooking the plains, and decided to head towards it to introduce themselves and ask directions to the temple of Fharlanghn. As they drew near, they could hear the sounds of combat and loud thuds of something heavy striking the tower. Unfortunately, due to tree cover the could not get a clear view until they drew within a few hundred feet of the tower. From there, they caught glimpses of several hill giants smashing at the tower's base with mighty clubs, while they were peppered with arrows by the defenders on the upper floor. Daergel snuck closer to assess the situation, then returned to the party. The party decided they were a match for three hill giants and decided to lend their assistance to the defenders. Unfortunately, as they discussed the situation, the tower began to crumble, and soon collapsed in a cloud of dust and a cacophony of tumbling stones.
There were a few survivors of the collapse, so the party rushed forward to help them hold off the hill giants. A bloody battle ensued, and several of the survivors of the collapse were felled, but soon the giants were all slain.
One of the survivors explained the situation: there were a number of these towers along the border with the halfling lands, meant to allow early warning and quick mobilization of troops when the halfling raiders approached the hills. There were occasionally encounters will hill giants to the west, but they rarely strayed this far, and had never seemed this organized or persistent. The soldier suspected that this group has attacked the watchtower mainly to pin the defenders in place while a larger force attacked a centralized border keep further north. He was determined to head north, avoid the battle and any other giants, and continue further north to bring reinforcements. In the meantime, he asked for the party to do whatever they could to help the defenders of the border keep hold off their attackers.
14.7 The Borderlands Keep
They party continued north, slew two more hill giants seemingly guarding the road to the keep, and finally arrived at the border keep itself... or, the remains of it. The outer wall has been breached in a dozen places, and the defenders who were still alive were desperately attempting to fend off their attackers. Several of the defenders were powerful war wizards, and had summoned large elementals of ice and stone to combat the giants... but it was not enough. Things looked grim.
The party quickly spotted the apparent leader of the gang of brutes. He was slightly smaller than the others, but wielded a well-wrought weapon, and was dressed in the cleanest, most well-kept furs. As the party looked on, a huge creature burrowed from the ground, and at the giant leader's command, attacked the ice elemental that was fighting one of his nearby underlings. The huge beast (a bulette, Morgrim realized, recognizing a description he had heard at the adventurer's guild in Darktower) made quick work of the elemental.
The party, despite their injuries, joined the battle. While Hork held off the bulette, Morgrim and Daergel made quick work of the giant leader. The bulette, under the assault of Hork's axe, and repeated volleys from one of the defending war wizards, soon fled, burrowing back into the earth, collapsing another section of the keep wall as it fled.
The party, weary and beaten, helped finish off a few more giants, and then realized the battle was still raging at the other end of the keep. They made their way through the keep with the surviving wizard and his cohort of soldiers, and together they helped the remaining defenders drive off the last half-dozen giants. The attack had taken a very heavy toll on the keep; three quarters of the defenders had fallen.
One of the war wizards pointed out the keep's fallen cleric, and Morgrim managed to revive him with some well-timed healing magic. The two of them then made the rounds, saving those that were still alive. While Hork put the heads of the dead hill giants on pikes around the keep, the defenders hastily piled rubble into the gaps in the walls and did their best to create a defensible position at the heart of the keep. The party rested with the survivors for the night, and shortly before dawn, reinforcements from the north arrived.
In the morning, the party continued northward until they reached the base of the tall, steep hill upon which the city of Aden Tor was built. As a small measure of gratitude, the cleric gave Hork the power of flight so they wouldn't have to take the long, winding road up the hill. He also gave them a letter to pass along to the high priest of Fharlanghn in the city, which explained the aid they had given, and requested that they be rewarded with the raising of their departed friend Magnus.
14.8 Aden Tor
Aden Tor was a mid-sized city, reminiscent of Arcturus in it's defenses. Roads led away from the hill to the north, northeast, east, southeast and south. Along with humans and the occasional dwarf, elf, or half-orc, some other strange beings walked the streets. It would seem this was a city where all were welcome, as even some full orcs walked the streets. The land rose towards the center of the city, where a tall tower stood against the sky (also reminiscent of Arcturus). Occasionally, griffons with riders would take flight from the balconies near the top of the tower and glide away on the wind. Otherwise, the bustling city was like any other.
The party met with the high priest at the temple of Fharlangh near the center of the city, explaining the reason for their trek to Aden Tor. Morgrim told tales of their adventures, and of the re-opening of the old highway, both of which delighted the priest, who considered it a fitting gift to the god of travel and the open road. He agreed to raise his fallen brother Magnus and after several hours of chatting with Morgrim and Daergel, told them to return the next day and their comrade would be back amongst the living.
Meanwhile, Hork had gotten bored with the conversation, so after unceremoniously dumping Magnus out of her bag of holding, she went looking for some fights and drinking buddies. She found both easily enough at a rowdy tavern populated by orcs and half-orcs, and managed to snag a "cute" half-orc companion for the night.
Unfortunately, when she woke up the next morning, her 'friend' was gone, and so was her money pouch and magical chain shirt. She spent the day doing her best to track down the stolen goods, but her usual tricks (yelling at random people and smashing things) didn't work. So, eventually, she went to find Morgrim and Daergel.
Meanwhile, the other two relaxed for most of the day and discussed a magical message Morgrim had received in the morning: a plea for assistance from the court wizard of the king of Windmere. Around supper time they went to welcme Magnus back to the living, and shortly thereafter, Hork caught up with them, raging over the theft of her shiny armor.
Hork brought the party to the Black Raven Tavern, the only lead she had found. Daergel chatted with the bartender, apparently a front man for the thieves' guild, just like in Darktower, and negotiated the return of the armor for a not-so-modest sum. While Hork stormed off in frustration and Morgrim chased her, Daergel's complaints of the thieves' guild's "lack of understanding" of the negotiating process landed him in an interrogation room surrounded by dangerous thugs. Luckily, once they had gotten their point across, he was let free without any bodily harm, and after paying off the thieves, Hork's armor was returned, shiny and new.
The drama behind them, the party rested for a week while Magnus recovered. They scraped together some funds (mostly from Magnus) to donate to the temple in gratitude, and spent a few coins enjoying beers from far and wide (Aden Tor being a hub of travel, fitting for a city dedicated to Fharlanghn). Then, at the end of the week took the high priest up on an offer to teleport them back to the dwarven lands.