The Thousand Fangs Below

Ilmurea

After a couple of days rest, during which their supply column arrived and they discovered the leader of the Aspis Consortium expedition had dropped dead suddenly, they decided they were ready to active the portal. Following the depiction on the mural in the first vault they inserted the crystals into the slot in the wall and the portal slowly powered-up. Kylar was first to step through finding themselves in another room that contained a detailed mural on the wall surrounded by six focusing crystals. As the others joined him one-by-one, he warily regarded a long passageway leading away from them into darkness.
 
They began making their way down the twisting tunnel which eventually opened onto a wide cavern. Crumbling ruins leaned drunkenly against the walls, draped with thick cobwebs crawling with fist-sized spiders. The faint sound of rushing water echoed through the empty space as they made their way forward. Alert for trouble they were not at all surprised when attacked by two colossal spiders! Fortunately both Savinesh and Malwen were immune to the poison, although Kylar was badly injured (and poisoned) in the encounter. Searching the webs they found the husks of several humanoid corpses which Malwen identified as morlocks – one of whom was still alive.
 
As Malwen used her wand to heal him, she noticed somewhat surprisingly, that the morlock had the Pathfinder symbol painted on his clothing. Once healed, the morlock proved pathetically grateful, prostrating himself before them in an embarrassing display of devotion. He explained that he had been waiting for them – or rather whomever “Endo’s female” sent to help them battle the snakewalkers!

Gate of the Guardians

Their new friend led them though the twisting ruins of the city to where a great underground lake disappeared far beyond the illumination of their light sources. He led them around the shore and into what appeared to be another side-cavern where a stone wall stretched between the walls of the cavern, pierced by a single fortified gateway flanked by two towers. A larger-than-life statue of a warrior in archaic armour stood before each tower. The fortifications are obviously ancient, and displayed a different architectural style than that seen in the rest of the ruined city.
Thekola marched straight though the gateway, but as Enelia followed him the giant statues animated and attacked him.
 
His friends rallied to aid Enelia, but most of their spells seemed to have little effect, Malwen and Drusi called out that the golems were immune to most spells. Dingle began using his bardic abilities to support them, while Savinesh dashed in to close-combat. Malwen summoning a huge earth elemental to aid them in the fray. Dingle rushed forward, healing Savinesh with a cure serious wounds, while continuing to inspire courage with his witty  anecdotes! Drusi moved behind Enelia, keeping the elf alive with her healing. Throughout the combat Thekola jumped about agitated occasionally ineffectually chucking a rock at the golems and shrieking  “This has never happened before!”, and apologising profusely!
 
Once the golems were destroyed, Thekola continued leading them through the streets pointing out various hazardous areas to them as he went. Eventually he led them to where a large building sat atop a ledge against the cavern wall. Though partially ruined, it still had an air of faded glory—spiral carvings decorated the walls, and carved serpentine heads rose above the wavy lines of the building’s eaves. A wide stone stairway climbed up the ledge, flanked by a line of large stone snake heads on each side. At the top of the stairs, dual portals lead into the building, both marked with the same crude symbol. Standing in front of the door, three morlocks stood apparently engrossed in hitting each other!
 
Enelia called out a greeting from the top of the stairs, but the morlocks retaliated by attacking – despite Theloka’s pleas. As battle commenced the party initially tried to use subdual damage against their opponents , but eventually had to resort to lethal force. The reason for the unprovoked attack became apparent when the first of the morlocks was slain and an intellect devourer burst out from it’s skull. Eventually all the morlocks were slain and their intellect devourer passengers driven off to hide in the ruins below - one of them having been baleful polymorphed into a rabbit by Malwen!.
 
Enelia, having got impatient while Drusi and Malwen healed everyone, opened the double doors - to be confronted by the sight of another morlock seemingly directing two golems in their attempt to batter down a door on the other side of the wide hallway.

The Urdefhan

Enelia called out a warning to the others as the morlock ordered his golems to attack. The alchemical golems lobbed bombs at Enelia – one hit and one missed. Enelia drew his bow and fired at the morlock as his friends rallied to support him.

Malwen summoned a huge elemental who interposed himself between Enelia and the golems while Kylar headed for the second set of double doors and threw them open, allowing  Savinesh and Drusi to move in. Drusi unleashed a flame strike and as the battle flowed back and forth, the elemental occupied the attention of the golems. This left the party free to deal with the morlock who was swiftly slain, only for another intellect devourer to emerge from his skull. While the golems were finally dealt with the intellect devourer cast invisibility and fled.

Within the ruined mansion they found the surviving members of Thekola’s tribe including the shaman, who filled them in on the fact that Endo had gone to visit the “vampires” to get them to join in an alliance against the serpentfolk. Drusi asked from more information about the “vampires” and from the descriptions given Dingle recognized them as being not vampires but urdefhan - a type of outsider. Eventually, after much debate, they decided they would have to try and negotiate with the urdefhan to try and find out what had happened to Eando.

Next morning their first attempts at parley did not go well, both parties shouting at each other in languages neither understood until eventually the arrows started flying. Rather than provoke a major conflict, the party decided to withdraw. Back with the morlocks, the party spent the next few days undergoing a crash course in undercommon before attempting to open negotiations again.

This time, things went much better as they could actually speak to one another and in short order they were brought before Izon, the urdefhan leader, a half-fiend. Izon, seemed a pleasant enough fellow for a half-fiend vampire and told them that he had agreed to join Eando’s alliance if Eando could kill one of his rebel generals who had defected to the serpentfolk. The party agreed to step up in Eando’s place.

The Thousand Fangs

The party spend some time pondering their approach to rescuing Eando and slaying the traitor general. The urdefhan told them what they knew of the parts of the city surrounding the upper  lake controlled by the serpentfolk, and  the opposite shore which  was infested with gugs. The urdefhan also warned them of the terrible monster that inhabited the canyons to the north!.

Without the access to high-level magic their options were limited and eventually Enelia volunteered to go on a scouting mission. He discovered that the serpentfolk had been repairing some parts of the upper city, though much of the area he explored was still in ruins. He also discovered that regular patrols crossed the area and when he found some bodies, that the serpentfolk were not having things their own way. Returning to his friends and reporting, Dingle speculated that the serpentfolk had been slain by the  “dancing vulture demons” he’d heard of in an old tale, and where there was one set of demons, there was probably more! Eventually they decided their best option was for Drusi to cast wind walk, and see if they could find a way into the citadel.

Fortunately the route they chose meant they weren’t spotted and they ,made their way to the broken bridge that connected the thousand fans to the mainland. Flying up the line of the ruined bridge, they swept past the surprised guards, and straight through the portcullis there, dropping the spell. The guards hastily ordered the portcullis raised and charged through to attack. The guards were highly trained and dangerous and it proved a very nasty and brutal fight before they were slain, both Savinesh and Enelia being wounded near to death.

They headed northward following a downward-sloping wide corridor until Enelia stopped before a set of double door, through which his keen elven senses could detect heat radiating. He eased open the doors to see two serpentfolk working at a forge. Seeing him the serpentfolk picked up red-hot tools and the battle was joined once more. These smiths proved every bitt as proficient as the guards but after another nasty fight the party prevailed. Beyond the forge they found a (fortunately empty) barracks complex with accommodations for up to 90 serpentfolk and a door leading into a huge central courtyard.

After some spirited discussion about how to proceed, Malwen took the imitative and headed back to the wide perimeter corridor where the next set of door opened into what appeared to be a gymnasium where four serpentfolk were sparring. A flame strike from Malwen softened them up for the rest of the party to dash in and finish them off

Guards, Guards and More Guards

While Drusi healed the wounded, Kylar went off to explore the rest of the area, finding another barracks area, where he ran into two serpentfolk officers struggling into their armour in response to the battle in t e gymnasium. He called out a warning to his friends, as battle was joined once more. Enelia and Malwen moved to support him as Savinesh attacked a third serpentfolk who had come to investigate what was happening. Drusi and Dingle, hung back using their spells to support heir colleagues. Eventually the party prevailed, though once again severely battered and bruised, Savinesh only surviving thanks to Drusi’s healing magic.

In the aftermath while Dingle and Kylar  were looting corpses, Enelia headed down a corridor, only to run into a guard room with another six serpentfolk. Calling a warning to his friends he retreated  back down the corridor, the serpentfolk in pursuit. Rather than flee his friends chose to stand their ground and another brutal combat ensued, this time Kylar only surviving thanks to a timely intervention  from Dingle and Drusi’s ever useful healing spells.

Once they had caught their breath, they moved to explore the guardroom, noting the set of double-doors that they suspected led to the central courtyard. Enelia listened at the door hearing the sound of footsteps – very heavy footsteps! Kylar, propping one of the serpentfolk corpses in front of him as cover, opened the door  and saw two great cyclopes, patrolling beyond.

The Broken Wall

 Rather than confront the cyclopes, the party decided to head back to the main passageway. Deciding not to head down to the lower level they back-tracked and followed the passage clockwise. The found a bit where the interior wall had collapsed exposing a large cavity. The far end of the cavity had been blocked with iron bars set in the stone. Peering through they could see a large pit in the room beyond and smell the cloying scent of incense. Enelia called out, and though there was no response they could hear definite sounds of movement from the room.

A few moments later Savinesh guarding the rear, was attacked by a serpentfolk bearing a shortsword, accompanied by two unarmoured female serpentfolk with brightly painted scales. Drusi and Malwen started casting Flame Strike  spells as battle joined. The serpentfolk warrior proved a canny opponent, and killed Savinesh, before a Sudden Stalagmite spell from Malwen forced him to teleport out. Enelia had killed one of the females and the survivor fled. Malwen dashed over to her fallen comrade and cast Breath of Life, to bring Savinesh back.

As the sound of a loud horn blew out from somewhere, the party decided to regroup, and to the sound of many booted feet approaching rapidly, fled using Wind Walk to head back to the morlock’s manor in the lower city.

Next morning, after a brief discussion of their options, Malwen wildshaped into a bat and went to recce the fortress. She discovered that as well as the main entrance they had crashed yesterday there was another lower entrance and also a large area where the external wall had collapsed which they might use to gain entry. She also noted that the garrison was still apparently in a state of alert, though there were no guards visible at the broken wall. They had a brief discussion about whether to wait until the garrison had stood down but Enelia was keen to press on and convinced the others they should press home their advantage, so Drusi cast Wind Walk  and they headed out towards the area of broken wall.

On arrival they were attacked by a couple of spirit nagas who had been lurking invisibly, but the nagas proved little threat to them and were soon dispatched.

Even More Guards!

Heading deeper into the complex they found another empty gymnasium / training area and barracks. While Kylar relieved himself in one of the barracks, Enelia (once again) managed to wander into a guard post. As they had discovered before the serpentfolk guards were dangerous opponents, but this time the party managed to avoid anyone getting killed – even Savinesh -  although Drusi and Malwen did have to step-in sharpish a few times with their healing. 

Enelia led the way further round the spiraling external corridor, discovering a wide passageway that led into the centre of the complex, fronted by a guard-post. He decided it would be an amusing jape to poke his head through the door, ask the guards what they were guarding against and run away! His friends found it less amusing when the irate guards poured out of the guardhouse directly into them.

Dingle managed to cast a hemispherical Wall of Ice which took three of the serpentfolk out of combat quickly. While the three hacked their way out, the remaining three guards were dealt with – not without some difficulty. The same fate befell their colleagues once they had escaped from the Wall of Ice.

During the combat Enelia wandered off again, discovering that the wide corridor leading towards the centre of the complex was blocked by a portcullis, though no further guards were apparent.

The General Loses His Head

Enelia decided not to head through the portcullis into the centre of the fortress, but instead wandered further along the corridor, finding his way to some richly appointed guest quarters  where he found a soft bed in an empty room to lay down his weary head.

The others, eventually realizing Enelia was missing went in search of him. They eventually located he guest quarters and Kylar began a search.

The first room appeared to have been recently occupied, judging they the faint scent of jasmine and brimstone in the room and the silk sheets on the bed. In the second room he searched Kylar had the misfortune to run into the urdefahn general they were seeking! He proved a formidable foe, especially when two serpentfolk guards rushed to aid him. In the combat that followed both Savinesh and Kylar (again) were nearly slain, only saved by a combination of Malwen’s  Vigour spell and Dingle and Drusi’s healing magic. Eventually the party prevailed.

As Kylar set about the unpleasant task of removing the general’s head, the party decided they should regroup, much to Enelia’s discomfort, and Malwen used a Word of Recall spell to return them to the morlock’s mansion.

The next day, after healing and resting up they paid a visit to the urdefahn, and using he general’s head as a token of their good faith, secured an alliance with them against the serpentfolk.

A day or so after that, they returned to the Thousand Fangs, this time deciding to try entering through the postern gate. Once again Drusi cast wind walk and they headed to the upper city. The portcullis that guarded the entrance proved little hindrance to their gaseous forms and Enelia led the way. As he scouted ahead, with his usual unerring ability, he ended up straight in  the nearest guard-post!

This combat was severely  complicated by the time it took the party to revert to their corporeal state, but eventually the serpentfolk, severely softened up by a barrage of spells from Dingle, Drusi and Malwen, were quickly dispatched – and no one even came close to dying!

The Courtyard

 Searching the area they found a guardroom and armoury, before moving across the rubble-strewn area finding some more guest quarters. One of the rooms, contained a lovely young woman . Enelia was very taken with her, even shutting  the door on the others so he could be alone with her. After discovering, charming as she was,  she didn’t seem to know much about anything ,he re-joined the others and went on their way, eventually finding themselves at a door they were unable to open.

Dingle, curious about Enelia’s uncharacteristic behavior, snuck back to see what was in the room. Slipping in  quietly, he saw the young woman,  her form casually draped in a silken sheet. The woman didn’t seem distressed, or even surprised to see him and he found himself completely entranced by her semi-naked  presence. In an effort to impress, he immediately launched into some of his best routines. Laughing the young lady seemed to appreciate his efforts and offered a kiss in payment, which Dingle gratefully accepted. As she suggested he should re-join his friends, he somewhat reluctantly left, his thoughts still somehow filled with her comforting presence.

On his return, he discovered that Enelia had used wind walk to get past the door, but had retreated when a statue on the other side’s eyes had started glowing with an eerie green light.

Malwen and Drusi suggested continuing to follow the main passageway up the upper level. Enelia agreed suggesting they needed to move into the centre of the complex rather than continue to skirt around the edges.

They headed upstairs and almost immediately ran into another patrol. Not without some difficulty, they killed the guards, though Drusi and Malwen’s healing magic was once again sorely needed before they moved on to the central courtyard.

As before, the central courtyard was guarded by two huge cyclopes. Savinesh  and Enelia tried bypassing them and dashed straight to the building at the centre of the courtyard. Dingle attempted to fascinate the giants, but for once even the best of his routines fell flat. As the cyclopes moved to attack their colleagues Drusi and Malwen both summoned huge elementals before launching through their offensive spells repertoire.

It was a fearsome and brutal combat, Savinesh was slain and had to be saved with another Last Breath spell from Malwen, and once again Drusi’s healing magics were called upon.

Kylar’s Luck Runs Out

Kylar and Enelia moved up to the doors of the citadel, but they could hear nothing from within, possibly due to the thickness of the iron bound doors. Enelia knocked politely, but  there was no response, so he threw the doors open to be met by a flurry of arrows.

Within the room there were three serpentfolk officers and the commander  they had fought a couple of days ago in his harem. Enelia charged in, quickly followed by Savinesh with Kylar unleashing a flurry of  arrows at the commander. Drusi and Malwen deployed into the room and began casting Flame Strike and Searing Light spells  while Dingle moved to support with his bardic abilities.

It was a brutal fight, made even more dangerous when a serpentfolk evoker accompanied by more guards turned up to complicate matters. As Drusi dodged about desperately trying to keep her friends alive, Malwen summoned a greater elemental to help them and draw some of the attacks. Kylar went down in the combat, though some temporary hit points from Dingle managed to stop him dying, drinking a potion  of Invisibility,  the rogue tried crawling away. Unfortunately his luck ran out and as attack of opportunity from the commander struck him fatally.

The serpentfolk evoker then cast Black Tentacles   which managed to trap Savinesh, Drusi and Dingle in its effect, further complicating matters. However this setback only spurred Dingle to unleash a series of Greater Shout spells which soon despatched the already wounded serpentfolk leaders.

As the fury of battle abated, and Dingle began the messy business of looting the slain, Drusi discovered Kylar was dead, however the cleric respected his wishes not to return him to life again

The Rescue

They were surveying the damage around them and pondering how to deal with Kylar’s body ( there being some discussion as to whether a body would fit in a bag of holding)when somewhat surprisingly a dwarf, clad head to foot in gleaming mithral armour, teleported into the room. The dwarf looked at them warily before saying “ I’m looking for Eando Kline, d’ye know where he is?”

Malwen, Savinesh and Drusi began explain to the dwarf, who introduced himself as Grimnir, that they too were seeking the missing Pathfinder and they agreed to join forces. They headed round the passageway finding what looked to all intents and purposes like a court, when the attention of the elves in the party (everyone except Grimmir) were drawn to a secret door in the far wall. Heading through it there was a spiral staircase descending to the lower level. There they found what appeared to be a prison level and after despatching the guards, found Eando himself caged in a torture chamber. The pathfinder was in rough shape, having been severely maltreated, but some healing from Malwen and Drusi soon dealt with the worst of his injuries, though he still seemed very shocked and confused.

Malwen cast Word of Recall and they found themselves back in the morlock’s manor, much to the delight of tribe who welcomed them with open arms, having rescued Eando – and even more so when Drusi happened to mention in passing that they came from Saventh-Yhi, after which the morlock’s treated them with even more awe and respect.