June…

After the events of the yugoloth in the dwarven brewery, the party descended downward via the sloped passageway to the north east.

After 30-40 feet the passage widens to approximately 20’ wide and we come to the 4-way, at which we go straight at the intersection.

We come to a door but strange – no handle, very unusual. The path continues to slope, and Peaches is suspiciousd but she finds no traps. Ore-cart channels throughout the floors, and we are sure we descended into what were once – and perhaps remain – mines.

In the center of a large chamber was an immense ore shaft, with an equally immense wheel. Peaches and Simon listen, and hear voices from the shaft – very guttural, and not a language either of them know. The party quiets to help them concentrate on listening, and now Calidar hears the voices as well. He tries to understand the language, but it’s nothing he can understand either.

“I think it’s goblins,” Calidar whispers. “But I can’t be sure.”     

We peek down to see how far the floor lies, how far to the bottom of the shaft, but it is either too far or too dark to see the bottom.

“Perhaps we can wedge the wheel, so whatever filth tarries below is trapped and cannot ascend? Sonja’s scarred face sought agreement among his compatriots.

“Methinks it best to descend instead,” observed Simon, his hand rubbing the days-old scratch of his nascent beard. “If they are indeed goblins, as Calidar suspects, then they are certainly servants of whatever rough evil yet holds sway over this place.” He pause. “And as such, they’ll need to be extirpated eventually. Sooner is likely to prove more beneficial to us than later, unless I miss my guess.”

Sonja shrugs, the question now settled. “How shall we descend? Seems near bottomless, or at least beyond my eyes.”

“In this, I can be of some assistance,” Calidar said. “I know a spell that will allow us to drop, slow as feathers and even less noisy, and none of us will come to harm at the end.”

“‘Tis the sudden stop at the end of the trip that causes the most consternation,” said Peaches

Calidar nodded. “This thaumaturgy specific defends against the stop, and will work for us all.”

“You may save such thaumaturgy as you would’ve spent on me,” Sonja said, unlimbering his axe and hoisting his shield. The delicately carved silver struck a hard counterpoint to Sonja’s eyes, which even now sought the crimson rime that came like blood into a boiling pool. “Height and sky hold no terrors for me.”

Calidar nodded. “The rest of you, ready yourselves. We know not what we shall find once we again have stone under our feet.” Calidar cast the spell and one by one we stepped gingerly into the black abyss. We did not fall to our deaths, of course, since Calidar’s magic is both subtle and profound, but the speed at which we descended was a bit unnerving – 1’ per second, which is faster than people expected, and one must have to be ready at the end to avoid a turned ankle. At the bottom, the caves expanded outward, with a large pit very close by. Thrax saw two large lizards in the middle distance; the sound of goblin voices and the impacts of picks are easily heard in the pit.

But the lizards were nearby. Eight feet tall and with frills surrounding their heads, they looked both fierce and angered. Their bleats drew a few goblins from the nearby tunnels, who croaked unintelligible threats and followed the creatures into combat. The lizards, feral things, spat at Thrax, a move both rude and calculated to enrage.

With an armored crunch Sonja flew down and missed the landing, splaying himself across the floor to the astonishment of all. landed hard on his face, no damage but needed to stand up. But Simon, his blood heated, leapt across the mine-pit and brought the attack to the approaching lizards. The goblins fell back, unaccustomed to such boldness, and allowed the ranger to Simon to bring his attack home. But the lizards were very aggressive and counterattacked immediately – a substantive brouhaha ensued.

Sonja, on his feet in a trice, killed one of the lizards and heartened the crew, and Thrax descended upon the remainders.  Jarlebank drew one of his many wands – this one containing superheated air and water combined – and injured one, but not mortally. In response, the lizards vomited a sort of natural acid at us, but we largely were able to dodge it. A bomb hits Sonja and Jarlebank from an unknown source (goblins most likely) but Sonja picked one as the assailant, threw his axe at him, and disemboweled it.

Simon and Peaches gave chase to some retreating lizards, to try and stop them from escaping and alerting the remaining goblins. Jarlebank, tiring of the carnival plunking, called forth a great storm of ice and flung it down into the pit, where he suspected the remaining goblins prepared to interrupt their toil and seek out the interlopers above. Simon continued to chase down the escapees, and has some success, while Sonja finishes off the remaining goblin. Simon, goblisn dispatched, continued his efforts against the lizards. Jarlebank stood at the pit, as guard against further incursions. The rest followed Simon, except for Sonja, who joined Jarlebank at the edge of the pit.

Once the rest had gone, Sonja turned to Jarlebank. “Let us go down,” Sonja said. Jarlebank nodded and, once the mage’s weather had subsided, they plunged down to se what they could see.

The bottom of the pit was an icy mush, but it was obvious that the goblins had been digging. Mines, pits and tunnels were every where, but in a strange profusion. It seemed that the original, Dwarvish mines had been dug into with far less precision and skill, simple spade-scrapes and pick-gouges atop well organized and well dug work. The effect was reminiscent of the leavings of scavengers.

But beyond was a slope down to a larger cavern, glowing with a dim, earthy light that was certainly not of goblin make. Those goblins that remained scattered as we entered, screeching in their language and fleeing down various tunnels. Within, there is a huge cavern, filled with tremendous mushrooms, overwhelming and obviously cultivated. A path leads downward and within that room, under the mushroom farm, is a cavern with statuary columns, old and carved with serpentine figures. These are not the granite of the mountain, but other stones, stranger and emanating a problematic magic.

Jarlebank, the most senstive to dweomer, hears them first.

“Free us.”

They are three:

• Methalon, the Sapphire Storm              
• Trillianure, the Azure Spark
• Lemeria, the Emerald Pestilence

Jarlebank released them, with a promise: return and aid us in extremis, and we shall consider the bargain discharged. The dragons did not like it, but Jarlebank convinced them of the righteousness of it, and they ultimately capitulated.

August…

With Calidor’s stripping away the magic that kept the dragons captured in their stone columns, the wyrms departed immediately, only one acknowledging with a nod their deal with Jarlebank. They tore off up the shaft and disappeared.

We talk about how large this mountain fastness is, and no one has any idea other than HUGE.

“The goblins were digging and making charcoal,” Simon observed, kicking a small knob of burnt wood a few feet. “Which makes sense for dwarven smithing… but less so for goblins.” But where to go next? There are three paths leading off the main cavern, ranging from 15’ to 5’ wide. Not natural passage ways, all worked stone. Simon goes to check each out, scouting ahead. Simon and Sonja first approach the nearest passage, almost due east. Simon notices a lot of scratching (indicating lizards); the next nearest path looks disused, with some activity but hardly any compared to the first. This one is the smallest, barely 10’ wide. The last has had a lot of activity, but no scratches – possibly where the goblins were staying? But quiet now. Sonja examines the mining and it’s not Dwarvish work – the dwarves worked it of old, but not for a while.

We choose the smallest, the second tunnel, in an effort to find a bolthole where we can rest. Sonja notices that the passage slopes down. After 60’, we notice lanterns of Dwarvish manufacture (none lit), and the passage turns left, proceeds another 50’ then turns left again. Sonja leads the group, with Simon next to him and Peaches as rear-guard.

Sonja and Shepherd are both loud, Sonja due to his armor and not caring who hears him, Shepherd by his uncoordinated steps and unconsciously loud footfalls. We enter an area (moving southeast now, almost a complete circle) and emerge from a cavern-like area to an area of worked stone. Sonja steps forward to examine the stone: someone was trying to get somewhere specific, used the caverns to the extent they were available, and then carved the path further. The path continues, this time slightly upward.

Simon notices that some of the rockfaces here look like they’ve been crushed, rather than worked. He notices sound – mumbling, very deep voice – coming towards us from the worked path. “There’s something in there,” said Simon. Sonja stepped back and the two conferred.

Sonja steps through the doorway, and can better hear the mumbling – it’s very deep, and sounds like rocks being crushed into gravel. Sonja moves deeper into the hallway, 60-70 feet, but the twists and turns keep the source out of site. Simon calls Calidar up because he speaks Terran, the language of stone, and Simon suspects whatever is making the sounds is a creature of the earth.

“Greenskins are messy,” says the creature in Terran, translated by Kalidor. The creature sounds irritated and grumpy, possibly due to the aforementioned “greenskins.”

Sonja enters, and the noise immediately ceases. The caverns is not enormous, 20 x 20, but Sonja initially sees nothing. Though smallish, the cavern extends upward singnificatly, much larger than previous caverns. Unexpectedly a small boulder displocates from the ceiling and crashes to the floor; another soon falls as well, although none hit Sonja and Calidor. They back out of the room.

Calidar steps forward: “Hail! We seek no trouble, but only to pass through. Do you understand us?”

The boulders move out of the way and a creature, perhaps 5’ tall, steps forward. It is gray as the stone from which is emerges, but otherwise rough and generally shaped.

Sonja remembers a long time ago, when he saw something on the side of the mountain that looked just like this creature, seen only briefly but standing near a scree of broken stone. We assumed it may have been a sentry at the time.

“What is your relationship with the greenskins?” asked Calidar.

Like grinding rocks, the creature responded: “You do not belong here… but he does (referring to Sonja). The goblins are taken the tailing and reduced the beauty of the mountain.”

Sonja tells Calidar to agree with the creature, that the goblins are defiling the place. He lives here, when I was a little galeb duhr, Dwarves lived here but it has been awhile. They were careful miners and respectful. The runts and the wizard that live here now have no respect – stay away from the wizard, he is dangerous. There are still your kind here (meaning Sonja) which is interesting.

Sonja asks, can we share your space for the passing of the sun? We need rest, and we are together in this quest to return the mountain to those to whom it belongs. It agrees, and we pile in.

Q&A with the galeb duhr:

1. Calidor: We share your desire to free Sonja’s brothers and sisters and remove the greenskins. Where are the other dwarves?
   1. Above. Mostly in the “kitchen” it’s hot there.
2. Are they slaves of the greenskins and/or the wizard?
   1. They work; a taller dwarf is their chief, much larger than most of his people, and they serve that guy.
3. Is there a way to get outside the mountain from here that the greenskins do not know of?
   1. No, you must go above and exit the caverns. There is no place here that the greenskins do not know, one tribe or another. (meaning there is more than one tribe)
4. The other greenskins, where do they sleep?
   1. I don’t get too close to any, but they stall in many places throughout the caverns and the “keep”
5. Where does the wizard dwell? Near to the other greenskins?
   1. [is the wizard a mind flayer?] No tentacles, The wizard looks like him (Calidar) The wizard is with the army.
6. How many of your people yet live here?
   1. None, although when I was a small Galamdur, my parents lived here?
7. Why is the cavern and worked stone like this?
   1. There is a secret passage that you missed. The area when it went upward and back? Your people kept their lizards there, there is a hidden chamber there, straight across from this room.
8. What are the goblins mining?
   1. Nothing, they are unsuccessful. They are just destroying the mountain.

He goes on to eat some more “good rocks” and goes on to talk about his friends, who live below. They are connected to a larger area, and are also “creatures of the stone.”

“But they like to eat the wrong stones,” the creature grumbled. He produced a large, rough gemstone, it’s true value occluded by clots of valueless stone and dust. “They like to eat these.” He tossed it toward the group, and it landed on the ground with a crystalline click. “They can be surly, but if you want to go in that direction, I will show you the way.”

The sight of the gem caused some discussion amongst the party. Sonja advised that some gems may help to placate the creatures, while Peaches, with her purely mercantile philosophy, had a different feeling about the jasper in the stone man’s hand. He continued:

“There are three friends, and sometimes I bring them stones and talk with them,” said the stone-man. “Their area attaches to the area where your people work…” he gestured at Sonja. “… and the greenskins are there in some quantity.”

As they walked the rubbled passages of the mountain deepness, the stone-man continued his reverie. “There is a lot of beautifully worked stone in this main area,” he grumbled good-naturedly, the sound of his voice like a distant earthquake. “Beautifully carved, by your people. Many statues of your people are down here as well.”

Eventually we arrived at the place to which the creature has led us. With one lithic fist, the creature struck what looked like a cavern wall and opened a thick crack, behind which proved to be a large natural cavern. The creature rumbled through the crack and the rest of us followed, in which Sonja’s armor and bulk had a difficult go of it. It seemed to take hours to pass through, but realistically it was just a few minute, but the claustrophobia and stone-dust. But eventually we entered an natural cave, onion shaped with a high ceiling and a pool thick with dissolved minerals. There was an underground river flowing sluggishly by, sweet water and cold as a glacier, with a chill emanating from it and cooling the air above.

“My friends are up there,” says the creature, beckoning toward a shaft about 8’ above the floor. Calidar is again detailed due to his command of the language and trustworthiness with the rubies. Shepherd will go next, since his ability on a climbing rope leaves much to be desired.

After the creature departed, Shepherd cast Locate Object on Simon’s adamantine shield, a divination sphere that penetrates stone with aplomb. After a few moments of concentration, Shepherd points up and to the east. “It is that way.”

Jarlebank nods and casts a spell of his own: Arcane Eye. It worked it’s way upward, but the passage is blocked, not once but several times. Jarlebank’s Eye can only get to the barrel room before it burns out, “I am the wrong direction and too high,” Jarlebank explains. “It seems clear that we have to head toward the creature’s friends… whom, I suspect, are xorn.”

Simon produces the three rubies, (which Peaches covets) and after a fair amount of debate upon the best method to wear a backpack while Levitating, Calidar reaches the top, about 30’ up. Finding nothing immediately confronting him, Calidar returns to the party and begins bringing up individuals, lightest first. Simon and Peaches utilize Peaches’ Rope of Climbing, and they scramble up the shaft easily.

We moved eastward into the cavern, Sonja md Calidar in front. The cavern leans to the left, then splits into a V intersection but the left side opens into a much larger cavern, and we go that way.

Inside, everything opens to the right. There is a mound of rubble in the middle and a xorn emerges from the mound. Calidar greets the creature and proffers the rubies.

Somewhat pacified by the rubies, the xorn spoke to Calidar. “I have no immediate quarrel with them, the greenskins,” it explains slowly, almost carefully. “There are many of them, the greenskins, in the direction you’re travelling. We care not what befalls them, so long as you leave our stones where they lay.” It devoured a ruby, assayed something akin to a nod, and then melded itself back into the rubble.

As we proceed, the strong smell of… hops? permeates the room. The stench was disconcerting , especially so since Sonja, the only brewer in the group, cannot smell them. On the far side of the mound is a stone ascending staircase. The hop smell is almost overwhelming, and the sound of goblin (which none of us speak) is loud. Calidar summons Thrax (now that he has room to move), and we prepared to confront any goblins.

We ascend, about 15′, toward the growing goblin cacophony. Upon entering the room, the immediate impression is that it is a bar. Goblins sit at tables and the bar, and all the gibberish ceases the moment we walk in. The goblins stop, hands on mugs, and stare as we enter. There are about 50 of them, and as we walk, some finally speak to us, albeit in goblinoid.

“No! Brewery, other way!” one yells in heavily accented Common. But otherwise they leave us alone as we pass by… until Thrax entered the room. Then, the goblins began freaking out, screaming and dropping their drinks. “Move it,” hisses Simon. “Fifty goblins is a fight we don’t need.”

We emerged into a tight hallway, headed (theoretically) to the “brewery” but get to a four-way intersection. Straight ahead is a staircase leading upward. To the right, standing in the hallway in front of a door, are two goblin warriors. They don’t attack, but they are definitely standing guard at this particular door. To the left is another hallway that goes 40’ and turns right.

Sonja and Simon try to talk to the two guards, but the noise behind them seems to indicate that it’s a goblin nursery of some sort – the voices of goblin children can be heard babbling away, but none of us have the urge for infanticide so we turn away and go up the stairs.

Up the stairs is a hallway, facing due north, skinny and straight. The hallways extends far, seemingly dead-ends, but Sonja looks for secret doors and finds one, of dwarven make. It looks well maintained, and beyond there’s another hallway with a T intersection, 10’ wide: right goes 10’ and turns, while left is a couple doors and a left turn. This gives every indication of being the heart of the dwarvish mountain. We go right, towards the shield, to an intersection but continues east. We believe this might be the main keep. Another T intersection, but on the left is a pit trap of dwarf make, and possibly something beyond even that. We can all hear the sound of goblin children, down the other hallway. No secret doors, though.

The pit trap is clever and resets itself automatically. It could be magic, but the sound of children prompts us to abandon our course of action and go the other direction. It turns left, and the ceilings are 15’ high, which is abnormal for a dwarf. The walls and floor are dwawrvish, but someone has beat the hell out of the ceiling to make it taller, and a nearby door has been refitted to be much taller and wider.

The door is pretty crude, and Peaches tries to push it open. It’s heavy, so Sonja helps, opening up into a huge area, hot and steamy. There are bugbears in here, alongside some regular doors. The bugbears seem to be tending dwarven slaves, which enrages Sonja and he charges in bellowing a war cry, axe spinning. The bugbears get the worst of both Sonja and Simon, and two are dead before they really understand what’s happening. Thrax and Shepherd dimension door into the room, putting thrax into position to join the fray. Sonja fumbled, blowing his attack…

September…

Combat Encounters and Tactical Overview

The session featured numerous combats with goblins, dwarves, constructs, and magical creatures, accented by strategic use of spells and terrain.

• Melee vs Ranged Roles:
  • Players discussed the allocation of a regenerating magic ring, agreeing it should go to a melee fighter or a character who can benefit most (e.g., a character that comes back after death).
  • Party members emphasized their roles: some are melee fighters with shields or scimitars, others prefer ranged combat.
• Spell and Ability Use:
  • The Grease spell was employed tactically to force enemies into difficult terrain, with consideration of its flammability and duration.
  • Fireball spells were cast multiple times with varying effectiveness; some characters had resistances or evasion to reduce damage.
  • Counterspell maneuvers were actively used to negate enemy spellcasting, with solid success by a wizard character.
  • Players used Blessing of Fervor, granting options like extra attacks or AC bonuses, adjusting their combat tactics accordingly.
  • Spells like Dimension Door, Hydraulic Torrent (bull rush maneuver using water), and Spiritual Weapon were utilized for mobility, control, and additional damage.
• Creature Details:
  • Construct Enemies:
    • Multiple stone dwarf-like constructs served as formidable foes with high Armor Class and physical resistance.
    • These constructs caused heat damage through proximity, which players mitigated with protective spells (e.g., Protection from Energy).
    • Players noted the constructs could deal reactive damage and resist certain weapon types, leading to strategic choices of weapon properties.
  • Goblins and Swarm Tactics:
    • Goblin enemies coordinated with attempts to flank and overwhelm, sometimes retreating or igniting grease to disrupt the party.
    • Swarms of adamantine-toothed rats presented a nuisance by biting and causing disease, compelling players to reposition and use area spells for crowd control.
  • Special Creatures:
    • A gas-formed enemy using invisibility and stealth challenged the party’s detection abilities.
    • Mongrel men (small humanoid creatures with melee claws and swords) attacked vulnerable party members but were countered effectively.
• Equipment and Weapon Mechanics:
  • Discussion about versatile weapon enchantments allowing damage type alteration helped players choose optimized damage types against constructs.
  • Players also debated effects such as stone skin continuing to absorb damage until depletion, and the mechanics of heat damage penetrating armor.
  • One player’s artifact axe became lodged in a construct, causing a tense struggle to regain it, illustrating weapon interaction with enemies.

Environmental and Dungeon Exploration Details

Players explored a large underground foundry complex, uncovering various chambers and architectural features while interacting with NPC dwarves and goblin enemies.

• Key Locations:
  • Foundry Room: A massive, hot area with a blast furnace, slag pits, and piles of coal and ingots (primarily lead—magically significant for spellcasting limitations).
  • Elevator Shafts: Gigantic wooden and metal platforms operated by levers, serving as cargo elevators facilitating movement between levels.
  • Round Chambers: Multiple circular rooms containing coffin-shaped crates, beds, and statues. Some rooms emitted eerie ambience with warm fresh air, lichen, and dim light.
  • Atrium with Reflective Pool: An atmospheric space with several damaged statues and a reflective pool, containing pillars and staircases leading further into the dungeon.
  • Hallways and Secret Doors: Numerous corridors with secret doors allowed goblins to escape or maneuver, leading to tactical considerations of pursuing or blocking them.

• NPC and Party Interactions:
  • Captive dwarves (former slaves) were rescued and armed, with plans to integrate them into the party’s movement and combat formations.
  • The party showed concern for moral dilemmas and loyalty but favored practical survival and combat effectiveness.
  • Dialogue between players and NPCs about language and commands (e.g., dwarven language, common tongue) added depth.
• Environmental Effects:
  • The extreme heat of the foundry was a constant hazard, requiring spells like Protection from Energy to mitigate damage.
  • The grease spell’s interaction with fire created strategic choke points and hazards.
  • Numerous crates, bins, and piles of ingots suggested valuable loot but also possible magical interference (lead blocking spellcasting).

Summary Table of Key Combat Elements

Element	Details
Primary Enemy Types	Goblins, stone dwarf-like constructs, mongrel men, swarms of adamantine rats
Magic and Spell Highlights	Grease (area control), Fireball (damage), Counterspell (defense), Blessing of Fervor
Environmental Hazards	Extreme heat (damage and status), slippery grease patches, confined foundry spaces
Weapon and Equipment Notes	Versatile weapon enchantments, artifact axe lodged in construct, heat damage resistances
Tactical Player Roles	Melee fighters with regeneration rings, ranged damage dealers, casters for control
NPC Interactions	Freed dwarf slaves armed, dwarves with limited knowledge of area
Magical Items	Ring of regeneration, rings with one-time uses, large magical hourglass

Notable Rules and Gameplay Mechanics Clarified

• Heat Damage: Persistent fire and heat from constructs and environment cause ongoing damage mitigated only by spells like Protection from Energy.
• Grease Spell: Creates a 10-foot square slippery area, forcing saving throws or movement penalties; it is flammable but burns shortly without explosion.
• Stone Skin Effect: Absorbs physical damage until depleted but does not prevent poison or some magical effects.
• Counterspelling: Requires a spellcraft check vs. DC 15 + spell level, successfully negating enemy spells.
• Bull Rush (Hydraulic Torrent): Uses a combat maneuver check against opponent’s CMD to push enemies back and cause positional advantages.
• Versatile Weapons: Allow players to change damage types (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing) to bypass resistances.
• Artifact Interaction: Powerful items like the axe confer authority but do not guarantee control; struggle mechanics apply if weapon gets stuck.

Key Insights and Conclusions

• Effective Party Coordination and Role Clarity Are Essential: Players clearly assigned roles, maximizing the strengths of melee fighters, ranged attackers, and casters in varied combat situations.
• Environmental Strategy Amplifies Combat: Use of terrain-altering spells (grease, fire) and positioning within hazardous foundry surroundings significantly influenced combat outcomes.
• Artifacts and Magic Items Must Be Allocated Thoughtfully: Discussion of assigning the regeneration ring and using versatile weapons reflects ongoing strategic resource management.
• Resilient and Adaptive Approach to Combat: Players engaged complex enemies, managing damage, counters, and controls effectively despite heavy pressure from numerous foes.
• Dungeon Exploration Balanced with Loot and Combat: The party maintained curiosity and caution while navigating the foundry’s various rooms, seeking treasure but avoiding overextension.
• Communication and Technical Setup Impact Gameplay Flow: Remote participation and technology setup were critical for smooth play, with players adjusting microphones and cameras as needed.
• Long-Term Campaign Development: Experience points and narrative progress suggest a deep, ongoing campaign with evolving challenges and character growth.