A7S2 – Rescue the Lady

[Edited scenario from The Doom of Arnulf, by Dean Paolillo]

July 25^th/Post Malbeth’s Stand: They stood in awe gazing upon the majestic eagles that arrived. Having seen such great eagles patrolling over his Beorning valley, Theo stepped forward for introductions. Maneldor took his lack of traditions as an insult, “Radagast told us a whistle might call us to a dire scene yet none is present.” Thran spoke up, “We faced an overwhelming force and thought we needed your aid.” Maneldor mocked, “I’m surprised Radagast would have chosen such a faithless group, unsure of your own abilities.” Kyan stepped forward, bowed, nudged the others to bow, and spoke in dwarven, “Our apologizes for taking you away from your more important patrols. I am Kyan of the Iron Hills clan. This is Thranduil of Mirkwood. He is Theobard the Beorning. You find us standing at a smaller battle that I fear is pretense of a greater war coming. Radagast and King Ellesar tasked us regarding the scattered shards of the Angril. Yet over the last months we have found clues of shadow forces gathering once more in the north. Evil Haradrium and Corsairs from the south send weapons and armor north to arm Orc forces. Worse, and most concerning: we’ve learned of ancient artifacts crafted by the wizard Pallando that might be used by the evil dark queen Caelindur to control every man upon this earth. We must get word to Radagast!”

Maneldor should have been offended that he was being tasked as a messenger. But he ignored these bipedal lessor creatures and their ignorance as he called forth a small Thrush bird, whispered, and sent the message. Per Kyan’s mention of artifacts, Maneldor listened to the dwarf’s plans to fly them to Amon Garzak. Another slight at them being used as transport service but the great eagle agreed. Thran and Theo each excitedly climbed atop an eagle (Hrafn and Stormwing respectively) while Kyan began to doubt the idea: Maneldor plucked him from the ground by his beak and flipped the dwarf onto the eagle’s back. Calanhir bowed before climbing onto Lorewing. Before, climbing onto Cloudstrider, Malbeth gave instructions to his remaining men to hasten back to Alatopel to defend their king. 

Now Arriving: It was a mere few hours’ flight to the foothills of Amon Garzak nestled deep in the Coldfells beside the great Hoarwell River. It would be days before the retreating Orc forces reached the fortress to give warning and report. They landed around dusk under a waning crescent moon (1/2 moon light) miles short of the fortress to avoid lookouts upon the ramparts spotting the great eagles. Before settling in for the night, Kyan asked the eagles, “If you will kindly wait. Thran will signal one whistle blow that we need your aid; two blows mean you are clear to go.” Come pre-dawn, they hiked closer and found a hill to gaze upon the stone fortress. Wrapped in a blanket to camouflage any glare from armor and smeared in mud to blend into the desolate landscape, they settled in to observe activities. 

Under a gloomy overcast sky, they noticed Orc lookouts upon the ramparts on the 30ft tall walls. Crude canopies had been constructed to shield them from the sun. They waited for hours observing movement and shift changes as they tried to formulate plans. Theo offered his idea of turning into a bear to draw out some of the forces as a distraction. Kyan thought about calling the eagles to ride to the tower to rescue Deoch. But which tower?! They didn’t have any idea of the fortress layout. 

And that’s when they heard the noisy drawbridge lower as a band of Orc marched out, led by a foul troll-like looking creature. Malbeth reasoned, “That must be Captain Mormog with the 3-toes you mentioned. Notice how he whips those Orc who try to shield themselves from the sun? They might be another assault team headed for Alatopel.” 

Secret Door: And that’s when Theo spotted movement along the eastern slope of the walls. Barely detectable. Kyan used his scope to get a better look: a dwarf stealthed along the rocky base of the fortress, paused at a particular area, placed his hands on the stonework, and suddenly disappeared! “He found a secret entrance!” They waited for the Orc patrol to pass before they slipped around to the eastern wall less occupied with lookouts since the gorge and river seemed adequate defense. [stonework skill] They soon searched the same area they had seen the dwarf before Kyan found dwarven runes “Press here.” A small section of the wall swung inwards, inviting them into the darkness beyond.

Malbeth held a torch for the humans to see as Kyan led them into the tunnel obviously carved by dwarves per its low ceiling. Kyan just got his axe up in time to block an attack. Khalin relaxed when he realized it was another dwarf that led the party following him. “What brings you to the keep? As for myself, Khalin Ironbeard, I have a score to settle with a black-hearted villain named Yrreth. The sorcerer slew my older brother Glom twenty years ago and took from him old tomes which included magical lore, for my brother Glom was a scholar and student of ancient lore. I’ve come back to the Tower of Amon Garzak to deal vengeance.” Khalin unrolled a map as he explained the history of the keep: 

Long ago in the 2nd Age, his clan helped build the tower of Amon Galenloth for the Hillmen of Rhudaur. Yet during the War of the Last Alliance, Angmar’s forces enslaved his people and brought them to the tower now called Amon Garzak to expand its underground works for their evil needs. During their digging, his people found and exploited a natural cavern under the tower and built a secret tunnel to the outside.

They remembered the dwarves they had rescued at the last bridge. And remembered the stone-troll Amos’ last words, “Mormog wouldn’t let me eat dwarves anyway as he wanted these men to take them to Amon Garak to help search for something.” Which led them to reason more dwarves could be slaves within these lower caverns. Kyan tried to convince the others to rescue the dwarves, “They could bolster our forces.” Malbeth and Calanhir countered, “Rescue our sister first, then we can seek out slaves, if any exist, considering you rescued those four.” Khalin had his own plans and couldn’t be swayed, “I seek vengeance and Yrreth is somewhere above in the keep.”

At the end of this short dwarven carved passage was another wall with dwarven runes. This secret door opened unto a crude ramp that angled up or down. Thus, it was only Kyan and Theo who took the downward path into the caverns below as the others climbed the ramp up to the keep. 

Into the Keep: Thran led Khalin and the Arnulf brothers up the well-worn ramp that ended at a wooden door. Without pausing to listen first, Thran tried to quietly open the door just a crack: he found 2 Orc guards just inside! Fortunately, they didn’t hear or see the door open! Thru the slit, Thran cast Fog that quickly enveloped the Orcs who panicked at their sudden blindness. With hands on shoulders, Thran led the others out the door and into the hallway as the Orcs argued and stumbled around. But when an Orc bumped into Calanhir, their plan was spoiled. Everyone was blind-fighting until Thran cast to remove the fog. With an overwhelming force, they quickly eliminated the Orc which gave Khalin the opportunity to curse the elf, “What were you thinking?!” 

They silently climbed stairs to the next floor that included barracks. Thran wanted to search the armory for potential artifacts they knew Falcor’s wagons were delivering to someone. But the others kept the elf on task, each to their own: “We’re here to rescue our sister.” “I’m here to slay Yrreth.”

Banquet Hall: They heard loud conversations within, both humans and orcs obviously sharing some feast. Thran remembered the 2 Orcs captured at Malbeth’s last stand talk about Cardoc holding Deoch in a tower off this room. The floorplans showed tower stairs just inside the banquet hall. How were they going to sneak inside and make it to the stairs? Could they bluff their way in? Malbeth and Calanhir were Hillmen of Rhudaur, just like the forces Cardoc apparently led. But an elf and dwarf?! Khalin had other plans, “I came to slay Yrreth who probably resides up on the top floor. You could follow me and possibly gain entry to the tower by scaling the outside wall while I confront the evil sorcerer alone.” 

Top Floor: They stood on the ramparts near the back of the keep, out of sight of Orc lookouts positioned to the south. They convinced Khalin to at least give them 5 minutes to rescue Deoch before he raised an alarm by attacking Yrreth. Thran pulled out his grappling hook, but Malbeth nixed the idea as too noisy, clanking on the stone. Leaving his weapons and armor behind to lessen his weight, and with rope tied around his waist for Thran and Calanhir to hold, Malbeth dried his hands before he began to climb, using the gaps between the stones as handholds. Somehow, he reached the window where he found Deoch sitting inside the tower room. Surprised, she put her fingers to her lips to signal a guard was on the other side of the door. Malbeth lowered her out the window to waiting arms before he secured the rope to a table as he too climbed out the window. When the table anchor above sounded with a “crack”, he jammed his dagger into crevices as pitons to lessen his weight in his descent. 

Exit, Stage Right: As Calanhir helped Malbeth put back on his armor, Thran blew the silent whistle (once) to call forth the eagles. And that’s when they heard the commotion from inside the great hall behind them: time had runout as Khalin entered the room where he found Yrreth. It wasn’t long before the great eagles could be seen on the horizon for even the Orc lookouts began to sound the alarm with horn blasts. Malbeth picked up his blade and ordered Calanhir to take their sister home as he’d remain behind to help the dwarf. Thran silently protested as their rescuers approached before he too joined the brothers to aid Khalin. 

Inside the room, the sorcerer/wizard Yrreth stretched out his hand as an invisible force lifted Khalin above the floor and bashed him against the wall, until unconscious. Thran cast his own spell (Ray of Frost) from the staff to wound and slow the wizard. Calanhir sank an arrow into the wizard as Malbeth rushed to Khalin’s side when he fell to the floor (Yrreth’s focus having been broken ending the Grasp spell). Yrreth countered with another spell (Chain Lightning), dealing wounds to both Calanhir and Thran. Thran pulled his bow from his back and fired a Stinging Arrow (auto critical hit) as Calanhir notched and fired another arrow too. Malbeth used their attacks as cover to carry Khalin to the door (the dwarf too heavy thus slowing Malbeth’s distance). Which invited another Chain Lightning spell with all four (5 counting Khalin) of Yrreth’s attackers lined up. Lightning burned Thran again as Calanhir managed to resist most of the electrical burn (half damage), thus stopping the chain from continuing on to the others. 

Three of the eagles swooped to the ledge where Thran first climbed aboard one as Malbeth handed the unconscious dwarf to him before he and his brother each climbed aboard their own eagles. The other two eagles gave distraction swooping and clawing at Orcs on the rampart before all five eagles joined up to fly away as Orc arrows fell short of the rapidly departing eagles. 

And that’s when Khalin finally woke, “We can’t leave! Kyan was right; my brother Glom IS still alive!!” 

NEXT SESSION (finding out what Kyan & Theo were up to): A7S3 – Into the Deep