Rurik's Mission XIII
Reclaiming the Homeland Or “OOPS!!! I missed my train!”
Soon after the induction ceremony and celebration, things went back to business as usual. After all, the civilized lands around the Fort were expanding, which meant there would be more work to be done and more support requested for those lands. The healer Zon was sent to one of the settlements further south, down where the wilds were still a bit wild. Scout and Kwarthian spent a few days exploring the surroundings of the Fort, making sure no evil presence had tried to reinvade our lands. Rigel and Seamus were working on paperwork and reports for Lord Lucasson. I was keeping myself busy with some light forge work and some short forays into the wilderness with Scout and Kwarthian when word finally arrived from the clan. A contingent of fifty armed dwarves arrived at our camp with a letter from the clan chief. The Mithrilheart clan had heard of our success against the shadow dragon. They felt that a quick strike against the remaining kobolds should catch them unprepared and make for an easier time if the dwarves were to reclaim the lost city of Darble Ias, or Darble Anvil in the Eiridosian tongue. This contingent of dwarves was assigned to hold and maintain the ruins of Glendale, thereby setting up a base camp from which to clear out the ruins of Darble Ias. I could not resist the chance to aid in this bold endeavor. I announced my intent to the rest of the Warriors, and not only did they agree that I should aid the dwarves, Zip, Leo, and Zenian volunteered to join the reclamation project. The next morning we gathered our gear and joined up with the dwarven contingent on our way to the ruins of Glendale.
Our first stop was at the dwarven outpost in the Forest of Souls. Since we had cleared the place of giants in the previous year, a much larger force was sent by the Mithrilheart clan to fortify this valuable resource. A great deal of work had been done on the surrounding area to help fortify the salvage operation. In addition, there was a modest amount of trade available. I purchased an interesting pair of boots that, according to the merchant, on command would allow me to slide out of range of my enemies’ axes during battle. I was intrigued since tactical movement is imperative when using a weapon such as my glaive.
When we finally arrived at Glendale, we found the ruins remained deserted. So instead of our first battle, we simply helped set up some strategic fortifications and prepared the site as a long term camp for the dwarves. Once the camp was made, the four Warriors went to investigate the gates of Darble Ias. As my eyes took in the glorious stone doors at the entrance, my heart ached to once again see the great halls and architecture of my ancestors. Further examination of the entrance revealed that the doors were locked and barred from the inside, but a number of kobold sized holes marred them. It would be easy enough to gain entrance. I stepped forward and peered into the darkness. It looked safe enough. However, I was the only one able to see more than a few feet into the opening. It appears that the surface dwellers had forgotten to prepare any light sources for this journey into the dwarven halls. So with a heavy heart I left the dwarven crafted doors behind and returned to the camp with my fellow Warriors that we might make a few more preparations before attempting the assault. So after a good night’s sleep and with great anticipation, Leo, Zip, Zenian, and I walked the trail back to the entrance of Darble Ias, crawled through the kobold tunnels in the doors, and took our first steps toward our goal.
Normally a frontal assault on a dwarven stronghold would be suicide. Despite all of the trouble wrought by these kobolds over the last month, and despite the fact that kobolds, with their aptitudes for traplore, would likely have figured out how to use the defense mechanisms, I knew that the dwarven defensed relied as much on dwarven strength and tactics as any mechanical tricks. I was confident that if we were cautious and alert, we would be able to make it through into the heart of Darble Ias. No sooner had we taken our first steps into the entryway than we noticed the first defense: the hallway was rigged so that the walls would close in and crush intruders. Since the walls had not yet been triggered, we guessed that there must be some sort of trip mechanism and that we had likely not yet been detected. Unfortunately, we found the trigger for the trap as we walked down the hall. Being aware of the danger and ready for the trap to be sprung, we all made a mad dash down the corridor and emerged safely on the other side of the trap. The sound of two massive stone walls crashing into each other negated any possible chance of surprise we might have had, so we continued down the hallway.
After a couple of turns, we found a straight, descending tunnel that ended at double doors. As we went to investigate the doors, we were surprised when a number of hidden arrow slits opened along sides of the passage and a series of lines of round openings suddenly dotted the floor. Our first step was to evade the archers who were now pelting us with arrows. This was easy enough as simple positioning along the walls negated half of the archers. This was only a temporary fix, however, and before we could eliminate all of the archers, our trouble increased. Another hidden door opened at the top of the passage and a massive column of marble started rolling down the ramp. Long spikes on the column were perfectly arranged so as to fall into the openings in the floor, thus preserving their sharp points for more delicate targets. While Zip and Leo found unusual, airborne means to bypass this trap, Zenian and I were earth bound and had to retreat before the rolling spiked death. Zenian found the doors to be locked and no way out of the tunnel. I made a quick scan of the area, hoping to find some sort of runes that might give us an exit before we were crushed, but I could not find anything.
I had to act fast. The rolling column was likely to be lethal to anyone it caught at the bottom of the ramp, but if I could slow its progress, I could buy the others a bit more time to find some release mechanism. So I turned, set my shield, and prepared to suppress a great deal of pain. The column struck with the force of a giant’s greatclub. I was able to break its momentum and hold it back, but its spikes ripped right through my shield and armor and right into my shoulder. As my blood trickled onto the floor, my footing slipped and I was pushed further down the hall until I was barely maintaining any space for Zenian to work. Fortunately, it was enough. The elf located a trap door that allowed access into a lower level. He struggled to open the door as a small bird flew over the spiked column and transformed into Zip. He helped Zenian with the door and said the goliath had arrived to join us on this mission and was on his way down the hall. I struggled to maintain my position as Leo quickly joined the others. I was about to let the column go and try to drop through the trap door when Smash clambered over. He managed to squeeze between the spikes and through the exit, getting out of the way just before I dropped through and the column finally slammed into the doors above. I grimaced as I finally had a chance to look at the damage done to my armor. This would take a bit of work to fix.
After a bit of examination, we found the arming mechanism for the rolling spike trap and reset it so the column would be out of the way if we needed to use that hallway again. We also found access points for the rooms where the kobold archers had been. They were empty now, so we continued on toward the city. Our final test was another set of double doors. As we tried to open the doors, a barrage of needles flew at us and caused us a bit of annoyance and a small amount of pain. Once again the elf was able to find a hidden latch that safely opened the doors. There was no hallway on the other side. Rather, it opened up into a larger cavern that housed the long unused marketplace of Darble Ias. That is not to say it was abandoned. There was a great deal of sensory evidence that told us that a mighty population of kobolds was still here, but many of these buildings were now being used as warrens not for trade.
Some of the buildings looked familiar as I had been here once before, but as we did then, the group decided that it would be best to keep moving. Even so, I managed to peek into a couple of the buildings as we walked past, but as was to be expected, most things of value had long been removed. We walked straight through the market place, constantly reacting to the sounds of kobolds scurrying about in the shadows. On the far side of the market we found a tunnel leading up and decided to explore that one first. It led to some doors that were barred from our side. We opened the doors and stepped out into a large, unkempt field. The overgrown fields had once supplied the city with a variety of grains needed for food and brewing. After a quick glance at the scenery, and noticing that the doors were not damaged and had not been attacked, we returned to the tunnel and barred the doors.
We decided to follow a side tunnel instead of returning to the market area. This tunnel led us to the religious quarter of the city. Five temples filled this cavern. In addition to the five temples to the dwarven gods, there was a large forge. From this area there were tunnels leading back to the market and down to the dragon’s lair. While the others went down to investigate the dragon’s lair, I stayed to examine the temples and repair what desecration I could. The others soon returned. The dragon’s lair was empty except for a few scrawny kobolds. They captured one and questioned him. He told them that there were two kobold leaders vying for power further down the tunnels. Now we had a possible target and so made our way down toward the mines.
The elders always told stories about the lost mines of Darble Ias. I was always certain they had exaggerated the extent of those mines and the amount of ore that had been recovered from them. Now, after seeing the smallest portion of those mines, I have to wonder if they did not underestimate. The mine tunnels were massive and convoluted. We could not even hope to explore them all without a great deal more support and supplies. However, we did manage to find a strange contraption that seemed made to raise and lower platforms, some sort of transport into and out of the mines. After a bit of swinging on the chains and some thorough examination of a control unit, we were able to operate the machine. We loaded onto a platform and were lowered into the depths of the mines.
After a few minutes of descent as we passed numerous seemingly empty tunnels, the platform was lowered into a large chamber. As the mechanism for the platform was very noisy, it was no surprise that a contingent of kobold archers was waiting for us at the bottom. They managed to fire off a volley of arrows before a kobold in a large headdress unleashed a ball of fire that exploded on the platform. Both Leo and Zenian were knocked out by the blast. Zip quickly grabbed the controls and we were slowly raised back out of the cavern. Once free from attack, Zip prepared some healing spells and gave us some modest protection from the fire spells that had been used. Then we lowered ourselves into another volley of arrows.
When we finally reached bottom, we got to work. The kobold archers continued to shoot at us from around the room, but our first target was that caster. We charged the kobold chieftain and he was quickly subdued. With their caster down, the rest of the kobolds charged, including a well armored warrior. With some good teamwork we were able to knock the fight out of the kobolds. Some of them ran off while others surrendered. Unfortunately, Zenian was so caught up in the battle that he killed the kobolds that had surrendered. He was quickly reprimanded for his action. If nothing else, the kobolds may have had information for us. Regardless, we collected what valuables we could find among the slain kobolds and left the mines to explore the rest of the city.
We explored the old residential area of Darble Ias and soon came upon some large storage areas. It was in one of these storage areas that we found the second kobold leader. He and his minions were set up behind some surprisingly well designed barricades. While a front line of archers fired at us, a caster and another archer sat behind a second set of barricades and bolts of lightning and crossbow bolts at us with surprising speed. Leo managed to remove large portion of the barricade so that Smash and I could rush through and challenge the caster right off. With their lines broken and their caster slain, the rest of the kobolds were easily defeated and the last few fled from the battle.
With that, the kobold occupation of Darble Ias was broken. It would still require a bit of work to completely clear out the kobolds and the mess they left behind, but the most difficult part was done. As we left, Leo called out warnings to the kobolds, letting them know that the dwarves had returned to reclaim their city. Back at camp in Glendale, I worked with Zip to repair the damage to my armor. After a few spells and a few strikes with the hammer, both shield and armor were back as good as new. We reported our success to the dwarves. I sent word of our victory back to Fort Eclipse with Smash, Leo, Zip, and Zenian, sure that Kreger would relay that message back to the dwarven island via the supply caravans. It was a job well done and I prepared myself to have a nice relaxing winter with the dwarves at Glendale.