The party got together again last night and we carried on with our exploration of the Dwarf Mines so that we could get to the bottom of the mystery.
The Mines - Day 3 (Dawn)
There were no incidents overnight that affected the watches, so we awoke refreshed and fully healed. It was still raining and the water levels had risen overnight. The sky was still gloomy and overcast; the sun barely making its presence felt. We decided that we would systematically search each of the remaining caves in this area outside the mine before plunging into the cold, wet depths of the torrent pouring into the entrance.
It was a bit of a chore to get ourselves across to each of the intervening islands between the one we were on and the one in the north-east as the current was still swift and the jumps were too far for everyone bar myself and the magical boots I was wearing.
We managed to get onto the northeast island without incident and was greeted by the sight of many more dwarf bodies. Taking our cue from what the dwarf warriors had told us earlier, we began to place the bodies into the water. After the second one slipped below the surface, the rest began to stir and we heard a series of groans from behind the rocks in front of us.
The number of zombie dwarfs was quite large, so Gladreth launched a Fireball into their midst destroying most of them. The groans appeared to come from a red haired dwarf female warrior in plate armour. We took no chances, hit her a few times and threw her into the water. She sank under the weight of her plate armour.
The remaining zombies managed to hold their own against us for a while and then suddenly Drakkon could no longer move. At this point the red-haired dwarf warrior woman pulled herself from the water and tried to get into combat with the remaining zombies shouting a war cry in her own language that Gladreth understood; she was not a zombie, but on our side!
Several more zombies emerged from the cave we were headed towards, so to cut them off I ran forward and tried to destroy them with my god's radiant holy powers. It had no effect on them whatsoever, and I was swamped by the horde.
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| The Entrance to the Mines (second cave) |
Luckily, the dwarf warrior stormed to my rescue, taking many hits that should have struck me. I was feeling terrible for striking her earlier when we did not know she would be an ally. At some point in the melee, a weapon appeared out of thin air but I managed to duck in time to avoid injury. Not knowing what this new threat was, I cast my single Fireball spell and destroyed a large number of the zombies; Druss and Navda destroyed the remainder.
Unfortunately, just as we thought that we could lick our wounds and take a rest, a drow sorceress appeared and tried to Hold me. My god was with me this time and I shrugged off the charm but she ran back into hiding within the cave as a fresh wave of zombies bore down upon us. The fighters in the party managed to down a few but even more appeared. This was becoming ridiculous. We must have fought and seen at least thirty or more undead dwarfs in this cave alone. Luckily Gladreth still had a few spells up her sleeves and her last Fireball destroyed most of them.
Drakkon, annoyed by the drow priestess as she had charmed him twice, managed to get up close and finally dispatch her with Druss's help. Dharion and the dwarf warrior maiden completed the demise of the remaining zombies.
When the last zombie fell, I Healed the party as much as I could, including the dwarf warrior. She was grateful for the attention and opened up a little by telling us that she was with a couple of other fighters sent to liberate their countrymen. We mentioned that we had seen the other two and had rescued them from the island that they had got stuck on.
We searched the drow priestess but only found a few useful items: a very nice warhammer, a spider emblem round her neck and spider rings on her fingers, as well as two vials of what looked like Potions of Healing. We stuffed these into our sacks and got ready to move on.
