The rouge, barbarian, monk and adventuring archeologist were poised to make their way up to the citadel of Thunderdelve Mountain. Then they heard the braying of a donkey from the trail behind them. Slowly approaching was their bard. It seems he had been busy doing some performance and missed the steam carriage. He had spent the last week trying to catchup to the party. The now five man party made their way through a small valley and up toward the citadel.
As they advanced, they saw two white dragonborn guards patrolling the main gate. The rouge was going to sneak up to dispatch one or both guards. The monk was voting for direct assault. It was then that the two guards walked back into citadel through the giant and slightly open main doors. The party advanced and the barbarian hatched a plan.
He stomped right through the gate and held out his water skin now full of snowberry wine. He held it up and proclaimed “Drinks!”
The two dragonborn guards were just inside the gates and warming themselves by a small fire. One guard stood and reached for the water skin. The second guard slapped his hand away and barked at his companion in their dragon language. They both grabbed their spears and attacked! Well it was a short and uneventful battle as the barbarian and monk dispatched the two guards quickly.
The party took stock of their location. They were in a wide and long hallway. Several doors lined both sides as well as a pair of giant metal doors at the end. A pair of hallways also broke off to either side of the main hall as well. There was no main consensus and their archeologist, Lukas, didn’t have a map of this place. So….they began to open doors.
The barbarian opened the first door he saw and found a small guard room and within was another door, which was suddenly thrown open. Two more dragonborn guards rushed toward him. Meanwhile, the rouge opened the door opposite and found four sleeping dragonborn. He slowly snuck into the room and promptly stumbled and knocked over a trio of spears. This awoke the sleeping dragonborn and leapt up to arm themselves. Hooray! Battles on two fronts!
Well short battle on two fronts as the barbarian’s vorpal sword claimed its first head of the night. The monk, rouge and bard began to cut their way through the four dragonborn in the opposite room. Sure the barbarian came over to join the fray, and need to as the battle was complete mess of people just missing everyone. (SIDEBAR- as the game started most player hit rolls were garbage and a lot of misses)
Two rooms cleared and now they discussion of what to do next. They discussed what they were looking for and Lukas told them of a gem with magical properties called the “heir Stone.” It was supposed to have all manner of magical properties or enchantments upon it. This is what he was looking to find, if he ever found this citadel. He knew it should be located in a giant central hall where the fancy banquets, event and meeting were said to be held. Well they now they had a what, but needed to find the where. They chose to take the first hallway to the left and begin looking.
More doors!
This long hallway contained four doors and another off shoot hallway to the right. Well the barbarian started opening doors. The first on was full of refuse (plates, bones, goblets, clothing scraps). He closed it and continued down the hall. As they walked they could hear the muffled sounds of carousing nearby. The next door was opened and within was room with ice covered walls, four small alcoves, a door at the back and quartet of white guardian drakes. The barbarian slammed the door, warned the party and moved to the next door. He pulled that open to find four long tables and ten dragonborn enjoying a meal. He drew his sword and charged the first one he could see!
The monk, bard, rouge and archeologist were still a ways down the hall discussing options for exploration. They heard the familiar sounds of battle and rushed toward it. The monk entered the small dining hall. The barbarian had once again removed the head of an opponent and was surrounded by three dragonborn. The monk rushed in to engage the others. The rouge and bard ran down the hall and straight into a dragonborn walking out of the room containing the guard drakes. The rouge quickly dispatched him, but he fell in the open doorway. The guardian drakes now had an exit!
As the battle raged in the dining hall, the bard and rouge struggled to move the dragonborn corpse and close the door before the drakes could join the fray. As the bard pulled the corpse from the doorway the rouge slammed the door shut. He held on as the beasts thrashed against the wooden door trying to break it open or down. After a few moments the beating and thrashing stopped. Seems the beasts became bored and probably returned to their slumber. Within the dining hall the dragonborn were all put down by the monk and bard.
The party continued onwards to the next door, which led to a large kitchen. A dragonborn leaned over a fire turning meat on a spit. Six goblins ran around the kitchen carrying trays of food or handfuls of various ingredients to the chef. The sight of a blood covered ½ orc scarred them enough to stop the goblins in their tracks. The barbarian rushed the cook and cut him down where he stood. He then turned to the goblins……and put away his sword and spoke gently to them.
The goblins spoke of a big boss and a little dragon. They knew big boss went out a lot, but the little dragon stayed in the building. The party took note of the fact there was at least one large dude in this place and a “smaller” dragon running about. They gave the goblins their freedom. This lead to the goblins sudden and crazed ransacking of the kitchen. That was followed by the goblins fleeing down the hall. The party move d to the remaining door in this hallway.
They kicked it open and were assaulted by the smell of thick sandalwood incense. They entered a small room of opulence. Bright silken tapestries covered three walls. A polar bear skin rug covered the majority of the floor. A large soft bed covered in fine blankets and soft pillows stood against the far corner. A small end table next to the bed is where the incense was slowly burning. Mounted on two of the walls were stuffed heads from yeti. Yeti that must have dwarfed the group that ambushed the party days prior. The group began to search the room. The rouge removed and rolled up one tapestry in hopes of getting a good price for it.
After searching the room they managed to find a door hidden in far wall. This opened to a small room, or very large closet. Inside was a small table with a pair of slowly burning candles, a sword stand and a small vial of oil. They grabbed the vial of oil and continued to search the room. While doing this they did find another secret door. This led to a small hallway and at the end of it... another door. The barbarian opened this door and was hit by a blast of ice cold air and snow. This door opened to a hallway and to the outside world.
The party had found another entrance or exit to the citadel. There was a small trail leading out from the citadel and down into the valley below. If they would have spent another day traversing the mountain, they might have found this trail and entrance. Well, it was more of a hole now and not so much an official entrance any longer. The wall looked to have been bashed open and made wider. The hallway was similarly smashed and widened. What was once a pristine 10’x 15’ hallway was now closer to 20’x 20’ bashed and broken hallway. Someone or something had widened this hall and doorway.
The party began down this hall and found a pair of doors, one which was locked. The rouge stepped up and promptly broke his lock pick and jammed the lock. The monk bent down to investigate the lock, but moved aside quickly as the barbarian came charging toward the door. He struck it with his shoulder. The door splintered into dozen of pieces. The room behind had a thin layer of snow covering the floor due to the hole in the ceiling. Three large hunks of meat hung from the ceiling on hooks. Small kegs, three of them, were lined up against the wall. They were filled with snowberry wine. It appears the party found a naturally chilled pantry.
The next door had been smashed open and widened like the hallway. The room within looked to have once been sleeping quarters for a few people. Now it was full of smashed beds, bit of white fur and bits of bone. The monk and barbarian shared a look and knew what had probably been sleeping here.
The party followed the hallway to where it ended at a pair of large rime covered metal doors. They pushed these open and discovered the large banquet hall that Lukas had read about. However, it was not in the shape he described it. The ceiling was open to the elements in several spots. Four large stalagmites of ice reached up toward the ceiling beneath the holes. A trio of similar metal doors could be seen at the West, South and East walls. Pairs of dragonborn stood guarding the West and Eat doorways. In the center of the room stood a pillar of ice, but this was not natural. It looked man (or dwarf) made and was covered with runes or script. Atop this icy pillar was a large oval and faintly glowing yellow gemstone ringed by two metal bands. This had to be the Heir Stone!
Directly in front of the Heir Stone pillar stood a throne made of stone, ice and bone. Large rib bones spread out from the back of the throne. Atop it sat the skull of a dragon. Beside the throne two winter wolves lay sleeping. The figure sitting on the throne turned his head to see who had entered the chamber. His skin was a light sky blue. His hair and beard the color of the mountain snow. His head was adorned with a horned leather helm. He wore a breastplate comprised of layered white dragon scales. Across his lap was a mighty axe. The shaft was dragon bone and carved with runes. The head of the axe was a sharpened hunk of ice. The figure rose to his full height, all 20’ of it. He then motioned to the dragonborn and spoke in a deep bellowing Nordic accent to awaken the sleeping winter wolves.
The barbarian smirked, drew his sword and turned to the party.
“The big one is mine!” he said and charged then into the room.
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