The party left the sewer caverns beneath the Drow fortress. They found a small hole in the cavern wall were they could peer out on to the open area on the far side of the castle. There was a large field of large mushrooms, farmed by Myconid workers employed by the Drow. Several yards from the castle was a gated wall, gaurded by Drow and a huge ogre (seen in the photo above).
While resting here a group of rats approached the party. They were being used by the Seer of the Malathil to send an urgent message to Sharpear. The Bahumati were raising an army, and an invasion of the forest would soon begin. They had to move more quickly to complete their mission. So Sharpear left the party to take the Arbiter's decree to the Eladrin while the rest of the party completed their task with the Drow.
The party moved further through the cavern and found an exit on the other side of the gated wall. The lingered there for a time, and attracted the attention of some gaurds. The ogre game out to investigate. Gevin opened fire.
The battle ensued. The elite ogre (L7 elite brute - 600 xp), along with 6 Drow underlings (L7 minions), a drow spellspinner, and a phase spider.
The party made quick work of the underlings. The ogres most effective attack was to pin his opponent down with this y-shaped staff, and the cut them with his giant axe. He was never able to land this attack. He pinned Perra to the ground once, but missed with the axe. Perra was able to escape the pin, and eventually slay the ogre. Early in the battle Gevin's arrows had done great damage to the Ogre, doing over 100 points of damage, and causing and encounter-long to-hit penalty that really reduced the Ogre's effectiveness.
By the time the battle was over, a huge number of Drow soldiers had come out of the fortress in response to the disturbance. This was the distraction that the assassin had asked for. The party fled back to the winding cavern.
Along this route they were met by a scout for Belarcice. They showed this scout the pass they had received from the assassin. She took them to Belarcice's lair.
They told her they had a message for the rightful ruler of the house of Mezrylornyl, and they had helped the assassin in order to settle the war - so that they could deliver the message. Then they waited for word on whether the assassin had been successful. A few hours later, a celebration began. Nathnitra had been killed, and her followers were prepared to accept Belarcice as their ruler. The war was over.
The new baronness called for the party to deliver the message that had brought them here. She was shocked and angered to her that she was bound to this ancient pact. She thanked the party for their help, and promised to make good on the agreement. But she made it clear that they were no longer welcome here.
The party was escorted back to the surface by Belarcice's gaurds.
3200 party XP for combat and roleplay. Perra recovered a magical rune from the ogre that transformed his +1 armor to +2 armor. In addition the party found 850 GP.
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