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36. Entry Thirty Six: Team Pelor: The Mines of Acheron
Team Pelor, while taking a break from searching for the Bladeling Assassin, Adamok Ebon, were spending time in the Birth of Hope when they received news of a job offer from the Quartermaster, Tyvold Lestermaine. He told them that an associate of Helga's wanted a Rust Dragon in an iron mine in Avalas, the first layer of Acheron, dealt with.
Shabani questioned why they should be involved in that mission, as it didn't seem to be aiding the cause of Pelor or the fight against slavery in any way. Tyovld asked them if they thought Helga would have any friends that were not dedicated to the cause, and told them it was up to them to decide if they wanted the job or not. The Team agreed that they would give it a try as they were short of funds.
The Bishop's fiancee, Savrin, filled them in on the details: the miners in Acheron had tunnelled down into the mine only to discover a Dragon who was unhappy to have it's home invaded. The Dragon killed or ate many of the miners, and the rest fled. The Team were to go through the town of Vorkeham, then go through the Wolf gate and take a half days journey on horseback to reach the mines. They were given a letter of passage for the gate, and one for Drake, the foreman of the mine. A young teenaged girl named Pockets entered the room at that point, saying that she had been appointed to come along with them as her final graduation test, but failing to provide many other details. The Team were hesitant to let someone so young come with them, but seemed to have no other option.
They were given 2000 Gold advanced payment, and told they could keep the entirety of the Dragon's horde. The Team picked up some horses, some non-magical (disposable) armour, five one-gallon barrels of grease, and a couple of scrolls of Suppress Breath Weapon. Felix put the last 500 Gold into a large gem.
After arriving at the Wolf Gate in Vorkehan the next day, the Team found that it had been barred due to an army of Hobgoblins that was besieging the city. They were told that they could go through after showing their letter, but that it would be better if they instead went through the Lion or Hawk gate, and try to circumvent the threat. After a brief episode where Shabani nearly got arrested for insulting the guards, the Team decided to follow the advice.
It took nearly a day to arrive at the mine, which was cut into the side of a cliff at the bottom of a canyon (I think). There were three main buildings: an office, a storehouse. and a barracks.
When they got there, they were greeted by a Nobleman, a Dwarf who seemed to be the foreman, and two contingents of armed men. The nobleman said he and his men had been hired to deal with the problem of the Rust Dragon, and that the Team were imposters who should leave.
The team agreed after a brief exchange, but instead of leaving they circled up to the top of the cliff and discussed what to do next (except Felix who had invisibly sneaked into the camp). He noticed that the army was behaving oddly, almost mechanically; for example, when he cast Ghost Sound, they acted alert, but held their ground in front of the mine, and seemed to forget the sound as soon as it stopped. After reconvening with the rest of the group, they decided to Dimension Door into the office (where the Dwarf and Nobleman had been seen to enter), with a Silenced rock, and kill or at least incapacitate the Nobleman, who was obviously lying. Pockets and Flick the Dragon stayed at the top of the cliff with the Horses.
The plan began well, catching the Nobleman off-guard and blocking his way to the door. However, he proved remarkably tough, and he managed to kick the door open even though he could not escape through it, which allowed his army (in reality, an Awakened Skeleton Swarm) to pour into the building, blocking everyone's escape (except Felix, who had teleported to the other side of the Swarm before it entered).
Olwen was killed immediately by the blows of the incoming Swarm. The others struggled to deal with the Swarm and continue to attack the seeming Nobleman, who escaped outside soon afterwards. The Dwarf ran up the stairs to cower on the second story. Ranessa's strong attacks managed to disperse the Horde, and she stayed behind to deal with the remainder while Shabani chased after the Noble.
The Nobleman hid behind the second Skeleton Swarm outside and cast a spell that both damaged anyone who entered the area and healed Undead. Felix summoned a Bearded Devil, forcing their foe to relocate magically to the top of the cliff, where he continued to cast spells to support the Skeletons and attack the Team. Shabani damaged him with Fan the Flames (throwing a small. targeted Fireball), and charged him with Searing Charge, unfortunately missing him.
The next round the Noble pushed Shabani off the ridge with a spell, causing him to fall 60 feet to the ground near the Skeletal Horde. Felix tried Dispelling Magic with limited success, and an even less successful Illusion. He tried engaging with the Noble in dialogue, also to no effect.
After Ranessa finished with the last of the first group of Skeletons, she came out to join the main combat; Felix cast Fly on her, but before she could charge the Noble, she was knocked unconscious by a Fireball. Felix Dimension Doored her into the office, where Pockets was able to restore some of her health using the Wand of Cure Light Wounds from Olwen's corpse. However, upon running out to join the fight, Pockets found herself surrounded by the second Swarm, who had already sent the horse she had ridden here on to a grizzly end.
The Nobleman offered a deal: he would let Pockets live and he would also leave the mine alone if the Team agreed to let him go. Not believing him, the Team agreed to his offer, but Felix grabbed Pockets away from the Swarm with Dimension Door while Shabani blindsided the Nobleman with another Searing Charge, finishing him off. After death, her reverted to his true form: a Rakshasa, and the Skeletons lost their awareness, becoming mindless Undead.
They put Olwen's body in the storage shed, rescued the Dwarf from the second story of the office, which was now on fire, and regrouped at the top of the cliff, safely away from the Skeleton Swarm, but dangerously low on spells and weakened by the fighting. The Dwarf revealed he had been magically Charmed into believing the Rakshasa was his friend. He also said he was the only remaining member of the original mining crew.
