When you arrive at Edgar’s, though, you notice that the Halfling is nowhere to be found. With no time to waste, you decide to go back to the adventurer’s Guild to meet up with Gladiatorus and rescue you poor friend Glim. While awaiting Gladiatorus, Bryce decides to take the opportunity to procure some useful additions to his deadly armament. About the time he returns, Galdiatorus shows up and rallies fifty men to join in your quest to capture the nefarious Erazmus and liberate you captive gnome.
En masse you march east towards the fiend’s hideout. After a days forced march you set up camp for the night. Galdiatorus beckons Jake to meet with the other lieutenants in his tent. There he informs Jake that there will be three teams that will assault Erazmus’ stronghold. The first team, led by Gladiatorus will go in before daybreak and force their way towards Erazmus’ inner chamber. The second team will follow closely behind and mop up any dug-in resistance. Finally, your team will enter fifteen minutes later and make its way down to the lower level to the holding cells. With any hope, most of the forces will have joined the main melee in the upper caverns and there should be little-to-no resistance.
The next morning, the casters set a fog upon the cave opening, and under cover of night and obscuring mist, the siege begins. The first team storms in, yelling with weapons waving. You hear the sounds of ferocious battle inside. Next, as the clamor begins to dwindle, team-two enters and reawakens the fury of battle. At the predetermined time, when the sound of sword on shield has diminished, your team enters the pitch dark of the cave. With limited visibility, you make your way to the descending passage, but before you could enter, the darkness is defeated by the flaming beards of three fire dwarves. They press you without fear, but misjudge your resolve as you cut through them like a vorpal blade through butter. Gladiatorus, who lingered behind to give you support, dispatched some foes in the distance while urging you to go onward to your waiting companion.
With a nod you comply and delve down a long winding corridor. About halfway down, you feel a rumble under your feet as a mountain of a creature barrels down upon you. As it comes into view, you see it to be a monstrosity born of an ox and ogre, its huge ram-like horns leveled to mow you down. With catlike reflexes, Marlon, J’Saahuis, and Lanolin knock their bows and let loose a volley of missile fire. True to their mark, the beast, never even realizing it was dead, charged on only to slide motionless at the feet of the stalwart Marlon. The two half ogres driving the creature were shaken with fear at the sight of your effortless dispatching of their “muscle”. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, they turned to flee but were instead met with bolts of magical energy from behind. You then spotted the source of those magic missiles; it was good old Glimnoddle, standing defiantly in the corridor behind the smoking creatures. At the sight of your lost ally, Jake, Roland, Bryce and Soulan charged in with fervor and leveled the beasts in a flash.
Reunited with Glim, you hurried the gnome to gather his goods and make haste for the exit, but he would not comply. He told you of a kindly dwarf he had befriended that was still being held captive in the lower cells. Though you were uneasy about lingering any longer than necessary, you couldn’t leave a potential friend behind and hurriedly made your way to the cells. There you found and freed the dwarf Phyllup who, true to Glim’s word, seemed an amicable enough fellow. He told you of his betrayal by his very own brother, the turncoat Tearence. This only sealed your bond with the stout warrior, for you too had been stabbed in the back by that one-legged traitor (some of you more literally than others).
At full speed, with your liberated comrades in tow, you forged your way to the main battle that raged in the upper chambers. There the battle was hard pressed. Gladiatorus and his men were bringing the fight hard to Erazmus and his minions. They seemed to have everything well in hand when Gladiatorus yelled out for you to stop Erazmus’ Captain. Just then you spotted a dragon-kin humanoid flanked by two small fire elementals and an emblazoned skeleton barreling towards you. You drew your steel and met him like a wall of impenetrable iron. He and his men broke upon you like the waves upon a rocky shore. Although he and his brethren were worthy adversaries, they could not match your might and ultimately fell to you superior might, though Glimnoddle was gravely wounded in the skirmish.
Shortly thereafter, the rest of Gladiatorus’ men turned the tide of the fight and soon the battle was over; Erazmus bound in shackles. With a prayer to the fallen, the surviving warriors gathered the belongings of the deceased to return them to their families and collected the spoils of the defeated foes to be dispersed among the surviving forces as reward for their aid.
With his quarry in hand, Gladiatorus led your victorious band back to Axegard. Once there, you shared a drink and a moment of silence for those who would not return and clapped each others shoulders with accolades of a job well done.
Now, reunited again, you settle in for a well deserved nights rest back at Edgar’s house, eager to face tomorrow’s challenges with a renewed sense of purpose.
That is until the door burst violently open and…