While the troupe attempts to infiltrate the Iron Throne’s Mine, they come across a wizard defending the lower levels. The mage manages to take control of Aegon’s mind, who turns against his own Troupe. They flee and now Aegon must find a way to resist the wizard’s charm.
1 Eleint 1368
I can hear the confused guards fighting amongst themselves in the main guardroom. One of them finds me, approaching from the room to the west. Then he clutches at his throat and collapses. I see the reason: an arrow laced with poison sticks out from his back.
I don’t know what to do. I know I should be pursuing those who have invaded this place. I need to defend the Throne. And yet I find myself unable to move down the secret corridor after them.
I take one step forward then pause. No. This isn’t right. The mage has influenced my mind. They aren’t my enemy. The Iron Throne is. The echo of the wizard’s will lingers like a shadow in my mind. For a moment I wonder how often I’ve thought my choices were my own. But I am free of that blasted spell. The enemy lies behind me, not ahead of me. I call out to the others, hoping they can hear.
The others turn the corner, glad to see that I am back. Dynaheir says we should move quickly, rush the mage. He must not be allowed to cast another spell. We charge back into the western room and find the mage on his own. His guard must still be in the main guardroom to the north. He still has some protective spells active, but no matter how he tries, a blow from Bashrik’s hammer or an arrow sticking in him distracts him enough to counter his magic.
The mage is overwhelmed as Kivan lifts his bow and takes careful aim. The arrow pins the mage’s head against the wall, killing him instantly.
There is no sound coming from the guardroom to the north. Either they’ve stopped fighting, or they are all dead. Either way they aren’t coming through here right now, so we take the time to see what scrolls the mage may have.
Stripping him of his robe we find it is an Adventurer’s Robe, a robe that offers some protection to a mage.
We also find he is wearing some Bracers of Defense. These are stronger than the ones Dynaheir has been wearing, so she takes these and places her old ones in the Bag of Holding.
We find his scroll pouch and he has some useful spells inside. The first allows a mage to paralyse someone for a short time.
He has a Scroll of Haste that can speed up our allies in physical combat.
He has a powerful spell created by the mage Beltyn, that literally turns a person’s blood into fire. This must be an extremely painful way to go.
The next scroll simply allows the caster to shout really loud. Loud enough to burst someone’s ear drums.
He has a couple of lower level spells as well, the first being Obscuring Mist. Dynaheir copies this scroll to her spellbook.
He also has a scroll of Web, which Dynaheir attempts to copy, but fails to do it properly.
In a pouch on his belt we find 310 gold and a Potion of Explosions. A fireball in this enclosed space is sure to lead to a lot of death.
There is no more noise coming from the guardroom. It’s almost too quiet. The small corridor leading to it is strewn with bodies, many with arrows sticking out of them. We step over them and find the surviving guards standing around a corpse in the middle of the room. They look to us with fear and anger. Kivan fires an Arrow of Ice that hits one of the guards so hard his armour freezes and shatters.
There are too many of them to fight all at one time, so I ask the Weave to put them to Sleep. All but a couple fall into a magical slumber.
We kill them one by one as they sleep, starting with those that didn’t succumb to my spell.
When they awaken, I simply put them back to Sleep. Without their mage to protect them, we are in control of the Weave.
It isn’t long before we are spilling the blood of the last guard. It seems like we have cleared out the entire guardroom. We can relax for a short while.
The guards were not well equipped. Most of them wore leather armour and carried long bows. We gather up what trinkets we can from the bodies. As we search them I wander into a room to the east that turns out to be a kitchen. The chef is not amused by our presence.
Cook: Ya buncha chuckle headed shag bags, try to sneak by me, will ya? I’m going to drub you but good.
She puts on a tough demeanor, but she is no threat to us and she knows it. We decide to leave her be, and she just watches us warily as we search the kitchen. We don’t find anything of value, but there is another hidden door to the east leading to the secret passageway.
We figure the main entrance to the guardroom must be trapped, so we agree to take the secret corridor back toward the entrance. Unfortunately Aura doesn’t get the message and despite being adept at spotting traps, is nearly kill when an arrow flies out of the wall and hits her in the stomach.
After removing the arrow, she drinks a Potion of Healing and returns to disarm the trap. We won’t be making that mistake twice.
We go back to the entrance and find the door that wasn’t taken to the west. It’s locked, but Kieria is able to get us through.
We find another set of prison cells behind the door, and a young kid has been left alone here, his ankle chained to the ground. He is both excited and terrified to see us, his eyes begging us for mercy.
Perwell: Help! Please free me at once!
I wonder if this is Aphriel’s son, the kid kidnapped by bandits and taken to the mines.
Aegon: You are Perwell, right? I’m Aegon. Your mother is looking for you.
Perwell: Do you know my mother? She is probably already worried sick! Please set me free!
Aegon: At once, kid. I’ll cut your chains.
Bashrik’s Hammer breaks the chain easily, though it still leaves an iron bracelet around his ankle.
Perwell: Oh, thank you, sir, thank you thank you thank you! The bandits kidnapped me to blackmail my mom. But now I can escape them!
We should escort him out of the mines, but if we don’t press on the Throne might reinforce the mines when it gets word of our assault. We have killed all the guard up to this point, so maybe he’ll be okay on his own. Maybe.
Aegon: Can you find your own way out?
Perwell: Yes, I think so, but…
I know that we are deep in the woods and I do not know the way back home. Can you… take me along?
Aegon: I can do that but I have to finish something here first.
Perwell: Yippee! You are the greatest!
I’m going to sneak out of here and wait for you in the inner yard! I’m coming home!
The kid rushes out of the cell toward the nearby stairs. The bracelet around his ankle doesn’t even need to slow him down.
We have to move quickly now if we want to shut down this mine and save the child. This is the second floor of this place. Two more floors to go, and there are probably a lot more of the Iron Throne’s guards between us and Davaeorn. We return through the guardroom and descend the stairs to the next level.
At the bottom of the stairs we find another neatly carved hall filled with guards. They look like heavily armed Blacktalons, supported by a few hobgoblin archers.
Kivan takes out one of the archers before they can raise their bows and I leap into the fray with my Hammer.
I can’t hold off all of the Blacktalons, so Kivan draws his Dragon Spear to help keep them at bay. Branwen grabs her Rift Hammer and helps keep them away from the other three.
Aura sends an arrow through a hobgoblin’s chest, knocking him to the ground. Branwen is repeatedly cut by the Blacktalon’s sword, and she is forced to use Potions of Healing to keep herself alive.
I strike the guard attacking Branwen in the back, and I hear the cracking of bone. He realises I am the greater threat and turns to face me. He slashes me across the back, and I feel the warmth of blood pouring down it. On seeing this Branwen calls out to me and throws me a potion.
Aura kills the last hobgoblin archer and turns her Sunshooter toward the guards. She marks the heavily wounded guard as her first target.
Before she can shoot, Kivan impales the guard on his Dragon Spear, and lifts him into the air. He splits apart and the archer hurls what is left of him across the room.
Now Kivan is free he draws his long bow again. With a few quick shots he takes out each of the remaining guards with murderous precision.
Kivan lowers his bow, barely breaking a sweat. Tazok isn’t going to have a good time when they finally come face-to-face.
While the others catch their breath, I search the bodies. Apart from a few gems, they have nothing of interest. We look at our options. Three corridors lead out of this room. We decide to start with the one to the north. It’s as good a place as any to start.
We come to a door and decide to peek into the room. It’s a bedroom, and the current occupant isn’t happy about the intrusion.
Guard: What are you doing in my room?! You’re not supposed to be here!
The arrow is already on its way to his neck before he’s finished speaking. I turn and see Kivan lowering his bow once again. I’m glad this one is on our side.
We enter the guard’s bedroom. It’s large with several drawers, chests, and wardrobes decorating the place. Whoever this guard was, he must have been important to have a room like this.
Kieria and Aura check the room for traps before we touch anything. After giving the all clear I search the drawers and find some gems and a Scroll of Shocking Grasp. Dynaheir copies this spell into her spellbook, hoping to stun the next person who tries to get close to her.
At the base of the bed is a heavy chest, held closed with a large padlock. We don’t find a key on the guard Kivan killed, but Aura steps up and says this should be no problem.
After a few seconds of fiddling we hear a loud click, and the lock pops open. Inside the chest we find 23 gold pieces, five Acid Arrows and five Arrows of Biting, enchanted with poison. Kivan fills his quiver with the arrows, passing down some enchanted arrows to Aura.
We leave and continue along the northern corridor and are spotted by a group of hobgoblins in a room down a corridor to the east.
The eastern corridor creates a useful choke point that we take advantage of. I hold the hobgoblins at bay, while the others fill them with arrows.
After a few of the guards fall, the others retreat back into the room. I don’t want to follow them into a potential trap, so I pull out my sling and start hurling bullets.
Realising we aren’t following them, they turn around and charge at us again. Kieria is ready with her Light Crossbow of Speed, killing one before they can get close again.
She’s just as quick and as accurate as Kivan, and she slays them with as much efficiency. Wary of an ambush I ask the others to wait before we proceed. I’m not getting any visions of my death, but we still need to be wary. Up until now my visions have only shown me my own deaths – and I don’t want to lose any of the others this deep into the mine.
Cautiously, we make our way into the hobgoblins room…
