Messoria Account: A Failed Ambush – Paldomar’s Mistake
We leave Steven, Frank and Wanda in Fallcrest to bolster the town’s defences and head back to Thunderspire and the seven Pillared Hall. Lord Markelhay had expressed his concern over the reports we brought of the Black Fang Gnolls and asks us to investigate further, and if the remaining prisoners are alive, to rescue them.
Once back in the Hall we decide to visit Rothar’s Taproom, a less than reputable hostelry patronised by orcs, hobgoblins and the like. On the way we pass the giant minotaur statue and observe that it is the locus for a teleport circle as we see one of the Mages arrive there.
At Rother’s Taproom we see the hobgoblin warcaster who survived the fight in the Chamber of Eyes and invite him to sit with us. We establish an armed truce and learn from him that the Black Fang Gnolls are led by Maldrek Scar-Maker and they lair in a place called the Well of Demons, far below the Seven Pillared Hall. The Well of Demons dates back to the time when the minotaurs built Thunderspire Labyrinth and was apparently an important location in a religious schism related to the minotaur worship of the demon lord Baphomet.
While we are talking, a kobold beggar enters the tavern searching for us. He gives Aelar a note inviting us to a meeting purporting to be an opportunity to gain a hidden ally in the Labyrinth – clearly an invitation to a trap!
Thinking we may be able to turn the tables and gather useful information from our would-be ambushers, we head to the location described which is in a dead end tunnel off the seven Pillared Hall. Messoria and Hengist take the lead while Aelar and Andraste follow in the shadows some thirty feet behind.
In the cave we see the bulk of a Bronze Warder standing next to a large boulder and a tiefling woman on top of a ledge ten feet off the ground that runs around the edge of the cave. Aelar shoots her and tries to trip her so she falls from the ledge but she is able to save herself and instead falls to the ground out of our sight, hidden by the angle of the ledge. He then shoots at the Warder and succeeds in briefly pinning him to that cave wall as he is attempting to roll the boulder on to Messoria and Hengist.
Messoria moves around the boulder and attacks the Warder, striking mighty blows against it with her Flaming Warhammer. Andraste darts forward and tries to climb up the ledge but slips in the loose rubble at its base. Hengist meanwhile holds back calling out his encouragement for Messoria to continue attacking the Warder.
The tiefling woman regains her feet and strikes at Aelar with her magic, attacking him with spectral snakes whose venom is only too real. Then a second tiefling appears from the shadows and blasts Aelar with balefire. Aelar stumbles backwards, seriously wounded, and tries to shoot the tiefling woman again but his injuries make it hard to aim and he misses her but with an effort of will he is able to throw off the worst of the tieflings’ attacks.
The Bronze Warder finally manages to roll the boulder into the doorway, cutting Andraste and Aelar off from the fight. It then turns and knock Messoria to the ground before attacking both she and Hengist with its powerful axe. Messoria is able to deflect its blow with her shield but the axe strikes Hengist, injuring him severely. Messoria gets to her feet, manoeuvres to get the Warder between herself and Hengist, and once more attacks until the cave resonates with the sound of hammer on bronze.
Andraste notices a gap between the top of the boulder and the cave roof and uses it to spot a safe place to fey step back into the cave to attack the now heavily damaged Warder. The tiefling realises that Messoria is likely to be immune to many of her attacks so instead turns her attention to Andraste, despite the burn of Sehanine’s light as she ignores the paladin’s challenge. Andraste is badly scorched and takes refuge behind another large boulder.
Working together Messoria and Hengist finally destroy the Warder and turn their attention to the tieflings who, recognising that the fight had turned against them, had once again ducked back out of sight at the back of the ledge.
Hengist and Andraste both manage to climb up onto the ledge to attack the female tiefling while Aelar, precariously balanced on top of the boulder blocking the entrance, shoots at the other. His arrow finds its mark and the tiefling stumbles forwards only to be assailed by holy light as Sehanine’s challenge makes it tumble over the edge and draws it to Messoria. Within seconds it is all over.
Seeing this the female tiefling offers to surrender, encouraged by the fact that when Framath the Duergar had surrendered we did not kill him. She says her name is Tears of the Rain and that she and her brother were hired by Paldomar to kill us, and even given control of a Bronze Warder to accomplish the task. She shows us a note that tells them to take our bodies and a sealed scroll to the Black Fang Gnolls and gives us a detailed map of (hopefully) the safest route there. She notes that when they spoke with Paldomar, he was always hooded but they saw small tentacles beneath his hood.
Hengist manages to roll the boulder aside, opening our exit, and Messoria orders Tears of the Rain to leave the Nentir Vale.
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