Game summary for February 19, 2008; present characters included Chuck Ahammer (shield dwarf master thrower/rogue/thunderthrower), Eolas Windmaster (moon elf duskblade), Grim Firestorm (shield dwarf barbarian/battlerager/frenzied berserker/warmain), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/scout/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/ring sage/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger/peerless archer), and Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor/pious templar).
The fire giants in the guardroom engaged the Mercenaries immediately, and Grim chopped one down in a moment, terrifying another. The third giant, an arcane caster, empowered a fireball and blasted a large number of the party; however, the team weathered the flames well. The giants fell back further into the room to force the Mercenaries to come to them. Meanwhile, a blast of smoke filled part of the hallway, and Kagro Thundersmiter and another of the Tiamikal Nul-Shada sergeants appeared from nowhere.
Several of the Mercenaries used ranged attacks to bring down the spellguard giant, and Iapetus moved in to engage the remaining sergeant in the room. Grim stepped up to Kagro and found him defended by displacement. Kagro injured Aridarye and brutalized Grim. The frenzied dwarf somehow remained on his feet. Eolas dispelled the displacement from the Heartkeeper, allowing Syvarius and Grim to land a series of solid blows that dropped the fire giant. Soon thereafter, the party mopped up the remaining giants and looted their corpses. Taravin dragged them all into the guardroom and blessed them on their way into the netherworld.
With Kagro’s vault keys in hand, Morak led the team into the bowels of the Citadel in search of the phylactery vault. After a moderate descent, the Mercenaries found a large room, hallway, and stairwell outside of a shrine to Bhaal. Within the shrine writhed a six-armed marilith demon! She immediately conjured blade barriers into the room, but Eolas dispelled them with ease. The archers discovered the visible marilith was an illusion, and Lyrin deduced she had to actually be in the room with them. Taravin used detect evil to locate the marilith, in the form of a spider, hiding on the ceiling. Meanwhile, Iapetus slipped down the stairway and found the vault doors flanked by massive, standing, giant corpses.
The Mercenaries traded spells with the demon for some time. Soon, blade barriers whirled all about the chamber, and charring blasts of conjured flame ripped back and forth through the area. Grim bashed open a closed door and charged in after a frost giant within. The giant dispatched Grim with a maze spell and fled by using the spell upon himself as other party members moved into the room. Meanwhile, Morak dealt a killing blow to the marilith with his conjured flames. The group quickly surrounded the location vacated by the frost giant, but he never returned.
Battered and low on mana, the Mercenaries decide to make camp in the dungeon level before moving on to the vault. Do any defenders remain in the Citadel to drive them out during the night? Can the Mercenaries open the vault doors, and what riches or horrors lie beyond? What have the hordes of dragons been up to while the team has spent days inside the Citadel?
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