6/15 recap

Hrir grabbed the energy axe from the shriveled orc leader's hand with a dwarven/dragon chuckle of greed, only to watch the blade disappear. He then started stripping the armor from the deceased. Enli took this opportunity to start praying to Ibenaikad for divine guidance. Urgmob and Siala explored the two doors leading out of the room, and discovered that they were merely illusions. Going just a bit further, they saw that some remaining orcs were holding a cautious discussion of their own in a back passageway.

A devil's voice called out from the shaft, calling for the party to relinquish the Wheel. The party hid in the corners of the room, out of sight, except for Siala who invisibly watched the corridor. A single cornugon stood at the entrance, blocking it, while another kept peeking around the corner. The party tried very hard to enrage the devils into coming into the room to attack, but the devils were having no part of that. They claimed that they would give the party knowledge of the dragonstone in return for the Wheel. When accused of trying to destroy the world, they said that they didn't share Vlemniir's desires, and that they merely wanted it for travel purposes. Rhin asked if the party could merely use the Wheel to send them wherever they wanted to go, but the devil said that they needed the wheel in general.

A standoff was held for about 5 minutes, and then the devils were flew off. A much larger creature flew up, however, and landed on the ledge of the corridor, out in the shaft. It was a blue dragon, and it started clawing through the stone, making the corridor large enough for it to enter. The party then decided to attack it. Rockaneeshoo fired spells at it, and in return it fired a black beam that struck him in the head. Rock lost 8 levels due to enervation, and staggered backwards. Enli decided to give up his divination, and moved forward to cast a flame strike. The dragon responded by hitting Enli with another black beam, which stripped Enli of 4 levels. Urgmob fired some arrows into the dragon, hitting true, but the dragon responded by putting up a wall of wind between them. It also breathed lightning down the passageway, scorching several party members.

After taking some damage, the dragon flew up the shaft, and out of sight. The party gave chase to the stairway, and was met by another blast of lightning from the dragon above. It then flew out into the desert, and away from sight again.

Rather than face it in the open, the party moved back to engage the remaining orcs. Siala snuck up invisibly, and started viciously stabbing her target. The others joined in, and soon there were two orcs on the ground. One was still alive, and Rhin stabilized him. Pressing through the doorway, the party faced only two more orcs, apparently spellcasters. Once managed to put up a blade barrier, but Hrir rushed through it anyways to attack him. That one dropped, and the other was commanded to drop his weapon and surrender. He did, and Urgmob put an arrow into him anyways. A warning was shouted again at the orc to lie down, so he did. And then Hrir fatally tenderized him with his axe.

A quick decision was made to leave the area quickly, but Hrir wasn't about to leave the scene without the armor. So he ran back through the blade barrier to the entry room, and across to the dead orc and his armor. On the way, a blast of electricity fried him, but he managed to keep going. He dragged the orc back with him to the party (not crossing the room again), and the Rhin uttered the Word of Recall to transport them all back to Oriv.

The orc was revived and questioned. He was merely a fighter, but he kept his wits pretty well. He said that the orc that had worn the Habergeon was the chieftain of Mugron, that the orcs and Devils had a pact, and that the Devils and dragon had a pact, but that the dragon didn't have any such pact with the orcs. The party made some comments about finishing off the orc leadership at some point. Later, they asked the captive why they should keep him alive. He said that if there were to be a violent change in the governing of Mugron, that he could probably make sure that the new people in charge would be amenable to an alliance with the party. Especially if he himself were the liason between them. The party turned him over to Keggrok for safekeeping, and explained the situation to him.

Siala explored the Green Dragon Inn, and stared down a group of unruly hobgoblins. They even bought her a round of ale, which wasn't too bad. Rockaneeshoo collapsed on his bunk, exhausted. Allison showed off her magic missile mastery before he fell asleep.