Session 42 & 43 - Jail Break

 The party awaken and are in small cells, Throt and Nogok are constrained in iron maidens that are not quite big enough to contain them, and the others are in hand and feet manacles.

After a short time in their cells the party are escorted out by a group of Duergar, they are taken through the forge floor and through a well guarded room, as they exit they see Snorp, Zilbo and Holgi carrying buckets and being driven by two Duergar who order them to clean the cells while the prisoners are seeing the lord. 

They end up in the throne room of Xaradoc. Looking around the room they see a strange sight, a Myconid has had its arm cut off and there are several creatures collecting its spores in jars. 

He addresses them as he sits with Grandolfa at his side, "You have voilated my sanctuary and killed many of my guards. What do you have to say for yourself?"

As the general discussion ensues, the Myconid reaches out via communication spores to the party, It speaks into their minds, and tells them it needs to be freed and that it has imbued them with a mycelial network allowing them to speak telepathically if they are within 100 ft of each other.

The party taunt Xaradoc about how easy his guards fell and they take them back to their cells while he decides what to do with them. 

As they walk back they see several Duergar handling two huge bug like creatures, they are returned to their cells where Throt and Nogok notice a pile of straw in one corner presumably to soak up any mess, but it seems suspiciously kobold shaped. The others notice a glinting object in the straw in their cages also. 

At around 3am there is a change of guard, and the three Duergar hammerers are replaced by two normal Duergar soldiers. A short time later the party use this chance to escape, and they manage to taunt a guard to come close to Throts cell, to find him with Zilbo who has now released him from the iron maiden and The guards life ends shortly after. 

They subdue the other guard and put them in the iron maidens. looking in the other cells they find one that contains all their gear, and two that are inhabited by other prisoners. They release them to find a Goliath who asks them to join her in escaping, and also to visit her tribe where they will be hailed as heroes, and another elf who has been tortured a lot and does not seem all that stable. 

Geared up they send Holgi Snorp and Zilbo out into the forge floor to see what kind of guards are around. There are two just outside the prison entrance, and The Kobolds manage to lure them in where the party dispatches them quickly. 

The other guards on the far side of the forge floor seem bored and inattentive at their posts, and the party is able to sneak by them. Hiding behind the forge they see several small vents and inside the beating dragon heart they know has powered this place. Most of the party move on towards the throne room, after Throt asks the Kobolds where the bug creatures are, they confirm they are in the cave complex on the far side. 

Etch stays behind and using his sword repeatedly stabs the heart until its rhythmic pulsing ceases and he feels an ever so slight reduction in the temperature. 

Etch hurries to join the rest of the party and they find their way back into the throne room, as they get close the Myconid senses them and says that it will create a distraction so they can take down its tormentors. It reaches up with its remaining clawed hand and drags a massive gash in its chest, the influx of spores into the room sends the tormentors into a frenzy as they try and catch them all, the party are able to surprise them and dispatch them quickly, but the Myconid returns to the earth.

They see that in the back of the throne room there are two doors, and they start with the west door which Throt opens to see one of the large Bug creatures sleeping inside, he is able to close the door without waking it, and looks to the Kobolds who swear they didnt know that it was here as they were not allowed in this room. Throt sees that behind it are doors leading towards the east. 

At the east door, as Mochi sneaks to it open it they spot several creatures, but as Nogok comes to look inside he catches their attention with his clanking armor. They fight the fur bound humanoid creatures and search the room. They find many bones and remains of creatures, and hear a rhythmic clanking from the western wall. 

Realizing they have little choice but to fight the beast they head in to confront it. The beast is an Umber Hulk and its gaze has effects the party in different ways, but they eventually are able to overcome it. 

The rooms door leads to an elevator and as they get to the top they see Bruvo on guard duty, He says that they can escape as Xaradoc is in his chambers sleeping, but the party decide to take him down and end his reign of terror. They head into the war room and alert him to their presence, his locked door is no challenge for Mochi and they storm the room to find him in a nightshirt wielding his wicked gauntlet. 

As they fight Xaradoc uses some dirty tricks and Etch uses heat metal to make him drop the gauntlet, which leaves him quite easy to overcome and he dies. 

Throt takes note that the mug he pissed in has far less liquid in it than it did before making him very happy.