Barika frantically inquires as to Watc’s preferred personal pronoun.
After an hour spent salving the spike wall-induced holes in Briar and Ander, Charlie Company resumes progress through the labyrinth side door toward, hopefully, Mithral Hall. Several skeletons stand opposed to this progress. Hops clerically turns five of them, one fatally. Sqyylarr and Briar mop up the others.
Briar hands Watc an unlit replacement torch which Watc prestidigitates into ignition. Catching the torchlit sight of a black pudding oozing up behind Briar, Watc reverses to safety.
Hops summons a spiritual flaming sword pommel-to-shoulder with Briar to block the pudding. Hops’s spiritual flaming sword is statistically ineffective against the black pudding, alternating critical failures and whiffs. Briar’s battleaxe is a victim of its own success as it cleaves the pudding into more puddings which corrode the blade. Barika draws a javelin, which she doesn’t really enjoy carrying around anyway, and works on one of the puddings. Along with Sqyylarr’s slung bullets and firebolts from Ander and Watc, the black puddings get cooked down to black residue which Ander collects.
Bas relief eyes gratuitously adorn the passages ahead. They seem to urge a course of action, but each appears exactly the same therefore offering no clear direction to select. A section of wall catches Barika’s interest. Ander finds a concealed door. With only a stonecunning glance, Hops easily swings the secret door open and Barika leads the torchlit way.
There are no visual cues to follow, but Watc traces distinctly fresher air to the left leading them to a lit staircase. Briar cautiously proceeds up the stairs and finds a grievously wounded dwarf slumped at a long table.
Briar lays hands upon the dwarf who jolts back to axe-wielding awareness. Briar introduces himself to Dordo Husac Bristlejaw and explains they seek an audience with Queen Waybeard but were unexpectedly denied access to Mithral Hall; hence the arrival by way of labyrinth. Dordo explains that two weeks ago the good queen gathered her entire host of warriors and cavalry to ride southwest to Neverwinter, leaving behind only a minimal garrison under the command of her nephew, Helm Strongshield. Two nights ago, a visitor arrived seeking refuge from the weather and was granted entrance to Mithral Hall. This proved to be a big mistake. The stranger, intensely interested in some approaching caravan, murderously subdued the garrison with summoned fell beasts. Dordo managed to narrowly escape to this secret chamber to tell the tale, but seems to have lost one arm in the battle.
Dordo offers Briar his uncorroded battle axe if Briar will agree to wet it with the blood of their mutual enemies. Briar accepts that condition, but not before a long rest.