The adventurers make a quick visit to Samular’s tomb to find any explanation for the empty sarcophagus Renwick keeps for his brother at Mountain Keep. They find a very fine crypt outside the hall overlooking Dessarin Valley, but no additional information.
Haerelben visits a jewelcrafter to trade looted gemstones for a diamond necklace.
The party spends the night resting up for the journey to the Vale of the Dancing Waters except for Quinzella who works through the night to assist cleanup of the mysterious slaughter from the previous day.
The next morning the party meets up with Quinzella who possesses a map to the vale. The journey is two days by foot and one day by horse. While they discuss how to procure horses in a hurry, a wizardly fellow growing a long white beard and wearing a Quastarte crest rides into the courtyard. Meega recognizes him as a professor.
Allana conversates with the brusque professor who has hastened here to investigate the preternatural murder most foul of Lady Ushien Stormbanner. Allana suggests Professor Akebarin Betior visit Pilphit’s General where he will find the similar head-hole-brain-gone malady. He thanks her brusquely and departs.
Sir Jeffry grants the use of horses but sends along Squire Shad, of the Belliard Shads, to fetch back the horses from the vale. Theren’s oil flasks wait just outside the city gates.
The uneventful journey up the Dessarin river basin with Shad takes a full day. Camped beside the river at the foot of a waterfall, Theridan gets a really complete look at a giant elk.
Shad catches and cooks fish in the morning before departing with the horses. He warns the party, like many have, to tread lightly because the Besilmer dwarves regard this area as sacred. He directs them to the climbable path next to the waterfall.
At the top of the waterfall the party finds itself in a river-cut gorge. Tall grass obscures the game trail but the survivalists of the party pick it up and they follow along to a rocky gap in the gorge wall where two dwarves leisurely smoke their pipes. It’s Ardak and Bruenor. Theridan notices an elven portal embedded in the rocky wall next to them.
Allana catches Ardak up on their adventures and assures him that all four elemental temples have been located. In turn, Ardak describes the dracolich attack on Quastarte, undoubtedly provoked by the Opeth crystal in the central portal tower there, and he reckons the attack is linked with the gathering elemental evil.
Ardak further explains that the Opeth is a terrifically ancient and powerful force, transcending good and evil, that fractured into the orange crystals familiar to the party.
Ardak reveals the nature of the temple hunting activities that has occupied the adventurers’ full attentions. Four objects are wielded by four prophets to facilitate the entry of elemental evil into this world through the four temples. These forces are more united in purpose than the actions of the individual cultists might indicate. He expects an object of opposing power may be found within the vale at the Shrine of the Unbreakable Oath that could help reverse the incursion, possibly by destroying the four evil objects. Or something like that.
Ardak indicates he’s keen on visiting the shrine to help find the object, but instead he and Bruenor will deal with … THAT! He indicates to the sky over Allana’s shoulders. Behind them, a giant fiery orb of devastation approaches from afar. Ardak’s staff touches Bruenor, creating a suit of armor on him, and a warhammer magically appears in Ardak’s other hand. It looks like a cosmically epic croquet game that the adventurers can’t wait around for.
The party hastens deep into the gorge where merging creeks dance over each other to form the Dessarin river headwaters. Theridan spots two runes which Allana reads as “unbreakable” and “oath” in Besilmer. They ascend a narrow switchback path up the gorge wall, stepping over one low-set tripwire midway up.
Behind them, Ardak rips open a portal from which pours an automaton army, and one single shadow, as the devastation orb breaks into many smaller parts that deposit fire elementals and cultists into the gorge. Ardak’s summoned forces block access to the gorge as the battle begins, buying the adventurers time to locate the object and, hopefully, escape.
The party emerges from the path into a yard where two dwarf statues flank an archway. The statues offer no trouble, but the two real dwarves guarding the archway, and their attending ogre, are clearly hostile and testy that nobody sprung their tripwire. The guards warn off the intruders: all who enter the shrine will die. Allana retorts that these guards have entered the shrine so obviously they will die.
If Allana’s logic doesn’t penetrate Blue Dorf’s mind, Meega’s axe certainly does. Blue Dorf falls from two quick chops. Theren’s crossbow bolts find their way to the ogre. Haerelben tries to persuade Grey Dorf to surrender, but his answer is to smack Theridan with his warhammer. Theridan’s shillelagh enters the world magically and enters the dwarf’s head crunchilly. Allana double eldritch blasts the ogre dead before Meega can get to it with Giant Slayer. Irritated, Meega chops down Grey Dorf before he can answer any questions. She finds no identifying contents in their pockets.
Through the archway an open-top courtyard surrounds a gesticulating statue which Haerelben thinks might be Berronar Truesilver, beloved of Moradin. Her stone worked arms offer a perpetually unbroken oath. Engraved scenes of dwarven heroism ring the room’s crown. Hammering can be heard through an archway to the north, an orange blob can be seen breaking through into the gorge far below the archway to the south, Opeth informs Allana the archway to the east is most interesting, and the archway to the west has nothing going for it.
Everyone crowds into a tiny altar room through the east archway to poke and prod for the powerful object except Meega who loiters outside hoping for some new giant she could beat on. A carved relief of Berronar reprises the wall behind a stone altar. A stone bowl is integrally carved with the stone altar. Speculation arises about whose blood or which organ must be harvested for the bowl, as inevitably ensues when a bowl is found on an altar.
Allana reads some runes, “We weep for the dead but honor their unbroken oath.” It’s not a tiny bowl and would take a lot of tears to fill. Theren uses the decanter of endless water to fill the bowl but nothing happens. Allana adds some of her own tears, but no success.
Allana digs out a pot full of Opeth tears carried away from Renwick Caradoon’s basement. Haerelben empties the water out of the bowl using Blameless’s helm of defense and Allana pours in the tears. A secret drawer clicks open and Allana retrieves a small silver hammer from it. Allana also retrieves the tears if for no other reason than to deny them of the fire cultists now racing up the switchback, evidenced by the audible release of boulders held by the trip wire.
Returning south is not a safe option. The north archway is chosen for escape as it’s the least south option. A stone pillar, a bit shy of the ceiling, stands in the middle of the room beyond. Carved scenes of dwarven ceremonies crown this room. Meega notices some symbols reminiscent of the four cult symbols are depicted as subdued and conquered by the dwarves in the carving. Winding stairs descend from the opposite side.
The party follows winding stairs to the right instead of the left and arrive at a curtain at the foot. Meega peeks in and sees only dwarves and ogres just like the inept guards at the entrance. Also one human, but that shouldn’t be a problem. She steps through the curtain and abruptly warns everyone to flee because an army of fire cultists are moments behind them. Disappointingly, no one runs for a secret exit they could all use to escape. But at least the tiresome hammering stops.
Theren gets a couple of crossbow bolts off and Haerelben calls down a blessing on the imminent violence before they are enveloped in magical darkness. Allana, with devil’s sight, watches Theridan cast dispel magic and the darkness dissipates.
Where the human had stood now stands an ogre.
Allana targets the important looking dwarf next to the human / ogre with hex and eldritch blast. Meega summons her water weird and they begin beating on the nearest of several ogres emerging from a line of passages through the wall. Theren’s crossbow bolts finish what Meega started. Ogres and dwarves begin their counterattack with mining hammers and warhammers, respectively. Theridan conjures some dryads who take control of one of the dwarves.
The human-turned-ogre now transforms to a mist and drifts into one of the passages.
Haerelben uses his shield to distract the next ogre in line and Meega, water weird, and Theren drop that one too. They move on to an ogre pounding Theren on the noggin. Haerelben distracts him, Allana blasts him repeatedly, Theridan’s dryad-controlled dwarf, Meega, and the water weird beat him down. Stunned Theren wobbles a little.
Several hammers are thrown at Haerelben by some aloof dwarves across the room. Theridan summons a tidal wave and knocks over a couple of the troublemakers while one of his thoughtful dryads barkskins Theren as he rejoins the fray.
Haerelben follows the human-ogre-mist into the passage but doesn’t see him. That’s partly because he’s invisible but also because he reemerged into the other end of the room and becomes visible as an oni as he glaives the snot out of Allana. Allana shocking grasps away from the oni and steps out of the room to recombobulate herself. Everyone focuses on the oni and Meega’s Giant Slayer knocks him prone, but he recasts darkness and escapes back into the passages. Theridan dispels the darkness again and regular programming resumes.
Allana, verifying her nemesis has departed for the moment, returns to blast the hexed dwarf. Theren takes out another dwarf.
Then the oni returns and shoots a cone of cold knocking Haerelben out and injuring Theren, Theridan, and Allana. The dryads are slain instantly. Theridan returns Haerelben to lucidity with a healing word and produces flame on the now-released helpful dwarf. Meega tries again to knock the oni off his feet but only manages injury. Wobbly Haerelben reads the new mass healing word scroll. Theren walks at the oni firing crossbow bolts, drops the heavy crossbow and draws his shortsword. A good cut with the sword and two hand crossbow bolts finally subdues the oni. Allana drops the last remaining dwarf.
Theren searches around and digs 13 gp out of the pockets of the vanquished dwarves. From the pocket of the dwarf [Grumink] who seemed like a foreman is a note indicating the shrine, or the part of it being excavated at least, is or was the summer stronghold of Torhild Flametongue. On the oni is another note: “Obratu — too much sunlight up here. Trying underdark. Meet in stronghold. Reulek.”
A ruckus upstairs indicates a lot of orange ugly will be headed down to find the badly injured and spent adventurers. They run through the passages being excavated to the very back where a crack reveals a chamber beyond. At Opeth’s prompting, Allana uses the silver hammer to break down the wall but not before the cultists spot their escape.
Theridan bravely remains to hold off the entire fire cult army while the rest of the party jumps in a mine car and rides to safety.