Session 27 - Toppling the King of the Sodden Hold

16th of Uktar, 1371 DR
We’ve experienced another changin’ of the guard within our group. We sent Quarto back to replace Storn in guardin’ our way out. By the time Storn caught up to us, we also met a strangely scruffy-lookin’ Elf named Rumple. Since we witnessed him dispatch a Doppelganger on his own, we decided to let him join us (after checkin’ his head for holes, of course).

Rumple turned out to be much better with traps than Quarto. Not only was he able to find several traps, but he was also able to disable them to make them safe to pass by. Which was a good thing because the next room was a mirror maze chock full of traps causin’ spears to jut outta the floor. As we explored the mirror maze (Alabron and Storn used their swords to slash through the mirrors, creatin’ our own path through the maze), we were assaulted by Doppelgangers several times. Mostly, they made the mistake of attackin’ us one at a time and were cut down in short order. When the last three finally struck, we had managed to get together and handled them easily enough.

Havin’ dispatched another batch of Doppelgangers, we decided to find out was behind a scary-lookin’ iron door. The door was double trapped (the clever fiends) and the second trap nearly crushed Alabron as a pillar of stone stomped down on him! Through the door, however, we found the king of the Sodden Hold – a Doppelganger disguised as Allustan sittin’ on a throne flanked by four more undisguised Doppelgangers who had just faded into view from invisibility.

The Allustan Doppelganger dropped a Fireball on our lead element and then surrounded Tyree in a Wall of Fire, fillin’ our entire end of the room with oven-like heat. Then the other four Doppelgangers turned invisible again. Alabron cast Fly on himself and flew into the room and Storn followed in on the ground only to plummet into a pit trap that opened right in front of the closest set of stairs leading up to the throne. Eqwaine used her Wand of Spiritual Weapon to try to keep the Allustan Doppelganger busy, but was unable to hurt it.

Rumple, bravin’ the flames, went in and lowered a rope down to Storn. Tyree ran screamin’ through the Wall of Fire, jumped up to grab the ledge of the throne dais, clambered up and was set upon by a pair of Doppelgangers. At the same time, the Allustan Doppelganger dropped another Fireball on us. Alabron flew towards the Allustan imposter, getting’ stabbed by a Doppelganger comin’ outta invisibility, but failed to hit the creature. Storn started climbin’ out of the pit and I readied myself to interrupt Allustan’s next spell. Egwaine blessed us all with a Prayer spell.

Rumple used some magic item to allow himself to See Invisibility while he helped pull Storn outta the pit. Tyree lashed out at his Doppelganger assailants, hittin’ one of them twice. Then Allustan turned into Kullen and lashed out at Alabron with a frost-laden greataxe. An invisible Doppelganger came at me, but since Rumple was able to warn me I was able to get a Shield spell up in time to foil his attack. Alabron hacked into the Kullen Doppelganger with his falchion and I slammed a barrage of Empowered Fel Drain Magic Missiles into Kullen. Egwaine further increased our combat abilities with a Blessin’ of the Righteous spell – imbuin’ out weapons with holy might.

Rumple continued pullin’ Storn out of the pit. Tyree killed one of his Doppelganger foes and slashed a wicked cut across the other. Kullen flew into a rage and struck Alabron a brutal blow. In return, Alabron blasted the imposter Half-Orc with a Ray of Enfeeblement and flew away. Unfortunately, as he made his escape he was almost killed by blows from Kullen and one of the Doppelgangers. The only thing that saved his life was a Close Wounds spell from Egwaine. Storn finally made it out of the pit and I blasted the Kullen Doppelganger with more Magic Missiles as Egwaine started layin’ out Mass Cure Light Wounds spells.

With Storn out of the pit, the fight turned on the Doppelgangers quickly. Rumple and the Dwarf combined efforts to kill the Doppelganger that was still (fruitlessly) trying to kill me while Tyree dispatched his last foe. After another healin’ spell on Alabron, he was able to re-engage Kullen. A few moments later, all the Doppelgangers were dead and we were lottin’ bodies.

As it turned out, the “king” Doppelganger had darker skin and also had some strange symbol carved into its forehead. We recovered quite a bit of loot, includin’ a mirror that seemed to reflect things as they actually are. We used the mirror to reveal that the Dolgun in the circular room was the real Dolgun, but that the Olaf was a Doppelganger (which we killed).

Haulin’ our loot out of the Sodden Hold, we got to the room with the risin’ pillar when a secret door burst open and a Mind Flayer and a handful of Drow Elves spilled out!

Looks like we’ve found the power behind the throne. I only hope we live to tell people what was really goin’ on down here.