Episode 5.3

Brad, Kathy, Ernie

The two groups got together and exchanged information about what had happened to them the previous week.

The first order of business was to find the real Gwibaen. Gwiend was happy to help with a locate creature spell. They narrowed it down to the room beyond where the doppleganger fight occurred. Entering the room, they were attacked by four invisible creatures. Brad and Edic did their best to fight them while Kathy, Torcyn, Gwiend and Ernie hit them with spells. Kathy started with see invisiblity and directed the others. After some fireballs, flame strikes cones of fire and maigic missiles, the creatures were destroyed. They found the real Gwibaen tied up in the secret room nearby - weak and withdrawn. He was left in Gwiend's care.

Torcyn and Edic went with the party back through the gate, hoping to reach the leader of the dwarves. Brad snuck up to the door that led to the main hallway and overheard an argument between what he thought was the frost giant and the ettin. The ettin wanted the frost giant to send his polar bears into the tunnel and have them investigate. The frost giant wanted him to send guards instead, but eventually suggested that he send in a slave and threaten the slave by telling him that if he didn't come back with information that all of the slave's friends would be sent through the hellgate. The frost giant eventually stomped away in frustration, muttering about how much he hated this place.

While Brad waited, someone got a dwarf and shoved him through the door. The slave wandered around and eventually ran into the party. He recognized Aliella and they had a happy reunion. Brad told the slave, named Delgar, to go back to the ettin and tell him that he saw no people down here. Delgar said that the ettin had a way of knowing that he was lying, but agreed to do it. While Brad waited invisibly, Delgar went and spoke to the ettin. The ettin got angry, called Delgar a liar, then kicked him down the stairs. Still angry, the ettin, armed with a large mace a larger whip-dagger, went into the tunnel with two winter wolves. The party waited to ambush them. Torcyn, Kathy and Ernie hit them with fire based spells, killing the wolves and injurying the ettin. Edic and Brad closed and surrounded the ettin, who never made it out of the tunnel. Brad and Edic finished off the ettin, with some more help from the spell casters, but not before the ettin injured Edic pretty badly. They cleaned up the mess and went back to rest.

The next day, they found the door open and two gnolls standing guard. They tried to lure the guards down into the tunnel, first by making noise and later by using Delgar as a lure, but the two gnolls were obviously ignoring everything. The frost giant passed by and asked them how they were doing. They lied and said that nothing was going on. Eventually, Brad and Edic snuck up to attack them in the hallway. Kathy had made Brad invisible before but cast greater invisibility on Edic. The surprised the two gaurds and one quickly died. The other decided to run away. Brad and Edic, both faster that the gnoll, chased it as it ran. When Brad passed him, he doubled back and went past the door where he started. Brad passed him again and again the gnoll doubled back. After running back and forth and passing the door a few times, Edic, whom the gnoll could not see, eventually took of the gnoll's head with a mighty blow from his club. The party went back through the gate and rested again, but before they left, they heard the frost giant pass the now closed door and growl his frustration again.