July 24th, 2009 - The Seven Pillared Hall

After spending days in the depths of Thunderspire mountain fighting an infestation of demonic Gnolls and ravaging the slave trading Duergar of Clan Grimmerzhul, the Anonymous Adventurers were finally returning to the relative comforts of the Seven Pillared Hall with loot and freed captives in tow. As they approached along the Road of Shadows their throats were filled with acrid smoke and their ears with the sounds of massacre. Once the hall was in view the scene before them was one of chaos and destruction. Small, grey goblin like creatures were running about everywhere, attacking merchants and destroying anything in their path. In the distance were larger, organized groups centered around what appeared to be mobile bronze minotaur statues and mysterious red-robed figures flinging about arcane energies. The Hall was under a full scale assault!

The group quickly decided on a course of action. The freed captives were escorted to the abandoned Grimmerzhul trading house and armed with captured weapons. Then the group formed up into a tight, tactical formation under the direction of Khaine and made haste for the closest grouping of assailants which were attempting to destroy the large Minotaur statue in the center of the Hall. Once the group ascended the large, natural platform upon which the statue had been placed, details of their foes became clearer. Lofonia identified the goblinoids as Norkers, foul beasts tainted by evil arcane energies and favored guardians of many Temples of Vecna. The animated bronze statue was described as a Warder of some sort by Aramil. He believed it to be directed by the apparent wizard standing nearby. After judicious use of their prodigious talents the heroes annihilated the troublemakers and quickly set off to subdue more of the invaders.

As the group plowed their way through the brouhaha of merchants, carts, beasts of burden and norkers, they noticed that the Temple of Erathis was beset by a Bronze Warder and Red-robed Wizard. As they approached, Kruach noticed his racial kin fighting alongside the priestess and Ulthand the Dwarven smith. Even as the group prepared to assist, the defenders finished off their assailants and urged the heroes on towards another combat around the Custom House.

Upon reaching the customhouse, Aramil quickly loosed a nasty cloud that devastated some of the lesser Norkers and cut the fight down to one front. Brugg, the Ogre enforcer was tangling with the Norkers and a Bronze Warder. Orontor, the sole Mage of Saruun present in the Hall, was being assaulted by Norkers, a Wizard, and an unknown force. As the group pressed the attackers, the tide of the battle seemed to swing for the good guys. Then, with a brutal blow from the Warder, Orontor was struck down. The group finished dispatching the remaining foes quickly and turned their attentions to the fallen mage. As the Shaman assessed his wounds, Orontor animated vividly and spoke with another's voice to the astonishment and dismay of all. "Ah, the meddling adventurers!" it spoke, "I should thank you for dealing with the Gnolls. It saved me from the effort. I assume you had hopes of discovering and disrupting my plans? You are too late, my research is finished as you can see. I'll be moving on now. Mwuhahahahaha!" Orontor's body then crumpled to the floor. With his last remaining energies the mage whispered dire warnings to the group, "Please hurry! During the connection I caught glimpses of his plans. I saw flashes of a Pyramid. He seeks to control more and more arcane energies for his Lord!"

As the group settled the rest of the Hall down, and helped get things back under control they pondered their next moves...