While the party desperately ran for safety around the corner of the keep walls and sat quietly within the illusion of Nenia's Enshrouding Candle, Ethan met and befriended a travelling caravan that was making its way towards The Devil's Eye. After a brief exchange he discovered that the group was none other than Helia's clan members. When they heard that Ethan was in the company of Helia they agreed to let him hide within one of the wagons in order to get close to Zul'bar's fortress.
From within the candle's zone, the rest of the party watched nervously as groups of duergar systematically began scouring the area outside the keep. At one point a single duergar wandered within the zone and was surprised to find the party quietly watching him. With determined non-agressive hand movements they succeeded in bribing their enemy into silence. Some trick sounds led the rest of the duergar away and the party was able to rest the night.
As the night wore on, Ethan was forced to leave the safety of his wagin hideout and climb on top of the fortress. The clan of dwarves moved through the keep and were lost from view. After some careful observation, Ethan located his friends and the entire party reunited on top of the solid keep roof. The party deliberated for a short time and decided that they needed to take the opportunity to find out what was going on within the building below them. However the single rooftop access was carefully hidden and was unable to be opened from outside conventional means. It was only after Nenia used her Knock ritual that they were able to access the stairs beyond.
Below they found a set of double doors allowing access to a room containing some slaves. The slaves were silently assembling and crating some small, odd, cube-like devices. While they watched a duergar guard entered the room and began to beat a female wood-elf who he seemed to think was not performing her task properly. Once the abuser left the party made their way into the room. The only slave who seemed willing or able to respond to the group was the bleeding wood-elf. With some prodded they learned that any treasure were stored in the other building across the bridge over the lava river. To get there they had to make their way down a couple of hallways and across the bridge. Delian offered to free her from her slavery with a quick death. (I smell Blackguard incoming!)
The duergar guard returned during this conversation and the party was able to ambush him but the alarm was triggered and battle ensued. During the conflict all of the slaves were killed either by Nenia or the duergar's area attacks. The battle moved into the next two hallways when a large Shocktroop Devil, a Duergar Blasphemer, and a Duergar Hellcaller joined the fray.
Eventually the party vanquished their foes but the damage was done. Alarms were sounding and shouts could be heard from further down the hall. Decisions needed to be made quickly.
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