The Impassable Gate

 Friday 24th December 356 AC - around noon

We took the brief respite as opportunity to rest & lick our wounds. The kender, Nedlog suddenly appeared from one of the camp buildings, some sort of holding facility by the bars on the tiny windows. Following close behind her was an elf, naked but for a scavenged blanket. It seems that as soon as the wall was breached Nedlog scampered off to investigate the buildings scattered about, no doubt with mischief in mind, when she discovered the elf, Ulani, in one of the cells. Ulani is a Wizard of High Sorcery from Silvanesti lands, captured a short time ago and kept here by the dragon armies. It is quite an odd tale from what little we have heard, she was stripped and thrown in a cell but otherwise well treated. Indeed, I have seen many prisoners of the Dark Queen after their internment and I have never seen one so healthy or well fed. The only mistreatment came when her captors put her to use. Apparently they would take her deep into the mountain and place her before a metal pillar that reached from floor to ceiling where she would then be forced to cast the spell 'lighting bolt' continuously until her energy was depleted and her mind fled the waking world. After this 'draining' she would wake in her cell once more with fresh straw on the floor and a hot meal waiting for her so that she could regain her strength and repeat the procedure ad infinatum. None in our group could surmise the purpose of this tiresome ritual but it was immediately clear that it was not simple torture, there was purpose in this practice. Somebody suggested Ulani had been powering some great machine, though what nature of machine I cannot imagine. 

As our new companion finished her tale there was a resounding 'clang' from the stone ogre's cave and shortly after, a massive flash & plume of smoke in the distance to the north. We opted to investigate the local phenomena first, it is likely that the eruption witnessed on the horizon was the fail safe plan we read of in the ogre band's letter. If this is the case I hope and pray one of our messengers reached Sir Hassan and the main body of our army before they attacked the enemy stronghold, if none made it through then I suspect we will be mourning the loss of a great many good men.

Entering the cave we immediately noticed that it was hewn by hand (or claw), not by Chislev's slow touch. We followed a broad tunnel a short distance up until we were confronted by a substantial metal door with three symbols embossed on its surface. The emblems were clearly religious in nature, though none of us were certain of the gods they upheld. Each of us, though, could feel the evil emanating from them like a physical blow. 

Ulani & Azshauna were able to identify an invisible wall of force barring the doors from the far side and decreed it impassable by mundane means, though Sir Dominic was not deterred from making an attempt at opening them by physical assault - to no effect. One of the wizards then sent her sight beyond the door to see if there was a way to disarm the lock from within, where she saw a tunnel leading away with torches lit in their sconces but little else of note. 

We decided to rest and make camp at the mouth of the tunnel so that the magic users of the party could regain their powers and we could maintain a watch on the mysterious metal doors for signs of egress. I decided that it would be in the best interests of Sir Roland & Sir Benedict (the only two of our accompanying knights to survive the battle) and the infantrymen to send them back to our main lines and Sir Hassan, if he still lived. I composed a report detailing the military action, placed it with the personal effects of the brave souls who had given their lives in glory and sent the men on their way. With duty attended to we set a watch & settled in for the night, remaining undisturbed until morning, apart from a small interruption of our rest. Around midnight our two mages both sensed a tremendous use of 'alteration' magic. I do not pretend to comprehend this but I gather mages draw their power from the air around them, unlike divine magic that is sent down from the gods themselves. When a particularly powerful enchantment is cast it can apparently leave a 'deadness' in the surrounding area as all the magic has been used up. There are many possibilities of what our enemies could have been doing but as we are not currently trapped in an invisible box or falling suddenly from a great height, the most likely circumstance is the teleportation of a great number of enemies from behind the sinister door. 

 

Saturday 25th December 356 AC

Merry Yule, one and all. 

We awoke on to a crisp Yule morning to find that nothing had passed overnight and the practitioners of arcane & divine arts had not been able to replenish their energies by any degree. Suspecting some sort of interference we decided to retreat to our stone picket at the mouth of the pass and rest fully. We also took the opportunity to celebrate the occasion as best we could.