After capturing Umberwood the group settled in the Slumbering Drake for some rest. They did have an interruption one evening when sell swords tried to kill them in their sleep. Fortunately Aramil killed two and captured two of the bandits and turned them over to the watch for questioning. However, the surviving sells swords were found dead in the cells in the Gaol along with Umberwood. The group was questioned by Lady Woden, the Mistress of the Gaol to see if any of the group knew what had happened. There was no apparent cause of death and the guards on watch had not seen anyone enter or leave the cell area. The Lady Woden left dissatisfied but with no proof of anything that had happened.
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After a suitable rest and the replacement of the broken table in the Slumbering Drake by Kaylord the group was ready to adventure again. The Sablewing Council again requested help of the group to go exploring Castle Whiterock again. With the discovery of the slaver Umberwood and the disguised monks the council felt that there might be more slavery operations deeper within the old ruined castle. The group set off for the castle and went down the stairs they had discovered. Coravel was clever enough to discover a trap on the stairs so the group was not taken by surprise. They met a group of orc guards at the bottom of the stairs and quickly dispatched them.
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They then went to another room and found a minotaur runt. Another battle took this enemy out of their path and allowed them to explore the minotaur's room. They found a secret opening and found slave cells. While rescuing the common folk another set of orc guards came on them. A sleep spell took them out and allowed the group to finish rescuing the people in the pits. They also found Hugin, a human fighter, Sapphira Silverhue, a ranger/druid and Katanya Glimer, a gnome rogue/wizard. Sapphira offered to go with the commoners to help escort them back while Hugin offered to fight with the group as thanks for his rescue. Katanya also wanted to come with the group to try and find her brother who had been forced to work with the orcs. The group sent Hugin and Sapphira with the commoners to start escorting them back to Cillamar and reluctantly agreed to let Katanya accompany them, if she would stay out of fights.
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Continuing with their search they find a torture room with a secret passage to a store room. They continue to the store room and then a room across the hall. In this workshop they find a workshop with a orc and a gnome hunched over a bench cutting gems. The orc bellows and turns the table over, scattering rocks on the floor. After a battle, with an interruption when Katanya runs through the middle, the group kills the orc and frees the gnome. He is Katanyas brother Findle and they are joyfully reunited. They are happy to leave the area so they can get to safety and stay out of the group's way.
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Before the Glimers left, Aramil asked them some questions to try and get more information about the mine. Neither Findle or Katanya knew much about the mine since they had been kept in ethe workshop or the slave pits. After the questioning, the group let the gnomes leave. The group then decided to go back to the one door they had left behind to make sure they hadn't left anything behind. While they went back they noticed that a couple of the Orc bodies had been dragged off behind the door. Aramil had stayed behind to keep watch but with message Kaylord let him know that he should rejoin the group.
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The group went on and explored the rest of the corner and found a kennel for troll hounds and their Orc handler. After opening the door, the handler, Goresh, threw in the Thunderstone and the two trollhounds moved in. Aramil and Kaylord were deafened. In spite of this the group won the battle against the 4 trollhounds and Goresh. The group took out the adult troll hounds and their handler after a fierce battle. The group then found trollhound puppies in addition to the handlers equipment. They remembered that troll hounds could be valuable work animals and decided to take them back to Cillamar for training or to sell for gold pieces.The group then carefully went into the room, and found the door to the trollhound kennel.
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The group rested for an hour in order to meditate the spells back and recover from the deafness. They then moved on further into the halls. As they moved down the hall they saw two Orcs who were just as surprised to see them. One of the Orcs was able to run back and give an alarm, the other stayed to delay the group. This orc was quickly put to sleep and the group went ahead to see where the other one went. They found the throne room where they entered battle with a fierce orc, Karenga and his harem. After a somewhat lengthy fight they were able to finish the group. They found the a secret door and the various goodies in what appeared to be a primitive throne room
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After resting again the group decided to go towards the mining sounds they heard. They found 4 orcs with several slaves in the room. One of the orcs was able to sound an alarm, which brought in Tarik and 4 other orcs. After a challenging battle, the group was able to defeat all of the orcs, especially with a well placed sleep spell. The session ended here, with the group tending to the slaves and figuring out what to do next.
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