After equipping for the hike back into the Aelinvudd you asked if you could lead a group of workmen to the dam to start repairs. It was decided that leading a group of men carrying materials would only slow you down and without knowledge of what actually happened there was no way to tell what type of skills might be needed. So you headed off. Your first stop was at Turtleback Ferry to assess damages and lend aide. The damage was nearly complete. There were a few survivors picking over the debris left behind. The water must have violently hit the town. The gambling barge was no where to be seen. You continued into the forest. On the night before reaching Fort Ranik you were beset by some swarms of rats. A few people were bitten and some of Golian's wounds looked particularly bad. Edwin treated easily treated them. The next night was spent at the Fort - actually on top of the fort. Another two days of hiking took you away form the river due to the steep gorge and back again where you saw the dam for the first time. There was a large chunk missing on east side. Wolfgar pointed out some movement on top of the dam on the western half. You climbed a natural stone stair that led to a cave. While the group was climbing up a 15' tall ledge, Golian scouted ahead in the shadows.
He was surprised by an ettin who must have heard him coming. Golian was painfully and forcibly pushed back toward the rest of the group. D'Argo cast a spider climb on Edwin so he could scale the walls and help. Malloric started with bow fire while Bach let go of the rope and unsheathed his falchion on his way to meet the beast. It took less than a minute to slay the ettin, but a few of the group had some nasty contusions from the ettins two morningstars. You cured up as the rest explored the caves. You gathered some loot and continued.
After another 15' ledge, you exited the cave on top of the dam. You could see a half dozen or so orges several hundred yards in the distance. After some tactical discussion, D'Argo fired off an acid ball that caught their attention. You lined up and waited for them. As they charged, arrows dropped a few and softened up the rest. Malloric noticed one was much tougher than the rest. By the time the ogres reached the group, there was only two or three left. The last one standing was surrounded and Wolfgar ordered it to surrender, which to some surprise it did.
From it you learned that the ogres were sent to the dam by Barl Breakbones, a stone giant, with orders to weaken it. There were more ogres, but two things had reduced their numbers. First was the fights with a group of trolls that laired in the dam housing. The other was the Black Magga that appeared when the dam started to crack. The Magga was washed over and the ogres went back to work on weakening the dam. You debated the fate of the orge and decided to bind him and continue into the building in the center of the dam.
The doors to this building had been battered and reinforced from the inside. You pushed your way in and encountered a number of trolls. Another acid ball followed by swords and arrows and three were quickly dropped. Two others fled deeper into the building. Bach staved some head with a burning torch and you started the chase. After descending perhaps as much as 100' you found a stone door with the following words clawed into it "Below dwells Grazuul. All hail Grazuul." You ignored the warning. Upon entering you found the two trolls on either side of the door and a larger troll standing in a large pool in front of you. This troll was wielding a military fork. The trolls on the flanks didn't prove to much of a problem as they hadn't been able to regenerate the acid damage from above. Some engaged these trolls while Wolfgar and Henrik went after the large troll. It had tremendous reach and was poking at people as they approached. Some of you noticed that each time it hit, it grimaced slightly and a small wound opened somewhere on the creature. The blows it landed were particularly nasty. The creature wielded the weapon with skill and massive strength. Each hit also opened additional wounds on its victim. The troll had the better end of that deal because it regenerated much of the damage it received. The group had it within a few blows of defeat when it lept up and dropped through a tunnel in the pool you had not seen. Some suggested going after it as you had water breathing. Others suggested fighting the beast in its element might not be the best idea. You decided to search the floor on foot and hope you would run into it. You didn't.
In one room, you found a scale model of the dam. The jaws of the skulls on the face of the dam could be lowered revealing tubes. Golian mentioned that he had heard of an ancient dam, maybe this one, that had flood control gates operated with magic. This seemed a likely explanation for what was happening here - or not as the case may be. You cautiously entered the last room after removing a pile of skulls in front of the door. The room beyond contained a small room on either side separated by a portcullis. In one 'cell' was a pile of reddish-black ash. In the other was a rater large but very emaciated creature with dark red, leathery skin and wings. It smelled slightly of brimstone. Looking closer, you also noticed that on the floor of each of these rooms was some sort of arcane figure drawn with ash and metal flakes. You looked to see of the creature was alive and when you were close enough you could see it breathe and you 'heard' it say "Release me." The general response was 'I don't think so.'
After some conversation amongst yourself and with the creature, the theory that developed was that the dam flood gates were somehow operated by feeding off the magic in the creatures contained in the cells and that with one dead, the gates couldn't function properly. The creature was suggesting that one of the group would need to sacrifice itself in the other cell in order for the gates to work. Pirozzi figured that if a person would 'work' why not a badger. So he summoned one inside the empty arcane circle. Almost immediately you could hear the grinding of stone on stone and a deep rumbling inside the dam. The badger immediately turned to dust as did the winged creature in the other cell. You went back to the scale model and saw that the mouths had opened and water was flowing out. Heading back up to the top of the dam you saw great spouts of water being released through the skulls on the face of the dam. Deciding your work here was done, you started the trip back to Rothberry. The orge you tied up was nowhere to be seen.
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