After dispatching the orcs in their bedchamber, the party moved to the next passage. Wurgym noticed that the footprints in the hall intentionally avoided the centre, and avoided a pressure-plate trap linked to an impressive dwarven statue. They went up a small side-flight of stairs, noticing large bootprints as well as massive pawprints leading to an iron-bound door; outside the door, they made a plan. However, the Ogre chieftain Great Ulfa was able to hear them speaking, and unchained her Dire Wolf guardians Vak and Thrag in preparation.
Lazarus breached the door, and everyone engaged in a melee. Recognizing the deathly threat the situation, Morgran downed her Potion of Animal Friendship and convinced Thrag not to participate in the fight. As the dwarf turned her back, however, Great Ulfa raised her axe and downed Morgran with a single critical strike. Wurgym used duergar magic to grow in stature to meet the ogre in combat, and aided by a raging, reckless Lazarus, managed to fend off their foes. Bialwa touched Morgran with a healing Spell then ran back down the stairs, bravely cheering the party on from a safe distance.
Morgran then convinced Vak to also back off, and Great Ulfa was suddenly overwhelmed. Wurgym struck her down and Lazarus cut off her head, wrapping it around his shield. The party decided to rest with the dire wolf brothers, and once again used Lazarus's forehead to bar the door. Eventually, an orc knocked on the door and requested further instructions from their chief. Wurgym impersonated Great Ulfa, telling the orc to throw the bodies of the dead in the chasm and to fuck off; the confused orc did what he was told. Before leaving, they found hidden chests in the ogre's chamber which contained riches, a Potion of Climbing, and an Enhanced Weapon bearing Durgedding's smith-mark. Holding the rapier aloft, Lazarus felt connected to his creator like never before.
After a rest, the party continued through the caves with Vak and Thrag. Wurgym freed the farmers Geradil and Courana in exchange for the promise of a lifetime's worth of cheese, and the terrified couple were forced to accept. They escorted the two back to the entrance, where Bialwa spotted an six fleeing orcs; the raiders had found their headless boss, and decided to flee Khundrukar. The party went back, looted their quarters, and found a cooking room that correlated with the pillar of smoke they found topside. Bialwa also noticed that beyond a wall packed with barrels and flour sacks, Stirges flew around; the orcs were clearly trying to keep the creatures out.
Meanwhile, Morgran found another hidden door down a narrow passageway. It lead to a lair smelling of incense and fire, where an orc shaman performed rituals with two servants. The wolves blocked the passageways for the others to help easily, so Morgran took the matter into her own hands. She leapt forward alongside Vak and Thrag and nearly killed all three orcs in a single round. The shaman attempted to flee while casting a spiritual axe at Morgran, running through the door into the large chamber that Bialwa had spotted. She laughed maniacally as she let in her "stingies," and the party killed her mosquito-like bats as they watched the shaman get exsanguinated.
The chamber that contained the stirges was impressive, carved with great images of dwarves at their forges. A dwarf-faced door lead to a trap that had clearly killed many orcs; Lazarus tried it anyway, and found the trap still worked as it blasted him with flame. Morgran found that the shaman carried 3 flasks of Alchemist's Fire on her body, and distributed them amongst the party. Sounds of buzzing echoed from the chamber's grand stairs, and their dire wolves seemed unwilling to descend. They left Vak and Thrag, then descended into the depths.
The stairs led to a high cavern with a fast ravine that cut off a natural slope. Lazarus attempted to use his body as a bridge for Morgran to cross, but the fighter was unexpectedly heavy, and he buckled under her weight. Morgran bounced down the ravine into a stirge's nest, where the beasts had mummified a dwarf adventurer some time ago. Lazarus went after her with remarkable shield-surfing ability, and took a leather pouch of coins off the adventurer's body. Wurgym also did well to tag along and helped fight off the bats. Bialwa went to go the other way around, but found that more stirges lurked in the cavern, so turned to run but fell into the ravine. She did not possess the grace of her companions, and after several splashes and bonks, she steadied herself. She then fell in again, and was carried all the way through the chamber before breaking her skull on a rock overhang.
Overwhelmed by stirges, the other three jumped away from the nest. They traversed the ravine better than their cleric and were able to pick off the stirges in their smaller amounts, and gave Bialwa a Potion of Healing before she bled out on the cave floor. They then took stock of the area around them: Lazarus found that the caves extended further northeast, and Bialwa saw that the water slowed under the rock overhang into another chamber. Wurgym, however, found a most interesting pathway: a narrow tunnel lead to cliff lit by natural phosphorescence. Twenty-three sepulchers remained here, and beyond it bright flecks of gleaming stone formations dominated a massive cavern fifty feet high.
The duergar had found the Glitterhame.