The Paladins

The Paladins by James M. Ward is the second novella in the Double Diamond Triangle Saga series.

"Lord Piergeiron has fallen ill, but his loyal retainers prepare to rescue his abducted fiancée. But their quest lies far beyond the areas around Waterdeep, and in the uncharted Utter East."

Summary
In 1371 DR Piergeiron the Paladinson's wife-to-be was abducted during their wedding ceremony. She was taken to the far away Utter East by mysterious creatures that came from a fabled bloodforge. The Open Lord of Waterdeep fell ill following the event, and Khelben Blackstaff Arunsun failed to determine the illness' cause, thinking that it could've been caused by the basal golems that attacked the wedding, or even the bride Eidola herself Blackstaff was not able to use scrying to locate the bride, coming up with nothing. The mage decided to assemble a group of paladins to send them on a rescue mission, led by Aleena Paladinstar, the daughter of Piergeiron himself and a wizard. The paladins were the wedding guests from Phlan: Kern Desanea - the tracker of the Hammer of Tyr, and the son of Shal Bal; Miltiades - a thousand-year-old hero; Able - a massive war hammer-wielding fighter; Harloon - the youngest of the paladins; Jacob - the hero who was acquainted with Piergeiron and Aleena; and Trandon - a fifty-year-old warrior in leathers armed with a staff. The group was mandated to use the talents of the hero of the wedding abduction, Kastonoph Nesher.

As the paladins were preparing for the rescue operation, a new plot was being formed in the 65th level of the Abyss. A balor general Raachaak was sending his subservient vrocks to capture the bloodforge for him.

The rescue party was to be teleported to Undermountain's Sargauth level, as it was the only portal that led to Utter East. That plan had to be abandoned once Blackstaff realized that one of the paladins, Kern Desanea was immune to magic. The paladins decided to sail into the Halister's dungeon complex through Skullport.

As the heroes sailed into Skullport they were faced with skeletal heads - the Watchers. Noph pulled one of them out of the waters as Aleena attempted to stop the youth. She was too late. The floating skull welcomed the visitors and threatened them with eternal death if the paladins were to violate the safe haven's rules. Kern acted without thinking and used turn undead on the skull, disintegrating it, and violating one of the rules of Skullport. The paladins were tasked with "lending aid to a zombie" before they were allowed to pass. The heroes scattered around the port in search of zombies to aid. Trandon aided a zombie by magically mending its foot, revealing himself to be a wizard in secret. Jacob attempted to help the zombies in the docs only to be ambushed and overpowered by doppelgangers. After every teammate's run-ins with zombies, the group safely proceeded away from Skillport and into the Sargauth level of Undermountain. As they entered the massive dungeon complex they were greeted by mad cackling of Halaster Blackcloak echoing through the tunnels.

The heroes traversed Undermountain further. They came across three Ettins demanding a toll from the passersby to cross their territory. Noph's big mouth provoked the giant to attack. The fight was short but the encounter cost Harloon his life as he pushed Noph out of the giant's club's way. Meanwhile, a plan to take over the bloodforge for themselves hatched in the mind of Shaakat...

The ambitious vrocks used a magical mirror located in the halls of Sargauth that multiplied mane and barlgura tanar'ri they brought in. The paladins came across a group of barlguras starting another desperate combat. Trandon became a casualty, decapitated by a tanar'ri, and Noph was captured. Vrocks took the youth towards the magical gates to the Utter East, probing his mind they discovered the password to activate the portal. The pyramid in Sargauth was being turned into an ambush site against the paladins of Tyr.

The paladins prepared for an assault on the Utter East portal and rescue Noph. Heroes used the magical mirror they witnessed earlier to create magical duplicates, used as cannon fodder and distraction. The clones successfully banished the horde of tanar'ri before perishing. Vrock leaders felt gleeful victory and the hostage youth's verbal assault was a distraction enough for the paladins to break through the magical wards and confront the villains. Vrocks escaped back to the Abyss, and heroes proceeded through the portal to the city that was home to a bloodforge. Aleena Paladinstar stayed behind and collapsed the ceiling onto the portal to close it off for good.