== Moonday, Sarenith 30, 4708; Iron Peaks; evening ==
We had hoped the wyvern caverns led under Jorgenfist, but they dead ended some yards back.
But still they offered no small amount of protection and concealment, and we decided we
would use them as our base for the rest of the day — that is once we moved the large winged
lizard corpses out of the way.
And in moving the wyverns into a side tunnel we found, among the litter of skulls, bones and
hide, a chest filled with a number of interesting goodies.
[729] bag of coins, containing:
1435 gold pieces
2987 silver pieces
[730] magic staff with a small glowing orb at the top, filled with swirling clouds of black and grey (it looked like a stormy sky).
The staff contained an intriguing set of spells, any of which could be cast by expending a number of charges:
- Air Walk (uses 2 charges)
- Control Wind (uses 2 charges)
- Gust of Wind (uses 1 charge)
- Spike Stones (uses 2 charges)
- Stone Shape (uses 1 charge)
The staff had 7 charges remaining.
As we were stashing our new found loot, Rigel motioned for us all to be quit. “I hear something outside,” she whispered, “I think someone is singing!”
Sabin and I crept outside the cave, where we heard an eerie melody drifting down from a trio of flying beasts: harpies! And yet their focus was not on us, but rather on something or someone else on the plain several hundred feet above.
There was a sudden flash as flickering arcs of electricity shot out and struck the harpies, who suddenly swept in and pulled someone off the cliff directly overhead.
The figure plummeted for a moment before suddenly slowing its descent, settling on the lip of the cave next to us. Sabin had cast Featherfall on him, thus saving his life… but who was he?
The rest of the party had hastened out after hearing the crack of lightening, and Nolin held the stunned figure securely while Avia cast a critical eye upon him. “Well, he’s not evil.”
Indeed not, but then who was he, and what the hell was he doing wandering about Jorgenfist while cavorting with harpies?
He was an elf, or maybe half elf (I was never very good at spotting the differences) dressed in silk clothing traced with ornate lines and patterns over it, and a light weight cloak draped about his shoulders. He looked fragile, but perhaps that was only in contrast to Nolin, Avia and Sabin who were all standing next to him.
Clearly not a fighter then.
Our non evil not fighter introduced himself as Rarallo, a sorcerer of no modest abilities (at least according to him). He had been hired by the Rodderick’s Cove city council to investigate the recent rash of giant incursions, and to resolve the issue if possible, or report back if the problem was bigger than he could handle alone.
Up until now Rarallo had used stealth to sneak into the valley, and was sneaking up onto the fortress when the harpies spotted him and lured him to the cliff’s edge with their singing. He had broken from their enchantment just before falling, and sent a bolt of lightening toward them. But they had swooped in and toppled him over the edge before he could escape.
He was quite grateful to Sabin for breaking his fall, and to the rest of us for not pummeling him senseless once he had safely landed.
We briefly exchanged information about our two similar missions, and Rarallo eagerly accepted our proposal to join forces to take down Mokmurian.
I had been aware of a flurry of motion behind me as soon as Rarallo had said “sorcerer”, and turning around I saw Trask hopping from foot to foot, and madly fidgeting as if he were in desperate need of relieving himself.
As the rest of us gave our new ally a little space, Trask converged upon him and spent several hours in deep (mostly one sided) conversation about which spells he was able to cast, what spells he found to be most effective in particular situations, the latest style in component pouches (flaps or buttons?), and did he have trouble talking with girls too?
The rest of us turned our attention to planning our encounter with the dragon in the morning. We compiled a list of spells and tactics likely to be useful in fighting a large, winged, spell casting, fire breathing creature with an amazing intellect; and came away feeling we probably had a good chance of defeating the dragon with only minimal casualties (after we had liberally redefined minimal casualties to mean losing half the party).
Trask seemed somewhat conflicted in that his primary offensive contribution to our battles involved fire based spells, which were not likely to be very effective against a red dragon. While at the same time he was going to get to actually meet a red dragon, but then he was going to help try and kill it.
We settled in to our usual watches, with Rarallo and I taking the first shift, during which time we talked further about the morning’s encounter with a dragon and the possible outcomes.
We arose early the next day and quietly slipped out from the cavern, dropping down to the river bank using a combination of Fly and Air Walk. We walked along the Muschkal to where low peaks rose up to where the dragon had made his lair, and then took to the air again.
A hundred feet or so from the cave entrance we cast a number of defensive and protective spells (mostly against fire), and then crept into the gaping maw of the dragon’s abode.
We had hoped to catch him napping, or at least unaware, and to cast additional spells to aid us in combat, and possibly even surround him before he woke, getting in a few unanswered attacks.
We did none of those things.
Instead we drifted down a long, wide and tall hallway for nearly a hundred yards, when the cavern opened into an expansive chamber that stretched away into the darkness on all sides. Then a low, deep rumbling voice spoke out, “Well, this is a surprise. I haven’t smelled humans since Sandpoint.”
We had, in the early phase of our planning the day before, briefly discussed simply talking with the dragon, and came up with a number of stories to present to convince the dragon to help us defeat Mokmurian, or at least not hinder our efforts. But we didn’t really think that a red dragon would be willing to negotiate, or be a trustworthy ally, and so we did not spend much time fleshing out details on any of the potential back stories we could use.
Quickly Nolin launched into the first of these, saying Mokmurian had sent us to find out why the dragon had allowed himself to be driven away by the white dragon he encountered in the raid Sandpoint.
The dragon was more than a little skeptical, and it became obvious that the truth might aid us in gaining his confidence and assistance.
I asked if we might approach to talk with him, and he agreed. We brought our our magical torches and came forward… and gaped in wonder at the vast horde of gold, silver, platinum and gem stones upon which the dragon had made his bed.
The dragon said we could call him “Longtooth”, and up close we could see that while he was not an especially large red dragon, he was still especially large. He wore a ring on one claw, and a silver arm band on his foreleg. About his neck was hung an obsidian amulet. He smelled strongly of sulphur, and acrid vapors wafted out from his nostrils.
I stated that we were in fact here to kill Mokmurian, and had hoped to gain an ally in the dragon for this effort. I then relayed the attitude our (now deceased) giant guide had expressed that the dragon was a mere servant to the mighty Mokmurian, who had soundly thrashed him in combat. I then asked why one as mighty as he would stoop to serving a giant.
As luck would have it, we had hit a nerve.
Longtooth raged about how he and Mokmurian were equal partners, and yet Mokmurian and his ilk did not treat him with the proper respect. Indeed the giant had inflicted a great amount of physical pain and damage upon the dragon after he had returned from Sandpoint.
We were all surprised to hear a small voice from behind squeak, “I have a healing potion you can have.” And with that Rigel, legs shaking so hard we could hear her knees knocking together, came forward and offered Longtooth a potion. He sniffed the vial suspiciously before quaffing the contents in a single swig, sighing contentedly as it took affect.
Rigel then bowed low, and without as much as a single covetous look at the incredible treasure before her, crept slowly back to the party. This was so unlike Rigel that I wondered if she were under some sort of enchantment. Or perhaps she was simply so impressed with this creature and its great store of treasure that she was simply paying it homage in her own way.
But no matter, her action had put the dragon in a better frame of mind, at least towards us and our request. Longtooth agreed that if and when we attacked Mokmurian, he would turn a blind eye and remain here in his chamber.
He also offered some inside information about Mokmurian, the fortress, and the forces we could expect to encounter within.
With giants, magical abilities come naturally, and usually result in physical deformities as an individual’s magical powers increase. Mokmurian is different in that his magical abilities came from study — he has access to a rich source of information from over the centuries. Longtooth admitted that Mokmurian’s magical skill outmatched his own.
The black tower itself was feared by the giants, and some evil power kept all but the harpies away. The harpies were either immune to or worked in conjunction with that power, and had an arrangement with Mokmurian that they could remain (un-harassed by him) as long as they did not harm any giants. This courtesy, however, did not extend to the ogres in the camps.
While the fortress above ground looked impressive, the bulk of Mokmurian’s stronghold was below ground, and most of his special servants lived down there with him.
He had helped Mokmurian capture a pair of young red dragons (apparently there’s a bit of a “tough love” attitude among dragons, and if you let yourself be suckered in by one of your own, well that’s you’re own fault — maybe you won’t be so gullible next time) for some purpose of his own.
The wyverns (he was impressed we had slain them) did not serve the giants, and their cavern was isolated.
The insect caves, however, did lead into the underground complex, but it was guarded by an abomination of undead spider like creatures. If we could get past them, then this was our best way to enter Mokmurian’s lair undetected.
For his part in the defeat of Mokmurian, Longtooth expected a share of the treasure and items we found. We agreed to his terms (what choice did we have, really?) and thanked him for the information he had provided.
And so we returned to our old camp in the wyverns’ cave to prepare for an assault on the insect cave. It is still quite early in the day, but we had expended quite a few spells in preparation for what we thought would be a battle with a dragon, and we thought it best to enter the stronghold with every possible advantage.
Most of the day was spent going through our inventory and discussing what we had learned from Longtooth. We also took the fire opal we had found earlier, but were reluctant to touch.
[610] fire opal
Rarallo is getting along well with everyone, although I have noticed he tends to avoid engaging Trask in conversation. Night has finally fallen and he and I once again began the night watch.
== Toilday, Erastus 1, 4708; Mokmurian’s Underground Lair; late morning ==
We used our usual combination of spells to climb up from the wyvern cave to the bug cave. Insects and (mostly) arachnids of all shapes and varieties wriggled about in a living mat of disgusting crawling critters, covering the rocky surfaces from floor to ceiling.
A fireball, courtesy of Trask (when it comes to fire, who else would you call?), cleared the first forty feet of the cave, but from deeper within we could hear disturbingly loud clicking, clacking and squealing noises coming from something large and unhappy.
Peering in we saw a huge spider, with a massive swollen body filling most of the cavern in which it squatted. Its rotting, bloated sack like body had gaping holes in its exoskeleton, through which thousands of smaller spiders swarmed, brining with them the fetid, decayed stench of the undead. It darted forward on knobby jointed legs, with venomous spittle frothing at its mouth.
Trask sent forth another fireball at the same moment Rarallo launched an exploding ball of electrical fire, both severely scorching the spider and revealing another pair behind it.
Sabin finished off the lead monstrosity with his axe, and as it fell its spider swarm entourage dissipated into the gloom.
A large corpse spider rushed over, vomiting up a stream of shiny black spiders with vibrant red hour glass shapes on their bellies. Sabin was still floating from an Air Walk spell, and the spiders could not get at him, but the swarm climbed onto Rigel and began to bite her.
The other massive spider charged Nolin and Avia, biting and striking at them.
Our fighters continued to hack at them, while Rarallo sent multiple arcs of electrical current through the spiders, and Trask torched their back sides with fireballs.
The magical and physical onslaught proved too great, and the the horrid beasts soon fell, leaving a close woven net of webbing behind them.
Trask burned away the webs with a flaming sphere, and amidst the remains of hapless creatures that had wandered into the spiders’ cave over the years we found a number of useful items.
[611] +1 long sword
[612] +2 halberd
[613] staff of rusting grasp
Kane discovered a secret door at the back end of the cave, which opened onto a rough hewn, narrow passageway. The passage plunged straight back from the cliff face, branching a short distance in. In both directions we could see additional branches forking to the left and right off into the darkness.
Given the size of the passages, Kane was the best candidate for scouting on ahead, and so he set off to explore them alone. He took the right fork, and continued on, staying to the right through two more junctions before pausing momentarily at a three way fork. From behind he heard a tiny voice shout out, “Kill him!” as he felt something sharp stab him in the back of the leg.
Turning around he saw a par of red caps, those diminutive terrors of the deep, and as he raised his knife to attack, the pip squeaks saw his holy symbol and chirped, “Desna!” before running away down another narrow cavern.
Kane then returned to us before heading back out again, but this time sticking to the left. After twisting about for some distance this side simply forked once, with either way dead ending shortly thereafter.
These twisty passages made up a sort of maze that provided yet another level of defense for entering the fortress from below.
We decided to tackle the puzzle as a group so we could defend against any further red cap attacks (or worse). This time we started down the right hand passage, but stuck to the left forks.
Once again luck was with us, and after taking the left branch at the three way junction, the passage wound its way further in and around for quite some distance. And then, not far ahead we could see the dim glow of torch light, and heard the sound of steel against stone.
We did not much fancy engaging any opponent while in the narrow crack of a passageway, we opted for the element of surprise and charged up the tunnel and into the room from whence the light came.
There, in the center of a large chamber was a small kobold, holding a spear, which it was sharpening on a stone.
We looked at it and it looked at us. We hefted our weapons and it gave us an angry look before it began to shake violently and to foam at the mouth.
The little runt charged straight at Avia, who accommodated it by slashing at it. Nolin did the same, as did Sabin, and still the little rat was standing and jabbing away with its little spear.
Then from an opening to the east we heard in giant, “What’s going on down there?”
I attempted to squeak back in giant, doing the best kobold impersonation I could muster, “Rats!” But my performance was rather feeble, and I could hear the sounds of heavy footfalls coming towards us.
A kobold is one thing — even a barbarian kobold in mid rage borders on cute in a pathetic, grotesque sort of way — but a giant is something to take seriously. I turned back to my companions to see Rigel send an arrow through the little guy’s eye, permanently resolving its anger management issues, and signaled to them all that we had large scale incoming trouble.
But it wasn’t a giant that came trotting over, it was a squad of ogres. Rarallo deftly send a lightening bolt through two ogres and it continued on down the dark hallway beyond, from where we heard a loud interjection followed by, “What the hell!” in giant.
Trask vanished while Nolin, Sabin and Avia stepped up to prevent the ogres (and sundry) from storming into the chamber and overwhelming us. Rarallo sent another lightening bolt through the ogres and into the unseen giant, eliciting another string of profanities.
A fireball exploded somewhere behind the ogres, felling many, and letting us know that Trask was at work.
Just as the ogre force was dwindling, a squad of giants charged up and began to beat on our fighters, who ferociously fought back. Rarallo and Trask continued to make effective use of fire and electricity while Rigel peppered the giants with arrows. Kane and I, after each of us failed to stop a giant with a Hold Person spell, kept our fighters healed, and listened for any unexpected arrivals from the, thus far unexplored, north passage.
The squad of giants was whittled down to one, and Trask erected a wall of fire to keep it from escaping to the east, while the fighters closed with it. But it ran to a chamber to the south and yelled out for help.
While all of this was going on, I had been peering through the wall of fire, looking to see if any new threat should appear. And of course it did. A lamia (not a matriarch, thank goodness) peered into the room before retreating back into the darkness.
The southern room was a forge of some sort, and two giants had been working there when the fighting started. They picked rocks and began to hurl them at us, doing a great deal of damage. But our fighters pressed in close and hacked away at them until both of the stone chuckers as well as the captain dropped.
There were three forges in the southern chamber, with a large bellows for each. The bellows set up to be operated by slaves held in three cages in the room. Dwarves, without beards, were in the cages and looked at us warily.
At that moment Rigel arrived, and somewhere in her past she must have lived with a dwarf, or studied their ways because she could actually speak there language, and excitedly told them that we had rescued them and that they were safe.
We let them out of their cages, Kane created food and water for them, which they eagerly accepted. They could actually speak common, and told us that the giants had captured them in a raiding party months before, and had humiliated them by shaving off their beards and then forced them to work at the bellows here in the forge ever since.
Later I found out that Rigel’s grasp of the dwarven tongue was not quite as strong as she may think, and her exclamations and reassurances were more along the lines of, “Me big proud pants sitting you on free to go! Enjoy the flaccidity I bring to you of freedom.”
We gave the dwarves some weapons and directions for how to get out via the spider cave. We also gave them some gold and ropes so they could climb down to the river and make good their escape. Or, in the words of Rigel, “You go now with no clothing, with your lose bits hanging freely in the breeze.”
The dwarves were tired, and agreed to watch our backs in the kobold room while they rested.
The team then searched the giant and ogre bodies for anything that might be of use.
[731] bag of gems
[732] potion of Bull’s Strength
The kobold warrior was also searched, and his pint sized gear was also taken:
[???] necklace
[???] breast plate
[???] buckler
[???] bag on a belt
But we had been spotted by the fleeing lamia, and felt needed to act swiftly to prevent an alarm from being sounded. The wall of fire expired and we hurriedly made our way through a large long hall with walls streaked with glittering veins of mica, that had served as the barracks for the giants.
The passage narrowed and bent to the southeast, but another passageway branched off to the north, and from that direction wafted in the smell of incense and the soft sound of a lute. Recent tracks made in the dusty floor led north.
We went that way.
We followed the northern passage as it widened into a room that stretched eastward. Rarallo became invisible as we prepared for battle. From around a corner we could here someone chanting in Thassilonian, “Oh great is the mother of monsters, we who are your servants shall prepare your way.”
We peeked around the corner and say at the far eastern end of the room was an altar, and near the altar were three lamia. Their tawny lion bodies looked dangerous, but they also had the upper torsos of women, skilled in both combat and spells… and apparently music. The beast closest to the altar was playing the lute.
Incense was burning in a pair of braziers, one at either side of the altar, and the smoke had a metallic tang that lent a dream like air to the room.
The room itself was painted in swirling patterns of rich blues and purples, which were the tokens of Desna; but also present were statues of a three headed jackal and figures of monstrous bats, which was for Lamashtu.
From somewhere unseen Rarallo launched a blast of electricity, but we were dubious that it had much, or any effect, because the only response from our foes was, “Well, sisters, maybe they are not here to convert to Lamashtu after all, but they will make great sacrifices!”
With that two of the lamia moved forward to attack, while the lute player remained near the altar. These creatures were formidable foes, and their touch could (and did) drain will power. That plus their lion bodies gave them incredible speed and strength.
On top of this all three of them seemed blurred, making it difficult to focus on them.
Avia and Sabin engaged the first, while Nolin attacked on the second. Trask and Rarallo Trask using magic to strike at these two, while Rigel was shooting arrows at them.
The lute player began to chant, and suddenly a wave of cold washed over us, sapping our health and causing Sabin to go blind.
I summoned a dire lion to keep the lute player occupied, but it was caught in Rarallo’s friendly fire, making it easy prey to the lamia. Still, it was one less round during which she could cast a spell.
The battle was fierce, but one by one we dropped the mirror images of the lamia followed by the lamia themselves. Afterward we managed to restore the lost wisdom and health, and cure Sabin of his blindness.
We spent a few minutes looking over the bodies and room for anything useful, and discovered that the “girls” had been equally well equipped.
[733] +2 magic flail
[736] +2 magic flail
[737] +2 magic flail
[734] +2 headband of wisdom (Kane)
[738] +2 headband of wisdom (Avia)
[739] +2 headband of wisdom (Nolin)
[735] +2 ring of protection (Rigel)
[740] +2 ring of protection (Avia)
[741] +2 ring of protection (Sabin)
The influx of extra rings of protection also meant that I was now wearing a +1 ring of protection.
The braziers were exquisitely smithed silver laced with mithril, and quite valuable, so so after snuffing out the burning incense, we nabbed them as well.
[742] silver and mithril brazier
[742] silver and mithril brazier
Rigel discovered that the altar had been dragged against the wall, and when it was moved she found a small secret compartment full of papers. There was a magical scroll, but of more interest was a beautifully illustrated tome describing how to torture and kill virtually any creature — a rather grisly, although possibly useful discovery.
[744] illustrated tome on torture
[745] scroll of remove curse
There was an exit from this room to the north, and from there Kane heard a pair of low, gravelly voices speaking. We all listened, and Sabin recognized the language as draconic (which fortunately he speaks, although why I would like to hear — there must be an interesting story there).
“Remind me again why we let them do this to our scales? You don’t see anyone else with it.”
“You are wrong, you do see the star sign on their skin. And besides, the sisters said it was good.”
“Oh, that’s right, they would never let anything bad be done to us.”
We had found the two red dragonettes Longtooth had spoken of.
Cautiously Sabin, Kane and I entered the next chamber, with Sabin announcing in draconic that we were allies come to set them free. They seem quite confused by this, and when it was obvious they did not understand common I tried to reassure them in giant. Unfortunately they didn’t know giant either, and only associated it with their oppressors, and so my efforts only fueled their unease.
Sabin was able to convince them that neither the giants nor “the sisters”, as they called the lamia trio, were their friends, and that Longtooth had asked us to tell them that Mokmurian was no worthy for them to follow, and that they should escape.
At some point in time Trask breathed fire (there is definitely something odd going on with that boy), after which the dragonettes then had show how him how it properly done, and thus ensued a short round of one upmanship.
We sent them back the way we had come before realizing the dwarves were still standing guard in the kobold room, and so we rushed out, only to find the dragons relishing a meal of freshly killed lamia. We found the dwarves and sent them on their way to freedom (Rigel, “You go now, make swift pitter pat in trousers!”)
There was a tunnel leading from the dragons’ chamber, which they said lead “out”, and so seeking a place to recover from a morning filled with giant undead spiders, a berserker kobold, ogres, giants, and a trio of lamia, we followed the tunnel to the west.
The tunnel widened and branched in many directions. And there, at the junction, an elderly solitary giantess beckoned to us from an alcove. She did not appear to be hostile, and seemed to want to be as quiet as possible.
This we did not expect, and so we approached to see what she wanted.
Her name was Conna, and she and her husband were the elders of their giant tribe. Mokmurian’s tribe. Giants belong to tribes, and it is the village elders who curb the hot headed impetuous nature of youth, which allows giant kind to live in relative peace with other peoples. Traditionally the tribal elders were respected, and to cross an elder was a serious offense.
But Mokmurian had picked up strange ideas and magical abilities from unnatural sources. He did not believe in the traditions of his people, and when he began to gather an army of youngsters and to invade neighboring areas, her husband tried to stop him. But Mokmurian killed him. Killed an elder!
She was forced to serve Mokmurian, but she hated him. Hated him for killing her husband, and hated him for the harm she saw him doing to giant kind. She feared he was under the influence of an older power: one that he worshipped called Karzug.
At the mention of this name a chill ran down my spine. Was this not the name of one of the ancient rune lords?
And while Mokmurian may have been in over his head (Conna believed the lamia were not his servants, and were in fact keeping an eye on him), he still embraced these new immoral and evil ways. Giants who defy Mokmurian are brought to him, and are changed… changed such that they should no longer be alive.
Mokmurian now spends all of his time in this underground complex, and hardly ever goes above ground.
If we were seeking Mokmurian’s destruction, then she would aid us, both for vengeance of her husband, and here she stopped and looked around the room, which I realized was set up as a shrine him, and to fulfill her duty as Mokmurian’s tribal elder.
She thought that once Mokmurian was gone, the other giants in the camps above would eventually lose interest and wander back home to their own tribes.
Maps of the underground fortress she could provide, as well as advice, and some magical assistance (she had developed her magical powers the natural way). She could also provide us with an out of the way corner where we could camp. The other giants shunned this area because the spirit of her murdered husband lingered in this place.
Conna seemed like a kind and wise soul, even without considering she was a giant, and I felt like she could be trusted. We gratefully accepted her offer of assistance, and are even now deciding where best to use a Rope Trick for shelter, and what and how best Conna could aid us.
