Toilday, Erastus 1 … still

We searched the body of the dead giant. He had a great club and hide armor, and we noticed that the most prominent tattoo on his body was the rune for “wrath”. The floor is a polished gray and black marble. After some discussion, we decided that while Takkad and Rigel found no particular discomfort or disadvantage in being smaller, this was not true for Sabin, who has become a front-line hitter. So I cast Enlarge Person on him, and it seemed to cancel the effects of the Reduce Person spell he was suffering under. The lack of residual magic (as viewed by a detect magic) suggested strongly that he was not permanently back to regular size.

Rigel inspected the double door and determined they were neither locked nor trapped. We entered the room and began our misadventures.

There were runes on the walls.
The room was glowing.
There was a slowly burning circle of flame beneath a huge (12′ tall) black cauldron.
And there was what appeared to be a massive stone golem at one side of the room.

It’s always something, ain’t it?

But adamantine weapons are made for this sort of thing, and Avia and Nolin were able to land some good blows. That’s not to say we won easily; it had spell-like powers to slow us down. Nevertheless, it fell, we retrieved what arros we could, and trudged on. Or at least, were going to.

That’s when a 10′ tall lumbering humanoid came Out Of The Wall to attack, wounding Rallo with an upchuck of lava, or so it appeared. Before we could do anything else, we lost it as it reentered the wall.

Takkad was convinced that the cauldron was creating, allowing, or somehow influencing this tall creature, so he wanted to call in water to put out the fire beneath the cauldron. We convinced him we should wait to do that on the return trip, to avoid clogging up the traffic through here.

As we entered the next chamber, we were struck by the flow of cold air. The room seems to have contained 2 dozen suits or armor that are mounted on frozn ogre bodies.. One set of armor is radiating magic. We suspected it to be the “leader”.

This was just begging for a fireball, so I launched one to hit maximal soldiers. That took some out, but also worked others up. Fortunately, there were so many soldiers in the room, that between them and us, they weren’t too hard to pick off because there wasn’t a lot of room to move. Lightning and fire became the order of the day, and our fighters cleaned up the stragglers. Since they were undead, Takkad washed them in happy sauce .. oh, okay, positive energy .. and that too caused them to be unhappy.

Our reward for this was a lot of heavy metal. There was some decent armor to be had here, as well as some magic battle axes which had runes enscribed on them. We left all this for retrieval upon return.

As Takkad was putting the fire out on the cauldron, the molten slag monster returned. It seemed to have an attitude, complaining about how Sabin tasted, and then turning Kane to stone at a glance. And then disappeared into the wall again.

We discussed our options. We didn’t want to see Kane all busted up ala Olithar. We decided this might be time for me to use my teleport spell to take Kane to a big city and get him fixed before anything worse happened. Bad news was the slag monster was listening to us from the wall! He cast Dimensional Anchor on me to hold me in place, and then toyed with a bit more of the group. Avia, being annoyed by the constant chatter (and damage) smacked it but good and it died. Satisfyingly.

We returned to the original plan. I was to take Kane (and Rigel) to, we decided, Korvosa, where the thought was my father might be able to revert Kane to fleshy Kane from stony Kane. I honestly didn’t know if he could, but if he couldn’t I was pretty sure he could help.

So I focused on the area I knew best — that is to say, my old room — and one blink later, it worked, like it was supposed to. I was home.

I must admit, when I teleported to my room, I did not consider two things. One, Father, is that you’d repurposed the room and filled it with your old stuff. Thank goodness the magic doesn’t let me materialize inside of other stuff or you might still be hearing muffled shouts and beating from inside your old foot locker.

And the other was that you might have put a lock on that door — that locks from the outside. It makes me want to ask — what all is in that room now that it needs a lock? I realize I can hardly call it “my” room anymore but in one brief glance I took in what looked like an amazing potpourri of mere household stuff.

Fortunately, the one named Rigel — the one you mistakenly called “your girl” later during conversation — is very adept with small mechanical devices, and she was able to assist in exiting the room. (I do hope the lock is reparable; sorry.)

There was something about being home again — the smell of distant baked goods that I never before realized exists throughout the whole house, the sight of a familiar portrait here, that threadbare rug in front of the wash basin that has been there for as long as I can remember and which I know Mother has more than once threatened to replace, the fact that our dog Alaric obviously still remembers me — it was like I’d never left. Except for the small humanoid well-chiseled boat anchor to my left, and the dimunitive young lady to my right.

There is a part of me that is mildly pleased to know that even as the changes at home surprised me, I too managed to present myself in a way you had not considered. I had no way of knowing if you’d installed new wards against burglars, and while I was cautiously optimistic that they might still not trigger on me, and that my statuary friend would be even less likely to trigger them, I had far less certainty about my living, breathing companion that you’d had no knowledge of when the wards might have been placed. No matter how small she was now.

So when I cautiously entered the living area, broadcasting an aura of detect magic before me, and found you sitting at the desk in the alcove by the window that looks out over the port, it was entertaining to see how big your eyes could get. When you uttered the words, “I can’t believe I caught you sneaking into the house with your girl, and what is this other thing, some kind of oversized achievement award?” I had to break into uncontrollable laughter and I know it seemed puzzling to you and you didn’t get the joke, but I’m sorry Father, it was just the release of tension and frankly, from my point of view, it really was funny. Despite Rigel’s edginess at the misplaced label.

Dad. Wow. I’ve gotten a year older and I think you’ve gotten shorter.

I wish I’d had more time with you. I have this marvelous journal – well, THIS marvelous journal – that I’d like to have shared with you. I’ve not written you personally as often as I’d wanted, because too often we’re not near an area with enough … civilization … to provide reliable message service.

But of course, you knew that. I mean, you know that. I’m living a life you’ve already led. Maybe not exactly the way you lived it, but you know the constraints, and you know the limitations. You’ve been there.

I wish I could have had more time with you to tell you of my adventures, to have you read my journal, or even to read my journal to you in the hopes of creating the stir in your heart that I felt in mine whenever you would tell me of your tales. But time was not on our side, and I really needed one specific thing: to change my “oversized achievement award” back into the halfling he really is.

I had hoped you might know the spell by heart that would do this. I never really thought to ask you to tell me the true range of your powers before I left, and I don’t know if you’d have told me had I thought to ask. I know now that details like that are not revealed lightly, since the spells a sorceror knows not only defines him but can restrict him. If your opponent knows all your capabilities, then he knows how to put his own spells to best use, and since you can’t always easily discern friend from opponent …

I should not have been surprised that even though I felt great urgency, you felt great curiosity. My rather abridged recitation of how I came into the possession of a stoned halfling no doubt left some confusion in your mind, but it did at least convey the urgency. My companions were still in danger, lacking, now, over a third of their number while on this mission.

When you sent messengers to those whom you knew so that we might quickly find a mage that had either direct knowledge of or a scroll for stone to flesh, I had no idea the machinery it would put in motion. A city the size of Korvosa has many nooks and crannies, and while such a thing is almost certain to be found eventually, it is substantial effort to find it quickly.

And I must admit, I did not realize your contacts extended so deeply into the Council. Every son believes his father to be important and powerful, but when your messenger returned saying Councillor Rasok believed he could help, it was a surprise even to me. I did not know Councillor Rasok to be .. to be as you and I are. In hindsight, though, I suppose if someone has the magical prowess that Rasok does, we should be surprised if he does NOT bear a seat on the Council.

I was a bit wide-eyed, I admit, as we entered the Hall and proceeded to Councillor Rasok’s chambers. As we entered, I remember Rasok’s unusual greeting. “Elros,” he chuckled, “so it seems what is old is new again.”

“Indeed, Wilkas,” you responded. “The tables are turned this time.”

Councillor Rasok took the appearance of someone remembering across many years. “Had you not appeared when you did, leading with that signature fireball of yours, I would not be here today, helping lead this city. I’m still amazed at how many ogres fell at your hand while the others in our party hesitated. And even more amazed at how the rest of the ogres turned and ran after seeing 14 of their companions turned into blackened corpses. Some credit must be given to the healers, of course, for saving me, but a moment longer and only priests would have been able to help me.” His gaze fell upon me. “And so this is your son. Already finding trouble, and already gifting it to his friends. His father’s son, indeed.” But he was smiling. “So you seek a stone to flesh for this, what, a halfling? You are out saving the world with halflings?” He was still amused, but somehow, less smiling. “Is that all you could find willing to join you in this cause?” He glanced at Rigel. “I’m sensing a pattern here. You seem to have an issue with size.”

“No sir,” I had replied. “I’m with a party of eight. Rigel here, and Takkad too, were shrunk by magic means. We have fighters and wizards, humans and half-orcs, lawful and ” – I had caught a warning glance from my father – “and those who claim allegiance only to the principle that justice is blind and owed to all. And we fight the resurgence of the Rune Lords.”

The silence which fell over the room was almost palpable. Father looked stunned and seemed, for the first time in my life, speechless. Rasok paused, then gestured slightly and an aide shut the door and left the room. “He knows better than to repeat what he hears. Tell me more, Trask, son of Elros. Your plight may be of importance to more than your rigid friend here.”

So it was that I found myself in the inner sanctum of Korsova, talking to a man whom, it was said, could change fortunes, about what we had done and what we were doing. When I was finished, Rasok gave a great sigh. “It never ends. Magnimar to Sandpoint, and beyond.” Now my father and I both were looking at him agape, and he gave a half-smile, saying, “There have been signs, and sadly, your tale does not surprise me. Things are moving more quickly than I expected, though. The Council needs to hear this, but I also fully understand that time stops for no man, and while we unfold this fascinating tale, some hundreds of miles away your companions may be falling. I would quiz you more, Trask, but time grows short. On behalf of the Council, I thank you. If even half of what you told me is true and accurate, the Council has much to consider.” He gestured in some manner at the cabinet next to him and a drawer appeared. Reaching into it, he withdrew two scrolls.

“Do you have money?”

“I do,” I replied. “But I don’t know if I have enough.”

“You do,” Rasok assured me. “Because your information is valuable, and because I owe something of a debt here to your father, I will offer you a discount below cost. These two may be had for 1750 gold each.”

“But … on the open market these would be worth over 2000!” I stammered. “Each!”

Rasok smiled. “Does that mean you don’t want them?”

“No, no,” I stammered. “I do. And here is 3500 gold pieces. But I ask you a favor.”

“Yes?”

“Cast the spell yourself. If you’re powerful enough to create these scrolls, then you are more skilled than I and your invocation of the spell would produce better results.”

Rasok laughed again. “Good show, Trask. You are showing signs of an education, be careful! I am impressed. 3400, then, and not a penny more. I cannot cast the spell myself right now as I no longer have that one in mind, so we must use a scroll to help your friend. But you are still right that I can help with this scroll.” And with that, he picked one up, read it out loud, and .. Kane was standing there.

I glanced at Father and he looked like someone who desperately wanted to ask more questions, but it already been on the order of two hours since I left. In the end, Rasok and my father nodded, and as Kane and Rigel and I touched, I uttered the words that would return me (I hoped) from whence I had come.

I have since pondered on the irony: I had left home seeking knowledge, and today, just a little over a year later, I was the one imparting knowledge to the Korsova Council itself.

With a start, I found myself back with the party. There was much happiness and backslapping, but only for a moment. They brought me up to date — they had heard some growling or barking from behind a particular wall .. a wall that appeared damaged or collapsing. Takkad tried to shore it up with a wall of stone, and that made the noise stop. At first. Then a “puppy” leapt out from the wall. Yes it growled and snarled but it looked like no puppy I’d seen before. We thoroughly beat upon it, and it elected to return from whence it came before causing any of us any damage.

We pondered over how it had managed to appear when we’d just patched the wall. It was Takkad himself who realized something — his repair had not smoothly followed the contour of the rounded corners. It had simply put a “slab” into place. Kane cast comprehend languages and listened at the door. He heard snippets like

“Intruders in hallway”
“…but brought fire!”
“gave us a way out!”
“free to roam the universe”
“came back by the angle”
“leave this cursed plane”

It was unclear from this exchange if they were prisoners or hired guards. But clearly they knew about us, and viewed us as undesirable. Good news (for me) is that they seem to dislike fire. Hopefully it’s because they are vulnerable, and not because they’re trying to trick me into hitting them with a life-force-adding random amount of energy.

We continued looking at doors. We found a set of double doors that had behind it, another set. Upon opening that set, a puppy appeared. We quickly shut the doors, but found that the ‘puppy’ (or a ‘puppy’) had squeezed through.

Hates fire, hates fire, must conjure up fire …

== Oathday, Erastus 3, 4708; Mokmurian’s Underground Lair; noon ==

The past day and a half passed in a blur of stealthily crawling about the tunnels and chambers of Mokmurian’s underground lair. Using a map provided by the old giantess and sworn enemy of MM, we were able to make good progress. We have battled trolls, a formidable hill giant, and a smaller and yet more challenging magic wielding stone giant. We were victorious in all of these encounters, and yet Rigel and I find ourselves seeing the world through Kane’s eyes: we have been reduced in size. Sabin too suffered this fate, but being a front line fighter he has been restored to his usual stature by Trask.

Thus far neither Rigel and I have found any significant disadvantages to our current diminutive state, although I find it a little more wearisome to haul around my pack than before.

After killing the spell caster we continued on down a wide corridor and out from the area covered by Cona’s map.

We had followed a large spiral passage down hundreds of feet to get the the spell casting giant, and the stone work down here was quite different from that above. For one thing it is of a much higher quality, without a mark or flake of chisel or hammer in the smooth grey and black marble. And the shape of the corners is uniformly round: there is not a sharp or abrupt edge anywhere.

This southeast corridor split into east and southern branches. The east ended in a cave in, with a small room off the north, while the south led to a large room with wide archway to the east (also choked by rubble) and a wide pair of wooden double doors to the south.

And some sort of magic was working here: you could look directly at a section of wall, or rounded corner, or ceiling, and see what you were looking directly at as expected, but spreading out from your direct line of sight was an area of increasing blurriness — peripheral vision simply did not exist in this place.

Rigel found that the double doors were neither trapped nor locked, and so we opened them and followed a hallway that opened onto a large, high chamber leading off to the east. It was hot and hazy here, with a dull orange-red glow flickering over the walls, which were lined with bands of carved Thassilonian runes. The runes conveyed no specific meaning to those of us who understood that ancient tongue, but the general theme was clear: enslavement, obedience and servitude all for the glory of the Rune Lords.

Near the center of this chamber was an enormous cauldron, some dozen feet tall and nearly twenty feet in diameter, sitting squat on three thick and stubby legs. A pit of fire burned hot beneath it, and tendrils of smoke and vapor rose from its top.

Rarallo cast a Detect Magic spell and was temporarily blinded by the blazing aura of the cauldron. And beyond this massive pot stood the tall and imposing figure of a giant statue, which turned its head towards us as we entered.

Avia and Nolin charged it as I stepped in and cast Prayer, and Sabin threw a club he had take from one of the giants we had felled earlier.

The golem looked at the fighters as a syrupy brown ray oozed from it and touched Nolin, who was slowed, but at that moment Trask cast Haste on the party, offsetting the effect on Nolin.

Rarallo zapped a Ray of Lightening at the golem, which simply bounced off its rocky hide; however Nolin and Avia were using adamantine weapons and quickly reduced the construct to rubble.

And then an odd… thing stepped out from the well where Rarallo was standing. It was ten feet tall and bulbous shaped, like a furnace, and in its bulging belly was a large gaping mouth with yellow flames inside. Rarallo shocked it with Lightening, but it spewed forth a spray of molten hot metal, badly scorching the sorcerer. And before we could react it then stepped back into the wall, leaving behind a cooling pile of slag.

Rarallo thought recalled legends from the dwarves that told of such creatures, but there was nothing we could do to give chase, or stop it from returning, and so we moved on.

The temperature dropped radically in the room to the east, lining the walls of which were two dozen armor clad, weapon wielding stone giant corpses, each posed in a combat stance. In the center of room was headless ogre corpse wearing a highly magical set of plate mail and wielding a pair of magical axes engraved with Thassilonian runes.

We were suspicious (to say the least) and so I shot the central ogre figure with a crossbow bolt, which simply bounced off the armor. Trask stepped over and upped the ante with a fireball.

That got the headless ogres attention, and with a grunt — for being headless it was unexpectedly vocal — it raised an axe, which was now glowing blue, and pointed it at Trask. About half of the giant corpses lurched into action and moved towards him.

Naturally we were expecting this sort of response, and Nolin and Avia positioned themselves to block the encroaching undead horde, creating the perfect choke point and frustrating the giant zombies in the process.

I began to channel positive energy towards the advancing foes as Rarallo zapped a number of them with a lightening bolt. This had the unexpected, but welcome outcome of vaporizing any corpses that had not yet been animated by the headless head of the army of undead.

The fighters began to slug it out with the front line undead giants while Trask attacked them with fire and Rarallo with electricity. At one point Rarallo charged into the cold room, only to be pummelled and chased back, which created the perfect opportunity for me to step in and channel waves of energy over all the occupants in the room a couple of times.

In the mean while Kane was providing healing support for the fighters (and sundry), while Rigel and Sabin watched our back sides in case the “forge monster” made a reappearance.

Headless seemed to be getting angry by now and raised another axe and pointed it at Nolin, draining energy from him, but before the ogre could deal any other attacks Trask finished it off with a volley of magic missiles.

Oddly enough the ogre corpse remained evil even after it had dropped. It wasn’t its possessions, which we had promptly removed, and so Avia hacked the body into many (many) little pieces, and dispersed them throughout the room.

[760][761] +1 rune encrusted battle axes — once a day the wielder can call upon the runes to inflict 1D6 negative energy for 5 rounds A DC12 Fortitude save must be made or the target will suffer -1 Strength. There was also some effect for undead, but I was unclear on this.

[761] +1 full plate (large)

There were also seven sets of master work heavy steel shields, plate, and half plate, which we left for later retrieval.

Meanwhile I used a Create Water spell to try and put out the fire under the cauldron, reasoning anything boiling within was brewing for some nefarious acts of evil.

At this point in time our “forge fiend” (as Rarallo called it) returned next to Sabin and Kane, and it bit Sabin, chewing on his mithral shirt.

“Why are you giving me so much trouble? You don’t even taste good.”

It then glanced at Kane, who turned to stone(!), and a wall of flame appeared around it before it passed back through the wall.

We quickly discussed our options, and because Trask knew Teleportation he could take the stoned Kane with him to a large city and have him restored via Flesh to Stone. He could also in theory return with additional magic items that could help us battle this creature.

But before we could take action it was back again. It had been listening to us from the rock and cast a Dimensional Anchor spell on Trask.

“You are actually kind of fun.”

Rarallo created a mound of black tentacles at its feet, but it strode through them unencumbered and belched forth another font of liquid hot metal at Rarallo and Sabin.

I was summoning an earth elemental to block its escape back into the wall when Avia stepped forward and beat the living coals out of it — literally. It fell into a cooling pile of ash and metal fragments.

When the elemental appeared I sent it further down the passageway to explore, and it reported back that there was a large hall with many doors, all closed.

I then used multiple Create Water spells to extinguish the fire beneath the cauldron, and cooled the cauldron down. With Sabin’s assistance I was able to look over the lip of the enormous pot to find some disgusting thick and lumpy fluid within. I used additional Create Water spells to fill the cauldron and dilute its contents to what we hoped was a less potent stew.

But we needed to restore Kane as quickly as possible, and so Trask took him and Rigel (naturally) back home with him to Korvosa, where he hoped his father (a more advanced magic user by Trask’s account) could assist in returning Kane to life.

The rest of us explored the room next to us, which was twenty feet square, and had a ceiling that rose up, like an silo, some hundred feet above. We could fathom no purpose for the room. Beyond this room was a hallway leading to the northeast, and we were about to head down it when a soft pop sounded back in the cold room.

Trask had returned, and with him was a very much alive and well Kane, and of course a very relieved looking Rigel. I suspect she had held onto his cold stony hand all the way to Korvosa. Trask’s father wasn’t at home, or wasn’t too helpful, and so Trask had to enter the city itself to find the appropriate scroll while Rigel stood vigil over Kane. But all worked out and in the end they all returned with an extra scroll of Stone to Flesh, just in case.

Reunited we followed the passageway to a large hall with many doors, just as the elemental had described. The far eastern side of the hall was choked with debris from a cave in, although someone had been digging through the rubble and a large crack was open to the north.

The walls of the hall were engraved with Thassilonian writings, and reading them I felt a wonderful sense of calmness and serenity. The runes possessed an enchantment, and seemed dedicated to something known as the peacock spirit. But other than a joyous sense of peace, I gained nothing from reading them.

We snooped around the crack when we heard the sound of several things growling, like very large and angry dogs. I sealed the crack with a wall of stone, but one moment later a vicious looking dog-like thing had passed through my wall and stood snarling before us.

Avia and Sabin hacked at it as I hit it with an icicle and Trask singed it with fire. It passed back through the door.

Kane had been standing next to a door near the crack, and from beyond he heard more growling, as if he were overhearing a doggy debate. Using Comprehend Languages Kane learned that these dog things were being held against their will, and that somehow the stone wall I had created provided a way for them to escape… but they noted that we “brought fire” with some concern.

Only then did I realize that unlike the rounded corners in the hall, my wall simply abutted the floor and ceiling, and so using Stone Shape I remedied that.

At the far western end of the hall was a large set of bronze double doors. There were no hinges or locks, but its surface was silvered, and there was a sihedron shaped depression, just large enough to accept one of the sihedron medallions we carried. It was magical and gave off the aura of conjuration.

We strongly suspected that beyond this was Mokmurian’s library, and no doubt the evil giant himself.

We decided to first explore the other doors first.

The southern double doors on opened onto another cave-in.

The northern double doors door held an arcane lock, which Rigel disabled, and led to another set of double doors, which were also locked. Once that was taken care of we opened the inner doors only to find a wall of stone. And moments later another canine creature was snarling before us. Some of us held it at bay with various magic attacks while others slammed the doors closed upon it. Apparently the oddly curved doors and walls prevented them from escaping.

We are now looking over to the large bronze double doors at the western end of the hall and discussing strategy for how to face what we suspect lies beyond.