Arodus 3, Sunday

Well that was a bit more difficult than I would have liked.

I’m afraid my memory is a bit faint after all that happened. Most of us had enchanted two sets of weapons in the magic pool, one against greed, and another against wrath. I remember a statue of Karzoug tried to stop us, and I remember we stopped it from stopping us. In the end, my “domineering” staff became a very powerful magical artifact:

silver, +2 quarterstaff of storing [10 charges]
bull’s strength 1 charge
enlarge person 1 charge
telekinesis 2 charges
flesh to stone 4 charges
-2 diplomacy
+2 morale bonus on saves versus transmutation
+2 attacks/+2d6 damage versus transmuters and shape changers
absorb up to three harmful transmutation effects a day

My +1 cold iron dagger became my covetous weapon, now capable of

returning
-2 diplomacy
+2 morale bonus on saves versus evocation spells
+2 attacks/+2d6 damage versus evocators and fire users
energy resistance (fire) 5

The fire resistance didn’t really help me at all (I’m already more resistant than that) but for several in the party it was a welcome addition. (Some of them still seem to feel like I have no self control. Go figure.)

Anyway, armed with all that, we went after Alasnist, expecting a fight but almost biting off more than we could chew. Upon entering the hall we confronted 4 sin-spawn. Well, feh. I was in the initial group with Avia, Nolin, and Takkad, and 4 sin-spawn weren’t really going to hold back the four of us. We defeated them even before the second part of our party came through the teleportation circles.

Before following the teleportation circles to the next destination, we regrouped. Nolin, Avia, Sabin, and Takkad went first this time. It took a bit for them to clear the circle because apparently there were nine sin-spawn waiting for them this time, and while we’d sent exactly the right people to deal with that threat, it still took a bit of time for them to leave the circle so we could arrive. We clearly came after some major damage had already been done, but just as clearly it was not yet over either.

But it didn’t take long.

We’d collected a total of 13 +1 great axes, and 13 +1 red breast plates. There were still the flaming weapons stuck on the walls that we’d seen last time. And there was still the smoky curtain at one end.

Takkad used True Seeing to look through the smoke, and he saw a huge hall, two rows of stone pillars, a flaming ceiling, and a circle of low flames on the floor surrounded by a large sihedron image.

Oh. And an enormous demon. Takkad called it a “shemazen” and warned us it was about thirty=five (35!) feet high and looked like a cross between a bear and a spider.

And then a lightning bolt struck him. He told us, grimly and as quickly as he could, that he also saw Athroxis and she also saw him. A hasty and brief conversation seemed to be leading towards getting the magic user first and the demon second, although there was notable noise from some about that abomination needing to go first.

Then it all became personal, as another lightning bolt came out and this time, it struck all of us, bouncing off of Takkad. And to seal the decision, Takkad yelled “The shemazen is gone!” just as the shemazen appeared behind us.

I quickly judged that the greater danger was the dimunitive magic user, because I figured that the demon would just be a physical battle, and our fighters excel at that. In hindsight, this served to show how little I know about demons, even if it arguably proved the right move anyway. I threw up a wall of force between her and us, and turned my attention to the 35-foot spider-bear behind us.

Our party flew, and floated, and teleported. We smote, and struck, and fought. But the demon was able to not only deal damage but reduce one’s strength, and it wasn’t until some holy power got invoked (Avia!) that the demon started taking serious damage. We knew this because of the great chunks of flesh actually flying off, and the unearthly howls it emitted. Agonizing howls of pain are always a good indication you’re doing it right.

There was a flash as something – Takkad said smugly it was another lightning bolt – hit the wall of force and detonated. The wall held. A second hit it .. and it still held. Walls of force are pretty darned strong. And frustrating, if you just blew two high level spells making one light up briefly like a full moon.

The shemazen teleported away from us but Sabin, in an inspired effort, ran towards it and threw his axe at it, killing it.

We were mildly damaged but nothing a little cleric action couldn’t take care of. And now we could turn around and deal with Athroxis. I decided it might be prudent for me to cast spell resistance on myself, and while others positioned themselves, Athroxis dropped the smoke. Oh, and conjured another shemazian. Our efforts to fight them one at a time was for nought, now.

At a signal from my companions I dropped the wall of force, and it was ON. Athroxis wielded a flaming ranseur which was vicious, and the shemazian went back to what shemazians apparently do best – making people bleed and sapping their strength.

Takkad aimed a Greater Dispel at Athroxis, and that may have contributed to what happened next.

It was Nolin who finally struck the killing blows on Athroxis, and the most peculiar thing happened. As she fell, dead, to the ground below, an elaborate tattoo or etching on her forehead disappeared, and reappeared on Nolin’s forehead. It was like a bad bar game as he tried to guess why people were staring at his face, but not his face.

But there wasn’t time for a lot of this, as there was still a demon to deal with. I tried chain lightning, and it laughed at me. Takkad tried a cone of cold, but Takkad paid for it with a swipe and a significant loss of strength. Finally, Sabin gathered his usual friends and dimension doored right next to it, and between Avia, Sabin, and Nolin (and a the faintly visible aura of justice in the air) it was quickly put to rest.

With both the demon and the fighter/mage down, we checked to see what radiated magic, and what it was. We found

[1211] wand of lightning [15] CL 10
[1212] wand of clairvoyance/clairaudience [32]
[1213] mithril breastplate +4 (black)
[1214] +1 flaming ranseur
[1215] amulet of natural armor +2
[1216] belt of physical might +2 (st + dx)
[1217] headband of vast intelligence +2
[1218] ring of protection +2
[1219] cloak of resistance +3
[1220] spell component pouch
[1221] spellbook

We had defeated the last hall in RuneForge. Now all we had to do was get out. We weren’t sure if we were even in the same plane as our homes, although we suspected it was the case. We decided to rest for a bit to recover from our battles and consider how we might get out.

5 Arodus, Tuesday

It occurred to us that we should charge our wands/weapons one last time before (we hope) successfully leaving Runeforge. Unfortunately, this did not go well. Our working theory is that what we did with our weapons drained the pool, either temporarily or permanently, it matters not, of its magic.

We dipped our newly acquired wand of lightning, and was able to raise it to 25 charges. A second dip and it went to 30 charges. Several cautionary yells from the peanut gallery suggested we should not be experimenting with one our more valuable magic items, so we switched to our wand of knock. It went from 10 to 8 charges. We dipped it again, using either telekinesis or an unseen servant (I don’t remember which) but it fell in and dissolved. Gone.

Since that wasn’t disasterous enough, we tried again with a wand of silent image with 3 charges. It exploded, but fortunately we were all far enough away it didn’t hurt us. So endeth the lab.

We were careful to stuff our haversacks and bags of holding as full as possible with things to bring back (whether to use or to sell). We weren’t sure if we’d be able to get back into Runeforge, or whether we’d want to.

Takkad tried a sending to his father, which seemed successful. But then, thinking about it more, even if we were on another plane it seemed likely a sending would succeed.

So we stood in front of the inscribed sihedron, knowing that it was somehow special. I had a sudden inspiration, and although several party members seemed startled, it was done. I tried casting a teleport spell to the dragon’s lair, where he’d stored his hoard and where we’d created the original gate that led us here. Teleport is from the conjuration school, and whether it was the spell or the school, it had the desired effect. A gate opened up, through which we could see the circle of stones we knew to be on the mountainside outside the dragon’s lair. I immediately stepped through.

I think there were a couple of cries of warning, but there I was on the mountainside, and soon the rest of my party was there too. The gate remained open for about an hour before closing of its own accord. And from there, we teleported back to the library and began considering what we’d accumulated, and what we’d keep, and what we’d sell.

Takkad seems to be the party accountant, and by his calculations, even when setting aside a share for party use, assuming we find a market for the things we wish to sell, we should each increase our wealth by over 59,000gp. Each.

Each!

But we’re not done. We need to still confront a Rune Lord and stop him from re-assuming power, and without other Rune Lords to oppose him, we may have quite the battle on our hands. And to that end, I (and many in the group) are spending a fair amount of time considering what magic items we may want to construct or purchase to bolster our strength even more.

 

== Sunday, Arodus 3, 4708; Runeforge; evening ==

The shemhazian was dead, but we still had Athroxis waiting for us in the other chamber. She had ceased her assault on Trask’s force wall, which implied she was preparing for our imminent arrival.

Not wanting to disappoint her, Trask dropped the wall of force and we moved quickly through the illusionary wall of smoke.

Athroxis was floating in the air near the rear of the room, looking disconcertedly smug, and as another shemhazian appeared we knew why.

I shouted out to the team, “Leave it and concentrate on the spell caster!” Who knew how many of these things she could summon, and I guessed her plan was to simply wear us down and exhaust our spells confronting her summoned minions while she gazed on from safely behind.

Sabin used Dimension Door to bring himself, Avia, Nolin and I (all of whom were either flying or airwalking) next to Athroxis. Sedjewick began to sing of courage and victory while Trask moved up to stand nearby. Arrows flew out from mid air toward our foe, indicating that Rigel had entered the fray.

Kane had other ideas and charged the thirty foot tall daemon, which reached down and grabbed him in its jaws. I feared it might swallow Kane, but after a vicious bite it spat him out.

Trask was listening, however, and sent a zot of lightening at the she-witch.

Avia and Nolin struck at Athroxis, destroying a number of mirror images and hitting true several times, wounding her.

She returned the favor by casting a Cold of Cone upon us, and then the tattoo of the Wrath rune on her forehead glowed, and a clingy film of fire surrounded her. And sure enough, when Sabin and the other two fighters next struck flames crawled across their weapons from where they had touched her, burning them.

The shemhazian turned to Trask and Sedjewick, speaking some curse in abysal, and while they appeared shaken, they stood firm.

I cast Greater Dispel Magic on Athroxis, dousing her protective flame and possibly removing other enchantments.

The fighters were now free to strike without fear of reciprocal fire damage, and strike they did. Sabin and Avia seriously wounded her, and Nolin nearly cut her in half, killing her.

And then a strange thing happened. The rune of Wrath on Athroxis forehead faded and appeared to burn itself onto Nolin’s! I thought I smelled charred flesh, but I could have imagined it, and Nolin seemed unaware of what had occurred until we pointed it out.

But we still had a huge half spider half bear daemon thing to contend with.

Trask used lightening against it and Rigel began to pepper it with arrows.

The shemhazian flicked its tail, striking Rigel, and then spoke another blasphemous phrase in abysal.

Sabin then brought our attack squad next to the daemon, and using her Aura of Justice ability, Avia, Nolin and Sabin killed it.

And that was the end. We had slain the last of the Runeforge captains, and the halls were now undisputedly ours (Karzoug not withstanding).

We searched the limp form of Athroxis for useful items, and found she carried quite a few interesting things.

[1211] wand of lightening (level 10) [15]
[1212] wand of clairaudience/clairvoyance [32]
[1213] +4 mithral breastplate
[1214] +1 flaming ranseur
[1215] +2 amulet of natural armor
[1216] +2 belt of physical might (+2 STR, +2 DEX)
[1217] +2 headband of vast intelligence
[1218] +2 ring of protection
[1219] +3 cloak of resistance
[1220] spell component pouch
[1221] spell-book

Nolin was wondering about his new tattoo, and from having studied the books and scrolls we had already found in Runeforge we knew the following:

Rune of The Ruler of the Halls of Wrath

+1 insight AC, attack and damage bonuses
Ability to create Fire-shield once per day

I was granted use of the belt of physical might, which will help me evade attacks and carry more items.

It was still early in the day, and so we wandered through each of the other halls (except for Sloth and Envy) with Sedjewick using Detect Secret Doors and looking for anything we might have missed earlier. We discovered nothing new.

Kane and I then once again tried to break the enchantment on one of the goldfish in the pools of Greed, but nothing changed.

We are back in the library of Greed. Some of us are reading through books and scrolls trying to discover how to escape Runeforge, while others are enjoying a well deserved rest.
== Moonday, Arodus 4, 4708; Runeforge; evening ==

We are still in Runeforge! But this is by design.

The day was spent gathering up all of the items we want to take with us, just in case we cannot return to fetch them later.

Time was also spent using the highly magical (but dangerous) pool just off the library where we have made our base. In this way we managed to add additional charges to the wands of lightening, but lost wands of [230] Knock and [129] Silent Image in exchange.

[1211] wand of lightening (level 10) [30]

== Toilday, Arodus 5, 4708; Monastic Library; evening ==

Early this morning we returned to the Halls of Wrath and swiftly made our way to the chamber where we had defeated Athroxis. Here was the teleportation circle Vraxeris had said he had modified to escape Runeforge.

We pondered how to activate it when Trask stepped into the circle and cast Teleport. There was a bright flash of light and a portal opened, showing a clear view of a plateau with a ring of giant stone heads.

It was the same circle we used to get the keys to enter Runeforge in the first place. We quickly passed through and found our selves where we had started from a couple of weeks ago.

It felt good to be back out under the clear blue sky, with the sun shining and grass (and snow) beneath our feet.

We were curious how long the portal would last, and after an hour it silently winked out of existence.

We then teleported back the the library complex, and went through all we have accumulated since leaving for Rimeskull.

I then spent much time organizing items were planned to sell, and carefully counted the coins and gem stones (noting the value of each of these). A group of us shall travel to Magnimar tomorrow to convert our loot to coin.

I will also memorize a number of Sending spells to contact people in various places to see what has transpired in the world while we were isolated in Runeforge.