== Starday, Erastus 26, 4708; Sandpoint; evening ==
Shortly after returning to Sandpoint we decided a trip to reconnoiter the dragon’s lair was in order. We wanted to know what we would be facing in the cave on ancient Mt Xin in addition to the dragon.
Trask and Sabin teleported up to the plateau, and from there Sabin sent an Arcane Eye through the mouth of the skull carved into the mountain’s side.
The entrance was large, and the floor, walls and ceiling cut smooth in the surrounding rock, with the sihedron star and Thassilonian runes tracing across the giant archway above the entrance.
For some forty feet in a thick freezing fog blocked all sight, and beyond that a huge natural cavern stretched back into the depths. Icicles hung from the ceiling, while a rime of thick frost covered the floor. Around a broad jog to the left a pair of twelve foot high stone statues stood guard, each with one hand upheld palm outward and the other grasping a sword.
Perhaps a hundred feet after the statues the floor vanished ended in a circular pit, nearly a hundred feet in diameter. Plunging down some three hundred feet the eye found that the cavern increased in size to around one hundred and fifty feet in breadth. As above, everything down here was coated in frost and ice.
Seven pillars twenty feet tall formed a ring around the chamber, and eight passageways led off in different directions. In the center of the circle was a giant pillar easily twice as tall as the others, and narrowing to a pointy top. All of the pillars radiated magic, and each was festooned with a different set of runes.
To the northwest, piled high against the wall between two of the pillars was an enormous pile of coins, wands, armor, weapons, and a wide variety of other loot. And perched upon this treasure trove was the white dragon. A half a dozen empty vials lay at his feet, and he scrabbled about the pile frantically searching. Every now and then he would find another vial, then pop the cork and gulp down its contents. No doubt the beast was healing itself from the damage we had inflicted earlier that day.
The eye expired soon after, and Sabin and Trask returned to Sandpoint.
None of us fancied a long trek through the dark and icy cavern only to be faced with a drop of fifty fathoms to get to the dragon, and so teleport was our best option. But thus far only Sabin had seen the dragon’s layer, and it would require both he and Trask to transport the entire party.
Trask needed to see where he was teleporting to beforehand. There were two problems with this: first Trask did not know the Arcane Eye spell, and second he could not see in the dark, as Sabin could. Fortunately the Wind Walk spell I had cast earlier was still in effect, and I had prepared a True Seeing spell for the day.
And so a short while later Trask, Sabin and I returned to the plateau. Once there I cast True Seeing on Trask, and then we all assumed a gaseous form granted by Wind Walk. Trask and Sabin then sped off into the cave while I remained behind.
A big advantage to True Seeing is that in addition to granting the ability to see in the dark, it also sees through illusions and reveals things that are magically concealed. Trask found that the two stone statues, which we feared might be golems, were only illusions. What’s more, behind the statue on the left was an invisible narrow shelf that led straight to the drop, and then clinging to the wall spiraled down all the way to the bottom. Useful to know.
The dragon was no longer on his horde, and so Trask took the opportunity to circle the chamber searching for magical wards or traps, but he found none. Sabin spent a short time looking at the treasure, noting a variety of items that shone with a bright magical aura.
Presently the two returned back to the plateau before the seeing spell expired, and we teleported back to Sandpoint.
We then spent the next few hours planning our assault on the dragon. Nolin suggested that we get extra warm clothing and spiked boots to prevent slipping on the ice. He also recommended we find a scroll of Locate Creature, so if the dragon was not in when we arrived, we would know when it approached to within several hundred feet of us, and from which direction. The local cobbler provided the boots, and The Feathered Serpent provided the scroll.
We also developed an alternate plan. If the dragon was not at home, we would begin to pilfer the magical items from his vast pile of loot. In this way we hoped to remove his source of healing, and also any magical items he might use against us. And so we emptied our bags of holding and haversacks of all but the most essential items.
With these preparations in place we turned to protective magic and general tactics to be used during the encounter.
For magic, Trask, Kane and I would provide the protection and resistance to cold for the party. Our primary concern after that was removing the dragon’s magical defenses, and so we would begin the skirmish by casting dispel spells against the dragon until our fighters could hit the thing and our fire spells burned it, or we exhausted our supply of dispels (whichever came first).
After that Trask and Sabin would blast it with fireballs, while Kane and I provided healing.
The fighters would of course keep the creature engaged and away from the spell casters, while Rigel peppered it with arrows and kept a steady watch for any unexpected arrivals.
And now for a good night’s sleep, if I can sleep.
== Sunday, Erastus 27, 4708; Mt Xin; morning ==
After an early breakfast we began the day by casting our protective spells and organizing ourselves into two teleportation parties (Sabin, Avia and I in one; Trask, Nolin, Kane and Rigel in the other) teleported directly to the bottom of the pit. We had our ever burning torches out and glowing, and in the dim light it was obvious that the dragon was not there.
Sabin used the Locate Creature scroll and kept watch while the rest of us implemented our alternate plan. Using Detect Magic we identified and gathered the most useful and valuable looking items we could see (and reach).
I made a great deal of noise to lure the dragon in, in case it was within earshot, but as it was we had nearly a minute to collect valuables before Sabin called out, “the dragon is coming,” and pointed at the passageway from which the monster would emerge. The rest of us spread out and prepared for battle.
Soon thereafter a fierce blizzard appeared at the end of corridor, but it seemed to be contained to that passageway. Behind me I heard Trask snicker, “Wall of force.”
The next moment there was a dragon standing next to me. Kane cast Prayer as I moved back, receiving a painful bite in the process, before casting Greater Dispel upon it. Immediately it shifted three feet to the right of where it appeared to have been.
Sabin used his now familiar Dimensional Door trick to take himself and Nolin right next to our opponent, as Avia charged in. Nolin struck it hard, eliciting a howl of pain, as Trask hit its backside with a fireball. Kane used Dispel Magic against it, and the dragon mauled Nolin, then clawed at Avia and Sabin.
I used another Greater Dispel on it, and Sabin stepped back and blasted it with a fireball. This blast obviously hurt and the dragon screamed in pain and rage.
After a few more well placed fireballs and well landed hits the dragon was looking seriously wounded, but it stepped back and vanished, just as it had done yesterday.
Sabin called out, “He’s back down the passage from which he came,” and Trask dropped his wall of force.
I raced in as fast as I could run and stumbled into a chamber, where the dragon was crouched in a corner mumbling words beneath its breath. I had just enough breath left to shout, “The dragon is right here!”
The next moment Sabin, Nolin and Avia blinked in next to me and engaged the dragon. The beast then grabbed Avia in its jaws, but after a brief struggle she broke free. Nolin hit it hard, opening up a gash on its side.
And then Trask did something odd, he breathed fire on the dragon! We all knew Trask had a thing about fire, and had some sort of odd lineage that involved a red dragon (somehow), but this was a bit of a shock to us, and I imagine to the dragon as well.
The dragon returned the favor by breathing a cold blast at us, but we were well prepared, and it did no damage.
I cast Dimensional Anchor on the creature to prevent it from escaping, and Avia killed it with a mighty blow, nearly slicing its head off in the process. She finished the job, and removed the head while calmly saying, “Just in case.”
I almost felt sorry for the poor creature. It was an ancient dragon who had lived a long life fending for itself up hear in the frigid wilds. It was unfortunate that it chose to live at the entrance to where we needed to go — that plus all of the innocent people it had slain over its long life put an end to any real sympathy I might have had for it.
We returned to the circular chamber and took inventory of the horde — both what we had already gathered as well as what remained piled upon the floor.
Coinage:
500 cp
19,410 sp
7,000 gp
950 pp
18,446 gp total value
Items:
[1100] scroll: Globe of Invulnerability
[1101] Belt of +4 giant strength
[1102] potion: Cure Serious Wounds
[1103] potion: Cure Serious Wounds
[1104] potion: Cure Serious Wounds
[1105] wand: Cure Light Wounds (46 charges)
[1106] 1st level Perl of Power
[1107] +3 Cloak of Resistance
[1108] scroll: Remove Blindness/Deafness
[1109] 6 vials of holy water
[1110] 17 potions Cure Light Wounds
[1111] scroll: Heal
[1112] quiver of 20 masterwork arrows
[1113] 2 arrows of Greater Dragon Slaying
[1114] teak box with felt cushion holding 6 thunder-stones
[1115] chime of opening (5 charges)
[1116] potion: Cure Moderate Wounds
[1117] potion: Cure Moderate Wounds
[1118] wand: Bear’s Endurance (38 charges)
[1119] +3 half plate with wolf motif
[1120] ivory set of +1 bracers of archery
[1121] ever-burning torch
[1122] potion: Resist Energy
[1123] potion: Resist Energy
[1124] ever-burning torch
[1125] Flame Tongue (flaming burst longs-word)
[1126] potion: Cure Moderate Wounds
[1127] potion: Cure Moderate Wounds
[1128] potion: Cure Moderate Wounds
[1129] ever-burning torch
[1130] ever-burning torch
[1131] ever-burning torch
[1132] ever-burning torch
[1133] Dark wood buckler
[1134] masterwork full plate
[1135] +1 mithral shirt (small)
[1136] +1 mithral shirt (small)
[1137] +1 adamantine war-hammer
Tapestries, furnishings, gems and other items worth about 26,000 gp
It took the remainder of the day to identify, catalogue, and estimate values for the horde, and we knew it would take a couple of days to safely transport it all to a safe location.
We gathered the bulk of the magical items plus some of the gems and coins and returned to the library complex, which we are using as our headquarters. Once we have gathered everything here we will need to decide what to keep and what to sell. After seeing which of the latter Rarallo might want to buy, we will need to return to Magnimar (or some other large city) to sell the rest of it.
== Moonday, Erastus 28, 4708; Monastic Library; evening ==
A few of us spent time away from hauling loot to search the chambers and study the pillars in more detail.
The pillars all have auras of conjuration, and for each of the seven a small keyhole is on the inward facing side, and engraved runes identify its associated rune-lord.
The position of each rune-lord’s pillar to one another was the same as with the circle of stone heads on the plateau, and looking at the drawn images we have of the sihedron rune, it is obvious this order comes from the position of each ray of the seven sided star.
== Toilday, Erastus 29, 4708; Monastic Library; evening ==
We have gathered the all of the dragon’s treasure here, but still need to decide what to keep and what to sell. Some of these items we will put to use right away, for tomorrow we return to Mt Xin to try and enter the runeforge.
== Wealday, Erastus 30, 4708; Runeforge; mid morning ==
We appeared on the plateau at the foot of Mt Xin with the appropriate set of low level spells prepared, and obtained each of the keys. This time no dragon appeared.
And because there were seven of us and we had seven keys, we handed them out based upon a rough estimate of who represented each vice.
Rigel: greed.
Kane: gluttony.
Nolin: wrath.
Avia: pride.
Trask: lust.
Takkad: envy.
Sabin: sloth.
Sabin simply wound up with the remaining key — he is hardly representative of sloth.
With the keys firmly in hand we climbed up the steps toward the mouth of the cave. A steep precipitous drop was on our right, while the mountain loomed high upon our left.
As we approached the top we could see the last step was beneath the mighty archway, upon which was carved the seven rayed sihedron star. Bones were piled all around.
But before we could pass beneath the arch, three giant earth elementals rose up from the ground: two before us and one behind.
I asked, in Terran, what they wanted, to which the replied, “None but the appointed may enter. Begone!”
Avia, who was bringing up the rear, turned to face an elemental and commanded, in Thassilonian, that it stand aside and let her pass. The elemental made a gesture with its fists and stood aside!
Nolin then tried to do the same with an elemental in front, but it struck him!
What was the difference? Avia was openly wearing the sihedron medallion.
Kane, who had taken our second medallion from Derrel some weeks before when we properly laid him to rest in the frozen crypt in the Black Tower, stepped forward and repeated the demand. The elementals saluted and stepped aside.
Using the medallions we were able to shuttle each of us past the stony guardians and enter the cavern.
The frozen fog was gone, but it was still bitter cold, and the floor still covered in thick ice. We thanked Nolin for the foresight to bring spiked boots and marched past the statues, climbed upon the invisible ledge, and made our way down to the circular chamber at the bottom of the pit.
And then with each of us standing at the appropriate pillar for our key, we inserted the keys and turned them. At the second rotation each pillar glowed with its own color of light, which sprang out toward the central pillar.
As all the different colors of light struck the pillar, they combined to become pure white light.
A vortex appeared above the pillar, and then turned onto its side. Looking into the maelstrom we could see a ten foot wide passage leading off toward a glow of multi-colored light in the distance.
We passed through the portal and walked a short distance down a hall of smooth marble, which opened onto a large circular chamber with a tall domed ceiling. Etched into the floor was an enormous seven sided sihedron star, and at the end of each ray was a giant statue of a rune-lord facing inward with its back ten feet from the wall. And behind each statue was another passageway.
In the center of the circular chamber was a pool set in a raised dais, and within the pool a liquid bubbled thickly, and glimmered with a prismatic flickering of light. The pool or the liquid were very magical, although the statues were not.
Once again the order of the rune-lords around the circle was the same as what we had encountered before.
It is time to move forward and search for what we came here to find: some means by which we can defeat Karzoug.
