== 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.

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

We spent the next four hours scanning through the books and journals we had picked up throughout Runeforge, looking for any details about how to use the well to augment our weapons.

Despite being in the center of the complex that housed the well, there was precious little information available about how anything in Runeforge worked. Out best source of information was Vraxeris’ journal, which we had found in his study off of the hall of pride.

There were seven special attributes that could be added to a weapon via the Runeforge well, each created from combining the material components for two of the seven vices represented on the sihedron. To select an attribute that was most effective against any specific runelord, you needed to use the two vices that opposed that runelord’s vice — and the sihedron itself showed which two vices opposed any other vice.

The seven attributes are: miserly, covetous, jealous, dominant, tyrannical, sadistic, and parasitic.

For us, pride and lust would oppose greed, and would grant a dominant attribute to any weapon enchanted in the Runeforge well with those proper components, which we already possessed: the shards of mirrors from pride and the sex toys from lust.

But how were these components and the well used to enchant weapons? I decided to ask someone who would know: the Peacock Spirit. Using the pink ink (and why not?) I picked up the peacock feather quill and wrote,

“What are the procedures required to align weapons with the dominant attribute using Runeforge?”

As soon as I had penned this thought, the quill took over and wrote,

“Immerse deep the right components in opposition to the runelord’s rune, and hasten then to anoint thy weapons.”

After shaking off the unsettled feeling that always comes with using the quill, I realized that the use of the Runeforge well was far more simple than we had been trying to make it.

There seemed no reason to wait, and so we returned to the central Runeforge chamber and circled around the well. Each of us had selected a weapon to align, and so I dumped the components into the well.

The pool glowed with a bright gold light, and wisps of misty gold light wafted up from the surface, wrapping themselves around the weapons we held.

Avia dipped her long sword into the water, and gold traces of Thassilonian runes ran up her weapon to the hilt, etching themselves onto her weapon.

Suddenly a large wave of gold, watery light splashed up and onto the statue of Karzoug, and we heard his voice booming around us.

“You? Again?! I cannot help but be impressed by your optimism, but your enchanted weapons will never reach Xin Shalast, for you shall die here now.”

The rest of us quickly dipped our weapons in the pool, each receiving the brightly glowing golden runes, as the statue lurched to life and stomped heavily towards us.

It smacked Sabin and Nolin hard, but Avia moved and claimed first blood (or I should say “first stone flakes”) for our side. I channeled energy while Kane cast Prayer, and Sedgewick began to sing a song of courage. Trask cast haste, and suddenly we were all moving a lot faster.

The statue continue to hit our fighters, and also Kane, who had tumbled in next to it on some mischievous mission of his own.

Karzoug continued to taunt and gloat, “Give up. You are going to lose and be destroyed.” And of course as soon as he said this Nolin sliced off one of the statue’s legs, and it topped onto the floor, narrowly missing Sabin and I.

We then paused for a moment as Sabin examined our weapons more closely to see if he could discern what features the domineering attribute had added.

One thing we could all tell is that the weapons were empathic, and as long as we held them we could feel their suggestions for how to behave during combat whispering in our minds.

[-2 Diplomacy]

The weapons now provided some bonus for avoiding effects of transmutation magic, and they acted as bane weapons for transmuters and shape changers.

[+2 morale bonus on saves versus transmutation]
[+2 attacks/+2D6 damage versus transmuters and shape changers]

They could also absorb up to three harmful transmutation effects a day.

If a weapon was not magical before being aligned it now boasted a +1 bonus.

Our domineering weapons are:

Avia: +1 adamantine long sword
Nolin: +2 adamantine great sword
Sabin: +2 adamantine great axe
Kane: Masterwork (now +1) star knife
Rigel: keen rapier
Trask: staff
Sedgewick +1 rapier
Takkad: +1 light crossbow

Nolin then had the brilliant idea to try to enchant another set of weapons to be effective against wrath. The two runes that opposed wrath were envy and sloth.

We were not sure what components we needed from these halls, but because they had been abandoned or destroyed our options were limited. I had collected a vial of the quick-silver liquid from envy, and Trask sent an unseen servant into sloth (none of us wanted to return) to obtain some of the disgusting slimy liquid from the pools there.

Sabin decided not to align another weapon, and stood guard before the statue of Alasnist, in case it sprang to life when we activated the well. I put in the components, the water glowed with a gold light that caressed our weapons, and we enchanted another set.

Alasnist did not make an appearance, and we now had a set of covetous aligned weapons.

[-2 Diplomacy]
[+2 morale bonus on saves versus evocation]
[+2 attacks/+2D6 damage versus evocators and fire users]
[+5 Fire resistance]

Our covetous weapons are:

Avia: +1 long sword
Nolin: +1 great sword
Kane: +1 sling
Rigel: +1 bow
Trask: +1 knife
Sedgewick +light crossbow
Takkad: +1 knife

Having two contrasting empathic weapons proved to be very distracting, and so each of us made sure to keep one of these weapons in a bag of holding at any point in time.

Because we would visit wrath the next day we kept the covetous weapons on hand.

On the way back to the study in greed Sabin once again stopped and looked at the gold fish, and said, “Baleful Polymorph.” He explained that he thought the green mist, which we used Gust of Wind to pass through, changed anyone caught in it into a goldfish.

Kane and I each tried to Break Enchantment on one of the fish, but with no luck.

Before retiring for the day Kane, Sabin and I went to the large well beyond the study and recharged the wand of Lesser Restoration (+21 charges) and the wand of Endure Elements (+9).

My watch begins momentarily, and tomorrow will be a busy day.
== Sunday, Arodus 3, 4708; Runeforge; morning ==

We returned to the entrance hall of wrath, but it was as we left it yesterday, and so we walked to the teleport circles at the far back of the hall. We put up a few protective spells, but wanted to save as much magic for the big confrontation with Athroxis, which we felt would take place further in.

Avia, Nolin, Trask and I stepped into the blue circle and immediately found ourselves in the practise hall surrounded by four sin-spawn.

They struck out at us, and we returned blows while carefully stepping out of the teleportation circle so the rest of our team could join. In very little time the spawn were dead.

4 +1 great axes
4 +1 red breast plates

The four sin-spawn appeared to have been the only defenses placed in this hall, and we went further back and to the left to the teleport circles for the diamond room, and regrouped.

Nolin, Avia, Sabin and I stepped in the circle first, and popped into the diamond room with nine sin-spawn standing nearby, ready to attack. But we too were prepared and both sides exchanged blows. It was more crowded around the circle here, and it took longer to clear enough space for the others to arrive.

The combat was fierce and physical with very few spells and only a minimal of healing. I used some icicles, but mostly I struck out with my aligned knife, and channeled energy when needed.

Soon all nine spawn were down, and we took a moment to look around.

9 +1 great axes
9 +1 red breast plates

The flaming weapons are still stuck in the walls, but now I see that the mural on the ceiling of the red haired lady wielding a flaming ranseur was not, as I had first thought, Alasnist, but rather Athroxis.

The walls were inscribed with spidery runes describing various evocation spells.
== Sunday, Arodus 3, 4708; Runeforge; mid-morning ==

We decided to look through the smoke curtain first, and using True Seeing I peered through the illusion into a vast hall. Two rows of red stone pillars reached up some sixty feet to support a flaming ceiling, and a circle of low flames surrounded a large sihedron image in the floor.

But what caught my eye was the enormous daemon standing in the center of the hall. It was a shemhazian, of which I had only read before and never hoped to encounter. The hulking thing towered thirty five feet high, and looked like a giant cross between a bear and a spider. These things were said to have been created in the lowest levels of the abyss from the tortured souls of the most evil of people.

A small figure floated in the off to the side behind the daemon, and by her red hair and flaming ranseur I knew she was Athroxis. She was too far away for me to see what she was doing, but that soon became painfully clear enough.

I was struck by a lightening bolt, and while I managed to dodge aside at the last moment to avoid the full strike, it still hurt plenty.

I quickly described what I saw in the other room to my companions, and we prepared for battle. It seemed our best strategy was to focus on Athroxis and avoid the daemon until she was slain. But I was not sure what was in the minds of my companions. Sabin had an odd grin on his face, and Kane was muttering something about needing to kill the daemon.

And then two things abruptly changed our hastily drawn battle plans. First, another bolt of lightening arced in and struck me, but this one forked and blasted all of my companions as well. Second, the shemhazian vanished from the hall beyond the smoke and appeared behind us.

We adapted quickly. Trask put up a wall of force on this side of the curtain of smoke, effectively isolating us from Athroxis for the time being. We then turned and faced the daemon.

I cast Prayer and Sedgewick began to sing.

Nolin charged in, with Sabin close behind. It struck them hard, but they had a hard time penetrating its defenses and damaging it (even if they hit it). The creature bit Nolin, draining him of strength, and so Kane began to creep in so he could restore Nolin’s strength, and he too began to take hits.

I channeled energy to help heal those in front, and followed Kane in towards the beast.

Trask cast Fly upon Avia (he had previously cast this on Nolin, and she was waiting for her turn), and Sedgewick cast Greater Invisibility on her. She ran in to join her companions in arms, but the invisibility did not aid her against the daemon, and it struck her as she came in.

All the while the rest of us were trying to conserve as much magic as possible for the encounter with Athroxis, while still trying to make meaningful contributions in the battle against this potent foe.

The daemon continued to strike and bite with devastating results, while our own strikes seemed feeble by comparison.

But then Avia was finally standing next to the shemhazian, and while it did not know it yet, this spelled its imminent doom. Avia used her holy smite skill, which extended to Sabin, who was standing nearby, and the two of them began to cut seriously large chunks out of the daemon, who now began to howl and wail in agony.

And then from the cloud of smoke came a bright flash and the sound of a loud explosion: Athroxis had attempted another lightening spell, but had now discovered the force wall. Sedgewick placed his hand on the wall so he would know as soon as it fell, but even after another blast thudded into it, the wall held.

Nolin redoubled his efforts, having had much of his strength restored, and even though Avia suffered a bite for some strength loss, it now mattered little.

The demon, realizing just how close to death it was, teleported to the back of the room and screamed at us. Sabin ran up and threw his great axe at it, striking it squarely in the face.

The thing fell to the floor dead.

We have quickly healed and restored the wounded, and are at full strength with nearly our full complement of spells at the ready.

But we are letting Athroxis expend her spells trying to take down the wall of force.

As soon as it falls (or she gives up trying to take it down) we will take the fight to her.

== Starday, Arodus 2, 4708; Runeforge; noon ==

Trask had launched a fireball into the adjoining hall, where we saw a swarm of creatures, which I later learned were called “sin-spawn,” racing toward us.

They did not appear to welcome Trask’s warm embrace, and so Trask blasted them with another, and one of the creatures dropped in a smouldering heap.

Our fighters moved in to attack, and I fell in behind to offer healing support. Nolin, Sabin and Avia managed to drop another sin-spawn, but things did not continue to go all our way.

A squad of human fighters arrived, but rather than attack, they held back behind the attacking swarm of spawn. All of a sudden we were engulfed in a pair of fireballs. These did not seem as potent as those Trask created, but they were plenty painful, and there were more of them.

Trask detonated another of his fireballs among the sin-spawn and more fell, and then Sabin used his Dimension Door tactic to pop us next to one of the spell casting fighters. Avia promptly killed it.

We were then hit by a volley of force missiles and another fireball as we realized there were a lot more fighters hanging out in the side wings of the great hall.

Sedgewick had been singing a song of courage all this time, and suddenly he shouted at the sin-spawn, which caused them to clasp their boney hands to their ugly ears. Trask then blasted them with yet another fireball, and the last of them fell.

This freed up the other half of our team, and Kane quickly made his way down to us and offered much appreciated healing for all of the fireball damage.

We approached another pair of fighters, but each was using various spells to visually shift their position and blur themselves into a series of wavering copies of them. This made them exceptionally hard to hit or touch.

In the meantime more fireballs burst around us.

I isolated half a dozen of the fighters with a Blade Barrier. One of them tried to launch a fireball through it, but it detonated at the barrier and blasted him and his fellows. Another tried to run through the barrier, but he did not survive the attempt.

Meanwhile Nolin, Avia and Sabin continued to grind their way through the fighters remaining on our side of the blade barrier. Task skillfully used his spells to assist, and finished off one with a set of magic missiles.

Soon there was just a pair of them left, and one of these was talking to his sword grinning evilly at Sabin, which did not bode well for Sabin.

I dropped a Flame Strike on the two fighters, which killed one of them, and then Sabin promptly killed the other.

I looked around the hall and saw a troll standing further down, with Nolin walking back from it, muttering angrily to himself. Apparently Sedgewick had created an image of one, and Nolin had dutifully run over to deal with it.

The four surviving fighters trapped by the blade barrier had one by one popped out from the room, using a teleportation circle on the floor.

This gave us time to look about the hall in which we found ourselves. And of course to search for valuables and loot the dead.

Sabin held a brief conversation with Trask about using the same spells as these fighter mages during combat. At least for Sabin’s part it was short. He made his comment, and as Trask waxed eloquently about the different and subtle nuances of various protective spell combinations, Sabin abruptly turned around and walked off. Trask kept on talking, no doubt for the befit of those around us who might have been listening. Or maybe he is just always talking like that.

We were in a large training hall for combat. Practice dummies stood along the walls, and the floor was littered with miscellaneous fighting gear. Two wings led off to either side halfway down, with doors before and after these wings. A wide hall led to another area further in.

We checked each of the doors in the main hall and found the first half a dozen were small rooms with a pair of bunks and chests in each. The next six were more like kennels, with straw, filth and stench liberally strewn about.

The wings to the left and right each ended in a large identical room with a pair of teleportation circles like the ones we had already seen.

The fighters (we would eventually find a slay 20):

[1206] 20 +1 greats-words
[1207] 20 +2 mithral chain shirts

Both Sedgewick and I replaced the armor we were wearing with a new shirt.

The sin-spawn:

[1208] 10 +1 great axes
[1209] 10 +2 red breastplates

The bedrooms:

[1210] 12 spell-books

The hall ended in a large meeting or dining area, with a sizeable pantry off to one side. Oddly enough there did not appear to be anything worth eating.

We decided to use the blue teleportation circle to to the left (from where we originally entered the hall). We knew that only four of us could use the circle at a time, and so we divided ourselves into groups. Nolin, Avia, Trask and I were in the first group; and Sabin, Rigel, Sedgewick and Kane in the other.

We cast a few protective spells and stepped into the circle.

The room in which we found ourselves was quite large and diamond shaped, with granite walls. A mural of Alasnist was on the ceiling, and the room was lit by three sets of flaming weapons embedded in the wall. At one end of the room was a wide hallway choked with a curtain of billowing black smoke.

We were immediately engulfed by four fireballs, and Nolin was near to death. For there, in each of the four corners of the room stood one of the fighter mages who had escaped the blade barrier trap in the hall. They had obviously been waiting for us, and set off prepared spells just as we arrived.

Trask cleverly isolated two of them by erecting a wall of force. This gave me an idea, and so I asked Avia if she could heal us while I worked on something else. She complied, surprising us with the efficacy of her channelling!

I then entombed one of the fighter mages in a wall of stone. Honestly, if you you are going to launch spells at us at least try to avoid standing in a corner of a room with stone walls.

This left one fighter mage, who tried to put a brave face on his now hopeless situation.

“Stop right there! If you think you can challenge the High Lady Athraxis, then you are mistaken. You have not proven yourselves nearly enough.”

After this little disclaimer he hit Nolin with a scorching ray. Nolin hit him back with something a lot more sharp and solid.

The others then popped into the room, and Kane immediately healed those of us nearest the circles. Trask placed a flaming sphere under the fighter, and I moved over to Nolin and healed him.

The fighter was sweating now, and casting furtive glances at the wall of smoke behind him, “You are not worthy to challenge the high lady! You will never become the high lord of…”

Nolin cut his speech short by cutting off his head. He is good that way.

Kane wandered over to the wall of force and made threatening gestures at one of the fighters, who cowered in response. This was an odd sight: a three foot tall halfling healer making a six foot tall fighter cringe.

The other fighter cast a fireball at the ceiling, obviously judging how high the wall of force reached, and he used this knowledge to scorch a few of us with a well aimed fireball.

This small degree of success was short lived, as Trask dropped the wall of force and we kicked the shit out of our two remaining foes.

Looking around the room we saw that smoke was an illusion. We also noticed that the walls of the room were covered in a thin script, but I was to distracted at the time to translate what they said.

The six flaming weapons lighting the room were a pair of +1 long swords, a pair of +1 ranseurs, and a pair of +1 great swords. We plan to take these with us when we leave Runeforge.

By now the fighter in his stone chrysalis was ready to emerge as a beautiful butterfly, but apparently he had had difficulty with the lack of air and emerged as a corpse instead. We took his stuff.

Rather than pass through the smoke (or illusion thereof) and encounter whom we felt sure was the most powerful being in the Halls of Wrath, we thought to try the other teleportation circles first. We returned to the hall and, keeping the same grouping as before, popped into another hall.

It was the smallest hall we had encountered in Wrath thus far, but it was still large. It was narrow and long and stretched down from the end where we arrived, past a number of very large tables, and ended in three large alcoves at the back.

Parchment, books and alchemical supplies littered the table tops, and standing around the tables were more fighter mages. They were in the middle of a heated argument, and did not notice us at first.

“…but each generation is going to worse and worse…”

“…unless we get the sin-spawn back into human form…”

Trask interrupted their debate with a deadly arc of chain lightening. This surprised us (where was the fire?), but it surprised the fighters even more. In fact three of them died from the shock.

The others began to pop in as we hastily tried to make room for them, and Sabin Dimension Doored Nolin and I into the thick of things.

Nolin killed one while Sabin killed another two. The remaining fighter called out “For the Lady!” as he hefted his sword and launched after us, but Sabin used his newly acquired Swipe spell to take the sword, and I killed the stunned man with a well placed icicle through the eye.

Notes on the tables indicated the fighter mages were trying to solve two serious problems that threatened their well being:

1. the constant in-breeding of warriors over the millennia had degraded their quality, and

2. the practice of converting the aged humans into sin-spawn had further depleted their numbers (that plus the hostile encounters with the denizens of the other halls), and they were trying to find a way to convert the sin-spawn back into humans.

Well, we had solved problem 2 for them. I guess we solved 1 as well, and in the same way.

It was kind of sad, really, but then I realized these people were stuck in the same sort of unchanging thought patterns as everyone we had encoutnered trapped in here. Ten thousand years of isolation is not good for creativity.

Other notes described forging magical weapons and armor (we kept those). In fact the entire place was a well stocked magical weapon and armor lab.

At the far end of the hall, in the center alcove was a large vat of stinking flesh colored goop. The notes identified it as something called proto-flesh, but smelled horrific and I kept well away from it.

The constant barrage of fireballs we had endured today had drained our healing ability, and even Trask had commented that he could not cast as many fireballs as he felt comfortable having on hand (I am guessing that number to be around a dozen). And so we decided to head back to our base in the Halls of Greed.

We made it back to the main entry hall of Wrath without incident, but as we were leaving we heard a loud thunderclap, and as we turned around we saw a cloaked figure swirl about and vanish.

We arrived in Greed without further incident, but Trask was distracted and muttered to himself the entire way back, “That lightening spell was actually more effective than my fireballs. That can’t be right. How can something be better than fire?”

Sabin spent an unusual amount of time looking at the goldfish in the fountains as we walked back to the stufy, and seems very thoughtful.

== Fireday, Arodus 1, 4708; Runeforge; evening ==

Having prepared for combat with the evil that lay in wait we opened the door and quick marched down the narrow hallway to another laboratory. Lanterns hung from the ceiling, bathing the room in a soft golden light. Sprawled on two tables were the forms of bodies, human simulacra crudely stitched together from the parts of different people. An array of sparkling surgical equipment waited nearby on two other tables.

A lank individual in flowing red robes lurked in the far corner. He had a pale and waxy complexion, and was clutching a staff in one hand, with his overly long black fingernails clicking in a most disturbing way as his fingers twitched and spasmed.

He croaked out, “Kill them!” in a voice as dry as dust, and it was then we noticed the other two creatures in the room.

Massive skeletal looking beings with open chest cavities. Peeking out from the rib-cage of each was a wispy spirit of some kind, although I could not tell if they were controlling their hosts or merely captives within. Devourers. I had read about these things before, and was grateful for the defensive spells we had cast against evil.

Sabin wasted no time and used his Dimensional Door tactic to pop himself, Nolin, Avia and I next to the thin one. This caught him by surprise, but we too were surprised by a force wall he had in place to isolate his corner of the room from the fighting. The three fighters fit into the corner, but I did not, and found myself on the wrong side of the wall, staring into the beady black eyes of a devourer.

Thank Pharasma for the Protection from Evil spell that kept the creature from touching me! Unfortunately Sedgewick was standing behind me when Sabin moved us into the room, and he was out of the area warded by Kane’s Magic Circle Against Evil. The other devourer gleefully stepped up and began to pummel him.

I tried a Dismissal spell, but it had no affect on the beast. On the other side of the force wall things were going better. Nolin, Avia and Sabin had been relentlessly bashing away at old skin and bones, who with a cry of anguish vanished.

Sabin called out, “The bastard used Dimension Door to escape!”

But on the other side of the force wall we had two unscathed devourers to contend with, but no fighters! I used Stone Shape to scoop out an access way around the wall of force, through which Nolin and Avia leapt and charged the enemy.

Within moments one of the creatures had fallen, but its companion stepped in and drained Nolin of a massive amount of health. Kane and I channeled energy to keep the fighters going, and Avia stepped up to help finish off the monster.

Meanwhile Sabin had used a scroll of Locate Creature to try and find the lich (we were fairly sure that is what we were dealing with), but as he slowly turned about, the spell indicated the lich was everywhere… and nowhere.

Rigel, Kane and Trask sped out back to the entry rooms, hoping to catch the lich there, while the rest of us searched for secret doors.

Sabin found a trap door right beneath our feet, and I used a Stone Shape spell recalled from the one I had cast earlier (I feature of the cloak I was wearing) and removed a large portion of the door.

A fetid light and the smell of decay and death wafted up from below.

Avia, Nolin, Sabin and I jumped down into the crypt below. I landed poorly and fell to the floor, while the others rolled up and charged the lich, who was standing at the far side.

Suddenly invisible hands lifted me up onto my feet — Rigel! She was invisible and had gracefully flitted past the rest of us and plunged down to scout out the area for traps.

As it turned out, the entire room was a trap.

Between me and the lich (and the fighters) were three sarcophagi, each decorated with relief carvings of dancing skeletons and corpses. As our heavy hitters were hitting the lich heavily, it cackled and out from the hands of these relief carvings sprang a ghostly white light, which sapped us of our health while rejuvenating our foe!

Kane was still above us, but he leaned over the trap door and channeled energy into the room, healing us. This allowed me to cast a Dimensional Anchor on our opponent, while Sabin used a Touch of Idiocy on the lich to greatly reduce its threat.

Task had dropped down into the fray and tried lightening on it, but this seemed to have no affect.

And then the white light sprang forth again, draining those of us in the crypt. Nolin began to slash at the coffin nearest him, using his adamantine great sword, severing the limbs from the carved figures.

Avia then struck a mighty series of blows that reduced the lich to dust.

We then began to frantically search the chamber for the evil creature’s phylactery: for a lich stores its soul in this object, and unless it too is destroyed the lich can defeat death yet again and take form over time.

We pushed the top off the sarcophagus nearest to where the lich fell and found a great deal of Thassilonian, which identified the lich as Kazaven, and indicated that it was in fact Kazaven’s phylactery. Nolin, Avia and Sabin made quick work of destroying it, while Rigel managed to disarm the negative energy trap.

Searching the Kazaven’s remains we found the following:

[1194] Staff of Hungry Shadows: a scorched and twisted piece of wood with a smoke filled crystal sphere at one end. This staff had 39 charges, and could be used to cast the following:

1 charge: Ray of Enfeeblement
1 charge: Darkness
1 charge: Vampiric Touch
2 charges: Enervation
2 charges: Summon Shadow
3 charges: Call Devourer

[1195] +5 bracers of armor (Trask)
[1196] +4 headband of intellect (Sedgewick)
[1197] +2 ring of protection
[1198] small figurine of Kazaven — radiating residual magic of a contingency spell

The sarcophagus nearest the trap door acted as a small library, containing several full sets of spell books.

[1199] sets of spell books

From the next sarcophagus:

14,000 gp worth of coins, gems, and other valuables

[1200] ever smoking bottle
[1201] golem bane scarab: detect golems within 60′ and removes DR (Rigel)
[1202] Kazaven’s spell book

From the room above we found that the surgical instruments had been fashioned from jewelry, and were quite valuable. From the adjoining room we found a set of optical lenses, plus a vast library, including volumes on Thassilonian magic:

[1203] precious tools ~1,500gp
[1204] 10 lenses ~1,000gp
[1205] library ~15,000gp

We gathered up our findings and returned to the study of Greed.

I find it ironic that the hall where we feel most secure and comfortable is the one dedicated to Karzoug, our nemesis.

It was still early in the day, and so we poured over the books on ancient magic and uncovered a spell and rune pair for each of the seven sins.

Envy (Belimarius):
——————

Covetous Aura – bard 5, sorcerer/wizard 5
school: abjuration
components: V, S
casting time: 1 standard action
range: personal
effect: 25-ft.-radius emanation centered on you
duration: 1 round/level or until discharged

Anytime a harmless (so noted by a spell’s saving throw description)
spell of 3rd level or lower is cast within a covetous aura’s area of
effect, you may choose to immediately gain the benefit of that spell
as if it had also targeted you. The intended target still gains the
effect of the spell. You gain the benefits of this duplicated spell
only if the caster is in range of the covetous aura. You are considered
the caster of the additional spell effect. If the effect allows for
multiple targets other than yourself, you cannot use the stolen spell
effect to target other creatures — a covetous aura only aids you.
Once you choose to gain the benefit of another spell, the covetous aura
immediately ends. Rumors hold that this unusual spell was invented
thousands of years ago by Runelord Belimarius, who was constantly
jealous of other spellcasters’ abilities.

Rune of Resistance
Aura: faint abjuration
CL: 5th
Slot: rune
Price: 45,000 gp
Weight: –

Description:

This rune grants the bearer resistance 10 to two energy types chosen
at the time that the rune is inscribed.

Construction Requirements:

Inscribe Rune, resist energy
Cost: 22,500 gp

Gluttony (Zutha):
—————–

Deathwine – cleric 2, sorcerer/wizard 3
school: necromancy
components: V, S
casting time: 1 minute
range: 1 potion touched/level
duration: 1 hour/level

This spell allows you to turn a potion into a temporary pool of
necromantic energy. Only a potion created using a conjuration
(healing) spell can be affected by this spell. An affected potion
turns dark red and reveals a necromantic aura if detect magic is
cast on it while it remains under this spell’s effects.

When you drink a potion affected by this spell, you do not gain the
potion’s normal effect. Instead, the first necromancy spell you cast
within the next minute is cast at a higher caster level. The bonus to
caster level is equal to the spell level of the spell used to create
the potion that deathwine affects. For example, a 5th-level wizard who
drinks deathwine made from a potion of cure serious wounds would cast
his next necromancy spell as an 8th-level caster, as cure serious
wounds is a 3rd-level spell.

In addition, any undead creature (or other creature healed by negative
energy) that drinks a potion affected by deathwine is healed of 1d8
points of damage. Any potion not imbibed before this spell’s duration
expires is destroyed at the end of the deathwine’s duration.

Rune of Obedience
Aura: strong necromancy
CL 9th
Slot: rune
Price: 135,000 gp
Weight: –

Description

Designed as a foolproof means of ensuring absolute loyalty, even
from those ordinarily immune to compulsion and mind-affecting magic,
this rune is infused with a single specific prohibition when first
inscribed. This prohibition must be stated in 10 words or fewer and
the bearer must agree to it of his own free will. From then on, if
the bearer breaks this prohibition, he is afflicted with searing pain,
taking a -4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks
for as long as he is in violation of the prohibition and for 5 minutes
thereafter. This rune affects any creature who agrees to bear it.

Construction Requirements

Inscribe Rune, symbol of pain
Cost: 67,500 gp

Greed (Karzoug):
—————-

Blood Money – sorcerer/wizard 1
school: transmutation
components: V, S
casting time: 1 swift action
range: 0 ft.
duration: instantaneous

You cast blood money just before casting another spell. As part of
this spell’s casting, you must cut one of your hands, releasing a
stream of blood that causes you to take 1d6 points of damage. When
you cast another spell in that same round, your blood transforms into
one material component of your choice required by that second spell.
Even valuable components worth more than 1 gp can be created, but
creating such material components requires an additional cost of
1 point of Strength damage, plus a further point of damage for every
full 500 gp of the component’s value (so a component worth 500-999 gp
costs a total of 2 points, 1,000-1,500 costs 3, etc.). You cannot
create magic items with blood money.

For example, a sorcerer with the spell stoneskin prepared could cast
blood money to create the 250 gp worth of diamond dust required by
that spell, taking 1d6 points of damage and 1 point of Strength damage
in the process.

Material components created by blood money transform back into blood at
the end of the round if they have not been used as a material component.
Spellcasters who do not have blood cannot cast blood money, and those
who are immune to Strength damage (such as undead spellcasters) cannot
use blood money to create valuable material components.

Rune of Contingency
Aura: moderate transmutation
CL: 7th
Slot: rune
Price: 147,000 gp
Weight: –

Description

Once per day, the bearer of this rune can gain the effects of the
spells feather fall and water breathing. In addition, if he is
reduced to 0 or fewer hit points and is not killed, he turns into
a cloud of vapor as per the spell gaseous form for 5 rounds. He
remains conscious during this time, but after 5 rounds returns to
his normal form and is unconscious and dying.

Construction Requirements

Inscribe Rune, feather fall, gaseous form, water breathing
Cost: 73,500 gp

Lust (Sorshen):
—————

Unconscious Agenda – bard 6, sorcerer/wizard 6
descriptors: language-dependent, mind-affecting
school: enchantment (compulsion)
components: V
casting time: 10 minutes
range: close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
target: one humanoid
duration: one week/level or until discharged (D)
save: will/negates
spell resistance: yes

This spell plants a subconscious directive in the target’s mind that
forces him to act as you dictate when specific circumstances arise.
The target humanoid can be either conscious or unconscious, but must
understand your language. Upon casting this spell, you must state a
course of action you wish the target to take. This course of action
must be described in 20 words or fewer. You must then state the
condition under which you wish the target to take this action, also
describing it in 20 or fewer words. Actions or conditions more
elaborate than 20 words cause the spell to fail. Unconscious agenda
cannot compel a target to kill himself, though it can compel him to
perform exceedingly dangerous acts, face impossible odds, or undertake
almost any other course of activity. You cannot issue new commands to
the target after the spell is cast.

If the target fails his save against this spell, he is not compelled
to act in any way until the specified trigger circumstances are
encountered. He also has no knowledge of the details of the spell
affecting him, and has no memory of the last 10 minutes (although he
might come to notice the missing time or the presence of the caster).
He can function as he wishes until the events you detailed as the
condition take place. Upon experiencing the prerequisite condition,
the target is forced to perform the course of action you described
as per the spell dominate person. (If the compelled action is against
the victim’s nature, he immediately gains a new saving throw at a
+5 bonus against the spell to end its effects.) For the next hour,
the target acts as you dictated, doing all he can to fulfill your
command. If, at the end of the hour, the target still has not
completed your command, the target is released from the enchantment
and the spell ends. Once the course of action is completed, the
spell ends. The target has full memory of acts performed during this
hour.

It’s difficult to detect an unconscious agenda before the spell is
triggered. Casting detect magic on one affected by it only reveals an
aura of enchantment if the caster of detect magic has a higher caster
level then the caster of unconscious agenda. Even if the spell is
detected, it can only be removed by break enchantment, limited wish,
remove curse, miracle, or wish. Dispel magic does not affect
unconscious agenda.

Rune of the Mistress
Aura: moderate enchantment
CL: 9th
Slot: rune
Price: 108,000 gp
Weight: –

Description

Three times per day, the bearer of this rune can cause a creature
she touches to take a -4 penalty on all Will saves made against
spells of the enchantment school for the next 24 hours.

Construction Requirements

Inscribe Rune, dominate monster
Cost: 54,000 gp

Pride (Xanderghul):
——————-

Raiment of Command – bard 2, sorcerer/wizard 2
school: illusion (glamer)
components V, S
casting time: 1 standard action
range: personal
target: you
duration: 1 hour/level
saving throw: will/negates

You are cloaked in an illusion of authority. Others perceive you to be
a legitimate figure of authority, such as a higher-ranking official, a
religious figure, or a more powerful warrior. This illusion grants you
a +5 bonus on all Diplomacy and Intimidate checks. If you attempt to
disguise yourself as a specific authority figure whom you have met in
person, you gain a +10 competence bonus on the Disguise check and any
Bluff check related to impersonating that authority figure.

In addition, others are uncomfortable acting against you. Creatures with
an Intelligence of 3 or more take a -2 penalty on all opposed checks made
against you, such as Sense Motive checks made to determine if you’re
bluffing, or Perception checks made to notice you when you’re using
Stealth to sneak (a result of their not wanting to question whether you
belong there, and thus giving you the benefit of the doubt).

Rune of the Inscrutable One
Aura: moderate illusion
CL: 6th
Slot: rune
Price: 36,000 gp
Weight: –

Description

The bearer of this rune confuses all attempts to divine information
about him. This functions as a permanent misdirection spell, which
the bearer can change the target of (and thus what he is detected as)
at will.

In addition, whenever the rune’s bearer enters an area affected by a
divination (scrying) effect or anytime a creature casts a divination
(scrying) spell that targets him, the scrying spell’s caster must
make a DC 18 Will save. If this save fails, the rune’s bearer realizes
that he is being scryed upon, knows what spell is in effect, and knows
the name of the spell’s caster.

Construction Requirements

Inscribe Rune, magic aura, misdirection
Cost: 18,000 gp

Sloth (Krune):
————–

Swipe – bard 2, sorcerer/wizard 3
school: conjuration (teleportation)
components: V, S
casting time: 1 standard action
range: close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
target: one held (by another) item
duration: instantaneous

By flicking a finger in the appropriate direction and proclaiming
ownership, you attempt to magically wrest an item from the target’s
grip and summon it to your hand. To claim an object held by an
opponent, you must make a CMB check — this check has a bonus equal
to your caster level + your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma
modifier (whichever is highest). If you fail this check, the target
retains the item and the spell fails. If you succeed, the item
teleports into one of your free hands or comes to rest at your feet.

Rune of the Lord’s Palanquin
Aura: strong conjuration
CL: 15th
Slot: rune
Price: 135,000 gp
Weight: –

Description

Once per day, the bearer of this rune can summon a floating,
semi-real palanquin. This conveyance has all the special abilities
of a phantom steed and can hold the bearer and up to 150 additional
pounds of weight. Other creatures can ride the palanquin as long as
the total weight is less than 150 pounds. The palanquin can be
dismissed at any time as a free action, but cannot be summoned again
until the next day. The look of the palanquin is decided when the
rune is inscribed, though it usually takes the form of a regal,
comfortable-looking litter that moves without the need for bearers.

Construction Requirements

Inscribe Rune, phantom steed
Cost: 67,500 gp

Wrath (Alaznist):
—————–

Sign Of Wrath – cleric 6, sorcerer/wizard 6
descriptor: force
school: evocation
components: V, S, F (a gem worth 1,000 gp inscribed with the
Thassilonian symbol of wrath)
casting time: 1 standard action
range: personal
effect: 25-ft.-radius burst centered on you
duration: instantaneous
save: reflex/half
spell resistance: yes

A giant, glowing symbol of wrath appears below you, forcibly repulsing
all nearby creatures.

All creatures within the area of effect take 1d6 points of force damage
per caster level (maximum 15d6) and are subjected to a bull rush that
attempts to push them directly away from you. The blast’s bull rush
effect has a CMB bonus equal to your caster level + your Intelligence,
Wisdom, or Charisma modifier (whichever is highest). You are unaffected
by both the spell’s damage and its bull rush effect, and may select up
to one creature per 4 caster levels to also be ignored by the spells
effects.

Rune of Razing
Aura: strong evocation
CL: 13th
Slot: rune
Price: 91,000 gp
Weight: –

Description

This rune grants the bearer the ability to ignore hardness and damage
reduction for 5 rounds per day. Its activation is a free action, and
the rounds need not be used consecutively.

Construction Requirements

Inscribe Rune, mage’s sword
Cost: 45,500 gp

Included in the books was a manual on how to craft these runes, which I immediately began to study. We all thought the effects of the various runes to be quite useful, and I will take the time and effort to learn how to properly create them.

Inscribe Rune [Item Creation]

You can tattoo arcane runes upon your flesh or the flesh of others.

Prerequisite: Caster level 3rd

Benefit: You can create runes. Inscribing a rune takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its base price. To inscribe a rune, you must use up raw materials costing half of its base price.

The general description of these runes is intriguing, and I have copied it here for later study:

Sin runes resemble runic tattoos inscribed in the flesh with arcane inks and scar-inducing irritants. Their intricate forms are endless variations on the seven runes of sin magic. Any individual bearing a Sin rune can make use of its abilities even if not a spellcaster or if its powers are from a school ordinarily prohibited to the bearer.

A Sin rune is considered a magic item but does not take up a body slot in the usual sense. Instead, an individual is limited to possessing one rune, regardless of the creature’s or the rune’s actual size. The potent magics essential to these runes’ function is disrupted by the addition of a second rune, preventing either from working. Once a rune is inscribed, it cannot be removed short of a miracle, wish, or a mage’s disjunction cast directly on it (this use of the spell does not have the normal area of effect and can affect only one rune at a time). Even the loss of that body part is not foolproof, for if it is regenerated or otherwise recovered, it returns with the rune still upon it.

A Sin rune’s ability is usually activated by a spoken command word (a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity) or its effects work continually. Some runes have unusual activations, as mentioned in the rune’s specific description.

For me the Rune of Contingency (there is Karzoug again!) and Rune of the Inscrutable One seem most appealing, but the costs for the creation of these runes is quite high. That plus the fact that you can only have one on your body means each of us shall have to consider carefully which one we want.

== Starday, Arodus 2, 4708; Runeforge; morning ==

We had a restful evening, although many of us remained up late reading through the tomes we had recently acquired.

Returning to the central Runeforge chamber we gazed thoughtfully at the pool. We realized that we already possessed the required components for enchanting weapons in the forge, but were still uncertain about the ceremony itself.

Perhaps we need to scan through the books and scrolls we’ve found down here to find the answer — I bet we already have the information for it.

But we were also anxious to search the final wing of Runeforge — Alaznist and Karzoug were bitter enemies, and it might be we can find allies among her followers. Also it did not seem prudent to leave an entire area unexplored while we were distracted with the forge.

We also need to find a way out of this place. Vraxeris had indicated that leaving Runeforge was not as simple as casting a teleport spell, and as of yet we have not found any clues for our own escape.

Avia and Nolin were the first to reach the end of the long corridor, and they waited for the rest of us to arrive. With no fan-fair the corridor ended at the entrance of a massive hall: twenty fathoms wide by twenty five fathoms long, and ten fathoms high!

The ceiling was glowing from a Continual Light spell, but the entire room was empty — except at the very far end. There a dais raised some thirty feet above the floor which extended into the room twenty feet. A giant iron statues of a female archer stood poised at the edge of the platform, staring impassively at us from afar.

Behind the statue, painted in vibrant colors across the far wall was an immense mural of beautiful, armor clad, crimson haired woman wielding a ranseur and riding a dragon. My companions had seen her image before, and Sedgewick softly hissed, “Alaznist!”

As we entered the hall a thunderous metallic clash gonged three times, and the statue swung its bow in our direction and fired bolts of fire, striking Avia and I.

Sabin quickly reacted and transported himself, Nolin, Avia and I behind the statue, where upon Avia slashed at it.

Trask (or so I assumed) created the image of a white dragon, but the statue ignored it, and instead flew forward, leaving a noxious cloud of gas behind, which engulfed us.

Nolin and Sabin took to the air, and I cast Air Walk on Avia so she too could pursue the statue as it fired another set of energy bolts back at those of us on the platform.

The fighters managed to catch up to it several times as it flew about the hall, and finally beat it into an inert mass of metal.

A long broad hallway lead further in to another large chamber. Two circles were set in the center of the floor, each glowing with an aura of conjuration and each with a giant rune of wrath carved in the very center.

The nearest circle is red and the other blue.

We have healed ourselves from the encounter with the statue and are about to step as a group into the red ring.
== Starday, Arodus 2, 4708; Runeforge; morning ==

Nothing happened when we stepped into the red. We are now trying blue.
== Starday, Arodus 2, 4708; Runeforge; morning ==

We have been teleported into a smaller room with two circles (red and blue), and a short, wide hall leading to another chamber from which I can hear movement.

Only four of us teleported in at first, but the others quickly followed. We must remember that the circle will only take four of us at a time.

A voice has called out from a room beyond, and I see Trask preparing a spell.

No time to—

== Fireday, Arodus 1, 4708; Runeforge; mid day ==

Kane was first to arrive at the gates of greed, which were disappointingly a rather mundane set of double doors. Past them was a large circular domed room, and set into the walls were grinning skulls with flesh gripped between the teeth.

But of more immediate concern were the eight mummies positioned around the room. They were clad in chain mail, and their skin was black and shiny. Each was coated in a small swarm of climbing beetles.

The mummies struck first, lashing out at Nolin and Sabin, but they quickly countered along with Avia, killing one. Trask let loose a fireball in the center of the room, which burned all of the mummies and killed most. I followed this up with an energy channel, and this finished of the remainder.

The mummies were surprisingly well equipped:

[1185] 8 +1 chain mail
[1186] 8 gem encrusted amulets

With the mummies defeated, we entered the room and looked closely at the skull- lined encircling wall. Each skull was set in a panel, and Rigel discovered that they were all secret doors, and used an Open spell to unseal one. The panel dropped down and revealed a space large enough to intern a body. We spent some time going through each and every one of these crypts, but found they really were just as they appeared.

A set of stairs lead up from the northeast to a corridor that zig-zagged its way to an iron door set with an intricate rope motif. Beyond the unlocked door was another circular chamber.

Seven shallow alcoves lined the circular wall of this room, each with its own door (including the one through which we entered). In the center stood six life sized human statues facing the other doors. We wandered in and cautiously approached the statues, which had names engraved at their feet.

The first, facing the door on our left, was Inibs holding a sprig of grapes.

The next was Chvivic holding five loaves of bread.

Then came Gorian holding a great wedge of cheese.

And Hawfrey with a large haunch of meat.

Hanstrin presented a tray of candies.

And finally Zarioch, who was baring his teeth, which had been filed to sharp points.

Sedgewick volunteered that these were the names of six noble houses in Zutha’s kingdom of gluttony. They represented the five major consumable industries, except for Zarioch, who represented cannibalism.

Sabin and I opened the door Inibs was facing and warily entered a large, irregular shaped hall. Following Kane and Rigel, we moved through a narrow passage to the southwest to an even larger hall with a golden sarcophagus at the far end.

As Rigel scampered toward the large shiny gold thing, the sound of heavy foot falls echoed from a chamber to the west. A large, stern looking woman thudded towards us. She was made of red clay and wore heavy iron armor, and ancient runes, which read “Blessed Lasala, great goddess of Thassilon,” covered her body. The golem attacked.

Kane tumbled past her, but although she turned her head to follow his motion, she did nothing. Sabin, Nolin, and Avia took this opportunity to hack at her; and Rigel attempted to repeat Kane’s trick, but was clobbered as she rolled by.

The golem then began to move faster, pummeling the fighters, who pummeled right back at her. Nolin struck the final blows as the construct stopped moving and crumbled to the floor.

We were now able to turn our attention to the gold coffin before us. Carved on the lid was the figure of a noble dressed in fine garments, holding a bunch of grapes. His eyes were emeralds, and each of the grapes was an amethyst, all of which we harvested.

2 star sapphires
12 amethyst grapes

Writing on the sarcophagus revealed it belonged to Lord Ankarios Inib, who had been killed by an assassin. But it was empty. And it was only burnished in gold leaf, and not solid gold, as we had hoped.

The walls of this room were filled with hundreds of slots containing bottles of wine. All of the bottles we tried had turned to vinegar, which is was not a surprise considered the thousands of years they had been here, but we were hoping some sort of magical effect was put in place to preserve them.

Through a door to the northwest was a small room filled with empty bottles, and steps in the corridor to the southeast lead down and right. We decided to save the stairs for another time.

Back in the irregular room the northwest door entered onto a lab reeking with the rotting remains of people.

A corridor to the northeast ran to a large empty room, through which to the east a door opened onto an immense hall. Nearby the north end of the hall ended in double doors, while the far end narrowed to a single door that opened into the circular door chamber.

The walls of the great hall were painted with large murals depicting people partaking in lavish, sumptuous feasts in idyllic settings. There was one disturbing mural of people feasting on other people. Gluttony is one thing, but I cannot abide cannibalism.

Through the double doors were a pair of labs: the one on the left dedicated to necromatic arts (which was disused, although some glass containers still held body parts preserved in acrid smelling liquids) and the one on the right for general alchemy.

While in the labs we felt the presence of some other creature. Avia paused for a moment and said there were two evil beings in the room just as a pair of shadows drifted over and assailed me. I retaliated with a Flame Strike, and Kane finished them off with a burst of channeled energy. Kane then restored my lost strength using a wand.

Having secured the labs, we catalogued the useful items, leaving the lab equipment in place for later retrieval.

[1189] alchemical lab equipment (left in lab)
[1190] a book on creating undead

Back in the great hall we found the two southern most doors on the east wall to be for meeting rooms. The northern door, however, lead to a large nose-some room. The source of the aromatic unpleasantness was a pile of bodies: six humans wearing blue robes (now soaked with blood), with a seemingly random choice of limbs and organs removed. We estimated that the bodies were only a week old.

A locked door to the north proved difficult for Kane to manage, and his pick broke off. No matter, Sabin quickly fixed the problem with a wand of Knock.

A large sarcophagus was in the center of a pentagonal room, surrounded by eight more mummies. Trask greeted them with a cheery fire(ball) while Kane and I channeled energy, Rigel fired arrows, and our big hitters began to hit big. Soon Avia had slain the last of them, and we entered the room. The sarcophagus rim was carved with running bulls, although bits of the ornamentation had been broken off. Runes on the lid identified it as belonging to Lord Hawfrey.

I realized Sedgewick was back in the other room, and returned to find him staring intently at the pile of bodies. “This means something. It was done as part of some necromatic ritual.” But he could not say for what purpose.

A door to the east of the pile of flesh opened onto a long, bizarre shaped room, in the middle of which hovered a spectre. Trask swiftly Fire-balled it, while I feebly tried to hit it with a Searing Light (missing it entirely). The specter winked out and appeared next to Trask, touching him and causing our young fire wielding friend to cry out in pain. Fortunately Nolin was on hand to kill it. I restored Trask’s precious lost life-force.

Despite the unusual shape of the room, it had little to offer. It looked as if it had served as a temple some time in the past.

To the south of the bodies was a large, empty coffin shaped room.

A hallway southeast of the bodies went back to the chamber of doors. We found we had already been through the interconnected areas behind the first three doors, and quickly entered the forth. A short corridor passed to another round room (mostly empty), with a passageway leading back to the dead body room (we had missed a secret door).

We returned to the door chamber and were making for the fifth door when we heard the first door (grapes) open and slam shut.

A humanoid creature with a hunched back shuffled towards us, calling out with delight, “Master, I have found them!”

Uh oh, something powerful was down here looking for us.

I tried to intimidate the figure, but he really just wanted to eat our brains, having too few of his own to engage in any meaningful conversation.

“Oh master, they have humanses! Nice big juicy fighters, oh and that one has a bow, and another one is pointing at me.”

The “another one” was Trask, who hit it with several scorching rays while our nice big juicy fighters sliced into it. It eventually fell, but it took more effort than expected because its wounds kept healing themselves. We relieved it of its burdens:

[1191] +2 human bane dagger
[1192] 8 masterwork daggers
[1193] +3 chain mail shirt

The fifth door was next, which lead down a long hall to a large disused communal dining room. Beyond the dining area was an empty hall, and searching revealed secret doors on either side. To the right a corridor rounded a bend and dead ended, while on the left the corridor took us to an alchemical lab, but it had been ransacked long ago.

From the dining room a door opened to a natural cavern that ended in a large square room — empty. We discovered north and south passages behind secret doors just outside this room, but they too took us to empty rooms.

The northwest door took us from the dining area to the coffin shaped room. Damn, another secret door we had missed!

Passing through the door on the right in the dining hallway we found a rubble choked room, but it did provide access through another door to (you can see it coming) another oddly shaped, but empty room. A doorway from this room took us back to the chamber of doors.

We returned to the stairs from the golden sarcophagus and followed them down and around to… an empty room.

We were frustrated by the lack of any relevant discoveries, but knew we had missed other secret doors and passageways, as we discovered by finding the “back way” to two such missed doors already.

Starting over we searched areas where we could not remember searching before.

In the back of the bottle room was a hidden door to a small round room, which took us to another large room. “Aha,” I though, “Now we’re getting somewhere.” Indeed we were: two more empty rooms, and then a tunnel that forked to two plundered alchemical labs.

These halls for gluttony just appear to go on forever without real design or purpose, almost as if the creators were obsessed with over-indulging in their… oh, right. Never mind.

We finally found what we were looking for in the room with Lord Hawfrey’s sarcophagus. There, a secret passageway with rough hewn walls looped around to a recently used lab.

The walls were lined with book shelves filled with books and other less pleasant things. Jars with human organs suspended in a clear fluid took up much of the space.

Three stone tables were stained with blood, and on one was stretched a man in the same blue robes as those in the pile of bodies to the south. His chest was split open and it looked as if we had interrupted his dissection. But by whom?

Rigel found a secret door in the north east corner, and Avia cautioned that she detected three strong evil beings beyond: one more powerful than the other two.

We have prepared for combat and are about to open the door.

== Oathday, Erastus 31, 4708; Runeforge; morning ==

While deciding where to go in the rubble strewn halls of envy, a bright flash of light sprang forth from the glittering metal rod set in the floor, and it emitted a pulse of magic so powerful I could practically feel it wash over me.

Some of our ever-burning torches winked out and someone yelled, “What the hell was that?!”

I noticed that the Status spells I had cast earlier were no longer working, which led me to cast Detect Magic and scan various magical items I was wearing. My enchanted mail shirt, ring of protection, and newly acquired cloak no longer gleamed with their usual magical luster.

Crap!

The metal rod from which this effect had emanated was now only softly glittering, but as we watched the electrical sparks that arced across it began to intensify.

I grumbled, “Fuck this,” and created a dome of stone three feet thick over the accursed object.

We were still nervous about being around it, and quickly explored the adjacent chambers.

To the right a hallway branched east and west, with the east end choked by rubble, and the west ending in an empty room.

To the left a short hall led to a large square room lit by lanterns. A floor tiled with mosaics stepped down to a pool of quick-silver infused with abjuration. I dipped a piece of paper into the pool, but it emerged unchanged, and so I put some of the mercury into a vial. After prodding about the entrances to two other caved-in passages, we returned to the relative safety of the central chamber of Runeforge.

We have taken inventory of what we lost from the (anti?) magical blast, and replaced what items we could from our inventory. Next on our list is Krune, rune lord of sloth and specialist in conjuration.

== Oathday, Erastus 31, 4708; Runeforge; mid-day ==

We all took about the same amount of time to travel down the hall toward sloth. Perhaps that was because the stench from the area reached us long before we reached it, and we were reluctant to push forward.

We stepped into a large irregular shaped chamber, and it was as if we were physically assaulted by the gut-wrenching smell of the place.

It was difficult to make out details as the acrid vapors from fetid pools stung our eyes, making them weep and thus blurring our vision. The air was so foul that we were sickened from breathing it, and nothing we did seemed to lessen the effect.

Nolin, Kane, Sabin and I bravely pushed forward into the fetid murk, past the slimed walls and cesspools oozing with the foul refuse from centuries of habitation, which over the millennia of neglect had spawned its own hideous forms of life. Reeking pulsating pustules and amorphous blobs of quivering gunk peeped up from the pools and slumped down the walls.

We moved northward, and then to the right (leaving a left passage for later), but we found nothing of use, and the air became more toxic the further in we went. Eventually we could take no more, and Sabin used Dimension Door to transport us all back to the others waiting at the entrance.

It seemed obvious that the devotees of sloth were true to their calling, and had done nothing toward the upkeep of their wing. They no doubt succumbed to the results of their idleness long ago.

We quickly returned to the Runeforge pool, where we gratefully breathed in the delightfully fresh air, which earlier this morning had seemed so stale.

We have decided to only return to sloth if we find we need something from the area for the Runeforge ritual.

I have no map for this area. It was not practical to pause and sketch our surroundings while gasping for air, and the acrid fumes would have probably turned my paper to pulp.

Karzoug’s hall of greed is next.

== Oathday, Erastus 31, 4708; Runeforge; evening ==

Rigel skipped down the passageway toward greed, arriving well ahead of the rest of us. When we caught up she stood looking at an iron door to the right, encrusted with a dazzling variety of gems. But Rigel looked unhappy, and the reasons for her discontent were twofold: first, the gemstones were all fake, and second, the door looked like a trap.

There was a keyhole in the center of the door, at which Rigel worked for a few minutes before stepping back and announcing that while the trap was disabled, the door really wasn’t a door: it was just part of the trap, and would smash anyone standing before the door into the opposite wall.

The passage dead ended, but knowing the obvious door was a fake led us to focus on searching for a secret door in the dead end wall, which Rigel quickly found.

The hallway beyond was beautifully panelled with polished hardwoods set with silver and gold Thassilonian runes, which extolled the greatness of Karzoug and all of his accomplishments.

The hall stretched on for a hundred feet, and the runes ran the full length of it, and so Sabin and I paused to read in detail what they had to say.

Karzoug raised vast armies of stone giants, and with them he sacked and plundered cities of neighboring realms, gaining more and more wealth. But this wealth only fueled his greed, and he forever strove to gain more, enviously coveting anything that was not in his possession.

He attacked other Runelord realms, but none more ferociously or repeatedly as Alasnist’s realm of Bakrakan. A ridge, called the Rasp, acted as a natural barrier between her and Karzoug’s realms, and on top of this he erected huge statues which spied upon her realm. In response she created the hellfire plumes, great defensive towers to keep the giants at bay.

One subtle fact was clear from these detailed accounts of Karzoug’s deeds: he lacked skill at enchantment and illusion, just as Vraxeris had surmised in his journal.

The rest of my companions were gathered before a wall of green mist, which glowed with a putrid light, and had an aura of transmutation (as expected for Karzoug).

Kane put a coin in the mist, but nothing changed, and so Trask pulled out a staff and blew the mist away with a Gust of Wind. We quickly ran through into a large room as the mist began to re-gather in the hall.

The floor, walls and ceiling here were paved with ivory tiles inset with the rune of greed (a claw clutching a coin). In the center of the room was a pool, with an icy sculpture of a whale. Water squirted out of the whale’s blow hole and splashed noisily into the pool.

In the pool itself swam a group of small humanoid creatures with leather wings and toothy grins, staring at us. Water mephits!

In common they quipped, “These don’t look as strong as the last group we saw. The mean silver man will kill them.”

We asked about the mean silver man, and they said he was very strong, made of metal, and very mean. “He uses powerful magic, and sometimes freezes our water. Because he is mean. And strong. And made of metal. He is mean, too.”

We also found out that there were six pools where the (mean) silver man goes, and that one of the six is extremely magical. There was another pool elsewhere that was even more magical, but he did not go there (I assumed this was the main Runeforge pool). The Mephits could travel from pool to pool, even though the pools were not physically connected to one another.

They then all chirped in agreement that “the mean silver man was a big problem for them.”

Nolin replied that he had not yet met a problem he could not behead, which seemed to amuse them, and they huddled together and quietly spoke amongst themselves.

Of course they were speaking aquan, and so I interrupted their conversation and said, in their own tongue, that if they helped us we could kill the silver man.

For a moment they were more impressed by my ability to speak their language than our proposal, and it definitely made them think more highly of us. Aquan can be a difficult language: it is not at all fluid or smooth like water. Rather it is made up of various clicks and screeching sounds that carry well in liquids.

They told us that the silver man was deeper in, and that the magic pool was also deeper in. We saw doorways to the left and right, and asked which would take us to the silver man, to which they replied that it really didn’t matter.

We went left and found another large room with a pool in the center, and a statue serving as a fountain. This pool had goldfish swimming in it (a favorite food of the mephits in the other pool), and the statue was of a wizard holding a staff in one hand, and the other held up out from which the water sprang.

To the right was a wide exit to a long corridor, with silver doors on either side: three on the left and one on the right. Each door opened onto an identical room: large and rectangular and mostly empty. The rooms had an aura of transmutation and held an odd assortment of… parts. Blocks of iron, wood or stone, ivory tusks, bits of fur or glass.

Kane suddenly entered one of the rooms, and while we expected the worse, nothing happened. The same held for the rest of the rooms. Huh.

We followed the corridor around a bend to another pool room, with the same wizard fountain as the last, and a locked silver door to the right. Rigel unlocked the door and Sabin opened it.

This room was obviously a study, with bookshelves lining the walls and work tables scattered bout. And there was a silver metal man standing at a table who looked up at us and vanished.

On the tables were an odd assortment of dead animals, with living animals in cages (cats, rats, rabbits, etc.), and crates filled with mundane lab equipment.

The dead animals had been killed as part of some bizarre experiment, where parts of them had been transmuted to metal. What kind of sick bastard tortures animals?

Once in the room Sedjewick and Sabin scanned the library shelves, finding various tomes on magical theory, history, and a collection of spell books.

There was a silver door directly opposite the one we entered, and another to our left, which is where Rigel picked the lock and Avia opened the door. The hall beyond had jade walls and a ceiling of polished white stone. Three decorated lamps flooded the room with a warm light, illuminating ten life sized gold statues, each posed for combat.

Our first thought was that we had encountered ten golden golems, but a closer inspection revealed that while posed for combat, the figures did not really look like fighters. It was as if someone had made statues of random people asked to pose for the artist. But the faces all held the same expressions of surprise, shock and horror.

Thinking back on the dead, half transformed animals in the lab we realized that these were all victims of the silver man’s experimentation with making metal beings like himself. We guessed he had asked his unsuspecting assistants to pose as he transformed them all to gold.

A corridor led out opposite from where we entered, then bent to the right and ended in another locked silver locked door. Once again Rigel unlocked the door and Avia opened it.

A vast, cathedral-like room waited beyond. The walls were paneled richly with highly polished dark hardwoods, and silver beams supported the ceiling. Gold and platinum symbols were inlaid in the wood paneling. A large pool occupied the near side of the room.

There was no fountain in this pool, but gouts of fire, arcs of electricity and strange sounds emanated from its surface.

At the far end of the chamber was the silver man, who calmly lifted a hand a pointed at me. A sickly green ray struck me full in the chest, and I felt a moment of shocking cold and weakness, but the feeling quickly passed. Trask and Sabin had let out a gasp as the ray struck me, by which I knew I had survived a Disintegrate ray.

The silver man became blurred, the result of a Mirror Image spell, but the next moment Sabin had taken Avia and Nolin with him via his usual Dimension Door trick, and the fighters began to hack away at the man and his images.

I swiftly made my way to the back of the room so I could provide healing support for our front line fighters, and noticed an odd and unpleasant sense of disorientation as I passed the pool,

Trask ignited a strategically placed fireball engulfing the man as Sabin, Nolin and Avia continued to remove his mirrored images and bash the hell out of him.

“You lesser creatures will never understand what it means to have metal skin!”

I used a Dimensional Anchor to keep the silver man in place, as the damage the fighters inflicted began to take their toll. The man used another Disintegrate spell on Nolin, and then set off a fireball centered on himself, causing Nolin to fall.

But it was too little too late, and he fell back against the wall and gasped, “You cannot win this!” before collapsing.

Sabin quickly removed the silver man’s head as Kane and I healed Nolin.

We then turned our attention to the body and found the following items:

[1180] +2 quarter-staff. Silver with a shimmering sphere at each end, and a snake entwined around the end with the larger sphere. This staff gives a +2 enhancement to intelligence, and with 40 charges offered the following set of spells:

Bull’s Strength (1 charge)
Enlarge Person (1)
Telekenisis (3)
Flesh to Stone (4)

[1181] +1 cloak of resistance
[1182] rod of metal and mineral detection
[1183] +2 belt of mighty constitution

500 gp of diamond dust

As others passed by the pool they too noticed the disorientation effect, and Sedjewick staggered back and left the room. He felt as if all of his abilities had been lessened.

The rest of us quickly ran past the pool and back to the entry room, where we showed the mephits the head of the silver man, which made them quite happy. We also described the large, magical pool, and they said they had seen the silver man dip a weapon into it.

We made our way back to the magic pool and (from a safe distance) Sabin carefully observed the pool using Detect Magic, and discovered that the pool could be used to recharge magical items.

I took a discharged staff and cautiously approached the pool and briefly dipped it in. The staff now glowed and had 5 charges! I put the staff in for longer and the the staff glowed even brighter and had 50 charges.

Using an unseen servant Sabin tried to restore the enchantment on a pair of bracers, but other than making them glow the pool did not affect them.

The glow on the items dipped in the pool faded over time, and we intend to use it to recharge all of our wands and staves.

We returned to the study, and while my companions searched the books, I took inventory of the caged animals still living:

house cat
snake
5 rats
monkey

The animals were not well cared for, and so I fed and watered them, and intend to take them out of the Runeforge when we leave.

Meanwhile my friends had found a number of useful history and lab books, which if studied would increase one’s skills with transmutation and constructs (+5).

The historical books also provided an account on how Karzoug survived the fall of the empire. He had created a huge rune-well, and stored his body halfway between this world and a dimension referred to as “Leng.”

Sabin discovered a pair interesting spells from the silver man’s spell books:

Bloodmoney: level 2 (transmutation)
Rune of Contingency: level 3 (transmutation)

We then turned our attention to the gold “statues” and found that they were not solid gold — the transmutation must have only been skin deep. They were hollow, and one of them rattled. Nolin carved a hole in that one’s heel and a large diamond rolled out.

diamond (3000 gp)

All told the statues are composed of about 1,500 pounds of gold, which we will pound flat and take with us.

The silver man himself was made of mithral and weighed 300 pounds — we will melt down his corpse and take it with us too.

We have decided to use the study as our base of operation. It is relatively secure, comfortable, and close to the large bulky items we plan to take with us when we leave.

Sabin, Trask and I went back to the halls of lust to retrieve the feeble man we had rescued from the succubi and left there. I case Heal upon him, and the powerful spell removed all of his mental afflictions.

He looked around, and then at us, and said (in Thassilonian), “For 10,000 years I have been trapped here!”

His name was Nevelektu, and he was assigned to the Cathedral of Lust, where he served Sorshen as a soldier. He fell out of favor with Sorshen’s acolyte and had spent all of the time since then imprisoned in the cage where we found him.

He told us that the daemon and her succubi arrived later, and killed the actual acolyte, using the survivors as their play things.

We told him that Karzoug was trying to return, which alarmed him greatly, but above all, he wanted to get the hell out of this place. We told him where we had set up camp, and he agreed to accompany us.

Unfortunately none of us thought what effect might have kept a mortal man alive for 10,000 years. As soon as we left the cathedral, Nevelektu dropped to the floor and turned to dust.

We returned to the study in a sombre mood.

While we were gone Sedjewick and Trask had studied the journals left by the silver man, where he described how he had transformed himself to metal. Over time he appears to have lost all memory of the time before he was metal, and his thought process became as rigid as the metals he had fixated upon. Once becoming metal he fell into a fixed pattern of repeating the same experiments over and over again. He would make occasional visits to Sloth to collect vermin, which he than transformed to other animals.

The nearby magic pool was another failed experiment, where he had tried to replicate the main Runeforge pool. It takes intellectual abilities from the “less worthy” and uses them for recharging items, but it is unpredictable.

He also confirmed our guess that Sloth was the first group to fall (thousands of years ago), and the area was now used as a dumping ground by the remaining inhabitants.

The evening was still young, and I decided spend some time researching the highly enchanted peacock quill we had taken from the Scribbler. Who would know about such an artifact? Pharasma would, of course, and so I decided to prepare for a Divination. I used the pen to form the question I would ask Pharasma, and as soon as I wrote the question, then pen came to life and wrote:

Sometimes we answer our own questions in the process of asking them.

The others heard my startled exclamation and looked to see what had happened, and while we suspected who had replied, I wanted to be sure. I continued with the Divination, and Pharasma granted me the following knowledge.

Many people in the past have asked for help from the Peacock Spirit.
Use your wisdom to interpret it.

Should you probe the quill deeper, take care with your questions.

“The Peacock Spirit? I read about him while in Magnimar trying to locate you.”

It was Sedjewick, and he had read that the Peacock Spirit was a powerful deity in the early part of the Thassilonian Empire. His emblem was on the thrones of the empire, and he was said to have focused on rune magic.

It was known he had major temples at Xin Shalast and at the Black Tower, where the monastic monks who built and maintained the library were indeed devoted to him.

It is fascinating to discover that the Peacock Spirit was still alive and active after all of these years, and I have many questions for him. But heading Pharasma’s advice I will resist contacting him except in dire need.

I suspect he could offer interesting facts about Karzoug, but more pertinent, I bet he could describe the procedure for enchanting weapons in the Runeforge! If we find no other clues, and are at a loss, I will ask the Peacock Spirit for help.

== Fireday, Arodus 1, 4708; Runeforge; morning ==

This morning we will make our way to the halls of Zutha, the Runelord of Gluttony. Zutha specialized in necromancy, and so we have prepared for encountering undead.

This has been a long, busy and interesting day — make no mistake!

We had opened the iron doors to Sorshen’s section of the runeforge to find another huge chamber — this one decorated in various hues of red and white. A pavilion of flowing vividly colored silk was in the center of the hall. Tall columns carved in the shape of sensuously posed curvy nude women reached up to the ceiling, and gilded cages were scattered around the perimeter.

My immediate attention was drawn to the cages, most of which held the rotting remains of former captives. But in one cage a man yet lived, and I quickly moved toward him. Sabin followed me in.

I heard voices from above laughingly calling out to us, “Very intriguing specimens of manhood! Let us see what you look like under all of that padding!”

And down from above flew four women… and yet not women. Each flitted about on leathery bat-like wings and had horns protruding our from her forehead. Instead of feet they had sharp talons.

Succubi. Definitely not my type.

I continued on toward the cage, but Sabin paused as a succubus landed near him, cooing invitingly.

The rest of the party had entered the room by now, and the succubi swooped by them urging each to join them inside the pavilion.

Nolin said something derisive, but upon hearing Avia gasp I turned to see Rigel standing with her pants down around her ankles, desperately trying to remove her armor, and following one of the succubi with a longing gaze.

Trask reacted in his usual way by heating things up. A fireball detonated on one of the creatures, and she shrieked, “No, not that!” before flying up to the ceiling.

Nolin flew up to pair clinging to the top of a cage and began to hack at them, as the one who tried to charm Sabin found an ax firmly planted in her skull.

“This is just not the type of playing we had in mind,” scolded one of the temptresses as Nolin sword cut deep into her soft and yielding flesh.

It seemed that my team mates had the battle well in hand, and so I turned back to the cage. The man there was barely alive, and even after I healed him he whimpered and cowered in a pitiful way. He was naked, except for a metal collar, and empty wooden bowls along with fouled straw for bedding suggested that in addition to whatever torture had been inflicted upon him, neglect was also an issue.

I used Pharasma’s grace to remove his fear and provide some lesser amount of restoration, but while these seemed to have some positive affects on him, his reaction to me remained more animal than human.

Trask, who had been standing next to the entrance, called out “Someone is heading this way down the corridor!”

Thinking perhaps that this was Delvahine, Sorshen’s runeforge acolyte, we feared the worse, and I moved back toward the party. But a human voice called out, in Common, “Trask, it’s Sedgewick!”

Sedgewick?

I glanced over at Rigel, who was now standing next to Avia and pulling up her pants, looking somewhat embarrassed, and doing a poor job of trying to pull off her brief display of public nudity as “no big deal.”

Of course I had heard of Sedgewick, the bard with whom the party had originally formed, but who had run off with a ranger, leaving a jilted Rigel behind (if the comments made whenever his name was brought up were accurate).

Of course we were skeptical, and Trask called out, “Stay where you are,” as he waved his hand and a magical display of lights played a few feet before him.

Meanwhile the battle had not gone well for the Succubi. In fact all now lay dead on the ground, except for one that had blinked away.

With that threat removed we turned our attention on this man claiming to be Sedgewick, who had now been escorted into the chamber by Trask and Nolin.

I had little to contribute to the ensuing discussion, and listened in as my friends questioned the self proclaimed Sedgewick standing before us, asking him about things only the real Sedgewick should know. He answered all as if he were who he claimed to be, and finally said something that was apparently so Sedgewickian that all of my companions’ doubts were allayed.

Of course now their primary question was, “Why are you here?”

And to the amazement of all, including myself, he pointed at me and said, “Because of him.”

Sedgewick had left his ranger friend some time earlier, and had actually been looking around, unsuccessfully, for his old comrades ever since. About three weeks ago he was in Magnimar at the Pathfinder Society’s office when I came in asking about the region around Mt Xin. He listened in with mild interest, and only later realized that the party I had mentioned must have been his old companions.

He then set out on his own to find the location of this Mt Xin, and had in fact arrived on the day we killed the dragon. He had found the invisible ramp leading down and made it to the bottom just in time to watch us enter the portal we opened using the runeforge keys.

He followed a few moments later, but we had already left the runeforge pool chamber for Zanderghul’s area, and so Sedgewick started down one of the passageways to find us. He picked Krune (though he did not know it) the Runelord of sloth, and reported that it was a most unpleasant place. He retraced his steps back to the pool room just as we made our way towards lust.

Upon hearing his story there was a little teasing about how we had to have passed him traveling to and from Mt Xin several times on his journey north, and didn’t he know enough to just wait in Sandpoint for us?

I had never worked with a bard before, and am interested to see how well he will supplement our party’s abilities.

We looted the succubi bodies and found each was using the same set of items:

[1146] +3 Bracers of Armor (Trask)
[1147] +3 Bracers of Armor
[1148] +3 Bracers of Armor
[1149] Amulet with a woman’s face (non magical)
[1150] Amulet with a woman’s face (non magical)
[1151] Amulet with a woman’s face (non magical)
[1152] +2 Ring of Protection (Kane)
[1153] +2 Ring of Protection (Takkad)
[1154] +2 Ring of Protection (Sedgewick)

We walked about the hall, looking at the cages, but we had already found the only one with a survivor. We returned to him and then discovered that although the cages looked like flimsy ornamental constructs, a force cage of some sort was active in each, making it impossible to free the captive.

We decided that for now he was safest in the cage, and I managed to squeeze some food and water through the “bars” for him.

Presently we came to the pavilion’s entrance. The walls appeared to be silk dyed in hues of crimson, lavender, purple, and cobalt; and although there was not the slightest wind in the chamber, the curtains rippled, as if dancing in a steady breeze.

Nolin tried to pull down a silk panel, but it would not budge. He also tried to cut it with his sword, but it proved impervious to damage.

Just then a loud booming voice called out, “Mistress, uninvited visitors at the door!” A stone giant was standing at the pavilion doorway, with perhaps half a dozen others behind him.

It swung its massive club at Avia, but missed. Avia stuck back with her sword, and dropped it to the floor. Its nearly unconscious form was dragged away inside and another giant stepped up.

“Mistress says, these ones kills her daughters. Not free to pass!”

Sedgewick replied by singing, and suddenly our fighters seemed more confident and began slicing into the giants as they stepped up, stupidly, one by one to the slaughter.

Trask lent support by launching a fireball into their midsts — he had feared this would set the silk ablaze, but all it showed of the explosion was a smudge of smoke.

A giant within cried out, “Ah, fire! Mistress!”

The rest of us were using ranged weapons or spells to inflict small amounts of damage (Rigel perfectly timing a shot to finish a giant off).

Nolin tried to reason with them, “We are here to see the mistress. Look, you can see that you are no match for us, and so why don’t you stand aside and let us pass?”

But it was no good: “Giants were created to protect the Mistress. You no pass!”

Well, he tried. And moments later the last giant fell dead.

We passed through the opening into a large space filled with pillows and cushions. Columns of gold reach upward, holding the silk walls in place and the canopied ceiling above us.

From somewhere to the east we heard a female voice speaking (in Abysmal, and translated courtesy of Sedgewick), “Unbelievable! First I don’t hear anything for years from Vraxeris, and now this!”

We moved to a room to the south, which was much the same as the entry way, and a second door to the north led to a much larger chamber.

The air here was filled with a misty smoke, rising up from a brazier resting on a small table.

In three of the four corners was an iron framed bed with soft comfortable looking pillows, sheets and blankets, but somewhat uncomfortable looking straps, restraints, and other devices the purpose of which I could only guess.

Sitting in a throne against the far wall was an attractive woman, more or less. But the horns, wings and tail indicated Delvahine was some sort of daemon or devil.

Between us and her, flying near the silk ceiling, was the succubus that had escaped us earlier. She hissed menacingly at us (from a safe distance) and bared her fangs.

Not so pretty now, eh missy?

Delvahine began to sing, but no sooner had she started that I found myself next to her along with Sabin and Nolin, courtesy of Sabin’s usual combat tactic.

The succubus at the ceiling also began to sing, and Delvahine asked Nolin if he wouldn’t rather fight on her side. For a moment I thought we were going to lose Nolin, but he regained control his emotions and struck at her.

Avia came running in from across the room as Sabin smacked Delvahine with a cold iron ax he kept just for such an occasion.

I attempted to extinguish the burning incense in the brazier with a Create Water spell, for clearly it was having some unwholesome effect on the party, but after smoldering for a while it rekindled itself.

Delvahine began to sing words of power, but from across the room I could her Sedgewick sing a descant over her melody. She stood, glaring at the rest of us, preparing to unleash something particularly nasty, but all that came from her lips was, “Sedgewick is great!” She looked confused and flustered over what had just happened, but not for long. Sabin, Nolin and then Avia were savagely attacking her, and she was wilting beneath their onslaught.

I have heard tales of bards who could sing a tune so simple and catchy that it stuck in your mind for days upon end. It was rumored that one such fellow was stoned to death for having created a a particularly annoying, but insidiously infectious tune about what a “small land it was, after all.”

I can only imagine whatever Sedgewick had sung must have had a similar effect on Delvahine, and counted my blessings that his song was not directed at us.

The creature at the ceiling screamed out, “Mistress, mother!” as she flew down and landed on Nolin , sinking her talons into his back.

Delvahine soon fell, and her last surviving daughter joined her not long after.

We searched the bodies.

The succubus had the same possessions as her sisters:

[1155] +3 Bracers of Armor
[1156] Amulet with a woman’s face (non magical)
[1157] +2 Ring of Protection

Delvahine was effectively wearing nothing, but she was carrying a few items of interest:

[1158] +1 wounding whip
[1159] +2 mithral shirt glammered to look like a flimsy top
[1160] +4 gloves of dexterity

We searched the room and found that the space beneath bed to the south had been used as safe:

[1161] handy haversack
[1162] a magic book that explained how to improve yourself by better
understanding your own mind and feelings (+1 to wisdom when read)
[1163] 6 potions of cure moderate wounds
[1164] potion of cure disease
[1165] potion of remove paralysis
[1166] A metal box set with gem stones and silver trim. Within were
a dozen masterwork sex toys
[1167] brazier of mind fog — turns on and off by a command word

We wondered what to do with the metal box and its contents, and thought perhaps a high end brothel would pay good money for it.

But then I remembered that we needed agents of illusion and enchantment to activate the runeforge and imbue a set of weapons with special powers against Karzoug. We already had the mirror fragments from the hall of illusion, and Vraxeris had explicitly mentioned Delvahine’s “equipment” as being appropriate for enchantment.

It looks like the lustful worthies of Magnimar will miss out on some ancient secrets of the trade after all.

We returned to the main hall and searched for hidden doors or other secrets, but found no more than what we had earlier discovered.

I returned my attention to the poor man locked in the force cage. He seemed to associate me with the food and water that I had given him earlier, and was willing to come close to the cage wall where Sabin touched him, using dimension door to bring the poor fellow out.

We have set up camp in the southern pavilion room, and while this poor wretch still has a haunted look about him, he at least appears comfortable. He gets very nervous whenever Rigel or Avia come near, and so we have set him up with some food and water in his own little corner.

We will leave him here tomorrow when we continue our exploration of the runeforge, and will chain him to one of the columns to keep him from tottering off and getting himself killed. I plan to return tomorrow evening with a Heal spell to see if that will restore his sanity.

For now we have hauled away the corpses and piled them in the main hall, where the stench of their rotting bodies will mingle with that of their victims in the cages. A fitting end.

== Oathday, Erastus 31, 4708; Runeforge; morning ==

With two runelords down and five to go we opted for envy, the Balamarius wing. Vraxeris had written that halls of abjuration had been utterly destroyed in a conflict that occurred (two hundred years earlier) when Karzoug became active.

Like the previous two passageways, a magic effect here hindered the approach of some of our party, while helping others. I had not experienced any great problems with pride and lust, but for envy it felt as if a giant hand had scooted me swiftly along down toward the hall, and I arrived at the top of a short flight of stairs before the others.

We gathered together, but before we could descend a giant mouth appeared from above and commanded, “Stop!”

“These are the abjurant halls of eager striving. Know that your powers will be crushed within and you shall die.”

Hmm, yes, well when has anything like this ever stopped us before? To be honest I was surprised that this effect was still working from what Vraxeris had said. Maybe the attackers had left it as a joke.

The wide staircase led down to a chamber that bore the scars of some major devastation. The walls and ceiling had been blasted by flame and other forces, leaving most passageways out choked with rubble and slag. Magical energy still flickered across their surfaces, as if the power used in their destruction was only now beginning to dissipate after two centuries.

A metal rod had been thrust into the floor of the chamber, glittering and sparking with energy.

Passageways lead off from the left and right.

We have taken a few minutes to discuss our options. Do we need to dig out all of the debris? From what Vraxeris had left it sounded like we already had the key items required to use the runeforge. But we still lack the instructions for imbuing our weapons.

We have decided to explore the areas still open, and only come back to dig out the collapsed areas if we do not find what we need elsewhere.

== Wealday, Erastus 30, 4708; Runeforge; mid day ==

One by one we entered the large circular domed chamber and stepped up onto the dais. Bubbling in the oval pool at our feet was a prismatic liquid that glowed in a maelstrom of different magics.

Curious, I carefully filled a crystal vial with the mysterious fluid only to find it quite clear and mundane — probably just water. It was the pool itself that was so oddly magical.

But we could think of nothing to do here, and so we chose the first hallway to the left of the entryway and gathered about it, clustering behind the statue of Xanderghul, Runelord of pride.

Sabin boldly stepped forward and vanished. And yet the Status spells Kane and I had in effect indicated he was but a few steps away. I followed and found myself standing next to Sabin, and looking back it seemed like the tunnel stretched for a mere sixty feet or so to whence we came. Sabin called back to the others, “It is like a dimensional door, just walk this way.”

One by one the rest of our group came through, some taking a bit longer for unknown reasons to reach us, but in the end we all stood before an opening to a brightly lit room.

As before, Sabin and I stepped through the entryway into the middle of a broad passageway leading to the right and left. The floor was stone, but all of the walls were seamlessly covered in mirrors. Looking to the right we could see our reflections staring back at us, and these were reflected back from the opposite wall behind us, and so on such that it appeared to be a hallway that lead off infinitely into the distance.

And then our reflections stepped out from the mirror! To our left was a pair and to our right another pair. One of my reflections cast a Flame Strike upon me, and the other three figures were likewise chanting words of power.

The real Sabin was caught by a Feeblemind spell, but Avia pulled him back out from the hallway, while I was caught in a wall of blades cast by my other doppelganger.

My companions prepared for combat, but it quickly became apparent that the creatures that crawled out from the mirrors were only interested in attacking their originals, and so for a while it was only Sabin and I that were in danger of direct attacks.

But that did not mean they were immune to area effects, as we found when yet another blade barrier came down into the corridor where they were clustered, and a fireball detonated in their midst.

And yet I did not feel particularly threatened by my mirrored twins. True, they were intent on my destruction, however I knew from personal experience that they lacked the ability to do me any more serious harm than what they had already inflicted. And so I moved into the hallway as the blade barriers came down rather than retreating back to my friends.

I am not a fighter, and I do not possess many offensive spells — on this particular day I had only memorized two spells that could inflict damage, giving my foes a total of four: three of which they had already used. I no longer wield any weapons, and so what more could they do but try and heal me to death?

Those grappling with the duplicate Sabins were not so fortunate. Equipped with both potent offensive spells as well as skillfully wielding a great ax, even one Sabin is a formidable opponent.

The two Sabins used the a Dimension Door to get past the blade barriers and appeared behind my team mates — except for Rigel who had snuck further back down the corridor. Trask had read a scroll of Heal to remove the feebleminded effect plaguing our Sabin.

Nolin and Avia moved in to engage the Sabins and prevent them from casting more spells, while Kane channeled energy to heal everyone in the area and Sabin slashed out at his twins from behind the two fighters.

Meanwhile I approached the mirrored wall to our right, brushing aside the pesky attacks from a reflected self (batting at me with his pack), when the other showed up and cast a Flame Strike that also caught part of the mirrored wall, which shattered. The copy of me that had stepped from that wall shattered as well.

Back in the corridor Trask peppered foes with magic missiles while Nolin and Avia had hacked away at one of the Sabins, which shattered with Avia’s killing blow. Their attention then turned to the remaining Sabin as Rigel crept up from behind and dispatched it.

Trask turned his magic missiles on my remaining twin, who had pulled a dagger out from his pack was stabbing away at me. But this was short lived because Sabin dimension doored to the mirrored wall to the left and shattered it, reducing our remaining opponent to shards.

Sabin and I then proceeded to smash all of the mirrors lining the hallway to prevent duplicates of the others from being created. With that threat removed we followed hallway, the left and right hand ends of which met at the entrance of a truly grand and huge cathedral like space.

Like the hallway before it, the walls were covered with mirrors, but these towered above us some hundred feet, and stretched far away on either side. A large raised dais was in the center of the space, and a giant peacock perched upon it. The bird blinked, and ruffled its feathers from time to time, but ignored us. The floor was made of smooth ivory flagstones.

Four giant gold chandeliers hung from the ceiling, the light from which was thrown back by the massive mirrored walls, providing a bright, almost harsh illumination.

We had inadvertently split into two groups as we walked in: Sabin, Nolin, Rigel and I to the left, and Avia, Kane and Trask to the right.

Rigel cheerfully called out, “Hello Mister Peacock!,” but it did not answer, and only stared at us impassively with its black beady eyes, which seemed to reflect a great wisdom and intelligence.

And then, from around us, a chorus of voices speaking in ancient Thassilonian mingled in an almost harmonious chant:

The master is in his study, so please contain your screaming while you are punished for entering his sanctuary.

Kane stepped forward and yelled out, “I am tired of waiting!”

A man appeared then, immaculately dressed and groomed with neat shoulder length blond hair, speaking softly. Three fireballs detonated, one in the midst of those of us to the left, one amidst the group on the right, and one centered just on Kane.

Five more men appeared, scattered about us, whispering magical invocations.

Both Kane and Sabin acted as if something was racing towards them, but while Kane appeared to have shrugged it off, Sabin’s private horror wounded him.

Sabin promptly used the dimension door trick to put himself, Nolin, Rigel and I next to a figure standing by the dais. Nolin brutally hacked at it with his greats-word. The man let out a girlish squeal and then burst into a flurry of snow that slumped into a slushy pile on the ground.

Avia ran over to another of the men — they all looked alike — and swiftly reduced it to a pile of snow and slush.

The surviving men took various actions, most defensive, but one sent a bolt of lightening at Nolin.

Sabin and Nolin took out a third, while Rigel killed another.

Trask set off a fireball on top of one figure that had cast Mirror Image on himself, and was rewarded with two puddles of melted snow, having also caught the remaining snow man who had turned invisible.

We turned our attention to the giant peacock and found that it was an illusion, and so we searched the vast complex for secrets. Rigel found a hidden door in the middle of the back wall, which was neither locked nor trapped.

Beyond the door was a comfortable looking room — a library or study — but it smelled as if something had crawled in and died. And so it had. Sitting in a chair next to a table was the remains of a man, slumped over parchment on which he had been writing when he died. Avia said the corpse was evil, but it was just a corpse, and did not animate as we cautiously approached it.

It had been a man — in fact he looked like the creatures we had fought in the cathedral, and so we assumed he had created guardians in his own image. We guessed he had been dead for only a couple of years.

The writing on the parchment was in Thassilonian, and shpowed the man had been working on some form of a very advanced illusion spell.

We stripped the corpse of all items of value, and scanned through his bookshelves for more:

[1140] evil aligned robe: provides +5 AC, 18 SR, and +2 on all class level checks, -3 levels if worn by a good aligned person, -2 levels if worn by a neutral aligned person

[1141] +6 headband of vast intelligence: has 3 specific skill bonuses we have yet to research

[1142] +2 ring of protection

[1143] Cape of the Mountebank [Sabin]

[1144] journal written in draconic

[1145] two volumes of spell books containing every illusion spell listed in the player’s handbook

Sabin scanned through the journal, which identified the dead man as Vraxeris, the runeforge agent of Xanderghul. I scribed the last two entries as Sabin read them out loud.

Vraxeris journal entry:

The runeforge pool awoke! I first took this as a sign that Runelord Xanderghul had risen. When I arrived at the pool to investigate, it seemed that the others had come to the same conclusion. The foolish Wardens of Envy thought to disrupt the recrudescence, and with the aid of Kazaven, Ordikan, Athroxis, and that lovely creature Delvahine, we were able to defeat them utterly. Their Abjurant Halls lie in ruins. Our treaty was short-lived, though. Kazaven absconded with the bodies and that treacherous wench Athroxis nearly burned me to death before I made it back here.

I was mistaken. Runelord Xanderghul still slumbers. It is that monster Karzoug who quickens and nears rebirth. Damnation! He must not be allowed to precede Xanderghul into the world, for he would rebuild Thassilon in his own inferior image, a testament to his own greed rather than one of pride in the work. He must be delayed or defeated!

I have managed to escape this place, to a certain extent. By astral projection I can explore what the world outside has become. It is a brutish place, yet it pleases me to see Thassilon’s mark endures in the shape of our monuments. Still, the wilderness of the world vexes me. Gone is the empire I knew. Karzoug’s city of Xin-Shalast is now hidden high in the mountains, and when I finally discovered it, I found the spires where his body is hidden to be inaccessible, warded against astral travelers by the occlusion field around the peak of Mhar-Massif. As long as his rune-well is active, I fear even a physical approach would be impossibly deadly. I must determine a way to pierce these wardings, and to send an agent in my place. No need to risk my own life before my clone is ready.

Vraxeris journal entry:

I have taken steps toward an alliance with Delvahine. She may be able to escape this place, for she was not of the original blood. At the least, she can call up on agents from outside, and perhaps through them we can secure servants in the outer world. She seems uninterested in Sorshen’s return; all the better for Xanderghul, that.

The runeforge pool is the key. As I suspected, the occlusion field around Karzoug’s fortress in Xin-Shalast has a flaw. His lack of knowledge of the intricacies of Sorshen’s and my own lord Xanderghul’s powers have left an opening. My agents must use components infused with our lords’ virtues, extract the latent magic within these components, and then anoint their chosen weapons with this raw power. The runeforged pool seems to have enough reserves to enhance no more than half a dozen or so runeforged weapons, but those enhanced with enchantment and illusion magic will be most potent against Karzoug’s defenses. They may even be pivotal in his defeat. For my own part, fragments of any of the mirrors in the Peacock’s Hall should suffice for a component. Delvahine’s… equipment… should suffice for enchantment, although one might be wise to cleanse them before they are handled.

The search for an agent goes poorly. Delvahine seems more interested in her own lusts than aiding me. Worse, the lapses and fevers are increasing. I fear that I will be forced to see to Karzoug myself, in which event I will need to use the master circle I built into the Halls of Wrath to escape this place. Yet first, I must set aside my work on delaying Karzoug’s return and turn back to the final development of my 205th clone. I only hope I have time to finish before the dementia takes hold…

There is much here that directly applies to our quest!

We know that the Runelord agents had somehow managed to remain alive in this place for many thousands of years. For Vraxeris this was accomplished by him duplicating himself periodically into a replicant, or as he called it, a “clone.” It would seem sort sort of defect was introduced into the process or his last body was damaged or corrupted corrupted such that he did not have sufficient time to prepare its replacement.

But more important for us was the information concerning Karzoug and the runeforge.

Karzoug began to rise a little more than two years ago.

Karzoug’s fortress is near a peak once called Mhar-Massif.

There are protective wards about his fortress that are still active and deadly as long as his rune well is active. Could it have been the one we deactivated in Sandpoint about a year ago?

Karzoug’s defensive wards hold a flaw where enchantment and illusion magic (Sorshen’s and Xanderghul’s) can be used to get past them.

Weapons can be imbued with special enchantments if the correct ritual is performed and right components used. Such weapons, especially those enhanced with illusion magics, will be most effective against Karzoug and his defenses.

The comments about the different warring factions here within the runeforge reminded me of the corridor on the way in here, where chunks had been blasted out of the wall. Vraxeris journal indicated some of the other runelord agents had been possibly slain, but we could expect to face at least some powerful adversaries while exploring the complex.

A pair of double doors led into another hallway, but other than a room full of skeletons (about 200 of them we guessed) there was nothing of interest.

We returned to the main runeforge chamber, where the quietly bubbling pool now holds special significance for us. We picked up some of the mirror shards from Xanderghul’s chamber, because Vraxeris has mentioned that they were one of the key components for the ritual.

Noting that Vraxeris had formed an alliance with Delvahine, we decided to explore Sorshen’s lair next.

As before, the passageway had a dimensional door style effect that eventually led us to a pair of mighty iron doors, beyond which was another immense interior space.

The area was well lit, and the layout and decoration left little doubt it had been designed for carnal purposes. The floor was alternating red and white polished flagstones, and red and white scrims lined the walls. Columns carved skillfully in the shapes of sensuously posed naked woman held aloft the tall ceiling. In the center was a raised platform, which was curtained off with flowing sheets of red silk.

Most disturbingly iron cages were positioned around the complex: some were, empty, and some held the rotting remains of people.

Someone held captive in one of the cages yet lives! I must go to his aid at once.

== 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.

== Toilday, Erastus 8, 4708; Sandpoint; evening ==

With the Scribbler dead we were able to explore and search the underground chambers more thoroughly, and without fear of hostile interruption. We took possession of the useful items the Scribbler had been wearing or carrying and returned to the doorway of the quill room, but not before Sabin took the head of the Scribbler and repeatedly bashed it against the wall until gore and grey matter were splattered about the place.

bag of diamond dust (750gp)

broken falchion

[1012] Cloak of Alluring Charisma +2 (highly decorative with intricate silvery trim)

[1013] +1 breastplate

[1014] +1 cold iron returning dagger

Trask cast Dispel Magic to remove the magical ward from the quill room, after which Sabin and I entered and carefully put the peacock feather quill into a silk sack I had prepared for it using an unseen servant, and the vials of ink in a bag of holding, along with the body of the deceased Sandpoint guardsman.

The vials of ink were regular ink of various colors, but the quill radiated an almost blinding aura of divination magic, the purpose of which we could not fathom.

[1015] vials of ink: 8 black, 1 violet, 2 blue, 2 red, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 brown, 1 pink

[1016] quill made of a peacock tail feather and a bone nib. Excellent quality and condition. Radiates overwhelming divination magic

For the rest of the complex, we found nothing new, although the room with the magical well of water fascinated us, and so we decided to return to the surface to inform father Zantus about the Temple to Lamashtu, which needed to be dealt with, and to gather a few items with which to “test the waters” of the mysterious well.

Kane and I approached the good cleric of Desna with what we had found.

“Father Zantus, we have discovered the source of Sandpoint’s most recent affliction: the earthquake uncovered a Temple of Lamashtu, the damned. Apparently it also triggered the appearance of one of her followers, and it was he who was responsible for summoning Shadow Mastiffs, which you all heard howling. We have slain this guardian, and killed all of the damnable hounds and dogs, devils and daemons he summoned; however the temple itself remains largely intact. We would like your aid tomorrow in removing the influence of Lamashtu. We realize that the town of Sandpoint, including the cathedral, has been through extremely difficult times over the past year, and if the cost of our proposed procedures is a burden, then some of us will gladly cover the costs of dealing with the temple.”

Zantus was extremely concerned, and agreed to come the next morning with us to cleanse the temple.

We returned to the well room and tried dropping in various items, ranging from a copper coin, to a twig of a living plant, to bits of gore and brain from the Scribbler. We even tried to dispel the magic of the well, but nothing we tried affected it in the least.

We have setup camp in the cell next to the pit to ensure nothing crawls out (or in) overnight.

== Wealday, Erastus 9, 4708; Sandpoint, The Rusty Dragon; evening ==

Before Father Zantus and his associates arrived, we returned to the complex and magically removed the runeforge rhyme visible in the temple area. We had decided that it would be best if others did not learn of the runeforge and try to seek it out, endangering themselves, and possibly our eventual quest (as seems likely) to this mythical, magical place.

Father Zantus arrived with his acolytes, and determined that all we really needed to do with the temple was remove the symbols and statuary of Lamashtu.

I used Stone Shape spells to remove most of the three headed jackal symbol that had been engraved in the floor, while Avia and Nolin set to work dismembering and reducing to rubble the statues of Lamashtu that sat in the alcoves.

We then took Father Zantus to the well room, where he scooped up a handful of water and sniffed it suspiciously. He noted how odd it was that the water seemed unusually clear, even with the stuff we had tossed in yesterday still sitting at the bottom.

For some reason Trask then dipped his hand in the water and drank from it! He coughed and sputtered for a moment before vomiting what he had drank (along with everything he had eaten for breakfast) into the well. He said it was the most horrid stuff he had ever tasted, and that he felt ill.

Rather than pursue how many other unusual things Trask might have eaten in his short life with which he was drawing the comparison, we used Detect Evil and noted that the water itself was evil. Unholy Water!

Kane made efficient use of Stone Shape to crack open the well, drain the water, and break the enchantment that refilled the pool with its evil contents.

We returned to the temple chambers to find that Avia and Nolin had moved on from destroying the statues to carving up the double doors that also held the symbol of Lamashtu.

With that work out of the way, Sabin and Kane walked about the rest of the level removing the remaining rhymes about the runeforge.

I had given some thought about what to do about the sink hole that was still blocking two of the major thoroughfares of the town, and asked Mayor Devlin, Sheriff Hemlock, and Father Zantus about it. I told them they could completely fill in the hole with rubble and stone, or Kane and I could use multiple castings of Wall of Stone to dome over the pit, restoring the surface roads to better than original shape over the course of a couple of days.

The town gratefully accepted our offer, which we will begin tomorrow.

And tonight we are back to sleeping in comfortable beds at the inn!

== Starday, Erastus 12, 4708; Sandpoint, The Rusty Dragon; evening ==

We have completed our work in securing the Sandpoint sink hole, and in its place now sits the Square of the Four Watchers. In addition to the stone work we created to seal up the pit, Kane, Avia and I commissioned skilled artists to erect statues of Desna, Sarenrae and Pharasma at three of the corners of the square, looking out protectively over the area. A fourth statue in the shape of a guardsman (using the image of the fallen guard whose body we had recovered from the quill room) was also commissioned to look out from the corner occupied by the town garrison.

Sheriff Hemlock and Father Zantus have ordered a stone wall be constructed beneath the street level, in the garrison cell, blocking off underground access to the ruins, but a vault door will be placed in the wall, in case there is ever a need to revisit this dismal place.

Kane and Sabin spent much of the last few days erasing as many of the writings on the wall left by the Scribbler as possible. They also used a clever combination of stone to mud, combined with create water (I lent a hand here) to remove any trace of the three headed jackal symbol in the floor that still remained.

We have also set up Rarallo in a magic shop of his own here in town. We sold an unused magical item (a highly enchanted short spear), and used the proceeds to purchase a store front, with workshop in the back and living quarters above, along with more than enough supplies and inventory to see him started in his new line of work.

We also forged an agreement whereby he would construct magical items for us at ten percent above his own cost. We would also give him the first chance to purchase any magical items we find in our travels for which we have no need.

All in all it seems like an equitable arrangement, and he has already started work on my Amulet of Inspired Wisdom (having finished Sabin’s book a couple days before).

Tomorrow we leave for the library to find what we can about the runeforge.

== Moonday, Erastus 14, 4708; Monastic Library; evening ==

So how to counter the threat of the ancient runelord Karzoug threatening to rise again to power? Could it be an answer lies in that forgotten place the Scribbler’s insane ramblings alluded to?

But even in this magnificent library, references to the runeforge were sparse and terse. Sabin and I slaved away using the mechanical librarian to retrieve volume upon volume of mouldering texts on esoteric topics. For every reference to the runeforge we found we had to sift through twenty books or scrolls. And often what information we found had already been gleaned from some other tome, or forced us to expand our search to other topics.

We had already learned from our previous study in modern day texts about the runelords that there had been a legendary Thassilonian place of learning for arcane knowledge. “Runeforge,” it was called, but it was lost when the ancient empire fell long ago.

It appeared that even during those ancient times, the location of the runeforge was a jealously guarded secret. The runelords considered it to be a strategic resource to their rule, and those chosen to study at there never returned: assignment to the runeforge was a life long commitment.

There, scholars worked endlessly inventing new spells and magical items the likes of which the world had never before seen. One of the last areas of research commissioned by the runelords for the runeforge was to find a way by which the runelords could escape death itself, and survive the fall of the empire, ready to return again when the time was right.

This sounded promising — anything that described how Karzoug could still be alive after all these millennia might also provide clues on how he could be defeated.

It was surprising to learn that the runelords themselves did not visit the runeforge, at least not after it had been well established. The runelords mistrusted one another, and they themselves put in place wards and protections to prevent any runelord or agent acting directly on a runelord’s behalf from entering runeforge.

But again, where was it?

The closest thing to a location we could find was that it was built on the edge of the Kodar Mountains to the north. This vast chain of peaks stretches across the northern reaches of the continent, and identifying a single peak among the countless pinnacles of the Kodar without additional information was simply not practical.

The Scribbler mentioned the eastern shores of a steaming mirror and a Mount Xin. Looking at modern day maps we quickly identified the Steaming Sea, to the north of Sandpoint, and to the east of that begins the Kodar Range.

I also remembered the notes written on Mokmurian’s map of the Lost Coast Road, identifying the Old Light of Sandpoint as an ancient and terrible weapon called the Hellfire Plume. Mokmurian was looking for evidence of a “traitor” called Xaliasa, with the thought that he might know the whereabouts of a runeforge key.

Xaliasa, as it turned out, was the commander of one of Alaznist’s Hellfire Plumes — the one at Sandpoint. Delving further we found evidence that regular payments had been made from Shalast (Karzoug’s realm) to Xaliasa, which was very odd considering that Xaliasa served Alasnist, Karzoug’s chief rival. We suspect that Xaliasa was accepting bribes from Karzoug, but in the end remained loyal to Alasnist, thus engendering the name “traitor” from Karzoug and his followers.

Then something occurred to me, and quickly I rifled through our bags of holding, pulling out the Scribbler’s dagger and the broken pieces of his falchion. There, carefully engraved in graceful runes on each of the hilts was the name “Xaliasa.”

We had uncovered the true identity of the Scribbler, which at the very least verified that he would have had knowledge about the location of the runeforge, and his cryptic hints over its location should be taken seriously.

Turning back to the ancient maps we scanned for names of the peaks at the eastern end of the Kodar Mountains, and found the location of Mt Xin. Comparing the ancient maps to our modern copies we saw that the same peak was now called Rimeskull.

We needed up to date information on this region in order to make travel plans to go there and find the runeforge.

Fortunately Kane, who has been creating wands all the time Sabin and I were working in the library, was in need of additional materials, and a trip to Sandpoint was quickly arranged for the next day.

In the meantime I searched for anything mentioning peacock feathered quills, but was disappointed to find it mentioned once, describing how associates of Xanderghul (runelord of pride) were known to write with such quills.

I then pulled out the quill (and suffered no ill effects from handling it) I tried writing various phrases in different languages using some of the black ink we found with it, but it simply performed like a normal quill — but an exceptionally well crafted quill.

== Toilday, Erastus 15, 4708; Monastic Library; evening ==

In the morning Sabin and Trask teleported to Magnimar with Nolin and I in tow.

Trask was looking to purchase a Cloak of Resistance, and so he headed off to the market district, while Sabin went in search of arcane supplies. Nolin waved and set off to visit his parents, leaving me to do a some research on my own.

I had heard that the Pathfinder Society was a good place to obtain relatively up to date and detailed descriptions of various geographical areas and sites, and I found the local office with little difficulty.

The area around Rimeskull, while not unknown, was not heavily traveled. The the high elevation and the high latitude combine to make for frigid conditions even during the height of summer. Mountain streams flow into Lake Stormunder at the foot of the Rimeskull, and from there the Steam River flows west into the Steaming Sea.

Near the mouth of the river a small village, Brinewall, protected by its own castle, once served as an outpost to the region, but the entire population of the town and castle all vanished sometime in the mid 4680s. All the houses, offices, merchants, shops, and other businesses were left as if the occupants had just popped out for a moment and would be right back. But right back never came.

There seems to be something tragic about anyplace with “wall” at the end of its name, and like Viperwall to the south, this sounds like a good place for us to investigate… after we’ve dealt with Karzoug.

The only “recent” visitors to the immediate vicinity of Rimeskull were Shoanti traders passing by. But even these reports date back one or two centuries. However, they do include the tale of a white dragon living in the peaks above the lake, which I found to be the most useful piece of information the Pathfinder clerk had to offer.

Troops had been dispatched to the area to deal with the dragon, but they had never returned.

“The dragon treasure was never found, and bound to be to still be there, and unprotected now that the dragon has died.”

I laughed, and asked how he knew the dragon was dead.

“Well, they sent all those soldiers, and that was hundreds of years ago, and even if they didn’t kill him, dragons don’t live forever.”

“Really?” I replied, “You do know that dragons live for thousands of years?”

Apparently he did not, “But still,” he enthused, “nobody has seen the dragon in all that time.”

He seemed not to make the connectiuon that the most recent reports from that area were those that mentioned the dragon all those years ago. Nobody has reported a dragon since, because nobody has visited the place since (and lived to tell about it).

What a silly man.

None the less, I accepted his offer to have copies made of the maps and descriptions they had of the area, and in return I let them copy Olithar’s journal.

He also mentioned another peculiar site far to the north, but more eastward. A place known as the “Mobhad Leigh,” which was a name of ill omen among my people, meaning literally, “The stairway to hell.” It is a huge pit of unknown depth with stone steps that lead down several hundred feet. Many, many years ago the Shoanti tried to use magic to plumb its depths, but the spell casters all dropped dead.

Interesting, but the site does not seem to be of Thassilonian origin (it was not on any of the ancient maps in the library), and we had enough distractions to contend with as it was.

I returned to the Feisty Fox to await my companions. I was surprised to see Kane and Rigel walk into the bar, with Avia and Trask close behind. Kane and Rigel were sniggering, while Trask looked looked sheepishly away, avoiding all eye contact.

I asked what had brought the three of them into town (all of them but Trask had remained behind at the library), but at that Kane and Rigel burst out laughing so hard that they could not speak, and Avia simply rolled her eyes. Trask turned a bright shade of red, but all I could make out from the two rolling on the floor was something about a trip around the world and a red cloak.

I guess you had to have been there.

I did see that Trask was wearing a new cloak (not red), but he seemed less than enthused to talk about it.

Soon after that Nolin and Sabin came in, and we all returned to the library, where I updated them on what I had found out about the Rimeskull area.

== Fireday, Erastus 25, 4708; Monastic Library; evening ==

We have completed our research in the library, and Kane has completed crafting his first set of wands.

One of the more interesting discussions we’ve had while here came about when Kane commented on how there were seven of us, just as there were seven runelords. This led us to wonder which of the original seven virtues each of us thought best represented us… but oddly enough the discussion quickly shifted from the virtues to the sins, and this is what occupied most of the conversation.

Which of the seven sins was most applicable to me? Wrath seemed likely, but deep down within I knew it to be Envy. Envy for those who remain oblivious to the realities of the world, and the never ending toil that the rest of us must undertake to keep it from being covered by darkness. Oh, but to live a simple life!

Yesterday we had all made a brief visit to Sandpoint to make sure all was still well (it was), and so I could pick up my Amulet of Inspired Wisdom from Rarallo. Others ordered additional items to be crafted, and Avia found someone to make armor from Longtooth’s hide.

Back at the library we briefly discussed our plans for tomorrow, when we plan to travel to Rimeskull and scout out the lay of the land.

== Starday, Erastus 26, 4708; Sandpoint; evening ==

I cast Wind Walk on myself and all my companions and we took to the air in the forms of wisps of vapor, and then sped northward. The plan was to keep relatively low to the ground (some fifty feet up) and avoid any obstacles or confrontations. Kane and I both had Status cast upon the entire party so we could keep tabs on where everyone was. We could also see one another, with some difficulty as small wisps of cloud.

It was nearly a four hour trip, but much preferable to having to make our way there by foot, boat, or horseback.

We flew up and over the first ridge of the Kodars to find the Steam River valley below us, and to the right, great Lake Stormunder. Patches of snow lined the river, but snow completely blanketed the ground everywhere else.

And Mount Rimeskull was there to great us, glowing in the morning light. It was unmistakable. A huge head had been carved into the side of the mountain, now ancient and crumbling and truly resembling more of a skull than the head of Emperor Xin that it once depicted. Its mouth was gaping open, which we could see was in fact the entrance to a cave. Out from the mouth a giant stairway led down some 200 feet to within 50 feet of the top of a round plateau.

The plateau was ringed with seven colossal heads each mounted on a squat cylindrical pedestal. Unlike the face on the mountain, and heads were amazingly well preserved, and each towered ten feet high.

We landed and assumed material form near the eastern shore of the lake and walked up to the heads, which all faced inward with gaping mouths open. I discovered that they were magical, but each had its own magic aura, and each face was carved into the image of a particular runelord.

           (d)
 N              (c)
 ^   (e)
 |                (b) --> To stairs and Rimeskull
    (f)
               (a)
         (g)

a. Alasnist (wrath): evocation
b. Xanderghul (vanity): illusion
c. Sorshen (lust): enchantment
d. Balamarius (envy): abjuration
e. Krune (sloth): conjuration
f. Karzoug (greed): transmutation
g. Zutha (gluttony): necromancy

We stared at the statues as I reread the Scribbler’s words about saying the proper prayer and casting the proper spell before each stone runelord to get a key to the runeforge from each.

And then in an instant I knew what we had to do: cast a spell (any spell) of the proper school before each statue.

Trask boldly cast Mage Hand before Karzoug, and there was a loud ringing, as if someone had struck an enormous bell, and a golden key appeared in the mouth of Karzoug, which Trask took.

Working quickly we made our way around the circle, with each statue making its own unique bell like ringing sound as it was activated.

f. Karzoug (greed): transmutation — Trask: Mage Hand
a. Alasnist (wrath): evocation — Takkad: Light
e. Krune (sloth): conjuration — Kane: Light
g. Zutha (gluttony): necromancy — Trask: Disrupt Undead
b. Xanderghul (vanity): illusion — Sabin: Mirror Image
c. Sorshen (lust): enchantment — Kane: Bless
d. Balamarius (envy): abjuration — Takkad: Protection from Evil

Just as I picked up the last key we heard Rigel shriek, “DRAGON!” as she pointed eastward, toward Rimeskull.

Hurtling towards us at a startling speed was an enormous white dragon.

Trask launched a Fireball at it, but it appeared to have far less affect than we had thought (or hoped) it would.

We had clumped together more than was wise near the center of the circle made by the heads, and the dragon made good use of its tactical advantage by breathing an icy cold blast down upon us as it swooped by.

Kane began to heal the party as I cast Prayer, and the rest of the team prepared for combat.

Trask sent another Fireball at the dragon, which fizzled, and Rigel snuck next to one of the heads and pulled out her bow to shoot at it as it flew by.

Only it did not fly by. Rigel’s arrow appeared to pass right through it as it swept up and landed before her, scooping her up in its jaws!

I cast Flamestrike at its tail end, which seemed to have hurt it, and Sabin performed his Dimensional Door trick with Kane, Avia and Nolin, popping up right before the dragon.

All three fighters began to beat on the dragon, but something odd was going on. Avia noted that while her eyes told her the dragon was in one place, her senses tuned to combat suggested it was someplace else.

But even with this knowledge, the fighters were unable to leave a single mark on the beast. But it obviously considered them a serious threat, and so it spit out Rigel, who landed in the snow some ten feet away and crawled behind one of the statues for cover.

I cast Greater Dispel Magic on it, and it was as if the dragon instantly jumped a few feet over — apparently it had been using some sort of spell to make it harder to hit.

Another Dispel Magic later and all of the fighters were having better luck hitting (and hurting) the dragon, and Trask’s Fireballs now seemed to be having their expected results.

The dragon breathed ice on us again, but Kane and I were managing to keep the team near to full health, while at the same time the dragon was now boasting serious wounds, and was bleeding from a myriad of slashes and gouges in its side.

We were pushing our advantage when the beast pulled back a short distance, rumbled some enchantment under its breath, and vanished.

Sabin, who was watching carefully (and speaks Draconic), shouted out, “Dimensional Door!”

We knew he must be within about a thousand feet of us hiding, but where? As one we turned and looked at the gaping mouth of the face of Xin, and the steps leading up to it.

True, we were healthy and still had some significant amount of healing and spells available to us. But we would be entering the dragon’s own den, and we all felt we should be better prepared before undertaking that.

Instead we teleported back to Sandpoint, and plan to discuss tactics over dinner.

Tomorrow we will Teleport back to the plateau, which will free two high level spells for me, and deal with the dragon.

And then we will deal with whatever lies within.