Sunday, 26 Lamashan

If our goal was to introduce chaos, confusion, and distraction to the city, why that’s practically our (very long) middle name.

Scrying our favorite giant, we found that there is close to chaos up north around the Lamia temple. He reported the body, and discovered they were already quite aware. They seem like anything but cool and in control. They did not kill the messenger, but they did not exactly welcome him either. They expected him to tell them what happened and how. “You were in charge of security!” they said accusingly, and when he had no explanation forthcoming, instructed him to wait in a small room whose door was secured from the outside while the investigation was completed. “At sunset,” they promised, “you will be taken up to the mountain.” From the expression on his face, he clearly did not interpret this to mean he was going to be treated to a relaxing vacation and stimulating massage.

Although we may have, in a sense, tormented him with whispered messages and strange happenings, we’d taken a liking to him. We couldn’t let him be taken to the mountain, where he’d likely be killed, or worse, transformed. From a practical standpoint, we probably also did not want him telling people on the mountain that voices were speaking to him. So Takkad and Sabin windwalked to his cell and checked it out. The door was unlocked, so I suppose technically that was not a cell, but two harridans stood guard outside to prevent anyone from disturbing him in his contemplation.

In other words, a very stealthy teleportation was entirely possible.

Since I could do both major image and teleport, I went along to provide the means for the rescue operation. Takkad and Sabin came along in case anything went wrong. I borrowed a ring of invisibility so that all three of us, Takkad, Sabin, and myself could be invisible. We became invisible, turned to gaseous form, and then travelled to and entered the cell. By previous agreement, I went to (invisible) solid form first, and created the illusion of a giant. The illusion offered these solemn but quietly spoken words: “There are those who would see you live.” The giant startled, and I said, “The choice is yours, but take my hand if you wish to leave now.” I put my hand in the right position within the image, and after a bit of uncertainty, he grabbed it. I quietly uttered the spell, and teleported us to the arena without any harridans being harmed at all.

Once there, I said (while still invisible), “This place is safe, but you will probably need to leave Xin Shalast.”

“Thanks,” he responded, still a little uncertainly.

The rest of the group was there in gas form and observed him quickly assess his surroundings before heading for an exit from the arena. As he cautiously made his way to one side of the arena, Takkad and Sabin returned and we returned to our hideout.

Takkad sniggered that he’d added Alasnist graffiti to the cell. When I pointed out that poor decisions and practical jokes was supposed to be my forte, he got defensive and said it wasn’t impractical – it would help foment rebellion and divert attention away from us, which was very practical.

Whatever.

We could only imagine the anger and frustration the Lamia would feel upon discovering their guest had left! Hee hee. However, in my more somber moments I also realized we’d pretty much relegated our favorite giant to a life on the run, since they would believe he was complicit not only in his escape, but in the murder of the priestesses too. Perhaps we’d done nothing more than delay his death, but I suppose that’s not such a small gift.

We decided to talk to Margive about the rebellion plan he’d overheard. Where do they meet? (Always different.) Can you show us? (yes).

With this, Takkad announced our favorite giant had left the arena and starting rooting around in these passages. He was actually heading rather directly for Margive’s abode, which was not part of the plan.

We quickly explained to Margive that a giant was only a few hundred feet away right now, and he needed to hide. While we did not think the giant would harm him, we deemed it prudent to be cautious. He blended into the shadows as he does so well, while the rest of us hid in the shadows or went invisible.

I was completely surprised by what happened next, though. The giant cautiously entered Margive’s home and whispered, “Margive? Are you here?” And Margive replied! “I am here, friend,” as he made himself visible.

“I have found a much better place for the meeting tonight. Tell them the alliance will meet at the arena tonight.”

Margive has more connections than we gave him credit for! “Our” giant was actually a leader (the leader?) in the giant rebellion that we’d been so anxious to assist. I broke the silence by saying, “There are those who would see you live” as I made myself apparent. As others also became visible, he clearly recognized my voice and clearly had the same thought about Margive that I’d just had. “We seem to be working towards a common cause.”

Takkad suggested to him that the recent deaths of the lamia and apparently missing dragon might make tonight a very good night to lead his brethren out of the city. He agreed. And we offered the same advice to Margive. “We are going to the highest buildings in an attempt to stop Karzoug from gaining more power. If the coming night and day find us successful, tonight will be an excellent time to leave. If we fail, it may be your last opportunity to leave.”

We did not add, out loud, that their leaving will also provide distraction to those above as we attempt to assault those positions. We will truly be helping each other by dividing the rulers’ attentions.

We decided to windwalk to the higher echelons now to use the last of our windwalk ability today and allow Takkad to utilize those spell slots differently for tomorrow. We took this time to inspect Karzoug’s mountainous face, but we noted no particular magic or secret openings in the face. Takkad and Sabin decided it was appropriate to install a little granite graffiti.

Whatever. Seems immature and unnecessary to me.

I did the now-traditional rope trick, and we retired for the evening.

Moonday, 27 Lamashan

Takkad asked the Quill about what to expect. It told him “many guards, many wards, insane creatures not of this world.” If that was a surprise to anyone, they didn’t let on.

Kane and Avia needed to use amulets, upon which we cast obscure object to deter the scrying, and we advanced towards the biggest spire. This spire seemed to mostly be a ramp up into the heights of the building. It certainly was ornate enough, but the ramp was nice and wide (maybe forty feet or so wide). We ascended alertly and while we didn’t find anything during our cautious ascent, we must have gone up 2000 feet or more.

But near the top, we did hear a voice that we did not recognize: “Ready lads! Here they come!” Apparently we were expected. I had thought I might confuse them a bit with ridiculous replies, so I called out, “Yes! Have you any bananas?”. I was not within range to see their faces, but I have to believe that the several seconds of pause after that was spent with them looking at each other in utter confusion. Without waiting for any particular response, I cast Haste on our group since it sounded very much like we would not avoid battle, and at this particular moment everyone was close enough to be included in the spell.

There were five of them, with one clearly being the leader (both by demeanor and appearance.) He was a storm giant; the other four appeared to be cloud giants.

“They like to appear right next to you; be ready!” called out their leader. Hmm. Clearly Karzoug has passed on his observations of us to his guard. How annoying.

Kane tried to intimidate them. It was about as effective as asking for bananas. But Sabin had a much more effective action. He cast mass suggestion on them, and suggested they’d rather drop their weapons and go down to the front gates of the city. Three of the giants blinked, and appeared to do so.

These were some of the largest giants we’ve encountered, and the reach on them was unbelievable. Without the ability to teleport in, our fighters had to wade in offering their bodies up for free just to get close enough to hit. Once there they did significant damage, but the price of the approach almost was too much for Nolin. I called up a wall of force to protect him as he got hammered at one point, but our clerics managed to quickly heal him (and others). I employed my Mages Sword at one point, but it was late in the battle and it only got a couple of swings. I don’t think it ever connected before its target died and it raced back to hover pointlessly in front of me.

When the leader realized a sizeable portion of his force really was going to walk to the edge of the city, he smartly said to them, “Well, would you mind smacking these guys as you go?” And although they’d dropped their weapons, an unarmed smack from a cloud giant still carries a wallop. I took one of those and it almost knocked me off my feet.

Truly, we killed the leader and remaining cloud giant in something like only a half minute, but the fighting as fierce and the damage great. If they’d had healers like we did, the battle might have gone differently. We may want to identify and target healers early in any future battles; Karzoug will probably do the same favor for us.

And Kane put a normal mundane spell to deadly use when he cast Create Water in front of the giants heading down the ramp to the city’s edge. In this climate, of course, the water froze almost instantly, and resulting lack of traction caused two of the giants to slip over the edge of the ramp and fall to their presumed deaths.

From the two corpses we created up top, we did retrieve

[1660] Full plate (giant sized) +2
[1661] sihedron ring
[1662] Full plate (giant sized) +4
[1663] sihedron ring
[1664] Masterwork Great Sword [giant sized]
[1665] Morningstar [giant sized]

We now turned to the upper hallways that we’d laid claim to. The walls here were decorated; no expense was spared. Doors ranged from appearing to be solid gold, to, at the very least, masterfully built. The first door we opened seemed to yield … Karzoug!

He verbally taunted us, and Avia detected no evil. Still, we advanced upon him. I tried a fireball, but it had no effect. We began to think it might just be a really talkative illusion when he said, “Well, Sabin, let’s get it started.” And a black ray shot from the figure to Sabin.

A death ray.

Sabin moved as quickly as I’ve ever seen him, but the ray still grazed him and wounded him significantly. And with that, Karzoug disappeared. Yes, an illusion, but one with some spellcasting abilities. Some sort of projection, or automaton? I’ll have to search our spellbooks to try to identify what it was. But clearly we will be running into some more powerful magic, and we will need to be cautious of that.

More doors await us.

Starday, 25 Lamashan

After having a little fun with our chosen giant commander, we somberly realized we still didn’t have enough rings + amulets to safely enter the field up on the mountain. Well technically we might have, but nobody really wanted to be subject to the scrying that the amulets left one vulnerable to.

So Takkad and Sabin when invisible and had magic detection on when they windwalked over to the Lamashtu temple to see if there were any likely looking treasure chests or living bearers of said amulets and rings. It was, of course, still semi-collapsed, and completely dark inside. Sabin had the advantage there, but couldn’t communicate to Takkad in windwalk form so I gather there was some wispy hand signals or something employed. (I wasn’t along; I just got a summary of their trip when they returned.)

The main chamber had 3 passages, but two had collapsed. There were idols of things vaguely dragonic and lion-like. In windwalk form, the collapsed passages were less of an issue than might otherwise be the case, but still they proved uninteresting. The passage going straight ahead had little rubble, and led to an antechamber with stairs down. The antechamber held the tattered clothing of three bodies – less cautious adventurers, I suppose – and nothing there radiated magic. The stairway led to a room that looked like a torture room, but that also appeared to be a deadend.

Returning to the entrance they tried the right passage. They were able to pass through the rubble, but it ended in a square room after 30′ of piled rubble. This room also had three exits from it.

• The right one held a stagnant pool.
• The middle one led to a large cathedral-like space which seemec to be a shrine to Lamashtu. Takkad sensed a presence there, but then these clerics are sometimes just on edge.
• The left one held benches and cabinets, but little else of interest.

Returning to the entrance, they tried to go left but it was impassable even in windwalk state.

That seemed to be it in the temple, so they returned and reported. To prepare, I case see invisible, mirror image, and spell resistance. I figured anything we found in a temple would be likely to try to cast a spell or two.

We windwalked, and entered the temple. By previous agreement, we made our way to the cathedral room, It didn’t take long at all to detect a shadowy figure .. or was it figures? .. at the far end of the room. I waited until the Usual Suspects were close enough together and then cast haste on our group.

There wasn’t just a couple. There were eight. Sabin used his sign of wrath and one shadow was seriously injured. 4 shadows turned on Sabin, but most of them hit the images from his mirror image spell. Takkad channelled positive energy, and one shadow fell. Avia channeled too, and three more were killed. Kane likewise channelled, and two more disappeared. And then by golly, it turns out they didn’t care much for fire, so I “channelled” a fireball that took out the remainder.

The altar was magic. There was a magic black painted metal chalice. There was a wand. There was a black dagger. And all these things were magic. We quickly determined we had

[1643] decanter of endless water
[1644] adamantine dagger, +3, decorated with genuine iconic Lamashtu figures
[1645] a wand of soul binding [4 charges]

Kane wanted to destroy the altar, so our team’s adamantine weapons were put to good use. He followed with a consecrate spell, which he apologetically explained would last a lot less time than he’d like but that too made him feel better.

For a little guy, Kane sure is fanatical at times.

Takkad was still dissatisfied with our efforts. Not at us, but he was thinking we were running out of time and worried that we needed to hurry and do certain things or Karzoug would be too powerful for us to kill. He decided to do a powerful Communing with his god, which unfortunately must be a series of yes/no questions. This was conducted with great pomp and circumstance, which I guess is de rigeur for this sort of spell. And we asked

1) Are there more rings in Xin Shalast? YES
2) Is the field on the mountain powered by a Runewell? YES
3) Is the Runewell in the city? NO
4) Do any remaining dragons have a sihedron ring? NO
5) Is Karzoug fully revived? NO
6) Is Karzoug able to leave the spires now? NO
7) Is Karzoug going to leave the spires within a week? YES
8) Should we confront him ASAP? YES
9) Does Karzoug have more than 12 allies with him in the spires? UNCERTAIN
10) Are we missing a needed artifact? UNCERTAIN
11) Does Karzoug get stronger the longer we wait? YES
12) Will it benefit us to create discord in the city? YES
13) Do we need rings or amulets within the occlusion field? YES
14) Does the field extend everywhere, including within the buildings? YES
15) Do any giants possess rings? NO

So it was clear that there was, unfortunately, some basis to Takkad’s fear that we needed to hurry. The discord thing, though, sounded both fun and easy. We talked to Margive about why the giant rebellions always seemed shortlived. He explained the Lamia held much greater sway over the city than we’d given them credit for. They were fairly quick to put down rebellions.

Lamia, hmm? We could reduce those numbers, although we really wanted to take out the matriarch if she ever came back down to the city. Margive surprised us by saying she had indeed returned to deal with the death of her priestess. Seems she thought that might have been another outgrowth of the rebellion and she felt a need to attend to it personally.

At last. A suitable target.

We returned to the coliseum, and carefully planned our next excursion. Takkad and Sabin decided to scout using the usual windwalk technique. They quickly and easily detected raised voice from Karzoug’s chapel. They spotted three harridans and one other dressed much better than the rest. They were loudly discussing what to do about the giants who’d killed their priestess (heh!)

That was pretty much all we needed. I again prepared mirror image, spell resistance, see invisible, and, in this particular case, haste before we even left.

We’d hoped to surprise them, but their hearing must be excellent. They heard us in the chamber next to them and startled. So I led with chain lightning, which hit all four of them, killing one as a nice start. Sedgewick threw a Mislead (his new favorite spell, I think!) and Kane prayed. Takkad did a greater dispel at her royal highness, and then the three remaining came after us. One attacked the false Sedgewick, which cringed and bent over in mock pain. Another brought a flame strike down in our midst, hitting all but me. Then Avia stepped up. She attacked the leader viciously, doing prodigious amounts of damage. Nolin stepped up and did the same.

I also did a Mislead while Sedgewick tried to deafen our opponents. Kane called in a flamestrike of his own, and Takkad simply cast Destruction (which unfortunately failed). A blade barrier appeared, followed by a firestorm at many of us and a searing light at Takkad. Sabin tried a disintegrate, with disappointing results. Avia took some more hardy swings, and Nolin actually charged to good effect.

Rigel went invisible, and I knew she was angling for a backstab at some point. Our fighters were now in the thick of the battle, but our healers were not close enough to help them heal. “Get together” I whispered hoarsely, “and i’ll teleport us”. I waited a few seconds for everyone to get in place and then teleported us closer.

Takkad did a powerful Mass Cure spell. Avia and Nolin found themselves under attack, and surprisingly one of the harridan found Takkad to be the most threatening and took some gouges out of him. Then the unholy blight hit, and suddenly people were a lot weaker. Sabin unleashed a flurry of blows and Avia finally took out another harridan. Nolin lent his blade to the effort.

Rigel tried to shoot some arrows, but only nicked one once. Worse, she became visible at that point. Sedgewick pulled out his wand of lightning, but the harridan’s spell resistance thwarted him. Kane healed Takkad and I initiated a mage sword. Takkad channelled, helping both himself and our fighters while a harridan tried unsuccessfully to take out Sabin. The other damaged Takkad a little, but mostly took out Sabin’s images. Sabin responded by taking it out, and Avia turned to the last one and took her out too.

We quickly assessed the magical items we’d won.

[1646] dagger, +1, unholy
[1647] headband of inspired wisdom +6
[1648] ring of force shield
[1649] 4 pearl anklets
[1650] golden crown
[1651] sihedron ring
[1652] dagger, +1, unholy
[1653,1655,1657] MW Breast plate
[1654,1656,1658] MW Great Sword

And to continue and extend the discord, we dumped the body of the matriarch into the giant section of town, in an alley. She was big enough and heavy enough I just teleported her.

Takkad sent another disquieting message to our favorite giant. “Your problem is solved – again.”

And when the body was discovered, we learned that we’d killed the chief assistant of Ceoptera, not Ceoptera. Or at least, that’s the body we’d dropped off; we probably killed her too (that would explain some of the difficulties we had) but she was disguised as a lesser. Oh well. She’s dead, anyway. I think. These folks should wear (accurate) nametags.

== Starday, Lamashan 25, 4708; Xin Shalast; evening ==

With still too few sihedron rings or too few sihedron amulets (or two few team members willing or able to wear the latter) we decided to search for additional rings in the more prominent ruins of the city. The now even more ruinous (thanks to yours truly) remains of the Temple of Lamashtu seemed as likely a place to try as any.

Sabin and I used invisibility plus Detect Magic and then Wind Walked into the building and scouted about.

Time had been a harsh mistress to the building, and rubble choked much of the entry chamber. We saw a pair of large stone idols fallen over on their sides: a dragon and a lion, both twisted and perverted. A mosaic tile in the floor boasted a great symbol of Lamashtu, but it was broken and bereft of any power or influence here.

Three exits led out from the chamber and deeper into the temple.

We went straight ahead to an antechamber, where the tattered gear and clothing lay strewn about. Upon closer examination we found the three corpses of our would be explorers, long ago ripped to pieces.

A stairway led down to a torture chamber with the usual arrangement of miserable cells, cruel devices, and a table designed to catch the blood of the room’s victims.

We returned to the entry chamber and went through the right exit, which was choked with collapsed stone. Wafting through the crevices like a breeze we came followed the ruined corridor thirty feet before it ended in a square room some twenty feet on a side.

To the right was a rectangular room with a stagnant pool in the center.

To the left was what looked like a locker room, with benches and cabinets lining the walls.

Directly ahead was a cathedral dedicated to Lamashtu. It looked as if it had been well maintained, while the rest of the temple had fallen down around it. We got an uneasy feeling that something was watching us… something only glimpsed, like a fleeting movement out of the corner of our eyes.

Back in the entry room we tried the left passageway, but it was completely blocked.

We returned to the others at our hideout, and it was decided that whatever was lurking in the temple needed to be removed.

We prepared for combat, and then Wind Walked back to the locker room, where we solidified quietly in the dark. Sabin moved quickly into the cathedral, and said that he saw shadowy incorporeal creatures moving about.

Avia and I moved into the cathedral, and Kane used a wand of Detect Evil, which promptly did so.

Nolin also moved in, while Sedjewick created Dancing Lights and began to sing.

Trask Hasted us as Sabin cast Sign of Wrath. All of a sudden the room was filled with a lot of shadows, which all closed in on Sabin (those that survived his spell).

I, Avia and Kane all chanelled energy against the Shadows, and all but two fell, which Trask promptly destroyed via a fireball.

There were various items of interest upon the altar:

[1643] chalice: a decanter of endless water
[1644] +3 black adamantine dagger decorated with disfigured animals
[1645] wand of soul bind (4 charges)

The entire room emanated evil, and Kane was not content to just leave it as it was, and so the fighters destroyed the altar, which made Kane feel somewhat better.

We then returned to our base, where I cast the powerful Commune spell and asked for Pharasma’s guidance.

Are any sihedron rings in Xin Shalast that are not in our possessions?

Yes

Is the occlusion field around the spires powered by a rune well?

No

Do any dragons in the region of Xin Shalast posses a sihedron ring?

No

Has Karzoug fully revived?

No

Is Karzoug able to leave the spires now?

No

Will Karzoug be able to leave the spires within the next week?

Yes

Should we move to directly confront Karzoug as soon as possible?

Yes

Does Karzoug have more than a dozen allies with him in the spires?

Yes

Are we missing an object or task from the city we need in order to defeat Karzoug?

Uncertain

Does Karzoug get stronger the longer we wait?

Yes

Will it benefit us to sow discord and chaos in the city itself?

Yes

Will we need to wear the sihedron rings and medallions to freely move about everywhere within the occlusion field?

Yes

Does the occlusion field extend to within the buildings?

Yes

Do any giants in the city have sihedron rings?

No

This gave us much food for thought, and we decided to check with Margive to see if he could explain why the giant rebellions always fizzle so quickly, and why the most recent one lasted longer.

He seemed surprised by our questions. “The Lamia have all of the power. They are the law,” he explained. “However a great deal of yelling was heard from their temple complex just a short while ago, and rumor says that her Most High Ceoptra has come down from the mountain to set her house in order.”

Score! Margive seemed terrified by her presence in the city, but this was what we had been waiting (and working) for!

We asked about the most recent giant rebellion, and he replied, “They meet at night in the slave area. They are easy to find.”

The first order of business was to take out Her Most Highestness and her entourage, if she was not alone.

Sabin and I did the usual prep with invisibility and using Wind Walk scouted out the temple. We heard an angry voice shouting from Karzoug’s chapel. There we found three harridans, dressed as warriors, gathered around a fourth, who was much better dressed and equipped than the others, and was wearing a robe of runes and a crown.

They were speaking in giant, and the fancy dressed one was shocked that the giants would kill her second in command.

Across from this side of the temple was another space where we could all gather and prepare for the attack, if we were lucky.

We returned to the others and prepared for what looked to be a fierce battle. Using a combination of invisibility spells and Wind Walk we managed to arrive at our designated gathering spot undetected, but our luck soon gave way to reality.

“My lady, I hear something in the other chamber!”

Oh drat, there went the element of surprise.

Trask sent a wicked arc of chain lightening down to zap several of the lamia, and Sedjewick created a mirror image and began to sing. Kane cast Prayer, and I used Greater Dispel Magic on the one we thought must be the Ceoptra.

Two harridans advanced upon us, while another cast Flame Strike on me — one of them was a cleric! The Ceoptra was muttering words of power.

Sabin used our Dimension Door strategy to put himself, Nolin, Avia and I next to the Ceoptra, where upon Avia and Nolin promptly killed her.

What the hell? It was only then that a trickle of doubt began to pool in my mind.

Rigel shot a warrior harridan, and Sedjewick Shouted ferociously at two.

The cleric harridan cast Blade Barrier, isolating the advance party from the rest of our team, and the other two then charged us.

The entire area filled with a Fire Storm, and I was targeted by Searing Light.

I tried Destruction on the cleric, but to no avail, and Sabin tried Disintegrate, but that too was disappointing.

Nolin and Avia realized they needed to take down the cleric, and charged her.

I managed to use a Mass cure spell to restore some health to my friends and myself.

Meanwhile the cleric cast Unholy Blight, and attacked Sabin with a dagger, which was odd, because she was wielding a greats word.

Sabin was seriously injured, but I was closer to death than I have ever been, and for the first time in years wondered if I would survive to see another day.

But then things began to turn our way. Sabin was able to get three solid hits on the cleric, while Avia killed a warrior and Nolin kept the other occupied.

At that point in time I discovered that Trask had used Teleport to bring the rest of our party to the party, and Kane revived me with a mighty Heal.

Trask used Mage Sword on the cleric, who began to hack at us, but Sabin put a stop to that by removing her head.

Avia very quickly killed the remaining and seriously out classed harridan.

We were bloodied, near exhaustion, and not quite sure what had just happened.

No small amount of channeling and cure spells brought us back to health, and we quickly searched the bodies for useful things.

[1646] +1 unholy dagger
[1647] +6 headband of inspired wisdom (Kane)
[1648] ring of force shield
[1649] 4 pearl anklets
[1650] gold crown
[1651] sihedron ring (from the cleric!)
[1652] +1 unholy dagger
[1653, 1655, 1657] masterwork breastplate
[1654, 1656, 1658] masterwork great sword

Then using the blood of the dead lamia, I scrawled as high upon the wall as I could reach, in a crude giantish hand, “Death to the tyrantz!”

We then shoved the body of the harridan we had thought was the Ceoptra into a bag of holding and returned to our hideout — but on the way Sabin and I dropped the body off into an alley.

I then used Greater Scrying on “our giant,” and using Sending sent him to the corpse.

He was at a loss. “A harridan!? But who would kill a harridan?” He then sent one of his minions over to the temple, “Unless I am mistaken, someone has killed the chief assistant of the Most High Ceoptra!”

Blast! We had been duped by one of the oldest tricks in the book, and very nearly paid dearly for it.

Fireday, 24 Lamashan

It was a dark and wormy night.

We had finished killing the blue dragon(s) and were ready to retire for the evening. Takkad had put down a glyph of warding and we were arranging sleeping order when it was suggested that we check on how the giant rebellion was going. Sabin took about a half hour to memorize an arcane eye spell and then he and Takkad went outside to send it off to scout around. He saw an increase in the giants+cragspider units – at least 6 different patrols of two each. Checked out the Lamias on temple row seemed to be searching much like some giants still were — presumably for us I suppose. And GiantTown itself was very active, with visible discord and fighting.

Keeping in mind that confusion and surprises works in our favor, Takkad eyed the already dilapidated temple of Lamashtu. The smile on his face was almost maniacal, later, as he told us how he used stoneshape to remove (ahem, reshape) structural support from one of the walls, and OOPSY! it fell over. There were still creatures in and around it, and a cloud of dust arose, but it was too dark to tell if anything actually took damage besides the structure. We can only hope, he said solemnly.

One thing I’ve noticed about clerics. They’re rarely ambivalent about a topic. And on the topic of Lamashtu, the clerics in our party are unanimous in their, shall we say politely, disapproval.

Their task of destruction and divination complete, the two returned and the party rested. Takkad and Sedgewick took the first two hour watch, then Sabin and Kane took the next 8 hours, as the rings of sustenance they wear reduce substantially the amount of sleep they actually need each night now.

Starday, 25 Lamashan

And I awoke, refreshed, to a discussion of what kind of confusion we could do to the temple with the Lamia. The greater goal, of course, is to obtain more sihedron rings. Since these are supposedly given to close cohorts of Karzoug, nobody in the party questions that killing them is an appropriate way to obtain possession. Little bloodthirsty; seems we’ve enough sneakiness in the party there might be other ways. Shrug.

It was suggested, though, that attacking the temple may have too little reward for the risk. After all, we had no specific targets, and just appearing and causing mayhem in an area full of magic users (no matter how unpracticed) was unlikely to do us much good.

Takkad was curious (to put it lightly) about how the “structural issue” at the Lamashtu temple was being handled, and we agreed that we should at least look in and see what was happening around the city. There may be a sihedron ring to be had yet. We also wanted to see what the progress was on the giant rebellion. While it may not be wise to be overt agents in that struggle, if there are ways to prolong it or even surreptitiously aid the “lesser” giants in defeating their “overseers”, it’s worth considering.

Windwalk being our friend, we were soon in wispy form and off to the Lamashtu temple. We noted when we got there that there were indeed several Lamia .. I think .. “odd creatures” anyway .. walking around the outside of the temple, seemingly inspecting it. There was a creature that appeared to be a giantess from the waist up and a lioness from the waist down. There were a couple of creatures that resembled vultures too, although imprecisely.

No speaking in wispy form, so we followed Takkad next to GiantTown, where we observed the fighting had stopped but there were a significant number of giant-on-spider patrols that no doubt contributed to the tranquility. It appeared that “the rebellion,” at least for now, was over.

Next on to Margaiv; we wanted to clarify a few things with him. We found him in his home, and he was most happy to see us again. We became solid and began to quiz him a bit. Yes, he was sure that he had seen 3 different dragons at one time in the air. That means that there are one, or maybe two, more dragons out there. (We killed two, it’s true, but one was younger and it’s not at all clear how often he/she/it was out flying.) It would be very like Karzoug to have three different breath weapons in his arsenal.

Margaiv also confirmed that the giants were fighting last night, longer than usual, but the soldiers came and although it took most of the night, things were quieted by morning. A little disappointing that it was quieted so easily – the distraction provided by a rebellion would only aid us.

We asked Margaiv if there was a way to reach the temples unnoticed and he said, not safely, not for many years. But there is a way? Well, yes, there’s a tunnel that leads there but nobody uses it anymore because nobody returns. Why? Hello, nobody returns. But it does come out near the temples? Yes, supposedly.

Sounds like a good way to get close undetected, except for that “nobody returns” part. But hey, that’s our specialty, right? Clearing out the dangers? So Margaiv helped us get to the beginning of the tunnel, which was in a basement at the northern end of the city. It appeared to be giant-sized, so we could stand three abreast.

Margaiv hastily returned, uncomfortable with being so close to the tunnel. We asked him to find out more about the ‘rebellion’ if he could. We entered. It was gently sloped, but a bit winding. This was not a natural tunnel, but clearly a result of (older) construction. Being giant-sized, we had about 15′ to the ceiling.

We proceeded cautiously, but found nothing but dust. The tunnel’s reputation had acted as an excellent doorman, and there was no evidence of recent passage. Over time, it felt like we’d climbed half the mountain but we saw some daylight ahead.

Blinking in the light, we emerged under what looked to be about a 10′ stone overhang. That was it? Nothing had attacked us; nothing prevented us from returning. If there was danger, it must be outside here somewhere. Sabin and Kane cautiously led the way out of the tunnel. Nothing. Sabin and Kane stepped out from under the overhang and the only noteworthy thing was that they saw two stone pillars on top of the overhang.

However, Sabin was still invisible, and Kane was not. One of the “pillars” lashed a tentacle out at Kane and the game was afoot. Heh. A foot.

I quickly hasted everyone I could (Kane was out of range), and those that could fly either started that ability, accepted a spell to enable that ability, or both, and moved to rise and close in. But it turns out these things had a remarkable reach on them.

Our fighters started doing some damage, and from what I hoped was a safe distance, I tried a lightning bolt. I figured fire on rock wouldn’t be smart but lightning might do some damage. However, the one I could aim at seemed to shrug it off. Sedgewick was singing, per usual, and everybody was feeling pretty good about killing something. Ultimately it was Avia and Sabin who smacked the killing blows, although these arms/feet/tentacles sapped a great deal of strength when they hit. Sedgewick looked over the “bodies” and thought a bit. These were “ropers,” he explained, and although they were typically long lived, they were considered “aberrations”.

In any case, it certainly explained how the tunnel got a bad rep. These things had probably been in for any years – apparently they are very long lived. Another tick on the checklist: “tunnel safe”.

Sabin had been itching for some time now to use analyze dweomer on the field around the spires, so before we had any fun in Temple Row, we went up to the mountain. After examining the aura, he said it was solid throughout the structure, completely prevented teleporting within, and guarded against scrying (from without, not within).

With the spell still operating, he turned his attention a sihedron ring. We already knew much about them but this spell revealed something we’d already suspected – they could act as a means of safe passage through the field.

Lastly he examined a medallion. It too could permit safe passage, but as we’d thought, it also acted as a conduit for scrying upon a person wearing it.

We windwalked to the top of the coliseum and solidified. From there, Sabin sent out an arcane eye to see if we could learn more about the Lamia area. He discovered it had several levels, including living areas for some of the clerics. We also noticed that lioness we’d seen earlier, and that she carried a sihedron ring!

Golly, a target!

Sabin cast see invisible and Takkad and Sabin went wispy and went to scout this out a little more carefully in person. They came back and reported that she seemed to always have some attendants around her, but there was a room off to one side that we could probably solidify in and stage an attack.

With this news, we all enthusiastically left to create mayhem and death.

It went almost exactly according to plan. Just to be safe I did a mirror image before we went. We solidified undetected, and Avia said there were three in the room and one outside it (probably in the hallway.) After opening the door, the fighters teleported right next to her, per usual and got several quick blows in. Takkad cast silence. The acolytes quickly jumped to defend their matriarch but I threw a chain lightning at them that significantly slowed them, and Nolin killed both the matriarch and one of the acolytes in a single flurry of swings. The other acolyte fell to Sabin, whereupon I opened the door to the hallway, and said in Giant to the astonished Lamia outside, “The lady will see you now.” She attacked one of my images, and then Kane called down a flamestrike — overkill, really now — and Avia performed cleanup on the severely scorched Lamia.

Someone commented that it was strange I did not use a single fire spell. “Well,” I replied, “there were two things. One is too many friends too close too fast, and two is there were just too many flammables in this room to safely use fire without setting the room on fire.” And Nolin perked up and said, yes, that’s a great idea!

??

Nolin suggested we set the place on fire. I was confused … why draw attention to ourselves? Our battle had taken less than 20 seconds, without time for anyone to even yell for help. We would have the ring plus whatever else we found in this room and be gone. But he made the point that smoke, fire, and murder would just add to the mayhem and confusion.

At this point it became more a matter of pride and workmanship. He was suggesting that we intentionally light it in a manner that made it look less like a battle and more like a coverup. I found it VERY ironic that I was being asked to not use a fire spell but that we instead would start it with a torch in an ordinary and mundane way. It almost seemed wrong.

We hastily searched both the office and the bedroom, as well as the bodies. (We dragged the body in the hall into the bedroom.) We found

[1635-1637] 3 daggers, magic (+2)
[1638] great sword, masterwork
[1639] sihedron ring
[1640] thin bone knife, magic (ceremonial; if used to apply a coup de gras, can create a skeleton)
[1641] necklace, magic (leather with beads, but really a gold necklace of fireballs: 2 3d6, 2 5d6, 2 7d6, 1 9d6.
[1642] glasses with circular prism help reveal incredible details, +5 perception, +5 tracking

Collecting our goodies, we left. We did stop and put the Lamia’s great sword in relatively plain sight in the giant section of town, hoping to incite a little distrust. Having returned, Takkad thought to scry the same giant we’d scryed before, and reported he seemed frustrated and angry, particular about having to follow the orders of the Lamia. I jokingly told Takkad he should send him a message saying his problem had been taken care of … and to my surprise Takkad thought that a clever move. He sent a message to the effect that she was dead and his problem was solved, and he observed the giant became alarmed and distraught.

Ah, a good day for confusion. I think we need to reduce the spider patrols, and the way to do that may be to visit the barracks and introduce them to the concept of confusion. And ideally, we still want a couple more rings. Takkad is concerned that Karzoug will rise before we go to assault him and he’ll be undefeatable, but I’m not concerned. We keep getting more powerful too.

== Fireday, Lamashan 24, 4708; Xin Shalast; late evening ==

In the end Sabin and I used rings of invisibility to creep out into the street, where he sent forth an Arcane Eye to spy out the lay of the land. Giants were still out and about in large numbers and agitated, the crag-spider patrols were looking intently into every corner and shadow, and even the lamia from Temple Row had joined in the effort to find us.

Even more giants were moving about Jottenburge, including half a dozen crag-spider patrols.

Past this, in the field where the intenerate giants had set up camp were the beginnings of a skirmish, but it had not yet developed into anything more.

It seemed a shame to let things go on in such a mundane way, and when I spied the tottering temple of the hate Lamashtu nearby, I could not resist. Using Stone Shape I caused a supporting column for the main entryway to crumble, taking down that corner of the building with it.

We then scurried back inside and set up our usual watch for the night.

== Starday, Lamashan 25, 4708; Xin Shalast; afternoon ==

In the morning we were unsure of what to do. Using Wind Walk we drifted over to the temple of Lamashtu and saw others were admiring my handiwork. A trio of lamia (two of the vulture form and one a more powerful harridan, with her regal lioness body) were poking about the ruin of the ruin, and one of the lesser lamia flew about the temple.

In the lower section of the city we were disappointed to see that the rebellion was over, and the ubiquitous crag-spider patrol giants out in force.

We then swooped down into the tunnels and found Margive, who was delighted to see us (once we resumed solid form).

“Oh, you are back my friends: it is good to see you.”

He was quite impressed by our news that we had slain two of the dragons, and confirmed that he had in fact seen three or more different dragons (at least one more to go, then).

He was aware of the giant rebellion.

“Yes, every now and then the lesser giants — those from elsewhere — become unhappy enough with their lot that they rebel against their overlords. But such things quickly come to naught. Although I must say I was surprised that last unrest night’s lasted as long as it did. Usually the patrols squash such things more quickly.”

He agreed to keep use his natural skulking talents to try and find out what was behind this particular uprising, and why it had gone on for longer than usual.

He was also pleased that we had collapsed an entrance to the temple of Lamashtu.

“Some unspeakable horror lives within… but my friends, with increase in patrols you will surely consider taking the hidden path to the mountain to avoid detection.”

Hidden path?

“Yes, once my people used the path, but after several scouts failed to return, we stopped going that way.”

Obviously we asked him to show us the way, which started in the basement of a tower at the northern end of the city, just before the Rising District.

A long and well crafted tunnel led us gradually up, until it ended in blazing sunlight. A ledge served as roof for a shelf on the side of a hill where the tunnel ended. Sabin, who was once again invisible, flew out and saw a pair of stone pillars on either side of the ledge above the entrance.

Kane also crept out, but as soon as he came out from beneath the ledge a tentacle lashed out from one of the pillars and struck him.

Avia swiftly flew out, and I cast Air Walk on Nolin so he could quickly get up to our foes.

Our counter attack was going well when one of the things dropped down from our fighters and began to raise havoc among the rest of us who were holding back in the shadows below.

And when the stony things hit, they caused a weakness in their victims that sapped strength, making it harder to damage them. But there were many of us, and only two of them. Soon the battle was over and the creatures dead.

We had to use a number of charges from our wands of Lesser Restoration to restore strength to Nolin and Sabin.

We then continued on, via Wind Walk, to the field of energy protecting the spires near the top of the mountain.

Sabin determined that the field was not just a shell and emanated from within the center (the tallest) spire, and it barred Scrying within from without, and barred any form of teleportation within the field (so much for our special attack strategy).

Both the sihedron rings and medallions allowed safe passage through the field, but the medallions were conduits for scrying.

We then flew down via WW to the top of the coliseum, from which Sabin sent an Arcane Eye to the Lamia complex. He discovered that it descended several levels beneath the surface, where he found living areas and an armory.

The harridan we had seen earlier was down there, and she was wearing a gold Sihedron Ring!

Sabin and I turned invisible, and using WW went to find her (so I could see her in detail personally, thus be better able to Scry upon her). We found her coming up from below, and talking to another lamia walking beside her.

“Mark my words, the Most High Chiptra will not be pleased if the city falls apart on my watch, and I have no intention of letting it. Go down into the city and make sure order has been restored among the giants.”

One of her attendants left to carry out her bidding while she and two others went into a building near their temple. She went upstairs into an office space, where she sat on an elegant cushion and began to read. We scanned the adjacent room and found her sleeping quarters (with a larger cushion), where we thought our team could quietly assemble, and then attack from there.

And once again our planning paid off. We all Wind Walked into her boudoir, from which Sabin used Dimension Door to set Avia, Nolin, himself, and I next to the harridan. One of her attendants was in the room with her, and we assumed the other was in the hallway.

I cast a Silence spell about the harridan to prevent the noise of combat from bringing more lamia into the fray and to block her from casting spells, but there was really no need. In a few seconds Nolin, Avia and Sabin and slain her and her attendant.

Trask, who was still in the bedroom, opened the door to the hall and upon seeing the other lamia, called out, “The lady will see you know.”

As expected she ran up and burst into the room, slapping Trask for his insolence, but quickly falling under the onslaught of Kane’s Flame Strike and Sabin’s and Avia’s blows.

We quickly looted the bodies, searched the rooms and took everything of value.

[1642] prism of magnification: +5 to perception for survival checks
while tracking
[1635] +2 dagger
[1636] +2 dagger
[1637] +2 dagger
[1638] master-work great sword
[1639] sihedron ring
[1640] thin bone knife — ceremonial, it creates a skeleton when used for a coup-de-gras (destroyed by Sabin, with Takkad’s approval)
[1641] gold necklace of beads of Fireball: 2 3d6, 2 5d6, 2 7d6, 1 9d6

37 platinum pieces
562 gold pieces

Nolin seemed really keen to set these two rooms in flames, and so while the others used WW to return to the room across the road from “our giant,” Sabin and I remained and torched the rooms.

Using our rings of invisibility plus WW, we hovered above the building as smoke belched forth and lamia ran around like ants about a kicked nest.

Their time to burn will come soon enough.

On the way back to our friends we stopped off and set the harridan’s great sword in plain sight in the middle of the road. The hope was that some giant would pick up the treasure and show it off, thus implicating the giants in a conspiracy against the lamia.

Back in our room I used Greater Crying on our giant, who was back home, and seemed far from happy.

“I swear the sooner we get rid of her the better. She thinks she can just order US around?!”

Using Sending, I said, “Your problem is solved, and she is now dead.”

He jumped up and shouted out in alarm, “Who is there?”

I think we may be able to create a serious conflict in Xin Shalast between the lamia and giants that could bring some of Karzoug’s allies hiding up in the spires down to restore order.

But first we need to take out those that appear to be maintaining order among the giants who might otherwise rebel. The crag-spider patrols must be taken out, or at least seriously impaired.

But do we have time for this strategy?

== Fireday, Lamashan 24, 4708; Xin Shalast; evening ==

By use of a Greater Scrying spell I kept an eye on the tattooed giant for the afternoon, noting how he was good at giving orders and telling others what to do, while actually doing very little himself.

Two other giants (sans tattoos) were always with him, acting as both servants and body guards.

Our primary goal was to obtain more sihedron rings, and because the giant was not wearing one, we assumed it was stored somewhere safe nearby. Rigel suggested that she and Kane make a stealthy foray to the giant’s abode to find the ring, thus avoiding combat and the potential of alerting others to our presence.

I continued to watch our giant, waiting for when he was occupied or otherwise distracted.

Presently Kane, who was keeping watch on the street below, announced that a pair of giants had just ridden up on crag spiders and were banging on the door of our giant’s house.

From my perspective I watched as our giant ordered a servant to open the door, and the two new giants entered.

The pair had dark skin with glowing red runes (fire giants — sort of), and the servant who had let them in practically cowered before them. Even our giant treated them with respect, which made them all the more interesting.

“There are reports of humans having been spotted in the city, but we have not confirmed this. If you or your force see anything unusual, be sure to report it right away.”

Our giant half grunted and half chortled in reply, “Well, if they are here, then between the lamia and the dragons they won’t survive long.”

With that, the two fire giants departed. I had been relaying this encounter to my companions, and vaguely recall hearing Trask say, “These guys sound important, and I am going to follow them in gaseous form.” Avia quickly followed up with, “Not on your own! I’m coming along to keep you out of trouble.”

Rigel’s opportunity came not long after the fire giants left, when our guy began demanding dinner, and paced back in forth in the kitchen while his servants turned spitted hunks of greasy meat over a fire.

Kane, Rigel and Sabin popped over to the giant’s place and quickly located his room, and the locked and trapped chest within. Rigel made quick work of the impediments and opened the chest. Some battered weapons and tattered clothing was on top. Using some fancy hand work they carefully searched the chest for anything of value, finding several bags containing around 110 gold pieces, plus a pair of magic rings.

Meanwhile Trask and Avia had drifted from our hideout and shadowed the fire giants, who were heading up the main road. It looked as if they were following their usual patrol route, and were in no hurry (so much for the importance of confirming the rumor of our presence). As they rode along on their crag spiders everyone gave them a wide berth.

Things was going well when Trask decided that now was a good time to experiment with how fast he could move while in the Wind Walk mode of gaseous form. He zipped up and down and around the fire giants, apparently delighting in his new found mobility.

Unfortunately gaseous form does not make you invisible, and the more you move about, the more likely someone will spot you. And while you will appear to be but a little puff of mist or cloud, wisps of water vapor do not fly about with purpose, and any such movement is bound to raise suspicion in even the most dense of observers.

The fire giants were not stupid, and they spotted Trask’s antics. One of them even commanded him in common to, “Come here and yield.”

Trask reacted by zipping away and flying back to us, leaving Avia floating above the giants and wondering what to do. It was obvious to her that we had been spotted, and our significant advantage of moving about the city unnoticed was about to be lost. She cautiously flew to the top of a ruined building on the side of the road.

At that moment, all of the giants in the area sprang to attention, and then spread out, as if they were searching for something.

The giant I was scrying paused with a vacant look in his eyes, and then shouted, “Get my battle axe!” as he sprang up from his chair and ran toward his room.

The others heard this commotion and quickly returned to our base camp (where only Nolin and I had remained). I explained that something bad occurred, and that Trask was on his way back to us, while Avia appeared to be changing to solid form.

I gave the precise direction and distance where Avia was to Sabin, who teleported over to Avia, and urged her to return back to our base camp.

Eventually we were all together again in the building across from our tattooed giant. Kane was keeping watch with Nolin, and they noted that while our giant had organized a search of the area, the giants were not well organized and it would some time before they made it to where we were.

After solidifying Avia glared at Trask and demanded, “What the hell were you doing out there?!”

Trask seemed confused by both her tone and the question, and replied, “I was experimenting to see how rapidly I could move in case we were discovered and had to escape.”

Avia fumed, “And all that moving about is why those two fire giants were able to spot you! You’ve thrown away both our element of surprise as well as our mode of transportation!”

“What? I thought I was invisible when in gaseous form. And it turns out that knowing how fast we could move in gaseous form came in useful!”

This odd twist in logic made sense in a certain, wistfully dim sort of way, but it left Avia sputtering in anger and utterly speechless.

I then took the opportunity to explain to everyone present (although my target audience was clearly Trask) how being in gaseous form did not make you invisible. You could wear white and reduce your chance of being spotted, or you could use any of the usual means to become invisible.

As incompetent as they were, the giants eventually made their way into our building, and so we decided to return to the coliseum, removing all trace of our encampment before we floated out.

As soon as we arrived (and took shape) Nolin said, “Let’s go kill a dragon.”

The entire city was in an uproar, and we needed to drop out of sight for a while. We knew that at least one dragon had made its home over in the temple district, and that the giants and lamia were likely to leave it alone.

Leave it to Nolin to find a way to turn chaos and paranoia to our advantage!

We cast longer term spells for protection from electricity (we knew at least one of the dragons was blue), plus a few additional buffs.

We had not enough teleportation spells left to spy out the dragon’s lair and pop in for a surprise attack, and so we did things the old fashioned way. We (once again) assumed gaseous shape and flew over to where we had earlier spotted the entrance.

Giants were running about in squads everywhere, and so we kept to our translucent state all of the way into the building before returning to solid form.

This had once been a fortified structure with towers on either side of a fortified entrance. But one of the towers was a ruin, and the entry gates and doors were missing. Thassilonian runes identified this as the former office of the royal tax collectors.

The floors were of polished marble, and the walls were stone set with steel trim. A portcullis blocked access through a normal sized doorway to our right, and a wide archway on the far side of the entry hall gaped invitingly.

I immediately cast Detect Magic, and much to my chagrin found that we had flown over a large magical area on the floor when we entered. We suspected some form of alarm spell, but had we set it off by flying in?

Apparently we had, and a bolt of lightening arced in from the archway, zapping both Nolin and I.

“Your mistake was that I know the Runelord does not employ humans,” the blue dragon taunted us in common.

We prepared for battle and moved toward the archway, but the dragon had backed away out of sight.

Rigel ran to the arch and peeped around the corner, calling out, “There is a large hallway here, but I don’t see the dragon anywhere.”

Oh goody, an invisible dragon!

We each moved over and into the hall, Trask casting his own form of see invisible by blasting the hallway before us with a fireball, and I using the more subtle effects of True Seeing.

There was no dragon in the hall, but it opened onto another chamber up ahead to the right, from which we could hear the muttering of arcane words of power.

Sedjewick had created an image of himself and moved it up through the hallway to act as a decoy, and I ran up ahead into a massive hall. I had no time to admire the decor, because at the far end was a relatively small dragon that wasted no time in sending a bolt of electricity my way, which I dodged.

More pressing was the very large dragon much closer by, who was hiding beyond an illusion of invisibility, which fortunately did not affect me.

I called out a warning about the two dragons just as Sedjewick blindly sent his illusionary self right toward the larger one. It reacted as if this were a real threat, and blasted it with a massive zot of lightening that zapped through the pseudo-Sedjewick and caught Trask and Nolin.

The others had been making there way up through the hallway, and Avia was the first to emerge, racing toward the dragon, which had become visible. We could see an energy field shimmering before it, and so Trask stepped up and blasted its back side with a fireball.

Using Greater Dispel Magic, I removed the energy barrier between the large dragon and Avia, and based on the growl of outrage from the creature, a couple of other spells it had depended on blinked out as well. I quickly stepped back to Nolin and Sabin, knowing what would come next.

The smaller dragon then flew into the fray and laded on the fake Sedjewick and tried to rend it with its teeth and claws. Kane rewarded its aggression with a Flamestrike. Sedjewick added to its woe by Shouting at it.

Sabin then used our reliable DD trick to put himself, Nolin and I next to the big dragon, and Nolin slashed at it.

The dragon bit Avia, clawed away at several images of Sabin, thrashed me with its wings, and took a swipe at Nolin with its tail (but missed).

Rigel had seemed unusually eager to participate in the encounter with the dragon when Nolin first suggested it, and we soon discovered why. Throughout this brief combat she had stealthily moved her way into the hall while invisible, with an arrow nocked and ready in her bow. This was no ordinary arrow: it was a Greater Arrow of Dragon Slaying. She now released her shot, which hit the large dragon in the center of the chest.

The dragon reared back and howled with pain and rage, but it did not die — at least not yet. But Avia was now within striking range, and its end was near.

Avia called upon her Holy Smite ability, and nearly sliced the head off the dragon, which fell to the ground in a squishy thud of gore and blood.

I turned to the smaller dragon, and used Destruction to consume its flesh in holy fire.

We then took a few minutes to search the bodies, and identify what we found here as well as the two rings stolen from the rune giant.

[1614] ring of Shield Other: half of a keyed pair. When one is activated it shields the wearer of the other.
[1615] ring of invisibility
[1616] sihedron ring (Nolin)
[1617] ring of greater cold resistance (30DR)

The dragon had been wearing a sihedron ring on one of his claws, and Nolin eagerly took it and slipped it on his finger.

We now have half the number of rings we require to get past the energy barrier atop Mhar Massif. How many more allies are there from whom we can expect to find such troves?

We have three sihedron medallions as well, but we know they make the wearer susceptible to scrying by Karzoug. Could we take precautions against this and still safely use them?

I know of various arcane spells that protect against scrying, but I do not have access to such magics. I do have Spell Immunity, but the duration of the spell is but 14 minutes, and only protects against the Scry spell itself. If Karzoug uses the greater variant of Scry, then the protection would be useless.

Perhaps the vulnerability to scrying is not a property of the medallions themselves, but due to Karzoug’s familiarity with them. If so, then Obscure Object would be a better choice for protection: it last 8 hours and would work on the medallion itself. We could set aside some time when we experimented with using Obscure Object on a medallion, and then have someone wear it while Sabin detected for scrying.

Even if the medallions can be safely used, we would still only have seven forms of protection, and need at least one more ring (or medallion) to infiltrate Karzoug’s fortress atop the mountain.

This course of action has the added benefit of robbing Karzoug of his most powerful allies in the city. I am surprised we have not yet found a giant or lamia bearing a ring — maybe not everyone who has one wears it, and we ought to rely on stealth and searching living quarters rather than open confrontations.

We searched the hall, which was huge with a large pool and dias at the far end, where Sedjewick found a secret door. This led to a rocky tunnel that ended in another door.

He could hear voices on the other side, and it was clear the search for us continued unabated. The hubbub died down as the giants moved their search elsewhere, but two voices remained, talking to one another in giant.

“Karn, hold a minute, my friend. The time is ripe for us to make out move. With all the uproar caused by the intruders we can start our rebellion and escape out from under the tyrants’ rule.”

“You are right. Let’s…”

And the voices faded as they walked away.

Interesting. If there is a rebellion afoot, then we can compound the turmoil and take advantage of the ever increasing chaos. Kane has got to be enjoying this.

There were three regular doors from the massive hall, and the eastern most of these opened onto a storage room, the far wall of which had collapsed. The dragon’s horde had been placed in here, and organized with an unexpected thoroughness.

128,000 sp
42,000 gp
1,040 pp

[1618] gold coffer filled with 70 gem stones (~20,000 gp)
[1619] silver bracelet
[1620] jade comb
[1621] glass box with a pair of red silk gloves stitched with gold thread
[1622] master-work mithral half-plate (medium)
[1623] master-work breast plate
[1624] +2 banded mail
[1625] wand of lightening bolt (23)
A leather bag containing:
[1626] frozen cure light wounds
[1627] frozen cure light wounds
[1628] frozen cure light wounds
[1629] frozen cure light wounds
[1630] frozen owl’s wisdom
[1631] +4 oil of magic vestment
[1632] bejeweled ivory scroll tube with 2 scrolls:

Keen Edge
Unseen Servant

[1633] ring of evasion
[1634] rod of extend metamagic (3x per day)

The other two doors opened onto office space, and from there another door led into one of the two towers we had seen out front. A small passageway led from here back to the entrance, and included the mechanism for opening the portcullis, which we left closed.

After a round of healing we decided to rest here for the evening. We know that there is at least one other dragon out and about, and we suspect it will eventually come here. We want to be here (and prepared) when it arrives.

Trask has created a rope trick, and I have placed a Glyph of Warding in the hallway that leads to this area. There may be another dragon returning to a couple of nasty surprises tonight.

Should we do something with the remainder of our day to encourage the giant revolt?

24 Lamashan, Fireday

So Takkad was scrying upon this likely looking giant we’d found, to see if we could determine his habits and such so we could figure out the best time to attack him. His spell allowed him to scry for HOURS, and for everyone around, it’s kind of like going to a play with a blindfold on but somebody whispering in your ear. Once in a while, Takkad would say something like, “he seems to spend a lot of time in what appears to be his study.” Really. Boring.

So when some tattooed giants came to visit him briefly, mounted on crag spiders, I perked up. They mentioned to him that there were unconfirmed reports of humans in the area, and we could see when they left (we were, after all, in an abandoned house near the giant’s) that the runes actually glowed. Now THESE might be servants of Karzoug! Maybe with more rings.

I immediately volunteered to follow them, in gaseous form (thanks Wind Walk!) The group looked at each other and seemed to collectively shrug. Avia said she’d go along, but I’m not sure why. We can’t communicate when in gaseous form, but maybe she’ll see something I’d miss.

So as they saddled up, I went to follow them. I stayed behind them and tried to stay out of their gaze. After a while, they took on the appearance of being on patrol, but same old same old. Like they’d done this a thousand times before, but they really weren’t looking. Their head would turn but you could tell they were thinking of something else. Sometimes, they even said something unintelligible to each other while looking away. Pretty rote.

Which got me thinking. I know in wind walk we can go something like 60mph max, which is pretty fast. But then I started thinking of that classic problem: which is faster, a man or a horse? Well a horse of course, unless the race is short enough because it takes a small amount of time to go from standing still to full speed. For a small amount of time, the man can actually accelerate faster because he’s smaller.

So I figured out the math (they were still going through the motions of a patrol) and I figured that 60mph was a mile a minute, or 1/60th mile per second. That’s like 90 ft per second, but I can cast a spell every five seconds. So if they did see me, I’d probably have at least five seconds to get away. Could I go a maximum of 450 feet? Or because I have to accelerate, would it be less?

So I tried it a couple of times. I said to myself, “Ready, set, go!” and I’d zoom off in a straight line as fast as I could, counting to myself “One Korsova, Two Korsova …” and see how far I could get before reaching “Five Korsova”. The first time I went pretty far, but then realized I had no way of knowing really how far I went. So I estimated how tall each floor was — here in the giant district each floor was something like three times my height, so, maybe about 18 feet? But that meant even a three story building was only a little over 50 feet. What would make a good yardstick for 450 feet? Nothing really presented itself. Maybe I should just do one second and try to measure 90 feet. Or less, if I’m not that fast. I still don’t know for sure if I can go zero to ninety in one second. One second is a little hard to measure too.

About this time, I noticed one of the giants had turned around and seemed to be looking right at me. Now I know I’m not cmmpletely invisible, but I’m also a little indistinct and hard to make out. He nudges his companion, who turns around as well, and he says in Common, “Human, come to me and yield.” I felt a little shiver, and realized he’d just tried to charm me or something. Heh, not this well ordered, resilient mind, thank you!!

And I realized just how prescient I’d been to see how fast I could move, because now I needed to. I immediately went about 450 feet straight up. (In the excitement of the moment, straight up was my unthinking choice). Looking down, I could see he and his companion still staring at the spot I’d been — they had no clue which direction I’d gone.

Well, I did go pretty fast! Apparently the acceleration is almost instantaneous! Other than something like a magical ray, I could probably elude almost anything.

Then I thought, “what’s Avia doing?” I looked around, but couldn’t see her anywhere. Of course she was as hard to see as I was, but I’d thought she was right nearby. Little irresponsible of her to just take off like that. I thought we were supposed to stay together.

Suddenly the giants around me scattered. It was not in panic, but it was almost as if in response to some sort of silent command. The way that they and the two runed giants themselves reacted I think the two giants raised an alarm somehow.

Clearly, it was time to end the surveillance. I thought for a moment. If the alarm had been raised back where Takkad was scrying, they’d know about it too, and would probably be preparing to leave or hide. Where was Avia?

Perhaps she’d already thought this through and headed back. Increasingly, I’ve noticed, the party individually comes to the same conclusion in about the same time whenever we discuss an issue. Is it so far fetched to think we might independently arrive at the same correct solution? So, back to Takkad it is.

In windwalk form, it took but seconds. I wasn’t all that far away; the giants hadn’t exactly been galloping on their steeds. But when I got there, people started yelling at me. Weird, how I can hear them but I can’t speak to them. Seems unfair. They clearly thought I’d done something wrong, when in fact, it was fortunate I was so adept at speedy movement. Avia wasn’t there yet. I started to solidify, but that takes like half a minute.

During that time, Sabin teleported to Avia, who was apparently still on a rooftop somewhere near where the giants had been, She’d solidified, thinking there was going to be a battle. I swear, she doesn’t know when to just run away! Anyway, he took her a ring of invisibility (borrowed from Rigel?) so that she could return undetected.

Meanwhile, search parties were being organized, and our spot on the third floor of a building would eventually be discovered. Judging from the shaking of his head and increasingly coherent mumbles, Nolin did not find their effort praiseworthy. At one point, I think I heard him say something about finding a lass with both hands. Or maybe he said “last boat in these lands” but that makes even less sense.

Anyway, Avia showed up soon enough and got all in my face about it, and tried to blame the whole thing on me. Takkad also seemed to take her side, and he wasn’t even there. I didn’t think it prudent to point it out to them, but hey – who got back on his own and who needed to be rescued? Hmm? I think she’s just a little embarrassed and reacting poorly because of that. Sometimes I think she still sees me as a little kid or something.

Meanwhile, the group decided to go back to gaseous state and go somewhere that wouldn’t be searched (or at least searched soon). Some in the party were paranoid that the search would find us, and that the search would be exhaustive and that nobody would sleep until the humans were found. Personally, I think it’s more likely that when no humans are found after an hour or two, life will return to normal.

I mean, Karzoug has been aware of us for a few days now, and HE hasn’t apparently raised the alarm.

Anyway, at first we thought we’d go to the coliseum, and then somebody had the idea that if we went up by the citadel where the air was deadly thin, then even if somebody was tracking us they wouldn’t be able to follow us. This would be a very uncomfortable permanent camp, but it did meet that odd criteria. Then Nolin surprised everyone by remarking, “You know, with the entire city in an uproar looking for the humans, this would be a good time to go after a dragon.”

Isn’t that a little like, “hey, as long as I’m bleeding so much and my blood pressure is down anyway, wouldn’t this be a good time to see how sharp this knife is on my skin?” Wouldn’t fighting a dragon with everybody in a heightened state make us even more likely to be discovered?

Nolin thinks no. And many agree with him! I raise an argument but nobody’s listening to me now. So we waft over to the place in the temple district where we know one had made his home. We went in prepared for electricity – I used five resist electricity spells on Takkad, Kane, myself, Sabin, and Sedgewick. Just out of paranoia, I also cast resist cold on myself. I get 8 2nd level spells per day, so this is a good use of them. Don’t use many other 2nd level spells these days.

Rigel and Nolin received protection from electricity.

And off we went to kill a dragon while the city hunted for us.
We entered the dragon’s lair (an abandoned government building) and wisped into a large chamber, well past the entrance. Apparently this building used to house tax collectors, and had fortifications that (now) were not in use. The chamber was 20′ tall and 40′ wide. Using detect magic, we discovered we’d narrowly missed tripping an alarm spell that was cast over the center portion of the floor in the main entry way. We hadn’t become solid until we were past the alarmed area. Unless … does wisping over an area trip an alarm, or does it require physical contact and corporeal form?

We’ll never know for sure, but odds are that it detected us, because we were there less than a minute before a dragon appeared from a corridor at the other end of the chamber and shot a lightning bolt at us and disappeared around the corner. It hit everyone but Kane and Sedgewick. Myself .. happy for my resist electricity spell!

Reviewing my options, it appeared the best way to help at this point was to haste everybody (or at least six of us that were in range) so the fighters could get multiple attacks. The dragon did not immediately reappear, so I also cast spell resistance on myself.

By this time we had moved cautiously in the direction of the dragon, but it had still not appeared. Rigel peeked around the corner and announced it was empty. Was it invisible? Or did it run farther away? Shrug. Easy answer to that one. I walked up alongside Rigel and cast fireball about 80 feet away. Nothing screamed. No dragon.

A couple of people were surprised at this method, but Avia just snorted and rolled her eyes, while Nolin looked a bit thoughtful.

I walked forward another 40 or 50 feet and cast ahead of me again. Foof went the fireball. No dragon. People followed behind me. Takkad had cast True Seeing on himself and the timing was such that he could generally confirm my findings a few seconds after I lit up the room.

Sedgewick had cast Mislead earlier and so had a copy of himself to move as well. He moved him into the room after my 2nd fireball and discovered he made an excellent target. A lightning bolt shot from the far corner of this large room, where a blue dragon crouched. More importantly, Takkad shouted that there was a larger dragon invisible just 50 or 60 feet away. It too shot lightning at Sedgewick’s illusion, which wasn’t exactly harmed, but the bolt also was aimed at myself and Nolin. I dodged and with my resist, took fairly minor damage. Now with a visible target, though, I dropped a fireball in behind it. Nolin was hurt not at all, but the Usual Suspects (Avia, Sabin, Nolin, and Takkad) dimension doored their hasted selves right next to the larger dragon. Takkad cast Greater Dispel at it – that had only a slight visual effect but Takkad felt it had been pretty successful.

Unbeknownst to most of us, Rigel had invisibly lined herself up to do some serious damage. She pulled out her last arrow of Dragon Slaying, invoked True Strike, and let loose. While her arrow did not, as the name implies, slay it outright, the dragon was very very very upset with her and howled in great distress. Meanwhile, Avia was smiting and slaying and cutting and I think she also got a dozen steaks and a nice roast judging from the way she carved up the dragon. It was dead before anyone could utter “steak sauce”.

Rigel was now visible, of course, and within range of the smaller dragon. I put up an opaque wall of flame between her and the dragon and put myself between her and the dragon until she could become invisible again, but … no worry. Takkad called Destruction upon the smaller dragon, and it obliged him by not dodging destruction.

The battle was over. The big dragon was dead. The little dragon was dead. And outside, still the city hunted for us.

Inside, we were inspecting the bodies to see if they actually carried any magic items. The large dragon did:

[1616] a sihedron ring (yay, this was the goal after all) {Nolin}
[1617] a ring of greater cold resistance which, if nobody objects, I’d like to take. {Trask}

Sabin suggested we identify “the other rings” too. Other rings? Apparently while Takkad had been scrying the giant, Rigel and Kane and Sabin teleported over to raid his personal treasure chest. Really? And I was accused of living dangerously? Sheesh! Anyway, those two rings were

[1614] ring to engage a magical shield, but it was part of a pair and they needed to operate together .. or reciprocally, if I understood correctly.
[1615] ring of invisibility (maybe this is the one they lent to Avia?)

Now there was a pool in this room, and we thought that there might be loot there, or that it might be the RunePool running the alarm around the citadel on the mountain … but no, it wasn’t even magical. There was a dais, or at least raised portion of the room off to one side (I could imagine an art display there had this former government building still been in use). Sedgewick used his secret door detection and found a secret door on the back wall of this dais. It led through an irregularly cut corridor to an apparent dead end, but magic revealed another secret door at that end. There was sounds of commotion on the other side, so we chose not to open it and expose ourselves, but Sedgewick reported later that he heard, through the door and the hubbub, a voice say, “Karn – while everyone is looking for the humans, we should start the rebellion.”

Rebellion. Interesting times we are living in.

Meanwhile, there were some obvious doors on the east side, and Rigel checked them for traps. None. Opened them carefully …

… and found that the dragon we’d killed had been just a wee bit over-neat. Over-organized, perhaps. This was the most meticulously organized dragon hoard I’d ever seen. Well, okay, that’s not much since I’ve only seen three. Let’s just say, the most meticulously organized treasure room I’d ever seen. Coins were stacked. Like items were placed together, rings over here, wands over there. Detect magic told us it was similarly organized along those lines too – non-magic here, magic there.

It made it easy to determine there was about 128,000 silver coins here. (A lot to carry even with bags of holding.) There were about 42,000 gold pieces, and 1040 platinum. We snatched up those last two. But we also found

[1618] gold coffer w/70 gemstones (~20k gp)
[1619] silver bracelet
[1620] jade comb
[1621] red silk gloves with gold thread in a glass display box
[1622] masterwork mithril 1/2 plate
[1623] masterwork breast plate
[1624] banded mail (magic: +2)
[1625] wand of lightning (caster level 6) [23 charges] {Trask}
leather bag with six vials, the first five frozen solid:
[1626] cure light wounds
[1627] cure light wounds
[1628] cure light wounds
[1629] cure light wounds
[1630] owl’s wisdom
[1631] oil of magic vestment +4
[1632] bejewelled ivory scroll tube {Trask}
scroll of keen edge
scroll of unseen servant
[1633] ring of evasion
[1634] rod of extend metamagic (3x per day) {Sabin}

Having located (for some of us) the main reason for killing a dragon, the party continued on with less enthusiasm and alacrity. I’ve noticed that after finding a bunch of valuable things, the group takes on an attitude not unlike that of a person who has just eaten a good, full meal. Yes there are things I should be doing, yes of course I’m with you, but just tell me where to stand and I will support you from there.

That in mind, we continued on. There was another door to inspect yet. It had locks, yet was not locked. We entered and it revealed a ramp up, and more smallish rooms .. really, it looked like we’d entered some office space. Well, except for the area that seemed to have arrow slits; clearly we’d entered the tower.

We found a likely looking room, and I again created a Rope Trick to allow everyone to rest in semi-seclusion. Paranoid because of the ongoing search, Takkad also placed a glyph of warding in the hallway before reaching this room.

It has been a good day. And to think we might not have killed a dragon today had I not been quick enough to escape the grasp and sight of those two runed giants.

We are all just Puppets in this world and the different puppet masters of this world just lead us around for there amusement. At least that is what it seems like sometimes. But where do the Rune loads fit into this cycle of puppets and puppet masters. Karzoug clearly knows that we are here and yet he does not send his legions after us, why. With the sihedron amulets and even the rings seem to provide him with a way to track us so before the detect scrying he could easily found us and sent his minions. There is no way we could have taken on all of these things at the same time. There must be a purpose in this that I cannot see. I do not see how killing off some of his most some of his powerful and trusted minions can be a benefit to him.

It has been a couple of days since updating the journal or the monster manual. The monster manual will have to wait as I do not have an open spell slot to case fabricate. We have met the humanoid slaves that have evolved an ability to blend in over the last 10,000 years. These people have been waiting these 10,000 years for someone to come save them. With there ability to blend in they could have left this place long ago. This is there home and I don’t seem them leaving even if we defeat Karzoug. The invisible vampire was no match for the group, except for having to passwall and stoneshape our way to his hiding place. He figured that 30ft of stone would protect him from this group. Sadly for him we embrace such challenges and you could see the enjoyment on Takkad’s face as he dug away the last few feet of stone missed by passwall. Takkad was able to play with stone and remove an undead creature from the world, all and all it seems like it was a good day for Takkad.

Our attempt to rest before going after the ice devil failed, he came to use. Luckily for us we were camped in a rope trick. In a bold move Trask dismissed the rope trick and I use feather fall to prevent any damage. As we were about to engage we once again heard Avia words that did not belong to her. He was warning the ice devil about our use to teleport. Even though he knew if was coming it still did not help. We got some good hits on the ice devil before he teleported away. We decided to pursue the ice devil back to where he keeps his loot and the Dread wraiths. As expected we teleport into the wraiths and began to engage. I got one good hit in on a wraith before Nolan finished off the wraith in front of me, Takkad and/or Kane were also channeling to damage these undead as well, I suspect it was Takkad. Wall of fire normally is frustrating in how it blocks access but in this case he used two of them to wall in the wraith. It made the battle easier. And Kane took the prize as he final was able to successfully banish something, and all of a sudden the ice devil was gone. So much for disintegrate.

The detect scrying cast earlier clearly indicated that someone is scrying. Kane suggested Avia put the sihedron amulet in here haversack. As soon as she did that the scrying stopped. Once again if Karzoug knew where we were why didn’t he send is legions? We found another of those sihedron rings but have to wonder how long until Karzoug start scrying on one of those.

The others had to sleep in late because we were up late. Takkad ask is deity about getting through the barrier. The answer was that you need to appear to be one of Karzoug’s trusted servants. That matched with the Quill proclaiming “The question is not why

he chose her, but why did she allow him to?” make me very concerned about using any of these items.

Again we use windwalk to move around the city in search of move of these rings. Following the lamia we found that there priestess was already high in the mount. We discover a rune giant that could be our next target for a sihedron ring. This is where everything somewhat went sideways. Rigal decided to check out the Giants house so Kane and I went with her and at the same time Trask with Avia following followed a set of rune giant that have just left his home. It is a good thing I went with Kane and Rigal as Trasks stupidity got him spotted. We did learn that the giants seem to be connected telepathically.  The bad news I that the big rune giant was getting his axe from the same room that me, Rigal and Kane were in. Dimension door and we were quickly away before the rune giant caught us. It is unclear if Kane and Rigal would have been able to hide if I wasn’t there, luckily they did not have to find out. Back to most of the party I find that Trask was indeed stupid while in windwalk form and got seen. Avia was about to take them head on and was in the process of transforming. I took the invisibility ring from Takkad in preparation for teleporting to Avia. I turned invisible and the moment Avia became solid I teleported to her, saying “All of the giants are searching and Trask is on his way back to the others. We need to get back to the party. I will guard while you transform. Once you are gaseous head back”. At that I again because invisible guarding to make sure no one attacked while she was transforming. Once she was on her way I transformed with the benefit of being invisible.

Back at the meeting place Kane and the other were making the area look unused. He provided the information on where we were meeting. Trask should feel relived that Avia did not beat him black and blue for being stupid. As soon as Nolan became physical form again he said “Lets go kill a dragon”.

Back to gaseous form and over to the Dragon. We arrive and I immediately began to memorize arcane eye so that we could scout. I had just started when the dragon appeared claiming to be able to smell us and that Karzoug does not employ humans. He was clearly referring to the humans in the party. For my trouble I was hit with lightning and the game was on. He seemed to disappear so Takkad cast true seeing and I cast the no cost see invisibility spell. I could still not see anything but I moved forward next to kane. Down the hall and around the corner I heard Takkad proclaim that the dragon’s were in here! I immediately began moving quickly to get there and on the way caught up with Nolan and Takkad so we DD to the dragon. Seconds later the dragon was dead from the collective attacks of Rigal, Avia, and Nolan. Rigal’s use of the arrow of dragon slaying cause the dragon to howl in pain, followed by Avia’s deadly blows that put down the dragon. Soon after words the younger dragon was put down. I did not even get attempt to hit either of the dragons or the ice devil before that. Lately I am noting more than someone to transport people from place to place.

With the dragons dead we find yet another sihedron ring, ring of invisibility, odd shield ring, and a ring of greater cold resistance. Nolan jumped at the chance to take this ring. In addition we have found the dragons treasure horde. We now have 4 sihedron rings and 3 sihedron amulets.  Since we have discovered that either will get through the barrier it looks as if we need to find at least one more. Although I really don’t what to wear any of those sihedron rings it may be the only way to get in. I really need to create the focus item for Analyze dweomer so I can analyze the barrier to see if there is another way.

 

Oathsday, 23 Lamashan

Well, the Spared who’d been made undead still needed to be made unundead, so Avia turned on the evil radar and detected them hiding under the stairs. A little while later, the adamantine swords had created an “access panel” and destroyed them. They had been outfitted identically, so we picked up

[1606] 4 sets of +1 padded armor
[1607] 4 +1 bucklers
[1608] 4 +1 rings of protection

However, Avia and Nolin still needed clerical attention to restore them to normal. Nolin was fully restored, but Avia was going to need a bit more before she returned fully to normal. They said they’d finish tomorrow.

We went to Margive at his house and he was most pleased (ecstatic, really, for him) when he found we’d destroyed the evil invisible monster.

(I have this mental image of him trying to convince his friends: no, really, it was a huge but invisible monster and it stole my friends. Now they don’t even talk to me; they just try to harm me. Don’t go in that apparently empty room, or it will get you too.)

Anyway, Takkad was talking to him more about the ice devil from the arena when I caught part of the conversation that startled me.

There are three dragons living here.

I’m thinking maybe I should cast “protection from everything” each morning. Although, perhaps I should learn that spell first …

I do wish my resist energy spell lasted longer than 130 minutes. Maybe I’ll research a means to extend the duration of my spells.

Anyway, we then asked Sedgewick about ice devils. He was able to tell us that yes, they like cold, and they can summon other things but not very often. Beating one often brings accolades and renown. Losing to one simply brings death, however.

Interesting. I suppose it’s a devil so it needs to be dead — it’s become our lot in life. We are a small cleansing cloth, doing our part to remove the grime in the world.

As my spells have become more powerful, I’ve definitely become more of that stand-in-the-back type of sorceror. I can shoot fireballs from quite some distance, and even my lightning bolts have some distance to them. I guess it make sense. I’m never going to be the destructive force that Nolin or Avia, or even Sabin are. At least they get up in the face of the evil we defeat.

Anyway, Avia. That’s right; Karzoug had spoken through her again, much to her distress. We still didn’t know why that was happening, so Takkad decided with some reluctance to bring forth the Peacock quill. “Why,” he penned, “did Avia get chosen to represent Karzoug’s voice rather than Sedgewick?”

“The question,” it wrote back, “is not why he chose her; the question is why she allowed him to.”

Cryptic, per usual. Nolin insisted it meant Avia was weak-willed; this drew the intense focus of Avia. Since the quill was out anyway, both Sedgewick and Avia tried penning questions about the force field surrounding the citadel, but the pen responded not.

This caused Sedgewick to sit and ponder a bit. After casting a spell of legend and lore, he said he suddenly remembered a few things about the quill.

1) no one who has a quill ever runs out of ink.
2) It can be asked a question to be answered in the near term as a guide to actions
3) On a much less frequent basis, it can be called upon to communicate with the nether worlds.

There was some undetermined limit to how often it could be asked to do something. But that told us that it probably was ignoring Sedgewick and Avia simply because it had already very recently answered a question.

So instead, we discussed how to prepare for battle against the ice devil Cricket. We’d want resist cold, certainly, and I think mirror image on myself would be a smart move. It’s certainly saved Sabin’s bacon more than once.

We again hused the Rope Trick to provide a more hidden rest area.

Fireday, 24 Lamashan

It was very early in the morning Fireday when during his watch, Sabin roused us. Cricket was scouting the room below us. He’d apparently decided not to wait for us to come to him. But how did he find us? Or at least find the room we were in? This underground was vast.

That didn’t bode well.

We quietly prepared ourselves. If we went down the rope, it would have to be one at a time and that would mean the devil could pick us off one by one. Our strength was in numbers. Dispelling the spell would cause all of us to drop to the ground at once. Not optimal, but it did put us all into battle at the same time.

This meant we had some time to prepare, and it gave me an opportunity to haste everyone before we dropped. Kane threw protection from cold on Sabin, and Sedgewick started to sing. Rigel went invisible – a little ring action there I suspect – and Sabin cast fly on Nolin. I was able to cast resist cold on myself, and Sabin threw a displacement on himself.

Then the rope disappeared, the heavens opened, and we rained down into the room. Things began in earnest.

Cricket was already floating above the ground (hence the fly spell) when we appeared. We prepared to use our usual strategy of teleporting the fighters directly to the fight, when to everyone’s surprise (including Avia’s) Avia again spoke:

“These people teleport to their foes during battle. Slay them all now!”

Despite the warning, Sabin was able to dimensin door per usual, but it was nevertheless distressing to have our strategy revealed in such a way. Nolin immediately marked him up pretty good.

Cricket moved away (and Nolin, Sabin, and Avia all made him pay for that maneuver) and then teleported.

Crap. Where would he go? Only place we knew of was his “box” in the coliseum. Quickly we divided into our usual teleport teams (I had Kane, Sedgewick, and Rigel) and we tried to teleport into his box.

We were largely successful. Of course, the dread wraiths we’d seen earlier were still there, and immediately turned on us. I was able to get a fireball on them before they got so close that a fireball would have too much impact on friends.

The wraiths were awful. They took health and sometimes stamina everytime they struck. Rigel and Sedgewick both found their stamina diminishing, while nearly everyone else at least got wounded. I’d just put up a wall of fire to make them back off when Nolin announced from his aerial position that the ice devil was in the middle of the stadium and approaching (a couple of dozen feet off the ground).

I put the wraiths between two walls of fire, making them very unhappy. The ice devil shot a cone of cold at us, clipping part of a wall of fire and making me very glad that I’d cast resist cold on myself. My damage was minimal. Others weren’t as lucky.

Kane accomplished a way cool thing. He banished the devil, and it returned most unwillingly to his plane. Remind me never to really piss him off. Takkad channeled a great deal of vengeful, painful (to the wraiths) positive energy and they were most upset. And stuck.

Wraiths finally began to drop. Sabin nailed the last one, just after Avia again provided us with color commentary from Karzoug: “The devil wasn’t important. You will all be mine in the end.”

Yeah. Those grapes were sour anyway. Snicker.

I was not terribly injured, but I was definitely the minority. The clerics went about healing (and restoring, as needed) the injured. Since we’d been awakened, most of us had not regained any spells or a full amount of rest, so we definitely needed to recharge. Another attack now would be … unfortunate.

Still, we needed to nail a couple of things down. Avia was not the only one annoyed by the interruptive commentary from Karzoug, and we began to puzzle it out. Could the sihedron she wore be permitting or enabling scrying? Several of us have the medallions, but Avia was alone in wearing hers. Sabin cast detect scrying .. and found that yes, Avia was being scryed. She reluctantly took off the medallion .. and she was no longer being scryed.

Given that our rope trick was probably not a secret anymore, we decided to set it up in an out-of-the-way place here, while I used teleport to go to our previous camp (the vampire room) and set up a fake camp, complete with its own rope trick. I’ll never know if anybody was frustrated by that (I expect the spell will harmlessly expire) but I’d like to think they were.

I did leave a note in the ethereal space: “Sorry we missed you. Please set up an appointment next time.”

When the ice devil was banished, his weapon was not, and it clattered to the ground. We now retrieved it and identified it.

[1609] +4 returning spear, icy burst +1d6 cold, crit 19-20 plus addl 2d10 cold upon crit

Pretty nifty.

There was also some chests in the ice devil’s box.

[1610] Darkwood chest with 8-10k of gold
[1611] Darkwood chest with 400-500 platinum
[1612] Darkwood chest with ~1500gp of gems and jewelry
[1613] Sihedron ring (Kane)

(later)

Finally, we got a full rest.

Margive told us that “masters of the bad men” wore the sihedron rings. Takkad did a divination that said to pass through the forcefield we need to appear like Karzoug’s servants. Combine those two, and we decided we needed to find more powerful allies to kill, and snatch their jewelry.

We all windwalked through the city, looking for powerful beings to anger. We checked Karzoug’s temple – nope, nobody there seemed powerful enough to annoy.

We found where a dragon probably lives in the city, and decided that perhaps we weren’t quite ready to annoy a dragon yet.

Then, moving higher into the city, we found a giant with tattoos similar to those Mokmurian had had .. but much larger. He was a frost giant. He seemed to be giving orders to others, who seemed to be giving him much deference.

Target selected! Mischief managed!

We took a quick side trip to the mountain again to see if the rings offered safe passage through the forcefield. It did.

Time to go plan our injuries. Er, I mean battle.

== Oathday, Lamashan 23, 4708; Xin Shalast; evening ==

While I was taking the valuables from the invisible, undead, tentacled, vampire-thing, Avia had returned to the room above and detected evil beneath the stairs.

Using their adamantine weapons the fighters quickly carved through the stone and killed the four incapacitated unspared. They liberated a handful of items that we can sell should we return to the regular world.

[1606] 4 sets of +1 padded armor
[1607] 4 +1 bucklers
[1608] 4 +1 rings of protection

Both Avia and Nolin were in need of Restoration, and Kane had a single spell memorized. Nolin was the worse off of the two, and so he was brought back to his full life force. Kane and I shall memorize additional restorative spells tomorrow.

We found Margive skulking in his house, and he was delighted (in the same sort of subdued way he shows any emotion) with our news that the Great Evil had been slain.

We briefly discussed our next goal, and asked our host about Cricket, the ice devil in the arena, and the other inhabitants of the city above.

“The blue one has been there as long as my people can remember,” Margive said, “but the giants and lamias are more recent arrivals. As are the great flying beasts.”

“Flying beasts?!” I exclaimed, “As in, more than one?”

“Yes, I have seen three, and one of them has moved into a tower in the area with all of buildings that you call temples.”

Great. A small army of giants, a host of lamia, crag spiders, and at least three dragons: our chances for success just keep improving with each new bit of knowledge.

What to do next?

None of us liked the idea of Karzoug calling in a legion of powerful allies when we finally moved against him, and so we decided to pick off his most powerful servants first. But where to start: dragons or devils?

We knew that the ice devil was a formidable foe, and tragic tales of encounters with these fiends are sung by nearly every bard in every inn throughout Varisia. We decided to add a verse to the old story, with what we hoped was a surprise ending.

We returned to the vampire’s chamber and set up camp there, preparing a list of spells and strategies for the next day.

After a while I pulled out the peacock quill, a fine sheet of parchment, and a vial of amber ink. Normally I prefer to ask Pharasma for advice, but I had not prepared any divination spells for the day, and felt my question important enough to contact the god formerly known as the Peacock Spirit.

As usual whenever I pull out “The Quill,” as we have come to call it, the others stopped what they were doing and gathered around as I penned, “Why did Karzoug select Avia, our paladin, to speak for him?”

The quill then left my hand and wrote in reply, “The question is not why he chose her, but why did she allow him to?”

This caused quite a stir among us, and caused us to review what might be different about Avia from the rest of us.

Nolin scoffed at our effort, “It simply means she did not have the strength of will to resist him!”

But Kane, Sabin and I were not so sure, and we looked uneasily at the sihedron medallion that dangled from her neck. Of these magic devices we had three: Kane and Trask each kept one in their pack, but Avia wore hers.

Sedjewick and Avia then attempted to use The Quill to ask questions about the field of force surrounding the spires where Karzoug was hiding, but it failed to reply. Sedjewick, looking at The Quill with sudden interest, cast a mighty spell of Legend and Lore, and then pronounced that it was a long forgotten item that possessed the following attributes:

• No one who has a peacock quill ever runs out of ink

• It can be asked a question about near term events to use as a guide

• It can be called upon to make direct contact with the nether worlds

• There is a limit on how often it will respond to queries

As the day drew on toward evening, we decided to improve the defensibility of our camp, and we used a pair of Wall of Stone spells to seal off the two doorways that led further into the complex of tunnels.

As an extra precaution Trask cast Rope Trick, and we clambered inside and set our watches, who peered out from the portal.
== Fireday, Lamashan 24, 4708; Xin Shalast; before dawn ==

Our paranoia was well founded when during Sabin’s watch, Cricket, the ice devil, popped into the room and began to search about. Sabin quickly woke the rest of us, and after momentarily pondering how it knew our location, we prepared for battle.

Trask then dispelled the Rope Trick and having prepared for this we floated to the ground, scrambling to bring the attack to Cricket before he was aware we were upon him.

And it would have worked, too, had Avia not called out, “Gelugon, these people teleport to their foes during battle. Slay them all now!”

What the hell?

Sabin acted swiftly and used Dimension Door to bring himself, Nolin, Avia and I next to Cricket, where upon Nolin hacked at it so viciously that it fled, but not before Avia, Sabin and Nolin managed to brutally wound it. It then blinked out as suddenly as it had arrived.

Despite being relatively low on spells, Sabin and Trask teleported us into the coliseum where we had seen Cricket earlier that day. We did not see him now, but his quartet of dread wraiths wasted no time in attacking us, sapping a great deal of health from Rigel, and wounding me.

Trask used a fireball against them, while Sabin used his cold iron axe to slash at another.

I channeled energy — not the benevolent healing kind, but the “You dare to attack a servant of Pharasma, you undead filth?” vengeful, wounding kind.

Nolin killed one, while Avia faced off against two others, but suddenly Trask erected a wall of flame, cutting of their access to us (and ours to them).

Nolin flew up above the flames and called down to us, “The devil is hovering over the arena, watch out!”

Trask created another wall of flame, making a (toasted) wraith sandwich between his two burning walls.

Cricket then swooped over and blasted the lot of us with a Cold of Cone.

I called out to focus all of our attacks upon the ice devil when Kane banished him from our plane, and the spear he had been holding clattered to the ground.

Unfortunately the three remaining dread wraiths… remained, and we pressed our attacks against them. Sabin used magic missiles, I used Destruction, and Nolin used his sword to kill one.

Avia then said, “It matters not. The devil was not so important a servant of Karzoug as he fancied himself. You will all be mine in the end.”

And as if to make up for this outburst, Avia killed a wraith that had drifted over to her.

We pooled resources against the lone surviving dread wraith, who did not survive much longer.

Kane and I channeled energy to heal the wounded, and used a wand to restore Rigel. We then searched the immediate area for plunder, and picked up the spear, plus three darkwood chests.

[1609] +4 icy burst returning large spear (2d6) x3 on critical
+1d6 cold damage on hit (+1d10 and slow effect on critical)
[1610] Darkwood chest with 9K to 10K gold coins
[1611] Darkwood chest with 400 to 500 platinum coins
[1612] Darkwood chest with 1,500 gp worth of gems and jewelry, plus a ring
[1613] Sihedron Ring [Kane]

We wondered about these sihedron rings. Two of us were wearing them, and yet Karzoug still chose Avia through which to speak. Was it because of her sihedron medallion? Were the rings equally suspect? Kane is now wearing this newest ring.

We turned to Avia, who was looking sheepish at her latest pronouncement from Karzoug, and Sabin cast a spell to detect scrying. Someone was actively scrying Avia.

Kane said, “Avia, take off the medallion and put it in your pack.” After she had done so, Sabin reported that the scrying had stopped. So much for using the medallions.

We decided to set up camp here in the arena, and Trask created another Rope Trick on the far adjacent side of the space. He then returned to the vampire room and set up a false camp, complete with its own Rope Trick.
== Fireday, Lamashan 24, 4708; Xin Shalast; afternoon ==

We had to sleep in late this morning because our rest was interrupted during the night. Avia has been fully Restored, and has not spoken for Karzoug since she removed the medallion.

I began my day using a Divination spell, through which I asked Pharasma how we could safely pass through the energy field surrounding the spires. She replied that we needed to appear like Karzoug’s trusted servants.

We looked at the rings in a new light. The rings we found thus far had all been held by powerful beings from Xin Shalast. Could these be the keys we needed? But if so, we needed five more. Perhaps the medallions would work too, but the risk of giving away our plans to Karzoug seem too great to consider them.

We then returned to Margive and asked if he was familiar with the sihedron rings, and in his forays through the city had he seen anyone wearing them. He though perhaps some of the lamia near the temples may have worn them, or even some of the soldiers (the giants).

I cast Windwalk on us all and in gaseous form we returned to Karzoug’s temple. Various lamia were present and going about their daily clerical routines, but none wore rings.

We overheard two clerics speaking about someone whom they must refer to as “Her Most High Chiptra,” but apparently she was at the top of the mountain and no doubt had her ring with her.

We then flew over to where Margive reported a dragon had set up residence, and found a large 40 foot arched entrance leading within. None of us felt the need to encounter a dragon just yet, and so we moved on toward Jottenberg, where the giants dwelled.

We caught sight of a giant with tattoos, similar to the one we fought in Mokmuriun’s lair, but much larger — a frost giant. We swooped in for a closer look. He was giving commands to others, who obviously treated him with great respect (and even greater fear).

We followed him to his house, where servants scurried about bringing him food and drink. We had seen no other giants with servants, and concluded that this one was a high ranking official. We planned a later return to learn his habits and possibly defenses.

With a target selected, we then wafted up to the spires and took solid shape at the edge of the energy field. Kane bravely volunteered and walked into the zone toward the spires. Nothing untoward happened. We verified that the field was still there, but upon Kane it exerted no influence.

Success!

We needed more rings, and we now knew of a giant lord who no doubt possessed one. We flew back down to Jottenberg and found a deserted building near the tattooed giant’s house and have set a watch while we plan the assault.