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.

Wealday, 22 Lamashan

Morning could not come quick enough, yet courtesy required that we at least have breakfast with my parents. I think my mother was beginning to understand that Rigel was not my betrothed, but Father seemed to remain convinced that with some subtle prodding and gentle directing he’d have grandchildren in no time. For her part, Rigel took it all politely, but Nolin, I think, showed far too much interest in the proceedings.

I swear to you, these are not the parents that raised me!

We left my childhood home and went back outside the city to a sufficiently distant location so as to guarantee a little privacy. Nolin did nothing to help by smilingly reminding me that if we used up all my spells for today, we could always go back and spend another day with my parents. Even Rigel threw him a look at that.

Besides, it has nothing to do with skill, at this point. It’s just a matter of luck as to whether I can overcome the magic resisting our return. with a run of back luck, such as I had yesterday, I could exhaust my spells. I hoped fate would smile upon me, for the sake of the rest of the party and in no small part for the sake of my sanity.
After all, it would take 12 failures in a row to have to – get to – spend another night in my parent’s house.

It’s not that it was a bad house, per se, of course. I grew up there and it holds fond memories. Who doesn’t have fond memories of their childhood? It’s just that recently, it had become more difficult to –

Shoot. First teleport failed. Thank goodness this spell doesn’t take any serious components. With my natural ability to eschew components, small and trivial items are not really needed for me to –

Crap. Failed again. Ok, I’m going to really focus and put down my quill. It’s just a matter of luck anyway. Can’t miss 12 in a row!

[Hastily written in the margin: ONLY TOOK TWO MORE! HAH!]

Wealday, 22 Lamashan (later)

We arrived from Korvosa with others waiting expectantly for us. Nolin immediately sized up how people were dressed and announced he was fully suiting up too. While he prepared, Takkad filled me in.

Last night he and Sabin apparently did a litle scouting with arcane eyes. Some interesting things they found:

• ground level on the main street does not appear to be actual ground
  level. The road is actually elevated above what appears to be the
  first floor of many of the buildings. There are basements here that
  were never intended to be basements. Are there also sidewalks beneath
  the streets?

• the buildings are immense. This is not a small city, even in its
  partially damaged state. Were it not for the danger presented by
  the apparently awakening Rune Lord and the hundreds (thousands?)
  of creatures living here, this would be a fountain of knowledge
  about a time long since gone.

• entry to the city is blocked by a fortress of smooth black stone.
  Passing it in a normal fashion and remaining unchallenged is unlikely.

• About 1/4 of the eastern city has been destroyed … or at least
  heavily damaged .. by a landslide from the surrounding peaks,
  followed (presumably over many years) by glacial snow and avalanches.
  It makes the area look forbidding, yet at one time there were
  buildings there so may some structure remains under the rough
  rock and ice.

• As one proceeds through the city, one grows ever closer to the
  gleaming spires on the mountain, and the stern face of Karzoug
  looking down upon the spires and the city itself. The visage
  must lie several thousand feet above this already air-thin
  and exhausting altitude.

• As the eyes proceeded, the buildings seemed to get larger and
  more ostentatious as one neared the citadel and the face.
  Karzoug was not a subtle man.

Based on this information, it was clear that a stroll down Main Street was not going to be our best choice. However, windwalk could again be our friend and there appeared to be several choices of places we could land and solidify near the citadel. Because if there was one thing we could be sure of, it was that Karzoug was not going to be found at the end of the city with the small and crushed housing.

Before leaving, I cast resist cold on myself. Not because I was chilled, but it seemed more likely that damaging spells would be cold-based here than fire-based, and my own natural fire resistance would assist me if I guessed wrong.

We landed safely, and a quick inspection showed nothing – no footprints, bodies, or anything to indicate anyone had been here recently. But we quickly learned if we got too close to the citadel, there was some sort of force resisting us. We could push through it, and we did, until … there was some sort of THRUM, or pulse, which had a very deleterious affect on those under its effect.

I myself had not, apparently, gotten close enough but Rigel, Nolin, Sedgewick, and Kane all had … and the THRUM seemed to affect them badly. They appeared disoriented and staggered as if drunk or confused, while some found wounds appeared to varying degrees upon their body. Sedgewick quietly and calmly (considering the nature of his news) announced he was blind.

Kane healed him, and I mean Healed him, and his stuttering left him, wounds healed, and the blindness disappeared. But he still appeared shaken by the event. A combination of lesser restorations and minor healings helped the rest, but all moved out of the zone. Takkad pondered a bit, and recalled a passage he’d read that had not meant anything at the time. Braxis’ journal had said we needed to find and deactivate the Runewell that was running this rather massive burglar alarm.

We returned to gaseous form but learned two important things. The area of THRUM seemed to cover all the interesting features of this upper slope. Nothing would be found here until the trap was disabled. And the second thing was that being in gaseous form did not, in any way, shape or form, relieve you from the punishment from that trap.

We finally returned to the place we’d originally (safely) left gaseous form and was very surprised when Avia turned to us and said, in a voice not her own, “Now how do you like my toys? You come to my home to play, now it’s time to pay the piper.”

And while we were surprised to hear this short monologue coming from Avia’s mouth, she was nothing short of apoplectic. If we had any substances with a sedative effect, this would have been a good time for her to ingest them.

It was decided that, at the least, it would be a good time to rest and rethink our plan. The houses in the upper part of the city appeared to have been, at one time, very nice houses so we stood a good chance of finding some reasonable accommodations there. No linens or bathwater, mind you, but a solid roof and perhaps doors and windows that still worked.

We gave the house an inspection, and it seemed reasonable. Passageways were huge, yet individual items seemed right-sized. Giants for servants? Perhaps. Legend does speak of such things.

One room seemed to radiate cold. My resist cold had expired, so I renewed it. By one of the far pillars there appeared to be a large worm. I don’t mean like thick-as-your-thumb juicy worm. I mean bigger-than-your-body purple worm. And when it detected us (by our heat, no doubt) it left no ambiguity about its intention.

My resist cold served me well, but Sedgewick, having taken yet another heavy blow, lay near death. Kane moved to him quickly as I shot a carefully aimed fireball at the backside of the creature. I figured it it liked cold, heat would probably damage it greatly. I was not disappointed.

I found out later that Kane used Breath of Life on Sedgewick and literally pulled him back from Death’s chilly shores. It took but seconds, but Avia and Nolin hit the worm mightily, killing it – but the toll was almost too great. A single breath and Sedgewick had lain dying. And then the worm did a strange and horrifying thing.

In its death, it exploded. And again many took significant damage as the freezing cold worm guts hit us with great force (although my resist cold served me well again.)

Included in the worm detritus was a partially digested being. Once one got over the shock of dealing with a partially digested being, it occurred to us to see if the body contained anything magic.

It did.

We found a mask, that looked like death or a skeleton, if you prefer [1601]. After studying it and casting identify, we were able to tell the mask had the capability of, once per day, so long as it had been worn for at least an hour, of flying off the face of the wearer and attacking the face of a victim, bestowing upon it the equivalent of a finger of death spell. There was also a sihedron ring [1602] that looked very handsome – golden, with some valuable stones set in it. It offered a +3 deflection bonus, a +3 resist added for all saving throws, bestowed upon the wearer the effects of Endure Elements at all times, and allowed the wearer to change the appearance of their armor as a standard action. You couldn’t change it to full plate, for instance, but it sure could look like that’s what you were wearing. Sedgewick ended up taking this, mostly because he had no additional resistance to any of the magic we were facing.

Sabin tried using an arcane eye to find this Runewell, but was unsuccessful. Got to see a lot of different buildings, though, I guess. Apparently there’s a pretty significant sporting building, or coliseum nearby, and he saw an interesting creature in there. It was like nothing we’d ever seen before. He tried to follow him but an arcane eye has no opposable thumbs and gets easily thwarted by closing a door in front of it.

Based on these reports, we used windwalk to tour parts of the city in person, which carried with it the minor thrill of danger. We’re not, strictly speaking, invisible. Just hard to see. We checked out Temple Row, the Jotenburg District, the Artisan District, and flew over the Slave District. Intrigued, I asked Takkad how he knew all these names because as near as I can tell, they were not enscribed on the ground below us. Turns out he’d kiped a map from one of the rooms we’d been in earlier, and it had all these sections highlighted and named. I was expecting something a little more spectacular.

Disappointed yet intrigued, we set up the “usual guard duty” so we could rest and recover spells. We noticed, at one point, what looked like a dragon silouhette across the face of the moon. Of course. It wouldn’t be complete without a dragon. I drifted off to sleep.

… but then just before dawn Kane hastily awakened us. There was a clicking noise outside the window. Those near the windows were able to catch a quick glimpse of two crag spiders. Nasty things. Takkad used a spell called “Destruction” – utterly fascinatingly thorough! – to take out one, and Sabin and my lightning bolt took out the other.

Now we need even more rest.

Oathsday, 23 Lamashan

We went to the coliseum, to see if we could learn more about the creature we’d observed with the arcane eye. And we did locate him again without too much trouble. He seemed to own (or at least claim possession of) one of the nicer “boxes” in the arena. But today he was not alone. With little effort, apparently, he summoned two bone devils (according to Kane) and ordered, “I’m bored. Fight for me.”

Kane said the creature itself was an ice devil. Devils. I’m not sure if devils or dragons are worse, and now we have both.

We were quietly discussing this unsettling turn of events when a voice reached my ears. “M’lord, m’lord!” a small shadowy figure called to me. “We have waited for you.”

Me?

Us, it turns out. This was a small creature with a most amazing skill. He was humanoid .. ish .. but he could change his skin to match his background almost perfectly. It allowed him to go almost anywhere undetected, so long as he was quiet.

We decided to let this harmless looking creature lead us deeper into the tunnels beneath the streets. He had this annoying habit of repeating, “you’ve come!”. Were we part of some prophecy? If so, I’d like to know what it says of our surviving.

Eventually we were deep enough into the tunnels that he felt he could speak. His people called themselves “the Spared”. Many many years ago, they had been slaves when Xin Shalast started to crumble around them. They were able to survive when others could not because a) they were small and thus elusive, and b) they were well camouflaged. Innately.

His people have excavated more tunnels over the years, but some of his kind had broken into a bad place of crypts and terrible things. In fact, a Terrible Thing was known for taking his friends and people and enslaving them in some way. Not like the Runelord, but in a way that seemed to leave no person inside. They were never the same again, and yet they seemed to never die.

This sounded like undead to me, and to several others as well.

His name was Margaiv, and he showed us the murals that foretold our arrival. Apparently his goddess Mesmina had said to patiently wait and she would send us. And his faith in us made us the unquestioning choice to save his people from the invisible (yes it was invisible) beast that was enslaving his people.

I put my hand across my brow and looked down. Really? Why did it always have to be us?

But us it would be, and we resolutely set out to save these peoples. They were ecstatic, but not so ecstatic that a great many of them wanted to travel with us. In fact, only Margaiv was willing to take us sort of close to the entity responsible for these heinous acts. He took us as close as he dared, pointed down the hall and faded into the wall to await our heroic actions that would save his people.

It really was not a nice beast. And it was invisible. It seemed like it might be a vampire of some sort? Never really did get a square look at it. But that’s okay; all I needed was targeting orders. I cast Spell Resistance, Mirror Image, and Resist Cold on myself before we went in.

Both Sabin and Takkad had cast spells to allow themselves to see invisible beings, and they helped tell us what was really there. I hasted everyone, and Sabin teleported the Usual Suspects next to the beast.

But as luck would have it, this was a fairly powerful evil. It lashed out with tentacles (or so they said) and four “converted” Spared also converged on the party. When it lashed out, those close to it, in a single round, were left moderately hurt, but considerably weaker. And they found themselves without spells they’d had just moments before.

For my part, I had not gotten within range of its tentacles. I used chain lightning to light up as many baddies as possible. Then a fireball .. and that’s all we had time for. Others had slammed it with a flamestrike, and channeling against undead, and some very sharp, hasted swords.

It had turned into a mist and disappeared through a crack in the ground, but a little passwall from Sabin and an accurate sword from Avia, made it dead for good.

Now that it was dead, we carefully ascertained it had possessed

<

p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>[1603] Bracers of armor +3
[1604] Ring of invisibility
[1605] another sihedron ring

We caught our breath for a moment, but there were a couple of loose, undead Spared still about, and we’d need to clean that up. But this bad was gone, and that would likely make the others seem like child’s play.

Hmm. How long ago was it when knee-high goblins was decidedly NOT child’s play?

== Toilday, Lamashan 21, 4708; Xin Shalast; evening ==

Sabin and I made good use of the remaining daylight with a Dimension Door to pop out down the road past the giant sentries. We huddled behind the boulders at the base of the cliff and peeped out at the city below, embraced in the arms of the surrounding mountains. These arms had not been as protective as the founders of Xin Shalast had no doubt intended, and a landslide from the collapsing eastern valley wall had covered nearly a quarter of the city. Glaciers had entered the breach and further buried this sector in a jumble of ice and rock.

We could see the causeway that Sabin had spotted the previous evening with an Arcane Eye, but now more details were visible. Even though the main road of the city was built upon a rampart, the surrounding buildings towered high above it, making it appear as a river of stone carving a deep chanel through high cliffs of immeasurably tall towers.

The architecture seemed odd, although at this distance we could not pinpoint just what seemed off about it. Another Arcane Eye provided the missing detail: each structure was built upon the remains of another. Some of these earlier remains were simple ruinous jumbles of massive stone work, but others were solidly built foundations that still held themselves up proudly beneath the weight of a new tower or hall, which itself was holding up yet another, and so on. As a result the city had grown ever upward through the ages in a reckless race toward the sky.

The causeway ran through the city, and following a dog leg to the west it reached the base of Mhar Massif, where it began to climb in a series of large steps.

The likeness of Karzoug had been carved into the side of the upper reaches of the mountain. His face was set with a perpetual frown as he glared out upon his city with a greedy expression that neither time nor the elements had managed to soften.

The scale of the city’s buildings increased towards the mountain, a trend that continued as the causeway became a stairway and climbed up to Karzoug’s face. Here the structures became more sparse as the dense clutter of urban life was left below, but they became more ornate and grand, clustered around large estates or temples.

The stairs ended at a plateau beneath Karzoug’s stony chin, where spires reached upward to staggering heights, dwarfing even the massive towers in the city below.

From where we hid we saw signs of habitation: tendrils of smoke rising from chimneys, laden wagons crawling along the roads, and giants walking to and fro. Through his Arcane Eye Sabin also spotted many forms of lamia and other creatures of types not familiar to us. Whether these were survivors from the original downfall of the city, or servants returning in answer to the call of their long lost lord, it was apparent that the city was rising from the ashes in preparation for Karzoug’s return.

Making our way through the city undetected would be challenging should we opt for that route. However, we did notice that the stairway leading up the mountain was unused, and the building complexes on either side of the stair seemed deserted.

Sabin and I returned to camp where we quietly discussed our options for the next day, provided Trask returned from Korvosa with most of his spells intact.

== Wealday, Lamashan 22, 4708; Xin Shalast; evening ==

Trask returned with Rigel and Nolin soon after breakfast, and although there were a few comments about how much more difficult fathers could make things by second guessing and offering unwelcome advice, his Teleport worked after only a few tries.

There was no need to wait around, and so after judicious use of the wand of Endure Elements, I cast a couple of Windwalk spells and we were flying over the causeway at a healthy height. We swooped over the city and then flitted up over the ancient steps, and veered off to land (and solidify) near Karzoug’s cheek.

I estimated that we were at around thirty thousand feet in elevation, and thanked Pharasma for the foresight she had given us to obtain artificial means of breathing. Even so the thin air was bitterly cold and had an unpleasant, almost sulphuric, tang.

We saw three building complexes upon the plateau: two perched on lower ledges, and one — the primary one — above. I say primary because there was no doubt that this was the apex of all of Xin Shalast: a huge circular building coated with a thick rind of ice, out from the center of which rose a spire of mind numbing height.

The crazy thing was nearly half a mile high!

Karzoug had to be in there, and so Sedjewick cast Detect Secret Doors, and we resumed gaseous form and swept down toward the spire. But we flew into some form of energy field that provided resistance to our progress. The field yielded as we pushed into it, but the resistance did not fade, and it induced a feeling of vertigo that worsened as we progressed.

Suddenly we were engulfed by a pulse of sound, which inflicted an intense wracking pain. In a flash I glimpsed scenes from an alien world of blasphemous creatures and towers with walls that intersected at impossible angles, but the experience was mercifully brief.

Sedjewick had not fared so well. He had been stricken blind with shock, and had dropped to the ground as he transformed into solid form in a panic.

Kane was already moving down to his aid, and so I turned my attention to the others.

Sabin, as it turned out, had stopped as soon as we encountered the energy field and reached the ground to resume physical form. He became an anchor for the rest of us to focus upon, and so I sped towards him, as did Avia.

Once there and solid, I called out to the others to get the out of the energy field as soon as possible.

Nolin and Rigel had left their gaseous forms next to Kane, who had cast a powerful Heal spell on Sedjewick. They sprinted full tilt towards us, with Kane pulling out a wand of Lesser Restoration as he ran.

Finally we all gathered together, crouched behind a snow covered boulder, when Avia turned to us and said,

Now, how do you like my toys? You come to my home to play, now it’s time to pay the piper!

We were all surprised, but no more so than Avia. I could tell from Status that she was not possessed, nor was she acting against her will (at least not after the fact).

For her part, Avia said she did not say those words, although she acknowledged she did speak them. An odd distinction, but I understood her meaning: someone (Karzoug) was using her to speak.

We found this disturbing, and wondered if this was caused by the energy field. Detect Magic showed a massive dome of abjuration energy surrounding the spires, and I then remembered Vraxeris’ journal where he described an “occlusion field” protecting Karzoug at Xin Shalast. He had also stated that as long as Karzoug’s runewell was active, no one would be able to get past the field.

Could this have been a reference to the magical pool at Runeforge we used to recharge our wands? If so we may have been feeding energy to Karzoug without realizing it.

But the others remembered another runewell — this one for Alasnist — located beneath Sandpoint, and so they theorized that Karzoug’s runewell could be in the city proper below.

We needed a safe place to retreat and decide what to do next, and so we once again took to gaseous form and followed the stairs down to a set of buildings beneath the plateau and above the city, where we could keep an eye on both.

We appeared to have chosen an abandoned manor of some city noble from ages past. The main chambers and furnishings indicated that the inhabitants had been human sized, but the tall ceilings and massive doorways indicated that they had used giants as servants.

We searched the house for anything useful that might tell us about Xin Shalast, or possibly even mention a runewell. The walls were decorated with murals depicting life of the city when at its zenith, but all followed the same motif: Karzoug’s craggy face staring down from the mountain as armor clad warriors and giant servants carried loot up to the spires.

I did find a map of the city in a desk, which I have taken and updated with what we see of the city now. It is marked with the names of the various districts, and it turns out we are using the “Rising District,” where the city elites once lived, as our hideout.

Going from room to room we passed by an archway through which I felt the heat from my body being sapped. We cautiously looked into a large pillared hall, and saw curled around a far column a giant worm. Awakened by our warmth it opened its maw and sprayed a cone of snow and ice, catching all of us in an arctic blast.

Sedjewick fell to the floor, his life quickly ebbing away as Sabin used the Dimension Door trick to place himself, Nolin and I next to the worm. Rigel vanished and Trask set off a sizeable fireball on the far side of the worm — the explosion sent a momentary wave of hot air our way, which felt good, but the worm screamed and writhed in agony.

Kane ran to Sedjewick and used Breath of Life to revive him, while Avia raced by to get within striking distance. She was rewarded with a nasty bite, but in turn she carved a large chunk of flesh from its side.

The worm then slumped beneath an onslaught of Nolin’s mighty slashes, but rather than die peacefully the thing exploded, splashing us with a frigid goop that bit into flesh like icy acid.

Everyone needed healing — especially Sedjewick — and after we had recovered from this unexpected encounter we looked through the remains of the worm. It had eaten someone and the remains of a humanoid corpse was mixed in with the beast’s entrails. Using Create Water helped clean away the worst of the gore, but the water quickly froze, although the worm guts did not.

The partially digested figure was wearing a skull shaped mask (made from bone), plus a ring.

[1601] skull mask: once per day (if worn for an hour) the skull can be sent to fly and touch a foe, bestowing a Finger of Death effect upon its target

[1602] sihedron ring: a gold ring set with seven black sapphires in the shape of a sihedron rune +3 deflection bonus +3 resist bonus for all saving throws Endure Elements is always in effect As a standard action the wearer can change the appearance of their armor to be that of any other (Sedjewick)

We drew lots to see who of the interested among us would get the ring, and Sedjewick won. The skull mask sounded useful, and I was tempted to wear it, but it has too much the look of undead for me to feel comfortable with it.

We found nothing else of interest in the manor, and so we set up camp in a chamber with two windows overlooking the city.

Looking down we could see an alarming number of giants and lamia walking about. We also saw armored figures (of all kinds) patrolling the city. But worse were the giants riding enormous crab like spiders. Sedjewick said they were crag-spiders: fell beasts the runelords had bred for servitude.

From here, and using the map as a guide, Sabin sent out an Arcane Eye in an attempt to find Karzoug’s runewell.

His first stop was a temple with onion shaped domes and slender fluted towers. Thassilonian runes proclaimed this place to be “The Temple of Divine Consumption,” and sihedron symbols were carved on the walls, plus a massive statue of Karzoug stood (possessively) in the center. Like most of the other structures in Xin Shalast, the temple was constructed upon the remains of an older building. Within a lamia priestess was busy with clerical work.

Temples surrounded this first one, but virtually all were in a ruinous state, including a temple to Lamashtu.

Next Sabin moved the Eye over to a huge building across the causeway from the temples. While smaller than the gigantic building atop the mountain, its size was still mind boggling. It was a huge coliseum built in the shape of a sihedron rune. Within was a large arena beneath domed ceiling with crystal skylights. Seven towers surrounded the dome, each representing one of the seven sins, with Greed facing the likeness of its counterpart carved upon the mountain.

Surrounding the arena within were seats for 150,000 spectators that rose up from the floor (walled and designed for combat). Box seats were provided to keep the city elite isolated from the rabble, and in one of these boxed sections was a tall cricket like creature.

The thing stood erect on two large legs and paced about as if it were restless or impatient. It then kicked open a door leading below and walked out, and soon returned holding a magical spear glistening with frost.

We wondered about this creature: was it held captive and forced to do combat for its masters’ entertainment? Could it be a potential ally?

But there was no sign of the runewell, and so Sabin took the Eye to a large race track nearby. Unlike the coliseum, this was mostly a ruin and the south end overgrown with brush. Near the entrance was a giant statue of a giant being gored to death by a mastodon. Lovely. Some sort of huge creature peered out from the shrubbery.

The Arcane Eye expired, and we decided to take advantage of the remaining time on the Windwalk spells to tour the city personally.

We wafted south over the Temple Row where we saw many temples devoted to many deities (including Desna), but as we had seen earlier, most were unused ruins.

The Jotenburg District had the most buildings with huge features, which were obviously intended for giants. A military base perched on a ridge above and was accessible by a ramp. Giants walked around the fort and crag spiders moved about restlessly in their corrals.

We passed over the Artisan District and approached the southern end of the city, which was guarded by a black fortress. Winged lamia guarded this area, and so we gave it a wide berth, cruising instead over the landslide and ice flow which covered what once was the Slave District.

We returned to our camp to keep watch and wait for the next day.

Our plan was for Kane to pray for the Find the Path spell in the morning, and then use it to find Karzoug’s runewell. Casting the spell he would then lead us about in gaseous form, zeroing in on the well’s location.

If this fails, then we will need to descend into the city and explore on foot.

In this quiet time my mind wandered over what had happened to us up on Mhar Massif, and how this pointed out the awesome amount of power Karzoug must wield. And why had he selected Avia as his voice? We have managed to convince ourselves that this we a message set as part of a trap, and that Karzoug is not actually aware that we are here.

It is a comforting thought, and I can almost believe it… almost. I fear we have alerted him to our presence, and we need to keep a low profile for a while and not draw more attention to ourselves until the last possible moment.

As darkness descended lights sprang up from around the city. Suddenly a bright arc of lightening flashed out from the fort, and a dragon took wing and flew into the night. Great. We can handle a dragon, having battled two already just to get this far, but add that to a city full of armed giants, plus spell casting lamia, crag spiders and who knows what else is lurking in this place and you get what amounts to impossible odds.

Stealth is not just our best option, it is our only option.

For now we are relaxing over a hot meal magically prepared so there is no risk of a fire giving us away to prying eyes.

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

We were almost all awake at dawn when Kane alerted us to the noise of something scuttling over the rocks near our windows. A careful look showed two curious crag spiders who had been out looking for something to eat, and then came upon the scent from our camp.

They slowly crept up to us and peered in, but we were ready for them. I used Destruction to, uh, well, destroy one, and Avia and Sabin killed the other with a flurry of blows.

This intrusion into our rest period means a delay of four hours before setting out, but we can make good use of this time, and both Kane and I still need to pray for the day’s spells.

== Oathday, Lamashan 23, 4708; Xin Shalast; mid day ==

Finally we were all rested and awake and ready to go, and so Kane cast Find the Path and concentrated on the whereabouts of Karzoug’s runewell. It was apparent to onlookers that the casting was not going well, and after making a grimace that for some odd reason reduced Rigel to a near hysterical fit of laughing (couples!), Kane said the spell had failed.

So we had to do things the hard way, and our first stop, via Windwalk, was the coliseum. We flew in and made for the corner where Sabin’s Eye had seen the cricket creature earlier. He was still there, but he was not alone. Four dread wraiths were keeping him company, and we soon discovered that he was not their prisoner.

Cricket looked rather bored and after a while he called out in a commanding voice, “Come forth from the pit, I summon you.” Only he was speaking Abyssal, and what he summoned were two bone devils! “I am bored,” he called down to the two devils that had appeared in the arena, “fight for my entertainment.”

So much for being an ally! Kane and I deduced that Cricket was in fact an ice devil — a powerful and particular nasty foe.

While we are not ones to shy away from ridding the world of beings like this, there is a time and place for everything, and it was still time to be stealthy. We drifted over to a box far away on the adjacent side of the arena and materialized so we could (quietly) discuss our next steps.

I wondered out loud if we should start at the entrance of the city, by the fortress, and work our way toward the mountain like any other arrival would.

Others worried (and rightly so) that this would increase the chance of being discovered, and perhaps we should concentrate our search around the Entertainment District, where we currently were.

And then, much to our surprise, we heard a soft voice from just outside the door of the box, meekly saying in Thassilonian, “My lords, I would speak with you.”

The door to the box was open, but we had a hard time finding the owner of the voice, even though he was standing right at the doorway. He was humanoid in shape and size, although a bit lumpy, but his skin was perfectly tinted to mimic the wall behind him — even the shadows matched.

He repeated, more urgently this time, “I must speak with you.” He then gestured for us to follow him.

Either we had been discovered and this was of trap, or he was a potential ally (to make up for Cricket being evil and all). Either way our best bet was to follow him quietly and see what might come.

Out in the hall he whispered excitedly, “My people have been awaiting your arrival for centuries, and now you have come!”

I asked if there was a safer place than this to talk, and he nodded and walked to a nearby stairwell.

We moved as quietly as possible through the coliseum and worked our way into the dimly lit rooms beneath the arena. Our “friend” moved in a furtive way that was dead silent, and as the environment around us changed, so his skin changed to match it, making him altogether difficult to follow.

Through a grate, which he carefully opened and then closed behind us, we found ourselves in a crudely carved tunnel in the rock. Down we went, and I believe southward, as the tunnel zig-zagged and intersected other tunnels leading off into the darkness.

My new goggles allowed me to see well enough in the pitch darkness, but eventually our guide claimed it was safe enough for light, and so we brought out ever burning torches to light the way.

He was more at ease down here, and more willing to answer my questions.

His people called themselves the “Spared,” and they had been the slaves of Xin Shalast. When disaster struck, and the city met its doom, their diety, Mesmina, saved them by leading them to the tunnels beneath the city. Since then his people have carved more and more tunnels, creating a network of access holes into the city, from which they could watch their old enemies return as the city began to come back to life.

His name was Margive, and he was out on just such a scouting mission when he saw us.

Mesmina had said that some would come to save the Spared and lead them out of Xin Shalast to safety. This prophesy was recorded in a mural in their dwelling space, “And,” he said with unconcealed joy, “here you are: the ones foretold in the prophesy!”

The Spared had done well to survive for millenia, carving their network of tunnels, and visiting the city to obtain what they needed to live. But their source of salvation was also the cause of their downfall.

Several decades past, an excavation of a new tunnel broke into a large chamber filled with crypts. They closed up that tunnel, but something came through, and that something had been taking the Spared to do its bidding. Now the tunnel was open again, and more and more of the Spared were being taken. Once they were captured they ceased to be of the Spared, and became servants of the unseen beast (“Oh, yes, it is quite invisible.”).

“They hunt for it. They kill for it. Soon there will be no more Spared. But now you are here to save us.”

He stopped, as he said this, and gestured at the wall of a chamber we had just entered. There was a mural painted on the wall with adventuring types — it is amazing how little the gear changes over time — and the figure he pointed to as being Mesima was dressed in the robes of a cleric of some now lost goddess of runes.

“You will kill the unseen one and save the Spared just as Mesima promised.”

While the Spared seemed like unusual allies, they were the only ones we were likely to find. Their knowledge of the tunnels and the city would provide invaluable. And even if they could be of no service to us at all, we could not let this unseen, undead (clearly) horror run free among them.

We asked Margive to lead us to the chamber of the crypts, and soon we were standing near the entrance to a large room. “In there, in there!” he whispered, and skulked away back down the corridor.

We cast a few protective spells and entered the chamber. It was large with steps leading up to a balcony at the far end, and pillars held up a lofty ceiling. In the center was a dias upon which was a throne, and seated there was a skeleton.

Four ex-Spared (unspared?) were standing about the room.

Sabin shouted out, “Oh shit, it’s big!”

“Beware me sitting on my throne, I will destroy thee!” boomed a voice in Thassilonian.

The skeleton was not big, and so I assumed Sabin was able to see an invisible foe, and so I cast True Seeing and described to my companions what I saw and where it was, uh, hovering.

It was big. In fact it was a huge spherical beast with a multitude of tentacles waving menacingly about. Its eyes were blood red and its beak like mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth. And it was between us and the throne.

Trask hasted us, and Sabin applied the usual Dimension Door tactic to move Avia, Nolin, he and myself next to it. Avia and Nolin whacked it hard… when they could hit it.

It then hit us. All of us within reach of those deadly tentacles suffered horrible energy draining damage as it struck out. Worse, the unspared entered the fray, and they too wielded a negative energy attack with deadly purpose.

Kane and I both channeled energy, but not to heal, and three of the unspared turned to mist and flitted through cracks beneath the stairs.

Meanwhile we pressed our attack against the invisible beast, and soon it too turned to mist, which fled to beneath the throne.

Avia toppled the throne and Sabin hacked away at the dias with his adamantine ax, revealing a stone floor with slits leading deep below.

Trask killed the remaining unspared while Avia stared down at the cracks and said, “It’s down there!” Sabin pulled out a wand of Passwall and created a vertical tunnel most of the way down, into which I jumped and used Stoneshape to pull the rest of the rock up and away.

There, huddled down in a chamber below, staring back at me, was the tentacled, vampire-like creature. A moment later and Sabin, Avia and Nolin had reduced it to (invisible) sticky goo.

Some of us turned our attention to hacking through the stairs and dealing with the unspared.

Down in the creature’s bolt hole I removed a number of useful items:

[1603] +5 bracers of armor
[1604] ring of invisibility
[1605] sihedron ring: same as above (Takkad)

Another drawing of lots and I found myself wearing the new sihedron ring.

The negative energy drain was among the worst experiences I have ever faced, and I have used Restoration on myself, but others are in need as well. Tomorrow I will pray for both Restoration and Death Ward spells.

Now that the threat of the undead horror has been removed we need to seek out Margive.

Although we would have to wait until the next full moon we decided to go back to the area today to see if we can find the spot. Around the frozen lake/swamp we search in a unsuccessful attempt to figure out the path to Xin Shalast. Breathing was difficult and it was clearly draining away our strength. Luckily for us rope trick provided relief from the thin air. After spending the day and part of the evening trying to figure out how to find the way we decided to leave.

Trask attempted a teleport but found that it failed. A quick test with dimension door pointed out that there was something blocking teleport out of the area, the same thing likely would prevent teleport back into the area. Since wind walk was gone we decided to each use our own method to get down the mountain. I glanced over to kane and just said “you coming?”. I later found out that the others were still deciding on the best course of action. After the rest of them caught up with us several miles down river we had discovered that Nolan and Rigal were missing. We made it back to the frozen lake again and discovered the two of them trying to get warm and greatly affected by the thin air. Trask created a rope trick and we waited until morning to try once again to get out with a full range of spells. Even with wind walk we looped around a couple of times. We decided that we would all watch and follow Takkad out so that we make sure we are all together. We found a good place nearby for a teleport spot outside the crazy confusion area.

Now that we have scouted the area we have decided to come back the day before the full moon. Most of us have decided to get magic items to help with the breathing. The ioun stones were very expensive and I now feel very poor. Luckily Takkad was kind enough to buy me the focus for “sign of Wrath”, a loan. With time I was able to learn a number of new 6^th level spells. Given the lack of funds I had to skip over spells that require the purchase of expensive focus to cast or require expensive materials. Although I could not pass up the spell true seeing even though I cannot afford the 250gp for the spell material. Instead I created 5 scrolls of Blood Money and have to hope that Takkad and Kane are willing to heal the damage and restore the lost point of health. I have determines that I can use Blood Money once for materials less than 500gp without affecting combat abilities. Given the Karzoug’s fondness for transmutation I have made a point to make sure to learn stone to flesh. Trask should still have the scroll so this will make it so that two of us have the ability just in case. The domineering weapons will protect us from 3 attempts to harm us with transmutation so this should just be a backup plan.

With all of the previous scouting the teleport back to the spot just down river of the lake was easy.  >From there we once again Wind walked back to the lake early in the day so that we would have plenty of time before moon rise. Takkad chose to sustain from food for days before moonrise to ensure that at least one person was in the proper state of mind. Turns out that he was able to see the path outlines by the moon light where as the rest of us could not. We found out later that true seeing would have also shown the path. Our new half naked friend was somehow getting information about us from her fey cousins down in the swamp. I clearly don’t understand these fey folk but she guided us down the path until the path narrows into an obvious trap point. Off in the distance we could see what looked to be fire light coming from a cave. Arcane eye showed that the cave was occupied by a group of giants and further checking of the other side showed another group of giants. It looks as if this is a great spot to throw/drop large rock onto anyone that dared to pass. Moving on down the road I found Xin Shalast. The glow of the fires in the city indicated that there are numerous creatures in the city. I could not tell if there are hundreds or thousands in the city. It could also be that they have every burning torch’s so it looked heavily occupied. About this time the arcane eye ended so I was not able to get into the city.

Rigal and Nolan had decided to not purchase magic items to help with the thin air so Trask took them back to the city so that each of them could purchase a necklace of adaptation.  This should have been a quick trip but Trask used up all of his available spell slots trying to successfully teleport to the city and back so they had to stay in the city over night. I don’t want to wait until morning we should be pushing forward but here we are waiting for there return. I have invisibility plus dimension door/teleport that I could use today so maybe I should scout ahead, find out some information. I could be back before the other return. But Karzoug may actually know that we are here so we should keep together.

5 Lamashan, Sunday

So at long last, we decided to forego further testing of our thermal fortitude and leave the higher latitudes behind. We teleported back to the library to “prepare”.

Really, all we needed to “prepare” was to get a good night’s sleep and remember some spells. Well, I think Takkad did want to go to Magnimar to buy some goggles of darkness, and Sedgewick picked up some special crossbow bolts. Myself, I felt pretty prepared. But then Avia decided she wanted to get one of the whirly stones, and Takkad also wanted to talk to the mayor. Nolin said he was interested in going too, so I agreed to teleport everybody there tomorrow.

6 Lamashan, Moonday

What a delightful day at Magnimar. We soooo yanked Takkad’s chain. I think to properly record this, I will need to write it as though it were written as a prophecy. Ahem …

And it shall come to pass in those days, that the Wandering Man, the Master of Fire, Her Lady of Holy Pain, He Who Shatters Doors, and the Illustrator shall come together in the City of Lesser Glamor. And while they shall arrive as one, they shall depart as many. For it is said that Her Lady and the Illustrator shall seek out the Stones of Whirliness, and though they be scarce, they shall find them with but a wee bit of searching. And yea, the Man of Wandering shall see through the Darkness, and both he and the Illustrator shall find cold iron to thwart their enemies.

And as a group they shall seek audience with the Leader of the City of Lesser Glamor, but lo, they shall desire two different Paths.

One Path, the path of Light, shall require camaraderie, bonding, and demonstrations among peers before finally consummating in arriving at a time with which to confer with the Leader. And much merriment shall be had before the Meeting.

But the other Path, the path of Dark and Haste and Avoidance of Camaraderie, shall also be proposed. And there will be those who strongly desire one Path over the other, and those who Could Care Less. Yet both Paths cannot be taken; one must must be taken while the other is discarded.

And only one among them can return all of them to their origins, and he shall favor one Path over another.

And it shall come to pass that after the moon has risen, a Message shall arrive on the wind to the Wandering Man, seeking his whereabouts. And he shall reiterate again, out loud this time to the Shunned Mage, that the Path they are taking is not one of his choosing, and shall wonder Out Loud if others have Lost Their Minds.

Upon receiving this communication, the Shunned Mage shall make himself present, thus choosing one Path but avoiding the Desirable One, and shall directly and summarily return himself, Her Ladyship, and the Aimless One to whence they’d come, leaving the rest to their Path. Using Foul Magic, the Leader shall be informed despite the possibility of Great Camaraderie.

And so a Meeting Time for the following day shall not be made, and the remainder of the group shall return very late in the Evening but full of mirth and song.

Thus endeth the prophecy.

7 Lamashan, Toilday

It turns out that while we were in Magnimar the previous day, Kane had asked some questions of Desna and one of them was to learn whether fasting was really necessary to discern the path to Xin Shalast. And the answer was, no, it wasn’t. Takkad was curious, though, as to whether it made a difference and decided to fast beforehand anyway as an experiment.

Having acquired, we thought, all we needed we teleported to the cabin in the morning, and then used windwalk to make our way upstream. The wind did increase, but although it slowed us we still made progress much faster than walking would be. We found what we believed to be the tributary Ava, and in short order we did indeed see a tall and beautiful waterfall. If we were walking or boating, it would present a formidable obstacle, but in gaseous form we traversed it easily.

Finally we came to what seemed to be a frozen lake which seemed to be the source of what seemed to be the river. If you’re detecting some skepticism, you’re very perceptive. Increasingly, it seems, things are not what they seem.

As we solidified at the short of the lake, two things quickly became apparent to us. It was indeed very cold, and the air was indeed very thin. Endure elements had been cast on all of us, so the cold was noticeable but not dangerous, but few of us had any means to breathe when air was scarce. I noticed that one got tired more easily, and seemed to have less endurance or stamina at this altitude, and I realized that it might be prudent to obtain some magical means to improve upon this.

The lake, it turns out, was actually a marsh (but still frozen). If one walked carefully out on the fairly clear ice, one could see that sometimes the bottom was mere inches away while other times it was measured in feet. At this altitude, there wasn’t the usual collection of marsh grass and plants, and certainly there didn’t seem to be any animals or life. Instead, I observed that there seemed to be some fungi and lichen growing here.

Takkad cast True Seeing and went looking around the lake in windwalk form to cover as much ground as possible, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

It occurred to me that one way around the thin air problem might be a rope trick. And it turned out that worked very well – we waited for Nolin and Takkad inside the rope trick, a bit cozy but at least comfortable.

I thought it was just myself, but in talking with the others I found that when outside, there was also this growing unease, like something was wrong or out of place. It wasn’t so strong as to be distracting, but was apparently real, nonetheless.

Takkad tried a number of other things, including using a rock to simulate a moon, and asking the peacock quill for clues (it basically said, “you’re in the right place; wait for the moon”). Having learned pretty much everything we could (or so we thought), we decided to teleport back to the library and come back the night of the full moon.

But, um, it failed. Something was resisting me, and a couple of attempts to teleport back to the library failed. We decided to make our way back to the place below the falls and try again from there. And when we’d made it below that big falls, we found the feeling of unease was no longer present.

Unfortunately, neither was Rigel nor Nolin. We weren’t quite sure when we’d lost them, but looking around, we realized they were not with us.

Since windwalk had expired, I cast Fly on myself and flew back to look for them. I was worried that something bad and evil had happened to them, and since Fly doesn’t last nearly as long as windwalk, I needed to recast it a few times. But it still took about 45 minutes, and when I found them they were right back at the lake, sitting around a fire they’d built. They insisted that they’d followed us faithfully, except for some reason they’d ended up right back where they’d started.

This feeling of unease appeared to be more than a feeling. Whatever blocked teleport also appeared to confuse direction. Another thing to make finding Xin Shalast a challenge!

The rest of the group arrived within an hour.

We decided to spend the night in a rope trick while recovering our various spells, then start anew in the morning. Just for grins, I kept trying to teleport out, and finally succeeded! That proved it was possible, if difficult. From the library, I then tried to teleport back in … and that used up all my fifth AND sixth level slots before succeeding. So again – it was possible to teleport in, but by no means a sure thing. Sabin determined that dimension door, which covers a lot less ground, seemed to work okay. Maybe because it stayed within the “field” we seemed to be in.

8 Lamashan, Wealday

Takkad windwalked us all again, and led us down the mountain. Or seemed to. He actually led us to another mountain nearby – quite certain the whole time that we were heading in the right direction. He tried again only to lead us north of the lake. The third time I tried to lead us, and it seemed to work. And once the unease was behind us, teleport worked reliably, and we all made it back to the library.

Kane and Takkad talked about intersecting planes being a reason for the disorientation, but I quickly lost track of the points they were making. It apparently was enlightening to the two of them and the rest of us just found other stuff to do. We have until 21 Lamashan before the full moon, so there’s plenty of time for discussion, or research or whatever. Or acquisition — I think a Necklace of Adapation might help considerably with the breathing issues.

Takkad seems less eager to teleport with me to Magnimar, but does also want to obtain some sort of breathing aid. Rigel and Nolin feel they’ll be okay.

20 Lamashan, Moonday

Since my last entry, Kane and Takkad obtained whirlistones that let them breath. Expensive buggers, but they were already wearing amulets or necklaces so they couldn’t use the cheaper alternatives. We also bought three rods of extension, which can make spells last longer.

Armed with portable air, we are ready to return. So we teleported to the five mile point, assumed windwalk form, and made our way back to the lake. I created another Rope Trick for us to wait in, and we wait. Every now and then a couple of us would go down and look around, but, well, nothing.

Finally the moon rose above the mountain peaks around us and shone on our area. And still nothing had changed … but wait. Takkad claimed he could see a trail – path, really. It looked like the river Ava had an old bed that was now clearly visible … to him and him alone. Maybe fasting wasn’t necessary, but clearly some sort of distress somehow aided this vision.

With Takkad as our guide, we proceeded ever higher and ever more north up the mountain.

We were only a mile or so north of the lake when we came upon a fallen tree, and a young lady, naked, sitting on the fallen tree. Sedgewick tried to address her in Thassalonian, but she looked at him strangely. Her ears suggested she might be elven, but Avia thought they were the wrong shape. I stepped up and asked her, “Do you live here?” (yes) and “Do you like visitors?” (ok).

Turns out she understands common fine, but not Thassilonian. She is an ice nymph, and a druid. She knows of us from our experiences with her cousin in Turtleback Ferry. She’s willing to help us but only in a guiding sense. Her name is Svenka. She led us a ways further until we reached a 100-ft wide paved road. The bricks were golden, but a close inspection showed them only gilded, not solid gold bricks. Still, pretty ostentatious.

She pointed out the sentries, at the top of some high cliffs, and said she could go no further. Sabin used arcane eye to spy upon them and found that the sentries were cloud giants. Sending it further into the city, we discovered the ancient city had a population of hundreds, maybe thousands. So far as we knew, this could represent a substantial defending force. This was not going to be as simple as Runeforge; a little more subtlety was going to be needed.

But first, Rigel and Nolin were admitting that with 20/20 hindsight, perhaps some sort of breathing apparatus would be helpful. Since we’d pretty much exhausted the market in Magnimar, I offered to take them to Korvosa. Assuming, of course, that I could get teleport to work.

We decided to Rope Trick overnight, and with a fresh batch of spells, attempt to teleport Rigel, Nolin, and myself to Korvosa.

21 Lamashan, Toilday

It took many attempts, but I did finally get us to Korvosa. Fortunately, we could find two more Necklaces of Adaptation. Unfortunately, my spells ran out before successfully teleporting back. With a disproportionate amount of glee, Nolin suggested we stay at my parents’ overnight and try again in the morning.

It wasn’t all that long since I’d last visited, and I didn’t want to surprise them. Yet, here we were and I had to admit it made more sense to stay with them than to use money for rooms in town.

So with a heavy heart, we arrived at my parent’s door. It was easy to see that Mother was surprised at our arrival but she smiled at Nolin’s visage. How much DID they talk about last time?

My father wasn’t home at the time, but Mother hastily prepared the rooms we’d used a month or two earlier. Rigel made me nervous by repeatedly eyeing the furnishings and utensils as if she was doing some sort of mental audit. Nolin found himself a comfortable place on the patio.

It wasn’t too long before Father returned, and he was pleased to see us again so soon. For someone who essentially shoved me politely towards the door just a couple of years ago, he certainly seemed happy to see me and my friends.

“Trask!” he exclaimed. “Back again so soon? I see you brought Nolin again, and Rachel!”

“Rigel,” I said, hanging my head. “It’s Rigel.”

“Right!” he said. “So ..” and his voice dropped to a stage whisper, “you two have resolved your issues?”

“Father, there were, and are, no issues. She just couldn’t come last time. No, we’re here because I need to rest and regain some spells. The rest of our group is ..” I hesitated, “… in an area partially shielded from magic, and teleport is not always successful.”

He frowned. “Perhaps if a more experienced sorceror were to try. Where is this place? Perhaps I’m familiar with it.”

“No, Father. It’s no place you’ve ever been. It’s in the mountains in the far north.”

“Is this still chasing that Runelord thing?”

“Yes, Father, it’s related to that. But the air is very thin in the mountains, and we returned to get some necklaces of adaptation to improve our breathing.”

“So, there’s nothing I can do to help? Say, what if I came along?”

“What if you just worry about the shop?” my mother called from the next room. “You’re done adventuring; quit trying to come up with a reason to pick it up again.”

“Yes, dear,” lamented my father. “Although, I -”

“No ‘although’ about it. We have a deal, remember?”

Father gave me a look and a shrug. “Let me know how this all works out. I’ll drop you a sending from time to time.” He retired to his den, and I was left looking at my friends.

Nolin grinned and said, “I love your family!”

Rigel said carefully, “It’s never boring here.”

I rolled my eyes at them both and went to get ready for lunch. Tomorrow morning I can try teleporting us back again.

(Later)

Received a sending from Sabin. Told him I’d have to sleep and we’d try again tomorrow. Maybe they can arrange to kill the guards before we get back.

== Sunday, Lamashan 5, 4708; Monastic Library; evening ==

We teleported back to the library, which has become our defacto home base. And who could blame us for settling here? The collection of ancient volumes in library itself is useful, and it is maintained by a marvelous mechanical man who acts as part librarian and part catalogue.

All mundane ways into the complex are protected by traps (magical and otherwise), and the stacks are shielded from magical and mundane entry. We simply teleport into the hall outside, use the key to enter, and we are as safe as can be expected.

There has been some discussion about moving our headquarters to Runeforge, but while it might prove more secure then the library, access is more difficult, which makes it less desirable a residence.

In the here and present we have decided we should return to Magnimar tomorrow and pick up additional supplies and equipment for our expedition up the Ava River and on to Xin Shalast.

== Moonday, Lamashan 6, 4708; Monastic Library; late evening ==

We just spent an entire day and most of the night to buy a handful of objects that should have only taken a couple of hours.

In fact the shopping went well.

Sedjewick and I bought several hundred cold iron bolts for our crossbows — I seldom wield weapons these days, but thanks to our trip through Runeforge my weapon is Domineering aligned, which should make it useful to have on hand in Karzoug’s realm.

I also found a pair of Goggles of the Night that I scooped up at a fair price.

Avia and Sedjewick picked up some ioun stones that provided various types of protection.

Once we were done shopping I mentioned that I wanted to update the mayor with our status and current efforts (in case we should fail). Typically Sabin and I just show up at city hall and make an appointment which, given our recent contributions to the city’s prosperity, is usually soon granted.

But Nolin had an alternative: what if we were to mingle with the guardsmen and send word up through them and their captains that we had something to tell the mayor? This seemed like an inefficient way arrange a meeting, but he and Task seemed very enthusiastic about this approach, and so I reluctantly agreed.

And so we waited for the changing of the guard, and then accompanied the off shift group to a nearby pub, where the hours dragged on as Trask and Nolin regaled the inn with tales of our past glories. Sedjewick was there, and provided visual interest via illusion spells, while Avia and I sat nearby impatiently waiting for the supposed meeting with the mayor to be arranged.

Finally, near midnight, a meeting was arranged, but it was for the next day! Had we just gone straight to his office we could have already seen the mayor and been home.

Sabin used a Sending asking what was taking us so long, and after I provided a disgruntled reply, he teleported into the inn, and he took Avia and I back to the library while the others remained to indulge in more bragging.

While we had been wasting time at a pub in Magnimar, Kane had asked Desna for information about Karzoug and Xin Shalast. He discovered that Karzoug was not lawful and that Xin Shalast was on our current plane. He also found that fasting, as the Vekker brothers had done, was not necessary to find the path beyond the River Ava, but the full moon was.

None the less, I decided it would be good if at least one of us fasted as the Vekkers had, and volunteered for the position of “control subject.”

== Toilday, Lamashan 7, 4708; Headwaters of the Ava; evening ==

Some time past midnight the others returned, and by day break were rested well enough to get started.

We teleported to the Vekkers’ cabin and from there used Windwalk to continue up the Kazaron River. Some thirty miles up we came to a fork, and followed a narrow waterway left, assuming that this was the Ava. The tributary had cut a sharp chasm into the surrounding rock and mountain sides, and dropped swiftly from its lofty source high above. The water was white with frothy foam as the river flowed over boulders and faults, and plunged over sudden precipices.

Up and up we went until, around noon, we came to where the Ava flowed from a frozen lake, some sixty miles above its union with the Kazaron. We landed on a rocky shelf close to where the river left the lake, which we soon realized was really a frozen marsh. But it was a bizarre sort of marsh, and instead of reeds and sedges poking up from below, strange fungi and lichen grew.

The sky was a piercing deep blue, and it was bitter cold, but it was the thin air that caused the problems. It was hard to get enough air, no matter how deep or fast our breaths, and at times we would need to sit and rest although we had done nothing more strenuous than just stand and gasp.

There was nothing here for us except the frozen marsh, the tops of surrounding volcanic cones, an eery silence, and a growing feeling that something was not right with this place, and that we were not welcome.

Screw that! I cast True Seeing and Nolin and I resumed gaseous form and drifted around the perimeter of the marsh. Nothing. And so we resumed solid form and I cast Waterwalk (just in case) and we made our way on foot to the center of the marsh.

Despite the fungi, the marsh was like others, with hummocks of dry ground, shallow fens and deeper mires, but all covered with a thin layer of ice.

Meanwhile Trask had cast Rope Trick, and the others, except for Sabin who waited for Nolin and I to return, had climbed inside for relief from the cold and thin air.

Standing by the rope I pulled the Peacock Quill from my pack along with chartreuse ink and a fine piece of lamb skin vellum. I then penned the question,

We stand at the head of the Ava River. How much longer before the way to Xin Shalast appears?”

And in its usual discomforting way, the pen wrote the Peacock Spirit’s reply:

At the right place you are, open your way may be, yet easier your journey will be under the light of the white face.

I thought it might be worth an effort to replicate the light of a full moon, and so taking a rock with Daylight cast upon it, Sabin and I flew up and positioned the glowing stone where the full moon wood be, as Sedjewick directed us from below.

Nothing.

We decided to return to the library and wait for the full moon. But Teleport did not work the two times Trask tried to cast it, and so we used Water Walk and began the trek back down the river.

We made it down past the first large cataract when we noticed the feeling of unease had passed. But our feeling of elation was short lived when we discovered that Nolin and Rigel were missing.

We turned around and wearily climbed back up the river, while Trask flew on up ahead. We found the three of them waiting back where we started, sitting around a fungi fueled fire.

They said they were following the river with the rest of us, but at some point in time the realized they could no longer see or hear us. They continued down but wound up here instead.

I used an Ethereal Jaunt spell to see what the place looked like from that plane, but it looked like everything does while there: grey and foggy.

Trask persistently kept at using Teleport until he finally popped out and safely arrived back at the library, and he kept at it from there until he returned to us, but he had consumed a frightful number of spells for this simple experiment.

We decided to rest in a Rope Trick sanctuary until morning, and then try Wind Walk to get back out.

== Wealday, Lamashan 8, 4708; Monastic Library; afternoon ==

In the morning I cast Windwalk and led the party down the Ava. Only we landed on the side of a volcano instead. I tried again, and we found ourselves somewhere north of the marsh, in the opposite direction we needed to go.

Trask then led the way and we made it down the river some five miles, where we resumed solid form and then teleported back.

Kane had earlier suggested that perhaps the disorientation and feelings of unease were caused by the intersection of two planes. We now researched this idea and found a book on planes that confirmed Kane’s theory.

The next full moon is on Lamashan 21st, and we will return on the 20th to see what luna will show us.

In the meantime we will once again head to the city to find items to aid us with the thin air, and anything else we might find useful.

== Oathday, Lamashan 16, 4708; Monastic Library; evening ==

I began my fast today.

Over the past week we searched for items to help us out in the mountain environment.

With all of the recent encounters with different planes, I picked up tuning forks for various planes:

material
ethereal
astral
air
water
earth
fire

For Kane and myself I purchased Iridescent Ioun stones, which sustain one without air. While expensive, this purchase proved to be popular, and so we traveled to Korsovo to find another two for other party members.

Party members who did not already have something dangling from their necks purchased less expensive but equally effective Necklaces of Adaptation.

Rigel and Nolin eschewed any such precautions, but perhaps they have other means for dealing with the lack of air.

== Moonday, Lamashan 20, 4708; Road to Xin Shalast; evening ==

I awoke ravenous, as I have for the past few days, and a little light headed. Sedjewick joined in the fast the day after I started, and he too looked hungry.

We teleported to the five mile point below the headwaters of the Ava, and then used Windwalk to make our way to the marsh . Trask created another shelter using Rope Trick, but we take turns climbing down in pairs periodically to check the status of the coming night.

The moon finally cleared the surrounding volcanoes and bathed the marsh in its silvery light. And I saw a ghostly image of the river Ava from where it emerges from beneath the ice, flowing through the marsh and up a valley between two peaks.

I called to the rest of my party, but none of them could see it, and so I began walking through the marsh and then up into the mountains, with the others following behind.

The shimmering image of the old river bed led around a shoulder of one of the volcanoes and beside it was a fallen tree. On the tree was a nude elf maiden sitting on the trunk.

All of my companions could see her, and I heard Avia murmur that the maiden’s ears were too long for her to be an elf.

I could detect a strong aura of magic around her, but Avia detected no evil, which was reassuring, but we still gripped our weapons tightly.

Speaking Thassilonian, Sedjewick clumsily greeted her, but she continued to stare at us.

Trask stepped up to offer assistance, but being equally clumsy with words as our bard he barely managed to squeak out anything more coherent than, “Boobies!”

Fortunately she spoke, surprisingly using common:

“Greetings strange ones. I have heard of you before, but was not expecting to find you here, nor hear youj speaking in strange tongues. I am from the mountain fens, my realm, where I look after the plants and creatures. My name is Svenka.”

“How do you know us?” asked Sabin.

“Some time back you assisted my poor cousin in the forest dells near Turtleback Ferry, and I have heard of your kindness from her.”

She was a nymph!

Svenka looked at us with compassion and declared we would find little more than danger and suffering from the horrors that lay in wait ahead, and she suggested we go back.

We then told her of the threat Karzoug presented to all if he were to escape his realm of Xin Shalast. Svenka was familiar with Karzoug and his city, and described the hordes of giants, lamia, snowmen and other fell creatures who had flocked to his city. The River Ava itself once flowed from Xin Shalast itself, as we must have known, having followed its ancient course to this point.

She then led us up to the beginning of the remains of an ancient road, paved with flat stones with flints of gold, fully one hundred feet wide! She pointed on ahead to where the road passed between two cliffs and said that Karzoug’s centuries were posted ahead, and she would go no further.

We had done well to come this far unimpeded, and fortunate indeed to have met such a gracious guide. But Nolin and Rigel were having a hard time keeping up, and were gasping for breath. Nolin asked if the entire city of Xin Shalast was exposed to the thin air, and Svenka confirmed that these conditions were what we would find there. Nolin frowned and looked at Rigel, but said nothing.

From where were stood, hiding behind a large boulder, we could see a fire lit upon the top of the cliff to our left, but the right cliff was dark. Sabin sent an Arcane Eye up the the cliffs and found four cloud giants on either side, looking down watchfully on the road below.

He then sent the eye up the road and onto the city itself.

Whereas the full moon cast a pleasant silvery shimmering light upon the lands about us, on cursed Xin Shalast it cast an unwholesome glow of sickly yellow. Sabin described a large city spread between the feet of two volcanoes. A gigantic fortress at the near end guarded a gold ramp that led down into the city, passing through and rising again at the far end as a massive stairway climbing up the side of a mountain. An avalanche from the west had encroached upon the city, burying a quarter of it in snow and ice.

The city had clearly been built on a massive scale with towers soaring high overhead. The architectural motif was one of decadence, which still managed a sort of haughty pride despite the millenia of ruin and decay that time had wrought upon it.

Although a ruin, there were still fires from the buildings — hundreds or perhaps even thousands of them.

Getting past the cloud giants was clearly our first step, and stealth rather than force seemed our best bet for infiltrating the city beyond. But while the relative dark of night was the best time to set out, Nolin and Rigel were in no shape to go anywhere.

We have set up another Rope Trick shelter and are waiting for morning.

== Toilday, Lamashan 21, 4708; Road to Xin Shalast; morning ==

After many attempts Trask was able to teleport to Korsovo, and by the use of a Sending spell we knew that Nolin and Rigel had found a pair of Necklaces of Adaptation. Unfortunately Trask was unable to return before running out of spells in failed teleport attempts.

The rest of us are waiting around, carefully keeping watch on the land around us, and especially on the road and guards ahead. While the rest of our company should return tomorrow, it is likely that Trask will have used enough of his spells that we will need to wait another day before setting out.

And yet having our entire party at full strength is preferable to impatiently setting out prematurely.

The cold would had normally cut through the skin like a knife if not for the endure elements. Even with the magic to protect me from the cold I feel the need to get some cold weather clothing just in case. Up here on the cliff we found Karvek’s body, but it was oddly missing his feet. His angry ghost attacked us when we tried to pick up the body. At least this time the battle was quick and we were able to rejoin the party.

Disturbing howling sounds began as an odd snow storm descended on the party.  This howling seemed to be some type of magically affect as members of the party suddenly became fearful of the howling that was coming from several directions. The storm grew worse and at that moment the bard suggested that this could be the work of a powerful Druid. We decided to head back to the cabin to return the body and setup camp. Seemed like a good enough plan but sometime powerful Druids have a way of making one change plans.

The spectral brothers were once again united but in the beginning things did not look good. The brothers however seemed to be stuck in some battle of wills and it appeared that there was nothing that we could do to help the now spectral brothers. I could see the strain on Takkad’s face as he feverishly tried to find a way to free Karvek from his curse. In the end I can only assume that the external influences of the creatures were somehow keeping control of Karvek even in death.

Suddenly the howling was outside the door and I felt a chilling fear begin to take hold and then fade away. Others in the party were not as fortunate as I was and were greatly affected by this howling. If not for the great presence of Avia I surely would have been overwhelmed by this eerie howling. Kane heard what seemed to be something crashing through the window upstairs and Nolan and Takkad rush to the doorway and headed up the stairs. I was still gathering my wits about me but decided to take Avia, Kane, and the Bard to the upper cabin. There were sound the creature(s) that we assume caused the howling. Avia and I moving into the room and begin intense negotiations with the creature. After a couple of rounds of negotiation, the creature took a strong liking to Avia. The creature grabbed Avia and started to head back out the window. Takkad blocked the exit path of the creature allowing for further negotiations. Rigal provided the final hit to end the conflict with this creature. Moving Avia and Myself to the next room where the second creature was trying to take Trask out the widow. I ran out the door and around to flank the creature. Trask was able to get of a breath of fire that appeared to cause discomfort to the creature but still the creature started to fly away. I got a pretty good hit on the creaturee from my side and I think Nolan and/or Avia also landed good hits causing the creature to fall to its death. Although I am not really sure if the creature was even alive!

Down below it looks as if this was the cure for Karvek curse. Silas had been holding out on the missing pages that explained how to get to Xin Shalast. The missing pages dropped to the floor and I am pretty sure that the Bard was drooling as he picked up the pages and began to read them.

This will indeed be a tenuous journey that will require a heavy use of magic. Looking over Takkad’s shoulder I copied this from what he was writing in his notes.

• Continue traveling up the Kazaron River to the second tributary, the legendary River Avah. 

• The path is not one for the faint of heart, for there are no trails or banks, and the river boasts cataracts up to three hundred feet high. The waters of the River Avah are icy cold, but never freeze.

• Follow the river up and the air will grow thin and the sky the deepest blue, until you arrive at the ice mists. At this point you will be very near the roof of the world itself, at the River Avah’s source. 

• Here you must wait and fast until a night with a full moon. And then the remaining way will open to you.

== Starday, Lamasha 5, 4708; Vekkers’ Camp, Kodar Mountains; afternoon ==

Trask, Avia, Sabin and I stood atop a small shelf above a mist filled chasm and stared at the small and forlorn graveyard. Huddled against the rock face was a mummified corpse: mostly dry skin stretched over a skeleton. It was a dwarf, and the only name missing from the tombstones was Karvek Vekker, brother to Silas, who had sent us up here looking for his sibling’s remains.

Karvek had curled up before a small fire pit, wrapped in his padded armor, and died. His feet were missing, and in fact they had been burned off at the ankles. But the explanation of what had done this, or any of the other strange things we had already experienced in this place, eluded us. Even the blanket of fog and mist beneath us seemed odd… unnatural.

Sabin and I stood by the corpse and I reached down to reverently touch the remains.

And up from the eerie fog drifted the translucent figure of a dwarf dressed in padded armor. His legs ended in burned stumps, and he moaned at us through his fanged teeth. Karvek’s ghost!

But unlike his brother Silas, Karvek was an angry and hostile dwarven ghost, and his red glowing eyes glared at us as he pounced upon Avia, thrashing at her with claws and biting her.

I channeled energy around us in order to drive it off, Trask burned it with a pair of Scorching Rays, and Sabin blasted it with Magic Missiles. Avia then struck at it thrice and Karvek dissolved into the mist.

We prudently decided to return back to our companions, and so when a quick scan of the ledge revealed only Karvek’s magical armor, Sabin picked up his remains and we flew back down.

Meanwhile a disturbing howling had started off in the distance, which unsettled Rigel, Sedjewick and Trask. We landed before our comrades when another howl from a different direction split the darkness and made Kane nervous.

Kane quickly pulled out a wand of Remove Fear and used it on the afflicted.

We all then assumed gaseous form and swiftly returned to the cabin, where we returned to our solid selves.

All during this time the snow storm that had unexpectedly closed in on us earlier had steadily worsened into a blizzard. We thought we could hear angry voices shouting out at us from the wind. Sedjewick thought it could be the work of a powerful druid, and given the harm the Vekkers had done to the local environment, it was easy to believe his theory.

We entered the basement of the cabin and Sabin handed Karvek’s body to me. Silas appeared in the adjacent room, and I placed the body at his feet.

Silas looked at the body of his lost brother with tenderness and forgiveness as it disintegrated to dust. A pale wisp of smoke appeared at the spot where the body had lain, and Karvek appeared, but he was still the angry and bestial Karvek.

The two ghosts stared at one another, and appeared to be locked in a battle of wills as spasms of pain flickered across their spectral faces.

I guessed that Karvek had been afflicted with a curse in life, which followed him into death. Silas was now trying to purge him of this curse, but it was not obvious who would win this confrontation.

I had a scroll of Remove Curse available, but that required you touch the person to be cured, and Karvek was incorporeal. Various ideas quickly passed through my brain, but in the end the only thing I could think to do was cast Bless in the area, with the hope that it would somehow aid Silas.

And still the sound of the storm outside intensified and grew louder. Suddenly there was a heavy thud, as if some creature had thrown itself against the door. Nolin stepped over and stood guard there, but from the upstairs Kane heard the sound of shattering glass. Something was entering through a window!

Howls rent the air from just outside the basement door and also from upstairs. Rigel was terrified and vanished as she activated her ring of invisibility, and Kane and Sedjewick likewise looked frightened.

Some large creature began beating against the door, but Nolin had slumped to the floor with a glazed look of panic in his eyes. Trask secured the door by erecting a force wall before it, and the banging soon stopped.

At the ore chute just above Silas, where the snow had been swirling in from the grey sky, a hideous elk-like face peered in with glowing red eyes. Fortunately the opening was secured by iron bars, which the creature shook furiously before disappearing back into the storm.

Avia grabbed the wand of Remove Fear from Kane’s shaking hand and used it to calm those she could see (leaving an invisible Rigel in what I imagined to be an unstable mental state).

Nolin returned to his senses and having heard Kane declare that something had broken in through a Window upstairs, took off up the stairs with me in close pursuit.

Sabin used his Dimension Door trick to bring Avia, Sedjewick and Kane upstairs before us, and so I used my new boots and flew up to join them.

Trask remained down below for reasons of his own.

There, in a room to the south, standing by a shattered window was a huge creature with an elk’s head and a humanoid body. Its eyes glowed red and it had sharp un-elk like fangs and claws. It floated above the floor, and like Karvek its legs ended in burned stumps.

The creature immediately grabbed Avia, but she managed to escape from its clutches.

Sabin raced to her defense and hacked at it with his axe, while Kane ran into the room to the north so he could assist with healing from afar, leaving plenty of room for the fighters to work.

A second creature was crawling through the window in Kane’s room when I arrived, and I used a Flamestrike to slow it down. Kane, mindful of how the other beast easily grabbed Avia, cast Freedom of Movement upon himself and confronted the thing as it towered over him.

I could hear Nolin running up the stairs, and Trask called out “Uh, what’s going on up there?” I had no idea where Rigel was, but she was invisible, and an invisible Rigel is a valuable asset in situations like these.

Sabin and Avia slashed at their beast, but it grabbed Avia in its mouth, pinning her arms.

Nolin ran past me and into the room with Kane, attacking the beast in there with a satisfying thwack. And just at that moment Trask popped into the room, right next to the creature, which promptly grabbed him.

The creature with Avia in its jaws began to climb through the Window, and so I closed off that route with a Wall of Stone. The beast screamed and dropped Avia and then turned and hit Sabin.

Rigel appeared as a flaming arrow left her bow and struck the creature in the face, slaying it.

To the north Nolin was bashing away at the other creature, and Sabin DD’d Avia and he into the northern room to assist.

The loathsome critter pulled itself and Trask through the window when Trask breathed fire on it — a useful enough ability, but the thing still held him in its mouth.

I channeled energy to heal all those around me while Kane wished Nolin good luck.

The creature began to fly up, but Avia hacked at it, followed by a mighty blow by Nolin which felled the beast.

We cautiously listened for other intruders, but hearing none we returned to the brothers, who were still locked in mental combat.

Minutes passed, but finally Karvek appeared to slump, and then he stepped back as his fangs and claws vanished. He seemed calm and at peace, and with a parting look at his brother, he quickly faded away.

Silas relaxed and smiled as he turned to us, “My new found friends, you have saved my brother. The greatest reward I can offer you is to take my knowledge of Xin Shalast with me. But I see your destiny is tied to that evil place. Read the missing pages of my journal for what you seek.”

And with that, he too faded from view while Trask sputtered, “But, but the pages are missing!”

True, the journal we had found earlier had had several pages ripped from it, but back in the room where we had found the journal was a sheaf of torn papers: the missing pages!

I quickly read through the entry, which described the daunting path to reach Karzoug’s city.

A grueling and physical trial, even without the strange and other worldly effects. It takes great luck and skill to find, and little wonder it has remain undiscovered for ten thousand years.

And indeed the way sounded difficult.

Continue traveling up the Kazaron River to the second tributary, the legendary River Avah.

The path is not one for the faint of heart, for there are no trails or banks, and the river boasts cataracts up to three hundred feet high. The waters of the River Avah are icy cold, but never freeze.

Follow the river up and the air will grow thin and the sky the deepest blue, until you arrive at the ice mists. At this point you will be very near the roof of the world itself, at the River Avah’s source.

Here you must wait and fast until a night with a full moon. And then the remaining way will open to you.

The trek sounds arduous… at least if attempted on foot. And while currently the winds howl about the cabin, once the storm passes I wonder if Wind Walk will once again provide the means of locomotion on our journey.

Endure Elements is also a must, plus Water Breathing, just in case, and it could not hurt to have a Freedom of Movement at the ready. Perhaps we should purchase enough scrolls of these types that each of us will be protected as we travel up river.

There is some speculation about fasting and the full moon, and couldn’t we just time our arrival to coincide with that celestial event, but I wonder if we must be in a particular frame of mind to see the way.

There is little will in the group to make camp here tonight as we originally intended. Instead we will teleport back to our base at the Monastic Library and prepare for the next leg — indeed possibly the last leg on this plane — of our long journey that began so long ago.

Even now as we ponder our next steps, Rigel is repeatedly asking, “Can we leave NOW!”

Time to go.

5 Lamasha, Starday

As Sabin touched the body, several of us started to (uselessly) yell No. No is a simple word, and understood by even simple people, but it is wholly ineffective at stopping something that has already happened. I’m not at all convinced that Sabin doesn’t interpret “No” to mean “please hurry and finish before I reach you”. But in this case it made no matter – the body had been disturbed even though prudence might have had us take a few more notes or observations first.

Despite the unnatural fog, this was clearly a small graveyard. Digging in the ground here must be possible only during certain small times of the year, so it didn’t surprise me that some gravestones seemed to mark very shallow cairns, as though they were a combination of digging and rock piling.

The dwarf, which we presumed to be Karvek Vekkers, seemed to have burned off his feet (or had his feet burned off after his death). He was, at this point, a solid frozen chunk. But as he was touched, a ghostly figure rose from the body. The figure seemed to have burned-off feet, significant fangs (not simply an incidental dental issue), and glowing red eyes. He seemed unhappy that we touched the body. He randomly (I assume) attacked Avia.

Now, it seems blatantly unfair. Ghosts are translucent and you can’t easily touch them; why is it they can so easily affect us on the material plane? Shouldn’t we be as hard to discomfort as they are difficult to affect to us? I mean, simply being frightening is one thing, but shouldn’t there be a little symmetry here?? Why don’t we frighten ghosts? They shouldn’t be able to do physical damage.

Ah well, coulda shoulda woulda. Avia was indeed harmed by the ghost, taking some deep scratches as the ghost emitted an unearthly moan. But Takkad channelled positive energy into the ghost, I did some scorching rays, Sabin shot some magic missiles, and Avia gave as good as she got and the ghost quickly dissipated.

Sabin picked up the remains – enchanted armor and all – and we headed back to the cabin. While the ghost had given out a, well, ghostly, moan, now we were hearing really disturbing howling off in the distance. It was distracting, and made me nervous. Rigel, Sedgewick, and eventually Kane felt that way too … but Kane pulled out a wand of Remove Fear and the feeling left me. Weird that just a howl could do that – I’ve faced down giants and bigger and never felt terribly scared.

And – was it my imagination or was the wind picking up? I couldn’t tell if it had started snowing or it was just blowing around. The wind did seem stronger, and when I mentioned it to the group, a couple of people nodded.

By the time we reached the cabin, there was no question that the weather had changed. It was definitely snowing, the wind was much stronger, and you could hear it making noises, almost like voices in the wind. Sedgewick mentioned he thought it was possible that druids could control the weather, which really was not a comforting thought.

The wind and ice made it a challenge just to enter the cabin safely, but with care we did. We took the body downstairs to where we’d seen Silas’s ghost.

As we brought the body into the room, Silas’s ghost re-manifested. There was a look of profound sadness and .. was it forgiveness? … on his face. Then surprisingly, the body disintegrated into dust and Karvik’s ghost reappeared – fangs and stumps and red eyes and all. But this time the eyes were focused on his brother. The two seemed to be having some sort of monumental staring contest …

… as the wind increased further and made the cabin shake. There was another howl right upstairs! Rigel panicked, but Kane again zapped her with his Remove Fear wand and she settled down. Nevertheless, she became invisible, which guaranteed if she bolted again we’d never know. Sabin grimly went to mirror image and Avia cast a protection from evil. While there was nothing to fight yet, everyone was on edge.

And still the staring contest went on.

This time the howling was right outside the outside door for this room and something beat on the door. Nolin and Kane totally panicked and crouched cowering on the other side of the room. Thinking that perhaps the door was going to be busted down, I put up a wall of force across that entire wall, including the door. Anything that busted it down would find an invisible barrier.

Avia grabbed the wand of Remove Fear from Kane (he was in no condition to object) and zapped him and Nolin. Upstairs was the sound of shattering glass. Either the wind had gotten very strong, or something had broken in. I was not the only one to hear this – Sabin dimension doored himself, Avia, Kane, and Sedgewick up to the hallway. I was going to go, but decided I should stay here in case something tried to break in. Nolin and Rigel (we found later) went up the stairs. Takkad flew up the center of the shaft.

Suddenly, I found myself alone down there. And still the staring contest went on.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the team had dimension doored pretty close to the object of their hunt. A creature was there in the south room with stumps for legs, like Karvek, and glowing red eyes, like Karvek, but with an elk’s head and a humanoid body. It had fangs and claws and looked decidedly out of place in the natural order of things. And when Avia moved to close with it, as she naturally tends to do, it actually tried to grapple her. She held it off but still took some damage from its claws and teeth. These were close quarters and it took some maneuvering for Avia and Sabin to fight effectively.

And still the staring contest went on. Nervously, I cast mirror image. There was no longer any beating on the door.

This time, the creature successfully grappled Avia. It was incredibly strong. Sabin beat upon it, drawing blood. Kane withdrew slightly, leaving room for the fighters but remaining close enough to be an effective healer. That’s when the second creature – yes, a second one of these monstrosities – broke the window in the kitchen and climbed through, much to Kane’s distress. Mindful of the grappling ability, he cast Freedom of Movement on himself and prepared to do what he could to defend what had been the rear of the group. Takkad, his attention diverted to the new threat, threw a Flame Strike at it, which it did not appreciate – but it also did not do us the favor of dying from it.

And still the staring contest went on. I could hear noises upstairs. “Uh, what’s going on up there?” I yelled up. Other than the whistling wind, it was now quiet down here. It sounded like my friends needed help, so I teleported up to the kitchen.

Despite Sabin and Avia beating on the first beast, it managed to grab Avia in its mouth and turned to leave. That was it? Collecting food? or victims? Not wanting it to escape, Takkad used Wall of Stone to block off its exit. It howled in anger (but howling with your mouth full of Avia obviously mutes the full effect.)

About this time I arrived in the kitchen; popping in right next to the second beast. While it may have been startled, it adapted quickly. I tossed some lightning its way, but it was a fairly weak bolt. For its part, it bit me and tried to hold me in its mouth much like the other had with Avia. Nolin smacked it hard, but it held on. I cast enlarge person on myself, to make myself harder to hold on to. And I was, but not so large it still couldn’t wrap its maw around me.

Meanwhile, the beast holding Avia was encouraged by sword and crossbow to release Avia. Then Rigel appeared from nowhere (literally) and shot a flaming arrow in its face. Boom. Dead critter. Rigel knows how to make a good entrance. Everyone hurried into the room with the other creature.

But in the meantime, it had stepped outside through the opening it had made in the cabin and was preparing to fly off. I may have been pinned, but I still had one more trick up my sleeve. Once a day I can breathe fire due to my heritage, and this was time. I turned my head to face the beast and unleashed an upchuck o’ fire upon this creature that seemed to so embrace cold. Take that. It was MOST unhappy with me. But it was not yet dead.

It was Nolin who struck it down in the nick of time — although I have been studying magic skills which might have allowed me to cast other spells to free myself even while pinned.

Takkad spread healing all around, and life was good again. I could tell my friends were impressed with my bravery at taking on such a creature just to save Kane.

I and the others hurried back downstairs. And still the staring contest went on.

It took, literally, minutes. Karvek’s face looked less angry and more tired. His fangs and claws disappeared, and he slowly faded away. Silas turned to us and thanked us. Then he said, “If you insist on going to that place, you may find the way by looking at the pages in my journal.” He started to fade and I yelled, “Hey! But somebody ripped them out!” He smiled and as he disappeared, some pages materialized and floated out of the air to the ground before us.

Takkad and I both scanned through them.

A path described as a grueling physical trail, even if it weren’t for the strange, otherworldly influences. There is a disorienting effect. It’s easy to get lost. No wonder it’s been hidden for 10,000 years.

Continue up the Kazeron to the 2nd tributary. The River Avah is a winding route not for the faint of heart. There are no banks; only walls up to 300 feet tall. The waters of Avah are freezing cold, yet never freeze, themselves. The air grows thin, and the sky is the deepest blue. When you arrive at the ice mists, you will be very near the world’s roof itself, at the River Avah’s source. Wait and fast here until a night with a full moon. Then the remaining way will be revealed to you.

Sigh. I hope there’s a fire inside. Sounds like we’re going to get pretty cold getting there.