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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rune of The Ruler of the Halls of Wrath

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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