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

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

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

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

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

Succubi. Definitely not my type.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sedgewick?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not so pretty now, eh missy?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We searched the bodies.

The succubus had the same possessions as her sisters:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Passageways lead off from the left and right.

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

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