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.