Post by Bandgoat on Apr 27, 2015 19:03:23 GMT -6
Calistril 2, 4708 – Early Morning
--,
Grave was our lot yesterday, in every sense of the word. Though we triumphed in the Ravenous Crypts, it was at a great cost. Gorm was killed, though his cousin Tolgun was able to restore his life. However, Ryll is now missing. What painful hubris for the paladin who wished to cleanse the darkness with the light of her god!
Our day started on a macabre note, with Tolgun interrogating the corpse of the Mithral Mage using one of his more morbid spells. The grisly scene in which we hoped to discover the location of Xin-Shalast was interjected by a few tantalizing references to ancient Thassilonian geography – place names like the River Avah, the Koldahar Mountains, the Fen of Ice Mist, Mhar Massif, and the Plane of Leng – but with little meaning to us, ten thousand years after their relevance. All we learned was that Xin-Shalast was hundreds of leagues away from Runeforge’s entrance near Lake Stormunder. Our assumptions were also confirmed: the runeforged enhancements to our weapons will be the best tools against Karzoug.
Our final business with the warden of greed complete, we mustered for our last assault on the wings of Runeforge, entering the Ravenous Crypts of necromantic gluttony. Several paces down the hall, my key-shaped medallion turned cold, sapping me of some strength. Tolgun looked equally uncomfortable while Ryll’s necklace warmed and glowed faintly. We continued through the hallway as it widened and ended in a set of stone doors. Entering the next room, we found the ceiling of the circular domed chamber rose to a moderate height. The walls were decorated with ten grinning skulls, each gripping what appeared to be bits of flesh in their teeth. “What a lovely room of death,” quoth Tolgun ironically. A flight of steps led up via a corridor in the far wall. As we continued, a half dozen horrifyingly gruesome mummies came out of the mouths and attacked us, but we easily killed them with fire magic and burning blades.
After that encounter, we proceeded through another set of double doors. They opened into a round room with an intersecting walkway. The ceiling rose to another moderate dome, while the floor dropped away to a dizzying pit. A cross-shaped bridge made of rough marble stretched across the pit, allowing access to three additional sets of iron double doors. Four bas-relief carvings of incredible detail had been carved into the curved walls of the four corners of the room, under each one was written a word in spiky Thassilonian runes, likely names of the people imaged. One carving depicted a person holding aloft a sprig of grapes and a loaf of bread, the inscription reading “Inib.” One held a wedge of cheese and a huge haunch of meat: “Gorryan.” Another, “Aanstrin,” wielded a platter heaped with candies. The last carving, identified as “Xerriock,” simply stood with arms crossed, his mouth wide and grinning to display teeth that had been filed to points. Below each carving, the wall dropped away into darkness; yet along these depths, dozens of burial niches containing stone sarcophagi were visible.
Taking the left passage, we opened the doors to a room, its walls plated in iron, each plate of which bearing a single rune: the Thassilonian rune for "gluttony." What appeared to be two tall smooth crystal pylons stood in the middle of the room, a rippling current of blackness shimmering between them. On the opposite side of each crystal, strange tendrils of black energy, crackling with extremely slow motion, extended out from the crystals into spheres of roiling darkness in circular caverns to the left and right of the entrance. The air in the room was shockingly cold, leading us to believe that the two spheres were micro-portals to the plane of negative energy. They were feeding the energy field between the two crystals. After a brief inspection and fearing to approach too closely, we decided to leave that room and return if we found any further information.
We then crossed back over the marble walkway and entered another room. We found a single sarcophagus of gold sitting atop a white marble plinth at the far end of a wide hall. The bas-relief lid depicted a handsome man holding a sprig of grapes and a bottle of wine crossed over his chest. The eyes were large star sapphires and the grapes appeared to be individual gemstones that could be worked free with the right tools. Five wide alcoves in the room were carved with dozens of narrow niches, each of which containing a different bottle of wine. When we entered the room, we found a large strange-looking clay golem defending the room. It attacked us immediately. It apparently had a positive reaction to acidic attacks because Nala’s bombs seemed to energize it and make it attack more quickly. It was difficult to hit and its attacks were very powerful, but we eventually destroyed it, though not before we were set upon by a hideous-looking undead creature with nasty pointy teeth. It came at us from behind, first attacking Lai’Ki. Thankfully, it proved to be rather weak against our prepared attacks and it was quckly destroyed. The creature carried several magical items, indicating that it was more than just a mindless zombie. Once we had a chance to tend our wounds, we found that those inflicted by the golem were more difficult to heal than usual, but Tolgun was able to cure them, nonetheless. We discovered that the sarcophagus in the room was merely gold plated, so we removed only the expensive gems that adorned it. A Thassilonian enscryption on the lid read, “Lord Anklerios Mankray Inib of the House of Inib: master vintner and beloved husband and father. An assassin’s blade accomplished what hundreds of duels could not.” The wine, well-preserved like everything else in Runeforge, was probably worth a great deal of money to a serious collector, being a ten-thousand year old Thassilonian vintage.
We moved on to the remaining set of double doors from the intersection room. The scene in that octagonal room was appalling: A half dozen brutally savaged human bodies dressed in light blue bloodstained robes lay sprawled about the place. Several of the bodies seemed to have had limbs and organs removed. All appeared to be freshly dead. We surmised these were the researchers from the Abjurant Halls, based on their description in the journal we found in the Veiled Halls of Illusion. Finding nothing else of interest, we continued through a pair of doors to the left. It led through a horseshoe shaped hallway which led to another room. Tables made of stacked sarcophagi supported alchemical apparatuses, books, carved bones, scrolls, and various pieces of anatomy that had been dissected and preserved in dozens of ways. It appeared to be a well-stocked necromancy research laboratory. There were a number of books, containing many intricate details about undeath and anatomy, and alchemical apparatuses. We spent some time using the books to research our most recent encounter, only to find it was a ravenous dread zombie.
There were two regular doors to one side. We took one and were met with yet another cadaverous display. The bookshelf-lined walls of that room contained a large collection of dog-eared tomes, manuals and scrolls, as well as jars of fluid in which floated humanoid organs and bits of flesh. A dissected human torso sat atop the room’s stone table. This room apparently had been recently inhabited, for the torso had been newly gnawed upon. Additionally, the torso seems to have been meticulously dissected and several of the organs removed. There were a large number of books worth quite a few thousand gold pieces to the right collector.
We took another door from the previous room and entered yet another chamber. Dozens of burial urns in small alcoves lined the walls of that room. Each urn was large enough to uncomfortably fit a full-sized humanoid inside. Investigating, we found they were all empty, but behind one of the urns was a secret door. We entered and followed the narrow corridor that led to another door. Inside the room, lanterns hung from hooks over three large tables scattered throughout. Two tables were covered with preserved human body parts, stitched together with thick thread to partially form a pair of patchwork human corpses. Stools and small steel work trays covered in slender knives, clamps, hooks, saws, screws, needles, and other less identifiable tools surrounded each of the large tables. There was also a man in the room…no, not a man, a monster: That most reprehensible of all creatures – a lich, a being who would use great arcane power to usurp nature’s and the divine’s control over life and death. He looked prepared for us and not a bit happy at our intrusion.
It immediately attacked with a deluge of lightning, hitting the entire party due to our confined space. I cast a spell to hasten our movements and so moved to engage the undead mage in melee. The lich cast a quick defensive spell, then engulfed Gorm, Ryll, and Tolgun in a devastating spray of colorful rays. Gorm suffered a deadly dose of poison, killing him outright. Ryll immediately vanished from our view, likely transported to a distant plane based on what I know of that spell. Tolgun took another violent jolt of lightning, knocking him to the ground and unconscious. It was terrible. With a single spell, the lich eliminated nearly half of our fighters, at least until Nala was able to revive Tolgun. Lai’Ki cast a spell to make her arrows hit with greater force while Soril created a wall of stone around the lich, briefly trapping the creature. Having a few seconds of respite, I cast a defensive spell and moved away from the wall of stone. As soon as I did, a portion of the newly-formed wall melted away and disintegrated. The lich stepped out and quickly hit Soril with arcane motes of energy. Lai’Ki started pelting the lich with unerring shots. Soril summoned another wall, this one of force, again trapping the lich. Tolgun stood and healed us all with a burst of energy. Nala continued to aid Tolgun while I cast another defensive spell and channeled more magical energy into Blackthorn. The lich eliminated the wall of force and quickly cast a spell, trying to blind me, but it had no effect. Lai’Ki continued her application of well-placed arrows. Tolgun created a cylinder of holy flame on the lich, but it only seemed to hit for minimal damage. Nala bombed it three times with fire, damaging Tolgun in the process, while I stabbed it from behind. That seemed to annoy the lich, who cast a spell and shot me with a ray, dropping me to the ground and all went dark.
I was soon revived, apparently after only a few seconds because the battle still raged. When I opened my eyes, I saw Tolgun kneeling over me with the lich to his back. Then a bomb exploded between the two, damaging both, but destroying the lich. Having the knowledge that liches may regenerate through the power of their phylacteries, we immediately began a search of the premises while Tolgun healed those he could. We found some powerful magical items in the room, but nothing that would contain the lich’s essence. However, we found a secret trap door in the floor leading to a room below with a trio of sarcophagi. Tolgun was able to restore his cousin to life thanks to divine intervention, then followed Nala and Lai’Ki down to investigate the crypt. Each sarcophagus bore the detailed carving of hundreds of capering skeletons and dancing corpses. Nala touched the first one and a powerful magical trap was triggered, attacking everyone in the room with death rays and skeletal claws. Those inside retreated, except the less nimble Tolgun, who continued to open the sarcophagus. It contained several spell books. Tolgun then clambered up one of the several ropes we dropped upon his “request.” Once he exited the crypt, the trap stopped. Nala went back down, grabbed the contents of the first sarcophagus and headed toward the second. Inside it were gems, jewels, fine linens, a magic bottle, a brooch, and a necromantic spell book. Finding no traps, he grabbed those contents as well. Nala went to the third and last sarcophagus, but the lid would not open. Tolgun descended and, after many minutes, succeeded in bashing the sarcophagus into dust, along with the dessicated remains he found inside. We surmised that the sarcophagus itself was the lich’s phylactery and, after a few hours of research using the books we found, were vindicated in our assessment. By the contents of the spell book, we discovered the lich was named Azaven. Unfortunately, we gained no further clues as to the whereabouts of Xin-Shalast.
We triumphed over the necromantic powers of the Ravenous Crypts, but poor Ryll remains lost to us. We believe we have completed all tasks set before us here at Runeforge, but before we leave, we would like to find out what became of our paladin. To that end, Tolgun has prepared a séance of sorts with his god. Using what we know of the spell that made her disappear, we will be able to ask the Dwarven deity a limited number of questions. I do hope she is well.
- E
Erastus 28, 4708 – Early Afternoon
My Dear Departed Illya,
Six months! I can scarce believe so much time has passed since we entered Runeforge. I know the planes can be tricky things to navigate, but I was unaware of the possibility that time would be so relative. It is strange to think that for each day we thought was passing inside Runeforge, an entire month elapsed here on Golarion. Now that we have returned from our ordeal in Runeforge, I have had time to reflect on our experiences and I have to say that while there, I was profoundly affected and influenced by the magic of that place. My normal thoughts and feelings were replaced by those foreign to me. I was jealous – of Ryll, Soril, the Runeforge wardens…everyone. I wanted what they had, and if I could not possess it, I wanted it destroyed. Thankfully, the feelings were still mild when we left, but I believe they would have consumed me had we stayed longer. I also became so single-minded, so set upon the goal of defeating Karzoug, that – I am ashamed to say – I forgot all else: My homeland, my family…even you. I have no doubt the others have suffered similar effects. I believe the wonders of Runeforge pale in comparison to its horrors. Morally corrupt demons, foul oozes, factions of arcanists vying for supremacy, twisted mages willing to sacrifice all for more power, death, undeath, and a sophistication too unnervingly innovative for a millennia-old ruined empire – these are haunting memories that will plague my dreams for many years to come. Yet, Runeforge was a place of research into the mystic world of the arcane arts. As such, I put its treasures to good use, spending several hours every day in the spell-absorbing chambers of the Abjurant Halls, researching some new spells of my own. I look forward to using them against Karzoug once we take the fight to him at Xin-Shalast. Blackthorn, too, is positively radiant about her new powers. So, the planar laboratory had its uses; however, I, for one, am glad to be rid of the accursed Runeforge.
This morning (or perhaps last week) Tolgun cast a spell to speak directly with his deity. Through a series of questions centered on the location of Ryll, we found that amazingly she had been sent back to Golarion. We then knew she would be safe and we could more easily find her location once we, too, returned. We decided to quickly finish whatever tasks remained of us. Through some research and a little intuition, we discovered that the room in the Ravenous Crypts with the strange negative energy was likely some sort of necromantic engine, a power source sustaining the evils that dwelt within the halls. We destroyed the crystals to cut the power to the area, permanently. With that, we realized that we had conquered Runeforge. We gathered all the items we had recovered throughout our exploration and, using the teleportation circle in the Halls of Wrath, we appeared back at the standing stone near Lake Stormunder, our key-shaped necklaces having disappeared. I noticed that the frozen and snow-covered land that had greeted us upon our first arrival to this area was gone, replaced by grass- and flower-covered glades marking a distinct change of season. Soon after, a familiar face came through the nearby evergreen forest – it was Ryll. Aparently she had been banished back to the exact place the teleportation circle sent us, no doubt another peculiarity of Runeforge. She said she had been waiting for our return for several days. Poor Ryll! She felt so disgraced for being ousted from Runeforge before she had a chance to destroy the lich Azaven. No doubt she was frustrated at not being able to help us in our hour of need, but it was not her fault. We prevailed in the end and, when it comes down to it, she was where she had to be to bear the brunt of the lich’s most powerful spell so that her comrades could fight on and win the day. From what I have learned of paladins, is this not the very ideal for which they live and breathe? I am positive Sarenrae thinks no less of her…and neither do her friends.
Reunited, we teleported to Jorgenfist to survey more closely the riches we pulled from Runeforge and to check in on our team of researchers. It was at that point that we were informed that we had been missing and feared dead for over half a year. We missed the Festival of Burning Blades and the Summer Ritual of Stardust. The big political news from the last sixth months was that Eodred II, King of Korvosa, died from an unusual and unexplained illness. The people of the Varisian city have been rioting over the news for some time now. Of more immediate concern to us was that, in our absence, Broderick Quink had been hard at work trying to discover the precise location of Xin-Shalast and he thinks he has hit upon the solution. A number of years ago, Quink read an enlightening book concerning the Storval Plateau portion of Varisia. The book was called Eidolon and was written by a Pathfinder Society explorer named Cevil “Redwing” Charms. The book is considered the definitive text on Upper Varisia, in terms of culture, geography, and mythology. Redwing traveled with the native Varisians and Shoanti tribesmen for years before writing his best-known work. Shortly after we left to hunt for Runeforge, Quink contacted Redwing to ask if he had any information on the Thassilonian city of Xin-Shalast. Redwing replied several months later and the letter contained an account of a pair of Dwarvish brothers who traveled into the Kodar Mountains only to return with a wild tale of an ancient city filled with riches. Despite this, the Varisans themselves had no tradition of explorers seeking the treasures of that place – they viewed it as a place of evil, something to be feared and forsaken. The Dwarven brothers, on the other hand, named Vekker, stumbled upon the location and convinced several tradesmen in the Five Kings Mountains to support and supply a mission to establish a base of operations in the low Kodar Mountains along the Kazaron River in an effort to explore the city. The expedition vanished without a trace. If Redwing's story is to be believed, then perhaps the Kazaron River is the River Avah of ancient Thassilon, which would mean Mhar Massif (and Xin-Shalast) would be in the Kodar Mountains at the river's headwaters.
Following up on Redwing's lead, Quink contacted a Dwarvish historian in the five kings region. This Dwarf confirmed that 85 years ago, a pair of brothers named Silas and Karivek Vekker did abscond with a sizable amount of invested capital into the Kodar Mountains. The commonly held belief is that the brothers used the “discovery of an ancient city full of fabulous wealth” as the cover for fraud, although those who knew the brothers well held them in the highest regard, insisting that they must have met some sort of foul end in the Kodars. The brothers never shared the location of the ancient city and Quink theorizes that perhaps this was done to protect the location until they could return with proof, rather than out of malice.
This is terrific news for our cause: We now have a starting location for our search for the fabled lost city of Xin-Shalast, wherein we hope to find the tyrant Karzoug and put an end to his return to power. We have many preparations to make before we are set to travel, but we are all eager to put an end to Karzoug The Claimer, once and for all.
- Epshi
--,
Grave was our lot yesterday, in every sense of the word. Though we triumphed in the Ravenous Crypts, it was at a great cost. Gorm was killed, though his cousin Tolgun was able to restore his life. However, Ryll is now missing. What painful hubris for the paladin who wished to cleanse the darkness with the light of her god!
Our day started on a macabre note, with Tolgun interrogating the corpse of the Mithral Mage using one of his more morbid spells. The grisly scene in which we hoped to discover the location of Xin-Shalast was interjected by a few tantalizing references to ancient Thassilonian geography – place names like the River Avah, the Koldahar Mountains, the Fen of Ice Mist, Mhar Massif, and the Plane of Leng – but with little meaning to us, ten thousand years after their relevance. All we learned was that Xin-Shalast was hundreds of leagues away from Runeforge’s entrance near Lake Stormunder. Our assumptions were also confirmed: the runeforged enhancements to our weapons will be the best tools against Karzoug.
Our final business with the warden of greed complete, we mustered for our last assault on the wings of Runeforge, entering the Ravenous Crypts of necromantic gluttony. Several paces down the hall, my key-shaped medallion turned cold, sapping me of some strength. Tolgun looked equally uncomfortable while Ryll’s necklace warmed and glowed faintly. We continued through the hallway as it widened and ended in a set of stone doors. Entering the next room, we found the ceiling of the circular domed chamber rose to a moderate height. The walls were decorated with ten grinning skulls, each gripping what appeared to be bits of flesh in their teeth. “What a lovely room of death,” quoth Tolgun ironically. A flight of steps led up via a corridor in the far wall. As we continued, a half dozen horrifyingly gruesome mummies came out of the mouths and attacked us, but we easily killed them with fire magic and burning blades.
After that encounter, we proceeded through another set of double doors. They opened into a round room with an intersecting walkway. The ceiling rose to another moderate dome, while the floor dropped away to a dizzying pit. A cross-shaped bridge made of rough marble stretched across the pit, allowing access to three additional sets of iron double doors. Four bas-relief carvings of incredible detail had been carved into the curved walls of the four corners of the room, under each one was written a word in spiky Thassilonian runes, likely names of the people imaged. One carving depicted a person holding aloft a sprig of grapes and a loaf of bread, the inscription reading “Inib.” One held a wedge of cheese and a huge haunch of meat: “Gorryan.” Another, “Aanstrin,” wielded a platter heaped with candies. The last carving, identified as “Xerriock,” simply stood with arms crossed, his mouth wide and grinning to display teeth that had been filed to points. Below each carving, the wall dropped away into darkness; yet along these depths, dozens of burial niches containing stone sarcophagi were visible.
Taking the left passage, we opened the doors to a room, its walls plated in iron, each plate of which bearing a single rune: the Thassilonian rune for "gluttony." What appeared to be two tall smooth crystal pylons stood in the middle of the room, a rippling current of blackness shimmering between them. On the opposite side of each crystal, strange tendrils of black energy, crackling with extremely slow motion, extended out from the crystals into spheres of roiling darkness in circular caverns to the left and right of the entrance. The air in the room was shockingly cold, leading us to believe that the two spheres were micro-portals to the plane of negative energy. They were feeding the energy field between the two crystals. After a brief inspection and fearing to approach too closely, we decided to leave that room and return if we found any further information.
We then crossed back over the marble walkway and entered another room. We found a single sarcophagus of gold sitting atop a white marble plinth at the far end of a wide hall. The bas-relief lid depicted a handsome man holding a sprig of grapes and a bottle of wine crossed over his chest. The eyes were large star sapphires and the grapes appeared to be individual gemstones that could be worked free with the right tools. Five wide alcoves in the room were carved with dozens of narrow niches, each of which containing a different bottle of wine. When we entered the room, we found a large strange-looking clay golem defending the room. It attacked us immediately. It apparently had a positive reaction to acidic attacks because Nala’s bombs seemed to energize it and make it attack more quickly. It was difficult to hit and its attacks were very powerful, but we eventually destroyed it, though not before we were set upon by a hideous-looking undead creature with nasty pointy teeth. It came at us from behind, first attacking Lai’Ki. Thankfully, it proved to be rather weak against our prepared attacks and it was quckly destroyed. The creature carried several magical items, indicating that it was more than just a mindless zombie. Once we had a chance to tend our wounds, we found that those inflicted by the golem were more difficult to heal than usual, but Tolgun was able to cure them, nonetheless. We discovered that the sarcophagus in the room was merely gold plated, so we removed only the expensive gems that adorned it. A Thassilonian enscryption on the lid read, “Lord Anklerios Mankray Inib of the House of Inib: master vintner and beloved husband and father. An assassin’s blade accomplished what hundreds of duels could not.” The wine, well-preserved like everything else in Runeforge, was probably worth a great deal of money to a serious collector, being a ten-thousand year old Thassilonian vintage.
We moved on to the remaining set of double doors from the intersection room. The scene in that octagonal room was appalling: A half dozen brutally savaged human bodies dressed in light blue bloodstained robes lay sprawled about the place. Several of the bodies seemed to have had limbs and organs removed. All appeared to be freshly dead. We surmised these were the researchers from the Abjurant Halls, based on their description in the journal we found in the Veiled Halls of Illusion. Finding nothing else of interest, we continued through a pair of doors to the left. It led through a horseshoe shaped hallway which led to another room. Tables made of stacked sarcophagi supported alchemical apparatuses, books, carved bones, scrolls, and various pieces of anatomy that had been dissected and preserved in dozens of ways. It appeared to be a well-stocked necromancy research laboratory. There were a number of books, containing many intricate details about undeath and anatomy, and alchemical apparatuses. We spent some time using the books to research our most recent encounter, only to find it was a ravenous dread zombie.
There were two regular doors to one side. We took one and were met with yet another cadaverous display. The bookshelf-lined walls of that room contained a large collection of dog-eared tomes, manuals and scrolls, as well as jars of fluid in which floated humanoid organs and bits of flesh. A dissected human torso sat atop the room’s stone table. This room apparently had been recently inhabited, for the torso had been newly gnawed upon. Additionally, the torso seems to have been meticulously dissected and several of the organs removed. There were a large number of books worth quite a few thousand gold pieces to the right collector.
We took another door from the previous room and entered yet another chamber. Dozens of burial urns in small alcoves lined the walls of that room. Each urn was large enough to uncomfortably fit a full-sized humanoid inside. Investigating, we found they were all empty, but behind one of the urns was a secret door. We entered and followed the narrow corridor that led to another door. Inside the room, lanterns hung from hooks over three large tables scattered throughout. Two tables were covered with preserved human body parts, stitched together with thick thread to partially form a pair of patchwork human corpses. Stools and small steel work trays covered in slender knives, clamps, hooks, saws, screws, needles, and other less identifiable tools surrounded each of the large tables. There was also a man in the room…no, not a man, a monster: That most reprehensible of all creatures – a lich, a being who would use great arcane power to usurp nature’s and the divine’s control over life and death. He looked prepared for us and not a bit happy at our intrusion.
It immediately attacked with a deluge of lightning, hitting the entire party due to our confined space. I cast a spell to hasten our movements and so moved to engage the undead mage in melee. The lich cast a quick defensive spell, then engulfed Gorm, Ryll, and Tolgun in a devastating spray of colorful rays. Gorm suffered a deadly dose of poison, killing him outright. Ryll immediately vanished from our view, likely transported to a distant plane based on what I know of that spell. Tolgun took another violent jolt of lightning, knocking him to the ground and unconscious. It was terrible. With a single spell, the lich eliminated nearly half of our fighters, at least until Nala was able to revive Tolgun. Lai’Ki cast a spell to make her arrows hit with greater force while Soril created a wall of stone around the lich, briefly trapping the creature. Having a few seconds of respite, I cast a defensive spell and moved away from the wall of stone. As soon as I did, a portion of the newly-formed wall melted away and disintegrated. The lich stepped out and quickly hit Soril with arcane motes of energy. Lai’Ki started pelting the lich with unerring shots. Soril summoned another wall, this one of force, again trapping the lich. Tolgun stood and healed us all with a burst of energy. Nala continued to aid Tolgun while I cast another defensive spell and channeled more magical energy into Blackthorn. The lich eliminated the wall of force and quickly cast a spell, trying to blind me, but it had no effect. Lai’Ki continued her application of well-placed arrows. Tolgun created a cylinder of holy flame on the lich, but it only seemed to hit for minimal damage. Nala bombed it three times with fire, damaging Tolgun in the process, while I stabbed it from behind. That seemed to annoy the lich, who cast a spell and shot me with a ray, dropping me to the ground and all went dark.
I was soon revived, apparently after only a few seconds because the battle still raged. When I opened my eyes, I saw Tolgun kneeling over me with the lich to his back. Then a bomb exploded between the two, damaging both, but destroying the lich. Having the knowledge that liches may regenerate through the power of their phylacteries, we immediately began a search of the premises while Tolgun healed those he could. We found some powerful magical items in the room, but nothing that would contain the lich’s essence. However, we found a secret trap door in the floor leading to a room below with a trio of sarcophagi. Tolgun was able to restore his cousin to life thanks to divine intervention, then followed Nala and Lai’Ki down to investigate the crypt. Each sarcophagus bore the detailed carving of hundreds of capering skeletons and dancing corpses. Nala touched the first one and a powerful magical trap was triggered, attacking everyone in the room with death rays and skeletal claws. Those inside retreated, except the less nimble Tolgun, who continued to open the sarcophagus. It contained several spell books. Tolgun then clambered up one of the several ropes we dropped upon his “request.” Once he exited the crypt, the trap stopped. Nala went back down, grabbed the contents of the first sarcophagus and headed toward the second. Inside it were gems, jewels, fine linens, a magic bottle, a brooch, and a necromantic spell book. Finding no traps, he grabbed those contents as well. Nala went to the third and last sarcophagus, but the lid would not open. Tolgun descended and, after many minutes, succeeded in bashing the sarcophagus into dust, along with the dessicated remains he found inside. We surmised that the sarcophagus itself was the lich’s phylactery and, after a few hours of research using the books we found, were vindicated in our assessment. By the contents of the spell book, we discovered the lich was named Azaven. Unfortunately, we gained no further clues as to the whereabouts of Xin-Shalast.
We triumphed over the necromantic powers of the Ravenous Crypts, but poor Ryll remains lost to us. We believe we have completed all tasks set before us here at Runeforge, but before we leave, we would like to find out what became of our paladin. To that end, Tolgun has prepared a séance of sorts with his god. Using what we know of the spell that made her disappear, we will be able to ask the Dwarven deity a limited number of questions. I do hope she is well.
- E
Erastus 28, 4708 – Early Afternoon
My Dear Departed Illya,
Six months! I can scarce believe so much time has passed since we entered Runeforge. I know the planes can be tricky things to navigate, but I was unaware of the possibility that time would be so relative. It is strange to think that for each day we thought was passing inside Runeforge, an entire month elapsed here on Golarion. Now that we have returned from our ordeal in Runeforge, I have had time to reflect on our experiences and I have to say that while there, I was profoundly affected and influenced by the magic of that place. My normal thoughts and feelings were replaced by those foreign to me. I was jealous – of Ryll, Soril, the Runeforge wardens…everyone. I wanted what they had, and if I could not possess it, I wanted it destroyed. Thankfully, the feelings were still mild when we left, but I believe they would have consumed me had we stayed longer. I also became so single-minded, so set upon the goal of defeating Karzoug, that – I am ashamed to say – I forgot all else: My homeland, my family…even you. I have no doubt the others have suffered similar effects. I believe the wonders of Runeforge pale in comparison to its horrors. Morally corrupt demons, foul oozes, factions of arcanists vying for supremacy, twisted mages willing to sacrifice all for more power, death, undeath, and a sophistication too unnervingly innovative for a millennia-old ruined empire – these are haunting memories that will plague my dreams for many years to come. Yet, Runeforge was a place of research into the mystic world of the arcane arts. As such, I put its treasures to good use, spending several hours every day in the spell-absorbing chambers of the Abjurant Halls, researching some new spells of my own. I look forward to using them against Karzoug once we take the fight to him at Xin-Shalast. Blackthorn, too, is positively radiant about her new powers. So, the planar laboratory had its uses; however, I, for one, am glad to be rid of the accursed Runeforge.
This morning (or perhaps last week) Tolgun cast a spell to speak directly with his deity. Through a series of questions centered on the location of Ryll, we found that amazingly she had been sent back to Golarion. We then knew she would be safe and we could more easily find her location once we, too, returned. We decided to quickly finish whatever tasks remained of us. Through some research and a little intuition, we discovered that the room in the Ravenous Crypts with the strange negative energy was likely some sort of necromantic engine, a power source sustaining the evils that dwelt within the halls. We destroyed the crystals to cut the power to the area, permanently. With that, we realized that we had conquered Runeforge. We gathered all the items we had recovered throughout our exploration and, using the teleportation circle in the Halls of Wrath, we appeared back at the standing stone near Lake Stormunder, our key-shaped necklaces having disappeared. I noticed that the frozen and snow-covered land that had greeted us upon our first arrival to this area was gone, replaced by grass- and flower-covered glades marking a distinct change of season. Soon after, a familiar face came through the nearby evergreen forest – it was Ryll. Aparently she had been banished back to the exact place the teleportation circle sent us, no doubt another peculiarity of Runeforge. She said she had been waiting for our return for several days. Poor Ryll! She felt so disgraced for being ousted from Runeforge before she had a chance to destroy the lich Azaven. No doubt she was frustrated at not being able to help us in our hour of need, but it was not her fault. We prevailed in the end and, when it comes down to it, she was where she had to be to bear the brunt of the lich’s most powerful spell so that her comrades could fight on and win the day. From what I have learned of paladins, is this not the very ideal for which they live and breathe? I am positive Sarenrae thinks no less of her…and neither do her friends.
Reunited, we teleported to Jorgenfist to survey more closely the riches we pulled from Runeforge and to check in on our team of researchers. It was at that point that we were informed that we had been missing and feared dead for over half a year. We missed the Festival of Burning Blades and the Summer Ritual of Stardust. The big political news from the last sixth months was that Eodred II, King of Korvosa, died from an unusual and unexplained illness. The people of the Varisian city have been rioting over the news for some time now. Of more immediate concern to us was that, in our absence, Broderick Quink had been hard at work trying to discover the precise location of Xin-Shalast and he thinks he has hit upon the solution. A number of years ago, Quink read an enlightening book concerning the Storval Plateau portion of Varisia. The book was called Eidolon and was written by a Pathfinder Society explorer named Cevil “Redwing” Charms. The book is considered the definitive text on Upper Varisia, in terms of culture, geography, and mythology. Redwing traveled with the native Varisians and Shoanti tribesmen for years before writing his best-known work. Shortly after we left to hunt for Runeforge, Quink contacted Redwing to ask if he had any information on the Thassilonian city of Xin-Shalast. Redwing replied several months later and the letter contained an account of a pair of Dwarvish brothers who traveled into the Kodar Mountains only to return with a wild tale of an ancient city filled with riches. Despite this, the Varisans themselves had no tradition of explorers seeking the treasures of that place – they viewed it as a place of evil, something to be feared and forsaken. The Dwarven brothers, on the other hand, named Vekker, stumbled upon the location and convinced several tradesmen in the Five Kings Mountains to support and supply a mission to establish a base of operations in the low Kodar Mountains along the Kazaron River in an effort to explore the city. The expedition vanished without a trace. If Redwing's story is to be believed, then perhaps the Kazaron River is the River Avah of ancient Thassilon, which would mean Mhar Massif (and Xin-Shalast) would be in the Kodar Mountains at the river's headwaters.
Following up on Redwing's lead, Quink contacted a Dwarvish historian in the five kings region. This Dwarf confirmed that 85 years ago, a pair of brothers named Silas and Karivek Vekker did abscond with a sizable amount of invested capital into the Kodar Mountains. The commonly held belief is that the brothers used the “discovery of an ancient city full of fabulous wealth” as the cover for fraud, although those who knew the brothers well held them in the highest regard, insisting that they must have met some sort of foul end in the Kodars. The brothers never shared the location of the ancient city and Quink theorizes that perhaps this was done to protect the location until they could return with proof, rather than out of malice.
This is terrific news for our cause: We now have a starting location for our search for the fabled lost city of Xin-Shalast, wherein we hope to find the tyrant Karzoug and put an end to his return to power. We have many preparations to make before we are set to travel, but we are all eager to put an end to Karzoug The Claimer, once and for all.
- Epshi