Post by Bandgoat on Jan 14, 2016 13:07:42 GMT -6
Lamashan 3, 4708 – Early Evening
Illya,
I must tell you of this magnificent beast that now lies slain at my feet! Before I do, however, I will quickly summarize our continued infiltration of Karzoug’s realm.
After our first day slinking through most of the city, we took our rest within a large abode, its richly adorned exterior belying the filthy interior of a house long-abandoned. It remained quiet that night – almost eerily so, as if the lifeblood of this sprawling city were pinned under the crushing hand of a tyrant reborn. The next morning, we continued our surreptitious incursion into the city. We noticed a few buildings that stood out among the precious metal-clad and rare gem-encrusted mansions. One appeared to be a large ziggurat structure while another seemed to have been an immense temple complex. Far deeper into the city, Lai’Ki spied the ruins of what one could recognize as a bank. Atop its domed roof sat an enormous dragon surveying the city streets. We resolved to proceed cautiously, hugging the northern edge of the city near the base of the overlooking mountain.
We eventually came across a building that seemed to emanate a faint burning smell, suggesting a recent occupation. We investigated, hoping to find some of the helpful denizens of the city about whom we were told by the ice-nymph Svevinka. We found what appeared to be a crematorium for giant-sized bodies, grim reminders of their lives hanging from the walls in the form of tattooed flesh tacked in place. We found no active fires, but the smell and feel of the place made it apparent that recent activity had taken place. Finding nothing else of interest and no apparent tracks to follow, we quickly moved along toward our goal.
As we continued, the opulence and grandeur of the buildings rose to ostentatious heights. I believe this display of wealth started to affect Gorm, as he became obsessed with inspecting every building we passed, despite the fact that it contradicted our plan. Finally, he was absolutely adamant that we step inside the temple complex, despite my objection. We strayed from our route and quickly came upon a walled-in set of structures, sihedron runes placed prominently on the buildings. It reminded me of our discussions with Brodert Quink and his description of a temple to the goddess Lissala, one of the prominent figures of the ancient Thassilonian pantheon cult. The temple complex was an enormous site dominated by a row of tiered towers ending in onion-shaped domes and fluted finials. Multiple balconies opened off these towers and overlooked a ruined compound below. The gates of the outer wall were made of beaten bronze that brilliantly reflected the mountain behind us. A huge temple in the center, constructed on a raised platform, stood towering above the rest of the compound itself. The seven-pointed sihedron was prominent in many motifs engraved into the stone temple walls. Double pagodas, both of which were hollow and open, topped the temple. One of the pagodas held a massive statue of Karzoug rising from the floor of the temple, his head brushing the top of the ceiling. The other was empty, though the floor beneath was set with a gold engraving of the ever-present clawed hand grasping a gem: the runic symbol for “greed.” The whole place had a very faint aura of transmutation when examined under a divination spell. Lai’Ki noticed signs in the courtyard that the place had been recently inhabited. Despite our first reaction to leave the place and continue our stealth run toward Karzoug, Gorm took it upon himself to drag the party into the temple to investigate further. The doors were large enough for elephant-sized creatures to pass through. They were closed but not locked. Gorm opened the door to a faint creek. The large area inside looked like it had been kept in a state of extreme cleanliness. A statue in the main temple chamber resembled a lamia matriarch except with a sihedron rune for a head. We recalled finding something like this in the Ravenous Crypts of Runeforge, but in clay golem form. This was a representation of the goddess Lissala. There were some living creatures in the room as well: lamiakin, specifically hungerers. As Soril later explained, those disgusting blobs were what happens to lamias when they are punished by their superiors. They let out a horrible scream so we left, closing the doors behind us.
We headed back north, Lai’Ki in the lead. We hit the northern edge of the city and followed the valley contour toward the peak we believe is called Mhar Massif. Our route to the top of the peak meant rejoining the avenue of gold at the base of the switchback stairs leading up the mountain. By this point, the road was very wide and the thin veneer of gold on each cobblestone looked pure and pristine. As we warily approached the main thoroughfare of the city, we noticed that the dragon was still perched upon the ruins of a bank. From this vantage point, it had a clear view of the main road and the steps leading upwards. As we sat debating what to do about this big, blue threat, a huge monstrous ice devil appeared before us in a manner resembling teleportation magic. It immediately attacked us, but it proved no match for our combined forces. Still, its sudden appearance at our moment of reaching the base of the Mhar Massif led us to believe that we had not been as successful in arriving unnoticed as we had once thought. Perhaps Karzoug himself has the ability to watch our approach. The devil carried a magical spear and a curious ring, etched with a tiny sihedron rune on the band. Examining its magical aura, Soril determined it could provide several forms of protection to its wearer and change the appearance of one’s clothing. Ryll was in need of more protection, so she took the ring, immediately invoking the ring’s power to make her armor gleam even more vibrantly than before. The devil’s body remained after it fell, so we hid it as best we could, so as not to attract more unwanted attention.
With the dragon guardian watching the stairway approach, we debated what should be done in the event we were attacked by the deadly creature during the climb before us. Gorm seemed most afraid of the dragon. He argued that our group would be powerless against the dragon while on the narrow mountain switchbacks if he could not bring his axe to bear against the creature. His concerns were unfounded, yet we humored his pleas for going on the offensive and attacking the beast in more open terrain. Finally, the occasionally wise Tolgun suggested we rest and just keep a secretive eye on the dragon, to find out its intentions. This we could all agree to do, so we did. We found an incredibly large and opulent building near the road to rest for the night. A couple of times during the next day, the dragon took flight, flew over the northern part of the city, up into the mountain, and returned to its perch. This confirmed our assertion that the dragon kept a steady watch on the access to the peak of Mhar Massif, but we were still not aware of its intentions toward us or its ability to find us if we kept to the shadows. We then made ourselves ready for a dragon fight, though we still harbored the hope that this conflict could be avoided.
We left at dusk the next day and traveled up the stairs under cover of night, Lai’Ki leading our stealthy movement up the mountain. The road narrowed somewhat along the mountain slope, but it was still plenty wide for a pitched battle, should one come our way. Each stair was tall, reaching the height of my waist, but they were spaced far apart so that it was not a constant rise. The buildings became much sparser as real estate became more precious along the sloping terrain. As dawn approached, we took cover inside one of the large buildings. We only made it about a third of the way up the mountain that day, but from our vantage, we saw a little more activity and lights in the city than we had previously seen. We were delighted at our progress and the fact that we had encountered no resistance on our first day of the ascent.
As we left the building at dusk, an enormous blue monstrosity landed before us and let out a ground-shaking roar that nearly deafened me. Knowing what would be coming next from a creature of such awesome power, I immediately dove for cover within the building we had used for shelter, expending a spell to keep everyone moving quickly. Soril, it seems, had a better idea. He made himself ready, waiting for just the right time before he let fly with a spell of his own. The dragon breathed in deeply, primal energy crackling through its guts, and let loose a powerful gout of lightning. At this sight, Soril caused a transparent sheet of force to spring into existence between us and the dragon, stopping the dragon’s breath attack in mid air. I have had some experience with creatures of the dragon type, but my people have had very few encounters with the blue variety. The destructive power of this magical being is terrifying to behold. With a protective barrier in place, we steeled ourselves and began reinforcing our defenses and energizing our attacks for this fight. It appeared that the dragon did likewise, bestowing some sort of energy resistance upon itself. While Gorm drank some magical potions and Tolgun and Nala protected us from electrical damage, Ryll, Lai’Ki, and I used our magics to make our weapons glow with damaging radiance. We continued our volley of protective spells until at last we were ready to rush headlong into the fight. Soril dismissed the wall of force and Gorm rushed in to attack, taking a massive swipe across the chest from the dragon’s gargantuan claw, his Dwarven axe deflecting harmlessly off an armored dragon scale. Lai’Ki tried to cover Gorm’s approach with some arrow fire, but her magical arrows simply ricocheted across the monster’s tough hide. The dragon then launched in with a flurry of attacks against Gorm, scoring hits with another claw and its massive teeth. Luckily, Gorm’s thick armor absorbed most of the blows, however, he became visibly shaken at the sight of the dragon ripping his flesh off. A cylinder of furious flame came streaking down from the heavens at Tolgun’s behest while Nala threw continuous flasks of acid bombs toward the creature, searing its flesh. I summoned an area of swarming tentacles beneath the dragon, hoping to limit its number of attacks and maneuverability, but the tentacles could not find purchase around our foe’s massive tree-sized limbs. Ryll then moved in and struck the creature with massive force, her presence calming Gorm’s frightened state. His vigor recovered, Gorm swung his axe wildly, inflicting a few deep wounds against the dragon’s neck and shoulder. I closed in with the dragon, though still staying just outside its reach, seeing now that the dragon’s scales sparked with electrical energy, blue-white jolts leaping out several feet from its body. Tolgun began intoning a powerful spell incantation just as the dragon took another bite from his cousin’s arm, Ryll getting hit in the process by the serpentine tail. Ryll countered by placing two heavy sword hits across the dragon’s flank. Soril enveloped the dragon with a scorching burst of wind that seemed to have only obscured the creature so Gorm was unable to inflict damage with a series of maneuvers. Lai’Ki, too, was unable to place her arrow shots precisely.
The dragon flew up out of the sirocco and repositioned itself to breathe another electrical storm directly onto Nala, Lai’Ki, and Tolgun, though our protective spells kept them safe. Tolgun finished his incantation, expecting to call forth an elder earth elemental to help fight our winged foe. However, in its place appeared a very confused pig. Apparently whatever is affecting magical means of movement in this land is inhibiting summoning spells, too. Tolgun commanded it to engage the dragon anyway, simply adding another body to the battle. Our cleric then tried to dispel the dragon’s energy resistance so we could bring more damaging spells to bear against it. Nala continued to throw bombs, Lai’Ki continued to shoot with little success, and I sent forth rays of arcane power against the dragon, inflicting significant damage. Gorm, whose body had taken quite a beating from the savage attacks it received, was healed by Ryll who moved to re-engage with her evil nemesis. Soril called down another super-heated wind storm on the dragon’s new position while Gorm continued to recover by drinking a curative draft. He then moved to attack the dragon, but was again met with a massive claw to the face. The summoned pig, trying to dutifully follow its master’s request, moved into the wind storm and disappeared. Tolgun then moved in to combat and swung his weapon wildly, missing on his strikes. I sprayed more rays of fire from my outstretched fingers, but these had no effect, the dragon’s fire resistance still apparently intact. Figuring the dragon’s protections only covered fire-based attacks, Soril blasted the beast with a ray of frost and ice, but the dragon seemed to be little affected by this attack as well. Gorm, having taken the brunt of the dragon’s rage, seemed no longer able to maintain his battlefield dominance, his attacks missing or glancing harmlessly aside. Finally, the dragon seized its chance to attack our spell casters, repositioning itself to sink its teeth into Soril’s soft robes. Somewhat addled by the dragon’s presence, Nala threw a bomb toward it but missed, exploding near me. I tried to escape the bomb’s blast, but the dragon whirled on me, catching my leg in its powerful jaw. The dragon now faced me, its elf-sized horn still crackling with the energy that could only have been found in a life spanning many centuries. However, the dragon had simply stretched its snake-like head around, leaving me a clear shot at its exposed flank and back, which sported a sihedron tattoo. I seized the opportunity, using the dragon’s own mode of attack against it. I cast a spell allowing me to spew a stream of acid, which damaged it enough to bring the vile dragon to its knees. Ryll calmly strode in, deflecting the dragon’s death throes off her bracer, and cleanly severed the dragon’s head from its body.
We are now recovering from an exhilarating fight, Tolgun and Ryll treating everyone’s wounds. The dragon seemed to be wearing a ring that Soril is trying to identify, though it resembles the one we found on the ice devil two days ago. Soril also found it to be wearing a ring that protected it from a large amount of cold damage. This magical item may be of great use to some of us. Normally, there is a great amount of wealth that can be gleaned from a dragon corpse. However, I feel we have little time for that now. We will have to return once our mission is complete to plunder the scales and horns of the poor creature. We may get lucky and find the dragon’s hoard near the bank it used as a perch. There is incredible wealth in precious minerals and jewels simply embedded into the buildings of the city below. Given enough time, one could make a huge fortune from pilfering these riches. Nevertheless, duty calls us now to finish what the Runelord of Greed has started.
- E
Illya,
I must tell you of this magnificent beast that now lies slain at my feet! Before I do, however, I will quickly summarize our continued infiltration of Karzoug’s realm.
After our first day slinking through most of the city, we took our rest within a large abode, its richly adorned exterior belying the filthy interior of a house long-abandoned. It remained quiet that night – almost eerily so, as if the lifeblood of this sprawling city were pinned under the crushing hand of a tyrant reborn. The next morning, we continued our surreptitious incursion into the city. We noticed a few buildings that stood out among the precious metal-clad and rare gem-encrusted mansions. One appeared to be a large ziggurat structure while another seemed to have been an immense temple complex. Far deeper into the city, Lai’Ki spied the ruins of what one could recognize as a bank. Atop its domed roof sat an enormous dragon surveying the city streets. We resolved to proceed cautiously, hugging the northern edge of the city near the base of the overlooking mountain.
We eventually came across a building that seemed to emanate a faint burning smell, suggesting a recent occupation. We investigated, hoping to find some of the helpful denizens of the city about whom we were told by the ice-nymph Svevinka. We found what appeared to be a crematorium for giant-sized bodies, grim reminders of their lives hanging from the walls in the form of tattooed flesh tacked in place. We found no active fires, but the smell and feel of the place made it apparent that recent activity had taken place. Finding nothing else of interest and no apparent tracks to follow, we quickly moved along toward our goal.
As we continued, the opulence and grandeur of the buildings rose to ostentatious heights. I believe this display of wealth started to affect Gorm, as he became obsessed with inspecting every building we passed, despite the fact that it contradicted our plan. Finally, he was absolutely adamant that we step inside the temple complex, despite my objection. We strayed from our route and quickly came upon a walled-in set of structures, sihedron runes placed prominently on the buildings. It reminded me of our discussions with Brodert Quink and his description of a temple to the goddess Lissala, one of the prominent figures of the ancient Thassilonian pantheon cult. The temple complex was an enormous site dominated by a row of tiered towers ending in onion-shaped domes and fluted finials. Multiple balconies opened off these towers and overlooked a ruined compound below. The gates of the outer wall were made of beaten bronze that brilliantly reflected the mountain behind us. A huge temple in the center, constructed on a raised platform, stood towering above the rest of the compound itself. The seven-pointed sihedron was prominent in many motifs engraved into the stone temple walls. Double pagodas, both of which were hollow and open, topped the temple. One of the pagodas held a massive statue of Karzoug rising from the floor of the temple, his head brushing the top of the ceiling. The other was empty, though the floor beneath was set with a gold engraving of the ever-present clawed hand grasping a gem: the runic symbol for “greed.” The whole place had a very faint aura of transmutation when examined under a divination spell. Lai’Ki noticed signs in the courtyard that the place had been recently inhabited. Despite our first reaction to leave the place and continue our stealth run toward Karzoug, Gorm took it upon himself to drag the party into the temple to investigate further. The doors were large enough for elephant-sized creatures to pass through. They were closed but not locked. Gorm opened the door to a faint creek. The large area inside looked like it had been kept in a state of extreme cleanliness. A statue in the main temple chamber resembled a lamia matriarch except with a sihedron rune for a head. We recalled finding something like this in the Ravenous Crypts of Runeforge, but in clay golem form. This was a representation of the goddess Lissala. There were some living creatures in the room as well: lamiakin, specifically hungerers. As Soril later explained, those disgusting blobs were what happens to lamias when they are punished by their superiors. They let out a horrible scream so we left, closing the doors behind us.
We headed back north, Lai’Ki in the lead. We hit the northern edge of the city and followed the valley contour toward the peak we believe is called Mhar Massif. Our route to the top of the peak meant rejoining the avenue of gold at the base of the switchback stairs leading up the mountain. By this point, the road was very wide and the thin veneer of gold on each cobblestone looked pure and pristine. As we warily approached the main thoroughfare of the city, we noticed that the dragon was still perched upon the ruins of a bank. From this vantage point, it had a clear view of the main road and the steps leading upwards. As we sat debating what to do about this big, blue threat, a huge monstrous ice devil appeared before us in a manner resembling teleportation magic. It immediately attacked us, but it proved no match for our combined forces. Still, its sudden appearance at our moment of reaching the base of the Mhar Massif led us to believe that we had not been as successful in arriving unnoticed as we had once thought. Perhaps Karzoug himself has the ability to watch our approach. The devil carried a magical spear and a curious ring, etched with a tiny sihedron rune on the band. Examining its magical aura, Soril determined it could provide several forms of protection to its wearer and change the appearance of one’s clothing. Ryll was in need of more protection, so she took the ring, immediately invoking the ring’s power to make her armor gleam even more vibrantly than before. The devil’s body remained after it fell, so we hid it as best we could, so as not to attract more unwanted attention.
With the dragon guardian watching the stairway approach, we debated what should be done in the event we were attacked by the deadly creature during the climb before us. Gorm seemed most afraid of the dragon. He argued that our group would be powerless against the dragon while on the narrow mountain switchbacks if he could not bring his axe to bear against the creature. His concerns were unfounded, yet we humored his pleas for going on the offensive and attacking the beast in more open terrain. Finally, the occasionally wise Tolgun suggested we rest and just keep a secretive eye on the dragon, to find out its intentions. This we could all agree to do, so we did. We found an incredibly large and opulent building near the road to rest for the night. A couple of times during the next day, the dragon took flight, flew over the northern part of the city, up into the mountain, and returned to its perch. This confirmed our assertion that the dragon kept a steady watch on the access to the peak of Mhar Massif, but we were still not aware of its intentions toward us or its ability to find us if we kept to the shadows. We then made ourselves ready for a dragon fight, though we still harbored the hope that this conflict could be avoided.
We left at dusk the next day and traveled up the stairs under cover of night, Lai’Ki leading our stealthy movement up the mountain. The road narrowed somewhat along the mountain slope, but it was still plenty wide for a pitched battle, should one come our way. Each stair was tall, reaching the height of my waist, but they were spaced far apart so that it was not a constant rise. The buildings became much sparser as real estate became more precious along the sloping terrain. As dawn approached, we took cover inside one of the large buildings. We only made it about a third of the way up the mountain that day, but from our vantage, we saw a little more activity and lights in the city than we had previously seen. We were delighted at our progress and the fact that we had encountered no resistance on our first day of the ascent.
As we left the building at dusk, an enormous blue monstrosity landed before us and let out a ground-shaking roar that nearly deafened me. Knowing what would be coming next from a creature of such awesome power, I immediately dove for cover within the building we had used for shelter, expending a spell to keep everyone moving quickly. Soril, it seems, had a better idea. He made himself ready, waiting for just the right time before he let fly with a spell of his own. The dragon breathed in deeply, primal energy crackling through its guts, and let loose a powerful gout of lightning. At this sight, Soril caused a transparent sheet of force to spring into existence between us and the dragon, stopping the dragon’s breath attack in mid air. I have had some experience with creatures of the dragon type, but my people have had very few encounters with the blue variety. The destructive power of this magical being is terrifying to behold. With a protective barrier in place, we steeled ourselves and began reinforcing our defenses and energizing our attacks for this fight. It appeared that the dragon did likewise, bestowing some sort of energy resistance upon itself. While Gorm drank some magical potions and Tolgun and Nala protected us from electrical damage, Ryll, Lai’Ki, and I used our magics to make our weapons glow with damaging radiance. We continued our volley of protective spells until at last we were ready to rush headlong into the fight. Soril dismissed the wall of force and Gorm rushed in to attack, taking a massive swipe across the chest from the dragon’s gargantuan claw, his Dwarven axe deflecting harmlessly off an armored dragon scale. Lai’Ki tried to cover Gorm’s approach with some arrow fire, but her magical arrows simply ricocheted across the monster’s tough hide. The dragon then launched in with a flurry of attacks against Gorm, scoring hits with another claw and its massive teeth. Luckily, Gorm’s thick armor absorbed most of the blows, however, he became visibly shaken at the sight of the dragon ripping his flesh off. A cylinder of furious flame came streaking down from the heavens at Tolgun’s behest while Nala threw continuous flasks of acid bombs toward the creature, searing its flesh. I summoned an area of swarming tentacles beneath the dragon, hoping to limit its number of attacks and maneuverability, but the tentacles could not find purchase around our foe’s massive tree-sized limbs. Ryll then moved in and struck the creature with massive force, her presence calming Gorm’s frightened state. His vigor recovered, Gorm swung his axe wildly, inflicting a few deep wounds against the dragon’s neck and shoulder. I closed in with the dragon, though still staying just outside its reach, seeing now that the dragon’s scales sparked with electrical energy, blue-white jolts leaping out several feet from its body. Tolgun began intoning a powerful spell incantation just as the dragon took another bite from his cousin’s arm, Ryll getting hit in the process by the serpentine tail. Ryll countered by placing two heavy sword hits across the dragon’s flank. Soril enveloped the dragon with a scorching burst of wind that seemed to have only obscured the creature so Gorm was unable to inflict damage with a series of maneuvers. Lai’Ki, too, was unable to place her arrow shots precisely.
The dragon flew up out of the sirocco and repositioned itself to breathe another electrical storm directly onto Nala, Lai’Ki, and Tolgun, though our protective spells kept them safe. Tolgun finished his incantation, expecting to call forth an elder earth elemental to help fight our winged foe. However, in its place appeared a very confused pig. Apparently whatever is affecting magical means of movement in this land is inhibiting summoning spells, too. Tolgun commanded it to engage the dragon anyway, simply adding another body to the battle. Our cleric then tried to dispel the dragon’s energy resistance so we could bring more damaging spells to bear against it. Nala continued to throw bombs, Lai’Ki continued to shoot with little success, and I sent forth rays of arcane power against the dragon, inflicting significant damage. Gorm, whose body had taken quite a beating from the savage attacks it received, was healed by Ryll who moved to re-engage with her evil nemesis. Soril called down another super-heated wind storm on the dragon’s new position while Gorm continued to recover by drinking a curative draft. He then moved to attack the dragon, but was again met with a massive claw to the face. The summoned pig, trying to dutifully follow its master’s request, moved into the wind storm and disappeared. Tolgun then moved in to combat and swung his weapon wildly, missing on his strikes. I sprayed more rays of fire from my outstretched fingers, but these had no effect, the dragon’s fire resistance still apparently intact. Figuring the dragon’s protections only covered fire-based attacks, Soril blasted the beast with a ray of frost and ice, but the dragon seemed to be little affected by this attack as well. Gorm, having taken the brunt of the dragon’s rage, seemed no longer able to maintain his battlefield dominance, his attacks missing or glancing harmlessly aside. Finally, the dragon seized its chance to attack our spell casters, repositioning itself to sink its teeth into Soril’s soft robes. Somewhat addled by the dragon’s presence, Nala threw a bomb toward it but missed, exploding near me. I tried to escape the bomb’s blast, but the dragon whirled on me, catching my leg in its powerful jaw. The dragon now faced me, its elf-sized horn still crackling with the energy that could only have been found in a life spanning many centuries. However, the dragon had simply stretched its snake-like head around, leaving me a clear shot at its exposed flank and back, which sported a sihedron tattoo. I seized the opportunity, using the dragon’s own mode of attack against it. I cast a spell allowing me to spew a stream of acid, which damaged it enough to bring the vile dragon to its knees. Ryll calmly strode in, deflecting the dragon’s death throes off her bracer, and cleanly severed the dragon’s head from its body.
We are now recovering from an exhilarating fight, Tolgun and Ryll treating everyone’s wounds. The dragon seemed to be wearing a ring that Soril is trying to identify, though it resembles the one we found on the ice devil two days ago. Soril also found it to be wearing a ring that protected it from a large amount of cold damage. This magical item may be of great use to some of us. Normally, there is a great amount of wealth that can be gleaned from a dragon corpse. However, I feel we have little time for that now. We will have to return once our mission is complete to plunder the scales and horns of the poor creature. We may get lucky and find the dragon’s hoard near the bank it used as a perch. There is incredible wealth in precious minerals and jewels simply embedded into the buildings of the city below. Given enough time, one could make a huge fortune from pilfering these riches. Nevertheless, duty calls us now to finish what the Runelord of Greed has started.
- E