Post by Bandgoat on Mar 8, 2016 23:17:44 GMT -6
Lamashan 9, 4708 – Late Evening
Illya,
The days seem to last for weeks here among the Spires of Xin-Shalast. After so many weeks of traveling, we have at last met with a great deal of action this day. We have prevailed thus far, but at great cost. Our resources run thin and I believe we still have much to do before we may put to rest Karzoug’s claim on Varisia.
This morning, we returned to the Spires armed with many restorative spells to counteract the forces of the occlusion field. Throughout the day, we were bombarded by many of the harmful energy waves, but we were able to either shrug off their effects or heal any damage they caused. We began by investigating the structures on the far eastern end of the complex. The series of buildings turned out to be a vast prison, empty of all occupants and nothing of interest to be found. The scale of the structures, however, suggested that Karzoug must have had an enormous number of political prisoners at one time, his mistrust of his subjects obviously descending into maddening paranoia.
We then entered the second of the three large buildings on the western end of the Spires. The structure had the appearance of an expansive dormitory with many floors filled with hundreds or thousands of small living quarters. We made a cursory inspection of only some of the more prominent habitations. Finding nothing of consequence other than abandoned rooms, we moved on to the third building. That tower, too, was filled with living quarters, though they were larger and more opulent than those of the dormitory. In some of the rooms, we found evidence of recent rummaging but were unable to find any clues as to who had been searching or what their quarry might be.
We then made the last climb up the steep, snowy slope to the large central spire. There were several small buildings nearby and a large, empty amphitheater. However, it was the central tower that truly dominated the landscape. It had to have stretched thousands of feet into the air. We entered the pinnacle spire’s ground floor to find hundreds of tall arches somehow supporting the immense structure. The atmosphere inside the spire seemed breathable and comfortable. There was a large open space in the center of the building, floored by a highly polished stone circle and surrounded by sixteen massive pillars that rose to support a single central column. The architecture of this place is astonishing, even surpassing the building techniques of our Dwarven associates. There was no place to go except to follow a long, spiraling ramp that wrapped around the support columns. Eventually, we reached the top of the ramp at a flat landing. Intricate carvings on the walls evoked images of Xin-Shalast in its heyday, accented with vibrant paint and inlaid gems. The highly polished floor consisted of a checkerboard pattern of gold and black tiles, while the entire place was brilliantly lit by what appeared to be dozens of bejeweled everburning torches in equally decadent sconces. A set of large golden double doors and another smaller door were the only entrances to the rooms that lay beyond, but they were guarded by a trio of cloud giants. The giants were dressed in what appeared to be billowy, flowing togas and golden helms. Each carried a ranseur and were not in the mood for talking. The giants had an enormously long reach with their weapons and were thus able to strike some hard blows against Soril, even though he was behind most of us at the time. However, we were able to subdue them after some struggle. Luckily, the three giants wore sihedron rings which we appropriated so that our entire group would be protected from the effects of the recurring occlusion field energy pulse. I shudder to think what vile service the sihedron rings and amulets allow Karzoug to affect upon us, but they are of great use to us presently, allowing us to use our resources more effectively. I only hope we will not regret taking advantage of their powers.
We decided to explore the single door to the left. It opened to what can only be described as a storage room, filled with various sundry items. Gorm, Ryll, and I stepped inside to take a closer look, and when we did, an apparition of Karzoug appeared. The image was some kind of illusion or projection, as it seemed to be less than real. It spoke, saying, “And so the fools have found me. I must applaud your tenacity. You are much more persistent than the worms I thought you to be. You are more like hungry maggots in your endless squirming and writhing to get to the death that awaits you at the core of your fate. I am that fate, maggots, I am your death!” With that, the image started casting a spell upon us. I quickly moved out of the room, but my retreat was not fast enough. Karzoug’s spell had a devastating effect on many of us, as if our bodies had been wracked by crippling dehydration; however, his apparition disappeared – for a time. A closer inspection of the room revealed a persistent aura of conjuration magic. Tolgun spent some time healing us before we continued our exploration.
We opened the large golden double doors. They opened with ease into a semi-circular hallway, the ceiling of which rose to an arch many feet above. Curving to the west, the hall ended in a particularly immense pair of double doors that appeared to be made of gold. Following it all the way around to the other side was another set of doors. While we were looking through the hallway, another image of Karzoug appeared, calling us “worms” and “maggots” again before casting another spell. At the time, I was looking for hidden doors and was too far away to do anything to stop him, but Ryll charged in with her sword and somehow disrupted the projected image before it could hurt us.
Having narrowly escaped another damaging attack, Ryll had a strong urge to head to the left and through the double doors closest to us. We pushed open the doors to find a massive throne room. The interior of the dazzling chamber was awash in golden light. It shone from every gem, every strip of gold, and every silver-inlaid wall carving, creating a kaleidoscope of color and riches. The checkerboard pattern on the floor was interrupted in a wide path from the doors to a throne on a dais of onyx in the southwest by a track of what appeared to be countless rubies forming a “red carpet” of sorts. The throne, if possible, made the rest of the chamber’s extravagance seem pale and poor by comparison, for it was made of shining gold, diamonds, rubies, and sapphires and draped with shimmering, glowing furs from unrecognizable creatures. There were three storm giants wearing greatswords, golden helms, and breastplates standing guard around the room and a human woman dressed in a suit of golden plate mail and brandishing a golden scimitar. When Gorm and Ryll entered, the woman called out, saying, “Ryll Kor! I have been watching you for some time. I am Karzoug’s champion, the Champion of Greed. I challenge you to a duel!” This performance took us aback, having never seen such an honorable proposition from one of Karzoug’s minions. Obviously intrigued, Ryll accepted the duel and negotiated very favorable terms. Fighting to the death, if Ryll were to win, Karzoug’s champion would instruct all of the giants under her command to lay down their arms, which would have included most of the inhabitants of Xin-Shalast. If the champion were to win, she would gain nothing save for the honor of having defeated a paladin of Sarenrae. Secretly, the rest of us agreed that we would harbor no quarter to Karzoug’s champion if she were to win, especially since she would not be able to command her giants to surrender if she lost a duel to the death. In addition to these terms, the combatants were not allowed to receive aid from anyone. We all agreed to these terms, knowing that some of our party would be able to revive Ryll if she were to lose. The rest of us took positions in the room as spectators and the duel commenced. The champion held aloft her sword and said, “This is Chellan, the Sword of Greed, the last of the Alara’hai, and I have been waiting a long time for this.”
The two combatants squared off in the center of the room, while I chose a position most favorable to watch the fight. I immediately cast a divination spell to ascertain the abilities of the champion’s magical accouterments. While the champion’s armor, shield, and other trappings emitted strong magical auras, her scimitar glowed so brightly in my magical detection that I was nearly blinded, and therefore I was forced to stop concentrating on the spell. Apparently, Chellan was some sort of artifact from the powerful days of Thassilon. Even without my usual means of arcane determination, I could see the effects of her magical regalia. Her form was somewhat distorted and wavy, as if under some sort of illusion, making her more difficult to hit. Her movements were very quick – an effect I know very well – as if she had augmented her speed. As the champion and the paladin readied themselves for the battle to come, I silently consulted with Blackthorn about the significance of Karzoug’s champion and her sword. I had read that each runelord had a champion: a runelord’s word of law whenever he or she was not around. The champion would normally stay in the seat of power during peace time, but would often lead the runelord’s army in times of war. All Champions of Greed throughout the history of Shalast carried a different type of sword they named Chellan, one of the fabled Alara’hai, or sin-swords wielded by the seven champions of Thassilon. Blackthorn had more knowledge than I, offering that the Sword of Greed was a very powerful weapon made of gold. She also posited that, even though the stories were unclear, it may have been possible that Chellan was a single weapon with morphing capabilities that was passed down from champion to champion. It dawned on me that Chellan, like Blackthorn, could be intelligent and that whosoever wielded the weapon would become the new Champion of Greed. Unfortunately, I did not voice my concerns about the sword, to near disastrous consequences.
The duel began. The champion gained the upper hand by attacking first, catching Ryll off guard and hitting with a hard strike to one of the weakest points in Ryll’s armor. From the onset, Ryll would have to be on the defensive. The paladin called down righteous fury from Sarenrae and, using the advantages of her domineering weapon, made a series of attack strikes, all but one of which bounced harmlessly off the champion’s sturdy defenses. The champion returned with a series of attacks of her own, including bludgeons from her shield, all of which landed considerable damage in one well-choreographed assault. Ryll seemed about ready to succumb to her wounds at this point, but she was quickly healed through her paladin abilities and so was able to continue the fight. After seeing the speed and precision of the champion’s well-practiced strikes, combined with her formidable defenses, I deduced that a strategy of evasive mobility and confounding deceptions would be the best way to negate the champion’s array of abilities. While Ryll’s martial and healing powers are usually quite impressive, she lacked the dexterity and cunning to upset her foe. However, the fight was not yet over, and Ryll made her sword glow with brilliant energy and made several attacks against the champions, landing solid blows. This seemed to center Ryll’s focus for a time, as she was able to deflect more of the champions next round of concentrated attacks. Ryll stayed in the fight, healing herself of some of her wounds and slashing through the champion’s armor. Chellan then seemed to glow with visible, blue light and the champion seemed reinvigorated, coming back with a few well-placed hits of her own. Again, Ryll seemed close to death, but she glowed with defiance and stood her ground, healing herself and scoring another hit. It was at this point that I feared the worst and made myself ready to join the fight once Ryll was no longer able to continue. I cast greater invisibility on myself and drew my sword. The champion’s blade again healed her and she came at Ryll with three precise slashes, severing the life force of the valiant paladin, who fell with a burst of energy that damaged the champion. We all knew then that the duel was over, but we tacitly agreed that we would finish the fight.
A ray of cold energy shot forth from Soril’s outstretched hand, dealing considerable damage to the champion while I moved in behind her and struck her square in the back. Gorm moved to intercept one of the storm giants before it could react to our intervening, but the giants were well armored and proved difficult to hit. Nala moved to render aid to Ryll, bringing her back to life with one of his more useful spells. The giants then moved in to attack the group, one hitting Gorm from the sound of it. Despite the impressive defensive abilities of the champion he had just witnessed, Tolgun somehow got it into his head to grapple her to the ground, and he failed miserably at the attempt. In retaliation, the champion launched a flurry of attacks on Tolgun, killing him outright. Bosh’tet. I then hit the champion several times, probably inflicting significant damage due to Blackthorn’s domineering enchantment. The damage nearly brought the champion to her knees, but Chellan seemed to heal her again. Nala then had to render aid to Tolgun, but was severely struck by one of the nearby giants. Soril was able to stun the champion with a magical word and so she dropped her sword and shield. Meanwhile, a giant struck the newly revived Tolgun, nearly killing him again. He then swung his pitiable excuse for a weapon wildly through the air and managed to hit and kill the defenseless Champion of Greed. I then turned my attention to the giant nearby, striking it with great force, but also turning my attention away from Tolgun and Chellan. As Nala healed himself and Gorm continued to battle a giant alone, Tolgun, after quickly healing Ryll and bringing the paladin back up to fighting strength, decided to pick up the Sword of Greed. Bosh’tet. If my analysis was correct, he could have unwittingly become the next thrall of Karzoug’s power or have succumbed to some deadly curse. Luckily, however, Tolgun was able to resist its effects and dropped it on the ground again, though later he confessed that the sword had spoken to him, tempting him with power over others. The fight continued, with Soril manipulating the battle space and Lai’Ki flinging arrows through the room. With everyone now back on their feet and at fighting strength, I cast haste on most of the party to take down our giant foes more quickly. Soon after, one giant was felled, followed shortly by another. Finally, all three giants and the Champion of Greed lay dead on the floor of the opulent throne room.
We took some time to tend our wounds and examine the equipment our enemies carried. We found several curative potions and some very nice pieces of defensive equipment. I inherited a belt from Gorm that would make my sword attacks hit harder, but since it was sized for a Dwarf, I had to wrap around my waist multiple times for it to fit properly. I took a moment to activate a wand and look around for hidden doors. Finding none, we decided to head through a set of double doors to the left-hand side of the elegant throne. As they opened, we saw a quadrilateral antechamber with an ornate rug on the floor and fancy murals depicting ancient Xin-Shalast on the walls. We found nothing of interest in the room, but before we could move on, another image of Karzoug appeared and prepared to cast yet another spell. Seeing an opportunity to test a theory I had, I tried to run through the apparition of Karzoug, hoping to dispel the illusion. However, the image seemed somewhat substantial and was not dispelled until Lai’Ki shot it with an arrow launched from her enchanted bow. We now knew how to dispel the projections of Karzoug as they pestered us throughout our exploration. We merely had to remain prepared for them to show up without warning.
The antechamber led to a room beyond through another set of large double doors. Outrageously over-sized beds lay against the walls of the room of the enormous chamber. A towering stone table flanked by equally over-sized chairs sat in the center of the room, along with an equally big giant: a rune giant. It had just finished donning its gigantic armor with a towering greatsword in its hand. We had read about these gargantuan behemoths, but we were not prepared for their muscular and magical abilities. A battle ensued, in which we discovered that the rune giant apparently had the ability to activate powers within its runic tattoos to blind nearby opponents and spray a shower of lightning and fire in a broad arc in front of them. Gorm was temporarily blinded, but soon recovered. The elemental jet did a great deal of damage to those who wandered too close. Soril and I tried to damage the giant with fire spells of our own, but it seemed to have little effect. However, it was soon dead from more conventional attacks. We searched the room, but found nothing of interest save for the rune giant’s personal effects. We were able to utilize the giant’s impressive armor, but nothing else was of use.
Having no other exits to the bed chamber, we returned to the throne room and proceeded down an open hallway on the opposite side of the opulent chair. After a somewhat lengthy walk along the highly decorated curving corridor running along the outer edge of the spire, we came to a nook in the hallway with double doors to the left. As we approached them, another apparition of the Runelord of Greed surprised us and, before we had a chance to react, blasted most of us with a cone of freezing cold. Again, the act of casting a spell through the image ended the projection and we were free to continue our exploration. We entered through the double doors and found a cozy room with three additional doors along its walls. The exquisitely decorated chamber contained thick carpeting on the floor, a flickering fireplace along one wall, and several nests of fine furs and cushions. We also found a small magical pin – a simple talisman that protected its wearer from poison. We opened the doors to the left, which led to a horrifyingly foul chamber. The noisome abattoir of a room was empty of furniture. It would appear that the disgusting creatures that were here preferred to use the half-gnawed bodies of previous meals as bedding. We found a pair of lamia hungerers, like the ones we avoided fighting in the temple of Lissala in the ruins below us. This time, we wanted to avoid allowing the hungerers to begin wailing loudly, so we fought them. From our studies, we knew the vile creatures could spew caustic liquid from their wounds, so most of us tried to keep our distance. They were slow and not particularly powerful, but it took many hits to destroy them, and each slash or puncture of their hide loosed a stream of their damaging ichor all around them. Their bites had the ability to affect one’s mind, and soon Ryll began to suffer from their effects. The room was filled with poisonous gas, but our protections against harmful atmospheric effects were still active. We will have remember that tactic if we run into more of the nasty things. We eventually won and Tolgun restored Ryll’s mental abilities. We briefly searched through the offal but found nothing of interest.
After so much action seen this day, we were sorely running scarce of resources, so we decided it was time to rest and recuperate. Though we made significant inroads into Karzoug’s fortress, it would do us little good to carry on. We decided the most convenient hiding place would be the chamber with the now-dead rune giant, since it was nearby and had only one entrance to guard. We don’t know if we will be able to rest: Karzoug may pop in on us again or he may send some of his remaining minions to harass us during the night. If so, we will have to try to make it to another building among the Spires of Xin-Shalast to recover enough to continue our quest. May Desna smile upon us.
- E
Illya,
The days seem to last for weeks here among the Spires of Xin-Shalast. After so many weeks of traveling, we have at last met with a great deal of action this day. We have prevailed thus far, but at great cost. Our resources run thin and I believe we still have much to do before we may put to rest Karzoug’s claim on Varisia.
This morning, we returned to the Spires armed with many restorative spells to counteract the forces of the occlusion field. Throughout the day, we were bombarded by many of the harmful energy waves, but we were able to either shrug off their effects or heal any damage they caused. We began by investigating the structures on the far eastern end of the complex. The series of buildings turned out to be a vast prison, empty of all occupants and nothing of interest to be found. The scale of the structures, however, suggested that Karzoug must have had an enormous number of political prisoners at one time, his mistrust of his subjects obviously descending into maddening paranoia.
We then entered the second of the three large buildings on the western end of the Spires. The structure had the appearance of an expansive dormitory with many floors filled with hundreds or thousands of small living quarters. We made a cursory inspection of only some of the more prominent habitations. Finding nothing of consequence other than abandoned rooms, we moved on to the third building. That tower, too, was filled with living quarters, though they were larger and more opulent than those of the dormitory. In some of the rooms, we found evidence of recent rummaging but were unable to find any clues as to who had been searching or what their quarry might be.
We then made the last climb up the steep, snowy slope to the large central spire. There were several small buildings nearby and a large, empty amphitheater. However, it was the central tower that truly dominated the landscape. It had to have stretched thousands of feet into the air. We entered the pinnacle spire’s ground floor to find hundreds of tall arches somehow supporting the immense structure. The atmosphere inside the spire seemed breathable and comfortable. There was a large open space in the center of the building, floored by a highly polished stone circle and surrounded by sixteen massive pillars that rose to support a single central column. The architecture of this place is astonishing, even surpassing the building techniques of our Dwarven associates. There was no place to go except to follow a long, spiraling ramp that wrapped around the support columns. Eventually, we reached the top of the ramp at a flat landing. Intricate carvings on the walls evoked images of Xin-Shalast in its heyday, accented with vibrant paint and inlaid gems. The highly polished floor consisted of a checkerboard pattern of gold and black tiles, while the entire place was brilliantly lit by what appeared to be dozens of bejeweled everburning torches in equally decadent sconces. A set of large golden double doors and another smaller door were the only entrances to the rooms that lay beyond, but they were guarded by a trio of cloud giants. The giants were dressed in what appeared to be billowy, flowing togas and golden helms. Each carried a ranseur and were not in the mood for talking. The giants had an enormously long reach with their weapons and were thus able to strike some hard blows against Soril, even though he was behind most of us at the time. However, we were able to subdue them after some struggle. Luckily, the three giants wore sihedron rings which we appropriated so that our entire group would be protected from the effects of the recurring occlusion field energy pulse. I shudder to think what vile service the sihedron rings and amulets allow Karzoug to affect upon us, but they are of great use to us presently, allowing us to use our resources more effectively. I only hope we will not regret taking advantage of their powers.
We decided to explore the single door to the left. It opened to what can only be described as a storage room, filled with various sundry items. Gorm, Ryll, and I stepped inside to take a closer look, and when we did, an apparition of Karzoug appeared. The image was some kind of illusion or projection, as it seemed to be less than real. It spoke, saying, “And so the fools have found me. I must applaud your tenacity. You are much more persistent than the worms I thought you to be. You are more like hungry maggots in your endless squirming and writhing to get to the death that awaits you at the core of your fate. I am that fate, maggots, I am your death!” With that, the image started casting a spell upon us. I quickly moved out of the room, but my retreat was not fast enough. Karzoug’s spell had a devastating effect on many of us, as if our bodies had been wracked by crippling dehydration; however, his apparition disappeared – for a time. A closer inspection of the room revealed a persistent aura of conjuration magic. Tolgun spent some time healing us before we continued our exploration.
We opened the large golden double doors. They opened with ease into a semi-circular hallway, the ceiling of which rose to an arch many feet above. Curving to the west, the hall ended in a particularly immense pair of double doors that appeared to be made of gold. Following it all the way around to the other side was another set of doors. While we were looking through the hallway, another image of Karzoug appeared, calling us “worms” and “maggots” again before casting another spell. At the time, I was looking for hidden doors and was too far away to do anything to stop him, but Ryll charged in with her sword and somehow disrupted the projected image before it could hurt us.
Having narrowly escaped another damaging attack, Ryll had a strong urge to head to the left and through the double doors closest to us. We pushed open the doors to find a massive throne room. The interior of the dazzling chamber was awash in golden light. It shone from every gem, every strip of gold, and every silver-inlaid wall carving, creating a kaleidoscope of color and riches. The checkerboard pattern on the floor was interrupted in a wide path from the doors to a throne on a dais of onyx in the southwest by a track of what appeared to be countless rubies forming a “red carpet” of sorts. The throne, if possible, made the rest of the chamber’s extravagance seem pale and poor by comparison, for it was made of shining gold, diamonds, rubies, and sapphires and draped with shimmering, glowing furs from unrecognizable creatures. There were three storm giants wearing greatswords, golden helms, and breastplates standing guard around the room and a human woman dressed in a suit of golden plate mail and brandishing a golden scimitar. When Gorm and Ryll entered, the woman called out, saying, “Ryll Kor! I have been watching you for some time. I am Karzoug’s champion, the Champion of Greed. I challenge you to a duel!” This performance took us aback, having never seen such an honorable proposition from one of Karzoug’s minions. Obviously intrigued, Ryll accepted the duel and negotiated very favorable terms. Fighting to the death, if Ryll were to win, Karzoug’s champion would instruct all of the giants under her command to lay down their arms, which would have included most of the inhabitants of Xin-Shalast. If the champion were to win, she would gain nothing save for the honor of having defeated a paladin of Sarenrae. Secretly, the rest of us agreed that we would harbor no quarter to Karzoug’s champion if she were to win, especially since she would not be able to command her giants to surrender if she lost a duel to the death. In addition to these terms, the combatants were not allowed to receive aid from anyone. We all agreed to these terms, knowing that some of our party would be able to revive Ryll if she were to lose. The rest of us took positions in the room as spectators and the duel commenced. The champion held aloft her sword and said, “This is Chellan, the Sword of Greed, the last of the Alara’hai, and I have been waiting a long time for this.”
The two combatants squared off in the center of the room, while I chose a position most favorable to watch the fight. I immediately cast a divination spell to ascertain the abilities of the champion’s magical accouterments. While the champion’s armor, shield, and other trappings emitted strong magical auras, her scimitar glowed so brightly in my magical detection that I was nearly blinded, and therefore I was forced to stop concentrating on the spell. Apparently, Chellan was some sort of artifact from the powerful days of Thassilon. Even without my usual means of arcane determination, I could see the effects of her magical regalia. Her form was somewhat distorted and wavy, as if under some sort of illusion, making her more difficult to hit. Her movements were very quick – an effect I know very well – as if she had augmented her speed. As the champion and the paladin readied themselves for the battle to come, I silently consulted with Blackthorn about the significance of Karzoug’s champion and her sword. I had read that each runelord had a champion: a runelord’s word of law whenever he or she was not around. The champion would normally stay in the seat of power during peace time, but would often lead the runelord’s army in times of war. All Champions of Greed throughout the history of Shalast carried a different type of sword they named Chellan, one of the fabled Alara’hai, or sin-swords wielded by the seven champions of Thassilon. Blackthorn had more knowledge than I, offering that the Sword of Greed was a very powerful weapon made of gold. She also posited that, even though the stories were unclear, it may have been possible that Chellan was a single weapon with morphing capabilities that was passed down from champion to champion. It dawned on me that Chellan, like Blackthorn, could be intelligent and that whosoever wielded the weapon would become the new Champion of Greed. Unfortunately, I did not voice my concerns about the sword, to near disastrous consequences.
The duel began. The champion gained the upper hand by attacking first, catching Ryll off guard and hitting with a hard strike to one of the weakest points in Ryll’s armor. From the onset, Ryll would have to be on the defensive. The paladin called down righteous fury from Sarenrae and, using the advantages of her domineering weapon, made a series of attack strikes, all but one of which bounced harmlessly off the champion’s sturdy defenses. The champion returned with a series of attacks of her own, including bludgeons from her shield, all of which landed considerable damage in one well-choreographed assault. Ryll seemed about ready to succumb to her wounds at this point, but she was quickly healed through her paladin abilities and so was able to continue the fight. After seeing the speed and precision of the champion’s well-practiced strikes, combined with her formidable defenses, I deduced that a strategy of evasive mobility and confounding deceptions would be the best way to negate the champion’s array of abilities. While Ryll’s martial and healing powers are usually quite impressive, she lacked the dexterity and cunning to upset her foe. However, the fight was not yet over, and Ryll made her sword glow with brilliant energy and made several attacks against the champions, landing solid blows. This seemed to center Ryll’s focus for a time, as she was able to deflect more of the champions next round of concentrated attacks. Ryll stayed in the fight, healing herself of some of her wounds and slashing through the champion’s armor. Chellan then seemed to glow with visible, blue light and the champion seemed reinvigorated, coming back with a few well-placed hits of her own. Again, Ryll seemed close to death, but she glowed with defiance and stood her ground, healing herself and scoring another hit. It was at this point that I feared the worst and made myself ready to join the fight once Ryll was no longer able to continue. I cast greater invisibility on myself and drew my sword. The champion’s blade again healed her and she came at Ryll with three precise slashes, severing the life force of the valiant paladin, who fell with a burst of energy that damaged the champion. We all knew then that the duel was over, but we tacitly agreed that we would finish the fight.
A ray of cold energy shot forth from Soril’s outstretched hand, dealing considerable damage to the champion while I moved in behind her and struck her square in the back. Gorm moved to intercept one of the storm giants before it could react to our intervening, but the giants were well armored and proved difficult to hit. Nala moved to render aid to Ryll, bringing her back to life with one of his more useful spells. The giants then moved in to attack the group, one hitting Gorm from the sound of it. Despite the impressive defensive abilities of the champion he had just witnessed, Tolgun somehow got it into his head to grapple her to the ground, and he failed miserably at the attempt. In retaliation, the champion launched a flurry of attacks on Tolgun, killing him outright. Bosh’tet. I then hit the champion several times, probably inflicting significant damage due to Blackthorn’s domineering enchantment. The damage nearly brought the champion to her knees, but Chellan seemed to heal her again. Nala then had to render aid to Tolgun, but was severely struck by one of the nearby giants. Soril was able to stun the champion with a magical word and so she dropped her sword and shield. Meanwhile, a giant struck the newly revived Tolgun, nearly killing him again. He then swung his pitiable excuse for a weapon wildly through the air and managed to hit and kill the defenseless Champion of Greed. I then turned my attention to the giant nearby, striking it with great force, but also turning my attention away from Tolgun and Chellan. As Nala healed himself and Gorm continued to battle a giant alone, Tolgun, after quickly healing Ryll and bringing the paladin back up to fighting strength, decided to pick up the Sword of Greed. Bosh’tet. If my analysis was correct, he could have unwittingly become the next thrall of Karzoug’s power or have succumbed to some deadly curse. Luckily, however, Tolgun was able to resist its effects and dropped it on the ground again, though later he confessed that the sword had spoken to him, tempting him with power over others. The fight continued, with Soril manipulating the battle space and Lai’Ki flinging arrows through the room. With everyone now back on their feet and at fighting strength, I cast haste on most of the party to take down our giant foes more quickly. Soon after, one giant was felled, followed shortly by another. Finally, all three giants and the Champion of Greed lay dead on the floor of the opulent throne room.
We took some time to tend our wounds and examine the equipment our enemies carried. We found several curative potions and some very nice pieces of defensive equipment. I inherited a belt from Gorm that would make my sword attacks hit harder, but since it was sized for a Dwarf, I had to wrap around my waist multiple times for it to fit properly. I took a moment to activate a wand and look around for hidden doors. Finding none, we decided to head through a set of double doors to the left-hand side of the elegant throne. As they opened, we saw a quadrilateral antechamber with an ornate rug on the floor and fancy murals depicting ancient Xin-Shalast on the walls. We found nothing of interest in the room, but before we could move on, another image of Karzoug appeared and prepared to cast yet another spell. Seeing an opportunity to test a theory I had, I tried to run through the apparition of Karzoug, hoping to dispel the illusion. However, the image seemed somewhat substantial and was not dispelled until Lai’Ki shot it with an arrow launched from her enchanted bow. We now knew how to dispel the projections of Karzoug as they pestered us throughout our exploration. We merely had to remain prepared for them to show up without warning.
The antechamber led to a room beyond through another set of large double doors. Outrageously over-sized beds lay against the walls of the room of the enormous chamber. A towering stone table flanked by equally over-sized chairs sat in the center of the room, along with an equally big giant: a rune giant. It had just finished donning its gigantic armor with a towering greatsword in its hand. We had read about these gargantuan behemoths, but we were not prepared for their muscular and magical abilities. A battle ensued, in which we discovered that the rune giant apparently had the ability to activate powers within its runic tattoos to blind nearby opponents and spray a shower of lightning and fire in a broad arc in front of them. Gorm was temporarily blinded, but soon recovered. The elemental jet did a great deal of damage to those who wandered too close. Soril and I tried to damage the giant with fire spells of our own, but it seemed to have little effect. However, it was soon dead from more conventional attacks. We searched the room, but found nothing of interest save for the rune giant’s personal effects. We were able to utilize the giant’s impressive armor, but nothing else was of use.
Having no other exits to the bed chamber, we returned to the throne room and proceeded down an open hallway on the opposite side of the opulent chair. After a somewhat lengthy walk along the highly decorated curving corridor running along the outer edge of the spire, we came to a nook in the hallway with double doors to the left. As we approached them, another apparition of the Runelord of Greed surprised us and, before we had a chance to react, blasted most of us with a cone of freezing cold. Again, the act of casting a spell through the image ended the projection and we were free to continue our exploration. We entered through the double doors and found a cozy room with three additional doors along its walls. The exquisitely decorated chamber contained thick carpeting on the floor, a flickering fireplace along one wall, and several nests of fine furs and cushions. We also found a small magical pin – a simple talisman that protected its wearer from poison. We opened the doors to the left, which led to a horrifyingly foul chamber. The noisome abattoir of a room was empty of furniture. It would appear that the disgusting creatures that were here preferred to use the half-gnawed bodies of previous meals as bedding. We found a pair of lamia hungerers, like the ones we avoided fighting in the temple of Lissala in the ruins below us. This time, we wanted to avoid allowing the hungerers to begin wailing loudly, so we fought them. From our studies, we knew the vile creatures could spew caustic liquid from their wounds, so most of us tried to keep our distance. They were slow and not particularly powerful, but it took many hits to destroy them, and each slash or puncture of their hide loosed a stream of their damaging ichor all around them. Their bites had the ability to affect one’s mind, and soon Ryll began to suffer from their effects. The room was filled with poisonous gas, but our protections against harmful atmospheric effects were still active. We will have remember that tactic if we run into more of the nasty things. We eventually won and Tolgun restored Ryll’s mental abilities. We briefly searched through the offal but found nothing of interest.
After so much action seen this day, we were sorely running scarce of resources, so we decided it was time to rest and recuperate. Though we made significant inroads into Karzoug’s fortress, it would do us little good to carry on. We decided the most convenient hiding place would be the chamber with the now-dead rune giant, since it was nearby and had only one entrance to guard. We don’t know if we will be able to rest: Karzoug may pop in on us again or he may send some of his remaining minions to harass us during the night. If so, we will have to try to make it to another building among the Spires of Xin-Shalast to recover enough to continue our quest. May Desna smile upon us.
- E