Post by Bandgoat on May 27, 2016 9:52:21 GMT -6
Lamashan 11, 4708 – Early Evening
My Dearest Illya,
I feel we are very near the end of our adventure. One way or another, this will all be over soon. The gravity of our situation – the demise of civilization if we fail – has finally overcome my optimism. I am prepared to give my life in this endeavor, though I still harbor the faint hope that it will not come to that. It almost seems lunacy that all that stands between our world and an evil tyrant bent on its control is a group of seven companions. It seems like an army of thousands would be more appropriate.
After our skirmish with the Khalib and his planar minion, we healed our wounds and our new friend Ayruzi plane shifted away, apparently able to leave the spire. We exited the curving hallway through the door Khalib had left open, only to find ourselves in another expansive corridor. A set of double doors stood in one corner while the walls were lined with a multitude of single doors, each spaced only a few feet apart. The hall seemed very quiet, but when we looked around a set of rooms in the middle of the hall, we found another image of Karzoug, which Lai’Ki dispatched with aplomb.
Through the double doors, the southern wall of the otherwise empty chamber shimmered and glowed – a wall of swirling, golden mist, rather than the polished stone seen everywhere else in the complex. Now and then, strange shapes could be half-seen through the mist. Soril and I studied its arcane characteristics, finding that it was some sort of active portal. Wanting to learn more about it, Soril summoned a pig, tied a rope to it and sent it into the swirling mist. Once the porcine creature touched the mist, it looked like it was walking through fog. We saw a vague, shadowy outline of the pig on the other side. It continued to pull the rope through, but after a few seconds we gave the rope a tug. We recovered only the amount of rope that had not entered the portal, the edge appearing to have been neatly cut by the portal. We reasoned that it was only a one-way teleport and, based on the strength of its magical aura, was probably a mid-range transport, allowing instantaneous movement over only a few miles. I conjectured that it could lead to the base of the Mhar Massif, explaining the sudden appearance of an ice devil as we approached the mountainous climb. This portal might make a handy escape route if we find ourselves needing to make an expeditious retreat off the mountain.
We then methodically searched through the single doors and found many square rooms, large enough to comfortably accommodate enormous creatures. Almost all of them were empty, but they seemed to be magical chambers for holding a creature in suspended animation for many years. There were many of these temporal stasis chambers throughout the hall. However, there was one room that was different. It was smaller and triangular and contained a golden bed strewn with exotic furs and silk sheets. A long shelf above the bed held nearly two dozen leather-bound books: apparently spell books and arcane tomes focusing on transmutation magic. We figured this was Khalib’s chambers, but we found nothing that would give any clues to the mysteries we have found so far.
We eventually made our way to the end of the wide corridor where it opened into a large gathering point. There, we saw an enormous statue of Karzoug, Runelord of Greed, standing in one portion of the chamber. His hands were posed before him as if they may have once held an object between them. A brazier stood before the statue, plumes of smokeless fire churning inside. Opposite the statue stood a stone, pagoda-like structure, a single opening revealing two smaller statues of Karzoug within, one on either side of a twenty-foot long sarcophagus bearing the likeness of the runelord on its golden lid. In front of us, a massive pair of golden double doors shimmered behind a hazy screen of golden energy. Between us and the door was a gigantic demon, bulging with what could be muscle. Soril called it a shemhazian demon that looked like a cross among a bear, a mantis, a wolf, and a reptile. It was in no mood for a chat, so we had to fight it. The beast had a very tough layer of hide protecting, making it difficult for Lai’Ki’s arrows to find purchase, but Ryll was able to bring her holy power to bear against it. The demon retaliated by laying into the paladin with tooth and claw while several goat-legged demons poured out of the pagoda to join in the attack against us. Soril was able to erect a wall of force, limiting the creatures’ access to our ranks. We were then able to make short work of the foes. Cautiously, we investigated inside the pagoda, going so far as lifting the lid to the sarcophagus, but finding nothing but an empty coffin.
We then investigated the shimmering doors, which emitted an aura of strong evocation. Soril deduced that it was probably a robust version of a permanent wall of force. Since we were low on health and magical resources to deal with this barrier, we rested to regain our strength and spells. While we slept, we were unmolested, the spire seemingly devoid of any remaining enemies. The next morning, we tried a series of procedures to try and break through the shimmering wall before us. Soril, hiding behind Ryll, zapped the wall with a disintegrate spell. The wall absorbed the energy and shot back at him, dealing quite a bit of damage. In response, I used a wand of magic missile of very little power. A ray came back and hit me with considerable damage, indicating that the damage it did was nearly constant and not a function of the spell power attacking it. We summoned another pig and shoved it against the doors to no effect. Soril tried to dispel magic and a bolt of force fired back at him. After consulting Khalib’s magical notes, we determined that the wall of force could be damaged and destroyed, at least for a while, so we continued our efforts. Ryll hit it with a magical adamantine war hammer and another bolt of energy shot her back, meaning the retaliatory effects of the wall were not constrained to magical attacks. Soril created an anti-magic field around himself and strode toward the doors. The field crackled and sparked with disruptive energy, but no ray of energy was able to fire back upon our wizard. Tolgun then moved in and began bashing on it. It took several hours of constant, earsplitting hammering, but the wall finally broke and we were able to enter the next room.
Pillars of gold support the arching ceiling of the room. One wall bears a particularly detailed mural that shows Xin-Shalast at its height with the face atop Mhar Massif appearing to address its citizens as magical runes and spirals of energy emerge from its mouth. Yet, even this impressive work of art is overwhelmed by what towers at the center of the room: an immense, slowly rotating sphere of gold, its surface shimmering with strangely sluggish flames. A stone walkway with a set of stairs leads up to the side of the sphere where a narrow ramp leads up to a wide platform balanced precariously atop the globe, from which a shimmering pillar of golden light shines up to the ceiling above. There were a number of hostile creatures in the room with us: four lamias and a lamia harridan tending to the magical sphere. It was now evident to us that it was this harridan and others like her that occupied the living spaces among the spires built for enormous quadrupeds. A large battle ensued. The battle began as most of our hostile encounters have, my casting haste on everyone, Ryll empowering her longsword, and Tolgun missing with his Dwarf weapon. With Soril’s anti-magic field still in effect, the spells the lamia priestesses cast on us had no effect. However, they still had several defensive spell in place making it extremely difficult for any of us to hit them physically, especially Lai’Ki. Gorm moved in and successfully hit one of them while Nala bombed an area near a lamia inflicting moderate damage. I cast some defensive spells on myself while engaging the lamia’s left flank in melee. Tolgun moved closer, getting hit hard in the process, and missing wildly with his attack. Ryll continued to use her goddess’s powers to improve her own fighting prowess while the lamias continued a round of casting spells to no effect. Lai’Ki, concentrating all of her attack efforts on the harridan, was never able to find an opening in the creature’s magical defenses. Gorm and Nala, on the other hand, kept inflicting damage against the foes. I continued to harass the weaker lamias while others concentrated on the bigger one, taking considerable damage for their troubles, especially the easy target of Tolgun, though the heavily armored Gorm was not safe from their assault. Soril, too, was even hit badly with a blade and, along with Tolgun, suffered some kind of acute mental damage. Blackthorn continued to strike true against the normal-sized lamias, killing a couple of them while Ryll killed another, but the larger one remained elusively difficult to kill, being able to heal herself at times during the fight. Tolgun likewise dispensed some healing magic, mainly on himself, to to keep up our end of the battle. Just then, Gorm scored a massive blow against the creature, but Nala, apparently misjudging the pace of the combat hit Gorm with one of his bombs, probably on accident. Soril then inflicted a great amount of damage on the harridan with a well-placed disintegrate spell, but the lamia fought back, nearly taking Tolgun out of the fight. I sprayed a line of acid across the room, killing the last lamia priestess and heavily damaging the harridan while Tolgun continued to miss wildly with his swings. Ryll, having suffered damage of her own, healed herself and tried to move in close to the harridan, but was soon felled by a massive attack from the huge creature. Ryll was then out of the fight and Gorm was taking massive damage as well, but with a concentrated round of spells and magical effects, Soril and I brought the creature to its knees as Gorm stepped up and finished it off with a powerful swing of his axe.
It was a difficult fight, but we prevailed. As the last lamia died, we noticed that a pale greenish vapor or energy rose from the slain body, wafted across the room, and merged with the golden orb. I then turned my attention to the massive sphere while the others healed their collective wounds and restored their strength. I found that the object was an immensely powerful source of pure conjuration magic. I concluded that it is likely another type of teleportation module, this one capable of transporting someone across planar boundaries. This could be the final gateway we seek to finally confront Karzoug the Claimer. It would be nice if we could simply find a way to sever the link from his realm to ours, though I fear at least one more great battle lies before us. Soril is about to conduct an independent study of the object. I imagine his superior arcane knowledge and reasoning will find more clues to this device’s purpose and function. In the mean time, we must prepare for one last fight. If it is to be our last, I pray that our spirits find each other in this world or the next.
- Until Next We Meet, E
My Dearest Illya,
I feel we are very near the end of our adventure. One way or another, this will all be over soon. The gravity of our situation – the demise of civilization if we fail – has finally overcome my optimism. I am prepared to give my life in this endeavor, though I still harbor the faint hope that it will not come to that. It almost seems lunacy that all that stands between our world and an evil tyrant bent on its control is a group of seven companions. It seems like an army of thousands would be more appropriate.
After our skirmish with the Khalib and his planar minion, we healed our wounds and our new friend Ayruzi plane shifted away, apparently able to leave the spire. We exited the curving hallway through the door Khalib had left open, only to find ourselves in another expansive corridor. A set of double doors stood in one corner while the walls were lined with a multitude of single doors, each spaced only a few feet apart. The hall seemed very quiet, but when we looked around a set of rooms in the middle of the hall, we found another image of Karzoug, which Lai’Ki dispatched with aplomb.
Through the double doors, the southern wall of the otherwise empty chamber shimmered and glowed – a wall of swirling, golden mist, rather than the polished stone seen everywhere else in the complex. Now and then, strange shapes could be half-seen through the mist. Soril and I studied its arcane characteristics, finding that it was some sort of active portal. Wanting to learn more about it, Soril summoned a pig, tied a rope to it and sent it into the swirling mist. Once the porcine creature touched the mist, it looked like it was walking through fog. We saw a vague, shadowy outline of the pig on the other side. It continued to pull the rope through, but after a few seconds we gave the rope a tug. We recovered only the amount of rope that had not entered the portal, the edge appearing to have been neatly cut by the portal. We reasoned that it was only a one-way teleport and, based on the strength of its magical aura, was probably a mid-range transport, allowing instantaneous movement over only a few miles. I conjectured that it could lead to the base of the Mhar Massif, explaining the sudden appearance of an ice devil as we approached the mountainous climb. This portal might make a handy escape route if we find ourselves needing to make an expeditious retreat off the mountain.
We then methodically searched through the single doors and found many square rooms, large enough to comfortably accommodate enormous creatures. Almost all of them were empty, but they seemed to be magical chambers for holding a creature in suspended animation for many years. There were many of these temporal stasis chambers throughout the hall. However, there was one room that was different. It was smaller and triangular and contained a golden bed strewn with exotic furs and silk sheets. A long shelf above the bed held nearly two dozen leather-bound books: apparently spell books and arcane tomes focusing on transmutation magic. We figured this was Khalib’s chambers, but we found nothing that would give any clues to the mysteries we have found so far.
We eventually made our way to the end of the wide corridor where it opened into a large gathering point. There, we saw an enormous statue of Karzoug, Runelord of Greed, standing in one portion of the chamber. His hands were posed before him as if they may have once held an object between them. A brazier stood before the statue, plumes of smokeless fire churning inside. Opposite the statue stood a stone, pagoda-like structure, a single opening revealing two smaller statues of Karzoug within, one on either side of a twenty-foot long sarcophagus bearing the likeness of the runelord on its golden lid. In front of us, a massive pair of golden double doors shimmered behind a hazy screen of golden energy. Between us and the door was a gigantic demon, bulging with what could be muscle. Soril called it a shemhazian demon that looked like a cross among a bear, a mantis, a wolf, and a reptile. It was in no mood for a chat, so we had to fight it. The beast had a very tough layer of hide protecting, making it difficult for Lai’Ki’s arrows to find purchase, but Ryll was able to bring her holy power to bear against it. The demon retaliated by laying into the paladin with tooth and claw while several goat-legged demons poured out of the pagoda to join in the attack against us. Soril was able to erect a wall of force, limiting the creatures’ access to our ranks. We were then able to make short work of the foes. Cautiously, we investigated inside the pagoda, going so far as lifting the lid to the sarcophagus, but finding nothing but an empty coffin.
We then investigated the shimmering doors, which emitted an aura of strong evocation. Soril deduced that it was probably a robust version of a permanent wall of force. Since we were low on health and magical resources to deal with this barrier, we rested to regain our strength and spells. While we slept, we were unmolested, the spire seemingly devoid of any remaining enemies. The next morning, we tried a series of procedures to try and break through the shimmering wall before us. Soril, hiding behind Ryll, zapped the wall with a disintegrate spell. The wall absorbed the energy and shot back at him, dealing quite a bit of damage. In response, I used a wand of magic missile of very little power. A ray came back and hit me with considerable damage, indicating that the damage it did was nearly constant and not a function of the spell power attacking it. We summoned another pig and shoved it against the doors to no effect. Soril tried to dispel magic and a bolt of force fired back at him. After consulting Khalib’s magical notes, we determined that the wall of force could be damaged and destroyed, at least for a while, so we continued our efforts. Ryll hit it with a magical adamantine war hammer and another bolt of energy shot her back, meaning the retaliatory effects of the wall were not constrained to magical attacks. Soril created an anti-magic field around himself and strode toward the doors. The field crackled and sparked with disruptive energy, but no ray of energy was able to fire back upon our wizard. Tolgun then moved in and began bashing on it. It took several hours of constant, earsplitting hammering, but the wall finally broke and we were able to enter the next room.
Pillars of gold support the arching ceiling of the room. One wall bears a particularly detailed mural that shows Xin-Shalast at its height with the face atop Mhar Massif appearing to address its citizens as magical runes and spirals of energy emerge from its mouth. Yet, even this impressive work of art is overwhelmed by what towers at the center of the room: an immense, slowly rotating sphere of gold, its surface shimmering with strangely sluggish flames. A stone walkway with a set of stairs leads up to the side of the sphere where a narrow ramp leads up to a wide platform balanced precariously atop the globe, from which a shimmering pillar of golden light shines up to the ceiling above. There were a number of hostile creatures in the room with us: four lamias and a lamia harridan tending to the magical sphere. It was now evident to us that it was this harridan and others like her that occupied the living spaces among the spires built for enormous quadrupeds. A large battle ensued. The battle began as most of our hostile encounters have, my casting haste on everyone, Ryll empowering her longsword, and Tolgun missing with his Dwarf weapon. With Soril’s anti-magic field still in effect, the spells the lamia priestesses cast on us had no effect. However, they still had several defensive spell in place making it extremely difficult for any of us to hit them physically, especially Lai’Ki. Gorm moved in and successfully hit one of them while Nala bombed an area near a lamia inflicting moderate damage. I cast some defensive spells on myself while engaging the lamia’s left flank in melee. Tolgun moved closer, getting hit hard in the process, and missing wildly with his attack. Ryll continued to use her goddess’s powers to improve her own fighting prowess while the lamias continued a round of casting spells to no effect. Lai’Ki, concentrating all of her attack efforts on the harridan, was never able to find an opening in the creature’s magical defenses. Gorm and Nala, on the other hand, kept inflicting damage against the foes. I continued to harass the weaker lamias while others concentrated on the bigger one, taking considerable damage for their troubles, especially the easy target of Tolgun, though the heavily armored Gorm was not safe from their assault. Soril, too, was even hit badly with a blade and, along with Tolgun, suffered some kind of acute mental damage. Blackthorn continued to strike true against the normal-sized lamias, killing a couple of them while Ryll killed another, but the larger one remained elusively difficult to kill, being able to heal herself at times during the fight. Tolgun likewise dispensed some healing magic, mainly on himself, to to keep up our end of the battle. Just then, Gorm scored a massive blow against the creature, but Nala, apparently misjudging the pace of the combat hit Gorm with one of his bombs, probably on accident. Soril then inflicted a great amount of damage on the harridan with a well-placed disintegrate spell, but the lamia fought back, nearly taking Tolgun out of the fight. I sprayed a line of acid across the room, killing the last lamia priestess and heavily damaging the harridan while Tolgun continued to miss wildly with his swings. Ryll, having suffered damage of her own, healed herself and tried to move in close to the harridan, but was soon felled by a massive attack from the huge creature. Ryll was then out of the fight and Gorm was taking massive damage as well, but with a concentrated round of spells and magical effects, Soril and I brought the creature to its knees as Gorm stepped up and finished it off with a powerful swing of his axe.
It was a difficult fight, but we prevailed. As the last lamia died, we noticed that a pale greenish vapor or energy rose from the slain body, wafted across the room, and merged with the golden orb. I then turned my attention to the massive sphere while the others healed their collective wounds and restored their strength. I found that the object was an immensely powerful source of pure conjuration magic. I concluded that it is likely another type of teleportation module, this one capable of transporting someone across planar boundaries. This could be the final gateway we seek to finally confront Karzoug the Claimer. It would be nice if we could simply find a way to sever the link from his realm to ours, though I fear at least one more great battle lies before us. Soril is about to conduct an independent study of the object. I imagine his superior arcane knowledge and reasoning will find more clues to this device’s purpose and function. In the mean time, we must prepare for one last fight. If it is to be our last, I pray that our spirits find each other in this world or the next.
- Until Next We Meet, E