March 22, 2013

Sins of the Saviors

Players present: Elora (Sally), Azalyn (Shelley), Bastian (Casey), Orden (Mike), Sirilenda (Melissa)

Symbol of Lamashtu

On their second foray into the catacombs below the town of Sandpoint, the heroes took some time to study the myriad scribblings covering the floors and ceiling of the first chamber. Orden cast comprehend languages and began translating the various phrases, some of which were penned in fine script, others scratched raggedly into the stone, and others traced in what could only be blood. Orden and Bastian recognized the writings as prayers to Lamashtu, the goddess of monsters. 

After careful analysis and thorough searching of the litanies, Orden noticed one small phrase unrelated to the others. This singular stanza mentioned the name Runeforge, a name recently discovered by the group as a secret magical research facility created during the time of ancient Thassilon. Their interest piqued, the group searched the room further, but found no other references to Runeforge.

They proceeded to the adjoining chamber, a large altar to Lamashtu, which contained several statues of the goddess as well as a large symbol of her faith engraved on the floor. The southern wall of the room opened through a large gap that lead to unworked caverns beyond. As soon as Azalyn set foot in the caverns, an unnatural baying erupted, sending shivers up her skin. A pack of six hellish hounds flew out of the opening and surrounded the heroes before they could make all their preparations, biting as they passed. The hounds proved no difficult foe for the seasoned heroes, though one did manage to trip Orden and wound him. 

With the last monstrous hound slain, the group entered the caverns and discovered the grisly remains of the town guards sent in earlier by Sheriff Hemlock. The dogs had ravaged the bodies so thoroughly that only their armor and weapons allowed the heroes to identify the gore dripping from the walls as belonging to the lost guards.

Revelation Quill

The caverns lead eventually to a small chamber, which appeared to be the scribbler's inner sanctum. It contained all the notes he had been collecting about the world above, and seemed to the group to indicate that the scribbler was himself from the ancient era of Thassilon, for he seemed to have no knowledge of anything beyond Thassilon's fall. They also found several more stanzas that related to Runeforge, which when assembled provided a cryptic guide to finding its location. The scribbler's notes indicated that at Runforge could be found runeforged weapons, which he felt were needed for protection from a resurgence of the Runelords of Thassilon. In addition, they uncovered a minor artifact called a Revelation Quill, which Sirilenda later learned provided limited access to advice from beings from beyond the known universe. 

With all this lore and loot, the heroes returned to the surface and began decrypting the Scribbler's riddle. Elora recognized some of the geographical features mentioned in the poem as matching the land around the large hot spring lake Stormunder, in the norther part of Varisia. This lake sat adjacent to the Kodar mountains, near the mountain Rimeskull, named for the huge face carved into its snow-covered peak. After resting, the group teleported to lake Stormunder

Once at the lake, they quickly found a small hill on the shore which bore seven large statue heads arranged in a circle. By consulting the Scribbler's rhyme and studying the statues, they discovered that casting a spell of a particular school of magic near each stone resulted in a low rumble in the ground, a lingering high pitched ping, and the appearance of a golden key. They approached each stone and triggered the appearance of all seven keys. As Sirilenda grasped the final key, the air stirred and filled with the sounds of large leathery wings beating the cold mountain air, and the group looked up straight into the maw of an ancient white dragon...