April 12th, 2013

Sins of the Saviors

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

The magic portal

As Orden turned the key through its second complete rotation, the pillar before him began to glow and hum. Suddenly the key vanished from his grip, but the pillar remained activated. Quickly the rest of the party divvied up the keys and placed them in the proper pillars. With each subsequent activated pillar, the hum increased in volume and pitch, while the glow from the pillars grew in intensity. 

The activation of the seventh and final outer pillar triggered the activation of the much larger central pillar. Immediately the humming ceased. Wind rushed in from the smaller surrounding tunnels and converged on the central pillar, which seemed to absorb the light from the other pillars. The mingled glow from the outer pillars coalesced into a swirling vortex of energy; a translucent portal opened in the center of the vortex.

Without hesitation Orden charged through the portal, followed quickly by Bastian and the rest of the party. The far side of the portal began with a long, wide, stone-walled hallway. This straight path continued into a large circular domed chamber with a central fountain and eight divergent paths leading away. Before each separate path stood a 20 foot tall stone statue, which the heroes decided must be the likenesses of the seven Runelords of Thassilon. The eight path, which lead back to the portal, had no statue.

The ancient Runelords of Thassilon each claimed rulership over a particular virtue of leadership (which they later corrupted into the seven mortal sins), and the heroes inspected the likenesses for clues about which particular sin each statue represented. They immediately recognized the face of Runelord Karzoug, master of greed, the same face that once taunted them from atop Mokmurian's dead body. They assigned their best guess to each remaining statue before deciding to follow the path behind Karzoug's statue.

The lengthy path ended abruptly with a large, gem studded door. Orden used find traps to detect the threat posed by the door, but remained powerless to disarm it. With a shrug, he reached out to push the door, Bastian behind him for support. The door pushed back violently, crushing Orden against the opposite wall. Bastian dived out of the way quickly, avoiding injury. In a moment the trap reset itself, ready for further attempts to open it. 

The golems did not last long

Elora searched the area near by for signs of an alternate entry, and discovered evidence of a hidden door, which opened easily and without crushing anyone. A shimmering green mist filled the hallway beyond, which Sirilenda dispelled. The group moved quickly through hallway, as the green mist filled the hallway behind them.

The hall ended in a large room built containing a whale-shaped ice sculpture fountain, around which four water mephitis cavorted. The little creatures eyed the party suspiciously, but Bastian managed to calm them and even got them to volunteer some advice about the chambers beyond. The information provided by the mephitis seemed suspect to the group, but the party moved on and let the tiny beasts continue their play.

In the following chambers, the heroes faced several stone golems, but the group easily dispatched them. After several empty rooms they discovered a closed door.

The metal skinned man

As they approached the door swung open to reveal a thin, bald man with skin like silver metal. He spoke with a booming monotone, and demanded the group explain themselves. When they attempted to recount the imminent revival of Runelord Karzoug, the metal man dismissed the idea as impossible. He then called them intruders and began to attack. 

Spells flew from both sides, with Orden's destruction severely damaging the metal skinned man. He countered with prismatic spray, which fatally poisoned Sirlienda and turned both her and Azalyn to stone. The damaged wizard quickly fled, using dimension door to escape. Bastian cast break enchantment to return Azalyn and Sirilenda from their petrified state; Sirilenda immediately recovered with help from Orden, but Azalyn remained as stone...

April 5th, 2013

Sins of the Saviors

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

Sirilenda's gored body lay clenched in the dead dragon's maw. As the group approached, they saw its massive chest slowly pulsing from the beast's shallow final breaths. Suddenly, one great serpentine eye flashed open and focused on Derani. 

Farathraxis

"Ah, Farathraxis. I should have known..." came his last words. Then nothing.

Derani did not hear her companions around her, as she recalled the name Farathraxis, the name of the dragon her father slew so many years ago. Well, at least she had believed him to be her father, until recently when he told her otherwise. Why this white dragon would know about the connection between her and Farathraxis was a mystery, for now. She spent little time dwelling on the matter, and focused on helping her fallen companion, delicately extricating the corpse from rows of foot-long teeth.

The group retreated to Sandpoint, where Orden revived Sirilenda and the rest of the party recuperated. They reviewed the notes from the Scribbler's rhyming directions to Runeforge, and plotted their next steps. According to the fourth stanza of the rhyme, they needed to climb the stairs leading from the base of Rimeskull mountain all the way to the gaping mouth of the colossal face carved in the side of the peak. They had seen the stairs previously in their trips to the area, but had been busy completing the first stages of the rhyme and so had not explored steps.

The stairs on Rimeskull

Once again they used teleport to reach the snowy mountain, and began climbing the oversized steps, starting at the bottom. Midway up the frozen path, Kage and Derani moved beyond the others to scout the area ahead. A low rumbling from the mountain put the group on edge, but the sudden appearance of three huge earth elementals caught them off guard nonetheless. Almost immediately, Kage and Derani discovered their skill at finding vital points of attack would be useless against these creatures. They maneuvered themselves to relative shelter in the midst of their companions. 

Orden quickly used dismissal to remove two of the rocky behemoths, but the third began pounding on Bastian, denting his armor. Azalyn, flying, attacked from above, while Bastain unsheathed an adamantine longsword for perhaps the first time, and tried the unnaturally hard metal against the elemental's resistant body. His sword failed to make a scratch. Elora unleashed a volley of arrows, striking true. The final arrow reduced the monster to a pile of cold rocks.

The stairs continued uparward, and so did the companions. Once at the top, they discovered a long, wide tunnel leading deep into the mountain. They followed the straight path of the rough-hewn cave until the light from the mouth barely reached them. After a slight turn west, then another turn back north, they came upon a pair of large statues, arms outstretched as if in warning. Beyond the statues the path sloped downward, and a layer of ice covered the floor.

Kage gently tested the icy slope, and decided that while his ninja agility allowed him no difficulty navigating the slippery descent, his companions lacked the requisite skill to pass without falling. While the group discussed options for moving forward, including Azalyn's suggestion of riding the slope like a slide, Derani noticed a hidden path along the side of the cavern that lead down beside the slope. They followed this walkway past the point where the slope suddenly dropped off into an enormous gaping pit. The path wound around the pit, gradually reaching the floor 300 feet below. 

The dragon's hoard

The bottom of the pit contained seven 20-foot high pillars surrounding an eighth pillar 40 feet tall. The rune-covered pillars nestled a pile of gold, jewels, magic items, and other valuables. The heros concluded that this must be the slain dragon's hoard, and began scooping it into bags of holding. After a few days of using teleport to ferry the loot back to Sandpoint, the group examined the pillars to match the seven keys they had obtained earlier with the correct pillars.

Orden thrust one of the keys into the small keyhole at the base of its corresponding pillar, and turned it twice, just as the rhyme instructed. They waited for the result...