April 26th, 2013

Sins of the Saviors

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

Azaven

The dessicated figure stood before them, dressed in rich robes and flanked by a pair of menacing creatures. To his left hunched a slender, feral-looking corpse of a being, a serrated dagger clenched in one hand. To his right hovered a creature that Orden identified as a Devourer, an extra-planar undead being with the power to trap a soul within its vacant ribcage.

He reiterated his warning "I would not touch that, if I were you. It took me great pains to create it, and it's destruction would unleash a wave of negative energy likely to destroy you."

The heroes questioned him about his purpose. He admitted that he was Azaven, apprentice of the mages serving the Lord of Gluttony. He offered to assist the group in their endeavors to find runeforged weapons, but the former masters of his order had perished, and failed to pass along the secrets of their creation. He suggested that the mage Vraxeris, from the halls of Pride, might still know the formula.

Devourer

He encourged them to be more polite guests before entering the halls of Pride, and recommended they knock and announce themselves before barging in like thieves. Though the group sensed Azaven was evil, they heeded his advice and left the halls of gluttony and headed to the halls of pride.

They arrived at the halls of pride to find not a door, but a branching hallway lined with mirrors. Recalling Azaven's words, Bastian announced the group's arrival before proceeding in. A sonorous voice answered him, instructing him to leave at once. Disregarding that warning, Azalyn and Vale stepped into the hallway. Immediately two duplicates of Azalyn and Vale sprang from the mirrors at the opposite ends of the hall, and charged!

The heroes fought back against their doppelgängers, but not before Azalyn lay dead, beyond the help of Orden's potent revival magic. Bastian too was slain, but quick intervention prevented his permanent demise. Sirilenda managed to dominate one of the Vale-clones, adding a new member of the party.

Mirrored Hallway

After the group put sword to glass and smashed the mirrors, they took stock of their losses. Azalyn lay beyond salvation; they discovered that teleportation outside of Runeforge was impossible and they did not possess the necessary material components to cast raise dead. They would need to rest and consider pressing forward or looking for a way out. But even if they could leave, could they get back in?

While the party debated their options, Bastian could not resist the urge to peer into the chamber beyond the mirrored hallway. The six identical men he saw in the room wasted no time with pleasantries, but immediately began spellcasting when they saw Bastian turn the corner. The rest of the party, weakened from the earlier fight, groaned at Bastian's foolhardy actions...