July 19th, 2013

Sins of the Saviors

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

The party stood over the corpse of Jordimandus, blood and filth still dripping from their weapons. They looted his body and searched his chambers, uncovering a small horde of treasure. Amongst the trinkets they discovered a scribbled note about the components needed to craft runreforged weapons. Far from complete instructions, the note simply detailed the necessary ingredients, which turned out to be various items from each of the wings of Runeforge. The list identified the component from the Hall of Envy as a vial of 'ethillion,' a quicksilver-like fluid known to drain magic from magic items. The party scoured the sludge covered halls but failed to find any such substance.

At a loss, they returned to the central hub of Runeforge and voted on the next wing of the complex to tackle. They agreed Pride seemed a likely place, since two different inhabitants had indicated that the master of those halls, Vraxeris, would be the one most likely to know the method of casting runeforged weapons. Their last foray there had not ended so well, but they knew now what to anticipate, and so they felt confident they could prevail.

The heroes stopped at the threshhold of the Halls of Pride and cast their preparatory spells, while from further inside they heard the guardians of the halls casting as well. As soon as Bastian and Orden rounded the corner leading into the large central chamber, a barrage of fireballs shot towards them and engulfed the area in explosion upon explosion. Sirilenda fell long before the sixth and final fireball impacted. Those who weathered the storm of fire positioned themselves to attack.

Elora took aim, but before loosing a shot succumbed to one of several phantasmal killer spells aimed her way. Then Azalyn failed to throw off the effects of a confusion spell, and attacked herself. With three party members out of commission, the heroes feared all was lost.

Orden managed to heal Azalyn of the confusion, and Bastian began seeking the invisible enemies. Orden then cast invisibility purge and illuminated the targets for Azalyn's and Bastian's attacks, turning the tide of the battle. In a few more rounds, the six wizards lay slain, and the heroes found that all the enemies had identical appearances. The surviving heroes gathered their dead and retreated.

After a brief journey back to Magnimar to buy components for and cast raise dead, the heroes, including those recently revived, explored the Halls of Pride further. The discovered a secret door in the rear of the large chamber, leading to a small study occupied by a recently deceased individual who strongly resembled the six identical mages.

They found a journal in his lap, which lay open to a page detailing the process for creating runeforged weapons. The heroes studied the writing carefully...