Koba takes another round of shots at the caster!
Valena magics her blindness away to stay in the fight and press the wizard! Kast wallops the poor wizard, and yet he resists and stays standing! Seamus takes flight and moves into the room to also address the fat man. The jellies seem to ignore the invisible rogue. Rastaf does something heroic. Izomandakus successfully grapples the caster, severely limiting his options! Koba takes a few more shots and lands two!
The fat man feebly swings his rod at Izomandakus to try and bat him away.
But it’s not enough to prevent the grapple.
He casts to deal with the grapple
vs DC 29
He dimension doors across the room and lands unsteadily on his feet. Then he casts a quickened dispel magic upon Kasts air limp!
vs DC 25
Oh! And the dispel fails! Kast remains in the air.
The red one in the NW corner attacks … Valena
(d4 acid) and
The other three writhe around a bit but find nothing in reach.
I think Seamus is now visible.
vs DC 23
He just makes it...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
”Not a bad trick, darling.” She quickly measures out the distance between her and the sloth master. She smiles, quite satisfied with herself, as she pops out of the air and pops back in right next to him.
”Mine is faster, though.”
She unleashes a full waves of attacks on him, starting with a powerful blow right for his head.
HP: 122/122
AC: 37/20/27
Saves: F16/R19/W17 +2 will vs charm and compulsion, +2 fort vs poison and drugs, +4 fort vs alcohol
Hypnotic Stare: Slime wizard
Painful Stare: Slime wizard
Active Implanted Tricks 5/7 used): Mesmeric Mirror (Seamus, unused), Mask Misery (herself, unused)
Hero Points: 2
Spells/Conditions: Freedom of Movement, Tough Crowd, Mirror Image (5), Perfect Blessing (ac, hit, ref)
0: (Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Message, Read Magic, Ghost Sound)
1: 4/6 used (Vanishx1, Psychic Readingx0, Ill Omenx0, Faerie Firex1, Invigoratex0, Remove Fearx1, Eldritch Weaponx2)
2: 5/5 used (Mirror Imagex2, Placebo Effectx2, Lesser Restorationx0, Tonguesx0, Apport Objectx1)
3: 5/5 used (Sendingx1, Displacementx0, Major Imagex1, Invisibility Spherex1, Step Through Realityx2)
4: 3/3 used (Dimension Doorx1, Freedom of Movementx1, Tough Crowdx1)
[ dice]1d20+21[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6+10[/dice] damage.
Valena steps across the room and stabs the man, not quite in his black heart, but close enough to sever it from his body. He collapses in a mound of flesh, and the combat is basically over.
The jellies are troublesome, but they’re meant more as a background annoyance than real foes. You hack and slash your way through them quickly enough, suffering only mild abrasions from their attacks and a few odd occurances. (They can cause hideous laughter, confusion, acid damage, and paralyzation with their attacks - but they pretty much need to crit to hit you.)
With the humors destroyed, the swirling and bubbling slows and stops in the pools and the room grows quiet. The throne continues to hover over the pool - several tons of rock just floating in mid-air.
Izomandrakus looks around for the enemy as he disappears from his jaws "Grrrrowl!" he launches himself after the wizard while the acid arrow burns on his scales, when Valena just stabs the final blow!
The dragon helps to chew down the nasty humors on the room until they are no more.
Then licks his burns produced by the acid, it is starting to look bad "Well done there. This one was tricky. But sure he must have still some valuable treasure we can make use of"
Izomandakus will check the throne, because you know, thrones hide stuff in all good stories.
+2 if within circle vs evil
+0 if within circle vs evil
[/ooc]
Val cleans off her sword…and the rest of herself. ”This has been a truly disgusting affair. I am just glad we finished this one off when we did. I would rather like to rest soon as I am almost completely spent of all my magicks.” She takes a more distant position as Izo begins looking over the fallen sloth disciple for trinkets, holding her scented handkerchief up to her face all the while.
Kast will cast about, casting Detect Magic and helping Izo identify anything of interest.
”Might be that we go find a quiet place to relax for the night, gather our strength about us,” Kast suggests.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You loot the fat man’s body, glad it didn’t fall into the fetid waters below. You note as you loot the body, that his black heart is decomposing rapidly. No longer being fed by the humors, it dies quickly.
You find some excellent loot.
Rod of absorption (8 charges / 26 remaining) 50,000gp
Cloak of Resistance +3 9,000gp
Handy Haversack 2,000gp
Ring of Protection +2 8,000gp
Diamond Dust 500gp
Ivory plaque (50gp), silver mirror (1,000gp)
Izomandakus finds that the throne is not flying at all, but simply anchored in space. There are two immovable rods (5,000gp ea) fitted into its base. He finds nothing else on the throne. If you remove the bars, the throne will certainly crash into the sludge below and sink to the depths.
You have not found any spellbooks…
…until Seamus aids Izomandakus by pointing out an out of place bit of stonework. He then finds a hidden latch on the throne’s left arm. Depressing it causes a hidden drawer to open on the right side of the chair.
Scroll of planar ally 2,90gp (payment included in casting)
Scroll of teleport 1,125gp
Scroll of stone to flesh 1,650gp
Manual of gainful exercise +2 (str) 55,000gp
Spellbooks 4,000gp
Well I’m going to simplify it a bit. Izomandakus gets two free spells each level to add to his books. Going forward, he’ll get [I]four[/] free spells each level going forward to reflect the additional access he has. Most of the spells are duplicates of what he has already anyway.
As for WBL for the books, I’ll slap a basic 4,000gp value onto each book for its eventual sale value.
- - -
Further, as Izomandakus peruses the spellbook to see what juiciness lies within, a piece of paper falls out (image).
Kast looks at the manual, very intrigued. He likes books, always has. And that's a book. He deserves the book.
Val wipes her forehead, making no claim on any of the items. ”Let us find a good place to rest please? We fought enough horrible ancient wizards for one day, methinks.”
Izomandakus takes the magic books with great pleasure, he looks coveting the exercise book, then looks at Kast, then at Pachemu "Yes, yes, I know I have to share, don't look at me like a pig, ape"
The dragon growls and looks at the fetide area around "Yes, but let's rest at the previous area, not here"
He breaths relieved when Rastaf heals his wounds " Thanks, friend. I enjoy your cares"
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Kast begins to page through the book as the party goes to find a place to rest for the night.
"Huh? Listen to this..." Kast holds up the book to read. "'Never skip leg day.' Good point. Yeah, a lot to think about here."
Koba says, "I still have some strength left, I'd be happy to take first watch, but if there's a cleaner place than this in which to do it I chose that. That my stomach is empty doesn't mean I don't still want to wretch."
He too eyes the strength book, but knows his place is more minor than such a gift.
Val begins heading towards the exit to the sloth area. ”As tempting as those levers are, I would think it better to find somewhere else to camp. In the case that those levers cause issues, I would rather have the spells available to—how does it go?—get the hells out of Alkenstar.”
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Kast picks another passage to read from the manual, which he does, aloud. "If you want your mate's tongue to loll, then get ye swole.' Wow! Why didn't I think of that!? This book is both deep and motivational."
At the campfire, Kast begins day(night) 1 of the 6 days needed to complete is strength training.
Kast reads aloud once in a while as he ponders this new workout regime. "’Lest ogres on your bones scrunch, do ye many core crunch.' Ah yeah, of course. Makes perfect sense. Perfect."
Val points at the rods. ”Oh could I have the immovable rods? With how easily I get around, I may be able to use them in tricksy ways. I will take care of cleaning them.”
"Are you sure you want to go on over all that training, Kast?" Izomandrakus follows on the way out of the sloth vault "I am sure you can find someone who value you how you are without that crazy bodybuilding regimes..."
While he is reviewing the spellbooks pages, he finds out the one on the ingredients and show it to the others "Oh look! It seems we stumbled with a list of the ingredients required to forge the Runeforge weapons!!!"
"Are you sure you want to go on over all that training, Kast? I am sure you can find someone who value you how you are without that crazy bodybuilding regimes..."
Kast ponders for a momen, an image of a certain someone coming to mind. Maybe I’m not shiny enough in my armor, and she will still see my limp. But if I was strong too? Oh yeah, she’s gunna ignore the limp. Maybe.
”Uh, yeah, I think there is some good stuff in here. A lot about eating right too, less bread, more raw griffon’s liver, apparently….” Kast ponders about what he’s read so far. ”…and there some good notes about ‘intermittent fasting’? Is that a thing? Really? Like between first and second breakfasts?”
The party retreats to, say, the Vault of Greed.
As you enter, the mephits call you out for being cowards, and to come back and fight them as you, presumably, move further into the complex. At the very least the annoying creatures will be a good early warning system.
...wait. Weren't they killed? Why yes, yes they were. And back again are they, or creatures much like them for how can you tell any two apart?
You retire deeper in, perhaps by one of the less magical pools so you can clean yourselves off a bit before bedding down.
You arise mostly refreshed the next day. You find you aren't hungry however. Feel free to force yourselves to eat, but it just doesn't feel necessary.
Where to? It's Kuthana 10, a Wealday for what it's worth in here.
Before breakfast, Kast finishes a few set of plyos followed up by a few sets of pelvic thrusts (per the manual) to get himself loose and ready for the day’s fighting. And of course he’s eating breakfast. He needs his macros for his gains.
”Unless I miss my guess, I think we’re headed for envy today. That’s the next spoke on the wheel. It will probably be seductive in there, so we should be careful.”
Kast will lead the party to D3 and will magic himself and others up for the day.
Val sends off her usual morning sending to her beloved in order to check in on her, then prepares for another day of battles in the Land of Themes. She looks at Izo’s list he found with interest that quickly turns to puzzlement. ”So…which one is good against a greed runelord? We would not use greed, right? I would think the opposite of that would be generosity, but that is not on the list.”
Her confusion only builds as Kast describes where they are going next. ”I though lust was seductive? I thought envy was the ‘I wish I had things other people had’ one? I always had too much to care much about what other people have, so that does not worry me much. But if this is the one that is full of attractive women, I will need to mentally prepare myself.”
Izomandakus tries to give answer to Valena's question "That is an interesting idea. The 7 virtues are tied to 7 Thassilonian schools of magic, and Greed matches with the Transmutation which has as prohibited schools Illusion and Enchantment. So maybe we can use that to make a really powerful Runeforge weapon, cool idea Valena!"
He then sits and coils around, hearing Kast's excerpts from the book until he reverts back to his normal body along with Pachemu. When this happens, he stands up and walks over the library of the Greed Vault and starts to read the books and diaries there.
At half evening, Izomandakus takes one of the diaries and throws it against the wall breaking the cover that jumps out of the bindings and flies in the opposite direction "NO!" Pachemu raises her head and looks up while Izomandakus sinks his head over his arms on the table.
The book cover reads "Meditations: An inner thoughts compendium from the Depths of the Vault by Izomandakus" while the book itself lays open by the last written pages.
The text is written in first person and describes the musings of the leader of the Vault of Greed. Apparently when the Runewell at the center of the Runeforge activated, he sought knowledge through magic and discovered that Karzoug was waking up. Izomandakus urged his followers to find a way out of the Runeforge and complete the awakening of the ancient master.
The wizard knew succeeding at this escape would meet him with death, because out of the demiplane all the time passed will suddenly make him old and crumble irremediably to death.
Through complex usage of wish and contingency spells, and other advanced knowledge of transmutation magic, Izomandakus conceived a way to escape this destiny. A contingency reincarnation once this fast time passing would kill him. But still, a significant amount of energy was needed to escape the Runeforge prison and reincarnate in someone outside of the demiplane.
The last paragraphs detail things took a different direction when new events begun to destabilize the status quo at Runeforge. Apparently the Keepers of the Envy had decided to seize control of the Runewell. Izomandakus gathered his followers and allied other branches of the forge, to face the Keepers of Envy in what he expected to be a large and dangerous battle.
There are no more entries after this one from 4687 AR.
---
The next day, a circumspect Izomandakus wakes up and follows the party wherever they want to go next.
Stored spell
magic missile
Cantrips (4/day)
acid splash
detect magic
ghost sound (Will 15)
open/close
Level 1 (6/day + 1 pearl)
heightened awareness^
feather fall
grease (Ref 16)
*mage armor
magic missile
shield
Level 2 (6/day)
tears to wine^ (+5)
glitterdust (Will 17)
mirror image
see invisibility
spider climb^
resist energy
Level 3 (6/day)
*greater magic weapon^ (+3)
clay skin
dispel magic
haste^
heroism
slow^ (Will 19)
Level 4 (6/day)
obsidian flow^ (Ref 20)
dimension door
fire shield
greater invisibility
greater invisibility | wave form^ (Ref 20)
stoneskin
Level 5 (4/day)
telekinesis^ (Will 21)
cone of cold (Ref 20)
*greater reversion
teleport | wall of force
Level 6 (4/day)
disintegrate^ (Fort 22)
greater dispel magic | disintegrate^ (Fort 22)
tar pool^ (Ref 22)
emblem of greed^
Level 7 (3/day)
form of the dragon II^ (Ref 23)
caustic eruption (Ref 22)
greater shapechanger's gift^
As you enter the tunnel to the southeast, a voice booms out a resounding command:
The source is a large disembodied human mouth stretched across the ceiling of a small section of the tunnel. It continues, “These are the Abjurant Halls of Eager Striving. Know that your powers will be crushed and you shall die! You are not worthy!”
Presuming you do not all flee in terror at the thought of being unworthy, you press on to some stairs and peer into the next room.
A wide staircase of stone descends into a large, partially caved-in chamber. The murals and decorative bas-reliefs on the walls have been blasted and fractured from what must have been a titanic war of magic.
Sooty humanoid bones are scattered here and there, and flames sporadically flicker along the walls and floor as if the room still resonates with the power unleashed here. It’s hard to say if the bodies are ‘fresh’ considering their state, but you’d say the battle was within a few days of the present.
Electrical discharges still spark from a silver rod protruding from the floor in the center of the room - it almost looks like the metal rod has fused with the stone of the floor.
When he enters the tunnel Rastaf feels the most ill at ease this time.
Kast moves up, air limping and trying to work on good form (the manual insists on good form). He will cast Detect Magic and examine the area, trying to piece together what happened. He will cast Resist Energy, Electricity before getting too close to the sparking.
Spellcraft
If that fails, he will think about it another way.
Know (Arcana)
"Izo? Val? This make any sense to you?"
Kast, and possibly others, work out that the rod embedded in the stonework is, or rather was, a rod of cancellation. And it’s going to pulse in a few seconds if not disarmed (disable device if you can effect magical ‘traps’, dispel magic should delay it, as well as similar magics).
Otherwise there’s going to be a magic cancelling wave throughout the chamber.
What do you do?
Kast quickly adopts highly technical tactical move that few truly master: running the heck away. He moves well back and will let others handle this particular bit of trouble.
"Seamus? I don't envy you in having to handle that."
Gloomily, Izomandakus casts dispel magic on the rod.
But it does not go very well...
Hey! Leave the Pottersmoots out of this! Kast reacts weirdly to something that was said.
He stays back and waits for 'Mus to do his thing.
Seamus sweeps in (no double secret initiative) and casually tweaks this and adjusts that and the pulsing slows… and stops.
It seems to be inert for now though the rod is firmly fused to - and really part of - the stone in the floor. So it’s irretrievable, but also unlikely to start up again.
Kast peeks his head around the corner to see if the very real danger had passed, and moves up cautiously when it does.
"Did you get it? It's all safe now?" Kast asks, air limping back to front and center (and aloft). When it seems safe, he will move to look at the north, then will circle around.
Sullen, Izomandakus follows along with Pachemu until he passes by Kast. Looking around at the clear signs of massive destruction, he frowns "There has been a massive magical battle in this place"
Pachemu sniffs the area in front.
Seamus finds nothing else in the immediate vicinity and Pachemu smells nothing good. Kast peers around the passages to the north, now that the risk has abated.
Decorative lanterns illuminate this otherwise mostly bare room. A tiled path in the granite flagstones leads from the entrance to three steps leading down to a mirrored surface. Closer examination reveals the mirrored surface is some sort of liquid - like quicksilver.
If crafting a magic item, a flask grants a +2 bonus to craft the item, and reduces the time it takes to craft by a day - hastening the crafting. Multiple doses stack to a minimum of 1 hour to craft a given item. Alternatively, a flask may be used as a special material component for any abjuration spell. Doing so allows the caster to cast those spells as if they were two levels higher.
There’s enough ethilion in the pool for a dozen flasks, each worth 2,500gp.
- - -
Kast pauses to look at the mirrored liquid. "Izo...what? What is this? Do you think..."
Know (Arcana)
"...it's quicksilver? No! It's ethilion. It has to be ethilion, right? Do we need this? We should collect this." Kast looks at Izo for confirmation.
Izomandakus nods gloomy "Yes. This is ethilion. It is useful." he looks down at the paper of regents "But what we need for Illusion and Enchantment are one of Delvaine's personal toys, perhaps? And... and... it seems one piece of a mirror where Vrixaris has looked in"
The boy shows the list of regents to the others so they can check by themselves he is not trolling the group.
The party collects the ethilion and searches the last chamber (to the SW) in the reduced-by-rubble complex.
It looks like it might have been a guardroom at one point, but now there’s nothing but a thick sheet of ooze, reminiscent of the nasty stuff in the Sloth warren. Likely seeping through. It’s eye watering but otherwise harmless. Yuck.
You have checked the Abjuring Halls of Envy.
To answer Seamus’ question from a game perspective, you haven’t been given much information as yet. You learned of something called a Runeforged Weapon in the Vault of Greed but no real details. In Sloth, you picked up a list of ingredients for making such a thing. However, most of you don’t know what a Runeforged Weapon is or what it’s good for.
Perhaps you will learn more in other chambers. Or perhaps one of you knows more and will share. Just giving you some perspective on what your character knows so far.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Pachemu looks very serious at Seamus and starts explaining the elf "Oink oink oink oink. Oink oink, oink oink-oink." she stands up for a second and waves her legs very fast like if she was fighting someone "Oink oink oink oink oink oink oink oink. Oink oink. Oink!!"
Izomandakus though remains gloomy, staring at the collapsed wall in front. He picks up one of the pieces of rubble pensive.
Val holds out her hand palm up, towards Pachemu. ”Well there it is. Who can argue with that?”
She taps a finger against her lips. ”So, this was not the sexy lady one. My instincts were correct. It was actually rather boring thanks to Seamus. Well, where to next then? I think Lust was next in the order we were going? If so, steel your minds, darlings.”
”Yeah, exactly,” Kast agrees with the pig. ”That’s exactly it.” He air limps from one side of the envious hall to the other and shrugs, seeing no way forward or out.
”I guess we’ll try lust? Who’s with me?” Kast moves to the lustful hall.