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OK, so this i my first attempt at a story journal.
Zukuto - ninja
Another day of wasted potential. All i had to do was kill the man, and my life would be completely different. if only...
"If only" wont change what i did.
enough misgivings in deeds of the past. only forward now. I need to fix my mistakes, i need to find a use for my skills.
I find myself in a western town of no great import... sandpoint, I think it's called? every one of these towns are the same. If i could only find a patron of true esteem. someone that would be able to direct my talents with honor. All previous attempts with supposed "famed" individuals lead only to the same selfish, honor-less rabble Ive witnissed in this godforsaken country. A quick end and i move on... if I don't find a benefactor soon I'll be left with no other choice than to keep my honor in death. Not ideal, I admit, but may be the only path left for an expelled ninja.
While stewing in my thoughts, I am roused to the faint sounds of alarm and agitation from outside my current hovel.
I exit into the alley and look into the skies to witness a dragon spewing fire and soaring above the city.
Finally! A real chance at finding heroism, or at least an honorable end by a hand other than my own.
I immediately take chase after the dragon. I stay hidden and i move quick.
The city has been evacuated, and there are militia groups scampering around with complete ineptitude. many of these men and women will die this day. Yet i am on a specific undertaking and cant be distracted to give aid to the walking dead.
I come across several battles, stone giants and townsfolk. doomed townsfolk... Dragons take precedence.
As I continue to race the dragon i see it veer off from its previous course, and it doubles back onto its previous path. I immediately correct my course and continue to pursue.
I see the dragon descend to land ahead. As i approach the area i see a group of individuals taking cover in and around an old building.
They somehow got the dragons attention if he turned around just for them. They are either great fools or mighty warriors indeed.
I lay in wait and stay hidden to the group as they mull, cower and plan. Suddenly a ragged dwarf bellows a battle cry and charges headlong into the dragon! Now that is the kind of fellow I've been looking for.
I am intrigued.
I continue to watch, and wait. He fearlessly faces off against the dragon as his friends shoot from their perches.
I have seen enough. I will enter this fight.
The dragon immediately spouts a stream of flame in our direction and I flank to its rear. I notice the surprise in the eyes of the dwarf as I attack the dragon from the flank, I give him a knowing nod to communicate my respect and aid.
As the dragon is attacked and peppered with projectiles it suddenly pulls up to flee and curses the group as he retreats.
I decide to stay near the dwarf to observe his behavior further.
His friends emerge and are clearly perturbed by my sudden involvement, however they are seemingly welcome to the aid.
I decide to remain silent and allow them to make their own decisions on my reasons for being present. The man atop a large winged beast is a bit more verbal with his mistrust of me, and they then mount up and take flight in pursuit of the dragon.
I take up the chase on foot, and track them easily as they fly above. It seems they have abandoned the dragon as it is too swift, and alter course to the smaller skirmishes.
I approach the dwarfs group as they are battling a group of giants.
The winged creature is gone and there is now a shelled beast whipping It's tail ineffectively as the dwarf faces off a large giant ahead.
I attempt to climb the wall and trip over my own feet, luckily no one was around to see the misstep.
I vault the building ahead of me and move into flanking position of the dual wielding giant. His attacks seem to be more effective to the dwarf than they ought, no matter i begin to attack from the flank.
The giant ignores me as he strikes a flurry of blows down on the dwarf. He should have died instantly from the blows, but somehow the dwarf managed to live through the onslaught. The giant then turns his attention on me, completely ignoring the inept beast to its right. I summon 4 shadow clones and the giant destroys 2 immediately and lands a blow on my person. I continue to attack and the giant is felled by projectiles coming from behind.
I make sure the dwarf is stable and move to the bag on the giants hip that he had been protective of during the skirmish. Inside there is large rock, and seems completely useless upon initial inspection. But seeing the care in its holding I know there must be more to the stone, and stow it for later perusal.
The same man from earlier shares his distrust of my presence and puts his guard up against me.
Introductions are made... Im terrible at those, but I try not to anger anybody in my words. I discover the dwarfs name is Gronad, and his friends Elrohir, Skippy and Rothgar are all visibly distrusting of me. As they should be, to a man of my skills. I offer my aid and they seem mollified for the time being.
I will continue to watch Gronad, and possibly, one day, offer my services in true form.
for now I move about the city with Elrohir, and make work of the peasants to aid in putting out the fires within the city.
Elrohir and I discover a giant who is still alive. We rouse him and question him about the raid and the remaining forces. where they came from and the stone in my possession.
We regroup at the hospit and relay the information in part to gronad, and he decides to wait for his group before we discuss it in length.
he invites me for a drink and I agree.
I definitely drank too much, and may have said some questionable things in advancement to the bar owner Amiko... but I was also able to befriend Elrohir over our ales.
In the morning I realize that I made a fool of myself with Amiko and apologize for my actions. In complete shock, she not only forgives my deeds, but then tells me that they weren't entirely unwelcome, but that my timing was most certainly off.
The group reconvenes in the morning at the pub, and they decide to make chase of the giants that escaped the days battle before. I offer to go ahead with Rothgar, attempting to prove my intentions with his group, and though I can see he dosnt trust me he allows my aid. I will need to work to gain his trust, this I can see.
We take flight and spend the most part of the day tracking the trail of the giants.
We come upon them late in the day and descend on them with haste. We dispatch the group with ease and discover barrels filled with human bodies stacked into the cart the giants had been hauling behind them.
Curious. Curious, indeed.
Seems to me that the more I travel with this group the quicker I'll meet the maker... We got noticed earlier in the day that Sand Point was going to be attacked. Rothegar was eerily hasty about our return even though there was not mention on time. For all we knew the placed was razed not long after went left Sand Point a few weeks ago. Needless to say after a quick stop in the woods to satisfy Elrohi's forest fetish we set off. Luckily Sarah was able to teleport us to teleport us relatively quickly and that meant I didn't have to go by boat!
When we arrived the placed was empty. There wasn't a soul in sight. Leaving the Rusty Dragon revealed that the town was indeed under attack and in the distance a Red Dragon was setting everything on fire. I still get a lot flack for letting the Black Dragon go last time.
The next sequence of events was pretty much a blur. I remember setting off with Rothgar and Agro towards the dragon but the next thing I remember was standing in front of the Red Dragon by myself! A strange fellow named Zukuto (or so he told us later) can in from behind and struck the dragon several times. In all my time travel I have admit that was the few times where I felt like this might be it and no one was there to record the event!
My memory is a complete blur after that bit. I remember Sarah looking over me healing me (I think i can call it healing). Around me were a few stone giants... one had a pick axe the size of me. The sight of it made my wounds tighten up.
We spent the rest of the day help out the townsfolk and tend to any repairs that was needed. I didn't stay at hte inn that night since Ameiko needed the rooms for the townsfolks. I went to find Rothegar and camped out. Although it was outside it was nice being able to relax for a few hours.
Tomorrow we will looking into why the giants and the dragons attacked. I remember overhearing something about the stone they pulled from the lighthouse. Elrohir got more information from a stone giant that he let go - not really sure why he did that. I am certain the town won't be happy with that choice. Nevertheless, we have something to look forward to tomorrow.
Second thing... I think I need more wands.
Neth 11-20 - Downtime
As the party returns to Sandpoint with the Scarnettis and their wagon in tow, they attempt to question the Scarnettis for any information on why the giants abducted them, but Titus is unsure. Rothgar recognizes one of the unconcious bodyguards as Orik Vancaskerkin, formerly of Thistletop, and gives him a nod of respect, offering him a seat in the skies. The party camps for the night on their way back where they are assaulted by the Sandpoint Devil, who does little to harass the party before they shoot it out of the sky.
When they arrive back in town, the group splits up to take care of various sorts of business. Sarah, Rothgar and Gronad go to Magnimar, Rothgar to get some healing components, Sarah to craft magic items and retrieve her horse, and Gronad to sell some extra loot. Elrohir and Zukuto make their way to Brodert Quint, and gathered a significant amount of information on the different Runelords and Thassilon. Elrohir chose to stay here and spend some time learning the language with Quint, while Zukuto tried to find other venues of information, eventually being directed to someones shady contact in Magnimar. He eventually makes contact, who agrees to share information if Zukuto is able to "Take care of" one of his street toughs who was recently picked up by the guards. Zukuto stages a daring rescue, and manages to free the tough, but is somewhat disappointed when most of the info he recieves is stuff he already knew.
Neth 21-27
The party travels towards Jorgen fist, stopping briefly at a burning farmhouse to quell a few ogres, again at a nearby caravan that appears to have been torched by dragon fire, and a third time a tthe Storval Stairs, where they encountered a group of hill giants, retreated, regrouped, and then decimated them.
Neth 11-20 - Downtime
As the party returns to Sandpoint with the Scarnettis and their wagon in tow, they attempt to question the Scarnettis for any information on why the giants abducted them, but Titus is unsure. Rothgar recognizes one of the unconcious bodyguards as Orik Vancaskerkin, formerly of Thistletop, and gives him a nod of respect, offering him a seat in the skies. The party camps for the night on their way back where they are assaulted by the Sandpoint Devil, who does little to harass the party before they shoot it out of the sky.
When they arrive back in town, the group splits up to take care of various sorts of business. Sarah, Rothgar and Gronad go to Magnimar, Rothgar to get some healing components, Sarah to craft magic items and retrieve her horse, and Gronad to sell some extra loot. Elrohir and Zukuto make their way to Brodert Quint, and gathered a significant amount of information on the different Runelords and Thassilon. Elrohir chose to stay here and spend some time learning the language with Quint, while Zukuto tried to find other venues of information, eventually being directed to someones shady contact in Magnimar. He eventually makes contact, who agrees to share information if Zukuto is able to "Take care of" one of his street toughs who was recently picked up by the guards. Zukuto stages a daring rescue, and manages to free the tough, but is somewhat disappointed when most of the info he recieves is stuff he already knew.
Truly disappointing..
GIANTS... DAMN GIANTS!
i cant seem to catch hold with my blade to any consistent pace against these oafs.
i mean sure im in battle with them often enough, but the hardness of flesh and strength of their fortitude make for difficult prey.
however i will persist, and press forward.
it would seem that the task before me is one of true importance. To stand against the rising power of the so called rune lord of greed. the danger is rising, and the chance for death even greater with every step. how exciting!
today i had a great failure in stealth, which is new for me. i was spotted on a simple recon and trap disarming mission. resulting in an alarm being cast for 100's of giants to rally towards. the immediate threats were dispatched but we were required to fall back into the wilderness and regroup and rest.
we decided to scout other venues for entering into Jorgenfist, and discovered several cave faces of note. the first of which we scouted contained a dragon and a loot hoard.
we decided to face the dragon or perhaps even recruit it if possible. upon making contact we discovered this was the same red dragon "long tooth" that we had faced in sand point during the raid. we should have killed it. but instead Gronad promised it a share of loot, and let it live.... i am extremely unhappy about this development, but i will yield to the decisions of my peers for now.
the dragon spoke of a back entrance to the inner tower from a cave to the south. however he made reference to webs and it not being for the squeamish... Gods Rot! I hate spiders... but i can kill a spider more easily than i can kill a giant. so maybe a turn for the better... hahaha
Neth 27-28
After searching the ruins at the top of the Storval Stair, the party decides to make camp for the night, only to be awakened in the early hours of the morning by a pair of wyverns. The creatures prove to be only a minor annoyance, and the party packs up and heads into the mountains.
After a short trek, they come across a valley containing many campfires surronding a large wall with a spire in the middle. Zukuto scouts out one of the camps, finding about a dozen female stone giants sparring before heading back to the group. They plan a night time assault on the lone watchtower, sending Zukuto in first to attempt to disarm any alarm systems that may be active. Unfortunatley, he is spotted before he makes it too far in, and the signal fire is lit. The party engages Cinderma and her two lackeys, retreating into the wilderness after she falls. The camps are in an uproar, but the party manages to take cover and hide. Rothgar sends Agro out to scout the skies. Agro spots a couple caves on the eastern side of the valley, but is dismissed when a Roc swoops out of the spire to attack him. The party chooses to explore one of the caverns, and manage to fly there un inhibited. Inside, they find Longtooth, who makes a deal with them to provide information in exchange for a share of any treasure they may find.
Neth 28 - Into Jorgenfist
THe party stands around for a bit picking their noses in front of Longtooth, then decide to fly down in waves to the cave he indicated. They contemplate asking Longtoth for a ride, but decide against it. Upon arriving at the tunnel, they begin slowly making their way forward, looking for hidden entrances, with Sarah and Rothgar on the ceiling and the remainder on the floor. They make their way to the webbed area where they are assaulted by three large spiders, dripping with smaller spiders. Several members are poisoned, but they manage to push through. Zukuto really wants to burn the webs, but everyone thinks that is a bad idea. The party searches the area, finding a small amount of loot, but no hidden door. Zukuto again wants to burn the webs, and is told no. The party continues searching, taking their time and going through carefully, but still not finding anything. They are about to head back and confront Longtooth on his lies when Rothgar decides to summon a babau demon, and have it search the room. With some assistance, the babau is able to find a hidden door amongst the webs. Zukuto mentions again that they should burn the webs, but is denied. The group squeezes into the narrow tunnel. Rothgar sends out a handful of elementals to search the smaller passageways, but they don't find anything. As the tunnel opens up into a larger room, those in front see a kobold threatening to kill them. Gronad tries to talk it down as the melee move in to position, but she isn't buying, and nearly drops Zukuto in a flurry of stabs form her short spear. Zukuto goes invisible and moves away, while Gronad, Joe, and Elrohir attempt to surrond her. Once these are clear, she calls out for her redcap allies to attack, and five redcaps leap from the small tunnels between Rothgar and Sarah. Elrohir moves back to try and fend off the redcaps, while Sarah manages to move away, however Rothgar is surronded in the tunnel. He summons a new creature to assist him, and spends some time trading blows with the redcaps, though he is unable to do much damage. Meanwhile, Gronad and Joe are whittling down the kobold, but taking big hits in exchange. Zukuto reappears from the shadows and makes a stab at the kobold, who then flees, dropping a neckalce behind her. As the party gives chase, she turns and throws a bead back at them, detonating the necklace of fireballs and incinerating Zukuto. The remainder of the party manages to take her down shortly after, and they gather back in her room to recuperate. Zukuto gasps back to the land of the living, scorched but stable. While they are searching the room, they hear footsteps from the northern passage. everyone gets into combat positions, only to find an older stone giant woman approach, offering an alliance.
It's been a fun couple of last days! The chase of giant brings pure joy to me. We just came upon a camp, or a city I suppose of giants! Now I'm not the suicidal type, but if I didn't a have an immediate reason for being here I would have gone home to recruit my brethren to ride of the vile creatures. Perhaps another day.
We set out a few days ago on the way to Jorgenfist. We had a few odd encounters on the way there but nothing that is out of the ordinary. I will say though, we found a cash of brandy! OH MY was it every good! I was glad we stayed the night at the burning farm house for some R&R. I am sure we could have been more productive that day, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Aside from the short stop, nothing too exciting happened.
Last night Zukuto was tasked to disarm any traps or alarms that the giants had at a near by outpost. I did not think much of it except that as he approach they set off their warning signal! I was even starting to like the slippery guy. Oh well, we took care of the monstrous beasts and got the hell out of there.
Aggro is out scouting the region to see if there are any caves or hidden paths that we didn't see. Hopefully he comes back with good news, I am itching for a good fight!
I savour the rest of the brandy until after we are done the fight!!
Neth 28 An Unlikely Alliance
The party follows the giant to a secluded chamber, Rothgar and Sarah holding back to summon Argo. Strangely, it is Gronad that leads the diplomatic conversations with the giant, who introduces herself as Conna. Conna explains to them that Mokmorion has a tenous control of the tribes, and if he can be defeated, she could probably influence the tribes to disperse, ending the threat of war. She also provides them with directions to the library section, warning them of rooms where they may encounter dragons or lamias, and requesting that, if possible, they spare the lives of any giants below. The group asks for more physical assistance, to which Conna refuses, however she does give Zukuto a potion of Barkskin.
The group reunites and heads down the decided passageway, past a room sounding a loud clanging, through a large sleeping quarters, and into a fur covered hallway sloping down. As Zukuto starts down the slope, a large spike shoots out of the wall, stabbing him. The party backs away, and starts carefully looking for traps, finding none. However, they do notice a shadowy figure lurking in a hole behind some furs. Rothgar uses his horn to summon a fog in the center of the room, causing the creature to roar in anger. Rothgar moves quickly through the fog, and the others try to keep up, as two trolls cast aside secret doors, and charge into the mist. The party quickly puts them down, decapitating them, and, after looting a large sack of gems and some armor, carry on down the slope. As they reach the bottom, they investigate a section that is caved in before heading to the southern passage. As Gronad enters the room, the distortions of the walls prove too much, and he begins vomitting. Joe tries to move in to help, but also starts vomitting. Zukuto realizes what is happening, and walks into the room with his eyes closed, not realizing that he has been shrunk. Nobody tells him. Rothgar, Sarah, and Skippy are also shrunk on entering ther room, however Agro is not affected. they briefly fight a rune covered hill giant before heading through a set of doors to the south. Here, they find a bubbling cauldron guarded by a large, skull faced creature. They begin attacking it, and eventually manage to take it down with little difficulty. They investigate the cauldron, but are unsure of what it is. Gronad debates drinking from it, but thinks better of it.
Neth 28
The froup gathers together, and proceeds into the next room, with Rothgar leading on the ceiling. As they enter the room, they are assaulted by a headless ogre zombie and his posse. Skippy finds himself surronded by little zombies just outside the room, and is managing to slowly take them down, when the doorway between him and the rest of the party suddenly becomes blocked by stone as a forgefiend emerges from the wall, spewing slag. Skippy is able to fend off with Agros help for a few rounds until Gronad stone shapes his way through the wall, and the creature flees back into the stone.
They poke through the corpses, gathering what little they want, before heading on down the hallway. Rothgar briefly infestigates a side hallway, then rejoins the group at a long hall. Rothgar and Agro check all the doors here for traps. Finding none, they begin opening them. The second door they try opens into a large room, where all the corners have been smoothed away. Rothgar is concerned by the scorch marks on the walls, but Gronad trucks in anyway, alerting the 3 Hounds of Tindalos resting here. The hounds are harry the group to great effect with their ripping gaze, but they are no match for the party overall. After a short top up of the HPs, the party opens the next door, revealing Mokmoriuns laboratory.
He throws an acid fog at the door, which Skippy first attempts to through a fireball through withoout seeing it land, and then dispells it as Zukuto and Gronad run into the room, Sarah following on the wall and Agro charging through the air. Mokmoriun casts something on Agro, causing him to devolve and shrink, after witch Rothgar desummons him and brings in a huge earth elemental, and the others continue running in. As Tsukuto and Gronad get close, Mokmorian changes the ground beneath them into molten glass, entangling Gronad and making it harder for them to move. They continue to move in with ranged support from Rothgar, Skippy, and Sarah, when he casts a ray that splits in two, one beam striking Sarah and turning her into dust and injuring Skippy. Gronad manages to get in place and take a swipe at him, as Zukuto jumps the ledge to get beside him and strike. Mokmorian does not like the little dwarf, so he turns him into an ice sculpture. Skippy does not like ice scupltures, so he dispells it. Mokmorian tries to make a pit between Gronad and Zukuto, but both manage to avoid falling in. They get a couple more hits in on him, and he vanishes from sight. Gronad rushes down to where Sarah fell and miraculously manages to bring her back, while the elemental hauls the chest into the middle of the room. Rothgar then sends his elemental through the stone to search for Mokmorian, only seeing him come up from behind at the last second as he turns to stone. the party starts to rush towards Mokmorian, but are cut off by a wall of force. The elemental glides through the stone and is dispelled, while Skippy and Sarah try to fend off the giant. Gronad is able to burrow around the wall with another Stone Shape, and Mokmorian fires another double ray at Skippy and Zukuto, putting some hurt on them. As he flies upwards, Skippy unleashes a final barrage of magic missles, knocking him from the sky.
As Mokmorian hits the ground, his body goes rigid and his head starts to turn towards Skippy, making threats in the name of Karazoug and Xin-Shalast. As his hollow laugh echos in the caverns, Zukuto decapitates him.
The party contemplates how to detach Rothgar from the ceiling as we end the night.
Neth 28-29
The party contemplates for some time what to do with Rothgar, eventually smashing the ceiling beneath his feet, and carrying his (small) stone form down to the ground, before using Mokmoriuns scroll of limited wish to change him back to flesh. They pour through the room, finding a handfull of treasures as well as a note on a map with Sandpoint circled, mentioning the traitor Xaliasa hiding nearby with the secrets of the Runeforge. They spend some time discussing the map, then decide to explore the remaining doors they had not yet checked. Sarah opened one set of double doors, shich led to a second set she also opened, which led to a strangely smooth stone wall. As Sarah, joe Flyn, and Zukuto spent a signigicant amount of time studying the wall, Rothgar, Gronad, and Elrohir had a meal and watched, unsure what was going on. Zukuto moved to the other set of double doors and, seeing an impression of a Siderhon, attempted to insert his medallion, summoning a Shining Child which blinded everyone except Elrohir. The group managed to defeat the creature with moderate difficulty, and Gronad restored everyones sight. Zukuto then tried the key from Mokmorian in the lock, summoning a second Shining Child, who teleported across the room and began shooting bolts of light at the group. Seeing the creature across the room, Zukuto decides to push the door again, summoning a third creature. The group manages to defeat the two Shining Children, and decides not to touch the door anymore. They head back up to the altar to meet with Conna, who takes Mokmoriuns head to the giant tribes in an attempt to disperse them. When she returns to inform them of her success, they decide to rest for the night in Mokmoriuns champer, and check the door further in the morning.
Neth 29:
In the morning Gronad uses Stone Shape to bypass the door,entering into an ancient library. The clockwork guardian approaches and starts speaking in Thassilonion. Elrohir gets the gist of what it is asking, and begins researching Thassilon, Karzoug, and Xin-Shalast. While he is researching, Rothgar and Gronad go to pay their dues to Longtooth, then return to the library only long enough to teleport back to the Slippery Eel in magnimar, leaving Elrohir and Skippy behind to study.
Neth 30-Kuthona 7
The party splits up and spends some time shopping, drinking, and visiting loved ones, abusing Rothgars new ability to teleport to take them around the world without a second thought. (Seriously, I don't think anyone even said Thank you once.)
Kuthona 7
Rothgar, Gronad, And Agro take a ship up to Sandpoint laden with supplies, witnessing a large earthquake on the way. They arrive at Sandpoint to find a sinkhole had taken out a street near the Garrison, and after speaking to some townspeople hear rumors that the Sherrif sent some soldiers to investigate, but they did not return. Armed with this information, Gronad, Rothgar, and Agro fly straight down into the sinkhole, passing Sherrif Hemlock who is standing guard at the site. They enter a chamber, but are unsure of where they are until Gronad recognizes a foundatin he remembered drinking out of. They follow the tunnels till they find what they recall to have been a collapsed stairwell, except that it has been cleared out. They decide to continue exploring, finding a room filled with webs. They repeadetdly attempt to continue into the next room, eventually realizing that there is no door. They begin to search the walls, eventually finding the hidden door, and open it to find a collapsed, fog-filled hallway with a narrow path cleared through it. As they make there way through, they start hearing unintelligble whispers in the air around them. They continue forward as the whispers become louder and angrier, until a man appears out of the fog from behind, slicing into Rothgar with his falchion. A short battle between the 3 culminates with Rothgar grabbing Gronad and teleporting out, but not before Rothgar is hit with confusion. As he arrives on the surface, Rothgar fres arrows into the crowd, striking Gronad and killin a townsperson before Gronad is able to grapple him and stop him from hurting anyone else. As the confusion wears off, and Gronad tries to calm the crowd down, Sheriff Hemlock takes Rothgar aside, asking for his help, knowing that something had compelled his violence, and that he was still the towns best chance of preventing deaths. With that, Rothgar teleports around, gathering the crew, and everyone meets back up at Sandpoint within a couple days.
Kuthona 9
Had this half wrote up and lost it, so here is a smaller recap
Gronad, Rothgar, Skippy, and Zukuto made their way back into the sinkhole while Elrohir, Sarah, and Joe tried to calm the townspeople. Once below, they managed to strike up a conversation with the voice, who asked several questions about the world above before fading into silence. Skippy dispelled the fog, revealing a glabrezu standing on an altar. The party engaged it as it summoned a second one, flanking Gronad, and the man from the mists attacked Rothgar from behind. Skippy, hearing a whisper in his head offering to end the battle if he wishes, says "I wish this battle to be over", causing the glabrezu to start laughing as the ceiling begins to collapse. Zukuto and Argo are temporarily trapped beneath the rubble and as Skippy dispels the summond Glab, the others manage to finish off the original. They continue through a cavern, encountering a pack of flying dogs who do not prove overly difficult to the group, though they frighten Gronad and Zukuto into running temporarily. They continue following the cave until it ends at a door. Rothgar checks it for traps, then enters the door and disappears. While Zukuto and Skippy decide to investigate the door to see what happened, Gronad decides to go back to the surface to look for Rothgar because ???. Skippy and Zukuto study the door for a bit, feeling something tugging at their minds, however they are able to resist it. Meanwhile, the man from the mist appears near Gronad, inquiring what he is doing. When Gronad mentions he is looking for his friends, the man steps forward, offering to help, but actually swinging his falchion down at Gronad. Zukuto and Skippy then rush to catch up with Gronad, who is enganged in combat with the man from the mist. Upon seeing the others, the man vanishes.
Kuthona 9
Joe and Sarah, concerned with the murmers they hear around town, make it to the sinkhole to find Rothgar raving about how Gronad, Skippy, and Zukuto were on their way out to kill everyone. The group gathers some guards and prepares to fend off their former allies...
Meanwhile, Gronad, Zukuto, and Skippy are making their way through the catacombs of Wrath when they come across a large hole in one of the passageways. Below, Xaliasia waves, taunting them. They start to discuss how to cross the pit. Skippy has a grappling hook, but no rope, for some reason. He reaches into his bag to pull out the grapple, but is suddenly unable to move or speak. Gronad starts yelling at Xaliasia to screw off. Xaliasia replies that Gronad can go tell Sorshen and Xanderghul that he won't fall for their tricks, and they will never get his secrets to the Runeforge. A Dire bear then appears behind them, which shoves Skippy into the hole. Xal then grabs Skippy and disappears. Zukuto jumps into the hole to give chase, following the sound of voices to the room with the pool, while Gronad makes his way slowly through the catacombs back down to the altar below.
Up top, the group starts to get suspicious of Rothgar, who has the guards lined up ready to fire into the pit on his command, leading to Sarah casting Detect Magic on him and finding he is under the effect of a Suggestion. She manages to Break the Enchantment on him, and he rushes into the pit, yelling "They are still down there!". Joe and Sarah follow. They make their way to the hole in the floor just in time to see Gronad reach the bottom level. They try to decide what to do next, when Zukuto gets their attention and leads them to the pool room, where he saw Skippy laying in a pool, stomach writhing with something beneath his skin. Unfortuntley, Xal heard the talking and closed and locked the door, taking up position behind Skippy, threatening to kill him should they enter. The party manages to talk him down enough that he begins to question whether they are actually agents of the Runelords, and he teleports away to contemplate the new information. They tend to Skippy, and Gronad manages to negate the worms burrowing beneath his skin.
They debate for a couple minutes on whether to leave the shrine, leaving Xal alone, but end up deciding to continue down the last hallway. Rothgar and Agro pass through the doorway unaffected, hearing the voices but manage to shake them off. Gronad passes through, then runs straight forward, cowering at the dead end of the tunnel. Sarah manages to break the enchantment on him, succeeding on the second try. Rothgar searches the walls and finds a door hidden behind an illusion. Gronad opens it and steps in, as a strange feeling of unwantedness washes over him, he finds Xal in a small room. As Gronad moves in to fight him, trading blows back and forth, Skippy rushes through the door and starts casting spells, Rothgar dismisses Agro and attempts to summon a tiger in the room, which fails to materialize. Sarah attempts to follow through the door, fails her save and begins to flee. Zukuto realizes that the trap is still active, and with Joes help is able to find a trigger for it, however he stumples onto the trigger while attempting to disable it, causing himself and Joe to be affected by the trap. Zukuto goes invisible and hides in the corner, while Joe runs off down through the caverns. Rothgar attempts to tuble in to the room to assist in the combat, fails his acrobatics check, fails his will save, and takes a crit, Causing him to tumble into the room and lie flat on his face, bleeding, behind Gronad. Skippy and Gronad eventually manage to whittle him down, and decapitate him to make sure he stays down. As he falls, the others come to their senses and return to the room. They search it for clues, finding nothing additional save for the magic quill, which Zukuto asks where to find Runeforge. The quill writes out the ryhme they had collected, in proper sequence, and they manage to come up with a theory on where it is located.
That... was interesting. I was sure that I wasn't going to make it this time. Nahhh who am I kidding, that Xalisha prick was annoying as heck. Hiding behind his mother... was a kid... I wonder if that was meant figuritively..hmm.
We had quite a time trying to get the party together this time. Every time we went down in the pit it seemed like someone lost his marbles for a bit. I ran away from some wolves at one point... I'd NEVER run away from them normally. Right before we encountered Xalisha I thought the party was set to kill me! I hate it when things control my mind.. things that I don't understand.
Now we have to go find this "key" and this "forge"... at least I think we do. The sooner we finish this the better. I need to get back to my brandy!
Being a pirate, journaling my day and thoughts isn’t something that did before but lately the thought of writing my adventures down is something i have been very interested to venture into. I have been having quiet the adventure with this crew of men, and i would like to remember this for years to come. We have stayed so many beasts, giants, and lately even a very powerful temple guard whom i learnt is someone who is almost like a chosen one of Gods. I wonder if in future there will be tales told and re-told about our famous victories.
On second thought, our stories may not be as popular in the town of Sand point since they are aware that Rothgar killed an old lady, albeit it was accidental.
Speaking of Rothgar, i was pretty sure he looked and sounded like he was possessed for a brief bit. Even Agro could sense it. Well, i do know for a fact that Gronad was possessed for a while. As if he is not grumpy enough already, he acted even more like himself( by that i meant, grumpier, obnoxious, loud version of the normal self..think i prefer the version of him when he has a brandy or any alcohol for that matter). Thinking of Gronad for some reason makes me miss being at the pub in the town getting drunk for was it 4 days? wait..5..no it was 7 days. oh the glory. I need alcohol now...
We were in this strange looking tunnel which looked like it was a dead end. I for one was suspicious it could be having some secret door or entrance which was hidden to our plain eyesight because of some ancient enchantments. I mean, among the few things i have learnt from my adventures is there is most likely no such thing as dead end. We did end up finding a secret door and as Gronad went in i heard a commotion of sort. I realized he may have ran into some enemy but before i could do anything i heard a faint whisper in my head saying the people whom i considered my friends had been tricking me all along and were secretly plotting to actually sacrifice me. How devious of them. I wasn’t very sure about the voice(which i learnt later was an enchantment..well clever trick setup as a means to protect that place i guess?) but then i am not the one who is about to take chance specially its my own life that is at stake here. I immediately started running away. I may have ran for less than a minute before that enchantment lifted off of me and i came to my senses back again. I rushed back to witness Skippy sawing off the head of a temple guard. He looked satisfied. Well, after the ordeal of being threatened by a creature from whose hands worms came out, i think Skippy had to vent off the rage somehow, and the temple guard must have been the victim. Either way, we survived.
Kuthona 10-14
The pary rests up, does some shopping in Magnimar in preperation for their expedition up north, and a few people do some training.
Kuthona 15-21
The party sails on Rothgars ship to Riddleport, passing a ship wreck on the way. While investigating the shipwreck, they are swarmed by pirate zombie pirates. (They were pirates before AND after death.) The group manages to fend them off and recover a chest of loot in the wreckage. About a day from Riddleport, a passanger approaches Rothgar with a large piece of cloth, advising him to fly this while approaching the city. Rothgar agrees, and they are able to enter the city unharrassed. The group wanders around Riddleport for a bit with some minor encounters, gather any supplies they may require to make the rest of the journey on foot, and spend the night drinking/whoring/etc.
Kuthona 22-29
The party treks north as the wweather gets colder and colder, stopping only to rest occasionally. At one such stop, Rothgar finds a rabbit sitting on a stump. He shoots it and brings it back for the group to eat, however only Joe is intersted, so they split it. Later that night, while Gronad is on watch, he notices a strange stump in camp that he had not seen before. He walks over to look at it, and a giant mouth opens up, biting him. tentacles start wiping out of the stump, grabbing people, as the camp wakes up. After a short but frantic battle, Gronad, feeling ill, finds a lump in his stomach, and cuts it out, finding a small version of the creature they had killed. The group decides to press on, and make it to Lake Stormunder a couple of days later.
Kuthona 29
The group studies the stones for a bit, and manage to determine between them that they likely need to cast certain spells on the stones to activate them. They gather around and discuss which spells to cast at which statue, and who will cast what spell. They eventually start casting their spells, causing a great rumbling and commotion. The first spell is absorbed, revealing a key, however there is no effect upon casting the second one, except for a huge white dragon appearing behind them! It breathes ice over them, then takes to the air, snatching Sarah in his mouth as he goes. He starts to fly up higher and higher as Sarah animates a rope in her pack and ties it around the dragons foot. Rothgar sends Agro to chase after the dragon, then grabs who he can and teleports above it, casting featherfall immediately as they reappear. Skippy and Joe manage to land on the dragons back, while Gronad and Rothgar barely manage to grab the rope now trailing behind it. Skippy and Joe start hitting it in the back as Gronad tries to climb the rope, but ends up sliding down instead. Rothgar ties himself to the rope by his foot, then leans back ans starts firing arrows up at the dragon. The dragon drops Sarah (who immediately casts feather fall, catching the rope) and lets out a flurry of attacks on Agro. Gronad manages to climb up and strike it in the belly while Skippy and Joe still jab at it from above. The dragon, getting tired of this game, dimension doors away from the group, leaving them to float back down to the ground as he flies into the cave.
The group decides that it would be best not to continue with the dragon still a threat, and so they make their way up to the landing at the mouth of the cave. As they approach the cave entrance, 2 elder earth elementals pull themselves from the side of the mountain. One of them punts Gronad off the side, and he begins to fall. Luckily, Rothgar is there with yet another Feather Fall, and Agro is able to swoop down and pick him up. They managed to whittle down the two earth elementals, and began exploring the mouth of the cave.
Kuthona 29-30
The group continues into the cave, chasing the white dragon that had flown inside. As they walk down the corrider, they encounter a bank of strange fog which is identified by Sarah as something similar to Acid Fog. Rothgar passes out Cold resistance, figuring it to be something to do with the dragon, and Gronad proceeds forward into the fog, almost immediately missing a step on the steep slope and tumbling down through the fog, narrowly catching a rocky outcropping before falling into a deep pit. Rothgar manages to fly through the fog on Agro and grab him before he falls. The remaining members make their way down the pit through various means, finding a room where one corner is filled with treasure. Standing in the room are 7 20 foot pillars surronding a larger pillar. They start digging in the treasure, much to the dragons ire, and he lets loose another cone of ice from his hiding spot. However, confined with the cave, he is unable to match the party, though he does stand up to them for some time. After the dragon is dead, the group begins pouring through his loot while Rothgar examines the statues. He finds that each of the outside pillars has a keyhole, then realizes they only have one key. The group talks it out a bit, deciding to explore the side passages down here before retrieving the other keys. Rothgar sends summoned creatures into the tunnels, and from one tunnel, none return. The group decides to explore this tunnel a bit further, eventually coming to face with a purple worm. They immediately teleport back to Magnimar.
Once in Magnimar, they take a day to rest and divide up loot, before teleporting back to the stone heads and trying again to get the keys. This time, they are able to get them all uninterrupted, though they had to retry a couple of statues. They make their way back to the pillars in the cave, insert the keys, and turn them all once. Nothing happens. They try casting spells at the center pillar and stabbing it with a rapier, befire Rothgar remembers that the riddle specifically mentuioned turning the keys twice. As the keys are turned a second time, a beam of different colored energy emenates from each, going into the center pillar where a portal opens, revealing a long hallway. They enter the hallway, only to find a solid wall behind them when they look back. As the only way to go is forward, they proceed, entering a large circular room with many branches, each headed by a large statue, the heads of which resemebled those outside. In the center of the room is a bubbling pool. They inspect the statues, finding that one of the branches opens up into a small room where they can see the occasionaly flash of light. They decide to check this hallway first, passing the statue of a heavyset woman weilding a halberd, and find the room to be in disarray. Part of one wall is caved in, while the remaining walls are scorched by magic. In the center of the room, a rod sits, fused to the floor. Rothgar moves in closer to inspect the rod as it begins to hum, and then pulses, unleashing a burst of energy that strips away many of his magical protections. Undeterred, he continues past it, looking in one passageway to see a large slime glopping about, while the other contains a strange, mirror-like liquid. Skippy recognizes the liquid from some old legends he's heard, and the party discusses how they should collect it. Gronad suggests emptying out potions of healing and using the vials, but the party does not want to do that, as they can come back and fill up any vials they empty later. The party then tries to come up with a plan to lure the slime out of it's room to fight it.
Talk about a close shave to death. I thought i was going to die after being hit by fire balls. It was as if those guardians or whoever the heck they were, were expecting us. If it is not for Gronad’s healing powers i doubt if i would have survived to write the journey down.
We knew we were going to face formidable challenges the moment Sloth played hard ball on us to share information only when we get the keys from the other lords of the place. Being stuck between a rock and a hard place? yes that actually was one. After passing through the sewage, we walked into a transporting place. As Gronad, Skippy, Elrohir and stepped in, we got transported into this place and before we even knew, we were hit by fire balls. I was falling down and could see by the corner of my eye, skippy being hit too. Gronad, I owe you one. Maybe a bottle of Rum. Hmm, yes he deserves one.
As we got healed by Gronad, we saw a creature flying in and challenging one of us into a combat with the condition that if she would spare us only from eating us all up only i she loses the battle. She certainly didn’t appear as one of those push-overs either and we didn’t want to count her out as a invalid threat. We chose our champion as Agro and we did a great choice. Agro defeated that creature.
Kuthona 30??
Rothgar heads in to the room with the slime, hoping t lure it out. As his arrow sinks into it, it splits in half. The two halves slop towards him, one of them grabbing hold of him in the narrow hallway. The group is unable to do much until Rothgar changes paces with Agro, who is able to break the grapple and move out of the hallway. As they draw the slime into the main chamber, they begin to hear a loud humming. They ignore the sound, and continue to fight the slime, only to have a pulse of energy erupt, stripping them of many of their magical enhancements. Despite this setback, they are able to finish the slime and explore the room it came from. finding a lever that doesn't do anything, and a handful of potions. They then head back to the center room to reset up.
After some discussion, they decide to tackle the Sloth wing next. they push through the reeking, vermin-filled sewers, eventually finding a room with several platforms, one which has three levers on its wall. Rothgar and Sarah spider climb over and start pulling levers, releasing an elder water elemental who begins scrubbing the walls. As they contemplate the other two levers, 2 Omox demons emerge from the filth of the sewage and begin lobbing gobs of muck at them. Seeing this, Gronad casts Airwalk on the rest of the party, and they make their way in to fight the demons, with the help of the elemental.
Kuthona 30??
The party decides to pull the remaining two levers after Skippy is able to decipher their signs. The first one causes a grating sound to be heard from further down the tunnels, while the second one turns off the sewage pumping in from the pipes above. After waiting a few minutes, they are able to hop down into the slime encrusted channel and follow it for some time, using their various magic abilities to pass over the pools of sludge they find on the way. They eventually find their way to a set of double doors which, upon opening, they see a large man with a black mass growing out of his chest, sitting atop a floating thrown, surrounded by pillars of different colored sludge. They talk to him for a while, and he agrees to share information with them IF they will bring him the heads of the leaders of the other wings. He gives them some basic info on each leader, and the party reluctantly agrees to the arrangement, leaving him behind and heading back to the center. They spend some time discussing which tunnel to go down, eventually following Skippys lead as he decides to go down the Wrath wing at random.
They follow a long hallway ending in a large chamber, where at the opposite end stands a large iron statue. As they approach, it begins firing arrows at them. They manage to push past it, into a room with two circles on the ground. Gronad steps into one, teleporting him into another long chamber that appears to be a training room. 6 humanoid figures stand here, their legs bent backwards at strange angles. They yell something in a language Gronad does not understand, and he dives for another nearby circle, which brings him back to the group. They devise a plan to send Gronad, Skippy, Elrohir and Joe back through the portal, only to have them struck by a barrage of fireballs from the awaiting creatures. Skippy and Joe go down, while the creatures yell at the others to drop their weapons. After a bit of a standoff, they accept, and one of the creatures leaves, coming back later with an arrogant looking woman with a flaming greatsword. They chat back and forth, and she eventually challenges them to send one member forward for single combat. If their champion won, they would have the loyalties of the soldiers. If not, they would be sent to the Fleshvats. They chose to send Argo in as champion, after buffing him as best they could, and after a short fight, he was victorious, causing a rune to appear etched onto his head. The remaining warriors stood down, as promised, as the party claimed their spoils from the body of Atroxis.
Kuthona 30??
The party spends some time questioning the warriors of wrath, while 2 of them take the headless body of Atroxis to the Fleshvats. Elrohir decides to check this out, and shortly after entering the room with the churning vat of flesh that smelled like burnt skin and hair, he decided to leave. Meanwhile, Gronad, followed by Zukuto, decided to investigate the other teleportation circles, leading to a small room with a wall of billowing black smoke. As he is about to reach through the smoke, one of the warriors of wrath appears behind them, requesting they wait a moment while he tells the others not to attack them on sight, also mentioning that Atroxis had a pet that she had there. As the warrior leaves the room through the smoke, Gronad and Zukuto teleport back to the main chamber where everyone else is waiting, and the group heads back to the central fountain. After some discussion, they decide to enter the Ravenous Crypts of Gluttony.
They open the doors to reveal a chamber adorned with skulls, with several linen-wrapped figures leaning against the wall. Fearing mummies, Skippy lobs a fireball into the room, engulfing them in flames, and as Agro charges in to attack the now-mobile mummies, Elrohir, Joe, and Zukuto are frozen in fear. However the rest of the party is able to deal with the mummies and snap them out of their state. They continue through the crypts, along a catwalk that overlooks a seemingly endless pit, and into a room where a sarcophagus sits, guarded by a statue of a serpent with a head shaped like a Siderhon. They poke at it, search around for traps, but finding nothing, Elrohir shoves the lid off of the sarcophagus, causing the statue to turn and attack. The golem manages some solid hits, leaving Elrohir and Skippy with some cursed wounds. After managing to take it down, the party loots the gems from the sarcophagus and all of the wine in the room. They then backtrack, passing a room with several dismembered bodies on the ground that appear to have been worked on by an expert necromancer. Past that, they find what appears to be a laboratory, and a stack of books with various depictions of undead creatures and methods of creating them. Zukuto hears something moving about from the northern door in the room, and the party moves to investigate, opening the door to find a rotted figure with sharpened teeth pulling bits out of a corpse.
Kuthona 30??
The zombie man looks at the group, confused, and asks them who they are. Skippy responds that they are from the upside, which makes him more confused. He tells them that the Master would not like them here, and they should go before the Master finds them. They ask to speak to his master, and he offers to go and get him. There is some debate about whether to follow him, or have him bring the master back, but they eventually decide to wait in an adjacent room. A few minutes pass, and Skippy notices Elrohir twitching slightly, and asks him if he's ok. The others start to look at him, when the whole complex is affected by a rumble that seems to come from the center. Rothgar goes to investigate, and sees a strange green glow filling the room. One of the warriors of wrath stands there, and shouts something at him, but language barriers mean this is not understood. He heads back to the group, and sends Skippy back to talk to the Warrior. While Skippy is gone, Elrohir says "Another has awakened", and attacks Sarah with his falchion, knocking her down. The party begins to attack Elrohir, striking him several times as he steps forward and slashes Skippy deep, causing him to collapse from blood loss. The zombie reappears, striking at the group from behind, then letting loose a shriek that shakens the group. Zukuto comes up behind Elrohir, stabbing him in the back, killing him as Skippy collapses in front of him. Rothgar steps forward as Agro moves around from behind, as a dark cloud erupts from Elrohir, forming into an emaciated man. The man chants something, and Gronad disappears. While Agro is engaging the zombie, Zukuto moves around the lich, continuing to strike at it, when he and Rothgar are hit by a multicolored cone of light, causing Rothgar and Agro to vanish as well. As Zukuto stands alone weighing his options vs Azavan and his zombie minion, Joe Flynn rushes into the room, striking down the zombie with his falcatta. Between Joe and Zukuto and some lucky saves, they are able to hold of the lich until Gronad reappears. As a last ditch, Azavan looses a Cloudkill, killing Sarah and Skippy. The surviving members drag their fallen members out of the cloud, where they recover miraculously using Hero Points.
Meanwhile, Rothgar finds himself back at the circle of stone heads outside Rimeskull, where he contacts his ship to find that a week has passed... He then sets to work trying to figure out how to get back inside the Runeforge.
Abadius 6??
Rothgar manages to re-do the ritual, obtain the keys, and re-enter the runeforge, catching up to the others after only a couple minutes. The party continues investigating, finding a series of hidden doors that lead through a laboratory with two corpses stitched together, into a trap door containing 3 sarcophagi. Gronad attempts to open one, unleashing a burst of negative energy. Rothgar takes some heavy damage from the trap before Sarah is able to suppress it with magic. They looted the room before heading back to the halls of wrath to rest, arriving to find that the place had been attacked by two of their own... members who had gone out to try to repair the golem, and had returned shortly after, saying they were doing the work of the Mistress, and attacking the other warriors of Wrath. The party kind of shrugged this off, and rested anyway.
Once they had rested, they proceeded into the wing behind the statue of Sorshen, finding a large, open room with several cages around the perimeter. 4 beautiful, winged women flew forward, hurling insults at them in Abyssal, which Sarah reluctantly translated. As one member stepped forward, demanding the head of Delavhine, the creatures became enraged and attacked the group, fleeing after a couple rounds. The party looked around the room, finding a disheveled man in a cage in one corner, and recognizing him as Orik Vancaskerkin. They manage to release him from the cage, and use their scroll of Heal to make him come to his senses. He starts to explain that he was sent here on an expedition from the Pathfinder lodge to investigate the awakening of a powerful being known as a Runelord. The party gives him some armor and weapons, but are more interested on his "dealings" with the succubus. They make their way in to the tent at the center of the chamber, killing a handful of dominated giants, before stopping at the end of a hallway, the sweet hum of music and scents of perfume wafting towards them.
Abadius 6??
The Rothgar, Gronad, Zukuto, and Skippy continue into the tent, finding Delavhine surrounded by the 4 alu-demons. They attempt to work a deal with her, to get additional information, howver when she cannot answer their questions, they threaten to take her head. As they close in, she begins singing a song, sowing discord amongst the party, who all seem to converge on Skippy for some reason. As Skippy collapses, near death, and Rotghar dismisses Agro, the party continues a valiant attempt at fighting back against the succubus, managing to kill her daughters, however with Gronad and Skippy KOd, and Zukuto paralyzed, Rothgar chooses to make a deal with the succubus. She will let the others live if he spends some time alone with her. He agrees to the terms, and after taking his companions out of the room, returns for his "penance". As Skippy, Gronad, and Zukuto recover to the sound of moans of pleasure mixed with screams of pain, they decide to rush back in to the tent to try to save their friend. They are pushed back as Zukuto is quickly dominated by the succubus, and ordered to keep the others away. Another agreement is made, and the succubus is allowed to finish her task, while the others wait. Once finished, a drained Rothgar emerges from the room, and the succubus agrees to help them as best she can to escape/counter Jordimandus and invites them to come back to stay any time.
The party takes some time to heal and rest up again, heading towards the Vault of Greed next. For the first time ever, Gronad attempts to open the door without having it checked for traps, and sets off the trap, crushing Skippy beneath the heavy iron plate of the door. Zukuto manages to disable the trap, but is unable to open the door, when Rothgar comes up and finds a secret door next to it. The party passed through it, entering into a long hallway filled with mist. As they passed through the mist, Skippy and Gronad vanished, leaving Rothgar and Zukuto in a room next to a fountain with mephitis playing. They are able to determine from the mephitis that their friends had been turned into goldfish and sent to similar pools around the complex. Rothgar heads back into the mist to get Sarah, and disappears as well. Zukuto manages to hire the mephitis to go to the other pools and retrieve as many goldfish as possible. While Agro is retrieving Sarah, they return with a pile of fish, upon which Sarah casts Break Enchantment, returning several of the fish into their prior forms. They continue through the hallways, destroying several stone golems, until they stumble into a laboratory. Here, Ordikon stands, looking over a failed creation. He starts yelling at them, calling them slaves and demanding they leave. The party attacks and defeats him quickly, and into the vault filled with the pool that charged up some of their wands.
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Abadius 6??
The party took some time to rest before heading to the Shimmering Vales of Pride, leveling up in the process. Once ready, they barreled into the wing, activating the 2 mirrors of opposition, creating two clones each of Gronad, Skippy, and Zukuto. The fight was looking grim when Skippy realized all they had to do was shatter the mirrors to destroy the clones. With a couple quick thrusts, both mirrors were destroyed and the clones dispersed. They entered the following room where a giant, intelligent looking peacock stood in a large hall surrounded by mirrors. As they approached, they all collapsed, going comatose and having vivid dreams.
Gronad opened his eyes to find himself in a pit surrounded by magma, with dozens of people chained to the walls around him and a large demon looking at him, hungrily. Fortunately, Gronad realized this was all an illusion, and dove into the magma to find the hidden door to escape. He finds himself back in the hall, surrounded by prone companions.
Elrohir woke to find himself in the middle of a large gala, surrounded by people dancing. As a man started to give a speech, he jumped out a nearby window, returning to consciousness.
Joe Flynn found himself on the middle of a battlefield, surround by dead and dying, but ignored them, running to the nearby command tent, where he entered to find himself laying on the floor of the grand hall.
Skippy felt the ship rocking and swaying beneath him, and the sounds of thunder outside. Hearing screams from above deck, he ventured out to investigate, seeing a kraken wrapped around the ship as the crew tried to repel it. He immediately began searching for a lifeboat or raft on which to escape, when he was struck with a burning realization that nothing around him was real. He turned and jumped directly into the Kraken, awakening back in the Shimmering Vale, slightly charred.
Zukuto, after managing to escape the bonds connecting him to the rest of the slaves in the mine, went invisible and gradually started freeing the other slaves, when a nearby wall collapsed, and a Galbrezu stormed through the rupture, tearing into the nearby slaves. As Zukuto tried to hide from the creature, a gust of steam struck him, outlining a small door inside the ruptured wall. He leaped through it, finding himself slightly aflame in the shimmering vales.
The party was struck by several spells from invisible assailants, and had difficulty locating them to place their attacks. However one of the assailants made the mistake of casting Feeblemind on Elrohir, which somehow turned him into an expert at locating and slaying the invisible. As the lumbering, drooling Elrohir destroyed two of the assailants, pools of water appeared where they fell, and a third decided to end the threat, casting Phantasmal Killer on him, causing him to collapse, frozen in fear (and also death ... hero points to cheat). During the battle Skippy is also afflicted by Feeblemind, however the others are able to mop up the remaining 3 assailants, and Gronad restores the mental faculties of Elrohir and Skippy. The group carries on through a secret door located by Zukuto, finding a dead man sitting in a chair with a mirror and a journal. They strip the body, and read his journal, learning how to make a Dominant Runeforged weapon which may help against Karzoug. They search the remaining rooms, finding a Tome and a couple hundred dead copies of the same man, then leave to the center, collecting some shards of mirror on the way. They send Rothgar(player not present) to try and acquire some of the "small club-like objects" from Delvahines room for use in the ritual, but he returns with only 2 (botched diplomacy roll). Gronad goes back to get more, and manages to secure a trade, giving her a magic ring in exchange for 4 more of the "toys". They all meet up in the center, and as Gronad dips his warhammer into the pool along with the glass and toy, the statue of Karzoug animates, turning towards them with intent to kill.
Thought I had already posted the latest update, but guess I didn't...
Abadius 6??
The statue makes threats at the party before smashing into Gronad repeatedly. Though his newly forged runeweapon managed to absorb some of the transmutation magics being pummeled into him, by the end of the third round he is frozen solid into a stone statue. As the other party members continue pummeling the statue, Elrohir also takes a full attack and is transmuted as well. Soon after, though, the party manages to smash the statue, eliciting a final "I'll get you next time, Gadget" from Karzoug before shattering. With two members frozen solid, they are not keen on trying to create more runeforged weapons, so they set to work trying to find a way to revive Gronad and Elrohir, but unfortunately, neither Sarah or Skippy are able to do so. However, after some reflection, they remember the rod in the Halls of Eagar Striving and how it stripped them of most of their magical effects, and had Agro push the two statues into the room, where a burst of energy restored them to flesh, though still Dex drained and limp. They decide to rest a bit to recover, then proceed to make the remaining runeforged weapons. In the end, everyone has one except Sarah and Skippy. They then head to the Halls of Wrath, where they had determined from Vraxies journal that their may be an exit. They enter to find a scene of slaughter, with one of the few survivors telling them that a pig headed demon and came through, wiping out most of the remaining warriors. They left him behind, and continued to the Trial Chamber, where they saw the pig headed demon and a glabrezu searching the room for an exit. The pig headed demon glares at them, demanding that they tell him the exit, however as they don't know he leaves them alone and continues searching. After some searching, Rothgar gathers everyone into the main circle, and tries casting teleport, which takes them immediately outside the dungeon. From here, they teleport again to Magnimar, where they approach the Pathfinder Lodge with the information gathered from Runeforge regarding the awakenings of Krune, Belimarius, and Karzoug.
To be reconvened for Book 6 mid-late September
Pharast 13 4708AR
The party does some resting and preparing for their upcoming trials. While Gronad, Elrohir, and Skippy take part in certain rituals to unlock the powers of their swords, Sarah meets with her family, Rothgar looks into purchasing more business space, Joe Flynn trains away some of his Bardness, and Zukuto purchases a plethora of magic items.
During the week, Rothgar is approached by a gang of thugs, and after smashing 2 of them, is asked t stop, as a man named Gorvi introduces himself as a former tribe member, telling of the hard times that have befallen the tribe. Zukuto is approached by one of Carents men, and escorted to see him, where he is informed that the Pathfinder Lodge has located some information on one of the Runelords. Sarahs parents host a feast, to which she invites Rothgar, Gronad, and Skippy. Joe Flynn is accosted by a handful of sailors accusing him of being a deserter, but he manages to talk them down.
Zukuto, along with Joe and Sarah, make there way to the pathfinder lodge, where they are (eventually) told an expedition has just returned from the Viperwell, with what is believed to be the passcode that matches the disk they had returned previously. The head of the expedition, Viorri Delvahni, is currently too injured to speak with them, but they are able to gather some other info from another member of the team, Jarvik, after being inducted into the Lodge.
A couple days later Gronad receives a letter from his parents, post dated a couple months back. After reading the letter, he decided that he had to try to stop his cousins, Silas and Karivek, from avenging his brothers death, and with the rest of the party in agreement, managed to scry their location, though some interference showed only a cabin in the mountains. Rothgar attempted to teleport the party there, and though the interference made it difficult (rolled a mishap), he managed to get everyone to the cabin. They began investigating the outskirts, and are attacked by a giant tree that injects something into both Joe Flynn and Zukuto, causing their muscles to stiffen painfully. Through teamwork and Sarahs liberal use of fire, they managed to destroy the undead treant, and began inspecting the lower doors of the cabin when Rothgar suggested they start top down instead. As Agro flew the group up through gradually heavier snowfall, Gronad entered the first set of doors off the upper porch, into a room marred with bloodstains, and was stricken with a strange hunger. He backed away and warned the others to avoid the area, and proceeded through a second set of doors. The rest followed as they went room by room through the cabin, until they were left with either going down stairs, or entering "The Hunger Room" again. Instead of either, Rothgar, flying atop Agro, went outside where Agro tore through the iron bars on the remaining room, allowing Rothgar to squeeze into a room filled with Dwarf bones. As he stands up, he is suddenly swarmed by ghostly dwarves who scratch and bite at him until he runs out of the room and is stricken by pangs of hunger that seem to fade almost as suddenly as they came, but not without leaving him in a significant amount of pain. As the party gathers at the top of the stairs heading down, the wind and snow picks up, and they start to hear a loud, frantic knocking coming from downstairs.
Just received a letter from Ma that they tracked down another one of those demons. Not sure why it took so long for the letter to have arrived, but I got it none the less. With all this crazy demonic stuff happened I had to question to see if this was even real. It didn't take me long to convince myself that it didn't matter in the end if it was real or not I had a duty to make sure my cousins were safe. After a wild week of screwing around to satisfy this bloody swords desires, I only hope the gold and time spent was worth it. I'll get some supplies for the trip this week and head out. I don't really trust anyone else to come along on this journey, it doesn't all too coherent for anyone to continue on this cursed path, but if they are crazy enough to join so be it. Rothegar suggested I cast an augury spell to see if I could locate them. Not the first thing that came to my mind, but if it helps get us there faster then what the hell right?
We leave for the mountains in 5 days. Until then I pray that they stay safe and don't do anything stupid.
Been bad at updating lately.. quick notes this time
The party went down stairs to investigate the noise, and are attacked by the haunted chain on the way, which pulls Sarah over the side of the stairwell. They eventually make it to the door, to find nothing outside, and no tracks or anything to be seen in the heavy snowfall. As they investigate, the whole structure begins shaking, and everyone decides they've had enough and bails, running outside. They tie rope to eachother so they will not get lost, except for Joe Flynn who goes back inside because he is cold, and then gets possessed by the ghosts in the house, and charges outside, attacking Sarah but getting knocked back (and out) by Agro. Zukuto, Skippy, and Rothgar had gone ahead in the snow, when they feel the rope go limp behind them. Rothgar follows the rope back to investigate, coming face to face with a Wendigo. The party makes a brief attack against it, until it scoops up Zukuto and flies away with him, who slips away about a mile away from the cabin. Gronad and Skippy decide to go back into the cabin to investigate, and Gronad is confronted by the ghost of his cousin who explains to him what is up. The others trek out into the blizzard and eventually find shelter.
The next morning, the others fly back to the cabin, where they talk briefly with Gronad and Skippy before Rothgar takes off, finding Zukuto wandering in the snow, lost. He picks him up and returns him to the cabin, where he makes some rather disturbing comments. Eventually, they realize that he has been cursed by the Wendigo, and they manage to remove his affliction. After some preparation, the group heads north to find Gronads other cousin, only to find his bones next to a couple of graves. As they investigate, a frost worm pops out from beneath them, and Sarah explodes it with a Finger of Death. A vicious looking ghost rises from the bones, attacking the group, but is quickly laid to rest. They gather his bones, and bring them back to the cabin, where the two spirits engage in a ghost-off. While this is happening, the Wendigo tears into the side of the building downstairs, where Rothgar and Agro had decided to wait. It damages Agro badly enough that Rothgar dismisses him, and then grabs Rothgar and flies off with him while the others run down and start attacking it. Rothgar eventually manages to slip away, and teleports back to the cabin.
They spend some time resting before continuing north, following the river for a couple of days until it opens into an icy swamp. While there, they see an otter, the first sign of life they have seen in days, and Agro catches it. When he drops it off to the group, it transforms into a nymph, whose beauty blinds a large portion of the group. After some calming words, they explain themselves, and she agrees to help them by providing food and shelter for them. They accept, and spend several days fasting before the full moon, at which point they follow the path to the legendary city of Xin Shalast, Fighting a group of giants on the way. They rest in the giants cave, and return to the city the next morning.
They send Zukuto in to scout out the bottom part of the city. He finds an encampment with a large number of lesser giants, seemingly being run by giants much larger than any he had seen before. He investigates a nearby fortress, and is almost detected by a pair of birdlike creatures. He reports back to the group, sharing this information, but is interrupted by a skulk named Morgiv, who is insistent that they are hear to save his people from the Hidden Beast. They agree to help, on the condition that he leads them as far north as possible. They make their way to the lair of the hidden beast, where a protracted fight breaks out, resulting in Rothgar killing Sarah while dominated, and Elrohirs sword taking control of him, and causing him to nearly kill Skippy. Joe Flynn manages to heroically disarm Elrohir, though he still takes the brunt of the strike and is knocked down from it. They manage to deal enough damage to mist the squid, it retreats into its hole under the dias, which Agro shoves aside easily, and they begin hacking the creature apart. They take some time to rest with the skulks before being led to an exit in the northern part of the city, where they climb a building and Greater Teleport most of the way up the mountain. They arrive surrounded by a trio of strange, huge spiders, that demand/request for them to go forth into the spires and kill the denizens from Leng, to which the party agrees. They head into the large spire and encounter a group of cloud giants. Rothgar uses his bow to make a wall of thorns, splitting the giants up, but when the thorns disappear, they notice 2 of the giants have disappeared.
I posted a big update, and then it disappeared after I hit submit. I may rewrite it later, but for now...
The party fought a bunch of stuff in the pinnacle, many near deaths, and eventually ran outside to teleport back to Magnimar to recoup.
Ah! I found a gray hair in my beard! Those damned demons are messin' around with my lushious dwarven hair! HA HA HA HA. Well, if these Runelord's don't kill me, I am sure my old age will. What is there to say? Whoever reads my journal, will not believe half of the stories I have written, and even less will heard of what we will have done for this civilization. It has been a grand adventure though. I feel more and more that I need to ensure that my companions come through this alive. I owe it to them, even if they don't feel the same about me. At least my life, or Cronad's wasn't a waste.
Tomorrow we venture off back into the mountain, back into the belly of the beast, to find this wacko wizard that wants to destroy everything. Typical no? We hear about these over zealous wizards, but never really see them. If Skippy is any indication about the health of the wizardry schools, I wouldn't have to worry to much for the future of our people.
To my future readers, it's possible this is my last entry.. I am rich, but I won't tell you where I hid everything!!! hahahahahaha.
- Gronad