Session 36, part 2 — Seeking Xin-Shalast

Upon our return to Maginimar at the temple of Iomedae, we are approached by a soldier who informs us that Mayor Grobarus wishes to speak with us. Knowing that Zac’s earlier casting of resurrection was temporary, we decide to pick up one more expensive diamond and resurrect Ash for good. Then we head out to find the mayor. He informs us that large armies of giants are massing once again, this time at the borders of the Storval Plateau. These giants were larger than those we fought previously, and he expresses concern over this alarming news. People as far as Kaer Maga are now under serious threat. A local family, the Kaddrens who sent us Thord, have agreed to help as best they can in our efforts to defeat this menace. We tell the mayor we are working on a plan, but must first locate his hideout. He dismisses us to our duties, and we head out to make plans.

Without knowing where Xin-Shalast is, we decide to split up in an effort to discover its location. Zac teleports to Riddleport where he plans to consult the Order of Cyphers, of which he is a member. Devin messages Voon, who has discovered that all mention of Xin-Shalast in the library at Jorgenfist was permanently destroyed. With that, Ash suggests we return to Sandpoint to consult Brodert. I join them on the trip while Roy and Takar remain to gather up a small force to make the journey to Mount Rimeskull to recover what we can of the dragon’s hoard, thinking there may be something useful there.

While I visit Aneka to catch up a bit, Devin heads to the House of Blue Stones to consult with Sabyl Sorn while Ash goes to visit Brodert. When we reconvene later, we piece together the information they discovered. Xin-Shalast, Devin reports, is located in Mount Mharmassif, at the headwaters of the river Avah. The area around the mountain is dimensionally unstable, requiring specific knowledge to find the proper path. Fortunately, Ash had some information to help with that. She produces a note given to her by Brodert, and read it aloud.

Salutations, Mr. Quink!

Thank you again for the kind words and drink. It’s always a pleasure to speak with readers of my work, especially those well read and civilized enough to know of my writing beyond Eidolon. Alas, I was unable to procure a copy of the early draft from my personal files. It would seem that it has gone the way of so much of my early work, lost forever to the gulfs of time and narrow-minded publishers unable to grasp the import of a young Pathfinder’s work.

Fortunately, my mind is as quick now as it was in those early days of my explorations of your fantastic homeland. I recall the evening I first heard the story of Xin-Shalast, while seated on a log in a Varisian camp, sharing ruby mead with an enchanting young woman. Ah, but that’s a story for other times.

I was intrigued by the tale, though. All peoples have tales of “cities of gold”, yet with Xin-Shalast, the Varisians had no tradition of explorers seeking it. They viewed the place as one of evil, a place to be feared and foresaken. As far as I could tell, none of your indigenous people ever sought out the ruins before the advent of Chelish rule. But there was mention, come to think of it, of two dwarven brothers Vekker, I think their names were. Claimed to have found the route to Xin-Shalast and convinced several tradesmen in Janderhoff to support and supply their plan to establish a base of operations in the low Kodar Mountains along the Kazaron. Their vanishing into the Kodars bankrupted all but one of their investors, I hear, and even today, the Vekker name is generally accompanied by a litany of rousing dwarven profanity when it comes up in ‘Hoffian taverns.

In the stead of enclosing a copy of the early, complete draft of my work, though, please find a signed copy of Eidolon with this missive. I trust it will look quite handsome on your shelf.

In good health, Redwing

After a night’s rest, we returned to Magnimar and awaited the return of the others. Soon enough, Zac returned from Riddleport. He had not been able to glean any information from his order, but he was glad to hear of our success. Takar and Thord returned later with most of the dragon’s treasure. Roy, meanwhile had been gathering a small force to accompany us on our journey. We spent the next couple of days stockpiling on equipment and preparing for the long journey.

Once we were ready, Devin cast windwalk on us, and we headed for the Kodar Mountains. The small force gathered by Roy had its own clerics, and they followed suit. We reached the base of the mountains near the river Kazaron, and returned to normal form. We headed off into the mountains, with our assisting party following a bit behind. About seven hours into the journey we come to the base of a sixty-foot-tall sheer cliff face with the front of a building embedded into it. The air here is permeated with a foggy haze.

Session 37 — Remnants of the Lost Vekkers

We follow the trail, approaching the cabin with caution. A split-log tower rises from the lower section to the top of the sixty-foot cliff where a larger cabin lies. The entire structure is overgrown with lichen, making it appear as though it is a part of the cliff face. To the south, our right as we approach, of the lower cabin, there is a steep embankment over which a large chute overhangs. Below the chute’s mouth is a pile of black sand and a nearby sagging pine tree.

Sensing danger, or perhaps paranoia, we stop to prepare for a proper investigation with a few spells. While this happens, we hear a distant shriek, like that of a dying elk, which only adds to the forlorn spectacle before us.  With preparations finally completed I move forward with Thord and Zac. Thord and I are able to move along the snow top with some magical assistance while Zac moves up the trail. The others follow further behind.

There are two doors into the lower structure. One is a double-wide door which is barred from the inside. The other has a rusted lock. I search the area near the wide doors and locate the blade of a shovel, but no signs of recent activity. The whole area appears to have been abandoned for many years, possibly decades.

We call Ash forward and she scrambles up to inspect the lock. With deft hands, and an expert’s touch, she triggers the mechanism and removes the lock before stepping back. Takar steps forward and opens the door to reveal an empty room with a pair of double doors and a curtain on the east-facing wall.

I follow Takar inside and move the curtain aside. Behind it is a small, barren chamber with a cot and a pair of old work boots. Zac moves in and takes a look around, then points to the boots and indicates something magical lies within. I empty out the boots and find a nicely made punching dagger, which I hand over to Zac.

Devin moves in and casts light on Ash’s necklace to help those without darkvision. Ash then takes a look at the double doors and finds another lock, which proves more difficult than the last but ultimately is no great challenge for Ash.

I open to door, beyond which is a short ramp leading down into a larger room. The back wall is nothing more than the cliff face, and the air is putrid. Rusty equipment and large copper tanks sit on the dirt floor, and the handle of a shovel sticks up from the middle of a debris pile. A shadowy figure moves across the back wall before coalescing into the shape a dwarf. I enter the room with Thord and Takar on my heels. Thord attempts to speak to the shadowy figure, but as it turns around we see the dwarf shoving piles of gold dust into its mouth.

“You!” the figure says. “You have to try this. It’s so…..delicious!”

This is the last thing I recall before awakening a few moments later with the strange taste of dirt and grit in my mouth. The dwarven ghost is gone, and the others are looking at me oddly. I grunt as if nothing happened, then move to the next door. Beyond it is the tall shaft we saw from the outside. A wooden staircase circles its way up to the upper cabin. Behind me, the ghostly dwarf reappears. This time, we attack it with fire, magic and weapons, but nothing seems to affect it. Thord suddenly shouts out that it is a haunting and blasts it with divine energy. This seems to remove the haunting temporarily, and we all pile into the next room.

A length of chain hangs down the middle of the shaft, and a wheelbarrow lies nearby. I check it out, but it is empty. Takar melds into the stone, and goes off to investigate the room that was barred from the inside. He returns to report there is little more than old mining tools.

While Zac and Roy cast fly on themselves in order to make their way up the shaft, the rest of us begin climbing the stairs. As we near the top, the stairs suddenly flatten, sending me tumbling back to the ground. I land with a thud, and look dazedly up as the chain seems to come to life and attack my companions.

Devin and Ash get knocked from their perch along the wall where they had managed to grab hold. They each land, but are ok, so I begin to climb the wall. Looking up as I make my way, I see spells strike out at the chain, and then a suddenly much larger Thord punches out at it, and sends the chain careening down to the ground, now seemingly lifeless. Takar, who had been momentarily held by the chain, uses his flame jets to stay aloft and eventually to make his way to the top of the shaft. Ash and Devin similarly use their magic to make the ascent while I make my way the old fashioned way.

Once we are all at the top, we take a moment to catch our breath, then move to examine the next door. There is no lock, so I push it open and step into the corridor beyond. There is a door to the right as the hallway turns left. I follow the hallway to its end where I find what appears to have once been a sitting room. There is a picture of a pair of dwarves, one of whom looks remarkable similar to the ghost we encountered below. The room itself is in disarray, with cooking utensils and furniture scattered everywhere. A hearth sits in one corner with a cauldron held on an iron hook resting inside.

Thord moves over to check the cauldron while I go to examine the painting. Suddenly we are all struck with horrible hunger pangs. I double over with pain, and hear Thord blast out with divine energy. Unfortunately, his efforts appear to have no effect, but after a moment the feeling passes. I had the vague feeling that eating my companions was the only way to stave off the hunger, but I, and thankfully the others, staved off the urges.

After a moment, Thord announces he found something inside the cauldron. Ash takes a look, and soon discovers a dwarven tooth. With that grim thought in mind, we press on. Thord opens a door leading out of the room and into bare-floored room with iron lattice-worked bars. A large pile of dwarven bones lies in the corner. The sounds of the rising dead ring out from the room, and Thord thrashes about inside. The moment passes, and he calmly exits the room, his face slightly paler than before.

Ash heads back down the hall, and tries to use her gloves to examine the door, but it is too dark beyond for her to see. We open the door, and discover a bed chamber with a large elk hide serving as a privacy curtain in one corner, bunk beds, a weapons rack, a heavy chest and a few other items. Thord moves in and looks around, but doesn’t find anything. Ash takes a look behind the hide curtain, and reports the findings of a privy. There are torn pieces of paper inside with writing that upon a brief examination appear to have come from Korvosa about 70 years ago. This serves as proof of our suspicions that this cabin was built by the Vekker brothers, but what happened to cause everything to go so horribly wrong for them remains unclear.

Ash finishes her examination, including the weapons rack where she discovers one of the hooks resets the staircase. Meanwhile, I open another door along the hall and find a small closet with some snow shoes. Zac heads off to the balcony area, and shortly calls out with news of locating a secret door. He points it out to Ash, and she quickly goes to work on the lock. The lock proves quite stubborn, and it takes Ash many minutes to finally convince it to open. Finally, the lock gives in, and we open the door to reveal a hidden strong room. There are burlap sacks of gold nuggets and gold dust, and a coffer containing uncut gems. A small desk holds a journal, inside which details the Vekker brothers’ notes on the area surrounding the cabin.

Suddenly, we hear the strange sound of muffled knocking coming from inside the wall along the corridor. There is no access to what is beyond inside the house, so I move into the kitchen area and open the door leading outside. Outside, there is a porch with an overhanging roof adorned with animal skulls. I’m about to investigate the door to the right when I see out in the snowstorm a distant humanoid figure. It begins to approach, and just as it gets near enough for me to identify the figure as a dwarf, it shouts out for me to run. Overcome with a sense of fear, I charge out into the snow.

When I awaken from my fear-induced spin through the storm, I find myself at the edge of a cliff. I turn around to find Takar racing out after me. We hear the sounds of creaking coming from the cabin, as if it is about to fall from the top of the cliff. Roy, Devin and Thord spill out from the cabin, and then as if from nowhere, dozens of dwarves seem to appear at the edges of my vision and I am struck once again with powerful hunger pangs.

Devin and Thord begin taking turns blasting the area with diving energy. Eventually, the voices and the images stop, and everything turns calm once again. We gather together near the porch, and the figure of one of the Vekker brothers appears. The ghostly visage appears to be fraying at the edges, and his eyes are completely missing, though he does not seem to have any trouble seeing us.

“You…you are alive?” the ghost asks, incredulously. “You do not hunger? Ah…that is what I sense in your blood. Greed. You seek the City of Greed. You should abandon your quest, lest you end up like me. Cold. Dead. Eaten. But I suspect you cannot be swayed. Know then that I know the way to Xin-Shalast. I can show you the way, but only if you bring me my brother. He died on a ledge in the mountains a mile’s walk north from the cabin. I can feel his soul out there, still hungry, still insane. Bring his bones to me so that I might reconcile with him. Once he is at rest, I will show you the way so that I might rest as well…”

With that, the ghost of Silas Vekker, who I could now identify from the painting, faded away.

I decide to check out the remainder of the cabin while the others discuss what to do next. Inside the room where the strange knocks came from, I find only an entryway with a thick hide covering the room to the south, which turns out to be nothing more than a coat room.

I return to the others, and we decide to check out the journal we found earlier. Inside, there is a map showing some of the areas where the Vekkers did their mining. One such place is about a mile to the north, matching what the ghost of Silas told us.

Not wanting to waste any time, we head out immediately, with me leading the way through the storm. We arrive a short time later at the base of a two thousand foot tall cliff. Zac, Ash and Roy cast fly upon themselves and head up to investigate. They soon return to announce they found a shelf near the top. We all fly up and spread out to investigate. Almost immediately, the ground shakes and a gigantic white frost worm bursts out of the snow, breathing a cone of intense frost upon us.

I step up and attack the creature with my hammer. Roy tosses a flask of something at it, and Zac moves into a better position to strike at it with scorching ray. To make matters worse, another Dwarven ghost appears, this one resembling the second Vekker brother. It’s moaning sends Roy and Ash into a panic, each of them fleeing in separate directions.

The worm trills a strange song, and suddenly all I see before me are flashes of pretty colors. I hear an explosion, and shards of worm flesh smack into me, shaking me from my trance. I turn and see the Vekker ghost standing over an unconscious Devin. I charge, and strike at the creature with my hammer, dealing massive damage but not destroying it. Thord channels, sending healing energy into Devin and myself. Devin snaps awake, and channels energy from his prone position, finally destroying the ghost.

A strange howl echoes through the storm as the winds intensifies. I search around and locate Ash’s staff-sling, but her trail is lost in the whirling snow. Roy manages to find his way back a few minutes later, and after more searching we locate the remains of Karivek Vekker. We gather the corpse and head back down to the base of the cliff. The storm has become too intense for travel, and there are still no signs of Ash.

We set up tents, and make camp there in the hopes of riding out the storm. In the morning, Thord mentions having horrible nightmares all night, but everyone else appears to have slept well enough. The storm has abated somewhat, so after a quick breakfast, we head out in search of Ash, using a combination of windwalk and locate object to track her down. After about two hours, we finally find her. Relieved to see us, she mentions having seen a creature similar to the Sandpoint Devil prowling the night. No one knows what it is, but we decide we should head back to the cabin as quickly as possible.

Session 38 — The Road to Xin-Shalast

We fight our way through the worsening blizzard, but at last we reach the Vekkers’ cabin. Thord and I force open the door against the heavy winds allowing the others to go through. I follow the others through with Thord right behind me. As I enter, I hear Thord cry out in pain, and when I turn to check on him, he is holding his neck as blood seeps through his fingers.

“Something bit me!” he complains, but the door is now closed and whatever it was seems to be gone.

I turn back to the others when a sensation of extreme calm washes over us. Then, the ghosts of the Vekker brothers appear, facing one another with deep scowls upon their faces. Whispery green tentacles thrash about the room as the two ghosts come together. Suddenly, a loud banging noise echoes from down the hall. Zac casts a spell and disappears while Ash and I move down the hall to investigate. She listens at the door at the end of the hall, but hears only the howling of the wind. I push open the door to reveal the bedroom with a fracture in the wall just large enough for a small person to squeeze through.

Takar pushes past me and enters the room to check on the stability of the fracture, but as he approaches the arm of a hideous creature reaches through and slashes at him with sharp claws. Takar yelps in pain and leaps back. Roy throws a potion bomb at the hole, hoping to reach the creature, but instead merely blasts a large hole in the wall. I charge forward and swing towards the creature, but my hammer clips the edge of the wall and is deflected. Thord reaches through and hits something fleshy before Takar blasts the wall to pieces with his magic. Roy tosses another bomb, striking the creature producing a shriek of pain.

“It’s a wendigo!” Zac calls from the hallway as he blasts the creature with three searing beams of flame.

Ash strikes next, darting through the party like a shadow on ice. I slam the creature with my hammer. Thord attempts to attack, but manages only to punch himself in the face instead. He curses out a spell to heal some damage before striking out again with lightning speed. Takar blasts it with more fire and the creature flees into the storm.

Devin moves up to heal Thord a bit more while I try to push out into the storm. The wind is stronger than before and I lost my balance, stumbling back inside. A loud crash sounds from below, and the entire structure shakes with the impact. It seems as though the creature intends to bring the entire building down. Takar creates a wall of magma where the hole is to prevent the creature from entering that way. Zac casts another spell, then flies back down the hall and out into the storm.

Not wanting to waste time, I summon the magical powers of my cloak and use dimension door to reach the base of the cabin in a puff of smoke. The storm is howling all around, but I push through the winds and search for the Wendigo. Coming around the corner of the cabin, I find more than I bargained for as a large tree reaches out and tries to flatten me. The angry-looking tree and I exchange a few blows before Zac and Roy appear, the former flying just above my head. The tree rushes forward with surprising agility, trampling us to the ground. Zac uses his magic to disappear and reappear just beyond the tree’s reach before flying up beyond my vision. I stand up and swing again at the tree, finally felling the foul creature.

I rush for the cabin once more, passing through a new hole in the wall to find the Wendigo has flown up the shaft to the top level, holding Devin in his clawed hands. Takar pushes past me and blasts searing flames up at the creature. Roy flies up and throws a potion bomb at it, and that proves the fatal blow as the creature shrieks then collapses to the ground lifeless.

After taking a moment to catch our breaths, we head back to the Vekker ghosts to find they have seemingly settled their differences. Silas appears before us once more and offers us the lost pages of his ledger to  help us find the path to Xin-Shalast. We scoop up the pages and examine them while outside the blizzard subsides. Zac remarks that Wendigo are capable of calling such powerful storms, and it is with his death that the blizzard ends.

After getting some rest, and reading over the pages of the ledger, we decide to strike out for higher elevation. Following the notes, we travel alongside the Kazaron River, once again making use of wind walk to make our travels easier. After about an hour of travel, we come to the tributary the ledger names as the River Avah.

As we follow along the new river, the elevation begins to rise dramatically, and a strange feeling of wrongness descends upon us. It isn’t until Thord reaches over and grabs my shoulder that I realize I have been standing and staring at a cliff wall for several minutes due to disorientation.

Finally, though, we reach the end and come upon an expansive frozen marsh where intuition tells us flying would somehow be insulting to the local denizens. I examine the fens, and notice a number of hummocks and protruding rocks we can use to travel safely over the freezing water. I carefully lead the team through the marsh for nearly an hour before strange bubbling noises and feminine laughter halt our progress.

Peering through the mist, we spot a purple-skinned female with otherwise elven features. Zac’s eyes narrow as he examines her. “Careful,” he warns. “She is a powerful nymph.”

The nymph laughs again, then greets us with a pretty smile, naming herself Svevenka. Soon our fears are put to rest as she explains she is the cousin of the Myriana, the nymph whose soul we help put at peace in near Bitter Hollow. She offers her gratitude and warns us not to venture further north. After we tell her of our mission, she offers safe harbor and some advice.

The path forward is filled with giants, lamias, and abominable snowmen. Karzoug himself lies within an occluding field outside Xin-Shalast. Within the ancient city there are skulks. Those who name themselves “the saved” could be friendly, but others are vampiric and should be avoided. A plane calling “Ling” overlaps with the material plane in some areas, and its denizens are dangerous. Finally, she tells that there are two ways to find the path to  Xin-Shalast. We can either starve before a full moon or use a true seeing spell.

We take Svevenka up on her generous offer of safe harbor, and spend the night. In the morning, Zac casts the spell and locates the path to Xin-Shalast in the form of a ghostly river. We use wind walk to make our way up the path but after some time we are forced out. Zac and Devin quickly determine the area is magically warded against magical means of travel so we proceed on foot.

The 100-foot wide road before us is includes a faint trace of gold, indicating that perhaps the rumors that Xin-Shalast was paved with gold was true after all.

Suddenly, a frost giant leaps out into the road and declares, “I, Bjormandal, say you are not welcome here!” He rushes to attack while some cloud giants rain boulders down on us from atop the nearby 60-ft cliff. I charge Bjormandal as Takar laces him with a column of magma, and soon the foolish giant is dead. Takar grabs Thord and uses his flame-powered thrust ability to reach the top of the cliff. I use my magical cloak to dimension door there to meet them and immediately attack the nearest giant.

A fire elemental appears on the opposite side of the line of giants and begins to attack them. This turns out to be courtesy of Zac, who then lashes out with chain lightning at our foes. I step up and fell another giant while Thord and Takar take turns blasting another. After a few more exchanged blows, the giants all lie dead at our feet and we are able to continue our trek.

We continue along the road, and soon the sky darkens ominously. From behind a distant mountain peak, a large bird appears and begins to follow us, bringing with it flashes of lightning. We try to ignore the creature, but soon a bolt of electricity sizzles the ground as Ash twists out of the way. Zac quickly casts resist energy on himself, which gives immediate dividends as another strike lands on him.

Unable to engage the creature in the air, we begin to run forward, hoping to find some cover. More lightning strikes crash down on us, including one on myself that singes just a little. Thord identifies the creature as a Thunderbird, and we soon realize we will need to engage. Zac begins by casting disintegrate, but it only angers the creature as it fired back with another lightning strike. Takar and Roy try to fly up, but are repulsed at fifty feet above ground level. Roy is slammed into the ground, but Takar manages to shift himself to avoid the worst of it. Zac, Takar, Ash and Devin blast at it from the ground, and finally the bird is taken down. We catch our breath, then continue along our journey hoping we can manage to get to the city in one piece.

Two more hours of hard marching brings us to a mountain pass which opens into a glacial valley. An enormous, ice-capped city takes up the bulk of the valley. From the mouth of an immense black stone fortress runs a wide causeway of gold that dominates the city’s interior. Enormous towers rise up on both sides. The eastern half of the city and the valley is covered in a great mass of ice caused by an ancient volcanic explosion. Cold winds slice through the peaks causing strange shrieks. A shiver runs down my spine as we prepare to march into the ancient, but not nearly dead, city of Xin-Shalast.

Session 39 — And the Walls Come Tumbling Down

We spend the night in the pass, getting some rest before continuing on. In the morning, we fulfill our daily rituals in silence. The dread that awaits us weighs heavily upon us, but soon we are ready to move. We approach the city along the gold-flecked road before us, and soon find ourselves in the midst of the city. Rubble covers much of the city to our right, but immediately around us massive buildings rise to unimaginable heights. Roy examines one of them, and soon declares with awe in this voice the walls must be at least twenty feet thick.

At that moment, a sharp crack echoes out from behind a nearby building, and four massive frost giants emerge from behind the walls. One of them walks on eight legs like some kind of freakish centaur. Another stands cowardly behind the others, and calls out to us in Thassilonian. At least, I think that’s what it is. Zac, who is standing nearby, translates for me:

“You’ve reached the Forbidden City. Your souls shall never leave.”

Sounds lovely. I move forward, hammer in hand, prepared for battle. Sure enough, the centaur-like creature charges me, landing a stinging blow with his gigantic spear. I return the favor with two solid strikes of my own. The creature didn’t care for that and tried to trample me, but I activated my ring of blinking and he charged right through me. I turned around and saw that Thord and Devin were not so lucky. Neither seemed critically hurt, but they were now in prone positions.

A blast of fire erupts to my left. I turn to see three of the frost giants reeling from a fireball and a new, even larger giant shrugging it off. This new giant has skin like blackened iron and glowing red runes all over its body. Two of the frost giants surround Roy, and I can only watch as they detach his head from his body. Takar unleashes a wall of magma which finishes off the centaur, and further damages the others. I turn and charge the new giant, but before I reach him, my boot hits something solid and I land on my face like an idiot. So much for that plan.

Naturally, the giant steps forward and smacks me three times while I’m down. Fortunately, I’m one sturdy dwarf and survive the vicious attacks. To make matters worse, a lightning bolt crashes down on me. This is not an ideal situation, so I make use of my magical cape, and vanish in a puff a smoke, reappearing some distance away behind a mound of rubble. I quickly stand up, and peer around to assess the situation. Two frost giants surrounding Takar take a blast of his magma and topple over. Thord kills another one, but as the new giant approaches his runes flash brightly. I turn away to cover my eyes, and when I look back, Thord is on the ground, seemingly lifeless.

Despite the death of the frost giants, things seem to be getting out of hand quickly. I am about to make another run at the rune giant when a magical rainbow-like wall suddenly appears between us and him. I glance towards the other and see Zac finishing his casting. Meanwhile, Devin manages to get over to Thord and bring him back to life with the power of his patron. The rune giant is not pleased with the wall, and decides to take out his frustration on a nearby abandoned building. As he smashes the building, it begins to topple over towards us. I dive to the side, and avoid the worst of it.

After the dust settles, I stand up and look around. The rune giant is gone, probably thinking he took us all out. He could be mostly right for all I know. I begin to search the rubble, and soon come across the lifeless and headless body of poor Roy. I drag it out, hoping to find Devin alive so we can resurrect him. I then see movement on the other side of the massive pile of rubble, and prepare myself for another fight, but I soon recognize the silhouette as Takar’s. I call out to him, and he comes running over. Together we grab Roy’s body and bring it to a nearby building for safe-keeping before heading back out to look for the others.

Session 40 — In Search of Sihedron Rings

Takar and I return from our fruitless search of the rubble for our lost companions to discover a half-elven woman in flowing teal robes. She quickly introduces herself as Aayla, and explains that she traveled here with Philippe Starstrike. At first, I’m skeptical, but when she mentions that Philippe talks to his sword I know she’s telling the truth. Philippe was a bit odd. She explains that there is a camp filled with giants not too far away. Among them is a potential benefactor, a stone giant named Gyukak. She offers to resurrect Roy. Takar and I eagerly accept.

She performs the same ritual we’ve seen now a dozen times or more. It takes quite a bit longer than usual, but she gets the job done and Roy is back with us once more. After taking some time for him to get used to being alive again and catch him up to speed, we agree to follow Aayla back to this giant camp.

Before we leave, Aayla provides some protection spells against energy attacks. Outside the abandoned building, we soon discover our hiding location has drawn the interest of a strange-looking creature floating just above the ground. It bears a vulture-like head with long feathery arms, and wields a bow with its taloned feet which aimed directly at us.

Takar reacts quickly, moving forward and striking at the creature with conjured shards of metal. More of the strange creatures quickly hover into view and fire arrows upon us. I am hit twice and momentarily stunned. Fortunately, the others are up to the task as Roy throws his bombs and Aayla blasts one with scorching ray.

While the others continue to blast away, I shake loose the cobwebs and advance towards the creatures defensively. They are reluctant to get within melee range, but I am able to draw some of their attention from my cohorts. Two of the creatures take a powerful blast of electrical energy from Aayla and go down in a crispy heap. Takar kills another with a blast of metal. The last attempts to flee but is unable to outrun Roy’s perfectly thrown bombs before it is blasted to bits.

Before we can examine our handiwork, Aayla points north and indicates the sound of a rune giant heading our way. We quickly depart the area and make our way towards the Golden Road which then leads to a well-worn trail. The trail takes us to a cleared section of the city where over-sized tents blanket the landscape of what appears to be a refugee camp similar to what we saw at Jorgenfist but much larger.

As we march our way through the camp, none of the giants seem to take note of us. I identify at least three variety of giant — stone, frost and cloud — and each of them looks more forlorn than the last. Finally, we reach a particularly large tent which Aayla indicates is our destination. Inside we meet the stone giant Gyukak. He laughs when we tell him our desire to kill Karzoug but agrees to assist us anyway.

He then proceeds to tell us how all the giants are under the thrall of the rune giants who work for Karzoug, then explains that to reach Karzoug we will need to enter the occluding field. To do that, he says, we need Sihedron rings. He nor any of the giants have them, but there are a few creatures within Xin-Shalast who do. He recommends a few places for us to check out, and also lets us know that he has heard about a group of adventurers who have been traveling underground. Their descriptions match that of our lost companions and we are hopeful we’ll be able to meet up with them before long.

We thank Gyukak for his advice and set out for our first target, the Abominable Dome, a former monument construction facility that has been overrun with Yeti loyal to Karzoug’s high priestess, a lamia named Cioptra. The massive structure lies at the top of an elevated road, rising as high as seven hundred feet. A number of arches and openings decorate the exterior allowing access to the interior. Inside, we discover numerous chambers built into the side of the walls and a one hundred foot high pile of rubble in the center. A spiral ramp leads up to cave openings withing the rubble. There are no signs of the yeti.

Roy and Aayla go invisible while I approach the base of the ramp. I feel a general unease about the place, as if a dozen set of eyes are upon me. The ramp is slick with ice, so Takar blasts it with fire but the results are less than expected. He flies up and lands on an even platform but immediately slips off. I move up, using my boots of the winterland to maintain my balance. Suddenly, two of the yetis emerge from the caves to attack. Takar blasts one with magma, but the damage is limited. It roars and more of the creatures emerge, including one with eight legs. The second yeti breathes cold air upon myself and Takar. Icicles form on my beard, and then we go to work.

I charge the nearest yeti and smack it with my hammer. Lightning arcs between the eight-legged monstrosity and its nearest companion. One of Roy’s force bombs sends bits of fur flying through the air. Blasts of magma erupt all around me. A chain a fire blasts through our enemies, burning off fur and flesh. Seeing the devastation wrought by fire, I draw out flametongue and strike out at the howling yetis. More bombs explode, leaving on yeti broken and burnt on the ground. Takar and a Yeti exchange blasts of metal and cold. Aayla, Roy and I continue to pour on the damage and soon the Yeti are defeated with minimal damage to ourselves.

While the others keep look out, I search the caves. Inside the largest cave at the top of the rubble I find a trove of treasure including a sihedron ring. We decide to make our camp here for the night. With the yetis defeated, the area should be safe at least for the time being.

In the morning, we rise and prepare to make our way to the next location, the Heptaric Locus, a massive arena and amphitheater. As we make our way along the road, the shadow of a massive blue dragon sends us scrambling for cover. Unfortunately, we aren’t all able to hide before it spots us. Rather than dive to attack, though, it knocks down a tower behind us, blocking the path. It laughs mockingly before flying off, and we soon learn why as the loud sound of an approaching rune giant fills our ears. It is the same as the one fought yesterday.

“Now you are mine!” The creature cries and quickly moves to attack.

I drink my last potion of enlarge person, and move up to intercept the charging giant. Our weapons clash together in a shower of sparks. A blast of magma hurls itself at my foe, quickly followed by a ray of icy death. He barely notices. I swing my hammer, landing a solid blow, but missing on other opportunities. He breathes a cone of magical energy. I hear Roy cry out that he’s blind.

Metal shards pierce the giant’s tough skin, and he begins to show signs of fatigue. One of Roy’s bombs explodes against his side. I can only pray to Torag that he is not throwing blindly. The giant takes a big swing at me. Stars circle my head as I stagger back from the blow. Suddenly, a green ray of light slams into him, and he explodes in a shower of dust. I turn to see a satisfied smile on Aayla’s pretty face. I give her a salute.

After some healing, we continue on. When we arrive at the arena, Aayla warns caution, noting the giants strung up on poles all around. Not even Karzoug’s forces have managed to capture the arena from the hands of the devil who dwells within. Not one to run from danger, I stride through the entrance. The corridors within appear maze-like in design. Behind me, Takar sheds light, glowing like a firefly. A variety of strange corpses litter the halls, and it’s clear whatever treasures once filled these halls are gone. We encounter a few very old traps, but manage to bypass them even without the expertise of Ash.

I sense we are halfway through the maze when it becomes clear we are being hunted. Soon enough, a trio of crimson, spider-like horrors appear at an intersection, cutting off all escape routes. One of the creatures fixes its gaze on me, making my eyelids heavy. I shrug off the effects and block its first attack.

Takar retreats into a wall, and Aayla suddenly appears on the opposite side of the creature attacking me. Roy screams out. I check on him with a glance. His eyes are bleeding and one of the creature’s takes advantage with an eviscerating slash. Some tentacles reach out to grab me, but I knock them away. Two of the creatures dart through the tunnels, slashing at targets along the way.  Aayla spots her opportunity, and puts up a prismatic wall to block two of our assailants.

One of the creatures attempts to convince me to walk through the wall, but I decline the suggestion. Roy suddenly starts spouting gibberish, while the creature in front of me charges but manages only to slam its head into a wall. The two creatures behind Aayla’s barrier attempt to pass through. The first nearly makes it, but at the last moment is teleported somewhere very far away. The other turns to stone about half-way through.

Takar emerges from the wall, and blasts the remaining creature with metal shards. I smack it with my hammer until it stops moving. Then I smash it again for good measure. Aayla uses her magic to heal Takar while I drink from a stash of potions. We then wrestle Roy into submission and force a potion upon him. The monkey manages to heal Roy of his insanity.

After a little more healing, we continue through the corridors until we come upon a large amphitheater. At the far end of the lower level are two more of the scarlet nightmares. Above them, overlooking our arrival from a balcony are a fiend, a pair of bony devils and the blue dragon.

The fiend, likely Gamigan, raises his arms and speaks, “And to think you came here…
” as if to suggest he was about to search us out.

“You only have half of us,” Takar retorts.

“That will be remedied.” Gamigan points at us, “Dance!”

I hear Roy cast an incantation while I charge the spider-creature on the right. Lightning arcs between the spiders, singing their skin. A sudden chill fills the room as a wall of ice  separates us from Aayla. The spiders advance, attacking me and Takar, leaving Takar in a state of paralysis. We counter with one of Roy’s bombs and my hammer, leaving the two spiders in a heap. Gamigan sends his bone devil minions. The magically place themselves around me, attempting to flank.

Aayla blasts a hole in the ice wall, but another appears, separating Takar and myself from the others. I kill one of the devils, but Takar’s scorching ray proves ineffectual against the other. I remedy that problem with a few more whacks with my hammer. i hear explosions on the other side of the ice wall, but by the time we make it through, Gamigan is nothing more than a pile of ash. The blue dragon, it turns out, was merely an illusion.

We collect a Sihedron Ring.

Session 41 — Death to Ghlorofaex

After resting within the comfortable confines of the Heptaric Locus, Aayla decides to return to Gyukak to help gather the giants to fight against Karzough. The rest of us continue towards the Eye of Avarice. Along the way, the sounds of battle catch our attention. Coming around a corner we see our missing companions engaged in battle with the blue dragon. As usual, Thord is being pummeled into submission. An air elemental moves in to attack the dragon, probably a pet of Zac’s.

With some help from Aayla, I enlarge and charge forward. Philippe casts a spell and joins me. The dragon leaps up onto a nearby building. Suddenly, a huge gargoyle leaps past me. I hope it’s Philippe. it clings to the side of the building and climbs up after the dragon. Ghlorofaex retreats to the air, climbing higher, but is pursued by the air elemental and the gargoyle. I spot Thord entering the building, but I choose instead to ascend the outside.

Ghlorofaex continues to fight, diving towards Zac and Devin. Zac uses his magic to dimensionally “step” away then uses dispel magic on the beast. Devin retaliates with a destruction spell. I charge and leap from the rooftop, crashing down on the dragon with a vicious blow. A pool of magma bubbles up from beneath him and finally the beast is down.

After pilfering a Sihedron Ring from the slain creature, I suggest we keep moving, and after a short discussion we head off to where we think the dragon kept his lair. It appears to be an old tax collector’s building, but is devoid of life now. Inside we find an extensive hoard magic items and valuables.

While taking a moment to catch our breath, Zac and the others caught us up with their adventures during our time apart. A creature named Morgiv helped them escape the collapsing tower the rune giant brought down. In return, the group agreed to assist them with something called the “Hidden Beast”, some kind of vampire-like creature that was snacking on Morgiv’s people. After destroying this creature, Morgiv gave them a place to rest and provided them with information. The next day, he led them through an underground tunnel which bypassed much of the surface road, and lead them to Vormark’s Circus.

They traveled north from there, and located a mortuary which they investigated. Inside were some strange undead which they fought and defeated. When they went back outside, Ghlorofaex was there. The dragon questioned their purpose, and spoke spoke upon the history of the city, even going so far as to cast an illusion to show them what Xin-Shalast once looked like. When Earthfall occurred, Karzoug was forced to retreat. His apprentice Khalin and some rune giants went with him to a demi-plane known as the Eye of Avarice. His plan was to return after a hundred years, but due to the Cataclysm, he was forced to wait for thousands more.

After explaining this, we decide to continue along a secret mountain path which starts at the base of the Spolarium. Along the way, we are attacked by a massive roper. It lashes out at Thord with a tentacle. Zac tries to use magic missile, but the spell fizzles. Two more tentacles lash out, hitting Takar and myself, but we shake off it’s attempts to sap our strength. Takar misses with a retaliation strike, but the rest of us begin to hit. I slam the creature with my hammer. Zac hits it with scorching ray, and both Thord and Devin strike at the tentacles. Suddenly, the creature is overwhelmed and asks us for forgiveness.

We remain battle-ready, but engage the creature in conversation. Devin asks what lies ahead. It answers, saying it feels lengy, or insane. We’re not clear what this means, but he also says there are four strange spiders ahead who we should be cautious of. We heal up our damage and continue on, leaving the Roper to deal with anyone who might be following us.

We near the top, and finally sense that we have exited the ‘no-fly’ zone. While the others imbue the magical ability to fly upon themselves, I simply climb the rest of the way up. At the very top, we encounter the strange spiders the roper warned about. They surround us, but do not attack. Instead, their words come to us in our minds, “You must destroy the Leng device!” They explain the Leng device is at the Pinnacle of Avarice, which happens to be where we’re headed anyway. We agree to their demand, and they slink away, allowing us to pass unmolested.

Finally, we reach the occluding field. We have enough Sihedron rings for all but two of us, but Devin and Thord wield weapons which work just as well. Armed with this protection, we enter the field. Instantly, we feel a sense of nausea and intense vertigo, but the feeling passes. We’re pretty sure that without the rings, we would be in bad shape.

We reach the plateau where five large towers, clearly dragon roosts, lay dormant. To the left, there is a compound containing three spires. To the right is a triangular fortress with three slender towers rising up. It appears to be a prison of some sort. Straight ahead is the pinnacle itself. We decide to check out the jail first.

As we approach, we just make out a creature of some sort atop the highest tower. It fires a series of cannonballs at us. One passes through me as I blink, but another hits Philippe square in the chest. We charge forward, dodging the cannonballs until we can pass inside. There, we climb a long spiral staircase all the way to the top. We emerge through a steel door only to be attacked by what appears to be a golem made out of cannons. While Zac attempts to use magic on the creature, I charge forward. My hammer makes short work of the strange creature, and we use the prison as a place to rest.

Heavy snow begins to fall.

Session 42: Enter the Pinnacle

We prepare ourselves and climb a large spiral ramp which seems to last forever. Finally, we reach a large checkerboard platform, but as we step into the room it suddenly begins to fill with a green soup-like fog. Using my fog-cutting lenses, I stride forward into the goop. Around a central pillar I spy a towering giant. It appears graceful and beautiful as it picks up and tosses an enormous boulder at me, which luckily sails over my head. I warn the others of the threat and continue forward.

A second giant moves into view and lobs another boulder at me. This one passes through me as I blink out of phase. I decide to meet the challenge head on, fly into a rage and charge. Two more giants appear in the mist beyond, but I am undeterred. Sadly, my first attack misses. We then exchange a few more misses while the other giants close the gap.

One of the giants gets a few hits on me, but by then some of my companions manage to catch up. A sling bullet flies in to catch the first giant in the face while a blast of earth and rock strikes the second. The first growls and points into the mist behind me, “Warden, there!” before missing a couple of times in attempts to hit me.

Some boulders sail over my head as Thord advances blindly through the mist until stumbling upon a giant and engaging. I swing my hammer with precision and strike down the first giant while Thord pummels his to death with a flurry of kicks and punches.

More boulders fly, one clipping me on the shoulder. I charge forward to engage the third giant just as a web comes seemingly from nowhere to entangle it. Zac helpfully announces that the green mist was caused by a series of fog cloud spells.

A sling bullet flies in over my shoulder and smacks the webbed giant in the face. In panic, the giant muscles free from the web, but leaves himself open to my attack. This proves a fatal mistake. Thord’s assailant pummels him, leaving him motionless on the floor. I move to intercept and manage to disarm the giant, but in my glee fail to deliver a follow-up strike.

The fog cloud disappears then, and Zac gleefully identifies the giants as Cloud Giants. More sling bullets fly in, finishing off the last giant. At that moment, an alarm bell sounds somewhere in the distance.

“Welp, they know we’re here,” Philippe announces.

Devin heals Thord as we examine the rest of the chamber. In the center, we discover an aura of abjuration, which we assume caused the alarm. There is a set of golden double doors in the north wall and a single golden door to the west. Phillipe listens at the single door, but does not hear anything. Ash uses her gloves to “look” through the door, and describes a pentagonal-shaped room which appears empty. We decide to check this room out first before using the double-doors.

Ash opens the door, and suddenly Karzoug seems to appear before us. He lets loose with a horrifying wail which decimates the party, leaving only Thord, Roy and myself still standing. Then he disappears, and the three of us decide to follow suit. We collect our fallen comrades and retreat back to the prison.

After some rest, we manage to resurrect three of our fallen companions, but are forced to leave Zac until next time lest we give the enemy more time to replenish their defenses. Once preparations are made, we head back up the spiral ramp. The main entry hall is empty, so we check out the pentagonal room. Phillipe casts detect magic and has a look around, but doesn’t notice anything unusual except that he senses the presence of another dimension, probably Leng. I check for secret doors, but don’t find anything.

At the golden double doors, Ash uses her gloves to peer through. An immense curving hallway circles around to the left and right. The doors prove to be locked, and though formidable, Ash makes quick work of it. This time, though, she steps aside and lets me open the door.

I open the door, and once again Karzoug appears in front of us. He casts a spell on Phillipe, turning him into some kind of weird, translucent, floating frog. He then casts disintegrate on Takar, but he is able to shrug off the blast. I’m about to charge when Karzoug disappears. Devin suggests it was likely just an image.

I check out the hallway while Devin and Thord work to return Phillipe to normal. The hall curves around the central room in both directions, ending in golden doors. To the left, the door is a little over a hundred feet away, but nearly double that to the right. I return to inform the others of my finding just as Thord finally manages to dispel the baleful magic upon Phillipe.

A short debate leads us to explore the right, but we barely enter the hallway when the doors to the left open up to reveal a pair of cloud giants who immediately hurl boulders at us. Devin and Takar take the first hits. Roy makes Ash go invisible, and shortly thereafter we hear a couple of sling bullets bounce off the giants’ armor. We begin to advance forward.

Phillipe casts lightning bolt and hits the pair of giants. The a boulder sails past Thord just as a fog cloud appears. Takar blasts the area around the doorway with a column of magma. Thord charges forward through the mist and engages one of the giants. I advance through the door, letting Thord and the others deal with the welcoming committee.

Beyond the door is a chamber bathed in golden light shining from every gem, strip of gold and wall carving. I imagine it’s like standing inside a rainbow. The usual checkerboard pattern gives way to a twenty-foot wide path from the doors to the a throne upon an onyx dais. Somehow the throne manages to outshine everything with a magnificent array of gold and jewels. Standing next to the throne is a well-armored woman in a purple cape. Three more giants, these with dark skin and green eyes, stand guard around the chamber.

The woman warrior issues a challenge to me, which I heartily accept with a roar and a charge. She blocks my first attack with a deft maneuver. Behind me, the crackle of lightning and cries of pain fill the room. Two of the dark-skinned giants move up to flank me. I growl at them, but continue to focus on the woman. She is quick and avoids many of my attacks. She and the giants working together prove too much and I am soon dropped.

I awaken moments later. One of the dark giants is down, and the woman has moved to engage and now huge Phillipe. One giant aids her while the last has Devin and Takar cornered. Roy and Ash are nowhere to be seen, but I suspect one of them is why I have been revived.

With another cry of defiance, I rise to my feet and charge the nearest giant, smacking it three times. Takar goes down, but a sling bullet staggers the giant allowing Devin a chance to heal Takar. Phillipe kills the woman and a few moments later, the last of the giants follows her. I smack the corpse of the woman for good measure.

With the fight over, we collect some valuable items. Phillipe and Thord are discussing the peculiar sword wielded by the woman and announce that it must be destroyed. They take their leave and the sword to do just that, but do not offer any details. The rest of us prepare to trudge onward.

Session 43: An Old Acquaintance

We survey the room, and choose to explore the open corridor to the left of the throne. The hall circles around the center chamber like a circular maze. I take the lead and move cautiously forward until the corridor widens and reveals another image of Karzoug standing in front of a single gold door. He attempts to disintegrate me, but I shrug off the effects and charge. My hammer unsurprisingly swings through him. A blast of magma follows, but is equally ineffective.

The image casts another spell, but not upon me. I look over my shoulder to see another floating frog then the image disappears. I growl in frustration as Roy’s monkey tracks down the frog. I use Rime, which I suddenly remembered Devin had cast dispel magic into several weeks ago to turn the frog back into Ash.

She thanks me, then moves to the door, and uses her gloves to peer through. On the other side is an ornate chamber with a fireplace and several large and opulent nests which she reports likely belong to Lamias. Additionally, there are three other doors exiting the chamber, but no signs of immediate danger.

I open the door, and step in. We are greeted with a blast of heat from the fireplace. The nests appear lined with the furs of great cats. Taking a closer look, I pluck one of the pelts. Something falls from its folds and clinks on the floor. Devin reaches to pick it up as I place the pelt in my bag of holding. He studies what I can see now is a hairpin with a small gem, and a moment later declares it to be a magical gem useful against poison. We add it to our growing cache of party supplies.

Meanwhile, Ash is moving around the room, examining each of the doors. The door to the left smells of rotting meat, but is too dark to see what is beyond. The door to the right reveals more nests plus four lamias preparing for battle. One of them Ash recognizes as our old friend Lucretia. The third door leads to a hallway lit by braziers with two additional doors and a strange mathematical pattern on the walls.

We begin preparations with a fight against the lamias, but before we can pull the door open, the door opposite burst open and out pours green noxious gas. Following the gas come two hideous blobs with gaping maws intent on eating us for dinner, though by the size of them we may be little more than a snack. I smack one with my hammer, and its wound sprays deadly acid. I shout a warning, but there is little we can in these tight confines.

An explosion rocks the room as one of Roy’s bombs strikes the other creature. I continue my attacks, but only hit once. Takar swings and misses, and Devin takes up a defensive posture. Ash’s bullets fly, smacking the creature in front of me three times and killing it. But she is soon heard dry heaving in the corner as the stench of these creatures finally get to her.

The door to the lamia den flies open, and I sense a spell being cast on me. I push against the magic and avoid becoming blinded. Then the area becomes filled with a cloying miasma of darkness which mingles with the gas to form a murky pool of greasiness. I exchange blows with one of the lamias through the door, but I may as well be swinging at the air for all the good it does me. Takar and Devin cast spells, but they are equally ineffective.

The blob-like creature attacks and takes a chunk out of Roy’s mid-section. Then a lamia steps up and clobbers Ash into unconsciousness. I attack the blob, striking twice and splashing acidic blood on Devin and Takar. Roy dances away from the thing and throws a bomb at the lamia, singing it’s fur. Devin lashes out with a sunbeam spell against the unknown creature, but it retaliates by lunging at Roy and knocking him out before turning its attention towards me.

Seeing the direction this fight is going, Takar decides to vacate the room, escaping through the open door. Devin first circles around the large creature and casts healing magic into Ash, bringing her back to the fight. She then uses a wand to heal Roy, but before they could get away, the large creature opens its maw and swallows Roy whole. The lamia slips and misses a chance to attack. I use the opportunity to destroy the larger creature with a few hammer blows.

Takar reappears in the doorway, and blasts the lamia with magma. Devin casts another sunbeam and succeeds in blinding two of the lamias. Suddenly the room is drowned in murky blackness. Unphased, attack the nearest lamia, hitting once and removing a protective image.

Takar and Ash combine with fire and bullet to finally take down the first lamia, but the second one pushes through the door and we exchange a few blows. We continue the assault, slowly removing it’s images, as a third lamia emerges and hits me hard enough to force the hammer from my grip. A sling bullet rips through the lamia’s eyeball and into its brain ending its life, but the one behind steps up and smacks me four times. We attack back, but mostly manage just to remove some images.

Ash screams in frustration as her sling breaks. Then suddenly Karzoug appears in the doorway to the lamia’s nesting area, preparing to cast a spell. I grab Devin and use the magic in my cloak to dimension door us into the hall. Devin channels divine energy to heal us, then we follow Takar down the hallway. I lag behind in the hopes Ash is able to join us, but she does not appear. I whistle for Devin and Takar to wait up, and as the seconds slip by we realize that could not have been Karzoug. Just as we are about to head back in, Ash and Roy appear covered in bile and other disgusting fluids.

Ash tells us she overheard the lamias speaking. One of the lamias used a spell to change her appearance. Determined to finish off these pesky lamias, we decide to head back in. Ash goes first, sneaking in. The lamias are no longer in the room, and she waves for us to follow. She checks the door to the lamia room with her gloves and sees one of the lamias, not Lucretia, healing up, apparently unaware of our return. She checks the other door and sees Lucretia entering the first door on the right before disappearing into darkness.

Ash casts obscuring mist and positions herself in the corner. I move up to open the door to the lamia room. As soon as the door opens, Takar blasts the lamia inside with metal shards. She screams in surprise, but manages to duck out of the way. Ash smacks her with a sling bullet then drops, but the staff slips from her hand. I move in to attack as she casts mirror image on herself. We exchange blows while Takar blasts her with magma. After a few more exchanges, I finally manage to remove all her images and together we overpower and destroy her.

I open the door where we last saw Lucretia, but the hallway is empty. I step through the opening, and suddenly long, lanky arms like tendrils reach through the first door to smack me. Then the fish-like head of a strange creature emerges and speaks, “Leave us alone!” as it attempts to bite and tear my head off. Fortunately, it fails to do so.

I attack back, hitting once, and it casts a spell, but it fizzles against my spell resistance. Ash moves in and creates magical fog. Devin casts dispel magic on the creature, and wonders out loud if this might be Khalib (a name Ash heard the lamias mention earlier). more blows are exchanged until finally the creature seems fed up, points a finger at Takar and Takar shakes violently before falling dead to the floor. I continue my attacks, but between its defensive magic and my own propensity to go ethereal, I am unable to connect.

Then the creature reaches out with vampiric energy and saps Devin of his strength. He seems on the verge of collapse when Ash gets to him and they dimension door away. I move down the corridor, deeper into the fog, hoping to draw it away. My efforts prove true as it charges after me. I slip past it and head back out into the main chamber, picking up Takar’s lifeless body on the way. I then close the door and hold it fast while Devin puts some healing energy into everyone.

Unfortunately, the creature proves stronger than expected and soon the door is ripped open. We disperse. I head into the smelly room with Takar’s body. I hear the creature searching for us in the mist, and as it heads into the lamia’s chamber, I make a break for the exit. Roy is there waiting for us, and soon Ash arrives with Devin. The creature somehow find us, and charges out of the room. Devin stares the creature down, and casts destruction, putting a sudden and violent end to threat.

Ash does some quick recon, and reports no sign of Lucretia. We head back to the prison to get some rest.