Rise of the Runelords

An indecisive look came over all those remaining.   Henrik was the next to jump into the flames and likewise was immediately reduced to ash.  Everyone else swallowed hard and followed.

You found yourselves definitely someplace else.  You were spread out on a stone plane some 200 feet across and that seemingly floated in in infinite column of space as you could see no end when you looked up.  There were seven stone arches spaced evenly near the edge of the floor.  No on was close enough to the edge to look over.  A multi-level pool and fountain was the only other structure.  On the highest level hovered a fist sized blue stone set in a very elaborate gold setting.  It glowed from a light emanating from its core. High above the pool floated Karzoug, who immediately broke into a monologue.  Most of you paid it no attention.

The Runelord of Greed acted first. You weren't too worried about a massive damage spell as you were all spread out.  Instead, time itself began to warp. Karzoug started moving very fast and disappeared completely in less than a second. When he reappeared, there were three different groups of devils amongst your ranks: ice, barbed, and erinyes.  The Ice devils soon vanished and D'Argo yelled that they were still there, just invisible. It soon became clear that most if not all the devils could likewise see through invisibility.  In addition, an 80x40' wall of scintillating color divided a section of the plane.  You had seen D'Argo cast a spell with a similar effect, although his was always horizontal.  The devils attacked.  You returned the favor.

Malloric and Golain faced some ice devils while Pirozzi who was originally off on his own moved to help. Karzoug yelled down, "I can see you sorcerer!"  Pirozzi cringed a bit and kept going.  The ice devils attacked.  Balros took on three barbed devils allowing Edwin the freedom to cast.  In another area, Henrik, D'Argo and Wolfgar were attacked with entangling ropes.  Only Henrik was able to avoid the initial attack.  He went straight after the Erynes.

The devils kept you all busy for a few rounds.  Malloric swirled his cloak and was soon helping Balros keep Edwin safe, leaving Golain on his own against the ice devils.  Pirozzi had blasted at a few devils and had thrown a few attacks against Karzoug.  Only some of his attacks were able to penetrate spell resistance.  He headed over to help Golian.   Balros was being intermiottantly grappled by barbed devils until Malloric arrived and started firing arrows.  The ice devils disappeared again and soon were standing where the barbed devils had been.  Golian, now without opponents, headed to help Henrik, Wolfgar and D'Argo.

Edwin summoned a huge air elemental and sent it after the devils one by one.  It was a little humorous as the devils would teleport around forcing the air elemental to chase them.  Edwin also unleashed the constrictor staff, cast air walk and sent the snake after Karzog.  Balros had fly cast on him by Wolfgar and headed up after Karzog on his own.  To everyone's surprise, Karzog let go of his glaive and it started attacking in its own and cast fireballs now and then.  When Karzog became wounded, it also cured him.

Malloric was devastating the devils and Karzog targeted him with a spell and he disappeared, not to return. He then focused his attention on Pirozzi and trapped the flying sorcerer in a force cage. With the prismatic wall in the way, it took some time before anyone else in the group noticed.  Balros was after Karzog but had to play follow the leader as Karzog fly back and forth through the prismatic wall unaffected.  Balros was forced to move up and over and could never get close enough fast enough to really lay into the wizard. 

Karzog dispelled the air walk on the giant snake which Edwin then redirected to some of the remaining devils.  The Air elemental was still chasing devils.  After one of Karzog's moves through the prismatic wall, he let loos an ear piercing scream causing Henrik and Wolfgar to shield their ears.  Golian was too late and fell.  Henrik had just about finished with smiting the devils and was working out how to get at Karzog.

About this time, a few of the party noticed Pirozzi - the mime- on the far side of the battle.  D'Argo answered with a disintegrate.  Wolfgar was now in the air and after Karzog, who had just cought D'Argo in some familiar tentacles.  His flying glaive had returned to his hand once and then was let loose again.  It was not terribly effective.

More spells and chasing. Karzog cast such spells as temporal statis on Henrik (who resisted the magic), finger of death on Wolfgar (who took damage, but not nearly as much as it could have been), a disintegrate and others.  Wolfgar and Balros were able to move to opposite sides of Karzog when he cast a spell that sent Wolfgar flying.  Balros luckily resisted as if he hadn't he would have been sent through the prismatic wall.  An angered Karzog cast another maze removing Balros from the combat.

Edwin was kept busy the whole time keeping people cured ad directing the elemental and snake.  He was able to take a shot or two at the wizard with his crossbow.  With the group running low on spells and some quite wounded, Karzog teleported to the far side of the battle.  Sensing an opening, the group charged only to find a repulsion spell in the way which kept all from moving closer.  The group and the wizard resorted to spells and eventually the wizard fell.

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D'Argo surprised everyone by moving into the room first and laid down an cone of acid. Malloric took a few quick shots at another of the nearby creatures. The rest moved in a little more cautiously. The creatures reacted and swarmed DArgo, who began to think his moving into a room of extra-planar/universe thieves was not such a good idea after all.  Pirozzi helped out by lobbing a powerful fireball.  The rest moved in.  The creatures started to fall rapidly. As they did, an arc of electricity would spark from the odd device and strike the corpse, turning it to ash.  Each time this happened the image wavered and warped, blurred and then came back into focus.  The creatures healed very quickly so the few that were finally remaining had nearly returned to full health.  Still they were no match from the many weapon blows and more area spells.  After the last of them fell and was turned to ash, the device began to spark wildly. Random, flaying arms of electricity started waving about the room.  Some came close but did no damage.  The arcs started to connect to each other and were soon all connected and grounded to a spot on the floor.  There was a flash of light and a crackle of electric power.  Left standing at the spot was a large dog-like creature.  Someone said, "Haven't we seen one of those before."

D'Argo replied, "Not me." as he fired a disintegrate that landed short.  "How'd I miss that?" he mumbled.  The beast shook itself as if a little dazed and then focused as it clearly used some ability and directed its attention on the group.  Malloric moved up to fire arrows driving several deep into the beast.  Balros, Golian, Wolfgar and Henrik followed.  The beast just waited.  Malloric took a few more steps to get just close enough and caught the beast's gaze.  Deep, bloodless wounds opened all over his body. The wounds didn't kill him, but the shock from the massive damage nearly did.  Golian yelled, "Now I remember. Don't look at it! Remember right before we fought Mokmurian? That room with three of these things?  They were much smaller."  There was a collective "Oh yeah."  Followed by a "Bet this is gonna hurt."  The creature snapped at those who moved into melee.  Many of your blows missed as you were diverting your gaze.  Malloric, kept his eye on it in order to pepper it with arrows. He soon questioned the wisdom of that as more wounds covered his body.  Edwin moved to him to cure.  The beast withdrew to the far end of the room and disappeared.  "We must have scared it off.?" D'Argo cast a spell and replied "Nope, it's still there." Wolfgar took the cue and cast invisibility purge so all could again see it.  You moved in again.  The creature concentrated and a billowing cloud of fog appeared obscuring vision for all but Golian.  You heard the beast scrambling over the device and move around to the middle of the room.  "Pirozzi yelled, "Hey, it's out here!" as several more took damage from rending wounds. Several more spells failed against the beasts inherent resistance, but you were soon able to beat it down.

You spent the rest of the day as you were getting low on resources after the fight with Viorian and the giants, two sort of fights with Karzoug and this one.  The next morning you decided to head back to the statue and lens on the other side of the spire with a stop at the second room where you encountered Karzoug (image?) because someone remembered there were other doors out of that room.  The plan was to open the doors quickly and have casters readied with dispell magics, which D'Argo assured you could get rid of the image.  The door was opened, dispels cast, and Karzoug remained.  Then the confusion began.  Malloric ran into the room to another door and threw it open while Balros stepped up to one of the first doors and closed it.  "I thought we were not going in." Pirozzi asked quizzically.  Golian replied, "I thought the plan was to go in."  Someone else said, "I thought were were supposed to get rid of Karzoug's image.  Malloric brought everyone's focus back when he yelled, "We have company in here!"  One of the casters let loose another dispel, this time with the desired result.  All filed into the room to find Malloric firing arrows through a doorway at three lamia. Henrik moved in first, followed by the other melee. Casters stayed back to support with spells. Before the others could follow Henrick though , one of the lamia cast a blade barrier across the doorway isolating Henrick in the room with them.  Another hit him with a flame strike and another reached out to deliver a harm spell which he resisted completely.  Balros looked at D'Argo, "He's gonna need help."  D'Argo quickly replied, "Got it. Meet at that door." 

He grabbed a hold of four of you and teleported into the room, leaving Pirozzi and Edwin behind.  They were fine with that as they could see through the barrier enough to lend support. Golain failed against a harmful tough and skulked back into the center of the group to take a potion.  Wolfgar cured him.  Henrik smote one nearly killing her and the rest dished out damage as fast as you could. 

About this time, another door into the main room opened and a lamia moved out and stood right next to Pirozzi and Edwin.  Two more could be seen in the room beyond and one surrounded the three of them with a blade barrier.   "Oh shit!" was heard by everyone.  More flame strikes and harms followed.  D'Argo cast his own projected image to be at the other door and caught the two in black tentacles. Only one was able to immediately free herself.  The tentacles really slowed them down. Acid bolts, empowered scorching rays, and other spells flew from the casters.  Soon the lamia were defeated, but not after doing serious damage.

You spent the rest of the day searching the entire spire and realized you had now cleared the place.  It was back to the statue and lens to ponder the next step.  Pirozzi summoned a monkey which was grappled and had it's hand cut slightly.  Pirozzi directed it to smear its blood on the lens in placed where the dried blood was.  You noticed the little guy look a little stunned as if suffering from vertigo.  That lasted a nearly a minute.  Golian remarked that maybe the rune-forged weapons might be of use.  Pirozzi took his long spear and touched the green crystal lens.  He reacted in a similar manner.  However, he was able to replay the experience.  He reported that he saw the room as if looking through the lens but everything was very out of focus causing him to feel dizzy. Everything that is but the flame in the brazier right in front of the statue.  You spent the remainder of the day resting and discussing strategy for the morrow.

You all gathered around the brazier and spent nearly a minute casting preparatory spells.  Balros was the first to go.  He stepped into the brazier and was immediately and instantly turned to ash. 

You go about the normal after battle checklist.  Pirozzi is off in a corner going over magic items, Edwin is checking to see if anyone is still hurt, Malloric and Henrik are making sure the 'perimeter' is secure, etc., when D'Argo reappears in your midst - naked.  He and you all stand frozen and stare at each other with grand quizzical looks on you faces.  D'Argo begins speaking. He has yet to realize he's naked.  "That was a bit odd. How'd we get here?"  Wolfgar stares at him trying to say something, but no words come.  D'Argo looks back, What!?" and then down.  "Oh! . . . Um, can I get my stuff back?"

D'Argo relates a story of being somewhere else and in the presence of some being.  It seems his death was at an inopportune moment and complicated some plans that are supposed to unfold.  He was given an option of returning to the group or not, which obviously he did.  As he relates this part of the story he begins frantically looking for his captured spellbooks.  "It seems," as he continues paging through the books, "that there is to be some sort of cataclysm and that somehow we play a part in it."   He dejectedly drops his head and shoulders. "I guess it really did happen."  Pirozzi, peering over his shoulders, sees most of the pages are now completely blank.

You stay the rest of the day in Khalib's quarters and have yet another fantastic breakfast. Wolfgar has a good morning.  You head out to areas of the spire you have not searched.  You spent nearly an hour exploring and searching the pagoda structure, sarcophagus, statue and greenish lens before you moved on. You found several empty rooms before coming to the one set of double doors you saw in your early forays but had not yet opened.  What a surprise.

The interior of this dazzling chamber is awash in golden light—it shines from every gem, every strip of gold, and every silver-inlaid wall carving, creating a kaleidoscope of color and riches. The checkerboard pattern on the floor is interrupted in a twenty-foot-wide path from the northeastern doors to a throne on a dais of onyx to the southwest by a path of what appear to be countless rubies, forming a “red carpet” of sorts to the throne itself. This throne, if possible, makes the rest of the chamber’s extravagance seem pale and poor, for it is made of shining gold, diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, and draped with shimmering, glowing furs from unrecognizable creatures. The throne itself is sized for a giant, and stands nearly twenty feet tall from foot to peak.

On the throne sat a large woman in golden full plate, a heavy steel shield with gold filligree and a scimitar.  She was large in the sense that she was nearly 12' tall. Henrik said something like "Lay down your arms and we will negotiate your surrender."  She replied by saying something like, "Come try and take it" The battle began.

You had already cast a number of longer duration spells and took a round or two to prepare.  She took only a few steps closer to you and waited.  As some of you started to move into the room, you saw two rune giants move out from some shadows and take up positions on her flanks and in between columns so their attacks would not be hindered.  Henrik and Balros moved up the middle with Edwin, Worlgar, D'Argo and Pirozzi right behind.  Malloric moved off to the side to get a bead on one of the giants.  Golian was invisible and all assumed he would pop up somewhere shortly. It appeared to be turning into a stand up, toe-to-toe melee with the victor to be that last to fall.  D'Argo and Pirozzi were casing spells and quickly realized that she had some powerful SR, so they changed targets or moved to more conjuration type spells.  She attacked multiple times each round with her sword and added a shield bash.  Balros was able to disarm her.  He was surprised when her sword, after is left her hand and before it landed on the ground, shrunk to ,normal, size.  She became quite angry at this and took the time to retrienve her weapon, allowing attacks of opportunity.  As she grasped the blade, it returned to 'large' size.  The meleers were trading blows when Henrik and Golian focus their efforts on one the rune giants, dropping it in a matter of seconds, due mostly to some massive, unerring blows from Henrik.  Malloric was in the mean time sticking the other giant with arrows.  That giant would not leave the female's side, all the more to Malloric's amusement.   Worlgar was attacking one of the giants and Edwin was keeping everyone cured. At about this time, she hit Balros with a massive swing.  Balros' face went momentarily pale.  He felt his rune-forged weapon pulse in his hand as he shook off some effect from the blow.  A short while later she scored another massive hit. This time the magic was too much for him and he turned to crystal.  The remaining giant non-verbally asked for her leave and she granted it.  It charged Malloric.  Thanks to the many arrows from Malloric, it was too late for that giant and it fell quickly.  Alone, she was no match for the lot of you, although she did force Edwin to use a lot of healing skills.

After the battle, you debated Balros' fate as you checked around for magic items.  D'Argo pointed out that Karzog is a transmuter and that maybe her sword has similar powers and that if that is the case, the magic is likely dispellable.  It was and you did.  As you removed the magic items from her you were surprised that they shrink to normal (medium) size, although she did not.  You moved on.

There was a passage and another door out of this room. You choose the door. Even more surprising that the opulence of this room, the open door revealed a waiting Karzog. You readied for a fight you weren't completely prepared for.  Karzog started with his now predictable ramblings:

“And so the fools have found me. I must applaud your tenacity. You are much more persistent than the worms I thought you to be. You are more like hungry maggots in your endless squirming and writhing to get to the death that awaits you at the core of your fate. I am that fate, maggots. I am your death!”

He lashed out with a few spells as you did the same.  Malloric quickly noticed that Karzog was protected by a very power type of displacement or more likely was not actually there.  His 'non-existence' was quickly confirmed and you pulled the doors shut.  You moved on to other unexplored areas.  Another set of double doors opened to another Karzog.  Instead of wasting time, you simply pulled the doors shut.  At last the long hallway came to an end.  You opened this door, half expecting yet another Karzog.  What you saw was even more strange.

The plain stone walls of this long room have been lined by a variety of tables, boxes, crates, and cylinders. Some are made of stone, but others appear to be composed of metal. Strange winding cables protrude from some to connect to others. All of this clutter seems to focus upon a large metal framework constructed at the southern end of the room, where strange currents of energy dance and shimmer. Now and then, these currents coalesce into shapes—images startling for their familiarity and yet totally alien. The image revealed is of a massive city of towers and gigantic monuments set in a mountain valley at the foot of a huge peak—Xin-Shalast, as it would appear from this high mountain vista. The city beyond the energy curtain is very different, however, in that its towers and buildings are ablaze with light both magical and mundane and the great central road and surrounding streets teem with tens of thousands of giants and humanoids of all descriptions. The sounds and even the smells of this strange metropolis waft through the image—an image that is, perhaps, trying to be an open window. Amongst all the clutter a dozen robed creatures move as they tighten bolts, remove cable ends from one plug and insert them into another, turn dials and push buttons all the while having one eye on the image as if they are working to bring it into clearer focus.

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Again you went through the normal morning routine. Wolfgar had a good day, so you all felt better going into the day with Edwin having a Heal ready to go.  Airwalks all around and you headed back up into the spire.  You opened the doors at the top of the spiral ramp to meet a rune giant waiting for you.  Edwin had already cast mass resistances to everything he could, so the giants cone of fire/sparks did little damage.  You quickly moved in.  Expecting a tank-n-spank, you were a little surprised when the giant withdrew into the large room you fought in just yesterday.  You followed.  It continued to withdraw toward the next room where the lamias were.  You fired arrows, cast spells and threw whatever you could at the retreating giant until it stopped in front of the opening to the pagoda-like structure you had seen yesterday.  It was quite hurt.  You had stopped at the entrance to this room realizing the giant was pulling into something - and ambush, trap, or something else.

There was a brief lull as you sized each other up and some of you cast a few more defensive/protective spells.  Then Golian (invisibile) and Balros started to inch forward hoping to draw the giant toward them.  Sounds of spellcasting started from the room but no one could readily see from where exactly.  The giant was suddenly nearly healed as two lamia harridans maoved out from the pagoda behind the giant.  Golian suddenly appeared. "Damn invisibility purge!" Balros heard him grumble as he moved closer to Balros.  Malloric and Henrik were not far behind.  Edwin, DArgo and Pirozzi were bringing up the rear. Soon the other spellcasting finished and an ice devil appeared near the statue.  That was enough for Pirozzi to see the mage but still no enough for a target specific spell.  He instead silenced the area, but not before a familiar, glowing red 'pea' shot out landing amongst the group.  The group scattered and the wizard and one lamia retreated to get out of the silenced area.  The giant, Golian and Balros were trading blows and Malloric was moving and firing arrows.  Henrik and Wolfgar headed toward the devil.

The giant took a step backward as one harridan cast a blade barrier around Golain and Balros.  The other took a few quick steps and lept over the statue and landed near Malloric and Edwin.  Henrik and Wolfgar were headed toward the mage who cast a spell at them that was dissipated by their rune-forged weapons.

Malloric was firing like crazy at the giant and lamias when one of them took a few quick steps and lept over the statue landing near him.  D'Argo, Edwin and Pirozzi backed away.  A third lamia, yet another variety, came out of the pagoda.  One of her first actions was to circle Malloric in a blade barrier.  The lamia that landed near Him encircled Pirozzi in one.  Malloric was content to stay were he as even with the slight penalties for firing through the barrier.

Pirozzi cast air walk so he could get out. That took a few rounds.  D'Argo dimension door'd into the first blade barrier to grab Balros and Golian.  He was the target of a dispell magic and he lost his images.  Almost on cue, the third lamia blasted him with a ray and instead of zigging, he zagged and was hit square in the chest.  He turned to a pile of dust.  "That sucks!" Balros said, "We'll never get out of here now."

Henrik and Wolfgar were pushing the mage further back and closer to some of the lamias and giant.  The mage cast a spell and separated them with an invisible wall.  Now Henrik was the only one standing with the mage, two lamias and the giant.  With arrows from Malloric still flying the giant soon fell.  Pirozzi had by now 'walked' to near Wolfgar only to encounter the wall of force.  Edwin cast a long spell and was now standing next to an angelic creature.  Edwin grabbed onto its clothes and pointed to Balros and Golian.  The creature concentrated and then it and Edwin were next to the two in the barrier.  Edwin's (the angels) next action was to dimension door the bunch of them to slightly behind the enemy to help Henrik. Pirozzi flew up to find the top of the wall and started in again with spells.

Henrik was pounding on the main lamia and doing good damage, but she kept casting quickened cure spells each round.  She ran out after a few rounds.  The beat down commenced.  Once again, the mage was beaten hard and popped away before  you could kill him.  The last of the lamias fell, but not after dishing out some damage with her unholy dagger.

You pondered about what to do about D'Argo and decided you needed to hunt the mage down now.  You started down one hallway, then another before Golian said, "Hold up. I have an idea." as he cast a spell.  "Follow me."

You soon reached one particular door and forced it open. Inside was the mage and two summoned devils.  The group was getting low on spells and hit points, but so was he.  It didn't last long.

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You went back to the lower levels to rest and decided that, with air/wind walks that you could cover the distance from the lower city itself in little time and that if you held up way down there anything looking for you would have a much harder time finding you, resting in the skulk tunnels was the better plan.  You readied the next day and headed back up.  You got all the way back to the huge double doors and moved people around to be able to force them open.  To your surprise they swung open at only a modest push.  You found yourselves face to face with two storm giants.  The melee began with Balros moving in and Golian disappearing. Others maneuvered for spells and arrow fire.  One giant started things off with a chain lightning.  Edwin had anticipated that.  After about three rounds, D'Argo noticed some cloud giants moving up from around a bend in the hall.  He cast a wall of force that stopped them in their tracks.  They turned and ran the other way.  You were quickly getting the upper hand against the giants, who after the chain lightning have to resort to melee.  This worked great for Henrik, but not so well for Edwin who had cast a shield other earlier.

Just as the second giant was about to fall, the other set of double was opened by several cloud giants.  "Ah, there they are." someone yelled.  The melee continued.  The cloud giants cast fog clouds behind you forcing you into the room where there were a couple more.  Fighting continued.  As the giants fell, you moved further and further into the room.  Soon a door to your right opened and - surprise - more giants.  This time a rune giant followed by several more cloud giants.  Balros noticed, and pointed out, a man-sized mage-looking person behind the giants.  The mage cast a few spells with no obvious effect. Then he cast a fireball - sort of.  The 'pea' landed behind Henrik but did not explode.  Some of you looked at D'Argo and Pirozzi for some arcane guidance.  "That can't be good." was Pirozzi's only response.  Before anyone could do anything, two of the cloud giants obscured the area around where the 'pea' landed with multiple fog clouds.  Pirozzi responded by dispelling one of them.  D'Argo, itching to disintegrate a mage, dimension door'd into the room beyond the mage, lining him and some giants up for spells.  Golain was moving to the mage when he discovered an invisible barrier blocking the open doorway preventing him from getting behind the mage.  Wolfgar, Henrik and Balros were keeping the giants from moving too much while Edwin cured and Malloric was running short on arrows.  Pirozzi alternated between damaging spell and helping Edwin cure.

Seconds later, the 'pea' exploded in a massive fireball.  No one took serious damage except maybe Ewdin who still had Henrik shielded.  One of the cloud giants landed a couple of nasty blows on Wolfgar who went down.  Henrik moved to keep the giant from killing the dwarf.  D'Argo aimed his disintegrate and fired, only to be disappointed when it landed short of the mage and instead removed the wall of force that D'Argo had not noticed.  Golian was now able to flank the mage with Balros' help. They started to pound away.  Wolfgar was healed enough to be able to move, but that worried some of the others as it set him up for a killing blow.  Swings and arrows were targeted on the giants that could reach Wolfgar. 

About this time, the inevitable happened. The only door that had not yet opened, did just that.  A storm giant looked out and waded into the room. It stopped in the middle of the fog cloud and looked around before it let loose with its chain lightning (again little damage as you were all protected) and moved into melee.  Soon only this giant, the rune giant and mage were left.  And he didn't stay around too much longer.  Golain quickly realized that his rune-forged weapoon was having its bonus effect on the mage.  The mage turned to Golian, cast a spell and touched Golian square on the chest.  No one noticed any effect, although Golina will tell a tale after the fight.  He and Balros landed a couple good blows which seemed to cause the mage to 'blink' out of existence.  D'Argo muttered, "Damn dimension door spell.... wait he didn't even cast that... what? where?"  With two dangerous opponents left, no time was spent pondering.  You all proceeded to beat them down.

After the fight, D'Argo told thew group what he saw in the other room. There were two main things.  First was a statue of Karzoug holding a greenish, crytsal lens and in front of that was a large brazier with a blazing, yet smokeless fire.  Across the fire from the statue was a smaller structure within the vast room.  He reported that it appeared to have one entrance, a wide open archway.

You cast some cures and debated about going in.  You decided Golian should go have a look first.  He faded away and was back shortly.  There is what looks to be a sarcophagus in the middle of the floor of the building.  Surrounding it are three lamia - one the the more 'traditional' type and two of the kind we encountered on the streets below.  "Oh and by the way, they saw right through invisibility."

You quickly decided you were too low on resources to tackle three lamia, especially with the mage who knows where.  With wind walks still in effect, you left for the safety of the skulk tunnels.

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Rested and ready, you all debated about heading up to the spire without a full compliment of sihedron rings.  Pragmatism, caution, or paranoia got the better of you and you decided to stay at the lower level(s) and fully explore and maybe even run into some lamia.  You battled to more giant stone golems and decided to set a trap/ambush near the top of the climb from the city below.  The first day was a bust.  Early in the second you spotted a rune and cloud giant on their way toward the road down.  You quickly cast a few preparatory spells and started to move out to meet them.  The cloud giant cast a fog cloud in the doorway which obscured your vision and slowed your advance, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.  The invisible Pirozzi had already moved out and saw the rune giant seemingly run past the group and cloud of fog when it stopped suddenly and turned.  You continued maneuvering inside the cloud when the rune giant caught most of the group in a cone of fire and electricity. The cloud giant closed.  You continued to maneuver to get the right people up to the front while Pirozzi and D'Argo blasted at the cloud giant. It fell quickly.  With only one enemy standing it was a quick but brutal fight as they all have been when rune giants are involved.  You looted a few coins, but no rings.

You decided to return to the lower city to continue your hunt for lamia and their rings.  After a couple days of wandering and trying to be seen, you encountered a group of stone giants.  Not sure if Gyukyak was among them Wolfgar yelled out "There's no need to die today!"  The giants responded by pulling rocks from their bags.  You readied for a giant slaughter when only one of the giants stepped forward to throw.  It's throw was long, but you could not tell if it was intentionally long or not.  The other five giants then stepped up and pummeled the first with rocks.  It was barely able to scream in surprised pain before it was dead.

One of the giants stepped forward and motioned for you to follow him/them into a side building just off the road. You followed as you now recognized Gyukyak.  You mentioned you were hunting lamia.  He informed you that he had not seen any in nearly a week and that even the rune giants were coming down from the spire less frequently.  He did not think you would have much luck on your hunt in the city.  The decline in rune giant visits has allowed more of the 'normal' giants a change to throw off the unnatural control the rune giants have over them.  A full revolt may not be long off if numbers of the 'free' keep growing.  D'Argo returned to the group after relieving himself in another room and whispered something to Henrik who responded by grabbing his shield and drawing his mace.  You were all, save D'Argo, caught unaware as Henrik loudly proclaimed "You giants are being led and fooled by an Ogre Mage! Flee or die where you stand!"  He charged Gyukyak who could do nothing but put up his hands in defense.  With a few spells, arrows and weapon blows, he was dead in seconds.

The other giants stood in shock and stared blankly at the group.  "We have freed you from his deception." Henrik proclaimed.  The other giants looked quizzically at each other before one spoke.  Wolfgar translated, "We knew that. What were you thinking?"  You all now took turns looking at each other while scratching your heads.  The group's response was something like, "Uh, we thought that, uh, since he was an evil ogre mage that, uh, you, uh....."  You were cut off as the one giants spoke again.  "You are on your own now," he looked at his remaining companions, "Let's go." And they did.

You spent the next few minutes reviewing recent events while you justified and rationalized your actions.  "Who needs 'em." Someone stated.  You decided to rest the night and head back up in the morning.

With a combination of air / wind walks, flys and whatnot, the trip back up to the lower levels of the spire took little time.  You decided to push on to the spire.  Only one wave hit you as you made the climb.  Edwin fared the worst. A quick heal and you continued.  The spire itself was over 2000' tall and had no obvious entrance.  Golian concentrated for almost a half a minute and then head off to the far side of the spire with everyone else trailing behind.  He led you right to a very well constructed secret door. The only thing inside was a gargantuan corksrew ramp that wound up into the darkness. You started climbing with an invisible Golian in the lead.

After somewhere around a 1000' vertical climb,  Golian returned to the group and whispered, "We have giants."  You prepared for the five giants he saw by casting spells out of sight and hearing before you moved up.  D'Argo and Malloric opened the skirmish with arrowns and acid spells.  The giants in turn cast a few more fog clouds which effectively narrowed the hallway which forced you to group a little closer than might have otherwise.  Again not necessarily a bad thing as you were all withing reach of Edwin and Pirozzi's 'hand.'  The reason for the clouds became clear as the storm giant moved up and cast chain lightning catching at least half the group. That turned out to be the storm giants only spell and you closed to turn the fight into a mostly melee.  Balros forced a number of attacks of opportunity, or which many missed, which allowed others to move more easily (or perhaps safely).  A lot of damage wash dished by both sides, but you soon came out victorious.  You looted a few coins and five, count 'em, five sihedron rings.

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After celebrating the victory over the ice devil and resting the night, the group decided to tackle the mountain.  Wolfgar, having one of his few 'good' days treated all to a hearty breakfast.  Afterward, you headed out. The first few hours hiking on the golden road were quiet.  Then you spotted, and were spotted by, a couple of giants and two other beasts you could not make out.  One of the giants was clearly of the 'rune' type.  You prepared for a fight.  The enemy inched forward as you cast preparatory spells.  About when you were ready to head to meet them, you were surrounded by a 20' tall, circular wall of whirling blades.  Everyone looked quizzically at Edwin who replied with a 'wasn't me' kind of look. Pirozzi, not sure if he should be glad or not, found himself alone on the 'outside' of the wall.  He was invisible, so he figured it didn't matter too much. The giants approached with a frost giant out in front.

Using Malloric's cloak and D'Argo's spells, the group, sans Pirozzi, teleported to the enemies rear.  Here you got a good look at the other creatures.  One was a combination of some sort of dire-cat on the bottom and giantess on the top and armed with a large greatsword .  The other was one of the first 'normal-sized' creatures you have encountered here.  It looked like a human in ragged robes, wearing a turban and a cloth scarf covering its face. You concentrated on the rune giant.

Meanwhile, Pirozzi was getting ready to launch a few spell from the anonymity of invisibility and distance when out of hiding charged another cat-giant (lamia).  Somehow she was charging right at him.  As she neared, he became very nervous as his invisibility was dispelled as she pounced.  Quickly casting a few defensive spells he started racing toward the rest of the group.  The second lamia ordered the frost giant to cut him off while she cast another blade barrier around the group at their new location. 

A few key dispells and you were able to move about again.  Henrik girded himself and said, "This is gonna hurt - a lot.  Edwin, you ready?"  Edwin replied, "Sure, do you have one of the platinum rings?" 

"I have all sorts of magic rings, which one are you talking about?"

"It's not magic, just one of a set."

"Oh that one, yeah right here." Henrik said as he raised his hand to show Edwin.

Edwin replied, "Yup you're right, this is gonna hurt." as he cast shield other on Henrik while he charged off to tackle the rune giant.

The man in robes cast a few ineffective illusion type spells and stayed near the first lamia as Golian maneuvered invisibly.  Wolfgar headed to the second to help out Pirozzi.  When he was close enoughm he charged the last remaining feat expecting her to swing her sword at him.  Intstead, she simply held out her hand as she had a spell readied.  He saved against the harm spell and started hacking away.

The lamia were tough divine casters and proved challenging for D'Argo and Piorzzi with their spell resistance.  However, they were no match for your numbers.  The robed man was not a strong in melee, but his poison blade and bite kept you on your toes. The rune giant dished out massive damage, but it was much more survivable being shared by two.  Soon all were dead.


You looted what little they had and headed up the path.  You explored some of the outer buildings at the lowest level of the rise to the great spire.  All were empty and looked like they had been abandoned some time ago.  While near the road that led from here to the spire, some of you heard a distant 'ping.'  Shortly after, you were hit by a wave of force almost as if you were being pushed away from the spire.  Those with sihedron rings were not affected.  Others took damage as the wave passed. Golian, who must not have been prepared, fell to ground clutching his head in pain.  Moments later, he screamed "I can't see!"  You calmed him as he explained he saw vision of some alien world in his mind and he felt as though some being or beings were trying to get at him from that place.  You needed to cast a restoration for the ability drain and a heal for the blindness.  After that he was good to go.

Deciding to hold off on heading higher, you decided to search the rest of the lower buildings in hopes of finding more sihedron rings.  The other lower set of buildings turned out to be an old prison.  A giant-sized prison.  On one of the many floors, you came across one of the old guards - a giant stone golem. Immune to magic and taking reduced damage, it took a while,m but you were able to defeat it.  You rested here.

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After a good night sleep and yet another great breakfast, you were feeling good about the day.  Someone suggested heading to the haunted gladiator arena (Heptarcic Locus).  "Eh, why not." was the general consensus.  You headed that direction.  After a couple hours of walking you encountered a patrol of frost giants.  You held your ground and they threw ineffective rocks as they approached.  When they were close enough you let loos with spells and arrows doing some serious damage.  The apparent leader was positioning himself near one of his fellows when he soon found himself alone and surrounded by Golian, Balros, Wolfgar and Henrick.  The giant bellowed something and Wolfgar yelled to the group "Watch out!"  The giant took one last series of mighty swings with his large battle axe, nearly splitting Golian in two.  He was dead before he hit the ground.  The giant didn't last another 30 seconds.

Dejected, the group fashioned a litter and slunk back to the safety of the Skulk tunnels.  It took a few days, but Golian was raised in Radigast and a few extra handfuls of diamonds were purchased for future use.  You also learned that teleporting may soon not be an option as some research has determined that Zin Xalast may be a sort of demi-plane.  If that is the case, once fully on that plane, teleports out of it will not work as many communication type spells and scrying may fail.  Something to be wary of.

Once ready to go again, you made your way to the Locus.  Entry was easy as was moving around the massive structure.  The first combat came as you passed through a tunnel from the mezzanine to the open center and seats.  About a dozen wraiths emerged from shadows and attacked.  A few took constitution drain before Edwin easily destroyed them.  You started to move much more slowly while Henrik concentrated on detecting them (evil) before you go too close.  He was able to give you ample warning before the next fight.  More prepared, the party took less damage and constitution drain.  The lost strength was quickly returned thanks to Pirozzi.

Cautiously continuing, Henrik again stopped the group saying he sensed evil around a corner of one of two passages from the main fighting floor into the inner workings of the structure.  You all moved up to get a look and saw a large, clearly outer-planer creature standing far back in the passage.  As you positioned to  start the attack, two large, dark figures emerged from the shadows and attacked. Each of you shivered from the shill from the wraiths, Henrik even more.  Their claws swept through your armor as if you weren't wearing any.  The physical damage was more than tolerable, but the cold of the strikes drained large amounts of constitution with each attack making the prospects of surviving less likely with each attack suffered. Edwin had to work hard to turn these.

Malloric took his next shot at the creature in the tunnel and was surprised that his arrow passed straight through it.  Almost immediately as the wraiths were destroyed, a handful of outer planar creatures consisting of bone appeared out of the blue.  Their first action was to cordon off your escape with two walls of ice.  The others attempted some sort of fear effect, to which you were immune.  Edwin responded by surrounding the group with a blade barrier to help keep the devils at bay.  Meanwhile the large creature spotted in the hall did nothing.  Two of the bone devils found room within your ranks and teleported themselves in side the circle of blades.   You resorted to melee.  After a few seconds of confusion, reorganizing your locations within the blade barrier, and trading a few swipes with the devils, the original beast appeared outside the blade barrier.  A few of you nearly lost hope as you realized that the original creature was still standing in the tunnel.  There were now two. The bone devils inside the barrier teleported out as if telepathically knowing what was coming next.  The ice devil let loose with a cone of cold and some of the other devils teleported into the spaces left by their compatriots. More melee.

You focused your melee attacks on the devils inside while D'Argo and Pirozzi alternated between those inside and out. The iced devil seemed rather content to let you battle his minions as it threw its spear at party members.  Each time after hitting, it would return to its icy clutches moments later.  You were soon able to damage/destroy enough of the bone devils for Edwin to drop the blade barrier.  You surrounded the ice devil and it turned into a straight melee.  However, it was a close fight as some of you had lost half or more of your original constitution and the devil was very strong and quite proficient with its spear, even in close quarters.  You then turned your attention to the original beast which had not moved.

Another arrow flew straight through the creature.  D'Argo suggested that it might be an illusion.  While you moved closer, it took no menacing actions.  In fact it took no actions whatsoever.  An illusion.  You searched the area and found some treasure in a back room including another sihedron ring.

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After looting as much as you could of the dragon's hoard before it was inclined to return, you hid out in the tunnels for a bit before deciding to 'take care of' the abominable snowmen.  On your way there you had a nuisance encounter with a half a dozen hill giants.  There were dead before they knew what was happening.

A few miles closer to the snowmen dome, Balros noticed a blob on the road some distance in front of you.  As you approached, he said it looked like it might be a pile of dead giants.  Cautiously approaching even closer, Balros soon grabbed Wolfgar, who was walking next to him.  "It's squirming?"  As all were peering to get a better look, the mass of flesh that was the pile of giants started to move.  Beneath it were the remains of at least a couple giants.  The group started to spread out and move closer, again to Edwin's opposition.  The beast opened the melee with a stinking cloud that caught most of the group, knocking them out for several rounds.

Those who could move did so very slowly.  The beast cast another spell which all shrugged off as some sort of compulsion. Pirozzi started launching magic missiles finding only that the creature had spell resistance.  Many of his spell failed to have any effect.  Wolfgar was the first to approach and was surprised at the amount of reach the beast had as it took a bite out him.  The damage delivered was not that worrisome.  Rather it was the associated Wisdom drain.  Golian was working his way around the beast and Henrik and Balros were approaching from the front. The beast dramatically slowed their approach with a grease spell. 

Edwin, Malloric and D'Argo were able to focus again.  Edwin went to help Henrik and Balros.  Malloric started doing what he does best and D'Argo too found his spells had little effect.  Edwin was able to pull Henrik from the greased area while Balros had already extricated himself.  Wolfgar was swinging away and taking more Wisdom drain from each bite. Pirozzi gave up on direct damage and instead started casting restorations on Wolfgar to keep him alive. Balros entered melee and was son unconscious from Wisdom drain. Henrik approached as Malloric scored a massive arrow strike.  From where the arrow hit the beast a short gout of foul smelling liquid (digestive juices?) shot back toward him falling just short of hitting Henrik.

As the group was surrounding it, it returned to spellcasting and created many mirror images and targeting a few individuals with some sort of compulsion which you were easily able to avoid.  Malloric was the most effective at eliminating images as the arcane casters had a hard time affecting the beast with magic missiles.  Soon the images were gone and Golian had finally maneuvered into the right spot. He struck the beast, scoring two massive blows.  To his horror, from each wound spewed large amounts of this nasty smelling, greenish-black liquid.  He did the best he could to step out of the way, but was still covered.  The acidic liquid started eating into his armor and  exposed flesh.  The beast was killed shortly after.

You healed and moved on to the snowmen.  After the customary "You go away now" speech from the snowmen, you attacked. It was a pretty straight forward assault.  The only real  challenge was maneuvering on the pile of rubble, on which of course they seemed to have no problems.  You looted a cave you found and retreated to the building that Morgiv showed you to some days before.

Preparing for rest and setting watches, a booming giant voice came from the darkness, "Chosen Ones, are you in there?"  You quickly and quietly prepared for a fight. "Chosen Ones, I have something of yours," came the voice again.  Wolfgar yelled back, "Yeah, we're here.  What do you want?"

From around a large arch way, came Morgiv, being held by the scruff of his neck. As the arm holding Morgiv off the ground continued, you were relieved to find  it belonged to Gyukyak, your Stone Giant ally (or closest thing to it). "I found this skulking around the giant camp.  It says it know you. Do you want it?" 

Lowering weapons, Wolfgar replied, "Yup, that's ours.  You can set him down."  The giant did so and informed you that Morgiv was found sneaking around the giant camp stores and could easily have been killed and eaten.  You were also told that the patrols have been upped. He assumes that whatever you have been up to have irritated the wrong people (or right people depending on perspective.)  He said he knows about the attack on the dragon only because there are now three flying around day and night - the blue, a red and another he is not sure of.  You asked about the spires and what it is like.  He didn't know, but asked if you had rings as he has noticed that all those that come from the tower were the same kind of ring.  He does not know if is a password kind of thing, or some protection needed, just that they all have them.  He described the rings and you realized you have one - taken from the vampiric tentacle creature.  You thanked him for returning Morgiv and spent the night.

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After getting up the next morning. having a nice breakfast and staving off whatever ill effects may have set in from Wolfgar's ailment you headed into town.  Your first stop was the giant camp area.  You were able to approach and saw an enormous giant tent encampment. There may have been over 100 tents.  From your vantage you saw no more than a score of giants so decided to move closer with thoughts of a glorious giant slaughter.  It wasn't until Balros noticed several other large groups of giants milling about that you decided 20 giants were killable, but 60 or more were likely not.  You moved on.

The next stop was the giant stone dome.  Inside you noticed a humongous pile of rubble.  You moved in to investigate.  Again, Balros noticed what others did not.  He held up his hand bringing the group to a stop.  It took some work, but the was able to point out a few well hidden creatures that were watching you. You spread out and approached when one of them yelled "Hrohdth!"  You looked at each other then all at D'Argo.  "It want's us to stop." D'Argo said translating with his helm.  It's speaking Giant.  "I understood that too." piped Wolfgar.  It turned out that all the creatures wanted was for you to leave.  You decided that with their terrain advantage that coming back another time would be fine.

Further into the city you encountered a patrol of hill giants.  They started to question you and Wolfgar took the conversation lead.  Many of you readied weapons figuring it only a matter of minutes before either Wolfgar or the giant said something to anger the other.  D'Argo soon mumbled, "Oh crap.  Wolfgar just said 'I heard giants taste like chicken.'"  The fight began.  It was over just as fast.  You moved on to not be associated with the killing of giants.  Golian and Balros had that prickly feeling that you were being watched, but could not see anything, even after looking hard.

Deeper into the city you were surprised by a well camouflaged group of stone giants out on patrol. This group turned out not to be hostile.  You learned that there were a number of giants that were not entirely enthralled with their life in Xin Shalast and that while you may not find allies amongst the large folk, there are some that won't get in your way as long as your path leads to to confront the powers that be of the city.  You also learned that the Rune Giants are the main leaders in town and that they descend from the spires periodically.  You also learned that the leader of the beasts in the stone dome is in league with the Rune Giants and while it no longer lives with the rest of them, it does return every few days for an hour or two before leaving again.  You said goodbye to the giants and moved on.

Balros had that feeling again but this time spotted something.  He let the group walk on to be sure you were being followed.  When he was convinced, he orchestrated the encounter.  The lone creature was not aggressive and seemed more curious about you.  After it realized it had been spotted, it said, "Dri ood wec piolsh siin?"  Everyone turned to D'Argo who was noding his head and said to you, "He wants to know if we are the chosen ones. I don't know what language that is."  After some pantomime and charades, you were confident that it meant you no harm and wanted you all to follow it.  It lead you back toward the southern part of the city and into some tunnels through and under the hardened lava flow.  It stopped in a store room where you tried again to communicate.  You decided to wait until the next morning when a tongues could be had.

You find out that this is Morgiv, one of a number of his kind that primarily lie in the tunnels in the city.  He is convinced you are 'The Chosen Ones' and relates a story that backs up his belief.  Not really knowing what he is talking about you gather that his people are under attack by some unknown creature.  Many have disappeared and are never seen again.  The story he relates indicate that his people were once slaves in the city and once freed would become slaves again.  When that happened, the 'Chosen Ones' would come and free them.  He even showed you some frescoes and mosaics to back up his interpretation.  They showed humanoids in battle with giants.  Could have been any number of 'humans' and giants, but he was convinced.  You agreed to help.  He explained that it was not until their tunneling had broken into one set of rooms that the trouble started.  They had barricaded the new tunnels, but people still kept vanishing.  He led you to one of the entry points and after making the way clear, you moved in.

After casing some protective spells and following the tunnel some hundreds of feet you came to the remains of a basement room that had survived the lava flow.  There were numerous columns around the perimeter and a dais with a man-sized throne in its center. On the throne still skeletal figure sat.  You spread out cautiously as Balros approached the figure.  It began to gesture and before Balros could manage a full swing it it, he dropped to floor dead.  "That can't be.  He was protected from death effects." yelled Edwin.  Still he did not move. Almost immediately several very well hidden figure appeared from the shadows around the columns and started attacking.  You quickly realized they were some form of powerful undead as D'Argo was drained of several levels from a few attacks.  The skeletal figure kept gesticulating.  You engaged the immediate enemy and Woflgar received an invisibility purge.  He headed into the room.  After battling his way past a few vampires he 'revealed' the larger threat.


Behind the throne hovered a large bulbous head with a maw full of wickedly sharp teeth and nearly a dozen long tentacles. Edwin was able to deal with the attacking vampires with two turns, but was unable to affect the main creature.  It was able to grapple foes as you moved in to engage it, attacking with all its tentacles and still being able to cast.  It cast some defensive spells like mirror image and displacement.  Pirozzi found it was also shielded so Malloric dealt with the images.  Others moved in the best you could to engage the beast in melee. Pirozzi and the beast took turns dispelling and reapplying displacement.  It would be a contest to see which had more third level spells.  Meanwhile those grappled by the creature were slowly being drained of levels.  A few times, the creature declined to attack or drain its foes, but instead attempted to control one of you. This had no effect thanks to the breakfast of champions.  Edwin was doing well keeping everyone cured and had plenty of reserves until he too was grappled.  D'Argo had started greasing everyone to help them avoid and escape the beasts tentacles.  Wolfgar, having been finally freed from its grasp cast a searing light.  A little surprised by the results, he fired off another now realizing that this too was an undead and vulnerable to sunlight.  The battle was over and Balros still lie dead on the floor in front of the still gesticulating skeleton.

From Morgiv you also learned more about the denizens of the city.  The locus, an ancient gladitorial arena, is haunted by the spirits of those killed there and is home to some powerful creature that even the giants leave alone.  There is also a blue dragon that calls the upper city home.  Morgiv was able to draw a circle on your map showing the rough area of its lair.

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After spending the night in the warmth provide by D'Argo's spell and wringing out much of your gear the next morning from the melted permafrost, you headed uphill the direction pointed to by Svevenka, the local nymph.  The way was so much easier than the weeks of hiking and trailblazing through the mountains.  So easy in fact that you actually started to walk on the remains of an old and very wide road.  Golian was the first to notice that the huge cobblestones look like they may once have been painted yellow.  A closer inspection showed that they may actually have been gilded once upon a time.

You first encountered some giants guarding the road.  They started the skirmish by chucking rocks from their cave some 60' up the cliff.  They soon levitated down to meet you and began tenderizing the lot of you with their gargantuan morningstars.  Some of the group took a pounding, but you quickly defeated them.  After chopping them into more manageable sized pieces you dragged the parts off and dumped them in the river flowing along one side of the road.  You searched their cave and took what loot was valuable. 

You next came to a vantage where you could see much of the fabled city of Xin Shalast.  You were amazed at its size - easily over a mile wide and several times that in length.  Much of the southern and eastern sections appeared to have been consumed by an ancient lava flow.  You lost sight of it several times as the road dipped and turned.  Once closer, you could finally appreciate the scale.  This was a city made for giants.  The buildings were dozens if not hundreds of feet tall with walls thick enough to support the massive weight.  You took the right path as Svevenka mentioned the left route went directly to a large area home to scores of giants.  You approached what looked like the older and original entrance to the city - a walled gate house.  When you were about 300' from the doors, several creatures started flying from the walls toward you.  You soon recognized them as the weird flying, harpy-like, arrow shooting beasts you had encountered many days earlier.  They seemed to prefer staying at range which worked for you.  You gathered around Henrik, whose shield attracted nearly all their bow shots and you returned fire with arrows and spells.  A couple of the creatures flew off to one side of the fight, but did not appear anywhere. Some of the beasts started to close for melee when some of you heard a rumbling in the direction of the two errant beasties.  As you were fighting, the sound became louder and louder.  Soon, from around a building not too far away came a stampeding herd of aurochs being whipped and steered from behind by the missing flyers. D'Argo acted quickly and cast a spell with no visible effect.  Less than 30 seconds later, the stampede plowed headlong into the invisible wall of force with a sickening sound of bones shattering, moos of pain and gallons of blood splattering everywhere.  You did your best to keep from wretching and finished off the remaining creatures.  You quickly moved into the immense gatehouse complex to search for more and to find a secure location to use as a base camp of sorts.

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