Episode 7 (part 3) - Into the Ziggurat of Kyuss

Searching around the summit of the temple, the party finds secret doors around the temple and decide to descend the small access stairs found on the other side.  Huddling on the stairs on the inside of the secret doors, Nadroc takes a moment to buff himself.  Yldar wraps himself in his cloak of the bat and flaps around in bat form into the chambre below.  He weaves erratically around a large room with grand 30' ceiling supported by stone pillars.  In the rooms’ centre, however, is a chilling evil, that the bat instinctively avoid.  Bat-Yldar senses nothing living or moving around in the room, so on his report, the whole group descend cautiously into the main hall.  They discover that the palpably evil in the centre of the room is the vestige of some kind of enormous blast that blew several pillars down and opened a massive and deep pit.  The group quietly, cautiously exploring around the edges of the pit, trying to figure out how deep it might be and what created it. That it was some kind of blast created at the floor of the room itself was sussed by Zeek, who starts tossing things down the pit.  The bottom is not clearly discerned.  The noise of the falling ever-burning torches and stone rubble attracts something that was floating below.  Walking on wind, three large green nagas – not undead, but terrible aberrations whose faces and bodies twisted by Kyuss’s power – float out of the pit casting powerful enervation and scorching rays, their gaze tearing at the minds of the party, nearly enfeebling them on several occasions.  A swift and powerful response by the party brings silence to the chamber again.

 The party, buffs not entirely faded from battling the nagas, move to the door at the north side of the chambre.  Zeek opens the door and the party sets eyes on a man they will not soon forget.  The room is glowing a sickly green, illuminated from behind what appears to be a glass wall containing thousands of writhing and active green Kyuss worms.  Standing ready in front of the wall, a spell cracking at his fingertips, is a elvish looking Outsider.  Clearly delighted at the site of these newcomers to the long empty ziggurat, he announces himself as Kelvos the Wormtouched, a ghaele eladrin who had come to Kuluth-Mar before Kyuss had ascended to godhood.  He could not defeat the great Kyuss even as a mortal, but he will delight in dispatching the group.  Then a destructive wave blasts forth from his readied hands.  In a flash, Nadroc, who had been standing back from the door, but in Kelvos’ sight, is completely obliterated.  His gear crumples to the ground and no other trace remains of the wind duke relic.

The party is stunned and shocked, but doesn’t have time to grieve, as two fallen angels, sword archons with flaming blades forearms, fly out of the room.  They separate the party by a nearly impenetrable wall of blades, and then work to destroy them.

Kelvos teleports out of the room, and appears right in front of Vasco.  Spell after destructive spell cast by Kelvos against Vasco absorbed by the scarab of protection Manzorian gave him in exchange for the Rod of Law fragment.  Kelvos attention turns also to Zeek and Maeron, who are the victims of a prismatic spray that causes Zeek to be poisoned, and Maeron to completely loose her mind.  One of the archons manages to commands Yldar, who had been paralyzed (along with Zeeks’ companion) for most of the battle, to go and break the glass ‘worm wall’.  Yldar walks forward into Kelvos’ room to do the archon’s bidding. By some miracle, with Yldar, Maeron, Zeek’s companion, and Nadroc all out of commission, Vasco and Zeek manage to deal the final fateful blow to Kelvos and the angels (a cone of cold and a lightning bolt).  With mere seconds before the butt of Yldars bow would smash through the wall, the command is broken by the archon’s defeat.  As they collapse from exhaustion of a battle that destroyed Nadroc, permanently made Maeron insane, and very nearly killed the others, a third vision is had.

A handsome man dressed in flowing robes, and a strange, six-armed, alien-like creature stand in front of victims chained terrible devices.  A deep light from within the hollow eye sockets of the creature illuminate a jeweled gold box that he presents the man.  From it, the man extracts a writhing green worm, whose sight brings him a look of exaltation.

They collect Kelvos’ weapons, and decide to teleport back with the scroll given to them by Manzorian, resurrect Nadroc, restore Maeron’s sanity.  Arriving back in Magepoint, they seek out Agath of Thurnch, the cleric scholar ally of Manzorian and Celeste, who is the caretaker of the library-temple, who had also returned Eligos to life.  Maeron is restored by Greater restoration (7th lvl cleric) and Nadroc has the benefit of true resurrection (9th lvl cleric), for which he charges 5,000 gp and 25,000 gp respectively.  The party sells the powerful weapons and treasure found in the temple to pay for these services.  They take time to reflect on their encounter and build their skills, as all but Yldar (who is catching up from a previous death) and Nadroc (whose premature death precluded his gaining certain experience) advance to level 13.  They must pay 2,275gp for each of two scrolls of greater teleport they need to return to the Spire at Kuluth-Mar.

Episode 7 (part 2): The Spire at Kuluth-Mar

Manzorian left his assistant with two tasks.  The first was to facilitate the party having access to the magical Fountain of Fortunes’ Folly – a powerful artifact that can give and take power and abilities.  While having a drink is rebuffed by Nadroc and Vasco, the others decide to take a chance on its magic.  Zeek and his companions, and Yldar gain minor abilities and treasures in exchange for a few permanently lost hit points.   Maeron, however, has a amazingly unlikely and fortunate contact with a powerful outsider from another plane.  The potently magic drink momentarily links Maeron with a powerful Solar on another plane.  Taking notice of her, and seeing the world-shaping importance of her future, the Solar offers to intervene in her affairs one time, on her request.  She is left inspired and empowered by the encounter, knowing that quite literally a powerful angel is watching her.


The other task of Manzorian’s assistant was to facilitate payment of the requested magic items in exchange for the Rod of Law fragment that the party is willing to give Manzorian.  Each member takes their requested treasure, gratefully adding it to their arsenal, hoping that it along with the blessing of the Wind Dukes, will aid them in their trip to the far off Kuluth Mar.  They know that magic and blessings alone will got get them through, but that research is needed.  Doing geographic research for the area, the find that the valley of Kuluth-Mar as been abandoned by humanoids, and that aberrations and other horrors have taken over the valley.  Something or someone named Balaxuus and a band of trolls that work with it, are known to be threats living in the outskirts of the ruined city.  So few have survived brief sojourns to the valley, and so little else is known.  However, their research on the Kyuss worm itself does prove fruitful.  They find that if the Kyuss worm touches the skin, within moments it will burrow in to the body, work its way to the brain, and consume the living into an undead Kyuss spawn.  It may be neutralized by Remove Curse or Remove Disease.  It can be slowed by dispel evil or neutralize poison.  These facts were learned from the singularly depressing yet morbidly intriguing journals of the cleric Anadan the Reader.

After a week of studies, shopping and other preparations, they party is led to the picture room by Manzorian’s assistant Cymria.  There Manzorian gives them a scroll of mass teleport to return home.  A blue glowing field connects them with the photo on the wall, and the last image they see is of Manzorian still completing the spell, casually turning and walking out of the room.  A moment later, an they are all standing in the sweaty, humid, thick air of the far away jungle valley of the ancient ruined city of Kuluth-Mar.

 After a few minutes of typical discussion and banter standing in the lush jungle, they decide to proceed cautiously towards the city, which they can see not far off.  The ruined buildings of the city are surrounded by a massive black stone ring wall, and inside the spire rises up into the sky.  The jungle is eerily alive with an unfamiliar hum of life, and inside the rings – though a place of Kyuss’s terrible history, seems somehow safer.  Yldar moves forward and scales the 30' tall wall, which he finds is made of an impossibly black, glossy obsidian.  At the top of the wall, and circling all around it is a Draconic inscription “Kyuss Forever Bound”.  On entering the ruined city, the entire party experiences a powerful vision of a young Kyuss, seated on a throne at the apex of the ziggurat at the centre of the city and in the shadow of a large spire that towers above it.  Thousands of supporters surround him in the vibrant city chanting and crying their patronage, and then the vision fades.  It leaves the party with the feeling of having had a very significant experience.

Yldar scales down the other side of the wall, and finds that the entire ground is writing with tiny, slow-moving Kyuss worms.  The party follows him in, and being careful not lingering for any length of time, should the worms work their way through their boots, they make their way from the north towards Kuluth-Mar’s ziggurat; the large, central temple below the towering spire.

 They approach the north face of the temple and ascend towards the spire.  Soon, a maddenly loud ‘skittering’ fills the air, and two enormous, rotten, worm-invested beetles, each larger than several men, come around from the other sides of the temple and flank them.  The beetles’ sound is maddening and their mandibles have a hard bite.  As the party forms to defend themselves one notices a heavily armoured knight, walking confidently and slowly into the battle.  The beetles, his dogs of war, continue to attack while the knight closes in to engage.  The party is well organized, rested and resourceful dispatch the knight, whose eyes are massive Kyuss worms, stretching out to bite while his unholy bastard sword clangs violently against the party’s defenses.  No worms manage to infect them and the party collect themselves after the battle to discuss how to proceed.

Up.

Up into the sky is the towering spire, and Nardoc draws on the wind dukes power to fly up towards the top where they party had seen a glint.  As he is rising higher and higher, the party encounters another powerful vision.  They see the spire restored, at the glint at the speak is a 15' tall 3' thick trapezoidal monolith of black rock.  Something is seen writhing inside when an enormous red dragon rips the monolith away from the spire and flies north.  The vision fades, and Nadroc finds only the crumbling ruins of the spire that had held it.

Episode 7 (part 1): The Devils in the Details

Zeek and his cohort come to the party and announce that they will not be joining them on their trip to the Free City, but will meet up with them in Magepoint in just over a week.  There are details to resolve in terms of business and political relations in Diamond Lake before they are all prepared to pull out of town, after Zeek’s last two remaining cohort had dug in through the long year and the dragon siege.  Vasco, Nabiros, Yldar, Maeron, and their new Wind Duke relic companion Nadroc have decided to delay their trip to see the archmage Manzorian (also known as Tensor) for a week, so they can return to the Free City to repay Yldar’s debt with the Seeker society, and so Nabiros and Vasco can check up on old contacts from their time during the Champion Games.  Vasco and the others have spent a short time with Allustan, meditating and studying new magic, skills and feats, while Allustan and Ubu have been consumed with rebuilding their lives and their town from damage done by Ilthane’s attacks.  Vasco’s eyes begin to glow blue as he permanently casts detect magic on himself, and begins a new morning ritual of detecting scrying.  On the first day of casting the later, he almost immediately finds himself the target of the prying scry of a barbed demon, who is at a very distant locale.  Armed with this chilling information, Allustan urges them to make haste to meet his and the late Eligos’ former master, so that these events can be shared with him.

The party mounts up, Vasco with a warhorse, the others with riding horses they were able to buy in Diamond Lake.  Into day two of their travel, far from any settlement, but on one of the lesser travelled roads to the Free City, four green rays suddenly stream out of the air basting Vasco, and narrowly missing others in the party.  In two other locations, two barbed devils pop onto the road, stopped the frightened horses dead in their tracks.  With a deafening telepathy the devils each demand that the party hand over the fragment of the Rod of Law.  Four flying bone devils pop in and out of visibility from their flying positions, peppering the party with their devilish spell-like powers, and quickly forming a series of thick, high and long ice walls that separates Vasco, the bearer of the Rod of Seven Parts from the rest of the party.  The two devils teleport into Vasco’s isolated space slaughtering his horse and demanding the rod.  Vasco manages to turn invisible and fly away undetected before the devils are quite able to apprehend him and the rod. Outside, the party is chilled by the presence of another devil – a huge Pit Fiend, who appears intimidatingly hot, smelling of hell right beside them.  In a chilling booming voice, he also demands that the rod be handed over to one of the barbed devils.  The party tries in vein to lay into the invisible devils, but they are outmatched and out-gunned.  Only Maeron’s Holy Smite does any damage of significance, the rest being shrugged off by the all the devils as meagre problems.  Having realized that Vasco has eluded their grip (Vasco, who flown back and turned a true seeing Maeron invisible) the devils being their assault on the party, threatening to slaughter them all like the horses.  Yldar, Vasco and Maeron, invisible and stealthy, manage to make off several hundred feet away undetected, while Nadroc and Nabiros are left surrounded by the devils.  Nadroc makes his body into elemental form, eluding several of the devils’ deadly blows and spells. He is eventually encased in several thick hemispheres of ice, which he takes several turns of fire elemental form to burst out of.  The burst of steam that comes when be burst out attracts another devil who merely encases him in another icy hemisphere.  Nabiros fares less well.  The subject of the cruel demons, he is repeatedly slammed and slashed by their bones and barbs.  Demand after demand of the fragment of the Rod of Law is left answered only by Nabiros’ raging axe, and then only for a short time.  Nabiros is brought to unconsciousness, his rage ends and his body falls lifeless.  Maeron see this from a distance and casts a spell to stabilize him, but it is too late.  She rushes invisible to his size, and is remarkably undetected by the devils, who have now walked away to scry for Vasco (who continues to elude them).  Seeing that they likely have little hope than this moment to escape, Vasco makes the difficult decision to leave the Wind Duke wizard/fighter creation behind, folding the corpse of Nabiros, Maeron, Yldar and himself into the plane of Shadow and making their escape to the Free City.

Nadroc escapes again from his icy cage and find the devils and his party gone.  He knows why they had to make this difficult decision, and flipping up his blue cowl, sets out in a new direction to meet back up with his battle fatigued colleagues, Zeek and his men in Magepoint the following week.

When they arrive at the Free City, the Nabiros, wearer of the Champion Belt and Vasco, the famously flying elf are immediately recognized by the City Guards.  They are mortified to see their Champion slain and immediately take up his corpse and give him a full military escort to the temple of Kord where Redgar’s now famous funeral was held.  Crowds form along the street, throngs gather to see their fallen Champion paraded through the city to the temple.  Back arm bands spontaneously crop up all over the city, with stitched likenesses of the Champion Belt marking some of them.  City officials, nobles, other Champions begin gathering, paying tribute, and paying for funerary expenses, all wanting to be seen in the company of the great Champion of the games.  Swept up by all this attention, Maeron chooses a quiet moment to Speak with Dead to see what Nabiros’ wishes are – should they proceed with the funeral or resurrect him?  Nabiros is taken by all this glory and says that he would rather choose to end life like this than die in a cave on some mad mans quest about the coming apocalypse.  Vasco and Maeron allow the funeral to proceed and the city is caught in the grip of a major public spectacle, the kind of which they have not seen for some time.

While the debate over the funeral happened inside, out on the street mad man apprehends Yldar by the shoulders, with frightened and crazed looks in his eyes and says ““Have you not heard the dead dragon roar?!  Oh, the dragons of the rift and the sins they proclaim!”.  Yldar is unable to sensibly communicate with him further, and he walks away into the crowd. 

At the Seekers’ lodge, Yldar offers them the Seal of Law in payment for his debts owed in Wind Duke treasure.  His fellow Seekers see this Major Artifact as far above and beyond the debts owed and realize the potential and seriousness of these three Seekers. They allow them to have access to the highly secure Seeker’s vaults to store their treasure, and send word to the Seekers group in Magepoint that these are important and serious Seekers to be welcomed and recognized.  Maeron and Yldar know, this is a significant new development, akin to delving deeper into a thieves guild, and will surely be a most welcome resource now and in the future.  A payment investment very well made.

Worrying to their safety, knowing that the devils have scryed on them again but having resisted revealing their current location, Vasco decides to make the trip to Magepoint as swift as possible.  They arrive in short order in at the marvellous small seaside town, whose centre-point is the castle of the archmage himself, a pale blue castle surrounding a tower capped with a vast glittering blue faceted dome, connected to the village by a stone causeway that runs out to a small Island on the Lake of Unknown Depths.  On arriving in the town of only 500 people, they find that they are already expected, and are hosted free of charge at the Inn of the All-Seeing Eye.  At the Inn, Celeste a beautiful young elvish-looking woman who had originally connected Vasco and his old group with Eligos prior to the Champion games is there, as is, much to Vasco’s surprise, Eligos himself.  Eligos explains that he was brought back to life by one of Manzorian’s powerful cleric allies Agath of Thrunch.  Eligos has not much more to say other than that he is relieved that at least Vasco made it with a new group to deliver all the important information to the archmage so that these issues be dealt with.  Celeste is similarly supportive.  Also there is Cymria, Manzorian’s assistant.  She asks for the details of their adventure so far and says that she will arrange a meeting as soon as Manzorian is back in town. Meanwhile, the party has time to rest and shop with the towns’ excellent magic and adventuring suppliers.

Later that week, the party is reunited, with Nadroc, Zeek and his cohort arriving in the town.  Each day during their wait, Vasco feels he is being scryed but each day he successfully resists being discovered.  The party also discover that the town sits on a reservoir of arcane power, and any spell cast, taking 10x the usual length of time, is cast as if empowered by metamagic, but with no extra resources being used. Several days later, Manzorian summons the party to his study, on whose walls hang remarkably accurate pictures of many different places throughout the land. 


Manzorian is an impressive figure and gets right to business.  After hearing again the party’s story, he then is available for questions.  First, about the devils and the fragment of the Rod of Law, he says that it is a very potentially a very powerful artifact.  He is pleased that the party has been able to resist giving it to the devils, but is concerned that they will not let up.  He offers the party something remarkable: if they give him the Rod to keep in his vaults, he will award each member of the party a single magic item of their choice, each of which being worth up to 40,000 GP.  He offers to cast polymorph any object on whatever they choose so it can take the form of their choice.  Vasco and the others discuss this, and feel that the danger the Rod fragment poses is too grate and so accept Manzorian’s offer.  Their minds are racing as they think of what they are going to choose.

Manzorian then explains what he knows about the Age of Worms. 

“The Age of Worms is foretold in a prophecy that speaks of a coming apocalypse, an age of death and writhing doom. Normally such rumours should be dismissed—doomsday prophecies are typically the product of nothing more sinister than madness. This prophecy is different. It can be traced back, through various incarnations in books, tablets, and carvings on walls, for over two thousand years. It does not change in content during this time—it has not evolved through clumsy attempts of fanatics desperate to reword its predictions to support their agendas. “This alone would be enough for it to merit further study. But even more interesting is the fact that in the last few years several of its predictions have actually come true. In one prophecy, it predicts the ‘ruin by fire of a city built in a bowl in the spire’s shadow.’ Just last year, far to the south, the city of Cauldron—built in the caldera of a dormant volcano only a few miles from Kyuss’ one-time home, the Spire of Long Shadows—was nearly destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Other prophecies speak of the recrudescence of the worm-eaten dead, the recovery of potent artificts from ancient tombs, the destructive manifestation of an immense demonic tree in a distant city across the sea, the arrival of a ‘Fane of Scales’ amid a storm of wind and fire, and the cleansing of an evil taint from a city besieged in the past by giants. “These events have all come to pass, and quite recently. In fact, there are only two prophecies remaining to be fulfilled. The first of these mentions the reunification of a tripartite spirit—I assume this is a nod to the goals of the Ebon Triad. The second remaining prophecy reads: ‘And on the eve of the Age of Worms, a hero of the pit shall use his fame to gift a city to the dead.’ I believe this last line may have been speaking of Loris Raknian (certainly a hero from the gladiator’s pit) and his recent attempt to sacrifice thousands at the end of the Champion’s Games. Yes, I’ve heard of this, and I know you played a role in its prevention. It remains to be seen if your actions actually made a difference or not, but it would be foolhardy to assume that those who are trying to fulfil the prophecies will abate their efforts.” 

He goes on to discuss the Ebon Triad: “The Ebon Triad seems to be involved, at least on some level, with most of the events associated with these prophecies. Their involvement merits further investigation, although I believe that they may in fact themselves be little more than agents for a larger power—perhaps Kyuss himself Certainly, their goal of unifying Hextor, Erythnul, and Vecna into one overgod seems ridiculous, although as far as the Age of Worms prophecies about this tripartite spirit are concerned, it seems that the actual manifestation of an Overgod is not what is being predicted as much as it is predicting the heretical beliefs of the cultists themselves.” 

On Kyuss: “Kyuss is an enigma—what we know of him is sparse. We know that he was once a mortal, a powerful priest who ascended to godhood. He ruled a city named Kuluth-Mar far to the south, and was famed for the creation of undead. A former companion of mine, a wizard named Balakarde, made an extensive study of Kyuss and his ways. You might even say he was obsessed with Kyuss” 

On Balakarde: “When Balakarde learned Kuluth-Mar was the likely location of Kyuss’ divine apotheosis, he could barely restrain himself. I cautioned him against going to investigate the ruins. One does not simply teleport into an unknown region without doing some research. Yet Balakarde wouldn’t listen. He left immediately, returning two weeks later with a wild look in his eye. He wouldn’t say much of what he’d found there, and before he moved on he asked me to hold on to some of his notes. He promised to return later and tell me more, but that time was short and he had to head north to follow a new lead. He vanished without a trace not long thereafter I intended to try to track him down, but unfortunately, other events con spired to take my attention away. I suspect he is dead now. Or worse:’ 

On Kuluth-Mar: “The notes Balakarde left with me are unfortunately rather sparse. They confirm that Kuluth-Mar is located in the Arnedio Jungle, far to the south, and estimate that Kyuss ruled the city more than two thousand years ago from a fortress called the Spire of Long Shadows. Balakarde believed that this spire was the site of Kyuss’ ascension to god hood. Kyuss built a ziggurat to serve as the foundation of the Spire of Long Shadows. Balakarde writes how the ziggurat was a powerful magical focus for the ritual that propelled him to divinity. Much of Kyuss’ might has since left the city of Kuluth Mar, but powerful undead servants and lingering touches of Kyuss’ own miasma make the ziggurat a fell and dangerous place. Balakarde visited the ruined city several times, but never penetrated the spire itself I never found the journal pages that described his earlier visits.” 

Mazorian concludes that what remains now is for the party to follow in Balakarde’s foot steps and travel to Kuluth-Mar to learn for themselves how Kyuss came to be. Manzorian points out that the best way to know an enemy is to know what made him—and what better place to learn of Kyuss’ history than an expedition to the site of his divine apotheosis? While the party explores the ancient city, Manzorian intends to lead Agath, Eligos, and Celeste in a session of intense research on the Ebon Triad, Kyuss, and the cause of Balakarde’s disappearance. The findings from this research combined with what the party can discover in Kuluth-Mar will show them what steps to take next.

Episode 6 (part 6): Moretto and the True Tomb

With his hands outstretched, Moretto offers everyone a welcome to his star chamber.  A freaky green light shimmers from a lantern behind the Marquis. Moretto seems genuinely pleased to see these fellow explorers and his old aide Tout.  With a casual gesture which is recognized by Vacso as prestidigitation, Moretto tidies up tiny Tout from the tumble down the river.  Zeek, recognizing that this must be the Ghoul that both the giant shadow spider and the dread wraith guardian had talked about, asked immediately for the Seal of Law.  Moretto gestures back casually to the back the cave that he has made his study, and disparagingly says that he has studied the old relic, and it is worthless.  He offers to trade it to the party for assistance is getting out of the tomb, whose guardians have to date proved a bit too much for Moretto alone.  He is accompanied here by two horrific Morg, who he gestures between the Seal of Law and the party.

Come, he says, lets work together. Vasco is reluctant to bargain for anything.  Moretto tries his charms of Maeron, unwelcomely trying to prestidigitate her unkempt state, but she evades the spell and rejects Morettos false charms.  Yldar, as an act of good faith, agrees to draw Moretto a map of how to get out of the tomb (a map that does not reveal the Elder Ooze who awaits).  This brings Moretto and Zeek eventually agree to have Moretto and the Seal of Law accompany them to the giant adamantium doors beyond which they believe lies the true tomb of Icosiol.  After that, they will go with Moretto out of the tomb.  Vasco decides to see what Moretto is made of and starts to cast detect magic. Moretto, clearly on his guard, counter-spells and wonders aloud about the state of their good company. Finally the tension is broken by a quick exchange between Zeek and Yldar, the later whom takes several precise and definitive shots with his bow.  The battle ensues, the Morg quickly grappling both Zeek and Nabiros and Vasco letting loose an impressive but largely ineffective Yvard's black tentacles. Bursts of energy from Maeron disrupt the unlife, and the party manages to make effective and swift attacks before Moretto can himself effectively retreat or make an offence.  Moretto is again slain, but his writhing soul turns into an incorporeal spectre of himself.  Vasco contains the now made spectre of Moretto in a magic sphere, which allows them enough time to defeat the Morg and equip themselves with Moretto's excellent arsenal.  They all ready for a final battle to Moretto, who when finally let out of Vasco's sphere savagely attacks Tout, bringing him into unlife.  Finally the undead are all dispatched, and disgusted, Nabiros throws the ghouls' chillingly green lantern into the river of blood, Vasco pushing it along with a mage hand.  Hungry for treasure, Zeek protests and tries to go retrieve the lantern, but not before it is swept away into the underdark below.

The party, newly outfitted with Tout's unique amulet of feather falling and Moretto's substantial magic aids, ascends again to the true tomb, resting for another night before entering..  Yldar studies the Seal that night and finds that the words of entry come clearly to his mind.  Eight hours later, he holds the Seal up to the door, speaking the words Aaqa, Icosiol, Pesh, aloud and the mammoth doors swing open.  The room beyond appears bottomless.  Eight huge pillars seemingly float in place.  Clouds of stormy weather crackle and howl below.  Yldar ties a rope to himself and designs to leap from one pillar to the next.  Zeek and Nabiros holding the other end of the rope, the follow Yldar along all the way to the final pillar which, upon landing, ignites a hurricane of wind and lightning upon himself.  Knocked down, Yldar swings like a pendulum, crashing back into the other side.  Dusting himself off, Yldar decides to fly across the room. The flight attracts the chamber's guardians, two hurricane-force air elementals.  The party is thoroughly buffeted by these powerful elementals, but Yldar manages to speak the Seals words again, sealing himself and his friends in the entrance way to the wind elemental's hall.  The rest again, waiting to see if the elementals will be there on their return.  Opening the doors, the elementals have subsided to the storm below, and Yldar resumes his leaps across the pillars to discover how to enter the tomb.  After numerous failed searches, he finally discovers a subtle area of one pillar that the Seal of Law fits perfectly in.  That pillar raises taking Yldar beyond an illusionary ceiling into Icosiol's mausoleum above.  There, three rays burst instantly out of the corner of one room, draining energy, sickening and panicking Yldar, who manages to remove the Seal and letting the pillar down out of the room, where he again is attended to by his friends and recoveres.

Icosiols' tomb guardian Augerric, a demon tied to this room for eternity, stands invisible, mirror imaged and alert for the party to return.  They all devise a means of ropes to guide them to the rising pillar and ready an offensive against whatever guards the tomb above.  Rising again into the chamber, the three beams disable three members, but Zeek manages to charge forward with his cold iron gnome hooked hammer.  Stunningly, stout Zeek confirms a critical hit in the demon, squelching out over half of his chaotic evil lifeforce in Zeek's single blow.  Yldar lets arrows fly, which the demon merely tears out.  Maeron calls her deity for the blinding power of her Holy Smite.  The demon is drained, blinded and crippled, trying to blast away at the party with its paralytic gaze, eyebolts, unholy longsword and claws.  However, with another Smite of Maeron and second confirmed critical from Zeek, the wicked guardian is forever banished back to the outsiders' realms.  Zeek the demon slayer is born.

Chilled from the fight with the demon, but buoyed with the sight of the tomb, Yldar places the Seal of Law into the hands of an engraving of Icosiol on a floating sarcophagus.  The sarcophagus descends gently to the ground and reveals it's treasures, including a Ring of the Wind Dukes, two crossed sword a lighting Sword and a Sword of Aaqa, and the infamous Rod of Seven Parts.  Icosiol's blessings fall over the party, for his spirit percieves the importance of their position in history, with the struggle to prevent the coming of the Age of Worms.  The blessing is felt perhaps nowhere more than with Vasco, who still carrying the Talisman of the Sphere and Zosiel's silver diadem.  These major artifacts, he knows, are restored to their full capacity.

Knowing that they have the Wind Duke's blessing to acquire these treasures to aid them in preventing the Age of Worms, the party sets about the rest of the tomb to secure anything else that may help them. They find all of the Tomb's traps to not affect them, and all of its guardians, including the Ooze lord, and a a Noble Salamander, the Earl of Coalchester, to be friendly and respectful towards them.  There is not much treasure remaining, however.  Back at the Word of Law trap, the great statue (which weighs over 3 tonnes) is holding a masterwork mithral greatsword, which can be removed with ease.  The statue in the relief golem chamber also weighs over 2,500 lbs, but would be worth 9,500gp to a collector of ancient art.  Back in the ooze lord’s chambre, the four levetating lanterns carved with intricate iconography of Icosiol’s battles weigh 100 lbs each, and worth 800 gp each.

In another small antichamber, they find a crumbled wall with the remains of a Wind Duke talbard, some chain and and what looks like some form of legs sticking out.  Uncovering some of the rubble and the party finds while looks like a kind of machine man, wrapped in chain and clutching a wand.  Zeek recognizes this as an ancient warforged minion, one no doubt created during the ancient battle with the Queen of Chaos.  With uncharactistic curiosity, Nabiros urges Maeron to activate the wand and restore the ancient machine, convinced that like the other tomb's guardians, that this one will recognize Icosiol's blessing.  The ancient creature lurches and finally rises, dusting himself off and presenting himself humbly but nobally to them as Nadroc, an ancient Vaati name that Yldar recognzies as the great Wind Duke architect that is said to have brought these tombs into being.  Nadroc denies being the architect himself, but was indeed one of his amazing creations, given to Icosiol during the final battle.  He came to the tomb on Icosiol's death and lived here for centuries along with the other guardians before getting ambushed by an intruder from the Underdark who collapsed the wall upon him before he could heal himself with his wand.  The intruder, it appears, did not survive the other guardians, and Nadroc doubts his utility here in the tomb.  He asks to accompany the party to the surface world, and unlike the evil Moretto, this request seems genuine.  If the Wind Duke's blessing has been given to the party, the Nadroc wants to aid them in any way possible in their quest.

The party finally takes leave of the tomb through the black seal portal.  Back at the entrance to the Whispering Cairn, they survey the damage left by the battle with the dragon in the landscape around the tomb.  First Zeek and Maeron want to check up on the followers that they had left there some indeterminant time ago.  Tney find them outside of town, near one of the mine operations.  It has been three seaons (nearly a year) since Zeek and Maeron became trapped in the tomb, and all but the two most loyal of Zeek's men have left Diamond Lake.  The two men remaining have been making a small business of Zeek's assets, having set up a business relationship with one of the new mine managers who had taken up where Balabar Smenk left off.  They seem only slightly pleased to see you and feel that there are prospects here, particularly in rebuilding the town, providing fortification and defence service.  They seem to have been doing quite well without you in your absence.


The party enters Diamond Lake itself to discuss the next moves with Allustan, who has been home attempting to recover from the Ilthane's savage attack.  Allustan is understandably morose and depressed about the turn of events. The recovery of the Rod of Seven Parts fragment and the other Wind Duke treasures brightens his mood a bit, but even these mighty treasures can’t fix his ruined home, the lives lost to llthane’s attack, or the seemingly unstoppable advance of the Age of Worms.  There is only one more thing he can do to aid the party. He can show them the way to his one-time mentor, the archmage Manzorian, as Eligos had suggested in his final note. Allustan encourages to take what they know to Manzorian’s home to the north in the coastal village of Magepoint.  Allustan himselfretreats into his studies, in search of further information, and begins to strengthen his home with wardings and magical fortifications. A great darkness is close at hand, and the wizard fears what is to come.

Episode 6 (part 5): Plummeting down the River of Blood

Harnessing himself up to a rope, Zeek peers down the precipice, raising one eyebrow and smiling.  Fingering his ring of feather-falling he says “Just lower me down so I can have a look, two tugs and you can pull me back up”.   Down he goes getting soaked by the mist and then grazing into the swift waterfall as he manoeuvers himself around a slight bend.  Down, down, down, 175 feet before he sees the waterfall pooling into a small underground lake.  He holds his lantern towards the water and his gaze is returned by a hundred small white crabs, attracted by the light of his lantern.  Hearing a second waterfall, the river descends here further than Zeek is willing to go, and shortly after two short tugs, Zeek strips naked and warms himself by a small fire that the party had built in the antechamber of the Inevitable’s room.  “Time to rest and prepare our magic,” Vasco wisely and quietly leads the group, “we need not rush down the river quite yet”.

Hours later, the party is ready to descend again.  During the rest Nabiros and Zeek had spliced 300 feet of rope together to aid the descent, securing it to a piton at the crest of the waterfall.  Vasco flying, Maeron and Zeek with rings of feather falling, Nabiros and Yldar on the rope, the party descends down the 175 feet to where Zeek had been eyed by the crabs.  Vasco flies around the subterranean caverns for a moment to scout out passages other than through the lake or down the second waterfall, and is brushed by a familiar wind and then rattled to the bone by an even more familiar sound.  Three magnificent Wind Warriors magnetically float out of one of the passages and clang their twin ancient longswords together with a sonic blast.  Shortly, three more appear from below, precisely firing a crossbow, the others joining their brothers-in-arms with sonic blasts.  Yldar and Zeek take the plunge into the lake to put themselves in more defensible position, while Maeron and Nabiros wrap themselves tightly to the rope with hopes to do battle suspended above the blood red waters. 

The underground chamber fills with the deafening force of the ancient Wind Warriors otherwise silent defence of their general burial complex.  Crackling and searing magic from Maeron and Vasco reply in their defence, Yldar letting precise arrows piece through the timeless Wind Warrior armour.  Nabiros and Maeron are soon engaged at close range by the Wind Warrors who deftly work to dislodge and dispatch them from their rope perch. With Maeron, they nearly succeed, after plummeting into the lake, they bring her to her knees on a rocky precipice of the lake below.  Zeek and Yldar step forward while Maeron recovers, while Nabiros now flanked by two floating tomb defenders, remarkably withstands an extended parley.  Finally, after a long battle, the elemental force that animates the Wind Warriors is dispatched, their armour and fantastic swords crumbling to an ancient dust lost to the rushing waters of the lake below.  The party had taken a lot of damage, and was weary from the battle.

Vasco, invisible and flying, continues to scout down the waterfall.  He sees held up in a small outcrop a halfling adventurer, stranded but sustained by ioun stones buzzing around his head.  Vasco reports this and the overall contour of the waterfall below to the party, who agree to meet with the halfling.  As it turns out, Tout is an 8th level bard who had been captured by a noble but terrible ghoul named Moreto some months ago. He was adventuring with his party in the underdark when he was taken captive by some plotting, well spoken, charming, lantern carrying ghouls.  The rest of his party was brutally dispatched but he was dragged along with them through various horrors of the underdark. He was surprised that they spoke occasionally of their deity the Lord of Rot and Shadow and their nation deep within the underdark called the White Kingdom.  Perhaps he was meant to learn this special lore and pass on his bardic knowledge another day.  There was gossip being passed around by one of the ghouls Moreto, about the arrogance and irrelevance of some other noble ghoul from the White Kingdom.  He was clearly planning something big.  Moreto had recently been travelling with only a small entourage of terrible, commanded undead, and was moving quickly with the halfling bard through the underdark.  Moreto had stranded him here, flippantly promising to return but had not in quite some time.  Tout and Moreto had been travelling up the River of Blood when Tout tumbled and amulet of feather-falling which unluckily tore off his neck.  The only reason he is alive is that his ioun stones keep him nourished, but he has been unable to pass through the water below and winds above.  He has healed him self and is, other than being amulet-less, was fully charged.  He was more than happy to help the party find Moreto and ultimately escape his extended tour of the underdark back to the surface world.

The party explores a side tunnel before descending the river much further.  The channel leads to a set of stairs and a secret door.  The door, which is unlocked and un-trapped, lead to another set of 50' tall, adamantine plated stone doors which are inscribed with ancient Wind Duke runes indicating this is the final resting place of General Icosiol, who is best not disturbed, and his enemies best left sleeping.  Not being able to open the door by any conventional means, the party continues down the River of Blood, seeking Moreto and the Seal of Law that he has stolen. Perhaps this is an element of the key.

Arranging ropes and rings, and recovering Tout’s amulet of feather falling from a basin of water below, the party continues down.  Battered by the rushing waters, drenched by the spray and mist, the rope gets slippery and several of the party loose their grip and tumble down.  Maeron falls nearly 200 feet and barely survives with her life.  Yldar and Nabiros also fall, but with less life threatening consequences.  The River of Blood finally levels out in chamber glowing with an odd, green, almost starry light.  There they find the noble Moreto, with arms open, welcoming and greeting them, thanking them for having rescued Tout from his awkward perch.

Episode 6 (part 4): Deftly avoiding the River of Blood

Dispatching the second relief golem with little consequence of humour, the party decides to return to the hall where they were originally engaged on the quest of to retrieve the Wind Duke treasure stolen by the ghoul Moretto, they look into an additional room for more clues.  They discover a antechamber with a old, small alter to a Wind Duke, and an image of a door painted on a wall.  Yldar investigates and notices that beside a small statue of a Wind Duke is a place less dusty which looks as if it had held some other object.  At that moment, Yldar hears the murmurings of what sounds like an old soldier complaining of the foot soldiers who were thieves.  from the wall where the door was painted emerged a large wraith, its red eyes beading down at Yldar who quickly escapes the room.  The dread wraith follows the party into the main hall and they battle, with Maeron flattening the wraith with her channeled energy, and it being finished by the the hooked hammer of the Zeek the gnome.

Yldar returns to the alter and pockets the small Wind Duke statue, and hands the wraith's former magic armour to Zeek, then the party debates if they should continue by returning to the river of blood or head through the room that had held Maeron, Zeek, Alustan and Ubu to see what is beyond. While Alustan and Ubu take their leave of the party (being advised to avoid the ooze on their way out), the group decides to return to the globe sphere hall and see what lies beyond.  Down some stairs Yldar sees that a set of rungs must be climbed to go 40 feet down to a tiled mosaic floor below.  Rightfully suspicious of traps, he finds that the whole floor is a pressure plate and after a hair-raising failure, manages to disable it.  The party follows him down, and find a secret door that leads to a waterfall precipice of the River of Blood.  After chatter about rings of feather falling and fly spells, Vasco asks why they would ever want to go down such an incredibly treacherous drop.  On that note, they decide to return upriver and revisit the icy hall that led Adnan to quit the party.


Moving swiftly and confidently through the tomb now, the party re-enters the River of Blood at the Xorn bridge.  Ridding themselves of their armour the party, who are other than the elves very short - need to swim even where it is only 5 feet deep.  Maeron is momentary caught up in a current and swept down towards the main channel of the River that links to the Waterfall but is grabbed by Yldar and brought to the side channel that leads to underneath the ice hall.  Maeron again has a feeling of dread as two huge, oozing, undead (15'x15') blood clots surround them, blocking their entrence to the shallower waters.  Zeek, on being slammed by a tendril of blood, sees some of his own blood pour from his body, animate in the river and merge with the huge clot.  Horrified, the party uses its magic and slashing weapons to reduce the undead clot to cell-less fluid.

They find that the hole that Vasco, Yldar and Adnan had made in the ceiling is still open, and the party re-enters the ice hall, seeing the shattered ice golems' remains.  The look into a small room, and find a strange 15' diameter pool of snow and ice, somehow churning.  Zeek, at first uninterested, decides to test the pool, sticking his hand in and sustains damage from the terrible cold.  Yldar, remembering some of the history of the war with the Wind Duke, recalls that alliances were made with elemental weirds to gain access to prophecies to help defeat the Queen of Chaos.

The party enters the final chamber of the ice hall, Yldar and Zeek proceeding carefully along into a chamber with six statues, five of which having small statuettes of resplendent Vaati architecture, floating just above their cupped hands, the hall filled with more soft winds.  Suddenly, before the rest of the party enters the room, the sixth statue triggers a switch and lets off a blast of negative energy on Zeek, draining 4 levels from him.  The statue, now clearly an animate machine, explains how he is charged with upholding the law, and that the tomb robbery and desecration will be dealt with by death.  The impressive machine, a Kolyurt Inevitable, seemingly at will fires spells at the party, who try desperately to break through iron portcullises that the Inevitable had brought down between them.

During the battle, The Inevitable politely explains how their latest desecration was of the tomb of Sionsiar, a snow weird that Icosiol had formed a bond with during the final battles with the Queen of Chaos, who was interred in Icosiol's tomb upon her death.

Curtains of acid from Vasco, scorching rays from Yldar, and blow after blow from the Zeek and Nabiros weaken the Inevitable, who seemed to keep healing himself.  Finally he is dispatched, and the party collapse exhausted in his room, Yldar pocketing the 5 statuettes of Vaati architecture.  They see that this room only leads back to the very same waterfall that they had tried to avoid.  Indeed, the mad spider seems to be right.  If the powerful artifacts of the Wind Dukes are to be retrieved, and the actual tomb of Icosiol is to be found, they must devise a way to descend further into the River of Blood.

Episode 6 (part 4): the meeting of Seekers

“We must press on to find Moretto!” says Adnan, immediately after the exhausting battle with the Ice Golem tomb guardians. “We must press on now on Spitgob’s quest to save Moretto.” Vasco and Yldar look wearily at each other. “Uh, Adnan, the Wind Dule’s tomb shows more peril at every turn. I think we should rest and face that mad spider head on to get Nabiros back. Our survival depends on his strength!” replies Yldar. “No, the quest, the quest, it demands our full and immediate attention,” raves Adnan, flashing some of his half-mad charm at his colleagues, “so follow me now, down the River of Blood”. Vasco thoughtfully suggests “If I study and rest for several hours, we could soon all walk in the Shadow Plane, infiltrate Spitgob’s layer and get Nabiros back”. “Eight hours is too long for our quest. Down the River!” and Adnan jumps through the ice hole in the floor, into the river, while the two elves resolve to rest without him. Adnan’s footsteps are heard fading quickly into the distance and are gone. The elves take refuge in the nearby time-wasting rooms, preparing their next moves alone.

Meanwhile, several months ago, the Seekers from the city of Dyvers west of Greyhawk, had caught rumours out of the hinterlands of the Cairn Hills. Some group who had previously won the Champion Games and were going to the Free City to defend their title were heard to have had some successful finds in one of the cairns, while other Seekers had been lost for years in those same hills. Upon arriving in the mining town of Diamond Lake, the gnome mercenary Seeker Zeek, his entourage, and scholarly Seeker Maera the cleric of Delleb find that the Champion Aurrek and his friends Kullen and Tirra had indeed found something. Rumours too of another group of local boys had rummaged around in another cairn before disappearing with the wizard Allustan to Mistmarsh. They arrange with Balabar Smenk, still a major landowner in Diamond Lake in spite of his being imprisoned for his dealings with the necromancer Filge, for housing for Zeek’s entourage in some miners’ dorms. The cost is too high and miners’ are evicted to make room, but Zeek accepts the terms. Borran, Zeek’s dwarven booze smuggler co-hort and his artillery men set up base. Zeek and Maera scout off to Whispering Cairn, moving some rubble they find in the door. Zeek finds what he think is a magic portal and by some amazing chance, manages to disable its trap. They enter through the portal and are buffeted by strong winds and smoke, almost choking to death in the first room, Maera and Zeek keep their heads down and dart through to find themselves in a splendid Wind Duke fresco decorated room, only to quickly find a bolt of lightning strike them both and their lives are held in suspended animation for the coming months.

Back in the present day, Vasco and Yldar carefully and quietly move back to the spot were Nabiros was taken and Vasco grabs Yldar’s shoulder and casts Shadow Walk. Their world darkens and the strong smell of rotting food – some kind of decaying meat – surrounds them. Their visibility is obscured, but they grope forward through the spider’s shadow world, built with semi-material forms and increasingly dark spaces. Around a corner they come into a space covered in cobwebs. Vasco tosses a torch into the room and the cobwebs burn away, revealing the source of the stench, a ground covered in treasure and two large piles of silky cobwebs in the corner. Yldar approaches one which when poked feels like a being. Ripping through the cobwebs, reveals the half-orc form of Ubu! Heavily poisoned, paralyzed and sedated by Spitgob for some time, Ubu slowly comes-to, relieved to find his old friend Vasco and his recent acquaintance Yldar standing there. Ubu says that they better hurry, because the crazy spider comes here often to ‘tenderize’ his captives. Vasco tears through the web in the other corner and the tenderized (but less so) Nabiros is recovered. They spend a moment looting part of the gold, gems and other valuables from Spitgob’s layer before Yldar presses them all to return to their spot of entry and out of the shadow realm. Skittering is heard in the hall, followed by a mad “NO NO NO NO NO! from their predator. Vasco quickly puts up a wall of fire which separates them from Flycatcher the shadow spider, and the four retreat. Shadow walk dispelled the group returns to the material plane, but get quite a shock!

Shunted into a round room drenched in a blue glow, the party sees three figures floating suspended in the centre of the room, enveloped in the blue light. The first they recognize immediately as Alustan, Vasco’s old wizard advisor and confidant. Another, a female cleric wearing the armour of the Seekers (Maeron) and a gnome adventurer wearing a Seeker ring are suspended along beside him. Before they can even blink, lighting blasts out of a spike in the centre of the ceiling, directly above the suspended figures, and grounds on each of our heros. Moment after moment the lightning blasts down from the sky. Agile Yldar avoids much of it, hardy Nabiros works on destroying it with his returning axe, hapless Ubu is thrown into the suspended animation field by one of its blasts, and Vasco discharges numerous dispel magic and other attempts against the device. After less than 30 seconds (with lightning striking multiple times in the same places) the sizzling group breaks the lightning rod, clonking on the gnome’s head before they all are released and fall to the floor.

Alustan does not look good. He is unconscious and bleeding. The others are fine though worse for ware. Allustan is quickly healed and recovers his senses. He explains that he had come to the Whispering Cairn with Ubu to discover some magic to help defeat the black dragon Ilthane, and possibly learn more of the important history of the Wind Dukes. Ubu, however, was captured by the shadow spider and Allustan had only made it here until he was trapped. He is glad to see Vasco again, and to meet Nabiros and the Seekers who are traveling now with Vasco, never having liked the cleric Rancik that much, nor trusting Arthur the thief. Allustan, on hearing of the destruction of Diamond Lake and his home, becomes distraught, and desires very much to return home, that this group had surpassed his humble powers, and encourages the group to continue their journey through the tomb of the Wind Dukes to perhaps recover the Rod of Seven Parts, rumored to have been buried along with other fabulous and powerful artifacts that they had used to win the war against Chaos so long ago. On their return with what they find, Allustan says that he will heed the dying request of his old friend Eligos, and arrange for a meeting in Magepoint between the group and the archmage there in order to discuss further the question of the worms.

Yldar is pleased to see his two colleagues, who were the Seekers that had been lost in these hills. None of them have figured out quite who the other two Seekers were that Zeek and Maeron had been keeping their eyes out for, those months ago. Nabiros reminds the group that there is a deadly, mad, shadow spider tracking them like escaped supper, and they look outside a door to see his shadowy mass near and in wait, laughing at the lightning fate his prey are experiencing in the trap room. After a brief, failed negotiation between Zeek and Spitgob, readied for battle, the group throws open the door and let arrows fly. Some of Yldar’s arrows miss and crash into the beautifully decorated frescoes of the Wind Duke chamber, and a terrible earthy crunchy sound emanates from the room. Maeron spots parts of the walls emerging into the room and soon the party finds itself fully engaged with two, phase door walking relief golems, festooned with runes and smashing with powerful fits. Spitgob laughs and disappears again to the plane of shadow, only to return a short while later (preceded by distracting figments of skittering). Blow after blow and one relief golem is finally poked to pieces, and Allustan lets loose his final scorching ray to devastate Spitgob. The other golem continues to hammer on Zeek and Ubu...