Flying into the cave Taking
flight Sais then added, “Well the dream looks like
is supports my idea, so can everyone fly.”
Everyone knew Alaina could and Renon response was to activate his wings of flying to give himself a
set of large butterfly wings. Cereliona
said she would activate her armor when they were closer to the top. Xavian casted Air walk on himself. That left only Sais and Birkenstein. Sais had a flying carpet he intended to use,
but Alaina thought it would be better if he could fly on his own so she cast
fly on him and Sais happily accepted the spell before he stored his carpet for
later use. Alaina then turned to
Barkenstien to do the same, but she was worried because she knew how he acted
last time they wanted the dog to fly.
Cereliona then jumped and explained that she had been working with the
dog and that he has been trained enough that he should accept it now (GM note:
Barkenstien now has ranks in fly).
Alaina casted the spell on the dog and he accepted it. The dog could in fact fly now but he was
still nervous about it so spent as much time on the ground as he was allowed
to. Now that all could fly or where
ready to, they started to make their way up the 200 foot stair case. When they
reached the top, Sais stopped and made sure everyone was flying which caused
Cereliona to activate her armor and call Barkenstien to fly next to her. Sais then went invisible and flew over the
flat stone ledge at the top. He was able
to fly over without the elementals reacting to him, so he called to the others
“Flying seems to work.” While in flight,
everyone followed the rogue’s directions. Monsters ·
4 Elder Earth Elementals [Bypassed] Inside
the cave After entering inside, Sais stayed invisible
but he talked to the group, so they always had a general idea where he
was. The cave was dark so he asked
Renon, how far was it in your dream.
Renon apologized as he explained that in the vision is was too dark so
he did not know. Worried about the
darkness the group members that needed it got out magic so they could see. Sais pulled out Darksight goggles and Alaina
casted true seeing. Xavian had his
dwarven darkvison and Renon had his demonic ability to see in darkness. That left Amaryliss, Cereliona, and
Barkenstien. Amaryliss solved this when
she casted the light spell which was an especially good spell for Cereliona who
had her elven low light vision.
Barkenstien used the light and his nose(Scent) to get around. Now that everyone could see, in one form or
another, they continued deeper into the cave.
After about 220 feet, the cave turned a little to the west for 50 feet
then it turned back north. At the point
where it turned north, there was a faint glow (Dim light) emanating from 2
statues. Sais was in the led so he was
the first to see them. They were two
twelve-foot-tall statues flanking the large tunnel. Each held a hand upraised
as if to ward away intruders and clutched a heavy sword with the other. In addition, the light from Amaryliss stone
as well as the statue light helped Sais and Cereliona notice 4 sets of tracks
in the ground. Cereliona when to work and easily identified them as one heavy
humanoid with 3 sets of rear horse tracks.
Cereliona determined these to be the tracks of Nualia and three
Sandpoint devils of one kind or another.
She guessed that the tracks were about 3-7 days old. The Ranger had prepared for this so she
casted Find quarry. But her target was
not in the 20-mile range of the spell.
This fact caused Alaina to say, “Runeforge is on another plane so a lot
farther than 20 miles away.” Sais then said, “Renon the statue is where that
metal hand hit you, right?” Renon
answered, “No, The vision flew through the west statue and continued along the
west side until it reached a chasm.”
Sais then asked, everyone ready to follow me single file through the
statue?” Alaina then asked, “What about
traps?” Sais smiled, “That is why I am
going first, I will find them.” Then
while still invisible, Sais ran the 60 feet to the west statue and walked
through it. Alaina permeant spells
allowed her to watch him so once he was through, Alaina lead the others in
following him. As she approached, Alaina
easily saw the north statue for what it was, a permanent illusion. On the other side, Alaina permanent as well
as Sais permanent spells, allowed them both to see the invisible, 10 foot wide
stone ledge on the other side of the statue.
As Sais and Alaina were telling everyone about this, the group also
looked around and noticed that just after the statues the path started on a 45
decline for about 175 feet to an edge.
With as icy as this part of the cave was, it would have been very hard
for anyone to walk that and not slip and slide down it to the edge. The group followed the invisible path that
Alaina pointed out to everyone and it was no long before they came upon large
chasm of darkness with a 90-foot diameter. Huge icicles hung from the ceiling and coils
of mist rose up from below. Down
the chasm Sais then asked Renon, “This is where your
vision floated down?” Renon answered,
“Yes and near the bottom is were the vision was hit by a greenish metal
hand.” At this point, Alaina remembered
the treasure map she made earlier. When
she looked at it the map was clearly of the cave they just travelled
through. It also had the layout of the
lower floor, so she held it out for all to see.
The next level down was a circular area with 7 large pillars around an 8 th
larger one. There where a total of 8
side tunnel, going in all direction, each about 15 feet wide. All of the side tunnels had caved in, some
after 20 feet, some after several hundred feet.
Finally, in the North west section of the circular room was the “X” that
mark the spot of the dragon’s treasure.
Sais then left the path and took flight again. He then told everyone he was going to scout
and headed down. He started by looking
down from the top. The next level was
past the 120 feet of his Darkvision, so the rogue flew down 20 feet (130 feet
from bottom). Sais still could not see
the bottom, but he could see the 8 pillars.
The pillars were encrusted with ice and engraved with ancient glyphs and
runes. Wanting a better view, Sais went
down again, this time 30 feet (100 feet from bottom). At this point he could clearly see the
bottom. The walls of this cavern glitter
and sparkle with sheets of ice. Seven twenty-foot-tall pillars, their sides encrusted
with ice and engraved with ancient glyphs and runes, surrounded an eighth
pillar twice the size. Tunnels exited the central cavern, winding deeper into
the mountain. Yet perhaps the most notable feature was the sparkling mound of
coins, works of art, gemstones, jewelry, weapons, armor, and other things
poking up from the pile that occupied the northwestern section of the
cavern. Now that he could see the
bottom, Sais scanned the area looking for a green metal monster; but he did not
see anything. Still paranoid and still
trusting Renon’s vision, Sais went down another 20 feet (80 feet from bottom)
and checked again. At this point he saw
green metal that had been buried in the dragon’s hoard. Sais then immediately returned to the group
and told him what them found. Attacking the Green Metal Man Everyone was cautious about this monster
except Alaina who said, “As long as we stick together, we should be ok, we just
took out a dragon and I doubt there is anything that bad in here.” Amaryliss then offered to store a spell in
the group’s melee weapons so they could use it on the monster. This time Sais and Renon accepted so she
casted dispel magic into their weapons.
After that she casted it into her glaive as well. Renon used his Desna given abilities to
enhance his armor’s protection. Alaina
casted an empowered protection from Energy (Acid) on herself. With that everyone was basically ready. Alaina and Renon then agreed to
simultaneously cast Haste and Blessing of Fervor, respectfully, just as they
readied to move. Everyone was ready, so
they started to cast, and while they did this, Sais called out Kassandra by
name to guard him, so his dagger started to float next to him. As soon as Sais and the spells were done the
group charged down as one on the monster in the dragon hoard (GM note: Allowed
Group initiative for this combat). Surprise Sais, who was still invisible, flew straight
at the gold pile and took up a position to north east of it. Alaina flew down and stopped about 30 feet up
in the air and 30 south of the monster.
Cereliona flew to stop 5 feet above a pillar that was just to the east
of the hoard. Barkenstien followed her,
landing next to the pillar. Amaryliss
simply flew down to land 30 feet to the west of the monster. Xavian used his Air walk to come down and
stopped about 30 feet the south east of the monster. Finally, Renon was last and he made a show of
his landing (Super hero landing), ending up 10 feet to the north the monster
and gold. [Start
of GM Combat notes] The golem failed to notice the group so did
not act in the surprise round. Also, the
Noqual Golem received improved cover from the gold pile. [End
of GM Combat notes] Round
1 Cereliona was first and she tried to mark it
with her designating Chakrum, but the golem’s armor was thick, so she failed to land even one of her
4 attempts. Barkenstien moved up as well
but also failed to do any damage with all 3 of his bit attempts. Alaina was next and as she started to cast a
spell, she could feel the power of her magic being impeded. She fought through this resistance and was
able to cast her spell. However, this
spell had a long casting time, so Alaina had to continue it for a while (Full
round casting time). However, this impeding of magic, helped Alaina to identify
this monster as a Noqual golem. She
shared it powers with the group when her casting allowed it. Sais was next, and he attacked from
invisibility with a flash bomb which succeeded in overload the golem’s eyes,
blinding it. He then followed that up
with his short sword four times. The
first blow landed, so Sais released his stored dispel magic spell from
Amaryliss, but the spell had no effect on the golem. Of his next three swings, two landed and one
missed. Sais’s adamantine weapons
chipped way at the monster. Renon
followed Sais’s led from the other side of the golem and swung at the monster 4
times, but all four were stopped by the pile of coins the golem was under or it
thick armor. Amaryliss moved to within
10 feet of the golem and used Nethyl’s power to charge her weapon. She then waited for the golem to move so she could
attack after it left its cover. Xavian
activated his armor as he watched the group work. Finally, it was the golem chance. It stood up from the pile of coins, showing
the pale green metal that made up the body of this automaton. Despite its
towering size, it moved with lithe quickness.
Amaryliss took advantage of this motion and swung her glaive. Her weapons hit the monster and beat its armor,
but the weapon was not tough enough (not Adamantine) so the golem’s main body
resisted most of her damage. However, as
she struck, Sais took the opportune moment and attack the golem again. As he did, he flicked another bomb in the
golems eyes, but he did not notice any additional effect. However, Sais short sword still managed to
land a good blow, beating the golems armor and hurting its body a little. However, this attack got the golems
attention. He turned and slammed both of
its large fist against Sais. It’s first
blow looked to be a powerful one so Renon called on the power of Desna to
intervene (Divine Interference). This
caused the golem to miss with this blow.
However, the second blow still landed a good hit, which as it did,
dispelled the power of Renon’s Blessing of Fervor spell. The golem’s body absorbed the magic of the
spell which instantly healed the monster some of the damage done so far, but it
also speeded the monster up (Haste) so that it was able to slam down a third
blow on Sais. This time it dispelled
Alaina’s haste effect on the rogue and healed the golem of more of it’s
damage. Noqual Golem ·
Huge construct ·
DR/Adamantine ·
Immunity to magic o A
magical attack that deals electricity damage slows a Noqual golem (as the slow
spell) for 3 rounds, with no saving throw. If the golem is under a haste
effect, the attack breaks the haste effect instead. ·
Impeded magic Aura 60 feet ·
Spell sunder: activates a target dispel magic
with every slam ·
Spell Absorption: Golem absorbs spells to repair
it self and to haste its body, as per spell, for a short time. Round
2 Since the golem was now blinded and mostly
out of the pile of coins (improved cover downgraded to cover), Cereliona
decided to try again. Her first throw
was a powerful blow that bounced of the golem’s neck, a blow that would have
killed any living creature, but it had no effect to on the construct. She then followed that up with 4 more throws,
landing two of them. With all of her
hit, her magical chakrum was barely doing any damage to the monster (Damage
reduction not bypassed). Barkenstien
followed his master’s led and attacked the golem. The dog was able to get a grip on the golems
leg and drag it down on top of the coins, but his teeth did almost no damage to
the golem’s body. As soon as the golem
went down, Sais used this opportunity to stab out with is Short sword again
while at the same time using his cloak to flick a bomb in the golem’s
eyes. Just like last time the golem
remained blinded, but the new flash bomb had little additional effect if
any. Also, Sais sword continued to chip
away at the golem’s body. Then Barkenstien tried to bite the golem two more
times. Both got through the golem’s
armor, but its metal body was hardly scratched by the dog’s teeth (2 HP and 3
HP after DR). At this point, Alaina’s
first spell finished, and a huge Mud Elemental appeared next to the golem. It’s first action was to rush the golem and
slam it with its fist. The blow landed
and by sheer force of power, damaged the golem; but it also flowed mud over the
golem, entangling the metal man. Alaina
then flew 50 feet directly above the golem where she casted a Lightening bolt
on the golem. Again, she felt the golem
magical interference, but she again concentrated and still got her spell off. The lightning did not harm the golem, but the
powerful electricity seemed to short circuit and slow the golem back to normal
speed (Haste effect removed). Sais then
sent Kassandra in to attack but her attack went so wide that she was forced to
fly around and come back to Sais without doing anything else (Natural 1). Sais then activated his boots of speed, so he
could lay into the golem. First, he
stabbed out with his Short sword, but hit the golem dead in the chest and
seemed to hit something important because the golem went dead where it
stood. Sais pulled out his weapon to
make sure it was dead, ready to keep attacking, but when it did not move, he
sheathed his weapons, including Kassandra. Monster ·
Noqual Golem [Dead] After
the battle As soon as the golem was deactivated, Xavian
moved up and used a single spell heal to Sais.
Alaina dismissed her mud elemental and then she moved up to claim the
Golem’s body. Cereliona hooked
Barkenstien up to the monster and pulled it out of and off of the coins and
other treasures of the hoard. Once it
was free, Alaina pulled out her portable hole, but when she set it up, she
found out the golem was too big to fit in the opening. Alaina then talked about savaging it crafting
components but at the same time Amaryliss went over and with a lot of hacking
and bending she was able to get a small chunk (About the size of a golf ball)
of the golem’s body for her to keep as a souvenir. Seeing this Alaina released that stripping it
for magical supplies would take weeks if not months, due to the nearly
indestructible nature of the golems body so she decided to give up on it for
now and come back to it later when she had time. Everyone agreed with her so Alaina moved on
to identifying the treasure. There was a
large number of itmes here, which meant Alaina needed some time to identify
everything. While Alaina did this
everyone else went about either cleaning mud from Alaina’s elemental off the
treasure or searching the area. Investigating the pillars and dividing up
the treasure The
Pillars While Alaina was identifying magic items,
Cereliona was the first one to find anything by the Pillars. She started at the southern side of the
central pillar. There she found more
tracks. It showed a humanoid and 3 horse
hoof creatures entering the central pillar some how and then returning several
hours later before teleporting, in some form, away. Cereliona figured this meant Nualia has
entered the portal, and returned. Then
magically left. Sais instead moved to
the nearest of the outer pillars. First,
he noticed that each of them glowed the same way as the seven stones in the Sihedron
Circle outside. The stone were even in
identical placements. But on the stones,
themselves, he found a small keyhole hidden four feet off the ground on each
pillar, facing the central monolith.
Sais then got the right key to make sure it fit, which it did. Cereliona and Sais then returned to the
others and told them what they found. The
Treasure By the time Sais and Cereliona returned, the
rest of the treasure had been identified so the group went about dividing up
the items. Amaryliss asked for and
received the Staff of Abjuration. Cereliona
liked the buckler so took it. At first
the group tried to give Xavian the Scroll of Healing, wand of Cure Moderate
Wounds, and the Pearl of power, but the dwarf refused all the items. He explained that he could already do a large
amount of healing and the healing items would be better used spread throughout
the group. The cleric then added that Sais
could hold the scroll in case anyone need emergency healing and the pearl would
be better used by someone who uses their spells more that he does such as Renon
or Amaryliss. Amaryliss then admitted
that she did not have the ready access to healing (swaps for inflict not cure
spells) as most clerics so she would like the wand. Sais then accepted the scroll and Amaryliss
the wand. Renon spoke up at this point
and asked for the pearl which no one had a problem with. After that there was no treasure anyone
wanted to carry on their person, so the rest was stored in the groups many
handy haversack, bags of holding, and even some in Alaina’s portable hole. As they did all of the group wondered if they
would be able to sell the times or spend any of the profits with Alaina’s
Sczarni Double black mark hanging over them; but no one said anything. Treasure ·
Coins: 7366 gp total o 39,500
cp o 9,410
sp o 3,500
gp o 250
pp ·
mixed in with the coins are tapestries, small
items of furniture made of precious woods, delicate pieces of jewelry and fine
works of art, silverware and candelabras, six everburning torches, and several
decorative boxes spilling pieces of jewelry worth an additional 16,000 gp in
all. ·
Efficient Quiver: 1800 gp o 14
masterwork arrows: 15 gp each (210 total) o 2
greater dragon slaying arrows: 2032 each ·
a belt of giant strength +4: 16000 ·
a teak box holding a felt cushion with six round
depressions: 5 gp o each
containing a thunderstone: 30 gp each ·
an ivory set of lesser bracers of archery: 5000
gp ·
[Cereliona] +3 darkwood buckler carved with the
symbol of kyonin on its face: 9503 gp ·
chime of opening (5 charges): 1500 gp ·
cloak of resistance +3: 9000 gp ·
flametongue: 20,715 gp ·
+1 adamantine warhammer. 4312 gp ·
masterwork suit of full plate decorated with
onyx ravens perched on the shoulders: 2050 gp o each
raven is worth an additional 200 gp ·
suit of +3 half-plate with a wolf motif: 9,750
gp ·
6 vials of frozen holy water: 25 gp each ·
[Renon] pearl of power (two spell lvls/day, 6th
or less): 70,000 gp ·
Potions o 17
cure light wounds: 50 gp each o 6
cure moderate wounds: 400 gp each o 3
cure serious wounds: 1050 gp each o 2
resist energy 20 (cold): 400 gp each ·
two small +1 mithral shirts: 2250 gp each ·
+1 adamantine warhammer. 4312 gp ·
scrolls o globe
of invulnerability: 1650 gp o [Sais]
heal: 1650 gp o remove
blindness/ deafness: 375 gp ·
Wands o bear’s
endurance (38 charges): 3420 gp o [Amaryliss]
Cure Moderate wounds (46 charges): 4140 gp o Magic
missile (cl 5th, 8 charges): 600 gp ·
[Amaryliss] Staff of Abjuration (1 charge
remaining): 82,000 gp The Portal With the dragon’s hoard, identified, sorted,
and claimed or stored, the group turned their full attention to the
pillars. As they did Sais quoted the
poem, “Keys turn twice in Sihedron- Occulted Runeforge waits within.” Everyone thought this was straight forward so
Sais took the conjuration key and went to the conjuration pillar. There he inserted and turned 2 full
revolutions clockwise (50/50 guess by player).
As soon as he was done, the pillar began to glow softly and hummed. Then an instant later the key disappeared as it
was teleported away. Amaryliss then took
a key and tried the Transmutation stone, with an identical effect. So, in quick order 6 of the seven stones
where activated. By chance, Renon was
the one to activate the seventh and last stone.
Once this one was activated the central pillar began to glow and ripple
with a vortex of prismatic light. The
vortex whirled in on itself like a vertically aligned whirlpool, opening into a
7-footwide circular portal, facing south, through which only blackness could be
seen. Alaina, Amaryliss, and Cereliona
all identified this as a one-way Magical gate.
The group the started to talk about going through but before they even
finished their first sentence, Amaryliss leaped through. Seeing this everyone immediately followed
her. Other side of the portal The portal took them to a 10-foot-wide stone
tunnel that was illuminated by light that seem to have no source. After about 40 feet the tunnel opened up into
a larger room. While not able to see all of the larger room, they could see a
large pool of bubbling prismatic liquid that occupied the center of a raised
dais in the middle of this larger chamber.
Behind them the portal exit swirled with power against the wall there. The Last thing that happened The group had just step through the portal and taken
their first steps in Runeforge. GM Favorite moment The Noqual Golem fight.
I love when the group plans ahead and works as team. Experience Each Player received 47,080 experience points (Total: 650,820 [16th level]) for Monsters and Role-playing.