Before leaving Jorgenfist, Voon gave us more information about Thassilon. The people living in the area were known as the Azlanti. A wizard named Xin established Thassilon, and appointed seven of his allies as governors. Each of the governors represented one of Xin’s seven virtues. But it was these seven who became the Runelords, and they betrayed and overthrew Xin, and turned the virtues into the seven deadly sins. They enslaved giants and built great monuments, some of which still last to this day.
Much to Ash’s dismay, there was no mention of any of these monuments being lasers.
After leaving Jorgenfist, Gulnyr and Eliatris went to Janderhoff, so that Gulnyr could return the crown and earn back his beard, and so Eliatris could shop for better armor. Ash went to Magnimar. Devin escorted the captured townsfolk back to Sandpoint, and then spent some time in Riddleport visiting his extended family.
Devin was the first to return to Sandpoint, and upon the request of the sheriff, he used a Sending spell to call the others. We all met with Sheriff Hemlock and Mayor Deverin, who informed us that there had been an earthquake while we were gone. We realized that the earthquake occurred at the moment we killed Mokmurian. It caused the ground to collapse near the the garrison, leaving a hole that led to the tunnels beneath the town. Guards had been sent in to investigate, but they never returned, and sounds of Yeth hounds could be heard coming from below.
We went down the hole, and found ourselves in familiar surroundings, since these were the smuggling tunnels that we had explored shortly after first arriving in Sandpoint. The room we arrived in was a shrine to Lamashtu. Upon exiting this room into a corridor, we heard a Yeth hound baying, which caused Gulnyr to become scared and run off. Devin channeled energy at him to relieve his fear, but Gulnyr was too frightened, and he didn’t return until after he had gotten as far as exiting the hole and arriving back in town.
After he returned, we continued on, and found ourselves in a room with a statue of Alaznist, the runelord of wrath, holding a book. This was the statue from which we took a ranseur on our previous visit. We went past a room with a washing pool, and came to a spiral staircase. The stairs were completely clogged up with spider webs, so Gulnyr used his flaming sword to burn them away.
We came to a dead end, but Ash used her new Gloves of Reconnaissance to discover a passage behind the wall. Gulnyr was able to find a secret door, and Ash picked the lock. The corridor beyond the door was filled with mist, and the walls had Thassilonian writing on them. A voice then spoke to us, asking, “Who are you?” Thinking that it was the voice of Karzoug, Devin replied, “We are your doom.” It then asked, “What happened to Thassilon?” Gulnyr replied, “It has fallen.” We asked the speaker his name, and he replied “Xaliasa“. He asked what nation has replaced Thassilon, and we replied “Varisia”. We mentioned that we wanted to defeat Karzoug, and Xaliasa said that we had piqued his interest, and invited us deeper in.
We were in a chamber from which we could go in three directions besides the way we came. One way led to a shrine to Lamashtu, another was through a set of double doors with a carving of Lamashtu’s head (a three-eyed jackal), and the third was a corridor that tapered off to a dead end. Gulnyr detected a secret door near the end of that corridor, which Ash then unlocked and opened. Beyond it was an empty 5′ x 5′ room. Gulnyr tried to enter the room, but became disoriented and walked away from it instead. Devin threw a coin into the room to see if there was some force that would deflect it, but it went in normally. Devin then jumped into the room. Gulnyr tried to jump in as well, but became disoriented and jumped away from it instead. The disorientation effect persisted the entire time that we were in the mist, affecting Gulnyr most severely, and having little effect on Devin and Eliatris.
Eventually Gulnyr made it into the room, and found another secret door within. Beyond it lay a round room with a domed ceiling. The walls had writing on them, and a pool of glowing water lay in the middle of the room. Devin looked into the pool, and Sarenrae sent him visions of unspeakable horrors. He realized that this was a birthing pool, and was better left undisturbed. Meanwhile, Ash read the runes on the wall, and found that it was part of a rhyming riddle.
We went back to the first mist-filled chamber, and from there proceeded to the shrine. It contained statues of Lamashtu in alcoves, and there was a collapsed passage in one corner. We heard a demonic voice casting a spell. Gulnyr entered the room. The demon cast another spell, which negated gravity for us. Devin had cast Air Walk when he first entered the hole from Sandpoint, so he was unaffected, and Eliatris used her Boots of Levitation to help her counteract the effect, but could not move very quickly. Ash cast Fly on herself. Between Gulnyr fighting the creature directly, Ash firing slingstones at it (one of which became a boulder), and Devin channeling positive energy, we killed the demon.
Xaliasa spoke again, asking, “Who wields powerful magics today?” We told him about the secret wizard society. He asked, “Is the Hellstorm Flume still active?” Our puzzlement about what he was referring to indicated that it was not. Devin asked, “What is your relation to the runelords?” Xaliasa replied that he was a servant for one of them, a spy for another, and a traitor to another. He asked what gods we serve, and we told him. We asked him what god he served, and he indicated Lamashu, the “Mother of Monsters”. He asked which runelords still live, and we said Karzoug did. We asked him how to enter the Runeforge, and he said that he hid keys and clues to it in this place.
We then opened the double doors decorated with Lamashu’s head. This led to a corridor with more writing on the walls. Gulnyr and Ash found three secret doors. The first one led to a 20′ x 15′ with more writing, and a jackal head carving. The second led to a collapsed passage. The third led to a room similar to the one behind the first door, but it was partially collapsed. Gulnyr began to search through the rubble, but this caused a rockslide that collapsed the rest of the room.
We returned to the shrine room, and explored a passage that led from it. The passage was splashed with blood and bits of flesh. We determined that these were the remains of Sheriff Hemlock’s guards, and Devin found a single guard insignia, which he took.
We came to a large room, which had formerly been three separate rooms, before the walls between them eroded away over time. We were attacked by six Yeth hounds, which we killed fairly quickly. More of the riddle was written on the walls here.
We explored more corridors, and rooms with more of the riddle on the walls. At one point, Gulnyr was struck with a feeling of paranoia, like the rest of us would try to kill him, but he was not particularly concerned. We finally came to a writing room, containing a desk, ink, and a peacock quill. We determined that the latter item was a powerful artifact known as a Revelation Quill. There was a dead body of one of Hemlock’s guards present. Ash could not enter the room, as she lacked the will to do so, so we copied down the writing on the walls so Ash could translate it for us. It was the rest of the riddle. The entire riddle reads:
If magic bright is your desire, to old Runeforge must you retire! For only there does wizards’ art receive its due and proper start.
On eastern shores of steaming mirror, at end of day when dusk is nearer, where seven faces silent wait encircled guards at Runeforge gate.
Each stone the grace of seven lords, one part of key each ruler hoards; if offered spells and proper prayer, take seven keys and climb the stair.
On frozen mountain Xin awaits, his regal voice the yawning gates keys turn twice in sihedron – occulted Runeforge waits within.
And now you’ve come and joined the forge upon rare lore your mind can gorge – and when you slough the mortal way in Runeforge long your work shall stay.
Having finished exploring this part of the complex, we returned back the way we came. When we got to the room in which we fought the Yeth hounds, Xaliasa spoke once more, saying, “Time for talk has come to an end, my sucklings! Now, fall to the power of the Scribbler!” The Scribbler attacked us, along with two demons. We dispatched the demons quickly, but the Scribbler was a tougher opponent. We eventually defeated him, at which point the fog dissipated.
We returned to town, and reported what we discovered to Sheriff Hemlock, including the fate of his guards.