After becoming separated from the others, Gulnyr and Takar retreated into a nearby building with Roy’s body. There we found a woman named Ayla, who was able to resurrect Roy. She informed us that Phillipe Starstrike was here, in Xin-Shalast, and that she had come here with him. They also found a benefactor in the city: a stone giant named Gyukak.

Once we had sufficiently recovered, we left the building, and on the way out, we fought and killed four flying vulture-headed humanoids. We returned to the golden road, and then took a side trail to a circular courtyard roughly half a mile in diameter. It was occupied by a soldier camp, and Ayla took us to see Gyukak in his tent.

Gyukak asked us our intent, and we told him that we were here to destroy Karzoug. He thought we were crazy, until we told him that we had four other companions from whom we were separated. He informed us of the occluding field around the Eye of Avarice. Karzoug has not fully materialized, and therefore cannot yet leave his lair. He said that Dominant Runeforged weapons can break the barrier, and anyone wearing a sihedron ring can pass through it, though it is impossible to pass the ring back through to allow another person to use it. He recommended that we travel to Mharmassif, and collect as many rings as we can along the way. He also promised to direct Phillipe to us.

Gyukak also told us that there is a small tower beyond Vomark’s Circus, with a hidden path that can take us past the cloud giant camp. He mentioned that the skulks are sympathetic to our cause, while the lamias are loyal to Karzoug. Our best first target is the Abominable Dome. This is a former monument construction facility, which is now infested with yeti. He said that Cioptra has developed a way to extract loyalty from the Yeti, and their leader, Voorgoor, has a sihedron ring. Cioptra is a lamia, an oracle, and acts as the high priestess of Karzoug.

Another ring is in the possession of Gamigin, a powerful fiend who lives at the Heptaric Locus. Gamigin has been here for thousands of years, and defies Karzoug for his own ends. Another ring belongs to Glorofaex, a large blue dragon. Finally, the House of Divine Consumption, where Cioptra lives, has a number of magic items.

Once we finished speaking with Gyukak, we traveled to the Abominable Dome. The structure was 1000 feet in diameter. At its center was a large pile of rubble, shaped like a tower, with many tunnels and openings throughout. Ramps spiraled around and up the tower, and the whole thing was coated with a thick layer of ice, making it difficult to ascend. As we went up, we were attacked by two beasts with four eyes and eight legs, as well as three four-armed yetis. We killed all of our opponents, and then searched through the rubble. We found a mithral breastplate, a platinum cobra armband with ruby eyes, a sihedron ring, a Ring of the Ram, a magic kukri, and a gryphon figurine. We then took this opportunity to rest for the night.

The next morning, we headed for the Heptaric Locus. Along the way, we spotted a blue dragon flying overhead. We tried to hide from it, but it spotted us, and attacked us with a concussive blast by beating its wings. The blast collapsed a nearby building, blocking our retreat. Just then, the rune giant came at us and attacked. We fought him, and Ayla destroyed him with a Disintegrate spell.

We reached the Heptaric Locus, which was a seven-sided colosseum. Inside was a maze of winding corridors. Shortly after we entered, we were attacked by three large spider-like creatures, known as scarlet walkers. They attacked with long tentacles, and used a gaze attack that caused Roy’s eyes to bleed. Takar retreated into a wall, while Ayla put up a Prismatic Wall to block two of the creatures from reaching us. Those two creatures foolishly jumped through the Prismatic Wall, which turned one to stone, and banished the other to another plane. We killed the third one, though during the fight, it caused Roy to become insane. Roy was able to cure himself of insanity after the fight.

We headed to the gladiatorial arena in the center of the maze. Waiting for us were Gamigin, Glorofaex, two scorpion-like devils, and two more scarlet walkers. The devils fired green rays at Gulnyr and Roy, causing them to become dimensionally anchored, and the back wall became covered with a wall of ice. The spiders came at us, and during the fight, the devils anchored Takar as well, and more ice walls appeared, to separate us from each other. We killed the spiders, though not before one of them paralysed Takar. The devils then descended upon Gulnyr, and more ice walls appeared, to section the three of them off from everyone else. Meanwhile, Gamigin came after Takar and Roy, and Roy noticed that he was using illusion magic to make himself seem larger and more impressive than he actually was. Roy killed Gamigin, Gulnyr killed the devils, and Glorofaex turned out to be an illusion.