As Ash, Devin, Thord, and Zacartas stood facing the great blue dragon Glorofaex, Ash became scared and teleported away. Devin, who was nauseated from the encounter with the gallowdead, retreated back into the morgue, while the dragon hit Zacartas and Thord with lightning. Zacartas became frightened, and retreated into the morgue as well. Thord took cover behind the building, and removed fear from Zacartas.
The dragon then spoke to us, telling us the tale of Karzoug’s rise to power. He told us how Karzoug served as an apprentice under a demon-binder named Therble, and died several times during his studies, though Therble always saw fit to resurrect him. However, Karzoug eventually betrayed and killed Therble, and was subsequently chosen to serve under the Runelord of Greed Haphrama. While doing so, he also allied himself with creatures from another dimension known as Leng, and in doing so gained more knowledge and power, allowing him to eventually overthrow Haphrama and become the new Runelord of Greed. The city of Xin-Shalast rose to great heights of glory under his reign.
When Earthfall occurred, Karzoug was forced to retreat from this world. He took his apprentice Kalib and a number of rune giants to a demi-plane called the Eye of Avarice. He had planned to stay in this place of refuge for no more than a hundred years, but the cataclysm disrupted his plans for revival, and he has been trapped there for thousands of years, awaiting his chance to return to this world.
After telling us this, the dragon resumed his attack against us. Zacartas summoned an air elemental, and Thord cast Greater Dispell Magic, eliminating three of the dragon’s magical protections. Devin cast Destruction, but the dragon resisted the spell.
Suddenly, during the fight, Gulnyr, Phillipe, and Takar arrived. Glorofaex flew atop the building to get away. Phillipe cast Monstrous Physique on himself, becoming a giant gargoyle, so he could reach the dragon and attack directly. Meanwhile, Devin cast Destruction again, and this time successfully hurt the enemy. Thord and Gulnyr pummeled the dragon with strong attacks, and Takar finished him off with a blast of magma.
We recovered a sihedron ring from the dragon’s body; this was our fifth one. We then went to the dragon’s lair to loot it. We found:
- Banded mail +4
- A wand of Lightning Bolt
- A metamagic rod of Extend
- A ring of Evasion
- A jade comb
- A pair of red gloves embroidered in gold
- A bag of frozen potions
- A sixth sihedron ring
We then traveled through a secret mountain path, towards the occluding field. Along the way, we were attacked by a large roper. We fought it, and after we had done significant damage to it, it surrendered. It offered us information in exchange for its life. We agreed, though it didn’t tell us much that we didn’t already know. However, it did mention that we would encounter some large talking spiders up ahead.
We continued on, and eventually reached an altitude at which the suppression of magical flight was no longer in effect, so Thord cast Overland Flight. As we ascended Mharmassif, we reached a frozen wasteland, where we were accosted by three large spiders. One of them spoke to us, saying that they would allow us to pass, but demanding in return that we kill the interlopers from Leng, and destroy the Leng Device. This device is located at the Pinnacle of Avarice, within the occluding sphere. We agreed, and moved on.
We reached the the occluding field, which caused some of us to become nauseated. We put on the sihedron rings, and went through, into the Eye of Avarice. We saw a number of massive structures. There were six empty towers, which were abandoned dragon roosts. A fortress with three towers served as a prison. There were also three tall spires, adorned with ledges and balconies. Far above all of this stood the Pinnacle of Avarice: a tick-like tower, with an even taller tower sticking up from the center, topped with a saucer-shaped structure.
We headed to the prison fortress. A cannon golem standing atop it started firing at us, so we hastened inside. We climbed the spiral staircase within, reached the top, and destroyed the golem. We then rested for the night.