The next morning, we headed to the Pinnacle of Avarice. We ascended the inside, until we reached the saucer-shaped platform. The floor was a checkerboard of gold and black, and the center area was blocked off by a curved wall.

Shortly after we arrived, the whole floor became filled with fog. Gulnyr moved forward, and around the bend he spotted two silvery giants, who threw boulders at him. He charged at them, and saw two more giants further ahead. Since Ash could see through the fog, she attacked the giants as well, while Takar blindly used Deadly Earth on the floor under where he could hear them fighting. Unfortunately, the giants were able to hover to avoid getting hurt from it. Gulnyr managed to kill one of the enemies, while Thord moved in and killed a second one.

Takar activated Tremorsense so that he could try to locate the giants, and then tried to move through the inner wall to cut through the center of the room. Unfortunately, the wall had some sort of protective barrier of disintegration on it, which shunted him back, though he resisted becoming disintegrated. Zacartas and Devin each dispelled some of the fog from the room, allowing us all to see the remaining two giants, and we finished them off not long afterwards.

A set of golden double doors adorned the north wall of the room, while a single golden door lay to the west. Devin detected some Abjuration magic in the center part of the room, and also detected that the walls were protected from attempts to pass through them. Ash used her gloves to peek through the single door, and saw a five-sided room with no occupants inside. She opened the door, and a moment later, an image of Karzoug appeared. He cast Wail of the Banshee, which killed everyone except Roy, Gulnyr, and Thord. He then disappeared.

We retreated, and spent the rest of the day getting everyone resurrected, except for Zacartas. We then rested for the night. The next day, we returned to the place where we were killed. We opened the single door again, and this time Karzoug did not appear. Phillipe detected a sort of thinness in this room, where this plane overlapped with Leng.

There was nothing else of interest in this room, so Ash looked through the double doors in the previous room. Behind it was a corridor. Ash picked the lock, and Gulnyr opened the doors. Suddenly, Karzoug appeared again. This time he cast Baleful Polymorph, turning Phillipe into an ether frog. He also cast Disintegrate on Takar, but Takar resisted. Karzoug then disappeared, and Thord dispelled Phillipe’s transformation.

We proceeded into the corridor, which led to another set of double doors. The doors opened, and two cloud giants attacked us with boulders. We fought and killed them. Beyond the doors was a long room with ten pillars. A carpet of rubies lead to an onyx dais, upon which sat a throne of gold and gems, draped with exotic furs. An armored woman stood upon the throne, and three green-eyed giants were also present.

We entered the room and attacked. During the fight, Gulnyr and Takar were knocked out, though Roy soon revived Gulnyr. Meanwhile, Phillipe’s weapon told him that the woman’s sword was its enemy, and that it was using the woman as a puppet. It insisted that Phillipe destroy the sword immediately, though Phillipe wanted to take down the giants first. We ultimately defeated all of the foes, including the woman’s sword.