We returned to the upper cabin, as the blizzard raged in full effect. Thord and Gulnyr had to hold the door open against the wind while the rest of us entered. Thord was the last to enter, but as he did so, he felt a bite on his neck from some sort of animal. Once we were inside, the ghosts of Silas and Keravec Vekker appeared. Silas began some sort of ritual to remove Keravec’s curse.

Just then, we heard the sound of wood rending apart, and an animal howling. We opened the door to the room from which it came, and saw that a large section of the cabin’s outer wall had been ripped away. Standing just outside the opening was a wendigo, a humanoid creature with the head of an elk. We attacked it, and discovered that it was particularly vulnerable to fire. After we dealt a significant amount of damage to the creature, it fled. Several moments later, we heard a crash coming from the lower cabin, and felt the upper cabin get knocked around, as if something were trying to pull the whole structure down from below.

We proceeded to the lower cabin to investigate. Thord and Takar went down the shaft connecting the two parts of the cabin. Once at the bottom, they opened the door to the next room, and found the wendigo waiting there. Meanwhile, Roy, Zacartas, and Gulnyr were outside the cabin on the lower level, and were assaulted by a tree that came to life and used trampling attacks. They fought and killed the tree, while Takar attacked the wendigo with fire, causing it to flee again.

At this point, Devin was on the stairway that ran down the shaft. The wendigo emerged in the upper cabin, and charged at him. Devin hit the creature with Flame Strike, and then tried to run down the stairs to get away, but the creature caught him in its mouth. It pinned Devin, and the two of them started to turn into wind, but Takar and Roy attaked the creature from below, and managed to knock it unconscious. Thord then destroyed the creature completely using fire. This caused the blizzard to stop.

Several minutes later, the ritual between the dwarven ghosts was complete, and Keravac faded away. Silas then gave us the last five pages of the ledger, and told us that they would lead us to Xin-Shalast.

The ledger instructed us to find the source of the Avah river. Once there, we must fast, and wait for the full moon. We traveled to the Avah river using Wind Walk, and once there, we followed it to its source. Along the way, some of us became disoriented. At one point, Gulnyr was just standing and staring at a wall, but believed himself to be traveling along the river.

We eventually reached the source, which was a fen two miles wide. Devin and Zacartas felt that flying in this area would cause offence to some creature that was present, so we explored the area on foot. As we made our way across, we heard a giggle, and saw a nymph sitting upon a rock. She introduced herself as Svevenka, and said she was the sister of Myriana, whose soul we had put to rest in the swamp near Bitter Hollow. She gave us her gratitude, and warned us that this area wasn’t right, and that we shouldn’t travel north. However, when we told her that we were seeking Xin-Shalast, she offered us her aid.

She told us that some giants, lamias, and abominable snowmen lay ahead. Karzoug lives in the occluding field, and Xin-Shalast is inhabited by skulks. The inhabitants known as “spared” are friendly, while the others are vampiric. Another plane known as Leng is hostile, and overlaps this region. Finally, she said that we could find the path to the city by starving during a full moon, but a True Seeing spell would also work.

We rested for the night, and the next morning, Zacartas cast True Seeing. He saw a ghostly image of the Avah river continuing up into the mountains. We used Wind Walk to follow the image for 50 miles, at which point the spell was suddenly dismissed. We fell and landed on a wide, flat road.

On one side of the road was a 60 foot high cliff. A frost giant jumped down from atop it, and said, “I, Bjormandal, say you are not welcome here!” He then attacked us, while four other giants threw boulders at us from the top of the cliff wall. We fought and killed Bjormandal, and then Takar grabbed Thord and flew to the top of the cliff, while Gulnyr and Roy teleported there. Once there, we killed the rest of the giants.

We continued traveling along the road. It soon began to rain, and we noticed a giant flying creature circling in the air above us. As we continued, the creature stayed above us, and thunderbolts periodically struck at us from the sky. Thord determined the creature to be a thunderbird: a creature that brings the storm on its wing, and can be placated with gifts. As we continued to be assaulted by lightning, we decided to try to kill the creature. Zacartas cast Disintegrate at it, but it resisted the effect, and retaliated by firing lightning back at him. Takar and Roy tried flying up towards the creature to get within striking range, but once they were about 50 feet off of the ground, they were suddenly repulsed back down; Roy was slammed into the ground, but Takar managed to catch himself before hitting it. Zacartas cast Disintegrate again, while Devin used Flame Strike, Takar blasted it with fire, and Ash used Magic Missiles. These attacks managed to kill the creature.

We traveled over a mountain pass, into a glacial valley. Within the valley, we saw Xin-Shalast, which was a large, ice-capped city. We saw a massive causeway made of gold, and many towers and spires rising up beyond it. about a quarter of the city was covered in volcanic rock, and the far side lay against the base of a large mountain. On the mountainside was a carving of a man with a stern expression.

We found ourselves standing in front of a mining cabin, set against a sheer vertical cliff face. The top of the cliff was 60 feet up, and another cabin stood atop it. The two cabins were connected by a sort of shaft that ran up the cliff wall. The cabin at this level had two entrances: a single door near the front, and a set of double doors at the side. The double doors were barred from the inside.

The front door had a rusty lock, which Ash easily picked. This led to a small 10′ x 15′ room. Along one wall was a set of double doors, and next to it, a curtain. Behind the curtain was a tiny bedroom, containing little more than a cot and a pair of boots. Hidden in one of the boots was a punching dagger, which we took.

The double doors from the entrance room were locked, and again Ash picked the lock. Behind this door was a large room with a dirt floor, containing ore processing machinery. The floor was a few feet lower than the doorway, so a ramp led down from it. The air in this room was putrid, and we saw the shadowy figure of Silas Vekker, a dwarf without any eyes, crouched in the far corner. He was scooping handfuls of gold dust out of a chute, and eating it. When he saw us, he said “You have to try this! It’s delicious!”. Gulnyr stepped into the room, and was suddenly compelled to crouch down and start eating dirt. Suddenly, Silas exploded, and then disappeared. A moment later, Gulnyr’s compultion wore off, and the gold dust that the figure was eating was now ore dust.

This room had another set of double doors, which Ash unlocked. As soon as she did so, the figure of Silas Vekker reappeared. Takar tried to hit him with a flame blast, but it went right through without effect. Zacartas tried to dispell him, but failed, and Gulnyrs attacks went right through as well. Finally, Thord channeled energy at the figure, which dispersed it.

We went through the doors, and found ourselves at the bottom of the shaft that we had seen running up the cliff wall. A set of wooden stairs spiralled up against the shaft walls, and a long chain hung down the middle, hanging from a winch that was attached to the ceiling at the very top.

The back wall of the cabin was the stone cliff face itself, so at this point Takar decided to investigate the next room over by going around the side wall of this room, by stepping into the stone. This took him to the room that was behind the barred double-doors on the side of the cabin. It was filled with mining equipment, and nothing else of note, save for the fact that the door was barred from the inside, with no other entrances present. Takar unbarred the doors, and reported back to the party. Zacartas cast Detect Secret Doors to see if there was a hidden way from this room to the equipment shed, but found none.

We ventured up the stairs, with Zacartas and Roy flying up the middle of the shaft instead. Part way up, the stairs suddenly collapsed out from under us. They did not break or fall; rather, they were rigged to fold down, as a trap. Gulnyr fell to the ground, while the others on the stairs managed to catch themselves and hold on. Also, the chain suddenly became animated, and attacked Zacartas and Roy. The two of them quickly flew to the top of the shaft, and the chain then attacked Devin, knocking him to the floor. It then grappled Takar, who had begun flying after the stairs collapsed. Meanwhile, Thord continued to climb to the top, and once there, he and Zacartas attacked the winch that held the chain, until the chain became no longer animated.

We regrouped in the room at the top of the shaft. This room had a single door, behind which was a corridor that led to a kitchen with a dining area. In the kitchen was a painting of some dwarves, and we recognized one of them as Silas Vekker. We suddenly experienced pangs of hunger, followed by an urge to start eating each other, but we all resisted the urge, and it subsided a few moments later. Searching the kitchen, Thord and Ash found a dwarf tooth in the cauldron.

A door in the kitchen was stuck closed; Thord opened it using a crowbar. This led to a room containing a pile of dwarven bones. Thord noticed a skeleton in the pile that resembled himself, and it even wore a ring on its finger identical to Thord’s own. Suddenly, he found himself attacked by some invisible force that caused his body to become covered with bite marks. A few moments later, the effect stopped, and the skeleton in the bone pile no longer seemed to resemble him.

The corridor that led to the kitchen had several doors, and at this point Ash used her gloves to look through one of them. Behind it was a room with bunk beds, a coal box, weapon rack, lantern, and wooden chest. This room also had a closet. We opened the door, and Thord searched this room, and found a hook attached to some kind of mechanism. He pulled it, and this caused the collapsed stairs in the shaft to return to their proper position.

Another door in the corridor led to a closet containing various odds and ends, including a few pairs of snow shoes. We then returned to the first room at the top of the shaft, and Zacartas cast Detect Secret Doors here. He found a secret locked door, which Ash unlocked. Behind it was a study, containing a desk with a ledger, and seven burlap sacks on the floor. Two of the sacks contained gold nuggets, and the rest contained gold dust. Behind the sacks was a coffer containing 14 uncut gems. We looked at the ledger, and found that the last few pages were missing.

We returned to the kitchen, where there was one more door we hadn’t yet investigated. It led outside, to a porch area. Gulnyr and Roy spotted a figure standing out in the snow, who shouted, “Run! They’re going to eat you!”. Gulnyr then became panicked, and fled out into the snow, and Takar chased after him to try to bring him back. Meanwhile, the cabin started shaking and sliding, as though it was going to fall off of the cliff. We all suddenly started seeing images of ravenous dwarves at the edges of our vision, but never directly where we were looking, and we felt hunger pangs as well. Devin and Thord channeled energy to suppress the haunt, which stopped the cabin from shaking, and dismissed the images.

The figure of Silas Vekker appeared once more before us. He warned us to abandon our quest, lest we end up like him. We told him that we were seeking Xin-Shalast, and he said that he could tell us the way, but we must first bring the remains of his brother, Keravec Vekker, to him. He pointed us in the proper direction to find his brother.

We followed his directions, and came to a cliff that was 2,000 feet tall. Ash, Roy, and Zacartas flew up the cliff face, and found a shelf-like ledge about 1,900 feet up. They returned to tell the rest of us what they saw, and after casting Fly on Thord and Gulnyr, we all ventured up, with Devin and Takar being carried. As we explored the shelf, we were suddenly attacked by a giant one-eyed white worm, which emerged from the ground. We fought it, and as we did so, a dwarven ghost emerged as well. It let out a moan, which panicked Ash and Roy, and then it telekinetically flung Gulnyr over the cliff edge. Since he was flying, he quickly rejoined the battle , and he and Takar finished off the worm. It exploded when it died, knocking out Devin. Meanwhile, the ghost attacked Takar, draining some of his constitution and charisma. He tried to move away, but the ghost knocked him out. Thord then healed Devin allowing him to regain consciousness, and Devin destroyed the ghost by channeling energy at it.

We regrouped after the fight, but Ash was not with us, having fled far away while panicked, and unable to find her way back in the snow. The rest of us found an area with some gravestones, including the grave of Keravec, and obtained his remains. Unable to find Ash, and with the weather getting worse, we retreated to the base of the cliff. By the time we reached the bottom, a full blizzard was in effect. We set up a tent, and rested for the night. During our rest, Thord had a nightmare in which he had become a cannibal, and was eating the rest of us.

The next morning, we returned to the top of the cliff using Wind Walk, and found Ash by using two Locate Object spells.

This room had a large sihedron emblem on the floor, surrounded by a ring of fire. The ceiling was completely covered in flame. The departure teleportation circle was inactive. The lady Athroxis was floating in the air above the center of the sihedron, wielding a flaming ranseur, and under the effect of a Mirror Image spell.

Roy attempted to activate the teleportation rune, but found that it was magically locked, requiring a token of some kind to unlock it. Athroxis summoned two large vulture-like demons known as vrocks, which appeared in clouds of spores. They attacked us, and their spores infested Devin, Gulnyr, and Zacartas. Athroxis then cast a spell that caused a duplicate of herself to appear in front of her, floating lower above the ground. Zacartas tried to cast Dispell Magic on Athroxis, but its effect was blocked by a Wall of Force. Gulnyr killed a vrock, while Takar tried to blast Athroxis with a column of fire, but it was blocked by the force wall, so he took cover within a nearby stone wall.

Just then, a dwarf named Thord Stonehammer Plane-Shifted into the room, and joined in our fight against Athroxis. Roy killed the second vrock using force bombs. We were then hit with a black cloud of Unholy Blight, followed by a Fireball.

Gulnyr rushed in to attack the lady, but was forcefully stopped by a tiny stirge-like creature. Takar started bombarding the force wall with metal shards to try to break through it. Roy used Dimension Door to bring himself and Ash into the main part of the room, but hiding behind a pillar. Then, Athroxis cast a spell that caused an area of the room to have a reversed gravity effect. Thord, Gulnyr, and Takar were in that area. Gulnyr and Thord fell upwards onto the flaming ceiling, while Takar was able to grab the wall to keep steady. The lady then sent a spectral sword to attack Roy.

Zacartas used Dimension Step to position himself behind a pillar, while Gulnyr flew to attack Athroxis’s clone. Takar attacked the clone as well, using a blast, but it did no damage, revealing the clone to me a mere illusion. The tiny stirge then flew towards Takar to attack him, and changed into a large glabrezu demon. Athroxis cast Prismatic Spray on Gulnyr and Thord. Gulnyr avoided gaining any ill effects, while Thord suffered some electricity damage.

Gulnyr charged at the demon, who responded by teleporting away, next to Devin. Devin in turn cast Harm, severely injuring it. Devin then started running away, leading the demon towards the center of the room so that Thord could come and fight it. The demon in turn took swipes at Devin as it chased him, but at one point it managed to miss and injure itself, causing itself to start bleeding.

Meanwhile, Zacartas disintegrated the force wall that was protecting Athroxis from us, and Roy created a duplicate body for Ash. Zacartas again cast Dispell Magic on Athroxis, causing her to fall to the floor. Takar and Thord attacked her, eliminating her mirror images.

Roy threw bombs at the demon. Athroxis then ordered it to attack Gulnyr. It struck him hard, causing him to become dazed. Meanwhile, Takar turned the floor below Athroxis into magma, while the demon died from bleeding. Athroxis then moved up to Gulnyr, and used Vampiric Touch on him. Zacartas responded by casting his own Wall of Force to trap Athroxis with Takar, and then teleported away. Thord put some buffs on Ash, Roy, Devin, and Zacartas, and then Roy teleported himself and Ash to get near the lady.

Zacartas cast Acid Pit where Athroxis was standing. Takar then moved in to attack her, but she reacted by casting Prismatic Spray at him, Roy, and Ash. Takar took a lot of damage, while the others saved and avoided harm. Takar hit Athroxis with an entangling earth blast, successfully grappling her. Roy then killed her with a bomb.

We searched Athroxis’s body, and recovered the key token for the teleportation circle, as well as two wands, a mithral breastplate, her magical ranseur, an amulet, belt, cloak, headband, ring, and her spellbook.

Having completed all seven arms of the runeforge, we returned to the hub room to imbue our weapons with power. We determined that there was enough power in the runewell to modify four weapons. Gulnyr dipped his hammer into the runewell, giving it the power of Wrath. Next, Devin gave his scimitar the power of Love and Humility.

Before anyone else could infuse their weapons, a golden ray of light burst from the ceiling and struck the statue of Karzoug. It became animated, spoke threateningly in Karzoug’s voice, and attacked us. It struck Ash and Devin, causing not only physical damage, but also lowering their dexterity. Ash teleported away, and Roy cast Restoration on her. Gulnyr and Thord both enlarged themselves and attacked the statue, while Takar blasted it with metal shards. The fight was over quickly, with Roy finishing it off with a bomb.

With that distraction eliminated, we turned our attention back to the runewell. Thord imbued his weapon with the same power as Devin’s, while Ash got a Symbiotic weapon.

We used Plane Shift to travel to Magnimar, and visited the temple to Iomidae. A soldier informed us that Lord-Mayor Grobaras wished to meet with us. We got Ash permanently resurrected, and then went to see Grobaras.

The lord-mayor told us that large armies of giants were amassing at the borders at the Storval plateau. Even larger giants, bigger than were usually seen, were marshalling these forces. He also informed us that it was a noble family known as the Kaddrens who had sent Thord to assist us, and bring us back to help with the giant problem.

We then made plans to go after Karzoug. This required us to determine the current location of ancient Xin-Shalast. Gulnyr traveled to Riddleport to try to gain information about this, but came up empty. We contacted Vorvashali Voon, who informed us that Mokmurian’s library has had all information about Xin-Shalast purged from it.

Devin, Ash, and Gulnyr then went to Sandpoint. Devin went to see Sabyl Sorn at the monastery, and this time she let him into the secret library without hesitation. He asked about the location of Xin-Shalast, and learned that it was located on the mountain of Mharmassif, at the headwaters of the river Avah. Further, the area surrounding Mharmassif is dimensionally unstable, and requires specific knowledge to find the proper path to reach it.

Meanwhile, Ash visited Brodert Quink, to see if he knew anything about Xin-Shalast. He told her that a man named Redwing, the author of a book called Eidolon, had mentioned to him that two dwarven brothers named Vekker had claimed to have found the route to Xin-Shalast. Quink showed Ash a letter that Redwing had written to him:

Salutations, Mr. Quink!

Thank you again for the kind words and drink. It’s always a pleasure to speak with readers of my work, especially those well read and civilized enough to know of my writing beyond Eidolon. Alas, I was unable to procure a copy of the early draft from my personal files. It would seem that it has gone the way of so much of my early work, lost forever to the gulfs of time and narrow-minded publishers unable to grasp the import of a young Pathfinder’s work.

Fortunately, my mind is as quick now as it was in those early days of my explorations of your fantastic homeland. I recall the evening I first heard the story of Xin-Shalast, while seated on a log in a Varisian camp, sharing ruby mead with an enchanting young woman. Ah, but that’s a story for other times.

I was intrigued by the tale, though. All peoples have tales of “cities of gold”, yet with Xin-Shalast, the Varisians had no tradition of explorers seeking it. They viewed the place as one of evil, a place to be feared and foresaken. As far as I could tell, none of your indigenous people ever sought out the ruins before the advent of Chelish rule. But there was mention, come to think of it, of two dwarven brothers Vekker, I think their names were. Claimed to have found the route to Xin-Shalast and convinced several tradesmen in Janderhoff to support and supply their plan to establish a base of operations in the low Kodar Mountains along the Kazaron. Their vanishing into the Kodars bankrupted all but one of their investors, I hear, and even today, the Vekker name is generally accompanied by a litany of rousing dwarven profanity when it comes up in ‘Hoffian taverns.

In the stead of enclosing a copy of the early, complete draft of my work, though, please find a signed copy of Eidolon with this missive. I trust it will look quite handsome on your shelf.

In good health, Redwing

We regrouped back in Magnimar, and then decided to plunder the dragon’s hoard that surrounded the entrance to the Runeforge. We hired a few people to help carry it away. We then made preparations to go to the Kodar mountains to find Xin-Shalast. We purchased equipment and hired companions to help with the climb up the mountain.

Around seven hours after we began our climb, we came to the base of a 60′ tall sheer cliff face that had the front of a building embedded into it. The air at this level was permeated with a foggy haze.

After getting Zacartas resurrected, we returned to the Runeforge to explore the halls of Wrath. We found ourselves in a large, tall chamber. On one wall was a mural of a red-haired woman wielding a ranseur, riding a dragon. At the far end of the room, up on a high ledge, was an iron golem equipped with a bow. It attacked us as we moved into the room. As we fought it, we discovered that using fire attacks against it caused it to heal. Also, it was capable of breathing poison gas. We destroyed the golem, and moved on.

The next room we came to had two runic circles on the floor; one was blue, and the other was red. Zacartas determined that they were teleportation circles. The room had no other exits besides the doorway through which we entered. We attempted to use the red circle to leave, but nothing happened, because the red one was the arrival pad, while the blue one was for departing. So we each stepped on the blue circle, one at a time.

Gulnyr teleported first, arriving in a small rectangular room that had its own pair of runic circles, though the blue one was inactive. One side of the room was open into a short corridor, beyond which was a much larger room, occupied by six sinspawn and six warriors. The warriors were under the effects of Mirror Image spells.

Takar arrived next, and as soon as he did, the warriors bombarded him with Magic Missiles, instantly bringing him very close to unconsciousness. The sinspawn moved into this room to attack Gulnyr and Takar, and two of them had Takar trapped in a corner. Roy then arrived, and entangled those two enemies, and Takar subsequently used his Earth Glide ability to move through the walls to get away. As Roy used bombs to attack the enemies, Takar put up a wall of magma to try to provide some cover from the warriors, but they were able to cast a Fireball spell through the wall, doing lots of damage to us, and killing the remaining sinspawn.

By this time, Devin, Ash, and Zacartas had arrived in turn. Zacartas cast Black Tentacles into the other room to pummel the warriors. Gulnyr moved in to attack as well, using his blinking ability to pass through the stone walls in order to avoid the magma wall. We killed the warriors, and Ash figured out how to activate the blue runic circle that we had arrived near.

With the enemies killed, we proceded to investigate the large room. It contained a number of armored combat practice dummies that were magically self-repairing. There were also two more pairs of teleportation pads. We picked one, and used its blue pad to travel to the next location, in the same order as before.

Gulnyr arrived in a chamber containing alchemical supplies and work tables. There was also a large vat of pulsating flesh. Eight more warriors were present, and they immediately attacked Gulnyr with Magic Missiles. Takar then arrived, and used Earth Glide to hide inside the wall as soon as he spotted the enemies. Gulnyr then got hit with more missiles, and some of the warriors flung globs of flesh at him from the vat. Roy then arrived, and the warriors immediately shot seven fireballs at him and Takar, bringing Takar to unconsciousness. Next, Devin arrived, and he and Roy were hit with seven more fireballs, nearly knocking Devin out. Ash arrived next. Roy activated the teleportation pad corresponding to the one we had arrived in, and Devin stepped through it to retreat, after casting Heal on Takar to get him back up. Seven warriors shot Magic Missiles at Ash, killing her. Finally, Zacartas arrived, and put up a Wall of Force to block off five of the warriors from us.

We killed the enemies that were on our side of the wall, and Zacartas used Temporary Resurrection to get Ash back up. He then used Dimension Step to go to the other side of the Wall of Force, at which point the enemies all fired Scorching Rays at him. However, Zacartas was equipped with the rod that we obtained from Jordimandus, and it absorbed all of the spell energy. Zacartas attacked with Magic Missiles, while the enemies attacked him with Fireballs. Zacartas then dropped the force wall, and the rest of us moved in to attack, finishing off the enemies.

We studied the room, and determined that its purpose is to turn warriors of wrath into sinspawn. We then returned to the previous large chamber, to use the remaining teleportation circle. This one brought us to a room containing weapons. A mural on the wall depicted the same red-haired woman as on the previous mural, though this time she was standing atop a tower. There was an archway in this room, filled with roiling black smoke. Zacartas dispelled the smoke, allowing us to see the rest of the room beyond it. There was a large sihedron emblem on the floor, and floating in the air was the woman from the murals. As soon as she saw us, she shouted, “For fury and hell fire!”

We returned to Magnimar to try to recruit some more allies. Ash found Roy Mustang, an alchemist with a monkey familiar named Ed. Devin found Takar, a kineticist who could control the elements of earth and fire. Confident that we now had a large enough group to handle the challenges ahead, we returned to the Runeforge, to tackle the area of Sloth.

This area consisted of a maze of passages, intersecting with rivers of slime. There were metal panels acting as bridges in places where a passageway crossed over the slime river, but even the walkways were slick with slimy moisture, so we all used flying abilities to stay above the ground. The air was permeated with a noxious odor, which caused Ed to become sickened. In some places, the passages were blocked by closed portcullises.

Exploring the passages, we came to a very large room that seemed to be the source of the slime rivers. It was oblong in shape, and we entered through an opening in one of the long side walls. The opposite wall had several grates through which sewage was streaming like waterfalls into the room. A large metal walkway ran through the room the long way, above the surface of the slime. There were several grates in the ceiling above the walkway as well, though there was nothing coming out of them. At one end of the room was a platform, which allowed access to three levers. Above each lever was a plaque, unreadable due to being caked with slime.

Zacartas and Roy went to the platform to investigate the levers. Zacartas cleaned off the plaque above the first one; it said “Access Control”, in Thassilonian. Suddenly, they were attacked by two creatures, called Omox Demons, which emerged from the slime and who were able to travel through it almost instantly. We fought and killed them. After the fight, Zacartas cleaned off the other two plaques, which read “Portal Control” and “Warning: Cleansing Cycle”. Injured from the fight, we all returned to the entrance area to heal up, and plan our next move.

We continued exploring. We found a large chamber filled with slime, with no ground or platforms to stand on above the surface. One part of it had a slowly turning whirlpool, and there was colorful fungi growing on the walls near it.

We then explored another tunnel, whose floor was covered with very fast moving slime. It led to a corridor that was behind the grates that fed into the large oblong room. We could see that the slime was pouring out of several interdimensional portals. We then returned to the oblong room, to the platform with the levers. We pulled the second lever, labeled “Portal Control”, which closed the portals and stopped the influx of slime.

We then decided to pull the third lever, to initiate the cleansing cycle. Gulnyr remained on the platform while the rest of us retreated from the room. Gulnyr borrowed Roy’s Necklace of Adaptation, in case he would have to breathe underwater. When he pulled the lever, water flowed into the room from the grates in the ceiling, and a large water elemental came in as well. It proceeded to methodically clean the walls.

We all returned into the room, and pulled the first lever, which raised the various portcullises that we had encountered throughout the passages. We explored a passage that was now open to us, just past the whirlpool chamber, and it led to a large cavern filled with sludge. Gulnyr entered, and was attacked by two large, tentacled Qlippoths, which caused Ash and Roy to become paralyzed with disgust. Gulnyr fought and defeated the creatures.

We continued down a passage on the other side of that cavern, which led to a set of double doors. We opened them, revealing a very strange sort of throne room. In the middle of the room was a pool of slime. In each corner of the room was the end of a pipe, and liquid flowed from the pipes, snaking through the air like tentacles, into a large vat at the back of the room. The liquid from each pipe was a different color. Floating above the vat was a throne, and sitting in it was Jordimandus, the runekeeper of Sloth. He was a fat, lethargic man, who had tentacles sprouting from his chest.

We fought him. Devin cast Flame Strike, but instead of hurting Jordimandus, the magical energy got absorbed into a rod that he was holding. Meanwhile, tentacles began to emerge from some of the pipes in the corners of the room, attacking those of us who were nearby. Gulnyr moved in to attack Jordimandus, but as he flew above the slime pool, a mud elemental emerged from it. As we fought it, Jordimandus cast Greater Dispell Magic on Gulnyr, dismissing his Fly spell.

Gulnyr destroyed the tentacles, while others of us killed the mud elemental. Takar moved in to blast Jordimandus, and a second elemental erupted from the pool. Ignoring it, Takar fired his blast, but it became absorbed into Jordimandus’s rod just like Devin’s spell had been. Jordimandus responded by summoning a Qlippoth, which caused Devin, Ash, and Roy to become paralyzed. He then summoned a second one. Zacartas summoned an Elder Air Elemental to assist us, and it disrupted Jordimandus as he tried to summon a third time. Zacartas then used Greater Dispell Magic, which dismissed one of the Qlippoths. We killed the other one, along with the mud elemental.

Takar continued blasting Jordimandus, hoping that there was a limit to how much magical energy his rod could absorb. Ash put Fly back on Gulnyr, who then moved in to attack. As Jordimandus became close to death, he tried to cast Dimension Door, but Zacartas countered it. Jordimandus then cast Disintegrate, which killed Zacartas, reducing him to a pile of ash. Devin cast Breath of Life on him, but it did not restore enough health to bring him back to life. Gulnyr finally finished off Jordimandus.

We looted his body, and found a hidden compartment in the throne, containing more loot.

After Azaven fled, Gulnyr and Ash grabbed the bodies of their other companions, and left the Runeforge, retreating to Magnimar. They got Devin and Dottie resurrected, and returned Eliatris to flesh. However, Eliatris and Dottie decided that their destiny lay elsewhere, and left the party. We spent some time in Magnimar procuring useful supplies and magic items. About a week after we left the Runeforge, while sitting in a tavern, we were approached by an elf named Zacartas. He had some knowledge about the Runelords, and offered to join our party. We gratefully accepted.

When we were ready, we went back to the Runeforge, into the area of Gluttony. Investigating the room that had contained two standing crystals with a curtain of darkness between them, we found that a small crystal was starting to grow to replace the one we had destroyed. Gulnyr smashed it.

We returned to the room that had been filled with blue-robed corpses, and found it occupied by a large creature made of bones. As Gulnyr rushed in and attacked it, Devin tried channeling energy at it, but this had no effect. The creature trapped Gulnyr in a cage made of bones, which began to contract. It moved with Gulnyr as he moved, so he was unable to escape it using his blinking ability. Six shadowy figures then emerged from the walls to attack us. Fortunately, Devin’s channeling was able to destroy these in one blast. We killed the bone creature, with Ash delivering the final blow with her sling, and Gulnyr smashed his way out of the cage.

We proceeded to the alchemy laboratory, where we were attacked by three wraiths, which we dispatched quickly. We then went on to the room with the large urns. Zacartas borrowed Ash’s gloves, and used them to look into Azaven’s study. He saw a large creature, a devourer, waiting inside. As soon as we opened the door, it used a Ray of Enfeeblement on Gulnyr. Zacartas teleported into the room, to help fight the creature from behind it. As they killed it, Azaven appeared from behind an illusory wall at the back of the small corridor leading to the study, and cast Chain Lightning at us. Meanwhile, two specters came out of the walls in the study to attack Zacartas, afflicting him with negative levels. Azaven then used a fear effect, which affected Ash and Zacartas. Zacartas reacted by teleporting away from the specters, and put up a Wall of Force in front of Azaven.

Devin cast Restoration on Zacartas, while Gulnyr stepped up to the specters and fought them, receiving negative levels of his own. Azaven then used a spectral hand so he could cast at us from behind the force wall, and shrank Devin and Zacartas using Mass Reduce Person. After Gulnyr killed the specters, Zacartas dismissed the force wall so that we could attack Azaven. Azaven cast Mirror Image on himself, and then put up his own Wall of Force to section off Gulnyr from the rest of us. However, Zacartas quickly cast Disintegrate on it, freeing Gulnyr. Meanwhile, now that Azaven was out in the open, Devin started channeling energy at him.

Azaven cast Prismatic Spray at us, and Zacartas tried to counterspell it, but was unsuccessful. Azaven tried to Blind/Deafen Gulnyr, but Gulnyr resisted. Zacartas then cast Greater Dispell Magic on Azaven, which removed some of his protections. Between Gulnyr’s attacks and Devin’s channeling, we got Azaven near the point of death, but this triggered a contingency spell, which caused him to teleport away.

We found a secret trap door in the floor of the study. Gulnyr smashed through it, and below was a room containing several sarcophagi, as well as Azaven. The walls of the room had bony arms sticking out from them, which fired beams of necromantic energy every few seconds. As Zacartas peeked his head down into the room, Azaven cast Finger of Death at him, but he fortunately resisted. Ash dropped a thunderstone into the room to try to deafen Azaven, but he restisted. Zacartas cast Fireball into the room. Ash peeked in, and Azaven cast Finger of Death on her, but she resisted.

We then attacked all out. Gulnyr dropped into the room to fight Azaven directly. Ash fired sling bullets that had delayed explosive effects. Devin channeled energy. Eventually, Gulnyr damaged Azaven enough that he became gaseous, and retreated into a sarcophagus. When Gulnyr opened it, Azaven was solid again, and one of Ash’s explosive sling bullets detonated, deafening Azaven.

Azaven used a fear effect to panic Gulnyr. Devin chanelled energy. Azaven cast Disintegrate on Gulnyr, but failed to kill him. He then tried to turn invisible, but failed due to his deafness. Ash fired a sling bullet which turned into a boulder, dealing significant damage to him. Devin then used his last channel of the day, which killed Azaven, causing his essence to flow into a sarcophagus, which was his phylactery. Zacartas cast Acid Pit on the sarcophagus, destroying it.

We searched Avazen’s body, as well as his study, and found a number of magical and otherwise valuable items.

We rested for the night in the hub room. The next day, Eliatris used her Lay On Hands ability to cure Dottie’s and Gulnyr’s remaining diseases.

We returned to the Gluttony area of the Runeforge, where we had arrived from Abaddon. Upon entering the round room decorated with skull carvings, we were attacked by the two mummies that we had previously left trapped behind a Wall of Force. We dispatched them quickly, and then went to the room containing crystal pylons with a curtain of blackness between them. Dottie tried to scratch one of the crystals with her silver dagger, but the crystal was too tough. Gulnyr started to smack it with his hammer, and Devin and Ash retreated to other rooms while he did this.

Eventually the crystal shattered, causing the curtain of darkness to explode. This had two effects. First, the coldness that seemed to radiate from the stone subsided. Second, a large bat-like creature from the negative energy plane materialized where the curtain had once been, and attacked us. It channeled negative energy as us as though it were a cleric. During the fight, Dottie tried to use Baleful Polymorph and Magic Missle on it, but failed to overcome the creature’s resistance to spells. We eventually killed it, and examined the rest of the room. We found a cache of books, three scrolls, and a small wooden box containing a tuning fork attuned to the Runeforge.

We next returned to the room containing the blue-robed corpses. Two other doors led out from this room, and Ash peeked through them using her gloves. Behind each one was a corridor. We went through one of the doors, and found that both corridors led to the same room. This was an alchemical laboratory, which contained books about undead. Two more doors led from this room, each of which Ash again discovered led to a corridor.

We went throught the southern door, and its corridor led to a U-shaped catacombs. It contained 10 burial niches, each containing an large enough for a person to hide inside. Gulnyr lifted the lid on the nearest urn, and as he did so, a mummy reached its arms out at him. Ash shot the urn, which shattered it, freeing the mummy. The mummy had an aura that radiated despair, which temporarily paralyzed Gulnyr. The mummy then struck him, infecting him with Mummy Rot.

As we fought the creature, another mummy emerged from a different neraby urn. After we had killed both of them, Eliatris smashed yet another urn, which freed a third mummy, which paralyzed Dottie with its aura. While Eliatris fought it, Devin went to the other side of the U, and smashed the two nearest urns, hoping to channel negative energy at the mummies within before they could do much damage. Ash moved forward to assist, but was paralyzed by the aura of the third mummy. Unfortunately, the two mummies that emerged from the urns that Devin smashed attacked him, and one of them broke his leg. Meanwhile, Eliatris fell unconscious, just as she killed the third mummy.

Mummies four and five then knocked out Devin before he could channel energy at them. Gulnyr went down due to the Mummy Rot draining his Charisma. Meanwhile, just as Devin was on the verge of death, Ash and Dottie became unparalyzed. Ash stabilized him, and Dottie used Scorching ray on mummy four. The mummies then charged at her, while Ash used Lesser Restoration on Gulnyr to restore some of his Charisma, making him conscious again. Dottie then became paralyzed again as mummy five came into view. Ash stabilized Eliatris, and Gulnyr killed mummy four. Mummy five moved up to Dottie, and killed her. Gulnyr then killed the mummy.

Ash came to Devin’s aid, and fed him his own potion of Cure Moderate Wounds. Suddenly, a sixth mummy emerged from another urn, causing Ash to become paralyzed. Devin cast Heal on himself, bringing him back to full health. While Gulnyr fought mummy six, Devin went to check on Eliatris and Dottie, and discovered that Dottie was dead. He then became affected by Mummy Rot, as Gulnyr killed the last mummy.

The battle now finally over, Tris cured Gulnyr of his Mummy Rot, while Devin cured his own. He then cast Restoration on himself and Gulnyr.

We returned to the hub room, and rested again. During the night, an acolyte of Delvahine came by, and asked us if we had cleared out the Pride area yet. We told her that we had, and she went away satisfied. The next morning, we had our eight-armed friend reincarnate Dottie, who became a bugbear.

We returned to the alchemical laboratory, and exited through the door opposite the one that led to the mummy room. This led to a room filled with bookshelves, where a creature named Xyoddin Xerriock was dissecting a humanoid upon a stone table. When he saw us, he said, “Master Azaven says I can eat you!”, and attacked us. Gulnyr charged in, while Dottie attacked with Scorching Ray. However, Xyoddin was most interested in eating Devin’s brain, and went straight towards him. Gulnyr then killed the enemy.

We examined the books. They detailed the steps that Runelord Zutha‘s followers used to achieve undeath. Zutha had split his phylactery into three pieces, which his agents could use to bring him back to life in the future.

We returned to the round room with the cross-shaped bridge, and went through the remaining unexplored door. This led to a room that contained five alcoves, each of which was filled with dozens of niches holding wine bottles. There was also a clay statue of Lissala, the Goddess of Runes. She had the body of a snake, and a sihedron where her head should be. A golden sarcophagus was also present, and was decorated with a depiction of a handsome man holding a bunch of grapes. His eyes were sapphires, and each of the grapes was an amethyst.

As Gulnyr moved closer to the statue, it slithered forwards and attacked. Gulnyr fought and killed it, but the damage that it did to him was of a kind that was particularly difficult to heal, even with the use of cure spells. Devin healed him up a bit, with multiple castings, some of which were completely ineffective.

Ash peeked into the golden sarcophagus using her gloves, but it was empty. We then decided to investigate the floor below the cross-shaped bridge. Ash cast Fly on us so we could get there easily. The floor was 150 feet below the bridge, and covered with hundreds of empty sarcophagi. We found nothing of interest there.

We returned to the door leading to the room with the mummy urns, which was now closed, even though we had left it open. Ash looked through the door, and saw the dissected humanoid in the room, now in mummy form. Gulnyr opened the door, and killed the creature quickly. As it died, it seemed that a light diminished from its eyes, and Dottie realized that someone had been watching us through them.

Gulnyr searched the room for secret doors, and found one. Behind it was a short corridor that led to another door, behind which was a small closet. The closet contained another secret door, which Dottie peered through using Ash’s gloves. Beyond was a large room containing work tables and tools for working with corpses. Sitting at one of the tables was Azaven, servant of Zutha, with his back to the door.

Gulnyr opened the door, and Dottie cast a Fireball into the room, but it was blocked by a Wall of Force. Azaven told us that he wanted to parley with us, and asked us for information about the world. Eliatris spoke with him, but failed to give satisfactory answers to his questions. Azaven became frustrated at this, and declared the parley over. He commanded a large creature to attack us from behind an illusory wall. He then cast Fly and Mirror Image on himself. We killed the creature, and then Gulnyr started trying to smash through the Wall of Force.

The rest of us waited for Gulnyr to finish breaking through. Meanwhile, Azaven summoned a shadowy creature, who then stepped through the stone to get to us. We fought and killed it, and shortly afterwards Gulnyr finished breaking through the wall. However, as soon as he did so, Azaven cast Finger of Death at Devin, killing him instantly. Dottie cast Dispell Magic at Azaven, but it failed to affect him. He then cast Prismatic Spray at us, causing Eliatris to turn to stone, and Dottie to die from electrical damage. Meanwhile, Gulnyr and Ash proceeded to fight Azaven, but after he had sustained some injury, he escaped by teleporting away.

We healed up and rested for the night, and Devin used enough Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells to relieve everyone’s ability damage. The next morning, Devin cast Scry to try to find Eliatris in the plane of Abaddon. He saw her sitting on a log in a vast swampland teeming with buzzing insects. A large group of ragged humanoids was gathered around her as if to draw comfort from her presence. Dottie informed us that those beings were known as “The Hunted“.

We planned to go to Abaddon by means of a Plane Shift spell, which required the creation of a fork attuned to that plane. We prepared such an item by dipping a fork into the remains of the ooze that we had fought earlier. Devin then cast the spell, and we arrived in Abaddon. We found ourselves near a gigantic structure composed of decaying bones and flesh, the corpse of a long dead creature. Nearby was a stone tower several miles tall, from which a river of blood flowed. Unfortunately, we knew that Eliatris could be many miles away from our location, putting her out of range of spells such as Locate Object.

We were suddenly attacked by five wolf-like creatures. They had the ability lure their prey towards them, and succeeded in using this talent on Dottie. Two of the creatures attacked her, while Devin healed her, and Gulnyr fought the other three. Dottie managed to get away and put her two opponents into a Force Cage, while Gulnyr finished killing the others, and we then left the area.

Dottie cast Sending to deliver a message to Eliatris, asking her to describe a prominent landmark that was near to her, and saying that we would meet her there. Eliatris indicated the big toe of the left foot of a giant skeletal tower near the river Styx. Devin then cast Find the Path to guide us to this location, and Wind Walk to allow us to travel the distance quickly. As we got near our destination, Dottie cast Locate Object to pinpoint Eliatris, and Ash cast Fly on us to use for our final approach.

As we approached Eliatris, she and the Hunted were attacked by three leukodaemons, bird-like humanoid creatures with horse heads. Eliatris killed one just as we arrived, but another one knocked her out. Devin healed her, while Ash killed a second daemon. The third one breathed a cloud of insects at us. We killed it, but as we did so, we heard a large creature approaching.  Devin quickly cast Plane Shift to return us to the Runeforge, just as a four-legged horned behemoth arrived.

We found ourselves in a round room with a 30 foot high domed ceiling. The floor was a cross-shaped bridge high above a floor that was occupied by a number of stone sarcophagi. Each arm of the bridge led to a door on the wall. There were four statues on the wall at our level, spaced between the doors, and each one had a name displayed above it. The statues were:

• Gorryan: a person holding a plate of meat and cheese
• Inib: a person holding a plate of grapes and bread
• Aanstrin: a person holding a plate of candy
• Xerriock: a large open mouth, with teeth filed to sharp points.

Ash used her gloves to look through one of the doors. As she did so, she noticed that it felt quite cold to the touch. Beyond it, she saw a room with iron-plated walls. Two crystal pylons stood in the middle, with a curtain of blackness draped between them, and electricity flowing from each pylon into one of two alcoves.

She checked the other three doors as well, each of which also felt cold. Behind one door were a number of brutally savaged human bodies, dressed in blue robes that were stained with blood. Behind the next was a hallway lined with a few stone sarcophagi. Behind the last was a round room whose walls were adorned with ten carvings of skulls, each of which appeared to have bits of actual flesh in their teeth.

Gulnyr used his blinking ability to step through this last door, and as he did so, he was struck with negative energy. Two wraiths stepped out of the wall at him, and he retreated back out of the room. Two more wraiths appeared from the walls into the room we were currently in. Eliatris shot them with Chain Lightning. The original two came out as well, and then Devin destroyed them all by channeling energy.

We opened the door, and Gulnyr and Eliatris stepped into the round room. Ash used Wind Walk to drift in as a cloud. Five of the skulls opened up, and a mummy stepped out of each one. They caused Gulnyr and Ash to become paralyzed with fear, and Dottie used a Wall of Force to fence off three of them. As we fought the other two, a larger mummy arrived and joined the fight. We killed the large mummy and the two smaller ones that we could reach, and then exited the room through a door located opposite the one we came in by.

Beyond this door was a long corridor that led back to the central hub of the Runeforge. When we arrived at the hub, we discovered that Gulnyr and Dottie were afflicted with diseases from Abaddon. Devin had a single Remove Disease spell prepared, which he used to cure one of Dottie’s afflictions.

After returning to the entrance hub room, we ventured down the passage toward the area associated with Greed. The tunnel came to a dead end, with a jewel-encrusted iron door on the right hand wall. Ash attempted to see what was beyond the door using her gloves, but in doing so she inadvertently activated a trap. The door was fake, and sprung forward to crush her against the opposite wall. After recovering from this, she searched the wall directly ahead of us, and found a secret door.

We opened the door, beyond which was a corridor whose walls were made of expensive wood, with gold and silver runes embedded in them. The corridor was also filled with purple mist. It was thin where we were, but the mist abruptly became thicker at a point up ahead, and it had firefly-like motes floating within the thicker part. Dottie was able to determine that if we were to enter the thick mist unprotected, it would teleport us somewhere else, while transforming us into goldfish. She then magically created a gust of wind which cleared a path through the mist just long enough for us to pass through it unharmed.

We came to a polished marble room, which had a pool of water in the center, decorated with an ice sculpture of a whale. There were some small winged creatures, mephits, cavorting in the pool. They noticed our presence and began to talk about us to each other, concerned that we would slobber into their pool if we came near it. They also expressed surprise that we could talk when we addressed them, and then suggested that perhaps we could use a bath after all.

Two passages besides the one we came from led from this room, on opposite sides. When Gulnyr looked down one of them, one of the creatures warned him not to go to far, or else the “silver man” would get him. When Dottie spoke, the creatures were amused by her voice, and said that she might sound better under water. Ash responded that the silver man might also sound better under water, and the creatures took offense at this, and cast Stinking Cloud. Devin told them that we were formidable foes, and they offered us their friendship and allowed us to pass. The also requested that we tell the silver man not to kill any more of them.

We exited through the west passage, which led to a room with a fountain in the center, with goldfish swimming in it. We realized that the goldfish had formerly been people who had passed through the purple mist. There was also a stone statue in the room. When Gulnyr stepped in, it became animated, and attacked us. Gulnyr and Eliatris killed it, but three more approached from other rooms, attracted by the commotion. We killed them all.

We continued forward down another passage leading from this room. This corridor had four doors along one wall. We opened the first door, behind which was a small storage room containing various materials. Gulnyr took a platinum bar from this room, and Ash took some linens. As soon as they left the room, the items they took turned into worthless junk. We checked the other three doors, which all had similar storage rooms behind them.

The corridor ended at another room with a fountain of goldfish in the center. There was a door in this room, and Ash looked through it using her gloves. She saw a large room containing shelves full of books and scrolls, and cages holding live animals. We opened the door, and were immediately approached by a silvery man, who was floating above the ground. He identified himself as Ordiken, and began casting spells at us. One of the spells was Prismatic Spray, which hit Eliatris, and caused her to be banished to the plane of Abaddon. The rest of us fought Ordiken, and when he was almost dead, he teleported away. He left a spellbook behind, which Dottie took.

Another door led from this room, and Ash looked through it to see a room with several statues, occupied by a giant boar-like creature. We briefly returned to the room with the mephits, and verified that the eastern passage looped back to the same areas we had already explored. We then went into the room with the boar-like creature.

The creature identified himself as Zuvuzag, and informed us that he cannot allow us to harm Ordiken until we free him from his binding. Zuvuzag was bound here by Izzomandicus, who demanded that Zuvuzag make him laugh, cry, cheer, and shriek, by telling him a series of tales. He made him laugh, cry, and cheer, but Izzomandicus died before he was made to shriek. Devin attempted to break the binding by casting Greater Dispell Magic, but it failed to have an effect. Zuvuzag refused to let us pass until Devin succeeded. We then attacked and killed him, with Devin using up his remaining charges of Channel Energy for the day, and Gulnyr using up the rest of his rage.

Ash looked through the other door from this room, and saw Ordiken meditating while floating above a pool of liquid that had charges of electricity flowing through it. She cast Fly on all of us, and then opened the door. Ordiken immediately responded by casting Fireball at us. Dottie cast Prismatic Spray at him, but he resisted its effects. Gulnyr then flew over the pool at him, but Ordiken reversed gravity in the room, which caused the liquid to fly up at Gulnyr, though it missed him due to his blinking ability. As the rest of us moved into the room, being near the liquid had a debilitating effect on on us. Devin failed to resist the effect, and it lowered his intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. Ordiken reverted gravity to normal, attempting to splash Gulnyr again, but it missed him once more. Ordiken then cast a fear effect, which caused Devin and Ash to run away. The liquid then effected Gulnyr, severely lowering his charisma. Gulnyr then bull-rushed Ordiken away from the pool of liquid, but Ordiken responded by teleporting out of the room, some ways down the hall. Here, Dottie killed him using Shocking Grasp.

A wizard named Dottie emerged from the wall. She had entered the Runeforge before the corruption of the Runelords, or perhaps before she realized that the Runelords had become corrupted. Upon being confronted with a great horror, she fled into a wall in this room, and put herself in a stasis that would last until someone aligned with the forces of good came near. All these years later, Eliatris triggered Dottie’s release as she passed near.

We returned to the entrance hub room, and decided to explore the Lust-aligned spoke, to retrieve an Enchanted item. We travelled for roughly three miles down this corridor, until we came close to the entryway to a vast chamber. As we approached, we heard the sounds of battle. Ash scouted ahead, and saw a grand cathedral. It had pillars carved into the form of the Runelord Sorshen, a number of cube-shaped cages hanging from the ceiling, and a large square tent in the middle. Inside this room were three stone giants, two Shining Children, and five succubi, all engaged in battle against Freezemaw.

We decided to join the battle to help put an end to Freezemaw. One of the succubi asked Eliatris if she would help them, but she did not agree to join their side, indicating that we were on our own side. Eliatris then cast Dispell Magic, which removed the dragon’s protection from fire. Devin attempted to hit the dragon with a Destruction spell, but failed to penetrate its spell resistance. Seeing that we were fighting the dragon, a succubus cast Haste on us. Devin next tried to hit the dragon with Flame Strike, but was again thwarted by its resistance. Gulnyr and Eliatris engaged the dragon head on, while Dottie used a Flaming Sphere against it. Devin then used Greater Dispell Magic, which removed several of the dragon’s magical effects, including its ability to see invisible creatures. We eventually slew Freezemaw, with Ash delivering the killing blow using a sling bullet imbued with alchemist’s fire.

The succubus Delvahine, servant of Sorshen, approached us and requested that we leave them in peace, and in return they would not bother us. Gulnyr told her that we were planning to defeat Karzoug, and that we needed an item from them to do so. She agreed to provide us the necessary item, at a price: Devin must spend 50 minutes in the tent with her and her companions. She guaranteed that he would come out alive, and with no permanent obligations. We agreed to these terms. 50 minutes later, Devin emerged from the tent with 14 negative levels, and a single hit point remaining.

We returned to the entrance room. Examining Devin, a message was discovered carved on his back. It told us that we still needed a key, which the servants of Sorshen did not posess; we would have to find it in another Runelord’s domain. Eliatris cast Restoration on Devin, which removed all of his negative levels, and then we rested for the night.

We next ventured to the abjurant halls of Envy. This area was damaged. Bits of the wall were strewn on the ground, and we could see that these were parts of a mural depicting wizards. A green-lipped mouth appeard before us, and warned us that we were not worthy, and would die if we proceeded further.

We went ahead anyway, and came to a room where a battle had occurred. There was a silver rod embedded in the middle of the floor. Electrical charges danced around it, while flames repeatedly flickered on the walls. Gulnyr, Ash, and Eliatris ventured into the room, while Devin and Dottie remained back. The rod started to hum, and we all moved further away from it, with those who had entered moving forward out a different corridor than the one we arrived by. A pulse of energy erupted from the rod, hitting magic items belonging to Dottie and Ash. A number of Ash’s items became inert, and her Cloak of Elvenkind lost its magic permanently.

Ash dropped her magic items at a safe distance from the rod, and approached it. She picked up the rod and tapped it on the ground several times, and this stablized it, making it no longer a threat. It turned out to be a broken Rod of Cancellation.

We proceeded ahead, and came to a room that smelled of mustard and vinegar. There was a yellow-colored ooze on the floor. It lunged at Gulnyr, who recoiled and stepped on one of Ash’s potions, which was still lying on the floor. The ooze grappled him, seriously damaging his armor with its acidity. We fought and killed the ooze.

The room from which the ooze emerged was a dead end, but Gulnyr discovered a hidden panel, which he opened to reveal a lever, plus a stash of four potions. One of the potions was Haste, and the other three were Cure Serious Wounds. The lever was disconnected from its mechanism, but Ash was able to fix it. Gulnyr pulled the lever, which sounded an alarm; he immediately pulled the lever again to stop it.

There was another exit from the room that contained the rod. We explored it, and came to a room containing a 10-foot by 10-foot square pool of what appeared to be mercury. We determined that it was actually Ethillion, a substance which one can imbibe to make the creation of magic items easier.

We returned to the damaged library in which we found Dottie, because we had never explored the third door that was there. Ash used her gloves to peek into the room behind it, and saw a large bed, a writing desk, and a suspicious looking armoire. Eliatris opened the door and entered the room. Suddenly, six clones of Delvahine emerged from the bed and started shrieking. Four of them began chanting a spell, while the other two attacked Eliatris, using a vampiric touch. The ones that were casting summoned four demons, who then used Dimension Door to exit that room to attack the rest of us. We fought and killed all of our foes, with Devin dealing much of the damage by channeling energy.