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<blockquote data-quote="Morrow" data-source="post: 5055920" data-attributes="member: 301"><p><strong>City of Broken Idols 3 (Garnham)</strong></p><p></p><p>From the Journals of K. Garnham Vanderboren-Black as translated from the Vallosan</p><p></p><p> So much has happened since my last writing. I feel a strong need to go directly into the gravest matter before us, to skip to the best part, but I will put that part of the story aside until it's proper time.</p><p></p><p> On our explorations of the caverns we encountered a trio of demonic defenders. Our encounter with them went much better than the fight with the skinwalker tribe. </p><p></p><p> Just after we defeated the final demon the cavern was rocked by a fairly strong quake. Elyosha determined that the cause was most likely volcanic and most likely in the direction that we were planning on heading down anyway.</p><p></p><p> We travelled for a time and came to an open stone room. At the far end stood a large stone throne. It was made of different stone than the rest of the room and it was well carved, unlike the rough stone about the place.</p><p></p><p> Upon the throne sat the dessicated corpse of some long dead monarch. Precious little remained to identify them. Time had robbed this corpse of race and sex. What clothing they had when they sat, for the final time, upon this cold throne was little more than colored dust and rust.</p><p></p><p> There still was a ring on a finger and a sword in it's sheath. Their obdurance in the face of centuries of decay told us that they were magical even before Elyosha confirmed what we already knew.</p><p></p><p> I have a steady hand and I was able to leave the dead monarch's corpse intact while removing ring and sword. At the time I did this to exercise my skill and out of no interest in honoring the dead. What we discovered later made me glad that I had done chosen now to practice my fingersmithing.</p><p></p><p> The ring was a treasure by itself. A ring of telekinesis. Rare, but not giving much indication as to the true nature of it's former wielder.</p><p></p><p> The sword on the other hand spoke volumes.</p><p></p><p> Elyosha revealed the bastard sword to be a Sun Blade, one of those rare golden swords dedicated to the destruction of evil. It's anathma to undead and creatures that live on dark energies. Nothing evil can wield it without weakening, at least a little. This probably explains why it was here for us to find after all these centuries, the demons and cultists didn't want to deal with it's toxic nature.</p><p></p><p> Leaving this place we came to another cavern and were attacked by more demo-gorgon worshipping Kopru. If it were not for my friends, whom I dearly love, I would have died in that fight.</p><p></p><p> As it was one of my cold-iron short swords was cleaved in two by a Kopru priest. He is the second of his ilk to call down his demon-gods damned power for unholy speed that I've encountered since coming to this island. </p><p></p><p> The kopru slain, we moved on.</p><p></p><p> We travelled on from this place for a time and eventually came to the lair of Khala, an aspect of Demogorgon.</p><p></p><p> Unfortunately Dexter took it upon himself to act as scout and, being the less stealthy Black brother, forced the fight before Elyosha and Maggie had the time to cast enhancement and defensive magics upon us.</p><p></p><p> We charged after Dexter. Khala stood on the other side of a moat. On our side stood a pedastle on which perched a black pearl the size of Dexter's head. In the moat lurked several lesser demons that swam and swarmed in the vile waters.</p><p></p><p> Dexter tried to leap the waters and challenge Khala directly, but he fell short and landed in demon-infested waters.</p><p></p><p> This brand of demons, we discovered, magically slowed all within their vicinity. Fortunately Dexter's boots allowed him to neutralize the effect.</p><p></p><p> Khala himself struck us with, what Elyosha later informed me of, a Greater Dispel Magic. Suddenly the few magical effects that we had up were further reduced.</p><p></p><p> It was hard to tell in the heat of battle, but it seemed that Khala's two heads provided him with a superior alacrity. A trait that I've heard was common in other two headed creatures such as the Ettin.</p><p></p><p> When we finally engaged Khala in melee his strength became obvious. His skin blunted some part of any physical attack that wasn't holy, magical cold iron.</p><p></p><p> At one point he spat a viscous blob of black venom at me that drained some of my lifeforce. Consultation with Elyosha after the battle confirmed the necromantic nature of the bile. She suggested that Death Ward would probably prevent it.</p><p></p><p> Surrounded on all sides by us and our summoned soldiers Khala disappeared and was replaced by a Westerlith demon. It was not the Westerlith demon's day however as he stood between my brother and me. At this point there is precious little in this world or the next that can survive for long in that position.</p><p></p><p> The westerlith disposed of, we awaited the return of Khala.</p><p></p><p> We prepared ourselves for his return, hoping that he would materialize where he departed, but this was not to be.</p><p></p><p> He returned and Elyosha used her magics to strip away some of the magics he had no doubt cast upon himself during his respite from battle.</p><p></p><p> In the end he fell and in so doing alerted Demogorgon.</p><p></p><p> As the corpse slunk down onto the cavern floor we became aware of four eyes focused upon us. We could feel them before we could see them and they were terrible.</p><p></p><p> After several moments regaining our composure we finished our explorations of the shrine and the remainder of the temple. Nothing was said, but it was obvious that we were too depleted from our battles to return to Farshore and render aid if my theory about Vanthus should be correct.</p><p></p><p> I can only hope that those in Farshore have the strength and the tools to face whatever threat may or may not be coming for them.</p><p></p><p> There was treasure to be found. And the oysters that birth the shadow pearls. There was an archive of clay tablets in Ohlman that appears to show the history of Thanaclan up to the time of it's fall. The Seekers will go over that when there is more time.</p><p></p><p> The gigantic pearl that was in Khala's shrine and the other pearls we came across had not been transformed into Shadow Pearls yet.</p><p></p><p> Once we had explored the entirety of the temple Maggie used her magics to get us to the prison block that Sabine had identified with her divinations. The tiefling and the skinwalkers had abandoned the place and the only thing that we found that was of any use was the tiefling's journal.</p><p></p><p> The tiefling, named Throgriff, represented Crimson Fleet interests here. It was his duty to make sure that the Shadow Pearls were harvested here and sent to Golismorga to be processed. The Crimson Fleet seems to have a colonialist view of the worshippers of Demogorgon native to the island; that they are savages and not the favored of Demogorgon.</p><p></p><p> Throgriff was of the opinion that the natives were quiet happy to provide Shadow Pearls to the Fleet and that his position was made as an excuse to punish him by sending him out to the boonies.</p><p></p><p> Throgriff records that the skinwalkers have sacrificed 160 victims, with 23 marked as “special” since his arrival a year ago. In that time 44 pearls have been “sent below” for completion. He has placed checkmarks next to several of these shipments, indicating that all but nine of the pearls have arrived at the Crimson Fleet headquarters in Freeport. </p><p></p><p> We have bunked down for the night. We return to Farshore in the morning.</p><p></p><p> In trying not to think about what is happening now in Farshore I have had another disturbing thought. Something manipulated us into getting the Tooth. There isn't a direct connection yet, but collecting the Tooth on the Isle of Dread, which was a stronghold of Demogorgon seems odd; too much of a coincidence. Someone wanted us to collect the Tooth, yet there has been no effort to collect it from us.</p><p></p><p> Are the two related? Is someone trying to steal this under Demogorgon's nose? Is someone trying to get us to stir up a hornet's nest?</p><p></p><p> If Vanthus does return the obvious suspect is Demogorgon or, more likely, one of his minions. What if the being that manipulated us earlier is trying to frame Demogorgon?</p><p></p><p> I'm thinking too much about things I either don't have enough information or can't control. In either event I'm not getting much sleep tonight.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Morrow, post: 5055920, member: 301"] [b]City of Broken Idols 3 (Garnham)[/b] From the Journals of K. Garnham Vanderboren-Black as translated from the Vallosan So much has happened since my last writing. I feel a strong need to go directly into the gravest matter before us, to skip to the best part, but I will put that part of the story aside until it's proper time. On our explorations of the caverns we encountered a trio of demonic defenders. Our encounter with them went much better than the fight with the skinwalker tribe. Just after we defeated the final demon the cavern was rocked by a fairly strong quake. Elyosha determined that the cause was most likely volcanic and most likely in the direction that we were planning on heading down anyway. We travelled for a time and came to an open stone room. At the far end stood a large stone throne. It was made of different stone than the rest of the room and it was well carved, unlike the rough stone about the place. Upon the throne sat the dessicated corpse of some long dead monarch. Precious little remained to identify them. Time had robbed this corpse of race and sex. What clothing they had when they sat, for the final time, upon this cold throne was little more than colored dust and rust. There still was a ring on a finger and a sword in it's sheath. Their obdurance in the face of centuries of decay told us that they were magical even before Elyosha confirmed what we already knew. I have a steady hand and I was able to leave the dead monarch's corpse intact while removing ring and sword. At the time I did this to exercise my skill and out of no interest in honoring the dead. What we discovered later made me glad that I had done chosen now to practice my fingersmithing. The ring was a treasure by itself. A ring of telekinesis. Rare, but not giving much indication as to the true nature of it's former wielder. The sword on the other hand spoke volumes. Elyosha revealed the bastard sword to be a Sun Blade, one of those rare golden swords dedicated to the destruction of evil. It's anathma to undead and creatures that live on dark energies. Nothing evil can wield it without weakening, at least a little. This probably explains why it was here for us to find after all these centuries, the demons and cultists didn't want to deal with it's toxic nature. Leaving this place we came to another cavern and were attacked by more demo-gorgon worshipping Kopru. If it were not for my friends, whom I dearly love, I would have died in that fight. As it was one of my cold-iron short swords was cleaved in two by a Kopru priest. He is the second of his ilk to call down his demon-gods damned power for unholy speed that I've encountered since coming to this island. The kopru slain, we moved on. We travelled on from this place for a time and eventually came to the lair of Khala, an aspect of Demogorgon. Unfortunately Dexter took it upon himself to act as scout and, being the less stealthy Black brother, forced the fight before Elyosha and Maggie had the time to cast enhancement and defensive magics upon us. We charged after Dexter. Khala stood on the other side of a moat. On our side stood a pedastle on which perched a black pearl the size of Dexter's head. In the moat lurked several lesser demons that swam and swarmed in the vile waters. Dexter tried to leap the waters and challenge Khala directly, but he fell short and landed in demon-infested waters. This brand of demons, we discovered, magically slowed all within their vicinity. Fortunately Dexter's boots allowed him to neutralize the effect. Khala himself struck us with, what Elyosha later informed me of, a Greater Dispel Magic. Suddenly the few magical effects that we had up were further reduced. It was hard to tell in the heat of battle, but it seemed that Khala's two heads provided him with a superior alacrity. A trait that I've heard was common in other two headed creatures such as the Ettin. When we finally engaged Khala in melee his strength became obvious. His skin blunted some part of any physical attack that wasn't holy, magical cold iron. At one point he spat a viscous blob of black venom at me that drained some of my lifeforce. Consultation with Elyosha after the battle confirmed the necromantic nature of the bile. She suggested that Death Ward would probably prevent it. Surrounded on all sides by us and our summoned soldiers Khala disappeared and was replaced by a Westerlith demon. It was not the Westerlith demon's day however as he stood between my brother and me. At this point there is precious little in this world or the next that can survive for long in that position. The westerlith disposed of, we awaited the return of Khala. We prepared ourselves for his return, hoping that he would materialize where he departed, but this was not to be. He returned and Elyosha used her magics to strip away some of the magics he had no doubt cast upon himself during his respite from battle. In the end he fell and in so doing alerted Demogorgon. As the corpse slunk down onto the cavern floor we became aware of four eyes focused upon us. We could feel them before we could see them and they were terrible. After several moments regaining our composure we finished our explorations of the shrine and the remainder of the temple. Nothing was said, but it was obvious that we were too depleted from our battles to return to Farshore and render aid if my theory about Vanthus should be correct. I can only hope that those in Farshore have the strength and the tools to face whatever threat may or may not be coming for them. There was treasure to be found. And the oysters that birth the shadow pearls. There was an archive of clay tablets in Ohlman that appears to show the history of Thanaclan up to the time of it's fall. The Seekers will go over that when there is more time. The gigantic pearl that was in Khala's shrine and the other pearls we came across had not been transformed into Shadow Pearls yet. Once we had explored the entirety of the temple Maggie used her magics to get us to the prison block that Sabine had identified with her divinations. The tiefling and the skinwalkers had abandoned the place and the only thing that we found that was of any use was the tiefling's journal. The tiefling, named Throgriff, represented Crimson Fleet interests here. It was his duty to make sure that the Shadow Pearls were harvested here and sent to Golismorga to be processed. The Crimson Fleet seems to have a colonialist view of the worshippers of Demogorgon native to the island; that they are savages and not the favored of Demogorgon. Throgriff was of the opinion that the natives were quiet happy to provide Shadow Pearls to the Fleet and that his position was made as an excuse to punish him by sending him out to the boonies. Throgriff records that the skinwalkers have sacrificed 160 victims, with 23 marked as “special” since his arrival a year ago. In that time 44 pearls have been “sent below” for completion. He has placed checkmarks next to several of these shipments, indicating that all but nine of the pearls have arrived at the Crimson Fleet headquarters in Freeport. We have bunked down for the night. We return to Farshore in the morning. In trying not to think about what is happening now in Farshore I have had another disturbing thought. Something manipulated us into getting the Tooth. There isn't a direct connection yet, but collecting the Tooth on the Isle of Dread, which was a stronghold of Demogorgon seems odd; too much of a coincidence. Someone wanted us to collect the Tooth, yet there has been no effort to collect it from us. Are the two related? Is someone trying to steal this under Demogorgon's nose? Is someone trying to get us to stir up a hornet's nest? If Vanthus does return the obvious suspect is Demogorgon or, more likely, one of his minions. What if the being that manipulated us earlier is trying to frame Demogorgon? I'm thinking too much about things I either don't have enough information or can't control. In either event I'm not getting much sleep tonight. [/QUOTE]
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