NOW LIVE! Dungeon Delver's Guide: A Sourcebook for 5E and A5E. An essential tome for creating, exploring, and running dungeons in your 5E or A5E game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 4460669" data-attributes="member: 3448">A great consternation disrupted the demon encampment that evening.  The demon lord Sarkany rose up on his wings, staring towards the northeast.  Within moments, the goblyn lich emerged from its pavilion, tossing a book into the pillows as it walked.  The lich looked off towards the northeast as well before touching eight of its guards, each heavily armed and armored, and disappearing with the eight in a teleportation.We heard kettle drums booming in the distance, along with trumpets sounding.  The sounds were muffled, but impressive nonetheless—they were the only sounds we had ever heard through the barrier.  Indeed, I had not thought that it was possible to hear anything across the Shadowline.  Lord Sarkany continued looking only to the northeast, while Lord Hisiii paced around like mad, occasionally stopping to stare off in the same direction.  We only watched the enemy directly for a short time, but even within that time we saw Hisiii bite the head off a goblyn that approached too near to him.  He continued chewing on the rapidly collapsing head nervously.Sergeant Cilorian and I immediately climbed to the Specularum, hoping that we would be able to see the commotion to the northeast.  The sergeant reported the odd experience of the window turning into the lens of a telescope.  The distant landscape appeared much closer, and he could scan the far land, but he saw nothing of note beyond several more small groups heading to join the enemy.  Sergeant Cilorian stated that he intended to see how far his vision would reach through the windows of the Specularum.  He could focus to a range of about 150 miles, and he could see less clearly even beyond that.  He finally noticed a battle at the Dragonhold, presumably between Sergeantanis’s army and that of the great wyrm that ruled the hold.  The Dragonhold was at the extreme reach of the sergeant’s capabilities, and he could not focus on it, but he did describe a battle in the courtyard, along with a lifeless pile of bodies that had fallen and the goblyn lich with his eight guards hanging over the battle.  The lich occasionally struck downwards with a line of purple energy from his staff.My companion Spring apparently capitalized on the distraction to cross the Shadowline invisibly to reconnoiter the enemy camp.  [Buzz said to where Spring disappeared, “Don’t be too stupid, and try to come back in about one piece, okay?”]  After crossing, he used ghost sound to create another clamor to the east, with a more hurried drum beat, and slipped into the camp.Buzz joined us in the Specularum after a moment and determined that she could also use the lenses to magnify her powers at distance.  She touched the lens next to Sergeant Cilorian’s and activated a clairaudience effect out to a range of 90 miles.  She then activated the Sergeant’s window and they both reported hearing as well as seeing the battle.  The Sergeant relayed what he heard, describing the clash of weapons and the bellowing of the lich, to the extent its magical voice could support a bellow, saying,  “Listen to me.  I invoke Ramal, the Master of the Thronged City.  Here me!  You must stop this.  An eighth of the land of Caldefor has fallen to the enemy.  And you are slaughtering each other over control of a hold!”  Buzz then unleashed an energy missile through the connection.  The lich ignored the electric blast, but Buzz knocked two of its guards clean out of the air.[Meanwhile, Spring made his way into the lich’s pavilion.  Right at the entrance, he saw silk cushions, a lute, a bottle of perfume, and a book.  He grabbed the book and the perfume, and then cast invisibility on the tent.  That caused a certain additional disruption within the camp, but he again managed to evade notice, thanks to his invisibility and skills at stealth, and quickly crossed back across the Shadowline.  Spring began reading the book at the base of the tower, but he quickly noticed two things.  First, a magical defense of some sort attacked him but without any effect.  Second, the book itself appeared incomprehensible.  The natural 20 on his Will save indicated that he was immune to the symbol of unendurable agony inscribed in the book, greatly disturbing the embedded pain demon.  He also noted that the perfume smelled wonderful—it had a value of approximately 500 silver.]  With Buzz’s assistance, Sergeant Cilorian established both sight and hearing links for me as well.  By this point, the battle had essentially concluded, with a very bloodied and battered Sergeantanis victorious.  The dragon lay dead.  The goblyn lich, chanted the name of the Master of the Thronged City over and over again, holding both hands lifted above his head on his staff.  We were familiar with Ramil, of course, who has the reputation of being right on the edge of the transition from being a mighty lord of the Shadowland to being a Tanar’ii lord.  He has control over acid and poison, and we suspected that he had given his servant immunity to both of those.  Buzz therefore sent a fire missile when she attacked again and Sergeant Cilorian projected burning hands through the Tower’s defenses.  They burned the lich’s guards badly, but not enough to kill them.  The lich broke off his chant long enough to order, “Spread!” and then resumed chanting.  The Sergeant and Buzz quickly found themselves without reasonable targets.Spring brought the book to me for further examination.  Based on his warning, I checked it for magic, detecting a strong dweomer.  I tried to bypass its defenses by opening the book to the middle, but it snapped open at the front and inflicted enormous, devastating pain on me, worse than any I have ever previously felt.  [Konrad lost 10 points of Constitution as a result of the trap.]  I regret to admit that I collapsed, trembling nervously from its force.  Realizing that the book was a tome of exceptional chaos, I sought to protect my allies from it.  I tried to cast Summon Monster III twice, followed by a Demon Dirge, but I was in so much pain that I failed in my efforts.  Not one of my spells functioned at all, and I could not destroy that accursed book!  Spring quickly carried the book away.I warned both Spring and Buzz about the extreme danger the book poses.  Even if Spring remained too inclined to focus on its potential value, I hoped that his sister would prevail upon him to destroy the book.  Spring acknowledged the danger and said that he would destroy it if it became a threat, but also raised the point, regrettably true, that it might contain valuable information against the enemy.  I believe that I convinced him of the threat—I can only most fervently pray that I did, for if the book is as I fear, it threatens not merely his safety and that of Redeemed Caldefor but his very soul if he reads from it further.</blockquote>

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