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Menexenus's Age of Worms Campaign Journal
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<blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 4136694" data-attributes="member: 8951"><p><strong>Session 56: Betrayal!</strong></p><p></p><p><em>10th of Fireseek (continued): </em> The party had finally ascended the stairs to the top level of the pyramid. This room was mostly bare. Arcane writings were etched into the stone walls reaching all the way up to the apex of the ceiling. On the far side of the room from the stairs was an undead humanoid seated on a throne, stroking a small blue-dragon-shaped construct. Directly between the throne and the staircase was a pedastal on top of which rested the White Eye that they had been seeking for so long. The undead creature, who introduced himself as Horgrim, had invited them to simply take the Eye and leave, since doing so would free him and set his god's plans in motion anyway. However, Alexander had commenced an attack on the creature just on principle. The melee fighters of the party moved forward to engage Horgrim and his clockwork pet. As Killick jockeyed for position, he had inadvertently approached the pedastal containing the Eye. And with the sound of a tremendous thunderclap, a sickly-green energy beam shot out of the Eye towards Killick. Because of his excellent reflexes, Killick was able to dive to the floor just in time to avoid being struck. He was prone but unharmed.</p><p></p><p> Grimlock, Killick's trusty wardog, tried coming to his master's aid. But he also found himself the target of a green beam from the Eye. He, too, jumped aside at the last moment with a yelp and avoided contact with the beam. Alexander and Thorash were both still caught in the choking yellow fog that Horgrim had cast at the start of the battle. However, that fog seemed to be rolling down the stairway at a relatively quick pace. Already, those near the lich were able to see farther than they could before. The lich cast another spell that produced a blast of icy cold energy right at his feet. Tarric braced himself to take damage, but surprised even himself when he was able to evade the blast's energy entirely. The blue dragon construct attacked Killick on the ground and did additional damage to him. At this point, after suffering damage from Alexander's fireballs, the lich's ice blast, and the construct's claws, Killick realized that he was seriously wounded and in need of medical attention. He retreated into the yellow fog, searching for Thorash. When the two located each other, Killick requested a high level healing spell, but he insisted that he didn't want Thorash to cast "Heal" on him. Thorash obliged his comrade.</p><p></p><p> Hearing the sounds of battle continue, Alexander strode forward out of the fog and cast 2 powerful Magic Missile spells at the lich in rapid succession. Both spells were absorbed by the brooch that the lich wore on his cloak. However, the brooch was glowing hot with the absorbed energy. Alexander was sure that, given enough time, he could wear down the lich's protection. Alees stepped forward and stabbed at the lich. But rather than trying to do maximum damage, she struck him in a way that caused him to lose his balance. This made it easier for Katawan and Tarric to strike him successfully. Alees grinned. She had finally found a way to help her comrades fight undead!</p><p></p><p> However, her pleasure did not last long. The lich stepped away from its throne and began invoking arcane energies. As he cast the spell, he pushed his open palm in Alees's direction. An image of his desiccated hand rushed towards Alees, and as it moved, it grew to enormous proportions. The giant hand pushed her back toward the pedastal, which once again shot out its sickly-green beam. This time the beam struck true. Alees was gone, and there was nothing more than a pile of dust on the floor where she had once stood. The lich's face contorted into a grotesque mockery of a smile. Tarric stood in wide-eyed horror at what he had just witnessed, and threw himself at the lich in righteous fury. However, Horgrim deftly redirected the giant hand to block Tarric's advance. Killick, feeling refreshed, stepped back out of the fog and into the combat. He surveyed the situation. Tarric shouted to him that Alees was gone. Killick decided to try to negate the threat posed by the Eye. He cast a spell and called upon the rock of the floor beneath the pedastal to rise up and enclose the Eye. But strangely, nothing happened. Killick and Alexander shot each other puzzled glances. In a state of confusion and disappointment, Killick muttered, "That should have worked..." </p><p></p><p> The blue dragon construct maneuvered to protect Horgrim's back. So Katawan was forced to fight it instead of the lich. Alexander cast two more enhanced Magic Missile spells in quickened succession. This time the lich's brooch overloaded with energy, cracked, and fell useless to the ground. The lich had seen an opportunity to press his attack. Alees was gone. Katawan was occupied by the construct. Tarric was struggling unsuccessfully to get away from the enormous blocking hand. However, because of Alexander's determined casting of magic missiles, Horgrim now had to waste an action casting Shield in order to protect himself from further magic missile attacks. </p><p></p><p> Suddenly, Killick realized why his spell had failed. He shouted to the party, "The pedastal in the middle of the room is an illusion. There's nothing there but an open pit." And, as if to prove Killick's statement, Alees suddenly rose up out of the pedastal with her Lightning Sword pointed straight up. Upon seeing Alees's return, the lich's expression noticeably changed from annoyance to disappointment. Alees taunted Horgrim saying, "I guess you didn't realize I could fly, did ya?" With Katawan and Tarric occupied, Killick was preparing to move up into melee with the lich. However, Alexander held up a hand, instructing him to hold. Alexander ran right up behind the lich and gave an ear-splitting shout directed at its fire-shrouded form. The force of this magical noise blew what remained of the lich to pieces. Its disconnected bones fell to the floor. The party was shocked that the lich had been so close to death. But the battle wasn't over. The blue dragon construct fought on. But without its master, it stood little chance against the combined might of the party. The battle was quickly concluded, and the party could all see now that Killick had been right. There was no pedastal in the middle of the room. There was nothing but an open pit falling hundreds of feet straight down.</p><p></p><p> The party was in a celebratory mood until two things dawned on them. First, the lich would be back unless they were able to find and destroy its phylactery. Second, they still didn't have the White Eye. Alees informed the party that she had seen a passage way extending from the bottom of the pit that she had just fallen into. She suggested that the Eye might be down there. As the party prepared to descend into the pit, Thorash cast healing spells on those who needed it. Reluctantly, Alexander asked for some healing as well. As Thorash cast his spell, he noticed Alexander watching Thorash's motions carefully, making sure that he was indeed casting a healing spell on him. When the spell was complete, Thorash remarked in an exasperated tone, "After all we've been through, after all the times I've healed the party and raised you from the dead, I still get no trust, no respect, no faith, no comradery. Just because I used to experiment with the creation of undead, I will always be despised and distrusted. Even though I have sworn off creating undead and sworn off using some of my most powerful abilities and spells. Even though I have changed my entire moral outlook to better suit your prejudices, you're still not satisfied. Even though you have returned me to life in the form of a weak and puny human, I still don't fit in among you. For god's sake, what will it take to get you to bury the hatchet?" Alexander was shocked by Thorash's sudden outburst. In the past, Thorash had always responded to Alexander's snipes, jabs, and suspicions with stoic silence. After a few moments passed without any response from Alexander, Thorash waved his hand in disgust, turned around, and walked away.</p><p></p><p> As the party decided how best to descend to the bottom of the well, Thorash, who was still sulking, announced that he would remain up at the top of the well to ensure that nothing they might have missed would be able to attack the party from behind. Besides, he was almost out of spells and would not be of much help if he were to join them. The party consented to Thorash's plan, mostly to give him an opportunity to cool down a bit. Soon afterwards, the party's flyers carried its non-flyers down to the bottom of the pit. The rough-hewn passage at the bottom led in only one direction, and it wasn't long before the party's torchlight illuminated a 12-foot tall 6-armed statue. All 3 of its left hands were missing, as was its left eye. (The party recalled seeing a similarly shaped being emerge from the black pool at the bottom of Dourstone's mine.) Before the party had a chance to look around the room, the statue animated and attacked. </p><p></p><p> Alees flew forward and tried to knock the statue off-balance, as she had done to Horgrim. However, the stone creature was much more sturdy and her attempt failed. Then the creature reached down with its 3 right hands and grabbed her. It began squeezing her, causing her tremendous pain. She begged her comrades to free her and to do it quickly. Killick, standing on the ceiling, ordered Grimlock forward and began casting a spell. Because the creature was occupied with Alees, Tarric was free to run forward and strike the creature. Katawan did the same. Alexander tried casting a Magic Missile at it from his wand, but quickly realized that the statue was completely immune to the harmful effects of magical spells. He could do nothing but watch while it squeezed the life out of Alees.</p><p></p><p> Killick finally completed his complicated spell, and a large creature made entirely of rock emerged from the wall of the cavern behind the statue and pounded on it with minimal effect. Then Killick moved forward along the ceiling and reached down to touch Alees, casting a spell on her. At first the spell seemed to have no effect, but then when the statue tried to squeeze the life out of her, she slipped right out of its arms and fell to the floor without suffering any further harm. Alees knew she needed healing. She tried to withdraw from the statue, but it pounded her with a fist as she tried to leave, knocking her unconscious. Killick ordered Grimlock to pull Alees's body out of harm's way, and Alexander did what he could to tend to her wounds. Meanwhile, Tarric, Katawan, and the earth elemental had been beating on the statue. Although their attacks were not fully effective against its stoney form, they were knocking chunks off of it with almost each below. Their combined assault seemed to be having an effect. </p><p></p><p> Now that Alees was out of its range, the statue turned its attentions to Tarric, Katawan, and the summoned earth elemental. First, it pounded the earth elemental to dust, and then struck Katawan. Killick ordered Grimlock back into the fight. He chipped a tooth on the stone-hard statue, but was able to successfully knock it to the ground. Killick walked down the wall, back onto the floor, and began beating the downed creature with his quarterstaff. Tarric continued slashing at it with his longsword and Katawan continued bashing it with his bloodied fists. Finally, the statue cracked into several pieces and was nothing more than inert stone once again.</p><p></p><p> Killick cast a healing spell on Alees that brought her back to consciousness. And the sight that she awakened to caused her to wonder temporarily if she had died and gone to heaven. Now that the combat was over and she had an opportunity to look around, she saw that the back wall of the room was stacked almost to the ceiling with sacks and chests. Alexander, who still had his eyes on the prize cast Detect Magic, looking for any sign of the White Eye. At first he surveyed the statue, thinking that the Eye might be among its remains, but it was not. All the magical power had left the statue. But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that two of the sacks were glowing with magical auras. He pointed them out to the party and they quickly investigated. One of the sacks was clearly a magical Bag of Holding, because it contained far more items and weapons that might ordinarily fit in a sack of the same size. However, the second magical bag contained nothing but a round, featureless, oblong white stone small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand. Alexander asked for it to be brought forward, and when he looked at it, he had to shield his eyes from it. It's magical aura was nearly blinding. Alexander was relieved because he was now sure that he had the White Eye in his possession - the key component of an artifact designed to break down the barriers that prevented Kyuss's return to Oerth. </p><p></p><p> The rest of the party began opening the remaining non-magical sacks and chests. Each one was full of ancient gold pieces. They grabbed as much of it as they could, stuffing the new bags of holding as well as the old handy haversacks full of the stuff. Even when they had all that they could carry, they thought there was still about more than half of the original amount left behind. The party flew back up to Horgrim's chamber at the apex of the pyramid and rejoined Thorash. He was pleased to hear that the White Eye had been recovered and was curious to take a look at it. However, Alexander insisted that they wait until it was safely in a vault in Tenser's castle before doing anything with it. Thorash nodded and said nothing more. Alexander drew a scroll of teleportation from its scroll tube. The party joined hands in preparation for the casting of the spell. Alexander intoned the words and... nothing happened. The spell had fizzled for some reason. They looked at each other for a moment in puzzlement. But almost simultaneously, they all realized that teleportation in or out of the temple must be blocked, otherwise Horgrim would have left a long time ago. The entire party, but Alexander in particular, felt foolish for wasting the emergency scroll of Teleport.</p><p></p><p> So now the party had to decide what to do while Alexander rested. They decided that they might as well wait until morning so that all the spell casters would have a full-complement of spells. They decided to set up camp within the pyramid in a room on the first floor that had access to two exits. Before they left, though, Alees took the opportunity to check Horgrim's room carefully for secret doors and compartments. Her concentration paid off, as she discovered that one of the marble strips in the wall was hollow. She showed the spot to Tarric who. borrowing Thorash's mace, smashed through the rock, revealing a man-sized chamber filled with a cloak, a brooch, and a ring that were all identical to the ones that Horgrim had worn. In addition, there was a spell book and a small box attached to thin leather straps. All of the items had magical auras when Alees cast Detect Magic. Thorash told the party that the small box was most likely the lich's phylactery. When Tarric saw the box, his longsword almost leapt from his hand in an effort to smash it. However, Killick got their first with his quarterstaff. The box smashed easily, spilling dust onto the floor. Alees looked at the box again using her Detect Magic and saw that the magical aura around it was rapidly diminishing. In seconds, it was gone entirely. Tarric felt an emotional rush of satisfaction, contentment, and happiness course through his body. It seemed to come from his longsword. He looked at it, knowing for sure now that it could not be a regular longsword.</p><p></p><p> As they were preparing the camp, Thorash sat down to identify a group of magic items that the party had selected as most interesting. While some of these were disappointments, the party was pleased to discover the eldritch power of the lich's rings of protection. Alexander was also happy to learn that the pile of magic items contained a Monk's Belt. Thorash rememorized his spells at dusk, while the rest of the party was preparing to bed down for the night. Having the White Eye in their possession and knowing that they had been scryed on before, most likely by the Rainbow Mage, made the party very paranoid. Usually they were satisfied with a one-man watch, but tonight they decided to sleep in only 2 shifts, with half of the party awake at any one time. Thorash volunteered to identify a new batch of items, remaining awake for another 8 hours while Alexander slept. Alees used her lockpicks to re-lock one of the two exterior doors. Killick placed shields on the ground behind both doors to help alert the party if intruders should open them. A party-member was stationed at each door to guard it.</p><p></p><p> <em>11th of Fireseek.</em> Hours passed. Suddenly, everyone heard a loud series of crashes along with Thorash's frightened voice yelling, "Oh no! No!" Suddenly the two rooms nearest to where Thorash had been sitting were filled to bursting with monsters - several orcs, bugbears, and kuo-toa, an otyugh, a griffon, a genie, a gorgon, and two trolls. The room was packed - it would literally be impossible to swing one's arms without hitting a monster. (It was almost impossible to swing one's arms at all!) There was a single moment of quiet while all the disoriented beings took stock of their new situation. Then, all at once, the combat began. It was everyone against everyone. The trolls attacked the gorgon. The otyugh attacked a bugbear, grabbing it in a tentacle and squeezing. Alees saw Thorash cast Invisibility on himself. One orc attacked a nearby kuo-toa. Another orc attacked a nearby bugbear. Killick cast a Flame Strike into the room to a spot that was away from where his comrades had been sleeping. Seeing this, a third orc charged out of the packed room at Killick who had been guarding the locked door. Grimlock, who was standing next to his master Killick, attacked the orc, knocking it to the ground. The genie turned itself into a whirlwind, picking up and battering another kuo-toa. Katawan, who had been guarding the other door, just stared at the swirling melee in disbelief. Alees stood up and tried to stay out of everyone's way. Tarric stood up (in his chain shirt pajamas) and drew his bastard sword from its scabbard. The gorgon snorted and exhaled a green vapor in the direction of the trolls. One of them breathed it in and immediately turned to stone. Unfortunately, so did Alexander, and he turned to stone as well. Killick and Grimlock were able to hold their breath until the gas passed them by, but the orc lying on the ground in front of them did not - he became stone. Seeing what the gorgon had done, the griffin attacked it fearfully, raking it with its claws.</p><p></p><p> The melee was quickly resolving itself. Tarric attacked the remaining troll, as did Alees its far side, using her shortsword with amazing efficiency, carving it into pieces. The otyugh killed the bugbear. The orc and the genie each killed their kuo-toa opponents. The bugbear saw the exit that Katawan was guarding and charged Katawan. The genie turned to the orc. Killick and Grimlock attacked the gorgon. It attacked them back, using its horns to attempt to gore them. The griffin continued clawing at the gorgon in wild-eyed fear. The genie in whirlwind form picked up the orc and started battering him against the walls. The orc slashed its scimitar at the whirlwind in futility. Katawan launched a blinding flurry of attacks against the bugbear, killing it. The otyugh grabbed Alees in one of its tentacles and drew her towards its toothy maw. The gorgon turned around and exhaled its magical green gas once again. This time Grimlock and the Otyugh succumbed and became statues. Now Alees was stuck in the grasp of a statue, but at least it couldn't continue squeezing her. After finishing off the orc, the genie returned to physical form. The griffin continued attacking the gorgon. Tarric and Killick joined the griffin in focusing on the gorgon, and it dropped to the floor dead. The genie began moving towards Katawan, but turned into mist before reaching him. It tried to exit through the cracks in the door, but Katawan took several swipes at it as it flew past, damaging it but not killing it. Now that the gorgon was gone the griffin started attacking Killick, but he recognized that it was merely afraid. He yelled to Katawan and told him to open his door and stand aside. When the griffin saw the open air, it crawled carefully but still fearfully towards freedom. Once it was through the narrow hallway and outside, it stretched its wings and leapt into the air without looking back.</p><p></p><p> With the confusing but brief melee over, Alees started calling out for Thorash, but he did not respond. Tarric stepped over towards Alexander to see what had happened to him. Just then, Alees and Tarric heard a sinister voice say, "Well, that didn't go quite as I expected." Then they heard the crash of glass in the middle of the floor and suddenly a 9-headed hydra was standing in the room with them. Tarric wheeled around to see the new threat. From somewhere nearby he heard casting and felt a hand on his chest. Suddenly Thorash was standing right in front of him with an evil smile on his face. "Die!" he commanded.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Menexenus, post: 4136694, member: 8951"] [b]Session 56: Betrayal![/b] [I]10th of Fireseek (continued): [/I] The party had finally ascended the stairs to the top level of the pyramid. This room was mostly bare. Arcane writings were etched into the stone walls reaching all the way up to the apex of the ceiling. On the far side of the room from the stairs was an undead humanoid seated on a throne, stroking a small blue-dragon-shaped construct. Directly between the throne and the staircase was a pedastal on top of which rested the White Eye that they had been seeking for so long. The undead creature, who introduced himself as Horgrim, had invited them to simply take the Eye and leave, since doing so would free him and set his god's plans in motion anyway. However, Alexander had commenced an attack on the creature just on principle. The melee fighters of the party moved forward to engage Horgrim and his clockwork pet. As Killick jockeyed for position, he had inadvertently approached the pedastal containing the Eye. And with the sound of a tremendous thunderclap, a sickly-green energy beam shot out of the Eye towards Killick. Because of his excellent reflexes, Killick was able to dive to the floor just in time to avoid being struck. He was prone but unharmed. Grimlock, Killick's trusty wardog, tried coming to his master's aid. But he also found himself the target of a green beam from the Eye. He, too, jumped aside at the last moment with a yelp and avoided contact with the beam. Alexander and Thorash were both still caught in the choking yellow fog that Horgrim had cast at the start of the battle. However, that fog seemed to be rolling down the stairway at a relatively quick pace. Already, those near the lich were able to see farther than they could before. The lich cast another spell that produced a blast of icy cold energy right at his feet. Tarric braced himself to take damage, but surprised even himself when he was able to evade the blast's energy entirely. The blue dragon construct attacked Killick on the ground and did additional damage to him. At this point, after suffering damage from Alexander's fireballs, the lich's ice blast, and the construct's claws, Killick realized that he was seriously wounded and in need of medical attention. He retreated into the yellow fog, searching for Thorash. When the two located each other, Killick requested a high level healing spell, but he insisted that he didn't want Thorash to cast "Heal" on him. Thorash obliged his comrade. Hearing the sounds of battle continue, Alexander strode forward out of the fog and cast 2 powerful Magic Missile spells at the lich in rapid succession. Both spells were absorbed by the brooch that the lich wore on his cloak. However, the brooch was glowing hot with the absorbed energy. Alexander was sure that, given enough time, he could wear down the lich's protection. Alees stepped forward and stabbed at the lich. But rather than trying to do maximum damage, she struck him in a way that caused him to lose his balance. This made it easier for Katawan and Tarric to strike him successfully. Alees grinned. She had finally found a way to help her comrades fight undead! However, her pleasure did not last long. The lich stepped away from its throne and began invoking arcane energies. As he cast the spell, he pushed his open palm in Alees's direction. An image of his desiccated hand rushed towards Alees, and as it moved, it grew to enormous proportions. The giant hand pushed her back toward the pedastal, which once again shot out its sickly-green beam. This time the beam struck true. Alees was gone, and there was nothing more than a pile of dust on the floor where she had once stood. The lich's face contorted into a grotesque mockery of a smile. Tarric stood in wide-eyed horror at what he had just witnessed, and threw himself at the lich in righteous fury. However, Horgrim deftly redirected the giant hand to block Tarric's advance. Killick, feeling refreshed, stepped back out of the fog and into the combat. He surveyed the situation. Tarric shouted to him that Alees was gone. Killick decided to try to negate the threat posed by the Eye. He cast a spell and called upon the rock of the floor beneath the pedastal to rise up and enclose the Eye. But strangely, nothing happened. Killick and Alexander shot each other puzzled glances. In a state of confusion and disappointment, Killick muttered, "That should have worked..." The blue dragon construct maneuvered to protect Horgrim's back. So Katawan was forced to fight it instead of the lich. Alexander cast two more enhanced Magic Missile spells in quickened succession. This time the lich's brooch overloaded with energy, cracked, and fell useless to the ground. The lich had seen an opportunity to press his attack. Alees was gone. Katawan was occupied by the construct. Tarric was struggling unsuccessfully to get away from the enormous blocking hand. However, because of Alexander's determined casting of magic missiles, Horgrim now had to waste an action casting Shield in order to protect himself from further magic missile attacks. Suddenly, Killick realized why his spell had failed. He shouted to the party, "The pedastal in the middle of the room is an illusion. There's nothing there but an open pit." And, as if to prove Killick's statement, Alees suddenly rose up out of the pedastal with her Lightning Sword pointed straight up. Upon seeing Alees's return, the lich's expression noticeably changed from annoyance to disappointment. Alees taunted Horgrim saying, "I guess you didn't realize I could fly, did ya?" With Katawan and Tarric occupied, Killick was preparing to move up into melee with the lich. However, Alexander held up a hand, instructing him to hold. Alexander ran right up behind the lich and gave an ear-splitting shout directed at its fire-shrouded form. The force of this magical noise blew what remained of the lich to pieces. Its disconnected bones fell to the floor. The party was shocked that the lich had been so close to death. But the battle wasn't over. The blue dragon construct fought on. But without its master, it stood little chance against the combined might of the party. The battle was quickly concluded, and the party could all see now that Killick had been right. There was no pedastal in the middle of the room. There was nothing but an open pit falling hundreds of feet straight down. The party was in a celebratory mood until two things dawned on them. First, the lich would be back unless they were able to find and destroy its phylactery. Second, they still didn't have the White Eye. Alees informed the party that she had seen a passage way extending from the bottom of the pit that she had just fallen into. She suggested that the Eye might be down there. As the party prepared to descend into the pit, Thorash cast healing spells on those who needed it. Reluctantly, Alexander asked for some healing as well. As Thorash cast his spell, he noticed Alexander watching Thorash's motions carefully, making sure that he was indeed casting a healing spell on him. When the spell was complete, Thorash remarked in an exasperated tone, "After all we've been through, after all the times I've healed the party and raised you from the dead, I still get no trust, no respect, no faith, no comradery. Just because I used to experiment with the creation of undead, I will always be despised and distrusted. Even though I have sworn off creating undead and sworn off using some of my most powerful abilities and spells. Even though I have changed my entire moral outlook to better suit your prejudices, you're still not satisfied. Even though you have returned me to life in the form of a weak and puny human, I still don't fit in among you. For god's sake, what will it take to get you to bury the hatchet?" Alexander was shocked by Thorash's sudden outburst. In the past, Thorash had always responded to Alexander's snipes, jabs, and suspicions with stoic silence. After a few moments passed without any response from Alexander, Thorash waved his hand in disgust, turned around, and walked away. As the party decided how best to descend to the bottom of the well, Thorash, who was still sulking, announced that he would remain up at the top of the well to ensure that nothing they might have missed would be able to attack the party from behind. Besides, he was almost out of spells and would not be of much help if he were to join them. The party consented to Thorash's plan, mostly to give him an opportunity to cool down a bit. Soon afterwards, the party's flyers carried its non-flyers down to the bottom of the pit. The rough-hewn passage at the bottom led in only one direction, and it wasn't long before the party's torchlight illuminated a 12-foot tall 6-armed statue. All 3 of its left hands were missing, as was its left eye. (The party recalled seeing a similarly shaped being emerge from the black pool at the bottom of Dourstone's mine.) Before the party had a chance to look around the room, the statue animated and attacked. Alees flew forward and tried to knock the statue off-balance, as she had done to Horgrim. However, the stone creature was much more sturdy and her attempt failed. Then the creature reached down with its 3 right hands and grabbed her. It began squeezing her, causing her tremendous pain. She begged her comrades to free her and to do it quickly. Killick, standing on the ceiling, ordered Grimlock forward and began casting a spell. Because the creature was occupied with Alees, Tarric was free to run forward and strike the creature. Katawan did the same. Alexander tried casting a Magic Missile at it from his wand, but quickly realized that the statue was completely immune to the harmful effects of magical spells. He could do nothing but watch while it squeezed the life out of Alees. Killick finally completed his complicated spell, and a large creature made entirely of rock emerged from the wall of the cavern behind the statue and pounded on it with minimal effect. Then Killick moved forward along the ceiling and reached down to touch Alees, casting a spell on her. At first the spell seemed to have no effect, but then when the statue tried to squeeze the life out of her, she slipped right out of its arms and fell to the floor without suffering any further harm. Alees knew she needed healing. She tried to withdraw from the statue, but it pounded her with a fist as she tried to leave, knocking her unconscious. Killick ordered Grimlock to pull Alees's body out of harm's way, and Alexander did what he could to tend to her wounds. Meanwhile, Tarric, Katawan, and the earth elemental had been beating on the statue. Although their attacks were not fully effective against its stoney form, they were knocking chunks off of it with almost each below. Their combined assault seemed to be having an effect. Now that Alees was out of its range, the statue turned its attentions to Tarric, Katawan, and the summoned earth elemental. First, it pounded the earth elemental to dust, and then struck Katawan. Killick ordered Grimlock back into the fight. He chipped a tooth on the stone-hard statue, but was able to successfully knock it to the ground. Killick walked down the wall, back onto the floor, and began beating the downed creature with his quarterstaff. Tarric continued slashing at it with his longsword and Katawan continued bashing it with his bloodied fists. Finally, the statue cracked into several pieces and was nothing more than inert stone once again. Killick cast a healing spell on Alees that brought her back to consciousness. And the sight that she awakened to caused her to wonder temporarily if she had died and gone to heaven. Now that the combat was over and she had an opportunity to look around, she saw that the back wall of the room was stacked almost to the ceiling with sacks and chests. Alexander, who still had his eyes on the prize cast Detect Magic, looking for any sign of the White Eye. At first he surveyed the statue, thinking that the Eye might be among its remains, but it was not. All the magical power had left the statue. But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that two of the sacks were glowing with magical auras. He pointed them out to the party and they quickly investigated. One of the sacks was clearly a magical Bag of Holding, because it contained far more items and weapons that might ordinarily fit in a sack of the same size. However, the second magical bag contained nothing but a round, featureless, oblong white stone small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand. Alexander asked for it to be brought forward, and when he looked at it, he had to shield his eyes from it. It's magical aura was nearly blinding. Alexander was relieved because he was now sure that he had the White Eye in his possession - the key component of an artifact designed to break down the barriers that prevented Kyuss's return to Oerth. The rest of the party began opening the remaining non-magical sacks and chests. Each one was full of ancient gold pieces. They grabbed as much of it as they could, stuffing the new bags of holding as well as the old handy haversacks full of the stuff. Even when they had all that they could carry, they thought there was still about more than half of the original amount left behind. The party flew back up to Horgrim's chamber at the apex of the pyramid and rejoined Thorash. He was pleased to hear that the White Eye had been recovered and was curious to take a look at it. However, Alexander insisted that they wait until it was safely in a vault in Tenser's castle before doing anything with it. Thorash nodded and said nothing more. Alexander drew a scroll of teleportation from its scroll tube. The party joined hands in preparation for the casting of the spell. Alexander intoned the words and... nothing happened. The spell had fizzled for some reason. They looked at each other for a moment in puzzlement. But almost simultaneously, they all realized that teleportation in or out of the temple must be blocked, otherwise Horgrim would have left a long time ago. The entire party, but Alexander in particular, felt foolish for wasting the emergency scroll of Teleport. So now the party had to decide what to do while Alexander rested. They decided that they might as well wait until morning so that all the spell casters would have a full-complement of spells. They decided to set up camp within the pyramid in a room on the first floor that had access to two exits. Before they left, though, Alees took the opportunity to check Horgrim's room carefully for secret doors and compartments. Her concentration paid off, as she discovered that one of the marble strips in the wall was hollow. She showed the spot to Tarric who. borrowing Thorash's mace, smashed through the rock, revealing a man-sized chamber filled with a cloak, a brooch, and a ring that were all identical to the ones that Horgrim had worn. In addition, there was a spell book and a small box attached to thin leather straps. All of the items had magical auras when Alees cast Detect Magic. Thorash told the party that the small box was most likely the lich's phylactery. When Tarric saw the box, his longsword almost leapt from his hand in an effort to smash it. However, Killick got their first with his quarterstaff. The box smashed easily, spilling dust onto the floor. Alees looked at the box again using her Detect Magic and saw that the magical aura around it was rapidly diminishing. In seconds, it was gone entirely. Tarric felt an emotional rush of satisfaction, contentment, and happiness course through his body. It seemed to come from his longsword. He looked at it, knowing for sure now that it could not be a regular longsword. As they were preparing the camp, Thorash sat down to identify a group of magic items that the party had selected as most interesting. While some of these were disappointments, the party was pleased to discover the eldritch power of the lich's rings of protection. Alexander was also happy to learn that the pile of magic items contained a Monk's Belt. Thorash rememorized his spells at dusk, while the rest of the party was preparing to bed down for the night. Having the White Eye in their possession and knowing that they had been scryed on before, most likely by the Rainbow Mage, made the party very paranoid. Usually they were satisfied with a one-man watch, but tonight they decided to sleep in only 2 shifts, with half of the party awake at any one time. Thorash volunteered to identify a new batch of items, remaining awake for another 8 hours while Alexander slept. Alees used her lockpicks to re-lock one of the two exterior doors. Killick placed shields on the ground behind both doors to help alert the party if intruders should open them. A party-member was stationed at each door to guard it. [I]11th of Fireseek.[/I] Hours passed. Suddenly, everyone heard a loud series of crashes along with Thorash's frightened voice yelling, "Oh no! No!" Suddenly the two rooms nearest to where Thorash had been sitting were filled to bursting with monsters - several orcs, bugbears, and kuo-toa, an otyugh, a griffon, a genie, a gorgon, and two trolls. The room was packed - it would literally be impossible to swing one's arms without hitting a monster. (It was almost impossible to swing one's arms at all!) There was a single moment of quiet while all the disoriented beings took stock of their new situation. Then, all at once, the combat began. It was everyone against everyone. The trolls attacked the gorgon. The otyugh attacked a bugbear, grabbing it in a tentacle and squeezing. Alees saw Thorash cast Invisibility on himself. One orc attacked a nearby kuo-toa. Another orc attacked a nearby bugbear. Killick cast a Flame Strike into the room to a spot that was away from where his comrades had been sleeping. Seeing this, a third orc charged out of the packed room at Killick who had been guarding the locked door. Grimlock, who was standing next to his master Killick, attacked the orc, knocking it to the ground. The genie turned itself into a whirlwind, picking up and battering another kuo-toa. Katawan, who had been guarding the other door, just stared at the swirling melee in disbelief. Alees stood up and tried to stay out of everyone's way. Tarric stood up (in his chain shirt pajamas) and drew his bastard sword from its scabbard. The gorgon snorted and exhaled a green vapor in the direction of the trolls. One of them breathed it in and immediately turned to stone. Unfortunately, so did Alexander, and he turned to stone as well. Killick and Grimlock were able to hold their breath until the gas passed them by, but the orc lying on the ground in front of them did not - he became stone. Seeing what the gorgon had done, the griffin attacked it fearfully, raking it with its claws. The melee was quickly resolving itself. Tarric attacked the remaining troll, as did Alees its far side, using her shortsword with amazing efficiency, carving it into pieces. The otyugh killed the bugbear. The orc and the genie each killed their kuo-toa opponents. The bugbear saw the exit that Katawan was guarding and charged Katawan. The genie turned to the orc. Killick and Grimlock attacked the gorgon. It attacked them back, using its horns to attempt to gore them. The griffin continued clawing at the gorgon in wild-eyed fear. The genie in whirlwind form picked up the orc and started battering him against the walls. The orc slashed its scimitar at the whirlwind in futility. Katawan launched a blinding flurry of attacks against the bugbear, killing it. The otyugh grabbed Alees in one of its tentacles and drew her towards its toothy maw. The gorgon turned around and exhaled its magical green gas once again. This time Grimlock and the Otyugh succumbed and became statues. Now Alees was stuck in the grasp of a statue, but at least it couldn't continue squeezing her. After finishing off the orc, the genie returned to physical form. The griffin continued attacking the gorgon. Tarric and Killick joined the griffin in focusing on the gorgon, and it dropped to the floor dead. The genie began moving towards Katawan, but turned into mist before reaching him. It tried to exit through the cracks in the door, but Katawan took several swipes at it as it flew past, damaging it but not killing it. Now that the gorgon was gone the griffin started attacking Killick, but he recognized that it was merely afraid. He yelled to Katawan and told him to open his door and stand aside. When the griffin saw the open air, it crawled carefully but still fearfully towards freedom. Once it was through the narrow hallway and outside, it stretched its wings and leapt into the air without looking back. With the confusing but brief melee over, Alees started calling out for Thorash, but he did not respond. Tarric stepped over towards Alexander to see what had happened to him. Just then, Alees and Tarric heard a sinister voice say, "Well, that didn't go quite as I expected." Then they heard the crash of glass in the middle of the floor and suddenly a 9-headed hydra was standing in the room with them. Tarric wheeled around to see the new threat. From somewhere nearby he heard casting and felt a hand on his chest. Suddenly Thorash was standing right in front of him with an evil smile on his face. "Die!" he commanded. [/QUOTE]
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