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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 4176194" data-attributes="member: 8951">Session 58:  Kuluth-Mar6th of Readying.  Alexander teleported the party once again to their final destination, Kuluth-Mar.  The party appeared on a hill in the middle of a steaming hot jungle.  The sounds of insects and birds were all around them.  In the distance, about two miles away, they could see the top of a ziggurat peaking out over the treetops.  And balanced precariously on top of the ziggurat was an impossibly tall stone spire that branched off in numerous places.  Killick suggested that he could turn into a bird and scout the ziggurat for the party.  They agreed.  After a few minutes of observation, Killick took the shape of a large predatory bird and flew off into the distance.  The party watched him as he flew in case he needed help.  As he approached the spire, they saw the Killick-bird momentarily in distress.  Then it continued on its path.  A second time, the bird's path seemed to waiver, but then it righted itself.  After making a number of circles, the bird returned.  Killick reformed into his human shape and turned away from the party in order to vomit.  He informed the party that most of the city had been completely overgrown by jungle except for the city center which was surrounded by a 30 foot tall obsidian wall with arcane writing on top.  The jungle had not encroached on the area within and around this wall.  When he had flown over this wall, he felt the Kyuss worm that lived inside him die.  (That was what he had vomited up upon his return to human form.)  He informed the group that he would be without some of his abilities until he could find another worm to replace it.  He reported that all of the the town's structures had crumbled down to the foundations except for the ziggurat which seemed to be untouched by the forces of time.  When he had approached the spire, he noticed that there was a spot at the top that seemed like it should hold something.  As he flew up to get a closer look he had experienced a vision.  He had seen a large black monolith that was slightly wider at the base and narrower at the top resting in that spot.  Then he had seen a large red claw grab it from its place of rest and carry it off into the distance.  He noticed that the dragon was of an advanced age, and he wondered if it could have been Dragotha while it was still living.    The party asked if there had been any gate or opening in the obsidian wall.  Killick replied that there had not been.  So the party decided to fly over the wall and land on the ground near the ziggurat.  Killick grew wings out of his back and carried Grimlock.  Alees drew her Lightning Sword and used its flight abilities.  Katawan and Tarric used their winged boots.  Tarric carried Alexander while Katawan carried Jam.  After a short flight, the group landed at the base of the ziggurat.  Killick walked around the base of the ziggurat inspecting the ground.  He found multiple tracks of the same set of booted footprints walking in many directions.  He also noticed that the soil around the ziggurat was literally crawling with slow Kyuss worms.  He instructed the party not to lie down on the ground for more than a few seconds.  They took his advice to heart.  Finding nothing else to interest them, the party ascended the short stair case leading into the ziggurat.  As they ascended, they all had a vision of Kuluth-Mar back in its heyday.  The ziggurat was surrounded by a throng of thousands who were looking up to the top.  At the top of the spire rested the black monolith that Killick had described seeing in his vision.  At the base of the spire - where the spire met the top level of the ziggurat - a tall, handsome, dark-haired man sat on a throne made of green stone.  On the man's dark gray robes was a skull and scythe motif reminiscent of the holy symbol of Nerull.  Beside the man, who had the copper colored skin of the Flan peoples who inhabited the Flanaess prior to the great migrations of Suel and Oeridians, rested an unusual polearm that seemed to combine the attributes of a morningstar, a glaive, and a pick.  As the party members listened, the chants of the throng became clearer and clearer - "Kyuss.  Kyuss.  Kyuss."  The rhythmic chanting increased in volume, threatening to shake the jungle apart.  Then the vision faded, replaced by the ruined city of today.  The party continued up the stairs.  As they approached the entrance, an undead figure dressed in ancient platemail stepped out of the darkness.  Small green worms crawled over all of its exposed skin, and its eyes were replaced by the ravenous mouths of two bloated worms.  It drew its bastard sword and gave a horrendous shriek.   If any of its allies had joined it in undeath, they were certainly alerted to the party's presence.    The undead knight seized the initiative and charged at Killick, who was in the lead.  It thrust its sword into his side, causing him grievous damage.  Katawan activated the Shield spell stored in his ring.  Tarric and Alees moved to flanking positions around it.  As Tarric's holy sword, bit into the undead knight's flesh, it looked at his weapon with violent anger.  In a language that no one in the group had ever heard before, the creature said that it would not allow Tarric to defile its temple with that execrable sword.  (Only Alees was able to understand the creature's speech because of a scroll of Comprehend Languages that she had read a few minutes earlier.)  Killick moved away from the undead knight to prevent any of its allies from entering through the double doors on the far side of the room.  Alexander and his faithful cleric companion, Jam, hung back and cast preparatory spells.      Because the two spellcasters remained outside the room on the stairs, they saw two enormous beetles burrow their way out of the worm-infested soil.  These bloated green beetles crawled toward the spellcasters and began emitting a maddening chitter from their mandibles.  This noise was so distracting that Tarric, Grimlock, and Jam found themselves momentarily unable to concentrate.  Rather than swinging its sword at Tarric while he was distracted, it targetted Tarric's sword instead.  And in one blow, it was able to sunder Tarric's newly enchanted blade, much to his consternation.  To draw its attention, Alees stabbed it with her undead bane dagger.  She succeeded in drawing its attention.  It said, "You will not bring that weapon into this unholy place!"  And with one more swing of its sword, Alees's dagger lay on the ground in pieces.    Meanwhile, the two spellcasters had run into the room to avoid the terrible bite of the two beetles.  Killick had moved back across the room to block the stairs and protect the party's rear flank. At this point, with the two blades sundered, the combat became a bit more conventional.  The party tried to kill the undead and the undead tried to kill the party.  The party discovered that their enemies were capable of doing tremendous damage but, for some reason, their weapons did not seem nearly as effective against their enemies as they should have been.  One of Alexander's well-placed empowered fireballs did most of the work of frying the chittering beetles.  Then the knight was surrounded.  When it was severely damaged, it tried to make it back through the double doors at the back of the room.  Alees heard it tell Katawan get out of its way so that it could 'replenish' itself.  Although it did get to the doors, Katawan was able to destroy it before it could get through.    Beyond the double doors was a cavernous chamber.  The characters' light sources only illuminated a narrow strip of the room lined with pillars.  And before the party members had time to let their guards down, they heard the sounded of mailed creatures moving through the dark in their direction.  From out of the dark, emerged two undead creatures covered from head to toe in heavy plate armor wielding greatswords.  They met the party members in the doorway, where they traded blows.  When the undead creatures struck the party members, they did tremendous damage with their swords.      The party concentrated its attacks on one of the two creatures.  After a few moments, it called back over its shoulder to one of its unseen comrades.  Alees understood what it said: "Brother, assist me.  Invoke the worm!"  From the darkness, a similar voice replied, "It is done."  Suddenly, a blast of black energy rose up out of the ground swirling around everyone in a 20 foot radius around the doorway.  The two undead creatures seemed to drink in the dark energy that rose around them, causing their wounds to close up, while the party members caught in the blast had to jump out of the way to avoid being damaged by it.  At about the same time, Tarric shook off the effects of a Hold Person spell, and a ribbon of black energy flew over the undead creatures' heads at party members in the rear.  There seemed to be unseen spell casters beyond the party's range of vision!  Moments later, a third armored undead warrior strode forward into the light, and the party saw it invoke the worm a second time.  They were surprised to find out that it was the armored creatures (and not a spellcaster) that invoked the worm, and apparently they could do it more than once a day.  Tarric dropped his shield and drew Branwhite (the living longsword) in his off hand, in order to take advantage of the sword's Evasion ability.      Again, from somewhere in the darkness two spells were cast.  Killick shook off the effects of another Hold Person spell, while in the rear of the party a Flame Strike went off.  Sadly, this column of unholy flame instantly killed and cremated Grimlock II, Killick's trusty wardog.  The dog had taken serious wounds from the beetles and had hung back around a corner at its master's instruction to avoid taking any unnecessary damage.  However, this column of flame had included the area behind a corner where the dog had been instructed to wait.  Perhaps it was fortunate that the dog never saw it coming...  This enraged Killick who activated Thorash's ring and turned himself into a lightning bolt in order to get past the undead into the room beyond.  He was determined to face the spellcaster(s) that had done this to his dog!  When he returned to flesh and blood, he saw only one skeletal spellcaster in platemail armor walking about 15 feet up in the air.  After studying the spellcaster briefly, Killick determined that it must have quickened spells, allowing it to cast more than one at once.    However, despite Killick's sudden departure through the front lines, Alexander made an executive decision.  He recognized that many of the party members were severely wounded (including himself and Jam).  He saw that the undead seemed to be dealing more damage that they were taking.  In addition, they seemed to be able to heal themselves (while also damaging the party) at will.  Alexander decided that if the battle were to continue at its current pace, the party would lose.  So he loudly announced his intention to leave.  He then walked up to Jam and Alees, touched them both, intoned the arcane words, and the three of them were gone.  Katawan and Tarric stood staring at each other, suddenly alone.  Katawan used his monk ability to step sideways through the seams of space and time.  He emerged just outside the obsidian ring.  Tarric yelled out to Killick that the party was leaving, and he withdrew slowly, waiting to hear a response.  When he heard the whinny of an unseen steed from the darkness beyond the doorway, he finally activated his boots and flew away.  Once outside, he saw the shadowy image of Killick riding a black steed through the wall of the ziggurat.    Hours later, the party gathered itself together at the overlook where they had initially arrived, about two miles outside the city.  Alees and Tarric were intent on getting their blades repaired.  Killick wanted to train a new wardog and find out why their weapons seemed only partially effective.  All of these tasks required a return to civilization, and Magepoint seemed the safest destination.  So the party rested until morning, waiting for Alexander to rememorize spells.    7th of Readying - 17th of Readying.  Alexander teleported the party back to Magepoint, via Saltmarsh.  Alexander paid the Temple of Boccob 100 gp to utilize their library for a week to research the minions of Kyuss.  At the end of the week, he discovered an ancient text written by a bard who had witnessed one of the decisive battles against the minions of Kyuss 1500 years earlier.  This ancient bard recorded that silver weapons seemed to have the greatest effect on the forces of Kyuss.  With this new information in hand, each of the party's melee fighters commissioned silver weapons from the local blacksmiths and metallurgists.  Tarric and Alees had their broken blades repaired, and Tarric paid to have Branwhite's magical powers enhanced to include undead bane.  Meanwhile, Killick purchased a new wardog from the halfling kennel master.  He named it Grimlock III, and man and beast formed a bond of respect and comradery almost immediately.  Killick taught his new wardog some rudimentary commands that would be crucial in combat situations.  Finally, the party was ready to return to Kuluth-Mar.</blockquote>

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