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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 7850941" data-attributes="member: 6776411">[Savaged] Rise of the Runelords / Fortress of the Stone Giants / Week 3 – Part 2 (26/10/2017)Leaving the cell block, the heroes find themselves looking down into a natural pit. Sunlight floods in from a hole in the roof and a wide ledge cut into the rock face spirals from the top to the bottom of the shaft. A wooden platform laden with crates waits to be raised to the surface via a series of thick metal chains. Opposite the lifting mechanism, two juvenile red dragons have been chained to a boulder, their wings clipped and their jaws muzzled.“We should kill them and harvest their organs for alchemy!” Rast said.“Wait!” Andor hissed, “What if they are related to the red dragon we fought in Sandpoint? They’re not exactly honoured guests here, right? They look more like hostages.”“You think the giants have compelled Longtooth to join them by threatening his offspring?” Karrack asked. Andor nodded.“That changes everything.” Rast agreed, “We should kill them and harvest their organs for alchemy!”“No!” Karrack snapped, “Let’s get down there and try talking to them.”The party approach warily. The dragons watch them through slitted eyelids.“No sudden movements….” Andor warned.“Nice dragon.” Rast said soothingly, “I’m just going to unhook your muzzle so we can have a little chat. Nobody wants to harvest your organs. No need to try and bite me the moment this thing is off….”Conversing in draconic, Karrack and Andor establish that the two brothers were indeed sired by Longtooth and are indeed being held as hostages by Mokmorian to ensure the red dragon’s compliance. The party decide that by releasing the wyrmlings, they remove Mokmorian’s leverage over the dragon and the giants lose their most powerful ally. Asha grows short of breath as the ogres strain their slab-like muscles to break the chains binding the two young dragons to the rock. Unable to snare the wind in their torn and tattered wings, the two brothers charge up the ramp to reach the surface and call for their father. Karrack follows them up to watch the fireworks.The appearance of two furious dragons into the inner courtyard throws the fortress into disarray! The mammoth stables are ablaze before the giants are even aware that the dragons are amongst them. Panicked mammoths, their shaggy coats aflame, trample their riders underfoot. The sky darkens as Longtooth descends upon the walls, his massive wingspan momentarily eclipsing the sun. The red dragon strafes the citadel, blasting the defenders with his fiery breath. Landing in the courtyard, Longtooth picks up his two flightless offspring and carries them off. Blinking the ash out of his eyes, Karrack took in the chaos in the dragon’s wake. Smoke billowed from the burning stable and a second building had collapsed entirely. The black tower itself seemed unmarred by dragonfire, it’s surface as smooth and glassy as the surface of a dark lake. There did not appear to be a way inside at ground level.“Longtooth is out of the picture.” Karrack confirmed, “We should keep going before the giant regroup and think to check who released their dragons.”---The party continue searching for Ameiko. They don’t find her in the next area of the dungeon, but they do find a golden teleportation circle inlaid into the stone floor. A control console nearby is indented with a seven-pointed hollow that likely fits the activation sigil. Next, they reach a pair of intimidating doors decorated by monstrous imagery.“Woah, guys, strong sense of deja-vu,” Rast said, “Aren’t these creepy doors real similar to the creepy doors we saw under Thistletop?”“The entrance to the shrine of Lamashtu, where we batted Nualia and her yeth hounds?” Karrack clarified.“Fun times.” Grogg reminisced happily."You weren't even there," Rast said.“Get ready,” Karrack warned, “Whatever is on the other side of these doors is unlikely to be good.”---Rast pushed open the door and stepped into the cosy taproom of the Rusty Dragon. The wooden stools had been stacked upside down on the tables and the bar was clear of flagons and drunken fishermen. Rast stood and breathed in the familiar scents of ale and wood polish. Ah, that was the smell of home! Something seemed strange though. Rast could not place his finger on it. How had he come to be home? Hadn’t he been talking to Karrack and Grogg just moments ago? He glanced around the empty taproom, no sign of either of them. Odd. A noise from upstairs caused Rast to lose his train of thought and he meandered over to the stairs that led up to his and Ameiko’s private rooms above the tavern. He could hear voices from the room where he and his wife were sleeping while the Kaijitsu mansion was refurbished. Heading in, Rast found his wife lying in bed, attended by two other women.“Your wife is very fortunate,” said the first woman, “She is going to have a child.”“A special child,” the second woman agreed, “We are here to assist with the birth.”Both of the women smiled encouraging. Rast noticed that their smiles were much too wide to fit their faces, but that hardly seemed to matter right now. He was going to be a daddy! He hustled up to his wife’s bedside and took her clammy hand in his own. Suddenly, Rast heard the sound of breaking glass from the room below, followed by the sound of the taproom getting trashed.“They are coming to take your wife and kill your child.” the first midwife hissed.“Please Rast, don’t let them hurt our baby!” Ameiko moaned.Rast scowled and readied his daggers. If anyone planned on hurting his family, they would need to go through him first!---Grogg and Fred the Ogre forced open the grim portal and led the way into a large, star-shaped ritual chamber. Human sacrifices were chained to stone pillars at each point of the star and in the centre of the room stood a squat, stone altar. Ameiko lay upon this altar, moaning and writhing in silent agony. Flanking the altar stood two lamia, monsters with the lower body of a giant snake and the upper body of a beautiful woman. The party had fought these dangerous creatures before and both times it had been a slog.“Ah, so these are the fools who killed our sisters?” the first hissed, “So strong and so handsome – and soon to be so dead.”“Let these people go!” Karrack commanded, brandishing his spear.Rast stood beside him, slack jawed and glassy eyed. Karrack nudged him with the butt of his spear.“You want to step in here, maybe? That’s your wife on the altar.”“Huh? Nobody hurts my family!” Rast growled.Suddenly, Rast turned and threw his returning dagger at Grogg! The knife only nicked his shoulder, but immediately Grogg’s muscles locked up as the paralyzing poison on the blade spread through his body.“Kill the lamia!” Karrack said, “They have Rast under their control!”The first lamia cast Fear at the lizardman, catching Andor in the spell’s AOE. Both heroes are suddenly required to confront their greatest fears! Karrack finds himself standing in a swirling blizzard, the wind howling all around him. A nightmarish snowman with blazing eyes looms over the lizardman, reaching out with skeletal arms. Meanwhile, Andor saw himself standing in the Sandpoint cathedral with all his old mercenary buddies watching from the pews. An elderly organist plays the wedding anthem and a veiled woman wearing a bridal dress appears beside him.“I now pronounce you man and wife,” said the priest, “You may kiss the bride.”“Noooooooooo!!” Andor wailed, falling to his knees.Asha – the only member of the party able to function normally – started hurling bolts of celestial energy around the room, hoping to disrupt the sorcery disabling her allies. The lamia maintaining the Fear power loses her focus, releasing Karrack and Andor from their waking nightmares. Karrack darted forward and jabbed at her with his spear. Andor charged the other but ended up trapped in her scaly coils. Inexorably, the lamia started to crush the old warriors bones. Asha took out the first lamia with an empowered bolt, freeing Karrack up to go to Andor’s aid. Together, the two fighters fillet the second lamia and Andor rips out her spine to use as a belt. With the lamia sisters vanquished, Rast returns to his senses and offers Grogg a healing potion to apologize for stabbing him. Grogg chugs the whole flask down in one go and burps cavernously, that’s the good stuff right there!Rast lifts Ameiko off the altar and carries her away from that dreadful chamber. She is alive, but her pulse is weak and her pallor deathly pale.“Is it true, my beloved Are you with child?” Rast asked.“Yes Rast, we are going to have a baby,” Ameiko said, “I only found out myself the night before the giants came. I wanted to surprise you.”“I am surprised!” Rast agreed.The party carry Ameiko back to the secret tunnel and leave her in Solaris’ care.“I should stay with you,” Rast said uncertainly, “The baby….”“You must go with the others,” Ameiko said weakly, releasing Rast’s hand from her own, “We’ll talk about this when you get back.”Rast nodded somberly, planted a whiskery kiss on his wife’s brow and went with the others to confront Mokmorian.To be continued….</blockquote>

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