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Message: <blockquote data-quote="PHDungeon" data-source="post: 5141363" data-attributes="member: 86320">This is a lengthy journal from Derren Androsax detailing the events of our most recent session.The PCs:Derren: level 7 human male fighterBjorn: level 7 human male cleric of ThorBella: level 7 changeling rogue/sorcererDeryl: level 6 human female sorcerer (wild magic)Torfinn: level 6 deva male InvokerDear Corvin,This morning, Bjorn and I finally cracked open the wall leading to deeper caverns below Kamroth manor. We set out to explore several large caverns, haunted by wheels of the dead, suspended like the windmills and scarecrows of some forgotten tribe of primitives. Fortunately, these dead were resting peacefully, which seems all too often not to be the case in this world.We finally came across a chamber rife with pools of black “water” – the same foul, putrescent flow of evil that we first witnessed outside of the Temple of the Elemental Eye deep in the Ogrefist Hills. It had cracked the walls from some unknown source, surrounding a stone dais in the center of the room like a moat. The dais itself was laden with a heaping mound of skulls. Yet before we could investigate or form a solid plan, ghoulish creatures were upon us. Some rose up from the apparently shallow pools dripping with the foul black liquid. They began hurling ichorous, necrotic filth from the pools. Others loped towards us in their deranged shuffling gate. As Torfinn blasted them with lightning and Bella dropped one with her bolt, I leapt onto the dais to occupy several of the ghouls. Bjorn and Torfinn called on the Skanzi gods to drive them back, while Deryl managed to keep several ambushers at bay with her spells. I nearly died when one of them slivered me with its filthy nails. The gash turned grey on my skin, and in a wash of chill and nausea, I darkened. Then my friends – forgiving me my brashness, I think – hurled spell and bolt upon my enemies, and I managed to recover my senses and roll away. By this time my allies had vastly thinned out the ranks of our enemies, and it didn’t take long to slay the remaining horrors. When the battle ended I realized that I wasn’t the only one who had suffered. Even Deryl, who normally does a good job of staying out of harm’s way, had been scathed by the undead. We took some time to rest, and Bjorn used his divine healing powers to help us tend our wounds.With the undead dispatched, we began a more thorough investigation of the cave. Each of the skulls that had been sitting on the dais had a glyph etched into its forehead. According to Deryl there was no magic in the skulls, so I started handling them. Many had the symbol of the elemental eye, but we discovered a number of skulls with other strange symbols: a barbed spiral, and several inverted letters. While I was examining the skulls, I noted that there was a stone trap door set into the dais. We moved the skulls out of the way to fully reveal the portal, and we discovered it was circular, constructed of stone and some ten feet in diameter. It would take great strength to move, but I was confident that I could do it with Bjorn’s aid. However, we decided to post pone this endeavour, for there was still more to investigate above. At the far end of the room was a ten foot wide passage that had clearly been carved into the wall of the otherwise natural cavern. Set in small alcoves above the tunnel’s entrance, were three more golden skulls – of animals this time. However, unlike the other golden skulls we’d discovered in our previous adventures, these one’s were not magical. The hallway was quite long, and its walls were etched with dozens of glyphs, similar to the ones that we’d encountered on the skulls, but there were others as well, all unholy. The end of the hall opened up into another chamber that the light from our sunrods could only just begin to illuminate. The symbols in the hall made me more than a little uneasy. They were clearly blasphemous. Still, Bjorn and I pressed forward. We didn’t make it far before the glyphs began to glow. One of them erupted in a blast of fire, but Bjorn’s shield Flamedrinker protected the two of us from much of the flame. I retreated back to my companions, while Bjorn remained behind; I presume he wanted to see if he could determine a means of dealing with the glyphs. I watched as more of them activated. Bella and Deryl were also watching closely. They had quickly determined that there were six different types of glyphs and each one had a different effect. Lightning, acid and fire were all seen hurled at Bjorn, but he was alert now, and did his best to dodge the effects, using his shield whenever possible to deflect the attacks. Torfinn and I decided to make a run for the far room, and we bolted down the hallway. Another glyph assaulted me, and Torfinn was scorched by acid, but we made it to the far chamber. Bjorn hurried after us, leaving Bella and Deryl to stand at the entrance of the hall and watch us. The three of us had entered into a secluded chamber. Dominating much of the floor space was some huge vaguely manlike form that was completely cocooned in the black ichor, which had here hardened into solid form. The source of the ichor appeared to be several dark stones that sat on the ground forming a circle around the unsettling form. Each of the stones had a single rune inscribed on it, and it was either the elemental eye or the barbed spiral. A part of me very much wanted to pick up one of the stones, but even I could sense that they thrummed with magic, and it appeared that they were part of some ancient ritual. Bjorn suspected that their purpose might be to bind whatever entity might be lurking under the hardened ichor. The chamber itself was constructed in the shape great silo, and its walls were riddled with burial nooks that held dozens of ancient skeletal corpses. We had little time to take all this in before we discovered that this crypt was haunted by vile wraiths. They came at flying at us, trying to drain us of our life force. Each attack would cause me to feel so weak I could barely stand or swing my sword. I was thankful that my blade was enchanted, but it was still relatively ineffectual, for it would just pass through the vile creatures, causing them minimal real harm. There were five wraiths in total, and two of them were different from the other three. These two were constantly gibbering maddening whispers that burned at my mind and threatened to make me go mad. With lures and feints and more divine power, Torfinn and Bjorn were able to cast the wraiths back into hell. Bella and Deryl stayed back blasting them from a distance, and even I was able to meekly cut through their forms from time to time. Soon our foes had been destroyed thanks in no small part to the radiant powers that Torfinn and Bjorn had been able to muster.We debated about what to do about the entity on the floor– and wisely, I think, thought to leave it undisturbed and possibly return in the future if we could gather more information. There is still the deeper chamber, and strange evidence of the work of elemental creatures, titans and their primordial masters – but we have yet to fully explore the deeper levels.These events leave me riddled with questions and strange desires. The most pressing mystery is that of Torfinn. While Bella wants to run shop, and Deryl play house, our friend with the golden skin seems tied to the fate of the world. Bjorn is content to smash evil and infidelity with his hammer wherever, whenever, yet his charge is full of stranger destinies. Blackness pollutes the land. An ancient god tied to the elemental chaos, the abyss and the purest evil seems to be stirring up the primordials and their servants. Like a cascade of fell fury, primordials push titans to stir dragons to whip orcs upon our heels. Gods walk the earth and slink their blades in the fates of men.  Rao sings to me, yet my heart is with the Skanzi gods. Asmodeans run amuck even as far as Fallcrest, and the man who would rule the vale must sleep in the pig pen for some unremembered folly on the battlefield.These are interesting times. Your brother, Derren</blockquote>

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