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Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Delemental" data-source="post: 3907847" data-attributes="member: 5203"><p><strong>Heart of the Mountain</strong></p><p></p><p>It only took a day for Osborn to conclude his business in Dagger Rock, mostly because he was able to send messages back and forth to Grog as the party made their way back from the remote village, and by the time they arrived most of the arrangements were finished. After a few last-minute instructions, Osborn set about helping the rest of the Legacy prepare for their next journey.</p><p></p><p> “Where is this monastery, exactly?” Yuri asked, as she packed her belongings.</p><p></p><p> “I know how to get there,” Tolly explained, “but not the exact location. It’s in a rather forbidding part of the mountains south of Targeth.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, at least it’s nearly summer,” Arrie commented, “so the journey will be a little easier.”</p><p></p><p> “Not as easy as a <em>teleport</em>,” Kyle commented.</p><p></p><p> “But with far less risk of having my parts rearranged,” Arrie finished.</p><p></p><p>They departed the next morning, riding fresh horses provided by Grog. They crossed the hilly country quickly, and within three days were coming upon the jagged peaks that formed the border between Targeth and the Dwarven Confederates. They left their horses at a small outpost that was friendly to the Shadow General, and made their way on foot into the mountains. It was the end of the month of Canith, and with only a month to go until Midsummer the weather was warm and pleasant. Most of the snow had receded from the mountains, except for the peaks, but the streams and rivers flowing down from those peaks were still strong and swollen, creating barriers that the Legacy had to overcome with a combination of creativity, experience, and a dose of magic when necessary. Fortunately, they did not experience any significant warping of their spells. The only significant injury sustained was by Tolly, who gave himself a hernia trying to move a large boulder off the trail. It was quickly healed, the boulder transmuted to mud, and the party was on their way.</p><p></p><p>Another slight delay occurred when the party was accosted by a tribe of stone giants, demanding payment for passage. They briefly considered refusing, but when the giants’ toll ended up being only a couple of hundred gold coins, they decided to simply pay the toll and be on their way to more important business. After that, they only had to deal with the weather, as they rose higher into the mountains where it was still bitterly cold.</p><p></p><p>Seven days after entering the mountains, Tolly began to see dwarven runes carved into rocks along the trail. “The monastery is close,” he announced. “Another day’s journey at most. Since we have no idea why the church of Ardara lost contact with this monastery, I suggest that we be prepared for anything.”</p><p></p><p>“We’re not going to have any problems with these monks, are we?” Kyle asked. “I mean, because of your recent disagreements with the church.”</p><p></p><p>“These monks live here to hone their faith away from the distractions of the world,” Tolly said. “They have little interest in politics. However, they can be a bit insular, and slow to accept differences. This is one situation where it may be good that Lanara’s not among us. Regardless of how charming she is, the presence of a cansin worshipper of Feesha would likely rub them the wrong way.”</p><p></p><p>By the time they stopped to make camp, it was obvious that they were getting close to some sort of settlement. The path they had followed had widened into something like an actual road, though one that had never been touched by a wagon or cart of any kind. There were signs that some brush had been cleared, and that some effort had been made at gathering the meager amount of wood found this high up. Wary of what they might find ahead, the Legacy made camp well off the trail, and kept signs of their presence to a minimum.</p><p></p><p>They arrived at the monastery early the next morning, approaching the area under an iron-gray sky. Two large, ornately carved stone doors were set into the side of the mountain; clearly designed to keep out even the worst winter storm, and possibly even hungry stone giants. But there was no sign of activity, and one of the stone doors stood slightly ajar. Drifting snow had piled up in front of the opening.</p><p></p><p>Autumn began to move forward, but Osborn put up a hand to stop her. “Let me check it out first,” he said, before turning invisible and moving forward. Creeping up quietly toward the door, he saw immediately that no one had moved in or out of the door in some time. But from somewhere inside, he could see a very faint, flickering glow, and he could hear the sound of shallow, ragged breathing.</p><p></p><p>Ending his invisibility, Osborn motioned the others forward. As they approached, the ragged breath drew in. “Is someone there?” a weak voice cried out.</p><p></p><p>They pushed open the doors, and walked into a scene of carnage. Dozens of bodies, stiff with the cold, lay scattered throughout the large open space just beyond the stone doors. Many of the corpses were dressed in the plain brown robes of Ardaran monks, and were all humans or dwarves, but many others wore more traditional attire, but came in much less traditional forms. Among the bodies were half-giants, maenads, and xeph, as well as humans and various planet-touched and element-touched races. Many of the dead were carrying crystals, or bore strange tattoos; all it took was a nod from Kyle to confirm what kind of energy was emanating from those devices.</p><p></p><p>“This one is alive,” Osborn called out.</p><p></p><p>Tolly walked over and knelt at the side of a young, pale human, propped up against a stone pillar. His blonde, curly hair was matted with dried blood. A large tome lay open across his lap, and a quill pen was still clutched in his fingers. A small, stubby candle sat next to a vial of ink, both nearly depleted. The man looked up at Tolly, and then, with trembling hands, picked up the book in both hands and handed it to him.</p><p></p><p>“Tell them we tried,” he said weakly, and then said no more.</p><p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">* * *</p><p></p><p> “It’s an adventurer’s journal,” Tolly said, reading through the pages of the large book as the others sorted through the bodies. “This man – Pepin was his name – was apparently some sort of servant or hired henchman for a group of adventurers loyal to Aran, who hail from an Underdark village called Tal Jashar*. He kept a detailed record of their journey. He apparently stayed alive, mostly through sheer force of will, just to make sure that someone would get this.”</p><p></p><p> “What happened here?” Yuri asked. “The Ardaran church lost contact with this place weeks ago, but these people died relatively recently.”</p><p></p><p> “It began just after the start of the month,” Tolly said, skimming through the lines of dense dwarven writing. “These adventurers came across information that Kristyan was still pursuing divine relics, since Silko’s apotheosis was incomplete. They tracked a group of Kristyan’s psions to this monastery, but arrived too late to stop the initial attack. The survivors indicated that their communications were being intercepted for some time – the attackers were gathering intelligence before the assault.”</p><p></p><p> “So, they must have come back,” Autumn commented.</p><p></p><p> “No, they never left. After killing the monks, Kristyan’s men went deep into the mountain, into the deep chambers of the monastery. They emerged again after these adventurers arrived – apparently fleeing in terror.”</p><p></p><p> “Fleeing from what?” Kyle asked.</p><p></p><p> Tolly frowned. “The journal does not say. Something in the mountain’s depths apparently managed to decimate the psions and sent them running. There was another battle here when they emerged, which resulted in the scene you see here. Kristyan’s forces had been weakened enough by whatever is down there that these adventurers were able to eliminate them, though obviously at great cost.”</p><p></p><p> There was a moment of respectful silence for the fallen heroes. “What now?” Osborn asked at last.</p><p></p><p> “The monks and the adventurers from Tal Jashar should receive a proper burial,” Tolly said, “and Kristyan’s people should be thrown off the nearest cliff. After that, we need to address the situation down below.”</p><p></p><p> “What is down there, anyway?” Kyle asked.</p><p></p><p> “I don’t know,” Tolly admitted. “But it’s clearly of great importance, and the security of this monastery has been compromised. As a member of the church, it is my duty to make sure that whatever these monks were guarding does not end up in the wrong hands.”</p><p></p><p> “Well, we’re with you,” Autumn said. “But exactly what kind of death-traps do Ardarans use to protect their relics?”</p><p></p><p> “Bludgeoning and crushing, mostly,” he replied matter-of-factly. “And suffocation. Suffocation is common.”</p><p></p><p> “What a lovely place,” Yuri quipped. “Let’s go, shall we?”</p><p></p><p> The party completed the grim business of tending to the dead, and then gathered together and proceeded down the long, dark tunnel at the back of the cavern-like main chamber. They passed a number of rooms carved out of the stone, used as living quarters for the monks who had once populated this place. After a while, however, the walls became rougher, and the light sconces fewer and farther between.</p><p></p><p> Eventually, they emerged into a large chamber which looked more like a natural cavern than a man-made one. Roughly oval in shape, half the room was nothing more than a plain rock floor, featureless except for a single altar upon which rested an ingot of strange metal. The back half of the chamber dropped away into a deep pit, and dozens of metal spikes could be seen protruding from the ground below. A single door sat on the far wall on the other side of the pit, but it was level with the floor above, rather than the floor of the pit.</p><p></p><p> The moment that everyone entered, the tunnel they had come through seemed to collapse in on itself, irising shut.</p><p></p><p> “That doesn’t look so good, Tolly,” Yuri said.</p><p></p><p> “It’s typical,” Tolly said, his attention focused on the metal ingot on the altar. The metal was unlike any he had ever seen; it was a dark alloy, somewhat like cold iron, but the surface of the metal seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d seen this object before, perhaps in a dream he’d had long ago. He resolved to take the ingot with them when they returned from recovering the relic.</p><p></p><p> Osborn was already examining the altar. “Clever,” he said. “Two traps, one pretty obvious, and the other hidden much better. I almost missed it myself.” A few minutes later, Osborn declared that both traps were disabled.</p><p></p><p> “There’s also some writing on the altar,” Osborn said. “I can’t read it.”</p><p></p><p> They all went around to look at the inscription, which was written in Terran. Tolly translated it.</p><p></p><p> “My thunder comes before the lightning; My lightning comes before the clouds; My rain dries all the land it touches. What am I?”</p><p></p><p> There was only a moment’s pause. “A volcano,” Kyle and Tolly said simultaneously.</p><p></p><p> With a grinding sound, a narrow stone bridge extended from the edge of the pit, across to the door in the far wall. The bridge was barely six inches wide, but seemed solid.</p><p></p><p> As the Legacy turned to proceed across the bridge, Kupa cleared his throat. The young dragon had been silent most of the time they’d been in the monastery. “Well?” he asked Tolly.</p><p></p><p> “Well, what?”</p><p></p><p> “Aren’t you going to take the relic?”</p><p></p><p> Tolly looked back at the metal ingot. “That’s the relic?” Kupa nodded.</p><p></p><p> Slowly, Tolly reached out and grasped the ingot. As his hands closed around it, the metal suddenly shifted, briefly taking the form of a slender blade before resuming its shape. Tolly stood with his hand around it for a moment, his eyes distant, and then came back to his senses.</p><p></p><p> “Most interesting,” he said.</p><p></p><p> “What is it?” Kyle asked.</p><p></p><p> “It’s an ingot of soulsteel,” Tolly said, “said to be the first metal ever created, when the One and the Four were young.” Tolly concentrated on the metal for a moment, and it shaped itself into an exact replica of Tolly’s own maul.</p><p></p><p> “Well then,” Arrie said, “if the monks left their relic out in the open like that, then one wonders what can be found further in.”</p><p></p><p> “I think we need to find out,” Osborn said, pulling out a rope.</p><p></p><p> They crossed the narrow bridge with little difficulty; Osborn went across and set a guide line, and Autumn flew behind each person as they crossed to support them if they wavered. The door opened into a short hallway which ended in a blank wall, but as soon as everyone was in the hallway, the door behind them vanished, and another one appeared at the end.</p><p></p><p> “This is going to get rather tedious,” Yuri complained.</p><p></p><p> “At least we don’t have to worry about getting lost,” Kyle said.</p><p></p><p> “The easiest way to follow the law is to have only one choice,” Tolly said.</p><p></p><p> The door emerged into a large, rectangular room, over two hundred feet across and about half that amount in depth. Two stone pillars, about waist high, sat near the middle of the room, about fifty feet apart. A sphere of purple stone sat on top of each pillar, pulsing every few seconds with an inner light. As expected, once everyone had crossed into the room the door vanished. What was slightly less expected was when two iron golems walked through the walls on either side of the room and began advancing into the middle. At the same time, small vents opened up along the wall near the floor, and water began rushing into the room.</p><p></p><p> As the party moved into combat, it quickly became apparent that these were no ordinary constructs. They were larger and more powerful than typical iron golems, and had a disconcerting tendency to repair the damage being caused by the Legacy, the dents and gashes slowly filling themselves in. Arrie and Autumn each chose a golem to fight, relying on their tried and true tactics of hitting something until it stopped moving. Yuri assisted Arrie, leaping into the air and driving her adamantium spear into the golem’s chest, and then pushing off with her legs to land several feet away. Tolly cast a spell on Osborn’s sword so that he could strike the huge constructs more effectively; the hin then moved to support Autumn. Tolly was about to cast another spell, when a noise behind him caught his attention. He moved out of the way as a panel opened up in the wall and a jet of flames shot out across the room. Several other panels opened around the room, and flames began to shoot out at random. Occasionally the jets of fire would touch one of the golems, accelerating its regeneration.</p><p></p><p>Kyle and Kupa took a few moments to analyze the purple orbs in the center of the room, watching as they pulsed every few seconds. Their analysis was sped up considerably when Tolly attempted to use a <em>greater stone shape</em> to trap one of the golems; one of the orbs flashed out of sequence just as Tolly finished the spell, and the magical energies dissipated.</p><p></p><p> “They’re dispelling magic!” Kyle warned. “Stay out of range!”</p><p></p><p> “Easy for you to say!” shouted Autumn, who was running out of maneuvering room. The golem had been focusing on Autumn, pounding her repeatedly with metallic fists.</p><p></p><p> Kupa inhaled sharply, and then spit acid, carefully controlling the stream of caustic liquid so that it actually split in two, with each stream coating one of the orbs. They immediately started to sizzle and warp, and seconds later one of the orbs shattered. The other one followed soon after, but not before it had activated one last time and caught Autumn, stripping away a defensive spell Tolly had placed earlier.</p><p></p><p> Kyle blasted one golem with a <em>lightning bolt</em> to slow it down, while Arrie transformed Anyweapon into a massive sword that would allow her to make more effective attacks, at the same time using a psionic power to allow her feet to cling to the walls, getting her up out of the rising water. Tolly finally entered the fray, coming to the aid of Arrie and Yuri. He struck the golem with the maul he’d formed from the soulsteel, and to his surprise discovered that the wounds he caused did not repair themselves. Between the three of them, they managed to finally do enough damage to get the golem to stop moving, though they could tell it was slowly repairing itself.</p><p></p><p> On the other side of the room, things were not quite as good. Autumn had been severely battered, and was on her last legs despite utilizing maneuvers that restored her inner strength. Sending his familiar Violet to land briefly on his wife’s shoulder, Kyle completed a desperate spell, draining his own life force to give to her. Seeing the situation, Arrie activated her cloak, and instantly traded places with Autumn. Arrie began attacking the other golem as Tolly quickly healed the aasimar.</p><p></p><p> “Mother will kill me if I let you die before you give her a grandchild!” Arrie shouted across the room.</p><p></p><p> Kyle paused. “…yeah, that’s something I can’t do through Violet.”</p><p></p><p> Finally, they managed to bring down the second golem. Tolly quickly used a series of spells in rapid succession, burying the golems in stone to buy them some more time, and keep them from being hit by jets of fire. The water was still rushing into the room, and was now up to mid-thigh on most of them. Osborn was almost chin deep.</p><p></p><p> “Look for something to open a door out of here!” he shouted. The party began searching the room quickly.</p><p></p><p> Osborn was able to find what he was looking for; a pair of mechanisms on the pedestals that the orbs had been sitting on. Unfortunately, the dragon’s acid had partially melted the controls.</p><p></p><p> “Can you make it work?” Tolly asked.</p><p></p><p> “I’ll try,” Osborn said, as Tolly handed him his necklace of adaptation.</p><p></p><p> It took quite a while, but Osborn was finally able to work around the ruined mechanisms enough to trigger them. The flow of water stopped, and began to drain away, even as the flame jets disappeared into the walls. Within moments, the floor was uncovered, and a doorway appeared in the far wall. The two mounds of stone under which the golems were buried were beginning to shake and crumble even as the Legacy dashed through the exit.</p><p></p><p> “Ardara is such a lovely hostess,” Yuri gasped, as they paused in the plain corridor beyond to heal their wounds and wring out soaking wet clothing. “I really must send her an invitation to my next cotillion.”</p><p></p><p> “You’re just being petulant,” Arrie teased.</p><p></p><p> “I’m just surprised she knows the word ‘cotillion’,” Kyle commented.</p><p></p><p> “I really like it here, actually,” Kupa said.</p><p></p><p> “Guess we should move on,” said Osborn, as he shouldered his pack again. “Only one way to go anyway.” Sure enough, the door behind them had vanished, as had the others.</p><p></p><p>-------------------------------</p><p></p><p>* The dead adventuring party making a cameo appearance here is a group that we made up to play as an alternate party, back during our GM's long hiatus from the main campaign. The idea was to give us a chance to let other people run a game in the world. We only ever played one adventure, though. Pepin, by the way, was my character.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Delemental, post: 3907847, member: 5203"] [b]Heart of the Mountain[/b] It only took a day for Osborn to conclude his business in Dagger Rock, mostly because he was able to send messages back and forth to Grog as the party made their way back from the remote village, and by the time they arrived most of the arrangements were finished. After a few last-minute instructions, Osborn set about helping the rest of the Legacy prepare for their next journey. “Where is this monastery, exactly?” Yuri asked, as she packed her belongings. “I know how to get there,” Tolly explained, “but not the exact location. It’s in a rather forbidding part of the mountains south of Targeth.” “Well, at least it’s nearly summer,” Arrie commented, “so the journey will be a little easier.” “Not as easy as a [I]teleport[/I],” Kyle commented. “But with far less risk of having my parts rearranged,” Arrie finished. They departed the next morning, riding fresh horses provided by Grog. They crossed the hilly country quickly, and within three days were coming upon the jagged peaks that formed the border between Targeth and the Dwarven Confederates. They left their horses at a small outpost that was friendly to the Shadow General, and made their way on foot into the mountains. It was the end of the month of Canith, and with only a month to go until Midsummer the weather was warm and pleasant. Most of the snow had receded from the mountains, except for the peaks, but the streams and rivers flowing down from those peaks were still strong and swollen, creating barriers that the Legacy had to overcome with a combination of creativity, experience, and a dose of magic when necessary. Fortunately, they did not experience any significant warping of their spells. The only significant injury sustained was by Tolly, who gave himself a hernia trying to move a large boulder off the trail. It was quickly healed, the boulder transmuted to mud, and the party was on their way. Another slight delay occurred when the party was accosted by a tribe of stone giants, demanding payment for passage. They briefly considered refusing, but when the giants’ toll ended up being only a couple of hundred gold coins, they decided to simply pay the toll and be on their way to more important business. After that, they only had to deal with the weather, as they rose higher into the mountains where it was still bitterly cold. Seven days after entering the mountains, Tolly began to see dwarven runes carved into rocks along the trail. “The monastery is close,” he announced. “Another day’s journey at most. Since we have no idea why the church of Ardara lost contact with this monastery, I suggest that we be prepared for anything.” “We’re not going to have any problems with these monks, are we?” Kyle asked. “I mean, because of your recent disagreements with the church.” “These monks live here to hone their faith away from the distractions of the world,” Tolly said. “They have little interest in politics. However, they can be a bit insular, and slow to accept differences. This is one situation where it may be good that Lanara’s not among us. Regardless of how charming she is, the presence of a cansin worshipper of Feesha would likely rub them the wrong way.” By the time they stopped to make camp, it was obvious that they were getting close to some sort of settlement. The path they had followed had widened into something like an actual road, though one that had never been touched by a wagon or cart of any kind. There were signs that some brush had been cleared, and that some effort had been made at gathering the meager amount of wood found this high up. Wary of what they might find ahead, the Legacy made camp well off the trail, and kept signs of their presence to a minimum. They arrived at the monastery early the next morning, approaching the area under an iron-gray sky. Two large, ornately carved stone doors were set into the side of the mountain; clearly designed to keep out even the worst winter storm, and possibly even hungry stone giants. But there was no sign of activity, and one of the stone doors stood slightly ajar. Drifting snow had piled up in front of the opening. Autumn began to move forward, but Osborn put up a hand to stop her. “Let me check it out first,” he said, before turning invisible and moving forward. Creeping up quietly toward the door, he saw immediately that no one had moved in or out of the door in some time. But from somewhere inside, he could see a very faint, flickering glow, and he could hear the sound of shallow, ragged breathing. Ending his invisibility, Osborn motioned the others forward. As they approached, the ragged breath drew in. “Is someone there?” a weak voice cried out. They pushed open the doors, and walked into a scene of carnage. Dozens of bodies, stiff with the cold, lay scattered throughout the large open space just beyond the stone doors. Many of the corpses were dressed in the plain brown robes of Ardaran monks, and were all humans or dwarves, but many others wore more traditional attire, but came in much less traditional forms. Among the bodies were half-giants, maenads, and xeph, as well as humans and various planet-touched and element-touched races. Many of the dead were carrying crystals, or bore strange tattoos; all it took was a nod from Kyle to confirm what kind of energy was emanating from those devices. “This one is alive,” Osborn called out. Tolly walked over and knelt at the side of a young, pale human, propped up against a stone pillar. His blonde, curly hair was matted with dried blood. A large tome lay open across his lap, and a quill pen was still clutched in his fingers. A small, stubby candle sat next to a vial of ink, both nearly depleted. The man looked up at Tolly, and then, with trembling hands, picked up the book in both hands and handed it to him. “Tell them we tried,” he said weakly, and then said no more. [CENTER] * * *[/CENTER] “It’s an adventurer’s journal,” Tolly said, reading through the pages of the large book as the others sorted through the bodies. “This man – Pepin was his name – was apparently some sort of servant or hired henchman for a group of adventurers loyal to Aran, who hail from an Underdark village called Tal Jashar*. He kept a detailed record of their journey. He apparently stayed alive, mostly through sheer force of will, just to make sure that someone would get this.” “What happened here?” Yuri asked. “The Ardaran church lost contact with this place weeks ago, but these people died relatively recently.” “It began just after the start of the month,” Tolly said, skimming through the lines of dense dwarven writing. “These adventurers came across information that Kristyan was still pursuing divine relics, since Silko’s apotheosis was incomplete. They tracked a group of Kristyan’s psions to this monastery, but arrived too late to stop the initial attack. The survivors indicated that their communications were being intercepted for some time – the attackers were gathering intelligence before the assault.” “So, they must have come back,” Autumn commented. “No, they never left. After killing the monks, Kristyan’s men went deep into the mountain, into the deep chambers of the monastery. They emerged again after these adventurers arrived – apparently fleeing in terror.” “Fleeing from what?” Kyle asked. Tolly frowned. “The journal does not say. Something in the mountain’s depths apparently managed to decimate the psions and sent them running. There was another battle here when they emerged, which resulted in the scene you see here. Kristyan’s forces had been weakened enough by whatever is down there that these adventurers were able to eliminate them, though obviously at great cost.” There was a moment of respectful silence for the fallen heroes. “What now?” Osborn asked at last. “The monks and the adventurers from Tal Jashar should receive a proper burial,” Tolly said, “and Kristyan’s people should be thrown off the nearest cliff. After that, we need to address the situation down below.” “What is down there, anyway?” Kyle asked. “I don’t know,” Tolly admitted. “But it’s clearly of great importance, and the security of this monastery has been compromised. As a member of the church, it is my duty to make sure that whatever these monks were guarding does not end up in the wrong hands.” “Well, we’re with you,” Autumn said. “But exactly what kind of death-traps do Ardarans use to protect their relics?” “Bludgeoning and crushing, mostly,” he replied matter-of-factly. “And suffocation. Suffocation is common.” “What a lovely place,” Yuri quipped. “Let’s go, shall we?” The party completed the grim business of tending to the dead, and then gathered together and proceeded down the long, dark tunnel at the back of the cavern-like main chamber. They passed a number of rooms carved out of the stone, used as living quarters for the monks who had once populated this place. After a while, however, the walls became rougher, and the light sconces fewer and farther between. Eventually, they emerged into a large chamber which looked more like a natural cavern than a man-made one. Roughly oval in shape, half the room was nothing more than a plain rock floor, featureless except for a single altar upon which rested an ingot of strange metal. The back half of the chamber dropped away into a deep pit, and dozens of metal spikes could be seen protruding from the ground below. A single door sat on the far wall on the other side of the pit, but it was level with the floor above, rather than the floor of the pit. The moment that everyone entered, the tunnel they had come through seemed to collapse in on itself, irising shut. “That doesn’t look so good, Tolly,” Yuri said. “It’s typical,” Tolly said, his attention focused on the metal ingot on the altar. The metal was unlike any he had ever seen; it was a dark alloy, somewhat like cold iron, but the surface of the metal seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d seen this object before, perhaps in a dream he’d had long ago. He resolved to take the ingot with them when they returned from recovering the relic. Osborn was already examining the altar. “Clever,” he said. “Two traps, one pretty obvious, and the other hidden much better. I almost missed it myself.” A few minutes later, Osborn declared that both traps were disabled. “There’s also some writing on the altar,” Osborn said. “I can’t read it.” They all went around to look at the inscription, which was written in Terran. Tolly translated it. “My thunder comes before the lightning; My lightning comes before the clouds; My rain dries all the land it touches. What am I?” There was only a moment’s pause. “A volcano,” Kyle and Tolly said simultaneously. With a grinding sound, a narrow stone bridge extended from the edge of the pit, across to the door in the far wall. The bridge was barely six inches wide, but seemed solid. As the Legacy turned to proceed across the bridge, Kupa cleared his throat. The young dragon had been silent most of the time they’d been in the monastery. “Well?” he asked Tolly. “Well, what?” “Aren’t you going to take the relic?” Tolly looked back at the metal ingot. “That’s the relic?” Kupa nodded. Slowly, Tolly reached out and grasped the ingot. As his hands closed around it, the metal suddenly shifted, briefly taking the form of a slender blade before resuming its shape. Tolly stood with his hand around it for a moment, his eyes distant, and then came back to his senses. “Most interesting,” he said. “What is it?” Kyle asked. “It’s an ingot of soulsteel,” Tolly said, “said to be the first metal ever created, when the One and the Four were young.” Tolly concentrated on the metal for a moment, and it shaped itself into an exact replica of Tolly’s own maul. “Well then,” Arrie said, “if the monks left their relic out in the open like that, then one wonders what can be found further in.” “I think we need to find out,” Osborn said, pulling out a rope. They crossed the narrow bridge with little difficulty; Osborn went across and set a guide line, and Autumn flew behind each person as they crossed to support them if they wavered. The door opened into a short hallway which ended in a blank wall, but as soon as everyone was in the hallway, the door behind them vanished, and another one appeared at the end. “This is going to get rather tedious,” Yuri complained. “At least we don’t have to worry about getting lost,” Kyle said. “The easiest way to follow the law is to have only one choice,” Tolly said. The door emerged into a large, rectangular room, over two hundred feet across and about half that amount in depth. Two stone pillars, about waist high, sat near the middle of the room, about fifty feet apart. A sphere of purple stone sat on top of each pillar, pulsing every few seconds with an inner light. As expected, once everyone had crossed into the room the door vanished. What was slightly less expected was when two iron golems walked through the walls on either side of the room and began advancing into the middle. At the same time, small vents opened up along the wall near the floor, and water began rushing into the room. As the party moved into combat, it quickly became apparent that these were no ordinary constructs. They were larger and more powerful than typical iron golems, and had a disconcerting tendency to repair the damage being caused by the Legacy, the dents and gashes slowly filling themselves in. Arrie and Autumn each chose a golem to fight, relying on their tried and true tactics of hitting something until it stopped moving. Yuri assisted Arrie, leaping into the air and driving her adamantium spear into the golem’s chest, and then pushing off with her legs to land several feet away. Tolly cast a spell on Osborn’s sword so that he could strike the huge constructs more effectively; the hin then moved to support Autumn. Tolly was about to cast another spell, when a noise behind him caught his attention. He moved out of the way as a panel opened up in the wall and a jet of flames shot out across the room. Several other panels opened around the room, and flames began to shoot out at random. Occasionally the jets of fire would touch one of the golems, accelerating its regeneration. Kyle and Kupa took a few moments to analyze the purple orbs in the center of the room, watching as they pulsed every few seconds. Their analysis was sped up considerably when Tolly attempted to use a [I]greater stone shape[/I] to trap one of the golems; one of the orbs flashed out of sequence just as Tolly finished the spell, and the magical energies dissipated. “They’re dispelling magic!” Kyle warned. “Stay out of range!” “Easy for you to say!” shouted Autumn, who was running out of maneuvering room. The golem had been focusing on Autumn, pounding her repeatedly with metallic fists. Kupa inhaled sharply, and then spit acid, carefully controlling the stream of caustic liquid so that it actually split in two, with each stream coating one of the orbs. They immediately started to sizzle and warp, and seconds later one of the orbs shattered. The other one followed soon after, but not before it had activated one last time and caught Autumn, stripping away a defensive spell Tolly had placed earlier. Kyle blasted one golem with a [I]lightning bolt[/I] to slow it down, while Arrie transformed Anyweapon into a massive sword that would allow her to make more effective attacks, at the same time using a psionic power to allow her feet to cling to the walls, getting her up out of the rising water. Tolly finally entered the fray, coming to the aid of Arrie and Yuri. He struck the golem with the maul he’d formed from the soulsteel, and to his surprise discovered that the wounds he caused did not repair themselves. Between the three of them, they managed to finally do enough damage to get the golem to stop moving, though they could tell it was slowly repairing itself. On the other side of the room, things were not quite as good. Autumn had been severely battered, and was on her last legs despite utilizing maneuvers that restored her inner strength. Sending his familiar Violet to land briefly on his wife’s shoulder, Kyle completed a desperate spell, draining his own life force to give to her. Seeing the situation, Arrie activated her cloak, and instantly traded places with Autumn. Arrie began attacking the other golem as Tolly quickly healed the aasimar. “Mother will kill me if I let you die before you give her a grandchild!” Arrie shouted across the room. Kyle paused. “…yeah, that’s something I can’t do through Violet.” Finally, they managed to bring down the second golem. Tolly quickly used a series of spells in rapid succession, burying the golems in stone to buy them some more time, and keep them from being hit by jets of fire. The water was still rushing into the room, and was now up to mid-thigh on most of them. Osborn was almost chin deep. “Look for something to open a door out of here!” he shouted. The party began searching the room quickly. Osborn was able to find what he was looking for; a pair of mechanisms on the pedestals that the orbs had been sitting on. Unfortunately, the dragon’s acid had partially melted the controls. “Can you make it work?” Tolly asked. “I’ll try,” Osborn said, as Tolly handed him his necklace of adaptation. It took quite a while, but Osborn was finally able to work around the ruined mechanisms enough to trigger them. The flow of water stopped, and began to drain away, even as the flame jets disappeared into the walls. Within moments, the floor was uncovered, and a doorway appeared in the far wall. The two mounds of stone under which the golems were buried were beginning to shake and crumble even as the Legacy dashed through the exit. “Ardara is such a lovely hostess,” Yuri gasped, as they paused in the plain corridor beyond to heal their wounds and wring out soaking wet clothing. “I really must send her an invitation to my next cotillion.” “You’re just being petulant,” Arrie teased. “I’m just surprised she knows the word ‘cotillion’,” Kyle commented. “I really like it here, actually,” Kupa said. “Guess we should move on,” said Osborn, as he shouldered his pack again. “Only one way to go anyway.” Sure enough, the door behind them had vanished, as had the others. ------------------------------- * The dead adventuring party making a cameo appearance here is a group that we made up to play as an alternate party, back during our GM's long hiatus from the main campaign. The idea was to give us a chance to let other people run a game in the world. We only ever played one adventure, though. Pepin, by the way, was my character. [/QUOTE]
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