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The Durnhill Conscripts
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7548674" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 34: DIRE NEGOTIATIONS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galen Thorne, human paladin 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 11</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 11</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 9 January 2019</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Logan had handouts waiting for us when we sat down at the gaming table again this session. Here's what we each had:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>The rest of the party threw on clothes and headed downstairs to the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>, to find Syngaard there drinking an ale despite the early hour. Skevros entered the tavern from the door to the storage room, which also led to his permanent <em>Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion</em> if you wore the proper ring. "What is this all about?" he demanded, Dow trailing him after having awakened him from his sleep.</p><p></p><p>"You tell me," replied Syngaard. "Got myself woke up outta bed over at Kat's by a skeleton with my name carved into his skull. He was wearin' this around his arm." The bald fighter passed over a folded piece of parchment. Skevros looked at it and frowned. "This looks to be the Dwarven language," he observed. "I cannot read Dwarven."</p><p></p><p>"I can," piped up Orion, reaching up for the parchment. Skevros handed it over. She read the message aloud:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As Orion said the name "Alexandros" aloud, a heavy weight settled upon the group's souls, even Skevros's. "I believe we have just been targeted with a <em>bane</em> spell," he announced to the conscripts. Galen jolted as his longsword, which held the spirit of Zehkar, confirmed to the young paladin that Alexandros was the name of his brother, who later fashioned himself "The Mithral Mage."</p><p></p><p>"So Alexan--" began Syngaard before getting cut off.</p><p></p><p>"Do not say his name!" hissed Skevros. "Using his name gives him power. In fact, knowledge of his name acts as a form of phylactery for the Mithral Mage; it's why Hirek attempted to erase his name from history."</p><p></p><p>"So this Mithral Mage guy," amended Syngaard, "he's got my wife's soul?" Syngaard had stood up from the table during Orion's reading of the letter and had his hand gripped tightly around his morningstar as if ready to do battle.</p><p></p><p>Skevros frowned at the scarred fighter. "No, he has <em>my</em> wife's soul," he said.</p><p></p><p>"You sure?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes, quite - or at least he claims to have taken her soul. It's quite possible--" But then it was his turn to be interrupted before finishing his sentence.</p><p></p><p>"But not Mezz's?"</p><p></p><p>"What? No. Why would he take Messalina's soul? What would make you think that?"</p><p></p><p>"That damn skeleton showed up at Kat's with my name carved in his noggin, that's why! Why the Hell is he writing a letter to Orion and sending it to me, when it's for you in the first place? That don't make no sense!"</p><p></p><p>"It is a rather roundabout way of doing things," Skevros admitted. "Perhaps it's because of the entire group, you are the only one not camped out on my doorstep, so to speak."</p><p></p><p>"So is it true?" asked Orion. "Does the Mithral Mage have Jessica's soul with him in Dwarven Hell?" She explained to the group what she had thought of as her dream, before being awakened by Dow; now she was starting to wonder if it <em>had</em> just been a dream after all. Could it have been a <em>sending</em> of some type, or had Carl really brought her to the Celestial Planes to see the soul of Skevros's daughter, Sarah, after her mother's abduction?</p><p></p><p>"I must admit, it is unlikely," Skevros mused. "The Mithral Mage should be imprisoned in Dwarven Hell, which would make it quite impossible to kidnap the soul of my late wife from the Celestial Realms. No, I would imagine this to be an elaborate ruse, no doubt by one of the Seekers of Eternity trying to recover the astral golem I built and the book of prophecies you recently brought back from Ossirna."</p><p></p><p>"Have you had any luck deciphering the book?" asked Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"It is slow going," admitted Skevros.</p><p></p><p>"So what's the plan?" asked Syngaard. "We goin' to the Tomb of Zehkar or what?"</p><p></p><p>"Where's that?" asked Orion. She had not been part of the team sent there during their second mission for Skevros, after having slain a band of goblin raiders who laired inside the boundaries of Ashfall, the kingdom to the north. Kaspar briefly filled her in.</p><p></p><p>"I believe this will be our plan of attack," declared Skevros. "I will <em>teleport</em> you all to the Tomb of Zehkar. You will have with you what looks to be the book of prophecies and the astral golem. Upon arrival, you will meet with this alleged Mithral Mage -- and kill him and anyone with him."</p><p></p><p>"My kind of mission!" enthused Syngaard, finishing up his ale and slamming the mug back on the table. In his enthusiasm, he didn't even ask if this was a paying mission.</p><p></p><p>"If the soul of my wife is somehow there, I will naturally expect you to free her," Skevros added. Galen, Orion, and the elves all voiced their determination that they would by all means do so.</p><p></p><p>"When do we go?" asked Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"There is no time like the present," Skevros replied. "Once you have made your preparations, we will go to the outskirts of the kingdom and I will <em>teleport</em> you there directly."</p><p></p><p>At the border of the kingdom, Daleth cast a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell on himself, as well as a <em>true seeing</em> spell from the <em>staff of divination</em> he had taken from Arcturus. Galen summoned his dire lion, Burt, and cast a <em>bless</em> spell on everyone to counteract the <em>bane</em> spell from knowing the Mithral Mage's true name.</p><p></p><p>Orion looked over at Syngaard. "Well?" she asked from the seat of Carl's <em>ghost touch saddle</em>.</p><p></p><p>"Well what?"</p><p></p><p>"Aren't you going to 'whip out your Dick'?"</p><p></p><p>"Can't," replied Syngaard. "I used him twice when we was rescuin' all them refugees in the Azure Glade, remember? My Dick only works twice a week - he's still restin' up from his last bit of excitement." The bald fighter pulled the <em>bronze griffon</em> from his pocket and started rubbing him vigorously, to no effect. "See? All the rubbin' in the world won't do no good just yet." He put the figurine back into his pocket, either completely unaware of the double entendres or very good at faking it.</p><p></p><p>"If we're all ready...?" prompted Skevros, and Galen indicated they were with a nod. The king's adviser cast his spell and the conscripts vanished as one, to reappear in the Tomb of Zehkar, right before the sloping passageway from the upper level of the cave above.</p><p></p><p>In the glow from Orion and Syngaard's <em>flaming</em> weapons, the area looked much the same as it had the first time Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard had been there. They were in the largest chamber of the tomb, with a raised plinth where the statue of Zehkar had been. The runes on the plinth were all burned out, and the statue was no longer there, but there were still the side passageways leading to two smaller rooms the three conscripts had cleaned out the first time they had been through the tomb - when Galen had first taken the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> as his own. One noticeable difference was that in the back corner of the chamber was a glowing <em>magic circle</em> inscribed on the floor; it held a glowing ball of energy - a lantern archon, apparently - trapped within its diameter.</p><p></p><p>However, the conscripts were not the only people in the tomb. Standing on the plinth, in roughly the same place the statue of Zehkar had once stood, was a human wizard in silvery robes - no doubt, the same wizard who had slain the amethyst dragon the conscripts had caused to flee from Ossirna and had his head - now covered in a sheen of solid mithral - delivered to the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>. Galen's eyes narrowed; not only did he detect an aura of evil coming from the direction of the silvery-robed wizard, but he recognized the man's face from his dream - it was Alexandros, the Mithral Mage, brother to Zehkar!</p><p></p><p>Daleth's eyes narrowed as well, for a similar reason: with his <em>true seeing</em> still in effect, he not only saw the illusion of the human wizard everyone else in the room saw, but he also saw the true form hidden beneath the illusion: a skeletal being with silvery flames in its eye sockets, much like the skull of a slain druid Skevros had interrogated with an osteovox ritual. Daleth himself was cloaked in an illusion spell, courtesy of Orion's <em>hat of disguise</em>, making the elven wizard look like Skevros - or, more accurately, like the astral golem Skevros had crafted in his own image. </p><p></p><p>"So you have come," smirked the wizard with a knowing smile, his hands behind his back as if he hadn't a care in the world.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar was the first to react. Dropping the fake "book of prophecies" he'd brought as a momentary distraction - in actuality, it was Skevros's old book whose pages had been erased of all writing - reached up to touch his newly-purchased <em>amber amulet of vermin</em> and activated it as he rushed forward. A giant stag beetle the monk had decided to name <strong>John </strong> manifested behind the silver-robed wizard's left shoulder as Kaspar approached Alexandros from his right, flanking him with John. The beetle's mandibles snapped at the wizard, but failed to connect.</p><p></p><p>Galen sent his battle mount charging forward to rip at the wizard with his claws and bite at him with his over-large fangs, while the paladin on his back used a <em>smite evil</em> attack, channeling positive energy through the <em>sword of Zehkar</em>. Alexandros staggered from the blow and found himself in a tight grapple with the dire lion, who had gotten a good grip upon the lich with his jaws.</p><p></p><p>"Orion!" called Syngaard, pointing at the <em>magic circle</em> and telling her to check it out without saying so in so many words. Orion had Carl run up to the circular engraving on the stone floor and she examined it closely, looking for any magical traps that might be in place. She noted it had been carved as a <em>magic circle against good</em> with its power facing inwards, making it a magical prison to whatever was trapped within. While she was thus engaged, Carl put out a ghostly paw and ran into an invisible barrier; apparently the <em>magic circle</em> had been reinforced with a <em>wall of force</em> to prevent anyone from breaking the circle and freeing the lantern archon trapped within. If that was indeed Jessica Wrencrofft's soul in there, freeing her wasn't going to be as easy as they might have hoped....</p><p></p><p>Syngaard was ready to join the scrum against Alexandros when a sudden manifestation phased out of the wall to his right. It was a lumpy shadow that upon further inspection seemed made up of a conglomeration of numerous decapitated heads; even closer examination showed each of these heads sported a beard and dwarven facial features. Daleth responded before Syngaard could, with a <em>quickened magic missile</em> spell that sent bolts of energy flying across the chamber to strike into the mass of severed dwarven heads. But the caller in darkness (as the creature was known, when it was later described to Skevros) continued its dash across the chamber and slammed through Galen's body with ease, its incorporeal form siphoning off some of the paladin's life essence.</p><p></p><p>Changing targets in mid-charge, Syngaard sent his old morningstar crashing into the caller of darkness, hoping to smash in a couple of dwarven faces. But the weapon passed through the creature's body as if it wasn't there.</p><p></p><p>Carl suddenly turned to the wall at his left and started barking furiously. Orion turned just in time to see a greater shadow enter the chamber by passing right through the wall, but thanks to her ghost-dog's warning the little halfling was able to dodge below the undead thing's attack.</p><p></p><p>Daleth cast a <em>scorching ray</em> spell at Alexandros, channeling it through his <em>metamagic rod</em>. Both rays hit the wizard, who barely seemed to notice. But then the lich pulled his glowing hand from behind his back and touched the dire lion still holding him between his powerful jaws; in an instant, Burt had been turned to solid mithral.</p><p></p><p>Or so it had appeared. Galen, though his empathic link with his bonded mount, could tell Burt was still alive (but very much confused and panicked), imprisoned within an outer layer of mithral. The dire lion, if left unaided, would soon enough suffocate inside his mithral prison.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar dealt Alexandros a flurry of blows in retaliation for what the monk at that point thought was Burt's death. At the same time, John got a good grip around the silver-clad wizard's waist with his powerful mandibles. Kaspar saw a look of sad resignation cross Alexandros's face.</p><p></p><p>Galen slid from his mithral mount's broad back and raised the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> to strike down at Alexandros. The wizard asked wearily, "So you've come to kill me again, brother?"</p><p></p><p>"I merely wield Zehkar," answered Galen, bringing the sword crashing down upon the lich. As his skeletal form crumbled from the blow, Alexandros commented, "Many Ossirnans would <em>die</em> for the chance to be my vessel." A smile broke across the illusory form's lips before fading from view, the lich's skeleton crumbling to dust.</p><p></p><p>Before the party could celebrate the death of the Mithral Mage, Syngaard cried out in pain. The caller in darkness had sent a blast of mental energy at the scarred fighter, hoping to overpower his mind. "Good thing you don't have a mind to overcome!" Orion called from across the room as she leapt from Carl's back and flanked the greater shadow with her ghost-mount. With her enhanced vision, the result of a ritual using the ashes of Autumn Rose, she was able to discern the weak points in the negative energy lattice making up the undead creature's body. She sent her <em>flaming short sword</em> striking at one of those weak points, but the creature's incorporeality worked to its advantage and the halfling's blade passed harmlessly through it. Carl snapped at the greater shadow but, perhaps somewhat out of the habit of biting opponents after his death and rebirth as a ghost, missed as well.</p><p></p><p>Despite their ineffectual attacks, the greater shadow flew away from Orion and Carl to attack Kaspar from behind, perhaps seeking an easy target. But the monk's preternatural senses allowed him to dodge the incoming blow despite not being in a position to see it coming. He spun in place and faced his undead foe, <em>tenryutsume</em> sheathed in flames and giving off the occasional spark.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard sent his morningstar swinging three times through the body of the caller in darkness in quick succession; only one of them managed to do the creature any harm. "Damn undead!" he cried. Daleth shot at the mass of incorporeal dwarven heads with an <em>empowered magic missile</em> channeled through his <em>metamagic rod</em>, realizing that simple attack spell was guaranteed to strike even an incorporeal foe. Kaspar and John pivoted and rushed over to attack the caller in darkness, but their best efforts passed through the undead thing's insubstantial body - it was like trying to fight a cloud.</p><p></p><p>Galen dismissed Burt and the mithral statue of his dire lion vanished. The return to the Beastlands was supposed to restore his faithful mount of all wounds and afflictions; the paladin could only hope it would return him to his normal, fully-healthy state, the mithral coating being removed. But once Burt had been dismissed to his home plane, Galen no longer had an empathic link running with Burt; he'd have to wait until the next time he summoned him to see whether or not the ploy had worked.</p><p></p><p>Although still worried about Burt, Galen didn't allow such distractions to keep him out of combat with an evil opponent. The insubstantial dwarven heads had an aura that reeked of evil; Galen brought the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> swinging down into their midst, and they discorporated, each dwarven head screaming without sound as it flew off in a different direction from that of its neighbors, until there was nothing left of the beast.</p><p></p><p>That left only the greater shadow to deal with. Kaspar attacked it, drawing its focus, allowing Orion to sneak attack it from a flanking position from behind. Carl also ran up and chomped down on a shadowy appendage, his own ghostly form able to keep hold of the incorporeal being's limb. Syngaard raced up to it and swung at it with his original morningstar. (He held his <em>flaming brilliant energy morningstar</em> in his shield hand merely as a light source, since it passed through unliving matter and undead were nothing but unliving matter.) His weapon passed harmlessly through the greater shadow, but the undead thing fed greedily on the fighter's strength, causing Syngaard to swear profusely as he felt himself weakening. Daleth finally finished the shadow off with another <em>empowered magic missile</em> spell, his last daily use of his <em>metamagic rod</em>.</p><p></p><p>With no foes to fight, Orion was able to spend much more time at the <em>magic circle</em>. She finally found a way to break it, the <em>wall of force</em> having apparently vanished when Alexandros was slain. But the lantern archon held within was unresponsive - was it unconscious? (It was certainly heard to tell when the creature in question was a simple glowing ball of energy.)</p><p></p><p>Galen tried channeling a wave of healing energy through his <em>illumium scabbard</em>, and that did the trick: the lantern archon rose up from the stone floor and hovered out of the remains of the <em>magic circle</em>. <Thank you,> the archon thought at the heroes.</p><p></p><p>"Are you Jessica?" asked Orion. "Jessica Wrencrofft?"</p><p></p><p><I am indeed,> came back the reply.</p><p></p><p>"Then I think you'd better come with us," said Kaspar, pulling the <em>ring of return</em> from his robes. He held it out and the others each grabbed hold of it with one hand - Syngaard only after stirring through Alexandros's ashes looking from any dropped treasure and finding only a spellbook, which he turned over to Daleth. "Stupid undead," the fighter muttered to himself, grabbing onto the ring. Jessica hovered atop the ring and lowered herself onto it, then Kaspar said the magic word that <em>teleported</em> the group back to the border of Durnhill.</p><p></p><p>"You were successful?" asked Skevros from within the boundaries of the kingdom.</p><p></p><p>"Killed 'em all, just like you said," confirmed Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"And this is...?" asked the king's adviser, staring at the lantern archon and trying not to hope too hard.</p><p></p><p><It's me, Skevros,> replied Jessica and the wizard gave a cry of joy. They all returned to the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>, where there were five piles of four emeralds each lying around the table they used as their primary discussion area. "Your payment," Skevros said simply without elaborating. Then he and the spirit of his dead wife went into his <em>Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion</em> to talk in private.</p><p></p><p>"All right!" chortled Syngaard, grabbing up his four emeralds. "Killed the Mithral Mage and got paid doin' it!"</p><p></p><p>"You realize he isn't truly dead," pointed out Kaspar. "That body we killed was some Seeker of Eternity acting as a willing host for the Mithral Mage, who's still probably in Dwarven Hell. And there are plenty of others who will summon him forth again, to allow him to take over their own bodies."</p><p></p><p>"So we'll be fighting him again?" asked Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Indubitably," replied Daleth.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard wasn't sure what that word the elf wizard had just said meant, but his tone made it sound a whole lot like it meant "Yes." Still, that didn't faze the scarred fighter at all.</p><p></p><p>"Well great, then!" he said. "Maybe later we'll get paid to kill him all over again!"</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Once again, Logan has found a way to have us up against a villain whose death doesn't mean we've seen the end of him! But then, the majority of us are already at 11th level (and Daleth leveled up to 10th as a result of this adventure), so the campaign's over halfway finished; about time we see the main villain who's pretty much behind all of our woes.</p><p></p><p>Joey didn't show up for this session; he was fast asleep at home and his parents couldn't wake him - apparently he's a hard one to wake up when he's tired. As we haven't had any no-shows for a long time, Logan admitted he'd been out of practice writing adventures that could be scaled down to include only those who showed up, so Dan offered to run Daleth for the evening as well as Galen (and Burt, and Todd - Dan pulled quadruple duty this session!). A good thing, too, as it turned out - we really needed Daleth's <em>metamagic rod of empower</em> ramping up the damage his spells dealt, and <em>magic missiles</em> come in mighty handy when fighting incorporeal creatures!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7548674, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 34: DIRE NEGOTIATIONS[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 9 Galen Thorne, human paladin 11 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 11 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 11 Syngaard, human fighter 11[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 9 January 2019 - - - Logan had handouts waiting for us when we sat down at the gaming table again this session. Here's what we each had: - - - The rest of the party threw on clothes and headed downstairs to the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i], to find Syngaard there drinking an ale despite the early hour. Skevros entered the tavern from the door to the storage room, which also led to his permanent [i]Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion[/i] if you wore the proper ring. "What is this all about?" he demanded, Dow trailing him after having awakened him from his sleep. "You tell me," replied Syngaard. "Got myself woke up outta bed over at Kat's by a skeleton with my name carved into his skull. He was wearin' this around his arm." The bald fighter passed over a folded piece of parchment. Skevros looked at it and frowned. "This looks to be the Dwarven language," he observed. "I cannot read Dwarven." "I can," piped up Orion, reaching up for the parchment. Skevros handed it over. She read the message aloud: As Orion said the name "Alexandros" aloud, a heavy weight settled upon the group's souls, even Skevros's. "I believe we have just been targeted with a [i]bane[/i] spell," he announced to the conscripts. Galen jolted as his longsword, which held the spirit of Zehkar, confirmed to the young paladin that Alexandros was the name of his brother, who later fashioned himself "The Mithral Mage." "So Alexan--" began Syngaard before getting cut off. "Do not say his name!" hissed Skevros. "Using his name gives him power. In fact, knowledge of his name acts as a form of phylactery for the Mithral Mage; it's why Hirek attempted to erase his name from history." "So this Mithral Mage guy," amended Syngaard, "he's got my wife's soul?" Syngaard had stood up from the table during Orion's reading of the letter and had his hand gripped tightly around his morningstar as if ready to do battle. Skevros frowned at the scarred fighter. "No, he has [i]my[/i] wife's soul," he said. "You sure?" "Yes, quite - or at least he claims to have taken her soul. It's quite possible--" But then it was his turn to be interrupted before finishing his sentence. "But not Mezz's?" "What? No. Why would he take Messalina's soul? What would make you think that?" "That damn skeleton showed up at Kat's with my name carved in his noggin, that's why! Why the Hell is he writing a letter to Orion and sending it to me, when it's for you in the first place? That don't make no sense!" "It is a rather roundabout way of doing things," Skevros admitted. "Perhaps it's because of the entire group, you are the only one not camped out on my doorstep, so to speak." "So is it true?" asked Orion. "Does the Mithral Mage have Jessica's soul with him in Dwarven Hell?" She explained to the group what she had thought of as her dream, before being awakened by Dow; now she was starting to wonder if it [i]had[/i] just been a dream after all. Could it have been a [i]sending[/i] of some type, or had Carl really brought her to the Celestial Planes to see the soul of Skevros's daughter, Sarah, after her mother's abduction? "I must admit, it is unlikely," Skevros mused. "The Mithral Mage should be imprisoned in Dwarven Hell, which would make it quite impossible to kidnap the soul of my late wife from the Celestial Realms. No, I would imagine this to be an elaborate ruse, no doubt by one of the Seekers of Eternity trying to recover the astral golem I built and the book of prophecies you recently brought back from Ossirna." "Have you had any luck deciphering the book?" asked Daleth. "It is slow going," admitted Skevros. "So what's the plan?" asked Syngaard. "We goin' to the Tomb of Zehkar or what?" "Where's that?" asked Orion. She had not been part of the team sent there during their second mission for Skevros, after having slain a band of goblin raiders who laired inside the boundaries of Ashfall, the kingdom to the north. Kaspar briefly filled her in. "I believe this will be our plan of attack," declared Skevros. "I will [i]teleport[/i] you all to the Tomb of Zehkar. You will have with you what looks to be the book of prophecies and the astral golem. Upon arrival, you will meet with this alleged Mithral Mage -- and kill him and anyone with him." "My kind of mission!" enthused Syngaard, finishing up his ale and slamming the mug back on the table. In his enthusiasm, he didn't even ask if this was a paying mission. "If the soul of my wife is somehow there, I will naturally expect you to free her," Skevros added. Galen, Orion, and the elves all voiced their determination that they would by all means do so. "When do we go?" asked Syngaard. "There is no time like the present," Skevros replied. "Once you have made your preparations, we will go to the outskirts of the kingdom and I will [i]teleport[/i] you there directly." At the border of the kingdom, Daleth cast a [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spell on himself, as well as a [i]true seeing[/i] spell from the [i]staff of divination[/i] he had taken from Arcturus. Galen summoned his dire lion, Burt, and cast a [i]bless[/i] spell on everyone to counteract the [i]bane[/i] spell from knowing the Mithral Mage's true name. Orion looked over at Syngaard. "Well?" she asked from the seat of Carl's [i]ghost touch saddle[/i]. "Well what?" "Aren't you going to 'whip out your Dick'?" "Can't," replied Syngaard. "I used him twice when we was rescuin' all them refugees in the Azure Glade, remember? My Dick only works twice a week - he's still restin' up from his last bit of excitement." The bald fighter pulled the [i]bronze griffon[/i] from his pocket and started rubbing him vigorously, to no effect. "See? All the rubbin' in the world won't do no good just yet." He put the figurine back into his pocket, either completely unaware of the double entendres or very good at faking it. "If we're all ready...?" prompted Skevros, and Galen indicated they were with a nod. The king's adviser cast his spell and the conscripts vanished as one, to reappear in the Tomb of Zehkar, right before the sloping passageway from the upper level of the cave above. In the glow from Orion and Syngaard's [i]flaming[/i] weapons, the area looked much the same as it had the first time Galen, Kaspar, and Syngaard had been there. They were in the largest chamber of the tomb, with a raised plinth where the statue of Zehkar had been. The runes on the plinth were all burned out, and the statue was no longer there, but there were still the side passageways leading to two smaller rooms the three conscripts had cleaned out the first time they had been through the tomb - when Galen had first taken the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] as his own. One noticeable difference was that in the back corner of the chamber was a glowing [i]magic circle[/i] inscribed on the floor; it held a glowing ball of energy - a lantern archon, apparently - trapped within its diameter. However, the conscripts were not the only people in the tomb. Standing on the plinth, in roughly the same place the statue of Zehkar had once stood, was a human wizard in silvery robes - no doubt, the same wizard who had slain the amethyst dragon the conscripts had caused to flee from Ossirna and had his head - now covered in a sheen of solid mithral - delivered to the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i]. Galen's eyes narrowed; not only did he detect an aura of evil coming from the direction of the silvery-robed wizard, but he recognized the man's face from his dream - it was Alexandros, the Mithral Mage, brother to Zehkar! Daleth's eyes narrowed as well, for a similar reason: with his [i]true seeing[/i] still in effect, he not only saw the illusion of the human wizard everyone else in the room saw, but he also saw the true form hidden beneath the illusion: a skeletal being with silvery flames in its eye sockets, much like the skull of a slain druid Skevros had interrogated with an osteovox ritual. Daleth himself was cloaked in an illusion spell, courtesy of Orion's [i]hat of disguise[/i], making the elven wizard look like Skevros - or, more accurately, like the astral golem Skevros had crafted in his own image. "So you have come," smirked the wizard with a knowing smile, his hands behind his back as if he hadn't a care in the world. Kaspar was the first to react. Dropping the fake "book of prophecies" he'd brought as a momentary distraction - in actuality, it was Skevros's old book whose pages had been erased of all writing - reached up to touch his newly-purchased [i]amber amulet of vermin[/i] and activated it as he rushed forward. A giant stag beetle the monk had decided to name [b]John [/b] manifested behind the silver-robed wizard's left shoulder as Kaspar approached Alexandros from his right, flanking him with John. The beetle's mandibles snapped at the wizard, but failed to connect. Galen sent his battle mount charging forward to rip at the wizard with his claws and bite at him with his over-large fangs, while the paladin on his back used a [i]smite evil[/i] attack, channeling positive energy through the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i]. Alexandros staggered from the blow and found himself in a tight grapple with the dire lion, who had gotten a good grip upon the lich with his jaws. "Orion!" called Syngaard, pointing at the [i]magic circle[/i] and telling her to check it out without saying so in so many words. Orion had Carl run up to the circular engraving on the stone floor and she examined it closely, looking for any magical traps that might be in place. She noted it had been carved as a [i]magic circle against good[/i] with its power facing inwards, making it a magical prison to whatever was trapped within. While she was thus engaged, Carl put out a ghostly paw and ran into an invisible barrier; apparently the [i]magic circle[/i] had been reinforced with a [i]wall of force[/i] to prevent anyone from breaking the circle and freeing the lantern archon trapped within. If that was indeed Jessica Wrencrofft's soul in there, freeing her wasn't going to be as easy as they might have hoped.... Syngaard was ready to join the scrum against Alexandros when a sudden manifestation phased out of the wall to his right. It was a lumpy shadow that upon further inspection seemed made up of a conglomeration of numerous decapitated heads; even closer examination showed each of these heads sported a beard and dwarven facial features. Daleth responded before Syngaard could, with a [i]quickened magic missile[/i] spell that sent bolts of energy flying across the chamber to strike into the mass of severed dwarven heads. But the caller in darkness (as the creature was known, when it was later described to Skevros) continued its dash across the chamber and slammed through Galen's body with ease, its incorporeal form siphoning off some of the paladin's life essence. Changing targets in mid-charge, Syngaard sent his old morningstar crashing into the caller of darkness, hoping to smash in a couple of dwarven faces. But the weapon passed through the creature's body as if it wasn't there. Carl suddenly turned to the wall at his left and started barking furiously. Orion turned just in time to see a greater shadow enter the chamber by passing right through the wall, but thanks to her ghost-dog's warning the little halfling was able to dodge below the undead thing's attack. Daleth cast a [i]scorching ray[/i] spell at Alexandros, channeling it through his [i]metamagic rod[/i]. Both rays hit the wizard, who barely seemed to notice. But then the lich pulled his glowing hand from behind his back and touched the dire lion still holding him between his powerful jaws; in an instant, Burt had been turned to solid mithral. Or so it had appeared. Galen, though his empathic link with his bonded mount, could tell Burt was still alive (but very much confused and panicked), imprisoned within an outer layer of mithral. The dire lion, if left unaided, would soon enough suffocate inside his mithral prison. Kaspar dealt Alexandros a flurry of blows in retaliation for what the monk at that point thought was Burt's death. At the same time, John got a good grip around the silver-clad wizard's waist with his powerful mandibles. Kaspar saw a look of sad resignation cross Alexandros's face. Galen slid from his mithral mount's broad back and raised the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] to strike down at Alexandros. The wizard asked wearily, "So you've come to kill me again, brother?" "I merely wield Zehkar," answered Galen, bringing the sword crashing down upon the lich. As his skeletal form crumbled from the blow, Alexandros commented, "Many Ossirnans would [i]die[/i] for the chance to be my vessel." A smile broke across the illusory form's lips before fading from view, the lich's skeleton crumbling to dust. Before the party could celebrate the death of the Mithral Mage, Syngaard cried out in pain. The caller in darkness had sent a blast of mental energy at the scarred fighter, hoping to overpower his mind. "Good thing you don't have a mind to overcome!" Orion called from across the room as she leapt from Carl's back and flanked the greater shadow with her ghost-mount. With her enhanced vision, the result of a ritual using the ashes of Autumn Rose, she was able to discern the weak points in the negative energy lattice making up the undead creature's body. She sent her [i]flaming short sword[/i] striking at one of those weak points, but the creature's incorporeality worked to its advantage and the halfling's blade passed harmlessly through it. Carl snapped at the greater shadow but, perhaps somewhat out of the habit of biting opponents after his death and rebirth as a ghost, missed as well. Despite their ineffectual attacks, the greater shadow flew away from Orion and Carl to attack Kaspar from behind, perhaps seeking an easy target. But the monk's preternatural senses allowed him to dodge the incoming blow despite not being in a position to see it coming. He spun in place and faced his undead foe, [i]tenryutsume[/i] sheathed in flames and giving off the occasional spark. Syngaard sent his morningstar swinging three times through the body of the caller in darkness in quick succession; only one of them managed to do the creature any harm. "Damn undead!" he cried. Daleth shot at the mass of incorporeal dwarven heads with an [i]empowered magic missile[/i] channeled through his [i]metamagic rod[/i], realizing that simple attack spell was guaranteed to strike even an incorporeal foe. Kaspar and John pivoted and rushed over to attack the caller in darkness, but their best efforts passed through the undead thing's insubstantial body - it was like trying to fight a cloud. Galen dismissed Burt and the mithral statue of his dire lion vanished. The return to the Beastlands was supposed to restore his faithful mount of all wounds and afflictions; the paladin could only hope it would return him to his normal, fully-healthy state, the mithral coating being removed. But once Burt had been dismissed to his home plane, Galen no longer had an empathic link running with Burt; he'd have to wait until the next time he summoned him to see whether or not the ploy had worked. Although still worried about Burt, Galen didn't allow such distractions to keep him out of combat with an evil opponent. The insubstantial dwarven heads had an aura that reeked of evil; Galen brought the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] swinging down into their midst, and they discorporated, each dwarven head screaming without sound as it flew off in a different direction from that of its neighbors, until there was nothing left of the beast. That left only the greater shadow to deal with. Kaspar attacked it, drawing its focus, allowing Orion to sneak attack it from a flanking position from behind. Carl also ran up and chomped down on a shadowy appendage, his own ghostly form able to keep hold of the incorporeal being's limb. Syngaard raced up to it and swung at it with his original morningstar. (He held his [i]flaming brilliant energy morningstar[/i] in his shield hand merely as a light source, since it passed through unliving matter and undead were nothing but unliving matter.) His weapon passed harmlessly through the greater shadow, but the undead thing fed greedily on the fighter's strength, causing Syngaard to swear profusely as he felt himself weakening. Daleth finally finished the shadow off with another [i]empowered magic missile[/i] spell, his last daily use of his [i]metamagic rod[/i]. With no foes to fight, Orion was able to spend much more time at the [i]magic circle[/i]. She finally found a way to break it, the [i]wall of force[/i] having apparently vanished when Alexandros was slain. But the lantern archon held within was unresponsive - was it unconscious? (It was certainly heard to tell when the creature in question was a simple glowing ball of energy.) Galen tried channeling a wave of healing energy through his [i]illumium scabbard[/i], and that did the trick: the lantern archon rose up from the stone floor and hovered out of the remains of the [i]magic circle[/i]. <Thank you,> the archon thought at the heroes. "Are you Jessica?" asked Orion. "Jessica Wrencrofft?" <I am indeed,> came back the reply. "Then I think you'd better come with us," said Kaspar, pulling the [i]ring of return[/i] from his robes. He held it out and the others each grabbed hold of it with one hand - Syngaard only after stirring through Alexandros's ashes looking from any dropped treasure and finding only a spellbook, which he turned over to Daleth. "Stupid undead," the fighter muttered to himself, grabbing onto the ring. Jessica hovered atop the ring and lowered herself onto it, then Kaspar said the magic word that [i]teleported[/i] the group back to the border of Durnhill. "You were successful?" asked Skevros from within the boundaries of the kingdom. "Killed 'em all, just like you said," confirmed Syngaard. "And this is...?" asked the king's adviser, staring at the lantern archon and trying not to hope too hard. <It's me, Skevros,> replied Jessica and the wizard gave a cry of joy. They all returned to the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i], where there were five piles of four emeralds each lying around the table they used as their primary discussion area. "Your payment," Skevros said simply without elaborating. Then he and the spirit of his dead wife went into his [i]Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion[/i] to talk in private. "All right!" chortled Syngaard, grabbing up his four emeralds. "Killed the Mithral Mage and got paid doin' it!" "You realize he isn't truly dead," pointed out Kaspar. "That body we killed was some Seeker of Eternity acting as a willing host for the Mithral Mage, who's still probably in Dwarven Hell. And there are plenty of others who will summon him forth again, to allow him to take over their own bodies." "So we'll be fighting him again?" asked Syngaard. "Indubitably," replied Daleth. Syngaard wasn't sure what that word the elf wizard had just said meant, but his tone made it sound a whole lot like it meant "Yes." Still, that didn't faze the scarred fighter at all. "Well great, then!" he said. "Maybe later we'll get paid to kill him all over again!" - - - Once again, Logan has found a way to have us up against a villain whose death doesn't mean we've seen the end of him! But then, the majority of us are already at 11th level (and Daleth leveled up to 10th as a result of this adventure), so the campaign's over halfway finished; about time we see the main villain who's pretty much behind all of our woes. Joey didn't show up for this session; he was fast asleep at home and his parents couldn't wake him - apparently he's a hard one to wake up when he's tired. As we haven't had any no-shows for a long time, Logan admitted he'd been out of practice writing adventures that could be scaled down to include only those who showed up, so Dan offered to run Daleth for the evening as well as Galen (and Burt, and Todd - Dan pulled quadruple duty this session!). A good thing, too, as it turned out - we really needed Daleth's [i]metamagic rod of empower[/i] ramping up the damage his spells dealt, and [i]magic missiles[/i] come in mighty handy when fighting incorporeal creatures! [/QUOTE]
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