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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 7402428" data-attributes="member: 23">SESSION 26 What a disaster! We have returned to the boat, with the golem intact. Unfortunately, Kellindel and Gorca are not intact; they were killed on the island. Our initial landing was very successful. We waded onto the beach, and were quickly attacked by six incredibly ugly cyclopskins. Their leader wielded a magic shield and hammer, but he was soon dispatched, thanks to a sunscorch and Gorca's hammer. The rest fell to Kellindel's flashing blades very quickly. The temple stood a hundred yards up the hill, and we began our climb toward it. Suleiman summoned Tanvil, and sent him ahead to explore. He did not return, so we charged up the hill, cast prayer and bless at the entrance, and ran inside the temple. There was no sign of Tanvil; only a small scattering of bloody fur lay in the middle of the temple. We surmised that the temple's guardians must have killed Tanvil, and set about exploring cautiously. We could see a set of stairs leading down at the back of the temple, and statues of the gods, their features distorted into cruel mockeries of the Olympians, lined the walls. Suleiman walked to the spot that seemed to mark Tanvil's final stand, and was suddenly attacked by several margoyles! They battered him brutally, but we came to his aid quickly; he used the ring of jumping to leap away. He used the wand of flame's burning hands power on one of the margoyles, and it actually worked. Apparently, we are far enough away from Ionia to be beyond Hecate's control of magic. Gorca, using the magical hammer of striking taken from the cyclopskin, killed two of the margoyles. Finis killed the other one. There was still no sign of Tanvil, but we continued our search. Several bones seemed to jut out from a ledge that ran around the temple, near the ceiling. Suleiman cast levitate to investigate, and was surprised to see several young margoyles in a nest. We dispatched the foul beasts with arrows, and searched the area. A large assortment of magic items was stashed on the ledge; a flask, four javelins, a discus made of gray metal, and, miraculously, Tanvil's statue! The javelins have the symbol of Artemis on them, and I suspect that they may be very powerful weapons. None of us can use them well, so we are holding them for an emergency. We proceeded to the staircase, and descended slowly. After about forty feet, it opened onto a room. Kellindel and I approached the entrance, but two tentacles lashed out at us from the floor! They missed, and we withdrew beyond their range. I tossed a continual light rock into the room, and a grisly sight greeted us. The floor was covered with bones and armor, and an imposing column of stone glared at us with a single eye. Suleiman, who was growing weary of the island's annoying defenders, told us to step back. He checked his ring of fire resistance to make sure that he was wearing it, and cast a huge fireball into the room. The reverberation echoed for some time, but we did not wait for the sound to fade. Suleiman stepped up to examine the result--the column had abandoned its stone facade; it was obvious that it was some kind of monster. He blasted it with a magic missile, and it fell over, dead. Our encyclopedia suggests that it may have been a Stone Roper. A brief search of the room turned up nothing, except for a single sword. It was stuck in the back of the stone roper--perhaps a previous interloper's desperate last stab. Suleiman picked it up, and it instantly began to speak aloud! It spoke in Isutian and Bengali--only I could understand it, as I am wearing the helm. It said that its name was Dacla Iman, and it continually asked us who we were. None of us speak Isutian or Bengali, so Suleiman shrugged and strapped it across his back. It seems to be one of those rare Khopesh swords. I picked up the continual light rock, and tossed it down a hallway which led out of the room. We were surprised to see it hit a huge door and fall to the ground. The door is at least twenty feet tall, and a riddle was inscribed on it. It said "What are these Olympians together worth? Goddess of Victory I The Sun God III..." The list of titles, each with a corresponding number, continued. We came up with the following names, which I will write with their number: Nike I Apollo III Demeter V Hades I Artemis VI Athena V Gaia I After a brief, intense discussion, Kellindel and I found the answer to the riddle: Nothing. Match the number to the corresponding letters in the names, and you will see. We prepared ourselves for a fight; I prayed and blessed the group, as they drew their weapons and Urym sang an inspiring tune. As soon as I had pronounced the word "nothing", the doors slowly swung open, revealing a strange scene. The floor of the room was littered with skeletons, armor and weapons, but all the metal had taken on a gray, dull look. A statue of gold--obviously the golem known as the Golden Forger--stood in the middle of the room. Two shapes moved among the bones and metal--small, dark bear-like creatures, which froze upon seeing us. They stood there, glaring at us, and began to take on the color of the stone under their feet. We were not sure what was happening, so we waited for them to charge us. We should have attacked when we had a chance. They leaped at us, tearing at our armor. Suleiman sent magic missiles flying at one, but they dissipated without having any effect. As one clawed at Kellindel's elven chain, the armor turned gray and crumbled to dust--leaving Kellindel unprotected! He swung valiantly at the beast, and struck it down. The other creature struck Daito, destroying the magical Githyanki splint mail and the magic shield. It seemed to gain strength from the magic armor, and inexplicably gave up on Daito and turned to attack Kellindel. With two terrible blows, it knocked Kellindel to the ground, dead. Daito tried to hold it off, but it knocked him down, destroying his shield. I dragged Daito away and Gorca stepped up to hold the line. I cast Fury of Prometheus--which had no effect! Gorca was the next to fall. In desperation, Suleiman used the wand of flame to encircle the beast with a wall of fire. Unfortunately, Gorca was also trapped inside, but there was nothing else to do. The creature seemed to be affected by the magical flames--it was badly burnt, and then died trying to jump out of the flames. Just to make sure they were dead, we beat the creatures into a bloody pulp, and tried to rouse Daito. With a little curative magic, Daito was back on his feet. The loss of Gorca and Kellindel lay heavily upon us, but we had to attend to the task of getting the Golden Forger to the boat. Gorca would have been able to activate and control the golem, but as he was no longer with us, we searched for another way to move the massive gold figure. Finis used stone shape to create several rollers, and we carefully tipped the golem onto them. Rolling the statue to the stairs was easy (especially since I donned the Gauntlets of Hephaestus, that Kellindel had been wearing). Getting him up the stairs was difficult. We tied a rope around it, and used the rollers to slowly, painfully tug the heavy golem up the stairs. Fortunately, the stairs were not very steep; it took us quite a while, but we got it up the stairs. We surveyed the island, to make sure that all was as we left it. Strangely, we could see a lone man, clinging to piece of wood, floating near the beach. He seemed to be the survivor of a shipwreck. Suleiman donned Finis' boots of speed, and the cloak of elvenkind, and ran down to the beach. After getting a closer look at the man, he emerged from the rocks and helped him onto the shore. The man has introduced himself as Thadeus McGrue; he is a Cimbrian, and he speaks only Cimbrian. He recalls only that he was on a ship called the Clover. Thadeus is quite secretive, to the point of being annoying--he is something of a caudex. Still, he helped us move the golem after we gave him some water; I suppose we could keep him around until he gets "back on his feet", so to speak. Our next task was moving the statue down to the beach. While we carefully, methodically rolled it down the hill, Daito shot a flaming arrow into the air--a signal to our boat that we were ready to leave. The crew cautiously rowed the boat near to the shore, and helped us move the Golden Forger onto the boat. It took the rest of the afternoon, but we were successful. I have wrapped Gorca and Kellindel in bandages, so as to preserve their bodies. I intend to ask Actinos to resurrect them--we are not pawns to be used to further his ends; I will not allow members of the Pentachromata to be sacrificed for Hephaestus! Upon reading over what I have just written, I realized that Kellindel was never officially inducted into the Pentachromata. Because he has died in our defense, I think he has earned a full membership. Even if he cannot be resurrected, we can make him a posthumous member. The very idea of being sent out here to this desolate rock, only because Actinos is too selfish to give us a little information, infuriates me. I am so angry that I am having difficulty sleeping; I must calm down. Perhaps a night of rest will settle my temper. September 22nd The ship continues sailing east to Urbs Deorum. Thadeus is still evasive in his answers to our questions. This only serves to irritate me further. I am tired of being toyed with! It seems that it will take more than rest to satisfy my anger. We shall see what answers Actinos has for us when we return. Kellindel's falcon is very distraught over his death. Finis has managed to calm it down, but it is still not eating enough. September 23rd My anger has been partially reduced; in some ways, things look better than they did yesterday. In other ways, the future looks grim indeed. I have some understanding why Prometheus sent for me. We arrived at Urbs Deorum late in the evening. The priests of Hephaestus seemed reluctant to let us in, especially with the corpses of Kellindel and Gorca slung over our shoulders. We were finally taken to the door of Actinos' office and asked to wait. The door opened shortly, and Actinos asked us to come in. Angrily, I dumped Kellindel's body on his desk, and Suleiman dumped Gorca's body next to Kellindel's. Actinos was, naturally, shocked. I demanded that he answer our questions, now that we had returned the Forger, and that he resurrect Kellindel and Gorca, who had both died in service to this temple. Actinos was angry at first, but when he heard that we had retrieved the Golden Forger, he became much more accommodating. He then revealed the secret he had been holding from us. Prepare yourself! This is shocking indeed. The Hammer of Hephaestus, a mighty artifact used to forge magical weapons, was stolen from the temple of Hephaestus in Urbs Deorum several weeks ago. This much we knew. Actinos dispatched a group of priests to Anarchopolis in the hope of catching the thieves, but they were, of course, killed before they even docked their boat. Actinos has evidence--specifically, pieces of rock found in the room from which the Hammer of Hephaestus was taken--suggesting that the thief came from the Red Mountains, to the east. In fact, a casting of stone tell revealed that the thief came from the Mountain of Lament--the mountain to which Prometheus was bound for millennia! He now suspects that the thief has gone to Tephut-Reh, a port in the Isutian Colony to the south. An Amazon, Narissa, has also been in pursuit of the thief. She gave Actinos a girdle of cyclopean strength in exchange for the same information Actinos has given us. He does not know why the Amazon is after the thief, but he said that he suspects the thief is from the Taygete League. This makes me wonder whether the thief is my sister Damara after all--but if my sister is capable of throwing in with the Synod, perhaps she could sink even lower. I do not need to tell you how dangerous the Hammer of Hephaestus would be in the hands of the Taygete League. Still, I wonder why the thief visited the Mountain of Lament. Actinos has agreed to resurrect Kellindel, if I will accept a geas cast upon me. The geas will require me to retrieve the Hammer of Hephaestus and return it to the temple. I find this arrangement to be more than fair--especially as I was planning to do this anyway. I suppose that Actinos, in a way, is getting a bad deal. For some reason, I do not feel the least bit guilty. The geas and resurrection will take place tomorrow morning. Actinos has refused to resurrect Gorca, saying that he died in service to Hephaestus, and that he knew the risks when he got involved. Before going to bed (once again, we are staying at the Pilgrim), we looked up the armor-destroying creatures on the island. Nelbar's Encyclopedia says that they are called Zorba. I will have to remember to avoid zorba in the future, at all costs. September 24th With freshly cooked rabbit in my stomach, and the stars shining clearly above, I can happily say that this has been a pleasant day of travel. The day began at the temple of Hephaestus, where Actinos placed a geas upon me. I do not feel very different, and I suppose that I will not unless I deviate from my appointed task. Once the geas had been cast, Actinos resurrected Kellindel, who was both surprised and grateful. He seemed amazed that I had accepted a geas in exchange for his life. We happily informed him that he was now an official member of the Pentachromata, and then filled him in on the details of the past few days. The priests of Hephaestus have arranged a guide for us, to take us to the Mountain of Lament, so that we may find out what the thief was doing there. Our guide is named Epiderus; he has two ornthras as pack animals. Our next task was to purchase sufficient supplies. We bought several days' worth of rations, as well as some rope and other assorted items. Perhaps most importantly, we bought new patches, with the symbol of the Pentachromata, to sew onto our sleeves. Kellindel seems to be very humbled and excited by it all, and he even paid for it all with one of his diamonds. We left Urbs Deorum while the day was still young, exiting through the imposing East Gate. The road led south, then southeast. It was clear that this road was not used often. It was not long before we reached the foothills of the Red Mountains, and began our slow ascent. Thadeus (who decided to go with us, as he doesn't speak Ionian and apparently doesn't have anything better to do) has had some trouble keeping up with us, but he has been quiet for most of the day. Nonetheless, we managed to locate some herbs to soothe the pain in his legs. Kellindel surprised us by bringing a rabbit his falcon had caught to the camp. He and Urym cooked it with great skill; we were all impressed. I hope that the rest of our trip to the Mountain of Lament goes so smoothly! September 25th The road into the mountains has become a trail, and the angle of ascent has increased sharply. Fortunately, the hot, humid air of Urbs Deorum is being replaced by the cool, dry (albeit thin) mountain air. A few Aarakocra have been spotted circling overhead, but they have not attempted to communicate with us. We can still see the ocean from our campsite. It is somewhat reassuring, for some reason. September 26th Our path today led us into a canyon--and a trap. It seems that the Synod is trying to stop us from reaching the mountain. While walking through the canyon, Daito noticed movement in the rocks above. Epiderus suggested that it was probably nothing, but something in his tone seemed wrong. He began to walk further ahead. Suleiman and Thadeus began scaling the canyon wall, when Epiderus suddenly broke into a run. Kellindel froze him in place with a hold person, and Epiderus fell to the ground, breaking his arm. Two men appeared on the cliff above, dropping large rocks on Thadeus and Suleiman. Both fell, and Thadeus was badly jarred. It was then clear that we had walked into a trap; twelve men with slings stood on the top of one canyon wall, and four cyclopskins with polearms marched up the trail toward us. Suleiman, who had recovered from his fall by now, took a great risk and cast fireball on the slingmen. The spell went awry, of course, due to the interference of Hecate, but in our favor this time--two fireballs shot from his finger, exploding in the midst of the slingmen. When the roar faded from our ears, there was little left of that group of attackers. I turned on the advancing cyclopskins and set them alight with a produce fire spell. One fell to the spell, while Kellindel killed two more, and Daito finished off the last one. We were out of danger for the moment, so we turned to Epiderus, who still lay frozen on the ground. I set his arm, and healed some of the damage done to him. We disarmed and bound him, and Kellindel released him from the spell. A quick interrogation revealed that he had been hired by two men from Anarchopolis--apparently one was a member of the Cult of Pythagoras; the identity of the other is uncertain. Thadeus searched through Epiderus' belongings, finding a coded message. Epiderus said that the message was supposed to be left under a rock, notifying our pursuers that we did not suspect him, and that we were continuing forward. We forced Epiderus to leave a false note, saying that we had defeated the ambush, but we did not suspect him yet (Suleiman used the necklace of ESP to make sure he did not try to trick us). Perhaps we can lure anyone still following us into a trap of our own. Our camp has been made; Epiderus sleeps under our watchful eyes. Kellindel and I are now retiring, so that Urym and Daito can take watch. September 28th Yes, I have skipped September 27th; I was unable to write yesterday, as I spent most of the day in Urbs Deorum without my paper and ink. Daito and Finis were in desperate need of powerful healing magic, which could only be obtained in Urbs Deorum. Finis and Suleiman were just about finished with their watch yesterday morning when the attack began. Finis and Daito woke us up as a spell went off, centered on the campsite. Kellindel and I were affected, and ended up wandering around in a daze through the rest of the combat; it was some kind of confusion spell. I had to piece together what happened from what Suleiman and Finis told me after the spell wore off. A man appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and attacked Finis. Finis raised his staff to defend himself, but the man cut off Finis' arm! To make matters worse, a gorgon (the metallic bull kind, not the medusa kind) came charging down a hill toward us. Most of the party was able to disbelieve in the illusion, and Suleiman set out to find the spellcaster. It did not take long to locate him; unfortunately, the spellcaster saw Suleiman as well. He tossed what appeared to be a small ball of fur in his direction, and it grew into a large crocodile! Suleiman used the ring of jumping to leap over the crocodile, and land next to the surprised spellcaster. Suleiman managed to strike him once, but the spellcaster disappeared, without even casting a spell. The wizard had left a small bag behind, so Suleiman grabbed it, leaped over the crocodile again, and ran to assist the rest of the party. Things were not going well; Daito was squaring off against the man with the deadly sword. Finis had turned into a snake and slithered away after having his arm cut off, but had managed to get behind the warrior and turn into a huge, one-pawed bear. The warrior sliced off one of Daito's legs, turned, and was about to take off one of Finis' legs when Suleiman cast a hold person. Miraculously, it worked, freezing the swordsman in place. Soon afterwards, Kellindel and I recovered from the effects of the confusion spell, to find the party in terrible condition. Finis was missing an arm, and Daito a leg. The crocodile had disappeared, and a ball of fur appeared in the bag Suleiman had picked up. Suleiman's magic sword began speaking again, and I translated using the helm of comprehend languages. It was saying an evil sword was nearby. Suleiman pointed Dacla Iman at the (still held) warrior's sword of sharpness, and it confirmed Suleiman's suspicion. With one mighty swing, Suleiman destroyed the sword of sharpness. We also found a magic ring, bracers, and a spoon on the warrior. Kellindel knocked the warrior unconscious, and we tied him to a boulder. His identity was now obvious; he was Solon, the man from the "shop" in Anarchopolis, who had been Leander's Synod contact. We decided that our quest was hopeless without Daito's sword, and Finis' spells, so we took drastic action: I summoned a Fiery Pegasus, Finis turned into a bird and hopped on my shoulder, and I slung Daito over my other shoulder, careful not to let him get burned. We flew to Urbs Deorum as fast as the Pegasus would carry us. As we flew, a group of Aarakocra formed a formation around us. I explained our situation to one of them. He seemed to understand, but he did not speak, or was not capable of speaking, well enough to reply. I could have understood whatever he said, thanks to the helm of comprehend languages, but he chose not to speak. The continued to guard us all the way to Urbs Deorum, where I gave them a friendly wave, and they returned to the mountains. It was shortly after lunch when I brought the Pegasus roaring down in front of the temple of Hephaestus (inadvertently frightening a few onlookers). Strangely, the priests didn't seem to know who we were at first, but they eventually let us in. Much to my surprise, Actinos offered to cast regenerate on them at no charge--perhaps he finally saw that the recovery of the Hammer of Hephaestus depended on the success of the Pentachromata. He did tell me that he expected the Gauntlets of Hephaestus to be returned once we had found the Hammer. Finis, Daito, and I spent the night at the Pilgrim again, and set out on another Fiery Pegasus first thing in the morning. Back in the mountains, the party had experimented with the magical items taken from the Synod attackers, and determined their uses. They turned out to be bracers of defense, a ring of protection, and a spoon of sustenance. Suleiman was able to determine the use of the bag with fuzz in it; apparently, the user may throw the ball, and it will turn into some kind of animal which obeys the caster. He has determined that it is able to be come both a crocodile and a war ornthra, and possibly other creatures as well. Every time it is used, the ball of fur reappears in the bag after the creature disappears. They interrogated Solon for much of the day; he claimed that his attacks on us were a favor for Damara. He tried to bribe the party to release him, but that, of course, did not work. They left him tied to the rock as they awaited my return. Indeed, we did return, around noon today, September 27th. After we explained to each other what had happened in our absence, we discussed the fate of Solon. Thadeus came up with the novel idea of drugging him with local plants and leaving him tied, a knife at his feet. After a brief search, we found the appropriate plants, drugged him, and resumed our march to the Mountain of Lament. Epiderus has led us ever higher and deeper into the mountains; the sea is only occasionally visible now, and it grows colder as we ascend. The winds make it even more uncomfortable. Still, we are making good progress. September 29th The sea was lost from view completely today. The winds have slowed, and an eerie quiet has settled over the trail. Thadeus seems to be getting used to the marching. September 30th Another quiet day. September 31st The silence was abruptly broken at dusk, when the sound of strange howling filled the air. Epiderus and I think that it must be the sound of death dogs, the children of Cerebus. Their two heads make haunting, two-tone howls. I've never encountered such creatures before; we will try to give them a wide berth. October 1st We have reached and ascended the holy mountain, and we have suspicions about why the thieves came here. I hope that we are capable of stopping this foul plot! The mountain was first visible as we rounded a corner on the trail. While the rest of the Red Mountains are, of course, red, the Mountain of Lament is made of gray stone. In fact, it looks more like a huge pillar than a mountain. After reaching the base of the mountain, and after I had finished my prayers at this most holy site, we began to search for a way to reach the top. We walked around it, hoping to find a trail or staircase. Kellindel spotted a human corpse in some shrubs, and we began to look around. Our search soon uncovered six more bodies, and a death dog. The large, two-headed dog was orangish in color, and, like the corpses, had no cuts or bruises, suggesting that poison or magic might be the cause of death. Kellindel's keen eyes continued to scan the area, and he soon deduced that two groups had been here. One headed north, and consisted of sandal prints and strange, unidentifiable prints, that looked like an army of peg-legged men. The other group headed south, and consisted of boots and pawprints. Both sets of tracks were around two weeks old. Further inspection of the corpses led us to suspect that they may have been slaves. I decided that we needed more information, so I cast speak with dead upon one of the corpses. The spirit revealed that he was killed by a gas cloud, and that he was brought here by his masters, the priests of Ares. Further searching revealed a narrow path, leading to the top of the mountain. After hours of climbing, we reached the top. A shocking scene awaited us there. Two huge chains were attached to the stone. One chain ended in a massive manacle--big enough for all of the Pentachromata to stand inside! The other chain ended only in a melted link. I prayed again, and we began our search. We soon found three Zek K'tri, which were obviously the creatures that made the strange peg-like tracks below. They had been killed by sword blows, although it is not clear why a battle occurred here. It was also not clear why the manacle had been taken, but Suleiman soon came up with an idea--with the Hammer of Hephaestus, the manacle could be forged into a terrible weapon. Actually, considering how huge the manacle is, it could be made into many terrible weapons, and several suits of impenetrable armor. Obviously, such arms and armor would be used for evil purposes. The thieves must be stopped On the way back down the mountain, it was decided that we would follow the tracks to the north, as they head towards Urbs Deorum and the ocean. The thieves probably had a ship waiting. We know that the thief who stole the Hammer of Hephaestus went first to Anarchopolis, and then to Tephut-reh. It is likely that those who stole the manacle also went to Tephut-reh. Therefore, we will go to Tephut-reh as quickly as possible. Finis and Urym have decided that they will go to Aresopolis to investigate the other set of tracks, as well as pick up whatever other information they can. I am curious about how the priests of Ares are involved, exactly. Finis can, of course, change into a bird and fly, and Urym will wear the boots of speed, so they will travel quickly. Hopefully, they will catch up with us in Urbs Deorum; if not, we will head on to Tephut-Reh and hope that we can find them later. It is dark already, so we will make camp here tonight. ------------------</blockquote>

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