GM – Shane
Rock – Brad
Nick – Simon
Keen Ears – Dave
Ashelin – Hailey
Bethany – Shaun
Laneth – Steve
Clanky – controlled by Shaun
Session Notes
From the journal of Bethany, Berserker of the Society
The party decided to return to the Troglodyte village to rest and heal before continuing on to the Lady’s Light via the underground tunnels. After a night’s rest they explored the blocked off tunnel they had found earlier and followed it to find an intersection of four tunnels which opened up into a large cavern. Within the centre of the cavern a stone monument of polished black basalt could be seen with rune carved sides although no one could translate the runes. Upon the monument’s base stood a humanoid figure, although the stone was broken almost as if something has been trapped there and had broken free.
As the group of adventurers ventured further into the cavern they noticed three insectoid creatures in the room and multitudes of tiny similar insects all over the caverns walls. They decided these were the “Grabber Grubs” the troglodytes had warned them of, but as there were only three insects visible, they decided to save the jars of magical ju-ju and attack the grubs themselves. The grubs scurried over the walls and attacked but were soon cut down by the party, who turned their attention to the monument. The humanoid statue was of a beautiful winged woman (succubus) and a faint aura of a binding enchantment could still be detected although the stone looked to have been broken for quite some time.
Taking the West branching tunnel the party soon found themselves turning to the South and no long after came upon a chamber of worked stone supported with numerous columns. The columns had marble panels depicting carvings of warrior women holding gisarmes. Rock’s dwarven instincts took over and he tried to remove one of the marble panels. At this point four of the columns lurched into motion and revealed themselves as Carytid Columns. The adventurers prepared to battle the slowly lumbering stone creatures. Rock called upon his divine power to touch one of the statues and break it apart. Both Keen Ears and Nick tried firing arrows at the stone creatures which just seemed to either bounce off or shatter against them. Meanwhile some hitherto hidden power of the shard, or some cosmic realignment of astral forces was at work on Bethany, who seemed to just know where to strike the stone creatures to do the most damage. The Berserker Barbarian soon had three of the creatures smashed into marble chunks while her faithful bodyguard Clanky rumbled along in her wake. Had the clockwork servant been sentient it might have wondered who was exactly protecting who? As Bethany turned to engage the fourth column, it was taken out by Rock and Laneth.
With the carytid columns defeated the group turned towards the large pit in the centre of the chamber which led down into darkness. An enterprising and inventive Nick, drops a chunk of marble into the hole and watched as it floated slowing down into darkness. The Halfling then retrieved a rope from his pack and tied it to one of the stone pillars and lowered the end into the hole. The party however, decided to explore the other two passages in case they were ambushed by unknown enemies when climbing back out of the hole. Heading South from the monument cavern the group soon finds the familiar exit to the Boggart caves. They then return to the east tunnel and follow it as it narrowed and twisted southeast. The tunnel then turned north and widened into a large chamber. Laneth using powers of stealth, crept along the cavern wall, while Rock with his dwarven superior dark vision, spotted a sleeping pyro-hydra slumbering away in a part of the cavern. As the beast awoke and lumbered up from its bed, the adventurers again prepared for battle. Ashelin hasted the group, and Bethany still under some unknown mystical energy, leapt forward with increased speed and hacked the hydra’s body, dropping it in a single might rage enhanced blow. With the creature clearly dead, the group began poking around in the debris of its lair, finding some nice shinnies amongst the litter of bones and refuse. Meanwhile Rock pulled out his skinning knife and went to work on the Hydra, while the Mage took the opportunity to breathe some relatively fresher air outside the Hydras cave in the swamp and avoid the grisly scene inside.
With 55 pounds of Pyro-Hydra hide strapped to his back, a happy Rock led the group back to the pit, where they floated gently down to the bottom. All the while down, Rock was busy doing sums in his head, wondering how he was going to get all that lovely marble back to Magnimar. At the bottom of the pit lay a grand column filled hall, while in the distance running water could be heard. The hall was lit with glass globes of continual light and at the far end the party could see a grey stone sarcophagus with the likeness of a woman carved into the lid. The carving was a depiction of the Rune Lord of Lust. A quick spell and Ashelin detected a magical aura coming from beneath the lid. Laneth’s nimble elven fingers soon detected and disabled a devious trap on the sarcophagus and when it was opened, the group found a well preserved human female robed and covered in jewels. The mage realised this was a clone and was under a permanent gentle repose spell while Nick recognised the figure as the Rune Lord of Lust – Sorchion. The jewels made a fine addition to the party’s growing pile of loot.
Two halls lead either side of the sarcophagus. The one to the west lead to a fast flowing river, while the east hallway lead to a panelled wall of red metal. Scenes carved upon the red panels showed a beautiful woman engaged in battle with winged creatures and binding them in different locations. The party realises the panels are showing Sorchion binding succubi into statues, like the broken one they found earlier. When the middle panel is pressed it glowed blue for a moment and some Theselonian script read by Ashelin, announced that “Ayandamahla is bound to the light for all time.” As the words faded, the red wall opened to reveal a doorway leading to a sandy beach and two wooden skiffs.
Here we paused.