Session 31: Into the Runeforge we go

We decide to try and get some rest. We hear noises coming from the next room. There is a door that we can't close. Lufere sends his hyenas in to one of the rooms check it out. We learn there is a staircase with a statue at the top. The other room has 2 statues of sphinxes. While resting there are 12 jackal heads with glowing red eyes resting on the shelves above. These cause Fenore and Lyra to feel tightness in their chest.
 
We get a long rest. We decide to go check out the sphinx room. Their eyes are pulsating a gold color. Lyra s able to tell everyone that sphinxes are typically guardians sent down by gods to guard shit. If you cross them, they will definitely kill you.
 
As we walk into the sphynx room, magic missiles fly from their eyes hitting Faenore and Stefan. WE find that everyone gets hit with these missiles except for Remish and Faenore.
 
WE get through. There is a room full of skeleton corpses. The next room causes you to kind of disappear and see a floating rock in space. There is a planet in the distance, and some nebulas. Tempest goes in and disappears to the rest of us. Inside, he sees giant lion type prints on the ground with smaller foot prints.
 
Callun ends up going in after we pull Tempest out. He tries to call out for the sphynx, but gets no response. He notices it's very peaceful here. He asks if Malachoz has ever experienced anything like this before, but Malachoz is like, "Dude, we should go. I can't feel anything here" Malachoz takes over forces Callun to leave the room.
 
WE discover the locked door has 2 rescesses for 2 swords. Lyra goes to hold her vorpal sword up to it and everyone hears "Hault" as a Sphynx walks out of the hidden star room.
 
She's topless, and as we are trying to avert our eyes, shes says, "Remish?" He's like "Faccaniya?" and she's like "You never came back", and he comes up with some cock n bull story and she doesn't buy it.
 
Faccaniya recognizes that there are 2 Runeforge dwarves here and 2 vorpal swords. She says even though we meet the requirements she cannot let us pass. She tells us Woe is not really a threat as his people are having a hard time freeing him.
 
We offer to leave her Remish, and she considers but ultimately declines. We convince her that we are trying to save the world and she asks that the best of us step forward.
 
We end up having Faenore and Lufere both step up. She has them follow her into her star room and tells the rest of us to stay behind. A door closes behind them. Lyra gives Faenore her grandmother's locket and makes him promise to bring it back.
 
As they leave Tempest and the others discuss just going into the forge. Lyra starts to say that she doesn't want to risk Faenore and Lufere being hurt, so we should wait....but before she can even finish that sentence, Lyra collapses and has no pulse. The group tries to revive her.
 
Meanwhile, Faenore and Lufere are on a boat travelling on an ocean of sand. They approach Anubis and Lufere immediately lights his Anubis candle and asks him if anything bad is going to happen in the next 10 minutes, and Anubis just answers with it depends on what you think is bad.
 
Anubis weighs Lufere's heart and and it is lighter than the feather, and Anubis tells him he may proceed. Lufere is like, "Wait, am I dead?" and Anubis is like "yeah"
 
Lufere is like, but we were just following the sphynx, and then Remish comes up, and Anubis is like, you know that guy?
 
Anubis is like, let's just figure this out.
 
He then puts his hand into Faenore and pulls out his heart. HE takes apart the falactory and Lyra's heart and puts things back in the order they should be, restoring Lyra's heart.
 
Lyra tries to half her heart again.
 
As we explain to Anubis what is going, he ends up sending Lufere back
 
She explains to Anubis everything that has happened and how Faenore has always had her heart and that is really his heart. Anub takes Lyra's heart and puts it into FAenore causing him to disappear.
 
Anubis tells Lyra that she cannot go to Heaven and Lyra accepts this with peace and then starts to fall until she falls into Avernis next to Charon. Charon says he's going to take her to her real father, which confuses Lyra.
 
He takes her to someone named Myra, who informs Lyra that she was born a devil. But then made a deal with Corellon to fall into his graces and get to reincarnate as an elf. However, it seems Lyra did not meet whatever deal that was and is being returned to hell.
 
Lyra's real father is Mistophalese and Myra is her handler. Lyra is returned to her body but now her skin is red and she has black horns.
 
Lufere confronts Faccanyia about what happened and asks what god she serves. She says she serves Muriden and he's like "yeah let's test this shit" and pulls out his candle to Muriden and casts divination. He asks if Foccaniya has told us the truth and if she will continue to tell us the truth. Muriden replies "I'm sorry about that. She does serve me. I can tell in her heart that she is upset over Remish. Those swords you have are the key to get in." Muriden gives Lufere some Bacchas wine.
 
Lufere is not pleased with any of this, but accepts the answer. Turns out all of this seems to be because shes mad at Remish and taking out on us.
 
She leaves. We now have the falactory. Faenore realizes that when Lyra is feeling nervous his heart starts to beat nervously too.
 
Lyra and Stefan end up putting the swords in the recesses, which causes them to turn red hot, melt and then form into a giant spear. We find that Stefan is the only one who can pick up the spear. He uses it to open the door as it's used like a key.
 
When he puts it into the recess, the door begins to lift up. Stefan removes the spear before it can get carried up with the door. We go through.
 
We find corpses of dwarves wearing the clothing of Amrun Raad. While we travel, Lufere takes a sip of the Bacchas Wine and immediately gets wasted.
 
He ends up getting a little lost. HE ends up trying to get a body out of a sarcophagus- after specifically being told not to touch it please.
 
A crown falls to the ground as Tempest picks it up, we see a gem in it. The 2 shards we have and the crown start to make a light that converge into a single direction. It turns out the crown has a 3rd shard in it.
 
We hear a voice of Serule. It says "These are the chains that bind me. You need to sever the lines" and the lines disappear. It seems the shards are keeping the goddess Serule
 
Tempest and Leland are torn about taking the crown with the shard in it. Tempest ends up putting it on and the crown breaks causing the shard to embed in his head.
 
Leland ends up accidentally absorbing the second shard in his other hand. As we continue, we find a pedestal that seems to have recesses for all the shards. the jeweled skull that Lyra has starts to float towards the pedestal and sits itself down. This causes the 3 shards we have to be magnetized towards it.
 
Lurfere, in his drunken state tries to pick up the skull to put it into the portable hole. When he does this, he hears a voice come from the skull. "it says, "why have you awakened me?" Stefan takes the flask away from Lufere so he can't do these drunken escapades anymore.
 
Meanwhile, Leland's hands are being stretched towards different recesses in a door nearly ripping his hands off. Tempest's head is being magnetized to the top of the door.
 
Faenore puts a bag of holding over Leland's hand to stop them from being ripped apart.
 
The skull then says "you must not enter the runeforge" It turns out this is the 3rd guardian. It's Zozth. He doesn't seem to know why he is here., but he's pissed.
 
Callun hears a voice in his head that says " I will remove the demon from you, but you must serve me" It's Shar. She's telling him to take off the bag of holding from Leland's hand. . She promises to take care of his friends if he does this.
 
Callun accepts. Malachoz's fights against Callun. The stone from Leland's other hand falls out into the bag of holding.
The stone in Tempest's head comes out allowing him to fall to the ground.
 
Lyra tries to grapple Callun as he tries to remove the bag of holding form Leland's hand, and when she grapples him, she falls to the ground and has Malachoz instead. Malachoz is free and he disappears. WE all desperately try to stop Callun. two of the stones end up in the wall. Leland is able to paralyze Callun.
 
Faenore ends up using the wand of wonder on the top shard, and it ends up causing it to disappear into the Ethereal plane. This pisses off shar and she immediately returns Malachoz back to Callun's body.
 
Zoth tells us to cut the lines with a silvered sword to the stones. This will release Serule. He wants to do this to piss off Shar. Stefan cuts all 3 of them.
 
We see Serule appear. She's pretty grateful that we saved her. She helps get all 3 stones back an into the bag of holding. they fuse in there to form one stone and the demonomicons are gone. this causes the skull to go quiet and fall down.
 
Lyra keeps it because she still intends to use for her spells later.
 
Serule allows us into the Runeforge. We figure out that the forge itself is made of cold iron, and there are carts of cold iron everywhere. We ask Sonaj (our drow slave) to teach us to make cold iron weapons here.
 
Tempest and Leland also get to make powerful weapons as is their birth right here.
 
It will take some time to accomplish all of this. Sonaj starts get to work on the chains while Lyra starts to take notes on everything. We take a break after a while and go to cast "Speak with Dead" on the dead king that is on the throne.
 
Lufere and Remish pass out drunk in a corner somewhere.
 
The questions we ask are:
 
Who are you?
What was the cause of the Runeforge war?
Tell us what you know about the source of magic for the forge?
Tell us about the bloodline of Doomstone
Tell us information that only the kings' know.
 
This is where we end, just before we ask the questions.