Exploring Duinam'ruun part 2

General Summary

May 16-20 - Jane, Laine, Tara, & Ladybird
Party departed via boat for the ruins of Duinam'ruun. Entering via the same route as before, they reached the (now abandoned) building that the gremlins had been lairing in. Ladybird did an aerial scout, noticing three large complexes, a massive black pyramid in the center of the city, and a number of what looked to be residential structures.
Party decided to investigate the nearest large complex, which appeared to be oriented around military use and/or training. The first oddity they noticed was that an interior wall retracted as they passed by, revealing an armor shrine of some sort.
Laine felt drawn to an upstairs salle, where he found a strange sword - it appeared on first glance to be too rusted and time-worn to be of any use, but when held it shimmered and shifted into an aged-but-still-functional blade. Laine gave it to Jaine to use, as the blade was cold iron and he felt uncomfortable wielding it.
Party found little else of interest on the second floor, and returned to the first to investigate the shrine. It bore an inscription, dedicating it to a Woods-Thane, and held a suit of elven plate, an elven tower shield, and three longspears, all enchanted with some kind of durability enchantment that had kept them from rotting or rusting. Party removed the arms & armor, were spooked by a ghost who appeared (faintly) when they did so, and decided to leave before the situation deteriorated, possibly coming back at night to see if they could speak with the ghost.
Party moved on to the pyramid. Exploration revealed that it was a step-pyramid, with a thick layer of mulch and plants on each step, and that the upper-most step had a hole in its side, with stairs leading downward into the center of it.
Traveling down the stairs, the party was attacked by something that moved through the walls, and which cast a pit full of stone spikes underneath them. It shouted at them, calling them intruders and defacers. After almost killing the thing on its next attack run (Ladybird had been keeping an eye on its movements with Blindsense), it left them alone until they reached the base of the pyramid.
In the bottom, they found a large chamber, with two corridors leading away from the entryway and an archway on the far wall - and at the center, on a raised platform, was a wardstone.
The stone creature returned once more, and opened up one of the corridor doorways, calling out to a “Prince something-or-other” to come out and kill the intruders. A humanoid figure staggered out of the doorway, but quickly transformed into a towering pillar of oozing flesh, claws, and tentacles. It screamed and attacked, along with the stone creature.
The party was able to down both of them; although the stone creature managed to get away for a bit, it attacked again after they returned from exploring down the corridors, and they managed to destroy it properly.
Party decided to open up one of the warded doors down the corridor the flesh creature had come from; after a few failed attempts at breaking the wards, Tara managed to overload them and turn the door into a simple slab of stone. With a few swings of a pick, Tara’s contractor zombie broke through - at which point a blast of green gas flowed out of the hole, along with a string of curses in draconic.
The party, realising that they’d released something powerful, attempted to negotiate, to little avail - “Evras the Devourer,” as the dragon inside the cell called himself, didn’t seem open to the idea. Eventually, they had Jane attempt to either incinerate or suffocate the wyrm by blasting fire into the room, but it seemed unaffected. Meanwhile, Ladybird detected that it was attempting to tunnel out of the cell via some sort of supercharged plant growth.
The party decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and retreated, with Tara calling out and telling Evras that she’d meet him on the peak of the tallest mountain to the west.
The party hid within one of the nearby buildings, and heard the dragon escape from the pyramid, go airborne, circle the city a few times, and then fly away.
Ladybird, frightened for her elven mother’s safety, flew immediately afterwards to Bridgetown to warn Rahz Mren about the dragon’s presence.
After recovering for two days in town, and buying some new magic items, the party headed back to the ruined city to continue exploring it. They encountered (and managed to pacify) a massive divinely-blessed bear in the park and/or religious area, along with the remains and gear of an adventurer who wasn’t as diplomatic as they were.
Remembering the massive crocodile that Jane had seen on her way upriver two weeks ago, the party also approached where the beast was last seen. Spotting it on the riverbank, they made preparations, approached, and managed to keep the beast confused, polymorphed, and pinned down long enough to kill it. After butchering it, they decided to end the day’s expedition and go sell their loot.

Report Date

18 Feb 2018

Primary Location

Duinam'ruun