Session 12: The Passage to Dolendai Part II Report

General Summary

Lysday the 29th of Harvestide evening in the year 3025 AF With the tower in sight far in the distance, they walked late into the evening and ventured further into the ruined elven city. As they had become accustomed to in the Blighted Waste it was raining with thunder in the distance and intermittent lightning strikes. Arveer was concerned about Iados so as they walked they spoke to one another privately. The dragonborn asked his friend if he wanted to talk about what had happened with the Tiefling's father and wondered aloud if his friend would succumb to the temptations and power that had been offered to him. Iados told him that ever since he had come of age he strived every day to help others and improve their perceptions of his kind. Iados considered all of the Fate Bound his family now and he wanted nothing to do with his father. He told Arveer that he would never succumb to the darkness and that he was now more concerned about his siblings and what they might do to him and his friends. They both wondered if any of his siblings were redeemable, but both were skeptical that any could be saved. Promising to always be there for each other, they hugged as brothers and moved back to the rest of the group. Shayne had taken out his journal and was drawing with a pencil within it. He had created striking photos of his sister and wife on the pages within. As he walked he looked at the pictures and mumbled under his breath that he felt close to them. Putting the journal safely away, he continued on his way. Arveer told him that he was able to read his lips and he told his friend that it was very insightful. The Fate Bound were following what once must have been a well-built road, but it was now riddled with cracks of broken stone and overgrown with weeds. The ruined buildings on either side were becoming more dense as they moved closer to the tower from their vision. Arveer and Gilligan, noticing an eerie silence, broke out into a song and soon the rest of the Fate Bound joined in singing "Leave her Johnny, leave her" raising everyone's spirits.

Spirit of the Past

As the song ended, they noticed a strange, blue light moving between the fallen stones, coming from a ruin about 300 feet away. Gilligan tried to recall if he had heard of any creature that might give off a blue light without success. Iados began casting a ritual which would allow him to detect magic. Druss wondered if it could be a lantern and Leonardo scanned the area carefully to see of there were any additional lights, but he could not see any. Arveer picked up a rock at the suggestion of Leonardo and hurled it toward the blue light. The blue light immediately stopped after the rock clattered on the ground. Shayne put his hood on and began to sneak carefully among the ruins, slowly creeping toward the blue light. He moved to within 100 feet and realized that the blue light was moving, appearing to be floating in the air. He decided to move closer, but as did so he stepped in a muddy puddle, his boots making a sucking noise. The blue light quickly moved in his direction and was now only 70 feet away from him. What he saw sent a shiver of fear up his spine. The glowing blue light was coming from a beautiful woman giving off a blue light, who was floating in the air moving toward him. She seemed to be almost translucent. Shayne had no idea if the creature was alive or dead, but he knew he had to get back to his friends so he dashed quickly away.

Translucent Blue Woman

OC color series: Blue by barn swallow/hirundo rustica

The Fate Bound prepared for action, readying their shields and weapons as Shayne reached them with one final bound. The blue woman was now moving toward them, drifting quickly over the ground as if floating on the breeze. As she grew nearer they could see she was an elven woman, who once must have been beautiful, but now she looked forlorn and hopeless. When she was 20 feet way, she opened her mouth and let out a mournful scream. The sound pierced them to their very souls and they needed to steel themselves against the supernatural power of her wail. Arveer, inspired by the song he had started earlier on the trail stood firm, his shield and sword at the ready. Gilligan was able to resist as well, the unbounded cheerfulness of the halfling people serving him well. Dalana herself smiled upon Leonardo and as her light spread through his soul he knew he could never flee. Iados using his wits was quickly able to determine that this creature could cause him no real harm. Shayne also was resistant to the supernatural cry and stood his ground. Druss a veteran of countless battles, was unnerved by the wail from this woman. It was unlike anything he had seen or heard before. Not only was he frightened, but as his friends looked on in horror he began to age right before their eyes. His hair and beard both now revealing a touch of gray. Prepared for the worst, Arveer stepped between the creature and his friends and with the help of Iados and his thaumaturgy he spoke in an attempt to intimidate the woman saying, "Leave now and never return!" The floating woman looked at the dragonborn and smiled sadly. Shayne then put his blade away and moved forward speaking in elvish saying, "Who did this to you? Are you in trouble are you hurt?" The woman drifted toward him responding in elvish, "Why are you here?" Leonardo asked the woman what she had done to them and why she caused Druss to age before their eyes. She explained that she had not done it on purpose. Like her people she is doomed to wander these ruins, a lost and forgotten people. They could hear the pain in her voice as she spoke. Once again she let out a wail that pierced the night and echoed off the ruins. She told them there are many of her people wandering the ruins. She asked them over and over again, "Why are you here?" Many of the Fatebound responded that they were here on a mission and that they wanted to help her people. Leonardo remembered the runes he had found at the monolith. As he took them out the woman drifted quickly toward him moving directly through some of his friends proving that she was indeed incorporeal. Upon seeing the runes, she told them that they might be the heroes she had been waiting for. She offered to take them to a place of trials, created by one of her people, a madman who created a number of tests that they must pass if they were to find the secret to the lost Dolendai. Iados spoke for the group saying that they would do whatever they could to help reverse the curse upon her people. The elven ghost agreed to take them to the place of the trials and also warned them that not all of the spirits of her people would be as friendly to them as she was. They followed her, winding their way through ruined buildings and pathways. Gilligan noticed that she was leading them away from the tower and was concerned that the ghost was misleading them. He spoke quietly with his friends as they moved forward and they remained on guard for an ambush. As they walked, Leonardo confirmed with his divine abilities that the elven woman was indeed undead. They asked her again where she was taking them. She told them that it was once a holy place, but the ancient caretaker had turned it into a place of trials that those who want to use the runes would have to pass. They also questioned her about what had happened to her people. She would only tell them that they had reached for power too far beyond them and were now paying for it. At last they neared a ruined building with crumbling walls and she told them this was the entrance to the place of trials. As they arrived she told them she could not help them within each room, but that she would be their guide as they moved between them. With that she abruptly disappeared, moving into a wall.

Trial of the Guardians

They looked into the room through the crumbling walls and saw emaciated bodies and weapons strewn about the floor. The roof was half-collapsed and so the flagstones were slick and wet. Arveer moved forward to enter the room, but he was stopped by Gilligan who cast heroism on him to steel him for what he would face in the room beyond. Arveer asked his friends to continue to the tower if anything happened to him. Gilligan promised that he would never leave his friend. Arveer moved carefully into the room, on the alert for danger. No immediate threats were present, but he did see a shallow pit in the floor with a weapon on the floor of it. He moved forward and reached out to grab the short sword within the pit. As he did so he did not notice four of the bodies rising from the floor to attack him. Arveer raised his shield and was able to block one sword blow, but the second landed a slicing blow from the creature that looked like a walking, rotted corpse with red eyes wielding a viscous sword. The Fate Bound were surprised by the sudden attack all except Leonardo who was alerted to the presence of the undead by his divine sense. Yelling to warn the others of the trouble inside, the paladin moved quickly into the room to face the creatures. As he did so, another of the walking corpses slashed at Arveer, but he was aware of the attackers now and easily blocked the blow.

pathfinder rage wight by Will O'brien

Gilligan ran quickly up to one of the ruined walls and spotting one of the monsters through a gap he used his viscous mockery, calling out saying. "Hey you bag of bones, piss off!". It had no effect on the undead fiend. Druss charged through one of the destroyed walls and swung his sword wildly missing one of the monsters. A walking corpses attacked Arveer who quickly stepped aside and used a riposte to damage his attacker. Leonardo, realizing they were being attacked by undead wights, called upon the power of Dalana to protect him from their evil. Arveer then missed with his attack, but calling upon his reserves of adrenaline he struck out again damaging the wight. Protected by Dalana, Leonardo avoided the swift attacks of the wight that were aimed at him. Tenzin entered the room and cast a protecting shield of faith on Arveer who was now under the protection of Morwen. Shayne moved quickly, but quietly into the room to attack a wight with surprise landing a nasty blow with his short sword causing the wight to grunt in pain. The creature turned to swing at Shayne missing with his first blow, but slashing the drow with his second. Iados moved forward and took out his wand of magic missiles shooting missiles at the first wight he saw, the projectiles striking the undead in the back. Gilligan whipped out his crossbow and snapped a quick shot which missed and clattered on the stones. Druss attacked once again missing his target, perhaps still reeling a bit from being aged unnaturally. A wight then aimed two attacks at Arveer missing with one, but just as the second blow was about to land Gilligan, who was concerned for the dragonborn, distracted the wight by telling hm his shoe's were untied which caused him to swing wildly. Taking advantage of the distraction, Arveer riposted the attack, chopping off the wights arm, dodging to the side as he slid his sword into the side of the wight's neck sending the creature to his doom. Leonardo rose up to his full height, his breath visible in the cold air and a menacing look upon his face swinging his sword. The wight was unimpressed, easily dodging the blow. The paladin responded with a shield bash aimed at the wight, but the blow was wild and took him off-balance, realizing that if he continued with the attack he would hit his companion, Leonardo instead left him self open to attack from the wight who stabbed him drawing blood. Arveer quickly pulled out his sword from the dead wight and moved to attack another but missed. The wight in front of Leonardo followed up his last attack with two quick blows that landed safely on Leonardo's shield. Tenzin moved to the attack, swinging his staff dedicated to Morwen and landed a solid blow on a wight. Shayne moved to attack the wight who was distracted by Arveer and stabbed him in the back, wounding the creature. Enraged, the wight lashed out at Arveer who blocked the blow with his shield and then immediately lashed out at his attacker scoring a deep gash across the creature's chest. Iados cast his shatter spell blasting the wight that had just been gashed by the dragonborn into pieces and severely damaging another. Gilligan moved forward boldly with his sword, but missed on his attack. Druss frustrated by his earlier misses landed a solid blow on the remaining wight, who was now clinging to his unholy life. Leonardo, looked menacingly at the wight and swung his sword downward in a long arc slashing into the wight and he followed up bashing him with his shield forcing the wight to step backwards. As he moved away, Druss took advantage and swiftly chopped off his head, ending the encounter. Arveer picked up the short sword that he had founf in the pit and looked at it. It was well-made and although it was clearly very old it did not look rusty and appeared to be useable. Leonardo searched the bodies of the wights to see if they had anything else on them besides their gear, but he found nothing. Druss looked into the pit that was once filled with bones, but they had now been turned to bone dust from the shatter spell cast by Iados. After clearing away some of the white powder he uncovered a small slip of parchment covered in runes. It was not wet, nor did it feel look like any kind of paper they had ever seen before. As they all examined it, Iados borrowed Arveer's cast iron pot and filled it with the powdered bones from the pit. The knew that the slip of parchment was not a normal item as it was not damaged by the shatter spell and was not wet even though it had clearly been in the rain. Druss looked around the room carefully to see if there was any clue to what the runes could mean with no success. Tenzin asked Morwen for guidance before he also searched for a clue. He was certain that there was no writing on the walls. Arveer looked to see if there was a slot in the walls where the short sword he found could fit. Finding nothing, he placed the short sword on the ground and moved to pick up a long sword he noticed on the floor near another bone filled pit. Iados studied the runes on the parchment and determined that they were elven and most likely used in archaic elven magic, but he could not decipher their meaning. Shayne kept a close watch on the entrances to the room so that they would not be surprised again. Leonardo and Gilligan took the green runestones they found at the base of the monolith and began comparing them to what they saw on the parchment. After grabbing the long sword, Arveer stood erect and sheathing his sword, his eyes glazed over, he moved slowly toward Shayne who was kneeling with his back turned to the dragonborn. Iados was the first to notice what had come over his friend, and fearing a magical curse he rushed over to his friend and using thaumaturgy he screamed, "Arveer! What are you doing?" as he leaped onto the back of the dragonborn. Arveer was too strong for him and simply shrugged him off of his back as one would a cape. Tenzin also acted quickly and standing directly in front of his friend and also using thaumaturgy he commanded him to stop in a booming voice. It was to no avail as the dragonborn continued to move forward, heedless of his friend's words. Gilligan dove forward in an attempt to grab Arveer's ankles, but as he did so Arveer stomped on his hand causing the halfling to grab his wrist in pain. Leonardo moved forward, but too quickly and he slipped on the loose stones falling forward allowing the dragonborn to duck as the paladin stumbled past. Arveer slapped Tenzin with a viscous back handed swing of his arm pushing the cleric aside. Shayne having heard what was going on, stood up and pleaded with his friend to stop. The evil magic in the sword would not release Arveer as he swung the sword at Shayne, but the attack was clumsy and the drow was easily able to dodge out of the way. Druss did not want to hurt the dragonborn and so he decided to slide into him, as he did so Gilligan shouted out to Arveer reminding him to think of his sister in an attempt to distract him. Druss was only able to drop the dragonborn to one knee, but he did have his legs entangled. Iados took advantage of the situation and he was able to jump onto Arveer driving him to the ground. Tenzin had seen enough and he quickly moved forward and touched his friend and release the curse by calling on the power of Morwen as an empath. The cleric could feel the evil leaving his friend's body and for a moment he could taste it himself. Tenzin then slumped against the wall exhausted. Arveer had no idea what he had done even though his friends told him he had a dark look in his eyes and was repeating the name "Krugark" Iados used detect magic and discovered that there was indeed an enchantment on the sword. Shayne went over to help the cleric and was able to get him to his feet. They left the long sword on the ground, but Shayne took the short sword in the hope it would be useful as it appeared to be made from a special material. Gilligan was asked about the runes and what he and Leonardo had discovered in their examination. He told them that they did not have enough runes to match the runes on the parchment and also that some of the green runestones were blank. They decided to search the room further and Druss found a section of the wall in one corner was hiding a secret door. As he opened it, he saw the elven ghost waiting on the other side. She told them that whenever they were ready, she would take them to the next trial. Leonardo and Gilligan continued to look at the runes. Leonardo deduced that they appeared to be letters. Gilligan thought one of the words might be "Syndrallen" but he was not sure. Arveer stormed out of the room and was followed closely by Iados, Shayne and Tenzin. Iados told his friend that what happened with the sword was not his fault. Arveer told him to leave him alone as he rummaged through their wagon looking for something. He told the tiefling that he did not know anything about him. He asked Iados if he knew what it felt like to attack friends mistakenly thinking that they were his sworn enemy. Iados asked him if he knew what it was like to have a father trying to make him something he was not and threatening his friends. He told Arveer to get over himself. They all knew it was not him. He reminded the dragonborn that they were all in it together. Arveer was struck by his friend's words and simply nodded and went back inside the room. Druss told his friends that they should show the parchment to the ghost and ask her if she could tell them anything about it. She told them that she had seen those letters before and she pointed out the word Syndrallen which was the name of their ancient realm. Tenzin told them that using the letters from that word, they should be able to decipher the rest of the message.

Trial of Faith

They followed the ghost down a narrow hallway and were slightly disoriented as they found themselves in another chamber. The could tell they were under the earth now as the room was made from natural stone. In front of them was a small stone altar with a glowing purple gem upon it. the gem was being held onto the altar with four chains. Surrounding the altar on the floor were skeletons. Above the altar were two stone stairways arching above the altar that could have once been a bridge over the altar, but now the center section directly above the altar was missing. As they entered the room, Gilligan announced that he and Leonardo were able to translate most of the writing on the parchment using letter substitution. He was unsure about the first word, but the rest read, "Syndrallen falls, all we have left is this." Looking at writing, Iados deduced that the first word must be "Great." So the translation was, "Great Syndrallen falls, all we have left is this." Shayne climbed to the top of one of the stairs, but did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Arveer looked closely at the bones, but could not determine their racial makeup. Iados looked carefully at the bones and could make out the remnants of many different humanoid races. Tenzin moved closer to the stone on the altar and even though he could not see anything he felt an anergy coming from the stone. Leonardo called upon his divine sense to scan the room. He did not detect any creatures, but he did sense that the stone was a consecrated object, but the altar and the chains had been desecrated. Druss climbed the opposite stairway so that he was now standing opposite the drow. He looked down on the bones near the altar, but he could not detect any pattern in them. Shayne also looked down and saw that the runestone was indeed chained to the altar and he decided to come down. Iados and Gilligan decided to climb up the stairways, one on either side. Tenzin prepared to call upon the power of Morwen and whispering a prayer to the goddess stood at the ready to channel her power against any undead that might rise to harm them. Leonardo asked his friends what to do and they decided he should strike the chains with his sword. As he did so his weapon rebounded off the chains with such force that it was almost thrown form his grasp. The chains showed no signs of damage as Leonardo looked over the weapon to see if it was damaged. Shayne then decided that he would try to unlock the chains or find some way to work the chains free. Gilligan was getting ready to grab the stone should it break free and it was then that he noticed that all of the skeletons around the altar appeared to be reaching for the stone when they died. At that time he noticed three cave openings on the other side of the room and suggested that maybe they should try to crawl through those. Shayne studied the stone on the altar. It was held in place with two crisscrossed chains. He decided to try and use his dagger to try and wedge the stone free of the chains. Remembering what had happened when Leonardo had struck the chains, he decided he needed something a bit stronger like a crowbar. Druss quickly searched through his pack and found one. The fighter reminded them that they only needed to do enough to free the stone and not damage it. They decided to use the crowbar to loosen one of the chains enough to free it. Leonardo and Arveer being the strongest members of the group stepped up and used the crowbar. Surprisingly, the crowbar snapped in two! Upon seeing this, Iados immediately knew that something magical was at work here, the crowbar would not have snapped normally. He cast detect magic and determined that the altar, the stone and the chains radiated magic. In addition, the area above the altar between the two stairways radiated magic as did the three cave openings on the other side of the room. Tenzin noticed that there was a runic pattern on the altar holding the purple stone. He did not know what the runes meant as they were magical. but he did notice that the magical runes were super-imposed over religious runes that were initially carved onto the altar. Even though the original runes had been marred, he was able to read them, "Prove yourself with the test of faith." As he was contemplating this, Arveer became impatient and charged forward to grab the chains and pull them off the stone. Immediately he fell to his knees as necrotic energy began to snake up his arms. Gilligan screamed out to his friends that they all needed to form a chain. Druss was so frustrated with the young dragonborn that he almost wanted to smack him in the head with the crowbar. instead the fighter decided to tackle him in an attempt to free him from the chains. The tactic worked as Arveer was able to release himself from the chains using the momentum Druss had provided. The Fate Bound were at a loss as to what to do. Arveer reminded Shayne about the short sword they had found in the previous room. It was made with a special material. Shayne stepped forward and the short sword cut through the chains holding the purple stone easily. As it did so, the sword looked as if it was brand new shining in the torchlight. The purple stone rested on the altar now free of the chains. Tenzin checked out the three cave entrances and discovered that they were blocked by a hidden barrier of energy.

Purple Stone from the Altar

Universe inside by Veio Leiya

Leonardo moved forward to grab the stone, but he could not move it. It did not hurt him, but it would not budge. At that moment, Tenzin had a realization and suggested that someone had to prove their faith by walking off of one of the stone stairways above the altar. Iados and Gilligan decided to walk off the stairways on opposite sides together. As they did so they started to fall and thought they had made a mistake, but when then they both began to float above the altar directly over the stone. Looking toward the far wall they could see a runic inscription in yellow lettering. Gilligan quickly wrote down the runes so that he could attempt to decipher the writing. The elven ghost appeared to them once again, bathed in a bluish light asking if they were ready to go to the next trial. She motioned toward the cave entrances which were now free of the energy barriers that had blocked them. They walked together following close behind the ghost. As they walked, Gilligan and Leonardo were able to translate the new message. It read, "I cause laughter and tears."

The Alchemical Forge

They were walking in a long, natural passage which seemed to stretch on without end. Then, almost without warning they found themselves entering a circular room that was hewn from the natural stone. A large forge glowed on one side of the room and two torches sputtered on the walls. The light from the forge and the torches revealing that each of the walls of the room were made of a different kind of stone. Iados suggested that perhaps they could use the forge to make a weapon or perhaps even to enhance the weapon that Shayne had found. Suddenly an entity entered the room. It did not walk, but appeared to float similar to the elven ghost that had led them here. It was more corporeal than the elven woman. The entity was an elven man, dressed in robes. He was walking about fretfully, mumbling to himself. He took no notice of the Fate Bound as he blundered about the room, occasionally raising his hands to his head to rub it in frustration. Arveer listened carefully to what the entity was saying hoping that his skill in smithing might help him decipher the meaning of what he was saying. It said over and over again, "I can't remember! I put in the aerbonic before the berneal, but after the corylis. The doxymil definitely goes in before the eranus but after the berneal." They also realized that each of them heard what the entity was saying in their own native language. As they contemplated what was being said they also looked around the room to see if they could find any clues. Barrels and buckets were on the floor near the forge. There was also a worktable with a rock hammer and a pick on it. The walls of the room were rich with different kinds of ore and metal. Arveer noticed that it could not be a weapons forge as there was no anvil or bellows. Shayne tried to walk up to the entity with his sword, but the entity walked right through him chilling the drow to the bone. Iados remembered the bone powder he had recovered from the first room and decided to pour it into the forge. As he did so, the entity cried out in a loud voice, "No! No! No! That's wrong!" Suddenly dark shapes appeared, drifting right through the walls, attacking from both sides. One of the shadows reached out icy fingers and struck Shayne sucking the strength from his body. Another groped for Druss, but the warrior was able to step quickly out of the way. Shayne slashed at the dark shape with his new short sword, but missed wildly. Arveer used his second wind to prepare himself for the upcoming fight and moved to attack the shadow attacking the drow, but he as he did so his shield grated against the wall and was shaken loose from his grasp. Tenzin, realizing that these shadows were undead, slammed his staff upon the ground calling on the power of Morwen to banish the creatures. Waves of positive energy flowed from the staff and the shadows fled back into the walls, shrieking as they disappeared from sight. With the shadows banished, Druss suggested that they all obtain pieces of the ore and stone within the walls of the room, then approach the forge and attempt to put each type of ore in. If the entity objected, then they would know if they were putting in the correct element. Arveer removed a small pick from his mining gear and obtained a small piece of light blue ore. Iados used a rock hammer from the table and took another piece of ore in the shade of purple. Shayne obtained another piece and Druss stayed on guard for any new shadows that might come through the walls. Gilligan obtained a sample of gray ore and Leonardo hacked off a piece of dark blue material. As his friends obtained the pieces of ore, Tenzin stared at the forge and thought about what the entity had said. He was sure that he could determine the order that the elements had to be added to the forge by what the entity had said. Suddenly he told everyone that he knew the order in which the elements needed to be added to the forge. They needed to put in the corylis first then the aerbonic followed by the berneal, doxymil and finally the eranus. Druss asked if anyone could use their experience with smithing to determine what each of the elements were. Arveer had been a smith in his youth and so he looked carefully at all of the ore that they had taken from the walls. He tried to remember everything he had learned to see if he could determine what each was. He asked his friends to try and decipher the old elvish words for each ore that the entity was using and with that he may be able to determine what each of the elements are. Iados took a moment to review his knowledge of old elvish and after a minute or two he was able to decipher the words. Combining that with Arveer's knowledge of smithing they were able to determine the type of ore each of them had obtained. The dragonborn had the berneal, the tiefling had the corylis, the drow had the eranus, the halfling had the aerbonic and the paladin had the doxymil. They approached the forge carefully to place the elements one by one into the forge. Iados put in the corylis first and the forge grew brightly as the entity said, "Yes! Yes! That is correct!" Gilligan put in the aerbonic and Arveer tossed in the berneal with the entity crying out, "Yes! You are getting it. You are almost there." Leonardo moved forward and placed the doxymil into the forge with the entity crying out "Yes, one more, one more!" Shayne then lobbed the final element into the forge with a high arcing throw. As it hit the flames the entity cried out, "Yes! You have done it. Yes!" and then he disappeared into the wall. After adding all of the ore into the forge, a small potion bottle with runes on it appeared floating atop the flames undamaged. The ghost of the elven woman appeared congratulating them on their success with the forge. Arveer quickly obtained a sample of each of the ores to take with him. Gilligan wrote down the runes on the bottle as he knew that they must be the next clue. As the elven ghost led them toward their next trial. Gilligan and Iados worked to decipher the runes that had appeared on the potion bottle in the forge. It did not take them long to announce that the next phrase was, "I bring back ages lost." Now that they had three of the phrases they believed it was a riddle and so they tried to make sense of what the answer could be. Arveer suggested history, while Gilligan suggested the past. Tenzin thought the answer could be memories. Gilligan agreed that memories was the best guess so far.

The Pulsating Fungus

The journey to the next chamber was brief. They quickly found themselves in a small, circular chamber. Multi-colored fungus covered the walls, floor and the ceiling of the room. As they stood at the entrance they could just barely hear the strumming of music which died down as they approached. The fungus on the walls and ceiling began to sway and pulsate slowly. There were no visible exits from the room.

The Fungus Cave
The Mushroom Cave by snowho

Shayne suggested that they needed to play music so Gilligan stepped forward and began to sing one of his many tunes, this first one in honor of Shayne his friend. He began with "Shayne, he's Shayne dark as a stain. Sneaks through the dark night and Karth is his name. Blood red eyes and he'll turn you insane." They looked into the room and saw that the fungus was getting more and more agitated and looked like it was about to explode. Quickly, Gilligan switched to a slower and calmer song, but it did not seem to matter. The fungus continued to vibrate wildly. Even when the halfling stopped signing and they were only talking, the fungus continued to shake and pulsate. The Fate Bound quickly retreated into the passageway just outside the room, whispering so as not to disturb the fungus. They could not decide what they needed to do. Shayne peered carefully into the room and determined that the fungus was not shaking now that they had moved into the hallway. Arveer took out his shovel and poked at some of the nearby fungus and a cloud of spores shot out. The dragonborn was unable to jump back in time as he was sprayed with a green cloud of spores and began to cough violently. Druss got upset and yelled at Arveer imploring him to stop touching everything! Tenzin decided to slowly walk into the room and be silent. He was followed by the rest of the Fate Bound who followed his lead. After they had all taken a seat, the fungus began to sway slowly and they decided to sway in time with the fungus. This only made the growths on the wall shake even more violently. Each of the heroes started talking and interrupting each other and as they did so they noticed the fungus began to calm down. They tried many different ways of talking ranging from insulting each other, to complimenting each other, to changing their tone of voice. Nothing seemed to work. Then Gilligan calling upon his musical training thought that perhaps the rhythm of the music played might have a different effect on the fungus. They tried a steady rhythm, clapping their hands together and singing in unison and finally the fungus came to rest. A door opened in the cavern along the far wall and outside in the corridor was the woman in blue waiting to take them to the next challenge. Next to the door, nestled in the fungus was a piece of parchment with another clue. Using the other clues they were quickly able to determine the wording of the next clue. "I resurrect those long dead."

The Trial of Fire

Following the ghost of the elf maiden, after a brief walk they found themselves in a large cavern with a river of lava flowing through it. Their faces were buffeted by waves of heat coming from the fiery river. The only way across the lava was to climb a rough hewn stairway to access a stone bridge high above the lava flow. Directly below the walkway was a hooded lantern, floating above the hot liquid on what appeared to be some sort of platform. Moving further into the room the heat became almost unbearable and the heroes quickly realized that staying in this room for too long of a time would be dangerous. Climbing to the top of the stone bridge they quickly decided that the challenge in this room was to get the lantern that was suspended over the river of lava. They discussed how they might be able to do it safely. Arveer suggested that they tie a grappling hook to his rope and they try to snag the lantern, but they soon realized that if they missed, the lantern might be knocked into the lava. Tenzin Lurong, Shayne and Druss decided to climb down the stairs on the other side of the stone bridge and look around. Tenzin gazed carefully into the lava, and he thought he saw something moving under the lava, but he could not be sure. Druss suggested that there might be away to reverse the flow of the lava to gain access to the lantern. Perhaps there was a lever nearby or a gate that could redirect the flow. They all looked around carefully with that in mind, but they could not find any way to stop or redirect the flow. Iados then looked carefully at the lantern and determined that there was something magical holding the lantern above the lava, but he was not sure what spell it was. Out of ideas, they decided that trying to use the rope to snag the lantern was the best course of action. At first they planned to use a grappling hook at the end of the rope, but then realized that if they miss the lantern might get damaged or be knocked over. Druss then remembered that he had fishing tackle. With the fish hook and rope in hand, Shayne peered out over the ledge sizing up the distance and preparing to cast the line. Tenzin touched him on the shoulder uttering a prayer to Morwen as he did so to inspire the drow in his effort to get the lantern. Snagging the lantern proved difficult and as Shayne continued to cast the line they all began to sweat and feel the immense heat of the chamber. They needed to get the lantern soon or they might become fatigued by the heat from the lava. Finally, with one last inspiration from Morwen, Shayne was able to fit the hook into the ring on top of the lantern and pull it up to the stone bridge. Inspecting the lantern they discovered a compartment in it's base that contained a piece of parchment with the next clue. Once again the glowing elf maiden appeared to take them to the next challenge.

The Trial of Agility

At the end of the next long corridor they came out into a vast cavern, a gaping chasm of a room. They were standing on a ledge and out in the center of the room rose four stone columns, each taller than the other. The shortest one was reachable with a jump from the ledge. The highest column had a rickety looking ladder stretching down to the third column below it. Looking down, they could not see the bottom of the chasm. Shayne cast dancing lights down into the pit but they simply disappeared from view. It appeared that they were in a bottomless cavern. As they pondered what to do, Iados and Gilligan deciphered the clue from the lantern. "Valued in life, lost in death." As they repeated the words to the rest of the group, Tenzin thought he had the answer to the riddle. He blurted out "It could be memories or stories." Shayne volunteered to jump over onto the first column determined to jump and climb his way to the top. Druss wanted to tie a rope to Shayne so they could catch him if he fell, but looking at the height of the columns they all soon realized that their rope was not long enough to protect him the whole way up, but it would work for the first two columns. Gilligan knew that his friend needed help so he spoke to him softly as he prepared to jump, trying to instill confidence in the drow and inspire him to succeed. Tenzin implored his goddess once again to bestow guidance on Shayne realizing that a failure here might be deadly. With the rope securely wrapped around his waist and the grappling hook on his back he readied himself for the jump with his friends holding on to the other end of the rope. Shayne made it up onto the first column with ease landing nimbly on all fours as he did so. As planned he moved quickly to attach the grappling hook, but as he moved over the center of the floor flames erupted from hidden holes. Shayne tried to tumble out of the way, but he failed and was singed badly by the flames. Gilligan and Tenzin immediately cast healing word on their friend to ease his pain. Shayne decided that he had to move quickly away from the flames so he made a running leap and jumped to the next column. Anticipating the flames from the floor he was able to avoid them easily and ran to jump up to the third column once again making it with ease. Shayne had only one more column to reach. He looked out over the distance that was covered by the rickety ladder and realized he would never be able to jump across. He would have to use the ladder if he was going to make it. The drow felt invigorated and inspired by his narrow escapes on the other columns and moved boldly onto the ladder. He made it about half way across and the ladder gave way suddenly and he began to fall to his death. Thinking quickly he freed the grappling hook from his back and with his friends shouting at him for inspiration he hurled the hook and the rope up to the top of the fourth column and pulled himself up. Standing up, he saw a pit in the floor of the column. Peering down he could see a chest about fifty feet below him. He climbed down using the grappling hook and rope disappearing from view. To assure his friends that he was safe, he sent up a flare using dancing lights. The chest was locked and so Shayne took out his thieves tools and got to work on the lock. He made short work of it, revealing another scrap of parchment with the next clue. The elf maiden appeared again, bringing Shayne down safely and then taking the heroes to the next room. As they traveled along the way to the last trial, they worked to translate the last clue. Iados and Gilligan once again quickly determined the meaning of the elvish runes. "To preserve this would...."

The Final Test

Once gain the elven woman in blue led them down a seemingly endless corridor and once again it ended abruptly. They found themselves standing at the bottom of a hewn staircase. Climbing to the top they came to one end of a narrow bridge made of natural stone. A huge cavern opened up beneath them, the floor sixty feet below was littered with stalagmites. As they looked more carefully they noticed that the floor of the cavern directly beneath the bridge was covered in beds of vicious looking spikes. There were two cave openings down below along the right side of the chamber, each emitting a glowing, reddish light. A short, stone altar sat at the center of the bridge and upon it was a scroll. Gilligan rushed forward across the bridge avoiding the grasp of Arveer he reached the altar and grabbed the scroll continuing to move toward the far side. As soon as he picked up the scroll, skeletons that were hiding among the stalagmites began shooting arrows at the Fate Bound on the bridge.

Gilligan noticed that the skeletons were wearing metal armor so he decided to cast heat metal on the nearest one to, "shake and bake" him as he liked to say. The skeleton armor heated up and began to sear his bones. Druss pulled out his grappling hook and rope, attached it to a stone outcropping and swung himself down to the floor of the cavern. He overshot his landing and fell to the floor painfully. Looking into the cavern, he saw that the red glow was caused by a flaming skull hovering a few feet off the ground. Realizing the danger he was in, he used his action surge to leap to his feet and was now ready to defend himself.

Flaming Skull by Disse86

Shayne grabbed onto the rope that Druss had used and slowly slid down to land next to the fighter and face off against the skeletons and the flaming skull. Tenzin climbed up the steps to see what was happening. He also decided to use the rope and grappling hook, but as he neared the bottom he lost his grip and fell to the floor prone after taking some damage.

Iados moved up onto the bridge to get a better view of the battle below. Pointing his finger and uttering a spell magical missiles erupted from his hand hitting a skeleton in the chest. Six of the skeletons took aim and fired at Gilligan as he dodge to avoid the blows. Two of the arrows struck the halfling drawing blood. Skeletons from the other side of the cavern hit Iados with arrows while one standing next to Druss took out his sword, but it slipped from his grasp.

Leonardo climbed up toward the bridge and moved quickly across the bridge almost making it to the other side. Arveer used his athletic training to jump to the nearest wall, grab a hand hold and quickly climb down to the cavern. After reaching the floor he moved to engage a group of skeletons nearby.

Gilligan moved down the stairs on the other side and noticed that another flame skull was in the cavern closest to him. The skeleton he had hit with his spell the previous round collapsed to the ground melting under his armor. The halfling then took out his crossbow and shot a bolt missing another skeleton. Druss hit the skeleton with a mighty blow from his sword chipping bone from the undead creature's shoulder. Shayne tried to take advantage and struck at the same skeleton, but he missed. Tenzin stood up and swung his mace, missing a skeleton.

The flame skull closest to Druss emerged from the cavern and opening its mouth it spit out a fireball at the heroes in front of him. They all tried to duck and roll out of the way, but only Shayne was quick enough to avoid damage. Druss, Tenzin and Arveer were engulfed in the flames causing Druss and Tenzin to collapse unconscious. The other flame skull rose up toward the bridge and shot a fire ray at Leonardo missing him as the bolt scorched past his head.

Iados ran across the bridge and targeted the flame skull near the paladin with a shatter spell damaging the evil undead creature. The skeletons took aim and fired again hitting Iados and Gilligan with arrows. Leonardo boldly decided to leap off the bridge and aim a thunderous smite at the flaming skull heedless to the damage he would take from the fall. Calling on his patron Dalana he swung his sword mid-leap slashing it into the skull with a booming sound sending it spinning back toward the floor of the cavern. Leonardo twisted his shield around to protect him from the fall sliding along the floor of the chamber.

Leonardo's inspiring attack motivated his friend's to attack with increased intensity. Arveer swung his sword at a skeleton chipping away some bone. Gilligan realized that he needed to kill the flame skull and shot his crossbow at it, but he missed. He then quickly moved toward Tenzin casting healing word on him. Shayne moved into position to shoot at the flaming skull and taking careful aim, he shot the undead right through it's eye socket, pinning it to the wall. Tenzin now healed, stood up and calling upon Morwen healed Druss to get him back into the fight.

The remaining flame skull shot a fire ray at Tenzin striking the cleric in the chest and dropping him to the ground once again. Iados shot a magic missile blasting the flaming skull with bolts from his fingers. The skeletons attacked again missing Arveer who riposted the attack damaging one skeleton. Gilligan and Iados were hit by more arrows taking damage. Leonardo got to his feet quickly and hacked at a skeleton with his sword and bashing it with his shield. Arveer then stepped back taking damage as one of the skeletons attacked him. The dragonborn responded by using his cold breath to spray them with numbing frost. Two of the skeletons fell to the floor shattering into a million pieces.

Gilligan reached the floor of the cavern casting healing word on Tenzin and then killed a skeleton with a crossbow bolt to the head. Druss stood up and taking out his javelin of lightning threw it at the flaming skull hitting it in the mouth and blasting it with electrical energy. Shayne killed a skeleton with a slash from his sword. The flame skull retaliated shooting a fire ray at Druss, but he missed wildly. Iados shot a fire bolt at a skeleton singing it.

The remaining skeletons unleashed more arrows, striking Leonardo. The paladin responded by lifting his sword to the heavens and calling upon the power of Dalana to force the undead to flee from her holy power. A bright light engulfed the chamber and the remaining undead fled the chamber in fear.

As they did so, the elven maiden appeared once again and with a smile on her face she teleported them back to the first room of the complex. As they adjusted to their new surroundings, the elven ghost spoke to them saying, "I see that you have completed all of the trials. Hopefully, you will be able to find you way to Dolendai based on what you have discovered. I wish you luck and I thank you for freeing me." A smile comes to her face as she begins to fade away. "I hope you make it to Dolendai" are her last words before she disappears.

Gilligan then stood before the group and read the riddle that they had translated from the elven runic writing they found after each trial:

Great Syndrallen falls All we have left is this I cause laughter and tears I bring back ages lost I resurrect those long dead Valued in life, lost in death To preserve this would be like unto immortality

The Fate Bound contemplated the riddle and decided that the best answer was memory. Now they spoke about their next course of action. They recalled that in their vision of the tower there had been seven elves around the runestone and they realized there were seven members of the Fate Bound. Strangely the word memory was only six letters, but that was in the common tongue. They realized that they needed to spell out the old Elvish word for memory.

Here ends session 12

Rewards Granted

25 xp each for the shadows 250 xp for solving the faith puzzle 150 xp for solving the forge riddle Tenzin got 250 for solving the correct order of the elements in the riddle 250 xp for calming the fungus in the cave 100 xp for snagging the lantern 50 xp for party and 150 for Shayne for the Trial of Agility 385 xp for the party for the Final Trial A silver short sword for Shayne Arveer has a sample of berneal, corylis, eranus, aerbonic and doxymil