Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Amber examined the rune-covered stone egg and discovered it was linked to the power of Merrshaulk, the yuan-ti deity of poison and somnolence. Roland noted that the runes had spell effects built into them, including certain energy resistances and a teleportation effect. The party briefly wondered if the egg could be salvaged, but a closer examination revealed it was made of unobtainium, a highly volatile type of stone. Amber cast a spell of Stone Shape to put a large crack in the center of the egg, and was rewarded with a shower of acid that had been contained inside the massive structure.
The party headed to the east, discovering a pair of iron portullises and a long hallway filled with yuan-ti murals. Three murals in a small room off to the side had magical auras on them. Grokk discovered one of them provided healing, so he touched it until his wounds were healed. Rain used another mural's magic to turn invisible and began to explore a room with several pillars. Roland, also invisible, flew a short distance behind, while Garlen used a spell to morph into Centaur form and followed the two. Rain's presence set off a hissing snake illusion, probably set up as a sentinel to warn the occupants of a nearby room. As Garlen approached one of the pillars, an axe swung at him from inside it. He realized the pillar was an illusion, and a strange iron-plated orc (a half-iron golem) stood inside. Garlen smacked the golem with his swords and Grokk broke through its armor plating with his axe. Roland used a ray of deanimation to destroy it, and found himself under attack from another golem inside another illusory pillar. Grokk's axe kept bouncing off of the golem's iron plating, and the golem landed several more strikes on Roland. Finally, Grokk and Horkina combined to break the golem into little pieces of metal and orc.
Roland discovered a magical portal created by a spell of Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, and suspected a Cagewright wizard was resting in the interdimensional space therein. Grokk, Horkina, Rain, and Garlen piled into the room near the portal, while Roland and Amber stood outside with a clear line of sight into the room. Roland dispelled the mansion, and a Shadar-kai and two Death Slaadi appeared in the room. Garlen, in his bulky modified form, landed a series of highly effective blows, killing the Shadar-kai and a Slaad. Grokk smacked the other Slaad once and Amber used a Holy Smite to injure it further. In the chaos, the Slaad didn't realize Rain was invisible and standing right behind it, ready to strike at its vital organs with a series of carefully aimed stabs. Needless to say, the battle was quickly ended.
Rain regained invisibility from the previous mural and led the party onward. He noticed a large statue of a long-dead yuan-ti prophet, and also noticed the statue was on a rotating base. Grokk grabbed the statue and spun it around, which caused a segment of wall to lift upward revealing a Crystal Snake that glowed with a radiant light. Rain slipped behind the snake, but found his weapons couldn't break through its tough skin. Grokk began pounding on it as the rest of the party spread out, heeding Roland's warning that such a construct would likely explode when destroyed. The snake began resonating with loud vibrations and released a beam of light at Grokk, and moments later, a badger charged at Roland from the opposite room and tried to bite him. A strange man wearing a cloak made of human skin stepped from behind a pillar and attacked Percy, yelling out threats against Roland and saying that "Occipitus is mine!" Rain made his way across the battlefield, while Grokk absorbed a minor snakebite as he moved to a more advantageous position. Grokk and Horkina pounded away at the snake while Percy, Rain, and Sam (in Marut form) struck at the crazy Cagewright from all directions. ("Who cares about the badger?" "Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers!" - Scott "To be fair, they are rather musky..." - Jeremy) Roland destroyed his challenger with a highly enhanced orb of fire. The snake continued to shoot beams of light at Grokk and the badger kept biting at Roland. Grokk's next blow destroyed the snake, which exploded in a burst of light that injured him and Horkina. Rain, Percy, and Sam finished off the badger quickly.
As Roland looked away from the Badger, he noticed a scrying sensor appearing next to Horkina. Within moments, five figures faded into view. Four of them were large, purple-skinned four-armed beasts -- Blood Fiends, a sort of vampire-demon mix. The party immediately recognized the fifth figure, Kaurophon. His left eye now carried the same sort of flame as Roland's, and he called out "the eye sees your doom, oh most impotent pretender to the throne of Occipitus!" Two Blood Fiends surrounded Roland and began attacking him, draining his energy (one negative level). The other two attempted to dominate Grokk and Horkina, without any success. Grokk attacked the one nearest to him, cutting it down with several strong blows, while Horkina destroyed the one next to her, Amber, and Roland. Roland set off a Contingency spell that would allow him to disrupt Kaurophon's next cast, and summoned a huge hand to grab and crush the enemy sorcerer. Garlen jumped and rolled behind one of the Blood Fiends, stabbing at it as he passed. Amber's Mass Heal spell restored the party to full health and left the two remaining fiends nearly dead. Rain's Holy Rapier finished one off, while Grokk resisted the drain attempts from the other and finished it off with a swing of his axe. Percy, Sam, Rain, and Roland combined to make Kaurophon die yet again, and Amber restored Grokk's constitution and Roland's level with the help of some diamond powder Horkina had procured via the "smash" method.
The party searched the rest of the complex and was preparing to transport Kaurophon's corpse back to Cauldron for magical interrogation when the body disappeared. Roland was able to Scry on it, and found that Kaurophon's body was now in the "eye" chamber in the skull-shaped mountain on Occipitus. The stone barrier that had sealed off the chamber had been disintegrated from the inside. The party made a quick stop by an interplanar store to re-equip, and Amber used a Divination to try to determine what had been behind Kaurophon's return. The answer was thus:
Broken cages cracked the cage
Madness seeks its freedom
Broken plans renewed by madness
'til madness' flame is doused
Madness seeks its freedom
Broken plans renewed by madness
'til madness' flame is doused
Amber and Rain reached level 18.
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