Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tony (Roland)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Garlen stood at the D&Dbay console and procured a pair of tomes and a modified tailored suit. He seemed merely to thumb through the tomes, but soon he'd absorbed all of their magic. He then took centaur form, and one of the chairs shifted its shape to match. Meanwhile, Amber commissioned the cloak of Sunlit Shadows, and the rest of the party bought various other items. The dragon's final note still lingered in the air as he started speaking -- as if only a few seconds had passed. "Ahhh, hello, little ones. I suppose, now that I've received the assistance I needed, it's my turn to help you. What is it that you need?" Roland described the situation, and the dragon Throdenthurirl agreed to protect Posiccuit during its journey.
Within moments, the projection of Posiccuit began growing and the room faded away. Athux, standing on Occipitus, broke the link between the two planes, and Posiccuit began to drift. Throdenthurirl began concentrating on his magic, and soon a shield of order surrounded Possicuit. By then, the plane was floating past the rugged, cavernous landscape of Pandemonium, with high winds and fog blowing past. A vague shadowy shape emerged from the fog -- a Phane, which manipulates time and space, was moving to attack the source of the shield of order. Garlen, Horkina, Grokk, and Rain all moved to assault the Phane, resisting the effects of its null-time aura as they approached. Rain couldn't manage to hit the slippery shadow, but Horkina's powerful blows more than made up for it, and Grokk landed the killing blow.
As Posiccuit continued to drift over Pandemonium, a Black Slaad and two White Slaads approached. Garlen, flying under the power of a spell from Roland, used the power of the Mantle of Ehlonna to slip behind the lead Slaad and attack. These strange chaotic creatures were not really Garlen's favorite enemies, though, and his attacks were less effective than usual. Roland ineffectively cast Mass Hold Monster on the group, but his Stun Ray left the Black Slaad reeling, and he summoned a Black Blade of Disaster to attack one of the White Slaads. Grokk charged at the Black Slaad and swung wildly in its general direction, landing a few strikes but missing twice as well. Amber boosted Rain and Horkina with Righteous Wrath of the Faithful and tried to curse the lead Slaad, but when it resisted, she used her amulet to repeat the spell on one of the weaker Slaads. Still, her spell was ineffective. Rain joined Grokk and placed several holes in the still-stunned Slaad. The two White enemies attacked Garlen, missing the blurry centaur with their claws but both managing a chaos-laced bite that continued to bleed for another minute. Horkina flew at one of the White Slaads ("I don't really like flying, but given the choice between staying on the ground and hitting something, I think I'll hit something.") Her axes cut deep and left many painful wounds. Garlen stabbed at the enemies now surrounding him, stabbing one at the base of the skull and hurting its brain. Roland's Black Blade of Disaster had little effect, but his highly modified fireball (centered on the ever-so-evasive Garlen) killed the Slaads.
Roland reached level 25 as Posiccuit crept closer to Elysium.
Pockets of earth, air, fire, and water crashed into each other and into the shield surrounding Posiccuit as it passed through Limbo. A creature that looked like a chaotic conglomoration of several beasts -- dragon, troll, and who knows what else -- moved straight toward Throdenthurirl. (Tony: "You can do Warmaster's Charge." Tom: "That would be really sick... OK.") Garlen led everyone in an attack on the shape-changing Hagunemnon, and even Amber and Roland were able to wound it (Amber: 25 hp with her +1 mace, Roland 37 hp with his not-even-masterwork quarterstaff.) Garlen called out encouragement to Rain to press the attack, and Rain's solid strikes with Bleeder made the chaotic beast crumble into a chaotic mess of deadness.
Roland reached level 26 as Posiccuit crept even closer to Elysium.
Posiccuit passed just over the tip of a soaring mountain on Ysgard, descending toward a wide plane where armies of powerful dwarves and giants battled. A contingent of dwarven warriors teleported onto Posiccuit, and their leader, Brottor Strongheart, called out "who dares disturb our glorious battle with this aura of Law?" Horkina yelled back "mind your own business! We'll be gone soon." Brottor was undeterred -- "you cannot bring such order to our battlefield! We have to settle this, or at least make things a bit less structured, with a drunken brawl! Who is up for the challenge?" Horkina stepped forward and began swigging Brottor's finest ale, never feeling its effects, though Brottor became slightly inebriated. The two stepped together in an epic drunken brawl as Brottor's compatriots cheered him on. He landed several solid blows, but she retaliated, flying into a rage. He landed another few solid strikes, and one of his friends pulled a bar stool out of a bag of holding and smashed it over another's head, starting their own fight. Suddenly Horkina stepped forward and landed two perfect punches, knocking the previous champion barfighter unconscious. His friends jeered "that's what you get for hitting a girl", which led Horkina to start punching them. When the fight finally wound down and Brottor woke up, he gave Horkina a case of his finest ale.
Soon Posiccuit was passing over Arborea, a massive forested paradise. Giant eagles and dragons would occasionally investigate the strange sight of a plane flying through the sky, but only the most powerful silver dragons dared approach. When they noticed Amber and Garlen, with symbols of Ehlonna proudly displayed on shields and cloaks, they gladly moved aside and watched Posiccuit continue. The same thing happened with the most powerful guardians of the Beastlands -- if some of Ehlonna's most faithful and powerful followers were guiding Posiccuit, surely it could be allowed to pass through. As the threats diminished, Throdenthurirl began fading away, waving goodbye as he again sang a catchy and triumphant song about the foiled plans of spellweavers. After a few more hours of drifting, Posiccuit came to rest on the edge of Elysium's topmost layer, the colorful and beautiful Amoria. As the Rubble Rousers celebrated, they began to fade just like Throdenthurirl before them, and they found themselves back in the hemispherical white room.
Roland reached level 27 as Posiccuit settled into its new cosmological home. The rest of the party also reached level 27.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Rubble Rousers, Day 49 (2008-04-25, 6:30 PM), Chapter 15: Unlikely Allies
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tony (Roland)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Athux quickly set to work separating the celestial remnants of Occipitus from the rest, creating a pair of half-planes facing each other over the course of about three weeks. Roland christened his half-plane "Posiccuit", and was able to determine that it would drift to the place he'd feel most comfortable - Elysium. Roland also knew that such planar drifting would take Posiccuit through some of the most chaotic planes, and that pieces of it would be eaten away if it wasn't protected by a sufficiently powerful shield of Law. The party spent most of that time reminiscing about old times and shopping for new equipment, knowing they'd have to escort the newly formed plane to its final home, but unsure of how to create such a lawful shield.
Amber cast a divination, which yielded this poem:
"Fearless pursuit of planar relocation requires
Fending off the forces of chaos.
Few dare enter the Dispicable Duke's tower, but
Feats of bravery yield Help from on High."
Roland recognized the repetition of "Fe", the chemical symbol for Iron, combined with other elements of the divination, pointed toward Dispater, the Iron Duke and devil prince of the Iron City of Dis. He also knew Dispater was extremely powerful within his own stronghold, and could rust both weapons and people. The party planned to assault him using weapons Amber had turned to brilliant energy, with cheap wooden weapons as backups just in case.
The party planeshifted to the Nine Hells and stepped up to the gate of the Iron City. Beareded devils stood atop the city walls, and one in the gate blocked the party. Looking at Amber, he said "you don't look like you belong here." Garlen stepped forward and punched the devil in the face, leaving him badly bruised, and saying "I'm her bodyguard. Don't mess with her." Amber grudgingly agreed to wear Rain's cloak of nondetection to avoid unnecessary combat, and the party walked to the Iron Tower without further incident. Several horned devils trained for combat in the tower's courtyard, and an infernal and a pair of pit fiends stood guard at the main gate, reacting aggressively when the party approached.
Garlen hit the infernal with a White Raven Hammer strike, stunning it. Amber flew to the middle of the courtyard and cast a widened Holy Word, killing about a dozen horned devils. Horkina charged up next to Garlen and struck the infernal several more times. One of the pit fiends tried to cast Power Word Stun on Garlen, but failed miserably. He then cast a fireball that both Garlen and Horkina evaded. Finally, he stepped forward, clawing and swinging his tail at Garlen, though Garlen's Freedom of Movement made him too slippery to hold. The other pit fiend stepped forward and pounded on Horkina, wounding her somewhat significantly. Rain charged between Garlen and Horkina, stabbing the stunned infernal several times as he expressed disappointment that the thing wouldn't bleed. Roland dropped a line of arc-sound and a second blast of sound, harming the infernal and one pit fiend. Grokk leaped and smacked that pit fiend with three nice strikes. Garlen attacked and killed one pit fiend, and wounds Rain had opened up finally bled the infernal to death. Horkina smashed her axes into the other pit fiend, who tried to teleport away but got blocked by Amber. Several party members struck the now-disoriented pit fiend, whose death came quickly.
Rain began working on picking the lock on the main tower entrance. Horkina shattered the door with her master key, leaving Rain holding the lock. "This is a nice lock, I think I'll keep it," Rain said. Dozens of imps and the occasional erinys -- devil bookkeepers, receptionists, and the like -- followed their procedures for hiding or evacuating in an orderly manner, and the party decided not to waste time killing such weak enemies. The party flew up the central staircase and stepped into a recently abandoned reception area with a door that clearly led into Dispater's office. Amber cast a few important spells, such as Brilliant Energy Aura, and then Horkina shattered the door leading to Dispater's chamber.
The chamber was ringed with lifelike iron statues of angels and the like, obviously Dispater's past victims. A large desk held a map of the city with evacuation and battle plans drawn on it, and the walls held similarly-marked maps of various other devil strongholds. Dispater, empowered by his stronghold, stood with an infernal bodyguard in front of the desk. The whole party, including Amber and Roland, followed Garlen's instructions to attack Dispater. ("Fine, I won't power attack... except for 5." - Rachel) Amber's mace and Roland's quarterstaff both bounced off of Dispater's thick skin, but the others each landed a solid strike, and Dispater was stunned. Horkina kept striking Dispater, dropping his resistance to magic with each strike. The infernal focused his efforts on Roland, landing several solid hits and grabbing Roland with its tail, but Roland released some magical energy that greatly reduced the damage. Still, Roland found several spells slipped out of his mind. Rain found all of Dispater's vital organs with his next few stabs, and the devil lord was no more. Roland's dimension door got him out of the grasp of the infernal, and he blinded it with glitterdust. Grokk leaped over the infernal and stunned it, and Rain and Horkina finished it off (with Horkina's final strike leaving an ugly gash across its face, adding insult to injury.)
Roland warned Rain about a disintegrate trap a few feet in front of the vault door. Rain was able to bypass a whole series of nasty traps and clear the way for the party to acquire whatever help the divination said they'd be able to reach. The vault held several valuable treasures, with the most valuable being a huge golden ring with celestial runes. The runes read "For those who need help, and for those who can provide it, your needs will be fulfilled, and your abilities will be used by those in need." Touching it, Roland immediately understood: this artifact would allow the group to summon exactly the help it needed, but at the cost of being summoned themselves. Activating it was a matter of holding it and speaking the word "unity" in an appropriate language. The party took the ring back to Posiccuit and activated it.
Suddenly, they found themselves in a perfectly hemispherical room, a hundred feet high and a hundred feet in radius. The white roof and floor emitted soft, pleasant light, and no shadows were visible anywhere. A shrine to the north was covered in silver holy symbols of various greater and lesser gods -- Heironeous, Eholonna, Kord, Pelor, Corellon Larethian, and many others. The walls held various inscriptions, again in glowing silver runes: "For those who fight alongside us", "for those who cannot fight for themselves", "for those who have gone before", "for those who are yet to come", and so on. Concepts of unity, freedom, honor, and continuity dominated the messages. A large sign to the south (marked "D&Dbay") described various magical items and their costs, displaying a new group of items every so often, though it wasn't apparent exactly how often. Time flowed vaguely, seeming to both rush by and stand still. Rain straightened out his hair and clothing, feeling like he had to be on his best behavior in a room like this.
At the center of the room was a large circular table. An image projected above the table showed a perfect map of Posiccuit. There were six empty chairs around the southern end of the table, two sized for halflings. A huge chair to the north was presently occupied by a colossal Radiant Dragon, whose scales glistened like gold. The dragon hummed an upbeat, triumphant song, stopping suddenly when he realized he was no longer alone.
Roland reached level 24 as his connection to Posiccuit grew.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tony (Roland)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Athux quickly set to work separating the celestial remnants of Occipitus from the rest, creating a pair of half-planes facing each other over the course of about three weeks. Roland christened his half-plane "Posiccuit", and was able to determine that it would drift to the place he'd feel most comfortable - Elysium. Roland also knew that such planar drifting would take Posiccuit through some of the most chaotic planes, and that pieces of it would be eaten away if it wasn't protected by a sufficiently powerful shield of Law. The party spent most of that time reminiscing about old times and shopping for new equipment, knowing they'd have to escort the newly formed plane to its final home, but unsure of how to create such a lawful shield.
Amber cast a divination, which yielded this poem:
"Fearless pursuit of planar relocation requires
Fending off the forces of chaos.
Few dare enter the Dispicable Duke's tower, but
Feats of bravery yield Help from on High."
Roland recognized the repetition of "Fe", the chemical symbol for Iron, combined with other elements of the divination, pointed toward Dispater, the Iron Duke and devil prince of the Iron City of Dis. He also knew Dispater was extremely powerful within his own stronghold, and could rust both weapons and people. The party planned to assault him using weapons Amber had turned to brilliant energy, with cheap wooden weapons as backups just in case.
The party planeshifted to the Nine Hells and stepped up to the gate of the Iron City. Beareded devils stood atop the city walls, and one in the gate blocked the party. Looking at Amber, he said "you don't look like you belong here." Garlen stepped forward and punched the devil in the face, leaving him badly bruised, and saying "I'm her bodyguard. Don't mess with her." Amber grudgingly agreed to wear Rain's cloak of nondetection to avoid unnecessary combat, and the party walked to the Iron Tower without further incident. Several horned devils trained for combat in the tower's courtyard, and an infernal and a pair of pit fiends stood guard at the main gate, reacting aggressively when the party approached.
Garlen hit the infernal with a White Raven Hammer strike, stunning it. Amber flew to the middle of the courtyard and cast a widened Holy Word, killing about a dozen horned devils. Horkina charged up next to Garlen and struck the infernal several more times. One of the pit fiends tried to cast Power Word Stun on Garlen, but failed miserably. He then cast a fireball that both Garlen and Horkina evaded. Finally, he stepped forward, clawing and swinging his tail at Garlen, though Garlen's Freedom of Movement made him too slippery to hold. The other pit fiend stepped forward and pounded on Horkina, wounding her somewhat significantly. Rain charged between Garlen and Horkina, stabbing the stunned infernal several times as he expressed disappointment that the thing wouldn't bleed. Roland dropped a line of arc-sound and a second blast of sound, harming the infernal and one pit fiend. Grokk leaped and smacked that pit fiend with three nice strikes. Garlen attacked and killed one pit fiend, and wounds Rain had opened up finally bled the infernal to death. Horkina smashed her axes into the other pit fiend, who tried to teleport away but got blocked by Amber. Several party members struck the now-disoriented pit fiend, whose death came quickly.
Rain began working on picking the lock on the main tower entrance. Horkina shattered the door with her master key, leaving Rain holding the lock. "This is a nice lock, I think I'll keep it," Rain said. Dozens of imps and the occasional erinys -- devil bookkeepers, receptionists, and the like -- followed their procedures for hiding or evacuating in an orderly manner, and the party decided not to waste time killing such weak enemies. The party flew up the central staircase and stepped into a recently abandoned reception area with a door that clearly led into Dispater's office. Amber cast a few important spells, such as Brilliant Energy Aura, and then Horkina shattered the door leading to Dispater's chamber.
The chamber was ringed with lifelike iron statues of angels and the like, obviously Dispater's past victims. A large desk held a map of the city with evacuation and battle plans drawn on it, and the walls held similarly-marked maps of various other devil strongholds. Dispater, empowered by his stronghold, stood with an infernal bodyguard in front of the desk. The whole party, including Amber and Roland, followed Garlen's instructions to attack Dispater. ("Fine, I won't power attack... except for 5." - Rachel) Amber's mace and Roland's quarterstaff both bounced off of Dispater's thick skin, but the others each landed a solid strike, and Dispater was stunned. Horkina kept striking Dispater, dropping his resistance to magic with each strike. The infernal focused his efforts on Roland, landing several solid hits and grabbing Roland with its tail, but Roland released some magical energy that greatly reduced the damage. Still, Roland found several spells slipped out of his mind. Rain found all of Dispater's vital organs with his next few stabs, and the devil lord was no more. Roland's dimension door got him out of the grasp of the infernal, and he blinded it with glitterdust. Grokk leaped over the infernal and stunned it, and Rain and Horkina finished it off (with Horkina's final strike leaving an ugly gash across its face, adding insult to injury.)
Roland warned Rain about a disintegrate trap a few feet in front of the vault door. Rain was able to bypass a whole series of nasty traps and clear the way for the party to acquire whatever help the divination said they'd be able to reach. The vault held several valuable treasures, with the most valuable being a huge golden ring with celestial runes. The runes read "For those who need help, and for those who can provide it, your needs will be fulfilled, and your abilities will be used by those in need." Touching it, Roland immediately understood: this artifact would allow the group to summon exactly the help it needed, but at the cost of being summoned themselves. Activating it was a matter of holding it and speaking the word "unity" in an appropriate language. The party took the ring back to Posiccuit and activated it.
Suddenly, they found themselves in a perfectly hemispherical room, a hundred feet high and a hundred feet in radius. The white roof and floor emitted soft, pleasant light, and no shadows were visible anywhere. A shrine to the north was covered in silver holy symbols of various greater and lesser gods -- Heironeous, Eholonna, Kord, Pelor, Corellon Larethian, and many others. The walls held various inscriptions, again in glowing silver runes: "For those who fight alongside us", "for those who cannot fight for themselves", "for those who have gone before", "for those who are yet to come", and so on. Concepts of unity, freedom, honor, and continuity dominated the messages. A large sign to the south (marked "D&Dbay") described various magical items and their costs, displaying a new group of items every so often, though it wasn't apparent exactly how often. Time flowed vaguely, seeming to both rush by and stand still. Rain straightened out his hair and clothing, feeling like he had to be on his best behavior in a room like this.
At the center of the room was a large circular table. An image projected above the table showed a perfect map of Posiccuit. There were six empty chairs around the southern end of the table, two sized for halflings. A huge chair to the north was presently occupied by a colossal Radiant Dragon, whose scales glistened like gold. The dragon hummed an upbeat, triumphant song, stopping suddenly when he realized he was no longer alone.
Roland reached level 24 as his connection to Posiccuit grew.
Rubble Rousers, Day 48 (2008-04-18, 6:30 PM), Chapter 14: Zen Mario
Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony
Roland's book provided the party with another page of text:
"You've thinned their ranks.
Now it's time to pay them back for what they've done.
But beware, revenge is a two-sided coin.
You've taken their measure and they've taken yours.
Guard against their strengths, prey on their weaknesses, and use the knowledge they don't have."
The party decided to use Roland's special coin to planeshift into Occipitus, thinking it might provide a back way into Roland's tomb. Amber cast a series of spell protections and immunities, and the party shifted into a chamber that looked remarkably similar to the chamber in the tower in Cauldron. Rain set to work picking the lock on the door to the north, opening it within moments. The next room held huge stones at strange angles and runes written in undercommon. Horkina recognized it as a larger version of a dwarven puzzle toy, and was able to identify which stone would be key to the solution. That stone had a handprint, and Horkina touched it and said "knowledge is key". Her hand tingled at the word "knowledge", but it wasn't until she said it in undercommon that the block dispersed and a new passageway opened.
The next chamber was circular with high walls and draconic runes. Rain's knowledge of the draconic language and spellcasting allowed him to recognize the magical focus of the room, so he stepped to the key point and said "knowledge" in Draconic. Again, a passage appeared. The next room looked like a huge distorted map with runes in abyssal. Garlen located Cauldron on the map and spoke the abyssal for "knowledge", which again revealed a new passage. The next chamber was a huge drum head which pounded out an orcish war chant. Grokk stood at a specific point on the drum head and began playing, while saying "Grokk have much knowledge of drums" in Orcish. This opened a door to the next room, which glowed brightly and was covered in celestial runes. Amber borrowed a ring of Comprehend Languages and recognized the runes described the process of turning undead. She did so while saying "knowlelujah" (the celestial word for "knowledge"), revealing a small square chamber. The party stepped into the chamber, which had the word "knowledge" inscribed in the walls in hundreds of languages. One wall was particularly thin, and Rain and Garlen could hear arguing through it. Garlen spoke the clue Rain had been given: "in the end, knowledge is just a tool." With that, the wall disappeared and Roland's tomb was revealed.
At the center of the huge round chamber was a stone sphere encased in antimagic fields. The stone had been chipped away to reveal a prismatic sphere. The were-bugbear, the ice lich, and Strength the marilith-dragon were all around the room. A black-skinned, blue-eyed six-fingered humanoid held the staff that had been stolen from Ober, and he yelled at the lich about failing to secure the Staff of Winter. As the wall disintegrated, he called out "oh... you... are the ones who screwed up my plans." This was Athux, Grazz't's son.
Amber saw an invisible, shadowy figure step out from behind the antimagic area. This figure, named Murder, drew a poisoned antimagic dagger and threw it at Amber, nearly killing her. The were-bugbear approached and cast freedom of movement on himself. Horkina pulled the dagger free from Amber and stabbed it into a nearby wall, hoping to make it inaccessible. Garlen ran up to Athux and struck him repeatedly, and Grokk's Leaping Dragon Strike left Athux stunned. Amber healed herself, cast true seeing on Rain, cast Righteous Wrath of the Faithful on everyone but Grokk, and dispelled Murder's invisibility. Rain's Five Shadow Creeping Ice Enervating Strike wounded Murder somewhat. Strength teleported next to Amber and struck her several times, causing her Fortunate Fate spell to trigger. The lich-cleric of Wee Jas teleported across the room, keeping an antilife shell around himself, and healed his wounded comrades.
Murder's Death Strike hit Rain solidly, but Rain resisted its brutal effects. The were-bugbear smacked Horkina, stunning her. Her Iron Heart Surge allowed her to shake it off, and she hit the bugbear several times. Garlen called out instructions to the party, and his War Master's Charge left Strength stunned and badly wounded. Amber triggered the Fire Seeds Rain was carrying, and Garlen gave more instructions to Horkina, giving her the ability to react quickly and land several more blows that killed Strength. Grokk's Feral Death Blow killed Murder, and suddenly Athux had two fewer allies. He turned and dispelled nearly every spell that was on Garlen, attacked Grokk several times with a Bastard Sword made of pure force, and finally disintegrated Amber. Rain stepped through shadow and next to Athux, attacking several times but finding his strikes ineffective. As the Ice Lich stepped forward, Grokk heard a chorus of female dragon voices telepathically call out "our debt is repaid", and the lich died as the far-off phylactery was destroyed.
In a bright flash, Roland appeared, ready for action. He yelled a taunt at the were-bugbear: "you'd better leave or you'll end up dead like the others. You don't want to die for Athux' sake, do you?" The were-bugbear planeshifted away as the Rubble Rousers moved to surround Athux. Roland spoke again: "we both know this fight could get ugly, so let's make a deal. You want Occipitus as your own dominion. I just want its celestial parts to be back where they belong. If you'll help free the parts of this plane that still remember their old celestial home, I'll grant you power over what's left." Athux pondered for a moment as various Rubble Rousers readied their weapons, and he finally agreed: he would split the plane and rule over its abyssal parts, and Roland could take its celestial parts wherever he wanted to.
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Rachel (Horkina)
Tom (Garlen)
DM: Tony
Roland's book provided the party with another page of text:
"You've thinned their ranks.
Now it's time to pay them back for what they've done.
But beware, revenge is a two-sided coin.
You've taken their measure and they've taken yours.
Guard against their strengths, prey on their weaknesses, and use the knowledge they don't have."
The party decided to use Roland's special coin to planeshift into Occipitus, thinking it might provide a back way into Roland's tomb. Amber cast a series of spell protections and immunities, and the party shifted into a chamber that looked remarkably similar to the chamber in the tower in Cauldron. Rain set to work picking the lock on the door to the north, opening it within moments. The next room held huge stones at strange angles and runes written in undercommon. Horkina recognized it as a larger version of a dwarven puzzle toy, and was able to identify which stone would be key to the solution. That stone had a handprint, and Horkina touched it and said "knowledge is key". Her hand tingled at the word "knowledge", but it wasn't until she said it in undercommon that the block dispersed and a new passageway opened.
The next chamber was circular with high walls and draconic runes. Rain's knowledge of the draconic language and spellcasting allowed him to recognize the magical focus of the room, so he stepped to the key point and said "knowledge" in Draconic. Again, a passage appeared. The next room looked like a huge distorted map with runes in abyssal. Garlen located Cauldron on the map and spoke the abyssal for "knowledge", which again revealed a new passage. The next chamber was a huge drum head which pounded out an orcish war chant. Grokk stood at a specific point on the drum head and began playing, while saying "Grokk have much knowledge of drums" in Orcish. This opened a door to the next room, which glowed brightly and was covered in celestial runes. Amber borrowed a ring of Comprehend Languages and recognized the runes described the process of turning undead. She did so while saying "knowlelujah" (the celestial word for "knowledge"), revealing a small square chamber. The party stepped into the chamber, which had the word "knowledge" inscribed in the walls in hundreds of languages. One wall was particularly thin, and Rain and Garlen could hear arguing through it. Garlen spoke the clue Rain had been given: "in the end, knowledge is just a tool." With that, the wall disappeared and Roland's tomb was revealed.
At the center of the huge round chamber was a stone sphere encased in antimagic fields. The stone had been chipped away to reveal a prismatic sphere. The were-bugbear, the ice lich, and Strength the marilith-dragon were all around the room. A black-skinned, blue-eyed six-fingered humanoid held the staff that had been stolen from Ober, and he yelled at the lich about failing to secure the Staff of Winter. As the wall disintegrated, he called out "oh... you... are the ones who screwed up my plans." This was Athux, Grazz't's son.
Amber saw an invisible, shadowy figure step out from behind the antimagic area. This figure, named Murder, drew a poisoned antimagic dagger and threw it at Amber, nearly killing her. The were-bugbear approached and cast freedom of movement on himself. Horkina pulled the dagger free from Amber and stabbed it into a nearby wall, hoping to make it inaccessible. Garlen ran up to Athux and struck him repeatedly, and Grokk's Leaping Dragon Strike left Athux stunned. Amber healed herself, cast true seeing on Rain, cast Righteous Wrath of the Faithful on everyone but Grokk, and dispelled Murder's invisibility. Rain's Five Shadow Creeping Ice Enervating Strike wounded Murder somewhat. Strength teleported next to Amber and struck her several times, causing her Fortunate Fate spell to trigger. The lich-cleric of Wee Jas teleported across the room, keeping an antilife shell around himself, and healed his wounded comrades.
Murder's Death Strike hit Rain solidly, but Rain resisted its brutal effects. The were-bugbear smacked Horkina, stunning her. Her Iron Heart Surge allowed her to shake it off, and she hit the bugbear several times. Garlen called out instructions to the party, and his War Master's Charge left Strength stunned and badly wounded. Amber triggered the Fire Seeds Rain was carrying, and Garlen gave more instructions to Horkina, giving her the ability to react quickly and land several more blows that killed Strength. Grokk's Feral Death Blow killed Murder, and suddenly Athux had two fewer allies. He turned and dispelled nearly every spell that was on Garlen, attacked Grokk several times with a Bastard Sword made of pure force, and finally disintegrated Amber. Rain stepped through shadow and next to Athux, attacking several times but finding his strikes ineffective. As the Ice Lich stepped forward, Grokk heard a chorus of female dragon voices telepathically call out "our debt is repaid", and the lich died as the far-off phylactery was destroyed.
In a bright flash, Roland appeared, ready for action. He yelled a taunt at the were-bugbear: "you'd better leave or you'll end up dead like the others. You don't want to die for Athux' sake, do you?" The were-bugbear planeshifted away as the Rubble Rousers moved to surround Athux. Roland spoke again: "we both know this fight could get ugly, so let's make a deal. You want Occipitus as your own dominion. I just want its celestial parts to be back where they belong. If you'll help free the parts of this plane that still remember their old celestial home, I'll grant you power over what's left." Athux pondered for a moment as various Rubble Rousers readied their weapons, and he finally agreed: he would split the plane and rule over its abyssal parts, and Roland could take its celestial parts wherever he wanted to.
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