The Shackled City, Day 37 (2007-06-23, 6:30 PM), Chapter 12: Asylum

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
Kate (Nidrama)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Roland used another pair of Legend Lore spells, with these results:

Legend Lore: Occipitus

Once a part of the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, Occipitus became the 507th layer of the Abyss when it was occupied by a demon army and cast off by the heavenly host. Adimarchus, a fallen celestial and leader of the demonic army, became the ruler of this plane when he incorporated the celestial rubble with the raw stuff of the Abyss. For many years, he waged war against his rival demon prince Grazz't, using Occipitus as his base of operations. He worked with another fallen celestial named Saureya to set up the Test of the Smoking Eye, providing a way to select a successor. The plane was without a ruler for fifty years, between Adimarchus' disappearance and the archmage Roland's passing the test. Three other would-be successors were recently slain by Roland and the Rubble Rousers. The Sign of the Smoking Eye is the symbol of authority on Occipitus, granted to its ruler and often to deputy rulers.

Legend Lore: Adimarchus

Adimarchus, a fallen celestial, led a demonic army on an invasion of Celestia. The army was repulsed when the heavenly host broke away the demonic-infested area, but in this defeat, Adimarchus knew success. He incorporated the celestial rubble with the raw stuff of the Abyss, creating the plane of Occipitus and becoming its ruler and a demon prince. He ruled the plane ruthlessly, leaving no rivals or enemies alive, save for a resolute Aasimar paladin named Athux who he could not bring himself to kill. While Adimarchus waged war against Grazz't, Grazz't's minions captured Athux and imprisoned him in a place called Skullrot, which is on Orthys, the first layer of Carceri. Adimarchus traded his freedom for the release of Athux and has been imprisoned ever since. He has grown more insane over his years of imprisonment and torment, and his insanity caused the Cagewrights to plot his release. Their limited success weakened the restraints that bind him, and his insanity now leaks onto his one-time lair of Occipitus, where it continues to seek a method for his release and revenge on his enemies.

Roland also stopped by several libraries to research Orthys, trying to find information on Skullrot. He was able to find mention of two key locations: the Bastion of Lost Hope, where information could be bought and sold, and a tower named Harrowfell, currently in the possession of a Marilith demon with a burning left eye. As the party was formulating a plan to visit these locations, a familiar being appeared. Nidrama, a celestial who had been charged with guarding this area long ago, wanted to speak to the party. "What you are doing for this region is so important, I'm prepared to offer anything I can. The celestial host will not be happy with me for interfering in mortal affairs, but I must do it. You have my services, such as they are, for your assault on Adimarchus." The party treated Nidrama to a Heroes Feast and then planeshifted onto Orthys.

On planeshifting, the party encountered a large group of demodands wearing matching squadron logos. One of them had an unconscious celestial stuck to his slimy exterior. Rain and Garlen stabbed at a pair of farastus while Amber's Sunburst injured and blinded the pack. Nidrama, Horkina, and Grokk focused their attacks on the big Shator and Roland dropped a Cone of Cold that wiped out most of the pack. The one remaining farastu turned invisible and ran away, while Amber stepped forward and healed the injured celestial. He introduced himself as Kharidian, a paladin who'd been assaulting single farastus when a group managed to capture him. He promised to be more careful in his future adventures.

Roland conjured up a floating disk for the party to ride on, due to the unpleasant nature and unpredictable depth of the swampy parts of Orthys. As the party flew toward Harrowfell, a group of Slaadi set upon them. Garlen blasted the most dangerous looking one with arrows while Rain poked holes in it with his rapier. The Death Slaad responded with a Finger of Death, which failed mightily. Amber's Lucent Lance and Horkina's axe smashed this enemy while a pair of Gray Slaad tried to stun various party members. Nidrama and Grokk smashed a Green Slaad, and Roland fired off Arc Lightning, dropping most of the group. The party quickly surrounded and destroyed the remaining Slaad.

The party approached Harrowfell on board the floating disk, keeping slightly below the top of the tower. Roland chatted with Byakala, the Marilith with the smoking eye, who was surrounded by her Babau and Hezrou minions. She mentioned being a former deputy of Adimarchus, captured by Grazz't's forces and imprisoned on Carceri. Roland guided the floating disk upward during the conversation, and Horkina jumped over the wall to begin the assault. Byakala made ten strikes on Horkina, seriously wounding her. Amber flew up to the pack and released a Holy Word, killing all of the minions and paralyzing Byakala. Grokk hopped up over the wall and carefully aimed his strike to drop the demoness. (The Coup de Grace damage was 340!)

When the party reached the Bastion of Lost Hope, Garlen, Nidrama, and Amber opted to remain outside, certain there would be trouble if they entered a place filled with demons, demodands, and the like. Rain and Roland asked around and offered bits of gold and treasure to anyone who could give them the location of Skullrot. Eventually a merchant traded the information for an anarchic sword taken from Byakala. Skullrot was located about 1200 miles to the east and a short distance to the north, along a tall mountain range. The party teleported to the mountain range, where they ran into a group of Tieflings mounted on Nightmares. Grokk made a flying leap at one of the tieflings, but got distracted by a frog hopping past. Nidrama, Horkina, Garlen and Rain all landed their blows, and the tieflings made a series of feeble and ineffective strikes. Amber's Holy Smite blinded most of the enemies and Roland's blast of electricity brought the group down.

As the party approached Skullrot, it became evident many demodands had been gathered here a short time ago. The reeds had been trampled, and vast tracks cut across the swamps and through every gap in the mountains. Soon, the party came upon a slaughter -- thousands of demodands lay dead and decaying, killed in a massive brawl sparked by the collapse of the portal from the Tree of Shackled Souls. A colossal Thunder Beast, far larger than the ones on Occipitus, grazed near the tower of Skullrot. Roland nailed it with a maximally effective Meteor Swarm and Amber silenced it, fearing the power of its roar. The rest of the party moved into position to attack, but the beast's stench was overwhelming. It trampled over the party as they keeled over. Percy had no trouble with the smell and was able to strike at the beast, and a Mass Heal from Amber brought the party back to their feet. Grokk took a solid swing at the beast, while Rain cut deep into its hide over and over again, bringing it down.

The tower of Skullrot was formed out of fiendish skulls that had been resined together. The dull red glow of Orthys' sky penetrated through the walls, giving them an eerie glow but not really lighting the interior. Howls and shrieks came periodically from the creatures imprisoned therein. Rain examined the front door and decided Horkina should open it. A startled group of farastus looked up from the slime-covered entryway, to be met with a hail of arrows from Garlen and Rain that left four of their number dead. Horkina spider-climbed along a wall and killed another, while Sam took full dragon form and breathed to bring two to near-death, and Grokk leaped over the slimy floor to drop yet another. An acidic fog formed in the room and an acid arrow struck Rain, both cast by a six-armed kelubar demodand who stood singing at the top of the stairs. The acid fog destroyed a couple of the farastus, and Nidrama struck one of the few who still stood. Their strikes proved ineffective, and Garlen left them behind, flying up the stairs to attack the bigger threat. Amber's Light of Venya struck true, and Roland shocked the singing fiend with an Orb of Electricity. Those still in the lower room finished off the last of the farastus while Rain and Garlen stabbed every vital organ in the mutant kelubar's body.

Horkina's Backstory

I grew up a large village called Klavdiya under some mountains. My father was a dwarf who ran a tavern in called the Stumbling Monk. He was a lifelong bachelor entering into late middle-age when my mother came to town. She was a young adventurer, far from home for the first time. They immediately hit it off. They married quickly and I came soon afterwards. After raising me for a few years, the desire to continue adventuring took hold of my mother and she started going on short quests outside of our village. My father loved her and wanted her to stay home, but he knew her nature and never tried to stop her from going on these journeys. One of these journeys ended badly and my mother ended up dying from a dose of poison.
My father was heartbroken by my mother’s death. He could see in me the same wanderlust and swore that I would not meet the same fate. As a child I did not know exactly what he meant by that, but I did notice that after my mother’s demise the things I ate had a certain twang to them. Sometimes the stews I ate for dinner had strange purple mushrooms in them. Or my morning gruel contained tiny red flecks that burned my throat as I swallowed. I later came to realize that he was feeding me low levels of poison to build my resistance to it.
So I grew up in the Stumbling Monk. When I was old enough I started serving drinks. I learned many things in that tavern. I learned good balance from carrying many pints of ale through crowds of drunken dwarves, how to start a good old fashioned barfight, drinking songs from across the continent, and jokes so bawdy they make even the most seasoned of barflies blush.
My father eventually passed away. I tried to take over the bar on my own, but it was not the same without him. I sold the Stumbling Monk and used the profits to fund a trip touring the taverns and inns of the countryside. I spent many months on this trip and saw the bottom of many glasses. As a side benefit, I also had many barroom brawls and some more serious scuffles in the alleys outside of these bars.
I ended up in Cauldron while trying to visit all the taverns in the well-known “Monkey Chain”. I had already been to the “Tippling Monkey”, the “Monkey See, Monkey Drink”, and the “Brass Monkey”. The last two on the list were the “Lucky Monkey” and the “Happy Monkey” outside of Cauldron.

The Shackled City, Day 36 (2007-06-09, 6:30 PM), Chapter 11.5: Test Results

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Roland acquired a few scrolls of permanency and used them on the party's Telepathic Bond. Rain spent the night drinking and passed out in the morning, so Garlen lent him ioun stones to allow him to go without air or food, and Grokk stuffed him in a portable hole for easy transportation. The party then headed for Occipitus to try to unravel the latest mystery.

The party materialized in the middle of a group of large, six-legged, foul-smelling Thunderbeasts. Horkina and Grokk charged and attacked the two largest beasts, with Percy and Garlen providing additional attacks. Roland's Chain Lightning frightened one of the smaller ones into running, but one of the larger ones bellowed out a roar that stunned Grokk and Garlen. Amber managed to remove Garlen's paralysis, but Grokk was still frozen in place. Another beast attacked Percy, chomping through his armor before realizing the Shield Guardian was not very tasty. Roland responded by disintegrating the beast, and Garlen and Horkina dropped the two largest ones. The remnant of the pack quickly fled, and Roland noticed one dead beast looked like it had been chewed on by a fairly large creature.

Roland checked the Portable Hole and found Rain had finally woken up, so Grokk pulled him out and set him on the ground. Rain's eyes were immediately fixed on the approaching black dragon with a smoking left eye. Roland gave the party acid resistance and then fired a Ray of Dizziness at the dragon, to no effect. The rest of the party spread out, firing arrows and a pair of Moon Bolts that dealt minor damage and some strength drain to the dragon. It ignored the party and headed right toward Roland, as if it had a grudge to settle. Rain took a shot at its belly as it flew overhead, but the dragon kept going, grabbing Roland in his mouth and preparing to swallow. Roland responded with a spell of Otto's Irresistable Dance, and the rest of the party quickly surrounded the dancing dragon, stabbing and slashing through its thick hide. Rain particularly enjoyed stabbing into various vital organs as the beast tapped its feet and swung its tail. Amber cast Freedom of Movement to allow Roland to escape, and the dragon was soon slain.

As the party headed up the tunnels into the skull mountain, they came upon the strange black fire again. This time, two tall, gaunt giants stood next to the fire, and one of them held Saureya above it, saying "tell us the secret of the smoking eye!" Garlen ducked under the legs of the nearest giant, distracting it as Rain stabbed it repeatedly. Grokk leaped at the giant, but his axe glanced off of its armor. Amber created a cube of stone encasing the dangerous black fire, and the giants began their attack. One swung fiercely right over Garlen's head, and another swung feebly at Rain as his muscles refused to cooperate. A third stepped out from the shadows and hit Horkina with his massive morningstar. Roland responded with a Wrathful Castigation and then burned the near-dead giant. The party quickly surrounded the last standing giant and cut into it mightily, while Saureya cast Invisibility on Rain. The giant managed to hit Garlen with a powerful blow, but the party quickly prevailed.

In the room of the Test of Sacrifice, the party discovered two bodies -- those of Kaurophon and the black dragon Vorkaire. Saureya told of a third creature, a floating beast with several eyes that the party immediately suspected was a beholder. Amber especially suspected this because her Wall of Stone had been carefully disintegrated, and beholders are capable of such actions. Saureya pointed the party toward where he'd last seen the creature, and they headed off to find a long vertical tunnel. Amber surrounded herself with an Antimagic Field as the party descended into the lair. Garlen spotted a Glabrezu in a spherical chamber, and used Lion's Charge to attack and slay it (dealing 226 damage.) Rain and Horkina moved next to Garlen as a trio of Vrocks moved to attack, striking unsuccessfully. A bolt of lightning from Roland and some attacks from Rain, Horkina, Grokk, and Garlen left the Vrocks lying in a heap on the floor.

The party descended another level, where they encountered a pair of Blood Fiends. Grokk and Garlen stood ready as the first one approached, and they worked with Rain to bring it down quickly. Horkina charged the second, smashing into it with her holy axe and leaving it vulnerable as Roland blasted it. A notebook in this room detailed a careful plot to planeshift near the party, charm Grokk and Horkina with a pair of Blood Fiends, and kill Roland. This had clearly been Kaurophon's doing, but the details in the notebook suggested a more recent familiarity with the party. Suspicion turned to Lord Orbius Vhalantru -- if Kaurophon could be remade, why not the party's beholder nemesis? Down the next tunnel, the party encountered a Nalfeshnee that proved not to be a challenge.

The group moved into a large donut-shaped room with a rough rocky plateau in the middle and two shafts rising out of the ceiling. Two golems that looked like they were made of demon flesh stood ready to defend the area. Grokk, Horkina, Rain, and Garlen surrounded one and beat on it, while Amber experimented to see if her Antimagic Field would have any effect on the other. Roland's Ray of Deanimation and Horkina's Axe dropped the first, while the second took a couple of swings at Amber. Rain made an acrobatic dive to get behind the remaining golem, and then Roland transposed him with Horkina to allow her to attack it. Grokk jumped and smashed right through the golem's back with his axe, reducing it to a pile of worthless demon flesh.

Roland floated beneath one of the tunnels and discovered Vhalantru -- reborn and much larger than before, with a flaming central eye -- approaching from above. He used one of Bigby's famous Hand spells to grab the floating beast. Vhalantru responded by disintegrating the hand and descending into the room, putting Grokk to sleep, turning Garlen to stone, and slowing Rain. His attempts to charm and kill Roland were unsuccessful, in large part due to Roland's Rod of Absorption. Rain jumped on Grokk to wake him up and Horkina climbed onto the roof to attack. Grokk leaped up and cut deep into the beholder's flesh, and then Roland brought it to the ground with Earthbind. Vhalantru's Finger of Death killed Horkina, but his attempts to disintegrate and disarm Grokk failed. Rain and Grokk pounded on the Beholder, and Roland dropped a volley of Acid Stones, slaying Vhalantru once more. Amber dismissed her Antimagic Field and used True Resurrection on Horkina while Roland used Break Enchantment to restore Garlen. Within a few minutes, Vhalantru's corpse disappeared.

The party headed back to the room of the final test, where Vhalantru's body lay alongside Kaurophon and Vorkaire. Roland used a pair of Legend Lore spells to gain information on the Test of the Smoking Eye, determining that these three were his only current rivals and that they would no longer be raised if the geyser was disjoined. He disjoined both the geyser and the dark fire in the room below.

The party reached level 19.

The Shackled City, Day 35 (2007-06-02, 6:30 PM), Chapter 11: Strike on Shatterhorn

Players (Characters)
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

Amber and Rain reached level 18.

The Shackled City, Day 34 (2007-05-26, 6:30 PM), Chapter 11: Strike on Shatterhorn

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

Back in Cauldron, Roland spent a few days looking through the notes he'd captured from various Cagewrights, and was able to identify the remaining members of that society: Ssythar Nahazir, a yuan-ti sorcerer; Alurad Sorizan, a human fighter/blackguard; Xokek, a shadar-kai wizard; Kyan Winterstrike, an elven arcane archer; Viirdran Daraqor, a drow fighter/evoker; and Embril Aloustinai, a mystic theurge and cleric of Nerull who had masqueraded as a cleric of Wee Jas. He also identified the Cagewright's secondary base of operations as Shatterhorn, the former base of the area's yuan-ti.

As the party approached the split spire of Shatterhorn, several arrows flew out of the fog and struck Amber. The arrows had been fired by a group of orcs riding on the backs of Spider Eaters. Garlen, Grokk, and Horkina jumped on top of a ruined wall and fired back while Roland flew to the side and fired a lightning bolt and Sam morphed into a larger dragon. The Spider Eaters took heavy damage from multiple sources and fell dead to the ground, taking their riders with them. Most of the orcs died on impact, but Amber chased the living one and scared it into surrender. Suddenly a pair of will'o'wisps started shocking Roland and Sam, touching them with bursts of electricity. Rain kept sneaking along the ground, and yelled out as he spotted a giant and a pair of wolves. Grokk leaped off of the wall into melee with the giant, taking a heavy blow from the enemy greatsword. Rain tumbled into flanking position and jabbed the giant while Garlen made an acrobatic leap and stabbed a wolf right in the tail. Grokk let loose with a furious attack, dropping the previously healthy giant (dealing over 300 HP damage!) Horkina and Rain finished off the wolves while Roland continued fighting the will'o'wisps. Horkina got back on the wall and slashed through one floating ball of electricity, so the other turned invisible and began to retreat. Amber's invisibility purge brought the creature back into focus, and Garlen and Grokk flew into melee and finished it off. Amber got some information from the disoriented orc, and then took his stuff and sent him away.

The party walked through an illusory wall and down a short tunnel into a wide room with an altar and several pillars. Rain jumped onto the altar while Garlen tumbled past, flanking and slaughtering the yuan-ti sorcerer who was standing just behind it. A yuan-ti mohrg tried to paralyze Rain, but he was able to resist its power. Amber's sunbeam had little effect, but Grokk jumped over the altar and smashed the undead thing. Rain used his speed-enhanced weapons to stab the mohrg over and over again until it dropped. He took a few steps into the next room and spotted a stone arm clutching a ring. As he touched it, four nearby pillars disintegrated, revealing medusas inside. Rain sneak-attacked one to death. Horkina barely saved against a petrifying gaze, and responded by killing the offending medusa. Roland turned to stone, and Amber responded by casting an Antimagic Field and standing in the middle of the group. Grokk and Rain made quick work of the now-neutered medusas, and Amber restored Roland to human form. Meanwhile, the floor dropped out from under Rain, who barely jumped away in time to avoid falling. A voice swore in Abyssal from beyond a nearby wall. Garlen noticed some thin plaster and started poking holes, and Grokk ran right through the wall to engage the demodand beyond. Horkina, Grokk, and Garlen finished off the beast, and the party finally took a deep breath and relaxed.

Rain discovered Wail of the Banshee traps on several burial urns, so the party got some distance and Percy smashed each of the urns to bits. The party gathered up some treasure and kept moving. Rain discovered a room hidden behind a stone block. Grokk pushed the block to the side, solving the world's easiest sliding block puzzle and revealing a few magical scrolls. In another passageway, a pair of stone blocks slid out from the walls, nearly crushing Rain. Horkina, with her Maul of the Titans, demonstrated an alternate solution to this sliding block puzzle.

The party came into a room where a large, six-armed creature stood over a woman lying on a black slab. Garlen and Rain jumped over the slab and attacked the Spell Weaver, who summoned a giant hand to squish Rain. A few shadows came out from hiding in the corners and one drained Rain's strength. Grokk jumped up on the slab and cut the Spell Weaver down, and then shrugged off a strange mental compulsion. Roland realized the woman on the table was Embril Aloustinai, and she was holding a gem that would allow her to possess someone else's body. Horkina clobbered the woman and her gem while Roland used his own summoned hand to grasp a Shadow. Amber's mass healing spell injured the group of undead and healed the party, and Rain and Grokk each managed to get an attack through on the incorporeal creatures, finishing the last two off.

Horkina headed down a ladder and smashed the plaster walls away from its base. The surrounding room had a huge egg-shaped statue in the middle. A drow cast haste on the room's occupants and moved into an attack position. Grokk jumped down through the hole and attacked the drow while Garlen flew into a rage and attacked a demodand. A woman fired several arrows at Grokk while Horkina engaged the drow in melee combat. Amber spoke out a Holy Word and banished the demodands, paralyzing the two Cagewrights in the process. Rain and Grokk finished the pair off with a couple of quick blows.

Roland, Horkina, Grokk, and Garlen reached level 18.

The Shackled City, Day 33 (2007-05-19, 6:30 PM), Chapter 10.5: Two Wrongs

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Tom (Garlen, Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Catherine

After the party was sure the area was secure, Horkina fed a gold piece into a gambling machine in the lounge. A hundred mechanical rats began fighting for the coin. One of the rats was colored gold, but this special rat did not succeed in retrieving the coin. While this was going on, Rain started unlocking doors in an obvious training area. Each lock was a little bit more difficult than the last, and each had a little bit more treasure behind it than the last. After nearly a dozen doors, he broke a lockpick and jammed the lock, so Horkina broke the door open and Rain continued on. In one of the final areas, he picked up a valuable silver beer stein, which he kept. Meanwhile, Percy walked through a series of trip wires, setting off some fairly simple traps. He shrugged off the damage, but stopped when Roland discovered a pit. Garlen jumped over the pit and Percy climbed inside and acted as a bridge for Rain. Just beyond the pit was a simple pressure plate that would have triggered a falling block, but Rain was able to wedge it in the off position. The next room's floor was one big pressure plate, so Rain and Garlen flew over it and unlocked the final door, where Rain picked up a luckstone.

Elsewhere in the complex, the party encountered a gnome who was working with a huge pile of laundry. He was sent away with the same stern warning: find somebody less creepy to work for. The party also found a bar with fairly low-quality alcohol. Rain tested out his new mug and Horkina took a bottle with her.

The party moved back to the pit with the animated suit of armor. Garlen and Rain jumped into the pit behind the armor, trying to draw its attention and disrupt its defense, while Horkina jumped in front of it and attacked. Grokk stood and cheered. The armor and the Horkina exchanged blows, with Horkina's attacks impressing Rain and Garlen so much they lost their rhythm and couldn't disrupt the armor's attacks. Grokk moved around the stands to get a better view. After a few more swings, Horkina finally crushed the armor and handed its magical axe to Grokk. This particular blackmetal axe, crafted in Naurim, would deal significantly more damage than expected on critical hits. As the party prepared to move on, Amber cast gentle repose on the dead dwarf in the bottom of the pit and sent Redtail flying home.

Grokk pulled out a crowbar and pried open the door leading out of the pit. The cages in the next room were obviously set up to hold captured adventurers. Several had antimagic fields in place, and all of them had steel nets high overhead. The party later learned that captured adventurers' gear would be left in these nets, tantalizingly out of reach.

Grokk pried open another door leading to a small room with two huge stone golems. The golems did not respond to the party immediately. Garlen and Rain tumbled to the middle of the room and began poking and prodding one golem. Both turned their attention fully on Garlen, smashing him with their huge arms. Grokk flew into a rage and leaped at the near enemy, smashing it with his axe. Roland transposed Garlen and Horkina's positions, and Horkina landed a series of powerful hits that cut chunks off of the construct. Rain tumbled behind the second golem and Amber set off the fire seeds he was holding, while Garlen pulled out admantine arrows and began firing from a distance. Amber, still invisible, healed Garlen. One golem began attacking Roland while the other turned to attack Rain, and both of the party members took severe injuries. Grokk and Horkina dropped the golems with their next few swings. Roland examined the golems' targeting priorities: (1) attack any creature that casts a spell, (2) attack unarmored targets, (3) attack the target the other golem has selected, and (4) defend yourself. Obviously Garlen's hidden armor made him the primary target when the Golems first attacked.

Roland noticed an illusory wall behind the golem remains, next to an obvious door. Rain was able to determine the door was not actually unlockable, but that there was a locked door behind the illusory wall. The next hallway led to an obviously painted door, which Horkina converted into some obviously painted rubble. The party began to tire of the silly jokes. ("We laughed, we cried, we swung, you died." - Jeremy.) Opposite the next set of doors was a black button, presently in the "in" position. Percy leaned up against the button to keep it from popping out, in case it was the trigger mechanism for something. Rain carefully opened the next door, revealing a large room with a large plus-shaped stone wall in the middle and smaller stone walls sheltering the corners.

Rain and Garlen sneaked quietly inside while Horkina moved into the nearest corner, where she discovered a mechanism she telepathically informed the others about. Three small buttons faced the three other corners of the room, and one larger button sat in the middle of the assembly. Suddenly an arrow flew at Rain's head, and he noticed an enemy hiding in another corner. Grokk moved to engage the enemy, but the rogue tumbled behind a pillar and pushed a button, disappearing. Horkina pressed another button and discovered she'd teleported across the room. Garlen searched one corner for the enemy rogue while Roland pushed a button to teleport to the remaining corner. There, the enemy was waiting, and was able to resist Roland's spell. Rain teleported in behind the enemy, who pushed the large central button, causing the room to drop like a large elevator.

As the floor fell, the central stone wall extended to divide the room into four quadrants, with arrow slits facing into each one from the outside. Garlen pushed one of the other buttons and found it had been deactivated. Amber stoneshaped a hole from the chamber she and Garlen were in into the chamber Rain and Roland were in. Horkina began smashing down the wall between her and Grokk, while Percy helped move rubble out of the way. Roland cast a Wrathful Castigation to disable the enemy rogue while Rain began checking a nearby door for traps. Suddenly a hail of arrows came flying at Grokk, but his uncanny ability to dodge and his ability to absorb damage allowed him to shrug off what would have been a devastating attack. Grokk fired his own flaming arrows back at his assailants, striking one of them solidly. Garlen and Amber crawled through to gather up with Rain and Roland, and Horkina kept tunneling toward Grokk. Roland had Garlen, Rain, and Amber gather up and cast Dimension Door to move them into Grokk's chamber, and Rain quickly unlocked the door into the hallway that circled all four chambers.

The enemies began running and the party gave chase. Amber's Sound Burst stunned a pair, while Garlen began chasing the third in the other direction. Horkina finished tunneling through. Rain's arrows and Grokk's leaping attack dropped the two Amber had stunned. Roland moved to cut off the exit from the circling hallway, holding a charge of Combust ready to ignite the remaining enemy. Garlen taunted the fleeing foe and fired a few arrows at him, and Grokk, Horkina, and Rain positioned themselves near Roland to block the enemy's escape. The gnome stepped around the corner, where Roland stood waiting to light him on fire. The now-burning gnome rolled past, but Grokk came leaping over Horkina to land the final blow.

Rain led the way to the south, where the party found another small lounge. Garlen picked up a set of dice and started playing a game. Rain opened a door and found a torture chamber, with a dwarf whose fingers had been cut off. The dwarf asked if his brother Nayin had sent the party, and then realized Grokk was wielding Nayin's axe. Rain freed the dwarf and Amber healed him as much as she could, assuring him that his brother would be raised as soon as possible. The dwarf waited in the lounge as the party continued moving. Roland used a few more charges from his wands to make Grokk and Horkina invisible again, and to give them the ability to see invisible as well.

As the hallway split, a sign declared "no admittance to noiseys." Sam the Pseudodragon sensed a large beast just a few yards away, and snuck around the corner to see the largest Gorgon he'd ever seen. The party decided to leave the beast behind for the moment, since it couldn't fit through the door. The other branch of the hallway led to a fire-filled room with pillars spaced throughout. Fire would wash across the room from the north, then east, then south, then west. Roland cast Mass Resist Fire while the whole party examined the pattern. Soon it became apparent that one could use the pillars for shelter, running to specific points and then waiting for the fire to change direction before moving onward. Roland cast Silence on Grokk, who carried Garlen across with him.

As Grokk and Garlen exited the chamber, a bolt of lightning came flying at them from inside a large room with pillars and alcoves throughout. Garlen ducked away, but Grokk took the full force of the shock. A gnome fired an arrow from his hiding spot around the corner, but Garlen deftly avoided it and attacked. Rain, still protected from fire by Amber's earlier spell that had allowed him to safely use fireseeds, ran through the room to help protect his friends. Grokk moved forward, narrowly avoiding falling into a pit, and then jumped over to solid floor beyond. When he entered the large room, he took damage from a Forbiddance spell. Horkina, Roland, and Amber ran through the fire, getting somewhat singed, while the enemy engaging Garlen withdrew deeper into the room.

Amber healed the party while Roland dispelled the Forbiddance effect. Garlen moved into the room toward the left past a strange button on the wall and Horkina moved to the right. Rain moved toward the center while Grokk kept moving left. A bolt of lightning narrowly missed Garlen but struck Amber. Garlen saw a gnome pull the lever that set off the lightning bolt, and stabbed him in the arm. Roland's Locate Creature spell made him suspect Heppenfod was near the back of the room just to the right of the central passage, so he cast a spell of Glitterdust in that area, revealing an invisible -- and now blind -- gnome. Rain charged at Heppenfod and struck him with Sventerant, taking off his head. Garlen finished off his opponent with a flurry of stabs as the ghost of Taraxartax materialized and dissipated.

A thorough examination of the room uncovered several levers and buttons. The levers fired lightning and fireballs around the room, while the buttons cast healing spells and dispel magic. The party healed up and then headed back toward the Gorgon. Roland fired a meteor swarm at the beast while Amber used an Earthquake to drop the ceiling on its head. Rain slipped around the back way and carefully disabled the Symbol of Insanity on the following door, turning it into a Symbol of Inanity. He and Garlen started bantering meaninglessly as they opened the locked vault and gathered up a substantial amount of treasure, including a jeweled shield with a family crest they returned to the dwarf in the lounge.

Amber and Rain reached level 17.