By third level, a trading outpost has been established on the Misty Island. There is a small temple to the Red Knight there. We've built a small palisade with one central building and a few outbuildings. There are 2 (Ander & Kethra) 1st level Clerics with 3 acolytes (Malcer, Store, Olga). Mostly they are there to continue their studies and operate the temple. Healing services are available, but not much else. There is a small store of basic equipment, a smithy & a couple of horses, but they are generally for courier services. (i.e., Alaric won't be taking one unless he really needs it.) It is a shared facility with a few followers of Tempus.
Ash - Kevin - Black Dragonkin - 6'10" enforcer type.
Erdan Galendel - Tim - Half-elf Ranger
Alaric Liamfeld - John - Human Cleric
Factions:
Mist trappers; they look kind of elven, but no one can communicate with them. They occasionally come into town to barter for tools, alcohol, other supplies.
Baron; Lord Captain that discovered the island & is selling land. Disappears enemies. Small contingent of soldiers (10), staff. Personal cleric, Mardu. His palace is modest and under construction. Just a wooden fort at this point.
Wizards; Masters of the Arcane Path of Forgotten Lore, Artifacts, Relics and Tomes. They have a small magical tower close to the coast, half-way up the mountain on the East side of the bay. Hardly ever seen.
Doxat-Anat; the Empire of Earth, Air, Water, Fire. They were thought to be the previous inhabitants. Unknown race that disappeared a few hundred years ago. Unknown race. Contact was mysteriously lost, and no one returned from the island.
Most of the coast is built up. The town has been going for about two years, we've been here a few months.
The island is about a month's sail away from the mainland, far out of the way of most trade routes. The Lord Captain was blown off course, and ended up wrecked in the bay. It took some time (a couple years or so) to rebuilt the ship, during which time early settlements were established. This is where the Lord Captain met Mardu; Mardu had build a signal fire that guided the ship into the bay. Once the Lord Captain returned, he made a deal with the Wizards to start selling land.
After extensive document searches, questioning old elves, etc., they decided this was the island of Doxat-Anat. There are many important people that want to confirm the island's history and find out what happened.
Most of the population (two-thirds or so) are farmers. The rest are a mix of laborers, merchants, etc.
Lord Captain Barker (he prefers Captain to Baron) announced a paid expedition to journey over the mountains. 100g per person to make an expedition into the mountains for a week and come back with as much mapping as possible. Mardu will make the arrangements.
Mardu is a little off-kilter. He's also accompanied by a child of the same race, but doesn't appear to be a family relation. Our names were recorded and we were given 50g up front.
Erdan led us into the mountains, about 10 mi across the valley from the town. We would rest for the night, and start out from the temple in the morning, with horses to carry us to the edge of the valley.
We ascended, but took a wrong turn. Overnight we were attacked by a displacer beast; it was a tough fight but we won and were prepared to continue the next morning.
4th Level
Erdan skinned the displacer beast. After we'd completed our rest and he'd finished scraping the hide, we noticed strange patterns on the hide. The more we looked at it, the more it looked like a rudimentary map of the surrounding area. It didn't cleanly hook up with the valley or the bay, but it seemed to match the area around us. It also showed what might be a path.
Varis approached us, and we talked briefly. Out of the forest, Ash was hit with a poisoned crossbow bolt, for a great deal of damage. Varis was clearly not connected, he was as surprised as the rest of us and took cover as well. Varis was able to clear the poison and I healed him.
Varis and Erdan went down the hill towards the direction the bolt had come from. They spotted a camouflaged figure, who, spooked by their fast approach, threw off his camouflage suit and fired at Varis. However he missed.
We chased the assassin down and were able to capture him. We divided up his gold and equipment before trying to wake him.
He'd been hired by Mardu. He slipped his bonds while we were deciding what to do with him, and ended up having to kill him.
Erdan studied the map while we rested for a while. He thought he had a way to confirm whether the skin of the beast was a map or not. We prepared for a hike. We spent the rest of the day traveling without incident, and found an excellent site.
We continued hiking the next day, keeping track of our map and referencing the skin. On Erdan's watch, he heard a group of humanoids moving through the forest.
Ash confronted them with his lit staff; they were black kobold-type creatures. We killed their leader (who revealed himself by casting Scorching Ray at us), and they all went docile.
Ash could communicate with a Draconic pidgin. They were asking what we wanted them to do; they looked very confused by what they've seen. Communication was severely limited.
We tied them up and continued our rest. Alaric prepared Comprehend Languages.
Two of them clawed out of their restraints in the night, and Erdan couldn't catch them.
We tried to interrogate them, but weren't able to get anything out of them. We tried following the kobolds that had fled. After about a half-day's journey, Erdan found a tunnel. Listening in on the kobolds again, they seemed unsurprised. They said we'd returned to "the passage". This point also confirmed the map from the hide.
The rest of the map would lead us through several additional landmarks. We went through the passage with no issues, emerging on the far side in a mistier, warmer, ancient forest. We released the kobolds as they seemed to be no danger, and didn't attack us in the passage. They scrambled back into the passage as soon as we untied them.
The path split outside of the passage. The right branch was a dead end on the map. We followed it for some time, but it just seemed to be slightly higher. We backtracked, and took the left branch. It went downwards, into a swamp. We found a dry spot to camp and rested before continuing.
We found a hut, which appeared to be abandoned. It was somewhat worn down, but was once well-crafted and cared for. It looked like the dwelling of a druid. It appeared to have been ransacked multiple times. However, it did appear to be dry and safe.
We rested there and were attacked by a water weird. It was an odd fight, but we did defeat it.
We finished our rest, and felt more energized than normal. This area seemed to correspond to a crescent moon on the hide map.
We marched on, passing out of the swamp and into a rockier area of the forest. The mist remained thick, with treacherous footing.
We were each taunted by our own visions of a delightful situation - but we were able to discern the harpy's song before going over the edge into a sharp pit. Ash was attacked by the harpy as we went up - but we killed it.
We climbed into the harpy's lair and searched it. We found a lovely quiver of crossbow bolts, a belt, and a magical handaxe.
Ash was able to identify the items. They were a Girdle of Giant Strength, a handaxe +1, and 10 +1 Crossbow Bolts.
Alaric took the girdle, Varis took the handaxe, and Ash took the crossbow bolts.
5th Level
The path continued on, through the narrow gully. We soon entered a patch with very large briars. While the path was still well-defined, it was overgrown in places.
Erdan checked the briars more closely. They were annoying, but didn't seem to pose any immediate threat.
The map showed us coming up on something resembling a spider.
We traveled through the briar patch for a full day. Erdan thought that mark was probably another hour up the road. We decided to push forward.
The area seemed to be an ancient, gnarled tree. We scouted around and believed it was hollow. There was some sort of hollow on the far side from where we entered its clearing.
Erdan made Varis invisible, and Varis carefully went into the tree. It seemed like another druid home. There were signs of recent habitation. The interior had some basic furniture, as well as a built-in bowl full of water. There was also a burlap sack of leaves. The branches had ladders leading up to them, and were hollow. They appeared to be good places to look out over the valley.
Erdan & Alaric were feeling nauseous. It looked like the thorns were poisonous after all.
We all went inside the tree. When Ash tried the water, it seemed to be good. Erdan drank some, and it alleviated the symptoms of the poison. Alaric followed suit, and was also cured.
The night passed uneventfully, except for a visit by a sparrow-like bird.
Looking at the next mark on the map, there was a thick single line. It appeared to be somewhat close.
By the light of the morning, Ash took another look at the tree. It seemed like whatever damaged the tree had been about a year ago.
The map led us true - there was a clearing another 20 minutes along the path that seemed to be a cleared area, and no clear exit.
There was also no obvious reason for the mark to be there. However, the clearing was maintained, probably monthly.
We started investigating, but the same sparrow from last night flew down and started squawking at us.
Erdan walked into the clearing, and ran into an invisible wall.
With Detect Magic, Ash could see a rough obelisk with 4 sides. Varis was pretty sure that the runes on each side represented the four elements.
With few ideas on how to enter, Erdan went back to the tree to get the bag of leaves.
Varis tried rubbing some water on the water sign. The sparrow squawked again, and flew up to the air sign. As its wings beat against the wall, it squawked again as if struck, and died.
The obelisk became visible, as Varis was struck by an unseen force.
We were pretty sure that the force was an air elemental. Erdan was back, and threw the bag of leaves at the air where Varis had been struck from. Sure enough, the elemental took the leaves up and we could see it.
We dispatched the air elemental, but took quite a bit of damage in the process. We were able to heal up quickly, as another bird flew down. It squawked against the water symbol, and water cascaded down from the tower and coalesced into a form.
We dispatched it handily, without taking any damage.
The mists began to quickly dissipate.
Another bird flew down, squawked at the flame rune, but didn't die. A fire elemental burst into existence at the top of the tower. It did not descend.
The bird squawked, and flew back in the direction of the tree.
We returned to the tree. With the mist clearing, we could now see quite a ways from the branch perches. One had a good view of the clearing with the obelisk.
Erdan began studying what he could see, and matching that up to the map.
We could now also see that there was another path out of the clearing with the tree.
We rested. The bird came in and dropped a twig with four berries. It was very excited to do it.
It then started tugging at Erdan's clothes. He followed it out into the briars. Varis followed as well.
He followed it out, and went into a game trail. He was crawling most of the time. The bird took him to a series of tripwires, along what looked like a kobold run. He reset all the traps. This took most of the day.
When he returned, we rested again. During the second watch, Erdan noticed some movement near the base of the obelisk.
It appeared there was ongoing activity. There were bigger humanoids and smaller humanoids; he couldn't tell much more than that.
The tower was about 1000 feet away from the tree. Alaric cast Clairvoyance. There was a black dragonborn, 5 kobolds armed as warriors, and 2 kobold-like creatures with wings. Might be sorcerers.
The dragonborn clearly appeared to the leader. He was walking around the obelisk, casting spells and looking at the elemental symbols.
As we approached to within about 300 feet, the fire elemental winked out.
At about 100 feet, Varis noticed that the dragonborn detailed out 3 of the kobolds and handed each of them a scroll case. He also gave each a small vial. They scampered out into the thorns.
The dragonborn talked to the sorcerers, and they each took out some sort of metal bowls.
We decided to strike first. We captured one of the sorcerers. The disks were both magical, made of different metals, and shaped slightly different.
The dragonborn had a magical shield and a magical longsword.
I cast Tongues on the captured sorcerer.
Ash began the interrogation. It told us that they were here to fix the obelisk. The other kobolds were runners to other priests, to check the other obelisks.
The dragonborn was a priest of Gorjana. Gorjana wanted the mists, because it kept everyone where she wanted them to be. There were many other obelisks, the kobold wasn't sure how many others.
The kobold told us they'd wiped out the previous inhabitants over a hundred years ago.
The mists kept the herds of humans where they needed to be. When Gorjana woke, she would feasts.
Gorjana would wake... whenever Gorjana woke.
The obelisks dated back to the old empire, and the kobold didn't think they could be destroyed. He wasn't sure what happened if all four elementals were killed.
The kobold cast Charm Person on Ash.
Ash wanted to let him go, but the rest of us wouldn't be convinced. The kobold wouldn't answer any of our questions any more, and was an obvious threat. We killed him.
We disposed of the other bodies and dragged the dragonborn's body back to the tree with us. We'd have some questions for it in the morning.
Ash identified the longsword and shield. The longsword was a +1 longsword of poisoning. The shield was a +2 shield. The sword appeared to be of human make, and the shield was elven.
6th Level
There were two more points on the map. One of them was lower down in thick, swampy forest. The marker was some kind of large rock; dark red, somewhat pointed.
The trail there changed to something like a river or stream. Then there was a strange line.
Erdan went out and checked the traps set with the bird yesterday. One kobold was trapped, dead, with little of note. It was one of the runners - it had a note.
Invaders help old eye Killed mother and hatchlings From what valley?
We decided it was worthwhile to ask the dead dragonborn some questions about the note.
I don't know
Old Eye is our nemesis.
We need the mother to breed more sorcerers.
Old Eye found the mother and showed the outcasts where she was.
We need to know where the rebellion is starting.
One of the birds returned. Erdan spoke with it briefly. We didn't learn much, but it told Erdan that the Old Eye lived in it. (It did not know where the druid was.) These birds frequently died, every time the druid cast a spell, so no one of them would know much.
We followed the bird's prompting to head towards the rock on our map. We journeyed another day through the brambles.
On the horizon, Erdan spotted winged creatures. Either harpies, or winged kobolds, something like that. Not birds. There were four, flying low, a couple hundred feet between them, and coming roughly towards us. They alternated going up high and back down; clearly they were scouting.
We finished and hunkered down. It took about an hour before the cleared out immediate area.
We started our march and moved for a couple hours before they moved back towards us. We hunkered down but they seemed to notice something, and came more directly towards us.
Varis made some noise while running away from us, to get a bit of a distraction and set them up to get ambushed by us. They were grouping up outside of fireball range for us.
We had a brief, but intense fight at range. They lost, though Alaric took a pretty solid hit from their scorching rays.
We searched the bodies, topping up our component pouches and recovering some arrows.
Near the end of our day's march, we abruptly reached the end of the brambles and entered forest. There wasn't a path, but the bird was there to guide us.
We moved a little further into the forest to find a good camp site.
During Erdan's watch, he heard strange bird calls. He followed them, and about 200' away, he saw light from a camp fire.
He came back and brought us back. We saw 3 half-troll hags, mimicking bird calls and chanting a spell. As birds flew in, the hags grabbed and ate them.
We saw this as a threat to our druid friends, and killed them. On their death, their essences flowed into the cauldron, and a banderhob appeared.
This was a powerful thing, and it tried to eat Varis. We dispatched it successfully.
The hags had some miscellaneous equipment, along with a lightning javelin for Varis, a necklace 6 beads of force for Ash, and a Potion of Speed for Erdan with 4 doses.
We slept late, and continued our march the next day. We reached the blood rock by the end of the day. There was a 50' x 50' pool at its base, with a cave entrance.
We were able to navigate the rock and get into the cave. The most remarkable thing was a large pile of bones. There was also some kind of natural spring in the cave.
The bird ushered us in, towards the spring, with some urgency. Erdan noticed there was something in the bottom of the source of the water. Just then, a hydra slithered out of the water behind us.
We dispatched it, very quickly.
Erdan checked the pool. There was a polished stick inside, clearly polished. It immediately clear that it was a relic of great power, though we weren't sure if we'd be able to access it. It certainly seemed to be elemental in nature.
Erdan took up the stick. The spring stopped. The bird was delighted, and was ready to lead us in a new direction.
The bird led us along the stream for several days. We camped, and the forest was at peace. As Erdan spent time with the stick, he felt more and more certain that it was deeply connected to water. He thought of it as "The Dowsing Rod."
The bird led us to an encampment of mist hunters. They seemed friendly to us, with the assistance of the bird.
We talked, and the mist hunters asked is of we were ready for the next step of our quest. Gorjana destroyed the druidic empire that had ruled this island. There were additional relics, or so they believed, and by collecting them we can rid the island of Gorjana's minions.
They would lead us to the edge of the firelands. If we could make it to the Summer Queen's palace, she would give us her ruby ring.
Each keeper was originally a druid, changed by time and exposure to powerful magic. In all cases, if we could get to the area's palace, we should be given the relic.
Once we had all four artifacts (one for each primal element) we could enter the castle where Gorjana slept, and kill her.
They believed Old Eye was dead, and didn't know much of his plans beyond this.
The mist hunters re-provisioned us with any basic needs we had.
A few days later, they escorted us to the firelands. The forest dropped off at its edge, at a cliff of about 40-50 feet. It looked fairly climbable. We could see a sparkle of red in the distance - the palace. Happily, Erdan was able to use the Dowsing Rod to create water.
7th Level
We soon found that the Dowsing Rod had some other pleasant qualities - it gave fire resistance to everyone with a 15' radius of it, and cooled the area slightly as well.
About 50' into the desert, we could see regularly spaced obelisks. The hunters warned us that they threw fire at anything within range of them. This area was the only point where they knew the obelisks were far enough apart to not overlap.
They further told us that the Summer Queen controlled the elementals in the obelisks, but the Master of the Lodestone could move the obelisks.
We took our time descending the cliff; we had rope and the area was clear, so it seemed like the wisest path.
As we passed between the obelisks (safely), we saw something fly up from the Ruby Palace, explode overhead, and then descend towards us.
When it landed (without harming us), a woman of fire, in fiery robes, with a painfully bright flame in one hand, and a smoldering shard in the other, spoke out in a booming voice.
She waited until Alaric cast Tongues to continue. She informed us that, per the pact with the elements, we could begin the trial of fire since we bore a sacred element. We would need to carry the shard of star metal to the Ruby Palace, and if we made it, we would be given the sacred flame.
She dropped the smoldering shard at her feet and disappeared. Erdan cooled it with water from the Rod, Ash picked it up and we continued to move.
The hunters had also mentioned that the Dowsing Rod could be used to give us a path through the Twisting Dunes; it was the only true path to the oasis. We could safely rest there, at about half way to the Ruby Palace.
We began our march, following the Dowsing Rod. It was very hot, even within the cooled area around the Rod. We moistened cloths for our heads, and did what we could to mitigate the impact.
Erdan noted, on a dune close to our path ahead, a group of shimmering creatures. We couldn't see what they were; it looked like something invisible, only showing up because sand was blowing.
They approached. We attacked them from range, and noticed that they exploded in steam when the died. When they reached melee, we made short work of them without taking too much of a scalding.
The air warmed and the winds increased as we marched deeper into the desert. The sands were a constant annoyance. The dunes were getting bigger, too.
Around noon, we noticed a tower slightly off of our path. We intended to bypass it, but the path took us to a point where we had a clear view.
The tower was a lookout tower made of sandstone. Next to it was a temple, with an entrance on its top. The temple was a sandstone ziggurat, about 50' tall, with steps up its side.
On top of the temple were three sailboats. It looked like they were modified to be used on sand, including some magical enhancements. The wind didn't appear to be strong enough to sail them right now though.
We entered the temple, moving down a spiral staircase. We could hear hammering from deeper in the building. There were several small creatures in the room; magmin. They did not look particularly friendly, but they didn't attack us when they saw us. They did start yelling.
Alaric cast Tongues on Erdan, who wanted to try talking. Unfortunately, they just continued yelling about intruders.
We retreated to the roof as something came up from the depths. It didn't come all the way up, but it looked like a 6' tall dwarf made of brassy metal from what we could see. (It was an azer.)
He was a pirate, and the ships (some sort of skipping air ships) were his. He made a show of negotiating with us for passage to the oasis, but only long enough to have 6 of his minions sneak up on us from the tower.
There was apparently a tunnel between the temple and the tower, because anther azer came out of the tower at us as well. Despite taking damage from each melee attack, we dispatched them quickly, along with the magmin.
Each azer had a sack of uncut rubies, about 10 total. They were worth 500g uncut, 2k-5k cut. We'd need a city to have them cut of course.
We searched the structures, but there was little to find. Ash found their stash though - several hundred gold and silver.
We rested in the temple overnight. It got hotter at night, of all things. The wind died down some but the heat was oppressive. It was slightly cooler in the temple, which helped some, but it was still pretty miserable.
Once the sun set, we could see a lot of things wandering throughout the desert, apparently because many of them were made of fire. There were a variety of flying creatures, easily visible once the sun set. There were also many small pinpricks, and some colossal creatures that looked almost like giant fire dogs. Most of the activity was in the direction of the Ruby Palace.
The next day, we got an early start. We were able to portage one of the skippers out onto the dunes, and managed to get it sailing. The winds held for about 3 hours, letting us move a good deal farther than we could have marched in a day or two. We waited for a few hours for the wind to pick up - we figured we had shelter and had made plenty of time.
It was calm into the afternoon, but we were able to get several more hours of sailing in, close to where the sand gave way to boulder fields, and what we thought was the oasis.
We took the boat with us into the boulder field. As we approached the oasis, we were greeted by a thri-kreen. It offered us trade in exchange for the boat. They gave us each a manual to increase a stat by 2. This seemed quite fair, especially since the boulders would destroy the vessel.
The thri-kreen congratulated us on beating the azer, and noted we were lucky that there were only two. They warned us the space between the oasis and the Ruby Castle was infested with half man / half scorpion creatures; tlincalli.
We spent the next day absorbed in study.
We moved into the boulder fields the day after. We traveled pretty well despite the high winds. At the end of the day, we found an excellent spot to rest, though the tlincalli came out at night.
They came on Alaric's watch. The tlincalli attacked when he moved to wake Varis.
The fight was very close. Ash was paralyzed early; Erdan, Varis, and Alaric all came very close to death. However, the tlincalli were defeated.
8th Level
That was a very strenuous way to end our rest. We spent the next day mostly in place, sticking to light activities.
Erdan turned into a puma, and tried to find where the tlincalli came from. It was at least 400' into the cave before he came to a branch and decided to come back to us.
After we finished our rest, in the mid-afternoon, we decided to clear out the tlincalli nest.
We ventured deep into the tunnels. After passing through a couple of chambers, we encountered 3 tlincalli. We were able to kill them, and an ankheg in the second chamber.
We retrieved a satchel from chains hanging from the ceiling. It was a bag of holding, and along with various spell components, I was able to find 500g of diamond dust. There were also a few potions, and some miscellaneous items.
Ash took the bag of holding. Erdan took a potion of vitality and a potion of superior healing.
We continued exploring. The next section of the main corridor was blocked, by the tlincalli queen. She had an second stinger and a second set of arms. She charged the group, rapping four metal staves on the floor as she charged. We believed it was an alarm. Alaric was able to keep her from pushing us back into the sand. We defeated her in a few rounds.
Past her body was an egg chamber. We smashed the eggs and killed the young before we heard sounds of keening from the passage. At least 5 tlincalli were gathered around the dead queen.
We got their attention with a fireball from Ash, and a throw of Varis' lightning javelin. They charged in, ignoring the spike growth that Erdan had put in place. We fought and retreated back into the egg chamber, where we finished them off in short order.
We spent enough time in the egg chamber to get another long rest in; about a day and a half.
9th Level
Erdan became aware of another water source through the dowsing rod. It was somewhat close, possibly in this cave complex. He and Varis scouted farther into the complex, with Ash and Alaric following well behind.
As they probed into the cavern with the water, they heard voices. Ash heard several creatures having a quiet conversation in Abyssal. They were discussing us - whether they should try to ambush us, or dominate, etc. They settled on sticking with their plan. Unfortunately, we didn't know what that was.
The three that Erdan could hear seemed to have another five behind them, about 30' farther along. They could barely hear some rustling of other people, unseen, and some above.
We debated and investigated a bit more. In the end, we were sure we would need to attack them if we wanted to proceed further.
After our initial salvo, some of them disappeared as if they'd been illusions, and their humanoid disguises faded away. We could see 5 creatures that Ash determined as lamia.
We killed the five on the floor. There were three archers in alcoves that left when we really turned out attention to them.
We policed the bodies and found a good deal of jewelry. Since it was all sized for large creatures, we'd be looking at scrap value. Even so, each set was worth about 5000g.
We rested and cleaned up. Further exploration of the area led to a path back up into the desert, through a weathered ruin.
We continued our march, after checking the route ahead at night. There was still quite a ways to go, and it was hotter at night.
The next day, we noticed what appeared to be a fire giant, in some sort of conveyance. There were also two phoenixes with him. As we got closer, still about 1000' away, we could tell he was in a wagon pulled by six magma bears.
This was odd since fire giants were generally lawful evil, and phoenixes were usually good aligned. During our approach, we saw him mount a large (for him) crossbow, and fire a bolt with a chain at one of the phoenixes. It missed, and he noticed us while reeling the line back in.
We approached cautiously, and were able to ask him a few things. He told us about the Sky City - Talmonel. It was run by elves, or at least they'd been elves at some point. They were a bird people, now. If we went to a mountain near it, there was a ferry service about half-way up.
He also mentioned that he was hunting phoenixes. He could sell them to the wizards in Talmonel in exchange for magical goods or services. This meant slavery for the phoenixes, so we found it necessary to kill him. (They seemed to be having fun staying just out of his reach, but if they made a mistake it would get ugly, fast.)
We were able to dispatch the fire giant quickly, but his team (and some loot) took their head and ran.
With the help of a fly spell from Ash, Alaric was able to catch up with the team and take control. Getting them turned around was hard, but before long the whole party was on board and heading to the Ruby Palace at full speed. It looked like we'd make it by sunset.
The giant had about 4000g in mixed gold and silver bullion, which we split evenly. There was also a magical lens; an Eye of the Eagle.
We took stock of the chariot contents. There was a Longbow +2, which we gave to Erdan. Nothing else was usable by us, or particularly valuable.
We approached the Ruby Palace as the sun set. We slowed the chariot enough to dismount safely. The bears promptly swung around, and headed in the opposite direction of the palace.
The palace seemed like it was inside a crater. We looked over the rim. Magma bears the size of castles were climbing out. There were 3, about a mile between each.
Ash and I flew down to the bottom of the crater. Erdan turned into a spider and took Varis down with him.
If anything, it was hotter inside the crater. At the bottom of the slope, we could see there were roads and pathways, but those were likely correlated with the bears.
Erdan looked with the Eye of the Eagle, as did Varis. There were some patrols that might be in our path if we went straight to the walls. There were roughly three spoke paths that went from the palace walls to the crater rim. Those roads were what the magma bears used. There was a network of paths in between, patrolled by something like a fiery naga - salamanders?
10th Level
It was the end of a long day, and there was no shelter in sight down here. We were able to find enough rocks that we could reasonably camouflage ourselves and rest, if uneasily.
We approached the next morning, in the gloaming. We made a forced march to get to the walls as quickly as possible before the light got better. Erdan became fatigued in the process, but we weren't spotted.
At the wall, we could see that that each spoke road was flanked by two towers where it entered the wall. The doors were closed with brassy metal gates, and the walls seemed to be unpolished obsidian, 500 feet high. There were guards on the road at the gates.
Rather than worrying about the guards, we ascended the wall the same way as we descended the crater. As we reached the top of the wall, we could see a pack of salamanders and smaller fire snakes approaching from our right. The wall was 60 feet across. Beyond the wall was a fiery glow.
We dispatched the patrol. Since there were no parapets to speak of, Ash was able to use Telekinesis to methodically toss the salamanders off of the wall.
We walked towards a guard tower. The area inside the walls was an uninterrupted lake of lava. Near the guard tower and roads, we could see what appeared to be brassy metal chains attached to the each of the guard towers. They stretched up to the castle in the center of the crater. There were doors under each chain for, we assumed, a gondola system.
Just inside the nearest tower, a huge, plated foot was just visible inside. We assumed it belonged to a fire giant.
Erdan fired an arrow into the foot, and the fire giant stepped out with its sword drawn.
We killed it, and threw a second giant over the side of the wall.
We found a gondola room deep inside the tower. There was a gondola and a wheel to propel it down the chain. Both were sized for a fire giant.
Erdan turned into a giant spider again, and carried us all across the chain.
From the central platform, the tower rose a mile into the sky. The walls were obsidian, reinforced and embellished with brassy metal. Any windows had brassy metal filigree screens.
Large gates opened as we approached the gate. Four azer carried the Summer Queen out on a brassy metal palanquin. She was flanked by four phoenixes.
She told us there were two final challenges - of courage and character. Few survived them both.
She waved her hand, and a great flame next to the gate snuffed out, revealing a red dragon with an iron collar. The collar was similar to what we'd seen on the fire giants.
Another brazier snuffed out and showed a mountain of jewels. The Summer Queen told us this was the trial of character. Rather than taking the artifact, she offered us as much treasure as we could carry, and the services of one of her phoenixes (each) for a year.
We'd need to survive the dragon, however. We disabled its collar during the fight, and it flew away as soon as it realized it was no longer bound.
The Summer Queen accepted our victory, and told us about the Old Empire. Gorjana's attack came one night in her childhood. The masters of the elements had known something was coming, but the government ignored their warnings. In retrospect, by the time of the warnings, the Summer Queen believed the empire had been thoroughly infiltrated by the time the masters knew what was coming. The attack was simply the last step.
When Gorjana came after the masters for the elements themselves, the remaining keepers fended off her high priestess at high cost. Only seven remained.
Over some years, Gorjana's forces pursued them. At first, she sent people from the empire. Later, the draconians came. The draconians have since infiltrated the island deeply, with farms of humanoids and strong patrols.
Over time, the keepers learned to channel the primordial elements. There was a toll, but they were able to each build their bastions. The other keepers, Old Eye, the Stone King, and Swift Wind had not fared as well as the Summer Queen. Old Eye died fighting the draconians, Swift Wind had not been seen in some time, and the Summer Queen may have killed the stone king.
Gorjana might be a dragon, but no one was sure. If she was a dragon, no one knew what kind.
Ash asked why the Summer Queen had killed the Stone King. She told us that there'd been a difference in opinion between them over how to select heroes to claim the elements. They lost sight of their goals and entered a war. He wanted to make the challenge difficult; she wished to make it possible. She had obviously crafted hard challenges, but was more concerned about character and motivation.
Erdan asked about Old Eye. The Summer Queen told us Old Eye had died about a hundred years ago. His spirit was with Erdan with strongly.
We asked about the other challenges. We'd have to find the challenge of the Stone King. She believed it was in the mountain beyond Talmonel. We'd have to go to Talmonel to investigate the essence of air. The bird people might know something about it.
She asked if we still had the star iron. We did. She told us that we could use the star iron at the forge of the Stone King to unite the elements in a powerful magical item.
She mentioned the draconians could hide themselves as humans. We suspected the cleric at the port might be one of them, it would explain a lot about him.
The Stone King used portals guarded by minotaurs to control access to his realm. She hadn't heard from him and her messengers hadn't returned in some years.
She told us she would die when she handed over the primordial fire. She would give her phoenixes one more command to take us wherever we wished, hand over the fire, and then pass. She offered to let us rest first.
We heartily accepted. She cast a spell that would temporarily make us invulnerable to fire.
11th Level
The following morning, after a brief speech and ceremony, the Summer Queen gave Alaric the ring. As soon as she released the ring, she reverted to her human form--a very old woman--and was consumed by fire. She was at peace, and not distressed.
Four of her phoenixes awaited us, as the crater and palace began to crumble. The azer did not seem to be party to this plan, and charged the phoenixes. We had to kick them off of us, but we got into the air.
From the air, we could see the azer falling into the lava lake as the palace crumbled in, along with the crater walls. The lava lake consumed everything. It was already cooling and hardening before we lost sight of it.
We reached Talmonel near sunset. The city was composed of four conjoined disks, rounded on the bottom and flat on top. Each one had some buildings in its center, farm land and fruit groves at the periphery. One disk was somewhat barren in comparison to the others, with some sheds and a metal tower at one edge. The other disks seemed strongly shaded towards blue, green, and yellow. The bird people of each district matched the dominant color of their disk, except for the yellow disk. Its residents seemed to be black. We could see many other residents as well, including giants.
We landed at the edge of the barren quarter, which seemed to be a bazaar. City life paused as we approached and landed. Some of the bird people approached us. They had generally bird-like features, but they had arms in addition to wings.
The black bird people resembled ravens, and were smallish. The blue bird people were like vultures, and larger. The green birds were hawkish.
The phoenixes strutted and preened a bit before shrugging and indicating we should get off. They put on a bit of a show as they left, but were quickly gone.
We noticed among the residents a few cloud giants. They were tall and athletic in stature, wearing robes.
A high elf approached us. He immediately asked if the Summer Queen was dead. We answered that she was. He introduced himself as Vivanos, owner and proprietor of the main tavern and inn. The inn was a huge structure in the center of the bazaar. It had grown organically over time; rooms, half-levels, and floors turned the structure into a bustling maze.
We sat at the bar and accepted his wine in exchange for our tale. He thanked us, but unfortunately had no more information on the prophecy. It took a bit of time to settle the room; the bird people took Ash for a Draconian from the island.
Vivanos offered us his east tower for 700g per week. It came with a staff and kitchen, which seemed like a solid deal. The bazaar was mostly closing for the evening, but Vivanos recommended we check the shops tomorrow for anything we needed.
Vivanos pointed us to the direction of the metal tower at the edge Masters of the Arcane Path of Forgotten Lore, Artifacts, Relics and Tomes.
A small human answered the door. We talked for a time about what was available for trade. He was mostly looking for barter; he was less interested in gold. Erdan was willing to trade a Bead of Force for a Hat of Disguise for Ash. Ash further paid 550g in bullion to get a scroll of Leomund's Tiny Hut and a scroll of Comprehend Languages. The mage would look into some magical arms and armor for us; he'd let us know what he could find. He told us his name was Archmage Ogden. We gave him our names as well, and where we were staying.
Ash took on the appearance of a non-descript human before we left the tower.
Back in the tavern, the evening crowd had clearly come in. We noticed a group of travelers that seemed to keep mostly to themselves. Ash introduced himself and asked why they were in the city. The told him they were pilgrims, waiting for their tour.
Varris actually remembered the likely name of the cult the quiet group likely belonged too. He convinced their guide to take him down with them when they went.
We retired to our rooms. Ash woke in the middle of the night, and noticed a preternatural darkness. He shouted to wake us as he cast a light spell. Alaric dispelled the darkness, and while they were quite difficult to get a handle on, we dispatched a group of four raven people. They were very agile and could turn invisible seemingly at will.
Varris noticed, when his target died, that they seemed more banished than dead. It disappeared in a splash of shadow and feathers, and did not leave a body behind. Perhaps they were conjured creatures.
We finished the night without further incidents, and went into the bazaar the next morning.
The dwarves we'd seen drinking and fighting were the only equipment sellers in the area. After quite a bit of negotiation, they were willing to part with Dwarven Beads of Brawling. They would be a significant help for Varris; we paid six of our uncut rubies and an ornate goblet that Ash had been holding on to.
12th Level
We sold our lamia jewelry to the cloud giants. They were happy to take it for face value. Alaric, having become a ritual caster of Wizard spells, picked up several scrolls from Ogden. He also purchased two pearls useful for Identify, and one diamond worth enough to cast Raise Dead.
As we completed the transaction, and the others asked about the magical short sword. Ogden wasn't going to be able to get it. He asked us if we might be willing to show him one of the elements. Alaric was sure that Ogden's primary purpose was to obtain those elements for his order. We quickly wrapped up our business and left.
Alaric started working on transcribing his scrolls back at the tower, underneath a dome from Leomund's Tiny Hut. Ash, Erdan, and Varis investigated the underside of the disks. They were channeling a powerful elemental effect, and there was a strong downdraft coming down from roughly the center of each.
In the distance, Ash could see a red dragon. It was headed towards the city, and Ash thought he could see a scar around its neck. We retreated to our tower. The dragon took about 10 minutes to arrive, but did not immediately attack. It circled the city several times. The bird people were obviously agitated, and patrolling. They did so for a while, anticipating an attack. They started sending messengers between groups as it became clear that the dragon wasn't initially attacking. The leaders of each faction gathered together near the center of the city.
The birds, after coming together, sent more messengers out to the groups. The groups sent scouts out beyond the boundaries of the city. The red dragon started breathing blasts of warning fire to keep people inside the city.
Varis noticed some movement in the direction the dragon had come from. With the Eye of the Eagle, Erdan could see there was a small army of draconians were flying up. A vulture flew down to use, along with other citizens, and asked if anyone was going to help them fight. We told them that if they could get the dragon or draconians to us, we would do our best to help.
As the draconians approached, we heard a commotion in the inn behind us. It seemed like the tourist group had turned into draconians on their return. About half died or otherwise failed in the transformation, but the rest were attacking.
It was close. Their claws were magical, and inflicted elemental damage. In the end, a timely Cone of Cold from Ash killed most of them and we finished off the stragglers.
The inside of the bar was wrecked, but it was now quiet. The few remaining non-combatants emerged from under tables and booths as bystanders on the porch rushed inside.
We stepped out onto the porch. The bird people were fighting the draconians in the air. When there was a sufficient concentration of bird people, the dragon would fly by, breathing fire. The bird people were losing.
Vivanos told us that Lysena would sing soon. She was a bard (and Vivanos' former wife) who'd taken up the Primordial Air when the original druid was killed in a draconian attack, years ago. Lysena had taken up the Primordial Air and sang, bringing all the bird people back. She'd not been the same since. The bird people were all phantasms now; something not quite alive and not quite dead.
The dragon decided its task was mostly complete, and decided to turn to us. It knew what we looked like.
The fight was short and brutal, but we won. The corpse of the red dragon settled in front of us.
Ogden came out wide eyed, but looked pretty surprised to see a dead red dragon. Ash suspected Ogden was not an archmage.
Later that night, Lysena came out and sang her song. It was a song of remembrance, a dirge, and one of the creepiest things we'd heard.
Vivanos told us Lysena had been taken over by the Primordial Air, and a vessel would be needed. Another hero had been working on this for some time, and would arrive in a few days.
Alaric took the time to finish scribing his scrolls into his ritual book.
Vivanos' friend, the Storm Knight, arrived a few days later. He arrived on a ruby dragonfly, which turned out to be a Wondrous Figurine. He was a high elf, clad in mithril plate, and carried a shield and spear. His name was Alanos.
He completed the quest some years ago, but his party died at the Summer Queen's challenge. She deemed that one hero wasn't enough to fulfill the challenge, and sent him on his way with the ruby dragonfly.
He'd been trying to find the Primordial Air since, and wasn't willing to kill Lysena and/or be taken over by the Primodial Air, so he'd been in a position. He had heard that only the Golden Feather could be used to contain the air. After many tries and a great deal of research, he believed it referred to a roc. There was a roc on the island that would produce a single golden feather during its life, and we'd somehow need to get it. He hadn't found the roc yet.
13th Level
We found the eagle handler that allowed people to taxi up to the city. He rented us two birds for a day. We flew out in search of the roc's nest.
We found a good candidate on the first day, and sent the birds back. We camped out; the roc didn't show up until the fourth day. In the intervening time, we investigated the bones and cast off feathers in the nest. No golden feather was found.
Varis noticed that there were three ravens watching us, but keeping their distance. Something about them was off; they were not natural ravens.
When the roc landed, Erdan successfully charmed it. Alanos and Alaric found a mountain goat to ease the roc's hunger. We weren't able to find the roc's golden feather while it ate.
That night, a second, larger roc showed up. It was a mate or kin. Erdan was able to charm that one, too.
The next day, we checked the larger roc but couldn't find its golden feather. We mounted the larger roc when they left to hunt. There was little game to be found; their normal prey were draconians, and we'd thinned out the ranks.
They flew over another valley that we hadn't seen before. About 100 humanoids were marching out of it. The rocs intended to feed on them. As the rocs started an attack run, we decided we had to act to preserve the humanoids. There was little we could do until the rocs were closer to the ground.
The group scattered, and many were killed or injured by the rocs initial scream and wing buffet. Three of the humans were largely unaffected. They acted with martial prowess, trying to regroup the scattered people.
We attacked the rocs when they were as low as possible, and killed them. The remaining humans didn't approach. They regrouped and quickly marched directly away.
Over the next hour, we searched both birds. We located the golden feather on the larger roc. As we considered flipping the other one, since we hadn't found its golden feather yet, the ravens landed. Varis noticed that they seemed to shapeshift, just before they disappeared.
It seemed likely they'd gone invisible and were going to attack us. Rather than risk an attack, Ash teleported us back to the teleportation circle in Talmonel.
We consulted with Vivanos. As near as we could tell, the city would not fall once the Primordial Air was retrieved. Lysena allowed us to approach, and as soon as we drew out the golden feather, the Primordial Air left Lysena. The bird phantasms evaporated immediately as well. We now had the third element.
Lysena's body deanimated as soon as the Primordial Air left her. She'd been dead for under a century though, so Alaric offered to cast Resurrection if Vivanos was able to provide a suitable gem for the ritual.
He was happy to do so, and Lysena's spirit was willing to come back. With her successful return, Vivanos announced he was going to close the inn and retire.
Alanos announced that he planned to give up the adventuring life to be with his friends. As he had no further need of it, he gave the ruby dragonfly to Alaric.
Lysena passed on some knowledge about the elements in our possession.
Fire spells cast by the bearer of the fire ring would be empowered. Alaric gave it to Ash.
If the bearer of the divining rod could shape shift, more powerful forms would be available. Erdan held onto that one.
The feather allowed its bearer to use Haste once per day. We gave it to Varis.
14th Level
The next morning, we contemplated our next step. The Storm Knight said he would show us where he thought the opening to the earth realm was located.
Varis noticed a raven fly in behind the mage tower and disappear. Erdan tried flying up as a raven; a bearded wizard entered the room facing the window when he poked his beak in. The wizard cast a series of force missiles at Erdan, knocking him off the ledge and out of bird form.
Erdan limped over to us, and a minute or two later the mage opened the door to the tower. He told us he thought we were likely to die in the attempt - and attempted to test us.
He encased us in a prismatic sphere. We were able to work our way through the layers, with the help of the elements in our possession.
The archmage granted that we had promise. He offered us assistance in our quest, if we were willing to turn over the elements at the end. We were not willing to sign his contract, though there was a bit of negotiation.
The next day, we flew with Alanos to where he thought the entrance to the Stone Lands was. Near the foot of the highest mountain the range, there was a large, circular area with a steel minotaur in the center.
As we landed, we learned the minotaur was not a statue. It was a living being, 16' tall. It bellowed its challenge, telling us that we could enter the Stone Lands if we could prove our worth.
The fight was hard, and Ash nearly died, but we succeeded. The minotaur told us that the path was now open to us. It would take us up and around the mountain three times, to the vault at the top. We would get the lodestone there, and use it to get to the forge where we would forge a weapon to use against Gorjana.
The path was a foot wide, and we'd have to start over if we left it.
15th Level
The weather turned as we began making our way up the path. Thanks to the primordial fire, we weren't cold, but it was an unpleasant slog.
About an hour in, we reached a split in the path. One branch went very high; the other was a more moderate route. Alaric could tell with Detect Magic that the moderate route was the right choice.
The storm gained intensity as we continued. The wind became so strong, and lightning so close, that we ended our march early. Safe from the storm in Leomund's Tiny Hut, we rested comfortably. Alaric took the opportunity to memorize Control Weather.
The next day's march was much more pleasant with the weather firmly in hand. We reached a lake around mid day; the lake continued into it. Thanks to Freedom of Movement and Water Breathing from Alaric, along with Detect Magic from Ash the way was easy enough.
However, we were attacked by a pair of aboleths. With some creative work, and a Disintegration from Ash, we made it through. Ash was badly hurt suffering from a magical disease by the end. A Heal from Alaric took care of that. The rest of the march passed uneventfully.
The next day, we encountered a group of stone giants. They threw boulders at us from cliffs above us. We couldn't really engage them without leaving the path, but they didn't follow us when we ran.
Farther along, a marked change in the path confronted us. It narrowed to a ledge until we couldn't proceed. Checking the path with Detect Magic, we could see it continued across the now sheer face. It seemed the path should continue with the ethereal ream, so Alaric cast Etherealness, and took the party into the border realm.
Ash could also cast Etherealness so we used the spell in shifts to continue our ascent. The path was clear in the border realms, and was free of obstacles.
Finally, we reached an area where the path broadened to a platform, and ended at a set of doors. We passed through the doors into an enormous room. Roughly a third of the peak had been hollowed into a room, and inside were a group of nine stone giants. Something was in the center, but we couldn't see it from our location.
The stone giants were mostly clustered around the object in the center, with one by the door. We returned to the material plane about 100 feet away from the main group, and engaged them.
We took some hits, but finished them off.
16th Level
We examined the statue at the center of the room. It was a very fine statue, clad in a shimmering breastplate. We could tell that there was some life left in it; it seemed to be the keeper, turned to (mostly) stone.
We infused it with Stone Shape. The keeper told us the bargain was met. He warned us the azer guarded the forge, and had to be defeated. Otherwise they could use their knowledge of the forge against us. Once we reached the forge, the spirits of the keepers would take us through the forging process.
The keeper crumbled to dust. Alaric took the breastplate and maul.
The breastplate was +3, and imparted damage resistance 5. The maul was also +3, and some abilities would become available as Alaric attuned to it.
The first ability allowed the wielder to expend a spell slot to reduce the weight of an inanimate stone or metal object. Using a higher level spell slot resulted in a greater weight reduction.
As a reaction, the wielder could expend a 1st level spell slot to mostly gain the effects of Shield, though it would not block Magic Missile.
Alaric used a 6th level spell slot to reduce the weight of the keeper's throne, and slide it to the side. Stairs led down, into the darkness. We entered, and Alaric used a 5th level spell slot to move the throne back into place.
With the end of the stone keeper, the last remnants of the old magic slipped away. We felt a great malevolence below as Gorjana woke and began digging out of her prison. At the same time, we were filled with positive energy, and gained the effects of a full rest.
We needed to kill all the azer, get to the elemental forge, and use the primal elements to get the final edge we needed. Gorjana had tremendous resistances, and we were not quite ready to face them.
We continued down until we reached an immense set of iron double doors. They opened outwards, with no levers or handles. Alaric used the maul's power of weight reduction to open one side.
Beyond, there was an octagonal room, roughly 50 feet across. A demonic statue stood in the center of the room, 12 tall. It stood on a perfectly circular disk of iron. The disk was perfectly flush with the floor.
As soon as we stepped in, the door closed behind us. The heads on the statue's twin maces ratcheted out on chains, turning into two massive flails.
Despite its poison breath, we made short work of it. Ash's Telekinesis played no small part.
With the Lodestone and the ongoing Telekinesis, we lifted the iron disk out of the floor and set it aside.
We peered into the room below. It was well lit by bonfires. In the center of the room below, centered in the polished stone, Alaric noticed a one foot wide disk of similar stone in the center. Varis noticed a one foot wide window behind each bonfire, well concealed by the angles and the flames. There appeared to be additional light sources behind each window.
Ash attempted to manipulate the disk in the center. It rose to about four feet, revealing that it was a cylinder. We couldn't see any other effect.
Varis dropped down. Several flaming flasks were thrown at him; a couple hit. azer were hiding behind each window.
Ash dropped Alaric down with Telekinesis, right in front of one of the windows. He used Stone Shape to open the window wide. Varis exploited the situation to jump into the room as Erdan fired arrows into the other windows.
There were hallways between the rooms inside the windows. Once inside, we made short work of the 8 azers.
Still using Telekinesis, Ash lifted the central cylinder again, and twisted it clockwise. The walls retreated, opening up a passageway deeper into the mountain.
We heard the din of dozens of forges echoing up from deep below. The passageway itself was dark though, so it didn't look like any more azer were immediately waiting for us.
We descended the stairs. A bit down, we could see we were in a mine level. There were various shafts and an ore dump. There was no activity; the forges were still clearly far below. We continued our descent to a very similar room.
Erdan and I descended down the central shaft, using the ruby dragonfly. Ash descended on his wings. Varis ran down the walls, of all things.
Erdan, invisible, descended into the room first. There was a central pile of ore beneath the shaft we'd descended, about 50' tall. The room beneath was about 200' across and 80' tall, roughly square, with several passages leading out.
There was a very large fire giant, the largest we'd ever seen. There were a few azers pulling ore out into the passageways, but otherwise no one in the room.
Ash explored the area while invisible. He located around 50-60 azer, and an ifrit walking a juvenile red dragon.
Farther back there was an opulent room, probably quarters for the ifrit. In another chamber there was a throne and a portal to the plane of fire. Specifically, it went to the City of Brass. Erdan was able to dispel it, though that drew some attention.
When the ifrit and dragon came through, Ash dominated the dragon and we attacked. The ifrit disappeared once we hit it several times; we believed it used Plane Shift.
We went into the forge room and attacked the azer with the dragon's help to start.
We did pretty well, conserving our spells and not taking much damage. We were able to finish the room with a couple of well placed Cones of Cold as the fight with the dragon started dying down.
We approached a door to what we believed was the elemental forge room. Alaric had to break that down with his hammer.
Inside was a dusty chamber that hadn't been used in centuries.
In the center was another massive disk, flush with the ground and covered with runes. Alaric used his highest spell slot to lighten the disk, and even so Ash had to help with Telekinesis. Inside was an ancient forge, clearly crafted by a single person.
The spirit of each keeper took over the groups bodies. With each element, we created a part of the forging process. The star iron was forged with the spirit of fire; air was the bellows; water for quenching and the hammer for the work.
When the process was finished, we each had a Ring of Wish with one charge.
Before dissipating, the keepers warned us that they didn't know what Gorjana was, but she was free and powerful. We should use the rings to strip her defenses, and use our skills to slay her.
We were again filled with positive energy, and felt fully rested.
17th Level