Entering the Spires

“Entering the Spires ”
Rise of the Runelords episode
Episode no.	Episode 106
Date	2010
Game Master	Abbe
Characters	Honeypot Nathaniel Nell Velicia
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Ghlorofaex " "Meeting Karzoug "
Rise of the Runelords chapter list

In this chapter the heroes pass through the field and through a tunnel and enter the Spires of Xin-Shalast.

This is a work in progress.

Entering the Spires

We had all the magical rings we needed to pass through the strange field that Velicia had studied that protected the Spires of Xin-Shalast from intruders. Now we just had to figure out how to get to the spires. Velicia suggested flying, but I said no as I thought we should try to get there without setting off all alarms before even getting there. That was the whole point of getting the rings instead of using the amulets that we already had all along. I said that we should find a way to sneak there when our lurker friend told us he knew of a tunnel leading that way, but he had never used it.

I told Velicia to start making the magical items she was about to make since it would take several days. While waiting I went scouting ahead. Morgiv showed me to the start of the tunnel and I sneaked in. It was long and I followed it for almost a mile. It lead into an opening. I had a bad feeling about the cave and were pretty sure there was a monster hiding somewhere, but I couldn't find it. As I was alone I decided not to push my luck and returned. I told the others of the tunnel and the unknown monster.

A few days later we set out. It was uneventful until we reached the cave. It was quite large and the path continued along a ledge circling the cave while the middle was looking a lot like a bottomless pit. Knowing of the monster we were careful but still it surprised us. Tentacles grabbed hold of Nathaniel trying to pull him off the ledge but being so big and staunch made him stay put. Following the tentacles I easily spotted the strange creature clinging to the wall over the pit out of reach from melee attacks. I quickly threw my dagger into it and moved on along the ledge slipping away into the shadows, as it would lead me closer to the monster on the other side of the cave. Velicia struck the tentacles using her teleporting attack and thereby freeing Nathaniel from their hold. He used his newfound freedom to take a few strong strides and leaped the bottomless pit. Honeypot cast her fairies motes magic, illuminating the monster to stop it from hiding. Dorothea was in a strange trance like state and stayed outside the cave waiting for us to kill the monster. From the shadows I moved closer to the edge and threw my dagger into the monster the others called a roper. It struck true causing lots of damage. We all attacked it and as I threw my dagger once more heavily wounding the bleeding creature, Velicia stepped up to the ledge and told it that we would surely kill it if it didn't leave. It seemed to come to the same conclusion and left.

We all continued along the corridor and finally there was light at the end of the tunnel. Peeking out I could see an open area in front of three huge spires, over a thousand feet high. We were close to our goal but it would be hard to sneak up to them without something to hide the approach. I studied the closest spire. It looked abandoned. I couldn't see any guards or look-outs so I sneaked ahead to see if it was as empty as it looked. It was. I told the others to follow along a way I told them. That way they couldn't be seen from the other spires. As they arrived Velicia said it was the Rune Spire. There rune giants were made. We did the same to the next one and it too was empty. According to Velicia it was called the Harridan Spire.

From there we started the final approach towards the main spire. It was highest up with some surrounding buildings. It still towered well above the buildings looking like pebbles strewn around a gatepost. We sneaked among the abandoned barracks to the center spire. It was more than two thousand feet high and hundreds of feet wide. The entrances were almost a hundred feet up on the wall and sixteen golden bridges lead up to the doors. It was finely decorated with gold and silver.
It was magnificent.

Dorothea, still in a weired state spoke strangely telling us that we were getting closer to Leng, or something like that. She was being stranger than ever before.

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