Vaults of Greed

“Vaults of Greed”
Rise of the Runelords episode
Episode no.	Episode 92
Date	2010
Game Master	Abbe
Characters	Honeypot Nathaniel Nell Velicia
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Crypts of Gluttony" "Leaving Runeforge"
Rise of the Runelords chapter list

In this chapter the heroes enters the Vaults of Greed.

Vaults of Greed

The Greedy Golem.

After our rest we set out to the vaults of greed. In the corridor there was the maze effect we had gotten used to. Honeypot and I came through first and found the corridor ended with a door to the right. It had jewels all over but on closer inspection they seemed to be magical made out of the rune pool and wouldn't survive to be taken away from runeforge. I also noted that there was something strange with the door. There were slight scratches straight across the corridor floor and some slight marks on the wall on other side of the corridor. I guessed that if you opened the door there would be some big block as big as the whole opening that would crush you against the other wall, coming out from behind. I looked for alternatives and found a secret door in the end of the corridor leading straight on. By then all the others had caught up so we continued through the hidden door.

Beyond, the corridor was filled with a strange magical mist. I thought it seemed very much like a magical trap. Our mages looked at it. They said that it might be some form of transformation mist. Honeypot performed a ritual to control winds and arranged for a full storm blowing it out of the corridor. Now we could see runes on the walls that were probably creating the mist. I took out my eternal chalk and while running along the corridor I drew a line over the runes. I didn't really think it would stop them from working but I liked doing it. I came out into a room with a statue in the middle. There was a pool below his feet. Some small devilish creatures were splashing around in the water. Velicia said they were something called mephits. The statue was a large metallic man dressed in actual robes. It held a polearm raised above its head in one hand. I guessed that the huge guy that lived there used nude iron statues to hang his clothes on, but Velicia said it was an iron golem that wasn't active.

We continued on and I followed the right wall and passed a corridor and continued down another one the other way. It turned back the same way we had come from and led into another room with another statue and another pool. There were fish swimming in the water. This statue had the polearm along its side but held up its empty hand and from it poured water. Honeypot and Velicia guessed that if anyone got caught in the transformation mist they might end up as a fish in that pool. Continuing on there were several doors along the corridor. They led too four identical rooms where raw materials were kept. It was some kind of transformation magic aiding that kind of spells in the rooms according to Velicia. The corridor continued on into yet another room with another statue and pool. From this a door led on. I opened it silently. There was sounds coming from within. I sneaked ahead and saw yet another iron golem in clothes but this one wasn't standing still. It was working in some kind of magical lab.

Somehow the one responsible for the greed part used a golem somehow. I didn't understand it, but Velicia wanted to ask the wizard responsible about it. I stealthily moved into the room and hid behind one of the huge tables in there. Then Velicia followed and tried to talk to it. As I didn't trust a peaceful end I held my dagger ready to throw, and I was right. As the golem turned angry I surprised it by throwing my dagger deep into it from behind the table. A big fight broke out in which the statues from the other rooms arrived one after the other. All in all they totaled five including the one already in there. They burst into poisonous fumes when they broke and break they did. After I had felled the magic casting one the fight was decided, but the fight continued. When the last two golems were finally destroyed we looked around the room. It was a laboratory where the magic using golem had been conducting experiments. Velicia said that everything was in perfect order, but she just didn't know in which order. She soon found out and while I was looking for anything valuable she started looking through everything. It was boring and I wanted to move on. Nathaniel stayed keeping guard while I peeked into the next room. I let out a "Wow!" which got Honeypot and Velicia to join me. It was the ten golden statues I had found that was the cause. I soon guessed that they were made from real people as they were very detailed and to Honeypots great amusement they had no clothes. I suspected it was the result of another trap, but from what I could see they had been moved there and not transformed in place.

I crossed the room carefully without any mishaps and followed a corridor that turned to the right. It ended in a room with a strange glow. A big pool took up most of the floor and the liquid inside was strange. It was glowing and filled with strange energy. Honeypot came up to me and somehow lost her mind. She walked up to the pool and looked as if she was about to dive in. Velicia realized the danger and teleported in next to her and teleported her out of the room only to loose her own mind and starting to dive in herself. I quickly made her loose her balance and sent her out of the room, trying not to hurt her too much. Apparently it had some bad effect on those magic users. Looking at it from afar and being kept out of the room by me Velicia said that the liquid was pure magic and that it was different from the pool outside as this wouldn't loose its power if brought out of Runeforge. We took out all containers we had and started filling them using a pole and Velicia's mage hand.