Urgesh had just disappeared after stepping on the black circle. He found himself in an ornate room covered in ornate engravings, his back to immense double doors. Before him stood a 30′ statue of a dwarf. It’s gaze peered down at him with a hint of mockery as one might expect from a deity. This was a shrine to Magrit, the patron of Beoll-Dur. The barbarian muttered some words of reverence towards the edifice and was surprised by a thunderous voice commanding him to leave. He was declared unworthy, and the fear of being transformed once again into a frog lingered in the back of his diminished intellect.
Who can comprehend the minds of the gods, for the half-orc was allowed to slip out the doors of the temple, past two hulking iron golems on the outside, skirting the edge of a long chamber dominated by a pool of boiling oil. Presently, he found himself in the lower chamber of the great geyser, which had been discovered from above in days past. Now he could go through the northern door, creep through a short passage to a room cut in half by a bridge some 30′ above.
By way of a grappling hook on the end of a rope, he scrambled up to the bridge and followed a door to the west. Before long, he found himself on the eastern side of a portcullis he recognized. He called out for his companions who came dashing to the portcullis. Between them, they were able to lift and disable the iron gate. Grinding and snapping of steel within the walls was heard.
Together again, the entire group return to the entrance where they met up with Ollie. Tienarth and Hocuspo left Beoll-Dur to rest on the ships. There was some hope of finding Saul, but the sea-elf druid could not be located, which meant no one could benefit from his fire-protective magics.
Jerker asked Ollie to put his ring to use, questioning one of corpses of the flame-headed dwarves. The dialog went as follows.
“What traps or magical defenses protect this monastery?”
“I don’t know about any traps protecting this place, and I didn’t know it was a monastery.”
“Who or what else resides in the volcano besides you, the hell hounds, the salamanders, and the fire giant?”
“I don’t live in this volcano. I’m just visiting with my dog. There are salamanders living here, though. And I heard there’s an efreet trapped here somewhere.”
“What can you tell us about the dead dwarven god and his relationship with the monastery?”
“I don’t know anything about a dead dwarven god. That sounds impossible.”
“Which god do you favor or worship?”
“I own allegiance only to Amaimon, as do all Azer.”
Urgesh tried to puzzle out the potions he’d recovered previously. The labels, which had detached from the bottles were labeled “healing”, “extra healing”, “slippery oil” and “poison”. Bale Shezzar, the dwarven gladiator who brought them to Beoll-Dur, translated. Popping each cork, Urgesh found that five of them were oily. Two were not. Two of the oily potions let off a few vapors. None dared even touch the liquid inside lest they be poisoned.
Going past the portcullis, the party found a room filled with gems that magically repelled from their touch. Ollie tried tossing his shield over the gems, then stepped on the shield, sending him flying by the force of the gems flying about. Urgesh tried grabbing the gems with a net to no effect–the gems passed through the net. The investigation was interrupted by a huge lizard approaching from the east. It resembled a wingless dragon with crimson hide, and like a dragon it breathed fire, but the effect was countered by Jerker’s use of Vaelden’s Cube. Then this mighty beast, like so many others, fell beneath the blows of Urgesh, Aderian and Jerker.
The lizard had emerged from double doors, and they found this room to contain its nest. And in the nest were loose coins numbering in the tens of thousands. Aderian’s bag bid him to gather them up. Also among the treasures were eight gems, five potions and a magical battle axe. Urgesh handled the axe, finding it glowed when held, though the humans could not see the glow. Bale could see “Magrit” engraved on the blade.
As the treasure was being gathered and examined, sounds were heard in the hallway. While the rest stayed in the lizard lair, Urgesh went into the hallway where he met a group of azer with their hellhounds on the other side of the giant lizard corpse. He convinced them not to attack. They seemed satisfied to have found him and turned back. There was some sense that they, or something worse, might return.
Presently, they finished stuffing coins into the pouch and headed east, back into the room with the bridge. Ollie opened the door on the far side to be greeted by a flaming skeleton. The next moment, more skeletons climbed out of a well inside the room beyond the door. A long battle began where skeletons were easily busted apart or destroyed with bones of St. Jaludi but were quickly replaced by more skeletons climbing out of the well.
After some time, the fighters retreated from the room and attempted to close the door. This took some time as the door resisted latching with so many bones piled up. Eventually, Nate was able to pull it closed. Urgesh drove three spikes around the door to keep it closed. Banging from the other side could be heard, suggesting that the skeletons might break free eventually.
They descended from the bridge and followed passage north. Aderian headed into a dark room where he faced a massive bull with armored skin. Jerker rushed to his side and activated the cube. The gorgon blew a blast of noxious gas that filled the chamber. With the cube blocking gasses, the two fighters were unharmed, and they landed blows against the armored flesh. Ollie dashed in to deliver the final blow.
Finally, they followed a passage that angled down, below the bridge room and came to a door that was both barred and locked from the outside. Ferris disabled the lock. Urgesh threw aside the bars and stepped inside. Across an octagonal room was fire crackling around an oversized throne. On that throne sat a giant with bright red skin. It was an efreet! The hairs on the barbarian’s neck stood up and unconsciously he brought forth Vambier which urged him to attack. Then the efreet spoke.
“Thank you for releasing me from servitude! Prepare for your reward.”
All thought of attack drained away. The genie from the plain of fire offered three wishes for the favor of liberty. Aderian and Urgesh were pleased to have freed a slave, even if it was a monster of some sort. Without much thought, Urgesh blurted out his first wish. “I wish we had that cleric guy who used to be around, Ghevont.” The efreet made this desire real, as the human cleric suddenly appeared before them, naked except for the thin rags of a prisoner. He looked astonished, barely able to ask where he was.
With no time to give him a proper welcome, Ferris offered his cloak to Ghevont while the others shouted suggestions for the second wish. “The ring!” cried Ollie. “Reconstitute the ring so that it might be fully functional,” offered Nate. Using his own words, Urgesh asked that the ring be “put back together and working again.” At the nod of the efreet’s head, the fragments emerged from Ollie’s pack, fused together, then dropped gently into the half-orc’s palm.
“Make haste with your third wish, mortal. I long to leave this frigid tomb and return to my home,” announced the efreet.
The barbarian asked to banish all the salamanders and their friends back to where they came from so that they never came back. The efreet assented. The walls rumbled, and perhaps the heat began to diminish slightly. Then the efreet transformed into a cloud of gas that blew past them and out of the room. They raced from that room, crossing the second level to find where the stair descended into the fissure. The crevice was gone, completely sealed. They felt assured that the lower levels where the salamanders once dwelt was now gone.
Following Duinor’s wishes, they returned to the room of glowing cones, breaking them apart to release the three dwarven clerics. The magical artifacts were handed over to these priests with some reluctance: the hammer of retribution, the powerful shield and the rest, including a few unused potions. Duinor, the former cleric turned glowing pillar, thanked them and provided full healing.
They climbed the rope back to the rim of the volcano and then hiked down the slopes to where the ships were anchored. The sun was setting. A keg of ale was cracked open and shared among the adventurers. The black ring was once again whole and functional, though none dared wear it yet. They yearned to return to Silverfish with the news, to move a step closer to goal of entering the Workshop of Telescopes.
End Notes
- Days
- 1/24 – Freeing the efreet and banishing the salamanders
- Treasure:
- 10,000 gp
- 30,000 ep
- 30,000 cp
- 8 gems worth 150 gp each
- 5 unidentified potions
- Magrit’s Battleaxe +2, Glows when held with a light only seen by darkvision
- Combat: 2585 xp
- Giant Draco Lizard 1390 xp
- 10 Fiery Skeletons 25 xp each
- Gorgon 945 xp
- Characters (6.5 shares of 398 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight, strength, lead) 450 xp
- Elaria (hireling) 199 xp
- Ferris (human, skills) 442 xp
- Jerker (human, fight) 442 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 442 xp
- Ollie (underground, fight, lead) 410 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, fight, strength) 426 xp