Kingbeast's Lair

Date At Start Of Game: 10/01/206

[Author’s Note: This is the log for the 14th session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be in the exact order that they occurred during play.]

The Temple Of Dark Lady

After a brief planning session the group decides on their normal plan…a frontal assault! Oren takes the lead with the rest of the party right behind. Although Oren gets momentarily trapped in a whip he breaks out then smashes the Ant Kin slavers. Bilby cuts up others while Po and Cillian work in tandem to take down the remaining. After the slavers fall Po goes to work healing the sick and injured. Bucky is very hurt and is quickly healed. Oren and Bilby push the wheel so that others can rest. After arming the freed slaves Po and Cillian lead the survivors to the main cave where Bucky and Grattle Skrak then lead them out of the temple.

At this point the PC try to decide how to proceed. Po detects that the pipe has protection magic. Oren and Cillian think the device is some type of pump that is likely being used to pump lava up to the room above. When Cillian looks up to see where the pupe leads his vision seems to be magnified. In the room above the stone wheel he sees a horrific sight. There is a massive Elephant Kin smith pounding on a thin long sword blade. To his left is a masked woman who appears to be casting a spell at the sword. While all of this is happening other Ant Kin warriors in the room are pouring buckets of blood onto the blade! With that the PC decide to stop turning the wheel and to face off against anyone who is alerted. After a minute or so three Ant Kin warriors emerge from a hallway to attack the PC. Although the PC dispatch them quickly one manages to alert guards in a nearby room. With a few brief hits the PC fell the remaining Ant Kin guards. Thinking fast Oren decides to cave in the tunnel so that others cannot approach. While Oren digs Cillian watches the forge room. He spies the masked woman speaking to the air. In a flash Narduhl appears! She says something to him then he starts to cast a spell and shrink again. Thinking quick Cillian puts a cloth on the doorjam and watches for it to move. He is hoping to see it move when Narduhl goes under the door then he can attack. After seeing the cloth move he attacks but with due to Narduhl’s tiny size he cannot hit him. After missing the tiny mage with their surprise attach the PC decide they better beat him back to the forge. They fling open the door and start running forward at top speed lest they lose the element of surprise.

In the forge room the PC find the large Ant Kin smith which Oren recognizes as Ember Firenose, the woman with the mask who has a scorpion tail, and a single Ant Kin warrior who is covered in golden jewelry. The woman and Ember are trying to work on the blade even though the lava has receeded from their forge. The woman seems to be spirit surging to boost the effects of her spells. Cillian sees flame and earth spirits flying from the walls into the blade where they vanish. As they move to attack Oren taunts Ember Firenose. To his surprise the smith does not react at all…it is as if he does not hear the comment! Oren deduces that the smith might be under some type of enchantment. With that Oren closes the gap on the woman in the mask. She laughs saying that Narduhl told her about the PC. After this she throws a bag of powder on Oren which blinds him. She then tries to sting Oren with her tail but the barb bounces off of his tough atmored hide. Po curses the Scorpion Kin spirit mage from a high vantage. Bilby and Cillian moves in closer. As the PC near behind them two shadow praying mantis traps spring! These are Narduhl’s handywork. With that the Scorpion Kin woman tells Ember to stop working on the blade and to crush the party! He looks up with glassy eyes and moves around the forge. When Ember drops the blade Cillian grabs it and moves it closer using his air spirits which are surprisingly very difficult to summon. When the thin blades reaches his hand Cillian lights up his fire spirit hand and holds the blade. The effect is nearly blinding as fire bursts from the blade! Cillian can feel a sense of power and control that distorts his thoughts but he holds on tightly. The woman screams when Cillian grabs the blade claiming that it was made from “crimson tears of blood in the Dark Priestesses name”. As she is yelling Oren manages to take a bead on her and do some damage but a tough defensive spell protects her from harm. Bilby leaps to the fray but has trouble getting a square hit on the nefarious spirit mage. As Po casts he feels a sense of power and surges his spells while remaining airborne. The Ant King jumps up the wall and manages to smash into Po sending them both crashing to the ground. When Ember reaches Cillian he starts to swing his massive hammer! Cillian dodges the attacks not wanting to feel their effect. When Oren’s eyes clear he swings a massive strike felling both the Scarlet Scorpion and the Ant King! The Scorpion Kin falls into the lava forge where the magma seems to reach up and pull her under. Po recognizes a huge spirit whim backlash taking place and tells the PC that they better leave the area immediately! Cillian briefly considers throwing the sword into the lava but decides that it should instead be investigated once they leave the forge. As they run from the temple Ember, now clear headed, says that the sword cannot be destroyed in the fires of the forge where it was created…he also relays that he only knows of one other place where it might be undone but that reaching this place with be a dangerous and deadly journey…

Date At End Of Game: 10/02/206