Riot and Ruin in Rime

The party decided to head out to the rest of the underground area, firstly going to the northeast.  This led to another pentagonal chamber. A ten-foot-by-five-foot block of greenish black marble sat at the north end of this pentagon-shaped chamber. A large section of the top of the block had been cut away and lined with a strange steel alloy to form a basin or pool. A scent like a mixture of lavender and ozone lingered in the air. The walls and floor were smooth stone as elsewhere, but also remarkably clean.

Ciprian nor Gavril noted any magic in the chamber.  The metal of the basin was strange but unremarkable in other aspects.  Another pentagonal shaped passage led to the southeast.  The party then headed down that way.

This again led to another five-sided chamber.  A small worktable covered with alchemical equipment
occupied the eastern corner of this high-ceilinged room. The bottom of a steep ramp began at the western edge of the room, constructed from the same cold marble as the rest of the building. 

Ciprian began to explore the work table, the equipment was the equivalent of a working alchemist’s lab. Taking a quick inventory of the materials Ciprian discovered a strange “notebook” made of several thin, gold plates engraved in Aklo. Ciprian determined the notebook contained research into creating cognatogens that could be administered to creatures other than an alchemist. The research conclusions were illegible, however, as the final plates had been melted, likely through the application of some great heat source.

There was one final hallway to examine, the one headed south.  The party flew up the ramp to the main chamber and followed the flat hallway to the south.  This terminated in a dead end. Careful examination of the south wall revealed a hair-thin outline that suggested it was separate from the corridor, but there was no physical mechanism to move it.

A pentagon was engraved plainly on the surface of the door with a sigil in its center. At each exterior point of the pentagon and at the middle of each straight line was a small five-sided indentation, as if designed to accept some object inserted in each of the 10 slots.  Ciprian read the sigil as the number 19 in Aklo.

"How many of those chips do we have?  I think it is ten." Gavril piped up.

"Yes ten, but how do we put them in?  And do they even fit?" Erevel asked.

"Maybe I can push them all in one slot." Gavril said asking for the chips.

"They won't all fit, only one in each slot," Armania observed.

"I think every side has to add up to 19," Ursina exclaimed as she pulled out some writing utensils and began sketching.

Some time later, Armania said "I think I have it.  Try this."  

She then showed her trial and Gavril put the chips into the designated spots.  The stone door slid up into the ceiling and it revealed another five-sided chamber.  A familiar-looking column stood in the southern point of this room. Two metal objects stood on either side of the stela, mounted on a metal apparatus to hold them in place. The objects were long, thin, rectangular sheets of silver metal that are curved to a semicircle, resembling a tube cut lengthwise, and they cup the stela from a few feet on either side. Cables ran from the objects and snaked upward, disappearing into the stone wall. Blinking lights and a series of changing symbols emanated from directly inside the stone wall. A soft hum filled the room.

Ciprian checked for magical items and nothing came up except the stelae itself.  The room was clear of any other objects or creatures.  The cables ran into the wall but no magic was seen. 

"I don't know if we should continue now.  If we identify the magic we have found and then take a rest we will be better prepared for whatever attacks us when Ciprian begins the ritual," Armania stated.

"I am willing to start now, but if you think better we can take a break," Ciprian responded.

"OK, let's go to the entry room and shut the doors so we are better protected," Armania said.

The party retreated to the entry chamber and shut the door to the passageway.  They heard the dome of protection activate once again as the door closed.  The magic items were found to be Cloak of Resistance +2, Ioun Stones that added to intelligence and intimidation and potions of Greater Magic Fang, along with an oil of daylight and potions of Cure Serious Wounds.

A rest was had with the Planar Adaptation still active the party headed for the stelae chamber once again.  Gavril removed the trap and unlocked the door.  

The chamber was as empty as before as Ciprian began the ritual.  The remainder of the party was spread out in the larger chamber, on both levels.  Ciprian began the ritual and the hum in the room became louder and the whole chamber started to vibrate.  About twenty-three minutes into the ritual an incorporeal being floated out of the wall and attacked Ciprian.  All party members in the room lost sanity as a vision of Xhamen-Dor was before them.

The rest of the party had to figure out how to get down to the next level as they were not flying any longer.  Armania just stepped down, Erich Zahn used dimension door and Agna just jumped down.  Ciprian identified the creature as a Animate Dream and tried to move away but the creature followed him and attacked again.  With the opportunity attack and the the others Ciprian was bleeding profusely but Ursina ran up to give him a healing spell.  Armania waited for Erich to begin Arcane Concordance with Ectoplasmic source to allow her spell to do full damage.   Erevel and Gavril moved to the creature but took damage as they moved closer.

Erich and Ciprian began performances as the creature continued to focus on Ciprian.  A lightning bolt came flying from Armania and Agna was firing arrows into it.  The resolute attacks dropped the creature to the floor as Ursina again cast a healing spell on Ciprian.

Ciprian took a moment and then moved back closer to the stelae and continued the ritual only having stopped for a minor moment.  As the rest of the party realigned itself a Larva of the Outer Gods teleported into the chamber and began attacking.  Again Gavril ran forth but took three attacks getting there and fell victim to a poison.  Ursina cast Align Weapon on Erevel's sword to give it the lawful characteristic as the party recalled it had DR to anything not lawful.  It also regenerated if not hit by a lawful weapon.

Just as the party was aligned to attack another Larva entered the fray near to Armania, Erich and Agna.  The battle began to rage and each time Armania tried to cast a magic missile it fizzled.  She did however successfully cast Starfall affecting both Larva.  One Larva cast Deafening Song Bolt and more of the party began to be deaf.  Gavril was acting strange and only attacking with his left hand and not apparently hearing anything said.  Erevel efficiently used her sword to down one Larva.  When Ursina tried to attack with her book she found some kind of force field around the Larva that did not allow it to hit the creature.  Word of Chaos from a Larva made some additional heroes deaf but that did not deter Erevel, although the party was attacked by opportunity many times and Gavril kept moving with less grace.

The last Larva was killed by Erevel once again and the party set about healing from Erich Zann while Ciprian continued the ritual with no more interruptions.  He was injured and exhausted afterwards.  The group then began discussing how to deal with their reduced sanity.  And then how to get to Paris from here.  This is their nest destination.

DM's Notes: The party earned 25,600 XP for the night.