• Maervahr - Stoneskin
• Kek - Stoneskin
• Jacob
• Josalyn
• Oriyan - Stoneskin
• Erasma

• Last time we fought off two Wraiths near the Sphinx statue called “Herclis”. We had not seen them before and they did not drain levels.

There is a 15' long statue and some huge tubes that fully illuminate chamber with an orange glow due to the liquid contents. There are four carved stone faces on the walls with a topaz in the mouth and an orange topaz in the forehead.

We go back to the front of the dungeon to gather our Hippogriffs.

The camp is just outside, within the shadow of Solat Peak. Two of our Horsemen have made a campfire outside. Tatrin is also outside, wounded but conscious as well as our two Hippogriffs.

We recall that the statues, once they are attuned, will remain activated for quite some time. The party will be vulnerable to attack while doing the ritual.

We return to the Chamber of Herclis and Maervahr begins to perform the ritual…

A haze and mist starts emerging and then coalesces around the statue. An ancient and tremendous power is unleashed from within the statue. Once Maervahr utters the final words, the mist is sucked back into the statue and there is a period of deafening silence.

We must now lay our hands upon the statue to activate it.

Erasma lends Jacob the magic full plate armor to go over first since he feels he is the most qualified and Erasma does not object.

We suddenly begin to transport and we see our companions slowly fade and sparkle. The power of the statue does not work on large sized creatures so our Hippogriffs cannot come. The room is then illuminated by an orange light…and we are transported to another place.

There is another statue perched high on a pedestal and we are now touching a different Sphinx statue.

Maervahr had cast Protection from Evil on Oriyan and this spell still seems to be in effect.

A Gynosphinx sits on the pedestal and is about 15' wide. The arched form is positioned as if it will crash down and we notice some Elvish words on the base.

Someone tried to draw bricks onto the wall with a shaky hand but the statue itself is made of schist. There is also a great column on either side of the statue pedestal with carvings of lightning carved around the columns. On the arches above are storm clouds depicted with the lightning bolts. We only see a little bit of the chamber from our illuminated swords.

There is a door to the south and we are inside a large chamber.

We had determined that the gems on the other side, back under Solat Peak, were not inherently related to the magic of the statue.

There are two great blocks lying in here that appear to be broken off and rough hewn, like they are fresh from a quarry. It at this point that we hear two sets of thumps…thump, thump…The sound of stone hitting stone coming from two different points which are about 30 to 50 feet from each other.

We are not surprised.

• Maervahr casts Lightning Bolt into the darkness toward the sound, about 20' away.

As he begins casting the spell, Maervahr's companions shift around and there is the sound of heavy stone footsteps on stone as something is moving heavily from out of the black. Just as two man-sized very blocky creatures emerge, their forms made of obsidian as they crest the light, Maervahr's spell goes off. It was completely random whether he could even target one with a spell.

MAERVAHR HITS THE ONE TO THE SOUTH!

He deals 28 damage from a Lightning Bolt and OBLITERATES IT!

Kek, Erasma and Thorgard are in the front lines to receive the charge. It is as tall as Maervahr!

The Obsidian Creatures have an AC 5 with charge.

Kek does 13 damage and his second attack hits for another 5 damage from Kek. Erasma missed. However, this DESTROYS THE OTHER GOLEM! It begins to lose structure before it crumples into a pile of obsidian.

Thorgard grabs pieces of obsidian which weigh about 110 coins.

MAERVAHR BEGINS THE RITUAL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STATUE.

Meanwhile, we see that the walls are made of an earthy beige sandstone. A script on the base says:

Under Mooun's sky blessed of Fir'syl the house of Anis'lyl'lisiv sleeps untroubled

There are two pedestals of obsidian in the corners and some stairs that go up about 30' before curving. The walls of the chamber are not even but are molded out of a clay appearance. In the north east corner are 3 urns made with silver and gold.

It is the final month on the GEB Calendar and Wyrin'wah stretches almost 1,000 miles in the north, based on our knowledge. We do notice that the air here is much colder than we are used to. It is not freezing but there are long winters.

The pedestals had stone attached that broke off long ago. It matches the two big footprints of the Golems we destroyed. Meanwhile, Thorgard the Dwarf can tell that we are above ground and not beneath it.

At this point, Thorgard must save versus spells. He carries a Ring of Protection +4 that can grant +2 to saving throws but does it count for Dwarves and for Illusions?

Thorgard believes that the stone in the walls was constructed by a different builder than the pillars. The Sphinx and pillars were more masterfully crafted than the surrounding walls.

Maervahr uses his psionic detection of magic but does not detect magic on the urns. He does detect EXTRAORDINARY magic on the Gynosphinx statue.

We come across some coins in this chamber and Thorgard examines and counts them. Maervahr has begun the ritual.

• 300 sp
• 300 sp
• 300 gp

He completes the ritual and we decide to return to the Hinterlands, where we came from.

We reappear inside the illuminated chamber beneath Solat Peak and Kek and Thorgard immedately begin to remove the gems.

• 4 Topazes worth 500 gp each.
• 4 Orange Topazes worth 1,000 gp each.
• Obsidian worth 60 gp.

It is a two day travel from NOTOSOTOMO to the road and then we will need to travel east toward High Dell. We transfer the gems to the Hippogriff riders for safekeeping.

We travel south for 2 days through the mountains and we then turn left toward the city. There are now encounters along the way.

We eventually arrive in High Dell, which is ruled by LORD RED. The city is patrolled by elite units of shock troopers with tower shields. They are known for relentlessness in battle. For the region, High Dell is known as the protector of the mountains. The other communities are defended by High Dell as they will send troops to be garrisoned to nearby towns, which is unusual for the Six Cities.

We had heard tales of a cursed sword in this area that cannot be destroyed by anything! Some relics can be destroyed and some are created by the gods.

As we approach the city, we see that there is an army of regular troops, their light maroon colors glistening in the sun, indicating that they are the famed shock troopers.

High Dell is not very interested in helping areas outside the mountains and they are known for a local invigorating tea called ANISITH TEA.

While we are here, we will need to take a week to rest.

Asking around about local stories, we hear about RIPPERS HOLD which has MANY Hobgoblins residing within and they only hunt to the north. They do occasionally cause problems for the more southern areas closer to High Dell. The locals do not know a whole lot of ROCKY TOP as they are isolationist.

We are trying to pair off the two Hippogriffs. If they can produce eggs, they will have their own value.

High Dell does have temples with HIGH CLERICS that have at least 7th level spell capability. We can get access to Raise Dead or Resurrection, Reincarnation is also available from local Magic-Users or Druids.

• Oriyan - Magic Scale Mail.
• Thorgard - +4 Ring of Protection.
• Erasma - Gains xp for the Full Plate Armor.
• Jacob - Wields a Cursed Sword.

We get 6,360 xp for this session.

• First session: 536 each
• Third session: 366 each
• Fourth session: gems worth 1000 for each player.

• 1902 gp

• Thorgard 1732 xp
• 2176 xp Maervahr
• 286 / 2 = 143 xp Tatrin
• 4640 xp Erasma
• 1641 xp Kek
• Josalyn 1225 / 2 = 613 xp
• Jacob 3021 xp
• Thorgard 5506 xp
• Oriyan 4789 xp

Resurrection is available in the world.

• MAERVAHR PAYS OFF HIS 1750 LOAN!

• Kek - Stoneskin, Invisibility
• Tatrin - Stoneskin, Invisibility
• Thorgard - Stoneskin
• Erasma - Stoneskin, Invisibility
• Jacob - Stoneskin - AC 5/0
• Josalyn - Stoneskin
• Karina - Stoneskin, Invibility - AC 10/10, 12“, 1-2. 1-2 listen, Charm Person, 4 hp, Not Entirely Human (Half-Elf)
• Maervahr - Stoneskin, Invisibility

We travel back to SOLAT PEAK.

Along the way, we encountered 14 Wolves but they were avoided.

We arrive on the morning of the 6th and this time we took a guide with us for 50 gp. He will take us part of the way to ROCKY TOP (a small town). The guide is old with squinty eyes, a red fuzzy cap with a ball on top and a grizzly beard.

It will take us a half hour to make our way through the peak.

After transporting ourselves through the Sphinx statues, we once again find ourselves in the far chamber halfway across the world.

Karina lights up a hooded lantern and we take a look at the stone slab. It has some Elvish writing on it.

Outsiders and outcasts doomed

By this way descend now to their end
Frozen below or above
It is all the same to the wind

It feels colder as we descend down the steps. We find a stone slab and a concealed door.

Josalyn casts Find Traps.

We come around the corner which opens up to a room. On either side of the stairs is a panel which is an embossed square on either side. It looks like a top down view of a beetle with the beetle's butt in the air. There are traps inside the walls as Josalyn sees the red moving energy.

There are five steps going down leading to a panel on the ground that has a 10' width. It is also TRAPPED. Maervahr marks the stairs with a piece of chalk and then we descend.

We have a Giant Weasel and two Sabertooth Tigers under the effect of Jacob's Ring of Animal Friendship. They suddenly snap to the right from a presence off in the darkness.

Maervahr casts Shield which should not break his Invisibility.

The Shield spell is cast and Bless is cast giving us a +1 to hit and +1 to saves.

We hear the heavy thuds of a large creature off in the blackness. Suddenly, we see 12 eyes glowing in the darkness from 6 heads attached to 6 necks. The creature has crystalline blue scales, the scales of an unnatural looking Hydra.

It is 20' away from us.

Maervahr casts Polymorph Other to change the Hydra into a Carp. THE HYDRA SAVES!

Kek charges at the Hydra as the Hydra raises its head and breathes 6 times at KEK! He only gets one save and takes 44 DAMAGE FROM COLD! He retaliates and hits for 3 damage.

It has an AC 5. Kek runs his blade through one of its neck muscles. Maervahr moves up to engage while psionically invisible in order to cast Burning Hands.

There are 2 more breath attacks, and 3 bites. Kek is bitten and takes 2 damage. Thorgard also takes 8 damage.

Thorgard attacks the Hydra and hits for 10 damage while Jacob did 9 damage and Kek did 7 damage. One Sabertooth Tiger hits for 10 while the other Tiger hits for 11 damage.

Five of the heads hit the ground and then the Hydra is slain!

The cold persists in the air but some of the chill came from the Cryohydra.

Kek is healed with some Cure Light Wounds spells for 6, 7 and 8 hitpoints.

The room opens up into a VERY cold room and there is a carving on the wall of this same Cryohydra. It has apparently been in here for a very long time. Remarkably, there is no Hydra poop inside but we do find 1,000s of coins of copper and silver. We sift through it…

• 3,700 cp
• 3,700 sp

We later find a HUGE Chariot in the southern chamber. The rear half is covered by a canopy that has stood the test of time. The left side can hold many men and the front has a sharp point. Inside the chariot are two ornate holders for reins, that are currently absent.

Maervahr uses his psionic detect magic. THE CHARIOT RADIATES POWERFUL MAGIC.

This session we killed a CRYOHYDRA!

Maervahr is now at 93,299 xp.