Chapter Ten - Within the Ossuary a Heart of a Mountain Was Found

Session was held 26th of February at the Altar of Games


Our mighty heroes had plundered into the Ossuary of Wyrmwood, and deep within they found what they were looking for, a portal to the Cauldron of Wyrm. After carefully studying the symbols and runes carved to the edges of the circular portal, Melkor declared that they could step in. And soon whole crew found themselves from far away place, a cliff on the mountainside of the Smoking Mountains that are located in the ancient empire of Unther.

From that faraway cliff they found a stone door that introduced them to series of chambers and corridors that once were a Untherian Ziggurat, temple dedicated to the God-Kings of Unther. They even stumbled into a hall that was full of colossal statues presenting those dead gods which were once worshipped by the Untheric people. There were the deities Assuran, Ramman, Girru, Enlil, Inanna, Nergal, Ishtar, Marduk, Nanna-Sin and Gilgeam who was the last of the gods. After gazing the dead splendour of these Elder Ones they proceed on their quest for the Cube of Tybor, but they were suprised by malicious undead beign known as BoneLord and its two Serpentir minions. Defeating this skeletal bonecrafter required some effort but they continued as victors. After discovering supplies from the old strorage basement of the temple, our party gathered some strenght at the safety of those age-old rations.Melkor considered that the old temple was abandonned decades or centuries ago but the Cult of the Dragon had enstablished a stronghold there as part of their operations in the Cauldron of Wyrm.

"Beams of Extreme Agony"

After restorative hours of rest our fearless adventurers plunged forth deeper into the temple. There they saw libaries, private rooms pf the Wearers of Purple, great halls dedicated for the study of draco anatomica and a cyclopean entrance hall dominated by two crosscut pyramids which both acted as footholds for two intimidating statues made of ebony stone. Doubts were raised as the statues both looked into same spot where the pyramids angles met, the only place to step into the stairs leading downwards and foward on their quest. The nefarious intuition sure was well-grounded as the statues shot beams of extreme agony to poor Arius who was yet again eager to take the first step. Arius survived the damage done by that trap of ancient and magical design. Puzzled by the terrible trap, Melkor invented a way of passing safely, for himself at least and like a lighting bolt the wizard flew through the hazardous spot unharmed by the beams of death. Douglas counted on his dexterity as a rogue, but he suffered horrendously as the red lasers of those black statues cut his flesh and bone. Only then Melkor discovered a link between a small amulet found earlier and the trap and passed through the spot unharmed, wearing the amulet in his neck. And by exploiting this knowledge the rest passed through the beams of extreme agony.

They continued on and came to an opening in the side of the mountain, covered and decorated by gigantic pillars and engravings of Untheric pantheon. Between the pillars they saw a long stonebridge spanning across the heights, linkind two of the Smoking mountains together. They set foot on that vertiginous structure and cursed its lenght. In the other end they found a small landing, from where a set of stairs ran downwards. Also a small path started it's desperate climb from the level they were but all their attention was bound to a splendid stone of black and red, lifted on a pedestal. Douglas used his best tricks and failed to notice any traps, but as he took the egg-shaped stone, a wall in front of him collapsed unleashing a blood-thirsty PYROHYDRA with eight fiery heads! The battle was terrible, but with preeminent skill in the art of war they turned the multi-headed horror intoa a Luskanese bagpipe, a carcass full of holes.

The Ascension and the Fiery End.

After slaying the beast of legend, our watchful party gathered their belongings and spend some time recovering from the wounds inflicted by the great OctoHead. Then they continued the path upwards, only to meet group of Untherese refugees whom had taken shelter at the mountaintops from the Mulhorandi invaders. After clarifying our partys intentions they welcomed them to their camp. The Untherese told about serpent-like people who had raided their camp and asked if the heroic troupe could ventrue futher on the trail and get rid of these hideous menrobbers. The merry band of adventurers agreed but stayed at the camp for few nights just in case if a new raid should occur. It never did and the fellowship begun the last part of their ascension, unaware that one day the bards of Faerun would sing tales from its legend.

The path curled along the mountainsides, and after long and perilous journey they came to a massive opening in the side of the mountain, from where a river of lava, that came from the depths of the mountain, turned to a gargantuan lavafall that thundered down to the Black Ash Plain thousands of feets below as a malicious rain of stones. A narrow stone bridge crossed the lavafall and took the party inside the opening. There a ropebridge crossed the fiery stream again back to the side they came from and from there a another stonebridge crossed once more to the opposite. And there they saw a strange canvas spanned over large "doorway" to another colossal chamber. But even from the first stone bridge they saw that the canvas was something terrible, and as it spoke to them they understood it to be a human streched across the opening. It demanded their flesh and summoned three nasty salamanders, snake like creatures of fire with humanlike uppertorso.

Few minutes and destroyed ropebridge later the salamanders were banished and the unholy human canvas torn open and our heroes proceed to the conclusion of their quest through the canvas. There they saw a vast chamber of colossal proportions, bordered by small streams of lava that united into the river that ran down to the Black Ash Plain. At their feet in front of the stone bridge was a colossal skeleton of long dead dragon, covering the area where the streams flowed into the same ravine. In the back of the chamber was a pool of lava from where the streams begun, and in front of the pool was a huge formation of black stone and high off the floor of the majestetic heartchamber of the volcano, on the black formation rested the Cube of Tybor!

Arius and Douglas climbed down the dragons spine to reach the chambers floor while Jared stepped through the air with his airwalk spell. Melkor and Hashim stayed at the stronebridge, and from afar they saw how a terrible wraith rose from the floor of the chamber, cursing the adventurers. It was the last ghost of the Cultists who seeked the Cube and perished, but Jared scorched its incorporeal remains with his greater turn undead ablility. But then all hell broke loose, as the black stone formation rumbled with great voice, identified itself as Harafalg the Giant and sweared that the robbers would never get the Cube of Tybor. Then the mountain begun to shake as the formation shattered as the fire giant broke free from his slumber. So great was his strenght that the lavapool behind him ruptured and begun flooding the chamber with its molten content.

There, jumping and balancing on lavastones floating in the powerful flow our heroes fought a bitter battle against a ancient power that was considered legend by the most. In this epic scene of local armageddon they triumphed possibly the greatest triumph ever, and got to possess the fabled Cube of Tybor.

Ecstatic from their victory and the fantastic visions of raw power of the nature, our heroes forgot the one major thing that had been bothering them through-out their quest for the Cube...

What a fuck was it for?