Session 54 - Stone Giant Smackdown
General Summary
Interlude
Kendra Deverin’s eyes snapped open, and the hair on her forearms stood up. She had heard something. Something loud. A shout? A scream? It was quiet now, but something had been loud enough to wake her. Kendra sat up in bed, held her breath and listened, trying to slow the rapid thumping in her chest. Her left hand slid under her pillow, and she found the hilt of a small punching dagger. With her right thumb, she opened the shutter on the lantern Suljik had given her and picked it up. Kendra tightened her grip around the dagger, raised the lantern, and swung her legs out of bed. "Luchiem credo," she whispered, and instantly light burst from the lantern and illuminated the room. “Suljik!” she called out. Her bedroom door swung open, and Suljik entered the room. “What was that noise?” she asked. Suljik gave her a confused look, held a finger to his lips and turned his head slightly to listen for whatever Kendra was talking about. Kendra breathed slowly so as not to disrupt Suljik’s keen senses. He shook his head. Kendra frowned. “Something woke me up. I didn’t dream it.” Suljik looked at her and smiled. “You are a light sleeper,” he said in a voice Kendra had never heard him speak. She raised the dagger. “What happened to your voice, Suljik?” Suljik smiled. “I apologize for the subterfuge, Ms. Deverin. I did not want to alarm you immediately, so I wanted to approach you with a face you recognized. I will take this off so we can speak more directly.” Kendra watched him touch his face, and Suljik’s skin rippled as if he had touched the surface of a pond of water. He pinched his skin, which turned silver, between his fingers and pulled. The surface came away as a silver sheet or mask of some kind. Behind that mask was a much younger man. “My name is Maximus Merilander of House Meralander. I’ve come to rescue you.” “Rescue me from what? And where is Suljik?” “Suljik is waiting in the hallway. As for the what… there is a creature walking among you that should not exist. It should have died long ago, but it strides across Golarion with a casual purpose. Like a ghoul, it feeds off the living. Specifically, you and your family.” “What are you talking about?” “I believe you call it Jayvielle.” “Jayvielle is my cousin.” “Please. You have eyes, and you are no fool. It is no more your cousin than I am. It has been feeding off your family name and been allowed not only to survive but thrive. It is a lie that -” Kendra raised the dagger and pointed the tip at Maximus. “Call my cousin an It once more, and I’ll cut your tongue out. Suljik, get in here, please!” “Suljik is fine where he is for the moment. I mean no offence to you, Ms. Deverin. This is a discussion we can have another time. But for now, I will need you to get dressed.” Kendra looked past him and watched the bedroom door. Suljik did not come through. “Suljik!” she shouted. “Ms. Deverin, please understand that you are a victim here. None of this is your fault.” Keeping the dagger pointed at Maximus, Kendra sidestepped around him and backed toward the door. The hallway was still well-lit but too quiet for her comfort. “Suljik,” she called out again as she reached the doorway. Maximus had not moved and was still standing on the other side of the room. The silence and the fact that he hadn’t tried to stop her made Kendra feel nauseous and dreadful. “He’s beautiful,” Maximus said. “See for yourself.” Mayor Deverin expected something horrible like the atrocities she had seen when Chopper butchered all those people, including the love of her life, former sheriff Casp Avertin. She expected to see Suljik in a pool of blood. But there he was, standing. Sparkling. Like a diamond. Her dagger arm dropped as she approached him. “S-Suljik?” she asked. Suljik, his clothes, everything, was clear and sparkling. He looked like a statue carved from diamond rather than stone. She reached out and touched his shoulder. It was smooth, cold, and sparkled in the hallway’s lantern lights. But when she saw his face, there was no beauty there. There was pain. He was doubled over slightly, both hands holding his stomach. Maximus whispered from the bedroom doorway, and a thin green ray shot out from the tip of his finger. It struck the diamond statue, and for a moment, Suljik shone with a bright green light before being turned to ash. Kendra stood in the hallway, stunned. "To his credit, he died protecting you. A noble death. A warrior’s death." Kendra tightened her grip around the dagger and lunged at him. Sandpoint had been attacked by goblins, ghouls, and, most recently, giants. She had felt so powerless during those attacks. But this one, she could do something about this one. There were ten feet between them, but she only managed a single step before an unseen force grabbed her and pulled her into her bedroom. Maximus backed into the room and motioned for Kendra to pass by him. The unseen force held her, not letting her swing her dagger or even resist being dragged across the room. She felt herself being pushed onto the bed with Maximus standing over her. “I do not wish to hurt you,” he said, plucking the dagger from her hand. “As I said, you are an innocent victim here. A victim of unfortunate circumstances.” The mayor watched as Maximus tucked the dagger into his pocket, reached behind his back, and drew a sword. It was a scimitar adorned with beautifully artistic filigree and a blade that appeared to be made of solid gold. He pointed the beautiful instrument of death in her direction. “If you do not do as I say, I will do unspeakably terrible things to you. Things I have done to others in the past. But I would prefer us to handle this situation as civilized people.” Her clothes were now laid out on her bed. The force that held her in place disappeared as Maximus backed away from her and sheathed his blade. "I need you to get dressed now, Mayor Deverin." "Go to Hell," she spat. "You are upset, and rightly so. But I would say you should direct that anger at the proper party. I would not have been here if Jayvielle had died as he should have. Suljik would be alive, as would a great many others. And you would not have to endure what is to come." Mayor Deverin grabbed a pair of pants and slipped them on. “You call this being civilized?” she asked. Maximus ignored her and pulled the curtain aside, looking out her window at the sleepy town of Sandpoint. "I need you to get dressed now, Mayor Deverin," Maximus repeated. "We have a long way to go."
20 Lamashan (Oct), 4720
Deep beneath Jorgenfist, the Saviors of Sandpoint prepared themselves as best they could to face off against the leader of the stone giant army, Mokmurian. But when Mite picked the lock and opened the door to his room, the heroes discovered that Mokmurian was expecting them. He told them that he'd been watching them for quite some time, and he had once hoped they would have seen reason and come to him to surrender. Now, he would have to destroy them.
Quilith engaged Mokmurian in magical chess, frustrating the arrogant stone giant with moves and countermoves. Kilgor and Jayvielle kept Mokmurian on the move, making him pay for staying in one place for too long by using their strength and finesse to assault him.. Mite used some arcaine-enhanced bombs to significant effect, and Kumiko kept the wizard debuffed and on his heels.
At one point, Dagourn attempted to potentially sacrifice himself by putting on a magical gauntlet blessed by the Dark Queen, an entity worshipped by Dagourn. In the past, he had found a suit of armour that the Dark Queen had blessed. When he put on the right-handed gauntlet from the armour, a significant explosion scarred the right side of his body, blinding him in the right eye and fusing the metal to his hand. Having taken the left-handed gauntlet from Arcaan, Dagourn got close to Mokmurian and put on the gauntlet. He braced for yet another explosion, hoping to take Mokmurian down with him, but the explosion never came. Dagourn relented and kept healing the rest of the party.
Ultimately, the diminutive giant's arrogance got the best of him. He attempted to petrify Quilith, amplifying the spell's potency with the sihedron Shard of Greed. Still, the tiefling's infernal heritage gave him enough of an edge to fight off the magical effect long enough to finish off Mokmurian with a cone of cold. Even then, Mokmurian used a magical failsafe to fight off some of the cone's effects. That failsafe ended up blowing off part of Mokmurian's head, not wanting one of the smallfolk to be the one to dispatch him.
With his last few moments, Mokmurian retrieved a scroll case from his robe and fumbled to open it. At that moment, his eyes glowed with an emerald hue and something took control of his body. Karzoug the Runelord of Greed, spoke through his disciple and warned the party that if after ten thousand years they were the best he could expect to face, the world would once again come to fear the name Karzoug.
Karzoug/Mokmurian then looked down at the shard of greed. Karzoug wished the shards had never been found; a moment later, it was gone from the bracer in which it had been held. The bracer looked as if it had never held the shard before. Karzoug then laughed, the green glow vanished, and Mokmurian's body fell to the ground.
In the aftermath, the party searched Mokmurian's body and his room. They found several goodies, as well as his treasure trove. But the most exciting item was a hand-drawn map of the Lost Coast with several X-marks. One of those marks was over Sandpoint, with a note: "Hellfire Flume ruins—foundation stones from each would know where the traitor Xaliasa dwelt and perhaps where he hid his key to Runeforge."
Kumiko, Quilith, and Dagourn remained in the library for research. Jayvielle, Kilgor and Mite went topside with Mokmurian's head. They told the stone giants that their leader was dead and should all disperse. Over a few hours, word spread and the armies of Mokmurian began to go their separate ways.
With their business concluded, the heroes teleported back to the Cypher Lodge in Riddleport. They delivered Arcaan's body to Elias Tammerhawk, assuming he would revive him. Instead, Elias planned to send Arcaan's remains back to his family in Cheliax.
The heroes searched Arcaan's room to get a feel as to what his final wishes might have been. They found letters he was trying to write to his brother Thexan. Arcaan had told his brother that he was alive. He understood why Thexan had betrayed his trust but told him never to come to Riddleport. And if he ever got word that his father Baros was moving against him, Arcaan would kill his father himself. He was forsaking his family name and embracing the gauntlet Thexan had once cursed him with - he was Arcaan Doomfist now.
There was some back-and-forth discussion, and in the end, the Saviors of Sandpoint took it upon themselves to bring Arcaan back from the dead. Quilith used his arcane mastery to revive the dead half-orc, who sat up and embraced anyone he could. He then wanted his gauntlet. Dagourn had left the party the night before, taking the gauntlet with him. So the heroes spent the day trying to track him down, finally locating him at the Golden Scale gaming house. He was drunk but on a winning streak, and after Jayvielle reminded him of their agreement, he literally coughed up the gauntlet and gave it back to Arcaan.
With business settled in Riddleport, the heroes returned to their manor in Sandpoint. They arrived to find four guards posted outside. They were present to investigate whether Truett was being a danger to the town by drinking and potentially creating a magical bomb (despite him almost giving up drink entirely).
Inside, Sheriff Hemlock was telling Shayliss Vinder that she needed to go home so he could conduct his investigation. The sheriff then hit the heroes with some bad news. Truett was missing, and Mayor Kendra Deverin was gone. Suljik was also nowhere to be found. In her absence, the town was now being run by the voted-upon temporary mayor, Titus Scarnetti.
A guard came inside the manor and told the sheriff someone was outside who wanted to speak to him. Hemlock told the party to stay inside. Mite snuck outside and heard the young man speaking to the sheriff. He told the sheriff he wanted to speak to "him" or he would kill the mayor slowly. Mite came inside and told Jayvielle what he had heard. The Saviors of Sandpoint geared up and came outside.
Sheriff Hemlock told the party to go back inside and was promptly ignored. The young man smiled and introduced himself. "Hello. I'm Maximus Merilander of House Merilander." He looked at Jayvielle. "And I've come to kill you."
A fireball began to materialize between the young man's hands.Rewards Granted
Looted from Mokmurian's body:
- robe of runes
- scroll of limited wish
- wand of bear's endurance (13 charges)
- +1 defending spell storing club
- bag of holding ii
- key to the Library
- spellbooks (includes most spells up to lvl 6)
- diamond dust (worth 500 gp)
- his impressive collection of books on spellcraft and all of the spell components and laboratory equipment (worth a total of 1,500 gp, but weighs several hundred pounds)
- residuum powder worth 7,000 gp
- 12,000 gp
- 1,100 pp
- an amber and sapphire necklace worth 4,000 gp
- a set of ivory runestones worth 1,400 gp (eventually given to Dagourn)
- a scroll of contact other plane.
DING LEVEL THIRTEEN!
Missions/Quests Completed
- Defeated Mokmurian and routed the stone giant invasion.
- Returned Arcaan's body to Riddleport.
- Dagourn regained his freedom (although the sihedron still marks him).
- What is Runeforge? Where is it? Why was Mokmurian looking for it?
- Who is "the traitor Xaliasa"?
Notes
Karzoug has now made himself aware to the Saviors of Sandpoint, as are the heroes aware to him.
Mite
Kumiko
Quilith
Kilgor
Jayvielle
Report Date
12 Nov 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location
