A7S4– The Rod of Pallando

July 29^th within the bowels of Amon Garzak: Thran stood mesmerized as he watched the werewolf form of Yrreth burn from the inside out per his fatal strike with Hirnan’s magical sword Aglarelen. Kyan heckled him, “Don’t just stand there admiring your work, you have patients to heal.” Khalin was too busy tending his brother Glom who had his hand bitten off by Yrreth and tortured all those years. When ready, Kyan reminded them of other dwarven prisoners. As they continued within the caverns, they soon heard the ‘tink, tink’ of hammer on stone, and soon came upon a dozen dwarves mindlessly laboring without guards around. 

It wasn’t until Kyan began whistling a familiar dwarven tune that the slaves broke out of their trance. They hadn’t noticed their human guards turn to werewolves and depart. Theo came forward to break their leg-iron chains as Kyan (in Dwarven) explained what had transpired. It was the mention of trolls that renewed their energy as the dozen took off to face their mortal enemy. 

Clues: Kyan reminded all they were not done as he implored Glom, “There is far greater evil upon the land that seeks the Rod of Pallando. You’ve withstood decades of torture yet now I must ask you to reveal its location so we might move it to a more secure location far from Caelindur’s (the Dark Queen) reach.” Khalin became agitated at what Kyan asked of his brother. Glom became suspicious that maybe Kyan was Yrreth transformed to continuing his evil questioning. [Persuasion 27] Kyan presented RingRist as his proof of dwarven destiny and righteousness, “Caelindur will send more of her forces to find the Rod. We must act now while the iron is hot.” 

Glom leaned on his brother Khalin as he guided the fellowship deeper into the cavern system. Anyone else would have walked past the passageway. Glom paused to search and soon pointed out the faint outline of a stone door. Theo held his torch high as others broke away plaster that hid dwarven runes: 

“Let these words guard your back as you approach my resting place.” Another stanza below that line read “Watch your step; it’s a long fall.”

More Clues: Glom admitted his knowledge was limited to this clue, “Even the dwarves of a millennia ago only revealed so much. And warned of traps.” Theo proposed that the trap was beyond the door; Kyan tapped on the outlined door to confirm a hollow sound behind it. “Perhaps the long fall is behind the door.” But they puzzled about the words guarding their backs. Kyan was the first to light up his Prancing Pony pipe as they contemplated the riddle. It was Theo who paced back-and-forth and happened to step across to the other side of the passage, “Guys, there’s more runes over here! We were supposed to stand with our backs to the first runes to find and deal with these runes.” When they cleared the new runes, Kyan read the dwarven inscription: 

it cannOt be seen, it weighs nothing, but when Put iN a barrel full of alE, it makes it feel lighter:

“Great! Another damn riddle.” Almost an hour passed as they pondered the riddle. “If you put a ladle in the barrel, you can empty it.” “Can’t be seen …lighter …maybe we have to hold a torch close to light up what can’t be seen?!” “Don’t forget about the long fall.” Thran felt fine standing nearest the first runes as Kyan (& his dog) and Theo stood in front of the new runes as they studied it in earnest. Theo was the first to mention the raised capital letters. Which reminded Thran of the puzzle they faced in the dwarven guard tower (Barad Cam) within the Blue Mountains, “Didn’t we press the letters that spelled OPEN?!” 

Wrong Answer: Kyan excitedly pressed in each letter… only to suddenly feel the floor give way as a section dropped out from beneath his dog! [failed DEX, Kyan gave his Inspiration for his dog to re-roll: fail] Kyan watched in horror as his dog disappeared into the deep abyss, as everyone else quickly moved off the stone floor that now revealed cracks. [I couldn’t kill the dog; so, …] Theo hear the faint whimper of pain from within the crevice. Kyan belly-crawled to the edge and saw his dog laying on an outcropping about 20ft below. As Thran anchored a rope to a stalagmite, Kyan climbed down to rescue his dog. 

Maybe it was the rush of adrenaline that got everyone to rethink the puzzle: “HOLE! Put a hole in a barrel and the ale will drain out.” Glom spoke up, “HOLE in dwarven means ‘backwards’. You need to press the letters in reverse order. Not OPEN but NEPO.” The wall crumbled away to reveal a stone passage beyond. Kyan led the way, followed by Theo and Thran as the other dwarves remained behind as guards. 

Traps: They stood in front of a 15x30ft stone room with 2 pillars near them. Kyan (fully armored) could feel his arm hair beneath his armor, the hairs on his neck, and even his beard stand up. “Static electricity!” Despite others’ warnings, Kyan approached a pillar and was zapped by an electrical arc. The first order of business was to remove his armor. He considered using a blanket laid on the floor to insulate himself for another attempt, but Thran advised against it. Leave it to a dwarf to come up with this idea, “Everyone remove your armor while I hammer these iron spikes into the doorway wall. Now everyone piss on these 2 lengths of rope before we tie one end of each length to the spikes. When you throw the rest of the rope at the pillars, they will discharge on the ropes which is my signal to run between the pillars.” OK, so they weren’t butt naked; they kept their shorts on. 

Kyan stood on the other side of the pillars in front of an opening into another room where a chest was displayed. Kyan had the foresight to inspect the doorway first: he saw the outline of an overhead section as wide as the doorway opening. Something would trigger the section to fall and trap him inside the chest room. Kyan called for the others to throw him more spikes and his rock-hammer. Thran had noticed the delay for the pillars to recharge; so, he tested throwing one iron spike at the pillars to trigger their charge. When the charge finally ended, Theo threw a sack containing the needed spikes and hammer. Which allowed Kyan to disable the trap by spiking the overhead section of wall. [I didn’t belabor how he reached the section 10ft over his head.] 

The Chest: More dwarven runes were etched on the side of the chest. Kyan lit up his pipe and eventually solved the riddle which allowed him to open the chest. The Rod of Pallando lay on a velvet cloth. [When Kyan removed the Rod, he failed his WISsave: he gained 3 permanent Shadow points AND a Bout-Of-Madness (“My Precious”) as the Rod corrupted his mind.] They repeated their pissed rope trigger to allow Kyan to return thru the electrical pillars. As he re-dressed in his armor, he caught Glom trying to look at the Rod; so, Kyan snatched it away, “Get away from it! You’re too injured to be able to protect it like I can.” 

4pm: Following the path to the cave exit [8], they stood outside in the eastern shadow of the fortress… 

As you emerge from under the earth and look upon the hill and tower of Amon Garzak, you see an amazing event. Along the walls of the fort and all along the hill have blossomed beautiful and delicate flowers. Amon Garzak is no more. Amon Galenloth has returned. [Remove 1 Shadow Point of corruption per the land is no longer blighted.]

Strange that no Orc occupied the battlements. As if the fortress was deserted. Still, Thran blew the whistle for the eagles to return. While they waited [short rest], Thran searched for herbs. He easily recognized the new flowers as Athelas [Kingscup: removes exhaustion or frightened conditions]. Elsewhere, he studied and plucked at tall invasive weeds: the sap quickly burned his skin and caused blisters. He referenced his notes to learn: Hogweed- [craft to restore Inspiration or to gain advantage against Shadow corruption]. 

Caelindur Arrives: If only Thran had time to brew his finds- Theo was the first to feel the arrival of evil: suddenly the sky became hauntingly overcast as a shadow swept over them. The Fell-Beast and rider landed on the fortress ramparts before Caelindur mocked them with her Soothing Voice, “So nice of you to find what my minions could not. If you would be so kind as to bring it to me. Khalin, do me the favor as your brother only has one hand.” [failed INTsave] Theo and Kyan were stunned by her magical words. Thran quickly notched an arrow and fired (stinging arrow-automatic critical hit) and another that barely penetrated the Dark Queen’s skin. [Resistant to non-magical weapons]. [Khalin failed his WISsave per Domination spell] Kyan was surprised (and stunned) when a glazed-eyed Khalin wrestled the Rod from his hands! 

As Caelindur stood on the ramparts, the Fell-Beast swooped towards the fellowship and spewed a Black Breath cloud at them. [CONsave else gain 1 Shadow point and 2 levels of temporary exhaustion.] Caelindur concentrated on her control of Khalin as she laughed at the fellowship’s pitiful efforts, “Yes, bring me the tool to control all of mankind.” Thran realized Khalin was spelled and tried to hurt him with his dagger to break him from his trance… but failed. Khalin ambled toward the queen upon the keep. No longer stunned, Kyan raised RingRist and with a battle-cry charged at Khalin and successfully wrestled back the Rod. Which made Kyan the target of the Fell-Beast’s claw attacks that landed in front of him. No longer stunned, Theo notched an arrow to wound Khalin to break him from the queen’s control: [fumble 1] his bowstring broke! 

Caelindur realized their tactics and cast Rain of Shadow: a 20ft radius of evil darkness enveloped Kyan and Khalin [that also inflicted necrotic damage and 1 point of Shadow corruption]. She realized the damage freed Khalin from her Domination spell, which is why she targeted someone else. Even though he couldn’t see in the darkness, Thran drew the sword Aglarelen and slowly entered the black void as he guided on the dwarven voices. Freed from the spell, Khalin raged (Fury) against the Fell-Beast yet missed per the darkness. Kyan also swung at the beast, [fumbled] but lost grip of his axe that clattered amongst the rocks. He drew his hammer and hit. The beast clawed at but missed the dwarf and thus took flight to get out of the darkness. Theo stepped into the darkness: had others been able to see, they would have wondered how he walked so true and fast as he soon grappled Kyan for the Rod but failed. Yes, Theo was Caelindur’s target of her Domination spell! At least the void of darkness evaporated. 

Caelindur flew down (spell) from the ramparts and engaged Kyan as she hit him with her Black Sword of Mordor [necrotic damage AND her foe takes 1 permanent point of Shadow corruption.] Despite Kyan’s words to wound Theo “NOW or never is too late”, Thran chose to swing Aglarelen (and missed) instead of shooting an automatic stinging arrow at Theo to break his domination. Khalin swung at Theo who blocked his attacks. Kyan gritted his teeth to gain a Second Wind of health as he held the Rod against his chest in an attempt to use its powers to control Caelindur. [If only he knew pure Shadow corruption powered the Rod.] Caelindur taunted the dwarf, “Fool, let me show you how it is used. Give it to me.” And that’s when the Fell-beast swooped in for another Black Breath cloud attack that exhausted and corrupted Kyan and Thran. Which gave Theo the advantage in wrestling the Rod from Kyan. 

Since Kyan stood between Theo and the Queen, she swung at the dwarf with her Black Sword of Mordor, wounding and corrupting Kyan once more. It was if the gods were against them as 3 trolls emerged from the cave entrance per call from Caelindur (apparently the rescued dwarves had little effect). Thran swung wildly at Theo and Khalin fumbled his handaxe away. Yet… Kyan stooped to pick up RingRist and struck Theo: the axe flared, releasing Theo from his domination. Theo’s eyes returned to normal as he realized he now possessed the Rod. He remembered the words of the ghost Aratobor regarding Hirnan’s sword (Great magic is needed to thwart evil, be it foe or artifact). Gripping the Rod tightly, he looked at Thran holding Aglarelen and called out, “Defend yourself elf!” Theo swung with all his might as the elf raised his blade to block the attack.

It was as if a shockwave of pure sunlight and blackness burst from the broken weapons:

• Everyone was knocked backwards 20+ft as the pure sunlight burned through evil: 1d10 radiant damage per permanent point of Shadow.
• The Fell-Beast tumbled from the sky, its wings partially burned but still able to fly.
• Caelindur was rocked by 120 points of damage! She staggered to her feet, mounted her steed, and flew away.
• The trolls were immediately turned into stone.
• The fellowship also suffered radiant damage per their permanent Shadow points: Kyan fell unconscious while Khalin nearly collapsed himself.
• The good news: all Permanent Shadow points were burnt away.

It was while Thran was treating the wounded and reviving Kyan that the eagles finally appeared. Thran was angry, “Where were you?! I blew the whistle an hour ago!” Maneldor (the eagle leader) ignored the rudeness as he revealed, “We arrived at Alatopel to find it under siege by the forces of evil that marched forth from the fortress of Amon Garzak. They needed our assistance more than you who sit idly alive brewing herbs.” 

NEXT SESSION: A7S5 – Resolutions as Alatopel Rejoices