11 Transformation 509

The party is in a chamber containing five glowing crystals, each launching beams of energy to the center. Then the crystals begin to shudder and a narrow hole seems to be ripped through the scrim of reality. The tip of a large pincher begins to emerge from the rip in the air…

Rilka steps forward and places her enchanted falchion between one of the beams and the center. She is nearly pushed back from the force of the power, but holds steady. The hole through which the pincher protrudes stops growing, though the appendage continues to grope about.

Surm casts dispel magic on the crystals. The beams stop, the crystals stop shuddering, and the hole in reality closes. The pincher, cut off from its host, drops in a bloody mass to the floor.

Surm, Rilka, and Savaric then debate on whether or not to take the claw out of the complex, back to camp, and destroy it. They are concerned with the possibility of its owner scrying it and finding them to look for revenge. Surm identifies the creature as a glabrezu demon from the Abyss. They ultimately decide to remove the claw and burn it outside.

Kortash and Burask carry the claw as the party, with an intellect devourer held in a stasis field, backtracks to the entrance of the Ysar complex. As they descend into the cavern where they fought the pyrohydra, Savaric is approached by an angry young pyrohydra. He attempts to calm it with his ranger abilities, but fails. Eventually, he manages to calm the angry beast down and give it some food, allowing him to catch up with the others without the creature pursuing them.

When the party emerges from the mine entrance to the camp, they find that night has just fallen. They explain the situation to Alasir, who orders guards to set up a bonfire for the party. Surm tells the story of what happened, but in a very dry and matter-of-fact manner. Still, most are suitably impressed with the way the Cord handled the demonic entity.

That evening, Surm is scried by Mõrvar, who communicates what has been happening in Kalimsport and also asks to be teleported back to join the others in a day. At Savaric’s prompting, Mõrvar is also asked to conduct research on iron golems while he is in the city.

The party then has a debate on what to do with the pyrohydra youngling they have discovered, but come to no real conclusion before calling it a night.

12 Transformation 509

The party wakes the next morning more refreshed and ready to face the horrors of the Ysar complex. They debate some more on what to do to handle the iron golem sentinel that they have encountered, but come to no real conclusion. Ilona advises Savaric to use her to sneak past the golem—he should do it and not tell the others, because they’ll just tell him ‘no’. Savaric, instead, suggests the idea to the others and finds the idea rejected.

Surm leaves his specimen in stasis with Mahgnus for safekeeping before returning to the complex.

When they enter the caverns before the Ysar settlement, they find that the young pyrohydra is sleeping. They continue on to the complex. They return to one of the “hub” rooms within the complex and enter a chamber a that they have not explored before.

This room’s stone walls, floor, and ceiling is filled with crystalline veins. In the center of the room is a plain stone panel, 5’ by 5’. Rilka detects a moderate magic aura on the panel but can tell nothing more. Surm does the same and determines that the magic is based on conjuration—which could mean teleportation of some sort. But it could also mean summoning. Savaric begins searching the room and finds that, when he touches the panel, magical energy starts to flow into him, making his hair stand up on end. Surm steps forward to test out and finds the same—but also can tell that the magic is tapping into the same source that he uses to fuel his own magic casting. He steps examines the panel further and discovers its purpose.

Though it is of an entirely alien design, the panel and crystalline veins seem to be linked somehow to form a magical teleportation device that will allow an arcane spellcaster to stand on the panel, select a location, and teleport there. They must concentrate to activate the device and to select their destination, but they could conceivably travel to anywhere on this plane of existence. It is a one-way trip for one person.

Nothing else of interest is found in the room.

They move on through one of the additional unlocked doors and enter an empty chamber. From there, they descend into the room in which they destroyed the carnivorous blob. They decide to search the room, now that the threat has been dealt with. As Savaric conducts his search, three of the possessed duergar emerge from a doorway adjacent to the room. They end up chasing one of the duergar into the next room and Burask is mortally injured, but miraculously saved by Rilka’s efforts. Eventually, the duergar and their intellect devourers are dispatched.

Savaric finds a secret door in the room and the party follows him into a new chamber containing four thrumming crystals, their hums in sync with each other. They opt not to disturb the crystals, though they did detect evocation magic emanating from them. They carefully move on through one of the doors into another “hub” room containing several doors. According to their previous interaction with the duergar priestess, they are in an area that is trapped.

Detecting magic, Surm determines that a moderately strong aura is located in the center of the room. He uses his arcane mark to mark the edges of the aura, making the possible trap visible.

They move on through another door and come to a large room with strange, crystalline mosaics embedded in the walls. Inside are seven of the possessed duergar—which are eventually dispatched after a long battle…