Weapons of Power (Kuthona (XII) 8th-9th, 4712 AR)

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Tunnels. The chambers beyond are little more than vast, empty caverns.

In order to manifest a key, the heroes subjected the stone heads of the Sihedron Circle to a spell effect of a school identical to the one each runelord related to. When the proper key from the Sihedron Circle outside was placed in the proper pillar’s keyhole inside the frozen cathedral and then turned in two complete revolutions, the pillar began to hum and glow softly. Once the pillar was glowing, its key vanished.

When all seven pillars were active at the same time, the central pillar began glowing and rippled with a vortex of light that combined all seven of the surrounding colors. At the pillar’s base, the vortex whirled in on itself like a vertically aligned whirlpool, opening into a 7-foot-wide circular portal through which could be faintly seen a long tunnel. When the heroes stepped through this portal they stepped into Runeforge.

Runeforge

The approach from the portal is along a 10-foot-wide stone tunnel.

Runeforge Features

Runeforge follows at least some of the “rules” of the Material Plane as if the complex were still a part of it. Gravity, for example, works the same.

MAGICALLY TREATED STONEWORK: The walls, floors, and ceilings of Runeforge are made of stone that has been magically treated.

The Runeforge. This domed chamber is nearly two hundred feet across. A large pool of bubbling prismatic liquid occupies the center of a raised dais in the middle of the chamber. The spiky flanges of the seven-pointed Sihedron are engraved into the marble floor. Each tip of the enormous rune points at a twenty-five-foot-tall statue facing the pool with its back approximately ten feet from a partially concealed arched opening in the wall directly behind it. Each statue depicts a different figure, but all are imperious and finely detailed.

The seven statues surrounding the pool are of the seven runelords. The statues themselves are made of the same magically enhanced stone as Runeforge’s walls.

The bubbling, prismatic waters of the runeforge pool are alternately painfully hot and freezing cold to the touch, yet not enough to cause damage. Additionally, when Aranthor and Gryxxa touched the waters they received a tangled collage of visions. All five senses were assaulted by the magical potential of the pool.

The seven statues were as follows:

  • A towering man with gems set in his forehead and hands, dressed in robes and wielding a burning glaive.
  • A short smiling man with a hooked nose and beady eyes, wearing robes and wielding a spear.
  • BELIMARIUS: A heavyset woman with a sneering visage and an imperious stance, dressed in a flowing dress and wielding a halberd.
  • SORSHEN: A voluptuous woman with a seductive look, large eyes, and long flowing hair; this statue is nude and wields a double-headed guisarme.
  • XANDERGHUL: A strikingly handsome man adorned with a close-cropped beard and a charming expression; his form is dressed in extravagant clothes and wields a lucerne hammer.
  • ALAZNIST: A gothic beauty with wild hair and a somewhat insane expression, this woman wears a long flowing dress and wields a thorny ranseur.
  • ZUTHA: An obese man, his flesh rotten in places so that the bones show through, wearing a ragged robe and wielding a scythe.

    • Weapons of Power

    Once the heroes reached Runeforge, their true goal was to eventually create runeforged weapons from the runeforge pool in the heart of the complex. They learned about these weapons from Auronorex.

    In order to infuse a weapon with power from the pool and transform it into a runeforged weapon, the heroes used components that when brought within 10 feet of the runeforge pool, glowed brightly and seemed to buzz with energy.


    A Runelord Enraged

    As soon as the first dominant weapon was crafted, with a sudden explosion of water, a beam of golden light burst from the pool to bathe the statue with the burning glaive. Immediately, the towering statue animated, transforming into an enormous stone golem. It stared down at the heroes and spoke, “More pests! Alas, your weapons will never reach Xin-Shalast. Your fate is death, here in Runeforge.”

    The stone golem used its slow ability on the heroes, moving to place itself in an optimal position before activating this power. It focused its physical attacks on Gryxxa, who created the dominant weapon. Fortunately for Gryxxa, this newly enhanced weapon bypassed all damage reduction possessed by the stone golem. The heroes destroyed the golem and Aranthor turned his weapon into a dominant weapon as well.

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