Thistletop, part 11 (Monday, Lamashan (X) 22, 4707 AR)

The heroes made their way back to Thistletop, where they realized they had a stowaway in Corvus' wagon. That was Fen Jerrin, a halfling who thought he took permission from a rather intoxicated Ameiko to accompany the heroes in their quest to slay Malfeshnekor. Nevertheless, the heroes accepted Fen's help and continued their exploration of Thistletop.

Collapsed Treasury. The sound of sloshing water filled this room, which had almost entirely collapsed into a large tide pool. What few walls did remain intact here bore detailed and impressive carvings of incredible treasuries filled to overflowing with coins, gems, jewelry, and other items of value. To the east, the walls depicted a carving of a towering mountain, its peak carved in the shape of a stern face just above a great palace. Below, the side of the mountain's valley cradled an immense city of spires.

In the pool, the remains of what must have once been an incredible treasury lay in the sloshing waters. Shattered urns, crumbled stone chests, rusted bits of once-beautiful armor and weapons, and other long-ruined treasures from an ancient past lay below. Most impressive of them all was a large, coral-encrusted helmet sized for a giant; the helm measured nearly 5 feet across, and its full-face guard bore an expression of twisted rage and fangs. The helm itself appeared to be made of gold.

Tsela identified the city depicted as legendary Xin-Shalast, a lost city rumored to be hidden somewhere in the Kodar Mountains. Tales speak of the city as having streets of gold and buildings carved from immense gems, but although countless explorers have sought it (and many have died or vanished), none have ever managed to locate this fabled city. Most scholars agree that it never existed at all, that it was a fictitious location invented by the ancients.

The pool was connected to the sea via a 10-foot-wide underwater tunnel. The tunnel was 20 feet long in all, and the powerful riptide within made only Shalelu willing to navigate it. It emerged at the base of the island, about 30 feet underwater, an entrance hidden by coral growth and seaweed.

The gold helmet down below had become the home of a 450-pound hermit crab, and it reacted poorly to Shalelu's attempt to enter the pool. When it attacked, the helm suddenly rose up to release a pair of immense claws and spindly legs. The crab fought to the death.

A search of the pool took several minutes, but uncovered 3,500 sp, 630 gp, 40 precious stones worth 10 gp each, and a jade amulet of natural armor +1. The greatest treasure in the room was the ancient helm. The helm wasn't solid gold (some of it was bronze) but it's still worth 3,000 gp if the heroes can haul its 300-pound weight up out of the hole it's been resting in for hundreds of years.

Portal of Greed. After exploration of the collapsed treasury, and since Malfeshnekor was nowhere to be found, Fen drunk a potion of detect secret doors and walked around the complex. The stack of oversized coins they had found previously was actually a cleverly carved stone pillar that could be triggered to sink into the floor to provide access to the rooms beyond. Hidden in the wall to the left and right were tiny, coin-sized slots. Fen's potion revealed the coin slots and the fact that there was a hollow space beyond the pillar. Inserting at least 1 gp into each slot caused the pillar to noisily grind down into the floor. The coins themselves vanished.

Communication Room. This barren room contained an upraised dais on which sat a marble throne. To either side stood statues of a man clutching a book and a glaive. A ghostly figure seemed to be seated in the throne, an image of the same man who appeared in the statues. He seemed to be addressing an audience as he moved his hands about, his fingers decorated with hooked rings, but the words issuing from his phantom mouth were difficult to make out and in a strange language.

His spoken words were  in Thassilonian, and repeated the following short message over and over: "...is upon us, but I command you remain. Witness my power, how Alaznist's petty wrath is but a flash compared to my strength. Take my final work to your graves, and let its memory be the last thing you..." The image was harmless, with an overwhelming magical aura.

Transmutation Room. This room contained three low tables, their tops covered with a strange and chilling selection of tools, saws, long-bladed knives, and objects whose purpose was not readily apparent. A strange collection of bones lay near the southern table - too many to be one skeleton, but too few to be two.

The skeleton seemed to have belonged to a two-headed man with an additional partial skeleton of a smaller man growing from the small of his back. The ancient skeleton crumbled to dust when Corvus touched it.

The surgical tools on the tables were exquisitely made, and are worth 100 gp in all. Sitting on the easternmost table was an object that, upon closer examination, wasn't a tool at all. It appeared to be a silver-and-gold seven-pointed star; one surface was studded with nodules and blades, and the other featured a thin, curved handle. This object was the key to the greater barghest's prison.

Greater Barghest's Prison. The doors to his room were made of stone but bore no handles. An indented outline of a seven-pointed star, its shape covered by hollows and slits, graced the spot where handles should be. This door was sealed, but Shalelu used the key in the transmutation room to easily twist and open the doors.

This room was lit primarily by a 10-foot-long pit of flickering fire that filled the room with a strange humid heat and the smell of burning hair. In the northern corners of the room, wooden risers each held several dozen golden candles that burned without melting, while to the south the wall bore an immense carving of a seven-pointed star. The fire pit was only a few inches deep.

A powerful greater barghest assaulted the heroes when they entered the room. When the greater barghest heard activity outside, he made himself invisible. Then he made himself wink in and out of reality at random and waited for the intruders to enter. The greater barghest preferred to engage foes inside of his prison in melee.