Seeking Runeforge, Part I (Saturday-Sunday, Abadius (I) 25th-26th, 4708 AR)

The heroes regrouped and continued their exploration of the shrine.

Antechamber. A pair of stone doors, their faces carved with an immense image of a three-eyed jackal's head, stood to the south.

Birthing Pool. A low stone rim surrounded a shallow pool of water that seemed to glow with a soft radiance. The walls around the room were carved with large runes, and the ceiling rose to a dome above. The pool of water in the middle of the room looked pure.

Meditation Cell. Small dunes of rubble and dust lay on the floor of this room, disturbed as if by the passage of pacing feet. The walls and ceiling were densely crowded with scribblings and markings. An image of a three-eyed jackal glared from the wall to the east.

As in the antechamber, the walls bore prayers to Lamashtu. In the center of the eastern wall, just under the image of the symbol of Lamashtu, was the second stanza of the Scribbler's rhyme.

Collapsed Meditation Cell. This room had partially collapsed. Cracks radiated along the walls and ceiling. An image of a three-eyed jackal glared form the eastern wall, one of the cracks running right across its snout. This room seemed unstable, but it had done all the collapsing it would do for the time.

The Scribbler's Lair. The walls of this room were decorated with flowing script and runes. To the north slumped a bloody human body, its limbs apparently broken in a dozen places. A low table against the east wall was covered with vials of colored liquid, and sitting in an inkwell was a quill made from a peacock's feather.

The scribbles on the wall of this room contained more than than merely invocations to Lamashtu - they consisted of notes the Scribbler had taken regarding the state of the world beyond - as reported to him by the various spirits and outsiders he'd conjured, as well as via commune, divination, and speak with dead spells that he cast on the dead body he kept here. The notes imparted a feeling of someone out of time doing what he could to gather intelligence on a world that had moved on. Runeforge was mentioned several times - the Scribbler very much wanted to send agents to the dungeon in order to gather supplies and raid it for magic items and texts, since he had grown convinced that the complex had long since been forgotten and abandoned. In particular, his notes spoke of something called runeforged weapons - items that the Scribbler believed could be quite useful against the runelords and their allies, yet the methods of creation of which seemed to have been lost somewhere in Runeforge itself.

The dead body was that of Jaren Basvear, who in life was a corporal in the Sandpoint militia and who served as the leader of the group of guards Sherriff Hemlock sent into these chambers. His body was fresh. There were 17 vials of ink in all, each worth 8 gp, but the real treasure was the revelation quill.

If the heroes hadn't already become intrigued by Runeforge by the end of the fortress of the stone giants, when they discovered Mokmurian's cryptic note about the location, the riddle posed by the Scribbler's rhyme did the trick. Of Runeforge itself, very little was written. The heroes knew that Runeforge was once a legendary place of learning and discovery for students of the arcane, but that its location had remained a mystery - Thassilonian scholar's believed it to have been lost during the empire's fall.

Runeforge was created as a place where agents of the seven runelords could gather to study magic. The runelords wove wards around Runeforge that barred entrance into the complex to any runelord or his direct agents, in order to keep the research within free from sabotage at the hands of an enemy. Runeforge's magical enhancements sustained those within without the need to eat, drink, or even sleep. The final project the runelords set Runeforge on was the development of ways the runelords could escape the imminent fall of their empire. Each faction developed a unique answer for its runelord, based upon the underlying principles of that faction's magical traditions.

The one bit of information missing from this is Runeforge's location.

The heroes sarted deciphering the Scribbler's rhyme:

"If magic bright is your desire, to old Runeforge must you retire!

For only there does wizards’ art receive its due and proper start.

On eastern shores of steaming mirror, at the end of day when dusk is nearer,

Where seven faces silent wait encircled guards at Runeforge gate.

Each stone the grace of seven lords, one part of key each ruler hoards;

If offered spells and proper prayer, take seven keys and climb the stair.

On frozen mountain Xin awaits, his regal voice the yawning gates

Keys turn twice in Sihedron – occulted Runeforge waits within.

And now you’ve come and joined the forge upon rare lore your mind can gorge –

And when you slough the mortal way in Runeforge long your work shall stay."

Second Stanza: The word "mirror" was a metaphor for lake; the heroes noted that in Varisia, Lake Stormunder was known for its plentiful hot springs and geysers. The stanza further mentioned "seven faces" that were "encircled". The heroes knew that a mysterious circle of seven stone heads stood upon the western slope of Rimeskull on Stormunder's eastern shore.

Lake Stormunder: Lake Stormunder takes its name from the extensive underwater geysers that boil and churn in its depths. On its shores, fishermen are sometimes forced to take shelter as rocs skim low over the surface looking for prey.

Rimeskull: From where they stand, high on the mountain's east western slope and staring out towards Lake Stormunder, the strange, heavy stone statues of Rimeskull - each a massive head of eroded rock - have puzzled scholars for ages. Who made and why they all stare fixedly west remain mysteries, due in no small part to the white dragon Arkrhyst, who makes Rimeskull his home and is notoriously disinclined to allow guests.

Third Stanza: Casting a spell of the correct school on the correct stone causes a key to manifest.