The Scribbler's Rhyme, Part II (Friday, Abadius (I) 24th, 4708 AR)



The Scribbler started combat by casting summon monster VI to summon 2 babaus. While these summoned monsters engaged his foes, he cast righteous might and quickened divine favor. He then entered combat, casting a quickened spiritual weapon to attack Tsela. The Scribbler was joined by a glabrezu demon who reversed gravity in the antechamber and stranded those who couldn't fly. The heroes banished the demons and killed the Scribbler.

The heroes then continued their exploration of the shrine. There was no illumination in the shrine itself (with the exception of the Shrine of Monsters and Madness).

The entire dungeon was warded by a strong abjuration aura. Every time someone came to an intersection, there was a chance he took the route opposite form the one intended.

Shrine of Monsters and Madness. Although portions of this cathedral had collapsed, leaving mounds of rubble on the floor and crumbling walls, the chamber retained its sense of menacing awe. Four black stone pillars supported the arched roof forty feet above, and on the floor between them the image of a three-eyed jackal seemed to glower from striations in the stone itself. This image glowed with a soft rusty light that illuminated the entire room from below. Alcoves to the north and south contained statues of a jackal-headed pregnant woman. Each clutched a pair of kukris crossed over her chest, and a reptilian tail winded down around her taloned feet. To the west, what might have once been a stone pulpit featuring other statues seemed to have been partially buried under an ancient collapse. The walls of this room were densely decorated with hundreds of scribblings and sprawling runes.

This shrine stood empty and deserted. The caligraphy decorating the walls with prayers and invocations was more intricate and careful. Another stanza of the Scribbler's rhyme was inscribed at the base of the middle statue of Lamashtu in the northern wall.

Battleground. Blood was this cavern's decor; swaths of it lay spattered on the wall, and pools had congealed and began to rot on the ground. Bits of flesh lay scattered as well - whatever happened here, it ended poorly for many.

In order to determine the location of the key to Runeforge, the heroes had to discover stanzas of the Scribbler's rhyme and arrange them in the proper order:

"If magic bright is your desire, to old Runeforge must you retire!
For only there does wizards' art receive its due and proper start.

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."

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