The Keystone

cy 4884 - Maruk 7th - 8th

Audax, under the cloak of an invisibility spell, sneaks up towards two heavily armed mountain men encamped on the steep slopes of the mountain. When he realises they are no threat he introduces himself and they tell him they are dragon hunters. Audax, and the rest of the party are sceptical, and when questioned it becomes clear that they have never actually seen a dragon in their lifetime.

They are called Salgar and Grudge, both men are well armed and look like they can handle themselves in a fight, but both men succumb to a charm person spell from Adriana and Audax. With their two new friends in tow they head up the mountain.

When Grudge spots a dragonfly he takes it as a sign that dragons are close. Adriana sighs, humours them and waits until night fall to make camp using her orcish spells to protect them. At night the mountainous regions take on a different perspective; they are more dangerous as the predators stalk the gloom in search of food.

One such predator appears close to their camp. A long snake-like creature slithers down the slope; even from their vantage it is clearly over fifty feet long. Grudge volunteers to take a look and bravely steps out into the path of the creature with Der Frac close at hand sneaking in the shadows. But Der Frac knows something is wrong; as he moves the ground at his feet undulates as though he was on the surface of water.

The snake is actually a huge tentacle – one of eight that burst forth to entangle the unfortunate dragon hunter. Der Frac dives back into the camp for cover as the mountain man is ripped limb from limb. The eight-limbed creature returns to the rock leaving a tentacle on the surface as bait – a trap for the unwary.

At dawn huge vultures are cleaning the remains of Grudge’s body. They continue their ascent and it is only because of Adriana’s orcish spell of revelation that she spots a hidden entrance. A narrow gap in a rock wall reveals a hidden pool sheltered on all sides in a natural depression that is covered with foliage to hide its location.

Der Frac and Ranik Darn sneak in to investigate. Ranik realises that Der Frac has changed, his body, weapons, magical cloak are all granite-like. He scurries back out of the secret chamber to inform them that their companion has been turned to stone. Adriana and Audax can both sense sorcery within as the orc wraps cloth to shield her eyes. Her companions follow suit - Adriana casts spider climb on Thrais Pac who climbs to the ridge of the hidden pool as his companions prepare to rush in.

"Come into the pool Adriana," a woman’s sibilant voice says. "I have something you want and you most certainly have something I desire."

Audax launches a phantasmal force at the unseen woman in order to create a diversion that might buy them precious seconds. But the medusa places her palm out and absorbs the magic from the spell; Thrais Pac feels that he is been sucked into a small vortex as the spell is reduced to a small cylinder of light that she tosses aside.

Adriana ignores the woman. Khed uses spirit stance to spiritually ‘see’ where the woman is located. Behind him Ranik hefts his flail using one hand on Khed as a point of reference. Meanwhile Thrais sees a terrible sight below. At the entrance to the pool is Der Frac – or at least a statuesque version of him. There are a handful of other statues around the edge of the pool. The woman is half serpent and half snake but her head is a tangled mess of vipers, a chaotic swirl of venomous snakes.

Thrais Pac has heard tales of the medusa women from Grayhawk but has never been unfortunate enough to meet one. With her attention distracted by his friends Thrais decides to chance his arm; he gauges the distance and trajectory of his lethal poisoned shuriken and hurls it down. As soon as it leaves his hand he ducks back behind the lip of the rim and hears the satisfying thud as it hits flesh. He knows the throw was perfection; he knows that he has embedded the throwing star into her neck – so why is she accelerating up to meet him?

The medusa’s snakes nibble and spit at the orc who draws his blade. Whilst Thrais turns his head he is fighting blind; the medusa is trying to bite him and he has the sinking feeling that his blade will not even harm her – he recalls the legends that medusa can only be harmed by magical weapons.

But Khed is already at the creature. He needs just one strike, a crushing blow to the snake-like torso, a blow of such force that it slices the snake cleanly in two. Blood erupts from the wound as the medusa howls and screams in agony. On the ridge Thrais sees her plummet and chances another shuriken at the beast.

Ranik Darn wrestles his way up the snake body until he grapples with her female upper body. As the snakes try to nibble at him Ranik pushes her face away from him whilst getting a firm grip on her throat. He may not have sorcery but he is certain that she will choke to death. Meanwhile Adriana and Audax fall into the pool in their blind attempts to get closer to the action. Under Ranik’s strong arms the medusa starts to weaken; the awesome blood loss is sapping her strength and he feels her slipping away under his powerful muscles. She manages to yell "Savoth help me!" but is too weak to continue, the sound bounces round the mountains in an ominous echo.

Khed drives the edge of his katana through the medusa’s spinal cord and the monster is close to death – finally finished off as the orc sorcerer touches her face with vampiric touch. Adriana climbs from the pool and wraps cloth around the medusa head fearing that someone might inadvertently look into its eyes and be petrified. She is taking no chances.

Thrais returns to the pool and busies himself collecting four vials of the medusa blood for poison creation. He takes greater care with the snake venom managing to milk two vials of it after a few failures. Thrais is pleased; for a poisoner medusa venom is perhaps one of the strongest poisons known to man, orc or elf.

Adriana discovers a glowing pebble in the centre of the pool, a powerful magical presence she identifies as a keystone. Without any clue to what it might be they decide to leave.

They head west as Adriana – flying as a hawk – spots a group of twenty orcs further down the mountain. Audax leaves medusa flesh out to attract a vulture and then casts find familiar on the creature. Instantly carrion bird is inside his head; "I am Osparion," it says. Audax is pleased with the intelligent bird, pleased that he can also see what it sees, however far away it ends up.

"Go and scout, Osparion," Audax says, "there are orcs on our tail and we need to keep an eye on them."

The vulture rises majestically into the air and heads for the orc scouting party…