Category The Tormentors

…or maybe not. Thanks to some nifty meta-magic items, the wizard is not imprisoned and none of that ever happened.

Instead, the group sets out investigating the various corridors and hallways – finding a room that can only be accessed by the gaseous wizard. The room is full of swirling gases and contains a large turnstile, but nothing else. There are even more insidious protections that conceal traps and trap any who attempt to open doors in forcecages. Some mummies are encountered and swiftly destroyed, but there are strange and puzzling discoveries – like the body of a woman whose heart has been removed. and a large sarcophagus that has to be pushed aside to reveal a large golden key.
The party regroups in the room they first entered and looks at the keyhole in the large slab set betw...

A bit of discussion about how to handle the sextet of wandering undead leads to the druid in owl shape, flying about surrounded by a wall of fire. This snuffs out the undead in a few short seconds. While she orbits the high vaulted ceilings, the rest of the group enters and investigates. Hieroglyphs are discovered, read and puzzled over. The roaring sheets of flame surrounding the druid have also ignited four old, dusty braziers and with their ignition, a stone slab has shifted to reveal an opening.

This opening is inspected in turn and shows only two trapped exits. Eventually, it is discovered that the inscriptions on the very roof are lines from a spell, and the hieroglyphs suggest reading it. This is done, and the next part of the puzzle is revealed...

Scouring the desert like a brillo pad, the intrepid group finds a pyramid capstone, a pyramid missing the top twenty percent of the structure and a massive complete pyramid. The closest are a mere 15 miles apart, but the larger structures are separated by some 80 to 90 miles. Closest to the fire pyramid is the capstone.

The party scouts the structure with the missing top and finds a rune carved circle gracing the stone surface. The runes are read, translated and puzzled over. Various ideas are tested, but it stubbornly refuses to reveal any of its potential secrets.

Onwards to the capstone. It is examined, and many of the same ideas are tried, but this time the structure reveals itself to be more massive than first thought...

A quick debate ensues about whether to transfer the books and scrolls to the vault for safekeeping, or whether they should be left here for the archaeologists to catalog. In the end, the scrolls are moved and the secret door latch is discovered.
Upon opening the door, Goldpiece steps into the room and sees a man, floating in the lotus position, enclosed in a cage of shimmering red energy. The cage itself is floating above a rune circle that glows with red energy as well. Surveying the approaching Goldpiece is a curious creature “It is an efreet!”, yells Elulyn.

The freet is polite and well mannered. He seems eager to engage with the party, as Gutboy and the Justicar enter the room. It seems he has been here, guarding this caged person, for nigh 400 years...

For their next excursion, the group decides to work on behalf of some archaeologists that wish to explore a desert pyramid. They want the group to scout the place and remove any threats to the scholars. A deal is struck regarding the disposition of treasures and with that, the group is off!
They teleport to the closest spot they know well, then set off across the sands using a combination of flying and mounted travel to traverse the shifting amber sands.

After a couple of days, they see a flame flickering on the horizon. The journey to the place is mostly uneventful – aside from a couple of wights burrowing out from under the sand to attack them. The wights are blasted out of existence by the Justicar and the group sets up shop about a quarter-mile from the place.

A long rectangular base ...