Vali gave the redheaded man a bitter smile.

"If you ever find yourself sharing my misfortune, I am sure you would also come to care as little as I do for gods and their ilk. They have bought me nothing but misery..."

He cut himself short, a look growing that he'd just had a recollection of something important.

"Ahh... Bahamut you said? The lich was supposedly working on a ritual to weaken him. However long ago that was, anyway."

"Weaken Bahamut?  Whit's that ye say?"

Harald was puzzled and asked for more.

"Dae ye no' hae any more aboot this ritual?  It's no' the kind o' thing Ah ken aboot but Ah'm sure the others would like tae hear more."

Vali rubbed his chin, lost deep in thought, and ponders for a bit.

"Hmmm... just that bahamut would supposedly be dead within a year. Naturally i was far more interested in killing the dragon than talking to it..."

Zog's eyes go wide in horror. "Nine hells. That's why Bahamut sent us--he knew he was in danger and needed a proxy to stop this minion of Tiamat. We have to find him quickly and find out what he's up to..."

Did we ever find out what the book we found contained?

"The gods work in mysterious ways. I should know, I am one of those mysterious ways." Agon said with a smirk at his his own power and key role as one of Ioun's agents. ""We'll find a way to bring this whole dark citadel down."

Having acquired a new companion, the party returns to the stairs by the library while perusing the dark book they acquired from the library.

Agon and Zog are able to determine from the initial pages of the book that Mornujhar--an exarch of Tiamat, whom the party just apparently defeated--infiltrated Bahamut’s temple in Celestia and stole the only copy of a ritual that enabled Bahamut’s high priest to summon his patron in physical form. (Such a ritual is only performed very rarely and thus has not been missed.)

Because only Bahamut’s high priest could complete the ritual, it was essentially useless to Tiamat. What she needed was a corrupted version of the ritual, which is why she seduced Irfelujhar into her service. Copious additional notes describe Irfelujhar’s work on the ritual and Mornujhar’s work in tracking down various extremely rare objects needed for its completion.

The final pages of the book record the ritual itself. The ritual was designed to permanently slay Bahamut and would take ten centuries to complete! While the book does not provide an exact date of delivery it is apparent that Tiamat must be nearing the ritual’s completion—for surely she would have commenced the ritual as soon as it was within her grasp.

As the party nears the top of the current stairs, they are presented with a fairly mundane choice: a set of stylized double doors in front  of them or, slightly down the last flight of stairs, a secret door.

Which way do you go?

"On a plane of betrayal, anything hidden behind a concealed door is worth investigating before the obvious." Agon commented.  He checked for magic auras, but left opening the door to someone better prepared for traps.

The revenant, having retrieved most of his posessions, shambled up behind the others.

What is the point of a... secret door if it is so easily found?

"Not sure but I would guess that both could be trapped." Nameroff said as he whipped out a whetstone and put an edge on his glaive while the group waited. "However, people tend to make sure that they conceal the more important areas that they do not want people to know about." he said

Several of the party point out that the secret door is NOT that easy to find--it's just that people like Harald and the Great and Terrible Bone Witch are absurdly good at finding secret doors.

The DC of the secret door is 35, which is an auto-success against the passive perceptions of Harald and the Great and Terrible Bone Witch (and possibly others--I stopped when I saw those two).

Zog nods. "Without further ado--Harald or Nemeroff, care to do the honors?"

Zog, not afraid of a tussle, will follow near after Harald or Nemeroff.

Nemeroff headed to the door to see what they had found, keeping his weapon ready in case it was likely to be needed.

OOC:Forgot that having a very high passive perception was very useful in 4e

"Dae ye no' want tae test in case they are trapped?  Ah dinae fancy being toasted ye know."

Without waiting for an answer Harald shoulder charged the door.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:55, Tue 20 Oct 2015.

Harald, finding that the secret door is not locked and requires but pushing to open, enters to find himself in a narrow, dust-free corridor that smells of damp leaves for some reason.

He does a quick survey of the area and finds that there are two secret doors in two branch hallways. They do not seem to be trapped.

What do you do?

Map updated: https://docs.google.com/drawin...Q50-wFOAK6P78Lk/edit

"Ah wonder if we mighta gone a wee bit astray here?"

Harald moved to the first door and, staying to one side, tried to push it open with his axe.

Zog moves up and gets ready to blast anything that jumps out at Harald from around the corner.

Not wanting to crowd the narrow corridor, Vali hangs back on the stairs, keeping an eye out in both directions, and letting the others do the exploring for now.

Agon hung back by the secret door, ready to lay down fire in any direction.

Harald pushes open the door. Inside he sees a relatively simple living quarters, though he notes that all the items that are here are gold-lined and of highest quality.

A half-elf dressed in polychromatic robes looks back at Harald. "So it has come to this. Servants of good in the house of Tiamat. You have met your doom, infidels. Even if you prevail with me, you will not defeat Irfelujhar."

Roll initiative, and check your information below. If anything is wrong for you, send me a PM.


This message was last edited by the GM at 21:11, Fri 23 Oct 2015.

"Irplooja!"  Harald almost spat the name.  "How come these big evil twats have tae hae complicated names that an honest tongue canny get aroond.  Well, once we've dealt wi' you we'll see aboot auld what's his name."


15:30, Today: Harald Gaptooth rolled 31 using 1d20+17 with rolls of 14.  Initiative.

Vali sighed. "Probably think it sounds cooler than whatever name their mother gave them. Bob just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?"

01:11, Today: Vali, the Returned rolled 21 using 1d20+15 with rolls of 6.  Initiative.

"Irfelujhar." Agon said. "I don't see what's so hard about it."

Init +25
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:33, Sun 25 Oct 2015.

"Past tense is what Irfelujhar's name is going to be." Nemeroff said as the group got ready to fight.

---

06:04, Today: Nemeroff rolled 15 using 1d20+12 with rolls of 3.  Init.

Zog sighs. He says, "You lot really are used to being the hero in the story aren't you? All these zippy lines..." moments before he blasts away...


10:33, Today: Zog the Faceless rolled 33 using 1d20+15 with rolls of 18.  Initiative.

In reply to EpicOne (msg # 739):

Gromley once again is no where to be seen once hostilities start...typical of the little gnome.

(OOC-
12:00, Today: Gromley Underhill rolled 29 using 1d20+21 with rolls of 8.  Reactive stealth before initiative.
11:59, Today: Gromley Underhill rolled 24 using 1d20+13 with rolls of 11.  Initiative.)