62nd session

After a bit of debating, the Swords of Drahar decided to heed the words of Lord Zarul and try to gain some faction with the Sultan of the City of Brass. Gnoguh wanted to kill some dragons, but he was outvoted and instead they headed out to find the Fortress of Shadow and Ice and the Githzerai rebel running things.

Before leaving, they do invest 100.000 gp into healing potions.

The Swords asks around a bit, and find out where this place is located. They track down a captain with an elemental ship willing to take them their for some gold (10.000 gp) and head out. A couple of days later, they arrive. The rock of ice upon which the fort is supposed to be is hidden inside a permanent blizzard laying on the edge of a maelstrom of lava.

Arriving at the edge, the Swords bravely jump off and head towards the center, because "that must be where the bad guy is".

A couple of hours later, the Swords are closing in on the fortress, when they are jumped by a few ShadowIce Archons. Even though surprised, the Swords make short work of the Archons.

Pressing on, they find a huge icebridge that leads to the fort. No enemies in sight and the Swords move over it cautiously. On the other side lies the fort, right on the edge to the nothingness of the Elemental Chaos. After a quick round of recon (still no enemies in sight), the Swords open the gate and are (yet again) surprised by an archon and two death giants. The Swords, except for Gnoguh (who was held by the ice magic of the archon), move in, and before they can do anything about it, the archon has raised a wall of ice and shadow, blocking Gnoguh. Fortunately, Gnoguh has little regard for pain, so grabbing his axe he started climbing the wall, despite the pain it inflicted.

With Gnoguh back in the fight, the foes were quickly dispatched, although the Swords were by now beginning to miss Carric just a little bit.

Once they were dead, the Swords took a quick breather and entered the unlocked fortress. Inside, they eventually got to a big room with a black pool and some stairs. On the stairs was a death giant telling them to bugger off, or they would die. They could still run, his master would not seek justice for what they had done so far. The Swords took that as a sign of weakness, and attacked. Out of the pool came a little surprise, a death Titan

The Titan especially proved nasty, and the fight was very tense for a while, but eventually the Swords got the best of the death dudes.

Moving on, they found a corridor full of 12 iceblocks, all but one containing an Efreet. The Githzerai was as noted earlier planning to use the souls of the Efreets to power up a portal to the Shadowfell and explode it, creating a rift which would infuse the Elemental Chaos with the necrotic energies of the Shadowfell. Or something. Either way, it never happened, because further in, the Swords found the so-called Temple, with the rebel Gith was working the portal and the magical pedestals that would serve as conduits for the efreets' souls. He and his death titan and archon, of course. The battle was long and brutal, with both Gork (finished battle with 1 hit points and 0 surges) and Truxas (bloodied and 0 surges) very very beaten up. There was some close calls (all 3 were below 0 at at least 1 point), but it all ended well. And they even found some loot.

150.000 gp

Resilience Amulet

A platinum disk overlaid with a crystalline star, this amulet repels lasting injuries.

Level: 23
Price: 425,000 gp
Item Slot: Neck
Enhancement: +5 Fortitude, Reflex, and Will

Power (Daily): Immediate Reaction. Use this power when you are hit by an attack that deals ongoing damage. Make a saving throw against the ongoing damage. On a failure, you don’t expend the use of this power and no daily use of a magic item power occurs.

First published in Adventurer's Vault.

Savage Hammer (Mordenkrad)

Cruelly shaped, this weapon fuels your courage and your alacrity.

Level: 23
Price: 425,000 gp
Weapon: Flail, Hammer, Mace
Enhancement: +5 attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +5d6 damage
Property: You gain an item bonus to saving throws against fear effects equal to the weapon’s enhancement bonus.

Power (Daily): Free Action. Use this power when you successfully hit with this weapon. You can shift 1 square and make a melee basic attack with this weapon.

First published in Dragon Magazine Annual 2009.