Rise of the Runelords Recap # 78 [RPG]

[8 Calistril 4708 continued]

The Clockwork Librarian has 

remained on duty for millennia!

The battle against the Lord of Jorgenfist begins!  Salma’s disintegration of part of the wall of the ancient library reveals that Mokmurian has heard the battle against the Shining Child and had time to prepare, as clouds of thick smoke billow out alongside an echoing voice:  “You are worthy to have made it this far.  I owe you gratitude, for you have demonstrated which of my servants are worthy of standing by my side and which shall be left to dust.  Know that you have earned my respect, yet still my master’s reign over this land is assured!”

Unable to see inside, the adventurers hesitate until Jinkatsyu gathers the courage to dart in through the smoke.  He hears the clanking and whirring of gears, and a very different, mechanical voice, speaking in a language that only Salma can understand: “Oh my!  Please desist!  The Therassic Library is repository to many fragile scrolls and excess moisture could damage them!”  The fog seems to thicken and harden around the kitsune, but Ava’s magical warding allows him to quickly carve a way through to the other side.  There, he sees an immense chamber, the domed ceiling of which is illuminated by numerous glowing crystal lanterns hanging from fine chains.  The walls are carved in runes and sigils, while overstuffed wood-and-leather chairs and polished oak tables surround a thirty-foot-wide shaft in the floor.  The source of the mechanical voice is apparent: a curious clockwork creature, constantly exuding smoke from its creaking and whirring limbs.  It turns to Jinkatsyu and says (in Thassilonian) “Please sheathe that blade!  Any swordplay or fisticuffs in the library could damage the holdings!”

Mokmurian proved no match for the adventurers.

But what gets Jinkatsyu’s attention isn’t the library or its custodian.  Hovering near the ceiling at the far end of the room is a stone giant, much shorter, at barely ten feet tall, than the ones the adventurers have encountered before.  Calm and determined, Mokmurian says “let it begin” as begins casting a spell just as Yuzo emerges from the fog.  The gillman is struck by a narrow green beam of energy, but it hardly slows him down.  Still, both he and Jinkatsyu realize they’re in trouble—if they can’t reach Mokmurian, how will they hurt him?  Kang flies through the fog thinking himself protected by an invisibility concoction, but Mokmurian looks right at him.  “Ah, the leader of the invaders.  I have been watching your progress through my realm. It is fitting that we try our might against one another.”  Mokmurian casts another spell and a billowing cloud of poisonous fumes roil through the chamber as Yuzo hurls taunts to try to get Mokmurian to come closer.  Ava pushes through the fog and noxious fumes and sees how she can help her friends.  With a prayer to Sinashakti, she hurls a spell to negate Mokmurian’s flying magic, and it works—the stone giant tumbles to the ground, landing hard.  And then, seizing on the opportunity, Salma finally enters the chamber and, with a single spell, drains Mokmurian’s very intellect and willpower, leaving him no more capable of spellcasting than a toddler!

Suddenly, Mokmurian’s body goes rigid, his eyes flare with a soul-searing emerald radiance, and he begins to speak in a new, strangely-accented voice: “So these are the heroes of the age?  More like gasping worms to me—worms to be crushed back into the earth when I awaken the armies of Xin-Shalast, when the name Karzoug is again spoken with fear and awe.  Know that the deaths of those marked by the Sihedron—those giants you have so conveniently slain for me—hasten my return, just as your own deaths soon will.  Fools, all of you.  Is this all you could manage in ten thousand years?”  Cruel laughter echoes through the library as the body of Mokmurian collapses, smoke pouring from his burned-out eye sockets.

The adventurers have won a great battle with trifling ease, and have become the greatest heroes in Varisia.  But in their moment of seeming triumph, have they truly handed their true enemy an even greater victory?

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I learned a real lesson about GMing in this session.  I had really hyped the big chapter-ending battle against Mokmurian, thinking it was going to be a memorable, epic slugfest.  I think we had special snacks, I played The Final Countdown, etc.  It did in fact turn out to be memorable, but for the wrong reasons--one feeblemind spell and Mokmurian was toast.  This was a strategy floating around in various forums online, and for it not to work on him, I think he would have had to roll a natural 20.  Instead, I rolled a natural 1!  I was pretty frustrated at that point and ended the session very quickly in a passive-aggressive fit of pique.  It was a good learning experience though--since then I've never set my expectations too high on what an encounter might deliver, and I've tried to set the same tone for the players.

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