Getting the Iron Ring
May 5
We speak with Caliph Aziz once more about Heliodorus and Zettic. He is thinking of getting the band together for one last mission to go clean up Jerusalem. We get Ibn Unis to refill our Gust of Wind ring before they go, and the Caliph tells us to try the rock folk we rescued from Nonacris for Disintegrate. We chat with Eorl and Ailyll via the magic phone, Ailyll interviews the rock man (to be filled in later) and sends a druid to deliver a Disintegrate shard.
We learn from Af-Af that Merv was built by Cycanian Persians as a base for plundering Transoxiana. It is where soldiers get paid, and is outgrowing its walls. Famous for iron and dyers. We teleport to the outskirts of town, near a river, and investigate the first of two ruined towers in the area. After digging through a bunch of rubble we find a staircase going down. About 30 feet down our light stone becomes a dark stone. We dispel the rest of our magic and continue down into a room full of bells. Trappo muffles them all, only setting off one in the process. We explore some more, fight a pretend purple worm, flee from some imaginary Catoblepuses, fight Haizea's javelins when they turn into snakes, and speak with a shadowy voice who calls himself Fabruvahana. We find a black scarf and cloak in a chest. We also find a nice bath protected by a water elemental.
After fighting some more shadow monsters we come to a set of iron bars, which we bend. We meet Fabruvahana in the 'flesh', he offers to help as long as Harald promises to keep Quiteria from hurting him. He tells us he is trapped here and can't go past the bars. There are real monsters (and real treasure) past the bars, and a deadly rainbow-hued wall. Fabruvahana was once a powerful mage who ended up turning himself into some sort of shadowy undead. He wanted to be like Koshi the Deathless but it didn't quite qork. He seems a little set aback when we mention Jaya, but says he hasn't heard of any iron ring. Jaya apparently persuaded the king not to go to Mahapur and bound him to Nissa instead. Two jerks with shadow powers bound him here.
Past the iron bars we fight some super tough shadowy monsters. We manage to clear red and orange from the wall but end up having to fireball the party and flee.
Back at the tournament grounds we rest and heal, and chat with various folk. Af-Af says the scarf we found in the dungeon is wound around the head and if you focus it shields you from some mind spells, though at a cost. It does not detect as magical. Yvancher had sink cast on him and was rescued by Dwarves. Now he's some sort of Justice fighter. Not the Domedaniel dwarves, the Spayland dwarves. There has been a disturbing number of clockwork spiders cropping up and self-replicating. They are made of precious metals. Zulvesia hadd a broken one, found in Armenia. They are not from Aeon(Lao city) but maybe somewhere in the east. Af-Af says they probably actually come from the north, and could only have been made by Okba, master mechanist. He came from the west of India, settled north east of Pakistan, somewhat near the Tron Dwarves who lie in the East HImalayas, but not quite that far. Aleph lies and says he's never heard of him.
May 6
Having rested we return to Merv and have another shot at those shadowy jerks. Things are looking bad but someone summons a Hydra to help us out and we finally beat them, leaving almost everyone at a negative. In the chamber with the cube we find a pretty beat up Fabruhaha, who says he finished off the other four shadow guys for us, claiming we must have lifted whatever was blocking him out when we fireballed the bars. We keep casting spells at the wall, Harald exploding his heart to cast Magic Missile.
At this point Fabruvahana politely invites us to leave so he can take all the treasure. After a brief attempt at reasoning with him we head off, dejected. Once around the corner we wait for him to finish getting rid of the wall. Trappo goes in in a heroic attempt at finishing off Fabruvahana and grabbing the treasure. This doesn't work out, and Ellylw, at only a slight negative, puts on the bear belt and comes charging in along with Leila, just in time to see Trappo disappear. Turns out bears really can go past -10, and with just a bit more limb chopping, heart exploding and level draining we take him out, grab the box and get out of there. "You'll see me again sooner than you thiiiiiink!" are his last words.
Back at the tournament grounds we heal everyone who is about to bleed to death and scry on Trappo - he's lying near a brick sphere, hurt but alive. The box contains three glass vials and an iron ring on top of a pile of cloth. All are magical.
