The Arcanists

While the rest of the party were resting safely at the Monastery of the Precipice, Zackar, Gaav, Miramar and Valaris were out on business with the Fellowship of the Cresent. The Fellowship's mage, known only as "The Dark-Eyed One," had requested the presence of the parties two arcane practicioners for a special task.

The Dark-Eyed one had located what he believed to be an ancient Netherese magical arms cache in the ruins of Spellgard. In order to gain access to the cache he needed to perform a ritual that required two other arcane spellcasters. There not being a huge number of mages on hand in Spellgard, he was forced to enlist Gaav and Zackar, who in turn were escorted by Valaris and Miramar into the ruins.

Just South-East of the ruined tower (see map of Spellgard), lay three sites with ancient magical runes scribed into the floors of ancient cellars. These three sites were the key to gaining access to the cache, hidden in some unkown location.

After a chance encounter with some ochre jellies en route to the sites, the party was ambushed by yet another group of Kobolds. These kobolds were tracked back to their lair, however, which turned out to be one of the three entrance sites. The party members were not the only visitors to the kobold's lair that night, though, as the door into the lair had been freshly smashed. A group of orcs from the Black Fist mercenary regiment was engaged in an assault on the kobolds.

After slaughtering a platoon of orcs, the party finished off the kobolds in this hole and located the magical circle they were looking for. The circle was an ancient Netherese lock powered by an arcane reaction between a captive glamour spirit and a long-dead evil soul. This Netherese magical reaction had kept to lock going and the cache shielded for a thousand years. The Dark-Eyed one led them to the other two circles without incident.

The ritual was performed skillfully by the three magi. They each vanished from their circles and reappeared in a strange stone room. As they explored the lair they had transported to, they heard large, clanging footsteps in a room up ahead. Upon entering the room they were confronted by a giant Chain Golem coming towards them from atop a giant glowing pedestal - the guardian of this lair. After fruitlessly engaging the construct for several rounds, Zackar noticed that the Dark-Eyed one was manipulating something underneath his robes (yes, you can all guffah now).

The Dark-Eyed one was controlling the Golem by means of a magical amulet. Upon reslizing this, Gaav and Zackar turned their attacks on their former ally. Their realization came almost too late, as Gaav was tossed violently against the pedestal by a sweeping blow from the Construct. Zackar was also thrown to the ground and nearly lost consciousness. From his prone position on the ancient floor, Zackar summoned a firey bird which he directed squarely at the Dark-Eyed one. Engulfed in flames, the traitorous mage screamed an ancient eladrin curse and fell to the ground, halting the movement of the Chain Golem.