With their new levels in hand, the party quickly moves through the hallways in the Vault of Greed. They have a sneaking suspicion that their time in the Vault is limited. Once that fog returns, it’s going to be bad news.
The first room they arrive at contains an impressive-looking fountain. Once they file into the room, the mephits return momentarily before disappearing as the statue begins to move. As the party engages in combat, they hear the thundering sound of something else approaching from the eastern and northern hallways.
Barnaby executes the statue with surgical precision, but that was the easy part. Additional statues approach from both directions, forcing the party to fight in cramped quarters on two fronts. Fyn does his best to buff the group, but his magic is mostly useless against these constructs.
Fobias, Richard, and Barnaby square up against the northern statue. It seems each of these constructs has an innate ability to slow opponents down. This directly counteracts the Haste spell that Fyn cast, eventually causing Richard and Trace to slow down considerably.
Meanwhile, Trace and Krask focus their efforts on the eastern golem, trying to take it down before the fourth golem arrives on the scene. Trace benefits greatly from Fyn’s Blur spell, saving him from a pair of nasty hits. Everyone also gets solid use from a communal casting of Stoneskin. See? The wizard is always useful!
Once the fourth golem goes down, the party doesn’t linger. Even with the mephits dancing in the pools and riding goldfish, they feel the urgency to continue. Fobias notices that the goldfish are magical, but they decide to investigate that during a second pass.
The Silver Man
The party opts out of exploring side rooms and rushes down the hallway to another door. After Krask picks the lock, he sneaks inside to find a cluttered workspace. Caged animals line the floors and a dog with metal hind-quarters rests on a table.
A man is hurriedly rushing from table to table, muttering about finishing his greatest triumph. Krask relays the information back to the party. Wanting to set themselves up for success, Krask and Barnaby go invisible and quietly enter the room before allowing Trace to interrupt the man.
Now that they’re closer, the party notices that the man’s skin is completely encased in metal. He is startled by the party and instantly goes on the defensive. As it turns out, this isn’t Vraxeris, and the man doesn’t seem to be familiar with that name. Perhaps he suffers from a mental malady?
Eventually, the silver man gets uncomfortable and dimension steps away. This sends the party into exploration mode, trying to figure out everything they can about the man before they hunt him down for answers.
Based on the partial-metal state of the animals and the research, the silver man (Oridikon) is attempting to merge flesh with metal. One exceptionally disturbing diagram shows a mathematical sketch of a dragon with several shaded areas. The tail is one of these, hearkening back to the vision of Brindrisdrin from the lamias at Jorgenfist.
Swine Time
Armed with this information, but still depleted from their battle with the stone golems, the party opens the eastern door. The room opens up into a large gallery of ten golden statues. However, that’s not what the party focuses on, as a hulking figure comes into view.
They see a huge, swine-like monstrosity equipped with sharp tusks and long talons. It sizes them up and says, “Finally, someone else.”
What is this creature doing behind locked doors? How did Ordikon’s information get out of the Vault of Greed? What’s with this campaign’s focus on dogs?