Rise of The Runelords Chapter 23: The End of Runeforge

The Companions, seeking the tools that could destroy the Runelords should they make good on their promise to rise and reconquer their old empire, found themselves in the depths of the planar laboratory known as the Runeforge. With danger around every turn, and with everyone they meet trying to kill them, the Companions go on the attack. There's no need to waste words when steel speaks truer.

For those who need to catch up:

- Chapter 1: Blood and Butterflies
- Chapter 2: Murder and Glass
- Chapter 3: The Sin Pit
- Chapter 4: Tussles in The Tangle
- Chapter 5: The Assault on Thistletop
- Chapter 6: Secrets Behind The Curtain
- Chapter 7: Murders At The Mill
- Chapter 8: Halflings and Ghouls
- Chapter 9: Fox in The Hen House
- Chapter 10: Something Rotten in Magnimar
- Chapter 11: The Crumbling Tower
- Chapter 12: Demonbane
- Chapter 13: Trouble at Turtleback Ferry
- Chapter 14: The Taking of Fort Rannick
- Chapter 15: Water Over The Dam
- Chapter 16: Mad Lovers, And Lost Captains
- Chapter 17: The March of The Giants
- Chapter 18: The Taking of Jorgenfist
- Chapter 19: The Secrets Beneath Sandpoint
- Chapter 20: At The Gates of The Runeforge
- Chapter 21: Storming The Halls of Evocation
- Chapter 22: The Bowels of Necromancy's Tomb

- Chapter 23: The End of Runeforge

- Chapter 24: Preparation For The Final Journey 

- Chapter 25: The Hunger in The Mountains 

- Chapter 26: The Gateway to Xin-Shalast

- Chapter 27: The Path of Temptation

- Chapter 28: The Three-Fold Challenge of Xin-Shalast

- Chapter 29: Crossing The Barrier of Greed

- Chapter 30: The Fall of Karzoug

 And now, onward, into the remainder of the Runeforge!

No Answers

Filled with a righteous fury from the battle with the lich, Zhakar led the companions back to the central chamber of the Runeforge. With several halls still to choose, they needed to push forward. Abjuration was seen as they next choice, the Companions hoping that whatever wizards they found waiting in there would protect themselves instead of lashing out.

Probably not, but it's nice to hope.

Instead of hostile wizards, what the Companions found in the halls of abjuration was... nothing. Nothing but walls covered in shadows that were once men and women, and a central spike in the floor emanating pulses of energy that sapped magic from the air. A great battle had happened there, and it appeared those wizards who specialized in defense had not been able to hold their own against the onslaught.

Unable to find any answers about how to make runeforged weapons, or where they came from, the Companions turned toward the other halls, hoping they would be more instructive.

No Parley

Enchantment was the next hallway the Companions chose, and they found a landscape dedicated to the extremes of lust. Cages sized for humans, the smell of bright incense, and a gaudy red tent like a silk brothel just offering invitation. Inside awaited the mistress of the halls, a succubus with a cruelly barbed whip in her hand, surrounded by cloying pink smoke, and several of her servants.

And what curiosities are these pretty things?

The succubus unleashed her magic, and it crashed against the rocks of Zhakar's mind, changing nothing. His eyes blazing, he let forth a battle cry that echoed through the tent, that same, bright fire filling his allies' eyes as he strode forth. Each of them filled with holy light, it was a collection of seconds before the demons were cut down. One succubus fell under Chikara's greatax, the steel slicing its flesh as if its infernal protections were no more than paper. The other broke beneath Bostwick's fists, bones shattering as if they were made of glass. The wizard, panicked, lashed out with her whip. Zhakar knocked it aside, and cut her down with a flurry of ripping, tearing cuts, his pick shattering her ribs before puncturing her skull, leaving her infernal beauty rent and ruined on the floor.

Illusion held no answers, either. Mirrors that summoned cursed dopplegangers of the Companions until they're shattered created a dangerous obstacle, and a small cadre of identical wizards put up some resistance, but it was all for naught. Behind a secret panel they found the desiccated corpse of the illusionist who once ruled the halls, along with hundreds of exact replicas of his body. His journal, the scribblings of a madman, provided a timeline as to how he'd slowly lost his mind in the isolation of the Runeforge, filling in some of the gaps of the battles between the apprentices.

It wasn't until the apprentice of conjuration was slain, his mind destroyed by a shouted word from Mirelinda before he was dispatched by Thok, that the Companions found something of use. The huge wizard's grimoire had notes on the research of the others, and on his theory regarding runeforged weapons. The central font could be used to mix the components together, different combinations from different schools leading to weapons more effective against certain schools of magic. Specifically the opposition schools. All they had to do was collect the final ingredients.

The halls of transmutation held huge constructs that fared poorly against Thok's ranseur, and Chikara's raw ferocity. The master of the halls was a transmuter whose arrogance was his undoing, unleashing fire and magic against Zhakar, only to find his own mind twisted away, and his steel body hammered into the dirt.

Kharzoug Awaits

Come... I await you in Zin Shalast.

 No sooner had the Companions arranged their ingredients, and Zordlan dipped his rapier in the pool, than the colossal statue of the Runelord Kharzoug came to life. The stony visage of the ancient transmuter stared down at those who had challenged him, frowning.

"You," it said, voice booming from somewhere far away. "You dare to challenge me? Come then, and seek me in Zin Shalast, if you dare!"

His threat delivered, the huge statue stepped down from its pillar, swinging its fists. Already honed by days of fighting through the Runeforge, the Companions scattered, each coming at it from a different angle. The massive statue flailed and thrashed, smashing blows against Zhakar's shield, kicking Chikara hard enough to crack her ribs, but it could not hold against the sheer, enraged fury at the pride and dismissive tone of the Runelord. The statue cracked, and crumbled, smashed to pieces that fell hard enough to shake the Runeforge itself.

With the tools in-hand, the Companions could see the final stretch of their quest. All that was left was to beard Kharzoug in his den, and to seek him in Zin Shalast itself.

Next Time on Table Talk!

With their runeforged weapons finally in-hand, the Companions have only one challenge left. But will they be able to defeat Kharzoug? Or will something else stop them from even reaching Zin Shalast? Find out on the next installment of Table Talk!

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