Session Sixty-Two: Gray Plumed Mountain Part 2

Note: For those unfamiliar with Dark Sun, psionics are called the Will for wild talents and the Way for trained psionicists.

The group stared at the two-foot diameter glass spheres and were not sure what to do next. Suddenly, the door slammed behind them. They saw that the door had a key hole and was locked tight.
A voice suddenly spoke to them. The voice came from the ceiling and echoed loudly. The voice welcomed the group to his lair of fun and told them one of the globes held the key for the door and the others held their doom. It laughed and said that this was going to be fun, for him.
The group groaned in frustration and proceeded to have a fifteen minute discussion and complain about being trapped for the defiler's amusement. Keraptis' voice boomed and told them to hurry up, but the group was defiant and told him no. Keraptis laughed and told them he would force them to move faster. The group noticed an increase in the rooms temperature. It was a slight increase, but the group knew they were now limited on time.

Shade used the will to heighten his senses and inspect the globes. One felt hot, one felt cold, a couple of them rattled, but most them had no discernible difference from the others. Alaxander then used the way to phase through the globes and control light to amplify the minuscule amount of light inside the globe, so he could actually see.
Alaxander only checked the globes that did not feel hot, cold, or rattled. Every globe had a key made of either bone, wood, or stone. He also discovered various other items inside. He reported his findings to the rest of the group.
There were two globes that had bone keys inside of them and the group became convinced that the key should be bone. They surrounded one of the globes and Shade shattered it with his club. A bone key feel to the ground, along with a stick.
Shade picked up the key and tried it on the door, but it did not open. Alaxander and Vashti inspected the stick on the ground, without picking it up. On the side of the stick, carved in Balican, was "Don't Move." They agreed that they should leave the stick alone and walked away.
The next glass globe they chose to break dropped a gold ring and a bone key. The ring was solid gold and spoke to them out loud. It told them that it was a magical ring with various magical abilities, including a wish. However, it explained that it would drain a small portion of the wearer's life force and would continue to do so every year it is worn. Also, once it was removed, it would lose all of its magic.
The group did not trust the ring, but it was powerful enough that they did not immediately write it off. Shade took the key and unlocked the door. Everyone thought the ring was too dangerous, but, after unlocking the door, Shade grabbed it and put it on, much to the surprise of everyone.
He felt a small portion of his life force drain away. He sighed heavily and then wished for Kiara's leg to be restored to its previous state.
Kiara called out and fell to the ground. She knocked her bone peg leg away and the group could see the stump on her leg growing new bone, then muscle, then skin. The group stared in fascination and Kiara wept in silence.
When her leg was restored, she jumped up and hugged Shade. She thanked him profusely. The rest of the group nodded their approval.
They left the room and went down the hall they had previously ignored. It lead up a very short flight of stairs, which brought them out of the silt. There was an open doorway ahead.

Upon entering the room, the group saw five flesh golems. Each of the golems had a number burned into their chests; 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. Number five spoke, telling them that one of them was different than the others and if they guessed which one, it would serve them. However, if the guessed wrong, they would all kill them. Alaxander yelled out that the answer was nine.
Nothing happened immediately. Vashti told number nine to step forward and it obeyed. Alaxander explained how he came upon the answer, that nine was mathematically different from the others. Alaxander was a noble's son and had an abundance of schooling, when young.
On the other side of the golem's room was another hallway, which the group followed. The hall lead to a bone turn-style, which blocked the hall. The turn-style only allowed passageway  in one direction. Shade went through first, to make sure there were no traps on the other side. Finding none, he had the rest of the group follow him.
The group continued down the hall and came to a large stone door. The door was warm to the touch. Shade checked it for traps and found none.
On the other side of the door was a huge natural cavern. There was a small stone platform for the group to stand on, just inside the door. Over two-hundred feet away was another platform with a stone door.
Fifty feet below the group was a boiling lake of magma. Hanging over the magma were nine stone disks, twenty feet in diameter. The disks were suspended over the lake by thick giant hair ropes. The disks created a path to the door on the far side of the room.
Alaxander attempted to open a dimensional doorway with the way, but it did not work. Keraptis' voice rang out, "I am not going to allow you to cheat me out of my fun." The same thing happened when Vashti attempted to use the will to grow wings. Shade tried to use his new magic ring to fly, but it did not activate.
Julius said that the whole thing was stupid and he refused to participate. Vashti asked  Nine if he could jump and Nine replied, "I jump." So, she told him to jump to the first disk. He did and the disk rocked precariously, but he did not fall.
The group felt better about the situation and Vashti told Nine to jump to the next disk, which he did. Shade leaped onto the first disk rather easily. Kalino said he would go next.
Vashti again told Nine to jump to the next disk, but when he did so, he did not quite make it and fell into the lake of magma below. He was lost from sight immediately and no sound escaped from his cold, dry lips. The group suddenly felt less confident.
Shade was easily leaping from disk to disk, leaving the rest of the group behind. Kiara slipped and nearly fell into the magma lake, but Alaxander used the way to lift her back onto the disk. Kalino used his rope to tie himself and Kiara together. Seeing this, Vashti and Alaxander did the same.
With the exception of Shade, and Julius, the group had a few close calls. It proved an extra problem when magma geysers erupted and burned some of the group. However, the group, with the exception of Julius, made to the other side.
Shade found no traps on the door and opened it. Beyond was a stone hallway and another door at the far end. The hallway was ten feet wide and sixty feet long. The group thought it was a good place to rest.
After resting for an hour, the light from the group's torches dimmed considerably. Vashti was on watch and called out, waking the group. The group rose and armed themselves.
Out of the darkness, skeletons emerged. The skeletons has trace amounts of magma dripping from their bones. Vashti yelled that they were kraglings and their bite would burn.
Vashti turned one of the kraglings and the group destroyed two others. Once the kraglings passed out of the room, or were destroyed, the light returned to normal. Vashti told the group that if there were kraglings, there was likely a krag. She explained how powerful krags were and suggested they retrieve Julius. The group agreed.
Upon leaving the hall, the group saw Julius on the third disk. There were six zombies on the far platform, which Julius had obviously retreated from. Shade used his alhuluk and rope to safely get to Julius and lead him back to the group. Upon seeing their prey leave, the zombies departed. The group returned to the hallway.

They opened the stone door and on the other side was a twenty foot square room. There was a small magma pool near the center and an emaciated woman, with magma dripping from her body. The kragling that fled from Vashti was also in the room. Around the neck of the krag was a pearly white stone, about the size of a human's palm.
Alaxander asked for the stone and the krag responded by rushing forward and spewing magma onto Alaxander, Kalino, and Julius. Alaxander and Kalino managed to dodge most of the attack, but Julius was struck by the full force of the liquid and began screaming in pain. Vashti ran to assist him in scraping the magma off.
Shade, Kiara, and Kalino engaged the krag, but did not seem to be doing well against it. Shade and Kiara managed to strike her, but their hits were glancing blows and did little too harm the undead creature. Alaxander used the way to strike the krag with mental force, but the krag ignored him.
The krag stared at Vashti and entered her mind. Vashti was about to panic, but then Julius pointed a finger at the krag and used the way. A bolt of white energy shot from his hand and struck the krag in  the chest. The krag's eyes went wide and then she crumbled into dust.
Shade quickly finished off the kragling and everyone else proceeded to heal themselves, as much as possible. While catching their breath, Julius was congratulated on his use of the way. He humbly shrugged and dismissed their praise.
Vashti retrieved the stone that lay in the pile of krag dust. They shut the door and  prepared to rest. Julius decided to watch first.
Before they could sleep, Keraptis' voice spoke to the group out of nowhere. It congratulated the group for their resourcefulness and was looking forward to playing with them some more. The group did not reply and continued to set up their temporary camp.

Day 3, Week 1, Macro, Friend's Vengeance, 190th King's Age, Sun Descending

Upon waking, the group healed, ate from the food they carried, and drank from their waterskns. Vashti preached a sermon and refilled their waterskins. The group set out to find the next treasure.
They easily traveled through the magma chamber, roping themselves together and going slowly. Shade broke the bone turn-style, which allowed them to eventually return to the split passageway, where they had fought the decomposing tari.
There were two passages that the group had not chosen, one that went left and one that went straight ahead. The group choose to go straight ahead. This passageway had an invisible barrier blocking their way. Kiara called upon her master's magic to disable it. Her master allowed it and the barrier disappeared.
The group proceeded cautiously, with Shade looking for traps and Kalino poking the silt in front of them, with the butt of his spear. In an alcove on the right, rising a foot above the silt was a stone well, three feet in diameter, filled with silt. They ignored it and continued down the hall.
Shortly afterward, they came to a large hall. Kalino's spear dipped deeper shortly into the room. Kalino called a halt and told them that the floor dropped away ahead of them.
Suddenly, six brown tentacles reached up from the silt and wrapped around Kalino. Before anyone could react, the tentacles pulled Kalino under the silt.

Join us in two weeks for another exciting session of Adventures Under the Dark Sun. 
2nd edition AD&D Dark Sun Cast of Player Characters 
Julius: Human male psychokinetic. 22 years old. Played by Dave. Speaks Balican, Tyrian, and Giant. 
Alaxander: Human male psychokinetic. 18 years old. Played by Ben. Speaks Balican, Tyrian, and Elf. 
Vashti: Human female clairsentient/water cleric. 20 years old. Played by my wife. Speaks Nibnese, Gith, Tyrian, Balican, and Urikite. 
Shade: Half-Elf male ranger/thief, 18 years old. Played by Chad. Speaks Balican, Elf and Tyrian. 
Kalino: Human male fighter/preserver. 20 years old. Party NPC. Speaks Rammin, Tyrian, and Balican.