76b: The Mindkiller

Talsil 14th
Seeking the Treasury

The Dark Three snuck through Jagged Keep in hopes of finding the treasury and then escaping before something terrible happened. In the process they recruited two from the dungeons, a dwarf fighter who resigned to go by the name Dude and a Nors captain Tamas Martel.

The exhausted party split and soon after the treasury was found beneath Rend's bedchamber. After dealing with a guardian naga, Renato and Dude managed to spirit out as much treasure as they could, the assassin secretly pocketing a black diamond known to some as The Crown Jewel of Clandash (a symbol of rulership to Clandashi duergar). He also noticed two curious blue portals in the treasury, as well as a strange, blue stone held aloft by giant tiefling statues.

Meanwhile, Isabella and Diana undid many wards and braved two vicious traps guarding the seneschal's chambers, though once opened there was a terrible hiss as if an ancient seal had been broken. They stepped in sight of a giant, coral brain flickering with white fire and quickly became embroiled in a fight for their lives. The sorceress managed to break free and destroy the construct, but the shadow witch's mind was entirely erased in the ordeal.

Regrouped on the landing, even as the sounds of trolls snarl and scrape deadly near, the task now was escape, a hasty meeting with Heliza and the other dark dwarves, and a flight back to Drelzna in hopes of restoring Isabella and garnering a new ally.

Experience: 2183 each (43,025 total)
Fooling the Legion, 700
Lone Guard, 150
Sharavel, 2200
The Mindkiller, 3500
Magic: Hatespire (unique), Elemental Prism, Despicable Shard...

Hatespire
This mage's staff is seven feet of imperious black marble like some grim parapet, topped with a smoky red crystal. Red veins pulse throughout its length.

Hatespire was the chosen staff of the Archmage Tsojcanth, the infamous son of Fraz-Urb'luu for whom the caverns are named. They were once his in the days before the vampires, before the Nors, in a time of relative peace. Being the most accomplished wizard in the east, a young Iggwilv came to Tsojcanth as an apprentice, learning his many secrets before murdering him in his sleep. It was the first of many widow relationships to powerful mages...

Though having no real intelligence of its own, some of Tsojcanth's outrage and hate festoons in the staff. Hatespite is desperate for a powerful and vengeful mage, altering to fit his or her capacity for hate. It wants to be the instrument of wrath and retribution. It wants to reach its full potential, though only the truly spiteful and vindictive might raise the spire its highest.

Level: 15
Price: 25,000 gp
Implement (Staff)
Enhancement: +3 attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +3d6 damage

Property: Unique (a unique item scales with level, becoming it's +4 version at lvl 20, +5 at 25 and +6 at 30).

Power (Daily): Immediate Interrupt. Use this power when you take damage from an attack with the fire, force, lightning, necrotic, or radiant keyword. You take half damage from the attack. You gain a +2 power bonus to attack rolls and +10 power bonus to damage rolls with your next attack that has the arcane and implement keywords.

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Elemental Prism
This perfect, sharp and angular prisim shimmers with the myriad colors of the elements. Wedging it into one's forehead, palm or chest activates its power.

Level: 16
Price: 45,000 gp
Wondrous Item

Power (Encounter): Free Action. Use this power when you make an attack that deals acid, cold, fire, lightning, poison, or thunder damage. Change all your attack’s damage to a different type of your choice among those above. You gain resist 15 to your attack’s original damage type until the end of your next turn.

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Despicable Shard
A bloody shard of Hatespire's red crystal imbues a weapon with a terrible bite. The weapon develops a reddish sheen on the blade or head, and pulsing veins along the hilt.

Level: 13
Price: 17,000 gp
Implement (Shard Augment)

Property: You gain a +3 bonus to damage rolls with implement attacks that use the augmented weapon.

Artifact: Crown Jewel of Clandash: Very little is known to surface dwellers about this mango-sized black diamond set into a plain, mithiril band, priceless even as a mundane gem. However Dude explained its significance goes far beyond coin, a symbol of rulership for the duergar city of Clandash nestled under the roots of the Soveros. With it, a strong-willed dark dwarf could reunite the squabbling clans and surface as a new eastern power. It also shimmers with the promise of arcane power...
Coin: 6000 gp (from Rend's chambers, Renato) + 6950 gp (from the treasury), - 60 gp (2 knock rituals, Izzy)
Loot: n/a

New NPCs
Dude: Dwarven prisoner of Jagged Keep rescued by The Dark Three and taken on as a temporary partner of sorts. Skilled with the greatsword, harboring no love for the monsters of Tsojcanth City. His real name is unknown.

Sharavel (dead): Drow torturer of Jagged Keep, specializing in cooking her victims for troll feasts.

Tamas Martel: Nors captain kidnapped by duergar and sold to King Rend, where he was tortured by drow (slowly cooked alive). The Dark Three saved him and he joined them out of necessity, revealing himself one of the noble Martels.

New Hooks
Brain Drain: Izzy lies brain-dead after an encounter with an alien device. Diana and Renato are left to try and restore their friend, despite the device's destruction.