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Elementals!     Golem

Rhadogan, on Darius' shoulder, calls upon St Cuthbert to repel this undead beast but the sand giant is unperturbed by the divine invocation. Darius, seemingly takes a leaf from Rhadogan's book, glances briefly to Dalrylshana and mouths something then shouts:

"Rodasi, god of hellfire and lightning, you are called to destroy this beast by this summons," then surges forward to meet the beast.

The sand giant is unperturbed as the almost foaming-at-the-mouth Jiriki is a more pressing concern; the barbarian's sword, symbol of Kord, smashes down wildly, but for all his rage, Jiriki is careless and the strike goes wide. The sand giant's huge arms hurtle like piledrivers through the air, a hiss like distant waves can be heard as the sandy form rolls, spills and reforms over the skeleton. Jiriki has the wind taken out of him by a fierce blow but does not stagger.

Darius also takes a strong blow but strikes almost simultaneously, carving at the figure twice; it staggers but sand swirls in to the seeming wounds and it's difficult to say whether much damage is actually done. A fraction later, as Darius' shout subsides, it is clear that some is: a lightning bolt crackles through the air, forking around Darius and Rhadogan and settling upon the giant. It roars with anger and small, jagged shaped pieces of glass crash and tinkle to the floor from its body.

The air is crackling and vibrating with magic at work as Kin and Rhadogan do what they can - the sharpest of vision might perceive small cracks appearing in the underlying skeletal form as a loud ringing, focused at the sand giant's chest, echoes around the room.

Still it comes: Jiriki recovers magnificently to deal a blow that would have stopped many creatures, the length of his sword running with wild flames at the instant he strikes. The giant staggers and Jarek takes his opportunity to strike, missing but then connecting brilliantly even as the giant pounds at him and Jiriki.

Again Rhadogan invokes St Cuthbert as he tries to force the weakening giant back by force of will. It's staggered now but the eyes gleam maliciously and brighter for a moment and it pauses but does not falter. Dalrylshana cries out. Darius continues to attack, striking once, and Kin hurls magic forwards again.

Again Jiriki and Jarek strike the giant but the blows are not so powerful this time and the sand giant rallies, smashing Jarek and knocking him backwards across the room before turning to Darius and crunching a sand fist into his face. Rhadogan and Kin again unleash magic at the beast and it staggers, finally allowing the eager but weakened Balin to step into Jarek's position, protecting him and giving the dwarf a chance to strike: his sword, Millefang, rings true and where it strikes sand is slow to reform.

The giant's body rocks: Jiriki strikes, screaming the name of Kord and all of a sudden, the giant collapses backwards, quickly followed by the exhausted and injured - but alive - barbarian. All that remains of the sand giant is a pile of shale and sand and some very old sea-worn bones. Suddenly revealed is Morin, who was behind the creature and is now spitting out sand. He looks frustrated beyond belief and just mutters, "I...just...couldn't...bloody...hit it!".

But for the heavy breathing of Jarek and Jiriki in particular, the room goes quiet just as the light on Rhadogan's hair disappears. Morin quickly pulls out his temporarily enchanted dagger.

At the back of the room, Dalrylshana speaks up quietly: "Errr, by the quiet, I'm assuming we won.........sorry I didn't use another lightning bolt: I'm blind."

.....

Staying in the gore-filled dining room with the dead hill giant, ghoul corpses and a fearful stench, the party takes 5. Rhadogan is already praying with thanks to St Cuthbert for his aid and protection as Dalrylshana tries to get used to her current predicament by walking around the room, guided by Kin as needed.

Jiriki, meanwhile, has recovered enough to offer praise to Kord and has gathered all the bones of the sand giant together in a neat pile. The huge femur is left to one side and Jiriki sets about carving the symbol of Kord on the skull, set atop the pile, offering harsh prayer as he does so. Whatever detestable gods the sand giant may have worshipped or obeyed, from this moment it will be a cairn to Kord.

There is a room revealed where the sand giant had entered and a check by Jarek, Kin and Morin reveals it to be a library. A couple of magical scrolls are discovered and some works of fiction: Three Dwarfs in a Punt, Mordenkainen and the Philosopher's Stone, The Belgariad, The Sorcerors's Cape, The Silence of the Hippogriffs, The Dhurghumlund Falcon, Around the Planes of Existence in 80 Days and so on.

Morin makes sense of the message found behind the mirror and takes up the Sorcereor’s Cape, allowing to fall open to a well-thumbed page, where he reads:

".....Sparrowhawk, having watched the Archmage Alodar before him from the shadows, approaches the red orb, touches it and whispers, "Grant Passage to a Traveller" before stepping forward........"

This must be the way to get past the Wayfarer’s Mirror!

Haste is abruptly needed as a check by Morin reveals that another sand giant and a number of skeletons, at the very least, are gathered at the entrance to the keep in the grim noon drizzle. The marble room is approached again but the imp reappears. Balin redeems his earlier folly as it turns out that his strike was purposefully at the imp’s shadow on the last encounter – his repeat of the trick dispels it again.

Morin, leading by virtue of momentum, carries out his proposed actions: he touches the red orb and no explosion follows. There's a noticeable relaxing of shoulders and then he speaks:

"Grant passage to a traveller"

The hanging frame suddenly comes to life, as if quicksilver was running from within it - but the gleaming fluid moves towards the centre of the frame and in a few scant seconds it is almost full, shimmering and quivering. A slim, silvery centre fills the frame, connected to it by irregular, random stretched strands. It's partially transparent but also reflects curiously - no colour, just warped mercury versions of what stands before it.

This must be the Wayfarer's Mirror.

Morin is cautious but decided: he glances round, shrugs and hops through the frame.

And is gone.

One by one, without knowing what will happen and trusting only that they have discovered the key correctly and that Beryn is the person they think he is, the rest of the party follow, Kin leading and simultaneously jumping with Dalrylshana.