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The Celestine Mirror, Chapter Seven

 

With Galinda sporting a new symbol over her left eye, the PC's head off towards what is reputedly the greatest repository of knowledge in the known world, the Library at Azure Rift. There they meet the Librarian, a cloud giant (misidentified in the game as a storm giant) name Irmoddi Duskwriter. She hears, somewhat dispassionately, their tale of their search for the twelve magical artifacts needed to create the great seal and agrees to research the lately symbol. In return, she demands that the PC's travel to the nearby lair of a "Caldwellian Ogre" named Krodush and destroy him. Caldwellian Ogres are ogres who possess a demonic ancestor at some point in their family tree, granting them unusual size, strength, and intelligence.

 

The PC's stake out the ogre's lair and begin ambushing Krodush's gnoll henchmen (hench-humanoids?). After thinning the group out sufficiently, they assault the ogre's lair and rapidly dispatch the oddly-colored ogre. A quick clean-out of the

 

The Strange Vistas crew returns to the library, where Irmoddi informs them that she has identified the sign as being the Celestine Mirror, and that she knows where it may be found. Here is an account from her notes:


 

The Celestine Mirror is a magical mirror a little less than one foot in diameter. Its frame is sculpted with details depicting stars, moons, etc. When activated, mirror shines as bright as daylight, and may be able to hinder, damage, or even kill creatures normally affected by sunlight.

The mirror was last in the possession of the Hammerhand clan of dwarves living in Rak-Urbaz, their ancestral home.

About three score years ago Rak-Urbaz was invaded by denizens from the deeper subterranean realms. The dwarfs were over-run by sheer numbers and their doom seemed imminent. Desperate to allow the helpless from their clan escape, the remaining warriors gathered together for one final push against invaders. With momentum on their side, the dwarfs managed to force back their opponents to almost the lower gate of Rak-Urbaz. There, across a great stone bridge bridging a chasm leading into Rak-Urbaz, the dwarfs sang their ancient death songs and made the enemies pay for every inch with their lives. That battle, in that place, became known as the Last Stand of the Hammerhands, and it is there that the Celestine Mirror was last seen, being held aloft amidst the fray.

 


 

This was a great example of the benefit of a low-crunch system like Castles & Crusades. I had gotten to the gaming session only to discover that I had forgotten all of my notes, maps, and rulebooks. Despite this, I was able to recollect enough of the relevant information to run the game fairly seamlessly, although we got crunched for time near the end. All particpants receive 400 XP.