The party goes to meet the Goblin Lord.
"The hall is cold and damp. The smell of rotting flesh emanates from a vast lake of fetid waters beyond the ruined temple you now stand in.
Atop the temple dais you see a cracked and bloodied altar to some long forgotten god. The body of Ilmak hovers suspended a few feet above the altar. A light bluish green glow surrounds his body, and the shimmering aura bends light around him distorting his image. His body looks limp and pale, somehow magically preserved, frozen in time or in some sort of suspended animation.
Flanking Ilmak's form to either side you two trolls. The ruler of this hall, King Skalamad the Greenest, stands to one side, and his champion, a lumbering mountain troll stands to the other side. Both glare in your direction with stern gazes, but without any apparent menace.
As you approach closer you see that Ilmak's body appears to have been violated. It looks like the side of his head and skull have been partially removed and the skin peeled back. You see some tentacles extending out of his mouth and the side of his head, though they too seem frozen in time.
Behind this horrible image a huge bulbous form emerges from the lake of mire. A giant eye above a hungry fanged maw gracefully levitating above the earth with frightening speed and stealth. The foul waters drip from many stalks with smaller eyes in them attached to the round head-like body of the creature. The beast's breath mists as it speaks to you.
"Heroes of Mistmeadow, welcome to the hall of my chief ally the Troll King Skalamad, the Greenest. I am Cy-mek-mar, the Goblin Lord. You are my guests, so be at ease and welcome.
If I look strange to you, it's because I am not from this world. I came to this dull pebble in the cosmos from across the astral sea almost a millennium ago. A great civil war among my people broke out and in the final battle between our kin, my fleet was lost and I was shipwrecked here on this alien world.
Skalamad and I have ruled the underdark near the surface world for many years. At times I've allied with the surface folk, and at others time I've been at war with them. We owe you a debt of gratitude not only for removing the undead king Gladomain from his tomb beneath his ruined keep, but also for killing off the kruthik hive that has long plagued both our kingdoms.
Our alliance with the armies of the dark six has come to an end. It was one of convenience for mutual benefit that proved to yield little for us. The dark six's leaders are unpredictable and treacherous. Lady Xyrlynn was in my employ to find the Hand of Storath, and the Ring of Acererak upon it. You succeeded where she failed in this task, and though she attempted to take the artifact from you, I understand you killed her and retrieved it.
Among our people your pursuit of revenge and merciless destruction of your foe Lady Xyrlynn is admirable. We like those who realize the value of power and driving fear into the hearts of their enemies. The dark six fear you. The Archmage ruler of Ironview fears you as well. He has offered a bounty of 50,000 platinum for the priest of Ioun. I'm not here to collect the bounty, as I have all the money I could desire. I wish to employ you.
You are familiar with the ring of Acererak and the legendary archmage who created it. Acererak was once a lieutenant of Vecna who fought alongside him during the blood war in Gladomain. Vecna came to this world in the jeweled ziggurrat, a mightly flying fortress that could destroy any city or fleet. Though Vecna alone held the power to control the ziggurat with his own hand, he created a ring, which he gave to his friend Acererak, that allowed him to control the fortress as well.
After their victory in the blood war, the ziggurat was lost. None know where Vecna or Acererak hid it. Vecna was destroyed by treason among his ranks when his general Kas the Bloody Handed, a vampire with uncontrolabe bloodlust, turned on him and hacked him to pieces. Vecna's enemy the Raven Queen imprisoned him in the Shadowfell, but not before his hand was removed to prevent him from controlling the magical fortress.
Acererak withdrew after the bloodwar to pursue bizarre arcane studies. He left the company of the other lich generals in Ironview and built a tomb under the earth which he filled with many horrors to guard him in his afterlife. In this tomb lies Acererak himself along with his most powerful artifact, the diving rod..
The rod allows the wielder to find a path to anything or anyone desired no matter where it is, merely by thinking of it. In the right hands, it could act as a tool for finding that which I seek, the jeweled ziggurat that has been lost in time and space.
So we have several matters to discuss. First, your friend the swordmage has fallen ill to a plague of the underdark. Somehow he was infected by the Illithid. Skalamads trolls and my goblins from time to time find creatures with these foul tasting squids growing inside their skulls (he motions toward ilmak's exposed skull). Usually those captured are taken to the their city where they drain their memories into a great crystal forged with powerful elder magics. Then the squids are implanted in the hosts and their memory of their visit to the city of the illithid is erased.
Over time the larval illithid grows inside the hosts mind, slowly taking control and consuming their brain. Eventually the beast consumes the head live, replacing it, and it's body merges with the form of it's host. It takes on the memories and powers of the host and returns to report what it has done and knows to the great crystal in their city below. Your friend is now preserved by a magic I know that has saved him from a certain fate, far worse that death. I will try to find a way to cure this affliction, but thus far I have found none. Please take your friend's sword and this amulet of the planes. I'm certain he would wish for you to have them.
When we captured him it was not our intention to sow any hatred between us, merely we wished to impress upon you the urgency of the business we proposed. We had no idea he was carrying this beast until he had an episode in our court and the beast inside him lashed out with a great mass of tentacles that arose from his throat and consumed the brain of one of my servants that lingered too closely to his cell.
The second order of business is we wish to offer you all the plunder from the Tomb of Acererak, which we have located in some ruins near here. Our goblins and trolls are ill equipped for such a task. They have uncovered the crypt but have proven incompetent at plumbing its depths to find what we seek. There are many traps and magical puzzles there that thwart exploration. I believe that you can succeed where they have failed.
Somewhere in the tomb of Acererak is his rod of divination. Once you have this, the rod will help you to find the jeweled ziggurat. The ziggurat is very powerful and will allow you to defeat the dark six's armies, driving them from Gladomain. With its armaments you could level the city of Ironview, should they or any other nation cause you trouble. Once you have done this you shall bring the ziggurat to me, and I can leave this world once and for all, returning with my new army of goblins and trolls to the astral sea, where I will vanquish my kin who destroyed my brothers and stranded me here.
If you think me foolish to give you the keys to the ziggurat's power expecting you to return it, then you are mistaken. Know that I could kill you where you stand now if I wished it. It would take me but a few moments thought. Also consider this. Once you have the ziggurat's power and you have secured peace for this world, who will seek your death to claim it? Will it be Baphomet, Asmodeus, or some great power from beyond the stars. It is too powerful for this world. If you kept it you and this place would surely be destroyed.
In the meantime, while you are employed by me you will each receive 10,000 gold per month. This gold can be claimed from Skalamad here in the eastern court or at my own kingdom in the western ruins at any time. The city of Mistmeadow will be safe in your absence. Already the duergar are being starved out of their dungeons and I have a strike force of trolls perced above the ruins near Mistmeadow, ready to purge them when they inevitably retreat from their burrow into the daylight. My trolls and goblins will protect the city from distance. entering only if invited, while they guard against invaders. The people will be left to trade and travel as they please without toll or harassment.
You will find me a generous, worthy patron and ally if you accept my offer."
They accept his offer and head to the Tomb of Horrors where they meet the goblin lord's servant Snotskin.
Exploring the Tomb successfully they uncover the Diving Rod of Acererak. Hotspur has his gender changed to female by a magical doorway. In the process of exploring Kevros and Hotspur both die from poison spike pits twice, and Hotspur's soul is drained into one of the Eyes of Acererak the demi-lich's jeweled skull. Garret breathes magical gas that makes him an idiot, but he recovers when they leave the tomb.
Brock uses the Diving Rod to determine the location of Whosis Kid's remains and it directs them towards Kodrus Vale.
