Loose threads The ruins are a dangerous haunted location, and must be avoided by all but the strongest of us. The living runes are reasonable and can teach spells to those willing.
Participants
Bethany Claie, Gharok, Hecret, Swampy, Toma
Locations Dragon's Tail, near City of Srasthadra
Short summary:
Destroyed a battalion of Drake taming Serpentfolk. Chased the survivors deeper into a mountain cave where we discovered a ruined building with runes all over. The fleeing serpentfolk had taken shelter in the ruins but were killed by the wrathful spirits inhabiting it. Fought the haunted building and the living runes living there. Barely survived.
Full Report
Swampy gathered us together to go Unknown hunting. As we were about to leave First Landing, a Guild Scout informed us of a Drake training facility somewhere in the Dragon's Tail mountains. We decided to head there instead.
Our first challenge was to climb the mountains and find the facility. The former was a trivial matter for a group as highly experienced as us, the latter was handled through cooperation: magical and heightened senses combined with practical ingenuity.
We arrived at the facility and saw several troops of drakes (sea and desert) and serpentfolk. Gharok immediately charged one of their lieutenants, almost bisecting him. Swampy unleashed a massive solar flare that killed dozens of our enemies, including the aforementioned lieutenant. Bethany underwent a Fey-like transformation boosting her speed, while Hecret transformed into some strange feminine avatar of Monday/reincarnation of Olc called Olcag.
With Swampy's flares, Beth's nail bombs, Hecret's spellstrikes and Gharok's 20ft wide halberd swings, the ground troops were eradicated. One of the lieutenants ended up staring directly at Swampy's Sunburst, melting his eyes. He ran behind a hill while his men were slaughtered. As the Drake troops closed in, I ran over and cast Fly on Gharok, his tense muscles erupting with compressed energy to enable massive leaps and sustained flight. He made short work of the aerial troops.
Meanwhile, more specialised ground troops appeared. One of the Zyss, one of Granitescales. The rest of us geared up to fight against them. We had barely managed to take out a quarter of the Granitescales, when the leader of the operation landed in front of us. A Drake tamer Serpentfolk clutching onto a Huge mutant Desert Drake. I immediately sickened the two with a Blister Bomb and then all of us systematically annihilated the rest. It wasn't a fair fight, though some of our enemies did survive.
The fleeing lieutenant (the one Swampy blinded) was gunned down by Bethany at the cave entrance just before he could escape us. Many of the rank-and-file were more successful. The eradication operation was still incomplete.
After a brief rest, we gave chase. Three hours later, we arrived at a sunken building. Entering, we saw all surfaces inside the Ruin were covered in runes. A rune trap activated immediately after, affecting most of us with crippling depression. Two runes turned out to be sentient and started battering us with all manner of spells while the building itself came to life to kill us. Floors and walls bashed into us and parts of the ceiling were dropped onto us. It was an uphill battle.
We figured that the Ruin could only be damaged by attacking these statues which served as nodes for the wrathful spirits. There were five of those, one small one in each corner and a larger one in the centre.
Bethany and I destroyed the first lesser statue, while Gharok and Xokhial discovered the middle statue was largely impervious to all damage besides spirit. We split up, Gharok destroying a statue on his own, Beth destroying another as I moved behind her to support. All the while, the damage was mounting, despite Swampy and my efforts at keeping everyone up. Gharok was the first to fall, but he had the presence of mind to drink a Soothing Tonic. Soon after, Beth was ensnared by snake spirits conjured by a Living Rune and came very close to death.
Swinging between life and death, Gharok made it to the final statue, so did Xokhial and Hecret(Olcag). The last of the statues proved too tough to crack, but eventually, under our combined final assault, it did. The building was calm again, no more stones hurled at us. It was an unfair fight, but we survived regardless.
The living runes rearranged themselves into words in Aklo, offering us a ceasefire. We accepted and were rewarded with gifts of several magic runes and magic scrolls wrought of stone. I left a warning message at the ruin's entrance and then we recalled to First Landing. As we were recalling, we noticed the building start to repair itself. The threat still remains.
Post script: the ruin howled in pain each time it collapsed part of the ceiling to attack us. Once it was close to "death" (three statues destoyed), it stopped using this ability.