Sapphire:Sessions:20170422
The group takes what they want from the campsite and offers the remainder to Julian. According to Julian the Winged Ones have avoided the Lone Mountain for 1700 years, except for an intrepid few who never returned (including Julian's father). Julian and two of his men agree to guide the group toward the Lone Mountain, scouting and keeping watch, but they will not approach closer than 15 miles.
The group mounts up, taking the six horses from the campsite. The next day's travel is uneventful. The group makes camp just before sundown. Ahn-Lee tosses and turns in his sleep.
The following day's travel ends at an overgrown waystop. Chalker discerns old dwarven tribal markings on the stones.
The next morning, Julian reports that he and his men were hardly able to sleep due to the feeling of dread emanating from the mountain. Branamin is seen to stare at the mountain for several seconds, then he shuts his eyes, trembling. Chalker observes Branamin's eyes flicking rapidly back and forth, and his aura, too, appears to flutter rapidly. It's as though he is battling some magic force, and Chalker realizes that Branamin could die if he's not snapped out of it. Ahn-Lee slaps Branamin's back, not forcefully, yet Branamin falls over. As Shawna kneels beside him, Branamin instantly awakens. He tries to describe the force, which dates back to the previous age some 2500 years ago.
Chalker detects seven powerful auras on and near the mountain -- willful, bestial, protective, slightly magical; a combination of human, large cat, and something else. From his description, Shawna guesses they are manticores.
Branamin raises stone pillars around their campsite. On Ahn-Lee's watch he hears a distant roar. The camp is attacked by a large bearlike creature with bat wings. Ahn-Lee kills it with a crossbow bolt tipped with a poisoned needle (and gains the nickname Bear-Lee). Chalker looks at its innards and detects at the base of its wings a mana organ, which Branamin removes.
The next day, Julian and his men are obviously badly affected by the mountain's aversion effect. Even Bear-Lee sways in his saddle, nauseated and perspiring heavily. The group thanks the the Winged Ones, who swiftly return home.
The group is attacked by seven large flying creatures that look like deer with bird's wings; Shawna identifies them as peryton. Bear-Lee with his crossbow, Shawna with her longbow, Chalker with his knife TK, and Branamin with Darkness, an earthen wall, and Sunbolts soon dispatch all seven.
Assisted by Branamin's spells, the group picks up their pace, wanting to reach the mountain well before sundown. They can see a rough trail up the eastern face of the mountain. Shawna unsaddles and conceals the horses. Chalker spots two manticores, one flying, one not. Branamin describes water pumped up the inside of the mountain into a large pool near the top.
Ahn-Lee kills one of the manticores with a poisoned bolt, and Shawna flies up and dispatches the other by slashing open its belly, then severing its spine. From Ahn-Lee's kill Branamin extracts the poison sac and removes all 16 claws.
Further up the mountain the group finds another manticore lying in wait, its coloring blending in with the rocks, and four poisonous vipers twined in its mane. (Branamin warns, "Snakes on a mane!") The manticore is slain, and the vipers slither toward the group but are killed. Two other manticores are seen flying at a distance.
Finally the group reaches a camouflaged door. Branamin dispels the magic trap which would have released poison gas. The first room contains the skeletons of three dwarves; their armor indicates they were men-at-arms in the Stonemover clan. Their weapons are missing. Slimy worms retreat down tiny holes in the rock walls. There is a decidedly "creepy" feeling about the place. Opposite the entrance is a stone door set in an intricately carved stone arch. With his penetrating vision, Chalker can see that the hallway beyond goes about 15 feet and ends in a T; the left hallway of the T descends. As Chalker swings the door open, two thuds are heard from outside; the manticores have landed. Branamin casts Rain of Stones on the manticores as Chalker shuts the outside door.