Session 5: Lights from the Past

General Summary

After a dream filled slumber on the Red Shores our heroes awoke to the smells of fried fish and freshly brewed tea, courtesy of Aatavi and Omori. Once they finished breakfast, the group gathered to search the beach once more. Faelyn and Shadow examined the tabaxi shrine and gong, while Aaura wandered farther down, discovering another open chamber with a dark orb resting in a divot in the floor.   A purple shadow seemed to flicker like fire around the orb’s circumference accompanied by the sound of tiny voices; a tumbling whisper in draconic, “we awake, we awaken, we await…”   Keokan knelt at the edge of the beach, close to orb, where the rose-colored sand had been fused into chunks of a charcoal like substance.   “Should we touch it?” asked Faelyn.   Aaura peered closer into the Weave of Magic surrounding the orb and warned his hand away. “It’s necromancy… Death magic.”   “Perhaps we should deal with the gong first” Shadow remarked, and moved most of the group back towards the tabaxi shrine.   Shadow took a moment to say a prayer at the shrine before Faelyn struck the gong. As the sound reverberated around the cavern the party watched as dozens upon dozens of small, multicolored paper lanterns began to light upon the surface of the water. Shadow took a reverent breath, recognizing them as a custom of her people to honor the spirits of the dead. As the lanterns flickered to life, the party noticed a ripple in the still water dislodge a small boat from a distant island, carrying it slowly to their place on the beach.   Our heroes soon found themselves on the island, where a lone tabaxi skeleton in ceremonial robes sat cross legged. Above its gauntleted hand danced a small magical flame. This was the Hua Linghun, a magical fire sacred to the tabaxi clans and the object of Shadow’s long trek from her home. Taking out a ceremonial lantern of metal and stone, Shadow gently opened the door and watched as the light snaked its way from above the gauntlet to safely within the lantern’s housing.   The fire no longer dancing above the gauntlet, the tabaxi skeleton crumbled atop the pillow on which it sat. With a short prayer, Shadow put these final bones to rest and set another paper lantern afloat on the water to honor the guardian.   The group continued through the circuitous tunnels and chambers of the Ymmari Ruins, examining old tabaxi relics that had been left behind. Back in the chamber where they fought the skeletons Keokan picked up the minotaur’s tetsubo, a greatclub once wielded by tabaxi warriors. He marveled at its light weight and sturdiness before stowing it on his back. As he did, Shadow picked the lock of a long, ornate box that contained an antique tabaxi puppet theater complete with backdrops.   “I’ve not seen such as these since I was a kitten!” exclaimed Shadow.   With delight she took the puppets and performed a brief sketch of an old tabaxi legend “The Most Lamentable Triumph of the Glorious Qilin Mao against the serpents of the Ka Xiyi.” A story of the struggle between the tabaxi and lizardfolk on the stormy island of Goshima. Of how the Qilin Mao destroyed the Lizard King and the tabaxi were exiled from their homeland.   In another chamber the party reflected upon a mirror of massive size, nearly 35 feet long. With her eyes fixed again on the Weave of Magic, Aaura could see that the mirror was magical, while Draconic runes carved into the nearby wall identified this chamber as the “Hall of Divination.” She pressed her palm to its surface in an attempt to activate it, but the glass remained dormant.   The party explored chamber by chamber until they found themselves in the largest room yet. Fixed into the curving ceiling above was a large orb of blue stone. On the ground below, obscured by a scattering of bones, a pattern of strange circles was carved into the floor.   Moving about the space, both Aatavi and Aaura recognized the blue orb, having seen its like before. While Aatavi knew of it as an ornament that hung in the Great Hall near Lake Myrsko, Aaura recognized it as an arcane focus for a teleportation circle, a fixture in one of the halls within Aquorra's Cloister. Meanwhile, Faelyn was coming to conclusions of his own. As he walked along the floor he noted that the pattern of circles matched the layout of the chambers in the ruins themselves. They were looking at some sort of map, almost as if they entirety of the ruins were built to match this peculiar floor pattern. Just as he was about to report this strange finding, the bones scattered around the room began to spin, turn and gather together. Hundreds more soon joined in this flurry and rolled themselves into a giant, roiling skeletal swarm. It rolled right over Faelyn, pummeling him within its tumultuous, fragmented mass. The fight was on.   Faelyn blasted out arcane dragon’s breath from within the swarm while Aatavi swatted at this “false storm” with the haft of his harpoon. Keokan, wielding the tabaxi tetsubo, carved furrows into the maelstrom with each mighty swing. Aaura rose above the fray, her aasimar heritage on full display, hovering on angel’s wings. Extending her hand out she struck the final blow on the whirlwind of bones as magic missiles struck its core with radiant energy.   Another battle won, the party looked over themselves and tended their wounds.