Sorry we stole your hoard

Dear Diary,
 
We were deep underground, far below the lair of the ancient copper dragon. The caves were damp and filled with pools of acid, their surfaces bubbling ominously. With the ethereal creatures now dispersed, we turned our attention to the statue of a dwarf standing before us. Its hand was outstretched, as if expecting a gift, and a small inscription beside it spoke of a gem. Intrigued, we tried placing the gem we had found earlier into the statue’s hand, but nothing happened. Frustrated but undeterred, Dadroz suggested we backtrack to the other corridors to see if we could find another clue.
 
We ventured down a small corridor we had skipped before and came upon another statue of a dwarf, this one accompanied by a text discussing a green gem. Continuing on, we found a third statue, now describing a red gem. The pattern was clear, but the purpose remained a mystery. As we pressed forward, we entered another chamber dominated by a large pool of acid at its center. Alistan was walking ahead when he was suddenly ambushed by his worst fear—a pack of rust monsters!
 
The creatures clambered out of small holes in the cave walls, their antennae twitching as they homed in on Alistan’s metal armor. I could see flakes of iron turning black as the rust monsters began to consume his gear. Panicked, I sent a firebolt at the nearest rust monster, hoping to drive it away, but it barely flinched. Alistan, in a moment of desperation, yelped and kicked the rust monster into the pool of acid. The creature’s carapace began to dissolve as the acid ate away at it, but more rust monsters were closing in.
 
Gael, Liliana, and Alistan quickly formed a defensive circle, their backs to each other as they fended off the rust monsters. They struck at the creatures whenever they got too close, their movements precise and coordinated. The rust monsters, realizing we were more dangerous than they had anticipated, began to retreat. But between me and my sister lobbing fire spells, we managed to clear them out, leaving the chamber eerily quiet once more.
 
With the rust monsters defeated, we pressed on, descending a massive set of stairs that led us into an even larger chamber. The room was dominated by more pools of acid, their surfaces bubbling ominously, and at its center rested a giant gem, glowing faintly in the dim light. It was an obvious trap, and I wasn’t about to walk into it blindly. I began writing down the runes for a detect magic spell, my fingers trembling slightly as I focused. Once the spell was cast, I noticed two distinct auras: the gem radiated a very strong evocation aura, while the island it rested on was surrounded by an abjuration aura. This was no ordinary treasure—it was a carefully crafted magical trap.
 
As we cautiously approached, a voice echoed through the chamber, speaking in Common. “You are not welcome here,” it said, its tone cold and menacing. The words sent a chill down my spine, but I wasn’t about to back down. I summoned my boggle familiar, instructing it to use its portal ability to reach the gem. The small creature tried to teleport to the island, but its portal was blocked by an invisible barrier. It placed its hand against the air, and I could see the faint shimmer of a wall of force.
 
We debated our next move. Gael tried shooting an arrow at the gem, but it bounced back as soon as it crossed the river of acid. I had my boggle attempt its portal again while I cast identify, confirming that the barrier was indeed a wall of force. The voice returned, calling us meddlers, and the pools of acid began to churn and coalesce into a towering figure. It declared, “I have claimed this place.”
 
The words struck me like a thunderbolt. Putting two and two together, I realized this was no ordinary ruins—it was the Elemental Tower of Earth, one of the elemental towers my master Amarra had tasked me with securing. The figure before us was the guardian of this ancient and powerful place. We made the wise decision to retreat, regrouping for a short rest to plan our next move.
 
The Tower was far more dangerous than I had anticipated, but we couldn’t afford to fail. The fate of Keralon—and perhaps the world—depended on securing these elemental towers. As we rested, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of the responsibility pressing down on me.
 
Gael tried to convince me to retreat and return another day to challenge the master of the Tower. He argued that we weren’t at full strength and that facing the master now would be too dangerous. But I countered that defeating the master immediately would make our return trip much safer—and if we left now, the master would only have time to resummon his defenses. After some debate, I managed to convince my allies to strike now, while we still had something resembling the element of surprise.
 
We walked back into the chamber, Alistan and Liliana flanking me as I shouted a challenge to the master. His response was simple and chilling: “Interlopers.” Almost immediately, he sent small oozes of acid slithering toward us. The creatures were quickly dispatched thanks to a barrage of arrows from Gael and Dadroz, but the real threat was still to come. The master himself emerged, his form coalescing from the pools of acid that filled the chamber.
 
The battle was fierce from the start. The master unleashed a poisonous cloud that filled the air, and I immediately began coughing, losing concentration on the flaming sphere spell I had prepared. Through the haze, I could just make out Liliana’s form as she dropped to the ground, overcome by the poison. I scrambled to the side, clutching the ledge above an acid pit, my mind racing. I knew I needed to disrupt the master’s concentration, so I fumbled for a scroll of fireball and began speaking the runes. The battle raged around me as I focused, and within moments, the master was engulfed in a giant explosion. The fireball tore through his form, forcing him to recoil in pain. He wasn’t dead, but the poisonous cloud dissipated, giving us a brief reprieve.
 
Alistan seized the opportunity, rushing forward to strike at the master with his sword. But the master retaliated, summoning ooze tentacles that rose from the ground and clutched at Alistan and Liliana’s unconscious form. Fiachna, my sister’s raven familiar, darted forward, dodging the tentacles to land on Liliana and revive her with a burst of healing magic. With Liliana back in the fight, we began pelting the master from afar, disrupting his spells once more and causing the tentacles to disappear.
 
The master roared in anger and turned his attention to me. I clung to the small ledge, his pseudopods lashing out as I desperately tried to stay alive. It was only thanks to a well-placed curse from my sister that the master’s attacks missed me. But as the master loomed so close, Liliana’s strikes hit me as well, leaving me battered and struggling to hold on.
 
The battle felt endless, but eventually, with a perfectly placed arrow from Dadroz, the ooze master let out a final whimper and dispersed, seemingly defeated. The chamber fell silent, save for the faint bubbling of the acid pools.
 
With the master defeated, we turned our attention to the gem. The barrier around it was still active, as we discovered when we threw a small stone and watched it bounce off the invisible wall. We theorized that placing the gems on the statues we had found earlier might disable the barrier, but we were still missing the necessary gems. The only gems we had seen were in the maw of the Xorn, but none of us had an appetite to slay the gentle brute. Exhausted and battered from the fight, we had no choice but to set up camp in the chamber of the gem. We barricaded ourselves in as best we could and rested, grateful that the monsters in the dungeon left us alone.
 
The next morning, feeling somewhat restored, I decided to take a more direct approach. Using my magical powers, I brute-forced the barrier surrounding the gem, overwhelming it with sheer magical energy. I smirked as the barrier fell away, but my triumph was short-lived. I sent my boggle, Pim, ahead to retrieve the gem through its portal. While Pim made it to the gem, it couldn’t return—the barrier had reactivated. Undeterred, I told Pim to get ready and recast dispel magic. This time, the plan worked, and Pim handed me the gem.
 
But the moment the gem was in my hands, a tremor shook the cave. Just like the last time we had removed a tower’s heart, the structure began to collapse. We didn’t waste a second—we ran, splashed on all sides by acid as the walls tore apart. Ooze tentacles reached out, trying to grab us, but my sister summoned a fey creature to distract them. It was instantly consumed, but it bought us the opening we needed to escape.
 
We sprinted up the stairs, past a large, now-empty basin that had once been a pool of acid. The sound of crashing stone echoed behind us as the lower levels collapsed, the acid having eaten away the supports. We didn’t stop running until we burst into the chamber of the copper dragon, gasping for breath and covered in acid burns.
 
The chamber was eerily quiet, a stark contrast to the chaos we had just escaped. We took a moment to catch our breath, our hearts still racing from the narrow escape. As we left the ruins, we noticed the dragonels watching us from a distance. This time, however, one of them approached us. Alistan began speaking to it in Draconic, asking if more wyverns had appeared. To our surprise, the dragonel responded—apparently, they could communicate after all. It thanked us for our efforts but then asked if we had taken anything from the hoard. When we confirmed that we had, its expression grew serious. “She won’t like that,” it said. It seemed the dragon whose hoard this was might still be alive, though it hadn’t returned in a long time.
 
With a collective sigh, we decided to return the gold we had taken. Antagonizing a copper dragon was the last thing we wanted, and we had only taken the gold because we believed the dragon to be dead. The dragonel seemed relieved and suggested that returning the hoard might earn the dragon’s gratitude, especially since we had also saved the dragonels from the Kyuss worm infection. It was a small consolation, but one we were willing to accept.
 
When Liliana mentioned her desire to hunt down the basilisks next, the dragonel spoke up again, warning us that the basilisks were part of the dragon’s defense system. Killing them might still provoke the dragon’s wrath. Instead, the dragonels offered to give us a lift back closer to the village. Up close, we noticed that the dragonel speaking to us had copper scales, unlike the others. It took the lead as they flew us away, their powerful wings carrying us swiftly through the air.
 
We landed near the spot where we had left our horses, grateful for the dragonels’ assistance. Mounting up, we rode back to the hamlet, where the villagers eagerly asked what had happened. We explained that we had defeated the wyverns and uncovered the cause of the disease. They were relieved, though the weariness in their eyes mirrored our own.
 
Exhausted, we spent the night in the hamlet once more, the warmth of the villagers’ gratitude a small comfort after the trials we had endured. The journey was far from over, but for now, we could rest.
 
The next day, we continued our journey north toward Latebra Velora. About two days into our travels, we came across the ruins of Ravensfield. The sight was haunting—the village was completely abandoned, its charred remains silent and lifeless. We set up camp in the stone basement of the inn, one of the few structures still standing, and took shelter for the night.
 
The following morning, we decided to search for Reynis’ camp, hoping to find the cursed half-elf hunter now that we knew how to cure him. We found the remnants of his camp, but it was clear he hadn’t been there in months. Gael went to speak with the dryad he had met during our last visit. The dryad emerged from her tree cautiously, her expression weary. She confirmed that she hadn’t seen Reynis since the village burned down, months ago. It seemed he had vanished without a trace.
 
With no sign of Reynis, we turned our attention to the cult’s lair. When we arrived at the location, we found something unexpected—a large hole in the ground, leading to a tunnel that hadn’t been there before. Curiosity and caution warred within us, but we decided to investigate. The tunnel led us into the large cavern we had explored months ago, but the dragon skeleton that had once dominated the space was gone. The cavern felt emptier, colder, as if its heart had been ripped out.
 
The absence of the skeleton raised more questions than answers. Where had it gone? Who had taken it? And what did it mean for the cult’s plans? We stood in the cavern, the weight of the mystery pressing down on us. Whatever had happened here, it was clear that the cult was still active—and their ambitions were growing.
 
As we made our way back to Ravensfield, something strange happened. We found ourselves on a path lined with small stones, their surfaces smooth and almost unnaturally placed. Activating my magical senses, I noticed wisps of energy surrounding us—different schools of magic intertwined like an invisible mist, dense and cultivated. The forest felt alive in a way it hadn’t before, as if the very air was charged with power.
 
As we walked further, we began to notice dolls hanging from the trees. They swayed gently in the wind, their movements accompanied by the soft sound of windchimes. The atmosphere grew more surreal with each step. Animals appeared along the path, unafraid of us. Squirrels sat at the edge of the trail, watching us intently. Gael used his primal magic to speak with one of the squirrels. It told him that the path led to Grandmother Knottie Rootskewer, one of the hags. The name sent a chill down my spine, but we pressed on, curiosity outweighing caution.
 
The path eventually led us back to the ruins of Ravensfield, but the scene before us was unlike anything we had seen before. The faint sound of children playing filled the air, and near the ruins sat an old woman on a stone, watching the children with a serene expression. In the distance, skeletal villagers moved through the burned ruins, going through the motions of daily life as if nothing had happened. The children, however, looked normal, their laughter echoing through the eerie landscape.
 
The old woman called us closer, inviting us to sit with her. She apologized for taking the only stone to sit on, claiming her bones were weary. She placed a basket near us and invited us to take a bite, her tone warm but laced with something unspoken. She told us she had heard about us from her sisters—some things good, some things bad—and that she was curious to speak with us. She knew we were heading north to confront one of the Knights Nemesis and predicted it would be an interesting encounter, especially for some of us.
 
She brought us a grim prophecy: if we continued, two people close to us would die. If we returned to Keralon now, only one would die. But if we delayed dealing with the Knight, many would perish. She added, cryptically, that not every life was worth an equal amount and that we should decide wisely. With that, she stood, called the children to her, and disappeared into the forest. The stone path vanished, the skeletons collapsed into piles of bones, and the only thing that remained was the basket of goodies.
 
We debated her words, weighing the risks and the unknowns. In the end, we decided to press on. We didn’t trust the hag, and her vague warnings gave us too little information to justify turning back. The road ahead was uncertain, but we couldn’t afford to let fear dictate our actions. Whatever lay in store, we would face it together.