13. Monsters beneath the spires

Since at least those flying jerks from the dragon army know where we are, we don't want to stay here any longer than we have to. We keep walking, and with the blessing we move faster. But, we still have to be careful, so we aren't as fast as we would like to be. Especially since we are always at risk to have things dropped on us from above at any time.
 
Sterling was apparently serious about his request to learn to be less noisy, so I help him as we travel. I ask Waah to help with Mal, who is just a walking parade, minus the trumpets. She asks him to take off his armor, and he agrees, which makes all our lives easier.
 
When we finally stop to rest, we are surprised by fuzzy creatures, who come and attack us. They are large spiders, with too many legs, eyes, and also fangs that drip venom! We fight, and win, and then feast on their leftover flesh. With a good victory, and some food, we finally get to rest.
 
The next day, we keep on marching. We finally see the spires, and find a bunch of abandoned tents, flapping in the wind. This is odd, since we have only seen traces of the red dragon army in our travels around here so far. We investigate, of course, since this is one of the three spots we were asked to look at. The pinnacle of the spire was a holy site, and the others were designed to burn like beacons. What a sight it would have made! Not only are there abandoned tents, but there are also crates, some abandoned, some shattered in the middle, and there is an opening in there that leads to the spire's foundation. Since we're here, we may as well go through what is in the crates. A leather armor with the dragon queen's symbol, more dried meats. Around here are also bigger and smaller prints with claws. The smaller ones remind me of the creature in the fort, and it really worries me that there is something even bigger.
 
Mal says the this spire most likely celebrated the god Sirrion, associated with the sun and transformation. This is good news, since I would worry a lot more if it were an evil god, such as Takisis herself. Time to go see the foundation of these spires! There is a whole dungeon down there!
 
Everywhere we go, there is a lot of leftover stinky dragon army things, but according to Mal, nothing magical. We do find 2 sets of manacles, and one more blue pearl. There is also a spiral staircase leading down, so after we check this level, we go down further. This second level has a bunch of alcoves full of crates. I go investigate, and find 3 bulleye laterns, 6 flasks of oil, 100ft of hempen rope, 4 vials of acid, and 3 sets of mason's tols. Why would they need mason's tools? Then we are set upon by some bloated draconians with bright red skin, and wide, frog-like moths. They also have wings. I'm not sure if they are dragon army or not, but they are definitely trying to hurt us, and are ugly as fuck, so its time to do them in.
 
All 4 come right at me as I'm trying to investigate the east alcoves. I get poisoned as they all claw at my face, those awful things. I almost die, but thankfully Mal heals me, while everyone else jumps in to tackle these creatures. Poor Mal has to keep on his toes with healing us fro this fight, but we persevere. After the battle, Mal gets ready to help us all feel better, and we all hear someone ask if all the monsters are gone. Since we want Mal to focus on what he's doing, Arinona goes to see who is talking to us. It is a human, cooped up with someone else, both speaking in Elvish. Ugh. The other one identifies themselves as Yerkel, and we recognize the name - the priestess that we are looking for!! Rowan is the human who looks like a scout of some sort, but looks emaciated and unwell. When she finally says something I can understand, I ask about the others in her group, since we were told about 6 of them were captured from the pilgrims. She says that she was captured and brought here, but the others were taken elsewhere. They were made to dig for something in particular, but then there was a glowing stone and some violent toad-like monster that came out.
 
She says that the dragon army was doing bad things wit the stone, and that those people responsible for the whole excavation are still around. The leader of this expedition was named Verusa, and he wanted to use the stone to turn more people into draconians. However, when he was trying to do this, more of these monsters came out of nowhere, which is better than if they were the end result of his nasty experiment. I wonder if these monsters are the bigger set of claw prints we saw in the camp, but it doesn't seem like the right size. We offer both these people food, and I ask Rowan if he is with Kalamann. Turns out, he is from Heart's Hollow, by the plateau called High Hunt (the SE hex). He doses not look well, and Mal tends to him. I ask if he was poisoned by the monster, and Mal casts a spell, which makes Rowan feel and look much better than he did. Turns out that he had some sort of parasite in him, and I'm glad that Mal was able to fix that. Of course, Rowan wants to go home, but I'm not sure if we'll have time to go all the way where he is at, but he did promise us a generous reward of $1000 gp, which sounds very nice.
 
Yurkel says that she had no idea Rowan was in such bad condition, since he had been sleeping so much. I personally think she is pretty new at this, and with her being captured and afraid, I can see why she would not have noticed. We take a short rest, and tell them that we will look downstairs. Once there are no more dangers, we will come back for them, and we'll figure out the next steps. Assuming they don't want to venture out on their own right now. Now the bad news on these jerks. Not only do these alcoves contain nothing of value or interest, these bloated dragon toad monsters also don't have anything useful on them. I resist the urge to kick one, lest my boots get slimy.
 
We go down one more level, and find a cave that is being carved out. There is a large chasm through the middle, and two wooden bridges have been built to cross it. There are digging implements that surround a very bright and large, 8ft tall crystal. In our way, before we can get to anything else, is a large red form, covered in squirming shapes. It is digging at broken crates, and the squirming things look like they are 5 larvae.
 
THIS is what left those footprints!!! Sterling tries to talk to it, but I can see that it wants to just eat him, so I attack. We defeat the creature, and its young. This garbage slaag had already gotten to anything of interest, which sucks. It is time to go explore the rest of the cave, and I tell people I'm going to sneak around and have look, around the bridge furthest from us since I want to check the perimeter first. Turns out, a lot of the people in my party don't really believe in my scouting skills, because Mal and Sterling went over by themselves, through the other bridge, making a ton of noise. When the three of us were across, and Waah behind me on the bridge, we were met by a fireball! We combat, I almost die again, and it actually singed my hair. I will never forgive this second, more intelligent garbage slaag. We kill it!
 
With no more monsters trying to poison or burn us, it is time to investigate the gem. It pulses with a noxious orange color. Arinona studies the gem, but doesn't touch it. The slaag itself had some gems on it, worth around 900gp. It also has a wand. This creature was probably Verusa, the former leader of this expedition, who was turned into something horrible. Why is the gem mad? We investigate the notes scattered around. Turns out, Verusa was following orders from a Belephiom, to investigate the stone. He wanted to use the stone to cause a disease that would turn people into draconians. We want to destroy this stone, so it could never be used this way. It looks like the giant gem was originally dug up from that spot, and I think we should try and drop it into the chasm. Can Arinona use her magic to destroy it? She thinks that destroying it would be a bad idea. This is a shard of pure chaos, and anything could happen if we touch it or when it gets broken.
 
We decide the best course of action is to fill this cave back in, let the bridges burn out, and bury it all. I take the notes to give to Dalamar. The crystal itsealf eminates an aura of transmutation magic. It is time to make it as hard as possible for anyone to get here, and get to the gem.