Days before the hunt of the bone demon, I managed to somehow gather enough interest to explore the Coastal Ruins. As usual, ST33L, Onalyn, and Timtygeg were interested, but we also had a recent Dragon’s Wings recruit that was also interested, Drax. With the party gathered, we set off, following the trail of a recent expedition where Dragon’s Wings had to protect a cart of precious (and magical) metals back to an Andrial encampment. Just a bit further down South, and we were there. The Coastal Ruins. And that's what we initially found. Ruins. We found what seemed to be the ruins of a building, as well as a decaying tower. We saw a banner outside that read “DRAKAAR druun khruur alkhalaac daan zerlel'dac okaan" I seemed to be in a language that none of us understood, but using a wand, I was able to roughly translate it as “Do not awaken the vigilant one”. After reading the sign, and inspecting the entrance, we noticed that Timtygeg’s horse couldn’t fit through the small opening, and after a few futile attempts to move the stone, we decided to leave him behind for now Back underground, back towards the underdark… It.. is definitely one of my worst fears. The land that I stand on underground doesn’t feel right, and I don’t have the assurance of the wind nor the sun, nor the moon behind me. There seems to always be something creeping around in the darkness, and it seems to be watching us. As we walked around and explored, we saw the aftermath of a previous party that had been tasked to explore this ruin ahead of us. Some of the soldiers got petrified, impaled, and even turned into ash. It was certainly a gruesome sight, and being underground, with limited vision, not knowing what this ‘vigilant’ one was, is absolutely terrifying. After some time, and inspecting the soldiers, we found several notes that had hinted to us as to what we were about to face-- a being that shot multi-colored lights, causing soldiers to lose their minds, turn to stone, or be turned into ash, as well as a shadow that seemed to be crawling along the walls, and references to a pyramid in the desert. I wonder if this was referencing the Lone Pyramid that was marked as a Point of Interest on our maps. I remember having my eyes fixated along the walls after we read that note, and I did indeed see something going on the walls.. Some sort of black liquid, or shadow, something. After pointing it out to the party several times, they were unable to see what I saw. I thought that the fear was really getting to me, as if I were already losing my mind down there. When we reached the bottom floor, I made some preparations by casting a spell on Timtygeg and ST33L. I had hoped that this spell would prevent them from being caught in whatever we were about to face. We explored the bottom floor, and found rooms with piles of gold and treasure, and as we looked further in, a being descended on us… the Vigilant one. As it was flying in the air, I tried to bring it down to the earth, so that it is easily accessible to everyone else, but it seemed that my magic wasn’t working. I tried several more times in futility, and while I could feel the magical power being used, nothing would happen. As I was struggling to get my magic work, the creature quickly attacked us, and we were in a dire situation. The newcomer, Drax, immediately got dealt a fatal blow, and died, while everyone else was bloodied and in bad condition. I had to rush over and help him before his soul left his body, and using the diamonds that I bought earlier, quickly brought him back to life. Somehow, it seemed that my magic was working again. I wonder if there was something with the room, or the creature that is disrupting magical energy. Either way, I felt like there wasn’t too much time to figure that out. My magic was able to bring the creature down to the floor, Onalyn started to attack it. ST33L was acting a little weird, as I didn't see the usual fervor that he usually displays when fighting an opponent, and Timtygeg was nowhere to be seen. As the creature turned its attention back to me, My magical powers were again nullified. I was starting to understand how this creature’s ability works. If I am unable to cast magic anyway, the best that I can do is draw its attention over to me, and have it focused on me while the party kept attacking it. Everyone was in dire condition, and it seemed like I was the only one that was still healthy. I had to do something. I ran to the opposite side of the room and started to provoke the creature, pretending to cast a really damaging spell on it. It seemed to work to some extent, the creature started laughing at me and blasting me with its colored beams. This gave Onalyn and ST33L, who had recovered, enough time to bring the creature down. I still had no idea where Timtygeg was, until the creature was slain, and he had emerged from one of the rooms. Was he hiding there the entire time? After vanquishing the creature, we took a short break, and headed back upstairs to find some goblins were stealing the armor off of Timtygeg’s horse. After catching up to one of the goblins, and subsequently, killing it, the goblins dropped their loot, and we set a course back to home, relieved that we all got to live another day. From what we gathered today, I believe that our next course will be to the Lone Pyramids. I hope to learn what is inside, and perhaps, gather even more treasures, and knowledge of a civilization long lost. -Mita
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