General Summary
Vult 13
Night
In a desparate race across the city, Gwen, Cadrug, Faux, and Ardillion dodge falling buildings, tsunami waves, and cut down monsters falling from the sky. A gargantuan dragon circles overhead, but they decide that there's no time, and they plunge into Jzadirune, and the tunnels beneath Cauldron...
A mile down, an arcane locked door bars the way into the "Sanctum" of the cult. Beyond it, the ritual has begun, with thirteen cages bearing the Shackleborn, held in the twisted metal Tree of Souls.
The heroes fight their way through the high priestess of the Blood of Vol, and Fey'ator Abradius, the ancient elven scholar who first discovered the Shackleborn bloodline. Ardillion breaks the Tree by punching it repeatedly, saving the remaining 7 Shackleborn who had not yet perished. The ritual is stopped, and Cauldron is saved from the Xoriat invasion. The party destroys Feya'tor's notes and scrolls, burning any chance of anyone ever re-creating his ritual of planar junction.
Hurrying back to the surface, they rally some city guardsmen to confront the dragon. Atop the battlements, they draw its ire. Vitriss Bale, an ancient draco-lich, seeks his phylicatory (stolen by Fey'ator Abradius as a bargaining chip). In this final battle, the heroes triumph and save the city of Cauldron.
At last, the Shackled City is free. Xoriat remains a distant realm of madness, and the Daelkyr Lord, Belashyrra, languishes in its prison dimension. Quarian "Orbius" Vhalantru and his cultist allies have been defeated forever.
As the Dhakaani say:
Raat shan gath'kal dor. The story stops but never ends.
