Session 107 - Shadow of A Dragon

General Summary

As Naindroath issued his demand to the invisible party, the various kobolds all turned and began moving toward the area that caught their master's attention. Jilken and H’aash were ready to fight, but Denye had an idea and spoke up, apologizing and offering knowledge in the form of a few spell scrolls, with Ell offering a few random books. The shade dragon expressed a preference for meat, but was willing to allow the wizard through for that price. Realizing that did not include the others, Ell smoothly asked if there was some service the party could perform in exchange for passage. The dragon suggested the kyree and dogesus, but the party was unwilling. Upon thinking, the dragon suggested that there was something. The archmage, Akura Spite, bound Naindroath to the Pinnacle by removing his heart and placing it in a large golden puzzle cube that the dragon could not touch. Sadly, the mage did not put the same restriction on himself and when the dragon went mad as the corruption devoured him, he ate the wizard and claimed his lands. Unsure but recognizing an opportunity to keep it from a fight breaking out, Denye and Janora agreed to take a look.
Naindroath shifted himself into a humanoid form and led the party into the tower, although Janora stayed aloft keeping an eye on things. It took some time but eventually the dragon led them into a windowless chamber near the center of the spire. In the center of the room was a stone platform on which sat a 2 ft square cube bound in adamantine and shadesteel. Denye thoughtfully created food and water for the dragon, giving him the chance to feed that hunger while she turned to examine the artifact. Keeping up a mental monologue for Janora’s benefit, Denye studied the cube both physically and arcanely. After determining that the bands would have to be removed first, Denye warned the others to cover their ears before casting a Knock spell that shook the entire tower. It also had the desired effect of causing the strips of engraved metal to snap, unfortunately sending shrapnel around the enclosed space.
Once the ringing had subsided, Denye bent her attention to the puzzle box itself. Both the puzzle and the magic were quite complex and she was hesitant to try to move any of the pieces of the box without fully understanding the spells on and within the cube. For there were three spells on the exterior alone and she could hear at least two more songs within. Over the link, she asked Janora to come take a look for herself and Naindroath even sent a kobold to a nearby balcony so the witch could quickly join the others. Ell and Jilken were looking over the puzzle box as well, but neither had much to offer. Janora was a bit more help and between her and Denye they were able to determine that the exterior spells were a protection against manipulating the puzzle, a spell to cause blindness and the third was simply an alarm. The two interior spells were harder to identify without being able to see the scripts themselves. One of them was a stasis spell but they couldn’t figure out the other.
Discussing with the dragon options for opening the puzzle box, Denye proposed that she could temporarily nullify the spells on it if someone else could quickly solve the puzzle. Naindorth smiled as he finished the last of the food from the second Create Food spell. Stepping to the far side of the chamber he shifted back into draconic form, although perhaps half the size. Flexing a claw he assured them that if the party could suppress the spells he could open the box. 
Before Denye started her spell, Janora offered to purge the shadow curse from Naindorth. The dragon chuckled at the suggestion but was willing. Janora pulled out a small bag and uttering a prayer of the Matron of Ravens cast Greater Restoration as she cast the diamond dust over the dragon’s head. Almost immediately the black tarnish of his scales receded and clarity returned to his eyes. The spell hadn’t fully removed the curse, Naindorath wings were still wispy shadows and a thick strip of black scales along his spine. Shaking himself the silver dragon was quite astonished to announce that for the first time in centuries the hunger was not in control. Turning his attention back to the puzzle box he asked Denye to cast her spell. As the wizard began chanting, golden sparks rose from her wings and filled the air before beginning to chime as they settled over the box. Picking the box up in one claw Nandorath sunk the tips into the box before ripping it open and revealing an enormous head-sized amethyst. Gingerly the dragon lifted the gem free as his other claw came up and began tracing a sigil over his chest. Just as the sigil burst into a neon blue light, Nandorath slammed the gem against it. For a moment his entire body went stiff, even the shadows of wings seeming to freeze for a heartbeat or two. Coming back to himself he began to crow, “I am free, free to return to my home, to see the sun once more and bask in the heat of day.”
Denye was willing to use Plane Shift to take the dragon back, but suggested that with the time pressure of their mission it would be better to come back. Nandorath assured her that he could make his own way back and indeed needed time to pack in any case. Thanking the party for their aid in freeing him, shadows closed over the adventurers and they found themselves standing before the glowing portal that was the gateway to the Desert of Despair.
Stepping through the portal the party found themselves standing on a rocky ledge, looking out into a swirling sandstorm. Sheer black stone mountains stretch to the left and right, rising unfathomably high into a roiling sky of red/black/purple/green clouds. Looking around, Ell nodded and confirmed that while he’s never seen the mountains he recognized the silvery sands. Pulling the tracking orb out of a pocket, the young man noted that there was now a pulsing golden light off to the north-east.
  As the storm started to lessen, the team looked out over the trackless desert of silvery sand as well as a series of stone steps that led from the ledge where they stood down to the desert below. Janora offered to fly above to keep an eye on things and perhaps spot landmarks or scout ahead. That seemed like a good idea and Denye suggested sending Helenwye along with the witch as an extra set of eyes. As Forest spread his wings in preparation for take off, Jilken led the way down and onto the barren wasteland. The sand itself was strange, light and airy, Jilken’s boots sinking in and causing plumes to fly up with every step. She grimaced and looked over to Ell who shrugged and explained that it was supposed to be like walking through a wasteland of ash. That statement caused both Ha’aash and Denye to shudder a bit, but eventually they followed and the ground team began their trek across the open bled.
The winds never really stopped and while Janora and Forest flew above the worst of the storms, it wasn’t long before the witch began to hear the whispers of screams and moans in the wind. That along with a sense of presence started to push against the walls of Janora’s mind, but she simply steeled herself and shut it all out. Those down on the ground could also occasionally hear voices in the wind, but within range of the tracking orb were protected from the madness of the Voice. As they trekked across the wasteland, the occasional rock or pillar stuck out of the ground at strange angles. The ground team stopped at one of these groupings along the way and discovered that it was worked stone, pillars of some ruin buried in the sand. Ell was shocked, in his visions he had never seen such a thing and wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Still, that wasn’t why they were here so the adventurers moved on, following the ping within the orb.
From above, Janora spotted a grouping of bluffs in the distance and even what might have been a lake, but neither was in line with the direction of travel so she ignored them. Several hours into the travel, a shape of a mountain began to appear out of the haze directly in front of them. Once the witch confirmed that was likely the destination, she suggested that she fly all out in that direction and try to get an idea of what awaited them. That seemed like a good idea and so Janora directed Forest to fly higher and faster.
Crossing terrain of unending sand, Janora saw that it was indeed a mountain ahead of them. Singular, the peak stood at the center of a sort of island of rocky earth where there was obvious plant grown, strange looking trees and grasses. What was even stranger was the city laying cracked, buildings askew as if a giant had thrown it down against the side of the mountain. Made from a gray-blue stone it stood out against the backdrop and more importantly Janora saw movement, both on the streets of the city, but in the air as well.
The ground team had been steadily making their way across the desert when Janora began to relate what she saw. Excited, because surely Tear was somewhere within the city, the team began to speed up their march. They were passing another of the buried ruins when Ell realized his feet had become stuck in the drifting sand just before several large pseudopods rose up and began flailing for the warlock. Jilken and Ha’aash began attacking those tendrils as a nearby wall appeared to partially melt and go after Denye. Panicked, the wizard rushed over to the others, using the link to tell them all get close to her and hold on. Connecting herself to Helenwye, she told Janora and her team to hold on as well and using the pseudodragon’s vision to peer at the city beyond. On the fly, Denye twisted a Teleport spell to scooping up both groups of people and take them to the city. The golden light of the teleport started to fade as the party found themselves encased in rock before the spell rebounded, again trying to materialize the party within solid objects. Buffeted around the party finally appeared in open air…then falling 20 ft or so to the ground. Looking around, the party found themselves standing near a small grove of gnarled trees with sharp metallic leaves, the shadow of the mountain and city looming nearby. 
Denye began apologizing for the rough ride before getting into the technical details of splitting the spell to catch everyone. Ell, who had collapsed onto the ground, assured the wizard that she had just saved them from both the fight and a day’s travel at the very least. Reaching into his tunic, the young man pulled out the orb to confirm that Tear was somewhere neary. Indeed, the grain of golden light was very near the center in the direction of the city. It was at this moment, that Tear began screaming over the mental link.

Report Date

01 Nov 2024