Session 44

After their meeting with Anna of the Sorcerer's Cabal last time when they arrived in Myr after using the Amulet of Voidwalking to travel there from Proxon, the party is taken in by Anna and brought to one of the Cabal's towers in Myr. There, they meet Archmage Kyran, an Elf who is the leader of the Cabal. He relays the story to them of the Yuan-Ti who attempted to invade Myr centuries ago, and were repelled by the Myrian military, who overwhelmed them despite their incredible magical prowess. He then told them that before the Myrian military became aware of their presence, the Yuan-Ti carved out a cave in the side of some seaside cliffs and built what appears to be an underground lair. However, that is all they know of it because the lair is sealed off by a magical barrier which even Archmage Kyran himself has not been able to penetrate. Due to the centuries that have passed, the Myrian military does not patrol this area as frequently as they used to, but patrols will occasionally stop by to check whether the barrier is still up. Archmage Kyran has requested that the party make their way to this underground lair and see if there is anything they can find there that may help them bypass the barrier.

Along the road towards the lair, the party passes by the location where they first encountered Anna after being ejected from the void portal. As chance would have it, as they pass by and glance at the hill where they arrived, they see another void portal open and witness a kobold being flung out of it. They make their way over to him and the portal closes. They notice that this kobold is wearing the Amulet of Voidwalking which was used to bring them there. After questioning him, they realize he was sent there by Norixius, the Dragonborn mercenary from the Unseen Claw who originally hired them to attack the caravan transporting the amulet. He ordered the kobold to find the party and get them to come back. However, the party seemed uninterested and attempted to discard the Amulet of Voidwalking due to the Dragonborn's innate distrust of magic. However, Anna noticed this and requested that the party allow her to keep it and study it.

Once the party arrived at the cliffs, they were greeted by the sound of the roaring ocean waves crashing against the cliffs and were put on guard, having never heard such a thing before. When questioning Anna, they learned that this was something called "the ocean", and she managed to convince them to get closer to the cliffs to see the waves below. They informed Anna that they had never seen this before, and claimed there was no water on Proxon (at least, no oceans). Baffled, she informed the party they needed to find a path that would lead down below to the cliff facing. After an hour-long search, they managed to find the path. After some hesitation, the party followed Anna down the path to a cave entrance that she claimed is where the ruins could be found. They proceeded inside, following the winding cave until they saw a white glow coming from ahead. Pressing on ahead, they were greeted by the sight of a stone doorway and arch with runic carvings on it behind a large semi-transparent white barrier with a shimmering, milky appearance.

After examining the stone doorway, the party was able to determine that the carving on the doorway was written in the Yuan-Ti language, explaining why nobody had been able to decipher it. The races of Proxon are not permitted to learn to read or write the Yuan-Ti language, but due to how common it is, they recognized this word as "Ouroboros", referring to the Ouroboros Conclave, the oppressive ruling class of Yuan-Ti on Proxon. After speaking this word out loud, the barrier disappeared and they were able to proceed inside.

Inside the ruins, they explored the hallways, finding a room that appeared to be stocked with crates, a chest, racks of weapons and armor, a large statue, and an altar that had ornate looking weapons on it. They examined the crates and chest first, finding many gold coins (which were of Yuan-Ti origin, and thus worthless on Aellorah until they could be smelted and re-cast), gem stones, potions, and scrolls. The kobold that came through the portal, Sked, decided to investigate the altar, and sneakily swiped a fancy looking Shortsword from the altar. He alerted the rest of the party to the weapons and they decided to grab some as well. In their excitement, only Sked noticed the sound of stone cracking, and as he looked up, the statue in front of them shattered, and a figure emerged -- a humanoid figure with patchwork skin that came lumbering after Sked. Though they took some heavy damage and Hebor almost died, they managed to defeat the Flesh Golem and continued on.

They found a large metal doorway with a similar shimmering magical field blocking it in the passageways with a dead body in front of it. Proceeding onward, they found a room through a wooden doorway that led into a room with an altar that had what looked like three keys on it, which had no teeth, but runic carvings at the end resembling the Yuan-Ti language. They also saw a puddle of a black tar substance spilled next to the altar. Investigating the keys, Sked started grabbing them one-by-one and after swiping the middle key, the puddle of black tar leapt at Hebor, bringing the party into battle with a Black Pudding, which Hebor inadvertently split into two due to his axe. Again taking heavy damage, the party was victorious, though Nala's drake was killed in the fight.

As the party proceeded to another hallway, they found prison cells containing many bodies that appeared to be Human. From their investigation, one cell had a lone prisoner that appeared to have killed and eaten the others in his cell, and the other cells, the bodies showed signs of starvation. They finally proceeded to the metal doorway they passed earlier and attempted to open it with the keys found in the previous room. They got the wrong combination the first time and some venomous snakes dropped from the ceiling and bit Sked, poisoning him. However, he got it right on his second try and opened the door, finding a large room with a stone dais in front of him with a floating, glowing crystal giving off a soft blue glow and humming softly. Sked and Anna entered the room to investigate, but Hebor and Nala remained in the hallway. As Anna approached the crystal, the Amulet of Voidwalking flew out of her pouch and into a circular setting, where it began to glow, and the crystal began humming louder and the floor shaking.

At this point, two Myrian soldiers came down the hallway, seeing Hebor and Nala, and not knowing what to make of them, asked who they were. Hebor not knowing any better, attacked them, and was nearly killed by the Myrian soldiers' superior fighting prowess. He fled into the room with the crystal and Nala was jabbed in the side by a spear as she attempted to flee, and lay dying. Then, the Amulet of Voidwalking shot a thin beam of magical energy towards a circular gateway in the rear of the room and opened a portal to a magnificent looking city, which unfortunately the players recognized as being on Proxon. Their fears were confirmed as they saw Yuan-Ti turn and notice them and begin to charge at them. The session ended just as a Yuan-Ti Malison came through the gate and more Myrian soldiers entered the ruins from behind Hebor.