Session 78

As the group moves into Nola's home, they find an entryway with the door knocked down and broken, with numerous crates filled with junk adorning the room. They quickly look through them for anything of value, and mostly find junk -- though they do find about a half a bolt of Coralweave Cloth. Dain casts Detect Magic as a precaution to see if there is anything magical beyond the door and sees several small auras coming from beyond the wall. He opens the door and heads in, where they find a large lounge area with a fireplace and bookcases with books scattered about the ground, crates on the far wall, and what appears to be a kitchen to the right. Dain heads into the kitchen to where he saw the magical auras and identifies several pieces of kitchenware that seem to be enchanted, including a skillet that never overcooks food, a spoon that can grow and shrink and stir by itself, and a box that magically preserves the food inside -- which is filled with meat, which has apparently been in there for over a millennia, but is still fresh as the day it was slaughtered. He then proceeds over to the fireplace where he sees a rune giving off an aura, and upon pressing it, a fire erupts in the fireplace, making the water warmer around them. He also inspects some scrolls found on the bookcases treated to be waterproof, and finally finds several potions in the crates at the end of the hallway. Finally, the group proceeds into the room at the end of the hallway, where they find Nola's bedroom, with most of the furniture destroyed and holes in the wall. Dain follows a magical aura to a hidden trap door under the carpet beneath the bed that contains a Coralweave pouch containing an Enduring Spellbook, which Dain places in the Bag of Holding.

The group returns to the lounge to the final door in the house, seeing similar runes to Kira's home that ward against the water. As they get closer, a large arcane mark appears on the door that Dain recognizes from one of the scrolls he grabbed from the bookcase as the Arcane Lock spell, indicating that the door is magically warded. He attempts to pick the lock, but is unsuccessful, and is even zapped by the door's defenses in the process. Summer then gives it a try, nearly activating the trap before managing to successfully open it. Dain proceeds inside, finding an air pocket with Nola's laboratory. Inside, they find a small skeleton, presumably that of Nola herself, propped against a stone workbench with a ring on top giving off a magical aura, which Dain identifies as a Ring of Coin Storing. There are also a couple book cases and two desks. There is also a crystal on the wall near the desks that seems to be making a hissing noise, and gives off a draft, and Dain identifies it as being connected to the elemental plane of air, producing breathable air for the room. But most notably, there is the pylon, which seems to be encased within a domed barrier. They also see a slanted pedestal caked with dust on the far wall near the barrier. Dain and Merrick debate using Misty Step to get inside, but don't want to burn their valuable spells, so Dain gives Merrick a scroll of Dimension Door, which he uses to attempt to teleport the two of them inside the barrier, but as they walk through the portal, they feel a static before they are ejected backwards, essentially bouncing off of the barrier.

Dain then decides to use a scroll of Dispel Magic to attempt to dispel the barrier, which manages to take it down, but causes pops of electricity and smoke from the slanted pedestal on the far wall. Additionally, an Air Elemental appears next to the pylon, and there is a quick gathering of fog at the floor that rises to the ceiling, blinding everyone. The group attempts to fight the creature, but is met with difficulty as it seems to be able to see through the fog and is beating Merrick bloody, but they can't see it well enough to defend themselves. Dain gets an idea to smash the air crystal he found on the wall, which causes a burst of air that knocks everyone to the ground and disperses the fog, allowing the group to finish off the elemental. Then, they assault the pylon, destroying it, causing the room to fall dark and silent.

After the battle, the group inspects the room, looking at the papers that went flying when Dain smashed the air crystal, and Dain finds some plans for an improved version of the Gloves of Missile Snaring called the Gloves of Missile Redirection that allows the gloves to store kinetic energy from projectiles to create Magic Missile darts. They also find a book containing some research notes on types of magic items, and also some log notes indicating that Nola was working on some sort of Elixir with Valdor that would grant the imbiber long, if not eternal life. It also indicates some kind of breakthrough that was made, but doesn't go into detail. Finally, Dain finds a strange contraption that appears to be some kind of Dwarven Runetech, but not something he recognizes. Calantha seems to take interest and identifies it as a device that was new when she initially left Seryndor to enroll in the Ars Aurum Academy, and that the device could be mounted on a ship and would keep aquatic creatures at bay, preventing them from boarding the ship to attack the sailors. She theorized that despite it being broken, she may be able to repair it with some time, and she suggested that she stay in Nola's home to repair it while the group searched for the home of the mysterious wizard that Calantha has never been able to locate the home of, and she says she believes it would be somewhere in the aristocratic district due to the distribution of the wizards in the city. She suggested that the group get some sleep and then the next day, she could begin work on the device while they go out to search for the next pylon. Dain suggested leaving Evaryan with her to keep him safe and they agreed.