Session 87

After learning of the Yuan-Ti's intentions during the last invasion of Myr centuries ago from spirits in Buut Pravat, Anna suggests the group travel to Tok-ye'laxmal, the Sorcerer's Cabal tower just northwest of Buut Pravat. The group began to travel, and along the way, they heard a thunderous noise approaching and were joined by Garvin, who caught up to them via horse and said that Archmage Kyran thought they could use an extra hand. The group then continued to Tok-ye'laxmal, and as they arrived, they found a weathered tower on the verge of collapse. They cautiously approached and noted that the door was shimmering with some manner of magic, which Anna identified as a magical lock of some sort, saying that they would need to find another way in. As she said that, Garvin, who had been pacing about, called Anna over to point out a large hole in the side of the tower, opening into what appeared to be a kitchen. Anna said the hole was likely blasted by the Yuan-Ti who were too impatient to, or incapable of, dealing with the locked door. They entered, finding a body buried under the rubble and a kitchen, where Nala found a strange spoon which was untouched by rust, unlike the rest of the cutlery, and as she inspected it, it suddenly grew several times. She confused the item for a shovel, but Anna corrected her, saying it was a cooking utensil. Vernon proceeded through the singular door and into the hallway, where he went into the door opposite the kitchen and found a storage room. The group was ready to move along after noting that the crates were mostly empty, but Hebor noticed some sort of hatch underneath some sacks of rotten grain. After opening the hatch, he found several small items, which Anna identified as magical, saying the metal rod was capable of transforming into any weapon they could think of (Rod of Mercurial Form). The pouch contained some sort of dust which seemed to disintegrate metals (Dust of Corrosion), and the gem, she simply said cryptically "Save it for an emergency." Continuing down the hallway, they found a study with some wine, which Nala pocketed, and Anna took a book off one of the shelves. Hebor also took interest in some casks of wine, taking a taste for himself. However, with nothing else to see, the party continued up the stairs, where they found some large rubble blocking the passage up. They looked up and saw the hole above where the rubble had fallen from, as well as a hole in the interior wall leading into a room on the second floor…

After scaling the wall and entering the room to the second floor, the group found a room containing a magical circle burned into the ground with a nearby book and workbench with various ingredients. Vernon also found a Bag of Holding on the table that he took, and Anna seemed to indicate that the ritual circle was related to Divination magic, suggesting it was most likely used to remotely view Mt. Valgar, where the Wellspring resides. She took a moment to explain one of the Sorcerer's Cabal's duties, which is to study the Wellsprings, and that this tower is used to monitor them from a safe distance. They found some disintegrated parchment on the tables which could no longer be read and some target dummies, which Sparky decided to chew on. Meanwhile, Hebor opened the singular door to the next room, immediately being buffeted by a cloud of spores coming from plants growing on the walls, which poisoned him. Most of the group backed off, but Vernon ran into the room looking for anything of use, noting a large pile of rubble on the ground from the collapsed ceiling above and the roof of the tower, as well as several workbenches containing alchemy tools and ingredients, as well as a body. He grabbed what vials he could find that were still intact and brought them back to the other room, where Anna identified them as Potions of Healing, Alchemist's Fire, and an unknown incendiary. Hebor, annoyed, began attacking the plants, and Vernon joined in, but when this proved ineffective, and even kicked up more spores, Hebor became angrier and decided to breathe fire at the plants, which incinerated them -- but also caused a reactive explosion which singed both himself and Vernon. After clearing the room of the poisonous spores, Hebor tried to open the far door, but could tell something was blocking it. After failing to shove his way through, Vernon and Nala teamed up and managed to knock the rubble on the other side free, and opening the door to the stairwell, where they found another body, and continued upward.

On the third floor, Nala noticed some crates in a side passage and decided to investigate them, finding a curious polished, etched stone and a glowing orb, as well as some boots made of a strange metallic stone. She brought these to the central room where the rest of the group had gone to Anna to ask what they were, and was told that the polished stone was a "Stone of Good Luck" and to hold on to it. The orb, after Anna conjured a magical light to test her suspicions, appeared to be capable of detecting nearby magic (Flow Detector). Finally, the boots, which she identified as made of a material called Petrasteel, which no two scholars could agree on whether it was a metal or a stone, she explained could absorb vibrations, making them oddly suitable for dampening sound of footsteps, despite their clunky weight and resilience. Vernon decided to take these. After this, the group moved around the gaping hole in the floor leading to the alchemy laboratory below, checking each room for anything of interest, but only finding dilapidated bedrooms with holes in the floor -- the source of the rubble in the stairwell below. However, the final room they investigated appeared to have a gigantic metal contraption sticking out of a window, which they would later learn was called a Wellspring Orrery. Anna explained that they used the device to view the Wellspring from a long distance so they could watch when it erupted. There was one final body in the room, which Anna decided to animate using the Speak with Dead spell so she could ask it questions. She proceeded to ask who it was, identifying him as Isaak Evenwood, the senior Wellspring Analyst stationed at the tower. He explained that he had died when "some fool" from Buut Pravat told the Yuan-Ti to seek them out for information about finding Thalassarion, which Isaak said was in the Dreaming Wastes region of Arak, but had been destroyed thousands of years ago by an unknown disaster. He noted that before they killed him, they had forced him to mark its location on a map that was in the room, which Vernon collected. Isaak said that his "idiot apprentice" had one day tripped and fallen on the Orrery and knocked it out of position, pointing it to the east, and that they detected a strange enormous buildup of Flow concentrated in Arak, specifically in Thalassarion. Isaak had planned to report this information to Archmage Kyran, but his spell failed due to interference from the Wellspring. He said that the Yuan-Ti were searching for something they called "Lod'exenter", and before he died, he overheard enough to know that it was some manner of extremely powerful artifact capable of focusing Flow, but that that was all he knew. After speaking with the skeleton, Vernon and Garvin heard indistinguishable voices outside and Garvin went to the window, where he saw Yuan-Ti outside, and he was unfortunately reckless and they managed to spot him. The party then heard some unintelligible chanting before a great boom rocked the tower, causing it to begin to crumble. Anna said that they needed to get out of there, and the party began to flee down the hole in the ceiling to the alchemy laboratory. As Vernon, Anna, and Garvin emerged into the ritual chamber, a glass window across from the hole in the wall shattered as a massive winged Draconian creature resembling Hebor crashed its head through the window and belched flames at Vernon, damaging the three of them. It then fled as the party sprinted down the stairwell to the first floor. As they tried to escape the tower, several of the party were hit by some last bits of rubble as they leapt from the hole in the kitchen wall. As they emerged into the open air, the Draconian creature touched down and began advancing towards them.

The party began to battle the party, consisting of a Yuan-Ti spellcaster, the Draconian creature, and unknown to them initially, several Kobold slaves. Vernon underestimated the might of the Draconian creature and was unfortunately hit by several attacks in a row and taken down quickly. Garvin also charged the creature and Hebor and Sparky flanked it and began to whittle it down. Nala began to attack the Kobolds and Anna used her magic to attack everything she could. Eventually, they managed to defeat the Draconian creature -- however, as it died, it was engulfed in the flames within its own body, causing it to explode, injuring all those around it, including the dying Vernon. Garvin went after the Yuan-Ti while Hebor dealt with one of the Kobolds, but Garvin was put down by the Yuan-Ti's prowess with its sword. Hebor decapitated the Kobold and began to chase after the Yuan-Ti, who recognized the threat he posed and decided to pursue Anna instead. It eventually caught up to her and wounded her severely before she was able to retreat. Hebor then caught up to the creature and managed to finish it off by cleanly bisecting it. After supplying first aid to Garvin and Vernon, Garvin commented that they could not be the only Yuan-Ti in the area, and they should leave before others might notice the collapsed tower. They set out for the Sorcerer's Cabal's tower north of Catarvoss, arriving more than two Aelloran months later. When they arrived, they spoke to Archmage Kyran about what happened, where he filled them in on some of the blanks before saying he would join them on their journey to Thalassarion, noting that it was likely highly dangerous given the Antiquarians' Guild's forbiddance of mounting expeditions to the Dreaming Wastes region where Thalassarion was said to be located. He agreed to fund a supply run for the group to purchase necessary supplies and even identified a strange sword that Hebor took a liking to from the body of the Draconian creature.