Sacred Archives 1479.03

All characters are under the affect of the "Taxonomy" spell and their creature type is now undead.   In the Sacred Archives.   Dawn and Gundark investigate books. Find list of Carkade Empire successions, calendars. Essen looks for information regarding gold dragons and Mama Tet.   Dawn uses Detect Magic. All documents faintly glow (Preservative magic).   Essen notices small piles of lizard scat. 'Downstairs' written in scat with an arrow pointing down.   Party heads downstairs. Notice blueprints scattered around.   Essen realises the piles are Kobold droppings.   Soft movement can be heard. Gimblenock goes invisible to investigate. Sees a Karkade mummy looking at blueprints. Flanked by two warriors. Imp on shoulder. Karkade servant taking notes.   Undead Shadow minions float around. One being a former Cloud Giant - Head Archivist.   Essen casts Pass Without Trace as party attempts to sneak past. Notice blueprints for artifacts and weapons.   Atetseba, Arch Sorcerer of the Terror Bird Clan in room. Speaks Infernal to the Imp. Imp encouraging Atetseba to find a way to get the Great Alin Undead from the Alin homeworld before the Alin army arrives. Implying that the Great Undead Alin are enemies of the Alin, and will ally themselves to the Carkade, similar to the Undead Alin currently serving Hunaphu, Carkade Mummy Lord of the Terror Bird Royal House.   Imp works for Mephistopheles.   Gimblenock looks for traps heading down. Finds three Glyphs of Warding and one alarm. Attempts to disarm. Disarms all.   Downstairs. The Lord Archiver is in the centre of the room reading a grimoire. Approx. a dozen smaller Shadows float around. Items in emerald glass cases.   Party sneaks around room. Ophion and Gimblenock look at items in cases. Grimoires, maps of the Far Worlds. Sacred Arks that bound the Karkade to the 10 Modern Death Gods who were worshipped by the Carkade.   Weaponry - Dragon-forged. Eldar armours.   Gimblenock attempts to steal an artifact. Case is locked by Sigil magic. Passes on 30. A simple lotus leafed bowl shaped object whispering to Gimblenock in Gnomish, urging him to claim it. Apocalypse-class weapon called Apocalypse Class Weapon - Dissipator. Gimblenock absorbs the Dissipator, never seeing its true shape.   Sactzin, Lord Archiver, a Cloud Giant Shadow and a dozen standard shadows notices. Fight starts. Gimblenock still in case.

• Dwayne grabs Gundark and teleports to Storm Giant (AC 22). Hits for 16 Phantom energy. Hits again for 15 physical and 7 Phantom.
• Archivist moves to Gimblenock. Uses Legendary action to darken the room. Only Blindsight will work. Casts Hunger. Gimblenock dispels it.
• Ophion casts Faerie Fire.
• Essen casts Sunbeam. 6 Shadows dissipate. 26 Radiant and 12 Phantom damage.
• Gundark attacks. 64 damage.
• Archivist casts Den Siva's Falcata. 24 Necrotic, 20 magical Piercing damage. Gundark saves Dawn from 15 damage.
• Remaining six Shadows swarm Gimblenock, who makes it out off the case.
• Dwayne attacks the Archivist. 30 physical, 11 Phantom damage. 24 damage. 12 damage. 6 damage and Goaded.
• Dawn casts Radiance of the Dawn. 52 Radiant damage and dispels darkness in 30 feet.
• The Archivist binds Dwayne to itself. Dwayne's Stone absorbs the spell. Summons a Nightstalker.
• Archivist attacks Dawn and Dwayne. 21 Bludgeoning, 18 Necrotic. Then disengages.
• Ophion hits the Archivist with Fireball. 22 damage.
• Essen attacks a Nightstalker. 46 Radiant damage.
• Gundark attacks the Nightstalker.
• Gimblenock casts Chain Lightning on the Archivist. 25 damage.
• Dwayne teleports with Ophion to the Archivist. 18 damage.
• Dawn casts Banishment on the Nightstalker.
• Archivist casts Den Siva's Falcata. Gimblenock counters.
• Nightstalker attacks Gundark. 16 Bludgeoning, 19 necrotic damage. Fails grapple. Casts Evil Gaze.
• Gimblenock kills the Archivist.
• Ophion uses Vicious Mockery on the Nightstalker. Fails.
• Dwayne attacks Nightstalker. 37 damage.
• Dawn disengages and casts Beacon of Hope.
• Nightstalker uses Chill Touch on Dawn. Fails. Dawn casts Sacred Flame as a reaction. Fails.
• Nightstalker attacks Gundark. 13 Bludgeoning, 9 necrotic. 22 more.
• Nightstalker casts Evil Gaze on Essen. Fails.
• Ophion casts Witch Bolt. 66 damage.
• Gundark attacks. Hits for 44.
• Nightstalker casts Chill Touch. Fails.
• Gimblenock attacks. Kills Nightstalker.

  Soldiers are on approach, suspect a combination of Imperial Undead Carkade Soldiers and Spartoi. Dawn casts Prayer of Healing for 32. Kobold marker points to northern door. Gundark grabs the book from the centre of the room. 64 Necrotic damage.     Dawn heals him for 20. Next room. Statues of Karkade warriors in their prime. Centre is sunken. Other doors lead to the arks between the Karkade and the Dark Gods (Aves Reva, Azathoth, Ammutseba). Only Ammutseba remains. Dwayne and Gundark push one of the statues in front of the door. Revealed a trap door. Essen uses her Wand of Secrets. Reveals doors under another statue. Gimblenock removes the trap. Reveals a black box. Inside is the gold dragon ingot.   Essen and Ophion hear kobolds scuttling around. Kobolds move tiles to reveal a path out. Taken to a teleportation circle surrounded by a few hundred Kobolds. Told the circle leads to Zarathustra. Party enters.   Gimblenock appearance is leaning in on Dark Eldar, an extinct race from the last fall of Atlantis. When the BMG were in Atlantis they observed 13 Dark Eldar performing a very high level ritual (believed to be at least 13th level spell) that dropped the defences of Atlantis, enabling the Alliance of Great Old Ones and their armies to invade, leading ultimately to the fall of the the last iteration of Atlantis.