Chapter XII: The Ruins of Celinad

Celinad-the once great capital of the Celinadian Empire, now in ruins after The Fall of Celinad. The once majestic city with it's concentric rings, and 40 ft high walls made of stone, it's high arches and marble pillars, and the domed structures lay crumbled and toppled, the city now a ruined shell of it's former self.

The warriors cautiously enter the ruins, a sickly mist clinging to the ground made travel slightly difficult, and the smell of rot, mold, and brackish water filled their noses. They search the great library finding a few books that survived the last almost 800 years. A few spell scrolls and mostly intact spell books were also retrieved. The heroes also found some stone engravings that carried cryptic writings such as;

"Justice sits in judgment not for wrath,
But to balance the blade of kings.
Even emperors must weigh the law more than their pride."

And in a brittle old tome with the title, "The Testament of the Crown", the passage;

“When the Emperor’s line faced darkness, only those who bore the Four Virtues were permitted to descend into the Sanctum Below.”

And it was within the great Imperial library that the black dragon was spotted for the first time. Its winged, fearsome form silhouetted by the high sun in the sky. The beast did not seem to spy the party as they hid within the ruined structure.

The adventurers moved on, slowly making their way to the inner ring of the city. A once grand structure with a now crumbled domed roof could be spied upon a hill within.

 

As they moved cautiously inwards, twice the mighty adventurers were attacked by a patrol of the lizardmen that Kalendriel had mentioned. Two of the strange reptilian men even rode giant lizards like calvary steeds. Theolin suffered a nasty wound as a spear dug deep into his cheek that would leave a scar on the pirates's pretty blonde face.

Eventually, the explorers found their way inside a ruined temple, that at one time must have served as a religious hub for the Celinadian Empire in centuries past. Here more strange writings were found within. A plaque engraved was found behind a crumbling altar, upon it was the passage,

Then a fading, cracked mosiac was found on a temple wall. Upon it was the image of four beings; a priest, a knight, a magistrate, and a robed scholar. A codex and cracked and crumbling stone was written;

"Let the pious kneel before the dawn, For faith is the first flame of the soul. Without it, the other lights shall fail."

Later figuring that the four figures were stand-ins for the "four virtues"; faith, courage, justice, and wisdom; the adventurers continued on through the ruined capital. They wandered into the one time colliseum of Celinad where great tournaments must have been held and camped there for the night.   The next morning the party awoke, and upon leaving the colliseum the warriors spied another group of lizardmen warriors. A battle ensued leading to the rout of the primitive lizardmen. One escaped however, fleeing inside the ruined palace. The adventurers gave chase and found the lone survivor hiding underneath some of the ruined palace's rubble. After some interrogation, mild totrture, and parleying the lizardman revealed his name was "Ssss'ka" and he was a warrior of the Blackwater tirbe of lizardfolk. His tribe began worship of the black dragon, Drakathar, and followed him from their home in the swamps of the Grey Bogs. For decades now, the Blackwater tribe made the Ruined Lake their home.   In exchange for his freedom, Ssss'ka revealed what information he knew about Drakathar. Drakathar had made his lair inside the throneroom of the ruined palace. For years the black dragon patrolled the skies, slaying groups of adventurers and stealing their treasures for his own horde and feating on their carcasses. Drakathar demands a weekly tribute from the lizard folk, and also uses them as slave labor and to patrol the ruins of Celinad keeping intruders out of the dragon's domain. When questioned about his tribe, he told the questing heroes that they killed the Blackwater chieftan and shaman when they encountered the first squad of lizardmen. Satisfied with the information they received, the group released Ssss'ka and let him return to his folk.   The adventurers climbed the stairs and entered the throneroom confident that Drakathar was away hunting for his next victims. There they found a once grand opulent throneroom dominated by two things; a throne made of tarnished silver, and piles upon piles of coins and treasure!   Behind the throne lay a symbol of four concentric circles made of stone with each circle covered in symbols from an ancient language and the circles could be rotated. The adventurers surmised this was a lock meant to solved that would open a hidden door somewhere within the palace. Deftly, they solved the lock deducing the rings needed to be aligned so the four pillars of rulership; faith, courage, justice, and wisdom be displayed in order. The lock solved, the throne itself slid back on rails and revealed a hidden staircase leading to darkness below.   The stairs led to a hidden crypt containing statues honoring past emperors and heroes of the Celinadian Empire. Exploring the crypts led to the discovery of a hidden burial chamber where the skeletal remains of former baron Klain Blackwulf and his loyal reatiners lain undisturned for centuries. The deceased Baron's bones lain atop the sarcophagus of the first Celinadian emperor; the magical sword Gaurwaith still clutched in skeletal fingers.   A cold, spectral voice from beyond the grave rang out throughout the burial chamber,

"Let he who is of the blood of Blackwulf wield Gaurwaith and assume his birhtright."

So Duvall runs and grasps the magical sword by the hillt...