Midwinter, 1489
Dre'zel my love,
After defeating the flameskulls and the kobold vampire spawn, Talyth sprinkled holy water over the remains, and Duker Ulder examined the contents of the iron safe.
In the safe was a bag, which Duke Ulder poured out, revealing four large amethysts and a ring. The latter was a Ring of the Ram, which Talyth took, but more significantly, when he examined the bag, he discovered it was a Bag of Holding. He gave the amethysts to Taimen and kept the bag.
Talyth healed us all with her Aura of Vitality, though I still felt drained from the kobold vampire spawn.
To the south, a slippery twenty-foot drop opened into a larger, forty-foot-high cavern with sparkling icicles as long as longswords clinging to the roof and frost-covered blocks of stone and a toppled pillar strewn across the floor.
“Ah, a fallen pillar from the lost city of Netheril.” Professor Skant exclaimed. “How exciting, Vellynne! We finally made it!”
“We're not there yet,” Vellynne chided, “but yeah, I agree, it's fascinating. I can't wait to explore the stonework.”
Embedded in the east wall was a stone tower, similar to the spire we had found. Pale blue and silver light glittered through cracks in the stonework.
"Look at that!” Professor Skant continued. “That tower appears to be of Netherese construction. Were it not for the cracks and holes, the stone would be smooth as glass, shaped by wizardly magic!"
Examining the icicles, I spotted a flittering of frosty bat wings hiding among them and recognized half a dozen ice mephits among the icicles.
I stopped Vellynne from moving any closer, warning, “We have company,” before turning and shooting two of the mephits, which exploded and brought all the icicles crashing to the floor.
Duke Ulder blasted one with his gun, and JoJo finished it with a javelin. Rowan ripped one down with her Thorn Whip and shattered it against the wall, and Taimen melted one with a Fire Bolt.
A fog cloud appeared, and though I still shot down the last one I had seen through the fog, the cloud remained.
Talyth’s Shield Guardian carried her down the icy drop, and as she was trying to find the hidden mephit, a mist rose behind her and transformed into a large, ravenous-looking hyena. As she turned to avoid a bite from its bloody maw, an icicle fell from the ceiling, scraping her shoulder.
As the last ice mephit tried to flee, JoJo threw a javelin, dropping it, and the fog cloud disappeared.
Duke Ulder tried to slide down the icy drop and slammed into the Shield Guardian’s leg. I jumped from the ledge across to the Shield Guardian and, somewhat clumsily, slid down its leg, and tried to shoot the hyena with my laser gun, but missed. JoJo jumped down from the ledge and landed on his back. The Shield Guardian stepped forward, protecting Talyth from the hyena.
Rowan transformed into a saber-toothed tiger and leaped from the ledge, pouncing onto the hyena, knocking it prone, and tearing into its throat with their teeth.
As Vellynne panicked at the sight of the hyena, Professor Skant exclaimed, “Oh gosh, it’s a gnoll vampire! Fascinating! Did you know they absolutely detest the aroma of perfume and are enraged by the language, Celestial? Odd creatures, those, but don't let it get you.”
Righting itself, the gnoll evaporated into mist and floated through the cracks in the fallen tower.
The Shield Guardian helped Taimen and Vellynne down from the ledge, and Vellynne sent her Arcane Eye into the tower after it.
“Fascinating!” Vellynne’s eyes lit up as she examined the fallen tower. “We should rest inside this tower. I did not find any trace of whatever attacked Talyth, but I do believe this is one of the ancient arcane towers belonging to the Netherese.”
The tower’s interior walls were decorated with shifting geometric patterns and unrecognizable constellations. A human skeleton in white robes lay on the uneven floor.
"Netherese spellcasters would come to towers like this,” Vellynne continued. “A mere short rest inside will replenish your spells.”
Unable to locate the hyena, Vellynne sent her Arcane Eye further to scout the caves beyond while we rested in the fallen tower. Beyond the tower, Vellynne saw some sort of self-guided tour of Ythryn, a giant iron head, a large gaping hole in the floor, part of a toppled wizard’s tower, a dark cavern, a dozen headless netherese corpses, and dozens of kobold snowmen.
Through a hole in the tower’s east wall, we found a cavern, empty aside from the fallen tower’s rubble. Duke Ulder led us north through a passage to a twenty-foot-high cavern with a flat, slightly canted slab of stone resting in its center. One side was rough, as if the slab had been cut from a larger structure.
Scraping the frost from the eight-foot-long, four-foot-wide, and four-foot-high slab, Vellynne revealed carvings of an open eye and what looked like Draconic script, which she read, “Take the free, self-guided tour of Ythryn. Press the eye to cast the spell.”
Profess Skant explained that the language was Loross, an ancient Netherese tongue similar to elven.
Duke Ulder immediately poked the eye and was able to see through an Arcane Eye. After some time, he said there was a hole in the ground further south, smooth as glass, and descending far into the dark before reaching a light created by glowing pools of boiling water.
Rowan suggested the tunnels were formed by rhemorraz, and with the eye, Duke Ulder determined that the pool held large eggs.
With Duke Ulder still leading the way with his billowing cape, we took a passage east to a twenty-foot-high cavern with a giant iron head lying on its side. Its glowing eyes flickered three times as we approached.
Vellynne explained that it was severed from an iron golem and soon learned that it understood us and could communicate by blinking.
As I stood guard by a passage leading further east, the iron golem head communicated that it was a guardian of the city and that less than five drow elves had passed it within the last ten days. I suspect there were more questions answered, but I was no longer paying attention, instead pondering the ramifications of drow within these caves.
When we were done questioning the iron golem, Duke Ulder led us back west and then south until we reached the toppled wizard’s tower. Approaching the tower with abandon, Duke Ulder gave us a disgusted look as he was briefly overcome by a horrific illusion, before quickly suppressing it. Talyth detected abjuration magic on the tower door, which Duke proceeded to knock on.
North of the tower was a hole in the floor, over ten feet in diameter and smooth as glass, that descended into a curve beyond my vision. I stood guard over the hole while the tower was explored.
Vellynne found a hole in the tower leading to a ruined alchemy lab, where Talyth saw two potions of magical superior healing, which Duke Ulder retrieved. Taimen and I took the potions in case we needed to heal Talyth.
With Duke Ulder still leading the way, we headed back, past the iron golem head, down a longer sloping passage, to a large cavern. The thirty-foot-high ceiling was enveloped in a darkness that immediately slid down the walls as we entered, forming human shadows.
Duke Ulder leaped into the room as the shadows approached, and Talyth cast Spirit Guardian just inside the entrance. Taimen cast Shatter on a group of shadows. Saber-toothed tiger Rowan leaped over the rest of us into the cavern, destroying a shadow with their claws. As they advanced, seven shadows disintegrated into Talyth’s Spirit Guardian. The three remaining shadows surrounded Duke Ulder, who looked undeterred. One melted from the radiant blast of my gun, and I shot another twice with my bow. Leaping away with his cape ever billowing, Duke Ulder destroyed the injured one with his gun. The last ran into Talyth’s Spirit Guardian and was also disintegrated.
Vellynne was eager to raise the Netherese she’s seen to the north, while Taimen insisted that the place was desecrated and refused to join her, warning that entering the place was a mistake. Ultimately, Vellynne entered with Duke Ulder, JoJo, and Talyth, while I guarded the passages leading further east and south and Taimen, Rowan, and the Shield Guardian waited nearby. I heard a faint yipping sound from far to the east.
Inside the cavern, Vellynne had found a golden symbol of Mystryl, but she, Talyth, JoJo, and Duke Ulder soon emerged, holding their growling stomachs in pain.
Emerging first from the cavern, Duke Ulder nonchalantly announced that he was afflicted by a cannibalistic curse. Following behind, JoJo asked Taimen to restrain him, but she was too apoplectic that they had ignored her warnings. Talyth tried using her divine powers, but nothing she had prepared was working. Vellynne pulled out her rations and began ravenously shoving food into her mouth.
Following suit, Talyth devoured a day’s worth of rations. In a panic, JoJo snatched Vellynne’s symbol of Mystryl from her hands and snapped it in two, but it did nothing to quell the hunger inside him, and he quickly resorted to scarfing down a day’s worth of rations.
We used the alchemy jug to feed mayonnaise to a reluctant Duke Ulder, who had been determined to fight the hunger despite the obvious pains of hunger and exhaustion consuming him.
Satisfied for the moment, Duke Ulder led us south down a short, naturally formed stairway that opened into an empty cavern with a narrow passage leading east and a larger one leading southwest.
As we descended the stairs, we heard a sigh that turned into a cackle. Then a shimmering, shadowy figure appeared and spoke in Elvish. “Cursed be those who gaze upon the horror that Drakareth has become. Such promise wasted, lost in this cold sepulcher! Where were you centuries ago when I was in the prime of my life? Where were you when the frigid darkness consumed me? Nothing remains of me but ancient bones. I am all that remains of his spirit.”
Duke Ulder replied with a vulgar expletive, and the wraith approached menacingly. From the Shield Guardian’s back, I tried to blast it with my gun, but the shot went wide, and the two arrows that followed caused it to hiss slightly, but it laughed as they passed right through it. It sank into the floor until it was gone, only to rise out of the stone floor and hover right behind me, draining my energy with its touch. Taimen tried to charm the foul creature, and in response, it promised to kill her last. Saber-toothed tiger Rowan leaped up and clawed it, tearing into its darkness with their teeth. Talyth channeled her divine powers to refresh us with soothing twilight. It seemed to ignore a punch from the Shield Guardian and a slice from JoJo’s dimmed blade. Finally, I shot it with my gun, the radiant blast shredding its dark form, leaving it diminished and fleeing back into the stone floor.
Following the sound of the wraith’s wretched laugh, Duke Ulder led the way south to where the debilitated creature was desperately guarding its treasures. Easily dodging the weakened wraith, Duke Ulder bit into the darkness, and it faded.
The ice wall beyond shattered, revealing another chamber where a well-proportioned and adorned skeleton lay holding an ornate staff and wearing a regal cape over its broad shoulder bones.
Vellyne identified the staff as a Staff of Charming, which Duke Ulder claimed for himself, and the cape as a Mantle of Spell Resistance, which we insisted Talyth wear.
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