Alturiak 2, 1489
Dre'zel my love,
The albino Tiefling’s frozen corpse lay shattered at the bottom of Skydock Spire. The only thing that remained was Avarice’s staff, which had fallen with her and lay nearby.
Rock-Rowan burrowed into the tower and slammed a cultist that JoJo had just brutally slashed after cutting down another, who now lay frozen.
Inside the spire, a cultist—rattled at the sight of Avarice’s fall—commanded five others to begin a ritual, and the five of them dashed up the stairs. Rock-Rowan, poked by a Spiritual Icicle Weapon, slammed one as it fled up the stairs. Another cultist hesitated before following the rest up the stairs, and I saw a draconic snout sticking out from its hood and claws from its robe.
The three cultists who remained on the ground floor cast Inflict Wounds on JoJo, knocking the barbarian unconscious. Immediately, the Shield Guardian cast Aura of Vitality, awakening JoJo, before slamming another cultist to pulp, leaving only shattered shards of ice behind.
From across the courtyard, I shot two arrows, taking down a cultist, who froze as it fell and shattered on the ground. As I dashed, three cultists shot down at me with their heavy crossbows. I dodged one bolt, and the other glanced off me.
On the roof, Taimen disappeared into the invisible Bag of Holding only to emerge shortly after on the ground outside the spire. Then Talyth appeared inside the spire, surrounded by the glowing aurora of her Spirit Guardians.
Screaming for help, Gosse leaped from the roof. On the way down, Taimen cast Feather Fall on him, and as he floated down, he shot a cultist in the window with his eldritch wand. As he reached the floor, Taimen caught him in her tentacle.
Inside the spire, JoJo grabbed a cultist by the neck, slammed him into the floor, and hacked down with his sword. Rock-Rowan began burrowing up the stairs. Taimen and Gosse mounted Princess Skullcrusher, who dashed inside and up the stairs, where they found the five cultists surrounding a magic circle. JoJo was hit by a Spiritual Icicle Weapon and collapsed.
As I continued to dash toward the spire, I was hit by another crossbow bolt and shot down one cultist and injured another, maneuvering out of the third sniper’s range. JoJo rose again from the Aura of Vitality, as the Shield Guardian stomped a cultist to frozen bits before climbing up the stairs. Talyth flew up, passed the Shield Guardian, engulfing two cultists in her Spirit Guardians. The draconic cultist then called out to Talyth, clearly recognizing her, and removed his hood, revealing himself as Vellynne’s kobold assistant, Graven.
Gosse ran into the magical circle, kicking the gem dust and disrupting the ritual, before blasting a cultist with his eldritch wand.
JoJo rose and followed the Shield Guardian upstairs, where Rock-Rowan was smashing a cultist. Taimen stabbed another with her trident, who then fell from Talyth’s Spirit Guardians and froze. Talyth cast Silvery Barbs to avoid an arrow from above, and Graven cast Wither and Bloom, withering two cultists and healing Gosse.
I shot another cultist in the window as I continued to dash forward. Inside the spire, Talyth cast Sacred Flame, searing a cultist before it froze. Gosse blasted another cultist with his eldritch wand, and its corpse froze and fell. Rock-Rowan began burrowing up the wall toward a descending cultist, who Taimen hit with a Fire Bolt. The cultist fell as Rock-Rowan destroyed his platform and fell on top of him, crushing him as he froze.
Finally reaching the spire, I dashed up the outer walls to the second floor and leaped through the window, joining my companions. Talyth flew up to the next level. Gosse blasted the last cultist with his eldritch wand, and its corpse froze just like all the others.
Inside, the spire was a single hollow column extending all the way to the top. Multiple platforms were rigged to carry inhabitants up and down. One of the platforms was destroyed. Ten goats were tethered to a wall.
Graven explained to Taimen that he had come to find Vellynne and began to retch, “I failed her!” upon hearing of her fate. “She found Ythryn, but we were supposed to explore it together.”
Talyth expressed remorse to Graven for not being able to save Vellynne. Graven responded sympathetically and apologized for attacking JoJo before attempting to backpedal at the barbarian’s surprised reaction. Taimen absently invited Graven to join us before complaining that she didn’t have time for this and demanding the cultist we had taken prisoner.
Once JoJo retrieved the bound cultist from his backpack, Gosse began interrogating him, demanding he reveal the ritual step from the Tower of Divination. Quentin claimed it said, “Third, drain your life’s blood upon your shoes,” which Gosse concluded was a lie and poked out one of his eyes with his rapier. Crying in agony and begging for mercy, Quentin insisted he didn’t know the ritual step, as the cultist who tried to learn it lost an eye in the tower and learned nothing.
With her odd stare, Taimen said to Quentin, “We’re going to help you as long as you help us.” The cultist was grateful and offered that they had to turn back from the Tower of Divination because it was too dangerous. He elaborated that they found a bowl of eyes that invited them to ask a question, but when they tried, one of their number screamed and lost his eye. He shared that he was from Bryn Shander and became a follower of Levistus because he’d be dead if not for the Prince of Stygia, and that their corpses froze when they died as part of their pact with him. He also admitted that Avarice freed Vaelish Gant from Revel’s End, only to dispose of him afterward.
I retrieved Avarice’s staff, which was cold to the touch, and offered it to Rock-Rowan. Claiming it, Rowan identified it as a Staff of Frost.
Bringing Taimen the ten goats, Graven warned Taimen of the Arcane Blight and offered her his services, claiming that he had ingratiated himself with Avarice in an attempt to rescue Vellynne. The kobold said they had brought the goats as fodder and suggested Avarice had things of value in her quarters, on the roof.
I ran up to the roof as Talyth flew beside me. We retrieved her journal, which revealed how she formed a grudging alliance with Levistus, promising him her soul in hopes of increasing her powers of evocation despite not being a true believer. Levistus had called upon the Knights of the Black Swords to assist Avarice, whom she viewed as mere cannon fodder. It told of how Levistus had made her aware of Asmodeus’ manipulation of the Duergar and how they were able to withstand and repel the assault on Caer Dineval. She had led the Black Swords to Revel’s End to free the former Arcane Brotherhood member Vaelish Gant from Lord’s Alliance custody, stolen some ships, and used his intel to reach Solstice, where he believed the Codicil of White to be located. She then pitched him unceremoniously overboard. After noting that we had beaten her to the Codicil of White, the journal described in grandiose fashion how they drove Auril back with fire and heavy artillery in the battle on Solstice Island. Avarice had used Locate Object to track Vellynne to the Caves of Hunger and encountered Hengvar. Her journal described how she brought a number of her hardiest cult fanatics through the Caves, using goats to set off traps and bait its vampiric inhabitants. She described receiving a recent Sending from D'zaan, mocking her, claiming that though she was the first to arrive, he would claim [Ythryn’s] treasures. She scornfully wrote that he changes names as often as people change their clothes and referred to him as Fedrik. She’d planned to parley with us in good faith, hoping to entice us to join her. She seemed to be afraid that we would release the Arcane Blight and sought to teleport the ancient Ostorian anti-magic spindle—the source of the Arcane Blight that caused Ythryn’s downfall—to Stygia in the hopes that its anti-magic properties could be used to break Levistus out of the icy prison Asmodeus had entombed him within.
We also found 750 gold coins and a map of Ythryn that noted the eight towers, with the towers of divination and abjuration checked off.
When we shared this information with the others, Taimen, who admitted to casting Suggestion on Quentin, probed Gosse’s mind and revealed that he recalled D'zaan as a cowled wizard named Fedrik.
Graven took the goats to the library as we decided to visit the Wellspring of Answers in hopes of finding more clues. I sensed eyes observing us from the quiet buildings as we crossed the city, though they hid from us and showed no sign of hostility.
Finally, we reached a deep, stone well that plunged down a hundred feet through the city floor into the darkness. Five carved benches encircled the well, glinting under the eerie glow of nearby street lamps.
Taimen asked Quentin to have a seat, and as he did so, the bench under him illuminated, and he began to spasm as his remaining eye rolled back into his head and foam spilled from his mouth.
Talyth peered into the well and spotted a horrifying, huge monstrosity quickly clawing its way up from the depths, its five heads writhing at the end of long, serpentine necks.
Dashing to the edge of the well, I shot the hydra three times, causing one of the heads to slump down dead before I withdrew. JoJo waited at the edge of the well, his sword drawn high.
Talyth sat on a different bench and immediately fell into a trance.
Rumbling to the well’s edge, Rock-Rowan crumbled one of its sides down upon the monstrosity. Taimen pulled Quentin off the bench, and he whimpered a warning of impending danger. The creature’s head emerged from the well, and another head slumped dead as it was slashed by JoJo’s sword and blasted by Gosse’s eldritch wand.
The two slumping heads fell from their necks, and in each of their places, two more heads emerged.
A blast from Gosse’s eldritch wand destroyed another head. As I withdrew, I placed my Hunter’s Mark on the creature, but missed my next shot. JoJo, almost twenty feet tall, grabbed the monstrosity in his huge arms and tossed it down the well, urging us, “Let’s get out of here!”
Rock-Rowan destroyed more of the well’s perimeter, causing it to crash down onto the hydra, burying it. As the ground around the well collapsed, JoJo and Rock-Rowan leaped aside. The Shield Guardian, also standing on the collapsing ground, grabbed Talyth’s bench and tossed it—with her on it—aside, and slipped into the expanding hole.
I gave Gosse my Rope of Climbing, and he commanded one end to grab the Shield Guardian and tossed the other end to JoJo. Then I dashed to Talyth and pulled her from the bench, shaking her free from the trance.
As JoJo pulled the Shield Guardian up from the well, Talyth—who was upset at the trance being broken—explained that five Netherese mages had tried to combine their power to become one entity, but the procedure went horribly wrong, and they were trapped by Iriolarthas to provide knowledge to visitors.
After catching our breath, we turned toward the nearby Tower of Divination. Silver light flickered from a high window, above which a large, carved eye animated and blinked. Part of the tower's roof was missing.
While JoJo and the Shield Guardian waited outside, we entered and ascended a hundred feet beyond deserted classrooms, eyes in the balustrade opening and closing as we passed. Large gashes in the ceiling allowed us to see the dark, icicle-festooned roof. Silver light emanated from a three-foot-diameter glass orb situated above a two-foot-high cylindrical stone plinth in the center of a rubble-strewn circular chamber. Eyeballs drifted inside the orb, like fish in a bowl. As we approached, all the eyes turned and gazed at us, some with cataracts, others bloodshot or pus-filled.
While Quentin recoiled and sobbed, Talyth said she recognized the symbols of Savras, the god of divination.
The stone platform upon which the silver glowing orb of eyeballs rested was engraved with writing in Loross: "Ask and ye shall find."
Taimen urged Quentin to ask about the next step in the arcane octad ritual. Reluctantly, he placed a hand on the orb. With a strain and a shiver, he shared that he’d learned the inscription could be found on the roof inside some sort of observatory with a telescope. He pointed to a nearby building.
We proceeded to the observatory, passing what must have once been a bustling market hall, but now lay in ruins. Inside, we heard thunderous crashing from massive iron feet that could be seen through the entry gate. Taimen recognized the sigils on the ankles as those of the iron golem we encountered in the Caves of Hunger.
Skirting around the market hall, we reached the observatory, a conical tower held upright by a ring of arched buttresses. Expressionless humanoid figures stood in silence around it. The roof had a large, ragged hole in it where something large smashed through, revealing a telescope within.
The seven magen guarding the base of the tower motioned for us to halt. Speaking in our heads, they said, “Hold! This building is under quarantine. There’s an aberration that resides within. Something from beyond the stars.”
Handing them some official-looking paperwork, Gosse convinced them we were sent to deal with the aberration, and they parted for us. “Be wary,” they warned. “The thing may not be alone,” and pointed toward a huge iron door, welded shut from the outside, and departed.
Determined to find one of the steps to the arcane octad ritual, I volunteered to climb to the top of the observatory. With Talyth’s Guidance, I scaled the hundred-foot tower and peered in through the large hole in the collapsed ceiling. Inside, a large telescope dominated a thirty-foot-diameter circular chamber at the top of the tower. Gazing into the telescope's eyepiece was a hulking, frog-like biped in large wizard's robes that paid me no mind as it mumbled to itself. Adamantine shields covered the observatory's windows. A large chunk of black Netherese stone from the Tower of Divination lay on the floor. This intruding fragment bore a strange inscription that was only partially visible: “Third, a burnt palm…”
From the shadows, I watched as the large frog wizard tinkered and mumbled, opening panels and flipping switches, causing flashes and sparks of light. I sensed the aberration was old and dangerous. Steeling myself, I waited for the frog wizard to turn its back and snuck in to read the rest of the inscription: “...loosens the tongue. Shed a secret about yourself for all to hear.”
As I departed, an adamantine panel shifted, alerting the frog wizard, but I was already running down the side of the tower.
At the bottom, I shared what I learned, including the ritual step. Gosse and Taimen recognized the creature as a Green Slaad from the realm of Limbo.
Satisfied, we retrieved Graven and headed to the toppled Tower of Necromancy, its remains scattered around its fractured base, which protruded from the ground like a broken tooth. It was teeming with crawling gray hands.
I spotted a gaunt spectral figure wandering inside the base and pointed it out to my companions. It appeared to be surveying the progress made by the crawling hands.
Graven offered to converse with the dead. With Taimen’s approval, he puffed out his chest and shouted toward the tower, “Hey, ghost! What’s up!”
“Who goes there?” the spectral figure rasped, leaning out of a window. “It is I, Cadavix, Arch Necromancer. I see you also bear the markings of the craft. I’m afraid I cannot teach you any longer, my boy, but perhaps you can help me finally be at peace.”
“How may I put you to rest?” Graven inquired.
“Retrieve my body,” Cadavix responded. “Give me a proper burial. It’s under all this, far beneath my tower. Find my body. Grant me this sweet respite so that I may finally slumber, and I shall give you whatever reward you desire. If you find my necklace of Fireballs, you may keep it.”
Taimen cast Locate Object and detected Cadavix’s Necklace of Fireballs hundreds of feet below the tower. She pointed the direction out to Rock-Rowan, who burrowed deep into the earth, eventually emerging with a mummified corpse wearing a necklace with six glowing beads.
When Rock-Rowan emerged, the claws bowed. After removing the necklace, Rock-Rowan dumped the corpse into a hole, and the ghost began to disperse as it muttered its final words: “Seventh, trace a circle with the ashes of the dead.”
Graven seemed to glow with pride and blushed at the praise he received from Taimen.
Feeling victorious, we agreed to head toward the huge, axe-blade-topped Tower of Evocation at the center of the city. Red light shone from a slender window high overhead.
Taimen sent Graven back to the library on Princess Skullcrusher to do some research.
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