Session XXVII: Hic Sunt Dracones

Following her lucid experience of hopeless resistance in the Shadowfell, Jacqualine woke up and immediately told Imaros of this due to faintly recalling that he received a letter regarding two of his brothers moving to the very same city at some point. Imaros, wearing Scholar-Bureaucrat Secunda's performance-enhancing spectacles, made a decision to inform his mother of this, urging her to get Kelenos and Falios to safety.   The following day the party arrived at what was apparently the epicenter of the storm. Several dozen fallen Yuan-Ti Greenwater raiders accompanied by the beached wreck of a large ship welcomed them. Caerlin, who used to be a battle-sorcerer in the Serpentine Hierarchy's navy, recognised the vessel as the Indomitable Willbreaker, the flagship of the failed raiding fleet. He then spoke of his last experiences sailing with the full fleet: an unusual storm swept over them, followed by ships starting to suddenly implode or sink as the result of some unknown attacker. Jacqualine took this opportunity to get away from him and began assessing the cause of death of these raiders. She concluded that most perished, around five months ago, as a result of either blunt force or lightning damage. She also cast Speak with Dead on the ship's fallen navigator; in short, what he had seen before his death was clearly not the work of a hydra but something else entirely, which was quickly assumed to be that of a dragon. Both Imaros and Del'Gado recalled that lightning is typically associated with blue and bronze dragons.   Caerlin pilfered the corpses of his dead comrades and retrieved several scrolls and potions of Waterbreathing and Freedom of Movement. He also pointed out that the Inevitable Willbreaker's arcane ballista seemed to be in working order, and took a small detour towards the beached ship. At the same time, Jacqualine and Del'Gado walked across the centre of the massacred raiders, and unfortunately stepped right over the spot of a subterranean ambush. The sand collapsed under them, revealing a massive chasm that seemed to branch off into numerous wide tunnels seemingly held together by hardened salt. Jacqualine managed to retain her footing and avoid falling, but Del'Gado fell farther down. Tumbling in the dark, he saw an enormous dragon break invisibility. He just barely managed to avoid falling into the dragon's maw by activating his Boots of Flying and undertaking a quick vertical egress. The dragon then flew upwards and maintained a comfortable spot a hundred feet up in the air. This dragon's scales initially appeared to be golden, but they were not as reflective as they should be, instead giving off a distinctly matte colour: yellow. The party's knowers of dragon lore were not aware of yellow dragons, but could comfortably categorise this dragon as ancient. Indeed, the adventurers now faced one of the most secretive, isolationistic, egoistical, and treacherous types of dragons to have ever lived: a Yellow Dragon. And cunning it was, for it remained far outside the range of the adventurers whilst casting red lighting spears, causing earthquakes, and even manipulating the terrain itself, submerging the entire beach.   As the designated arcane ballista operator, Caerlin landed several devastating hits on the dragon, sometimes assisted by marks left behind by Jacqualine's guiding bolts, and eventually crippled one of its wings, forcing it to land on the submerged beach. It quickly became obvious that Yellow Dragons were natural-born swimmers, but at least it was now easier to reach. In a tit-for-tat move, the dragon telekinetically lifted the wreck of the Inevitable Willbreaker and broke it in two, and then threw it downwards, causing some temporary complications for those who were on it. Further, it used magic and its breath attacks to gravely injure clustered groups, resulting in the party scrambling to keep each other from remaining paralysed, blinded, suffocating, or a combination of all three at once. Still, the onslaught from the arcane ballista continued, wounding the dragon further, who started to act more defensively, burrowing underground to avoid contact altogether and trying to separate the party by placing Walls of Force. After surfacing a second time, Imaros managed to rush right in front of it and made a once-in-a-lifetime maneuver. He intended to climb on top of it, and skilfully evaded the dragon's tail swipe with a swipe of his own rage-induced tail. Brandishing the sword of Izdubar, Shattered Dream, he pierced the dragon's hide with its infernal flame in a flurry of strikes, and when the dragon retaliated with red lightning slams, he somehow managed to remain conscious. And thus capable of continuing his assault. In a joint finale, Caerlin fired a last force bolt into it, followed by Jacqualine miraculously managing to command this Ancient Yellow Dragon to come forward, and its life was ended with a single well-placed shot through its massive skull from Del'Gado's self-styled Golden Gun. At last claiming victory over Karrundalbar, the Ancient Yellow Dragon. Its lair seemed a bit modest in terms of capital, but the party retrieved several magical artifacts as a reward.   On the way towards Hazred's marking, the silver coin Del'Gado received by the conspirators began moving, setting itself down near an empty patch of ground. In a flash, the coin disappeared, and in its stead, several sacks of platinum and gold coins remained; the total worth of the items the party opted to hand over to the conspiracy. It amounted to 50000 gold, probably having been rounded in some way. Imaros, appreciator of currency, was over the moon at this sight. It was a fleeting joy however, for that same evening he received a subtle message from his cousin Aegis, who asked him to walk somewhere private. He told Imaros that a new Synod ruling practically eliminated Twilight Advocate immunity in relation to financial crimes (which was likened to theft against the Crown itself). And unless the monarch expresses otherwise, this new interpretation will be vigorously enforced. As such, Aegis contacted Imaros to remind him of his long laundry list of financial irregularities, unpaid taxes, and reverse-funnel schemes, which some local authorities were very interested in hearing about. And yes, these authorities were in the room with Aegis at the time, and they kindly requested that Imaros remove his Amulet of Non-detection. After some deliberation, Imaros decided to remove the amulet, and soon a portal opened, led by a Karapanate official flanked by Hammerites of the Claw. Skipping introductions entirely, the priest cast Imprisonment on Imaros and then closed the portal.   When the party woke up, they discovered that their erstwhile companion was missing. They speculated about the cause: an accident involving the glasses emerged as the leading theory. Jacqualine and Caerlin sent messages to Aegis and Kadaron. The former was uncontactable, and the latter was again disappointed by the lack of communication from the party. The noble even refused to give the party concrete updates on the situation at the Elysian Court, mentioning that a regent has been installed without providing further elaboration. And so the party decided to remain extra vigilant as they approached their destination, which appeared to be the top of a bald hill.   On the top of this bald hill they saw a swirling, crackling blue vortex that was slightly larger than an average human. As a sorcerer, Caerlin felt a disturbance in the arcane undercurrent of reality. Nevertheless, he approached the vortex with some curiosity. Jacqualine suggested that he touch the thing and disappear for good; Caerlin did just that, but something (not necessarily the manipulation by Caerlin) caused the rift to rapidly expand, resulting in the whole party being roped in by this aberrant vortex. After what seemed like a few seconds the party found themselves standing in an empty room with a singular corridor marking the way forward. The walls bore the same faded yellowish floral motif, and a constant humming could be heard from the omnipresent ceiling lights. After some initial bickering, the party decided to move on, and actually got lost for two days in the innumerable, illogical maze of endless corridors and empty backrooms. They eventually managed to locate a distinct part of the accursed area. The party walked through a wooden lobby that contained some strange equipment, which Del'Gado could determine was both unusable and completely alien to them. The area split off into several directions, and the adventurers decided to explore the one that connected to their current zone, which resembled an inn of some sorts, as it contained many numbered rooms.   In one of these rooms a displaced harengon from the Sword Coast had sought refuge. He had been suddenly separated from his parents during a confrontation with an angry archwizard and somehow ended up in the same strange place as the party. Tropam, relieved at hearing footsteps accompanied by normal voices, introduced himself to the party, and wished to know where they hailed from. However, Akkon and Kartia were completely foreign to him, as were Baldur's Gate and Toril to the adventurers. Still, they all spoke Common, and joined forces; Tropam had already mapped out some of his surroundings and showed the party where Captain Adrian was. Captain Adrian of the "Black Sky Corporation" was of course not alive. She and seven other identically-dressed soldiers had been killed by something quite recently. Their black-and-white camouflage attire, black body armour and helmets, and green-tinted gasmasks were unlike anything the party had seen before, though their (ruined) weapons reminded them of the firearms utilised by the XXV Army Corps, if a bit more complex. Tropam had determined that both pure radiance and force had killed most of them. Two of them were locked in an embrace and had sustained some form of internal brain damage. Del'Gado found traces of some sort of stone around the room, which seemed to have been caused by the bullets fired by the Black Sky soldiers, though what they had been shooting at was impossible to determine.   The new-formed party pressed onward and collected various trinkets left behind by other displaced souls from all manner of realms. Notably, the party located the remains of Arcadius, the last Emperor of Hyx, in a side room. Even in death his corpse maintained an august posture, and scattered notes indicate that he spent his last days writing poetry. Amongst the notes, an exhortation was found:  

Imperium sine fine. Sed ego non sum imperium. Ego sum Arcadius, filius Marcus et Helvidia. Si potes memini me. Bona fortuna.

  Which translates to "An empire without an end. But I am not the empire. I am Arcadius, son of Marcus and Helvidia. Remember me if you are able. Good luck." The adventurers looted his clothes and took the Amulet of Crowns from his body. Two quite elegant relics from a more civilised age.   Further, the party glimpsed what was likely the entity that killed the Black Sky soldiers whilst hiding in Arcadius' room (as they had heard mechanical footsteps coming their way, they retreated back there). Del'Gado had a peek through the lock and saw what looked like feminine statue dressed in golden armour: the left part of its head was shattered, revealing clockwork mechanisms underneath. Del'Gado recalled a job from his past where he was tasked with stealing an encyclopedia from the library of the Ennead Star Embassy, and he distinctly remembered rifling through its pages and reading about Inevitables, the living machine aeons of Axis. Additionally, this particular Inevitable bore the appearance of a marut, who represent (and enforce) the inevitability of death. Tactical advice: run.   After spending another day exploring their unending surroundings, the party returned to Tropam's refuge and decided to investigate the doors that had been marked by white markings. All these rooms were empty save for the last, which contained two corpses dressed in black-and-white protective suits seated in opposite ends from one another. The one with its back turned towards the party stood up, and its head swung around 180 degrees. An unfriendly welcome, followed by armed confrontation…