Session 2 - City in the Sand
General Summary
Approximately twelve days ago Feebs , Sylbella , and Gunkyn were in the great underground city beneath the ruins of Ghor Dranas in the Kryn Dynasty enjoying not only the New Dawn festivities as the year 1499 gave way to 1500, but also being granted audience with the Bright Queen herself.
During that audience, it was revealed that a long-lost tome of knowledge, the fourth volume of the Catalogus Artium had been found after millennia of being thought destroyed. This ancient tome, along with its accompanying volumes could be the key to locating another artifact, the Amulet of Souls. Leylas Kryn believes the Amulet of Souls could potentially finally put an end to the tyranny of the Spider Queen, Lolth and has been seeking it for centuries.
This great discovery of the Catalogus Artium has led to her asking them all to join an expedition to visit the three great libraries to consult the other three volumes and obtain their information about the Amulet of Souls. These libraries are spread across the world of Chronala - the Library of the Cobalt Soul on the border of The Wilds and the Protectorate of Edrinn, the Biblioplex, located at Strixhaven near the city of Edrinn, and finally The Library of The Citadel located on Citadel Isle off the coast of the Western Continent.
A couple of days after New Dawn, they, along with several others set off from Ghor Dranas first to the shore to take a ship to the village of Hari in The Wilds, where the expedition obtains three vardos as well as three four-legged bird-like creatures called Achaierai to pull them.
Alas, a few days out from Hari while in the open dessert the caravan is struck by an enormous sandstorm. Feebs, Sylbella, and Gunky tie themselves together and hunker down until the storm passes, but when it does none of the rest of their expedition is to be seen. Even the vardos and achaierai are gone! Carrying only the provisions they have in their packs, the three start on foot toward a distant mountain range hoping to find signs of the others on route or that they made it there themselves.
After several days of walking, they exhaust their meager water and food supplies but continue onward. Exhausted by the heat and lack of food and water they eventually stumble (quite literally as Sylbella trips over a stone) into the ruins of an ancient city buried in the sands.
The stone blocks of the city toppled and cracked ages ago and sand covers most of the buildings. The stones that remain uncovered have been scoured smooth by the blowing sands.
In the center of the city towered a step-pyramid. It once had five step-like tiers, each 20' high. The bottom-most tier was almost completely covered with sand. On top of the highest tier are three 30' tall statues.
The statue on the left was of a strong, bearded man holding a sword in one hand and a lightning bolt in the other. The middle statue was of a young girl her body and limbs merely wavy strands that caress and create the edges of the shadows around her. The child held a wand in one hand and a handful of coins in the other. The statue on the right was of a beautiful woman with a wild, tangled wreath of hair, leaves, and vines. In her hands she held a shepherd's crook with a wreath of grass and grain attached to it and a sword in the other. Between the three of them, the determine that these appear to be ancient versions of the gods Kord, Sehanine, and Melora.
On the south side of the pyramid, a ramp with stairs led from the ground to the top of the highest tier. A quick search of the ruins revealed no source of food or water, so you decided to climb the pyramid. In the side of the ramp, level with the floor of the top tier, they find a secret door.
The slab of stone that hid the secret entrance to the pyramid is now held open by the dead body of a hobgoblin. The body has a large crossbow bolt sunk deep in its chest. The Hobgoblin has been dead several weeks.
Venturing into the pyramid, they quickly find the wall niche with the hidden crossbow that killed the hobgoblin. They also find footprints in the dust leading into the structure. Coming upon an interior door, they open it and enter into the highest tier of the pyramid, which is a single 40' square room. The room smells old and musty. The dust on the floor has been disturbed, though no special details can be made out. Three huge bronze cylinders reach from the floor to the ceiling in the middle of the room. In the center of each cylinder, facing you at floor level, is a bronze door. Each door has a bronze handle that can be used to pull the door open.
Feebs begins investigating the room while Sylbella and Gunkyn stay near the door, holding it open. After a few moments the goblin notices holes in the walls in each of the four corners of the room and hears a slight hissing sound. “Gas!” he yells and three quickly exit the room to assess their options.
Realizing that if they were to allow the door to swing shut, as it is designed to do, the room would eventually fill with the gas coming from the holes. Sylbella gathers rags by tearing the clothes from the dead hobgoblin and begins stuffing the holes while Feebs and Gunkyn check the rest of the room and discover dried blood in front of the door to the center cylinder and the right cylinder has a trap door in front of it.
Taking no chances, Sylbella and Gunkyn move to the southeast corner well away from the left cylinder while Feebs opens the door with a rope from the side. As anticipated, four darts shoot out and would have struck anyone standing in front of the door. He does the same with the center cylinder’s door but thankfully that trap was apparently already sprung. Testing the right cylinder the same way, he confirms that it triggers the trap door.
Satisfied that all traps have been accounted for and suitably disabled they try the ladders inside the cylinders. By climbing up, they find themselves apparently inside the statues on top of the pyramid. Each one has various levers that can be used to move parts of the statue (or at least could at one time as they are rusted and frozen in place now). There is also a speaking tube which would seemingly amplify one’s voice to anyone outside the pyramid.
Going down the ladder in the right cylinder they find themselves in another forty foot square room, where they discover that all three ladders lead to. A ten foot radius circle at the foot of each ladder is lit by a glowing, two foot long beetle. Each beetle has three glowing spots.
After dispatching the fire beetles, they investigate the rest of the room. Sylbella also determines that the beetles are suitable for consumption, so the group is at least able to satiate their hunger if not their thirst. The rest of the room contains a small foundry and forge for repairing small parts – in fact there are apparently spare parts for the statue mechanisms. There are also several clay pots that once contained machine oil that has mostly evaporated over time.
After their makeshift meal, they check each of the three doors in the room, discovering that each opens into a hallway. Choosing the northwest door, the explore further into the second tier of the pyramid.
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