The Ruins of Solternia

Session #1 - The Sanhi Desert

1. Briefed on quest by a geeky Yuan-Ti Malison (type 3) professor named Nikji. Met him in a bar at a small Yuan-Ti village 100 miles outside the infamous Ruins of Dahlaeyir
2. The party got into a sand sled. Nikja conjured five Sun Serpents to pull the sled and a Solarmander to lead the charge, keeping an eye out for threats. During the trip, the party saw a Roc hunting a Solephant, choosing to pass on the encounter. After passing, a Purple Worm burst from the ground beneath them, grabbing both in its maw and returning to the deep. Later, they find a 50 ft cactus, which Enzo goes to scratch. The cactus reveals itself to be a Cactreant, while six Starpions emerge from the sand to attack the group. After a battle that saw the deaths of 3 snakes, all the Starpions and the Cactreant were killed, especially once they figured out its weakness to fire.
3. Arrived near the city & made it through the Banatarian checkpoint with no issue, but atop a stone pillar, Aaehrina the Gynosphinx awaited and approached them.

Session #2: Forsaken City

1. To continue towards the city, the party solved the riddle asked by the Sphinx, leading her to grant them passage and gift them a new party member, Gink
2. From a distance, the city seemed pretty like a ruined beauty, but once walking through, the party noted it to be littered with ancient Elven, Human & Dwarven skeletons from the Last Siege of Dahlaeyir, as well as partially decomposed Gnoll, lamia & manticore on one side of the city, and a slain Medusa & basilisk surrounded by scattered statue pieces (dead gargoyles) on another. The party deduced that multiple battles have happened here, both during & long after the Last Siege.
3. Find a bag of holding left on a body of a treasure hunter
4. Accessed Dahli’s Point by completing the Gate Puzzle
5. Found a Sun Elf Mummy Lord in his tomb, killed it and took his heart. The room was full of Sungold jewelry & riches, all of which would belong to the party. In the room, the skeleton of a past explorer has a bag of holding on its person, allowing the party to store all of the treasure.
6. Found a hidden door behind the tomb, with a hallway leadings towards the heart of the temple. Sundriwhich is guarded by Sungold Sentries & Scarabs, led by a Solar Golem (?)

Session #3:The Suntinel

Bottom level of the ruins, the Suntinel guards the Solternian Undersun. General Dontess & the Banatarian Army arrive and thank the adventurers for their efforts, securing the city and the Gaiosun (which will later be converted into the Antisun)
Non-combat Obstacles
Gate Puzzle: two symbols (sunrise & sunset) & a smaller prong, seemingly like a Sundial on close inspection. The door has a equidistant cross with four holes. The symbols must be placed at the geographic direction at which they occur (sunrise must be placed on the East hole, sunset must be placed on the West hole), and the sundial prong must be placed relative to the current time of day. Once the puzzle is complete, the door will emanate with solar magic and open to the party
Sphinx Riddle: “I sizzle like bacon, I'm made with an egg. I have plenty of backbone, but not a good leg. I peel layers like an onion, but still remain whole. I can be long like a flagpole, yet I fit in a hole. What am I?” Answer: a snake
Combat Obstacles:
2. Ruins Part 2: Temple of the Sundroids
-Sungold Scarab (automatons, size of giant spiders, can bite with extra lightning damage & crawl on walls) -Sungold Firefly (2 cannons that deal radiant damage, can fly) -Sungold Sentinel (unarmed or armed with glaives, can’t be knocked prone) -Solar Golem (humanoid, 15 feet tall, one arm normal and the other a giant cannon)
3. Ruins Part 3: Heart of Dahlaeyir -The Suntinal (Planetar w/Glaive), fire/radiant based magic, can conjure 2 Solar Dragon constructs. Alter the innate spells to fire & solar type moves
Rewards -Sungold (rare Solternian metal, no longer present in the natural world. can only be scrapped from existing Solternian technology -bag of holding (given at the start as a quest item, used to gather all the gold from their fallen foes)
PCs 1. Evan - Soulknife rogue halfling, leaning Blauri 2. Billy - nuclear powered sunsoul monk warforged, leaning Goultani or Rouzhai) 3. Jeffrey - gnome with no aura 4. Christian - lvl 10 Articifer (armored) Taxabi, Goultani aura, electric focus
Related lore -rise & fall of Solternia -Goultani Gaiostone (mentioned) -story of Dahli -introduction of Angels (the Suntinel) -ancient Solternian/Goultani technology -introduction of the Goultasun & General Dontess (story seed for the Antisun Arc)

Added stuff (later)

Finnan’s visions while hallucinating off Cactreant fumes in the desert: Tree mother tree home field of leaves look up at the sun and it's happy to see me it's wild,sun starts getting hotter fire raining from the sky angelic beings in the clouds chaotic shit forest on fire (environmentalist undertones) see the world end and bam I'm back in the desert

Retcons & Details

1. When Enzo absorbed the energy of the Dahlisun Generator into his Celestial Gemscope (key component of the spatial observatory tower investigated by Enzo), he only captured the excess energy from the Dahlistone that was triggering the city’s instability. The Dahlistone, however, remained stable in its apparatus, though due to a final pulse from the stone due to Enzo’s work, all the automatons & security constructs of the city gathered in the halls leading up to the chamber with a heightened security drive to kill anyone that comes through. 2. When Finnin was tripping, he foresaw the end of the world via the Imperium War, where Dahli returned to Gaion to claim what has always been “rightfully” hers.
3. The Mummy Lord they fought was one of Dahli’s ruling children/pharaohs at the time of the city’s fall, having sheltered in the tomb and prepared final rites/prayers of exchange to Dahli; in exchange for guarding Dahli’s secrets/the path to the Dahlistone, the pharaoh was granted undeath.
4. The Dahlaeyir ruins are heavily controlled & monitored by the Banatar Army, who have stripped the city of most easily accessible magitech. They could not, however, breach the construct defenses of the lower quarters without sustaining heavy losses, but did substantially weakened them over time (including the Pharaoh). This allowed Professor Nikji & his team to infiltrate this lower level of the ruins; General Dauntess commissioned them to go in and provide any magitech & powerful objects to the military, in exchange for gold compensation. In reality, Dauntess wanted to test the current effectiveness of the city’s defenses with “expendable soldiers”, not wanting to risk his own resources unless needed. Once the Rouzhanis Wars began, however, General Dauntess was forced to abandon the ruins and divert his forces to the war effort, as expeditions became too costly with the already haywire defense constructs now being amplified by the Rouzhanis Wave.

Start Date of Events: 4/3/987

Plot type

3-Session DnD Campaign

Related Organizations

• Solternian Empire

Related Locations

• Dahlaeyir