Xak Tsaroth
Xak Tsaroth was once a thriving city on the central eastern coast of Abanasinia. The city was founded by the descendants of the Ut-kiri tribe. The wealthy city was led by merchant lords and home to a Temple of Mishakal. During the Cataclysm it was partially destroyed and the surviving inhabitants fled. Most of the surviving city slid down a cliff face and was buried in a cavern, while the temple itself was one of the only buildings to escape destruction during the Cataclysm. The remains of the city on the surface would then overlook from a cliff the New Sea.
History
Once a testament to the magnificence of the ancient gods and their love for their creation, Xak Tsaroth long stood as a bastion of peace, worship, and trade. Prior to the Cataclysm, Xak Tsaroth was the largest inland trade city of Abanasinia. Here, various races met to exchange their wares, all for the further glory of the people, their land, and their gods. Even the great city of Istar , famed for its abundant wealth, depended on the goods that changed hands in the city’s eclectic street markets. In appreciation for their many blessings, the people of Xak Tsaroth erected great temples to worship the ancient gods.
As the city’s wealth and fame grew, so too did the ambitions of its dependents. Warped by gluttony, the people of Xak Tsaroth abandoned the generosity that had made them so beloved of the ancient gods and became consumed with worldly indulgences. So it was that, when the gods punished the inhabitants of Krynn for their vanity and arrogance, Xak Tsaroth did not escape the gods’ wrath. When the fiery mountain struck, it shook the great city, perched high atop the Eastwall Mountains, to its very foundations. The mountains cleaved, and the once-opulent temples, markets, and halls crumbled into a vast cavern over one thousand feet deep. Remnants of the lost way of life in Xak Tsaroth now cling to the cavern walls. Many people died in this great destruction, including several apprentices of the great wizard, Fistandantilus.
At the moment of its destruction, as the earth split and the New Sea rushed in, the former Lord Marshal of the Knights of the Divine Hammer, Cathan MarSevrin Disks of Mishakal into the yawning chasm. The Disks, and a volume from the spellbook library of Fistandantilus, had been carried all the way from doomed Istar . After the Cataclysm’s violence calmed, the Disks lay at the bottom of the sunken Xak Tsaroth. Cathan died, but his deed enabled the Disks to escape the debauchery and devastation of the rest of Ansalon at the time. Hundreds of years later, as the city of Xak Tsaroth became home to a horde of draconians and their black dragon mistress, a Plainsman ventured into the Temple of Mishakal and escaped the city with the Blue Crystal Staff ...or so the story goes.
After being hurled into the depths, the city of Xak Tsaroth was nearly consumed by the creation of the New Sea. The waters of the Turbidus Ocean surged over its shores when the Cataclysm struck. As the land cracked asunder, the waters rushed in to fill the void, creating the New Sea. Most believed that Xak Tsaroth had been entirely submerged and destroyed. Although the sea did claim many parts of the city—and continues to erode what is left—there are ruins that are still habitable, forming an unstable maze of broken streets, with rivers, whirlpools, and waterfalls scattered among various levels of the doomed city’s giant cavern, which can be reached through an improvised lift.
Points of interest
The Cursed Swamp
The Cursed Swamp around the sunken city of Xak Tsaroth has festered here on the shores of the New Sea for over three hundred years; in that time it has become home to all manner of monstrous vermin. Its most recent resident, based in the Xak Tsaroth ruins, is a black dragon. In some ways, she has only made the fetid waters worse for her resence.
The swamp is traversable overland across a series of islands in the marsh. The islands are scattered throughout the swamp; however, workers from the occupying dragonarmy unit have constructed a series of improvised bridges, connecting islands together to create a serpentine but navigable path through the swamp. This path leads in a generally southwesterly direction from Xak Tsaroth itself. Some of these bridges are made from vines, some from fallen trunks of ironclaw trees, and some from a combination of both. Traversing the swamp will require travellers to pick their way through these island chains, either following the draconians’ bridges or building rafts and attempting to cross the waters themselves.
Temple of Baaz
Massive ruins rose from the jungle undergrowth. Small broken towers pierced the cover of trees with their jagged points. Ferns and bushes sprouted through the flagstones in a plaza surrounded by small shacks and lean-tos. A huge bonfire blazed at the far north side of the open square. Beyond the fire, set in the remaining half-shell of a crumbled dome, a huge black dragon stood, its wings outstretched to blot out any sunlight which fought its way through the thick jungle canopy. Draconians worshipped it. It was a shocking site, as dragons were not real, or at least hadn't been for over a thousand years. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed the dragon was a fake wicker dragon!
The wicker dragon was a draconian idol woven of vines and branches. There was an opening at the base of the figure. The main braces for the wings were tied together just below the dragon’s mouth. The mouth itself formed a funnel. Diesa worked out that if she got up inside the wicker dragon unnoticed and made it appear to come to life (such as leaping up and down on the main brace and shouting through the mouth), the draconians will panic. She did this, scaring them away. Unfortunately, this led to her toppling it over and it falling face first into the fire - Alphy had to save her from her fiery near death.
Plaza of Death
The plaza was a silent location. There were no insect sounds, no birdcalls, no animal life of any kind. Any traveller that used to natural environments would be able to tell that they were all scared away by something. The plaza emerged from the dense jungle, a broad cobblestone street ran south to north among the ruins. A roadway branches to the west, where the fluted columns and relief carvings of ruined buildings list wearily. A large cobblestone courtyard lied to the east amid crumbling structures. Beyond the courtyard were four tall free-standing columns: no trace remained of the building they once supported. In front of these pillars, a huge well plunged into the earth. Vapors rose from the well. To the north of the well, a single building stood whole, although time and weather had worn its outer walls.
The party encountered their first dragon here, with Alphy and Pernicious getting blasted by her acid breath and severely injured. It was only due to a miracle and intervention from a god thanks to Goldmoon that they survived.
The Great Well
The masonry shaft of the well dropped 100 ft. Before it opened into the ceiling of a vast cavern beneath the swamp. On the floor of the cavern, some 800 ft. Below, lie the shattered remains of Xak Tsaroth. Much of the city slid into this cavern at the time of the Cataclysm. It was the best preserved part of the ruined ancient capital. The well sat directly over the central plaza of the ruins.
Temple of Mishakal
This small domed temple stands intact above the cavern of Xak Tsaroth. Through the golden doors is a floor made of beautiful mosaic tile. Inside stands a statue of Mishakal, the goddess of healing. Her face is sad, yet hopeful, and her arms are posed to mark where the Blue Crystal Staff should rest. She also wears an amulet.
The statue will glow with radiant blue light when approach by the bearer of the Blue Crystal Staff . Several pieces of discarded armor and weapons lie on the floor. Two more sets of golden doors at the north and south ends of the main chamber lead to adjacent worship rooms. The walls are decorated with decaying paintings and frescoes. A deep sense of peacefulness fills those who enter here. At the rear of the temple is another statue of Mishakal, standing with her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her chest. This statue marks the entrance to the Paths of the Dead.
Court of Balance
In the glory days of Tsaroth , this place of judgment was blessed by Shinare, the goddess of mercantile trade and fair enterprise. Following the Cataclysm, it has become a sundered altar to corruption and despair, no longer holy to any god. The black dragon had chosen it as her lair for it is the largest and best defended location in the sunken city. A vast chamber was here, 100 ft. in diameter. The circular room rose four stories to a cracked and broken translucent dome. Dim light filtered through the mists above, spreading onto the center of the rotunda. There, the black dragons hoard of jewels, steel weapons, and intricate items.
This is where the party found the Disks of Mishakal, which appeared to be a stack of hundreds of thin engraved platinum disks, held together by a single rod. They were the recorded word of the true gods, missing since the last days of Istar. They are now held by Goldmoon.
The black dragon was slain by Goldmoon.
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