01/12/2023 Virtuous Age Session 32: Bordering the Shadow Plane and Investigating the Tower.

We pick up this week’s session near the ziggurat. Two factors adjust our arrival: there is a time/magic delay and, our characters eventually surmise this region is extra planar. A remnant from a time before the Dawning. The plane overlap is connected to the shadowplane-a primal mythic landscape. 

There are robed individuals in and around the structure. While around the Ziggurat, large spiders, centipedes, and scorpions wander the landscape. 

A perpetual storm hangs over the area armed with rancid gusts of wind. We feel that we are in a domain of the Opal Dragon.

Easily seen hydra lurks nearby as well as possible golems or constructs move about with purpose. The dracolisk, our characters notice, wanders the nearby sands.

Our characters decide to rest in a magical rope trick. A tricky proposition this close to the shadowplane. In the end, sometime later, our characters awake fully rested. Aevum wakes confident this pocket will be here a while. He comes to reason out that time flows differently here.

Our characters decide to investigate the Tower in the distance before tangling with a hydra or dracolisk. When we exit the rope trick we see the storm has intensified.

It is September 19^th.

Our characters emerge from the rope trick and immediately notice differences: the dracolisk is now near the hydra  and there is a fresh row of stone statues with some kind of ceremony in progress. Six units of six medium sized creatures are actively patrolling the area, some of them Kron notices are wereboars. We feel an overwhelming presence from above.

Various paths lead to the Area of Broken Mountain and the Tower. We come to a stop when we find Scelarus’ arcane symbol on a stone. Both Tena and Eabrossi practice spellcasting in the planar environment. Kron defaces the sigil.

Our characters travel on to the rear of the tower and encounter 8 individuals. Some could be members of the rat tribe, some wereboars as well as a flying evil individual who releases a spell from 30’ in the air. (Theophrastus?) This individuals wears jewelry and bears symbols of Tiamat.

We defeat the wererats and wereboars and chase off the devotee of Tiamat. Our characters continue to the Tower. We come to a split in the road. Our characters take the high road. It leads around the tower to an arena decorated with Tiamat iconography. Here we see magic symbols that Tena spends time studying. They are all the same potency sigils that are draconic ‘tiamat’ in nature.

There is a double wide door in the mists of overgrowth of the tower. It is clearly meant for a giant occupant. We passed through and cross the arena. During the crossing each of us are subject to Tiamats sermons. We all avoid the greater curse and when we do Ziagan realizes what happened to his uncle Bishma: he had his religion changed.

Our characters get to a window opening into the tower and enter. Inside the tower we see a partially ruined tower that has been unkept for some time. Built for giants it is easily 6 to 8 stories tall.

On the northern side of each level are ancient maps of the Ways. Theoretical at the time of creation of these maps, whoever worked on it had great knowledge about how they work. It was a study the Ways when it was unbroken. The Rest of the tower is more recent- these notes and such seems to be trying to reverse engineer the function of the embassy on the far side of the ziggurat. 

Their conclusion assumes the embassy works like the ways. This is not exactly the case due to different creators and different magic. We guess Scelarus and possibly Theophrastus stayed here.

We begin a thorough search at the top floor where Scelarus resided. She has items spread about different work stations. The longer we look the more we see her decent into insanity. She assumed Bishma was sent from Tiamat herself. "Theo" was the end of her isolation and a key to her work. We surmise the priesthood of Tiamat are actively looking for the giants embassies to attack the giants using their own ways of travel.

These Tiamat devotees seem confident they have found an embassy and therefore founded a church here. The ziggurat is considered their new temple to Tiamat. There is no mention or consideration of the hydra, basilisk or the pearl dragon.

Aevum realizes his mother Sanguine and Bishma encountered this temple while looking for Embassies. He was turned to the faith of Tiamat she was not  

In Scelarus' belongings Eabrossi finds a wand of freedom of movement (9 charges). Tena recovers a Selective metamagic rod (6^th level). Aevum finds a wand of invisibility (25 charges). Several cold iron daggers. A Lesser Enlarge metamagic rod. Finally, a type 5 neckless of fireballs. Our characters take all her questionable notes.

We eventually make our way down to the second floor. This resident has not been here as long as Scelarus. There are not a lot personal items of this individual instead this level is filled with Tiamat iconography. One of this man's main duties is making Tiamat holy symbols. He seems to be the only sane one in a sea of madness. He does mention the hydra creature and basilisk and to be cautious around them.

We leave the tower and head to the LakeTower in the direction of the Ziggurat.