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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Abciximab" data-source="post: 5939462" data-attributes="member: 46017">Session 36.Neth the 6th (Cont).Max posed an interesting question when he wondered aloud what this place was before it filled with mud and quicksand. To answer that question Ace summoned an earth elemental to explore the region below. It returned with a Handy Haversack filled with treasure, three crystal stones etched with Azlanti runes, a book and a skull. We were quite pleased to find yet another set of the crystals needed to activate the portal. Ace quickly dismissed the Earth Elemental once it started to use the skull as a hand puppet. Quite odd.The book was the laboratory journal of one Urschlar Vohkavi, the (former) High Priest of the Azlant City of Saventh-Yhi. I suspect the book must be at least 10,000 years old, but it is remarkably well preserved. It is bound in black leather (Black Dragon Hide it would seem) and written in an ancient form of Azlant which makes reading it rather cumbersome, even for one as fluent in Azlant as I am. His writings give a little insight into the man. He seems a little eccentric. He obviously considered himself a genius (perhaps) and a prophet (see below). He was haunted by a feeling of impending disaster and in his final days was working to “save Saventh-Yhi from certain doom”. Though it would appear he is dead on in the prophecy department, it is quite apparent that his efforts to save his beloved city were unsuccessful. His final entries speak of an attempt to meet the goddess Pharasma in her Boneyard to address his fears. The Lady of the Graves did not meet with him though. He wrote of wandering aimlessly among the Sepulchers of the Graveyard of Souls and finding a black flower growing from an exposed rib cage revealed by the light of the death moon Groteus.He expounds upon the effects of the spores of the flower, stating that they grant heightened visions, clearer prophecies and the need for powerful magic to remove their effects. Personally, I suspect they cause a heightened sense of paranoia. At least now we know the origins of these black spores we keep encountering, even if there is little we can do to keep them from affecting us. He also writes of the Argental Font, a gift from the gods with miraculous waters that would be a “beneficial remedy much sought after in the coming months”.As there was too much information within the thick tome to decipher at that moment, we chose to move on. Lo and behold, there in the next room was a fountain flowing with silvery water, surely the Argental Font. As Max stepped in, a huge Mud Elemental arose before us. Max took quite a pummeling from the creatures fists, but he did give back at least as good as he got. It took me two tries, but I finally was able to disintegrate the creature to fine ash. Stepping up to the fountain I was able to determine it was indeed magical and ascertain its properties. When Max drank from the waters it confirmed my findings, he was healed in body and mind. Unfortunately, it appears the waters cannot be removed from the fountain without losing their properties and a subject can only benefit from the fountains healing waters once a month. We will now return to camp to rest.----------Neth the 7th.Our objective today was to find the vault within the Temple District. After a few hours of exploring, we found a stone door in a hillside with a stone bench next to it. As Max approached to examine the door, we were set upon by a number of Degenerate Serpentfolk. Though I succumbed to a magical Suggestion early on, we did eventually defeat them. We entered what appeared to be an ancient tomb. Two sarcophagi sat on either side of the entry chamber, one missing its lid. It was when we moved to examine them that a half a dozen specters emerged from every surface of the chamber. Their energy draining touch was quite intimidating, as was sharing the cramped space with one of Aces summoned Triceratops. After defeating them, we found little of interest. Exiting through a door through the back of the chamber we found ourselves in a short hall. On one side was what appeared to be a secret door, though it was ajar, making it a secret no more. A hall led off in the opposite direction of the door and straight ahead of us was a chamber with a number of marked graves on its dirt floor. The floor was also scored, as if by a blade swinging about the room. Sure enough, Max spotted a pressure plate. There was another narrow hall exiting the far wall.Opening the secret door wider, we saw a hall beyond which led to another chamber similar to the first. There was an altar and three fast moving Zombie Tigers at the far end. The Zombie Tigers were quickly dispatched. The altar was dedicated to Orcus.Returning to the main hall we proceeded down the hall opposite the secret door. There we found yet another chamber similar to the first, this one filled with the dreaded black spores. Max and I refused to set foot inside the room. As they seem to be immune to the effects of the spores, Ace, Kay Es and Taraz entered the chamber. Once Kay’Es was about halfway through, two undead horrors emerged looking like humanoids whose skin had been completely flayed away.  A running combat ensued. In a small sepulcher beyond this chamber, these two creatures were joined by a third, a fast moving Vampiric creature. Max and I moved back to the first large chamber, suspecting that the combatants, Taraz, Ace and Ace’s summoned creatures, would eventually emerge from the hall at the far end. When they did, we immediately attacked the Vampire. He moved with supernatural speed and proved very hard to hit. While the others dealt with the skinned creatures, Max and I took care of the vampire. It was a tough battle, but the creatures were finally defeated. Within the Vampire’s sarcophagus, we found yet another set of the Azlanti crystals.</blockquote>

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