Moving through the narrow tunnels, they find themselves in a larger cave which is well kept and smoothly hewn out of the rock. It seems to be a shrine to some sort of snake deity. A large statue of a snake occupies one wall while an old suit of armor is crumpled upon the ground near another wall. As H tries, without success, to open the locked door at the other end, the group notices that the opposite end of the room is writhing with small snakes coming out of the many small cracks in the wall.
The Meditation Chamber
4,600 XP
Smallfang and Arno try a few magical spells to dispel the multitude of snakes but the continue to enter the room. A vast number of the snakes seek refuge from the damage inflicted by the adventurers within the decrepit suit of armor. The armor begins to move with the snakes inside and soon rises to its feet. The suit of armor begins to attack them. Bullets, swords and many types of magic seem to not hamper the moving suit of armor, as the many snakes killed are simply replaced by more snakes entering the room and slithering up inside the suit of armor.The noise of battle is heard by two prisoners of the Yuan-ti. Bishop, a gnome whom the adventurers have come across before and an elf, Yethaniel are imprisoned in a small cave with only a small barred window on the door to look out of. To short to look out the window, Bishop simply waits as Yethaniel is unable to spot anything outside the door. Turning to mist, Yethaniel begins to move through the cave complex seeking out the source of the battle noise.
The extra help is needed as the sound of battle has also attracted several lizard folk and a yuan-ti. The battle is hard fought but finally won. Trying to find a way out of the room, H begins again in earnest to try and unlock the door barring their way. Smallfang, who is still imbued with the magical knowledge of the universe rattling around inside his head, tries to recall how to pick the lock. He begins to recite a litany of facts regarding the make of the door and lock, and when he finally comes to the mechanics of the locking tumbler system, H is able to utilize this to unlock the door.
Yethaniel, uses her necromancy to raise the numerous dead lizardfolk into a small entourage that leds the way. Yethaniel takes a moment to probe the minds of one of the dead lizardfolk. He sees flashes of images:
- watching the cultists move into the complex looking for the divination pool
- watching as Varram tries to use the pool but the pool reveals nothing, until Varram begins sacrificing some of his own cultist members. As the blood spills into the pool the dwarf peers into the pool and is enraged at whatever he sees
- images of battle as the yuan-ti surprise the cultists and kill the remaining members and capture Varram
The Yuan-Ti Sleeping Quarters
3,300 XP
Moving through the corridors they find themselves in a darkened room where the floor is covered in dozens of circular holes. Smallfang decides to peer down one of the holes and discovers that there is a sleeping yuan-ti, a snake like creature, sleeping within. This is how they sleep. The group debates as to the best course, while H simply sits down to have a pull at his flask.
Bishop, bravely steps out and begins to walk across the room to the door on the far side. Unfortunately, the gnomes heavy armor begins to make its usual metallic racket and the group steps back into the shadows of the corridor. A snakelike head appears out of one of the sleeping holes and blearily looks around. After not seeing anything, the head descends once again.
It is decided that Yethaniel will cast flying on Smallfang, while the gnomes ride along on his shoulders. The others will make their way across the room using light steps, luck and courage.
Travelling down the next set of corridors the adventurers move to towards the sounds of draconic speech coming from a far room. As they turn the corner they encounter two lizardfolk who, upon seeing the group, set off at a run into the next room.
A few of the group try to stop the two lizardfolk before they can escape to warn others. H fires but one of his guns misfires. Smallfang throws one of his javelins but the lizardfolk continues to run, albeit a little worse. The group pursues.
Yuan-Ti Temple
9,300 XP
The dwarf is clothed in tattered purple robes. He is clearly the dragon cultist, Varram The White.
The lead yuan-ti asks the group if they are a part of the "desecrators" that were led by this dwarf. They tell the yuan-ti that they are not but they wish to have the dwarf.
The negotiations are short lived. The group begins the killing. The battle is long and hard. H spends his time moving to vantage points in order to keep out of harms way but still be able to fire upon the enemies. Bishop conjures a wall of wind to protect himself and H, while still allowing H to fire through the wall.
Arno uses his trusted cloud of daggers to great effectiveness. Yethaniel commands his army of undead lizardfolk and the group watches as the lizardfolk have to kill their own. Smallfang, with Arno still astride his shoulders approaches the main yuan-ti and the two battle. It is fortunate that Arno is atop Smallfang as he succumbs to the fear spell that the yuan-ti try to ensnare the group with. Smallfang tries his best to keep Arno from seeing the yuan-ti in order for the gnome to be any use.
At one point Arno is hit into unconsciousness and has to be revived by his friend Smallfang. Finally the room is littered with the dead and they now have Varram at their swords end. He begs for his life. He is willing to give all the information he has about the cult in exchange for his release. He cannot return to the cult as Severin will certainly kill him for his losing the White Dragon Mask. He tells them:
- The cult is now ready and is probably already started the ritual to bring Tiamat into this world
- The amount of treasure is not as much as they had hoped for (thanks to this group)
- They will have to offer more sacrifices as well as sacrifice some of their dragons, which were raised for just this eventuality
- The lack of the White Dragon Mask will also make the ritual more difficult.
- All the group has to do is interrupt the ritual long enough that the portal will fail.
- If Tiamat comes through all is not necessarily lost. She will be weakened by any failing in the ritual and hopefully can be overcome.
The group listens and notes everything Varram tells them. Then they kill him.
They travel back to Boareskyr Bridge and find themselves back at Bolo's Tentside Inn. There they encounter the Ward, a member of the Order Of The Obsidian Dagger. He seems confused and troubled. Upon questioning, it would seem that he in in possession of the White Dragon Mask but cannot remember why he has it or how he came to have it.
The group doesn't care. They take it from him and he leaves, probably to wander aimlessly for what ever remains of his days.
Arno and Smallfang puzzle over their new find and, after testing out the fit on H, that is has some amazing properties:
- it can absorb cold damage
- it adds to your armor
- probably gives you some sort of dragon breath attack
- allows you to understand, but not speak, draconic
- probably gives you some sort of Legendary Resistance
- and.....probably more but they're not sure.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
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