User:Lhynard/Projects/De Exilio/Campaign outline/Summary 5

Dates
Hammer 3 – Hammer 8, 1373 DR

Summary

 * The party arrive in Teshburl again and investigate the warehouse where Szordrin and Nargroth once guarded Walker. They discover a metal disk with the mark of the Interlink Consortium of Bral, which serves as a "portable portal destination".
 * Later that night they are attacked by the Red Rysal, or actually, two Red Rysals. The attackers use non-lethal force. When the party defeat them, they learn that they are wanted for kidnapping of Oma el Catahras and also are suspected by the Red Rysal of having dealings with the Knights of the Shield.
 * Hakam speaks with Oma's father. The party then fly into the desert to visit the lair of the brass dragon Sseth, hoping to learn more about his report of El Sadhara sending an army toward Allu's hidden place. Sseth, however, is feeling the effects of the Rage of Dragons. They provide Sseth with temporary release from the curse by using a rope trick spell.
 * Meanwhile, over the next day, Hakam travels to Memnon to obtain a copper tuning fork from a temple of Kossuth. He returns to Sseth and uses a plane shift spell to send the dragon "on vacation" in the Plane of Fire until the dracorage passes.
 * With Sseth safe for the time being, they fly to the cliffs on the western edge of Calimshan, to enter Allu's palace secretly by way of the same sea cave entrance that splits off to the lair of the blue dragon Yrevkethend. When walking up a sloping tunnel, they are ambushed by an invisible stalker but defeat it quickly with their magics after highlighting it with faerie fire. Assuming it one of the mummy's minions, they consider that the mummy's army may have defeated Allu's hobgoblins.
 * They come upon a scene of a battle, finding goblinoid blood, broken weapons and armor, and the bones of humans and minotaurs. Then they find a group of bugbear zombies and entrap them with a wall of stone. These events further convince them that the mummy was victorious.
 * Rounding the corner of a tunnel, they are stopped by a trio of mummy priestesses, who animate a number of minotaur skeletons. Several of the party are severely injured, but they manage to destroy the skeletons and reduce the mummies to dust. The mummies seem to have been garbed in the clothes of ancient Calimshan and wore unholy symbols of Akadi about their necks, suggesting to the group that these were El Sadhara's handmaidens.
 * Scouting ahead in the darkness, they see the presence of more skeletons, both humanoid and minotaur in a massive pillar-supported chamber, but the undead do not engage them. Figuring that they are under orders to guard the chamber, the group instead explored further down another side tunnel. They find evidence of the destruction of forges and weapons racks, and find a kitchen. Suspecting that one pile of boulders is a tunnel cave in, they send Ferry through to check for and find survivors, communicating with them by paper messages.
 * They return the next morning and use magic to clear the rubble to free four hobgoblins, which they take back to their spelljammer to interrogate. They learn about Allu's plans to to use a portal to bring an army from the Plane of Fire to conquer Calimshan, and they learn more about what chambers remain in the cavern complex.
 * Returning to the cavern complex a third time, they explore deeper, reaching a chamber supported by four massive columns. Here, they battle with another mummy, an air elemental, and several more skeletons. They are victorious, but Kytharrah contracts mummy rot, and they find themselves trapped in the center of the room because of a series of magical fire traps.
 * They ascend a large staircase to the so-called "preparation room" for Allu's army and find a portal of the same kind used by Samber. They determine it to lead to the Plane of Fire and to be the portal for which their omlar gem is the key. While investigating, Allu's "high priest" Durbuluk, a half-fiendish hobgoblin attacks them.
 * Subduing Durbuluk, they interrogate him, learning the true name, some of the history, and the plans of the efreeti Allustairimarinastralmindivu. At last they learn the reason why Allu had been focusing on recruiting hobgoblin followers. Unlike humans, elves, and genies, goblinoids were not blocked by ancient elven high magic from passing through the outer defenses of the Spinning Keep of Siri'wadjen. In fact, Allu was there now, having been defeated by El Sadhara, in one last attempt at freeing the god-like Memnon from his prison to retake his rightful lands in Tethyr and northern Calimshan. He was there with a goblin wizard who had deciphered an old journal from a gnome adventurer who had previously figured out how to gain access. They demand for Durbuluk to retrieve the journal for them.
 * Monitoring Durbuluk with magic sensor, they watch him retrieve a chest with the gnome's journal from Allu's inner chambers. They observe him also casting some spells. When he returns to them, he sets the chest down for them, which he has cast a sending spell to warn Allu that they will be coming for him, and he wishes to be home. Belvin and Leokas instantly respond by shooting arrows at him. He claims betrayal and takes the chest back up again. Kytharrah tries to grab it from him, but he vanishes with it, his wish granted by Allu.
 * They decide to use their final wish from the Prince of Jhothûn to gain a copy of the journal, from which they learn the location of the Spinning Keep. They set out, first spending the night at the House of St. Liwan's Blessing.
 * They follow the journal's directions to the Spinning Keep and set up an ambush on the goblin wizard that they find encamped there. Upon attacking, the goblin reveals himself to be Allu in disguise, but they vanquish the genie in a somewhat anticlimactic victory.
 * Concerned that it was too late and that Allu's goblin servant was already in the Keep freeing Memnon, they cast spider climb and fly on their minotaur Kytharrah and send him to investigate the outer surface of the Keep for an entrance. Just then, the bones and ashes of a slaughtered goblin fall out, and Kyttharah falls in. For a few brief moments, he experiences the many strange illusions of the Keep's defenses and even sees a glimpse of the gruesome Calimemnon Crystal, before ancient Pharos appears to him and tells him that now is not the time for play and casts him out.
 * Suddenly, a massive noble djinni appears before them. They at first fear that the great Calim has escaped, but then they understand that it is rather Samber, who has somehow escaped from El Sadhara by transferring his mind into the body of Calim that he made flesh for her. He demands to know where his creation is. When they refuse to cooperate, he reads their minds and catches Kytharrah imagining playing with Ilthian on the spelljammer. Samber vanishes and is pursued to the ship by flying Kytharrah and Belvin, who shapeshifted into a pteranodon. On deck, they find the discarded body of Calim with a hole in its forehead. They rush below deck to find Ilthian, with a bloodied forehead and knife in hand, now possessed by Samber, who warns them that they will never stop him. Then Samber vanishes in Ilthian's body.
 * Back together on the ship, they discuss what had just happened. Kytharrah reveals to them a secret that he knew about Ilthian. She can heal very quickly, so he does not think that she is hurt. They also find her final journal entry, which she was writing when Samber possessed her. Its final words were a seeming code in the Lantanese language, which Solisar translated as "Command 15 stop intellect". Unable to determine a way to rescue Ilthian or pursue Samber, they decide to break up and investigate matters separately over the next two months and then to regroup, unaware that from the Outer Planes above, two goddesses are watching their actions very closely.