Scouting ahead as birds, Teal and Tilia say a large tower built into the hill. There entrances were visible – one at the base of an offset portion of the complex with a plain stone door, another grander main entrance with two large stone doors marked with 4 dragon sigils – seemingly in reference to a historical group known as “the conclave.”
The party made their was to the tower and setup camp outside. Early scouting by Jerry revealed the entry way to both the main door and the lower entry door. Below, Jerry say a pit of lava with two chests nearby a small bridge leading further into the complex. Using knock, the party made their way into the main entrance. There they found a stone dragon – that came to life as they entered, the doors shutting behind them to prevent their escape. The dragon, Vaathrifax the deposed, seemed to be reluctantly bound to protecting this space. He claimed to have once ruled the crimson highlands, only to be deposed and bound into this statue by Kangaxxian (AKA Jo’vak). A passwall spell and banishment gave the party their pick of terrain and let them better prepare to face the dragon. Once defeated, the statue began to stitch itself back together, seemingly as part of a strong magical fusion of enchantment and abjuration magics built into the tower.
Later the party met librarians curating an ancient collection of Kangaxxian’s writings. The tower, according to them, is known as “the repository” and seems to house old, currently unused books and other items of Kangaxxian. The facility appears to be sort of a “long term storage” to keep backup copies of items he deemed relevant.
After spending a day in the library doing research, Ari copied down the sigils required to invoke the teleportation circle nearby and the party decided to move on. Curiosity got the better of the group and they decided to delve into the lower chambers of the tower.
There, they discovered some sort of lay energy focusing device standing amidst several channels of lava. The device was emitting a beam of light heading up into several crystals as it bent its way through the pillars of the upper chamber.
Delving further in, the party encountered undead flaming skulls and several undead led by an individual with two gems set into its eye sockets. After taking heavy damage from a series of fireballs and other attacks, the party manage to dispatch the undead guardians. Searching around, they discovered a secret chamber containing several chests – which turned out to be two mimics, a chest of holding, and a chest containing a single skeleton key.
The chest of holding appears to contain an entire apartment’s furnishings along with several highly magical items.
Deciding not to push their luck, the party ventured on and made camp a few miles from the tower on the night of the 4th.
UNOMAHA D&D 