Deciding to travel to the Straxx, the party bid the Anfoor farewell and traveled below the treeline on the old-spine mountains. Using the vision they had seen of the Selutarr’s original capital city, Selûnarra, Tilia picked a tree she remembered and used it to travel via plants. One-by-one the party ran through the glowing opening in the tree and arrived in a much different climate. Acid rain poured from a grey and brown sky, burning their skin. The acrid and sulpheric smell of burnt soot met their noses.
Around them was a disorrienting large city. Even on the periphery, the city loomed large around them. Massive throughfares of arcane contraptions and odd, curvy architecture met their eyes. The place was both beautiful and desolate. No sounds of birds, no signs of grass or greenery met their ears and eyes. At a quick glance, this city was dead and either cursed or damaged beyond its capacity to support life.
Venturing forward, the party found an immensely and mind-boggling large and complex city before them. While some buildings remained in tact, the vast majority were destoryed – seemingly by a central pressure wave originating from further into the city. The ruined city streets still contained glowing arcane devices suspended in the air above them, as well as various spots of intense magical activity. Some areas seemed to be some sort of still functional statis fields. Others seemed to be ruined engines or other impossibly complex devices lost to time.
The party concluded that whatever happened here, the city was still extremely dangerous. Proceeding with some caution, the party decided to send Teal and Tilia ahead to scout in the bestial forms. The two surveyed the internal city and found a large area of glassified no mans land in the center of the city, along with a singular towering pyramidal structure in the very center of the fields of glass. A little ways away, where the glass field ended and the ruined buildings began, Teal and Tilia discovered two illusory encamptments. Large flying abberant creatures were being shot down by massive balista bolts 12-15 ft long.
Deciding to head back, the party gathered and discussed their next steps. While resting, some magic was used to begin asking questions to dieties. The expendation of magic seemed to draw in magic eating creatures (the same flying abberations seen on the scouting mission). The party did battle with one of these creatures and dispatched it. Hollowing it out and skinning it, for the use of its anti-magic hide, the party spotted more creatures coming their way and fled to a nearby area of intense magic energy emanation. There they huddled down and decided to contact Alura for reinforcements.
Ofter the next two days, Alura and her senior acolytes teleported members of the Arcana Pansophical in to establish a base camp and prepare for whatever impending multi-lich engagement might be on the horizon. After some discussion, the party decided to take the initiative and steal Illiamarra’s phylacteries from her fortress in Elaenagoth and Kangaxxian’s floating city of Elyveshara. They would split their forces. The party would sneak into Elaenagoth, while Alura took a team of senior pansophical members into Elyveshara.
Caedmon and some of the Pansophical reserves would stay behind to gaurd the camp.
On the night of the 16th, with 6 days left before the arrival of the Straxx, Alura teleported the party to the location they described to her near Emorin – the temple of Selune they had seen in their vision. She then teleported herself home via teleportation circle.
The party rested outside of the temple of Selune, then entered. Alura went home to gather her resources and planned to set out towards where the party told her the heart of the titan was – so she could find her way to Elyveshara above the moltencore.
Inside, the party found the temple of Selune defiled, seemingly long ago. Where once crystal clear waters joined a fountain, they found a fountain of corpses and aquaducts of blood running into a shimmering portal blocking their way. The temple had been cursed to house the spirits of the undying mother’s daughters – the daughters of Kiranasalee herself. Each required a price to be paid – tortured memories, regrets, and experiences. Jerry found an ocarina, that when played allowed him entry. Teal followed behind – but suffered the effects of several layers of the shimmering wall. Ari, Falco, and Tilia focused on disabling the layers of the portals. Teal and Pentagion explored the side chambers and experimented with holy water, learning – that the purifying waters allowed the spirit a temporary reprieve from its torment to ask for help. Eventually, the party figured out they could toss the ocarina back to others to play – and they all made their way in.
Inside, the party found the defiled statue of Selune mounded up with ancient bloated corpses. They worked out the riddle of the symbol of selune using a moonbeam spell to simulate the inlet of moonlight that would happen at night.
This revealed a chamber with a portal that took them to the center of the floating city of Elaenagoth in its underdark location somewhere beneath Arklan. There, the party quickly shuffled below into a sunken garden, before Teal wild shaped into a bat to go explore the city. Getting too close, Teal triggered some sort of proximity alarm and was shot down by large arcano-mechanical turrets.
UNOMAHA D&D 