June 20, 2022

Hook

Down, down thousands of feet below the surface, in ancient ruins resembling no culture you've ever seen, is the faint light of a campfire. In this abandoned locale filled with strange flora, fauna, and a vast rootlike system of crystal, floats the sound of an out-of-tune lute. The mages you've been charged to find are still nowhere to be seen, and it seems that the depths of the Ageron Maw caves hide many secrets and dangers.

Plot Synopsis

Terra Asunder II
The party makes their way towards a distant campsite near a large limestone castle. They encounter the mages they were looking for, who stay back at the campsite as the party goes down to investigate the lower levels of the castle. They come across a pile of black sludge, which seems to suck in magical energy and contain an unstable portal within. Entering what Gardenia deduces is a garrison, they find a scroll in an unknown script that forcefully makes its contents known to its reader. Speaking the words of power imparted by the scroll, Zekra summons a crystalline torch that charges up with units. By unleashing the torch’s power, the party discovers that it can destroy the piles of black sludge. Continuing on, the party encounters a hallway full of artwork, depicting scenes of Jaern but with a different sky; twin suns, and no moon. They ascend to the top of a tower, looking out across the cavern they’re in. Roger Stone notes a strong purple glow coming from down a tunnel. Going back down the tower and into the main room of the castle, Gardenia (the only one in the party capable of psionics) encounters some mental resistance from a possible metaphysical door-locking mechanism.
Inside the throne room, the party finds an octagonal atrium with a huge statue resembling some extinct Jaernian bird fashioned entirely out of crystal. Zekra releases the energy from his torch to light sconces on the wall, which then pool their energy to illuminate the statue and reveal a panel of irregularly shaped buttons. Reading some plaques in ancient script on the wall, they deduce that the statue’s power can generate a “window” to other worlds, past, present, and future: a small comfort to the Onivero who once inhabited this place during their dreary journey between stars, millennia ago when Jaern was a rogue planet. They press one button and see scenes from the future, then another and view scenes from the past. They deliberate on pressing every button at once, but decide not to and instead take a rest in the well-lit throne room.

Noteworthy Postgame Events