Controlled Chaos

## Introduction

*The Chaos Monkeys make their way to Terminus station, with tickets for a private car - The Wayfinder Special. The adventurers are met by Calumn d'Orien, a bald and mustached Dragonmarked heir who seems all too familiar with your type. Each of you received an urgent Sending from Wencove, notifying you that the Foundation had been hired on short notice for a time sensitive matter. Your tickets are to Daskaran, Thrane.*

...

*After the Wayfinders are seated, Lycia explains the situation* "The Church of the Silver Flame's sacred mission is to protect the world from supernatural evil. Unfortunately, not all evil can be destroyed. Dangerous artifacts in particular are notorious for resisting attempts to remove them from the face of Eberron. My organization leads the efforts to safely store, research, and hopefully destroy these items."

*She briefly pauses before continuing with the brief* "Two weeks ago, a dangerous stone linked to the plane of Kythri was placed into storage in a vault near this location. Since then, we have lost all control of the facility. The stone's chaotic energies undid not only its own bindings but many of the other abjurations and monitoring divinations in the complex. Furthermore, many brave templars have been transformed into Slaad, dangerous outsiders native to Kythri. While not actively malicious like fiends, these froglike monstrosities are driven to reproduce by infecting humanoids with their eggs, similar to many kinds of aberrations. I reached out to the Wayfinder Foundation because my best Templars are otherwise occupied and this situation has spiraled out of control. I need you to go in and find a way to neutralize the stone before too many forces bound within the vault are freed. Once you neutralize the stone the remainder of my forces should be able to reconstruct the wards and your job here will be complete"

## Summary

With the formalities out of the way, the Wayfinders plunged into the depths of the dungeon. Evaluating their options, they chose the less direct route that would allow them to pass through Lycia's office office and gather additional information.

The Wayfinder's trials were many - leftover wards, wingwyrds driven mad with elemental power, a hydra guarding The Killing Cold in a snowy room with reversed gravity, and a maze with Slaad. Still, they persevered and arrived at Lycia's office, but were surprised to find it inhabited by Varikah Talandro, a priestess who had turned to the Devourer. Not only that, the Wayfinders discovered that time flowed differently down in the dungeon, and that Varikah had spent months waiting for rescue.

With the help of the books in Lycia's office, the Wayfinders successfully devise a new plan - hunt for three artifacts and assemble them to control the chaos and safely make their way to the stone. The first escapade led them to a field of floating earth motes, with a fearsome chimera guarding the Aethervane. The Wayfinders then successfully exorcised and banished the storm elemental that had come to possess the duergar-made planar diviner.

After the acquiring their first artifact, the Wayfinders go off in search of the Rod of Rashaziz. The terrain takes a step weirder, transitioning from traditional dungeon faire to whole biomes. After a jungle and a chasm, Kerrigan found that the Killing Cold started to become more persistent in its demand for sacrifice. She attempted to discard it into magma, but instead summoned a Blizzard dragon. Fighting through the howling winds, Kerrigan took the dagger back and tossed it back into the chasm.

Pursuing their goal of the Rod, the Wayfinders stumbled into a series of lava tubes before taking refuge through a strange metal hatch. In truth, a dragonmarked Cannith-turned-dwarf named Captain Bruennan had (with the benefit of Kythri's time warping) spent years using the Rod to craft a marvelous submarine for a journey to the heart of khyber. En route, Tharja was turned into a Duergar by the powers of Kythri. The trip of course turned out to be a disaster, and Wedge was only barely able to save the party through making a deal with Rashaziz- turning her creation over to the efreeti when the adventure is over. In doing so, she brought several member's of Captain Bruennan's warforged crew with her.

Free of the submarine, the Wayfinders make their way to the last artifact - Zarachiel's Timepiece. After prevailing against the Slaad guarding the piece, who had a strange gem embedded in his head, the Wayfinders returned to Lycia's office to rest and recharge before the final confrontation. Their new warforged companions stayed with Varikah, leaving the Wayfinders alone on the last leg of the journey. Wedge assembled the "Zerrashervane", and Tharja used the Rod of Rashaziz to cut a deal for the return of her original orcish body.

The final artifact to acquire is one tied to Mabar, which Wedge had earlier derived as necessary to destroy the chaos stone. Their first find was the Longbow of the Betrayer, but Tharja objected to taking a cursed artifact from a casket. Wedge consulted her notes again and found the Reaver's Axe, which was in a ruined throneroom.

The actual endgame came in the form of a terrible swirling maelstrom of primordial elements out over an underground sea. The Wayfinders used the Zerrashervane to make their way through the Maelstrom, although they did have to fight off a Storm Dragon en route. Inside the Maelstrom they found a mysterious figure channeling *positive* energy into the stone, amplifying the stone's power. The Wayfinders engaged, clambering through the maelstrom and fighting through chaotic elements to unmask the figure as a Death Slaad. Kerrigan, wielding the Reaver's Axe, succeeded in destroying the stone to defuse the building chaos and bring closure to the adventure as the Wayfinders defeated the slaad.

## Epilogue

*A cloaked figure kneels to their superior in a dark and shadowy room*

"Our mission to capitalize on the chaos in the vault was a partial success" *The kneeling figure says*

*A completely different pair in another dark and shadowy room*

"Operatives successfully claimed several artifacts important to our plans"

*Yet another master and agent elsewhere in Khorvaire*

"However, it appears we were not the only ones aware of this opportunity"

*A brief excerpt from a written report*

"Furthermore, it appears some assets were not retrieved by anyone, but scattered across the continent and potentially beyond by the effects of the vault"

*In return, each of the mysterious masters speak*

"You know your mission-"

"-Retrieve the other artifacts-"

"-Important to our efforts-"

"-And dispatch the opposition"