Volatile Vault, Seductive Stave and Sallying from the Subsurface

***As the dust settled...***

Everyone rested, while Leo searched for his wayward teeth and managed to put together bits constituting maybe a single whole one.

A key was found on the prone construct’s form and Tamsin ensured that there was no warding magic on the vault door before opening it.

## **Thundervaults and Lightning**

Inside were four notable features:

* A large stone plinth encircled by metal bands, lightning crackling between them, in the centre of which stood a Ruby Rod with a red skull at the top — the rod slowly dripped blood into a pool that was dried and crusty

* Beyond this, a row of glyphs with a series of stands and crates behind, at first glance holding a canvas and a tablet
* Seven statues of various animals, in front of each a sundial-esque contraption with numbers 1-7
* A stone desk surrounding by enormous rock hands, upon which lay a chained tome

## **Static and Statues**

* In a whip crack of energy, lightning lanced out from the bands and struck everyone except an evasive Kunai
* The statues matched the animals associated with the leaders of Celestia and the layer numbers
* Tamsin consulted her notes and listed the ones learned about thus far and their — 4, 5 and 6 remained unknown as everyone jumped into action
* Azurial sprinted over but got smacked about by one of the rock hands, suddenly animate, along the way
* A second cascade of lightning struck Tamsin down where she stood, but she remained stable
* While Bayul set the first dial to the correct number, Leo recalled some further knowledge of celestia and cleverly used portents from Rillifane to piece together the remaining information - he shouted it out before being struck down himself, alongside Tamsin for her second time
* Kunai, Azurial and Bayul all darted around slotting dials into place, while Breena picked Leo up with an alchemical elixir
* Leo wasted no time reviving Tamsin from unconsciousness and did another dial, while Kunai and Azurial finished the final two
* With a satisfying clunk, the rock hands slumped and crackling of lightning dissipated

## **Terrifying Treasures**

* The Tome
	+ Leaping nimbly through the prone hands, Kunai investigated the chained tome
	+ He noted that it was written in Draconic, and didn’t appear to be restrained to the desk, simply kept closed
	+ Tamsin joined him, using magic to comprehend the writing: It was titled: 'Treatise on the internment of the Draconic Soul’, by Sariel Heartsbane, Champion of Jazirian and Elorian Palenor, Archwizard of Netheril

* Ruby Rod
	+ This was one of the rods given to those that serve Asmodeus and matched the earlier painting
	+ As Leo reached out to touch it, he heard a deep malevolent laugh and saw a flash of fire — others saw Leo blasted across the room, immediately falling unconscious
	+ Breena healed him but after attempting the same thing with gloves on, experienced exactly the same — Tamsin was able to catch the gnome projectile
	+ As Bayul debated grabbing it too, the others investigated the other items

* Magical Miscellany:
	+ A crate contained a large skull, very horny head, almost certainly a big devil of the type in the painting
	+ Another two contained scrolls and notes, mostly ruined but with parts of the infernal script decipherable, matching other scrolls and notes found on Khaldaria
	+ A stand held a large chunk of the tablet, also covered in infernal script — every couple of lines of text described a layer of Baator. Using comprehend languages, Tamsin translated the following:
		1. First two lines: speak of desolate battling wastelands, rivers of magma, choking smoke. It mentions the “warrior general” and the “lady of ruin”
		2. Second two lines: speak generally of a great city shrouded in heated smog. It mentions an “iron palace” and the “iron Duke"
		3. Third two lines: speak of swamps, bogs and flesh-eating plants. Mentions the “Infernal Financier” and the “Sinking City”
		4. Fourth two lines: Speak of immense volcanoes, obsidian and brimstone, of pleasure and punishment. Mentions the “diabolical court”, and the “twin rulers”
		5. Fifth two lines: Speak of a frozen wasteland, of a murky sea covered in ice. Mentions the “contested realm” and the “frozen graveyard”.
	+ Finally, another stand displayed a canvas showing 9 layers and dark figures and a portal next to each, then one larger one to the side with a larger portal and figure — the final figure appeared to have lightning cascading to the other 9 layers
		- Kunai described the possible meaning of the portal as a symbol
		- It may represent the tear in the fabric of reality, known in various places and times as ‘the Breaking', 'the Void’, ‘the Fall of Man, or just ‘the Fall’
		- His family are tasked with guarding the void
		- He also knew that this canvas was much older than other such depictions of this phenomenon that he had seen before
	+ All of this was loaded into the Steve Box

* Meanwhile, a la Rod:
	+ With Azurial’s reassuring presence, Bayul grasped the rod it and saw the same diabolical flash of flame
	+ Through the pain barraging his mind he managed to hold on, suddenly feeling somewhat compelled to keep hold of it and to not let others touch it
	+ Faced with the option of exploring the powers of the rod and keen to have the information, he asked the opinions of the group
	+ Kunai was on the side of knowing, while most of the others suggested caution
	+ In the end, he wrapped it up in sacks and excessive lengths of rope, placing it safely into the box
	+ The alluring laugh of the thing once again reached into his mind but, swayed by the arguments of Azurial and Tamsin and especially wary of evil powers after Niendra, he shut it away

## **Back to the Bush**

* Resting on the way out, Breena and Leo both have flame filled dreams, while Bayul’s was even more potent — it implanted within him a deep need to find and attune to the Rod, but the stubbornness of the dragon in his helm ensured he was able to resist the effect
* The next day, Leo removes the curse from him and the fog in his mind cleared

* Once more in the central chamber, Kunai touched the large dragon head in respect, while Azurial offered a prayer and Bayul flipped it off to balance things out
* The massive frontal doors opened with a lever and they descended the 60ft sheer drop in short order using ropes
* Once out, Kunai scoped out the Roc situation, seeing that the coast was clear
* Rapidly ploughing into the cover of the jungle before it returned, they were able to reach the old camp in the middle of the night
* Khiaxi hadn’t returned so they chilled through the night and began to blow the whistle in the morning
* By midday with no sign of the ranger, it was time to move
* Re-finding the junction with Tamsin’s perfect memory and Kunai’s new jungle navigation skills, they pursued her tracks
* The tracks took them a few hours along the path to another fork, then past a patch of disturbed vegetation
* Inside, the 1 to 2 week old corpse of a spider snake lay, clearly killed by a sword, and nearby tracks belonging to a snake
* A few hours later, darkness began to approach as they reached a clearing — blood and scuff marks lay at the far side, signs of a struggle and dragging as well as the same ‘swishy' marks of a snake