Ereptile Dysfunction

*Hired by*: Ophelia

*Mission Request*: Collect psionic crystals from lizards

*Rewards/Loot*: 74,360gp

*Discovered Places*: New Quartz City, Crystal Chasm, Temple of Verity (Cloud Tower)

*Caravan Allies*: Gromlo (antiquarian), Caliban (cook), "Bob" (alarm gnome)

*Monsters Encountered*: Crystal lizard baby, Crystal lizard mama

```
 Previous Episode                                           Next Episode

```

## Summary

The Dziyiri Nakkar Consotrium reached the edge of the Crystal Forest. Tall cyan blue crystals grew from the ground. They were smooth and slightly luminescent. The party got to peacefully enjoy the refractive scenery as they travelled. Ribbon-like creatures flew in the air and most of the fauna appeared to be insectoid and crustaceans.

During their journey into the forest, they came across a particularly large crystal with a dark humanoid shape stuck inside. Beebo was unable to dent the hard crystal with his sword, so Aster flew into the air with a decent-sized crystal shard and dropped it on a weak point in the large crystal. The crystal cracked and the tall creature fell to the ground. It was 8-9ft. tall, had large dragonfly wings on its back, and wore iridescent man-made dark metal armor. Although freed, the creature did not move, and the party realized despite its excellent preservation the large humanoid was firmly dead.

The party reached the Crystal Forest air nexus and found the air elemental tower semi-encased in crystals. On the door were four fat crescents overlapping each other. Above the door were strange symbols yet understood by all. It read: "Admission required unburdening of mind offer secret and enter." Immediately, Beebo walked up to the door and whispered a secret and one of the crescents lit up. Aster followed suit, while Eira and Raxis worried about what they could offer. After some thought, Eira also whispered a secret. Raxis hid behind a rock and cast disguise self to look like a human then walked up to the door and declared he doesn't really look like this. The last crescent flickered but eventually stayed lit. Once inside, Aster immediately tried to tell a lie and found her voice was lost in the wind when she reached the falsehood in her statement. Afterwards Eira was able to assess the temple was Erudian in nature. Sages dedicated to Ioun, the goddess of truth and knowledge once resided there. Raxis dubbed the warp point Temple of Verity.

After resting at the Temple of Verity, the party continued on into the Crystal Forest. Aster noticed a reflection in one of the large crystals that didn't match up with the outside world. Upon closer inspection, she found a portal to a strange distorted mirror city where the buildings twisted and constantly folded. Not wanting to be distracted from the lizard-harvesting task at hand, Aster suggested returning to the area at a later date. Eira made sure to map the area and Beebo suggested calling the strange kaleidoscopic city "New Quartz City".

After a week of travel since warping to the Manastorm Ground the party finally found the giant crystal lizard they needed to harvest for Ophelia. They were able to sneak up on two 10ft-long eyeless grey-skinned lizards with blue crystals on their back and a purple crystal resting in their forehead. Aster reminded everyone of the lizards' psionic powers, then the party charged forward to attack. In the commotion, a giant 15ft-long (and tall) crystal lizard came out of hiding to protect the large lizards (presumably her offspring). Raxis was able to put one large lizard to sleep then Eira cast banishment on the giant lizard so the party could make quick work of the two weaker ones. Once everyone was ready, Eira un-banished the giant lizard and the party wailed on it. After slaying it, the party was able to harvest 3kg of purple psionic crystals from the three bodies and 20lbs each of the blue crystals from the lizards' backs.

The party found the Crystal Forest so fascinating that they decided to explore one a little more . Eira mapped a large crystal chasm before playing the flute to warp to Uqhesh Tower. The party made the day's journey back to Uqhesh and sold their spoils to Ophelia.