The Lost City

The Lost City was the 26th session of Arc 1. The session entails the long travel through The Unsummitables towards Arkus, and the ruthless battle to liberate the city from its current occupier.

## Synopsis

The party recovers from the airship crash, as they are confronted by Koraboros, who demands they hand over the Wand of Orcus. The party endure brutal combat, during which Koraboros obliterates S.A.M. with a Power Word Kill. As they all lay defeated, Koraboros takes the wand from them and planeshifts it to Brudgard, but before he can escape, Faerie feels his prophesized powers awakening, and he punches the demons head off. The party recover and mourn the loss of S.A.M., before journeying onwards, carrying a now crippled Faerie.

> *"Everyone else, you see Faerie suddenly spring from the ground and rocket towards Koraboros, fist outstretched as a maelstrom of pink energy erupts behind them. You hear a sound like a crack of thunder magnified tenfold, as your line of sight is assaulted by a blinding flash of white light, and your body is suddenly completely coated in a wave of fluid. As it clears, Faerie stands breathing heavily, their body charred and wreathed in smoke and steam. Koraboros drops to his knees, as the now headless neck billows smoke, blackened and burnt completely. His corpse then falls forward with a heavy thumb into the snow, as microscopic shreds of flesh slowly drift down around you like snow. You all realize that you are completely drenched in black greasy blood that fills your nose with a potent stench."*
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They arrive at the foot of Sûrtur, and struggle to interpret the riddle on the Sword of Stonefinger. They eventually figure it out and activate the mechanism in the foundries beneath the mountain, though inadvertently trigger an eruption as well. They all escape across the bridge as the mountain explodes, though after a poorly timed comment from Yak, Darvim is struck by flaming debris as he attempts to make it across, and falls into the infernal depths below. The party journey onwards towards The Unsummitables, mourning for their two lost companions.
They enter the mountain range and hike through brutal conditions, before seeking shelter in a cave. Within the cave, Fred discovers a frozen skeleton wearing a Healers Pauldron which he takes for himself, and Stionis discovers he has the ability to see ghosts, as he finds a pile of ancient corpses on the ground in the middle of the cavern. The party leaves the next day, and Stionis confronts Yak about his shifty actions after he hired Brock to steal the Satyr's snugglebeast. After surviving an Avalanche, the party scale a mountain and eventually pass above the clouds, where they are given a beautiful view of the night sky, and of the colossal mountain Excelsior, with Sigil atop it.

> *"As you hike up a harsh steep incline through fog and blizzard that completely obscures all vision of even the snow beneath your feet, you eventually break through the clouds, into a very welcome beautiful environment, and for the first time in weeks you can actually see the sky. From here, you have an astonishing view of the mountain summits around you, each rising out of the thick storming layer of cloud below you like sparse islands of stone in a vast sea of white mist. You quickly find that there is still a point much higher than your own, as you look towards the north to see the colossal Excelsior up close. The mountain is a spectacle of nature, rising very high into the air and looming over the now puny seeming summit you stand on. Excelsior looks as if it were made up of hundreds of mountains all piled against each other into the shape of one grand summit of black rock. The midpoint of the titanic mountain  you seem to be level with seems closer to you then to the actual peak of the mountain, which rises still another 50,000 or so feet above the layer of fog. As you peer higher and higher towards the impossibly tall pinnacle, you see something… very peculiar. Right above the distant final summit of Excelsior is a ring of bronze and gold, dimly glowing with distant light, like a great halo crowning the mountain. Atop the ring, you can hardly make out what looks to be large heavenly buildings. The night sky above is magnificent, spewed with colorful clouds of distant realms and galaxies as if the whole world was trapped inside of an incredible crystal ball shimmering with dim purple light. The crescent moon is ginormous this far north, sitting banked in the fog-bound horizon as if it were floating. The moon is black, but bears a fiery purple outline as if eclipsed, the colors and lights seeming to leech the lifeless gray from the storming sea of clouds below you, and replacing it with a purple hue. You are able to make out a set of ruined stone stairs built into the mountain you are on, which rise up to the pinnacle of the snowy slope, where a ruined watchtower sits at the edge of the overhang. Very little is left beyond a crown of arched pillars atop a raised platform of stone, but it's the first sign of civilization you have seen since the volcano. As you hike up towards it, you find that you have yet another astonishing view from the ruins. A damaged stone throne sits in the middle of the room facing out towards the drop, where at the edge of the floor is a rusted bronze telescope mounted onto a small hedge of rocks."*
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While Fred is disturbed by the sight of the city, the rest of the party seek shelter in an abandoned watchtower at the peak, and begin to discover more corrupted effects of the Dragon Sickness that curses the mountains under Charon's watchful eye. That night, Faerie recovers and is ready to join them. The next day, they reach the town of Excelsior at the foot of the mountain, and break open the tiles in the centre of the old cathedral, entering into a dark tunnel leading them to a carved stone door. The party enters the Lost City of Arkus.
After marveling at the feat of construction that is the grand halls of Arkus, the party begin finding methods to enter the Dwarindolf Hall, Arkus's treasure room. They reignite the forges, and mold a key for one of the back doorways found by Vlad. The party agree to let Yak, the stealthiest member of their team, go in to recover the Left Arm of The Material Guardian. Inside the hall, Yak is confronted by the greatwyrm Charon, who closes the door so he is trapped inside alone.

> *"The entire main room of gold bursts upwards with an eruption of gold and treasure, as an absolutely colossal monster engulfed in fire emerges from beneath the pile, extending out its massive wings, which take up almost the entire width of the hall, with some piles of coins still resting atop its scales, pouring off of it back into the pile. The dragon is probably 400 feet long from snout to tail, its body bulky and muscular and wreathed in flames. The scales' massive scales are a shiny metallic crimson, with the gaps between them glowing with fiery light, and with a webbed sail along its spine. Protruding from its head are 4 twisting horns all facing backwards. Their eyes are a deep black, and their mouth opens to about 20 feet tall to show a thick forked tongue and yellowed serrated teeth. The underbelly of the dragon is made of larger segments of black scales, and its huge black claws wrapped around the pillars of the treasury room as it pulls itself from the piles of gold. Its tail is incredibly long and ends in barbs, and whips around behind it, coiling around the pillars behind it. The dragon's body is draped in several different fine accessories such as golden chains, bracelets, rings, and other jewelry. Its snout is pierced with large platinum hoops, and its neck is piled with massive bangles of ringmail, necklaces, and jewels. Many streaks of golden discolouration dot the dragon's body. You notice the left arm of the material guardian dangles from a large silver cord around the dragon's neck. With every exhale, a small burst of flame spews out from the dragon's nostrils."*
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Rather than killing the tiefling, Charon manipulates him into turning on his own party, before transforming him into a half dragon. The rest of the party barge in to save him, and enter a brutal combat with the Greatwyrm. Craggle takes up a high position to shoot the beast from, but is attacked by Yakaza, leading Vex to rush over and try to save him. In the middle of the fight, Fred attempts a Divine Intervention, succeeding and summoning the spirit of Algar, who aids them in their fight. The dragon is finally defeated after Brock picks up the Axe of Arkus from the hoard, and beheads Charon with it, supposedly lifting the spell put on Yak.

## Characters

* Vex Amanthal
* Camiel Chavine
* Yakaza Kibutzu
* Stionis Ero
* Ailynn Daedra
* Faerie Longstaff
* Zachary Cragglecock
* Brock Lee
* Vlad Ironcock
* Darvim Metalcutter †
* S.A.M. †
* Charon †
* Koraboros †
* Algar (Celestial Spirit)