Expedition 90: The Disappearing Weather Incident

#### Part 1: Magelines and Tempus Shrines

On the 18th of Monpel, Disaster struck the world of Tark as suddenly the weather vanished, leaving ships stranded at sea and eliminating all intercontinental trade. Fearful that this supernatural disaster might be the sign of greater threats to come, and concerned for the well-being of her god, the intrepid captain Yezra Stormfriend enlisted the help of her kinsman and hero of New Tidelight, Nexrin Vaxilondrav; renowned politician and mage, Clarity Calisto; new disciple of Tempus, Bea Whitehill; and two of the newer members of the compact, Ellie and Ark'fayed. Around midday under the painful light of two of the Compact's least favorite gods, the party set off towards Lin'dsey's hall and the entrance to the mageline found underneath in Kendon's bunker. The sigil requires a divination spell, so Yezra empties one second level divination spell slot into the door, and we proceed into the mageline. Through Ark'fayed's magical talent we conjure a herd of phantasmal steeds to whisk us through the sprawling tunnel, Yezra's glowing shield lighting the way like a beacon of hope, or perhaps desperation, as our silent procession traveled with unnatural speed into the darkness. Passing the acid pits and the innpost, we turned right into unfamiliar territory. Our race toward the shrine of Tempus was interrupted by mutilated corpse interposed in the tunnel perpendicular to our direction of travel. The way she had fallen seemed to imply that she had been thrown from a phantom steed like our own, as if she had suddenly died while riding it. In her bag we found 5 spell scrolls of various levels. 2 first, 2 third, 1 second. we divide the scrolls among the party and proceed onward to a truly magnificent part of the mageline known as the subworks. The tunnel walls shifted to glass, revealing a veritable aquarium underground. While Bea is mesmerized by the strange fish, the rest of the party notices strange rust-colored ore protrusions on the iron struts. After a staring contest with a deep sea fish, the party finds a direction sign pointing to the Tempus shrine and follows it to a door onto the surface and into daylight once more.

#### Part 2: The Cleaved Mountain Obelisks

All around there is life. Massive roots have dominated the area, and weird birdcalls resound above, showing a distinct influence of the wild mother in this place as well. Straight ahead there is a shattered mountain, and Yezra spots something in the crag, like an earthquake occurred to create the perfect nook for this building. We make a joke about Yezra being a "natural disaster lesbian." As we approach, we recognize a three-pronged obelisk, with two prongs seemingly askew against the main one. Before we have time to react, we are ambushed by gnolls, whom we make quick work of. They all appear to have been burned, possibly by Ra'al. In the campsite we find human bones, and Bea and Yezra get into an argument over the morals of eating people, to which Yezra asks if Bea has ever eaten anyone. Her guilty "no..." indicates to everyone that she has. We move on to the shrine itself, which appears to be built to magically collect bottled lightning. Ark sketches the device in hopes that we can rebuild it at home, and Yezra collects the bottled lightning. Finally, the gnoll wakes up, no one wants to talk to it so we let it go and Nexrin shoots it in the back (it dies, but recent encounters in the astral planes indicate it might not have stayed that way...). Yezra uncovers a door, and we determine the key to the puzzle is righting the pillars. Yezra and Nexrin pull chains into position, Nexrin doing most of the work, and the door raises up.

#### Part 3: The Challenges

We enter into a beautiful chamber covered in lapis lazuli and elaborate storm depictions. Three paths lead off, and a massive locked door requiring two keys sits in the middle. We follow an acrid-smelling path to where a large clay golem sat in a pool of acid, and the key rested on a pedestal in the middle of the acid lake. Bea goes first, climbing on the golem and steering it over to the key. Then Yezra shattered it, Ark shadowed it, and Nexrin finished it with arrows, plunging Bea into the acid, barely holding the key. Then the thing regenerated. We hightailed it out of there with the key, and challenged the sea serpent next. The serpent was not immediately visible, but a strange radiant lion was caught eating the key. As we ran to arraign the lion, the serpent emerged and pulled Bea under. Yezra parted the water and Nexrin finished the beast with arrows, while the others annihilated the lion. We ended up with an extra key. Proceeding into the door, we unlocked it into a polar vortex. In teams of two we progressed down the tunnel, Clarity and Ellie make it to the end first and find a well covered in frozen gallium, which we work to heat. We enter the well and follow it as it twists like a snake, leading to a mouth-like opening.

#### Part 4: Saving God

In the shrine we find two vrocks menacing Tempus, who has been chained to the trident of a giant statue of himself. Ellie climbs up and obliterates one, absorbing it into her sword. Ark and Bea finish the other, Ark being almost killed and Bea tackling the beast off a 120ft drop. Yezra performs a coup-de-grace with a call lightning. We break the chains and try to put tempus back together, but the slashed neck doesn't heal. Clarity tries to communicate with Tempus and takes a ton of psychic damage, getting the words "Ocean, bring me to my mother." before we go, we throw items into the shrine to receive blessings. After waiting for night, we travel under the full moon on phantom steed to the ocean, where Yezra gently sets Tempus below the waves. He tells us that he needs to hide while the night cloaks him, and that we have one chance to ask him questions. He tells us we must make a gate to return him to power, and that something big is coming. He tells us to watch for rising and falling gods. He sees a ripple, but does not know the cause. He offers that Me'era will take our calls when he cannot. He tells us that Bahamut is chained at the base of Mt Olympus, but he cannot find Saranrae. She is hidden too well. He then offers each of us to be struck with lightning, of which Bea and Yezra accept, and Clarity accepts without knowing what she is accepting. Clarity asks him if he can give Delphi a spark, and he says he cannot, but we should seek out Wee Jas if we want that. Finally, he seals himself inside Yezra's shield and we head home, somber.