Session 22, Arc III

The One Who Watches

Played 11 July 2025

The party stood victorious in the dragon's lair, examining the fallen bronze dragon named Calasier that lay atop a massive treasure hoard. Bones carefully harvested valuable parts from the dragon's corpse, managing to extract four large scales, a single tooth, and a pristine eyeball that could be dried and worn as a necklace. The party discovered an enormous pile of gold and magical items scattered throughout the chamber, with Kailyn casting detect magic to identify four magical objects among the treasure.

As they searched through the hoard, tensions arose when Cyrran accused Bones of stealing the mysterious orb. Cyrran revealed he had found the orb in Bones' backpack before the dragon fight, leading to a heated argument about trust within the group. While Bones hung upside down from a magical trap he had triggered, Cyrran cast suggestion to force him to reveal his intentions with the orb. The conflict was eventually resolved by giving the orb to Dexter for safekeeping, though suspicions lingered.

Kailyn spent time identifying the magical items they had discovered, revealing a Decanter of Endless Water, three Potions of Water Breathing, scrolls of Lesser Restoration and Control Water, and most significantly, Mariner's Armor. The armor's presence troubled Kailyn deeply, as it should have been a prized possession safely guarded in her homeland of Poseira. The discovery suggested someone from her people had worked with the dragon, along with other aquatic treasures like coral statues and sea pearls that pointed to underwater connections.

A prophetic dream led Kailyn to discover a hidden chamber beneath the dragon's throne. She experienced visions of someone trapped below and sensed voices calling for help. When the party investigated, they found a detect thoughts rune behind the throne that caused psychic visions and damage when activated. Both Kailyn and Bones interacted with the rune using a mysterious scythe, hearing disturbing voices saying "He awakens" and "Let him know it has begun." The magical interaction caused the throne to move, revealing a staircase leading down to a water-filled chamber.

Descending into the underground chamber, the party encountered waist-high water and eventually discovered two imprisoned water elementals. The creatures had been captured from Poseira by a blonde-haired man named Reyvyre who worked with the bronze dragon. The elementals revealed they had been forced to stand in sunlight for unknown magical experiments, with their child now dying from lack of proper seawater. Kailyn communicated with them in Primordial and learned that Reyvyre was called "Master" by the dragon and had stolen the Mariner's Armor from their homeland.

The party worked to free the water elementals from their magical chains, with Bones casting dispel magic to break their bonds instantly. However, their escape became urgent when the staircase back to the throne room was blocked by stone, and water began flooding their chamber whenever magic was used. The water elementals revealed a hidden room behind an illusion wall that contained a vertical shaft leading 200 feet up to daylight. Using their flying carpet and broom, the party managed to ferry everyone up the narrow 5x5 foot shaft just before the chamber filled completely with water.

Emerging in a different desert oasis, the party encountered a massive sandworm that responded to Bones' telepathic abilities. After successfully putting the creature to sleep, they followed it as it tunneled underground back to their original plane of existence. The journey took them through magical portals and caverns, with Bones clinging to the worm's scales during the dangerous ride. They briefly fought a large stone construct that emerged and attacked with poisonous gas, but Bones destroyed it with a well-placed fireball spell.

Returning to the normal world, the party found that the storm had finally cleared and they could see proper sunlight for the first time in weeks. They rejoined the Bronze Track road leading to Arakcadia, discovering their horses had been eaten by the rocs while they were away. As they traveled toward the capital city, now visible in the distance across the blue bay, they made camp on a hillside overlooking the busy road.

During their rest, Bones and Yomidrogo experimented with the mind-reading scythe to test its abilities across different planes. When Bones successfully used it on Yomidrogo, he delved deep into traumatic childhood memories, witnessing the destruction of Yomidrogo's village by fire. The vision revealed a mysterious elven man with abnormally long pointed ears, silver hair, and ornate red robes who had directed the attack. Despite the psychic damage both suffered, Yomidrogo welcomed the painful memories as they helped him remember forgotten details about his past and identify a potential enemy. The party now had new leads to investigate as they prepared for the final stretch of their journey to Arakcadia, carrying with them rescued water elementals, valuable treasure, and disturbing revelations about conspiracies involving both their homelands.