Session 59

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

 

The Heroes find themselves on the deck of the Hayot, Gadreel's own ship. They soon realise they're no more than ghosts looking at an event that has not yet come to pass. They witness the solar giving instructions to his crew, then moving to a magical portal that will bring him to Rebirth station, ext to the center of the sphere.

 

When they come back to their senses, the Heroes are on the Conundrum. With magic, they scry on the Hayot and find its location in the city. They fly through the city at great speed, avoiding the many Celestian ships chasing them.

 

They fight through the fleet separating them from Gadreel's ship, and board the craft. The Heroes force their way to the officers' quarters, where they have a first clash with Gadreel himself. Then they follow the solar inside the portal they saw in their vision.

 

On the other side, they find themselves in the presence of Gadreel in a vast chamber humming with arcane energies. Satine, Ayrin's long lost love, weeps in desperation at Gadreel's feet. The Heroes throw themselves at Gadreel to stop him from enacting his evil plan: to steal Realmspace's sun.

 

But they soon realize they're too late. Gadreel has started the ritual while they were travelling in the Flow for 16 days to reach this sphere, and the impossible wormholes Gadreel has built have done their work. The walls of the vast chamber disappear, adn the Heroes witness the birth of a new sun!

 

Revenge is all that is left, and the Heroes attack Gadreel with all their power. The solar unleashes his god-like abilities at them, bringing them down one by one. And every time the Heroes rise again, thanks to Kunik's healing powers, harnessing one more sliver of strength, and fight back.

Azreal smites the Celestial again and again, while Haurchefant aquires the form of the Master of Realmspace to better contend with Gadreel's unconquerable power.

Satine helps in the only way she can, harnessing the radiant power of her soul, both healing the Heroes and blasting Gadreel with the power of an unborn sun. At the end of her strength, she grants Ayrin the last drop of power she has left, then falls unconscious.

Ayrin targets his fury at Gadreel, and a powerful beam of incandescent fire and sunlight washes over the solar, annihilating him once and for all.

Session 58

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Heroes explore Void City Diligence for a while, then they decide to land their ships inside the city; while they proceed on foot, Yreldune will cast a powerful illusion to hide both the Conundrum and the Curse of Strahd.

The Heroes make their way on the deserted streets of the celestial city, eventually meeting several Grigori Knights led by a Planetar. When these servants of Gadreel try to apprehend them, the Heroes defeat them and interrogate the Planetar. From him they learn of the Skein Witch, an entity deeply connected with Fate and Destiny, that resides in the city.

They find the temple of the Witch, and they confront the supernatural creature. When she's dissatisfied with their answers, together with her Deva protectors she puts the Heroes to the test. The Heroes emerge victorious from the contest, and the Witch gives them the Blessing of Fate (whatever that may mean).

The runes carved in the walls of her temple begin to shine with a powerful blue light, blinding the Heroes as their bodies are trasnported far away.

Session 57

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

 

The Heroes defeat the Shoggoth, and Haurchefant acquires the Star Glyph. Having completed the trials of the Master of Realmspace, he feels an hidden power still untapped coming from his three glyphs.

 

The Conundrum then sails to the portal that will bring its crew to Gadreel's sphere. The portal is guarded by a fleet of Celestian ships. Against all odds, the Conundrum defeats the opposition, as old friends arrive to lend some help. The Curse of Strahd hails the Conundrum, and Capt Anomander and his crew (among them Vola the half-orc barbarian and Gondriel the elven ranger) share some news with the Heroes.

 

There has been activity around the Pyre (Realmspace's sun) and the Celestian Trade Guild's fleet is stopping any ship travelling too close to the sun. Its numbers and military power is such that even the Elven Armada cannot go through their embargo. When the Heroes explain that Gadreel is planning to "steal the sun", the Curse of Strahd's crew offer their help in the battle to come.

 

Both ships cross through the portal, and after 16 days of travel into the Flow they reach the Virtous Sphere . Upon their arrival, they find a realm-sized city of marble and gold, encompassing the void around the portal both above and below. Though some activity can be spotted, the city looks in disrepair. Yreldune informs the Heroes that they've reached Void City Diligence, the seat of power of the Solar Gadreel.

Session 56

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

 

The Heroes reach the Vault where the most valuable items are stored. They defeat the undead guardians watching over the Vault, and they take a few items of power. They also find the Celestial Rod and the required charts needed to reach the portal that will bring them to Gadreel's sphere.

 

The Conundrum travels to the edge of Realmspace, but before they can reach the portal, Haurchefant fells a "pull" toward the colossal canyons raising from the surface of the sphere. The Heroes maneuver their ship among the monolithic glyphs, and find the entrance to an abandoned temple of sorts.

 

There Haurchefant is tested on his knowledge of the Masters of Realmspace by an ancient spirit, but he's found wanting. Yet, he still has a chance to prove his worth: from a magical pool a monstrous creature from beyond the stars begins to emerge, all eyes and maws and tentacles.

 

The Shoggoth roars in hunger, as the Heroes get ready to do battle.

Session 55

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

Haurchefant reaches the slaad who kidnapped Azrael, and destroys it. He then makes his way in what is clearly the lair of a beholder, with circular tunnels bending at impossible angles. While tumbling his way through the tunnels, he loses his grip on the unconscious Azrael, who falls down a long shaft, eventually ejecting her outside of the asteroid. With no way of recovering her ally, Haurchefant finds a spot to hide and rest for a while.

Outside, Ayrin and Kunik are pondering to leave the asteroid to regain their strength and regroup, but an antimagic field makes it impossible for them to activate their ship. The slaadi "invite" them to go back to the Vault, to try and find an "amicable" agreement.

The two are stripped of their weapons, but they manage to convince the slaadi and their beholder masters to retrieve Azrael and Haurchefant, and allow them to meet the master of the vault, who seems very interested in aquiring their modron ship.

The Heroes meet Vlindarian, a beholder death tyrant, and his beholder acolytes. When it becomes clear that Vlindarian wants to imprison Ayrin and Azrael (to deliver them to Gadreel) and kill Kunik and Haurchefant, the Heroes fight for their lives and emerge victorious, albeit very wounded. Still, they don't have much time to linger, as the slaadi may still come looking for them.

Session 54

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Heroes investigate the celestial ship, and find spelljamming charts showing the location of "portals" in wildspace. They also find some sort of activating rod, only useful to celestial creatures. By using these portals, the Celestian Guild has been able to cut travel times through Realmsphere considerably, gaining the upper hand as a merchant guild.

Thanks to Azrael's bloodline, the Heroes are able to use these portals themselves, and reach H'Catha in only four days. Yreludune guides them to the asteroid where Vlindarian's Vault is situated, and the Heroes approach the compound. They're allowed to disembark from the Conundrum without too much trouble, and are escorted to the person in charge of the Vault. An elven woman with a third eye in the center of her forehead welcomes them.

The Heroes try to deceive the woman by claiming to be Gadreel's servants. Their ruse is soon discovered, and the woman and her attendants reveal their true form: slaadi, aberrations from the fartherst reach of wildspace. 

When a fight begins, the slaadi gain the upper hand, thanks to their numbers and their regenerative abilities, and they manage to capture Azrael and take her away through a teleporting circle. Haurchefant runs after his fallen companion, while Ayrin and Kunik are separated from the others. To avoid being overwhelmed, the eladrin and the dwarf teleport back to the Conundrum thanks to Kunik's word of recall.

Session 53

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Heroes defeat the hag Gathra and her evil treantservants, and retrieve the Last Seed. As promised, they mean to plant it in a different crystal sphere, so that a new Tree of Light may be born.

In the same chamber they find journals penned by Gadreel himself during his studies to harness the power of the sun. They learn that the celestial was able to create magical artefacts he calls Sun Seeds; he intended to plant these Seeds in fertile land, and power them through the use of arcane lenses. Through this ritual, the Seed was supposed to bloom into a new sun.

When his experiments kept failing, he started to plant the Seeds into living creatures. Eventually, one individual survived the ordeal, and Satine was born. Clearly, she did not bloom into a new sun, but Gadreel believes that when he will be able to harvest a final component he calls the True Light, she will bring forth the birth of a new sun.

With their newfound knowledge they return to the Conundrum, where they seek Yreldune's counsel. Intrigued by their futile attempts to reach and defeat Gadreel, the spellweaver agrees to guide them to the edge of Realmspace, where they can find a portal to travel through the Flow and reach Gadreel's crystal sphere. In order to open the portal, they'll need the right charts and an activation rod. The place to find these items is Vlindarian's Vault, a beholder outpost on the planet of H'Catha.

The Heroes set course to H'Catha, but before they lose sight of Garden, they're attacked by a fleet from the Celestian Trade Guild. The Conundrum fights against the superior numbers of its opponents, and sends them on the run. During the battle, the Heroes board one of the enemy ships, banish the Fallen Deva captaining the craft, and subdue the crew.

Session 52

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Heroes explore the inside of the tree, coming into contact with a tribe of myconid guarding a magical maul. the weapon's head is a petrified seed, while its handle is made from hardened bark and vines. The Heroes decide to avoid confrontation with the creatures, and leave the hammer be.

Next they arrive in a vast chamber dominated by an altar and a celestial creature of great power, a planetar servant of Gadreel, standing in front of it. All around the room, giant lenses capture the radiant light seeping through the walls at odd angles.

The Heroes shortly consider surrendering themselves to the planetar to be brought to Gadreel's presence, but then they resort to fighting the celestial. When the planetar is dismissed, the Heroes inspect the altar. By moving the giant lenses in the right positions, the light of the sun activates the magic of the altar, and Haurchefant connect to its power and acquires the Glyph of the Sun.

As the power of the sun surges through him, the will of the tree awakens again. The room becomes sealed, and acidic sap begins to pour in from all sides. Soon the Heroes find themselves submerged in the acidic sap, when magic fields of force appear around them, and they're "flushed" down acid-filled tunnels.

In this way they're delivered to a room of smooth glass, where the Tree speaks with them. Its will is divided among several different personalities, each of them with its own agenda. The Heroes listen to all of them, and realize that the Tree is not a willing ally of Gadreel. They manage to make a deal with the many personalities, and convince them to spare their lives.

In exchange, they shall destroy all of Gadreel's servants still inside the Tree, and free its last surviving seed. To help them in this task, the Tree gives them the magical maul they failed to acquire earlier. After a needed rest, the Tree opens a passage for the Heroes, and delivers them to the room where Gadreel's lieutenant, the hag Gathra, guards the Last Seed.

Session 51

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

 

Upon their arrival in Garden's orbit, the Conundrum is hailed by a small fleet of pirate ships. The pirates are led by Clive the Fearsome, but they have no aggressive intentions. In fact, they try to recruit the Heroes and their crew to join their fleet. They've suffered greatly at the hands of the Celestian Trading Guild, who seems to want to evict them from Garden.

 

The Heroes decline the offer, but reassure the pirates that they'll do what they can to oppose the Guild. The pirates guide them to the core of Garden, where the Celestians have been sighted most recently. The Conundrum flies through the plants and trunks making up the core, and eventually the Heroes are forced to leave their ship behind when the vegetable tunnels become too narrow.

 

They make their way to a mile-wide cavern made of vegetable matter. The cave is dominated by a column of leaves, vines, and bark, 500 feet wide at the base, raising from the cave's floor and disappearing in its ceiling. Radiant power flows from cracks in the bark, and spreads a powerful light in all the cave. Living at the base of this Tree of Light is a tribe of orcs subservient to Gadreel, guarding the entrance to the tree itself.

 

The Heroes fool the orcs into believing they are sent by Gadreel, and gain access to the tree. Inside the sentient plant, the Heroes must face the creatures living among its roots, and the malign presence of the tree itself, who has recognized them as intruders.

Session 50

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Heroes fight more inmates, guardians, and deadly traps. One of the inmates, a crazed human sorcerer of great power, tries to steal the Heroes' possessions, and manages to kill Kunik with his elemental powers.

The Heroes defeat the sorcerer, and Azrael brings Kunik back to life. With all their resources spent, the Heroes decide to take a breather, safe behind a Leomund's Tiny Hut spell.

When they resume their exploration, they reach the quarters of the prison's warden. There they find the illithid noble dead in a pool of its own blood, with a spellweaver sitting next to its corpse. Yreldune nods to the Heroes, apparently calm.

From her the Heroes learn more of Gadreel's history. The fallen angel hails from a "dead" sphere, where the sun has died. He sought powerful magic to create a new sun, eventually creating powerful artifacts called Sun Seeds. He planted these seeds in the soil of far away planets, but they never managed to bloom into a new sun.

His studies led him to meet with more powerful arcanists, among them Terigamar and Yreldune, and to eventually experiment with living creatures. Still, no success.

Yreldune then explains how her theories begun to diverge from Gadreel's, but the true meaning of her words is lost on the Heroes. She suggest they visit the planet of Garden, where Gadreel has greatly advanced his studies on Life Force and Radiant Energy.

Following the spellweaver's words, the Conundrum sets course to Garden.

Session 49

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Heroes force their way inside the prison, triggering the alarms in place at the gates, and alerting the compound. They fight their way through the golems and begin to investigate the prison. It seems that their arrival has given the chance to some inmates to riot, as they find signs of conflict in many of the areas they enter.

They fight through more illithids, and even a cryohydra guarding the lower levels of the prison. on their way they meet a few inmates that made it this far in their escape, and strike a deal of sorts to help each other. Eventually they reach the gates of the dungeon level. In front of the gates, two fearsome undead creatures stand still, ready to point their deadly gaze on any intruder.

Session 48

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Conundrum suffers heavy damage from the Nautiloid attack, and the Heroes decide to board the enemy vessel. They kill several illithid, and subdue the survivors. They then force the captain of the vessel to guide them to the nearest entrance to Glyth's Underdark.

The Heroes find a place to land their ship, and then begin the slow descent to the bowels of Glyth. After several hours they encounter a caravan of illithid and mind-controlled slaves. The slaves are working at clearing up a recent cave-in. While their illithid masters idly watch over the slaves, the Heroes ambush the abominations and slay them. Most of the slaves go crazy upon the death of their master, but Kunik rapidly restores the mind of one of them, the duergar Murghol, with his divine magic.

Murghol guides the Heroes to a side tunnel, not wide enough for the caravan to travel through, and leads them to the gates of Manzessine.

The gates are guarded by a pair of flesh golem made from discarded illithid parts. As the heroes approach, their minds are filled with the telepathic voice of a mind flayer, urging them to state their bussiness before the guardians rip them apart.

Session 47

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The answers of the soul pillars are shrouded in riddles, but the Heroes learn that Gadreel is not currently in Realmspace. Hoping to find more information about the fallen angel's plans, they continue their exploration.

They arrive at a huge domed room, where more of the soul pillar can be found. Guarding them is an ancient dracolich, an undead wyrm of great power created by the spellweavers centuries ago. The creature is willing to parley, and offers the Heroes a deal; he wishes the Grigori knights gone from the asteroid, and the skull of the demilich leading them to add to his hoard.

Not wishing to fight against a dracolich, the Heroes tentatively agree, and go looking for the undead monster. When they find it, they're not so surprised to see Terigamar, the lich they met several months back in the Flow, attended by two Grigori knights.

Terigamar is quite talkative, and explains to the Heroes how together with Gadreel and a surviving spellweaver called Yreldun, they succeeded in creating portals of such power as to "transport" entire asteroids from one sphere to another, albeit not in one piece, but by slowly eroding their surface.

Their research has recently met with a delay, as Yreldun has decided to withdraw her knowledge, due to a disagreement with Gadreel. In order to give her time to re-consider her stance, Gadreel has sent the spellweaver to Manzessine, a mind flayer prison on Glyth.

As if summoned by Terigamar's words, from a nearby scrying pool the image of Gadreel appears, scanning the room. when he spots the Heroes, he orders Terigamar and the knights to capture them. The Grigori knights attack the Heroes, while Terigamar hesitates. When the knights are defeated, Terigamar allows the Heroes to leave.

The Conundrum Tertian makes its way to Glyth, hoping to find Yreldun and learn more from the captive spellweaver. They land first on one of Glyth's moons, where they meet a stranded paladin, Justing "Do Good" Demonslayer, who warns them of the dangers of the illithid planet.

Guided by Justin, the Heroes make their way around Glyth to find an entance to the Underdark. While they're still in Wildspace, a nautiloid ship approaches.

Session 46

Heroes: Azrael, Kunik, Haurchefant

Inside the compound they find the corpses of an ancient race of spellweavers, six-armed creatures with great magical powers. The corpses are perfectly preserved inside glass "columns" throughout the asteroid.

But the place is not without guardians. The Heroes encounter several magical traps left in place by the spellweavers, and must fight against summoned fiends and constructs. The Grigori knights are occupying several rooms, led by fallen angels at service of Gadreel. During an encounter with a deva, Azrael is killed by the celestial, but Kunik is ready with a revivify spell to bring her back.

The Grigori are guarding mystical pillars of necrotic material,inside which are bound the very souls of ancient sages. At the risk of their own sanity, the Heroes make contact with these tormented souls to gather information about their enemy.

Session 45

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Heroes return to the merfolk village, where chief Kierl, now free of the aboleth's influence, is willing to share important information about Satine. He reveals that, while under the aboleth's control, he delivered Satine to one of the the aberration's allies: a celestial creature calling himself Gadreel. Azrael recognizes the name, and informs the others of his history with this creature. Kierl also tells them that Gadreel was bound to Chandos.

After a hasty farewell at the palace of the sea-elves king, the Heroes leave for Chandos. The planet is known for tis shifting islands, constantly forming and sinking in the tumultuous oceans. From wildspace, the Heroes spot the ruins of some sort of gigantic artefact orbiting tyhe planet, its remains dropping to the surface of Chandos and forming a stable island.

The Heroes investigate the island, and come into contact with savage humans. These wildmen venerate the effigy of angels, which enrages Azrael. After killng the barbarians, the Heroes are set upon by an orc warband. It looks like the orcs of this planet are more advanced than the humans, and most importantly they do not bow to Gadreel and his celestial servants.

From the orcs the Heroes learn that the celestials raid the islands to enslave the fittest warriors. To know more, they're directed to the orc hermit Yellow Tusk. After going through the Shifting Rocks, the Heroes meet with Yellow Tusk. The old monk is eager to pass on his knowledge of his martial techniques, which Haurchefant accepts after a trial by combat.

Yellow Tusk also tells them of a satellite inhabited by the celestial, on the opposite side of the planet. The Heroes travel there, where they spot a functioning artefact similar to the ruined one they encountered upon arrival on Chandos. It is a miles-wide portal, constantly dropping huge rocks on the planet's surface to form stable islands. Hovering at a short distance from the portal is a, asteroid. 

The Heroes approach, and are attacked by unmanned crafts similar to golden pyramids. They destroy the attackers, and find an entrance to the asteroid. Guarding the entrance are Grigori knights, fallen companions of Azrael's doomed order. The Heroes fight their way in, and begin exploring the outpost.

Session 44

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

Annelsie visits the Heroes and helps them escape their imprisonment. She believes that her chieftain is under some sort of evil spell, and she wants to avoid war with the sea elves. She hopes the Heroes will find out the cause of this curse, and put an end to it.

 

The Heroes decide to return to the elven capital, but on the way they encounter a party of sea elves being attacked by aquatic trolls. They defeat the trolls, and recover clues pointing to the involvement of the horrid creatures in the disappearance of Saiel, the merfolk chieftain's son.

 

Guided by the surviving elves, the Heroes arrive at the troll lair, where they kill more of the monsters and find Saiel. The Heroes learn that Satine was also prisoner of the trolls, but was handed over to a mysterious figure the trolls call the "big fish".

 

The Heroes set off north following the trolls indications, and arrive at the underwater ruins of an ancient city, now inhabited by sauhagin. When they reach the center of the ruins, the true threat reveals itself: an aboleth!

 

They battle the abomination and its sauhagin minions, and after a difficult battle they kill the mind-controlling fish, and loot its lair.

Session 43

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Kunik

The Heroes gather information about the location of Firebrand's island, and with a sense of impending doom they travel to the ancient wyrm's lair.

 

They enter the volcanic cave where the dragon sleeps in a lake of lava, but are suprised to see a wizened old man is also in the cave, trying to wake up the dragon from its slumber.

 

The white-bearded man is none others than Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale and Chosen of Mystra. The Heroes have a short conversation with the archmage, where they learn that Satine is now on Karpri:Elminster teleported her to a city of sea-elves, hoping to make her a favour.

 

The Heroes travel to the water-planet of Karpri, and meet with the Elvenking Laderious, who confirms that Satine was a welcomed guest of his court. She was sent to a diplomatic mission to the merfolk realm, but she did not return.

 

The Heroes follw this lead to the merfolk settlement, but are attacked and imprisoned by the aggressive tribesmen.Their chieftain Kierl accuses the sea-elves for the disappearance of his son, and he means for the Heroes to suffer for it.

 

Things look grim as the Heroes are imprisoned again, but a glimmer of hope presents itself: the water genasi Annelsie, counsellor of the chieftain, seems keen on keeping the Heroes alive. But what does she really want from them?

Session 42

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Ulfgeir

The Heroes delve deeper into the swamp, reaching a lizardfolk settlement. The Nightscales look willing to parley, but it soon becomes clear that they plan to sacrifice the party to their "dragon god".

 

A fight begins, where the Heroes rapidly get the upper hand against the savage lizardfold. But the tribesmen forces are bolster by fearson catoplebas, horrid beasts with a deadly necromantic gaze! The Heroes win the battle, but the cost is high: both Azrael and Ulfgeir lie dead on the field.

 

Ayrin searches the village and finds a surviving slave, the dwarven cleric Kunik Grimmantle. The dwarf is more than willing to use his divine powers to bring the fallen heroes back from the dead. Azrael rises once again but Ulfgeir's soul refuses to return. The Heroes honour their fallen friend, and retire to the swamp to rest.

 

The day after they travel back to the Nightscale village, and from there to the dragon's lair. They quickly dispatch the lizardfolk lackeys and shamans attending the wyrm, and then unleash their powers on the dragon. After a hard fight, the black-scaled monster is defeated.

 

The Heroes loot the lair, and then Kunik uses a speak with dead spell to interrogate the dragon. From the corpse they learn that Satine was indeed a priosner of the dragon, but he gave her away as a gift to another dragon: Flametongue Firebrand, the most powerful, ancient, and mean red dragon of all Coliar!

Session 41

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Ulfgeir

The Heroes reach the underground level of the library, where they find an abandoned spelljamming ship. When they use the clockwork key on the helm, the ship comes to life; a crew of modrons wakes from its long rest, and its ready to serve the Heroes.

Near the area where the ship was at rest the Heroes find a golden feather. Azrael immediately recognizes it as belonging to an angel. When Ulfgeir uses his divinatory powers on the feather, he receives the vision of a Grigori knight (an order of fallen paladins) approaching the ship, but being rebuked by the magical traps put in place around it.

Outside of the "hangar" where the ship was kept, the Heroes find the wreck of a neogi ship. There are no survivors, but from the captain's log the Heroes learn that the ship was seeking slaves, and was supposed to go to Coliar to sell its "cargo" to a lizardfolk tribe called the Nightscales. It is also apparent that the ship was not alone. Maybe the other neogi ship has captured Satine?

With their newfound ship, the Heroes travel to the gas giant Coliar, where they start to search for the Nightscales. A few days of drinks and bribes earn them a guide to the Nightscales' island, a swamp-infested piece of rock halfway through the core of Coliar.

The Heroes make their way through the bog, and are attacked by a pack of shambling mounds. The plant creatures are tough and dangerous, but the Heroes defeat them and then take some time to recover from their wounds.

Session 40

Heroes: Ayrin, Azrael, Haurchefant, Ulfgeir

The Heroes arrive at the Northern Polarate of Anadia, hoping to find a safe landing. Alas, as they fly over the rolling hills of the halfling countryside, they're attacked by swan-ships crewed by pirates from the Southern Polarate looking for a easy prey. Although the Heroes' ship is destroyed in the process, they manage to board the enemy vessel and take it over.

They reach the country of Powderpuff, where local officials take the swan-ship in custody, and direct the Heroes to a nearby town. There the Heroes begin their investigation for any clue that may bring them on Satine's path. After a few days of searching taverns and other gathering places, they chance upon a drunken halfling called Valumo.

The halfling and his explorer's party had hired Satine as a healer a few months back, to accompany them on an expedition in the deserts of Anadia to retrieve a treasure hoard from an ancient ruin. When they were about to reach their destination, a neogi ship attacked them and killed or enslaved everyone but Valumo, who escaped. The halfling gives the Heroes a magical clockwork key that can guide them to the ruins.

The Heroes travel through the harsh desert of Anadia, facing both the cruel weather and the voracious predators of the shifting sands, until they reach their destination, the ruin of an ancient library. The guardian of the ruin is an elemental creature called a Dao, and its pet basilisk. The Heroes kill the guardians, and get ready to enter the ruins.