Excerpt from the Field Notes of Professor Zathomir E Zoltan, Master Arcane Abjurer and Assistant Chronicler of The Lions of Leilon: Permit me to recount, with some necessary precision, the most recent series of perplexing, dangerous, and quite frankly ill-advised events undertaken by our party during our descent into what I can only describe as an architectural insult to both necromantic containment and basic structural integrity – a mausoleum-dungeon hybrid inhabited by spectral dragons, animated skeletons, and delusions of grandeur.
Thanks to my mastery of both scrying and teleportation, we began deep in the lower levels at the treasure horde of the dragon Ebondeath, guarded by Ebondeath’s massive skull. We were immediately greeted by enchanted reliefs and disembodied magical mouths chanting some infernal liturgy on loop. After collecting the treasure, the group proceeded upward through crumbling stairs only to discover the heart of the necromantic influence: an obsidian throne throbbing with death magic.
Prudently, I dispelled the powerful sigils lacing the insidious throne. Being a master abjurer, I knew my efforts in this regard would be entirely successful. What I did not anticipate was the entire tower collapsing down on top of us, from which we narrowly escaped with a few bumps and bruises.
Once Belomash finished digging Hyacinth out of the rubble we witnessed a massive ancient black dragon emerge from the nearby murky waters, apparently freed from a long-standing magical imprisonment. Who saw that coming? It thanked us for freeing it from its prolonged captivity and introduced himself as Voaraghamanthar, Voarag the Dread for short.
Although we were reticent to part with any magic, and given our admittedly weakened condition, after a cautious parley concluded we agreed to exchange a crown we discovered in Ebondeath’s treasure horde for 5,000 gold. The dragon required one other thing, the skull of Ebondeath. Torinn and the others went back down into the mausoleum to retrieve it only to discover it had been destroyed in the tower’s collapse. Voarag proceeded to tell us we had unleashed Ebondeath back into the world, was thankful for his newly purchased crown, but vanished before finalizing payment.
Despite these setbacks, or perhaps because of them, we plan to continue our investigations and adventures. We stopped by the outpost at Iniarv’s Tower on the way out of the Mere to collect the 1000g owed us from Brother Justin for our considerable efforts. Wizard’s note: Further preparations should include acquiring the spell Plane Shift (for obvious reasons), obtaining a Staff of Power (belatedly) and a firm commitment from the group to listen to me for once. (Highly unlikely!)
To summarize: the tower collapsed, the dragon escaped, the crown was bartered away, the skull was shattered, and the end of the world may now be casually walking about. We’ve suffered wounds, gained questionable alliances, and possibly doomed the region to an unprecedented undead apocalypse. Quite frankly, I give it a six out of ten as far as our adventures go.
