Emerging from the Palace Miasmora, you can see the dome of force that once surrounded the city of Xin-Edasseril is gone, revealing clear blue skies above. The border between the old city and the portion previously held by the dome of Crystilan is stark now, with ancient preserved streets leading into the rugged wilderness of modern Peridot Isle beyond. After ten thousand years of isolatoin, the ancient city has, at last, been restored to the normal flow of time.
Reflecting on your recent experiences, you feel stronger and better able to handle the challenges to come--
--but it seems you won't have to wait long to face those challenges, as with a flash of light, the tiefling artist Ayavah teleports into your presence! The sorceress has a desperate look in her eyes as she takes you all in.
"There you are! Calamity has taken all of Varisia, and we need your help!"
"Dire portents have been building up for the past several months, and now the floodgates have opened!" Ayavah says, clutching her holy symbol of the Redeemer Queen. "All along the Lost Coast, eruptions of fire and burning fiends from ancient towers have devastated the region, and the towns of Sandpoint and Roderic’s Cove are no more. Kaer Maga has been taken over by a demon lord named Colyphyr, who has claimed the city as her domain. Korvosa has been devastated by the sudden appearance of and attack by a towering monster out of legend—the dread Oliphaunt of Jandelay. Magnimar has fallen to an army of powerful sinspawn and other monsters that used portals within the Irespan’s pilings as a point of invasion. Chaos and destruction reign supreme!
"Throughout all of this, scattered sightings of Alaznist have been reported—the Runelord of Wrath is reveling in the havoc as she travels from site to site to watch disaster unfold, periodically helping the ruin along with her magic. Varisia needs heroes, now more than ever before!"
It seems clear that Alaznist has finally succeeded in altering the timeline. The only way to stop her is to travel back in time and fix the temporal wounds she has caused!
From Xanderghul's notes and your own research in Crystilan, you know that both Runelord Karzoug and the Cyphergate in Riddleport have links to the manipulation of time. Xanderghul’s plot to use the Cyphergate to travel back in time might work, but if Karzoug took the secret of its activation to his grave, then the only option is to go beyond the grave to seek out his soul in the Boneyard—provided he hasn’t yet been judged and sent on to his final punishment in the Great Beyond!
But the current dangers cannot be ignored, either. Some of you will have to travel to the embattled regions of Varisia to do what you can to help, to distract Alaznist and to give the other heroes as much time as possible to seek out a method to activate the Cyphergate and journey to the Dimension of Time!
Help with the Korvosa Evacuation: As the Oliphaunt nests and wallows in the ruins of Korvosa, the Sihedron Hero works to help those still trapped in the ruined city escape to relative safety in the hinterlands (+2 on Reflex saves).
Hunt Fiends on the Streets of Kaer Maga: The Sihedron Hero travels to Kaer Maga to fight demonic invaders and other monsters unleashed upon the city by the demon lord Colyphyr (+4 on Initiative checks and Perception checks).
Aid the Defenders of Magnimar: The Sihedron Hero travels to Magnimar to aid the last struggling pockets of resistance fighters there against the overwhelming invasion of the sinspawn armies (+2 on Fortitude saves).
"I presume your sorceress friend here has already worked out how to bring this whole city back into the appropriate place in time and space?" she asks, turning to glance at Shenuska.
"Go and look." Shenuska replies simply as the woman who is trying far too hard asks the obvious question.
When Ayavah appears Shenuska takes the distraught looking woman in her arms briefly. "Calm down Ayavah, we're here. You can relax now." In Ayavahs defense however the news is exceptionally grave...
"I must protect my city first." Shenuska says firmly. "But this not something we can easily ignore."
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"I'll head to the coast." Issi offers. "If the Hellstorm Flumes are active then nothing will get through me." The pyrimancers grin is wild as her chosen element. "Sephy? Want me to drop in Kaer Maga? Hunting fiends sounds like something you'd enjoy."
Issi waves at everyone and winks to Shenuska. "Keep doing me proud kid!" She commands before vanishing (with Persephone) in a sudden blaze of fire shaped like a vast bird.
"Last time I was in Korvosa the reviewer said my act was crude, trite, and predictable," Farrina says, crossing her arms. "Guess who gets the last laugh." She twirls and gives a suggestive shimmy and then vanishes.
"Sephy? Want me to drop you in Kaer Maga? Hunting fiends sounds like something you'd enjoy."
"I would."
With a cruel grin, Persephone tucks her chin back into her scarf.
"I'll handle Magnimar," says Azura. "It's my home anyway, and I know plenty of influential people. I can organize effective relief and resistance efforts."
Viorec spoke up. "Same. Magnimar's my home too. Also if they end up trashing the Serpent's Run then I'll be bored stiff after all this is sorted."
Theo nodded in thanks to Viorec. He'd been about to volunteer himself but the old swashbuckler knew Theo still had bad memories of the last major disaster the city had faced.
The Sihedron Heroes depart, leaving you to take on Alaznist’s plots directly. The time is nigh for you to take on the role Xanderghul fancied he would himself play—traveling through the Cyphergate to seek a method of fixing the damage to the past inflicted by Alaznist. However, simply traveling to Riddleport and opening the Cyphergate without Karzoug’s aid is an impossible task.
Complicating this is the fact that Karzoug is dead. The notes you recovered indicate that his soul has yet to be judged, but death is unlikely to have improved Karzoug’s personality. He will still be a greedy, scheming, vile soul that will not willingly give up any information about the Cyphergate.
One potential solution, though, may lie in Karzoug’s shrouded past. After Karzoug’s failed return, study of ancient Thassilon and its rulers took many of Varisia’s scholars by storm, among them Shenuska. In her research, she came across a few mentions of the name “Zinlun,” someone associated with the Thassilonian city of Malistoke. Her research revealed that Malistoke was a city widely known for its slave trade and located in central Shalast until Karzoug destroyed it in –5758 AR, a year after he became the Runelord of Greed; he later quarried out the land around the city to create the lake known today as the Storval Deep. Since the Runelords of Greed never had any qualms about slavery in general, scholars of Thassilonian history have found it odd that Karzoug would obliterate one of the realm’s most profitable centers of the slave trade, but few ever hit upon the truth that Shenuska suspects.
Shenuska believes Karzoug spent his first few decades of life as a slave in Malistoke, likely under the yoke of this mysterious person named Zinlun. Further research turned up ancient Varisian legends that spoke of the horrors during the Age of Darkness following Earthfall, several of which mentioned a frightful “wizard of bones” named Zinlun who preyed upon any who dared approach the central Storval Plateau. These legends persisted into the Age of Destiny, suggesting that Zinlun had survived the destruction of his hometown and Earthfall alike, but little has been heard of him since the dawn of the Age of Enthronement. Further divination revealed that Zinlun still existed, dwelling in his tomb at the bottom of the Storval Deep, where Malistoke once stood.
If Zinlun or his remains could be recovered from his tomb, his presence (or even the lingering aura around his remains) would likely cause Karzoug’s soul to react in shame and anger, and you could to use it as a threat to force information from the runelord or, alternatively, as barter—Karzoug’s knowledge of the Cyphergate’s use in return for Zinlun’s destruction.
Dealing with the Runegiants proves to be less trouble than Shenuska expected. The dramatic sight of a new world beyond the city has punctured a lot of their bombast and a compromise is rapidly worked out with Queen Wo-Shalist. She will lead Xin-Edrassil's armies and in the meantime her giants will set to work repairing the cities defenses while the Emerald Guard under Xotl, now Seneschal Xotl, focus on repairing the city and reclaiming the archives from the remaining cultists.
After hearing some disturbing news from Ayavah Shenuska abandons her first plan and teleports south to Kintargo, on the western coast of Cheliax. There she beseeches the help of a powerful healer named Seraphina and exchanges some of the scrolls taken from Belimarius for one of wish and the accompanying diamond which enables her upon her return to fulfill Xotl's wish to finally become fully human.
With her new seneschal fully employed in his new role, and the former Runelord left in Kintargo to do as she pleases Shenuska can finally take a breath to enjoy her new-found significance.
Six heartbeats later the war is back on and she has to figure out how to contact a dead soul in the Boneyard. Thankfully Karzoug had been one of her studies when Xin-Shalast was first rediscovered and Zinlun provides what might just be the perfect solution, although the Storval Deep has never been on her holiday destination list.
"There was supposed to be a great monster there." She tells the others. "A creature called Black Maga. Some say that Flamehair and the others who fought Karzoug destroyed it, but somehow I don't think we'll be that lucky." Then with a snap of her fingers Xin-Edrassil disappears and a dark lake appears from nowhere.
The ancient city of Malistoke was a major Thassilonian hub for Shalast’s slave trade. This infamous city of human misery lay sprawled at the base of the mountain range now known as the Iron Peaks. Where Malistoke’s infamous flesh pits once stood now sprawls a massive trench gouged by centuries of quarrying that, today, is a lake known as the Storval Deep. At a depth of 2,000 feet and covering more than 3,000 square miles, the result of Karzoug’s efforts to erase his hated hometown is truly impressive.
You’ll need to take precautions before venturing into the depths.
Rudrik simply says, "I'm getting a little dizzy from all the teleporting and time-traveling."
"The Sihedron Heroes seemed like decent folks, though."
Theo looked over the size of the lake. "And here I thought the aquatic mobility of my golden dragon form would never come into play. Still can't breathe underwater, but should make things a little easier in one respect."
"I'm a pretty adequate swimmer, but we're going how far down?" says Rudrik. "I, uh, dunno that I could do that kind of dive without some magical help."
"Mmm, even a real gold dragon would be needing to prepare for a dive like that. And the magic that would help with that is a little outside my wheelhouse."
Nime eyes the large expanse of water with respect. "Going that deep is almost like going miles into the air," she says. "Even being able to breath water doesn't really help. You start to run out of air. And the water gets really heavy." Her arms wrap around herself and her brow wrinkles as if reliving an unpleasant memory.
Calendula draws her sword and kneels beside the water and prays to her goddess, asking for speed and alacrity. Two hundred feet away, water begins boiling in the shape of a sword and sunburst, the symbol of Iomedae. Five bearded horses with long curling fish tails rise to the surface and rear back, whinnying.
These blessed steeds swim hurriedly to the party, chuffing and settling, ready for their riders to mount them.
"Back in Sarkoris, some of the Demon Cultists used a spell on me and mine. Removet our lungs, n replacet em wit gills. We killt the casters n reclaimed our lungs, but not afore I watched my men suffocate an die."
She stands and gazes at the horizon, blank faced.
"I believe I c'n cast this spell on us. But I'll need ta know there's no other option first."
As the horses approach Nime grins and claps. "Oh, they're beautiful!" she cries out, pulling Calendula in for a hug.
When the paladin explains further, Nime's face darkens. "I don't think I would like magic like that. I can breath water just fine. It's just ... it's so deep."
With several magical protections in place, you mount the hippocampi Calendula summoned and ride them as they descend into the icy depths of the Storval Deep. After a few minutes, you reach the bottom of the lake, and a few minutes more of searching around brings you to the site of Zinlun's tomb.
A circular depression in the silt of the lake bed seems to have been recently disturbed, revealing a circular stone platform composed of a series of concentric rings. The platform bears a massive stylized symbol that resembles some sort of grasping pincer measuring nearly 100 feet across. The silt-layered lake bed around the platform is uneven, with dozens of corpses of immense tentacled monstrosities partly covered in mud.
You recognize the symbol as that of the Thassilonian rune of greed, but with its orientation reversed. A portion of the rune is missing—the stylized jewel that the rune normally grasps is not present. An examination of this area of the symbol reveals a large, shallow depression in the shape of the missing piece. The entire platform emits a faint aura of abjuration magic.
Shenuska spots the missing piece of stone partially buried in the lake bed nearby. While the slab is large and unwieldy, if you tie your hippocampi to it, they should be able to drag the stone over to its place with half an hour of back-breaking toil.
The psychic also spots a hidden danger, though. A horrific trap has been rigged into this stone. Hidden beneath it lies a hollow space filled with a concentrated pool of supernaturally enhanced flesheating acid that is very difficult to detect via visual inspection. If the stone is moved, the pocket would be opened and the flesh-eating acid would diffuse into the surrounding water.
"I suggest you deal with the trap Rudrik." Shenuska says, her voice resounding in everyone's heads without the psychic actually speaking. "We will head for the missing component once i have examined the corpse to ensure it is not enchanted."
"Mothers of oblivion," Nime says with sadness, looking over the bodies. "Why so many? And what killed them?"
The corpses don't look like they will reanimate any time soon. There is no necromantic magic at work here.
"Yeah okay," says Rudrik, swimming awkwardly (even with freedom of movement) to deal with the device.
He takes out his hidden picks and probes and starts working, but the pressure seems to be getting to him. (Pun intended.) Suddenly there is an odd shift and the worst happens.
As Nime watches Rudrik work at disabling the trap, she calls out through the dark, cold water, "Is that rock going to be in the way?"
"Huh? Oh, crap!"
Rudrik barely manages to keep the stone from shifting and setting the whole thing off.
It takes him several more minutes of hair-raising delicate work to try to undo the horrid contraption.
"Sorry," Nime says as she floats almost upside-down nearby, her hair fanned out in a dark blue swath. "I wasn't trying to distract you."
With the trap disabled, you begin thr laborious process of dragging the stone back to the seal. You aren’t halfway there, however, when something large disturbs the silt of the lake bed. Through the cloudy water, you can see a massive monstrosity approaching—another dead Black Magga, but this one very much animated!
Rudrik draws Tannaris and prepares it for use against the undead.
Shenuska sighs. Everyone hears her do it in their heads...
Nime speaks a blessing over her friends and moves to stay out of the way.
The undead monster turns its soulless gaze on Nime, alerted by her divine spell casting. It attempts to subsume her will!
Rudrik spurs his mount forward and brings Tannaris around for a brutal slash.
The undine shrugs off the touch on her mind. Her sureness of self is almost insurmountable.
Calendula follows Rudrik's path, her sword plunging into the creature's chest.
Her voice bubbles and gurgles underwater. "Shenuska! I thought you said explicitly that they would stay dead!"
The ones I checked have stayed dead. The psychic points out reasonably as her iron facsimile starts plodding along the lake bed towards the fight.
Shenuska meanwhile fires a thin grey line at the huge creature.
Being underwater basically smothered all of his fire spells, so instead he focused on augmenting the others.
The undead creature slaps Calendula with a tentacle as she charges in, but that doesn't stop her from smiting it with her sword. Shenuska's disntigreation beam causes a huge chunk of its body to dissolve into a cloud of dust that spreads out into the water, then Rudrik puts Tannaris to good use, chopping the monster's head clean off! Its body sinks to the lake bed and lies still.
The short fight has kicked up a lot of the silt nearby, revealing some significant treasures. All told, you can gather a decoy ring, a lesser persistent spell metamagic rod, a wand of spell immunity (46 charges), 90 pp, 1,100 gp, 520 sp, and 5,390 cp.
You finish dragging the stone back into place on the seal, and the concentric rings (including the fused basalt rune) of the platform sink into the lake bed in a stairstep configuration similar to an amphitheater, revealing a tunnel that leads to Zinlun’s tomb. This tunnel bores directly into the bedrock and has the appearance of the original quarrying that formed the entire lake.
After 100 feet or so, the tunnel opens into a large chamber. The walls of this chamber bear engravings of an ancient cityscape, their lines not dulled by time. They depict a city sprawled below a background of grim peaks as lines of countless chained beings, mostly humanoid, are led to their fate within the city walls. At the end of each of the room’s wings are bronze trellises upon which mutilated human corpses have been draped. The bodies’ flesh still has a fresh appearance, suggesting the deaths occurred recently. The wall between the two wings bears a 10-foot-high bas-relief of the face of a man with a distinctive pointed chin. He has squinting eyes, arched eyebrows, and a prominent forehead, and his expression is an unmistakable scowl.
There are two dozen human bodies mounted on the trellises at either end of the room. They are all identical—the same man tortured to death dozens of times.
Calendula returns everyone their lungs upon exiting the water. "Our steeds should remain in this plane for hours yet, but if they disappear afore'n we return, I c'n summon 'em again. Course Theo or Shenuska could also teleport us, but," she uses both hands to scratch her hippocampus's ear and chin, smiling at it softly, "they are just so sweet."
Calendula scratches her mount's ear and chin playfully, congratulating it for serving so ably.
Looking forward her smile vanishes. "I don't claim to be mucha an expert in ennterier deesign, but this is, uh, tacky. Intimidating, shure, but unoriginal. And gross."
"Yeah, uh... I guess someone really, really, really wanted vengeance, and went all clone-nuts to get it."
In contrast to her awkward gait on land, Nime slips through the water of the tunnels completely at ease. She flits from one corpse to the other, looking them over.
"He really didn't like Karzoug," she says. "I'm not sure if he was just making a point or if there's supposed to be some type of artistry here, but, ... ew."
As soon as you get within 20 feet of the corpses, two of the dead Karzougs rip themselves free from the trellises and sink through the water to the ground. They lurch to attack, staggering under the weight of the massive hooks and chains impaling them through their midsections!
They lunge at Rudrik, swinging their chains, but his armor keeps him safe! The corpses whisper secrets and blasphemous chants!
"Well this is becoming tiresome." Shenuska says, aloud this time, and speeds her companions.
Rudrik somehow shakes off the rambling and muttering, blocking it out as he absorbs the strikes of the spiked chains and wades directly into the fray, Tannaris still gleaming with undead-killing power.
Frustrated at how much the water was slowing him down, Theo tapped into his blood and shifted to a form that could actually move down here.
"Eww ... eww, eww, eww," the undine states with profundity as she falls back from the undead, before invoking a blessing on the group.
Calendula steps forward with stretchy arms, scoring two hits on one of the undead. Rudrik tumbles up to slice it as well. Both dead Karzougs focus their attacks on the half-orc, scoring lucky hits with their negatively charged chains!
Continuing to mutter, "Eww, eww, eww," under her breath, Nime moves close to the chain festooned undead that Rudrik is fighting and reaches out to touch it.
Rudrik gets unexpectedly brutalized by a clone, but that just causes him to become even fiercer in his retribution.
With nothing better to do Shen falls back on old reliable and hammers to corpses with magic missiles.