2025.05.03 Session Notes

At the Inn

• The group reviews the floorplan that was left for them; the bearer is unknown
• Make a plan to have their sneakiest sneaks do reconnaissance rather than all going in together
• The rest will hold back and plan a distraction in case there’s a problem
• Very cool idea to open up a sending channel so those on the inside can reach out at a moment’s notice
• Then everyone goes to sleep…

Erash’s Dream

You feel the wind on your skin. You are again high above the ground, but this time you seem to be controlling the flight. You glide among the ruins of Draconia below. You see a great tree of ice on a hill. The branches of which produce icicles and not fruit.

You swing east through the rubble, now overgrown but still visible through the grasses. From the air, you see the remains of a stone circle some 40’ in diameter. You land in the circle and everything goes blank. You hear whispers in a language you don’t understand. You find yourself in a small shrine. A brazier glows in the dark. The ground shudders underneath your feet as the brazier erupts into a huge flame. From that wall of fire comes a voice you now know. 

COME TO ME. BROTHER IN BLOOD. COME TO ME AND COMPLETE YOUR QUEST. IT IS YOUR DUTY. YOUR DESTINY. WE WALK THIS PATH TOGETHER AT LAST.

You now have a vision of a hidden chamber, heavily warded and guarded by diabolical spell craft and immortal dangers. Inside this chamber lies a knowledge thought to have been lost for eons. Secrets that could bring a mighty ruler to their knees. A powerful glyph stands like a force field around this chamber, which seems to exist not in this realm or any other. Those lucky enough to even discover it are eternally destroyed upon touching this barrier. You feel yourself pass through the barrier as if it isn’t there at all. 

The good news is that Erash didn't burn anything down. This time.

Monastery

• Snow and Phelan sneak in as mist
• Make their way directly to the Abbot's quarters, where a single lantern lights the space
• Snow goes corporeal and grabs the aged looking book called Radiant Witness
• The Abbot has also got a fancy mace and some correspondence encouraging violence to oppose threats to the monastery - but we're not too worried about those
• The Abbot has also got an overnight guest – but we're not too worried about that, either
• Rather than explore the rest of the monastery, Snow and Phelan escape as the rest of the party causes a big distraction 💥

Bishop's House

• The party brings the Radiant Witness text to the Bishop
• Bishop explains that the book is the holy text of a cult that believed the Dawnfather and the Raven Queen where two sides of the same deity
• He is livid and vows to speak to his bretheren; seems to shake off the listlessness and aloholic haze
• The Abbot shows up for a "conversation" with his former mentor
• We call this "mission accomplished" and bail, planning our trip to explore the landscape of Erash's latest dream

Ruins of Draconia

• The team does some basic stuff to prep for exploring the ruins
• Make their way north to find the tree from Erash's vision
• Pass through many wonders of the fallen floating city
• Erash begins to hear voices; they get louder and lead the party to a circle of standing stones
• Find a shaft that leads down to a shrine with a giant statue of a dragon
• Erash touches the statue and basically triggers a portkey
• Staircase is revealed, taking the party down to a room filled with reliefs
• Those reliefs tell a story...

The Fall of the House of al Khaleed

The ancient red dragon Gaushroth the Bloodied (so named for the deep garnet tones of his scales) and the Efreet Tarir al-Kaleed, head of one of the noblest houses of Effriti on the Plane of Fire, formed an alliance. In exchange for the bulk of the Sultan’s legendary wealth (and a tithe of all ongoing accumulated wealth) and the release of The Bloodied One’s kin who are bound to guard it, Gaushroth granted Tarir the allyship of the dragons and fire elementals who are part of the puzzle of guarding the treasure, along with amplification of the innate magical abilities of all in his line henceforth.

Tarir al-Kahleed swore to take down Marrake al-Sidan al-Hariq ben Lazan the Sultan, giving rulership over the Charcoal Palace to Gaushroth and his dragonkin. He was a strategic advisor to the Sultan and privy to the deepest and most sensitive secrets of the vaults beneath the City of Brass. He knew of a critical weakness, architected by the Azer and hidden from the Sultan, that would enable someone to enter the vaults undetected and bypass many of the wards and devils that are the first line of defense. Without the vast treasure behind his rule, the Sultan would only have his cruelty, which in time would be overwhelmed by outside forces. 

While Al-Kahleeed was just as evil and oppressive as most of his effreeti kind, he hoped to forge alliances across the Elemental Plane of Fire that would better position his house for long- term influence that extended beyond the City of Brass.

Despite his strategic alliances and amplified sorcerous powers, the coup failed. The Al- Kaleed family and their allies were executed — every last man, woman and child. Gaushroth bade his time, as his tie to the plot wasn’t immediately obvious and total secrecy was a part of their pact.

The Al-Kahleed estate was razed to the ground, the contents incinerated to char, ashes scattered, every stone removed and cast into the Sea of Fire. And so his secrets died with his line.

Or so the Sultan thought.

The Lowly are often invisible and have their own ways. A few members of the household of the great Al-Kaleed escaped. Among these was a Fire Elf servant known as Amakir Abadi. She had secretly borne Amir, the son of her master, who was raised by others within his harem. During the failed coup, she ran from the palace during the bloodbath and pressed her son upon a traveling dragonborn from the Material Plane named Carjek Caerlin. Touched by her desperation, he took the child to his home city of Draconia, hidden in his saddlebags and unknown to his employer, who frequently traveled to The Plane of Fire for trade.

Carjek was a high-ranking bodyguard in Draconia, but an oppressed Ravenite nonetheless. He and his wife Myerul raised the child as their own.

Centuries passed. At first, there were whispers that the boy was an illegitimate child of Carjek’s from one of his frequent trips into the City of Brass. He did nothing to confirm or deny the rumors and Myerul refused to call the boy anything but her own. Over time, the occasional fiery and sorcerous child in his family line became the stuff of legend, and was attributed to strong draconic bloodlines or other whims of fate.

Upon crossing to the Plane of Fire or coming into contact with elemental flame, those of the house of al-Kaleed manifest a mystical brand in Draconic script that translates to "Child of Gold and Child of Flame."

Erash is the last of this child’s direct line.

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