session 54

Session 54¶

Session 54 Date: 2025-03-10 | 1840.06.03 (Day 364 of the 1840th kilochron of Er)

Party Members:

• Gloopwing
• Gwenzahlya
• Ryalith Seraphia
• Stigs the Stiff

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Encounters:

• Yiska the merchant
• The entrance to Cynedicia

## Deals and Divided Paths

Our time in Khazun took an unexpected turn as we continued our dual missions. While Ryalith and Stigs pursued information about Talah Mesho’a, Gloopeing and Gwen followed their guide Eko through a maze of winding alleys toward a reputable gem merchant. After several false starts and what seemed to be deliberately circuitous navigation, Eko brought us to Yiska’s warehouse and lapidary, gesturing for us to wait outside while he bargained within.

Patience has never been Gwen’s strongest virtue. She insisted on following Eko inside, with Gloopwing close behind. Their concession to Eko was to be present but invisible. The interior of Yiska’s establishment was a curious blend of orderly business and barely contained chaos – shelves lined with gemstones in various states of refinement, cutting tools arranged with precision, and stacks of ledgers that threatened to topple at any moment.

Yiska himself proved to be a shrewd negotiator with a keen eye for value. As he examined our uncut gems, his initially dismissive demeanor shifted to carefully concealed interest. Eko, whose talent for deception is matched only by her ability to detect it in others, noted the change immediately and adjusted her approach accordingly. What followed was a negotiation worthy of the great bazaars of Khazun.

Meanwhile, Ryalith and Stigs’s inquiries about Talah Mesho’a led them to a dimly lit establishment called the Shady Palm. There, amid the sweet smoke of hookah pipes and the quiet murmurs of patrons with secrets to sell, they gathered fragments of information. The Mesho’a clan’s prominence in Khazun politics was well-established, but their interest in ancient ruins went beyond typical archaeological curiosity. Whispers suggested that Talah’s fascination with the ziggurat was driven by something far more personal than academic interest – a quest for origins that predated even the oldest Hozhungi settlements.

As the day progressed, our separate investigations converged on a surprising opportunity. Yiska, after finalizing our gem transaction, revealed another facet of his business – he required couriers for a package of considerable value that needed to reach a contact in Haven, within three days’ journey from Khazun. The timing of this delivery coincided exactly with our planned expedition to the ziggurat, presenting us with a dilemma that quickly transformed into a strategy.

After reuniting to share our findings, we made a decision that flew in the face of conventional adventuring wisdom – we would split our party once more. Stigs, Xor, Dafydd, and some hired hands would serve as Yiska’s couriers, delivering his mysterious package to Haven and collecting a handsome fee. Meanwhile Gwen, Ryalith, Eko, and Gloopwing would proceed to the ziggurat to begin our search for the Via Astra artifact. The plan, though risky, would allow us to simultaneously pursue both financial gain and our primary objective.

Into the Desert¶

The following hours found us making final preparations for our divided journey.

As we departed Khazun, the city quickly shrank to a mere speck on the horizon behind us. The desert stretched before us, an ocean of sand under a merciless sun.

The journey provided ample time for reflection. Gwen’s shadow seemed increasingly agitated as we approached our destination, stretching and contracting in ways that defied the movement of the sun. Gloopwing clutched her dragon-heart crystal, which pulsed with growing intensity the further we traveled into the desert. Ryalith studied the package entrusted to her care with barely disguised curiosity, while Stigs maintained his vigilant watch over the endless sands surrounding us.

By early morning, Eko announced that we were approaching the coordinates. To find the Ziggurat we plunged through a sandstorm, sure in our abilities to weather whatever it threw at us. At first, we saw nothing but more dunes below, but as we crested a particularly large formation, the ziggurat revealed itself – a massive stepped pyramid rising from the sand like the spine of some enormous buried creature. Its stone surface, weathered by countless centuries of wind and sand, still bore the marks of precise construction. Strange symbols, similar to those we’d observed on Via Astra fragments, adorned its visible faces.

The Threshold of Cynedicia¶

As planned, the group of Gloopwing, Gwen, Eko, and Ryalith disembarked while the rest took the ship on its journey to Haven. We wished them well.

Gwen and Gloopwing approached the ziggurat with caution, noting disturbing signs that we were not the first recent visitors – footprints, though partially obscured by shifting sand, suggested that members of clan Mesho’a had already arrived. The entrance to the structure was a dark aperture at the base of the western face, framed by columns inscribed with symbols that seemed to shift subtly when viewed from different angles, but suggested that some ancient evil had been buried within its walls.

The threshold of Cynedicia presented an immediate challenge – a long corridor that descended into darkness, its walls smooth but likely hiding deadly traps. A dead man’s corpse propped the door open. Gwen’s experience with traps suggested pressure plates or triggering mechanisms might be concealed in the floor’s seemingly innocent surface.

In a stroke of inspiration, Gloopwing retrieved our Decanter of Endless Water – an item we had carried for months with little occasion to use. By setting the decanter to “stream” and carefully observing the flow of water along the corridor floor, they were able to identify subtle depressions and channels where the water pooled or diverted – revealing the location of pressure plates that would have triggered the poisonous darts that killed our unfortunate predecessor.

What secrets lay in the next turn of the hall we would soon discover.