Sailing to Azlant

Orias has gone missing. We have no idea what happened to him. (His player had to leave the game)

We sit and talk about how we plan to get to Riddleport. Eorin buys several scrolls of teleport and Illythan successfully teleports them to Riddleport. We find a vessel already heading to the Azlant islands, and agree to work in exchange for passage. Eorin gets mildly seasick, but Kyle cures him. Illythan uses Gust of Wind to speed up travel, and we make it to the islands in half the time (one month). Kyle learns the joys of gambling with sailors. 

We reach the northern most point of Azlant - it looks very wet. We find a set of ruins. It's an ancient Azlant gazebo. It looks like this area might have been a park at some point, and there are a lot of fish up there. Zelara finds a chessboard with engraving along the edge. It explains that "there are eight queens of Galerion. All will kill each other unless none in each other's way." None of the queens have any specific color, and there is a single pawn in addition to the eight queens. It's a puzzle that clearly unlocks something if we get it in the right configuration, and there is a button to press when we think we have the correct configuration. After puzzling over it for a while, we realize that there is a pattern to the figures: the eastern and western shield maiden, a demon and an angel, a cleric and a litch, a light elf and a dark elf. After they think they've figured it out, Kyle pushes the button. The pawn moves diagonally.

Illythan notices that each piece radiates the energy of a school of magic. The pawn is "universal." Eorin ponders the pawn and thinks that pawns don't matter and that anyone can manipulate pawns. After much pondering, Eorin finally figures it out. They press the button, and four stone staircases leading downward appear in the floor around the chessboard. The chessboard itself is collapsing, and there's a pouch within. In the bag is a full collapsable chess set and a skull. The chessboard is not on the list of Azlanti artifacts. 

We decide to head down the south staircase. There's a glowing ion stone orbiting Zelara's head. We walk down the hallway and come to great big double doors. There's a fake trap with a bunch of letters on the floor that don't say anything and none are made to be pressed down. The door is made of brass. Zelara pulls out a crow bar to open the door. There's a room with a pedestal and a 10 x 10 obelisk behind it. There's nothing on the pedestal other than a cushion. There's no writing on the obelisk. There are ropes in the corners coming from the ceiling. Each rope is attached to a counterweight. Zelara figures that the rope can bear her weight without moving the counterweight, so she shimmies up the rope. She sees that the counterweights are on pressure plates. Illythan realizes that he counterweight is a lodestone. Kyle scrutinizes the lodestones and notices that only three are on pressure plates.

Eorin notices that the obelisk is containing some kind of pure elemental magic. He sees that the pedestal and pillow radiate necromantic magic. We put the skull onto the pillow and it speaks in Azlanti "please complete the circuit." Kyle shimmies up the rope of the lodestone that isn't on a pressure plate to put it into place. The head then says "You must pass the challenge by defeating the guardian of fire." The obelisk is opening and inside is a large fire elemental. Combat ensues. We kill it. The spot where the energy thing was now contains a red crystal. It is a portable gateway to the elemental plane of fire.

We go back and decent down the north staircase. More brass locked doors which we crowbar open. The room down this staircase has four statues with light coming out of their eyes. There is a pedestal and an obelisk in this room as well. We put the skull on the pedestal, and it once again says to "complete the circuit." We turn the statues so the light all points at the obelisk. An air elemental comes out of the obelisk. It gives Illythan the air elemental equivalent of "yo!" Illythan and the air elemental talk for a bit, and it says "I assume you want the crystal?" "Yep." "Alright then, watch out for the tree." And it hands Illythan the crystal.

East staircase next! Same brass locked doors + crowbar = open. The obelisk is on the ceiling with the pedestal underneath it. "Oh you're not going to like this one" says the skull. The far end begins to open to let out a large brass golem. The golem then asks The Riddle in Azlanti. We figure out it's "The Azlanti" rather than "Man" however, because the Azlanti thought they were better than all other humans. The golem goes away and an earth elemental falls out of the obelisk. Combat ensues, it dies, and we grab the crystal.

Finally, the west staircase. We get down about ten stories  before we hit salt water. Illythan turns into an elemental to scout the hallway. He opens the door. And there is exposed ocean, and a pedestal. "Yea, you're not going to finish this one." says the skull as Illythan puts it on the pedestal. Basically, it's already been completed, but it tells Illythan that he can still get the item, but he has to go down very, very far. Illythan keeps the skull on the pillow and returns to the party. We talk a bit, and eventually realize that the skull is really Tar-Baphon. He is talking to us through the skull. He is willing to send us one of the items on the list. Tar-Baphon chats with Illythan about how Tar-Baphon wants to help us with the whole Rovagug thing, because his plans won't mean anything if there is no more Galerion. They talk for a bit, and then Tar-Baphon tells Illythan that Eorin needs to sever the connection. Eorin looks confused, because he only cast one necromancy spell. His eyes are still glowing. Illythan holds the skull closer and Tar-Baphon walks Eorin through a series of mental exercises that return his eyes to normal and sever the connection between Tar-Baphon and the skull.

We decide to teleport back to Riddleport, instead of taking the boat. There's someone waiting there, and they wave at us. We don't recognize them. It turns out to be the crow that was bossing Orias around and Orias' familiar. They've come to tell us that Orias is dead - killed by an arrow in the night in his hotel room in Isgur. The crow familiar can't talk anymore because it's not a familiar. Zelara remembers she has a crow amulet that allows her to speak to crows! The crow tells us that there were two people that looked like the former master, one was speaking angrily and the other shot him. They smelled like the sea. The crow can't tell us anything else. The man then asks us if we need a ride anywhere, and we tell him "Absalom." There are crows everywhere, covering every  inch of us, and fly away. Basically, crow magic. And now we're in Absalom awaiting a package from Tar-Baphon to trade for the statue that the River King has. The man wants to buy the crow amulet from Zelara. We agree to give it to him in exchange for a ride to Isgur later. We go to see the Firebirds. No package has arrived for us yet, but they have rooms ready for us. We take baths and sleep in big beds. Breakfast is delivered in the morning.

OUR FIREBIRD ACTION FIGURES ARE IN! We come in a set, which is a little sad since Orias died. They added our main villain into the set as well: Tar-Baphon. And the next day, our package arrives.