Episode 16, "A Soul Reunion"

The heroes. somewhat bruised from their recent battle with a handful of specters and wights in the throne room, decide to try and squeeze in another long rest before tackling the last stretch of the tomb. Unfortunately, Urzaan's tomb is a fairly active place... During the second half of their rest, Talos is alerted (during his meditation) to the presence of two specters and combat ensues. The party goes back to sleep again hoping for 4 hours of R&R, this time with Talos and Fhasys on watch. A lone skeleton makes an appearance in the yet-to-be-explored tunnel past the demolished wooden doorway. Talos and Fhasys decide to handle it themselves without waking the rest, and Fhasys handily destroys the pile of animated bones with a couple crossbow bolts.

As Fhasys searches the remains of the skeleton, the rest of the party wakes up feeling refreshed. Doc takes to investigating the wrought iron bramble throne and spots three onyx crossbow bolts woven into the metal framework. Talos, curiosity piqued, provides assistance via Mage Hand, which manages to dislodge one of the bolts but can't thread it all the way out of the tangled iron structure. Doc flexes his muscles and bends some of the ironwork out of the way--just enough for the Mage Hand to lift the bolts out... and into Fhasys' open and eager hand.

Upon contact, the shiny black bolts radiate a searing cold through her hand and the veins on her palm begin to turn purple, radiating some sort of poison or disease. Fhasys immediately chucks the bolts into her quiver, and the cold can even be felt through the leather bindings into her shoulder! Doc attends to her now pale and spidery hand by asking Apollo for a blessing. In a stunning turn of fortune, Apollo listens and her hand returns to normal. Fhasys' curiosity remains piqued.

The group presses onward, through the ruined doorway and into another rough carved tunnel that soon opens into a small, shallow muddy creek bisecting the tunnel floor, roughly 20' across. As they stood at the shore of the creek pondering how to cross, Vyreth spots some purpleish fabric flowing in the water in a small alcove upstream and decides to investigate. He discovers two old, robed corpses smashed into the far side of the alcove and reports his findings to the others.

Talos, deciding that he needs a more dedicated and trustworthy friend, animates one of the corpses. The figure manages to crawl out of the alcove, shuffles over to Talos, and stands upright awaiting command. Around its neck hangs another of the "eye" medallions, similar to one found earlier on in the tomb. Talos decides to use his new friend to hold his belongings like some undead pack mule, and--not having a will or conscious of its own--the corpse obeys. Watching this interaction, the rest of the party grows somewhat uneasy with Talos' new found fetish for the undead. First an imp, now a zombie... What next?

Talos sends his zombie back into the alcove to drag out his long-since-deceased companion. The other corpse is significantly disfigured, limbs twisted and contorted as if having been slammed by an immense blunt force. While Talos investigates the second corpse, Doc crawls into the alcove to make sure nothing's been left behind. Scraping some rocks and mud away, he discovers a deep red crystal ball affixed to some sort of ancient bird-like claw, the orb itself slowly pulsing with a red glow. Showing the new trinket to the group, Talos immediately recognizes it as some sort of phylactery--a container for some ancient dragon's soul. After a few minutes of brainstorming the significance of the find, some unseen force slams Doc 10' forward into the tunnel ahead and staggers him. The party, suddenly terrified and not being able to identify the source of the impact, ready their weapons. Combat ensues.

The heroes lash out in the space between Doc and the rest using both weapons and magic in an attempt to hit their invisible enemy. Some hits land, most do not, and the only clue to this being's existence is an intermittent shimmer when it moves into a new space. Doc gets slammed once more before Talos takes aim with Scorching Ray, illuminating the entirety of this strange, hulking enemy for a brief moment. The creature turns to Fhasys and plows her into the nearby tunnel wall, knocking her immediately unconscious. Every time the creature connects with an attack, a deep, windy voice seems to groan, "Urzaan". Apparently this thing and Urzaan are friends?

Talos, in a deft display of tactical maneuvering and spell casting talent, whips just out of LoS with the party and unleashes a nasty lightning bolt which completely incinerates their assailant on the spot. Stunned in disbelief, the heroes pause to catch their breath and figure out what just happened. Vyreth manages to bring Fhasys back to consciousness using healing magic, and Talos casually offers up one of his unidentified purple potions to top her off. Fhasys throws caution to the wind and quaffs the brew, immediately puffing out of corporeal form and into a cloud of fog. Delighted with the turn of events, Fhasys floats away down the tunnel to scout and reports back using a series of jiggles and bounces (she can't speak in this form). The group continues onward, but forgets that Fhasys was their key trap finder... Doc steps on another pressure plate and is hit with several poison darts. Luckily, his stout constitution prevents any significant damage. Talos sends his zombie to the front of the party to absorb the next round of poison darts, and the crew finally emerges into a large open chamber.

A jagged, blackened rock formation seems to sprout from the floor on the opposite side of the room, in which has been carved an ornate stone gateway of sorts. Through the gateway is nothing but a dirt wall, confounding the party for a moment until Talos realizes it's some sort of deactivated portal. The heroes light two large braziers hoping that it will somehow awaken the portal, but nothing happens. Having had reached the end of the final tunnel in Urzaan's tomb, the party turns back and makes the long trek back to the surface.

The crew emerges into the darkness of night, and immediately notices that the illusory bubble that had been swirling around the tomb entrance is no more. Looking around for their ride back to Quanlo, they find only the silhouette of a humongous ancient undead dragon lying in wait. The dragon awakens and casually welcomes the heroes, thanking them for their "help". Recognizing the dragon as the same who visited them back in Lehren during the funeral pyre, the heroes humbly ask for a ride back to town as the remains of their cart and driver now lay smashed beneath one of the dragon's claws. Unfortunately, the dragon is here for one thing... the phylactery.

Stretching its gigantic, decaying neck and head toward the heroes, the dragon takes a massive sniff and locates the object in Doc's pack. Realizing he has little recourse, Doc hands the dragon the phylactery... The dragon pops the crystal ball like candy between two huge teeth and the heroes watch, helpless, as its soul reunites with its body. Once again, Vyreth asks for a ride back to town but the dragon clearly has better things to do. It takes flight kicking up a huge sandstorm and disappears into the night, leaving the party with only a few remaining hours of cool night before the scorching heat of the desert will return in an attempt to claim their lives.

Episode 15, "Ph4t L3wt and Onward!"

The heroes awoke from a quiet, long rest deep within Urzaan's tomb feeling refreshed and ready to press forward. Talos and Doc shared a strange dream of traveling to the Ruins of Enra together and awakened with an odd compulsion to head to the forest, ASAP. After making their desires known, the lot fiddled around in their packs, suddenly realizing that they had amassed quite a pile of ph4t l3wt that hadn't yet been identified. The crew spent roughly an hour sorting, identifying, and bickering over ownership rights before finally heading back out into the tunnels toward the last junction.

Fhasys turned her attention to her new found rust colored fabric pouch. She found nothing but darkness inside the bag, and when she shook it out a small pink fuzz ball floated out and down to the ground. Using his keen knowledge of arcana, Talos was able to provide some "insight" as to the nature of the pouch and suggested he take it for safe keeping without really explaining why.

Next up was the creepy silver/onyx dagger that Fhasys had picked up, and Talos was able to discern some sort of poisonous, disease-type effect. Finally, Talos placed the "eye" medallion they'd found as being a very old symbol of a fledgling cult or guild.

Doc, having slept with his creepy set of pan flutes, woke up feeling like he knew how to activate them but not quite sure as to what they actually do. Blowing a little ditty, his friends were suddenly overcome with feelings of fear and mistrust which passed as soon as the music abated. The other heroes glared suspiciously at the paladin and advised him not to do that again.

Redistributing and stashing their loot back in their packs, the heroes made their way back to the last junction they could recall, dead-ending at another magically sealed door. Vyreth cast dispel magic and shoved the slab to the side, causing a back draft of foul, putrid and heavy air to wash over them. Save for the few who are immune to disease and poison, the remaining heroes collapsed to the ground retching. As they collected their senses and peered down the dark stairway, they heard the distant sounds of bones scraping against the floor. Feeling significantly more cautious than usual, Talos illuminated a rock with Light and tossed it down the stairs. The rock bounced down for quite a ways until coming to rest at the base, facing a wall where the tunnel veered left. Steeling themselves for yet another encounter, the lot headed downstairs.

The tunnel at the bottom of the stairs opened into a large, dark cavern. Those with darkvision were able to make out a bookshelf and an alchemy table at the far end of the room. Fhasys, in a stunning display of hand-eye coordination, hurled a handful of ball bearings through the entrance and toward the other side, shattering several ceramic dishes sitting on the bookshelf. Nothing stirred.

They tip-toed slowly into the cavern and discovered, laying off to one side, the skeletal remains of a humongous snake! Wasting no time, Fhasys used the element of surprise to blast a crossbow bolt through its neck and combat ensued.

The giant skeletal snake animated and attacked the party with a dark ferocity, casting Sleep and Lightning Bolt to decimate the intruders. Two specters joined the fray, lashing through their flesh with cold icy claws and draining their strength. Fortunately, the heroes prevailed and scored some interesting trinkets from the laboratory.

At this point, there was a heated discussion about whether or not they ought to continue sticking their noses in places of such evil... Talos and Doc, once again, urged the group to abandon the dungeon in light of their dreams the night prior. Fhasys mentioned that "the DM" would want them to continue exploring the rest of the dungeon, a reference mostly lost on the party at-large but likely merely a projection of her own inner desires, and they all seemed in agreement. Onward. But, maybe after another long rest...