Editing The Third Eye (section)

===The Vanished Tower===
====Vaults of the Arcane Tower====
The Third Eye traveled two days south of Hargrave towards the Arcane Tower, where they saw the full extent of the damage the curse did to the kingdom. The constant rainfall left the ground muddy, plants were overgrown, thorny vines and weeds choked out fields and gardens, and mutated creatures roamed the land. Their first stop was an inn at the crossroads to the tower, the Weary Ogre, whose chef was renowned as one of the best in the kingdom. Inside were clear signs of a fight, and the bodies of six guests bludgeoned to death on the floor. And then an entire kitchen's worth of undead, animated meat flew at them, attempting to bludgeon them to death. After dispatching all of the meat, they found the half-ogre proprietor, Ozar, in the wine cellar, where he'd been hiding since the meat spontaneously animated and attacked about a week ago. Leon suggested that this can't have been the weirdest thing to ever happen, being near the Arcane Tower. He said no, it was definitely the weirdest thing to ever happen, because the wizards of the tower were generally much more professional than that, and he would know, having studied there himself as transmuter before he decided he'd rather be a chef. Unfortunately, he didn't know about the current state of the Arcane Tower as he hadn't seen anyone from there since the curse began. But as thanks for saving his inn, he was happy to give them free rooms  and a good meal whenever they were passing through. 

In the morning they continued on. The farms within a few miles of the tower were full of decayed, overly-soggy plants. A few had lights on, though a disturbingly large number were dark. Finally, they arrived at the tower... Or, rather, where the tower should be. Instead they found a large, flat patch of bare earth, with a faint arcane circle still visible in it, and a trap door that had clearly been forced open. Isabelle, having been a member of the tower herself, recalled hearing that it was capable of plane shifting, and though she knew nothing about how it worked or where it would have gone, clearly the curse was deemed sufficient to do so. Through the trap door, a flight of stairs led to down to the vaults. At the bottom of the stairs was a tall pedestal with six circular indentations on top.  On the front was a long inscription proclaiming it to be a planar lock created by Master Arlen the Constructor under orders from King Tarn Hargrave. It could be activated by the six torcs of the tower, entrusted to the king's loyal Lawgivers throughout the kingdom. Sylas interpreted this as the means by which the tower had been transported away.

Looking around, of the four storage room doors, three stood closed; the fourth had been destroyed by something very large tunneling through the walls to lay a large egg in the central chamber; Leon identified it as a bulette egg, laid only within the last few days. The component storage room had been mostly destroyed by the bulette, which had also damaged the arcane circle connected to the pedestal. They found nothing interesting in the depository, but in the golem part storage room Leon found a manual on how to make a clay golem. The archives were mostly full of old academic records, textbooks, attendance sheets, and other boring, mundane paperwork, but Sylas did find a reference to something called the "Dark Star Parchment," said to be written in a dark celestial language and containing an unknown command phrase, that had been recovered by Master Arlen the Constructor himself several centuries ago. The entry was circled in red with the word "STOLEN" next to it. Though not relevant to their current problem, he made a note of it for later.

The last room was the sealed vault, though the vault door had clearly been forced open. Inside was a huge wardrobe made out of bright red wood, its surface covered with runes, wrapped with a heavy chain and padlock. Isabelle identified it as being made from a rare tree from the Abyss, and that the runes - written in Abyssal - were part of a magical formula similar to a gate spell. The chain and lock, while sturdy, were mundane. Knowing that the tower was in another plane, they decided that this must be the means for reaching it. After picking the lock, they all stood back while Isabelle magically opened the wardrobe. The runes suddenly glowed bright red, and the doors slammed open as a torrent of water flooded out, knocking Ilara and Leon off their feet. The water slammed the vault door closed, then ripped it off its hinges entirely and hurled it into Ilara. As this foul, putrid water flooded out, so did a trio of dretches. Sylas burst them all with a blast of psychic energy, and then Leon polymorphed Ilara into a giant ape so she could push against the flow of water and close it again. They were left with no doubt, now, that where this wardrobe led was a flooded layer of the Abyss. Sylas, still convinced that it was the means of reaching the tower, tried to think of a way to survive the flow, but Isabelle talked him down by noting that if the tower plane shifted away from the curse, they wouldn't have plane shifted to a dangerous plane like the Abyss.

After spending several hours inspecting the bulette's tunnel, only to discover it ended in a cave-in, they finally returned to the surface where Isabelle inspected the arcane circle in the dirt and confirmed it was filled with runes linked to the [[Astral Sea]]. They decided that their next course of action would be to ask around at the surrounding farms to see if anyone knew anything that might help them find a way to reach the tower. One farmer told them the last time the tower disappeared was almost seventy years ago when the blue dragon Malzdreziret attacked Hargrave; it plane shifted back in after the king drove the dragon away. One of the children told them another wizard was staying at a different farmhouse. Inquiring there, they met Rowan Caltheryan, an apprentice who had been out gathering reagents when the curse struck, and returned to find the tower gone. Having studied the tower's plane shifting abilities, he understood what had happened, and trusted that Master Zaophas had good reasons for activating the plane shift.

Though hesitant to countermand Zaophas's actions, even for a fellow wizard of the tower, once the group explained that they needed Zaophas to remove the curse from the crown to break the curse afflicting the kingdom, he agreed to tell them what he knew. The pedestal in the vaults, and the six torcs that were keyed to it, was not a means of transporting the tower into the Astral Sea, but of forcibly recalling it back to the Material Plane. The six torcs, having been given to important allies of the king, should still be somehwere in the kingdom. In, fact, he had a lead on one of them - about a week and a half ago he saw a group of bandits - a rogue, a bard, a wizard, and an ogre barbarian - break into the vault. When they emerged, he spotted their leader wearing what he knew must be the iron torc of the tower. The bandits then left in the direction of the Weary Ogre. Rowan also told them of a wizard named Aubilor Whitegate, who had been expelled by Master Zaophas several years ago for stealing an ancient parchment from the library, and might have more information. He marked Aubilor's workshop on their map, near the town of Gorso. Rowan told them that if they returned with the torcs, he would help repair the arcane circle that had been broken by the bulette in order to recall the tower. Until then, he would stay and protect the farmers.

At the Weary Ogre, Ozar confirmed that he did see the bandits Rowan described; sensing their ill intent, he sent them away, but heard them say something about "Ronul's End", a harbor to the northwest, as they departed. That night, they compared their notes, including the details of the inscription, to determine where they needed to search:
*The mithril torc of the tower was given to Peklyo Tassadir, Lawgiver of Hargrave. Suddenly remembering the torc they had taken from Queen Aphinah, they inspected it further and found the Arcane Tower's emblem upon it, and gave it to Isabelle for safekeeping.
*The iron torc of the tower was given to Jwarlea Jyle, Lawgiver of Smokestone. This was the torc Rowan had identified as being held by the bandits who raided the vault, now on their way to Ronul's End.
*The adamantine torc of the tower was given to Onrryl Blackbone, Lawgiver of Harveston.
*The silver torc of the tower was given to Agratthys Vuelnor, Lawgiver of Gorso.
*The clay torc of the tower was given to Lord Eard Wytas "Dragonfriend" Arden, Lawgiver of the Kingswood.
*The stone torc of the tower was given to Kalnur "Rockheart" Nangrath, Lawgiver of Nangrath.

====Ronul's End====
As Aubilor Whitegate's workshop was near Gorso, they decided to stop there on the way and ask about the silver torc. First, however, they would chase after the bandits, not wanting the trail to go cold before they could catch up, as they were already nearly two weeks behind and the journey to Ronul's End would be another six days. When they arrived they discovered that Ronul's End had been burned to the ground, and the people slaughtered and simply left where they died. When they went in to investigate closer, they were attacked by nearly a dozen giant mutated frogs. After a fight in which half the group got swallowed at one point or another, Sylas briefly found himself levitating twenty feet in the air with a giant front clamped onto his leg, Ilara found some tracks - footprints, hoofprints, and wagon tracks - heading into the hills to the north. The party followed the tracks from the ruins of Ronul's End into the hills, where they were met by a man who gave the impression of an old sailer. He said he was called the Salty Eel, and his master and a bunch of people had been kidnapped by a band of royal soldiers turned bandit. His master was wealthy, and would pay well for his rescue. They told Salty Eel that they didn't need money, as there was nowhere to spend it in the cursed kingdom, but they did need information about the Torcs of the Tower. Salty Eel didn't know anything about those, but said his master might, and they were held at an old watchtower only a mile up the road. Since it was on their way they decided to help. The tower was surrounded by a crumbling wall, inside of which  they could see a makeshift wooden cage holding about a dozen people who looked to be scared, hungry villagers. The barbarian's plan was to march right up to the front of the tower and demand a duel with their former captain. The guards declined and drew their swords, and a very brief fight broke out. Leon took advantage of the perpetual rain by flying up to the top of the tower and calling down lightning, while Ilara wound up facing the captain in single combat anyway and easily dispatched him.

It turned out Salty Eel's master was Lord Dyzag Ronul. When the town was attacked, he led a group of survivors into the hills. They were met by a group of adventurers calling themselves the Heroes of Virtue, but it turned out they were only interested in the pirate treasure buried by his ancestor Almeiro, and when he refused to tell them they colluded with the guards to imprison him and the villagers and beat him until he gave them the location. Salty Eel managed to escape to look for help. Since his description of the Heroes of Virtue matched the bandits the Third Eye were looking for with the Iron Torc, they asked where they went. Ronul told them, promising them half the treasure if they kept it out of those villains' hands. When they arrived, they found a huge man in red armor digging a big hole. Nearby were three men: one plucking a lute, one playing with a dagger, and one flipping through a book. The party stopped to discuss their plan, until the dagger fellow spotted them and pointed it out to his companions. And the man with the book closed it, pointed in their direction, and a tiny red bead flew at them before bursting into a fireball. Isabelle retaliated with a fireball of her own, which instantly killed the bard. Leon entangled the rogue and the mage, and so the mage simply threw a second fireball that severely injured Isabelle and nearly caused Avra to go berserk. Ilara and Ililen charged in to deal with the armored fellow, who turned out to have a lightning-enchanted greataxe. While Leon slew the rogue, Sylas blighted the fighter to death. After retrieving the axe, and the Iron Torc, they checked the hole and found a giant clam at the bottom of the pit, which Lord Ronul had told them contained the treasure. Leon identified it as being in a state of hibernation, and that they could either force it open, which would likely cause it to spray them with acidic oil, or they could apply a large quantity of salt to it, which would place it in a state of euphoria and cause it to open. Unfortunately, they didn't have any salt, but they did have a wizard specializing in conjuration, and Isabelle conjured enough of it to open the clam. The treasure was a golden cigar box, a bejeweled spyglass, a whole bunch of pearls, and an eyepatch that could magically charm people. Ilara took the eyepatch, then realized she couldn't see while wearing it and flipped it up onto her forehead.

When they returned to Lord Ronul, he thanked them for safeguarding his ancestor's legacy and, as promised, gave them half the treasure, adding that if they wanted ALL of it, he had one more favor to ask. Ronul's End was destroyed by a sea hag with an army of mutated giant frogs. She took over the nearby lighthouse, and he believed she may have taken more of his citizens prisoner. If they would kill her, and rescue anyone who might still be alive, then would part with the other half of Almeiro's treasure. Since they had no strict time limit, they agreed. They went to the lighthouse where the hag made her lair, and opened the door to find that it looked like an abattoir, with seaweed and body parts hanging everywhere, and four more mutated giant frogs. So Sylas conjured shadowy tentacles to fill the room. One frog jumped out, but the other three simply jumped further up, so he dispelled the tentacles and everyone went in. The battle with the frogs - and the sea hag - was not long, though the hag did succeed in nearly slaying Ililen with her death glare before Sylas killed her with an eldritch blast.

====Gorso====
With the people of Ronul's End saved, they traveled back south towards Aubelior Whitegate's hideaway, but first stopped in the village of Gorso, where the Silver Torc of the Tower was said to have been given to their lord several centuries ago. Among all the people hurrying about their chores so as to get out of the rain as quickly as possible, they noticed a suspiciously large number of children, all of whom looked like they could be related to each other. Soon, a tabaxi greeted them and invited them to the brothel, where it would be dry and out of the rain, and told Isabelle, Ilara, and Avra that Lord Gorso wished to spread his progeny far and wide and would pay handsomely to sire children with them.  Isabelle and Ilara both very firmly declined, and there was a brief discussion as to whether Avra was even physically capable of that. Still, when they asked about the silver torc and were told Lord Gorso did indeed have it, they told the tabaxi to arrange an audience. While they waited at the brothel, Ilara asked one of the many pregnant women if she was pregnant by choice, and she confirmed that Lord Gorso paid her handsomely and would continue to ensure her child grew up healthy. The brothel owner was cordial and friendly, but they could tell he was trying not to show how worried he was. When they pressed him, he confessed that Lord Gorso hadn't been the same since his wife died some decades past. He shut himself in his room for three years and when he emerged, he was... Different. "Touched by madness," he said, and newly obsessed with siring as many children as possible. On top of paying women to carry his children, he recently demanded that the villagers present him with a new woman each week for the purpose. The tabaxi soon returned and escorted them to Lord Gorso's manor, where the lord's daughter sized up the men of the party and attempted to convince Leon to dally with her instead of whatever boring, tedious business his companions had with her father. He was sorely tempted, but politely declined; Sylas and Ililen were much more forceful in their refusals.

Lord Gorso immediately offered the three women five hundred gold plus free board in the manor until their children were born. When they declined, he told them he would convince them by showing them his most prized possession, in the stables. As they walked, he spoke of how he had foreseen the curse through the void, as well as the heroes' arrival, and that he would need to test their natures. At the stable, he presented them a shackled unicorn, its horn broken off and its fur painted with runes. As he grabbed its broken horn and forced its head down, gloating about how the creature bowed to him, he began ranting that he saw through [[Limbo]] all that was, is, and would ever be, from the moment of creation to the nothingness at the end of existence, and that his line would never be interrupted. When Ilara drew her sword to break the unicorn's chains, he ordered his guards to attack. Sylas hypnotized most of the guards, while Isabelle paralyzed the rest of them and Lord Gorso. The fight did not take much longer than that, and though Lord Gorso's son, grandson, and daughter did throw out a handful of spells trying to defend their father, soon the entire Gorso family lay dead in the mud. Afterwards they retrieved the silver torc and the unicorn's broken horn from Lord Gorso, and unshackled the unicorn, which promptly teleported away having been freed of its dimensional shackles. Out of consideration for the uncomfortable number of children that had just been deprived of their benefactor, crazy and terrible though he was, they refrained from pillaging the manor and quietly departed, figuring the villagers could use Lord Gorso's wealth to take care of themselves. 

====Shrine of the Blind God====
After leaving Gorso, they walked to Aubelior Whitegate's workshop, which was nearby. After some discussion of how to approach him, Ilara knocked on the door. When he answered, she said hello and used her magic eyepatch to attempt to charm him. He resisted the magic, recognized it for what it was, retaliated with a magic missile, got angry that she attempted to charm him, and slammed the door. Sylas apologized through the door, explained the situation, and got Aubelior to finally open the door again, though he remained angry at Ilara. Sylas offered magical reagents in exchange for information about the Torcs of the Tower, but Aubelior instead proposed an exchange of information, and asked what they knew of the Ziggurat of the New Moon. They'd never heard of it, so he instead asked for any unusual information about Master Arlen the Constructor. When they mentioned they had been to his tomb, he insisted they take him there, which they were amenable to. Regarding the torcs, he told them that the stone torc, once given to the lord of Nangrath, was presumably still there, but only the dwarves of Nangrath would know for sure.
The adamantine torc was worn by Ha'aren Blackbone, one of the Red Cloak Lawgivers, when she visited him a year ago, though he said their conversation was entirely mundane and he didn't know where she'd gone afterwards.

The clay torc was originally presented to Lord Eard Wyatt Arden, known in his day as "Dragonfriend." Aubelior explained that though he died centuries ago, in life he was good friends with a bronze dragon named Thalarmas. Though Thalarmas himself had also perished some years past, he knew where his body lay, and suggested that was a good place to start their search. And, as luck would have it, it was only two days' journey from the tomb. So they agreed that they would escort him to the tomb, and in turn he would then escort them to Thalarmas's bones. Five days later they arrived at the tomb, to Aubelior's delight. The antechamber was still filled with scale models of Master Arlen's creations, and Aubelior was particularly interested in a large golem known as the Colossus. But then he looked up at the illusory map of the kingdom, and at the ziggurat north of Hargrave where there was no ziggurat in the world. Seeing it, he told them in awe that that is where the Ziggurat of the New Moon was located. When they reminded him there wasn't actually a ziggurat there, he told them that's where it would be, and that the key phrase Master Arlen wrote about it was, "The darkness shall feed their fears." Aubelior soon found Master Arlen's ghost, but after he realized it was ignoring him rather than talking back, he spent all night reading Arlen's inscribed tablets. In the morning, he led the party west to the foothills where Thelarmas's bones lay. The bones were surprisingly clean, and under an overhang of rock was a campsite with an armored figure. After greeting them, he asked them to come closer, and they immediately realized he was blind, his eyes completely white.

He told them his name was Selvaro, a knight who had taken it upon himself to tend to Thelarmas's bones and protect them against those with ill intentions towards such a noble former protector of the kingdom. When they mentioned the torc, he questioned them about why they wanted it; when they explained, he told them it was likely in Thelarmas's hoard. Centuries ago, Lord Arden befriended Thelarmas and was named "Dragonfriend" by the people of Hargram. Together they helped liberate the kingdom from the dragon tyrants, and helped defend the nascent kingdom in its early days. Arden died without heirs, and gifted all of his possessions to Thelarmas's hoard. Thelarmas, in turn, interred his body within his own lair. However, a few decades ago, a group of cultists of [[Juiblex]] drove him out of his lair, killing him with a corrosive ooze. Selvaro once attempted to reclaim Thelarmas's lair, but encountered an enormous ooze that permanently blinded him. He had tended Thelarmas's bones ever since, but recognized that perhaps the Third Eye might succeed where he once failed. He was willing to take them there, though only in the full knowledge of what they would face. When they agreed, he stepped out into the rain and transformed into a bronze dragon whose eyes had been burned from his head. He bid them to climb on his back, and after they did so - save for Aubelior, who intended to return to the tomb - Selvarao took flight. He told them they were free to take whatever they wished from Lord Arden's body, but requested whatever remained of his father's hoard for himself.

Upon arriving at a cave up in the mountains, he told them that the giant ooze that had blinded him could likely still be found within, beyond which was the passage into the main chamber of Thelarmas's lair. However, there was also a secret passage - too small for him in dragon form - that led around that to where Lord Arden had been interred. They chose to take the secret passage first. The secret passage let out in a large room with a pile of orange dust against one wall. In the center was a strange monolith, seemingly grown from the floor, covered in runes and with the symbol of a slashed-out eye on it. When they stepped in, a cloud of ghostly, shrieking faces emerged, a sickly green glow coming from their eyes and mouths. Shortly thereafter, a black pudding burbled up from the orange dust, and they discovered that the monolith was enchanted to render everything in the room vulnerable to the acidic oozes... Until Isabelle simply dispelled it. After a pitched battle in which Sylas countered the ghostly cloud's repeated attempts at magic, Ilara got polymorphed into a giant ape because her sword was ineffective, and Ililen was nearly killed by the cloud's blasts of acid, they destroyed both creatures and found first a room full of empty bookshelves with ash dusting the floor, and then a room with a few more smaller monoliths and the sarcophagus of Lord Arden. Inside the sarcophagus, around the neck of Master Arden's skeleton, was the Clay Torc of the Tower.

The Third Eye returned to the main cave of the dragon's lair, where they saw several more monoliths, seemingly grown out of the stone, with the same runes and slashed eye symbol. Sylas cast detect magic and the group slowly walked in. He did not detect any magic, but Ilara did detect when she got attacked by the biggest gelatinous cube ever. It didn't take them long to kill it, but in the process Ilara was badly burned and nearly blinded by its acid. Past that, a cavern plunged down into a swirling vortex of water, as multiple underground streams converged. They asked Selvaro if it was always like that, and he said yes. When they asked how to get past it, he told them to hold on tight to him and plunged into the water, through the vortex, and out of the underwater tunnel on the other side to where he and his father once slept. Inside, they found several puddles that turned out to be unholy gray oozes. Alas, after clearing the oozes, they were forced to conclude that whatever treasure Thelarmas once held had been complete destroyed by the oozes that had infested the lair. Selvaro was disappointed, but glad that the evil had been destroyed, and remarked that he had his entire life to build a new one. Sylas gave him a quartz crystal to start, and Ilara gave him the blue gem she once removed from Arlen the Constructor's skull. He thanked them, and called them friends, and Ilara got excited that now SHE can be called "Dragonfriend." They tried to convince him to join them on their quest to save the kingdom, but he demurred. Eventually, he said that should the day come when they had the power to restore his sight, he would join them.

====Nangrath====
Of the two remaining torcs, they only had a solid lead on one, so they marched nine days south to the dwarven town of Nangrath. As they approached, they saw a section of the wall had been partially disassembled, and a dwarf was struggling to lead a mule towards it as four gargoyles swooped down towards him with lances and nets. They killed two of the gargoyles and the other two fled, but on inspecting the bodies they found that the gargoyles were wearing wreaths of blood-red flowers around their necks, that emitted a sickly-sweet smell. Ilara identified them as bloodstain lilacs, the scent of which was an intoxicant that exhausts those who breathe it in. The dwarf, Brungor, thanked them for the rescue and urged the to get inside somewhere safe, as Nangrath was doubly plagued: by day, gargoyles swooped down from the air, and by night, folks just... disappeared. When they pressed for more information, he told them to talk to Lord Arenbar. He spoke to some of the guards, who escorted the players towards Nangrath Bastion, repaired using the materials taken from the wall, to meet with the lord. Though they tried asking about the torcs, Lord Arenbar Nangrath cut them off and reiterated that the town was beset on two fronts: gargoyles attacked by day and carried people off, and something else was mysteriously abducting people at night. If the heroes could deal with the gargoyles, he would be willing to help them out. Until then, however, he refused to say anything more. They accepted, so he gave them directions to Fort Blackbell, from whence the gargoyles had been coming since the curse began. It was constructed centuries ago against the goliath and barbarian tribes of the mountains, but since the king made peace with them, it has long been abandoned.

The fort looked largely intact, including the gate, and a few gargoyles were visible on the walls, so Sylas blasted one, and a group of them swooped down wielding lances, allowing them to remain just out of reach. Sylas was afflicted by the lilacs, but with the help of Leon calling down more lightning they eventually destroyed the gargoyles. Ilara shoved on the gates until the rusted bar latching them shut snapped, and once inside Leon called down more lightning on a gargoyle he spotted on the tall central tower. This brought even more gargoyles down upon them, including a big one who seemed to be their leader, who told them they had "come to be transformed by the beast." Ililen ended up drained by the lilacs as well, but they handily dispatched the gargoyles and Leon cleansed the lilies' poison from his companions. The first building they entered was a charnel house. There were a few starving prisoners in cages, everything was covered in blood, and the gargoyles had shoved the inedible remains of their past victims in one corner and a polished stack of trophy skulls into another. The prisoners confirmed that others imprisoned with them had been eaten, but they didn't know if there were any others, having only seen the inside of this room. The second building was where their leader seemed to have made her nest, and featured the mauled remains of the gargoyles' former leader. The third was partially collapsed; in one corner grew a massive bush of bloodstain lilacs, the smell of which was keeping another group of prisoners barely on the edge of consciousness. These prisoners - a burly dwarf soldier, a bugbear, an orc, and a tabaxi - were noticeably healthier than the others. Ilara dragged them out and moved all the prisoners into the second building before Leon called down the last of his lightning to incinerate the bush. The door to the central tower, meanwhile, had been blocked by a pile of rubble. Ilara started clearing it, but when she had removed most of the rocks, a gorgon crashed through and nearly trampled her. She resisted its petrifying breath, and they killed it. Inside the tower were a bunch of mangled trampled corpses, smashed furniture, and an enormous black bell that had fallen from the top and was badly cracked. Though magical, it was clear that the magic required the bell to be repaired - and as it weighed over a ton and would require a proper smithy to fix, they decided to leave it.

Once back in Nangrath, everyone slept off the lingering effects of the lilacs. And in the morning, Ililen packed up his things. He had been hoping that traveling with them would allow him to find vengeance upon someone who had wronged him, but over time realized that being away from home for so long was causing him to lose himself. And so, now that they were near the forest where his village was, he had decided to return home. He wished them luck, told them to visit when the kingdom was saved, and departed. After Ililen's departure, the others went to see Lord Nangrath. He thanked them for dealing with the gargoyles, taking a great deal of pressure off the town, and as promised gave them the information they asked for about the stone torc. As he'd mentioned before, along with the gargoyles, after the curse began something also began abducting people at night. One of the first victims was his own son, Yarik Nangrath. About a week later his older son, Odryk Nangrath, returned home from the capital with his lover, Premil Ronul. When Odryk heard about his brother's disappearance, he gathered a group of soldiers and asked his father to let them go in search of Yarik. Lord Nangrath eventually agreed, giving him the stone torc of the tower for protection before he left. Ten days ago he received a message that Odryk had found a trail leading to the Darkstone Mine. Since then... Nothing. Lord Nangrath told the Third Eye that in exchange for bringing back his sons, if they yet lived, and eliminating the threat, he would gladly give them the torc. He explained that Darkstone was once an onyx mine, but was abandoned after it ran dry centuries ago, and cautioned them that he didn't know what might have come up from the [[Underdark]] to claim it since then. As they exited the keep, they found the tabaxi they'd rescued from Fort Blackbell waiting for them outside. She understood they were looking for help, and vaguely suggested that their interests aligned. They pressed her, suspicious of her motives, and while she didn't reveal everything she did confirm that she wanted to save the kingdom from whatever had befallen it, which the party deemed sufficient, so they invited her along and she introduced herself as [[Leaf on the Water]]. 

As they traveled they got to know each other more, and Leaf showed off her skill with a bow and told them she was also handy with a pair of daggers. Their conversation was interrupted when Leon noticed a boot sticking out from under a boulder. Ilara rolled it aside to find the body of a young, pale dwarf in fine clothing, with the Nangrath crest on his shirt and the monogram YN: Yarik Nangrath. However, closer investigation revealed that he had been drained of blood, not crushed to death, as well as two tiny bite marks on his neck. Sylas immediately called out that their foe was a vampire. They rolled the boulder back over him to protect the body from scavengers as they continued on, and Ilara gave Leaf a magic rapier she'd picked up back in the Shadowfell.  Once they found the mine entrance, the tunnel descended a mile into the earth before opening up in a large cavern containing a building of strong dwarven make and a pair of guard towers. Dead bodies were scattered all over,  in varying states of decay. Atop the closest guard tower was a large ballista, with a seat surrounded by a box that gave the operator cover. The answer of whether it was functional was answered when said operator shot Ilara. Sylas, incapacitating the ballista operator with a hypnotic pattern, while the party surrounded the guard tower and Ilara ran to the top to find a duergar in the seat. When she hit him, he called for reinforcements, and three more came out of the nearby building and enlarged themselves. During the long fight which ensued, they realized that these were duergar vampires when they started grabbing and biting them. Leaf, realizing that they were resistant to her non-magical bow, switched to the rapier and killed two of them, while Ilara dispatched the other two. They discovered that the duergar leader also had the stone torc around his neck. Searching deeper in, they found only three surviving prisoners, two of which were, fortunately, Odryk and Premil. The third was the owner of Nangrath's magic shop, and he offered a discount if they could find his wares that the vampires had stolen. After finding a hidden room containing the vampires' coffins, they found the remaining magic items piled in one of them as well as an ominous statuette of a demonic drow woman with bat wings and fangs, a mysterious rune painted on it in fresh blood. They returned to Nangrath, collecting Yarik's body on the way, and while both Odryk and Lord Arenbar were saddened at his death, they could at least rest easy knowing that Odryk yet lived and the threat had passed. Arenbar allowed them to keep the stone torc, as promised, and while he did not know the whereabouts of the adamantine torc, or its bearer, he suggested they travel south to the Lodge of Wanderlust, as it was a favored destination for travelers and adventurers and she may have passed through there recently.

====Ziggurat of the New Moon====
When the party arrived at the Lodge of Wanderlust, they found an enormous fire beetle standing in what remained of the front gate. After killing it, and the swarms of fire beetles it birthed, they entered the lodge to found more beetles and a pair of druids directing them. They killed the beetles and the druids and then headed upstairs, where even more beetles were attacking a human paladin, who called for their aid and said his guests were in danger in the other rooms. After helping him kill the beetles, then entered the room he directed them to to find a tiefling ranger being attacked by more beetles while two more druids rifled through papers. After finally killing all of their enemies, the paladin introduced himself as Cygnus, owner of the lodge. When they asked him about Ha'aren Blackbone, and told him of their search for the torcs, he told them that while he had not seen her in some time, he knew she was searching for a place called the Ziggurat of the New Moon. When they informed him that Aubelior Whitegate had identified the ziggurat on the map in the Tomb of the Constructor, Cygnus got excited. He explained that in ages past, a fallen angel had been imprisoned there. It was located somewhere in the infinite reaches of the Astral Sea, but it could be made to appear by going to a particular location and speaking the proper command phrase on the night of a new moon. Unfortunately, Cygnus did not know the command phrase. However, they suspected that Aubleior Whitegate might. Cygnus told them they could take their time, as the new moon would be that very night and since the ziggurat's location was nearly three hundred miles away, without teleportation magic they would have to wait a month for the next one. And so, plotting their course and where they could rest along the way, they prepared to depart.

They spent the next few weeks revisiting their allies at Nangrath, as well as the dragon Selvaro, before returning to the Tomb of the Constructor to talk to Aubelior Whitegate about the command phrase. Once he learned their destination, he insisted upon joining them. Once they arrived at the right spot, Cygnus told them that speaking the proper phrase at the time when the new moon would be at its highest point in the sky would cause the ziggurat to appear from the Astral Sea. However, it would remain there for only one hour before phasing back again, after which anyone still inside would need to wait until the next new moon to return. At the proper time, Aubelior spoke, "the darkness shall feed their fears," and a ziggurat built from obsidian blocks carved with strange winged creatures and celestial runes. An oddly precise, smooth tunnel entered inside midway up, which Ilara charged through. It led into an interior chamber with a long-abandoned campsite, a staircase with a faint blue glow coming from the room above, and several swarms of astral stirges that immediately began biting her, draining her of psychic energy. Once the party dispatched the stirges, Aubelior hurried in and began digging through the scattered belongings on the floor. Cygnus reminded them of the fallen angel imprisoned within, and urged caution, so Leon summoned giant badgers and sent them up the stairs. Only one returned, running in fear past them and out the tunnel, where it seemingly got stick in midair in the doorway. Soon after it was bitten and paralyzed by an enormous astral spider, which wrapped it in invisible webbing and dragged it out of sight.

Cygnus volunteered to go up the stairs himself, and came back down a minute later with the dead body of Ha'aren Blackbone, the adamantine torc still around her neck. Leon summoned fire snakes to burn away the webbing, and Cygnus exited, transformed into a couatl, and bit the spider, rendering it unconscious with his own venom as everyone departed. Once away from the ziggurat, he returned to his human form and watched until the structure returned to the Astral Sea. Aubelior Whitegate departed immediately back to the tomb, while Cygnus accompanied them back to the Weary Ogre. He bade them farewell, as he would be returning to the Lodge of Wanderlust, but Leon asked if he was the same couatl they had encountered beyond the portal in the Emporium of Magical Rarities. He told them he was not, but was very intrigued by the story they told, and noted that he would have to investigate it.

The Third Eye continued on to the vaults of the Arcane Tower. Once inside, they placed the torcs into the pedestal. There was a blinding flash of light, a brief rumbling, and a loud crash from above. And then they saw that instead of sunlight streaming down the stairs, there was now the low steady glow of magical torchlight. The tower had returned to the Material Plane.

====The Arcane Tower====
With the tower returned, the group stood around for a minute and discussed what to do next, including reiterating their plan: find Master Eydan, former Archmage of the Arcane Tower and one of the party that went into the Feywild with the king fifteen years ago, and talk to him about destroying the cursed crown. Since Isabelle was a graduate of the tower, she went up the stairs first, only to hit a glyph of warding on the landing and get teleported into a maze-like demiplane. Sylas determined she should reappear in about ten minutes, or whenever she managed to find her way out, and while most of the group decided to wait, Ilara thought that waiting was boring and opened the door. On the other side was a hallway, blocked by rubble. Just before the blockage were two doors, and an apprentice. The apprentice asked who they were, then said it didn't matter, he had trapped one an incubi in the infirmary, warning that it was disguised as Head Librarian Galfor. Ilara took this in stride and began trying to break down the door he indicated, which was exceptionally sturdy as it had been magically locked. As she was throwing herself at it, Isabelle reappeared.

She asked the apprentice what was going on, and when he repeated it, she asked about the incubi. The apprentice explained that they had attacked from the Astral Sea, and was surprised to learn that they had returned to the Material Plane. About that time Ilara smashed through the infirmary door, where Galfor accused HER of being an incubus and threatened to blast her. At being threatened she charged him, hitting him with her sword before Isabelle cast Hold Person. Reasoning that if the librarian were really an incubus in disguise he would have been unaffected, they guessed that the real incubus was actually the apprentice, and Sylas blasted him with a flurry of magic missiles, killing him and reverting him to his incubus form. Isabelle asked Galfor what was going on, and after satisfying him that she was really herself by providing personal information about her time at the tower that an incubus wouldn't know, he explained that they had been attacked by incubus pirates. There were several upstairs, multiple apprentices had been killed, and he didn't know what they wanted.

Suddenly, midway through his explanation, everything slowed down... then stopped... there was a flash of light... And everyone found themselves back in the vault, as they were when they arrived. Suspecting that time had reversed somehow, Isabelle sent her familiar up the stairs, where it was caught by the warding glyph and sucked into the demiplane. Ilara charged upstairs once again to find the apprentice, who once more asked who they were before starting to explain about the incubus he trapped. Ilara didn't give him time to finish before slamming into him with her sword; Leaf quickly finished him off with an arrow. Ilara and Avra cleared away the rubble and the group continued up to the second floor, where Isabelle knew they would find the apprentices' quarters, as well as Master Eydan's room. When Leon asked if he would be there, she confirmed that he had not left his room in years, since he retired and appointed Master Zaophas as Archmage in his stead. Once on the second floor, the hallway stretched the entire length of the tower, and they could see all the way on the other side, behind the staircase leading up to the third floor, the wall was missing, and the Astral Sea was visible beyond. Deciding that was a problem for later, Isabelle led them to Master Eydan's room, passing several bloodstains on the floor and two dead apprentices. When they got to Master Eydan's room, they found it sealed by stone, upon which were embossed the words, "Dreaming of a better world, do not disturb." With no obvious way in, Ilara decided to consult with her ancestral spirits. Partway through her attempts to commune with them, though, they suddenly found themselves back in the vault, confirming that they were indeed caught in a time loop.

Once again they triggered the glyph with the familiar, killed the incubus, and headed upstairs. Recognizing that their business with Master Eydan would have to wait until they broke the loop, they simply ran down the hall to the stairs at the opposite end. From here they could see that an enormous chunk of the wall, spanning both that floor and the one above, had been ripped open, allowing them to see the Astral Sea beyond. Above, a large ship was kept aloft by massive demonic wings some forty feet from the tower. There was also acid dripping down the stairs. The hallway above was soaked with it, as it dripped constantly from the ceiling, ruining all of the books normally kept here. In addition, walls of stone had been conjured on either side of the corridor, preventing anyone from going further in. Avra and Ilara braved the acid and simply smashed through one of the walls, and everyone hurried through to a less hazardous section of the corridor. After a quick discussion with Isabelle about where to search, they decided that since Archmage Zaophas's rooms were nearby, they would start there. Isabelle and Leon went into his rooms, while the others went into the adjacent rooms, which belonged to Golem Master Laromarius. Zaophas's sitting room looked like a tornado had blown through. As Isabelle stepped in, a djinni appeared. She explained Leon that Zaophas had bound the genie to his service, and when it asked why she was there, she explained that they had brought the tower back to the Material Plane. The djinni told them that Master Zaophas was dealing with the incubi pirates, and guessed that he may be on the top floor.

Meanwhile, in Master Laromarius's rooms, Ilara found his bedroom door blocked by a homunculus that told them to go away, since his master was busy. She simply picked it up and set it to the side, getting bit in the process, and opened the door to find Laromarius entwined with three incubi on his bed. He beckoned her to join them, and despite Leon having protected her from being magically charmed, she willingly agreed and climbed onto the bed with them. Leaf told her this was not the time for this, but Ilara replied that time was going to reset anyway, so she was going to have some fun first. When the incubi asked Leaf to join them as well, she fell under their spell and climbed onto the bed too. The others wrote them off as a lost cause for this loop and continued into the great hall, where they would find a levitation field up to the top floor. There they found Master Alchemist Moradinji and half a dozen apprentices, all ready to blast them until Isabelle convinced them they weren't incubi. Moradinji explained that unfortunately, the iron golem guarding the hall had been commanded by Master Zaophas to attack anyone who tried to use the levitation field as a precaution in case the incubi overran them, and that his order could only be countermanded by either Master Zaophas himself or by Master Laromarius's control amulet. Knowing what they needed to do, the group let time reset once more. This time, Isabelle was able to confirm that the time loop was only three minutes long, giving them very little time to solve it.

Once again they hurried through the disguised incubus and the rubble, up the stairs, through the acid and the wall of stone, and to Master Laromarius's room. Ilara once again went in by herself and willingly joined them on the bed, intending to take Laromarius's amulet from his neck and leave. First she tried sliding it off gently while distracting him with a kiss, but when he caught her and told her no, she pulled it off his neck instead. She tried to throw it through the door, but it landed in the corner. Laromarius telekinetically threw her out of the bedroom and retrieved his amulet, while the incubi advanced on Ilara, who was restrained in midair, finding her companions nearby. A close-quarters brawl ensued as the incubi slashed at Ilara with their swords. Isabelle, not wanting to catch her friends or the obviously charmed Golem Master with a destructive spell, opted to conjure a web to hold the devils in place. Unfortunately, one of them charmed her and commanded her to dispel it. While Isabelle attacked her friends, the incubi kissed her to drain her vitality, and Laromarius threw magic missiles at Ilara, Avra simply laid into them with her fists until all three were dead. The charm broken, Laromarius let Ilara go and began muttering to himself in shame and embarrassment at his predicament, until Sylas managed to convince him of what needed to be done. Laromarius quickly accompanied them to the great hall, where after convincing Moradinji of their identities once more, Laromarius ordered the golem to stand down and the Third Eye stepped into the levitation field.

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