Editing The Third Eye (section)

====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.