The group began the trek toward Typor Citadel, guided through the jungle by Lefty. A series of glowing lights approached and attacked, zapping them with bolts of electricity while the surrounding vines pumped them full of poison. Aiden was brought to the brink of death, but the group survived and finally arrived at the walls of the citadel.
Lefty showed the group a hidden entrance into the ground floor, and the group made their way in (though not before being spotted by an angry ogre that patrolled the pavilion in front of the tower). They found themselves in a dark interior, with silouhettes of bodies and skeletons seemingly burnt onto the walls. The shades of old sentinels stood guard around an interior room, but most of the first floor had been cleared out by looters through the years. A pack of rats attacked but were dispatched with relative ease. Aiden spotted some runes carved onto a wall, but they were unable to decipher them.
Toward the back of the building they found a Salter named Corinne hiding out, injured after a fight on the 2nd floor. She’d abandoned the other Salters when they allied themselves with the Maal invasion — while she holds no love for the city folk, she wasn’t about to help a bunch of outsiders invade her country. She offered to accompany the group down to the basement in exchange for a share of any loot they found.
Tobias stumbled into a cloakroom full of toxic mold in the basement, and then was attacked by a giant centipede. They found another shade of a woman, caring for a child on the floor but (like the guards above) not acknowledging the group’s presence. As they looked around, Aiden spotted more runes on the opposite wall, while Tobias found a secret door in one wall. They entered the door and were beset by a huge four-armed gargoyle, which hit hard and nearly took out both Tobias and Corinne before the latter dispatched it with a final blow from her sword.
Moving forward, they found a small room with a chest and a small jade statuette of a winged lion. As they approached the door, the lion spoke, saying “Enter the room and die!”
Armen ran into the room.
After poking at the lion with his harpoon and getting no further response, he searched the chest for traps. Finding none, he opened the box and was promptly jabbed by a needle full of poison, making him woozy and doing a fair amount of damage. Inside the box, the group found a pile of platinum and gold, a single silver coin, 3 large rubies, and a bottle full of smoke. They negotiated a fair split with Corinne, who took her leave rather than risking death after finding a fortune fit to retire on.
The group closed the secret door and took a rest, then continued exploring the basement. They deciphered the set of runes down there, finding it was an ancient Bowok inscription that literally translated said “the sister of Rahiki is pleasant company at night”, though the precise color of the phrase was perhaps different in the original language. Kyamu found a second entrance, which let to a small room with a pair of long-decayed skeletons.
The skeleton’s shades were close at hand: Pryus and Segira, a pair of Saffan warriors. Their memory seemed sketchy, but they knew they’d been on some sort of mission when they’d suddenly died in the room. As they saw the woman’s shade in the other room, they remembered screams of terror, a rushing sound of wind, and and rumbling that felt like an earthquake. They remembered being surprised that the tower didn’t collapse, and the smell burning meat, hair, and charcoal. They also remembered they were supposed to eliminate the Bowok guards.
The group headed back to the first floor, fearing that the shade guards there might confront the pair, but they remained completely oblivious. The party found a set of stairs heading upward, and prepared to make their ascent . . . .
Breath of the Volcano
Wondrous item
As an action, you inhale the smoke in this vial deep into your lungs. Make a DC 14 Con save, on a failure take 1d6 points of necrotic damage as you choke. Succeed or fail, you can use a bonus action to exhale fire at a target within 30 feet of you. The target must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 6d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The effect ends after you exhale the fire three times or when the hour has passed.
Cloak of Shadows
Wondrous item (cloak), requires attunement
Penumbral defense. Shadows surrounding you make it difficult for foes to target you. You gain a +2 to AC while wearing the attuned cloak and not wearing armor.
Shadowslip (1/long rest) You and your equipment vanish and melt into darkness, but your shadow remains on the ground with your consciousness in it. While shadowslipping, you gain a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks, you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws, your AC becomes 20, you have 1 hit point, and you gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. You must be touching a surface at all times. The shadowslip ends after 10 minutes unless terminated earlier.
While shadowslipping, you can’t speak aloud or manipulate objects, and any objects you were carrying or holding can’t be dropped, used, or otherwise interacted with. You can’t attack or cast spells. You can pass through small holes, narrow openings, and even mere cracks, and you treat liquids as if they were solid surfaces. You can end the spell and revert to your normal form as an action, appearing where your shadow was. If there’s not enough room for your normal form to appear, you take 1d10 force damage, and are shunted to the nearest available space.
If you drop to 0 hit points while shadowslipping you instantly revert back to your normal form, ignoring any excess damage, and appearing where your shadow was destroyed. If your shadow is destroyed while shadowslipping, you don’t regain your shadow until the next dawn, and you have disadvantage on death saving throws until your shadow returns. When you revert back to your normal form, you return to the number of hit points you had before you transformed.
Circle of shadows (1/long rest). You can cast the blur spell as an action
Lion of Typor
Wondrous item, requires attunement
This is a small jade statue of a winged lion. While this statue is within 5 feet of you, you can spend a short rest telling it to say up to six phrases, none of which can be more than six words long, and you can set a condition under which the statue speaks each phrase. You can also replace old phrases with new ones. Whatever the condition, it must occur within 5 feet of the statue to make it speak. For example, whenever someone picks up the statue, it might say, “I want a piece of candy.”
Coin of Luck
Wondrous item, requires attunement.
Flip for it (1/long rest). Roll 1d6. On an even result, you gain a thread of good luck. Prior to any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check, you may expend this thread to gain advantage on the roll. Alternatively, when a creature you can see within 60' of you makes such a check, you may use your reaction to give them advantage on the roll.
On an odd result, you gain a thread of ill luck. Prior to any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check, you may expend this thread to gain disadvantage on the roll. Alternatively, when a creature you can see within 60' of you makes such a check, you may use your reaction to give them disadvantage on the roll.