After leaving the Cradle of Fire, the Crown led led them to another nearby location in the Badlands, even stranger than the last. This was an overgrown forest partially submerged in a river of lava. It should not remotely be a stable situation, but through the residual magics of the Cataclysm, it was.
After some exploration and tangling with some particularly nasty Crimson Spiders, they came upon an small cabin in a clearing. Kat went in to take a look, and saw large numbers of Soraks and cultists entering. Far too many to make sense given the size of the cabin.They waited until all the Soraks had entered, and then quietly crept up to investigate themselves. Inside there was no sign of anyone whatsoever, but Tess saw what was by all appearances the green gem of conjuration… Kat didn’t like the setup at all, but before she could object Tess impulsively reached out and grabbed it!As soon as she touched it, everything went black, and they suddenly found themselves in a bizarre-looking maze.. They could hear skittering and odd noises echoing through the halls, and what sounded for all the world like the dying screams of Soraks….Before long they came upon a lone survivor. Difficult to tell if it was a disguised Infiltrator or merely a cultist, but the difference was academic. He appeared to be near comatose with…. fear?? Repeating only that the Voice would come for them all, as it had for his comrades. While Falcon and Roland argued over what to do with him (Falcon’s vote was simply end him, Roland would not tolerate killing a helpless prisoner. Even a Sorak or collaborator). But the point soon became moot as the man keeled over dead in mid-discussion. Cause unknown.After further exploring the maze they came to an are with four statues facing an ornate, seemingly unprotected chest… The others were all in agreement that this smelled like a trap and should be left be, but as they passed by Falcon couldn’t resist lifting the lid for a look…. And he was promptly swarmed with angry Elementals!Passing through they came to a long tunnel, the end of which opened into a large room containing a large Green Dragon! Roland approached respectfully, hoping to sort things out verbally given their experience with Dragons so far. Unfortunately *this* dragon seemed quite aggressive, insisted they were thieves and demanded they be punished for their “crimes”.But the “Dragon” dissolved into mist as soon as they made contact, leaving behind another small green glowing gem. Having no better ideas, they once again picked it up…And found themselves walking a path along embossed cubes hung suspended in an arcane void..After solving a number of puzzles re-arranging the path, they found themselves approaching a large cube of light, appearing as malevolent as is possible for a floating geometric shape. And once again they were left with… a small, glowing green gem…Touching this gem left them… facing up a well-manicured path to a stately Manacalon mansion. In mint condition. They were met inside by a spectral servant, who asked them to follow him to speak with “Master Zhoron”. Other than requesting that they behave in a “civilized” manner the servant had little to tell them about their host. Only that it had been some time since they had had “proper” visitors.Zhoron turned out to be an elven mage – the old High Master of Conjuration as they had suspected. He immediately recognized Tess’s Crown, but directly addressed Kasinex and told him to “stay out”. He ranted about the sacrifices that had been made to close the Rift, but when they asked about the shattered empire of Elves – he laughed! As far as he was concerned it was an empire by Dragons and for Dragons – the elves were merely their unwitting servants. He admitted to having lost his mind in the Cataclysm, but believed the Crown could heal him. And so rather than giving them the Conjuration Gem, he intended to take the Crown for himself!He immediately began summoning power from the statues arrayed about the room, blasting them with lightning and sending spectral warriors to harrass them..They had to fight their way past the spectral warriors to topple the statues and make him vulnerable..At which point he took Draconic form and came after them directly. It took all their combined skills and powers to defeat the mad Dragon.After which they were left once again staring at a small, glowing green gem… But fortunately, this time when they picked it up they found themselves back in the hut in the lava woods. It was time to report back to the Council.
4 responses to “Solasta: The Mind of the Master”
atcDave
Wow, bizarre sort of adventure here!
so it’s looking like Soraks are some sort of Dragon agent/tools?
really nice job getting renders of some pretty surreal things.
I don’t think so. The dragons were already here. And the others weren’t anything like this guy – who, to be fair, is quite insane. It’s just pointing out that their motives for fighting off the Soraks may have not have been entirely altruistic. Zhoron phrased it something like “How dare they intrude on our turf!”
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