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Events
Cassius apologizes for his recent recklessness, particularly in battle. Meanwhile, Varrick and Char investigate the abandoned skyship. Inside, Char notes a false wall and discovers a large chest along with scattered valuables. Most importantly, they uncover a massive stone sundial with six slots, two of which are lit. Inscriptions nearby reference The Ruby Dawn, and the group begins to wonder if Benzosia is attempting to revive Asmodeus or bring him out of the Nine Hells.
They next travel to The World Tree, located in a wide clearing where no other trees grow. The tree is enormous, beautiful, and its roots surrounded by a series of sculpted pools. Cassius speaks with the nearby trees and learns that, “Only brave souls swim in the pools of the trees.”
He then communes with the World Tree itself and offers to return the Precursor. The tree reaches out with a branch and gently pushes it back into Cassius’s hands.
A woman appears in one of the pools at the base of the tree, pupil-less, her eyes glowing orange. She speaks in a language he doesn’t recognize, but he hears her words clearly in his mind. Her form is covered in yuan-ti hieroglyphs, one of which reads, “Aurumon, the Rising Shadow, the Firstborn of Chaos.”
Utilizing a shared spell, Cassius and Sundara fabricate a boat, and the party sails to the FETC encampment just off the coast. There, they meet members of the Steel Covenant, a faction of the FETC, as well as a ragtag group of allied fighters. Ardent Xander, their leader, shares more history about Benzosia, who was once known as Trossandra, an Exarch, a being created by a god outside the usual order of creation.
Xander worries that Benzosia will corrupt the Heart of Karsus beyond repair. He tells the group about the keystone, a relic that grants access to the Heart’s vault. Allara casts Legend Lore on the keystone, and they learn the following:
The Fanged Shackle: grants a worshipers of either serpent deities access to the Heart of Karsus.
The curse for uttering an incorrect name is permanent and legendary.
The keystone has been used once before—by the archdevil Benzosia herself.
It was forged by legendary yuan-ti clerics to protect the Heart of Karsus, which lies within the still-living body of the fallen deity Mystral.
Mystral’s body was formed in part by the avatars Jizerian and Aurumon, who fought shortly after her creation. Jizerian lost his wings, and Aurumon lost his tail. Both were used to shape the goddess.
The keystone has two activation slots:
- The left side currently glows with the name Mershawk.
- The right side glows with Sseth.
Cassius speaks the names Aurumon (left) and Jizerian (right), activating two more lights on the keystone.
That night, Sundara dreams of Solonor. She asks how she can know if he is truly real—haunted by her experience with Faraday. Solonor tells her she can’t know for sure. He warns her that she shouldn’t have come and that the ziggurat would likely be his tomb.
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Recap Video
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