Kingdoms and Clouds - Ch 12: Loresh

The main entrance to Loresh is a sheer obsidian cliff rising from the sea. Resbic Cassius and his mages (Lily, Tyrel, Marcus) have made camp at the stone gate; Lt. Cortland Resta guards them with Dragon Knights. Bellbutter warns he cannot be seen by the school. The medallions allow the party to pass the stone gates silently. Inside: dead, mildewed gardens and a city folded back on itself by Terek's Folly, with partial remains of people frozen in obsidian. The library contains a Bone Devil at a reading table offering a deal; books include 'Wandering Ways' (the immortal bard/Traveller), 'Lost Lives' (Onyx secretly imprisoned outsiders with Blazing Hood help), and 'Roots of the Hesh' (Hesh leaders were World Wardens). The armory has a mock Hesh soldier outfit with Celestial Armor (+3 chainmail for Steve), Longsword +4 (for Ren), Brooch of Resistance +5/Natural Armor +3, Ring of Protection +4 (Ja'ayne), Longbow +4 (Barton), and arrows of Brilliant Energy — but the set is cursed. In the temple, Doomguard Killian Grey stands motionless over a dwarven tablet prophecy: 'from the lost city of the sea will rise doom.' In the garden, two Hesh spectres hover over the body of their dead daughter beside a runecrystal flower. The spectres were unable to bring their daughter back; their magical nature is trapped in the crystal. The party recovers the runecrystal. The Prison Dungeon holds Cain, a failed Lich Shade who hates magic users; animated skeleton prisoners attack when inspected. After acquiring the runecrystal (or encountering Killian), the party flees through the gate pursued by Killian Grey as Kate's Black Mist waits below.