I'm his emotional support Goliath

Session 58

The group makes light to fill the space above and beyond the glow of molten lava. Kra'naelen and Yahnist confirm the forced cave-in seems to be holding off the harpies... for now. Cass casts Alarm on the interior cave passage that leads downward and the group decides to use the opportunity to take a short rest. They are unsuccessful though and begin to sustain injuries from the heat of the cave; Cass and Yahnist more than the others as they begin to feel exhausted. Because they can't rest, it is decided to have Maltheo immediately lead the group deeper into the cave.

Perception and Survival checks from Yahnist and Maltheo are poor and bring up nothing. But we can tell in general that the tunnel is continuing at a downward decline with a faint glow of light flickering at the bottom of it.

Suddenly, a tall half-elven man with pointy ears and glasses appears behind Yahnist, but only he seems to perceive the figure. He had a half burned face and washed-out white eyes; a mouth open, like he was screaming, but with no sound. As quickly as the apparition appeared, it's gone as soon as Yahnist blinks. We move faster and confirm that it was a vision of Vesryn that no one else could see.

The decline ends and the tunnel continues flat. Two sconces along the wall are holding continual flames, but the enchantment feels very, very old. At the end is a large set of enormous metal double doors. For a quick moment, Maltheo sees someone down on the ground in front of them... an older wounded tiefling woman with broken horns and a large necklace of jewels, one hand open, looking up, gasping. He blinks and she's gone.

At this point, we noticed there is a branch off to the left of the door. All along the walls are old parts of carvings. At the end of the branch, there's another set of large metal double doors. Kra'naelen surmises that the symbols seems to be more decorative than anything else. Yahnist ascertains that the footprints in the dusty, dry earthen floor are humanoid, but accompanied by others that are a bit larger. They all seem to lead from the smaller door on the left toward the bigger entrance.

Cass uses a healer's kit on the wounded while Briya ritually detects magic. She takes note of the continual flames, and a general presence of magic in the air. The nothic compass is spinning out of control, too, so we must be at a confluence of ley lines. Briya notes that the doors are not magical, and the metal they're made from is platinum. At this size, the amount they're worth is nearly incalculable. Maltheo, thanks to his jeweler's training, knows that arcanists find platinum easy to work for enchantments too.

The group goes left, with Maltheo turning the handle to open the smaller doors. This room feels hotter, and isn't lit, sized about 3o by 40 feet. Left to right in front of us is a dug-out canal in the floor to allow a small river of magma to flow through the room. There is a platinum metal grate to walk over, with another set of double doors at the far end. To the left is a simpler single metal door, and the lava is flowing in that direction.

The simple door opens to a circular room that has no other openings. But the lava continues through the floor, cut into a wall at the far end. More platinum gratings are there to cross the lava stream. On the left is a circular workbench counter covered lots of little things. It seems to be a fairly old mess of dishes, utensils, old jars, and miscellaneous household items. Maltheo does find a circular messenger scroll case, made mostly of leather with metallic filigree on the case, that has the interlocked triangles of various elements logo of the Ashari. Maltheo opens it to discover that it was lined with lead, and contains an outer parchment of a Scroll of Revivify. The inner paper is an actual scroll on spindles titled the Embers of Warding. Written in Ashari druidic language, it contains chants, prayers, and other things. Of note, though, is the following passage:

"May the incantations rise like smoke from our sacred pyres, creating a veil of mystic energies that bars the path of the nefarious Phoenix, compelling it to dwell in the depths where darkness is vanquished by the eternal flame."

Prophet's memory is triggered about gods and divinity — stories from the Calamity. At the mention of a phoenix he's reminded of one specific story: An obscure song featuring a mention of a phoenix belonging to the leader of the betrayer gods; riding a dark flamed bird into battle. Asmodeus.

We backtrack to the square room and are surprised to find two dwarven in appearance creatures, but with flames in place of their beards and hair. They are accompanied by one larger fire elemental creature behind them. They immediately  draw their weapons.

After a tricky fight where the Azer-dwarves were immune to fire, poison, and psychic damage, we're left with a battle axe, war hammer, and two shields; all well made and placed into Kra'naelen's bag of holding for possible trade later.

The exploration continues.