The massive obsidian wall blocking the path seemed mechanism and door less. As Liw was trying to find a mean to open it, Fylikiel consulted his old tomes, hoping to find details of the runes inscribed upon the door. Soon enough, he was able to find a passage describing how the Quel'Danas tombs were blocked to all but the descendant of the ancient family. Not hoping, Fylikiel touched the massive wall and was quite surprised to see it magically open for him, using his life force to activate the ancient magic.
They were greeted by a couple of savage twisted ghouls, corrupted by the spellplague, accompanied by two eladrin servants who turned out to be Flameskulls. Not without a few wounds, they defeated them, forcing the last one to destroy itself or face the arcane might of Liw and Fylikiel.
The outer cloister of the sanctum had four doors leading to chambers. And a fifth passage that was blocked off by a very powerful magical wall, that Fylikiel described as akin to mythals and elven high magic. From the Flameskulls laboratory and notes, they found almost nothing, save for a small obsidian disk bearing numbers. A dial, part of a mechanism it seemed.
One of the chamber had been cleared of guardians and traps by the servants, so they ventured into the 3 remaining chambers, battling a beholder guardian and its follower, savage Foulspawns. That encounter proved to be nearly fatal, explaining why the undead servants had not yet pried into these chambers. The second chamber was a water trap, nearly drowning them, but with Liw's quick thinking and Acane's determination, they were able to slow the water and crack the door open to escape alive. In these chambers they found another dial, larger than the first, and metal tablets with cryptic mathematical writings.
The last one contained stone altars with a slot into which the dials fit. Bearing arcane runes, these devices seemed to power a magical ritual, most probably holding the magical shield up. They struggled at deciphering the writings and mathematical formulas, using all their skills to figure out pieces of the possible. Hours passed before they were able to find the solution. Activating the devices in turn, they turned off the magical ritual, and going back to the first room of the tomb, they saw that they had indeed disabled the magical wall sealing the inner sanctum.
That was how they came to see the last resting place of Quel'Danas. In an large circular room, covered with magnificent frescoes depicting an epic battle between forces of good and evil, eladrins all. Stones pillars had a large plateform, that they determined was either a very large teleportation r some other ritual circle, as well as a smaller wall on the floor. At the back of the room, under the final scene of the fresco showing the two Quel'Danas twin in mortal combat, the sarcophagus lay, toped by the carving of a robed eladrin, impaled to the hilt by a sword.
" You have my thanks for opening the way. Welcome into my tomb ". A voice sounded from the passage from which they had come. Then from the following silence came heavy armored footstep. Walking into the room came the massive form of the Death Knight they had met what seemed months ago. Behind the knight came Quel'Danas himself. Garbed in leather robes and various gear, he walked to the middle of the room and greeted them further, thanking them for lifting the ritual, explaining how he had been forbidden access by his very nature: the magic kept undeath at bay. With the magic gone, he could at last claim his lost body, joining spirit and body again after millennias. The heroes tried to move in to stop him, by activating the ritual was too fast for them to act. Quel'Danas slit his wrist, and a green sluggish blood dripped to the floor, flowing to form runes. Within seconds, the eladrin shape had dissolved into rotting bones. Then the death knight swung his massive blade, shattering the rotting corpse of Quel'Danas and sharing its undead essence with his master, starting the ritual.
They tried as best they could to stop the ritual, but it was all they could to survive the devastating brute necrotic strength of the death knight. Even weakened, the undead warrior proved too strong for them, unleashing necrotic flames and nearly killing Fylikiel, Aishar and Auburn at the same time. Fylikiel teleported himself to the top of the altar, witnessing the ritual with his own eyes. Desperate, he tried his magic against the transforming eladrin, to be struck by a protective shield, the jolt knocking him unconscious. Acane followed him, climbing from the sarcopagus and reaching the top. Liw had thought the ancient corpse the key of the ritual and had poured all he had of acid and even mouther blood into the sarcophagus, and utlimately, that was what affected Quel'Danas most. As Liw had to the other end of the room and climb a ladder to the plateform,, he activated a magical sight, allowing him to see the trapped souls of eladrins escaping the walls and flowing onto the plateform, out of sight. Then the coffin exploded, sending shards of rocks accross the room and knocking them down, even the death knight.
That explosion marked the end of the ritual.
Standing on the platform, Quel'Danas stood an instant, unmoving. Then smiled, as if unbelieving.
"It worked", he whispered, mostly to himself. Longing for the world, he activated the platform with a gesture, magically transporting it to the surface, hundreds of meters above the ground, within a few seconds. Separating the group, leaving Aishar and Auburn behind, stuck with the powerful Death Knight.
Luckily for them, the Death Knight, his task done, had nothing to do with them and after a last necrotic blast, left them alone and bloody. They had to bargain their way with the drows to go back, freely giving Naism'na all the information they knew in exchange for safe passage, a deal the drow was pleased to accept.
Meanwhile, Liw, Acane and Fylikiel faced a most dire peril. A newly resurrect Eladrin arcanist, paragon of his race. They thought for an instant that he might still be weakened by the ritual. As Que'Danas comtemplated the vast wilderness of the swordcoast in wonder, they all tried to attack him in turn. Liw's eldritch blast missed by a mile, Fylikiel's snake sprout to life and fuel his Call of the Plague, to naught. Unmoving, the Eladrin just stood, breathing in the air peacefully, oblivious to their attacks... until two arrows struck him in the back, wounding him.
The pain broke his blissful moment. He turned toward Acane, angry. Without a word, he unleashed his magic at the poor tiefling. A violent frostburn spells exploded around her, leaving her nearly dead and encased in ice, yet she survied. Then Quel'Danas moved faster than the eye, appearing next to her, then invoking telekinetic hands to lift her bodily, and throw her off the platform, to her certain death. It all happened so fast, none of the two others had time to react.
Then Quel'Danas turned to them, "Anyone else has the desire to anger me in this most blissful of times, and come to his untimely death? Are you so eager to die?"
Fylikiel, overcome by emotion and all that had happened, could only defy him with words, "You think you have won. But know this, you think your brother dead. But as you resurrected, so will he. I know that it is true. As a descendant of your ancient family, I vow to find his lost power and destroy you, Quel'Danas.".
The ancient Eladrin had no response to that threat; obviously shaken by the notion, he only stared at Fylikiel, looking at him uncertain, as the truth came to him: he was not the last of his kind. Then, giving himself to his god and faith, Fylikiel let himself fall from the side of the platform, hoping that his destiny did not involve the rocky ground below.
Liw was left alone with the eladrin. Quel'Danas turned to him, "And you, Warlock, are you as foolish as your companions, do you wish to defy me and die?". To that, the demonic warlock answered "I have faced the cruelty and wrath of demons and gods. I will not submit to the likes of you!".
"So be it. Join your friends. Try your best, warn your people. Know this though: On this day, your world as you knew it i forever changed. Soon, all you see will be mine, as it was when the world was still young."
Then his body lost shape and transformed into a swarm of wasps. Then he was gone.
Alone, Liw allowed himself to breathe again. The demonic voice in his head echoing charming invitations and angered threats all at once. He ignored them and busied himself in sorting his belongings and studying the platform.
Soon after, a floating castle came to carry him away. The gods must have heard Fylikiel, as he had fell right into the courtyard of Moreclaym's magical castle instead of falling to his death. It all seemed incredible, but after what had just happened, they were not surprised in the least. With Moreclaym's handy magic, they found Auburn and Aishar, as well as the dead corpse of Acane, and carried them back to the floating castle, as it drifted away from the coast.
On that day, the world had changed. Forgotten perils had reemerged along the swordcoast, and the Realms would never be the same...
