Well, I've Lost It All, I'm Just a Silhouette

The 54th session.

Lyrics: "Youth" by Daughter

Highlights
The party, still mourning the loss of Awk, comes upon an oasis beset by zombies and fights them in a bid for water. They dispatch the undead but attract a wurm, and the battle is joined by a mysterious gold dragonborn paladin, Tem-ho-ja-mak Arkris. Harry is thoroughly unamused. Together, the party and Tem are able to convince the wurm to flee, and Tem attempts to purify the oasis water as part of their mission for Bahamut. Acquiring water from the oasis proves unsuccessful, resulting in the loss of Drybones. Tem agrees to accompany the party to Csipherus, being on their own mission to save the city, though their reception in the party is decidedly a bit chilly.

Gradually, traveling with Tem, the party learns that they're part of an anti-Tiamat order whose mission is to prevent the conduits from being used for evil purposes. They are investigating the Csipherian plague and, presumably, conduit for the same reasons the party is. The group parts ways with Pinjin, but not before he and Felegum mend their fences and swap Ptarmigan books. Moving toward the city, the bands of undead around the group increase and the party uses various tricks and illusions to evade them (and also Atarka). Once they're a day out from the city, Set uses his Sending scroll to contact Kalends and receives a mysterious response. When the group comes upon Csipherus, though, the city has changed: there is a massive hole in one wall, the Sunspire has fallen, and there is a lithe blue dragon curled atop a wall. This is Ojutai, Atarka's brother.

The group attempts to sneak into the city via sewers and pretending to be zombies, but Ojutai spots them. He asks them to impress him, and to varying degrees, they appear to. He leaves with a "I'll be watching your exploits with interest" and the group explores the city. Set takes everyone to an old hideout, and along the way the party encounters members of Set's old thieves' guild, the Calendar. Blindfolded, the party visits the Calendar's headquarters in the catacombs under the city and learns that not only have the Calendar been stealing the gems that the Red Eyes want, probably preventing the fall of the city, but that they are also responsible for the hole in the city walls as a means of escape. There are five Red Eyes in Csipherus, with a sixth who visits. Perhaps even worse, the group learns that they have lost twenty months, or about two years, in their teleport. Things look very bad for our heroes.