The Pisspots entered the treasure room and shut the door behind them to keep out the rising tide. There was more wealth here, including several diamonds, than they could possibly carry home with them. They really should have thought to bring a Bag of Holding or something.
They quickly homed in on the one magical item in the pile: a Deck of Wondrous Things (like a Deck of Many Things, but cards don’t return to the deck once drawn). Such a dangerous item must be handled with great care, so Kaicho passed the deck to Mav to stow in his extradimensional pocket. While the others returned to counting the coin, Ragon approached Mav and asked if he could inspect the deck, and Mav handed it over.
Perhaps it was the fact that he couldn’t even see thanks to a Blindness spell cast by the door lock, or the fact that his buddy Remi had just died and was only narrowly restored to life, or that the end of the world could be imminent; whatever the reason, Ragon was feeling depressed and impulsive. Without saying a word to the others, he opened the deck and pulled a card. Someone noticed the card read “Donjon” an instant before Ragon evaporated out of the room, leaving behind everything he was carrying and wearing. Just like that, their aasimar friend was gone.
The rest were in shock. Braxis attempted to message Ragon and actually succeeded, but, as he was blind, he was unable to describe his surroundings other than the steel bars he could feel before him. Not knowing what else they could do, the Pisspots decided to try to rest up before exploring the island more.
Remi, who was utterly exhausted from dying and returning to life, found no sleep, as each time he began to drift off he was startled awake by horrifying images — or perhaps recollections — of writhing tentacles buffeting his body and pushing him where he did not wish to go.
In the morning, the Pisspots emptied their bags of all the useless junk they had been carrying around for months and filled them with all the gold they could carry. They then pushed open another door to the room, opposite the locked door, which bore the word “Kyzryt” written in Draconic. Beyond was a stairwell that ascended to a trap door which, they would moments later learn, provided passage into the dragon’s cave. Someone attempted to lift the door and then heard a crash as the altar they previously saw on the far side of the room fell to the floor and then into the pool. Everyone held their breath as they waited for the dragon to pounce on them, but nothing happened.
They formulated a plan: The dragon was too dangerous to leave alive to defend Devin, so Rune and Braxis, who were unable to cross the cave’s threshold, would wait at the trap door while Mav, Kaicho, and Remi went back the way they came to approach from the cave entrance. Rune and Braxis would get a chance to deliver some surprise blows when it engaged the other three.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), the dragon was not in its lair, so they decided to call it a day and get the hell out of that horrible place. Braxis cast a teleportation circle and–BAM–they were back in the prison that held him and Rune the previous day. They used the last of their materials to solve the room a second time, then messaged Flav to return with the boat, outside of the storm barrier. They safely made their way on deck, thanked the ever-helpful captain for his service, and cast teleportation circle again. This time they were successful and arrived in Pandin.
They sought out an appraiser for the jewels they collected, then met with Mierdras again at Class and Sass to give her her cut of the profit. As a parting bit of gossip, she mentioned that the academy was encouraging adventurers to help evict a pesky white dragon from their College of the Occult.
They met with the gnome shopkeeper of Wonders of the World, Ceronidil, who explained that if they wanted to locate and rescue Ragon from whatever distant prison held him, they would need to determine the plane he was on, obtain a tuning fork attuned to that plane, and obtain a scroll of Plane Shift to get there. And that was the easy part. They would then have to navigate through inhospitable conditions in unfamiliar lands, probably without a guide, while defending against unimaginable hostile monsters. Such a rescue mission would be nearly impossible.
Remi was by this time so fatigued that he couldn’t express how distraught he was about losing Ragon. After asking Lightbearer Lo-Thar, brother of Lo-Keg, at the Temple of Pelor about Remi’s dreams and receiving the recommendation that he just needed to get some quality sleep, Kaicho sought to ease his adopted son’s troubled mind and make sure he got a good night’s rest. They stopped by Charlemagne Moonflower’s shop to purchase anything that could calm the tortle’s nerves, and he provided two tonics: one to help him sleep, and another to help him conquer the bedroom.
They returned to Class and Sass, and Kaicho purchased for Remi some old-fashioned comfort in the form of a tabaxi named Platinum Whiskers. Remi just wanted a good massage and to sleep, so he downed the sleep tonic, but he soon realized he drank the wrong one. Before the night was done, he put both tonics to good use, and then slept like a baby.
Remi awoke with a smile on his face. “I really needed that,” he thought. He realized the first tonic was still at work, and the tabaxi rested by his side. “Maybe there’s time for one more go.” As he rolled over, memories locked away about what happened to him while he was dead flooded into his mind, and he let out a shriek: “Holy fuck!”
Platinum Whiskers opened her eyes and replied, “I’d sure say so. How about I get us breakfast and then–Holy fuck!”
The tortle responded, “I like the way you think, Whiskey, but I just remembered something horrifying.”
The tabaxi clutched the sheets to her chest and pointed to the door. “No, there’s someone standing over there!”
Remi leapt to his feet on top of the bed and assumed a karate stance. “Hello Remi, your manhood is showing,” said Ragon, dressed in a fine red suit, as he stepped out of the doorway and into the light.
Countdown to Devin’s rendezvous: 6-7 days?