As the dust settles from the ambush the Green Dragon Brother sprung on Sooney’s captors, the group debates whether to go deeper into the depths of the Spire of Abartu or return to Rainwall City. Alas, the shaking of the earth and the beating of wings alerts them to a complication: a massive green dragon named Ur-Balat would like a word.
Upon seeing the dragon’s face, Skarrow cannot help but cower in fear, and most of the party panics as well. Greer the Betrayer and William Dune, however, maintain their composure and, Graxus love ‘em, negotiate with the beast. It seems the songs of their heroic defeat of a different dragon have reached Ur-Balat’s ears. Greer explains that these tales are really more about branding and that they only found a dead dragon - they didn’t slay it. In fact, the Melekian coin they found near the body suggests a mutual enemy. Ur-Balat buys it, but informs the party that he’s putting the green dragon in the Green Dragon Brotherhood. They work for him now. They are to travel to Melek; his avatar will join them along the way with more details.
William Dune does not escape scrutiny. The dragon can smell The Uxul and demands Dune turn it over. Dune hesitates, and the rest of the group realizes he tricked them into going after it. He wasn’t looking for Sooney at all! Regardless, he gives it up, and what that means for him and his new accomplices remains to be seen, but odds are a certain criminal organization in Rainwall City is going to have an opinion on the matter.
The group decides that as long as they’re here, they may as well seek out some treasure before heading back to civilization. They delve deeper into this mysterious Suun temple. As they explore the narrow passageways, they are reminded over and over of the bloodthirsty nature of the ancient Suun. Evidence of ritual sacrifice abounds - bloody altars and piles of skulls and skin.
They find a scroll in the old library; a potion in someone’s bedroom. They find several pieces of jewelry that should bring a nice price if they live long enough to fence them. One room is especially cold - terrors seem to lurk. Shiv Drinkstep barely avoids being trapped in a cave in, and the party does battle with a mysterious stone golem made from jet black obsidian. Once again, Cleansing Waters finishes the creature, shattering the stone with a mighty chi-soaked blow.
The party descends another level and finds a strange laboratory of sorts. Mysterious equations cover the walls, and two well-preserved bodies lie on slabs. One body, however, has something moving under its skin, and when grey ooze begins to seep from its orifices, the party abandons all decorum and flees. They’ve seen this kind of thing before!
They are nearly to the stairway back up to the second level when the patter of their running feet calls forth a giant Bulette, who surprises the party and attacks! Sooney, who apparently bears no grudge, rescues William Dune from having his head bitten off. Calling on the grace of Graxus, Shiv beheads the beast with one mighty swing of his black sword. They flee the spire, even as the head bounces down the corridor and ooze bubbles and surges.
Worse for wear, but undeniably wiser and richer, the party is determined to return to Rainwall City. Dune is still cursed with no heartbeat - they intend to use that to their advantage…