The Great Celestial Vault

Darkness swathed The Hand of Destiny in its embrace. Kaladrax, being as good as blind in the dark, cast his Light cantrip to see ahead. They were in a tunnel of carved rock with a matching stone staircase leading down. There was no definite end in sight until, finally, they came upon an opening. Aleera noticed that though the walls were made of stone, the entire dungeon was completely clean. She wondered if the whole vault was as immaculate. 

The room they entered was a large cavern hewn from the same stone as the stairway. It too was clean of any blemish or trash. Aleera began to think this was magic at work in the vault. At the center of the first room was a circular glowing pedestal with small shelves jutting out at about three feet above the ground. On each of the glowing pedestals was a small vial of liquid, each a different color. The colors, starting from the one in front of them, were white, blue, silver, pink, and grey. After determining that no traps were in wait for them, each took a vial. Milo took the blue, Hepolita the white, Aleera the silver, Kariss the pink and Kaladrax picked up the grey one. 

As soon as all the vials were in their hands there was a flash of heat then light engulfed them as a booming voice rang out. “Welcome to my celestial dungeon.” Once the party regained their sight, they noticed that doors of the same colors as the vials were at equal intervals along the walls. They had no idea which door was the correct one so they began eliminating them through trial and error. Some weren’t so bad, they required some quick thinking to solve a puzzle or riddle. Others were a bit more dangerous. One sealed itself after Kaladrax and Aleera entered it. The opening was no longer discernible and the room began filling with water.

They waited for the water to rise and managed to swim up to the grate at the top, the only opening they discovered. Aleera used her soul weapon, a whip made of unusual leather, to summon a giant octopus to help them escape. She commanded it to tear the grate off. As it tried, Kaladrax and Aleera were attacked by nasty monster that hunted them in the water. The room was dark so they were injured a few times before the octopus managed to tear off the grate. The two soaked adventurers swam up and lifted themselves out through the grate. Aleera ordered her octopus to attack the creature in the water and lost sight of it when it inked the water to hunt. 

Strangely enough, they found themselves in the same circular chamber they had first entered. Other forays through the doors made them face black puddings, puzzles involving delicate levers to move panels, to even fighting a terrible Demilich. When they eventually reached the true door they stepped through with relief thinking their trials over with. They entered another cavern, this one bigger than any of the others. It was littered with gold, platinum, jewels and encrusted objects. The wealth surrounded a large, four story tower. They stepped towards the tower in delight at their new found wealth only to discover an ancient bronze dragon. Something was wrong with it. 

Normally the metallic dragons shone with the brilliance of their namesake, but this one looked dull. There were strange purple blemishes all over the body and an aura of death around it. The dragon spoke to them asking for their purpose in the vault. The party tried to explain that they were in search of stolen property for the city of Waterdeep but the dragon didn’t seem to care. It was in a daze and only saw them as enemies. It was strange since metallic dragons were usually very well mannered and often friends with the smaller races. They were good. This dragon was infected and rabid. 

The dragon attacked with everything it had, even going so far as to produce a terrible Beholder pet that it sent to pester them. They only managed to barely avoid a losing fight with it when Milo managed to banish it for a few minutes while they dealt with the dragon. It took most of their spells and abilities to bring the dragon down. When they did, Kaladrax inspected the body and recognized the deathly stench of Null on the body. It had corrupted the poor dragon from within. With the dragon gone they waited to see if the Beholder would return but it didn’t. At this they gave a great sigh of relief. Then there was the matter of the loot.

There was so much physical loot here that not even half of it would fit into their bag of holding. They started with the easiest and most worthy to take. The platinum. Filling their pockets with as much as they could carry they managed to each take about 200 platinum each. On top of that they also managed to fit an easy three million platinum in their bag of holding. It still left an enormous amount of gold left. They realized that this loot amounted to much more than the one million they were trying to find and cheered at their good luck. 

Having gathered all that they could, the party resolved to rest for the day and figure out what to do in the morning. Aleera cast her Magnificent Mansion spell again and conjured her dreamy night time caravan campground for them. They made their way to their own wagons and collapsed in pure joy at how rich they were now. This was retirement money, buy a parcel of land and relax money. Set up your own kingdom money! Not they they would of course but the possibilities were so enticing. They still had much to do in their own personal quests and would not rest until they were done. 

They each drifted off to sleep, dreaming of their new found wealth and planning their vacations. The artificial night of the Mansion soothed their excited souls and the music of the Vistani attendants lulled them to rest. Only Aleera stayed awake a bit longer than everyone. She loved money more than anyone she knew but she also knew that this much would always lead to trouble. They might have to fight to keep their hoard.