Act 3.5 - Sidequests and Diversions
← Act 3 - The Avernian Quest -- Interlude - Lulu's Memories →
Making a Deal with Arkhan
While their quest was complete, the party still had one thing left incomplete -- a deal they made with Uldrak the Tinker. Heading north in an intention to cross the Pit of Shummrath, the party instead discovered the Arches of Ulloch, a pair of enormous stone arches. One was inactive, but the other contained a keystone allowing transportation to any other location within Avernus. Using this, they teleported to Arkhan's tower on the northern rim of Avernus, trading the orb of dragonkind for a vial of Tiamat's blood. Having gotten what they came for, they motored their way south.
The Alvskraema Caravanserei
Taking a ferry across the Styx, they stopped at the Alvskraema Caravanserei, a small inn/garage/jerky store/restaurant on the edge of a bridge over the Pit of Shummrath. While the food was... questionable (Flight Risk accidentally bought a bag of elf jerky), the party did trade for some more supplies, unloaded some leftover goods, and obtained additional repairs for their machine before hitting the road again.
You Win or You Die
Next, the group stopped at Tasha's summer home in Avernus, which was inside the colossal skeleton of a minotaur-like demon. Inside, Solarys made a deal with Tasha for a crystal rod, a valuable component to create a spell jamming helm; her initial offer was to take it from Mordenkainen's tower, but after dithering for a while about it, they settled for a backup option -- playing chess with a soul at stake. Luckily, Solarys won, and with their rod in hand the party headed to visit Uldrak.
Freedom at Last
Upon their return to the Tinker's Helm, he was overjoyed to be gifted the reliquary of Tiamat's blood. Breaking it so that her blood spilled upon the sand, he quickly grew back to his full size, put on his helmet, pulled his sword from the sand, cut a flaming rift for himself in midair, and returned to the service of the elemental lord Surtr. After scavenging through the leftovers in his junk pile, they motored back to the Arches of Ulloch to make one last stop before heading to Fort Knucklebones.
Transportation Acquired
Using the Arches again, the group teleported their whole vehicle to the wrecked elemental galleon in the Styx. Using magic to make themselves understood, they learned that the crew -- formerly from Eberron -- had been unable to move their ship after it accidentally landed in the Styx because the rings of elemental binding that made it fly had been broken. Using a spelljamming helm instead, the party flew the ship -- and their new crew -- up to Fort Knucklebones, and docked their new flying ship next to the fort and headed inside, where Mad Maggie used their quest items to perform some repairs, then after strapping everyone in, began a trip through Lulu's Memories to try and find the location of the Sword of Zariel.
← Act 3 - The Avernian Quest -- Interlude - Lulu's Memories →
