Island of Viscan

The Island of Viscan is an isolated island located in a region known for its volcanic activity in the southern part of the Lucidian Ocean.

Terrain
Viscan has a mountain in the center of a very thick jungle, in which there is a cavern system extending deep below the ground.

Jungle
Viscan is covered in jungles. When Vox Machina visited the jungle the outer edge was healthy and green, but as they traveled further in towards the mountain, the trees were gray and withered. Keyleth was able to determine that this appeared to be a necromantic blight that had rapidly withered the trees, and that it had happened some time ago.

As one approaches the mountain, sandy patches ten to 15 feet in size appear. These patches were created when subterranean caverns collapsed, and the ground there is highly unstable. Keyleth determined that the cause of these "hollow earth" patches was also magical.

Mountain
The mountain on the island is about 600 feet tall. It appears to have been created by natural tectonic processes thousands of years prior to the events of Campaign One: Vox Machina, with the exception of the entrance to the mountain lair. There is one section of rock 200 feet from the base of the mountain where the texture of the natural lines of the rock is in a different direction than the rest of the mountain's surface. When Vox Machina visited the island, this area was blocked with a massive rock between 20 and 30 feet wide, with a number of large holes in it. Upon further inspection, the holes appeared to be made by the claws of a large dragon over the span of many years, indicating a dragon had been using this rock as a door for a long time.

Mountain tunnel
A 15 foot by 12 foot wide tunnel is carved into the mountain. When Vox Machina passed through it they found it to be heavily dusty, indicating it had been unused for some time. They also found a number of scattered shards of old, blackened bone on the floor of the tunnel. About 100 feet in, the tunnel curves to the left and descends. The tunnel becomes wider as it goes deeper, and at this point there begin to be shelves and cubbies set into the wall.

One of the first shelves Vox Machina encountered had a number of dusty candles that had dripped over the edge of the shelf, next to another shelf with two other mostly burned down candles next to a skull. On the opposite side of the tunnel there was a shelf that had a couple of small books and a small wooden box. The next shelf had some a mummified raccoon-like creature. After another 50 feet, the tunnel opens up into a hexagonal room.

Hexagonal chamber
The hexagonal chamber is about 25 feet high, with a stonework floor, a large iron door, and a platform in the center. On the platform is a dark green marble pillar about three to four feet high. On top of the pillar is a "roughly forged" bowl of iron with a slight residue of what may be dried blood inside of it, and which is bolted down. The chamber has shelves like the ones in the stairwell, one of which contains an iron brazier full of dry tinder. A second shelf contains a large, unlabeled, leather-bound book. When Percy attempted to read the book, he found the text seemed to shrink and shift, particularly when exposed to light.

In order to exit the room, Vox Machina needed to add more blood to the bowl. Once they did this and exited, they encountered four floating, flame-wreathed skulls which attacked them.

Staircase
The door from the hexagonal room led to a hallway which in turn led to a descending spiral staircase. The ceiling above this staircase was, when Vox Machina explored the facility, trapped with a glyph that would activate when someone descended the stairs and which Scanlan was able to dispel. At the bottom of the stairs is a cluster of four-foot-long reddish-brown iron spikes, jutting up at various angles, with the remains of many impaled creatures on them.

Reversed-gravity bridge trap
The tunnel leading from the staircase was 20 feet wide and 15 feet tall. The walls were chiseled roughly, about 30 feet in it ended at a cross-section of a very deep ravine, both above and below. There was an underground chasm that stretched both to the right and left. On the bottom of the ravine there were nearly skeletal humanoid bodies. The chasm was about 60 feet across to the other side, and there was a taut rope bridge bolted to each side leading across. When walking across this bridge gravity seemed to be reversed and undead bodies of humanoid creatures were falling up. On the other side there was another entranceway that led to another hallway.

Fountain Chamber
50 Feet down in the hallway there was a small fountain built into the center on the ground. This fountain had two bowls above each other, the upper bowl smaller than the lower. At the very top there was a humanoid face that's stretched into a ghastly, horrified expression of terror and gasp. From its mouth a small trickle of water was pouring upward, just spilling 15 feet up onto the ceiling, where it pooled and separated into cracks. The water was impacting a green emerald-like gem in the ceiling. Covering the gem would reverse the gravity in the ravine.

Hallway and Laboratory
The ceiling of the path began to grow higher, and the hall began to widen open, and splits in two directions. Portions of this hallway still had the cavern-type feel, but more sections looked like the walls were carved out at one point and had a specific purpose, but over time portions of it had fallen to disuse and ruin. The two paths eventually joined again on the other side of the large column. Where the rocky walls became just stone and the hallway opens up to a square-like chamber.

There were two cages in the corners that seemed to bear some sort of slumped, unmoving bodies inside of them. There were two pillars in the center of the room that appeared to be just strewn with various magical engravings and glyphs from top to bottom, surrounding them entirely. There were a series of bookshelves, candelabras, and chains that lined the walls. There was a large door across the back wall that was locked from the other side.

Background
Originaly, the Island of Viscan was populated by an indigenous seafaring people whose trade routes led to the north and west. In the Age of Arcanum, it became the lair of an ancient necromancer named Opash, who built a laboratory there after he was banished from Marquet. With his arrival, the seafaring people disappeared leading many sailors in the region to believe that the island was cursed and to be avoided for that reason.

Centuries before 795 PD, Thordak attacked Ank'Harel, but after a two-week battle, his armies were defeated and he was wounded, and as he fled north over the ocean he was struck down and fell into the sea, finding refuge on the Island of Viscan.

Thordak was captured by Opash who experimented on the red dragon in his laboratory, making him more powerful, which eventually destroyed the necromancer. Thordak became interested in Opash's notes and began making his own additions to his work, growing interested in the research into Guuthal the Ever-Fed, an ancient black dragon who evaded death by becoming a dracolich. After generations of secretly ruling the Island of Viscan, the dragon grew greedier than the island's limited resources could satisfy. He began razing the Mornset Countryside, south of the Verdant Expanse and the Stormcrest Mountains.

Knowing about the Thordak's lair, Raishan fled to the island after his death, taking Thordak's body and two of his eggs with her. Keyleth and Allura Vysoren found the cavern into which Raishan had fled when they scried. In their vision, portions of cavern appeared ruined, and Keyleth sensed sort of geothermal activity in the vicinity. She also saw that the cavern led to an ancient stone laboratory.

Keyleth used Transport via Plants to bring Vox Machina, Kerrek, Lady Kima and Allura to the island. At the entrance of the mountain, she used Stone Shape to make a slight opening in the large heavy rock. Using Kima's sword as leverage, they moved the boulder and set it in place with the Immovable rods.

In the necromancer's sanctum, Keyleth started a fire in the iron brazier with Flaming Hands which caused an explosion that destroyed the tomb. With the blood of Vex'ahlia and a basilisk put in the bowl, the iron door opened, activating the skulls. Percy exploded two skulls with Animus, Vex'ahlia cut an arrow straight through a skull causing it to crack in half, and Allura used Magic Missile to turn the last skull to ashes.

The glyph on the ceiling activated as the party went downstairs. Scanlan used Dispel Magic to dissipate the glyph.

At the gravity chasm, Vax'ildan teleported across with Whisper, Percy went across the bridge with his Boots of Spider Climbing and the Endless Rope, Allura used Dimension Door to cross with Kima, and Kerrek and Keyleth made the crossing on the Carpet of Flying. When Vex’ahlia and Pike attempted to cross the ravine, they were hit by bodies falling upward and the broom began to fall in the same direction. They were saved from falling by a Grasping Vine from Keyleth. With the help of Percy and the carpet, they made it safely to the other side of the chasm. Vex'ahlia then went back across to get Grog and Scanlan on the other side, Grog in the Raven's Slumber necklace and Scanlan on the back of the broom.

At the fountain, Allura asked for a jug and covered the gem. The party came to the conclusion that the gem controlled the direction of gravity in the ravine.

The party found Raishan in the laboratory. The two large scaled, crimson eggs were being kept on one side of the wall, and on the other side a withered and long-dead corpse of Thordak the Cinder King.

Vox Machina began their second battle against Raishan. Raishan attacked the party with multiple powerful spells, including Meteor Swarm. During the battle, Raishan killed Scanlan. Keyleth managed to hit her with a successful Feeblemind spell, preventing her from using any more spells. Nevertheless, Raishan still managed to get another kill, this time gutting Percy. Shortly after, Raishan's was killed by a fierce hammer blow from Kerrek.

After Pike revived Percy, he leaves a gate stone behind, and Vax took Scanlan's body in his arms. Allura attempted to use Teleport on the party to leave the island, but the spell failed. The party began to investigate the cause, and Grog was able to break down the door with his Titanstone Knuckles, revealing a cave-in. Pike discovered an ancient, leather-bound book, locked on one side, that Raishan had been reading. Percy took several other books. The party then did their best to destroy the laboratory with fire from Keyleth's staff, Scanlan’s Wand of Magic Missiles, and some spells from Allura, running into several more minor traps in the process. On their way out, the party encountered the flaming skulls again and defeated them with Animus, a high-level Magic Missile, and a hit from Kerrek.

Once outside Allura attempted to draw a Teleportation Circle on the ground but then vanished with a strange spark. Kima went after her. Vox Machina became suspicious and determined that something on island warped arcane transportation magic. Keyleth scried on Allura and saw that she was in the ocean, and then saw faint movement in the distance. Vex was able to reach them on her broom and bring them back to the island. Once retrieved, Keyleth used Transport via Plants to successfully bring the group back to Whitestone.

Behind the scenes
The island is imbued with magic that interferes with teleportation. Mechanically, Matt would roll a d20 and consult his pre-made chart to see whether an attempted teleport away from the island (as in ) would succeed or fail. Sometimes the teleportation spell would fail by having no effect. Some failing rolls would have sent the party deeper into the sanctum. For other fails, as that which befell Kima and Allura, he would then roll for the random direction and the distance away from the island they would be teleported.