[adnd 2e] The city of amber

About the Group This is a "new" group but the three existing players have played with me before, we are 25-40 years old, male players We play every second sunday, 11-18, I cook lunch. Starting level 1 Player requirements: 18+ Reliable attendance LGBTQ+ friendly, we have had LGBTQ+ players before and still have in other sessions.  About the game You’re sitting by the fire, going through what little the dungeon still had to offer, when you hear the sage curse under his breath. “I know that place… I know it.” It’s not the first time you’ve seen the carving down here. A half-buried panel in the stone, easy to overlook. It shows a city of amber and gold, with windows carved from resin, streets laid in shining metal, birds with gem-set eyes perched in the trees, and poets and wizards walking its streets. A story everyone knows. A city swallowed in an earthquake, gone in a single night. A tale told so often it barely registers anymore. At first, it seems like nothing. Just the same old legend carved into stone. But the sage is already on his feet, brushing dirt away, staring at something you hadn’t paid attention to before. “There. Look. That wasn’t there.” To the east of the city, faint but deliberate, the carving continues. A coastline. Not decorative, but drawn with intent. You’ve seen depictions of the city before, in carvings, tapestries, and old stories, but never like this. Never with a location. The wizard’s voice cuts through the quiet. “I know that coast. That’s Al-Zahir.” You now have something no one else does. Not just a legend, but a direction. A place tied to a real coastline, one that should be empty. There’s a town not far from there, though “town” is generous. It’s barely holding together. The Sultan is dead, his heirs are fighting over what’s left, and the region is slipping into open conflict. Patrols are thin, authority is scattered, and no one is in a position to care what a group of adventurers is doing along the coast. Following the carving, you find it. Not a city, at least not yet, but an entrance. Subtle, easy to miss, but real. Dust lies thick across the stone, undisturbed. No tracks, no signs of prior entry. Nothing like the dungeon you came from. Whatever this place is, it hasn’t been picked over. If the carving is even partly true, there is more wealth below than most people see in a lifetime. The question isn’t whether it’s there. It’s how deep it goes, and whether you can keep it to yourselves once you start bringing it back up.