Chapter 7, Part IV: Hanx's Ruins Run
When the Platinum Talons regrouped at Wiltspar, Drez went to Hanx to show him the brand he got during the ambush on the SS Tincture.
Hanx, using his skills as a cleric, determined that it wasn't poison, but that it might be a curse of some kind. Xerxes used detect magic to learn that the brand was infused with divination magic.
Xerxes stopped in to see the recovering Bloodmoon to see if she, Darien or Bladestar had heard any news about Jamie while they were in Solendia picking up the Ironfists and Flossy. She told him that they hadn't heard anything further about him, and no one seemed to have any idea who he was.
The Talons then picked up Hanx's quest from the AGI and headed to the Ruins. On the way there, the sand underfoot began to rumble menacingly. Tagg, sensing danger, called upon the power of Nova, and diverted the potential sandworm attack.
Inside the ruins, they headed to the third floor where they encountered and fought a room full of gray oozes.
Following the battle, Nohki found the exoskeletons of creatures called "Little Skitters" and was able to extract 3 monstrosity claws from them.
On the fourth floor, the Talons encountered five golems: clay, iron, cobalt, platinum, and crystal.
The Platinum Talons discovered that a tether connected the golems together, and worked out the order in which they had to be taken down.
After they defeated the golems, they headed to the fifth floor. Inside the room, Nihm spoke to them and removed the floor effects for this last battle on her floor. They then rose up to the arena where a Black Dragon stood, waiting.
After a ferocious fight, with each of the Talons landing strikes against the fearsome creature, Nohki took the final blow against the dragon, killing it inside a bead of force.
They then arrived on the landing floor for Nihm, and the statue there, surrounding in glowing stones from the core of the planet, offered a gem stone. Inside the stone, Xerxes could feel a consciousness moving throughout it, as if the stone itself were alive, and he begans to feel knowledge fill him.
The Platinum Talons have found their very first Soul Shard, which hold some of Fynali's forgotten knowledge. The one they found after clearing Nihm's floor is the Engineer, which imbues knowledge of the subclass to any of the Talons who hold it.