Summarized Lore: Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Ixalan, here we go!

With the release of Lost Caverns of Ixalan, we're returning to a plane that has the highest number of adventures (and dinosaurs) in the entire Multiverse.

Ixalan still has some open wounds created by the Invasion of New Phyrexia, and needs to deal with new challenges, such as the invasion of shiny fungi and uncontrollable vampires.

Besides that, two characters who are some of the community's favorites have lost their sparks and now work on a daily basis to help the Sun Empire fight the Legion of Dusk.

Would you like to understand how we got to that? If so, enjoy this article with The Lost Caverns of Ixalan's summarized lore!

Quint

After he was invited by Saheeli, Quintorius Kand travelled through planes to Ixalan and was promptly greeted by our favorite inhabitants of this plane: dinosaurs. Luckily, soon the warrior Wayta came around and introduced herself as a messenger sent by Saheeli and Huatli to guide him to the place where both of them waited for him.

Quint was surprised by everything he saw in the golden city of Orazca: the buildings, the interactions between people and dinosaurs, and even the local food and crafts sold there. If it wasn't for the damaged buildings and walls and the irregular colour patches on the streets, it would be hard to imagine that the place had witnessed a war against phyrexian invaders.

When meeting Saheeli and Huatli, the young loxodon was introduced to the challenge he would help solve: the key to a door that, possibly, held the secrets regarding the birth of humanity and the home of the gods. Nonetheless, this mystery seemed connected to the coins in the Coin Empire Quint was tracking.

The conversation between the three of them is briefly interrupted by the dinosaur knight Inti, Huatli's cousin, who asks them how long until they solve the mystery of the key and shares how impatient the emperor is to get his hands on weapons or magic to use against the Legion of Dusk.

Quint doesn't really understand what the Legion of Dusk is, but he went there for a reason, and he is happy to focus on his task to solve this mystery.

Huatli and Quint had managed to translate the poem they used as a key to open the door, but what they found when they went through it was weird: skeletons of soldiers long forgotten with armor that wasn't familiar to anyone there, right in front of the remains of a humanoid creature so big that it only lost to Zacama, Primal Calamity in size, with horns that brushed against the ceiling.

They rapidly deduced that the entity killed the soldiers, and sent a message back so that their dinosaurs were ready to leave soon in search for more answers.

Besides all of these discoveries, the poem leads them to believe that there are other doors like that one in Ixalan.

Malcolm

Malcolm, a pirate siren, was investigating the corpse of a miner that had died only a short time before, but their body was heavily deteriorated and presented a few weird elements, such as mushrooms coming out of their mouths and eye sockets.

Alongside the body, there was a note warning them that Downtown was under attack, and asking for help; the attack was affecting Sunray Bay's economy and the whole Coalition as a whole.

Many enemies could be responsible for such an attack, but up to that moment no one had taken responsibility, and it's up to Malcolm to find out what's happening.

When he finally reached Downtown, Malcolm found something unusual for the place, as if all the miners had left in a hurry. Even though he was afraid of it being a trap, it was the only way to go, and Malcolm dove deeper downtown with Breeches, Brazen Plunderer on his side.

Amalia

After the war, Amalia wanted to do something meaningful with her life; as a result, she took on the position of cartographer for the Queen's Bay Company, to map the wilds of Ixalan besides figures such as Bartolomé del Presidio, Clavileño, First of the Blessed and Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz.

However, this vampire's mind was surrounded by visions of a round golden door. A part of her wished it was part of the Temple of Aclazotz, which supposedly awaited for them in the depths of the continent.

Their hope was that they would find, inside the Temple, a solution for the growing rift that threatened to divide the Legion of Dusk.

When they finally reached the ruins of the Temple of Aclazotz, Vito revealed to all that he was in the possession of Tarrian's journal, an adventurer that travelled with Elenda, and in that journey he had discovered information that the Legion of Dusk had kept secret so far.

Vito wanted to awaken Aclazotz, the ancient god who created the first vampires so that he could heal the faithful and bring peace to the earth.

Amalia was frightened by the entire situation, but, just like the others, she followed Vito inside the ruins and was surprised when she realized the Temple's door wasn't the same as the one in her trances.

The vampire cleric sacrificed a human porter at the temple's altar, and the door opened, releasing an air draft that reminded them of the breath of some foul carrion eater.

The soldiers prepared to move forward.

Wayta

Wayta is a Sun Empire warrior that fought against the phyrexians and lost an eye protecting her plane from invaders. She went with Huatli and Quint's party to explore the passage they found.

There were many signs that the place had a violent history, and there were traces of a battle fought centuries before. On the way, Wayta hears about the concerning war that is heating up between the Sun Empire and the Legion of Dusk, because the Empire knows colonizers won't stop and only their power can protect the Empire.

The group found an entire city covered by greenish fungi that lit up the place and charmed young Quint. The town had many corpses and skeletons, but, unlike the previous bodies, which had armor, these were unclothed.

Using his magic, Quint summons a spirit he calls Abuelo. The ghost says he needs to warn Oteclan about the mycoid infestation, that the door must be closed, and then disappears.

Malcolm

Malcolm was annoyed he went so far underground hearing the complaints of his goblin friend that loved explosions, but he knew it was necessary to face that winding path to find out what happened to the lost folks from Downtown.

Fungi and mushrooms dominated and brightened the space, which reminded the siren of the corpse he had found previously. So, the group encountered something weird: a dinosaur corpse that moved under the influence of the fungi which were on it, like a giant puppet.

Malcolm ordered the pirates to cover their mouths and noses to not breathe the spores there, and they escape.

The siren then uses his singing spell to fight against the dinosaurs, dismantling their bodies as they are all paralyzed by the music. After the battle, he realizes some of his companions were hurt and bitten by the dinosaurs.

These pirates' wounds started to get dark and weird, but Malcolm couldn't afford to let go of so many people from his party. Like so, his mission carried on.

Vito

Vito continues to sacrifice people to open up the doors in the Temple of Aclazotz, but he is worried about Amalia's weird behaviour and Bartolomé, who defied him in the past.

However, the next door that is opened leads them to a weird place, which more seems like a desert full of sand, with weird structures around.

That scene wasn't depicted in Tarrian's journal, but Vito sends a soldier to explore the space, who soon disappears in quicksand. The party manages to map a few safe spots and crosses over the sand, setting up a makeshift bridge.

Weird insects appear out of nowhere and a fight breaks out, in which vampires become food for these giant animals. Vito is surprised by the strength and union of the vampire soldiers in the battle.

When they continue, Amalia realizes there are sculptures with feline faces there, and asks herself if it was a monument or a warning.

The vampire continues to map the place, until they reach a chamber that reminds her of the vision she had of that place. That spot seemed like a deserted city.

On the other side of that place, a person appears screaming for help as they are pursued by several hairless goblins. As expected, Vito ordered the other vampires to ignore the strange person and head in another direction, but Amalia uses her magic to save the stranger, who, as we find out, is Kellan (you can know more about him by reading our article, Summarized Lore: Wilds of Eldraine).

Bartolomé approves her decision, but Vito doesn't like this vampire disobeying his orders. Amalia takes responsibility for Kellan, who thanks her for her help, and the half-fae youngster follows along the vampire party in their glorious mission.

Wayta

If, a month ago, someone told Wayta she would be in an underground city covered by fungi, chasing a spirit called Abuelo beside an loxodon, she would have told the person to see a healer and ask what an Ioxodon is.

When they, then, face a gigantic fungi creature that reminds them of a sort of tree, Wayta takes the lead and uses her sword to cut down this great foe, which seems to not even feel the warrior's cutting strikes.

Huatli and the other Sun Empires hear the battle and come help the party. Smaller versions of the first creature show up and the battle intensifies, making the soldiers dangerously tired.

The River Heralds show up and rescue the Empire soldiers, covering their bodies so they can breathe underwater, and soon all of them, including the dinosaurs, are washed away by the river current.

The soldiers were taken to a city with thousands of River Heralds that watched them, but not in a hostile way. Wayta realizes that in that place there are even Temples to the Threefold Sun, which is worshiped by the Empire.

Malcolm

The group heads deeper more and more, where fungi get increasingly common, until the elevator stops above a big mushroom. A pirate tries cutting this mushroom to open the way, but, as soon as she does, a green cloud of spores sprouts up.

That awakens something in the wounded pirates, and they push two of their allies into the mist, which seems to dominate them in instants. They start acting as a single "unit", fighting against their own allies.

Malcolm and Breeches take advantage of the moment to cut down the elevator's ropes and escape their ex-companions, who were now infected.

Both carried on as they could, with the weight of losing their friends and exhaustion hanging over their shoulders, while Malcolm wondered what they could do.

What if they sent more people and they were all corrupted? What if there were more survivors deeper down? There might not be a clear way forward, but what if they had survived the fall somehow?

While these and other questions clouded their minds, Malcolm realized a type of shiny fungus was rapidly growing nearby changing shape as it did so. It formed words, telling them it was safe to go down, and invited them to head deeper.

That could be a trap, but, in that situation, it was the only option this siren and his goblin friend had.

Bartolomé

While the vampire party crossed the space that became more and more dangerous and dominated by spurts of lava by the minute, Bartolomé asked himself if it was really worth it to release a god that was imprisoned in such an unstable place.

But abandoning the mission was something out of the question, after all, Bartolomé accompanied the party at the request of Queen Miralda, who wanted to know more about Vito's actions, which threatened the Legion and the kingdom.

He starts to suspecting Vona, Butcher of Magan was involved in the cleric's recent actions, and could be the one responsible for presenting Vito with the book and Tarrian's spear.

Even in that dangerous and abandoned place, the vampires realized something was moving down there. A noise suddenly bursts, and soon the Legion is surrounded by a group of feline fumans, similar to jaguars, who overwhelm them in number of people and weaponry.

One of the soldiers introduces themselves and warns the vampires that their presence is being required by their king. After a brief argument, the vampires convice Vito, and the group accepts being led by the cats.

As they are taken, the vampires realize that the region is not abandoned after all, and in fact houses hundreds of feline folk, with entire towns built underground. One of the soldiers tells them that the town was created thousands of years ago, refers to it as Malamet, and also suggests it is the name of their people.

The group meets the Sovereign Okinec Ahau, their King, who questions the group's intentions there.

The king calls a weaver who uses his magic to understand if they should accept the vampires' presence there or not. The weaver tells them their decision and their sovereign sentences the invaders to be thrown into the sand.

The priests in the place use magic to imprison the vampires and take them to another place with a giant jaguar head that spit sand out of its mouth.

The cats start pushing vampires into the sand, and Amalia tells Kellan to hold his breath before they are thrown.

Before sinking, Bartolomé reaches the conclusion it would be nice if that was the end, because then Vito wouldn't do more mischief in Torrezon.

After sinking in the sand, Amalia starts thinking what would happen if she fell forever in that place. It was then visions once again consumed her with a voice whispering, "come to me".

This time, this vampire saw a beautiful place, where the sun seemed like an extension of the earth with trees and oceans, and at the center there was a shiny sphere with strange metal scraps.

Her body keeps on falling. Soon, Amalia realized she fell on water, and that at its depths there was a city. At the river's margin, she finds Kellan, Vito, Bartolomé and Clavileno.

Soon they were ambushed by armed Merfolk, who warn them to come in quiet if they want to avoid more violence. Even in that situation, Kellan notices it is the third time he has been ambushed on the same day, and Amalia jokes that he shouldn't make it a habit.

Once again, the group of vampires is taken by an unknown path.

The Legion of Dusk and the Sun Empire parties meet in a town dominated by Heralds, and are soon taken to meet the great shaper Pashona, who clarifies that all of them are invaders there.

After a brief discussion, the Sun Empire says they can translate the script on the mysterious door in that town, and the Heralds accept. Quint summons Abuelo's spirit once again, who warns them they need to tell the Oltecas about The Mycotyrant threat.

With the help from the Echo, all parties go through the door (including the vampires that are escorted), and they meet with the first Oltecas.

Malcolm

The descent is harder than they expected, but Malcolm and Breeches carry on down for a long time before they find the elevator that had fallen alongside their former companions. They reach a town with a huge amount and variety of mushrooms and fungi.

In that place, they find Xavier Sal, who acted as the mayor of Downtown, but he had already been assimilated by mushrooms. Malcolm loses the little hope he has left of finding survivors and Xavier, transformed, says "we give you welcome", and explains that "we" refers to the Mycotyrant.

Their discussion shows that, for the Mycotyrant, there is no death, only assimilation. This creature shares information between the bodies it possesses, showing that it is there far longer than the pirate could fathom.

The siren then pleads with it and asks what he can offer so that it lets them go. The answer is simple: he wants Chimil's light.

Amalia

They were all surprised by the beauty of the place they were faced with, and were even more surprised when they found Oltecas with clothes that reminded them of Abuelo, with smaller creatures made of metal and stone wandering about, and even giant bats and weapons that reminded them of the Sun Empire. Amalia hears the voice calling for her again.

One of the bat knights introduces herself as Anim Pakal, the Commander of the Thousand Moons, who protects the entrance to Matzalantli. Abuelo takes the lead and tells her that Mycotyrant's power has grown a lot, and now they're all at risk, regardless if they hide behind the door or not.

The vampires are seen as supporters of the Great Betrayer and are once again imprisoned.

The discussions about how they would defeat the vampires restart again among the Sun Empire soldiers, and Wayta asks herself if there is any place in that plane where she would be more than a soldier.

Amalia can map the prison using her magic, but she doesn't try to escape. Stuck in the same cell as Bartolomé and Kellan, they discuss what it means to be a vampire in Ixalan, and she remembers everything she had witnessed Vito do on that trip.

The half-fae youngster shares his motivation and tells her of his search for his dad, Oko.

Vito feeds on the human servants to get stronger and goes to their cell, arguing that Kellan's blood is an adequate sacrifice to inspire Aclazotz to help them. Bartolomé starts fighting for him, which gives Amalia and Kellan the opportunity to escape. With a decisive strike, Vito kills Bartolomé.

Amalia contains her emotions and uses her magic to create a route and escape from those who not long ago were her allies.

Quint

The Empire Sun soldiers are asked to take part in a symbolic coming-of-age ceremony, in which they should fly on the giant bats to get the small crystals that are scattered close to Chimil, the sun.

While they are doing this challenge, Quint speaks with the administrator, Akal Pakal, First Among Equals, and explains where he came from and what he learned in Strixhaven.

The soldiers get their crystals, but the fun atmosphere is dampened when Wayta shares that she saw one of the vampire's cursed magical fogs close to that region.

The Oteclan warriors get closer to Amalia and Kellan, who tell them what happened at the prison and how Vito is looking for Aclazotz.

Malcolm

The idea of a bargain doesn't last long, and the Mycotyrant chooses to assimilate Malcolm and Breeches. The pirate tries using his singing magic to paralyze the fungi, which works, but they soon start running again to escape the enraged colony.

They find a River Herald city and jump in the water full of Merfolk, starting a battle between the Mycotyrant colony and the Merfolk.

Malcolm spots a shiny golden door, and the Merfolk know they should warn the others, because the danger is closer than they think.

Breeches draws three swords and the duo opens their way amidst the battle to warn the others.

Vito

The Legion of Dusk feeds on the Oltecan soldiers to get stronger and finds a group of people who, just like them, worship the bat god, Aclazotz.

The group guides the vampires to a cave, where Vito is considered "worthy" of Aclazotz through a ritual that deals an enormous amount of pain. Only when the ritual ends that the vampire's entrance is authorized by the worshipers.

Vito founds Aclazotz chained and weakened in the cave, but that doesn't make him any less enchanted when faced with his god. The bat god reveals his slumber was disrupted by the invaders from the surface, very likely referring to the phyrexian invaders.

The group offers several people as food to the bat god, who can finally free himself, and he offers his blessing to Vito, transforming him into half bat and half man.

The group is freed and swarms the skies, placing broken metal scraps around Chimil's sun to close the sphere and hide the sun, removing all light there.

Wayta

Wayta realizes that the Oltecans refuse to accept the darkness, and soon the whole place is lit by rose-tinted crystals. Somehow, this is inspiring to her.

Huatli writes a brief poem before the battle and a frenzied fight spurts between them and the vampires, now transformed into half bat, half man, and the humans.

At some point, Malcolm and Breeches get closer, still fighting against the fungi, joining all groups in a single, gigantic, battle front.

Malcolm recognizes Wayta mounted on a bat and goes to her, exchanging information that updates them both on recent adventures. They decide to go to Akal, the administrator, to warn them about their recent discoveries.

Vito

The heat of the battle excites Vito, who fights for Aclazotz' glory and power. With the help of Clavileno, they kill Inti, Huatli's cousin, and the screams of the warrior poet fill the battlefield.

Huatli

The warrior poet had always had words to comfort those who lost loved ones in battle, but at that moment no words came to her, and only the feeling of powerlessness remained.

Vito comes closer to taunt her and a fight between them starts, while Vito tells her their plans to overthrow the queen and rule vampires besides Vona and Aclazotz.

Huatli summons several dinosaurs to attack Vito from all sides, and she kills him by using Tarrian's spear. The warrior doesn't feel victorious, as she only feels as if she had done her duty.

Meanwhile, another part of the group was with administrator Akal, coordinating the battle. Reinforcements arrive, and the administrator informs them that the batallion was trained to fight the army of fungi in particular. An army of spirits shows up to help and the battle starts.

The Mycotyrant shows up in the battle and Breeches gets excited, as now Malcolm lets him use his magic cannon to create a "big boom" that disintegrates everything in its path, like a fireball, and sets fire to the Mycotyrant.

As they were celebrating the defeat of the Mycotyrant's fungi, the sun is released and the sky is once again lit up.

Amalia

Amalia's head suddenly starts to ache, and the group decides to go to where the Temple of Aclazotz is.

Some vampires are still there, battling to protect their bat god, and Amalia is horrified to see the transformation her vampire allies have gone through.

The group then becomes aware that Aclazotz has escaped, and Amalia is desperate when she realizes she doesn't know what will happen to Torrezon.

Besides that, she feels as if she has lived a lie her whole life for worshiping a god that goes against everything she believes. Kellan comforts her and encourages her to look for a new path to walk.

Huatli

After the battle, they are all invited to a banquet, but Huatli's mind is clearly not there.

While they talk about future battles against the vampires and which allegiances they should make, Huatli wanders off and Wayta mentions her old dream of being a warrior poet.

Malcolm

Despite the victory, Malcolm was sad as he couldn't save his friends, and only wanted to reach the city to drown his sorrows in booze and forget what had happened.

Breeches and him look for boats to go to another town, because all they can do now is carry on.

Amalia

Amalia faces the Omenpath besides Kellan.

The youngster is preparing himself to go through the portal and carry on searching for his dad, but he checks on the vampire to make sure she really wants to abandon everything she knows and go with him into the unknown.

They join hands and cross the path.

Quint

Alongside Oltecan scholars, Quint studies that giant figure they had found earlier in their journey. He is looking for scripts of what he calls the Coin Empire, and it is implied that they are a possible threat to the Multiverse.

Oltecans say those giant figures were colonizers that had come from another world, and had imprisoned the Chimil sun in metal first.

As the loxodon explores that place's ruins, he finds an abandoned tank, and inside it is the body of a creature with very large claws. He even thinks that the corpse is quite preserved, until he sees the "corpse's" finger move.

Aclazotz

The surviving vampires have hidden their bat god on a boat on their way to Torrezon to build a new temple. Aclazotz was hopeful Vona would help him build his empire on the surface, and, when he is strong, he'll try to destroy the sun again.

Ixalan can't have anything, it seems.

This plane has dealt with the phyrexian invasion, but it faces big internal issues and enemies who were unknown so far.

In the original chapters (available on Wizards' official website), we had a few fragments that brought discussions regarding colonization, including a conversation between Wayta and Quintorius which stresses the difference between a story told by the people who lived it compared to a story told by a stranger who just studied it.

In this story, we were also introduced to Ixalan people who we hadn't met yet, and new culture elements from various Latin-American countries were inserted to enrich this plane even more.

This is our summary of lore of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. If you read this far, leave down below in the comment section your theories of what we'll see in the next chapters.

See you soon!