Deion does his utmost best to distract the Allip, hoping to create an opening for Race. Meanwhile, a magic missile slams into the spectral creature with unerring precision.
--
Reinor
Swayaah
Annalisa - Hypnotized (4)
Insidion
Dekion
Race
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Spectral Form (25)
Ulfen warrior
Signe - Hypnotized (3)
Footfaigh
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With the aid of Dekion, Race manage to connect with his blade, sending the babbling Allip back to eternal rest.
Yjalk comments on the strength of the adventurers Such power and such tactics. I bow to you!
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"The colors, the colors," Annalísa continues babbling and dazingly strolling about until Swayaah wakes her from her stupor. She slowly comes back to her senses, shakes her head and looks around in astonishment at the aftermath of the battle. "I had no idea... I'm sorry for not helping out here," she whispers.
About one hour after trying to contact Amenopheus, he arrives on the spot.
Greetings, members of the society. I see that you have done well in locating a sage jewel. It pains my heart that the jewel is shattered. The jewel does still seem to contain a glimmer of magic.
Amenopheus concentrates, and works some magic on the jewel. The nearby corpse of the sage jewel seems to rejuvenate, and briefly returns to the state it must have been in when it was alive ().
The spirit looks slightly confused, Who makes me from my never-ending slumber? I have been dead, yes, but I remained an onlooker for all this time, through the ruby gem. Emerald and topaz sat beside me, but a thief took them. He briefly touched the shard, and I was able to read his mind. Kafar, that is the name I read from his thoughts who had intentions of delivering the jewels to the Diamond Sage in a region known as the Pillars of the Sun.
A bewildering premise Amenopheus says why would the Diamond sage resort to thievery? Why not find new candidates to ensure the knowledge of the order is kept safe. Friends, I fear there is double-crossing at work here, these jewels may have fallen into the hands of enemies of the society.
The sage's spirit shares the concern of Amenopheus That is indeed grave. I may be dead, but I have power to spare. I will share this power, and imbue you with it for as long as it lasts. Wield it wisely.
Amenopheus offers to teleport the adventurers back to Eto to restock.
And so, our adventurers return to the fountain room, acutely aware of the water elemental that is lurking in the pool. It warned the adventurers before, in incomprehensible aquan, but shows restraint from attacking them, as if an ancient pact is holding it back. There's a slit in the eastern wall, which has all the indications of a secret door, but no discernible means of opening it.
Two alcoves hold little tablets with hieroglyphics, three on the burnt side of nether, three on the whole side of Nethys.
The tablets are isolated objects that can be picked up and placed in any order in the niches, or elsewhere.
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"Amenopheus, we have found what seems to be an entire team of pathfinders here and many have carried items that include the initials V.L. Do you know who this person is?" Dekion asks.
"Also, have you heard of this person, Kafar, that we will be searching for? And what do you know of the Pillars of the Sun?"
V. L.? Amenopheus lets out a deep sigh Ven Lorovox.He was once part of Thanien Kiandal's exploration group, the scarab seekers.
The scarab seekers were determined to find the sage jewels once, but they were lost on a secret mission in the Osirian desert. Only one of them survived, heavily scarred, burns wounds all over. He refused to tell of what happened. I believe you've met him.
Swayaah already identified the godly depiction on the wall as Nethys, the god of magic. His split form shows the creative and destructive potential of magic. The cartouches bearing hieroglyphics likely proclaim several of the god's power, three of them corresponding to the creative side, three of them to the destructive side.
The elemental suddenly moves up from the water and says something in Aquan, sounding less aggressive than before:
My bonds have been freed. Do I have you to thank for that? My service is over here, after all these years, and I will take my leave now. Goodbye!
it then moves out of the room.
Reinor manages to disable the mechanism to the secret door. With the threat of the elemental gone, Reinor can march into the room unopposed.
The rich scent of palm wine, cinnamon, and myrrh fills this magically illuminated storehouse. Each wall has deep slots filled with papyrus scrolls. A white-and-black marble altar enveloped in faint wisps of faerie fire sits squarely in the center of the room. A ladder to the south leads up to a walkway, with more shelves and a golden sarcophagus.
The archive contains a trove of history from the Age of Destiny that the Jeweled Sages managed to preserve through the decline of the pharaohs and the purges directed against them. The altar is consecrated to Nethys.
The chest on the walkway contains five bottles of holy water, a stack of ancient platinum coins, five spell component pouches, and three scholar’s outfits in red, yellow, and green, cut in a style common millennia ago.
This storage space housed food and supplies for the fortress. The walls, floor, and ceiling are charred, and the burnt remnants of a few splintered boxes and barrels and a handful of corpses are scattered to the edges of the room.
The growing light of predawn filters in through a window of the two-story building that Amenopheus has rented in Eto, and the aging Garundi man takes a seat on one of the cushions set out for this meeting. He produces a sealed letter from his robe, placing it in the middle of the floor before speaking.
“Good morning, Pathfinders. As you know, we have had our share of setbacks recently. Not only have the emerald and topaz gems sacred to my order slipped through our fingers, but we also faced the frustration of finding nothing but fragments of the once great ruby. Thankfully, its power is not lost entirely, and through the Ruby Sage’s blessing, it lives on in you. I am thankful that you have agreed to act on her behalf and see this through to the end.
“As we speak, the scoundrels who seized the two gems cross the Pillars of the Sun to meet their employer, the cryptic Diamond Sage.” He sighs heavily. “What she intends to do with the gems is a mystery, but the sage jewels are too important for me to take risks with. If the power that you wield is representative of a shattered jewel’s potential, imagine what one might accomplish with three undamaged stones! Until we know what her plans are, it is paramount that we get to the jewels first.
Kafar and Nefti have a rudimentary map of the Pillars of the Sun, and last night I found a bartender who spotted them poring over it between drinks. She recalled little of the map, and she could not make sense of the marks or annotations however, the right spells have allowed me to probe her mind and determine Kafar and Nefti’s entry point into the mountains. We will follow them from there. With a somewhat chagrined smile, Amenopheus adds, “It may be that they will lead us to the Sanctum of the Sages, a hidden complex I have long suspected might be in this area.”
He stands and announces, “Prepare yourselves quickly. We shall leave momentarily.”
A dirty blonde Halfling has been scribbling into her notepad for quite some time. Most of her doodles look more like those drawings you'd see from a storyteller. The rest of the doodles seem to be in modern Osiriani.
As Amenopheus finishes his speech, Enora finally looks up and stops scribbling. " Wow, Sanctum of the Sages? Really happy that dream wasn't the booze talkin' to me."
Turning to the party, Enora waves hello. "Howdy ya'll. Name's Enora. It's a pleasure ta meet ya'll. The Ruby Sage asked me to come here to help out, I think. So here I am!"
"Anything you can tell us about the Sanctum of the Sages? The more we know, the better we can prepare for this. No idea what they will try to do with the Gems, ya know?"
The Pillars of the Sun are a mountain range south of Eto inhabited by many terrible creatures. It is a dangerous area of harsh desert and barren, rocky terrain, full of cliffs
and chasms.” Amonjpheus explains “The Jeweled Sages were an order of scholars who took an oath to preserve the culture and arts of the golden age of Osirion.
Their venture proved controversial, for the rulers that followed the Song Pharaoh were offended by the sages’ pretensions and deemed the order subversive.
To escape persecution and safeguard the lore of our land, the sages built their headquarters in a hidden location. It makes sense that they should choose an isolated place like the Pillars of the Sun as grounds for their refuge. The conquest of Osirion by Kelishite forces during Osirion’s Second Age resulted in the death of most if not all of the sages.”
The diamond sage is the current bearer of her respective sage jewel, but I have only recently learned of her existence. All I know for sure is that she resides near Eto. It would not be surprising if she actually resides in the Sanctum of the Sages itself; if so, she must be extremely resourceful.”
It's hard to say what she will do should she acquire a sage jewel, since we know so little about her and her motives. I hope she shares my goals, but fear she may not. At this point, one can only guess.”
Witnesses report seeing a rather tipsy Nefti playing the flute in various taverns throughout Eto over the past several weeks. He hasn’t been seen for three days.
A man matching Kafar’s description recently visited a local herbalist and apothecary.
Several caravan guards in the city overheard Kafar and Nefti complaining to one another about the Aspis Consortium.
The Pillars of the Sun are an isolated range of mountains named for their tall, wind-weathered spires.
The mountains begin 15 miles south of Eto, and an experienced rider might reach them in half a day. Because of its location and elevation, the region is extremely dry and hot during the day, with temperatures dropping drastically at night due to strong winds.
In past eras, attempts to settle in the region were frustrated by the mountains’ harsh conditions and aggressive fauna. To this day, many ruins stand as reminders of these ill-fated enterprises.
The Pillars of the Sun have long been an isolated place, and interspecies competition has honed the abilities of its monstrous inhabitants. Even creatures that are typically harmless in other ecosystems can be deadly here, and some are said to have truly extraordinary power.
Enora scribbles more notes.
"Hmm. The last time Nefti or Kafar have been seen was about 3 days ago. No idea about the Aspis Consortium, but they were complaining about it. We'd better keep our eyes peeled on our way there."
Amenopheus says Take your time to prepare, and when you are ready, meet me here.
Upon returning, Amenopheus says I will bring you to the northern edge of the pillars. as he casts a teleportation spell.
The sun is just peeking over the horizon of the rocky and arid terrain that is the pillars of the sun. The first traces of Kafar and Nefti's trail are found easily.
You are especially efficient at following the tracks. (This will have effects later)
Temperatures continue to rise all through the morning, and after four hours of travel, the group reaches a place where the winding path through the spires splits.
It looks like Kafar and Nefti split up here Amenopheus says. I suggest we split up here: you take the western route, while I investigate the eastern path. Good luck to you!
The adventurers path leads them to a series of switchbacks that ascend the steep side of a gorge, and approximately one hour after Amenopheus’s departure, they reach an immense cliff where the tracks simply end.
There is a crevice in the rock face that leads to a trap door that descends deep underground.
"Where are we going, again? Oh, you see the tracks. Right." Enora follows the group, drawing rough sketches of the pillars as they travel.
Enora seemed to be fine in the morning, but not too long after Amenopheus left, the heat took its toll on Enora.
"Wow. I should have brought more water...I feel hotter than a goblin after a torch party!"
Nora gets through the first hour quite well, but starting feeling tired for the second hour...
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"They certainly didn't bother covering their tracks. I guess they don't expect anyone following them here," Dekion says as they start following the tracks.
"Wow is it hot out here. This heavy metal armor isn't helping either. This heat is starting to get to me. Where did he go?" Dekion says as he wipes his brow while looking at the cliff wall.
Dekion also feels the effect of the heat, and slows down significantly.