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As you're making your way towards the kitchen where you found that garbage shoot, try to slowly and carefully make your way,
Shandor and Oswin stumble with Tomasz still in his straight jacket, and trip several times along the way.
The hear you and meet you in the hallway.
They see you've got Tomasz, and they're not inclined to let you take him. Where do you think you're going?
Sorted:
Red Orderly
Shandor
Blue Orderly
Julian
Talhaern
Oswin
Arnthoth
Awveyen
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Shandor ponders the situation for a moment, but his wrath cannot be contained anymore. His skin turns as green as an orc's, his eyes grow red, and the runes across his body flare to life!
"मी माझा क्रोध प्रकट पुनर्जन्म झालेला आहे, कीव छाव्यांना मला भीती बाळगू नका!"
A fiery arc suddenly bursts forward to the first orderly, burning him badly before springing to the second one!
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Red Orderly tries to out of the way, but fails.
Blue Orderly likewise tries to , he does a bit better, but still fails.
Red Orderly will move up, angry now, and if he hits will do damage to Arnthoth plus Charisma Damage.
Blue Orderly shakes off some of the fire, and will move up and if he hits will do damage to Awveyen plus Charisma Damage.
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Shandor does not relent in his blood lust, emitting a high pitched sound that only the orderly can hear.
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Arnthoth destroys the blue orderly, and which also changes form as he drops to the ground.
Awveyen can recognize they are in fact Totenmaske's, and therefore are undead shapechangers.
Combat is over, you can get Tomasz out of the Asylum. Once outside, in the night air, he tells you the following:
The group you’re looking for is called the Feasters of the Heart—I am the son of the high priest. My mother comes to me in the night and speaks to me. She tells me tales of my father and the great things the Feasters of the Heart will do when Lissala deems their service adequate.
She says their numbers are growing and soon I will be able to join them. When it’s safe. When the sun won’t hurt me and the light won’t blind my fragile eyes. My father has never come to see me, and I wonder whether my mother speaks the truth.
You are not the first to ask about the Feasters of the Heart in recent months. I spoke with a woman with a honeyed voice a few weeks ago and told her much the same thing. She promised to help me get free of my home so I could be with my parents but she never came back. I told her what my mother said of how new blood join the Feasters of the Heart: don a black robe and wait by the standing stone on the coast on the night of the new moon. Whether she did so and was led to my parents’ holy sanctum, I don’t know. I only know I never heard from her again, and I remained in my cell.
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With Awveyen Knowledge +10 to everything, we can assume his knowledge nature or geography check will give you the needed info that the next new moon is the tonight! You still have time to get there now.
While he hasn't been much of a hindrance to you, Sali Rom is still trailing along behind you. You leave Tomasz and you find yourself waiting, robed in black, in the shadow of the lone menhir which overlooks Conqueror's Bay.
Shortly after midnight, a single person also wearing a black robe, makes his way along the path. He carries a lantern, and when he approaches he states, Follow me to prove your devotion to the Feasters of the Heart.
He turns around and walks back toward Palin's Cove. Sali is overly eager and practically trips on his black robe to follow the new man.
You are lead from the standing stone, back to the Talich Foundry.
This large open-plan building has stone walls and a high ceiling supported by curving wooden rafters. The floor is covered in fine gray sand. A foreman’s office along the south wall has a commanding view of rows of molds; stacks of coal, wood, and metal; and the enormous gears that link the waterwheel outside to the bellows. The room is dominated by a titanic furnace, a wall of stone with a huge triangular notch that takes up the entire east wall. At the center of the triangle is a massive black door leading into the furnace body. From under the door,
a trench dug into the floor lets excess molten metal flow out.
When you arrive you see a dozen cultists dressed in black robes standing in a circle in front of the furnace trough. The cultist who led you here motions for you to step in to the center of the circle, and then he becomes part of the circle around you.
The cultists begin chanting a prayer to Lissala in Thassilonian . They hold hands and draw a series of intricate runs in the ground with their feet in what appears to be a festive dance that wriets words in an arcane script.
One cultist, a woman, raises her head and speaks loudly to all the initiates.
You have come to serve the goddess, but she has no need of the weak and no need of those who know not obedience. You must prove yourselves worthy, and in return you shall be granted enlightenment, power, the promise of eternal life, and the honor of serving. If you would kneel before her, then you must willingly bear her symbol of power upon your flesh. Her holiness will be your holiness, and her blessing will aid
you in the tests to come. Who will wear the Sihedron and know the power of the goddess?
When she finishes her speech, the cultists stop chanting and the circle of cultists opens on the eastern end to provide access to the molten slag. The lady cultist who gave the speech will call each of you forward and asks Will you would bear the mark of the Sihedron upon your flesh?
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Tomasz, do you happen to know your father's name? And by any chance do you have anything of his? A small trinket or a lock of his hair by chance?
Mage Armor (8 hrs)
Flame Arrow (8 hrs)
See Invisibility (80 min)
Not wanting to mare his elven skin but wanting to find out as much as possible about this cult Aeveyen is torn as to what to do. He decides to wait and see what the other do first.
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Shandor, back in human for, steps forward and disrobes himself so that everyone can see his many tattoos upon his skin, including the wrath rune of Xin-Bakhrakan and the Sihedron, tattooed over his heart.
"Revel, my brothers, for I join your ranks at last, and claim my title as the "Heir of Wrath". I already bear the Sihedron upon my very heart, as a testimony of my complete and utter dedication to the rebirth of Thassilon. I gladly accept another Sihedron to be branded upon my skin. "
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The man we released is a dhampir. They are the half-living children of vampires birthed by human females. I belived this man's father, the leader of the Feaster of the Heart is a Vampire.
Back at the ritual...
Awveyen, seeing the others partake in the ritual, stands and presents a bare arm for the brand.
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Oswin nearly recoils from the wretched display. He freezes in place, wondering if he can still slip away...
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Oswin's nerve begins to fail him even more, despite the presence of Awveyen.
Servants of the Inheritor must be clean in mind and body. True, I allowed the centaurs of Kortos to mark me, but they were most honourable warriors. What would She think for me for this? Could I atone for such a misdeed, if it truly led to this sect's demise?
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Oswin steps forward numbly, as if watching someone else as he accepts the mark of the Sihedron.
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You are each called, in turn, to accept the brand.
The woman cultists draws from the trough a whitehot brand in the shape of a seven-pointed star. With this she brands you each in the place you indicated. The heated metal causes no pain and leaves behind a magical tattoo.
The ceremony proceeds, the cultists again form a circle around the initiates.
Once you are all branded, the woman cultist speaks again.
“Serving Lissala is not a simple task, and one must be willing to suffer and sacrifice to attain the benefits of rule. The fire in your heart must burn brighter than this furnace. In this place metal is separated from dross and given new form. Who among you is ready to be remade in the image of the divine? To join us, to become one of the Feasters of the Heart, you must walk through the furnace. In that hellish chamber, your devotion will be your armor. So come and tell me:
Whom do you serve above all others? At whose command would you
walk through flame?”