This time it really is impossible. Estovion's back is to a wall, Darius is adjacent to him, and the room is tiny.
Zin stumbles her way through the gas.
Upon seeing thee object of her ire, she blasts him in the face with a bolt of flame. Even more peeved that he's still standing, she flings another one directly at his heart...burning through his chest and leaving a charred, blackened hole where his heart should be.
Estovion collapses without making a sound, a look of shock on his face.
Coughing as she lands at Estovian's body she looks down at the man before kicking his lifeless body and putting two more beams through his face.
"Zin'Retatarianna does not make idle threats, now you know."
Estovion loot:
-+1 light crossbow
-10 bolts
-Masterwork longsword
-Amulet of natural armor +1
-Ring of protection +1
-Canopic stone
-Master keys to every room in Ascanor Lodge,
-Spell component pouch
-Spellbook (all 0-level spells, acid arrow, dimension door, and four additional spells of levels 1–4),
Cantrips: All
1st: Expeditious Retreat, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Shield
2nd: Acid Arrow, Darkvision, Detect Thoughts, Dust of Twilight, Scorching Ray, Web
3rd: Gaseous Form, Lightning Bolt, Stinking Cloud, Summon Monster III
4th: Dimension Door, Black Tentacles, Charm Monster, Summon Monster IV
5th: Cloudkill, Freedom of Movement
-Headband of Vast Intelligence +2
-130 gp
Additionally, Estovion is the last real threat in this section of the book, so welcome to level 8!
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Once Jones is awake, Z tosses him the Canopic Stone.
"This is probably important, figure out why."
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Jones is aware that destroying this will prevent the Vilkacis from reforming in a few days, though whoever holds it also has a rudimentary control over the creature (they can summon it to a location, but not actually control who it possesses or attacks).
"It seems we have the opportunity to eliminate yet another pest. I personally believe that attempting to take command of the Vilkacis would prove far too risky, and I would prefer to prevent it from spreading its curse any further."
"In addition to Darius probably having an Aneurysm."
"Destroy it however it's done."
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Sledge smash puny canopic stone.
A loud roar echoes through the ruins and a blast of frigid air surges into the room, powerful enough to flash form frost on your eyelashes, but it soon passes.
Darius took the full brunt of the attack, Luckily Darius had healed the Con Damage with his reservoir.
Once the canopic stone was destroyed and released Darius' Mutagen wore off and he shook his head.
" Finally everything is handled. We should head back to the Lodge and inform the place of.. Estovion's demise AFTER we leave.. that will be your job Duristan. Hnnrrghh, however for some reason I cant help but think something is off.. or wrong. "
Rows of shelves line this room, filled with all manner of vials and herbs surrounding a stone surgical table, with tarnished surgical tools arrayed neatly on a shelf nearby.
A partition of iron bars divides the room, closing off a small area with a 10 foot deep pit, rusty manacles lying at the bottom.
Assuming you check out any of the vials, Darius' powerful nose can determine that all are poison, but three in particular offend his nostrils: They contain a potion made mostly of Wolfsbane, and would have a similar effect.
A locked safe sits under the table.
The tools are all silver, and once cleaned would be worth about 300 gp.
" Poison.. all of them...Wolfsbane as well.. horrid stuff but it solves the issue of contraction. Jones, you might want to check that safe.. most likely trapped as well. "
Jones checks the safe for traps.
If there aren't any, he unlocks it.
Jones unlocks the safe.
Inside is:
-A wand of Spider Climb (34 charges)
-An Unguent of Timelessness
-A scroll of Remove Disease
-A scroll containing the Communion Ritual that will allow you to re-consecrate, and reactivate the powers of the Dusk Moth.
-A scroll case containing the journals of a priest of Desna.
The Stairs of the Moon was an ancient temple of Desna constructed in the Shudderwood during the first half of the Age of Enthronement. For over 800 years, the temple administered to those of Desna’s faithful among the settlers of the Shudderwood, until the Whispering Tyrant came to Ustalav. At that time, the high priest of Desna at the temple had a single son whom he loved dearly. During the wars against the Whispering Tyrant, the priest’s son served as a missionary, but when he returned home some years later he had changed, for at some point he hadcontracted a particularly virulent strain of lycanthropy.
The priest tried everything he could to save his son. He imprisoned his son in a secret chamber beneath the temple and conducted experiments upon him, desperate to reverse the curse. When his research failed to yield positive results, these experiments turned dark and terrible. The priest developed a serum from his son’s blood that he used to infect his congregation with lycanthropy in order to study the disease’s effects. Over the generations, these aff licted werewolves’ offspring became natural werewolves, and their descendents now hunt the Shudderwood as the Mordrinacht tribe. When the temple fell to the armies of the Whispering Tyrant, consumed in mysterious pillars of white fire, death transformed the cleric’s wretched son into the undead vilkacis. The Stairs of the Moon was soon abandoned, and its memory wiped from the world at large.
The vilkacis resides at the Stairs still, haunting the lower temple when not drawn to the summons of its canopic stone. Although a direct forebear only of the Mordrinacht pack, the vilkacis is venerated by all of the werewolf tribes
of the Shudderwood as their spiritual ancestor. They have transformed the ground floor of the temple into a shrine to the spirit, cluttered with the remains of live sacrifices and blood offerings made during their frequent pilgrimages to the temple to pay it tribute.
Darius takes the poisons curious at the urges he had. " I say it is time to re-consecrate the building. No soul should be bound here in such a terrible fashion and Desna, though not my patron deity, deserves her vessel cleansed. Perhaps that will free the Vilkacis and start to rid the tribes of their taint.. though some no longer get a choice. I was also bitten recently.. and while I'm sure its fine I think I will try tomorrow to test. "
Jones will participate, particularly because he's curious about what will happen.
You begin the reconsecration.
The first step is cleaning up the inside of the temple, removing the corpses, scrubbing the blood from the floors and the nasty offerings to the Vilkacis, as well as general sweeping up of dust.
By the time this is completed, daytime has come, passed, and night has fallen again.
Darius begins reading from the scroll in the room where you fought the Dorzhanev that bit Darius, and with the centuries of accumulated grime cleared away, the shape of a butterfly is apparent carved shallowly in the stone floor.
As Darius reads the exultations to Desna, pleas for her forgiveness and attention, and prayers for aid the butterfly shape begins to glow, and it sends a shaft of light emanating up from itself to the top (Highthrone).
A silvery, luminescent fog emanates from the menhirs at the top.
Throughout the day, Jones works on restoring the party's health.
Jones fiddles with the menhirs for a while, before managing to stumble upon the command word.
"Dream." he says, and everything goes black.
You all awaken a moment later in a void, tiny pinpricks of light shining in the darkness.
Below you is a large, mostly blue orb, with spots of green, and brown, and streaks of white running across its surface.
When you manage to tear your eyes away and look back into the darkness, before you stands a beautiful elven woman with raven hair, silver eyes, and a pair of beautiful butterfly wings that constantly change colors, from deepest blue, to purple, to darkest black, with stars and an image of the moon shifting across them. She smiles at you.
"I had long thought the temple of the Dusk Moth a lost cause, but you have restored it for me. Thank you, sincerely."
Z bows her head to the figure, "Lady Desna." she says in greeting.
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Jones has no idea what the orb represents, but for some reason looking at it makes him feel very small.
He is utterly speechless.
Darius gives the woman a proper bow, " Though I do not worship you, we cleansed this place because it was the right thing to do. I personally seek to ensure it is not used unjustly again. If, however, you can bless us with any assistance against the Whispering Way and their need to desecrate holy lands.. I would be *he grunts a bit* Most grateful. "
Desna inclines her head back to Zin in acknowledgement, and addresses Darius.
"I cannot give you the kind of assistance you likely desire...but perhaps I can give you a glimpse of what awaits you, that you might be prepared for it. The Whispering Way's plot is insidious, and their power vast. Be on your guard..."
Then Desna unfurls her wings, and they cover the sky, hiding everything from view.
In them, she gives you a number of images. Mere glimpses, out of context, but hints of what dangers await.
You see a black robed necromancer with a breastplate made of bones casting a spell on you, a ruined tower visible behind him. You see the four of you laying on the ground at his feet, all dead from a single spell, but simultaneously alive to continue to oppose him.
Then you are plunged beneath the ocean, where you face a terrifying, tentacled monstrosity that grabs one of you and begins to squeeze, its terrible maw sapping your strength and replacing it with madness.
Just as quickly you appear in an underground chamber, where you face off against a terribly beautiful vampire who flings deadly magic at you all, disease and cold ravaging your body.
Finally, you are whisked to the top of of a spire, beneath churning, unnatural clouds as a Lich, blazing with power calls down the wrath of the dead on you, and an even greater force laughs in the background at your feeble resistance.
And then it ends. You awaken atop the temple of the Dusk Moth, the butterfly and menhirs still glowing faintly.
The voice of Desna rings in your heads.
"I leave you with two further gifts as a reward for cleansing my temple. Use them wisely."
Everyone feels their mind expand slightly, their understanding of the world and its people getting just a little clearer.
A moment later, a single Harrow card appears in the air, depicting the sign of the Eclipse.
"This card is imbued with my power, and when used will overshadow the magic of other people or creatures when used."
Darius shakes his head, ever would he have expected to meet such a deity in his life. He looks to the rest, " It seems our journey here holds greater purpose.. from the.. images. Premonitions. A god-given gift. I think it wise to leave soon. As for now.. I must test something. "
Darius took one of the poisons and tosses it back in disgust.
Z seems sullen, "If I knew our meeting would be so abrupt I would have asked about my Curse right away." she says.
"Still, I feel more powerful after our meeting."
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Jones shakes his head. "Somehow, Zin, I doubt you would have received a satisfactory answer. Probably something giving a mere trifle of insight, much like those momentary glimpses of our future."
"But regardless, the gods have begun to take notice of us. That alone speaks volumes about the significance of our task."
"Let's just get back to the Lodge, I still need to check Estovian's office for anything interesting, and we may as well get one more proper night's rest before traveling again."
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" I will admit, I thought of asking for your curse as well.. but as a deity I assumed she already knew and either thought it would be solved in the course of this adventure or thought it not all that important. She is the deity of travel after all. To her the journey to our goal is well within her practice. I've eaten a dose of this.. concoction.. we should leave. As far as nights rest... we shouldnt take too long. "
As you catch your bearings and look around, you notice one final thing: Everyone's eyes have changed color to a pale silver.
Darius takes note of it, " Seems we have been blessed another way as well... ", tapping the side of his eye.
"I hope I'm wearing it better than you are."
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"Intriguing...though I wonder how we will explain this back at the Lodge."
" Silver matches black much better than burn arms Zin.. not that we are competing. As far as the eyes, it will simply be a spell.. not a lie as far as we know. For Estovion.. I advise we lets Duristan handle it or inform them of his demise ourselves. Then pack up and leave, the items we have wont be sold until we get time elsewhere. "
"So...what happened, exactly?" Duristan asks.
" What do you mean? Estovion lead us to the Werewolves where he was unfortunately bitten, changed and had to be put down for the betterment of the Lodge and everyone else.. Seems simple enough. If you mean the visage.. that was Desna I believe. "
"You were out for a solid hour. I was starting to worry."