"Ok now Kendra how do we destroy this?" Herm asks holding his sword at the ready.
"Well, maybe try a hammer?" Kendra suggests.
Herm nods switching out his long sword and Shield for the Hammer. "Can you pull it out without me touching it? That way I don't activate some trap?"
All stand around the hole in the ground staring down into it.
Little Jominda tells "That's a little dark. I don't see anything. And magic, evil or undead stuff I can't see at all. What exactly do you want to smash?"
"There!" Kendra points carefully from a safe distance off the edge into the 10-foot-deep pit. Somewhere between those rusted manacles that lie scattered about the floor near the edge of the pit.
The disgust of the idea to have to get down there is clearly visible on her face.
Small Jominda requires Herm to help her down with a rope. It's easy for him to hold as Jominda's weight is somewhere around 10 lbs at the moment. She grabs the thing Kendra pointed out. "Get me back out again!" she calls up.
Once out she hands the small item to Herm for smashing. "Doesn't look much."
It is a small wolf totem framed in silver.
"I see, it feels a shame to smash it but that Wolf creature will not stay down nor leave us alone>' Herm puts the totem on the floor and smashes his hammer down on the thing.
"So, ... what now? I feel like calling it a day. I'm tired and I'm running out of stuff to throw at our aquaintances."
"We destroy this then we can rest? Miss Kendra how do you feel? Yilgwi how do you fare?" Herm asks as he destroys the statue
"I will do some more studies with the papers here, but you lot can go to sleep." Kendra suggests.
"I'm rather well, to be honest! The only upside of not having my spells earlier."
"Maybe help me with your expertise then? I guess there is a lot to learn about this building and its religious relevance." Kendra asks.
"My expertise? How's cheffin' related to this place?"
Herm nods, stripping out of his Armor and putting it within arms reach. His weapons are splayed out around him in case they are attacked while he is sleeping.
"In that case... you could free me from my duty to make sandwiches, so I can study without Miss Fallenbridge starving to death in the meantime." Kendra suggests.
"Oh, I love me some sammies!"
"I wasn't offering to make more, I was asking you to take over sandwich making duty?!" Kendra replies confused.
"Oh, for sure! But I love making them and eating them! Sammies for life!"
Kendra dusts off the workbench and spreads the papers sorting them in the right order. Then she studies them. First the pages of faded notes taken from the Desnan priest’s ancient journals, which provide a harrowing account of the priest’s attempts to cure his son of lycanthropy.
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 had contracted 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.
Kendra summarizes the content of the pages to those interested. Then she continues with studying the pages from the second scroll case that holds an ancient scroll containing a communion ritual that can be performed atop Highthrone to activate the Dusk Moth, an ancient artifact built into the Stairs of the Moon.
"I think this would be easiest, if we had a Priest of Desna here." Kendra tells mostly to herself.
Jominda listens to the exchange between Kendra and Jilgwi. As Kendra turns to the papers, she looks at the dwarf in anticipation.
As Yilgwi doesn't start working she voices her expectations. "Aren't you starting to make sandwiches now?"
Herm awakes at the time for him to take watch, allowing the others to sleep for a while.
Jominda goes to bed hungry, as Yilgwi isn't up to making dinner. If no one wakes her she doesn't get up for any watch duties. But there is a dangerous growling heard from her belly. Hopefully the beast living within doesn't break free.
"Good morning everyone, are we ready to finish this place up and then move on?' Herm asks
Kendra looks a bit tired, with dark rings under her eyes. Obviously she didn't get much sleep last night. "I don't know."
"From what I've read, we are in a temple - nothing new here - and would need to perform a religious ritual on top of the tower to activate the magic that is built into the tower to call for a blessing of Desna."
"First thing I deem necessary would be cleaning up the temple, to make it look like a temple again and not like a werewolfs slaughterhouse. Second would be a re-consecration. Which we'd have a hard tíme to do, with no cleric of desna around. And last we'd have to perform the ritual. Which is mostly a series of prayers. But I guess there is some divine magic involved here."
"Shall we try it, or do you think it's not worth our time? As we might as well fail. I would like to, but it's not for me alone to decide."
"On one side I wonder what our divine friends think about that kind of work for Desna. On the other I'm curious what the wolves would say if their 'highthrone' gets rededicated to Desna. Even those not-demon-wolves aren't exactly the flock of the butterfly-goddess." Jominda voices with some amusement.
"I could help with the cleansing and the redicating this temple to Desna, she is not my Patron but I understand that each God/Goddess needs their temples fixed now and then." Herm says while putting his armor back on.
"Then let us see to it." Kendra says. She looks around what tools are found and decides for a how that is rusty, and only has two thrirds of its handle left. It's not good, but better than nothing.
She climbs through the hole, back into the side room. "Herm, would you bring the corps of the cultist outside? I'll start with the remains of the eating orgies that seem to have happened in the amphitheater." She rakes the bones of deer and whatever lies there from the corners to 'clean' the dirt floor.
Jominda isn't happy about that development. Cleaning duty! But as it's clear that only the completion of the ritual will get Kendra to move on, she accepts her fate. From what's around, a wooden handle and some twigs she binds a makeshift broom and follows Kendra, removing the smaller debris. "I've seen Alendru do cleaning with magic. That was a lot more dignified than this"! she complains to Kendra.
Kendra stops in her work. Staring into the distance she thinks for a long moment. "You're right." She leans the hoe at a column and sits down on the stairs. She takes her spellbook out of the backpack opens it and studies a page for some minutes.
She shuts the book, takes a deep breath, and with a word and a gesture a dozen tiny vortexes appear on the ground. They run over it and suck in the dust and small debris that lies around. "It's - I don't know - a decade since I last used this spell?"
"Magic is the mighty force, used to gain knowledge and expand your wisdom. No cheap tool to avoid work. Or so I learned it from the unspoken laws in our household."
"So now, you have you dignity back and I get to collect the bones." Jominda sighs as she sees, what the whirlwinds collect and what not.
"At least it's better than working with a broken hoe and a wannabe broom." She starts picking up the larger parts lying around and throws them through the archways outside on the pasture.
It takes a while to remove the vestiges of the recent past. The corpses from yesterdays battle, as well as the dead cultist have to go. Som eof the werewolves help with that and dig some graves for their fallen comrades. The cultist gets thrown into the shrubs to be eaten by scavengers.
Also the remains of the horror laboratory have to go, according to kendra. The weres don't care about that, but they offer the shovel so the scrap metal doesn't end up in the woods.
The lowest level with the dirt floor is the hardest to clean. Everything up from there with more or less smooth stone surfaces is easier to clean. The werewolves move around to avoid being close to the cleaning personnel.
Besides the magic dusting, Jominda helps out with some alchemic cleaning agents to get rid of persistent stains.
Finally after a day full of work everything is clean. Only the dead deer hanging in the amphitheater couldn't be removed because of the protest of the wolves. The sun disappeared beyond the horizon, colouring the clouds orange and pink on one side while the first stars and the moon are seen in the dark blue on the other side of the sky.
On request of Kendra the upper level of the tower was left to the party, but marthus and two more wolves are just below that. The other wolves guard the tower from the platform that's the ceiling of the amphitheater, still in fear of a Vollensag attack.
Herm does as asked and removes the bodies of those who they have slain and the other ones that are keeping this temple from being a Holy place. "Another day do you think? Well maybe just today and we can move on?" Herm asks as he cleans
Jominda starts dancing and hums a tune - a children's song - that is about the constellations in the night sky and the biggest stars they consist of.
Kendra hands Herm the scroll containing the ritual. "Would you please read the rites?" she asks.
Herm nods taking the scroll from Kendra and unfurling it to read.
"This is not my are of expertise, I will attempt this." Herm says stepping into the middle of the circle. "Desna hear our plea, we beseech you to bless this tower with your grace and guidance once more. I am not a servant of yours but I do follow Iomadae who is an ally of yours, by the power that she blesses me with I wish to restore this tower to you once again." Herm says hoping that his plea is enough.
Jominda continues to dance. As Herm enters the stage and calls to the deities, she moves out of the way and circles him. It is a great joy for her, that distracts her from the bloody mess they are in for weeks now.
Yilgwi watches in fascination, still wishing he had ingredients for sandwiches.
As herm approaches the Song of the Speres in prayer, a faint radiance emanates from the menhirs atop the temple, almost like a refractive fog. This bluish whote glow intensifies and Kendra, herm, Jominda and Yilgwi fall into a heightened trance.
A blue swallowtail approaches from the night sky. It's body that of a beautiful woman, surrounded by stardust. Desna herself appears in a vision on top of the Stairs of the Moon.
"Thank you for taking the time to make this place a worthy temple again. Even if it is only for this one night."
"I see you're on a path to prevent great evil. There is great peril in your future. But don't despair. You will prevail and save many."
The view changes, and you're taken to a dark place. The ruins of a village. Fog creeping over the ground in a moonlit night. Facing a black-robed necromancer wearing a bone breastplate as he stands before a ruined tower, calling on his magic to bring death to you.
Next you're taken under the sea. A terrifying, tentacled monster, the size of a tree breaking free from some strange and alien looking things that comes for you...
The scene fades. Two large braziers sit to either side of an archway leading into a domed chamber, casting a disturbing green glow and flickering shadows across the walls and ceiling. Walkways lined with candles lead to a pentagram inscribed in blood in the center of the floor. Against the wall, a throne sits atop a raised dais, on which sits a beautiful female vampire spellcaster that you are about to confront.
Pulled out of the underground you find yourself circling a high spire beneath dark, churning clouds. In a battle with a decaying lich, blazing with arcane power.
This scene fades too and you're back on the tower under the night sky staring at a godly butterfly. [b]"A small gift for you." Desna explains as she strews you with stardust. You blink as it hits your eyes, and as you open them again, there is only the dark star sprinkled sky over you. Desna is gone. The glow of the menhirs fade, and you sit on a stone tower with nothing remionding of the unbelievable experience you made.
"That was... unexpected!" Kendra voices. Being all Kendra she checks the magic on the tower again. "It's gone. The magic is gone. Nothing left."
"She's beautiful" Jominda whispers. Lying on her back on the stone floor she moves like making snow angels. "I love her."
"Herm, have you ever met Iomedae in such a way?" she asks, turning her head to look at him.
Suddenly she gets a puzzled look on her face. "Your eyes are silver!"
"whoa"
Yilgwi is enjoying the trip.
Kendra looks at Herm, then at Jominda. "Would you lend me your mirror?" she asks the blonde woman.
"Sure, ..." Jominda replies and searches the item in her backpack. "Here you, boaaaah! Your brown eyes are gone! That's a creepy look on you!" she tells baffled by the view, holding the mirror indecisively in her hand.
"Thank you for your honesty, I guess?" Kendra replies and takes the mirror. "The silver suits you rather well."
She checks her new look. "I guess I have to be even more careful around supersticious folk now."
Herm is stunned by the actual appearance of a Goddess, having no words to say till she has blessed them and left.
"I .. No I have never... met my Goddess in such a way, they say some crusaders have met her yes but I myself no.'[/b Herm stunned by the thought of a colour change to his eyes and waits his turn to look in the mirror. [b]"She has truly blessed us now we must finish what she has shown us."
"Are you done now?"
You see the wolf standing halfway on the stairs leading to the top. He looks irritated.
The wolf is shaken. Maybe he had an encounter too.