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Umrallorn commands his unseen servant, indicating the door next to it.
"Close that door and hold it closed!"
Looking back at Magni,
"I must prevent the div's escape via this egress."
He then steps into the room and closes the door behind him.
The patfinders converge on the doru div and slay it before it could get away..
A crescendo of frantic telepathic whispering spews from the onyx gem stone in the middle of the ritual circle, “I am awake! I see you—all of you! My strength grows. Do not forget…” before fading away.
Other then the gemstone, the pathfinders also locate a folded, faded, and threadbare banner that bears a charging leopard on a background of tan and black.
Along with the cultist other belongings, you find another key.
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Umrallorn attempts to stabilize the div for later questioning.
Fingering the ancient fabric, Umrallorn casts detect magic.
"I'm not familiar with this heraldry, however the enchantment upon it allows it to function as a knight's pennon of battle."
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"The identity of this ancient necromancer for one. Perhaps details of her research? A first hand account of life during this period of Ancient Osirion itself would be invaluable. Regardless, we should turn it over to the Society. I am confident that Paracountess Dralneen will be able to extract whatever useful information its mind contains. It can be disposed of afterward."
Continuing on with the exploration
The key that the cult leader has in his possession opens the door to zone 9.
This room contains a long table and sturdy chair, each with thick manacles dangling to the side. A smaller table in the corner hosts several surgical tools, including a deep basin, saws, scalpels, and needles. Wooden shelves support an open ledger and variety of other objects, and large, empty stone basins stand in the room’s other corners.
The ledger lists “Items Recovered” and “Items Requested”.
On the shelf with items recovered lays some fragmented notes. and a circlet of some sort.
On the shelf listing items requested are three flask of alchemist fire and a potion of lesser restoration. Also on the ledger, the items that are not checked off are “spellbooks—unknown quantity and whereabouts,” “Fading Light lab notes,” and “plague cloak,”
Several doors leading off this cross-shaped hallway stand open, revealing ten-by-ten-foot cells. The wall of the east hallway has collapsed, revealing the cavern beyond.
The northern most cells contains two dead bodies. One of them a halfling male and the other a human female. Both with their throats slit. The others are sleeping cells, decorated like those in the western cell block.
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Xavier will cast Identify as needed to back up the others...but will take out a kerchief and cover his nose and mouth upon finding the dead bodies - especially after seeing the word "plague" once again. The requirement that he dedicate a hand to this is, however, the only thing keeping him from continuing to take notes.
Amenopheus is present in Merab for the PCs’ final report. He and Diya commend the PCs for recovering the jewel, explaining this discovery is beyond what they had hoped. When Amenopheus attempts to communicate with his ancient colleague’s memories within the sage jewel, it flares angrily, and he casts it across the room instinctively.
Amenopheus catches his breath before walking over to wrap the thrown jewel in a thick cloth. “Unfortunately, this confirms my earlier theory: the sages’ memories are not alone within these gems. The records you recovered and observations you made suggest that the first Jeweled Sages might not have create the sage jewels on their own, but rather modeled them off someone else’s design. Now it seems that prototype was the soul receptacle for an utterly depraved servant of the Pharaoh of Forgotten Plagues who inflicted countless atrocities upon northern Garund. If she is awakening, the whole order is at risk unless we can use your findings to deduce some way to purge this evil.”
He massages his forehead for a moment before noting,“Whatever lies ahead will be difficult, and the future of the Jeweled Sages relies on what we can do about this threat. Once we have a plan, you shall be the first to know.”
Amenopheus moves back behind his desk once more, "I heard rumor that an agent of Torch reached out to you. What did he have to say?"