"I felt a presence in the graveyard and heard the voice of Sarenrae. Then, I had a vision - Vildeis and Sarenrae walking hand in hand. Together, they watch over the graveyard. It's holy ground. The guard should be buried there. All of these bodies should be buried there." she raises an eyebrow at Almah. "Is the voice and urging of the gods not cause for pause and reconsideration?"
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Princess Almah stops as she strides away from the party and turns back towards them, an inscrutable look on her face.
"His name was Keldon, Layaali. He was the third of his name, originally from Xer, raised in Katapesh from early childhood by his refugee father. He trained for the military and served in the Zephyr Guard as a young man until he suffered an injury that left his left thumb paralysed. He was taken into the Pactmasters' direct employ when I was no older than he when he arrived in Katapesh. He pledged his sword to my life when I had my coming-of-age - his employment contract was a gift to me, along with Master Fixx, directly from those that I and my royal family serve - and have served for over seven centuries: the Pactmasters."
A slight smile appears on her face as she focuses on Min and Rab-rab. "Yes, indeed, you were hired by the Pactmasters. You were all hired by the Pactmasters, either by myself or the major-domo, to assist their efforts to reclaim Kelmarane from the interlopers that had laid waste to this jewel for too long. You can even say that I was hired by the Pactmasters, but make no mistake: while they are my direct employers, you are mine. If you would like to re-negotiate your contracts - and I do have those physical documents available for review and adjustment as needed - we can do so, but it will wait until our primary goal has been achieved, and it has not."
Princess Almah looks again at Layaali. "I cannot see through your eyes, Thrice-Born, so I cannot say with certainty what you experienced in the cemetery, but I can tell you with assurance that the building and grounds of the former Kelmarane church are in no way hallowed. They may, in fact, be unhallowed. The huecuva that you have slain is the necromantic abomination of one who has performed blasphemy in life -" here she responds to the shocked looks of the party members - "do not act surprised that your leader would have knowledge, for this is my talent and the reason I was sent by the Pactmasters!"
She resumes, looking again at Layaali. "That huecuva in life was one Halruun of Kelmarane, high priest of Sarenrae. He was the first to fall victim to the evil perversion that lies locked within the crypt of the church, the lock that you might recall I was not about to let you have until I was sure that you were all battle-hardened enough to withstand its predations."
She focuses on Rab-rab and Min. "I could have let you use the interdict key as soon as you returned to inform me that the Kulldis tribe had fallen. I did not. That is because I hold knowledge that you do not - knowledge that even now I am trying to act upon in order to prevent the hungry hordes of the Carrion King from sweeping down from Pale Mountain to overrun our hard-fought victory. Rovagug's armies know that we are here - did you not still hear the Howl of the Carrion King? Our time is short, and I am using it in trying to explain to you what I need you to do."
"The longer that Master Keldon's body lies in the unhallowed earth surrounding the fallen church to Sarenrae, the more likely that he will take on the perverse undead qualities of those like the former high priest. Removing his body from the cemetery is your top priority. Once you return, I will have completed the rites needed to activate the interdict key, and - once you have rested - you may use it to pierce the vault under the church and purge whatever filth lies within. My sources indicate that it is an otherworldly fiend not bound to Rovagug but rather, bound to one of the archdaemons of Abaddon."
She gives one more tight and unfriendly smile. "And I am not asking you to move dead bodies - I have given that job to our quite-capable major-domo. I am asking you to return here with the remains of my friend and confidante so that he does not turn into an undead horror that you will need to slay. Are we clear?"
She awaits a reply, verbal or non-verbal.
"Clear, your majesty." Razif says with a small bow. [b]"I'll be off to get Master Keldon." He then moves back to the graveyard, eager to lay the matter (and Keldon) to rest. He doesn't necessarily wait up for anyone else, figuring he could do it himself just as well.
Min scowls. "I don't recall signing any legal contract. Pretty sure I'd remember that."
[ooc]He did not! Unless you made him sign one in his backstory before we started playing. Then he did, if you say he did. "[/b]
He considers going to help, but instead he takes his sister outside. He walks with her after Razif, but doesn't touch the maybe-soon-undeadbody. He was too weak to help carry it anyway.
Rab-rab considers mentioning any such contract she signed she definitely didn't sign in her legal name - and she could argue it's not binding or whatever - but they she's a bit worried she might not get paid at all.She decides to wait for a bit until this job REALLY starts to suck or get boring.
Instead, she rolls her eyes at the Princess and skips outside with Jack-jack. She follows Min and doesn't really do anything useful.
"Last one there's a rotten egg!"
Drael silently follows Razif up to the crypt, and helps him carry Keldon's body back to the battle market.
Razif will wander around briefly before he rests, maybe mingle with some of the merchants, just use the opportunity to settle down a little.
Rab-rab heads to bed and cuddles King Jack-jack. She's fine and all better in the morning.
Min hustles so he's not the rotten egg!
He goes to bed as soon as they get back and falls right asleep. He doesn't need any healing in the morning.
Layaali heads right to bed. In the morning, she prays then tends to the wounds of those who need it.
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The day passes as the liberators of Kelmarane rest in one of the previous gnoll dormitories on the third level of the battle market. A soft knock awakens Layaali, her covered eyes registering the blush of sunset flooding through the doorway, limning the stooped figure of Father Zastoran. The crafty alchemist cackles with excitement as he sees the oracle stir.
"Yes....perfect! The one I wished to see and speak with, yes...." he purrs in sotto voce, attempting to not disturb the others' slumber. He comes to Layaali with his hands clasped across his middle, a soft clink of glass evident as he approaches.
"The Infusium is a wondrous tool! I have spent most of the day working with Drael's partner, Undrella, and the cleric of Abadar in preparing these, yes!" Here, Zastoran reveals the two potions folded in his robed hands. "They will be of much use to you, yes, but take care. We were only able to extract them recently after much effort. The serum inside is still piping hot!" He hands them over gingerly to Layaali, one potion a thick viscous purple liquid, and the other a largely-transparent thin liquid.
"That purple one carries the blessing of Abadar as an abjurative force - a shield of Abadaran faith, if you will, yes. It will last a short time, yes. That second potion I am quite proud of - we were able to create a healing draught capable of restoring a small amount of vitality! May you use them well, yes!" Zastoran inclines his head, winks, and scampers (as an old man might scamper) from the room.
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Rab-rab wakes up and bounces on her brothers bed. "Wake up, Min-min! Come on! Come on! Why are you STILL sleeping?!".
When her brother is ready she goes with him to find some food, eats a lot, and then has a nice big glass of water. She helps Hadrah and Hadrod with with animals and then - when her brother makes her - she rolls her eyes and goes to see Almah.
"Hi! I'm feeling good and strong! I bet I can hold that key now! Yeah!" She hops up and down and King Jack-jack does too! "Can I try? Can I try? Can I TRY?!"
Min groans. "Rab-rab! The mind needs sleep to be at its best! Five more minutes!" But, she doesn't stop, so he gets up and gets ready. He has breakfast and heads out with his sister to see the animals. Evenutally, he drags his sister off to see Almah.
When his sister is acting annoying to the princess, he tries not to smile.
Layaali smiles at Father Zastoran. "Thank you. You're a life-saver, my friend."
In the morning, Layaali heals herself, Razif, and Drael.
Drael winces at the old man's description of Undrella, but gratefully quaffs the second potion, shaking out his limbs as he feels his agility restored to normal.
After getting healed, Razif feels good as new.
"Thanks, Layaali."
He picks up his gear and gets ready to go. "Let's hear what sermon our patient employer has in store for us this morning, eh?" he says, with a mischievous smile and a wink towards no-one in particular.
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The crew leave their dormitory and follow the smell of stewed fruit and spices wafting from a previously-vacant room on the second floor of the battle market. It appears that Hadrah and Hadrod recovered some stores of dried grains and fruits from somewhere within the Kelmarane ruins, and have incorporated these into a rustic stew featuring the last of their meagre meat remains. The dinner (or first meal of the day, for you lot) carries vibrant flavours and spicy warmth, invigorating your innards for what might be a difficult next few hours.
During the meal, a somewhat-subdued and more-dour-than-normal Garavel arrives at your table to inform you that Princess Almah has claimed a large bedroom on the third floor (which you assume to have once been Kardswann's private chambers) as her personal expanse. He further indicates that she wishes for your presence as soon as you're fully prepared to enter the crypt below the cathedral. He then sullenly departs.
Prior to your arrival at Princess Almah's chambers, however, a hulking figure awaits the team outside the mess hall. The hobgoblin Kurella paces impatiently, unwilling to disturb your meal. As she sees you leaving, she quickly goes to Layaali.
"Þetta gæti nýst þér. Ég hef alltaf litið á það sem blessun guðs slyssins, en Cayden veitir, og þú hefur þörf fyrir þetta núna, eftir því sem mér skilst að þú sért að hreinsa skriðurnar. Það er illt sem ég get fundið þar. Taktu þetta og snúðu aftur."
Kurella leaves after handing Layaali a rose-coloured translucent stone with a notable crack running through its centre.
Layaali smiles kindly at the hobgoblin and accepts the stone. She places it around her head, and it begins to spin and spiral around her head.
Rab-rab stares at Kurella and Layaali. "What did you say? Huh? What's up? Can I have that stone? It's pretty!"
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The gang of adventurers climb up to the third level of the battle market after leaving the mess hall, walking past the open archway where they defeated Kardswann and his second-in-command, the flind Ugruk. Little remains of the blood spilt there. Further down the curving corridor, a large door stands open, revealing a decadently-decorated chamber featuring a blazing fireplace. Podarn, the most accessible and youngest of Almah's personal guard, stands at attention in front of the open door. He inclines his head at the group as they approach and clears his throat.
"I wanted to say 'thank you' for retrieving Keldon so that he may serve an honourable rest. He was the best swordsman that I have served alongside."
Podarn then steps aside to allow your entrance. Within, the princess sits, scribing into a large book with a metal nib. She looks up and smiles as you enter. "Please do come in and be at rest. I've just set a kettle of coffee to boil over the fire. It should be done shortly."
Razif nods to Podarn, unsure how to respond. As the group moves in, he gives the princess a small bow and takes a seat.
"You're welcome," Min says to Podarn, even though he didn't really do anything.
When he sees Almah he says, "Thanks, I'd love to rest, but I don't drink coffee."
Rab-rab grins at Podarn. "You're welcome!"
In the room, Rab-rab shakes her head. "No thanks! I like to stand and I shouldn't have any coffee! Do you have any water? I love water!"
Drael shrugs at Podarn's words, He deserved better. It was the least we could do.
He sniffs appreciatively towards the coffee pot as he enters the chamber and takes a seat.
Layaali inclines her head at Podarn. "My condolences."
To Almah, she smiles. "Thank you." She takes a seat and waits for the meeting to start. "I'd love a coffee."
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Princess Almah closes her large tome, stands up, and moves to the fire as the kettle begins to whistle. She then pours the kettle with practiced skill into an ornate brass samovar standing on a low table by the fireplace. The aroma of the roast coffee beans billows into the room, the luxurious scent tickling the noses of even those of you who do not drink coffee.
"I would be happy to get you some water, Rab-rab," Princess Almah smiles as she produces a set of six small porcelain cups and saucers from one of her many chests. "And as far as your previous question - yes, I do think that you're ready to hold the key at this point. But first," the princess pours the aromatic amber coffee into the porcelain cups and hands out three of them reserving one for herself, "it is time to reveal all that will be of use to you."
The princess sits on an overstuffed pillow and raises her cup in salute, then sips gingerly. Without pause, she begins:
"The Templars of the Five Winds were a group of five powerful genies from antiquity. Legend tells that the Templars of the Five Winds defeated a great evil hundreds of years ago near Pale Mountain, not very far from here. The Templars of the Five Winds were said to be particular enemies of the cult of Rovagug, god of destruction, and many tales of their triumphs recount battles against the spawn of that vile religion."
Almah continues. "The templars themselves were...or are...jann, mortal genie spirits dedicated to no particular element. They serve a powerful djinni princess named Nefeshti. Nefeshti has been battling an evil efreeti named Jhavuul for longer than time can measure. What we know, we know from legend, which must seem like the flutter of a butterfly's wings to them. The ancient Song of Edrehu tells us much, like that the templars are immortal." Here, Princess Almah looks at Layaali.
"The song also states that the Templars’ immortality comes from a powerful wish cast by Nefeshti, stating that so long as the warriors retained her favour, they would live forever." The princess looks among your faces for reactions.
Razif listens, nodding along. When Almah pauses for reaction, he raises a question.
"And this immortality takes the form of being able to jump from host to host, right? Like Varishal here." He nudges his head towards Layaali. "He moved from the staff, to Uzma, to Layaali." He sighs, still having difficulty coming to terms with what happened to Uzma, but carries on. Something clicked.
"But Kardswann was another Templar. Can we be sure he's gone? Won't he just be able to move to a new host like Varishal? Sure, his actions might have lost him the favour of Nefeshti, but can we be sure that he actually lost his immortality?"
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Podarn walks into the room and hands the princess a crystal decanter filled with water. She nods gracefully, murmuring her thanks, then produces a clay cup that she sets along with the decanter in front of Rab-rab. She then smiles at Razif.
"Good, you follow me," Almah says, sipping her coffee. "But I don't have the answer to your question. In fact, that is is my question for you: is Kardswann dead?"
Drael thinks back, attempting to recall exactly how their fight with Kardswann ended. At the end, it seemed as if he was fighting against himself, and when he was killed he transformed into a more peaceful version of himself. Do the legends say anything about what it would look like when the Templars truly die?
Suddenly, Razif swallows as he suddenly remembers something. "In the chaos of the move and having to retrieve Keldon it eluded my mind... But Kardswann's body has vanished."
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"As I feared," the princess sighs, lowering her cup of coffee. "Or perhaps, as I hoped. For the Song of Edrehu says 'as long as the warriors retain her favour', they live forever. But I digress - this is moot so long as the corruption beneath the cathedral persists."
Princess Almah sets down her coffee cup and focuses on each of you in turn as she continues. "Two decades ago, Kelmarane fell, not by the hands of the Kulldis gnolls, not by the Rovagug cultists, not even by the evil minions of the efreeti who roam these lands, but indeed by an evil within, a corruption vile and twisted spearheaded by the former elder priest Halruun. For you see, at the time, Kelmarane was in the grip of a terrible plague and Halruun was desperate for aid."
The princess opens the large tome within which she was previously writing. "The Pactmasters tell me that his given name was Xulthos, and he promised Halruun and the people of Kelmarane assistance in exchange for allegiance. The plague ended; the people of Kelmarane had a new champion."
Almah turns a page, a bitter look on her face. "But joy quickly turned to manipulation, cruelty, and murder. Under the guise of Xulthos' strategies to prevent the plague from returning, and spoken as truth from Halruun's pulpit, the city rotted from the inside out. By the time the Zephyr Guard arrived at the behest of desperate pleas, there was not much left to save. Xulthos showed his true form at that point, transforming into a hideous daemon. The Pactmasters' soldiers trapped the extraplanar creature beneath the cathedral in its crypts, possessing neither the magical weapons nor the power necessary to end its blight."
She smiles at all of you, producing the strange metal plate previously referred to as the interdict key in her grasp via a slight-of-hand trick. "But you all do, and for the soul of Kardswann, and indeed Kelmarane itself, I ask you once more to fulfill your pledge to me and the Pactmasters and rid this town of its evil pall."
With those last words, she offers the key to Rab-rab.
Min listens intently to the stories Almah tells. But, when Rab-rab gets a chance to try to touch the key before him, he raises an eyebrow jealously.
Min adjusts his glasses and think about daemons and this Xulthos fellow...
"What kind of daemon was Xulthos? Do you know of any of its powers or weaknesses?"
Rab-rab grins and tries to pick up the key!
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Rab-rab easily takes the wonky-appearing key (that looks more like a door hinge) from Almah. She smiles at the purple-haired kineticist's obvious delight and answers Min's question.
"Alas, my information has its limits. I do not know what you will face in Xulthos. All I know is that it has been trapped under the church for over twenty years, and it is likely very angry."
Min adjusts his glasses. "Well, that sounds ominous and unfortunate. I wish it was happy. That would be easier. Well, as happy as a daemon could get. Still, I suppose we have little choice. We can't leave it there."
"Of course," Layaali replies with a nods of her head. "This evil must be cleansed from Kelmarane, before it's rebuilt."
When they near the church, Min casts Mage Amor on himself and Rab-rab.
"Thanks, Min-min!" Rab-rab says as she follows the others.
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In the shadows of dusk, the intrepid gang of adventurers approach the former cathedral of Kelmarane. Each of them finds their minds lost in thoughts as they foray into danger once more.
The gang enters the infamous church at twilight, the last rays of the day illuminating the interior in odd purple hues. The walls of the forlorn ruin still stand, but the interior walls have been demolished and gutted. Skeletal remains litter the structure’s interior, including about a dozen garbed in a curious red-chitin livery. A few appear to have been clerics of Sarenrae, and even more appear unidentifiable, with the past 20 years having rotted away most of the skin and clothes. Ash and fire stains the interior walls and ceiling throughout most of the structure, and signs of violent battle are everywhere.
Near the centre of the church stands a bare stairwell that leads down to a heavily barred door. A strange metal plate with a glowing series of irregularly etched lines mars the surface of the door, casting the stairs in a dull red illumination.
"We're close to finishing this. Good luck, everyone."
Razif realizes he won't be much help deciphering the glowing symbols, and instead keeps watch while the more magically inclined inspect it.