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After defeating the undead in the Profane Belfry, you all regroup in the library below, the one that contained a myriad of knowledge, lore and secrets about everything related to Hell and start consulting the books about how to exorcise the bell tower.
You also found some items on the undead you fought...
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Caerlyna studies the magical items to deduce their functions and then researches the library to resolve the means to remove the foul machinations of Thrune. She spends an arcane pool point to buff both skills.
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Glitz tries to look for books or information but really has no clue what she is looking for and ends up looking for books with pictures in them since she has neither skill.
Loot: +2 heavy mace (x4), 2,000gp worth of diamond dust, crown of swords, +2 human-bane mithral longsword, 985 gp.
Caerlyna sees no curses in those items.
Upon researching the belfry for a good hours, Caerlyna easily masters the library's indexing system and finds the history behind the bells.
When the church of Asmodeus claimed this temple at the end of the Chelish Civil War, they sacrificed the surviving priests of Aroden in the bell tower, choosing the belfry as the site for their first and most potent blasphemous conversion from worship of the God of Humanity to the veneration of the Prince of Darkness. The temple’s previous high priest of Aroden, Andax Tasetas, was the last one sacrificed—he was forced to not only watch, but take part in the transformation of his flock into blasphemous undead horrors known as herecites (the fireball tossers that almost killed Caerlyna). The procedure not only caused the bells to become invested with infernal power, but also broke the last fragments of Andax’s faith and soul. He willingly took his own life at the end of the ritual and rose from death as an undead divine guardian huecuva—a heretical monstrosity who views himself as the true incarnation of Aroden and Asmodeus merged into one divine being named Asmoden.
The bells themselves, known now as the Devil’s Bells, have since rung out at intervals influenced by events in the city, the twitching spirits of the herecites imprisoned here, and the whims of Asmodeus himself. As long as the bells remain so possessed, they continue to ring in this way, periodically inflicting dire magical effects on those in the temple who do not worship Asmodeus.
More importantly, Caerlyna discovers that as long as the Devil’s Bells are not exorcised, the herecites and Asmoden will automatically rejuvenate 24 hours after being destroyed!
Also, as long as the Devil’s Bells remain infused with diabolic power and the heretical wrath of the belfry’s occupants, they continue to periodically ring out over Kintargo and inflict their magical effects on everyone in the temple who isn’t lawful evil...
Exorcising the Devil's Bells
Caerlyna, in the last thirty minutes of her search, finally identifies a reference to some kind of maintenance manual for the bells. Digging the maintenance manual is hard work, and she finally finds it at the bottom of dusty desk drawer. The maintenance manual details the exorcising procedure in Appendix F. One of the appendix is also a step by step manual to install the carillon keyboard to the bells. The keyboard, wires, tapping hammers and all attachments are in storage somewhere in the temple (probably a sub-basement or a crypt, although you found no stairs leading there so far). From the historical records it does not appear like this instrument has ever been installed. Skipping over the carillon instrument section, Caerlyna finally memorizes the exorcising procedure and imparts it upon the others:
(Steps 1 and 2 can be taken in either order, but steps 3–5 must be accomplished in the order presented.)
Step 1: Both infernal engines must be shut down.
Step 2: Asmoden and the herecites of Asmodeus must be destroyed.
Step 3: A hallow spell must be cast in the belfry. Alternatively, five consecrate spells cast at CL 12th or higher must be cast, each one focused on a different bell.
Step 4: The chorus of the “Song of Silver” must be rung out upon the five bells with a successful DC 15 Perform (percussion or keyboard or string) check (a carillon installed in the belfry could be played via keyboard or string; otherwise one needs to have a team of 5 percussionists, one each placed beside each bell). If the PCs fail this check, the bells ring out discordantly and remove any hallow or consecrate effects in the belfry, necessitating the repetition of step 3 above.
Step 5: One of the five bells must be the target of a dispel evil effect within 1 minute of the completion of Step 4. This causes the infernal energy infusing all five bells to physically manifest as a glowing, fiery radiance. This radiance persists for 3 rounds before the bells ring out discordantly (removing the hallow or consecrate effects as described above). In order to discharge and exorcise the evil infusing a glowing bell, a nonevil creature must touch the bell. Doing so plunges that creature into a semi-real phantasmal vision associated with that bell’s nature, and if the creature can endure the vision and defeat it, that bell becomes exorcised. Each bell’s vision
and the method to defeat it is unique; the five bells are named as follows:
Bell of Torments
Bell of Slaves
Bell of Pride
Bell of Tyrants
Bell of Infernal Darkness
If even one bell remains possessed at the end of the third round, the bells ring out discordantly, undoing the effects of steps 3–5 and forcing the process to start over at step 3.
Valeria asks Caerlyna if she knows how to defuse the evil within the Devil’s Bells. All Valeria can think of is [know religion=1d20+12]
Well Valeria can do the Hallow and Dispel Evil spells. Do we have 5 percussionists that can play the Song of Silver or carillon?
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Valeria turns to the group, ‘I’m sure my old headmistress Lady Docur will know where to procure the services of trustworthy percussionists’.
T minus 23:00
Valeria mentions that Lady Docur may be able to help find percussionists.
I’ll wait to hear my friends ideas, but we all have those nifty Silver Raven figurines. Sending messages shouldn’t be an issue.
Caerlyna wonders aloud how long it would take to install the carillion if we were able to find the crypt? Otherwise she suggests that we send word immediately to Lady Docur to locate and send percussionists asap to help us excorcise the belfry. Timing is critical and we must make haste or face the herecites again!
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Caerlyna, pondering the various nefarious rituals that Barzilai had inflicted on Kintargo is reminded of the first loss and sacrifice she had suffered as her introduction to the rebellion.
The foul ritual of playmates that had sacrificed children summon tooth faeries and led to the death of both her dearest friend Valeria Tennesen as well as her professor Han at the hands of the evil little creatures. How she wished Valeria could be here to perform on the carillion and hear her wonderful voice reverberate throughout the halls cleansing the church of it's foul curse.
These memories lead her to remembering Valeria's hero the renowned bard Shensen. Perhaps Shensen could help with ritual of cleansing? She says to the group.
Shensen! Of course! Between the the two of them, I think Shensen will have an easier time recruiting the musicians. I’d also like to find the carillon. What way to ring in a new beginning than with a functional carillon playing the Song of Silver at noon from now on!
Whoever writes the tiny message to attach to the magic seagull's leg please do so here. I'd like to see what the message says. This probably takes the party 5min assuming you have ink and paper. If not it takes another 5 min to locate supplies in the library.
Caerlyna remembers that Valeria's small friend, Jamir Longroad, has hidden Valeria's body in a secret location and had been preserving her body with regular application of magical oils. You stopped meeting personally with the halfling a few months ago, but your spies have been reporting that his brewery and ale distribution activities have greatly expanded and the halfling's reach extends throughout many villages and small towns throughout the County of Ravounel, all the way to the city of Vyre apparently (that last rumor has not been confirmed by a senior spy yet; it was reported that it is hard to differentiate between truth and commercial braggery when it comes to the halfling... err... gnome's beer expansion activities...)
Also, some of you may remember the following:
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To Lady Docur,
We have liberated the bell tower from the undead guarding and operating it. To excorcise the infernal bells, we will need 5 competent and trustworthy percussionists, keyboardists or string players sent up here. We will also contact Shensen about this since the Song of Silver is what needs to be played on the bells. Time is of the essence! We have approximately 22 hours remaining until the undead are reanimated by the infernal influences of these accursed bells.
Voice of the Silver Ravens, servant of Eritrice.
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After Caerlyna has written her message, I suggest we continue exploring the remainder of the temple
Two birds come back within the hour, with messages indicating that percussionists will be found and sent immediately, and to have someone at the door ready for all 5 percussionists.
I will send another message to my non-combat 6th level wizard Euris to standby at the main door ready to greet 5 percussionists. I also tell him to send a coin back with this silver raven with magic mouth on it prepared to tell us that they have arrived when he wills it.
After Caerlyna has written her message, I suggest we continue exploring the remainder of the temple
While you wait for the messages to come back, you explore the rest of the temple.
Returning to the blood pool, you realize that blood has stopped leaking from the grisly pillar-fountains, and that even the pool itself has run dry.
You go about to search the room thoroughly, no longer pressed by vampiric hounds nor by blood golems...
The central pillar has a hidden compartment at its base with approximate size of 24"x40". The area within is filled with soil. This soil seems to be source of the permanent dim lighting that's in this room (it radiates darkness).
When you get to the mercane's shop, you realize that everything has been emptied out and vacated. You find a trap door well-concealed under the store's counter. It leads to a VAST sub-basement roughly the size of the entire temple. In this basement you find a massive collection of furniture, antiques and various other bulky object of lesser value (old couches, bed frames, old chairs, family portraits, ancestral quilts, etc.) You guess that this is what the poorest people of Kintargo may have used in the last few months since Barzillai took over to pay their taxes in lieu of cash, and this is also what was donated to the church of Asmodeus along the years by those who had no disposable gold. Returning these items of sentimental value to the people would truly resonate as a victory to the entire population of Kintargo (a team of merchants could take care of the operation of giving back these items).
You also find whatever furniture and items that were in the temple of Aroden before it was converted to the worship of Asmodeus: whatever did not bear the seal of Aroden is still there; however if it held any religious significance it has been burned a long time ago. Of note, you find the boxed set assembly for the belfry carillon. It appears brand new.
The carillon! Does anyone know how to install that? Would it be a weeks long project?
Our merchant operatives will make a fine outlet for returning those items.
The headband with clockwork knowledge would impart instant knowledge on installation. Assuming one of you dons it, you receive instant visions of such a previous installation in another city in Cheliax, using a specialized crew of 6, which costs a total 180gp per day. You see that someone with levitate or fly could make short work of this task, assuming they have tool belt, pitons, etc. Such magic, provided to each member of the installation team, reduces the installation time from 1d10 days to 1d10 hours.
A team of saboteurs, if you have one, can serve in lieu of a hired crew of 6 if their leader is granted the use of the clockwork headband. They must succeed a DC 20 Secrecy check to complete the task.
Elinza manages our team of saboteurs, and her Secrecy base is +21. I think we have an opportunity here to pull off the near impossible! We can easily scrounge the gear together, but someone else will need to figure out the flying bit.
Time taken to install: hours.
Time remaining before undead reforms: 24 -1 -1 -8 = 14 hours
Caerlyna can take care of the flying. Were we able to get hold of Shensen to play the carillon?
Shensen replies that she can sing and dance only, but she knows a master pianist. She replies that she will bring him in before the completion of the carillon. He will tune the instrument before the procedure starts.
She knows 5 or 6 percussionists, but can only vouch for 2 of them. The others are in various stages of apprenticeship...
Can do on overland flight. 1round to quick study and I have a couple scrolls as well.
Between both we have enough to provide percussionists, carillon player and a singer/dancer. The band is back together! Lol
Caer: knowledge nobility or arcana please.
(and two knowledge the planes check as well... thx!)
Caerlyna ponders her options for researching and networking to locate that which she desires.
or
or
second Knowledge planes check
or
Queen ABROGAIL THRUNE II has a staff of power.
I think your chances are good! setup a meeting! :)
OOC - Do you think she would sell it to me now that we've freed Kintargo? LOL