"Stay out of my head evil one. Iomedae will bring you down permanently. You do not have long in this world. We are coming for you."
"Let's explore a bit more, but I'll need to rest to recover before we meet the evil female I hear in my head. She is located somewhere southwest of us. Is anyone hurt besides Lem?"
Brag heals Lem with the wand of cure moderate wounds and the WCLW, then moves to follow Arbaro.
"Well lets get moving either way. Can't stand idle too long in here. let's go check those other spots before we rest if you can stand to Brag."
"Well lets get moving either way. Can't stand idle too long in here. let's go check those other spots before we rest if you can stand to Brag."
The voice shakes in anger, growing more and more unhinged as she says, "In life I devoted my existence to the teachings of Theseus and all it wrought was death. Death for me and my companions. Death on that sinking ship. A death I still do not understand, as my soul is not registered in the rolls of Pharasma. As if I had never existed! Rejected from life, rejected from the afterlife, doomed to live in two worlds and yet none! So now I desecrate Theseus' image however I can. Bound to these crypts, I shall disperse the tokens of his memory as far as my unsoul lets me so that my betrayal of Theseus can be complete. I shall haunt these halls until Theseus is not even a memory! I shall turn this temple into a byword for aversion! I have become the Antitheseus!"
You move to the door in the room of mirrors and find it locked.
Thurl stands there contemplating the voice, his mind mulling over what the voice has said. After a few moments looks up, his eyes tight and his Ki focused and says, "Kalamani, we can help you. Let us figure out what happened to you and your friends."
Arbaro waits to see the voice's reaction to 'url's words.
"Yes, maybe we can help you!"
Brag uses what little wisdom he has to check "show" box number 1.
Through a surprising flash of Iomedaen insight Brag realizes that whatever is haunting this place not only desecrated the statues and made an abomination of Theseus's relics, but has hidden the relics far from this temple.
"I think there's more work to do on this evil blight, she has removed some relics and placed them far from this temple. Road Trip!"
"So, we have placed to go to restore the relics, but what about the source of the voice, we still have to go knock some sense into someone right?"
"Kamalani..." the voice whispers. "Kamalani... I... am Kamalani..." her voice softens, sounding less like the evil entity she had been projecting (though you can tell it is still the same person). Hurriedly the voice says, "Please, visitors, return the relics of Theseus... to their rightful place... in the bowels of Hell!" Her voice morphs back into a hateful tirade where you can almost feel the spittle flying from her bodiless mouth.
The voice shrieks and yells wordlessly (save for a few curses and swears I shall not replicate here). You hear crashing ironwork and scraping stone, and see objects back in the central hall being smashed in her fury.
Roccavisk raises her sword and says, "A clarion call to action! Let us make haste (though not literally through magic, ah ha). Shall we endeavor to first remove the evils here and learn the nature of the remaining two relics, or shall we scour the countryside first? Either way, my blade hungers."
Brag feeling confident from his recent insight considers the objects of Kamalani's wrath in the central hall.
"Let's not rush back into the central hall, just yet. We cannot attack the bodiless spirit of Kamalani. The damage is by spells only. Her time will come, either she will see the light and turn from her evil ways, or, <dramatic pause> we will help her see the light and remove her evil, if you know what I mean." He glances knowingly at Lem and nods affirming Lem's readiness to swing the big hammer at Kamalani.
To Roccavisk, "I am ready to finish the cleansing of this temple. The evil must go."
Thurl whispers to his companions, "Lets get back up out of the temple. She seems to be bound to this place, so she couldn't have hid the relics more than 5 or so miles from this place. Maybe the priests above can help us determine what we are looking for and where they might be."
"I agree with you, Thurl. I need to replenish arrows and rest, anyway. As soon as she calms down let's make a dash for the exit."
"So, we rest then come back for the south half of this temple? Let's go!"
"Sounds like I plan," Lem starts heading out.
In the Antitheseus's rage (or Kamalani's rage), you are able to leave the crypt unscathed. Her anger is directionless anyway.
Stepping up the stones into the main hall you find Parson Wynnstan (mean jerk that talks with emphasis.), Postulant Aethlryth (the sleeping minotaur woman you haven't met yet), and Sexton Tolk (the mentally handicapped groundskeeper you aren't supposed to talk to) all waiting for you. They rise from the pews that had been sitting on and eagerly listen to what you have to say. (Prioress Mildburg is sleeping from exhaustion in another room).
What is that racket? Have you found the source of these horrors? Have you cleansed my temple of the undead spawn yet? Parson Wynnstan asks.
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Brag will find a source of arrows to replenish his dwindling supply. If there are any magical arrows he will inspect and perhaps purchase a small amount for the "thank you for cleansing our temple" discount.
"Wynnstain, I thought this was the Temple of Theseus, not your temple! Anyway, we will return in the morning and finish the cleansing. Two questions: First, where can I purchase some arrows with your non-profit religious organization discount. Second, we think we know the source, but what do you and your friends here," looking at each of them, "know about a spirit named Kamalani?"
The parson gulps loudly before turning to Sexton Tolk and says, "Say nothing, I will handle this."
He clears his throat and straightens his robe before speaking to the party, "Well, sir paladin, you can make purchases of goods in town somewhere I am sure, though there is little I can offer you in terms of a discount. As for Kamalani, she was of the priesthood here not too long ago, but she passed away. Something you should remember, of all people, as you came here asking about her to begin with; her and her cousin... Slymr, was it? Are you not investigating the deaths of Kamalani and her entourage from the Venerable Theseus? But nevermind; whatever spirit is causing havok down there cannot possibly be Kamalani. I know that to be a fact."
With as diplomatic a voice, demanor, and tone as possible, Brag speaks to the parson. "Yes, yes, my friend. I'm sure you know lots of facts. As you recall we are here to help you and have done much to bring restoration to this Temple. Surely, the effort and risk we graciously extending to a fellow follower of a blessed one is worth some assistance in acquiring what we need to complete the job. And, complete it we will.
If it is as you say, not possible, for this spirit to be Kamalani. Who is impersonating her? Why could it not be her? She told us her name. What do you know, kind sir, that could help us?"
Brag attempts to watch the others with a keen eye to see their reaction to the parson's words and his own words, especially Tolk, but he is, once again, oblivious.
Arbaro jumps into the conversation to direct Brag a bit since he seems to have somehow missed Parson's motive.
"Brag, I believe that Wynnstan knows more than he is saying about Kamalani."
"Also, for some reason, he doesn't want us talking to Tolk about her either."
The parson sighs and says, "I know it cannot be Kamalani because the ghost of Kamalani... haunts our friend the sexton here."
He motions to Tolk, whose eyes brighten up at the parson's words. "Can I play with my friend now? You said she cannot come out and play with other friends, only you. But sometimes she plays with just me when you are not looking. I should not have told you that."
The parson shakes his head at the sexton and gathers a few candles, setting them in a circle before lighting them. The sexton pulls out his shovel, a string of prayer beads, and an old book of scriptures and places them in the outsides of the circle, about ten feet apart. Tolk claps his hands and says, "Kammy! Kammy! Parson Wynnstann says you can come out and play!"
The parson recites a short incantation and as he speaks a cold wind blows through the chapel, the flames of the candles flickering. From the three items rises a smoky mist, gray and undulating, that slowly melds into the ghostly form of Kamalani. She is wearing the same style of robe as Wynnstan, a simple white toga-like affair, with a string of prayer beads around her neck. She bears a tattoo of the holy symbol of Theseus on the palms of her hands and on her cheeks. She is a half-elf, and you can see facial similarities to her cousin Slymr.
Her eyes are the kind that always appear on the verge of smiling as she looks at the group gathered around her and says, "Hello, Tolk. I'm glad to manifest for you again, though I am afraid our game of cards may have to wait. Hello, travelers. My name is Kamalani Kasindrin, priestess of Theseus. I am glad to finally see you in the flesh, though sadly you cannot say the same."
"You see," Wynnstan says, butting in between you and the ghost. "Kamalani's spirit is here, so how can she be there?"
Kamalani looks confused.
Brag explains what he heard in his head from the spirit claiming to be Kamalani. "She said to me, "Fooled you again, lawful stupid. You really think I'd scrawl the correct clue to my very own deceits on the walls? Ha ha ha ha." Then the voice continued to cackle madly as it faded away."
"We all heard a bodiless voice scream throughout the crypt, "Stop it!" while we were destroying the stone statues."
"She also said, "You're ruining my desecration of Theseus and all he stood for. How can I corrupt his legacy if all you do is fix what I so carefully destroyed?" We could tell the voice was coming from the southwest of where we encountered the statues."
"At one point it seemed like another person was speaking he her voice, she said softer and slower," "Kamalani...Kamalani... I... am Kamalani..." Her voice seemed to softens and sound less like the evil entity she had been projecting but it seemed to be the same person. Then she very clearly and quickly, "[i]Please, visitors, return the relics of Theseus... to their rightful place... in the bowels of Hell!" Her voice changed back into the evil it started with."
"What is going on is it Kamalani or not? Are you, is she, are you the same person? Are you Theseus's cousin?"
Lem looks around with some confusion, "I don't really understand what's going on, but Slymr seemed to have several … "incarnations" in his afterlife; the ghoul, the ghost at least. Could something like that be going on with Kamalani?
The ghost of Kamalani shakes her head, mouth agape in horror. "Assuredly, I would never say such things. I devoted my soul to serving Theseus. Though now that you mention it... I have felt a certain oddness since I became a ghost. My soul has felt incomplete, not like the scriptures on ghostification have said. Ghosts are made when the deceased has unfinished business, but I desire nothing more than to move on to the afterlife.
"If, as you say, my cousin Slymr had multiple incarnations after his death, perhaps I, too, have the same symptoms as he. Perhaps that is what is trapping my soul, here, to the sexton, and is what has created a second being down below in the crypts."
She pauses before continuing, her mind racing through thoughts of her death. She seems to have handled her death with her mind more intact than Slymr's, and is able to recall more about the wreck of the Venerable Theseus that he was.
"When the Thesues went down, with all four of us in it, I recall some odd magical event taking place. I was too focused on meeting Theseus again, in his semi-demi-hemi-plane of an Afterlife, but there was an odd feeling that things... didn't go as expected. Again, I thought this was due to my devotion to a minor demigod like Theseus, but with this information about my cousin, I see now that perhaps something is awry."
She startles and looks at the party with even more concern and says, "What happened to Goyen and Nineaxes? Are there souls as well split in two, between an undead abomination and their true spirit seeking rest?"
” Goyen and Nineaxes? No, we haven’t come across them in our travels. We’ve also only cleared half the old temple. Maybe there are more clues lurking?”
Kamalani thinks for a moment before responding to Arbaro. "Slymr made his home at the Swaying Lantern. I was raised here and served Theseus through this temple when not on our adventures. Perhaps Goyen and Nineaxes, if they too are duplicated as undead, are in the places they considered home. Goyen studied wizardry at Miss Hapen's Arcane Academy on Rivenrake Island, off the coast of Varisia. We had driven out one of Goyen's old rival students, Anglosa, from there two or three times.
"As for Avtandil "Nineaxes" Cinderhand, well, he considered the ship his home. He said his heart would always rest in the hold of Venerable Theseus, in life or in death. Always a bit poetic, that dwarf was."
Hearing this Brag considers his knowledge of the lands involved.
"Sounds like I should know more about this island, but I can't put my finger on it."
”Wow, a lot going on here, anything else you think we should know before going onward?”
To the group, ”well if we look for the Theseus, maybe we’ll find the sea monster fish thing, we would probably need to get more water supplies. I don’t know where we would start though. Maybe we can find a map to Goyen‘a island school, that might be a good next step.”
Thurl leans back and takes in all that they have learned so far. ”Well, putting Kalamani to rest should be our priority right now. Wynnstan, the spirit of Kalamani below says it has hidden 4 artifacts from the temple around the area. We assume that 2 of them are the golden rope, and a mirror of some kind. Do you know what the other 2 might be?”
"Roccavisk, what do you now about these artifacts?"
Wynnstan grips his collar and gasps, saying "There are artifacts stolen from the sacred crypts below? The that Theseus used, in his wits, to guide himself out of the labyrinth of the minotaur when his three companions were lost? The of Perseus, who deflected his own eyes (out of love for his wife) from the seductive visage of the medusa while his three companions gaped at her, enabling Perseus to reflect the medusa's gaze back onto herself and thus defeat her? The of Heracles, the very skin of the King of the Lions, whom he slew with his own body - hands, feet, and teeth - along with the rulers of every other beast which he and his companions were forced into combat for 12 days straight by an evil druid? The still-living , housed, fed, and trained here since Bellerophon was gifted her by his devotion to the gods and flew her to slay the Mother of All Chimeras on these very shores?! They should be found and returned to their rightful places of honor immediately! Why would you wait so long to tell the priest in charge of this sacred site this information? The holy artifacts are my most prized possessions, and to have them defiled or corrupted in any way might cause me to..."
Wynnstan faints.
Roccavisk makes no move to ease Wynnstan's fall. 'The four relics of the shipwreck we used on Slymr, so we must gather items important to the individual for the ritual to be conducted. To cleanse Kamalani's second spirit, we will need Tolk's objects as well as these four relics. This ritual will also take longer, I fear, and draw in many devils and demons while the purification spell is cast."
Thurl looks at the fallen Wynnstan and lets out a little sigh. He stoops down next to him and gives him a little slap on the cheek. If that doesn't wake him, he splashes some water from his pack on his face. "Wake up man, show some backbone." Thurl turns to the others and says, "Well, now I'm thinking we should clear out the other rooms before we go looking for the relics. Even if we have to go back through the temple room by room after we retrieve these objects, to make sure everything is safe, we might buy the high priestess some relief. Shall we rest some and continue in the morning? Find some lodging for tonight?"
To the party "We were heading out to rest and recuperate. We should do that then take care of the other half of the temple, then go looking for the artifacts."
To the brotherhood "Do you have anything that can help or aid us? Even a safe place to rest would be very helpful. Look, we want to return the items and you want them found. Let us help each other."
Brag understands Roccavisk's need for the relics and agrees with Thurl and Arbaro. "Yes, aid would be great in helping us all to return to a world with less evil in it."
The temple is a safe place to rest. Wynnstan, after being revived, offers you what humble lodgings they have. There is no fear of the undead rising up tonight, after the clearing of the crypts you have accomplished. Those with healing magics are able to cure any ailments you have.
The night passes uneventfully. With the rising sun you are well rested and prepared to delve again into the crypts.
"Wynnstan, Kalamani, I need to replenish my arrows. Is there someplace close I can obtain some quality arrows?"
Arbaro, who does not need to sleep after casting a spell ran off in the night to resupply with more arrows.
"I got some for you last night Brag. Here you go!"
"Anyone need anything else before we head back down? We'll clear this then check the planes around here for signs of the four missing artifacts. If nothing comes up, we have those islands to check."
Arbaro heads for the crypts and attempts to lead the way to the Bellerophon side of things.
Brag assembles and dons his gear, including the fresh new arrows from Arbaro. "Thank you, Arbaro, for the arrows. How much do I owe you for them?
I'm glad you don't need much, if any, sleep."
Brag checks on Lem and Thurl and Roccavisk. As they reenter the depths of the temple, he pauses to detect some evil. "Let's clean the rest of the evil out of this place. But, first let me see if I can locate the strongest source of evil."
The room to the southwest has a wide door, and the old sell of horse and hay breaks through the stench of old stone. But inside, instead of a beautiful and majestic pegasus, you see a winged horse of inky black darkness, fire spurting from its nostrils and sparks clashing from its hooves. Like decayed flesh are the wings, full of holes and falling off the bone. You see two sets of eyes, one glowing red from the horse's head, and another smoldering green from where the shoulder meet the wings.
The mock "pegasus" splits into two creatures, a horse and an undead bat. They burst through the rotten stall walls and attack your front line of fighters.
The bat screeches, causing your eardrums to feel like they are bursting.
Then the horse snorts out a gust of smoke in a cone.
Thurl is sickened from the smoke.
The horse then attempst to trample Roccavisk and Lem.
Party is up.
Round 1 | HP: 71/71 | Judgements 2/2 | Spells 1: 6/6 2: 3/3 | Perfect Strike 4/4 | Gravity Bow Wand charges 20 | True Strike 1/1 | Blood Scarab 1/1
Arbaro takes aim at the bat through the smoke.
"Wait, I thought it was an evil flying horse! I'm honestly not sure if that would have been better than two creatures or not!"
Round 1 | HP 52/52 | AC 22 (SE) | Lay on Hands 7/7 | Smite Evil 3/3 | Arrows 51/54 | Spells: 1st - 1/1; 2nd - 1/1
Brag calls to Iomadae, "Grant me your grace and smite this evil Nightmare." With his Goz mask on, Brag rapidly releases three arrows at the horse-thing.
Adamantine +3 Longbow - Smite Evil (+3,+8/16 Damage), Point-Blank (+1), Rapid-Shot (-2), Deadly Aim (-2, +4 Damage) Attack
Round 1 | HP 48/48 | Advice 17/18 | Awaken Divinity 7/7 | Ki Pool 9/10 | Bardic Performance 9/9
AC: 28 FF: 25 T: 20 CMD: 25 Barkskin and Mage armor active
Thurl moves to the edge of the cloud , hacking and wheezing, and says, "Watch out for..."
Round 1
Lem enraged attacks the horse.
After the last attack misses, Lem says, "you will die too bat!"
Arbaro gets lucky through the smoke while Brag sees through them perfectly fine, and they let loose a volley, hitting both bat and horse for massive damage.
The bat bite misses. But Lem follows up with a smashing hit on the horse, putting it down. His next hit all but kills the bat, though it still flaps in the air.
The bat tries to bite Lem, enraged at his horsefellow's death.
The bat takes a bite out of Lem's shoulder, and the halfling sees paralytic poison seep out of his wound... but not enough to stop his anger.
Round 2, AC 19, 14 HP left
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round 2
rage 18/20
hp -14
Lem turns to the bat and strikes, "YOU THINK A BITE CAN STOP ME!