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Getting to the door and hearing the chanting behind it, Bruce turns his head and looks to Cizish (in as much as an elemental can turn its head!) and says something to him with a breathy sound. Cizish looks a little surprised and then addresses the party.
Oh! Bruce has found the door locked and there is some sort of chant going on behind it. I can't imagine that it is a favorable ceremony for us. Shall we disrupt their ritual?
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This time Bruce busts in the door. Eight stone pillars stand around this room. At the center of the room, a five-foot-diameter spiral of twisted arcane glyphs is charred into the floor. Broken bones stained with blood encircle the spiral, and an onyx gem sits in the center.Three humans dressed in ceremonial robes stand, surprised looks on there faces. Ulric, ever ready, is quick to act.
Round 1
Map
Ulric
human red
Cizish
Bruce
Olli
Barboo
human blue
human yellow
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Ulric advances, the cultist in the center chants some words and a sickly green ray fires from his fingers at the slayer. The ray narrowly misses.
Round 1
Map
Ulric
human red
Cizish
Bruce
Olli
Barboo
human blue
human yellow
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Bruce and Cizish will both delay until after Barboo goes. Assuming she sings her melodic song of encouragement, they will then move in to attack.
Bruce flies at the red chanter and slams into him.
- Flagbearer/Inspire Courage active, charging
Cizish moves quickly into the room and with a shout in Auran and a gesture, causes a miniature storm to burst into existence on yellow's head.
- Flagbearer/Inspire Courage active
- Yellow takes -2 to attack rolls for 1 round if hit.
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The team waits for Barboo's performance to start and she doesn't disappoint. Bruce charges in and slams a powerful slam on center cultist. Cizish storm burst buffets the yellow cultist, the man reels. Olli arrives and jabs his shortsword right in the man's gut, already injured he drops instantly.
The cultist in the blue fringe, takes a step back away from Ulric and casts a spell. The cultist in the center, with the strange face and red fringe. Suddenly makes an attack on Bruce, the morningstar flies toward the summoned elemental. The attack looks a bit unwieldy, almost as if the man wasn't controlling his own arm, he looks surprised with the sudden development. Despite the awkwardness the brute force, lands a strong blow on Bruce.
Round 2 Effects active: Inspire Courage and Flagbearer +2/+2
Map
Ulric
human red 7 dmg
Barboo
Cizish
Bruce 9 dmg
Olli
human blue
human yellow [/i]Dead or down -11 dmg + 9 nl dmg [/i]
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Ulric punishes the man for his previous inaction and slices him wildly across the chest, he drops grasping at the wound.
The last remaining cultist steps back and claps his hands together, a wave of negative energy washes over the room, hitting everyone except Barboo.
Round 2 Effects active: Inspire Courage and Flagbearer +2/+2
Map
Ulric
human red 7 dmg
Barboo
Cizish 4 or 8 dmg
Bruce 13 or 17 dmg
Olli 4 or 8 dmg
human blue Dead - 18 dmg
human yellow Dead or down -11 dmg + 9 nl dmg
Round 3
Ulric 4 or 8 dmg
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Bye-bye Bruce! Thanks for playing with me again. I hope you come back and help again soon!! Let's see what's in here and I wonder why that one man was acting so oddly?
Cizish will look around the room and search the cultists. He also wonders if there was something odd that he sensed in the cultist who was acting weird.
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Cizish senses something was controlling the cultist, if only for a moment. It's then as you begin to heal and then search the room. Cizish and then Barboo each feel a distinct swoosh of wind, and Barboo even thinks something may have brushed up against her, the gust seemed to move in the direction of the open door.
You barely have time to react when suddenly a crescendo of frantic telepathic whispering spews from the onyx gem at the center of the room.
I am awake! I see you—all of you! My strength grows. Do not forget… before fading away.
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Barboo has shivers up and down her spine as she hears and feels something.
Not sure what that was but I thought I felt something brush against me. Cizish, did you feel that too. Very strange!
Barboo moves closer to the onyx and tries to figure out if whatever she felt is still there or has moved on. She also studies the glyphs.
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A feeling of tremendous foreboding permeates the entire room as Cizish's detect magic reveals the onyx gem is an item of incredible magical power. The gem's magic is stronger than anything you've experienced before!
Between Cizish's read magic, Olli's spellcraft, and Barboo's knowledge of arcana you realize that the cultist were attempting to perform a complex communication ritual. And it seems they may have succeeded.
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Who were they trying to converse with? The Doru Div? Should we touch it or do you think it was working when they were pouring some sort of energy into it? I think some would say we should just smash it but I think our superiors at the society would prefer we learn what we can from it if possible, even if we don't like it.....
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Olli's peak turns into a full-fledged search. He quickly realizes there are no threats around. First, the lead cultist has a scroll of eagle’s splendor, wand of resist energy (6 charges); the group also detects magic on a folded, faded, and threadbare banner that bears a charging leopard on a background of tan and black hanging in the room. It turns out to be a knight’s pennon of battle. You also find a key on the lead cultist and that all the other doors are locked with sturdy locks, luckily the key works in all of them.
The front of each building is a guardroom. The one on the east half of the building is intact. Arrow slits line the north and west alcoves in this empty room. Narrow steps lead up to a door in the south wall. On the opposite side the guardroom is collapsing. The east alcove of this room has collapsed, leaving it open to the cavern beyond. Again, Narrow steps lead up to a door in the south wall.
To the south of both guardrooms are cell blocks. In western cell block, several of the doors leading off this cross-shaped hallway stand open, revealing ten-by-ten-foot cells. Most of the cells are empty. A few of cells contain simple, unoccupied sleeping quarters, each with multiple pallets. In one cell, one of sleeping pallet contains the corpse of a human male whose throat has been slit. Each sleeping quarter contains small idols and shrines.
The idols and shrines are dedicated to Ahriman, the Lord of All
Divs. You heard of a cult called the Usij, who have Ahriman as their divine patron.
Outside the western cell block four thin pillars support a stone overhang above this narrow balcony running along the western side of the building. Two doors—one to the north, one to the south— lead inside. A robed corpse leans against one of the pillars, a dagger plunged into his chest up to the hilt. A detect magic spell later reveals the dagger is a lesser dagger of venom.
One the opposite side is the eastern cell block. 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. Some of the cells contain simple sleeping quarters, each with a dead cultist—one a halfling male, the other a human female— their throats slit. Some others contain empty sleeping quarters and other cells are just empty. The sleeping quarters contain idols and shrines like those found in the western cell block.
Behind the main room is a larger room with more cells. Rugs and cushions lie on the floor of this large room; they are covered in overturned dishes and spoiled food. Several humanoid corpses lie about. Deep wounds and copious blood speak to their violent deaths. In one of the cells a cultist lives!
Completely ignoring your arrival, the human man seems delirious, it's also clear he is wounded and emaciated. He seems to be constantly muttering to himself. As you draw closer he is repeating
Yes, all else must wait. The Black Moon rises! She shall bring glorious ruin upon the world. I can hear her—she is almost here! Ahriman, look upon our great work, and grant me a place in the House of Obli-vion!
Each time the cultist repeats this rant he raises his voice on the word Oblivion. He continue to completely ignore you, not even looking in your direction.
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Cizish creeps along with the party, horrified at the carnage that they are discovering. This is not good. Not good! What sort of place have we come across?? I think we should leave as soon as our job is done. I desire greatly to see the open sky.
Upon reaching the muttering cultist, Cizish will cast Daylight and Detect Magic to better see what's going on. Does the man seem magically possessed or just delirious from wounds and starvation?
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Cizish notes the dead cultist are recently killed. He casts his daylight spell and brightens the gloom. The man does recoil from the light, but only continues his muttering. The daylight reveals the grime of thousands of years, the entire structure in a state of disrepair. No magic is detected. But the light reveals things in other cells. One cell contains a wardrobe of disguises: a variety of mundane outfits, from religious garb to urchins’ rags. All of the clothing is suitable for use in Merab. Another cell contains an armory of sorts. It has five maces, five cold iron morningstars, three spears, and six sickles. The last cell contains a simple bed, a chest with mundane clothes, and a thick book of vile prayers to Ahriman written in a variety of fiendish languages.
Barboo makes an astute observation about the man's condition and you can not help but wonder if this is work of the Doru Div. Again Barboo knows that Ahriman is the Lord of All Divs. But what the reference is to what the Black Moon is, who she is, or what the House of Oblivion is are unknown to her. You also realize the man poses no threat. So you explore the final room to the east.
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” It lists all the items that follow, with a check mark next to each.
Under "Items Recovered" Tahari’s notes and lesser circlet of persuasion, these items are check off.
You see a shelf also labeled “Items Recovered", and find a note fragment and a circlet (which detects as magic).
On another shelf labeled “Items Requested,” you find three flasks of alchemist’s fire and one potion of lesser restoration.
Under “Items Requested” the ledger also lists “spellbooks— unknown quantity and whereabouts,” “Fading Light lab notes,” and “plague cloak,” but these items are not checked off.
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Maybe this is the house of oblivion? A place where a creature has stripped the memories of a doru div and confined it into the gem? The sapphire sage said something was searching with great intensity for some object. Maybe this large gem is similar to what the sapphire sage uses. Do we bring the gem out of this dungeon and if so where do we bring it. These list of objects are almost like a recipe with needed ingredients, that don't seem to all be here.
I will also help myself to one of the cold iron morning stars just in case.
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What a decidedly eerie and atrocious person! Whoever wrote that note was worse even than a div! I don't stand for evil things, well, at least not too often, but torture of any creature is abominable. I'm wondering if it isn't the div who is in the gem, but this person!? I think we should certainly bring the gem out, but do not touch it! Put it into a bag and carry it that way.
Let's take the lists, the note, the gem and these more interesting items and go back to our dwarven archeologist friend and see what he makes of this div story? Oh! I will try to figure out what that lovely circlet is as well. The list says it's a circlet of persuasion, but one can never be too careful!! Ha ha!!
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Good plan Cizish. I'll put the gem in a bag, not touching it. Barboo can do the other alchemist fire as maybe she could throw and still sing her charming support at the same time.
With that, we can start gathering items and the notes, etc., and at the end when ready to move out I'll grab the gem, if possible. I'll check it again before I mess with it for any signs of odd stuff, traps that I can see, that sort of thing.
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Barboo stands and listens as Cizish and Ollie make plans. She is glad they thought of her when dividing up the items found.
Your plan sounds good. I’ll be glad to take what you think I might need. I sure will be glad to leave this place. It feels like pure evil.
Barboo checks around one more time to make sure nothing was missed.
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Cizish confirms it is a lesser circlet of persuasion. With everything else gathered up, Olli takes special care to collect the onyx gemstone and secures it in his bag without touching it. Barboo's final check doesn't find anything new. You race back to confer with the dwarf or gnome alchemist you never actually saw, only to find no one is at home. With no further leads to return to the Merab Pathfinder Lodge to report in, and are surprised to find not only Venture Captain Diya present but also the Sapphire Sage himself, Amenopheus!
I sensed the fiendish presence was no longer seeking me and decided to find out what had transpired in person! Tell us what you have learned? The Sage inquires.
They are both eager to find out, what you found out. And quite the story you have, beginning with talking to the dig site workers and the scholar Obahar. You then cleared out the ruin of hazards and documented your discoveries by defeating several guardians, you uncovered clues about the site’s nefarious history. And all signs pointed to a div, long trapped within the tomb and then unknowingly freed by the workers to wreak havoc in the city. You then investigated the div’s movements and spoke to some of its victims, to include the scholar Obahar, who couldn’t even speak. Surprising help came in the form of an agent of the infamous, Grandmaster Torch, after you agreed to allow the Grandmaster to be involved in things to come. Another local scholar, the unseen alchemist, was the final key and you found the site. At the hidden Dungeons of the Ever-Dying you defeated Usij cultists, again perhaps as victims of the div, the cultist seemed to have turned against one another. After defeating the cultists, you recovered the onyx gemstone and became aware of terrifying implications of the cult’s work. An ancient evil contained within the gem. Even then the div never revealed itself.
Amenopheus eyes sparkle with the revelation about the gem. Could this be the lost onyx sage jewel! Bring it forth!
Olli carefully removes it, again without touching it. Amenopheus leaps in the air and Diya’s eyes go wide before speaking, Well done Pathfinders it is indeed a sage jewel. This discovery is beyond what we could have hoped for.
Amenopheus moves to the jewel and carefully touches it in an attempt to communicate with his ancient colleague’s memories within the sage jewel. Instantly the jewel glows and flares angrily. Amenopheus casts it across the room instinctively. He catches his breath before walking over to wrap the thrown jewel in a thick cloth.
Well, 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.
When you express concerns that the div was never found, the leaders seem not surprised or quite frankly not that concerned. My feeling is that has fled the city now. I no longer feel its longing for my power. My guess is it realized its former master was confined to the gemstone and left to try to determine what to do next. It may have even been nearby at the Dungeons of the Ever-Dying, with what you described about these cultists, but fled after you destroyed them. Amenopheus posits.
VC Diya is more reassuring, Rest assured now that I know a div is on the loose, I’ll make sure to monitor the city for new activity and deal with it if it resurfaces.
Beside the jewel, they seem most interested in the deal with Grandmaster Torch. Diya reveals, I once shared a professional camaraderie with Torch, but I’ve become rather bitter toward the man following his dodgy antics over the past several years. I doubt we can trust him.
Amenopheus is more restrained, I feel obliged to uphold your verbal contract. Although I too have been burned by Torch’s past actions, he is, as we well know, a very capable individual whose aid might ultimately play a key role in cleansing the sage jewels. He may prove to be a key ally, and we may never have considered it otherwise.
Showing concern for the tricked alchemist, the crazy woman, Lady of Graves acolyte, and of course Obahar. You check back on them and find they are all slowly recovering from the divs devious manipulations and in the end they will all likely be okay.
Indeed an epic tale and a well done, Pathfinders.