Not wanting to put her sister in an awkward situation, Gabbi approaches Ellie to offer healing.
"Now that we've finished appreciating the art, shall we move on?" she asks with a smirk.
Allie shoots Gabbi a brief look, that her sister can read relief in, before examining the rapiers and giving them an annoyed kick when they are revealed to be mundane.
"That wasn't even worth the effort..." She says, clearly frustrated.
Once you have recovered from the fight, you continue down the terrace to the plaza below. Several travertine flagstones suggest this was once a meticulously organized square. However, with the passage of time, thick roots have cracked these stones and marred their patterns. The flagstones connect two similar temple buildings, both tiered in design as they rise up toward the cavern’s vaulted ceiling. Between these two temples stands a badly eroded statue of Arazni. To the south, the travertine tiles give way to a briny beach where a pair of rowboats are tied up. A narrow bridge made of crystal spans the lake beside a pointed tower rising from a small island.
Gabbi walks over to examine the statue of Arazni more closely. A part of her is curious to see if the artist was working out of their imagination. And if not, does the statue bear any resemblance to the strange woman they met.
As Gabby gets within 10 feet of the statue, she hears the faint sounds of merriment and voices raised in worship honoring the Red Crusader. She realizes that is a haunt is about to manifest!
As she feels the prickling across her arms and realizes what's about to happen, Gabbi speaks a quick prayer to Pharasma and sends a jolt of positive energy into the spectral manifestation.
The positive energy disrupts the restless spirits before they can manifest. As the haunt’s power fades away, Gabby hears a faint voice say, ”The Red Crusader is dead...”
The statue is too badly eroded to make out its facial features. You didn’t get a good enough look at the cloaked woman you met on the road to really tell what she looked like, anyway.
Gabbi shakes her head, clearing it of the spiritual echoes. "Let's try that temple first," she says, pointing at the other building. Putting a hand to her head, she begins walking towards the temple.
Knots of fungus enshroud this terrace, nearly obscuring both the archway into the courtyard to the west and the passage deeper into the temple to the east. Wet tendrils wind along the temple’s exterior surfaces. Small red flowers grow amid the tendrils and the smell of wet earth pervades the air.
It appears somebody tried to clear out a path through the fungus in the past, but it has long since regrown.
The fungus rustles as a creature emerges. This hunched giant has spindly limbs covered in moss and a riot of vines and mushrooms for a torso. It has two bright red mushrooms growing where its eyes should be, and it sports a long beard of woven grass. "Despoilers! This place is under my protection. Leave at once, or suffer my wrath!"
Allie looks at her sister. One of them paid attention in biology class and it wasn't her...
Ellie is not just a heavy hitter - she is, on the occasions she remembers it, a Lore Warden and as such knows more about the strange things of the world than most.
"Oh! A sump steward. Hidden away in deep caverns or under the shade of mangroves in isolated swamps, sump stewards hum songs while they dutifully tend to verdant colonies of mushrooms and fungi. Their entire purpose seems to be to cultivate and nurture these colonies for enigmatic reasons." She recites the knowledge verbatim as if from some textbook.
"Maybe it won't attack us if we can persuade it we're friendly?"
Gabriella nods along as if acknowledging the Lorewarden's recitation.
"We have no wish to despoil anything," she says in a calm voice. "In fact, we're on the trail of those that would do that very thing on a large scale. Perhaps you've encountered them and can direct us to where they went?"
"The men and women in black armor?" The sump steward bobs its head. "They call themselves 'Seal-Breakers.' They tried to destroy my garden here. I put a stop to their efforts." The creature's voice drips with disdain.
"If you are opposed to them, and if you respect my garden, I have no quarrel with you. The Seal-Breakers make their lair in the chambers across the bridge.
"If you proceed deeper into this temple, you will find several murals painted on the walls. I do not understand them, but perhaps they will have some meaning for you..." The creature bobs its head again.
"Murals?" Gabbi questions, her curiosity piqued. "May we enter and view them?" she asks with a respectful bow.
"Of course, if you so desire..." the plant says, gesturing with its staff to the doorway behind it.
Gabby gets the sense that there is something the creature isn't mentioning.
The paranoid dhampir narrows her eyes at the easy cooperation from the living plant. "Is there anything else we should be aware of before entering and viewing the murals?" she asks, suspicion creeping into her voice.
"Just mind my garden and you'll be fine," the sump steward says. The creature isn't exactly lying, but Gabby still doesn't fully trust its motivations.
Gabbi looks back at her sister.
She turns and readies her bow and indicates to the others to proceed forward, but can't resist adding one more warning.
"Very well. We have no desire to bring harm to your garden, but be aware that we will defend ourselves if we have to," she says.
Allie nods. She'd interrogate the creature further, but if her sister can't deduce the creature's truthfulness Allie can admit she is unlikely to manage it.
"Your garden is safe. Our word upon it." She adds with a slight bow. "If you need energy I can offer you a taste of sunshine if you want it."
"No, thank you. I get all the nutrients I need from the soil down here," the sump steward tells Allie.
You proceed through the archway deeper into the temple. The intricately tiled floor here is covered with pools of water and small white mushrooms. Above, a ten-foot-diameter circle opens in the temple’s domed ceiling. Thick fungal tendrils droop through this opening and nearly touch the floor. A long hall runs to the north and south out of this room. The south section of the hall is choked with rubble, and the north hall ends at a door of warped red wood.
Alert for danger, Ulrich, Elka, and Gabby all spot the creature lurking among the tendrils in the hole in the ceiling. This towering plant is a mass of vines and barbs. Several stalks are horribly mobile, each ending in a set of green, toothy jaws. The plant begins to clamber down a wall to attack!
"Hit it with anything but acid!" Gabbi calls out as she nocks a mystical arrow to her bow.
Ellie moves forward, readying a strike for when the thing gets in reach.
The giant flytrap trundles forward, and Elly strikes as one of its leaves lunges at her. Unfortunately, the flail is blunted by the creature's thick hide. The leaf chomps down on Elly, grabbing a hold of her!
"I thought you didn't do the 'damsel in distress'?" Gabbi calls out to Ellie as she draws and fires.
"Hey necromancer, how about putting some of that life-killing magics to good use?!"
"I'm NOT in distress! I'm-" Ellie stabs at the thing with her dagger several times. "-moderately inconvenienced! It's NOT the SAME THING!!!!"
Allie takes a deep breath, focusing on her own heartbeat. Suddenly it sounds louder and louder until the sound is thunderous and the group suddenly find themselves much faster, in time to the pulsing heartbeat.
"I was considering a blight spell! But I opted for necromancy on a more... humanoid level."
"Hmmm. This should work... I hope."
He casts a spell and taps Kamosh, who flies over to the flytrap to deliver the spell.
"I curse you with ineptitude!"
Kamosh and Ulrich both take in increased reflexes perk from Alessandra's Blessing.
Gabby and Elka each hit the giant flytrap, but Elly fails to land a good hit. Ulrich’s curse is s success, but even hindered, the mighty plant is still strong. Its leaf closes completely around Elly, sealing her inside as the cavity floods with digestive enzymes! The other leaves snap at Elka, one biting her and grabbing hold!
"No, no, no!", the changeling yells as she unleashes her rage and condemnation on the oversized plant. If Elká's words fail to convince the plant, maybe the razor-sharp claws might.
Ellie's voice sounds from within the enclosure she is trapped in, although the words are muffled. "...ILL ..ot i... ...RESS! I'... AN...RY!!!"
She stabs repeatedly at the plant to cut herself free.
Ulrich wipes his forehead now drenched in sweat as his comrades start being eaten one by one. He takes several steps backwards to avoid the plant creature should it charge forwards, then uses the sweat to cast a spell.
Kamosh notices that there are other mouths ready to feed, so he decides to NOPE out of there back to Ulrich's shoulder.
Gabbi grits her teeth, all levity gone with Ellie in immediate threat of being consumed.
Allie waits, one hand glowing slightly as she waits, posed on her toes to rush in if, no, when Ellie reappears.
Elka rips at the leaf holding her while Elly carves her way out of the closed one. Gabby lodges several into the plant’s stalk, and it releases its victims as it slumps over, leaves drooping.
Keeping an eye out for any other threats, Gabbi keeps her bow at the ready as she moves forward to cast a spell of healing over Ellie.
"I have a potion should you desire it"
The sump steward stands in the archway and peers into the room. It nods sagely. "Ah, you are quite capable indeed. You defeated Snapper, so I have no doubt you will handle yourselves well against the Seal-Breakers. I offer you this temple as a safe place to rest. I will watch over you while you sleep and ensure no harm comes to you." It gestures to the fallen flytrap. "Do not fret. It will take many years, but I will grow a new Snapper to replace this one."
"A test, eh?" Gabbi questions thoughtfully. "We'll consider your offer. Where are the murals?"
The steward gestures to the north. The ravages of time have taken their toll on this hall, which is entirely dark. Like the other temple rooms, the walls here are adorned in tile mosaics that depict a moment from Arazni’s history. However, rather than depicting Arazni herself, this mosaic depicts seven knights in gleaming armor. You recognize the knights as important, if tragic, historical figures.
In 3889 AR, Master and Commander Claidius Barronmor of Lastwall selected seven knights to infiltrate Geb and initiate a war with that undead nation: his grandson Amaretos Barronmor, Seldeg Bhedlis, Gustari Fallenstag, Tycha Ghuzmaar, Yhalas the Serene, Ammar Ilverazto, and Andvard Prollin. This mosaic depicts these knights before they left Vigil. As the knights’ zeal exceeded their abilities as spies, they were quickly captured and eventually corrupted. Geb transformed each of them into graveknights and commanded them to return to Vigil and steal Arazni’s corpse. The graveknights were successful, and their theft ultimately allowed Geb to raise Arazni as a lich and force her to serve as the queen of Geb. Five of these graveknights still exist. They serve as Arazni’s champions and bodyguards.
In a small pool of blood at the base of the mosaic sits a clay canopic jar. Capped with a frightening carving of a fanged skull, this clay canopic jar bleeds as if it were a living organ. This can only be one of the legendary Bloodstones of Arazni, the canopic jars that hold Arazni’s internal organs. Arazni’s organs were removed during her transformation into a lich, but were soon lost. Each of these canopic jars hold a fraction of Arazni’s former divine power.
Gabriella looks over the murals with sadness and disdain.
"Fools," she says in disgust and points at the images of the knights. "The arrogance of men is repeatedly their downfall."
She looks down at the bleeding jar as she would a viper.
"So what do we do with that?" she asks the others.
Ulrich laughs to himself after the steward speaks. Just to let out the stress and frustration building up. Kamosh cocks his head to the side, aware of Ulrich's emotions, but uncertain why that should produce laughter.
After reading the murals, he sighs and says "The cycle shall repeat itself, perhaps forever. We are all a part of that arrogance. Such will be our fate, almost certainly."
He stops for a moment, and it's clear the gears are churning double-time in his head. Finally they subside, as he diverts his attention to the Bloodstone. "Let the lore warden gain the abilities of the lore keeper. It is only fitting."
"Fine, Ellie takes ... that," Gabbi says, pointing towards the jar.
Returning to the mossy steward, Gabbi points towards the tower in the middle of the small lake.
"You said the knights left across the bridge, right? Is there anything of interest in the tower?"
The sump steward shrugs. "I do not know. I have never been there."
Allie picks up the Bloodstone without any of her sister's revulsion and raises an eyebrow as it remains uncracked in her hands. She then tosses it at the Lore Warden, harder than strictly necessary. She also neglects to heal the fighter, or even make eye contact, preferring instead to pet Rascal as he noses at the collapsed form of the plant.