Snow sighs and then steps in to Thanara once more. Her hands run across Thanara's shoulder and down her sides, sweeping smooth skin in long arcs. She leans in and nips Thanara's other ear, wanting to make sure she has the sorceress's attention.
"Home. Bed. We go..." One hand curves around to clasp Thanara form behind. "We go home."
”Oh!” Thanara gasps at the surprise make out session. ”O-okay. It’s…a long way though,” she adds.
It is a long way back to Sandpoint, so after resting overnight in Jorgenfist, you begin the lengthy trek. Across the Storval Plateau, down the stairs, and down along the Lost Coad you go, retracing the path you took before. It's nearly two weeks later when you finally arrive in Sandpoint, though during that time, you reflect on your recent experiences and feel all the stronger for them.
Chapter 5: Sins of the Saviors
20 Calistril, 4709 AR
Sandpoint has been through a lot, including a goblin raid, slaughter at the local Glassworks, several grisly murders, and most recently a full-blown assault by giants and a dragon. It’s certainly a testament to the townsfolk’s resilience that they have carried on as hardily as they have. Of course, they’ve had protectors at hand to help them through these times of peril, and when trouble stirs anew in the region, it’s to these protectors the good folk of Sandpoint turn.
This new development is something altogether more subtle and disturbing than invasions by goblins or giants. Had this development come before the events of Goblin Day (as it has come to be called), it’s likely it would have been ignored. In light of all the recent troubles, though, several of Sandpoint’s leaders—in particular a worried Father Zantus—fear that it portends something dire....
***
Your return to Sandpoint is a cause for celebration! As soon as you exit the carriage, you are greeted by throngs of excited hero-worshipers and grateful citizens. The talk of the town is a great sinkhole that has opened up on Tower Street--most of the citizens assume you have returned to investigate this sinkhole, in any event. Once the initial hubbub of the heroes’ welcome wears off, you are approached by a bashful-looking acolyte of Desna who gives you a message: Father Zantus wishes to speak to them about the sinkhole as soon as possible at the Sandpoint Cathedral.
Sheriff Hemlock is there waiting for you at the cathedral with Zantus. They ask for a quick recounting of your adventures in Jorgenfist, listening wide-eyed to tales of giants, mammoth zombies, headless ogres, and horrors from beyond time itself. Soon enough, Father Zantus clears his throat and speaks upon the matter at hand.
“Of course, we’re all very pleased to hear of your successes. Sandpoint owes you a huge debt of thanks for ensuring its safety yet again. And while I’d like nothing better than to let you relax and enjoy a well-earned break from your adventures, you’ve doubtless heard about our newest problem. A few days ago, the ground collapsed just north of the Garrison, right in the middle of Tower Street. The north wall of the Garrison took some damage, and while fortunately no one was seriously hurt when the sinkhole appeared, that’s not the case anymore. The guards Sheriff Hemlock sent into the pit to investigate never returned. That very night, we all heard something horrible down there: dogs howling—like no dogs I’ve heard before—and bloodcurdling screams. Sheriff’s roped the sinkhole off, and so far nothing’s come up out of it, but those sounds are growing every night. Whatever’s trapped in there wants out, and by the sounds of it, whatever it is isn’t too keen on emerging friendly.”
Hemlock and Zantus look at you with hope and expectation.
Thanara gave a detailed report of what they had overcome, and listens intently to the report she is given. She gives Lisavet and Snow a look before saying ”Well, this sounds just grand…” she says sarcastically.
Snow rolls her eyes when Father Zanthus and the Sheriff aren't looking, but nods her acceptance to Thanara and stays quiet, holding Lisa's hand under the table.
"No sense in delaying things, then," Lisa says. "Let's go investigate the sinkhole and see what evil things are lurking below."
The priestess has donned Mokmurian's elemental robe over her armor, wearing it like a stole. It hangs open at the front, her blue-and-gold armor gleaming beneath it, the skin of her rounded belly exposed defiantly.
***
The sinkhole itself stabilized at a width of 30 feet, reaching the diameter of the street and consuming a portion of the Garrison wall to the south—several basement jail cells hang open in the sloping southern wall of the sinkhole. The sinkhole is 15 feet deep, and you can see a narrow opening along its northwest side at the deepest point, which seems to be a tunnel leading underground.
Exploration of the tunnel accessed from the sinkhole’s depths reveals a short flight of stairs down and a 5-foot-wide passageway beyond. The passage connects to the catacombs of wrath that you explored after capturing Tsuto Kaijitsu at the Glassworks. Stairs that were previously blocked by rubble have been cleared away, allowing access to the chambers below. Thick webs clog these stairs. Visible here and there
through gaps in the unusually thick webbing are deep scratches along the walls and floors—this, along with the absence of any mold or mildew, suggests the stairway has recently been cleared.
The stairs descend 50 feet to an apparent dead end, but a search reveals a secret door. The passageway beyond the door has collapsed, but a narrow tunnel has been cleared through.
The walls, floor, and even the arched ceiling of this place are covered with writing, the words spiraling and trailing in the ancient language of Thassilon. Some of the phrases are immense, with words nearly three feet high, while others are written in tiny, spidery script. The medium for the writing varies as well—sometimes dark ink, sometimes blood, sometimes carved into the stone itself. A passageway to the north leads into a fog-filled tunnels, and a pair of stone doors, their faces carved with an immense image of a three-eyed jackal’s head, stand to the south. To the west, light flickers in what appears to be an immense cathedral.
Snow, taking the lead as always in situations like this, sniffs the stale air for clues.
Snow catches a whiff of something foul to the west, as well as the scent of a human somewhere closer nearby. Indeed, a man's voice calls out to you, hoarse and scratchy. "More intruders from the town above. Who are you? What has become of the great empire of Thassilon? What nation has replaced it?"
Snow looks at Thanara and then suddenly becomes far, far smaller - sneaking into the room as Ghost Puppy while Thanara speaks. With her focus on not being seen she doesn't notice the slight shimmer of magic which fades her out of sight.
Thanara asks ”And who is it that asks?” Thanara replies coyly.
"Hmm. You have questions, too. How about we exchange information, one-for-one? You answer mine first, then I will answer yours."
Thanara ponders. ”I like games. But only if the other player plays fair. Will you answer mine honestly and not in any sort of trick answers or riddles?” she counters as she continues to slowly advance.
"I will indeed," the voice replies. "Now then, allow me to repeat my first question: What has become of Thassilon?"
”Thassilon is an ancient memory. It was destroyed long ago, by some great calamity,” Thanara answers. ”And my turn. What is your name?”
"I am not who I once was. My name is no longer relevant. You may call me the Scribbler," the voice says.
"Now, tell me. Who rules the lands above today?"
Meanwhile, Snow sneaks into the room to the west. Although portions of this cathedral have collapsed, leaving mounds of rubble on the floor and crumbling walls, the chamber retains its sense of menacing awe. Four black stone pillars support the arched roof forty feet above, and on the floor between them the image of a three-eyed jackal seems to glower from striations in the stone itself. This image glows with a soft rusty light that illuminates the entire room from below. Alcoves to the north and south contain statues of a jackal-headed pregnant woman. Each clutches a pair of kukris crossed over her chest, and a reptilian tail winds down around her taloned feet. To the west, what once might have been a stone pulpit featuring other statues seems to have been partially buried under an ancient collapse. The walls of this room are densely decorated with hundreds of scribblings and sprawling runes.
A robed man stands before the pulpit, keeping an eye on the entry hall. He looks directly at Snow despite her invisibility and smiles broadly. "Hello there. Come closer--I do not bite. Have you come to pay homage to the Mother? She can grant you your deepest wishes--as can I. Tell me, what is it you desire?"
Thanara was about to answer, then paused as realization set in. ”I do,” she answers. ”Tell me, are you a friend or foe of the one known as Karzoug?”
"A complicated question," the Scribbler replies. "I was the commander of a Hellstorm Flume under the rule of Runelord Alaznist, Karzoug's enemy. But then Karzoug bought my allegiance with treasures untold, and I became a double agent. But I served a third master still, the great Mother, Lamashtu. And so I plotted in secret against both Alaznist and Karzoug. So was I friend or foe to Karzoug? Both, and neither." He chuckles maniacally.
"Yet, I know not what became of Alaznist and Karzoug. That is my question. What became of the runelords of old?"
”No one truly knows,” Thanara answers, continuing to try to move cautiously towards the voice. ”but it seems that Karzoug, or likely someone using his name, is causing problems for us. Do you seek to cause those in the lands above any harm?”
Snow looks up quizzically at the figure and wags her tail. Hopefully he thinks she's a familiar or something like that. So she wanders off to one side to sniff at the statue, trying to divide his attention between Thanara and her.
”Not yet. First, I must complete my holy task and record the Mother’s wisdom over every inch of this shrine,” the Scribbler says. ”Only then will I turn my attention to the world beyond. Now, who besides you commands powerful magic in the world?”
Meanwhile, the man in the shrine chuckles as Snow plays dumb. ”Come now. We both know that you are not a real pup. And I am not a real man. I am so much more, and you can be too, if you only wish it...”
Snow yips, turns and scarpers back the way she came.
Once out of his sight she turns back and steps up to whisper in Lisa's ear.
"Someone in there. Saw me. Real me. Looks like man, but not a man. Worried."
Lisa matches Snow's worried expression. "We will be cautious before entering that shrine, then. Stay with us now, and do not wander. Let us wait for Thanara."
Thanara pauses. ”I…I don’t know them all. But I’m sure there are plenty. I apologize, I’m not trying to be cagey. I just haven’t had the opportunity to meet many of them,” Thanara replies.
"Hmm," the Scribbler replies. "It would seem that your usefulness is at its end. The time for talk is over!"
With that, the man Snow spotted earlier steps into view across the hall. His form wavers as the illusion cloaking him drops, revealing an enormous demon with pincerlike claws!
The demon targets Snow with confusion!
Snow yelps, starts a shift, seems to freeze half-way and lashes out in confusion!
Thanara gasps at the appearance of the demonic figure. She, in turn, shifts as well into her form of pure electricity in feminine form!
When Snow bites at Lisavet, she cries out ”Snow! What are you doing!?!?”
Lisa is startled by Snow's attacks, but she fends them off before seeing clarity return to the wolf's eyes. "She was confused, but she's okay now. Which is more than I can say for this demon!"
The priestess invokes a divine decree, speaking a litany of pure goodness!
The demon resists the spell, while the Scribbler remains unaffected. The Scribbler reveals himself now, appearing behind the demon. He looks human, but there is something otherworldly about him, and his eyes are filled with madness. He casts a spell, conjuring a glowing falchion of force to attack Lisa. The demon stalks forward and snaps at Snow with its pincer. Both attacks miss!
With her mind restored, Snow transforms, suddenly taking up most of the available space as she snaps at the demon.
Thanara sends a small blast of electricity from herself at the man behind the demon!
Lisa invokes a powerful spell, her body transforming into that of an angel with burning eyes and fiery wings! She raises a burning scimitar as she flies in to battle alongside Snow. Snow's fangs tear at the demon, while the Scribbler dodges Thanara's electric burst.
The spiritual weapon shifts targets to Thanara as the Scribbler fires a beam of disintegration that narrowly misses the sorceress!
The demon snaps its pincers at Snow, missing the first time but then grabbing the big wolf with its second attempt!
Snow doesn't mind being grabbed - it means that her prey can't escape!
"Unhand her, fiend!" Lisa declares, slashing at the demon's pincers with her fiery blade.
Thanara gasped as the spell slipped past her side! She turns and sends a massive bolt of lightning first at the demon, which then jumps to the Scribbler!
Both demon and man avoid some of the chain lightning. The Scribbler curses and tries to paralyze Thanara! The demon is very badly hurt, but it continues to squeeze Snow, pulling her closer to rake her with its smaller claws!
Thanara freezes in place, a look of panic in her eyes!
Snow rips into everything within reach!
Snow takes down the demon with a critical bite, then pounces on the Scribbler. He fends off her attacks, but Lisa scores a critical hit with her burning scimitar!
The Scribbler raises a magical shield and swings his falchion, but doesn't hit anybody!
With only one foe, and not a capable one at that, Snow lets out a delighted snarl and continues ripping at him.
Thanara eventually manages to free herself from the spell!
Snow lands one hit on the Scribbler while Lisa slices him twice! The deranged villain turns his attention to the angelic priestess, but she parries his strikes with her burning blade!
This time Snow lands a mighty bite and then rakes the Scribbler with her claws!
Thanara throws another small bolt at Scribbler, hoping to take him down!
Snow manages to strike the Scribbler once more. He dodges Thanara's lightning bolt, but it is Lisa the avenging angel who takes him down with two more brutal chops of her holy, flaming scimitar! He groans as he falls at the priestess's feet. She bows her head in thanks to Sarenrae as her transformation comes to an end and she returns back to her normal human form.
Snow offers the ancient wizard no mercy as her jaws crunch down on his head with a rather unpleasant sound. With the man executed she returns to normal form.
"Lisa. Amazing!" She says, clearly impressed. "Bad ass!"
She grasps the cleric, kisses her firmly on the mouth, and then sets to work checking the headless corpse for anything useful.
Lisa returns the kiss, her face flushed when Snow pulls away. "It was not me, but the Dawnflower working through me. I am merely her instrument," the cleric says humbly.
The Scribbler doesn't have much in the way of possessions, aside from his +2 greater striking falchion and +2 resilient breastplate.
Exploring the rest of the complex doesn't turn up a whole lot besides the scribblings all over the walls, prayers to Lamashtu and maddening rants. However, hidden among the text are short stanzas that seem unrelated to anything else. After discovering all of them, you are able to piece them together into a curious rhyme:
IF MAGIC BRIGHT IS YOUR DESIRE, TO OLD RUNEFORGE MUST YOU RETIRE!
FOR ONLY THERE DOES WIZARDS' ART RECEIVE ITS DUE AND PROPER START.
ON EASTERN SHORES OF STEAMING MIRROR, AT END OF DAY WHEN DUSK IS NEARER,
WHERE SEVEN FACE SILENT WAIT, ENCIRCLED GUARDS AT RUNEFORGE GATE.
EACH STONE THE GRACE OF SEVEN LORDS, ONE PART OF KEY EACH RULER HOARDS;
IF OFFERED SPELLS AND PROPER PRAYER, TAKE SEVEN KEYS AND CLIMB THE STAIR.
ON FROZEN MOUNTAIN XIN AWAITS, HIS REGAL VOICE THE YAWNING GATES
KEYS TURN TWICE IN SIHEDRON--OCCULTED RUNEFORGE WAITS WITHIN.
AND NOW YOU'VE COME AND JOINED THE FOFRGE; UPON RARE LORE YOUR MIND CAN GORGE.
AND WHEN YOU SLOUGH THE MORTAL WAY, IN RUNEFORGE LONG YOUR WORK SHALL STAY.
Snow claims the runes and then follows her fiance's around, committing the words they find to memory.
"Is way to Runeforge." She says slowly. "Place has stone heads, near 'steaming mirror'. Lake maybe?"
The rest seems more like gibberish to her, so Snow focuses on what she knows of the lands around them.
Snow recalls that in Varisia, Lake Stormunder is known for its plentiful hot springs and geysers. The stanza further mentions “seven faces” that are “encircled.” A mysterious circle of seven stone heads stands upon the western slope of Rimeskull on Stormunder’s eastern shore.
You return to the surface to let the people of Sandpoint know they have nothing else to fear from what lies beneath the town. You recruit Thassilonian expert Brodert Quink to help you decipher the rest of the poem and learn more about Runeforge.
Quink helps you determine that the seven stone heads around Lake Stormunder each represent a school of Thassilonian magic, and by extension one of the seven runelords and realms of Thassilon. Casting a spell of the correct school on the correct stone causes a key to manifest in that stone’s mouth. The poem directs you to gather a key from each stone head in this manner, and then to ascend Rimeskull via an ancient set of stairs. After ascending Rimeskull, you are directed to enter the cave and, in a chamber beyond, encounter a similar ring of seven stone faces arranged around the seven-pointed star of the Sihedron. Using the keys in these stones opens a portal to Runeforge.
Runeforge itself was created as a place where agents of the seven runelords could gather to study magic. The runelords wove wards around Runeforge that barred entrance into the complex to any runelord or his direct agents, in order to keep the research within free from sabotage at the hands of an enemy. The final project the runelords set Runeforge on was the development of ways the runelords could escape the imminent fall of their empire. Each faction developed a unique answer for its runelord, based upon the underlying principles of that faction’s magical traditions. Certainly, if any secrets to defeating the runelords existed in ancient Thassilon, those secrets would be hidden still within Runeforge’s walls.
"Better go then." Snow concludes once Quink has puzzled out the riddle. "Need something for Karzoug. Lake not too far."
Of course her definition of 'not too far' is different to most people's but hey...
"You be ok Lisa?" Snow asks as they leave Quinks house. "Know you badass but..." She motions to the priestesses rounding stomach. "Cub."