With a flurry of blades and spells and arrows, you take down the cultist. With his last breath, he gasps:
"Me interficere potes, sed reliqui Cinerum Ungues venient, et carnem tuam ad Exitium Infinitum pascent!"
In addition to a magical chain shirt (+1 chainshirt)and a religious symbol of Dahak (which several of you recognize), the charau-ki leader wields an elaborate gauntlet that appears to have been crafted from dragon scales, with claws built from iron. Among his possessions, you also find a golden arrow-shaped charm carved with symbols of the elven god Ketephys.
“Idle boasts of vengeance from claws of cinder,” Ellaeaanda calmly translates the cultist’s final words for the others, “for the false glory of Dahak.” She vaguely gestures at the religious symbol on the charau-ka’s body, then takes his gauntlet and charm. Unperturbed by the recent violence, she sits cross-legged and holds the two items in her lap, one at a time. With cloudy, glowing eyes she enters a long trance to identify their magic.
She remains seemingly oblivious while their various wounds are bandaged and tended too. After over twenty minutes she rouses from her reverie. Without any prelude, she immediately turns to Ardoinel and offers him the gauntlet.
“For you this is fated. The Endless Destruction seeks to destroy all, and so its own fangs shall bite itself.” For herself, she gently drapes the arrowhead charm around her neck. “The Hunter joins the Savored Sting,” she announces, lightly touching the wasp embroidered on the handle of her whip.
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Markus relaxes as the fight ends. He says "I'm glad I didn't hurt anyone from our side this time. I was careful with that. Anyway, I knew there was a language I was still meaning to learn. Good thing that you learned it."
He asks somewhat stupidly "I have no idea what the Endless Destruction is. Can anyone please fill me in?"
As the last enemy falls, Vitus slumps to a knee and starts unstrapping his shield. "That was a close one. Is everyone okay?" Despite his numerous wounds, Vitus looks over everyone else to make sure the group is well before tending to himself.
"Does anyone have a repair kit with them? My shield won't make it through another fight that like."
While Ellaeaanda looks over equipment, Vitus sits quietly in prayer.
"Brilliant Burnis not need clumsy claw. But, like shiny armor."
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"Yes - but I can repair you first, Vitus! Hehe. Good one."
Nektin first gets to work with thread and needle on Vitus' arm...
Before he moves on to the shield, letting the warrior rest a little in between the surgeries.
"Mm. Looks like your bleeding has a hard time stopping..." Netkin prepares bandages with a thicke rlayer of coagulant.
Vitus thanks Netkin for tending to him and his shield. "The shield looks almost brand new. And, while I'm feeling better, I could still use more rest before we continue."
"I have no idea what the Endless Destruction is. Can anyone please fill me in?"
“As three in one, The False Wyrm is the Sorrowmaker that is the Endless Destruction,” Ellaeaanda replies in a faraway voice that is possibly less than helpful.
She absent-mindedly hands the shiny armor to Vrosi as she begins tending his wounds. Although not as skilled as Netkin’s comparatively more daring approach, she is methodical and competent, taking her time to slowly but surely heal the injuries of her companions. After finishing with Vrosi, she moves on to Netkin, Resa, and Markus in turn.
After a few moments of sitting for Ellaeaanda, Resa nods and then somewhat silently starts to look around the area, not moving to far ahead, but rather to ensure nothing will sneak up on them. She would let the others talk more than anything, she was not really sure who the new comers were, and that meant a lack of trust.
“Idle boasts of vengeance from claws of cinder,” Ellaeaanda calmly translates the cultist’s final words for the others, “for the false glory of Dahak.” She vaguely gestures at the religious symbol on the charau-ka’s body, then takes his gauntlet and charm. Unperturbed by the recent violence, she sits cross-legged and holds the two items in her lap, one at a time. With cloudy, glowing eyes she enters a long trance to identify their magic.
She remains seemingly oblivious while their various wounds are bandaged and tended too. After over twenty minutes she rouses from her reverie. Without any prelude, she immediately turns to Ardoinel and offers him the gauntlet.
“For you this is fated. The Endless Destruction seeks to destroy all, and so its own fangs shall bite itself.” For herself, she gently drapes the arrowhead charm around her neck. “The Hunter joins the Savored Sting,” she announces, lightly touching the wasp embroidered on the handle of her whip.
Ardoinel takes the unholy symbol from the dead leader and then his hammer. He regards it a bit before smashing the icon to pieces while Ellaeaanda meditates on the other gear. When she returns and offers it to him, he takes it from her and holds it up, turning it over in his hands and examining it before nodding.
"Yes. I will relish the irony as I grab at his throat with his own power."
Markus relaxes as the fight ends. He says "I'm glad I didn't hurt anyone from our side this time. I was careful with that. Anyway, I knew there was a language I was still meaning to learn. Good thing that you learned it."
He asks somewhat stupidly "I have no idea what the Endless Destruction is. Can anyone please fill me in?"
Ardoinel turns to Markus, his eyes growing wide and his expression grave.
"The dragon god Dahak. Sorrowmaker. The False Wyrm. He is chaos and destruction. He is the rage and greed that lurks in the hearts of all dragons. He is the one who lit the fires in Hell, the fires that still burn. And he is the shadow who has haunted my dreams since I was a child."
Resa looks around the area, even peeking into the next room.
The walls and domed ceiling of this large circular chamber are elegantly carved in spiraling designs. To the north, a double door stands in the side of a squared-off column protruding from the wall, while to the south an open archway leads to a stairwell leading up that’s been blocked by rubble. In the center of the room stand six statues of elves, all facing outward and arrayed around a dry fountain. Empty benches sit in four alcoves to the east and west, nestled between six stone archways built into the wall. Each of these archways bears a different type of decor, but with the exception of the northeastern archway she enters the room from, (which is partially collapsed and opens into a ruined chamber beyond), each archway leads nowhere—they are filled with plain, featureless walls of polished stone.
Critical Success?
Critical success?
To activate an aiudara, one need only touch that portal’s key to the stone within its arch—doing so will cause the archway to turn to swirling mist and allow passage to the far side of the magical gateway.
Each gate can also be examined individually for more details.
Ardoinel follows Resa as she peeks into the other room and his eyes widen in awe.
Following the two aiuvarin, Ellaeaanda peers into the next grand chamber. “Here is your heritage,” she announces softly to Resa, gesturing vaguely at the six statues. “Gods who guide and watch over our race.” In her typical unhurried demeanor, she takes her time examining the seemingly empty archways.
Her fluttering hand draws attention to the various decorations on the walls, and traces out the arches. “Homage to Findeladlara of old,” she intones respectfully, “and the famed aiudara of another age. Feel you this connection to your past?” she asks the rogue.
Examining the room more closely, you can see the details of the gates.
A pair of closed double-doors sit at the north side of the circular room.
Lotusgate: This aiudara is destroyed, but what remains is still decorated with designs of lotuses and icons sacred to Alseta.
Jewelgate: This aiudara is decorated with images of crystals, and its upper arch bears designs like those of stalactites. Icons sacred to Yuelral adorn the aiudara.
Duskgate: Decorated with images of sunsets and beautiful architecture in what appears to be a desert or savannah, this aiudara is devoted to Findeladlara.
Huntergate: Images of hawks and moons, interspersed with jungle vegetation and trees, decorate this aiudara, along with icons sacred to Ketephys.
Vengegate: This aiudara is adorned with images of wasps, whips, and the waves of the open sea, along with icons sacred to Calistria.
Dreamgate: Butterflies, stars, and images sacred to Desna adorn this final aiudara.
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Markus says "Thank you, Ellaeaanda and Ardoinel. I'm sorry this has plagued you for so long. Do you think your dreams mean something specific?"
Markus is amazed at the entire scene. He has always considered Shelyn as his patron, but it is only because he didn't know Findeladlara well enough. If he can, one day he wishes to plan and build a room as beautiful as this one.
He opens his tunic and from inside a small fox jumps out. The mage says "Everyone, this is my friend, Cranky. Say hi Cranky." The fox, surprisingly speaks in perfect Common "Hello everybody." He has a squeaky voice, but cute. Markus says "Take a look Cranky, this room is beautiful!"
As the little fox takes it all in, Markus scans the area for magical auras.
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When not stressed out of his mind by combat, Netkin proves an extremely competent healer. In an hour, he is able to stitch up Vitus' wounds so neatly, there will barely be any scars left.
"These are the aiudaras?" Netkin's mouth drops opens. "They're... Incredible!"
"I think they'd need some kind of, of key. Presumably one for each portal..." Netkin goes from one statue to another, occasionally letting out some admirative cry of "Interesting, very interesting!" or "I wonder how they're to be activated...?"
After Netkin finishes stitching up the many wounds that Vitus received, he observes the others examining the room. "Let's stick together. There could be hidden dangers yet remaining in this cave."
Despite his concern, Vitus can't help becoming interested in the natural beauty of the elf gates.
Resa is drawn to the one for Desna, the one Goddess who always seemed to guide the lost and weary, without any thought to anything for herself. She traces her fingers over the designs and stories, some known, but from the increased study it was clear many were not known to her.
" Desna perhaps has always guided me then? Watched over me for things that I can not see, and set me on the right path. Why take such an interest though?"
Netkin's observation about the gates is correct. The aiudaras will not function without the proper keys.
Netkin's recollections also hint that each key will be associated with the god associated with the gate's adornments.
Ellaeaanda ambles into the dry fountain at the center of the room, calmly sitting and meditating upon fate while the others explore. Eventually she comes out of her trance, standing while replying to the others as if ten minutes had not gone by since they spoke.
She gestures vaguely at the double door to the north as she responds to the guardian’s caution about hidden dangers. “The dead speak of stone statues beyond yon doors, guardians who drove away the soldiers in the notes of Voz.” Her arm swivels towards the southern stairs that lead up into rubble as she next addresses Markus. “Above lies Citadel Altaerein, ruin beyond ruin. The other side already we have seen.”
Her fingers flutter up to the ceiling while answering Resa. “The Tender of Dreams tends all, just as the norns measure every thread. Not for you does Mother Moon shepherd, but for the fate in which you—and we—are all destined.” Her arm shifts towards the archway sacred to Alseta—that is, the northeastern arch through which they came. “To our home of homes that leads,” she says with a tinge of sad disappointment in her voice, “the great step to Kyonin forever lost.”
"Not just any aiudara, Netkin," Ardoinel adds. "These...these may be some of the FIRST aiudara...they're certainly older than any of the ones currently in use, except maybe the Sovyrian Stone itself."
He reverently strides into the chamber, eyes fixed on the crystalline Jewelgate, recognizing its iconography immediately. He bows his head and raises his amulet.
"Yuelral, Mother of Magic, Gardener of Elysium, Wisest of the Conclave, I stand here within one of the greatest works of magic our people, your children, have ever conjured. Smile on me as I endeavor to stoke the embers of its power and ensure the wise use of it. So let it be."
He then goes to each of the other gates, offering similar prayers to each god in turn, until all here are honored.
With that finished, he returns to the Jewelgate and looks up at it, gently touching the arch in reverence.
Ardoinel seizes a bit as the vision takes him, letting himself experience the moment and take it in. Then he's back to normal and looking back up at the gate, the tips of his fingers just pressed against its stone.
"Thank you Yuelral," he says softly. It was some small comfort to have a vision from a god he actually worshiped, and if this vision was any indication, truly cared for him.
Looking over the ruins with a bit of sadness for the location of a place she will never see, Resa takes some time to stop at it, like a shrine to a forgotten realm, though perhaps that is closer in truth than she thought. After a few moments she would look at the Desna one closer, still entranced by the craftsmanship on it.
"Would that I could travel there. Either place truly, for I have much I would enjoy seeing, but already my life has seen plenty of feet moved under me. I pray Desna allows me to move more, and see where this may finally lead. What about the rest of you? What are your goals after we return? Would there be any work left? I may travel some."
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Markus is surprised at Resa's question. He thinks for a while and replies "I never thought about it. My sister and I came to Breachill after escaping slavery in Kintargo. I think we will probably stay there, in the town that took us in. I am an architect. I will continue to build. Maybe open my own shop." He is unsure about the last part.
“Ordained by fate is my life,” Ellaeaanda replies to Resa’s question, “to share my sight with those who would see, though some choose to remain blind. My thread winds to destiny’s call, ever and anon, until it is cut.” She gestures towards the unexplored double door to the north. “But one should not count chicks before hatching—a portal mundane awaits before magic. Would you reveal what lies beyond?” she asks for someone—anyone—to open the northern door.
"Sure thing, boss," Cranky yips as he scampers over to the door.
He sniffs for just a moment, then jumps back as the door shifts a bit in its frame, and a voice booms out:
"अल्सेटा की अंगूठी का रखवाला उस पार रहता है। सिर्फ़ वही लोग गुज़र सकते हैं जो उसका पवित्र निशान लेकर चलते हैं।"
“Not jewelry, nor the aiudara themselves—her symbol is the key,” Ellaeaanda gently corrects the wizard’s misunderstanding of the elven tongue. “The door is a shield for the door beyond, a warden constructed for eternal duty and protection.”
Vitus moves to the doorway and prepares to open it. "Everyone ready? What's this about Alseta's symbol? Does someone have a holy symbol of Alseta?"
Once everyone is ready, Vitus opens the door with shield in his other hand.
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Ardoinel strides forth and draws the silver medallion from his pack, holding it before him reverently as he approaches the door.
"Siaradwch, Gyfaill, a Dewch i Mewn," he intones.
Resa watches as they approach the door, a bit fearful that she did not check it for traps, but it seems the others understood what was said. She nods as if she knew, but her lack of Elven was known to the others already. She just did not wish to keep it up. Maybe she will take lessons from Ellaeaanda before she leaves after this mission is done. It is not like they will stay and have to work on more issues here.
At the presentation of the medallion, the heavy door grinds open.
The plain rectangular room beyond contains several empty chests, old wooden tables, and mostly barren shelves. It may have once been used as a vault or records room, but today, only a few scraps of paper remain.
Society DC 15
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Netkin peeks inside the room. "Oh," he says, disappointment clear in his voice. "It somehow looks a bit... Underwhelming??"
Still, he joins the party in searching the room. He goes straight to the box left on the table, opens it, and picks up a sheet of paper. "Mmmm.... This one looks well-preserved!"
He reads it.
Then reads it again.
Then a third time, just to be sure.
He gasps. "Ohgoodness. Erm. I think this makes us the official owners of the Citadel!" He looks around the room anxiously, and meets Resa's gaze. "But how will I bring Grandma here?" he whines. "And she has allergies!" He involuntarily glances down at Cranky.
While everyone else was looking at papers, Resa was just hanging out, given no traps are found. Netkin's words about them being owners of the Citadel seems to go over her head a bit, as she has clearly never own much, and even then it was a stretch to say she paid for the stuff she currently possessed.
"Well that is good news right? You can build...umm... build things here!"
With an oblique nod Ellaeaanda respectfully acknowledges Ardoinel’s use of Alseta’s medallion, then follows the others into the abandoned room. She peers over the halfling to inspect the deed.
“Thus speaks Fate,” she intones in her dreamy, faraway voice. “The citadel is but the band for a ring; the true gem is the aiudara.” Her gaze drifts back towards the collapsed stairway. “Clear must the passage be to connect jewel to shank to ownership; only then will Alseta’s Ring be secure …” she glances down at Netkin, “… and made accessible for the old.”
She ambles south to inspect the rubble blocking the stairs, then beckons towards Ardoinel and Markus—who better to consult on such a project that a dwarf and an architect? “How many suns and moons and men and women to restore air to earth?”
As the new owners of Citadel Altaerein, you certainly have the right to improve the keep. It might even make a cozy and secure base of operations with a little sprucing up! And, you'll certainly want to protect the aiudara while you investigate them, as it is already clear that dark forces are interested in using them.
"Brilliant Burnis not be basic builder. Make money to spend on specialists."
Ardoinel's eyes widen at Netkin's discovery, and he looks down for a moment, scratching his chin and stroking his beard considering Ellaeeanda's question.
"If properly assembled and directed..." he says, taking another look at the collapsed stairs and thinking back to the other collapsed ones above, "it would be the work of at least a week for this one here...more to repair the connections from there to the Citadel above."
Then he shakes his head.
"But we are getting ahead of ourselves: We have found a document we can use to claim ownership of the Citadel, but only if Breachill and the Citadel's current residents choose to abide by it. The Bugwumps, Pib and Zarf, Yolechta, they were here first."
He flinches for a moment as the voice intrudes in his mind again.
BREAK THEM. DRIVE THEM BEFORE YOU. CLAIM WHAT IS YOURS.
He coughs and takes a few deep breaths to steady himself. No, he thinks. That was all the response that thing needed. No.
“A hive has one queen but many bees,” Ellaeaanda responds, clearly unbothered by Ardoinel’s concern. “Claim not their homes, only Alseta’s Ring, or grant their past as tenants, but do not deny our destiny.” She gestures vaguely at the deed. “Indisputable this is by Hellknight law. Only the Order of the Nail could contest this claim, but care not they for goblins and kobolds and bugbears--and nor shall we.”
She walks out of the small room. “Greater adventures await. Those who worship the Endless Destruction do not preserve the symbols of other gods, unless it opens passage to further destruction.” She slowly approaches Huntergate and solemnly presents the Hunter’s Arrowhead that now dangles from her neck.
“Rydym yn ceisio bendith yr Heliwr i basio y tu hwnt i'ch porth.”
As she finishes speaking in elven she lightly touches the pendant to the statue of Ketephys, and then to his archway.
The stone within the portal shimmers and wavers for a moment, but then flashes with fiery radiance before it returns to solid stone.
REPAIR HUNTERGATE
EXPLORATION MANIPULATE
Prerequisites trained in Crafting or Thievery
Requirement You have the Huntergate portal key (hunter’s arrowhead).
You use the hunter’s arrowhead to guide the misaligned magic of Huntergate back into the proper pathways through the stone’s intricate carvings and decorations. You must attempt either a Crafting check to Repair (in which case the hunter’s arrowhead serves as the repair kit needed for this activity) or a Thievery check to Pick a Lock (in which case the hunter’s arrowhead serves as the thieves’ tools needed for this activity). Regardless of the skill used, the activity takes an hour to perform, and the DC of the check is 24.
After struggle and suspense, you have plumbed the ruined depths of Citadel Altaerein, claimed the deed for yourselves, and discovered the mystery of Alseta's Ring.
Resa takes a moment to watch as Ellaeaanda tries to open another of the gates, which seems to work, briefly. She had really wished to see how the one for Desna opened, and when it fails she seems a bit saddened by this. But it also it means perhaps they just needed a bit more prayer to Desna for it. Maybe someone could actually figure out what was wrong with it, but probably someone smarter than her. She still wasn't exactly sure what she would be doing, but ownership of a place seemed a large step.
Ellaeaanda nods slowly to herself, as if she understands why the portal did not open. “The key is true, but the Cinderclaws are not. Their abuse has misaligned the aiudara—we must guide its magic back to paths of old.”
She pauses for a long moment, considering. “This, too, is fate,” she finally intones. “Shut is the way for those who follow The False Wyrm; open is our door for preparation. Ready ourselves, and the citadel, for what is to come.”