Entry 23: The Hollow Hill Horror

Dear diary,
 
The next morning, we set off into the forest towards Hollow Hill. Raynis agreed to come with us, though he was visibly apprehensive about revisiting the horrors inflicted on him in the ruins. He insisted on staying outside, and we respected his wish.
 
Finding Hollow Hill itself was easy, but there was no obvious entrance to the temple below. After a quick survey of the ruins, we discovered a broken statue of an elf in armor and a large circular well that descended into darkness. Liliana, with her night vision, peered into the well and informed us there were staircases at the bottom, leading away into a tunnel.
 
We quickly tied some ropes together and began our descent into the darkness. Surprisingly, despite being the least athletic of the bunch, Luke and I managed the climb without too much trouble, though my hands were clammy with anxiety at the thought of falling. Dadroz, our agile skulker, and Alistan, our knight in shiny armor, had a more challenging time navigating the rope.
 
The descent down the staircase was brief, ending in a circular chamber with four doors. Dadroz, ever the skilled rogue, quickly disarmed the trap on one of the doors, but his lockpicking efforts fell short. However, the second door yielded easily, revealing what had once been an embalming room. Now, it served as a ritual chamber for the cultists.
 
Inside, a lone cultist glared at us, cursing before unleashing a fireball that engulfed the entire group. Fortunately, the blast wasn’t as powerful as those my brother Luke had wielded in the past. Still, it left us momentarily stunned. Then the cultist released his stone guardian, a hulking golem ready to smash us to pieces.
 
Liliana, ever fearless, charged at the golem, clashing her sword against its stone limbs. The rest of us focused on the cultist, who hurled more spells our way. Suddenly, one of the other doors in the entry hall burst open, and more cultists poured out, their eyes alight with malevolent intent.
 
Gael and I sprang into action, casting roots and curses to slow their advance. The tendrils of magic wrapped around the cultists' feet, hindering their movements and buying us precious time. Alistan, with a determined look, made his way through the chaos and delivered a knockout blow to the lead cultist.
 
With the fight behind us, we turned our attention to the ritual chamber, where ancient runes etched in Draconic adorned the altar. Luke, with his affinity for such things, examined them closely. His face grew serious as he deciphered the text, explaining that the altar was designed to transform someone into a draconic creature, or at the very least, grant them draconic traits. Even more crucially, he determined that the altar could reverse the transformation—if only we had the necessary magic.
 
What happened next is a bit embarrassing. We decided to explore the rest of the temple, leaving the unconscious and bound cultist leader behind in the ritual chamber. In hindsight, it was a mistake not to leave someone to guard him or at least have Fiachna watch over him. When we returned from our exploration, the cultist was gone, leaving nothing but frayed ropes in his wake.
 
Our exploration of the temple didn’t yield much. We discovered a desecrated statue of the elven god Corellon and two letters in a defiled chapel guarded by four golems. The letters were signed by someone named Veggir, hinting at a larger scheme. The golems, unfortunately, sprang to life when I, in a rare lapse of attentiveness, triggered a hidden mechanism. Luke wasted no time in reminding me of my blunder.
 
When we returned to where we had left the leader of the cultists, he was gone, having escaped through a small, unstable tunnel. Determined to catch him, we followed the tunnel, which led to a cavern beneath Ravensfield. Along the way, we noticed tracks of a small creature—identified by Luke as an imp, likely the cultist leader’s familiar.
 
It didn’t take long to find the cultist again. He was standing beside the skeletal remains of a dragon in the middle of the cavern, performing a ritual that seemed aimed at raising the enormous creature. Gael, acting swiftly, shot him before he could complete the ritual. Still heavily injured from the previous fight, the cultist crumpled to the ground.
 
This time, we decided to guard his body closely, aware that the imp was still at large and could attempt to free him again. While most of us remained behind to keep watch, Gael and Dadroz went to explore the rest of the cavern. They found the entrance, which had been sealed off by thick roots and vines, with a red crystal embedded in the middle.
 
They called for Luke to join them, seeing as he was the master of magic. While we waited, the imp reappeared, this time intent on destroying the red crystal. Luckily, Gael, ever vigilant, shot it before it could do more damage.
Luke quickly identified the crystal’s purpose. "It’s meant to keep the passage sealed," he explained. Deciding it was best to leave it in place for now, we headed back through the tunnel to the temple.
 
A quick investigation of the last two chambers in the temple revealed some treasure, as well as a pile of bones that animated when we stepped inside. The two creatures that formed were quickly defeated, their skeletal remains crumbling under our combined attacks.
 
With the temple finally cleared of monsters and fully investigated, we made our way back up to inform Reynis of our findings, including the good news that the ritual could be reversed.
 
Raynis looked visibly relieved. “So, there’s hope for me yet,”
 
15th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree