Hesjingmajak Again

We enter into Hesjingmajak late in the evening, ushered in through the gates by hanging lights at its entry. Serafina knows this place is named this because it is "Given by Hesjing", signifying its religious implication to the founders of the place. Serafina explains this to Connie as he nods in excitement, taking in the surroundings. Most of the buildings are made from marble, styled in the greco-roman style with plenty of splashes of colour accenting the alabaster surface, mostly blues. We pass by a gorgeous artistic mural depicting the Founding and Serafina infodumps all the lore the GM wrote in a beautiful soliloquy. They sip spiced tea together while observing it before Connie stepped forward to pray and sacrifice a healing potion at the base of the mosaic's portayal of Ixen.
 
Zeal leads us back to the temple, where Vorach steps up to a guard and asks if the High Priestess is still awake; seeing that we have the relic, he nods eagerly and offers to lead us to our destination himself, passing by the hall where we first met until we got to the overlarge doors leading to the inner sanctum. He steps off, with Zeal offering the letter he carried (to whom it may concern), to fetch the High Priestess, who returns and greets us while wiping away sleep from her eyes.
 
She leads us through the Inner Sanctum, passing by the statues we fought before (now in a more solemn pose with hands resting on the shield). As we enter into the pool room, we notice that the water is diminished several meters - with Zeal and Serafina stepping forward to take a closer look [PERCEPTION: 17|4 respectively]. Serafina is blinded by the egg she is carrying, though Zeal can see deep below there is a point that the water is surging in from, an archway barely visible at the water level.
 
Apparently Ulharst didn't like to share his pool with others. As Serafina and Zeal head down to put the egg in the water, Vorach asks about and we discover Zeal doesn't know if he can swim, so we tie a rope off around his waist while Sidna and Vorach hold onto it from the top. Getting to the edge, Serafina jumps down a few meters into the water and the moment the egg touches it it grows massively heavier and she begins to sink before she begins to kick and fight, straining with all her might [ACROBATICS: nat 20] to keep her head above water, but she's clearly sinking.
 
Zeal jumps in after her, and begins to swim towards her, his feet getting cold immediately. Serafina fully submerges, and when she does she discovers that only when she goes underneath does the water turn crystalline clear, bars blocking the inlet to the lake from larger creatures. Looking around, Serafina realises the walls are lined with wall graves, with the bottom of the pool too far to see.
 
Serafina finally releases the egg and it begins to sink like a stone. With one swift stroke she kicks her way to the surface and breaches, though Zeal has a much harder approach, leveraging his magic ice feet to try and help him carefully balance his way to floating back to the surface and tugging on the rope to signal Connie. The orcs pull up Zeal and then toss the rope down for Serafina as well. Zeal attempts to give Connie a vial of healing water he filled while he was down there and the High Priestess almost has an aneurysm. Zeal's disadvantage with charisma checks causes her to not believe the truth: we are allowed to take this water, but Vorach was planning to return the water regardless and him doing so so quickly smooths things over.
 
Zeal reports about the village, and Connie pipes up to offer a more precise diagnosis. She notices now that he's no longer visibly cursed, and comments, soon realising that the bundle of soaked scarves she was talking to was actually Zeal and freaking out briefly. Fortunately, she agrees to meet with us the next day (an hour after midday) so that the party can get some rest. Connie and Serafina share a room while Zeal and Sidna got their own, private rooms. It is established that Zeal loves taking the piss by sneaking up behind Vorach and being an unsettling presence before scaring the shit out of him.
 
Connie and Serafina talk for a good long while about nicknames and their homes before Connie helps Serafina settle a bunch of small inconsistencies in her shapeshifted form to make them appear more pleasing, and then the party settles in for the night. The morning brings us to the Second Air Moon, a new month! Just a little over 8 months left in the year. (16 days to a month, 16 months to a year, plus 1 day)
 
Zeal awakens with a wisdom saving throw, and he feels as though something in the world has changed, and he's not sure it's for the better. Anxious to get started, he hurries to the others' doors and knocks on them, but Vorach refuses to wake up early after completing a mission and Sidna isn't there to answer. Serafina seems content to get up when Connie does! Waiting only how long is sensible, Zeal moves to meet with the High Priestess and shares his foreboding feeling with her, and his suspicions that the troubles experienced int he north would make their way south.
 
Through a misunderstanding, Zeal slowly comes to know of the Ice Queen, a person whose title is not inherited through blood but is instead seemingly...given to them? This Ice Queen was originally to be captured with the relic we used to save Jingahar. Apparently the Ice Queen has an echo, who's like her but not quite. When the People first came, they met a powerful fae who introduced herself as the Queen of Summer, where her throne rose above all. She brought peace and prosperity.