Episode 32
General Summary
After recovering from the challenge of Mortona , the party decide their next course of action. Atlas really wants that Sentinel Shield, and convinces the group that they can take down whatever golem is left to defend it - and he's right. Releasing the shield unleashes a Clay Golem, which the party easily defeat - destroying the construct before it has a chance to do anything. Before the fight, Weddy McDowel is escorted back up to Adonia's level, as her adventure into the ruins has come to an end.
Inserting the Staff of Gold into the elevator, the party move down to their next challenge. The lift opens up onto an incredibly large cavern, a stark contrast to the carved stone corridors of the previous floors. Before the party is a chequered section of floor. Each square has a number carved into it, seemingly in a random order. Peeking out of the darkness, the face of a gargantuan gold dragon emerges. The eyes of the dragon are clouded over, suggesting that the creature is possibly blind. The dragon poses a riddle to the party, they must form the path that leads to equality, in order to receive their reward.
Godric believes he has solved the riddle, and with an answer that actually sounds reasonable, he steps onto the first number. As he does so, he feels his coin purse lighten, as the equivalent number of gold vanishes to the number he stepped on. The party can hear a jingling deeper in the cavern, and Eva makes out with her devil's sight that there is a large pile of treasure that just got larger.
Unsure of whether he is on the right path, Godric continues onto the next number. As he does so, more gold is lost - multiplying the number of coins he lost previously by the new number. Godric presses on, eventually loosing all of his money and an enchanted crossbow. The dragon is amused by this, but offers little in the way of help.
Leah makes an attempt to cross, and gets to the other side without loosing too much money. The dragon sarcastically congratulates the eladrin on loosing some coin, but it seems the challenge has not been passed. With no other clues in the cavern, the party wrack their brains for what they know of Afflencia, and ask the dragon some questions about equality.
Running out of ideas, Leah wildshapes into a mole. The mole's blindness allows her to see the numbers on the floor change into letters. With this new revelation, the party are able to spell out 'Afflencia' on the board, and successfully cross to the other side.
The dragon congratulates the party for real this time, and offers them a new conundrum to consider. It seems they must each give up an item of value in order to proceed. The party each give up an item of personal value, and the dragon is sated. He provides the party with the Staff of Knowing, but seems suddenly perplexed - as if something strange is happening that he cannot explain.
As this happens, the air stirs with magic as a large stone tablet appears before the party. The dragon remarks that this has never happened before, and watches curiously.
The tablet is inscribed with ancient runes and symbols, but has the same phrase carved in many languages - "strike me with what creates and destroys, and let the truth unravel you"
With Leah's new affinity to fire, she doesn't hesitate to strike the tablet with a fire spell. As she does so, the party watch her space out for just a second, however, Leah watches as the tablet splits open, drawing her into a vortex of hidden knowledge - the truth.
Leah learns that 'Akai' means fire, and this temple belongs to Flarus, the fire titan who created intelligent life. Flarus shows Leah the truth of The Goddess. For millenia she has been destroying other goddesses - and gods - and erasing their memory from history. Some of the deities have died in battle, others have faded away as they lost followers. These visions pour into Leah's mind, becoming almost too much to bear. As the vortex comes to an end, Leah is shown an aerial view of Erfu. The vision pulls her in, eventually showing her a magical glaive/spear hidden in the city of elves.
As Leah emerges from her vision, she explains what she just witnessed but nobody is able to comprehend her. It seems one cannot understand the truth until they have witnessed it for themselves. One by one the party strike the tablet with fire, and witness the same visions. Each person is shown a different item however, all in different locations around the world.
Once everyone has witnessed the truth, the voice of Flarus speaks once more. He has shown the party items that they must gather, once they have all 7, he will reveal their purpose. To get them started, he will gift them with one of these items. A dagger drops to the ground, and is identified as Rule Breaker, the dagger once wielded by Medea.
The party take a moment to discuss what they just witnessed, as the weight of this new knowledge bares down on them. Remembering that they have a new staff, and that the elevator has more slots, the party insert the Staff of Knowing to see where it takes them.
They find themselves in a great library. An old scribe approaches them, welcoming the group to the challenge of Kain - the god of knowledge. The scribe realises that something is off, and surmises that the party have already seen the truth. Realising that his god is dead and the challenge is defunct, he gifts the party with a Mirror of the Past, which would have been used in the trial. Before Kain died, he protected this library with all his power, so that when his eventual demise came, it would not be erased from the history books. Knowledge must be preserved. With no other purpose for being there, the scribe gives his assistance to the party in finding whatever they may wish in the library.
Rewards Granted
Report Date
17 Jul 2020
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