Medea's Guild report - 0.4.26 agf

The Rightful Owners

Medea here. I'm writing this report 40 minutes after Miko and Mitne walked into a shrine inside this temple. They have not yet emerged. We tried to go in after them after the first twenty minutes elapsed but were repelled. I don't know what's happening. Miko seemed…less than happy with how things here transpired. I fear we are in danger. Nay, I fear Elanora as a whole is in danger. Mylmar has gone quiet. Edith and Tathar are trying to comfort the Forgotten. Layla and Pond are trying to find a way out. I am unsure if this report will find its way to the guild but if it does (and if we don't) please let it explain what happened.

A month prior I came across a mysterious chest while on a different expedition. This chest was stolen from its people, and the criminals responsible were cursed with eternal pain and undeath. The chest…spoke to us. Asked us to return it to its people. Outside Lanzsig. I took it with me with the intent of returning it. A lot happened in the meantime. Blight. Undead visitors. The entire world around us becoming a death zone. It's easy to understand why returning it wasn't at the forefront of my mind. I was suddenly reminded through a bad dream and knew right away it needed to happen at once.
A small team from the guild travelled to Lanzsig, robbed and then attempted to radicalise a local, and then with information acquired from him travelled on to what I can only assume is a temple. It's outside appearance did not match its interior. It looked like a dishevelled shack, shrouded in shadow, but inside was a massive dark stone-paved chamber. High ceilings supported by massive columns, an entry chamber to the seven arched doorways that led out of this room.
We were not alone in this temple. 4 cloaked figures, never revealing their full form, dwelled here. They claimed to be cursed by one of 7 this temple was built to. An entire race reduced to 5. Their forms disfigured. Their people forgotten. Their souls trapped. The chest in their possession once more was opened to produce a 5th figure, identical to the ones before us, seemingly trapped inside. These people seemed sad. Hurt. It was not right that they had been cursed so, and we took it upon ourselves to right that wrong.
The party split up and investigated the chambers one by one. Miko seemed to recognise the symbols here, and quickly identified this as a temple to the Dark Pantheon. One of the seven, the shrine to the Sleeping King, was entered into by Pond and Mylmar. Realising that awakening the King led to catastrophic events, they concluded that the erasure of these people must be a result of that. Without wasting much time, Mylmar reached out to the Sleeping King.
A brief conversation revealed that these people had been wiped out by his awakening, but before Mylmar could find out more, he was forcibly dragged out of the chamber by the rest of the party. It only lasted 20 seconds, but it was enough to disturb his slumber. A being whose sleep holds back nightmare portals that could spell ruin for the world as a whole. Miko was furious, but did not have enough time to lecture Mylmar before otherworldly horrors entered the chamber.
A short fight ensued, though an outside force seemed to take pity on us, and the combatants retreated after their leader was defeated, not before hurting us greatly.
Realising the severity of our circumstance, the remaining chambers were immediately searched, Miko relaying who each belonged to. Maybe something could be found here to quell the flames caused by the awakening.
Miko and Mitne entered the last chamber. The shrine to Auxum, the Smiling Devil. A god who deals in contracts and favours. They are still there now. Something has happened. I am unsure if that is a sign of promise or downfall, but I suppose time will tell…
Continued in The Deal of the Century - 1