With their most difficult journey ahead of them, the Guardians of Golarion spent one final day in
Iadara to pick up a few remaining items, get a good night's sleep, and have a fine meal as a reminder of what they were saving.
Chakos took
Reh aside for tea inside the pyramoid. He showed her the grey skies within the demiplane and how the darkness was slowly claiming it. A blue glow filled the sky that Reh recognized as one of the focus glyphs described in
Lasdolon's notes. Chakos had no idea what it meant, only that Lasdolon had infected the demiplane with his void corruption. That corruption was slowly erasing his world. He wasn't sure what would happen to him if the demiplane failed to exist, as he was so bound to it. He hoped that he would have time to find a way to undo the damage at some point, once they had saved the world.
Queen Telandia greeted the Guardians the next day and presented them with Scrolls of Wind Walking. They would use the scrolls to follow the Pathfinder's map, starting with the aiudara in
Siavenian. From there they would make the 900 mile journey to
Orv, ending their journey fifteen hours later in the
Land of Black Blood at the
Shrine of Bound Earth. Once there, they could speak to the earth genie
Haiten Bhaq and hopefully, she could provide them with helpful information.
Under the Wind Walking spell effect, the Guardians quickly made their way to Siavenian. They were forced to materialize to use the elf gate there. Guards quickly confronted the group. Reh tried to reason with them but
Telith Nordhof threatened them with the unholy wrath of Iomedae and they all backed off.
Boswo, the wizard apprentice of
Lord Villastir came to the aiudara to see what was going on. He panicked when he saw the Guardians but did not flee. He confessed that he did not know who Lord Villastir was associated with, and did not know where he had fled to. Boswo was simply living in the man's abandoned home, taking care of the people of Siavenian. Reh wished him good luck and the Guardians stepped into the darkness.
Once they arrived in the pitch black of the Darklands,
Rooker Shango's tracking skills took over. He followed the map and led the Guardians through the shadows. After a long day and multiple casting of various spells, the Guardians arrived at the Shrine of Bound Earth. They entered the shrine and found two dead drow, followed by the sound of combat in the next room.
Following the sounds, the Guardians found the earth genie
Haiten Bhaq engaged in combat with six members of the assassins from the Circle of Shadows. The Guardians killed five of the assassins, but the sixth one was able to teleport away. Once the dust had settled and healing had been completed, the heroes were finally able to speak with Haiten. They presented her with the flawless emerald and asked for any information she might have had about Lasdolon.
Haiten examined the stone, smiled, and backed away from the party. She told the Guardians that she knew of Lasdolon. She felt his magics corrupting the stone of the Land of Black Blood. Haiten was aware of his magical glyphs - the master glyph and the focus glyphs which protected it. She was aware that the first of the earthfall glyphs was located in the
Livid Sanctum, hundreds of miles to the west in the
Hanging Forest.
As the party decided what to do next, Rooker's
Detect Scrying spell went off. He was unable to discover who had scried on them, but with one of the assassins missing, it was decided that Lasdolon was the most likely suspect. Their suspicions were verified when a blue rune, the same one Reh saw inside the pyramoid, appeared on Chakos' chest. Seconds later, a projected image of Lasdolon appeared before them.
Lasdolon smiled and thanked them for coming by to visit. However, he was very busy as they might imagine, so he did not have time for them. Through the projected image Lasdolon was able to cast a spell on Telith. The cleric of Iomedae felt himself being drawn to a land of searing heat and recognized it as the Plane of Fire. Drawing on his faith, Telith was able to avoid the effects of the
Plane Shift spell.
The image vanished as well, leaving the Guardians of Golarion wondering what to do next.
