Session 0012 - The Temple

General Summary

The Heretic are recouping from their recent battle with the Kobolds and Gnolls. Sken is busy stacking their bodies into a pile for some reason.

Verbena Feathertoes body is covered with a cloth; Tigeth lays himself over her body, refusing to move.

As they are gathering their supplies to continue their journey, The Heretic see Cuuthalion Strongbow riding towards them, accompanied by a very large Goliath Barbarian named Mogoth Limbtwister Konakali.

Matteau Ravenwing is confused why Cuuthalion would approach them and becomes suspicous.

He and Cuuthalion have a heated exchange after which Matteu backs down and watches her silently instead (especially since he well knows that she is a very powerful druid that could easily destroy him).

Mogoth introduces himself and tells The Heretic that he was sent by Keesha Knight to join them.

Mogoth's father wanted him to gain worldly experience to eventually return with valuable skills to grow and protect their village.

The Heretic readily agree to let him accompany them for sure, partially due to his incredible size, but mostly because he was referred by Keesha.

Cuuthalion likewise asks to join The Heretic to accompany them on their next leg of their journey; no-one objects to this request either.

The Heretic gather their supplies and horses and head eastward. By sunset, they reach the village of Blüm, where they decide to stay the night at the Welcome Wench, refreshing themselves, their mounts, and their supplies.

During dinner, Orianna asks the dwarven waitess if she knows of or has heard of The Children of Karja Tal. The waitress is clearly distressed at the question and adamantly denies any such knowledge, then quickly disappears off into the kitchen, making herself as scarce as possible.

During dinner, Cuuthalion reveals her true identity as Cathlynn Strongbow. Cathlynn explains that she was brought back to life by the Fey under the conditions that she retrieve a charm bracelet that belongs to Verenestra. Verenestra believes the bracelet to have been stolen and the bracelet is very special to her.

Orianna waits a bit and approaches the waitress after dinner near the bar of the Welcome Wench. She still denies any knowledge of anything; as she is saying this, her eyes dart around the room, presumably looking for any eavesdroppers. Orianna asks that she come to her should she hear of anything, then she, along with the rest of The Heretic, retire for the evening to their rooms.

A short while after everyone settles into their rooms, housekeeping knocks on Orianna's door. The maid at the door introduces herself as the daughter of the waitress, and then gives Orianna a set of fresh towels for their stay. Orianna asks her if she has heard anything about The Children of Karja Tal. The maid emphatically says "no", while theatrically nodding her head "yes". She then taps her finger on the corner of a letter that is embedded within the stack of towels before dismissing herself from the room.

The letter is written in the Infernal language, thus only Orianna is the only of The Heretic that can read it. The note says "you are on the right track... keep heading east ... follow the road to the end and keep going.. you can't miss it".

The next morning, Orianna reads the note to the rest of The Heretic over breakfast. Afterwards, The Heretic head eastward and follow the directions of the note.

Approximately 6 hours later, at the end of the road, The Heretic see a large, looming, black temple at the base of The Parched Mountains. A storm has gathered near the crest of the mountain directly behind the temple; many of the clouds forming there roll down the slope of the mountain and seemingly into the rear of the temple.

As The Heretic are deciding how and from what direction to approach the Temple, Matteu spots a hand waving at him from the inside of a bush. Matteu approaches the bush and out pops Melek. She explains that Keesha had gone into the Temple after accepting the challenge of a Dark Paladin to a duel. Melek explains that she left 2 days prior, and that she was charged to stand guard to report if/when/how many children she sees going into the temple. At this point, she has only seen one cart, filled with 27 living children and 3 dead children.

The Heretic decide to leave their mounts with Melek and ask that Benneth stay with Melek as well. Benneth agrees, but he's not happy about it. The Heretic then proceed to the Temple on foot, which at this point, is approximately 2 miles away. As they approach, they decide to enter directly through the front gate and attempt to go throught the main doors.

Matteu approaches the door to see whether it's trapped or not. He isn't able to discern it one way or the other. He and the rest of The Heretic notice a set of glyphs that are carved into the door. Of the entire party, Matteu is the only one that is able to look upon these glyphs. The rest of The Heretic can not bear to even look up on these glyphs, much less approach them. Because of this, the party decides to look for another way in.

They circle the entire Temple and upon reaching the front doors again, they decide to try and enter through the eastern temple door. Once again, Matteu tries to see if the door is trapped. He is once again unsuccessful at being able to discern that one way or the other. He does see that the door has a cross-bar on the other side of the door that is keeping the door locked.

Mogoth volunteers to try and bash in the door. After three attempts he gives up.

The party walk towards a cathedral window just to the north of this door. Matteu throws a rock through the window, the entire window breaking from the strike (due to the extreme age and brittleness of the window). The window sill is 2 meters from the ground, so Sken flies up and through the window, and into the Temple. He then goes to the door that Mogoth was attempting to break down, lifts the cross-bar, and lets the rest of the party in.

The Heretic walk from the entry-way into the temple beyond. They note just how large the temple is and that it appears to be much larger on the inside than they see from the outside. The cathedral vaults 10 meters above them and the main cathedral is filled with 5 meter wide columns that reach all the way to the top.