Report: The Doomed Temple

General Summary

It was with mixed emotions that I set out with my friends to the First Temple.
  Our journey was important, we were building a town, a home within the Bastion, a former fortress of the Torovians. It was coming along, its walls and gate built up to protect us, and we’d wasted no time in building up a proper Shrine within, to show everyone what true faith in Celestine meant, someday. But, we could not ignore that the Bastion sat at the mouth of a network of Caves and tunnels, the breadth of which we did not yet understand. We were building upon the husk of a once complex civilization, understanding and Securing what surrounded us would be necessary to our safety.

However, the belief in our journey didn’t help shake the feelings I had returning to the site of one of my greatest failures. Where I let a friend die. It didn’t help that the Boss was being a real crank about the whole thing, going on about how the whole thing was an unnecessary risk. He’s smart, but sometimes I don’t understand his priorities.

We set out Northeast of Gravesend. We knew there were other ways into the Torovian’s caves, not the least of which was right through Bastion itself, but part of our mission was to understand the other entrances to the ancient map we’d secured in Malaster. It wasn’t the clearest, Torovian Cartographers were apparently not as revered as their mages.

When the ruins of the temple came into view there was a tightness in my chest as memories flooded back to me. My Old Man would have been disappointed I couldn’t reign that in, “Breath” He’d say. Well, I was breathing, but it wasn’t helping. I distracted myself with calming down Spooks, he had a history here too, and guided the others who lacked our experience at the ruins into the opening that lead to the magically barred our last visit here had ended at.

Of course, last time we didn’t have the Boss. He set right to work examining the door. He may have been antsy about the mission, but he was like a kid in a candy store when it came to a lock that needed picking. As it turned out, it was magic and the Kid actually had the key. A few hand waves and a quick prayer and the runes of the door dulled and faded, the magic locking it dispelled. And with that, we were in. I did my best not to chuckle as the Kid glowed with excitement as his accomplishment in opening the door, oblivious to the look on the bosses face, clearly annoyed the kid had cut his little puzzle short.

The tunnels ahead of us were dark and narrow and it was then I learned something about Aunty Bee I didn’t know. She didn’t like the dark. I could have sworn we’d just gone into tunnels together recently, but then, she’d been motivated by a big bee then, and I’d been distracted by lots of little ones and their pointy butts. After some conferring we all agreed she could stand guard at the entrance, watching our back and keeping an eye on the mounts, specifically Spooks. She gave us some of her bee’s honey, that had impressive restorative properties, which almost made up for how mean they were.

It was about two hours of dark and narrow tunnels, traveling ever so slightly down before the caves opened up, and before us the grander of what the Torovians had built down here began to become evident. Before us was a massive, fortified wall. Its construction nearly made one forget they were underground. Nearly. The gate at its center was wrecked, an assault had obviously taken place here, and by the looks of it, a successful one. My thoughts went immediately to the Army of Light, but that was just me making assumptions. Old Man V had warned me about that.

We didn’t have long to think about it though, as a wave of dead, but not dead creatures started pouring out from the demolished gate. The creepy things crawled over, around and through the rubble of the wall. None of us were surprised by the onslaught of the walking dead, and that in itself surprised me for a moment. How things had changed since I’d left the streets of Malaster.

I shrugged, my life was nearly unrecognizable from my days shaking down thugs in the streets, but damn if I wasn’t happier for it. “For Celestine,” I said to myself, gripping the sword in my right left hand a bit tighter, “Here we go Flame.” The unnatural chill wafting in like a cloud tethered to the walking dead was lifted for a moment as the spirit of the great wolf burst forth from my sword in a display of warming flames. “Stay behind me Kid!” I yelled back as I ran forward to meet the advancing enemy. My smirk grew as Flame cut into the first of the monsters, its dry skin pealing away from yellow bone as flames jumped from the blade cutting into its hip. I continued my assault by driving the end of my right hand stick into its brittle forehead, shifting my feet and anglng my hips to push it out to my left, knowing well that Boss was making short work of those to my right.

I ducked instinctively as a bead of warm light sped overhead, then smiled as I realized what it was, I leaned into my next swing driving the shambling corpse before me over a piece of low rubble which I promptly took cover behind just as a wave of heat washed over me. The Kid’s fireball made short work of the dead that poured through the destroyed gate, then it was just about a little cleanup.

Amongst the more, fragile, dead things there were some cultist like beings that seemed to be operating at a higher level than the rest, wielding some level of darker magic, possibly something akin to Pales field, of course, they didn’t do it as well, thankfully. The Boss, never one to miss the details, had taken notice of these ‘problems’ early on and had set his focus on them specifically. I’d have felt bad for them, if they weren’t ya know, dead.

As I worked to catch up with the boss as he pushed into the remaining undead, picking off the magic wield stragglers I noticed our mistake just a moment to late as one of the cultist like creatures made to rush the Kid. My heart dropped as I thought I’d done it again, gotten cocky and left another of my friends exposed.

the Boss, cool as he was, didn’t let something like guilt slow him down as he took the length of the fortified wall In a dead sprint, looking to correct our ‘tactically ill-advised battlefield positioning.’ He moved across the old wall with agility that the monks would have been jealous of… if they got jealous. Unfortunately the old wall was not as sure footed as the boss, and as he made to leap from the ruined edge, attempting to strike the cultist barring down on the Kid from above, which was a an awesome move, the stone gave out beneath him. I flinched, grimacing as I reached out in his direction, trying in vain to help avert the disaster unfolding before me.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I saw a whisp of golden flames wrap around the falling elf, the visage of our Faith’s first true champion correcting the Boss’s crooked decent in time to see the sword once wielded by a god sink into the back of the undead things neck. I reached to the wooden mask at my side, touching it lightly as I whispered a light thanks to the spirit and the god that allowed the connection I was still unfamiliar with but oh so thankful for.

Danger behind us for the moment we gathered ourselves and pushed ahead through the ruined gate. More tunnels met us and so we trudged along, taking a fork to the right after consulting our Torovian crafted map. It was good to see things lining up, we may actually be where we thought we were. After about an hour we noticed something, a case on the ground. By miraculous happen stance it was a map. Mosstown. Exactly where we hoped to be heading. Unfurling the parchment revealed far more than I had expected. A massive cave with an entire town, larger than Gravesend held within. We studied it for a time, laying out our plans. It was more than we’d be able to tackle on this day, so we prioritized. The Temple.

In the back of the town was a marked temple, and the Kid and I agreed we needed to check it out. Beyond securing all possible entrances to Bastion, I’d wanted to know more of the Torovian’s history with the gods. It was in one of their temple I first found the truth of the Pantheon. Five gods, not just one, like the Empire would have us believe. Even if she was the best one, it was good to know the truth of the others, and I wanted to know more.

We planned our path to the temple, we’d stay left of the large quarry in the town, heading towards its northern most edge which appeared to have another entrance, which could serve as an exit in an emergency. Gloria confirmed this for us and we set out.

We moved as quietly as we could across town, avoiding the swarms of meandering dead along the way. The Boss was obviously frustrated by our slow progress as he constantly stopped to wait for the Kid and I as we took our time, careful not to make any noise as we worked our way through the allies of the dead civilization. The Boss can be a real conundrum sometimes, resistant to the whole mission as it was an “unnecessary risk” yet constantly giving Me and the Kid shit about being careful.

‘He could use some time with my Old Man and his never-ending lessons on patience.’ I though to myself, a soft chuckly escaping my lips, which earned me a sharp look from the Boss.

We passed by a mansion of some note on the map, only later realizing it was named the residence of the torovian archmage himself, likely somewhere we should have looked into. No matter, we’d be back.

Our first stop was a green house of sorts it seemed. A real head scratcher, what with being underground and all. Looking about the place it was filled with these reddish plants. Weird looking things. We figured we may be able to find something of interest, potions, maybe some artifacts, it was worth a look see. I was the first to enter, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I would however have liked to give a second thought to touching that red plant as I watched the red color seemingly crawl up my outstretched ax and slime its way into my body. Why do I never learn. I froze for a moment, my senses turned inwards, trying to understand what just happened, what had crawled into me. But after a second I shook my head and shrugged, giving a thumbs up to the others as I couldn’t find anything wrong.

“I think I’m all good.” I called back.

“Well then lets get out of here”, the Boss called back. “I have no interest in whatever just happened to you, happening to me, and I dobut its ‘all good’.”

To which I responded by promptly wretching as my guts twisted in on themselves.

I’ll never be able to truly express how happy I am to travel with the Kid. A fact I yet again realized as my guts calmed their writhing, the last words of a diving prayer of restoration on the Kids lips. It was as the awful burning feeling within me departed that a slime like creature literally departed my body, an experience I can’t quite put into words.

The Boss was not as shaken, and promptly flattened the squishy thing, a look of greater undeeerstanding in his eyes as he changed his tune, and turned his gaze across the gardens, to the storehouse beyond. “On second thought lets press on, and see what we can’t find. Jene, if you would, perhaps point some of your divine fire in the direction of some of these rather vile plants, I believe we will find our path without issue.

Understanding the problem before us we made good time and were pillaging the wares of the storehouse in no time. It wasn’t particularly interesting, a couple odds and ends, mostly things Pat would find interesting, so we pressed on.

Next was the potions shop of sorts, as noted on the map.

After our experience at the gardens, my skin still crawled at the memory, we went into the shop with a much higher level of caution. We very quickly decided this was not a problem for us. Patrick Perhaps, but not us. There seemed to be some level of half brewed potions, but no indication as to what they would or could be if finished.

“Nah,” I declared, throwing up a hand and turning back towards the door. “This is Pat stuff.” Ryth looked over his shoulder from his position in the shop, hunched over a bowl, carefully studying the aging contents. He watched as Stiks itched at his arm unconsciously and stood. A quick glance to Jene who shared a knowing nod and they followed the monk out the door.

A quick study of the map revealed the next stop to be the Armory. I couldn’t help but rub my hands together in anticipation. Finally, something interesting. I wouldn’t consider myself a very material person, Old Man V certainly wouldn’t approve of such worldly greed. But, with the enemies we’d been facing, a counterpart to Flame would not be unappreciated.

My eagerness faultered again as we opened the door to the unguarded Armory. The phantom itch on my arm left no doubt why, and I shook the fear from my head. The hesitation however was long enough for Boss to step in ahead of me, his elven eyes cutting the gloom in a way that made me rather envious as I adjusted the clunky goggles I wore to imitate the same.

We crept in, growing more weary with each step we took into this forsaken mossy town. At first it seemed we were over cautious. As we turned the last corner of the hall like antechamber with no hostile contact, I made the mistake of loosening my grip and relaxing my shoulders. Just as a I turned back to tell the Kid it looked safe, I watched as his relieved smirk turned to a mix of fear and confusion as an unseen force threw him backwards against the armory wall with terrifying force, his head cracking off the cold stone wall. The wrenching in my gut at the sight was one I’d not felt since I watched a ceiling fall on the emaciated form of the Knight of Flowers and that feeling fueled my steps as I leapt forward, swinging with abandon at where the beast once stood, or slithered, or whatever the thing might have been doing.

There was no relief from the twist of my stomach as Flame cut through the air uselessly, finding no purchase on the invisible foe, trails of wisping flame mocking me in my weakness as I looked back to check on the battered form of the Kid.

But the young priest was not useless as I was in that moment. Gritting his teeth, a speck of blood on the corner of his mouth he mouthed a prayer to Celestine and with a crack brought the butt of his staff down. With a flash of holy light a wave emanated from him and answering it, an unholy growl. It was Boss that saw that noticed it first, the wave of Celestines light had stolen from the beast it’s shroud and he wasted no time taking the afforded opportunity. His sword bit home, its dark flames dancing across the beings form, but as they flickered away, so too did the nightmarish thing, it’s gloom like cover again stealing it from our sight. We all readied ourselves, awaiting another opportunity. The pause was eerily quiet as we peered through the dark room uselessly. It seemed to drag on for an eternity until a wet cough from Jene bled into the silence. And then the quiet was over, as from the darkness a full weapon wrack hurtled towards the Kid.

This time I was ready and reached out towards him, reaching deep within my faith for all those I care for. The rusty weapons clattered all about the priest, waves of dancing white flame dispersing the projectile about him, though not leaving him entirely unscathed.

I turned back to the direction from where the rack came and ran in headlong. A tendency the Old Man never approved, but one I had yet to shake. I didn’t care in that moment however, for there was only one thing on my mind. As I reached within my own soul, my desire to protect my friends serving as a bridge to the shackled Celestine as I channeled her light through my hands, the amulet of Venatos pulsing about my neck as Flame glowed with a light stronger than any worldly flame. And within that light, the image of the foul thing that hunted us showed through, and so I watched as my sword sank into its chest.

There was no more excitement in the armory after that, save for a helm that the Boss found that pulsed with a powerful magic.

“I’ll…hold on to this.” He said, a wonder in his eyes not unfamiliar to me. He did like his things.

With that we turned to the Temple, wearier still of this cursed town of moss. We made short work of a group of shambling dead that had gathered before our goal, and by we I mean the Boss. Again I was glad to call him a friend as I watched him waggle his fingers, a spell on his lips as I watched the dead pulled into a crushing dark hole he’d conjured amongst them.

And with that we stood before the Temple, and again were reminded of how little we truly understood of the Gods. At the entrance to the place stood 5 statues, much like that at the First Temple that had started so much of this for me.

One statue, a hooded figure with a face obscured, Arcanus of course. I still am not sure if I like him. To his right a bearded elf with what appeared to be goat feet. Sindar, and again it occurred to me how odd it was that he seemed to be in a battle alone against a foe capable of consuming our whole world and yet this did not seem to bother anyone. Next was a Horned man with a forked tail and a sharp nose, Baelfury, not sure what Celestine saw in him honestly. She of course was next, a glorious sight, great wings furled about her, no shackles to bind her here. Finally Ro, depicted as an armored rider atop of great horse. She had both her hands, so that was good.

The statues were all arranged about a central dias, and on it a raised bowl. The Boss called it a Plantiff or something, looked like a bowl to me. Around the bowl were a series of tiles, confusingly arranged. The Boss and Kid went about moving them, claiming they seemed to be some kind of puzzle. I don’t really understand why the Torovians always felt the need to involve puzzles in their worship, not like the gods weren’t difficult enough as it was. But my interest was peaked when I realized I knew this puzzle. Pulling the locked tome from about my shoulder I flipped through the pages and found my notes from the First Temple, which had borne the same words, aspects of the Pantheon.

Thanks to my brilliance we made quick work of the thing and they locked in, glowing. This reminded me of the strange puzzle box I had in my pack, which thinking about it had the same aspects inscribed. Didn’t seem to matter in the moment, but interesting all the same. It was uncertain what the puzzle had accomplished, so I set my sights on the task ahead, the temple itself. As the Boss and I moved towards the door I looked back in time to see the Kid, atop the dias, place his sacred holy symbol in the bowl and saw in his eyes the surprise as it glowed and vanished.

I stopped and turned back, at first concerned. I knew what that thing meant to the Kid. But what I saw in his face was not sorrow, but hope.

“It’s gone to her.” He said.

“Huh?” He really needed to elaborate.

“This is a bridge to Celestine, I sent her my holy symbol. I hope it can aide her there.”

“Wait, how do you know it went to her?”

“I thought of her, and placed it there, and it went, to her.”

“Fool proof logic.” The Boss muttered. “Come on, we can’t stay out here in the open long. There will be other wandering dead in time.”

I just nodded and stood staring at the bowl as Jene jumped off, following Ryth’s request. My mind wandered for a moment to Celestine, thinking of what the Kid had said. My hand went to the amulet at my neck, but doubt circled my mind, for as I thought of the amulet, I thought of someone else. I reached to my hand and pulled off a plain ring, and after a moment of hesitation dropped Virgil’s lost ring in the bowl. Just as it had with the Kid the bowl flashed and then was empty. I smiled, a manifestation of my desperation for some hope. I followed the others to the temple.

What the hell had the Torovian’s done to themselves?

It was a different world we walked into. It seemed as if someone had forgotten to tell the Torovian’s they were dead, as we took in the lively church mass before us. A choir of the dead hit notes no living larynx could fathom.

“Hurts the soul a bit doesn’t it?” I said to the Kid, a smirk on my face that flickered to a grimace as the voices of the group hit a particularly awful pitch.

“Perhaps more than that.” The Kid responded, his fingers coming away from his ear, red with blood.

“Don’t linger!” The Boss’s curt tone cut in. “Strike quickly, look, they’ve noticed us and are making for the central dias. I doubt we want to find out what happens if they fortify there!”

“Right,” I called back, already making my way up the aisle between the aisle of dusty pews, flames licking behind me as Flame burst to life in my left hand.

What followed was swift. My mind wandered to the blessing we’d received from Celestine at the ring of the Pantheon outside the church. Chained she may be, but her fury could never be caged as long as her faithful could be her hands. Day after day the Old Man’s words started to make more and more sense to me. If only the ignorant youth of a runaway I once was could see me now.

A few pews away the Boss’s arm came across and the rotting head of a dead choirboy fell to the ground. It was as if he’d chopped the grotesque head off with his hand, those shadow blades of his were so hard to follow in the dim light.

Behind me the Kid let out a slight yelp as a strange animal like spirit formed before him. It’s aura seemed vaguely similar to that of the god like animal spirits of the Runidiri, but more sickly. I took a step back his way, thinking to go help him, but thought twice as a glistening sword of flowing light materialized between him and the beast. He could hold his own, I’d go to the source.

Which was around here somewhere.

And yes there it was, a priest like dead standing on the dias in a circle of runes, that I recognized vaguely from various depictions of the pantheon we’d seen before. He seemed to be casting something and, yeah, okay this must be a runic circle to Sindar, that explained the weird spirit beast.

I planted my foot and sprung forward, three steps later I felt the strangely cold and gooey slime that once constituted blood in this long dead priest. Flame burned hungrily poking out the back of the beings husk. I let it sluff to the ground and turned about in time to see the Kid’s divine sword rend the sickly spirit before him in two. Finally, the cold hall of the church was blissfully quiet, though my ears still rang.

From the side of the great hall the Boss called to us. “Over here, there’s a room, seems to be locked but there’s an inscription, one you two may have better luck with.”

We both made our way over to his location and together read the tablet he pointed out.

‘Only the faithful may enter, recite the 5 prayers to enter.’

I looked to the Kid and shrugged. However Jene had recalled a damaged prayer book that we had found earlier in the temple vestibule. Although it took some guess work, we were able to figure out the missing text through context clues, and were able to recite it accurately. Doing so opened a secret chamber, not unlike the one found in the ruined temple near Lochwood, which contained a wealth of gold and a Torovian artifact. It was at this point we thought it best to take what we had found and learned, and make sure that it made it back to Gravesend. We were able to sneak through the shadows back to the entrance without much fuss. 

I took one look back at what was probably once a bustling little underground town of folks, not unlike Gravesend, and shuddered to think of the fate that befell those here. What in the world could have caused this torment unto so many? It is something I hope we one day learn, although I have a bad feeling about what it may be.

-Scribed by Lux Abscandi

Adventuring Party: Stiks, Ryth, Jene

Date: 24NOV22

Report Date

27 Nov 2022