2/25/214 - Report of Walter Lefkaris
General Summary
We returned to the Temple of Selune and entered through the same side entrance as before. We continued our bug hunt from Need's room. We slew many Bugs before coming across the large hive leader. It was during this time that Homash was seemingly possessed by something. He asked us if we heard anything and then ran off while we were fighting the bugs. He came back with these Spectral Warriors who, combined with us, proceeded to slaughter all the bugs. We destroyed the next with Grenades but our struggle was far from done.
The ghostly warriors were the men who sacked the temple and raped and slaughtered the priestesses. Need, the spirit of the smithy's apprentice, had imprisoned their spirits in this place as an eternal torture for them. The souls of the warriors said they know what they did was wrong and wished to atone for their crimes. They believed they had suffered long enough and asked for release. Need said no. She would not let them go and asked us to re-imprison them. The warriors of Zarus and Homash then attempted to take Need and remove it from the temple to take away her power. Need manifested into a powerful spectral warrior herself and everything went to shit. The Party itself was divided between the two sides as battle was joined between the warriors and Need. Stigr was running and shooting everywhere. Vadim was doing... whatever Vadim does. I do not remember what he was doing in the chaos. Need nearly cleaved Homash in half and Iskender was fighting against the warriors. Someone was going to die if cooler heads did not prevail. Petra and I attempted to get Need to see reason. It turns out both Need and the warriors of Zarus all strayed from the path of their respective Gods and did what they did on their own.
Petra appealed to Need's history, which she knew better than I. I appealed to Need using her own words. I suggested that the ghostly warriors would face a more true punishment if they were to wander the world fighting injustice against women. Need asked who would be their keeper and I said the wielder of the sword. Petra told Need about Marcella and her loss to the Slaadi. She said the warriors could attain penance through fighting with the sword's wielder. Need clearly thought I was a mediocre man and wouldn't listen to me. But Petra, silver-tongued Petra, took my advice and convinced Need to believe it. The warriors agreed to the bargain as well and peace was made... for now. We resolved to put the Ghosts of Selune's priestesses to rest and clear this temple. We would then get the sword to Marcella to begin the bargain.
We moved through the temple and plugged our ears with melted wax so that we would not hear the Banshee screams. We encountered them and laid them to rest. Though I had some difficulty casting my spells not being able to hear myself. We investigated their quarters and found a painting depicting the woman in her three life (and Moon) stages. Red is maiden, brown is mother, grey is the crone. Perhaps the three paintings must have the moon's light hit all three at the same time? Which would either be at a very specific time or we'd have to use mirrors to redirect the moonlight. We encountered the last of the ghosts and laid them to rest and the temple felt more at ease in the silence. We found a storage room that contained 4 bottles of spoiled sacremental wine and 12 finely carved wooden icons depicting the goddess in her various life stages. We also found a box of fine silver platters. Iskender really wanted the silver platters.
We elected to wait until nightfall to shine the moonlight on the paintings. It worked and a hidden door revealed itself. We saw a perfectly smooth spherical white gem. Petra said it was a Gem of Brightness. We took the loot and went home.
Rewards Granted
1817 XP
Created Content
Report Date
12 Jun 2023
Primary Location
Comments