The Ever Temple

General Summary

The party pushed their way into the stone tower.  

The area is dark, before you unwinds an unlit hallway, stretching onwards, sloping down into the earth. The hallway is lined with tattered tapestries, frail from age. The floor is caked in sand, grit, and dust, beneath which are carved stone tiles, seemingly made of the same sort of brick the tower itself was made of. Torch sconces line the hall at intervals, but none are lit.

  The party investigated inside. The tapestries on the left show the night sky, constelations occasionally repeated, stitched in silver thread against a deep black sky. The tapestries on the right show a rolling garden, seasonal plants interspersed with evergreen trees and bushes.

As you enter, you see a skeletal form slumped against the wall. The cool dry air has naturally mummified it, if imperfectly. It wears black roes, and the holy symbol of Adlet glitters in untarnished sliver on their chest.

The figure was clearly armed- it has several long knives at it's belt, and an old fashioned bow, it's string long snapped. The arrows and knives are tarnished and discolored. The robes are a frail, plain black make. Moving the figure will likely cause them to disintegrate.  

The corridor continues for 100 feet, leading to a circular chamber. The walls here are an intricate mosaic pattern, above the night sky, below the garden pattern. The garden seems to show the four season as it moves around the wall At the back is a plinth with an arrangement of plants that have long since died and dried. Several of the light stands have been knocked over, where once they held a bowl for a small fire.

  The party found deep gougemarks in the stone, hacked in seeminly at random. Their druid guide determined the plants were once evergreen brambles in different seasonal states; raspberries, blackberries, and gossberries.   The pattern of constellations depicted the changing of the night sky over the course of the year. Murtagh looked for when the time of year in the sky matched the time of year in the garden below, and there found a secret passage.  

From there, you descend a stone spiral staircase, narrow enough that you have to go in one by one. The stair circles round and round, far further than you thought. Step after step, down one story, then two, you lose count, When it open up, it is into a short hallway that seems to open in a larger, unlit room.

  Upon stepping on the landing, magical effect fizzles through the room, catching Tethrys. Bad luck decended on her.  

The larger room seems to have once been a common space. Several large tables with benches and stools take up the main space, and the walls to the left and right are lined with doors. The air is still, and clear. At one of the nearest stools, a black robed elf lies sprawled on a table top, face down. As you watch, a cup painfully, slowly rolls off the table, to fall on the floor with a hollow thunk. Beyond, there is an arch in the wall, leading forward. Here you can see the stone carved floor properly, without dust or grit, and you can see a small hourglass has been carved into each tile. The doors each lead to a small bedroom, with a stripped bed, a small chest, a night stand, and an hour glass. Each hour glass has run out.   Through the archway is clearly a kitchen. There are counters, cabinets, and two tubs of water. The kitchen is clean, almost sterile. There are more doors along the back wall, and one more on the right wall. The rooms along the back wall are more stripped bedrooms. The room along the right wall is a larger bedroom. There is a large, made bed, with a patched, quilted bedspread, a cabinet, and a desk with a leather bound ledger and an hourglass. The hourglass's top half is almost run out, but as you watch, it doesn't seem to ever run out. If you look close enough, you see some sand is moving back up to the top   From the kitchen, there is another stairway leading down.

  The black robed elf seemed fresh- and the lack of decay made the party suspicious. They spent time in the area, combing through the rooms, only to be startled by the hollow thunk again. They came out, to watch the cup vanish from it's spot on the floor, and reappear on the table, slowly rolling to the edge.   Tethrys ran around the rooms, flipping hour glasses and moving objects, but after a minute, the area would reset to it's original state. The group decided things were set in some sort of loop, preserving it's state.   The staircase forked, and the party took the left stairs, coming to the bottom floor.  

This floor is one large room, with a peaked roof, rounded. It is lit at it's roof, and soft yellow light shines down, illuminating everything. There is a door, sunken into the wall across from you. In back of the room is an alter, where an elf woman in plain brown robes is kneeling. You can hear her murmers echo off the stone walls, and you watch as she holds her hands out, over the alter, and the hour glass ontop of it. Beside you, at the other door, a black robed human stumbles forward. He looks around, eyes passing right over you, to lock onto the kneeling priest. In a heartbeat, the black robed human draws a bow and arrow, and fires.   The arrow shoots across the room, blooming from the priests chest. Her arms fall, the hourglass glows a bright yellow white light, and then she is kneeling there again, no arrow in her chest, still praying fervently.

  The party watched the scene play out several times, trying to figure out how to break the cycle without letting the priest die. The cycle lasted about a minute, and each time it played out in the same way. They finally positioned themselves to that they could crash into the black robed human and the elf priestess at the same time, causing the arrow to miss, and the sand in her hand to scatter across the alter, rather than fall into the open toped hour glass.   While the priestess just looked shocked and surprised, the black robbed person turned to immediately fighting Tethrys. After a brief scuffle, she kills the black robbed man, leaving the party alone with the priestess.   She was greatful for the party's help, introducing herself as Hycis Sylven, priestess of Lachesis. She thanks the party for their help, unsure what would have happened if they hasn't intervened.   Hycis was completely unaware of the time loop- from her perspective, she fled with her dear friend Stormwind, heard the assassins burst in, began her prayers for protection, and then the party burst in to save her.   Oh yes, Stormwind- he's being kept safely in a room behind the chapel, only able to be oppened by her holy symbol.   On hearing that, Tethrys insisted they meet him. Hycis cautiously agreed, and Stormwind was sitting comfortably in the small preperations room. After hearing the party's immediate questions, he peiced the time loop together quite quickly, and asked what year it actually was.   He mulled over the situation while they explained they needed Stormwind's Hammer. He pushed the staff into Tethrys's hands, saying "You have dark clouds in your heart- learn to use those winds, to let them truly storm, or they'll never leave you. We all deserve sunny skies, now and again." Before turning to the group.   Rather than be hunted down, again, he chose to leave the temple and give himself up- presumably the agents of the goddess Adlet, who abohores those who cheat death, will take more mercy on him giving himself. Moresoe than if they have to hunt him down again, anyway.   After leaving the room, the party followed after, but there was no sign of Stormwind left. Hycis took the party upstairs and made them a meal and chatted about the world now. She learned of the human colonization, and said she would reach out to other temples to Lachesis, so to resupply and rejoin the network of temples.

Rewards Granted

Stormwind's Hammerto Tethrys The Hammer of Storms is a tall stave with a hammer at it's top. Lightning bolts are carved into it's sides, like wings, and touching it feels like a slight static shock.

Missions/Quests Completed

COMPLETED: Finding Stormwind's Hammer