Session 25: The Enemy Within
Brussendar 12. Catha is in its first quarter.
General Summary
The Musty Centaurs are on a quest to bring the Jewel of Three Prayers, a relic of The Calamity known as a Vestige of Divergence, to the "Heart of Avandra" deep within an evil temple known as the Betrayers' Rise. In so doing they are following the call of a mysterious figure named Alyxian, who spoke to them in a vision. Strange carvings within the temple seem to imply that Alyxian may in fact be the champion of the Prime Deities known to legend as the Apotheon.
Having explored deep within the temple, our heroes stumbled upon a gruesome statue that represented Torog, the Crawling King: a man on his knees, bound in hooked chains, who wailed endlessly at his torment. Although the others were able to resist its pull, the voice instilled with Gorem a terrible appetite for blood and as he fought for control of his own mind, he began to lash out violently at his companions. Thus began a tense and frantic effort to trigger the mechanism that would allow escape from the horrifying chamber. In the process, Plundertooth knocked Gorem unconscious not once, but twice, and the the feisty kobold was himself knocked unconscious by Gorem before it was over.
Dragging the unconscious half-orc with them through a series of dark passageways whose geometry defied logic, the companions at last emerged in an altogether cheerier space: a brightly lit cavern nearly entirely occupied by a crater made of glowing amber, with an altar made of the same crystalline material at its centre. Surrounding the altar were a few traces of a different mineral, Ruidium, the same material that had been found at the secret shrine to Sehanine, the Moonweaver in Jigow.
In his unconscious state, Gorem continued to grapple with the curse laid upon his soul, as the incessant urge to kill was replaced by a torrent of noise that coalesced into a threatening scream:
"Changebringer! Your luck shall not hold!"But here, in the sheltering embrace of what you gather to be Avandra, the Changebringer's lingering presence, the voice became silent as the curse of the Crawling King was dispelled.
Missions/Quests Completed
Reached "the heart of Avandra."
