Session 42: Temple of Light and Order

General Summary

Last of the Hellige Riddere

33rd of Wintercrest 22nd year of the Second Era
Meara lit up her hair at the sounds of shattering stone and the sight of glowing blue eyes peering at them from the dark. Undead Knights of the Hellige Riddere advanced on them, and Meara cast her ethereal trap, which two of the knights became stuck in. With the knights kept at a distance, the party easily destroyed them.
Once the danger was gone, they searched the room and determined that the 4 light pillars had to be aimed at four smaller pillars which guided the light through groves in the floor to a door at the far end of the chamber. A small sphere made of the same translucent rock had fallen out of one of the knights hen it was destroyed, and when placed in the door completed the circuit and unsealed the door.
After following a twisting cave that led them deeper underground, they found themselves in a long narrow chamber with an underground stream and a waterfall. The beam of light from the earlier parts of the temple continued through the chamber, but they discovered they once again had to manipulate the light to gain access to a tunnel leading behind the waterfall.
Once they had reached it, they waded up a waist deep river following the beam of light. As they got deeper in the tunnel they noticed that the river and the beam began to spiral together. Walking farther in, they felt the conflicting sources of gravity as they walked up the wall, and onto the ceiling. Fortunately they were able to overcome their disorientation until they were swimming rather than wading, and after a few moments they emerged from a small pond in a dark chamber with only a metal screen for a roof. Malcolm found his way to the edge of the pond and crawled out, discovering that they were actually in a small courtyard with colorless grass and a sickly looking tree that had somehow held on to its leaves in spite of otherwise appearing dead. An obelisk was at the center of the courtyard and contained 4 spinning blocks bearing the images of a trout, a heron, an eagle, and a dragonfly.
Meara worked out that with this being a temple dedicated to a goddess of light and order, the puzzle must have something to do with the latter. The spun the blocks until the order of the animals represented the order of the food chain, and the obelisk rose into the beam of light, redirecting it into a giant orb far above that lit the courtyard and presumably the enormous cavern it was located in, in what resembled sunlight.
As the courtyard was lit, the grass regained its color, and so did the tree. Malcolm went to examine the tree closer, and was about to dismiss it as a normal tree until he saw facial features in the bark move. The tree grabbed him by the ankles and shouted "intruders," preparing to hit Malcolm with one if it's branches. Meara rushed forward and quickly explained that they are descendants of the Champions of the Fyra. The tree was able to reveal the white crystal amulet she had received when she took the mantle of champion, and dropped Malcolm, apologizing for the misunderstanding.
The tree explained to them that he and every other living thing in the cavern had been asleep since Mankalita had passed away, they were told that if they awakened, they should treat any people in the cavern as intruders. He mentioned the vampires that were entombed there, being the main reason the cavern needed to be sealed up. He expressed concern at their presence, as it indicated they were seeking Gedia's Torch, and Mantus had returned.
They explained that they had permanently prevented his return, but the Fyra has blessed them as champions to defeat Orcus. The tree said that Mankalita had always had doubts that Mantus was sealed away forever, and would be relived to know they had finished the job. He warned that Orcus was as dangerous as Mantus, or more so, especially if he had ascended to godhood.
The party asked where the vampires and the weapons were kept. He told them of the giant tree at the far end of the cavern where both the vampires and Mankalita herself were entombed. But he warned them that he wasn't the only life in the cavern that could harm them, and the Spriggans would not be as easy to communicate with. He rose above the top of the courtyard and the party took the nearby stair case to reach top of the structure. When they were outside, they could now see that they were in an enormous underground cavern, hundreds of feet tall. The river that fed into the courtyard extended miles uphill through a vast and lush forest. Far in the distance they saw a monumental tree, at least 300 feet in diameter, which sat in a small lake on the other side of the cavern.
Their new tree friend pointed to a large gazebo like structure on the southern side of the cavern. He said that there was a personal item of Mankalita's there that would help them get past the Spriggans. The party talked over their plans as it would take around 6 hours to get to the gazebo, and another 3 beyond that to reach the tomb. The tree offered to stand watch while they slept.

Memorial to Legendary Friendship

34th of Wintercrest 22nd year of the Second Era
When the party woke, the tree offered some of the fruit that was now growing from his branches, and wished them luck on the rest of their journey, promising to do his best to deal with anything that tried to escape his direction.
They summoned their mounts and rode up the hill to the gazebo. It was a large pentagon shaped stone structure, open on one side with pillars. Inside was a statue of each of the original champions, Mankalita, Klizmir the Undying, Ealswid Whitfoot, and Dalomdarlug Treasurejaw. Between them was the same symbol representing the Fyra pantheon that they had seen elsewhere in the temple. Knowing which goddesses Mankalita and Klizmir belonged to, they worked out which the other two belonged to. Once they discovered that the statues could spin, they faced each in the direction of the symbol of their goddess on the seal.
Once all the statues were properly directed, four panals opened on the back wall revealing small alcove shrines to each of the champions, filled with small personal items of sentimental value, and charcoal sketches of them that represented them as they were, as opposed to teh larger than life legends that the statues presented. In Mankalita's shrine there was a druids staff that appeared to be her original and most loved. In Tresurejaw's shine they found a scroll with a long nonsensical message, which they eventually worked out to be a disguised map of smuggling tunnels in and out of Kolbohr, the ancient dwarven city Ardun Aaryanfar said was the original home of Treasurejaw.
Believing they had what they needed to proceed, they re-sealed the shrines and prepared to journey to the tomb of Mankalita.
To be continued...

Report Date

03 Jan 2021