Session 20: Temple of the Eternal Flow

General Summary

Previous Report : Session 19: The Mountain Path

Labour of the Dead

As the Party arise in the lair of the Dragon, they cast their eyes down the mountain plotting their pathway.
As they descend, the sound of metal hitting rock guides them on their way.
They soon find themselves overlooking a small gorge where the mining operation seems to have uncovered the entrance to an ancient stone structure.
Dia soon begins to notice the mannerisms of the miners are unusual but familiar. As he spots his father, Dia Brivacius Lerist, amongst a cohort of soldiers, he realises that the miners are no longer alive, they are zombies being used as a free workforce.
The Party put together a quick plan of attack before launching an assault, taking the group below in the gorge by surprise.
- The Party made Dia (Snr) their primary target, and after overwhelming the soldiers, Dia broke the line of sight with the Party and was able to teleport away to safety.
- The Party dispatched the Zombies and tie up the soldiers, leaving them in the gorge ready to be converted once they have investigated the ancient structure.

Open Sesame

The Party enter the first door and finds a large Anubis-like statue facing towards an inner doorway which is sealed with no discernable lock or handle.
As they search the room, they find an inscription inside just above the outer doorway.
- "Valeat quod per omnia fluit, retro et retro, sto volens introire, sto pura intention"
- Talon speaks the words aloud, and as he does, magic flows through the Anubis-like statue and it begins to speak a riddle:

I existed in the beginning, I exist at the beginning of the end, the end of before, and will continue to exist in death. Speak now and should your answer and heart be true, you may enter the sanctum within...

As the Party ponders the words, Talon confers with Ashe before declaring the answer loudly to the statue. "Time".
The door to the inner sanctum began to rumble.

The Inner Sanctum

The Party entered the inner sanctum, a wide library-like room with a white ball of energy occupying the centre of the room, with tendrils of energy stretching both above and below into a well built on both the floor and ceiling.
As they walked around the orb, they found a girl standing hunched over a lectern. Asleep.
After waking her up, you found she was an Elven girl named Antaris Anstigar. She told you that she had been charged by her father, Meyil Anstigar, to guard the Tower of the Eternal Flow. She believed she had only performed this task for 150 years, unaware that millennia had passed.
Dia carefully explained what was happening in Legalaia, and why they had come here.
- When Antaris hears of the excavation work done to reach the Tower, she begins to panic and rushes past the party to connect with the Orb of energy. After a few moments, she seemingly disconnects herself feeling much more relaxed.
- She claims she had rewound time in the area surrounding the sanctum. In disbelief, Kit took a look outside, and sure enough found that where there was once a gorge, now the path was blocked by huge boulders of impassable stone.
Through more questioning, she became interested in the Challice and began to inspect it. She confirmed Dia's suspicions that its power was celestial in nature, and Antaris was able to identify the power as that of the Goddess Eldath. The Goddess of Life, Nature, and Peace.
Believing the best person to talk to would be her father, she rushed the group to stand around the Orb. First connecting herself with the energy force, she directed tendrils to connect with each of you, and as the last tendril connected, she sent you back through time. Arriving in the same spot as you had previously been standing, except Antaris was no longer with you.
Kit immediately looked outside the sanctum, confirming that the outside landscape had once again changed.
Panicked and unsure of what to do, Dia teleported the party to the Mannor of Yabott.

Lord Pevau

Emerging in the centre dais of the Mannor, the room was entirely different to how they knew the Mannor to be.
They soon found themselves confronted by a man asking who they were.
He identified himself as Alexander Pevau, and with some quick thinking, Dia wove a story about needing his help with a particular demon, a Rostraarch. The Demon Slayers' interest was piqued.

Next Report : Session 21: Demon Slayers

Campaign

The Dread King

Protagonists