Journal Entry 24.00 The Return Home

The party escapes the tower to the Water World and then return home via a Sun Temple. The creatures in the Sun Temple share Perlachio's magic.

Once the giants disappeared into the hills, the party headed north to where they believe the village to be located. As with previous experience, the pond they were transported to was the pond due south of the village of Thistelzorn, but unlike last time, this pond lies south of the living version of the town rather than the town of a few yesterdays.
Arriving at the town, they find it run down from when they last saw it. The pastures and farmed areas were withdrawn and what was still farmed was covered in weeds. Many of the outer buildings were abandoned, the remaining walls and buildings in a state of disrepair.
Asking around, the party found that Feston, who they first knew as a guard, was now the elected mayor of the town. He then explained to them, “After you left, we stopped waking up in tomorrow’s village, but staying here. We know how to make small repairs, but mostly what we know is how to build new buildings. As we quit moving, things became harder. Then the sickness and injuries started without being healed the next day. Mayor Meris succumbed to a leg infection last season.”
Aja asked, “What of healing magic? Surely that worked?”
Aja was able to determine from their response that inhabitants of this village were ignorant of all magics. Despite all her intellect, she was still baffled that any race could be so devoid of any magical understanding. She began working with them, trying to teach some of the children minor shalingra magic. Soon after she started, she was astonished at how fast some of the children were picking up the basics. She whispered to Graykar and Morvion, “It’s like they are all gifted. How is it that they have no knowledge of magic? This almost seems intentional.”
While she busied herself trying to teach a few basics of the healing craft and a few quick cantrips to stop blood flow and clean a wound, Morvion and Urik discussed the best way to leave this world.
Urik looked over at the well and pointed, “That is how we left last time, shouldn’t it work this time?”
Graykar agreed, leading as the three walked to the well. “I’ll go first I guess, see what happens.” Graykar gripped the side of the well and hopped over into the water, his head going under. And he didn’t come back up.
Urik continued to look down the well, “How long should we wait?”
Morvion answers, “Not long, if he did transport out, we should follow. Five minutes maybe? I’ll go collect Aja.”
Approaching Aja, watching her reciting a simple spell phrase with one of the children, he cleared his voice loud enough to get her attention. “We need to be going, Graykar has already descended down the well.”
Aja looked annoyed, “Why – we just got here and they need help, we can spare some time.”
Morvion shrugged, “Graykar probably needs help.”
She got up and scoffed, following Morvion back over to the well. As they arrived, Urik said, “He still hasn’t come up, we need to not have him waiting.”
Morvion agreed and without a word moved first one leg, then the other, onto the inside of the well, where he was now sitting on the stone well wall. “Don’t be long.” He then pushed off to jump in the water.
Urik leaned over, “He’s not coming up either.”
“We really could have waited. Leave it to the males to jump in headfirst without thinking.”
Urik gave Aja a perplexed look and then bluntly said, “They both jumped in feet first.” The with a slight smirk once he saw some further annoyance in her features, he dives into the well.
Graykar was the first to arrive in a small room with a stone pool in the middle. The walls were made of white marble as were the edges of the pool. He waited several minutes and when no one else showed up, he utilized his magic to vanish from sight and started exploring. Following the hallway coming off the small room, he enters a larger room which looks like a temple’s main sanctuary. Within, the wide steps led up to a large dais in the center, with massive marble pillars lining the room. Inside the room, he saw several dinosaur-like creatures with narrow arms and legs walking around, conversing.
Off this room are several side passages. Choosing one of the side passages he found a small room with a pool similar to the one which he entered. Playing a hunch, and moving with some speed, he snuck down another passage to find Urik emerging. With a whisper, “Quiet friend Urik, we are not alone. Stay here, I believe the others are surfacing in pools similar to this one.”
Urik waited only to have Morvion enter next. Once the situation was explained, it didn’t take Morvion long to also head out and find Aja. All invisible, they gathered back in the room which Urik had appeared. Deciding on a direct approach, the party came out of the hallway led by Urik.
The sauropods were surprised when Urik walked out, and then with a yell, “The Thieves have returned to the Temple of the Sun,” they attacked, not even giving the party a chance to parley.
Urik, Morvion, and Grayar quickly ascertain that the sauropods are wearing the golden armbands of life similar to them. As the two groups begin to deliver damaging blows to each other, they also figure out the armbands are all attuned with one another. Urik yells out, “Remove the Fuckin Armbands,” as he rips his off and throws it to the floor.
Morvion follows seeing that Graykar had already figured it as he already had his band off before Urik’s warning. Graykar shrugged, “I didn’t want to get hurt.”
After a quick battle, the party explored the large temple room. They found some writing which in of itself didn’t make much sense on the dais risers between the steps. Dutifully, Aja made notes of it for later and commented. “They are nonsensical verses, probably sacred writings which have little meaning out of context. Take this one,” after pointing at one step, “It translates to, ‘Light without Light is Darkness, but Darkness without Light is Darkness. Darkness is the natural form, Light praises effort.’”
Morvion continued to examine some of the corpses while Graykar searched the bodies. “I am counting at least five different species here I believe. Those two,” Morvin motioned over near the bodies at Graykars feet, “have large crests along their spine, while these two near me have an extra set of arms.”
Urik said, “I am more concerned with why they called us thieves. That phrasing almost indicates a factor of goodness. And I didn’t detect any evil on them.”
After some more inspection of the room, Aja responded, “The magic powering the light of this room. See how there are no torches and no shadows, the room is just bright? This magic is similar to that employed by Perlachio? Perhaps there is a link?”
Before they could further explore the topic, Graykar came back into the room from his scouting other areas of the temple quickly saying, “They are down this main passage preparing for us.”
Urik lifted and gave his ax a shake. “Then let us not disappoint. Maybe they will want to talk first this time. If they are truly good, then they will talk. If not, then so be it. They worship not my gods.” With that, he began striding down the hallway.
Morvion snuck down another passage, one he figured met up with the chamber Urik was heading toward. Aja and Graykar started bringing up the rear when Aja noticed a golden plaque on the floor which read, ‘Beware: Void Constructs in Use.’ To this, she muttered, “That can’t be good.”
Urik gave a good try to converse but, the sauropods only yelled, “Defilers,” and attacked.
Walking around the room were several large stone golems, nearly fifteen-foot tall. Riding on two of them were two of the sauropods, using them as mounts. The golems only wandered, not seeming to have any actual purpose.
As the battle ensued, the golems did not attack, they only wondered. About halfway through the battle, Urik struck the chest of one of the golems with his ax. The chest immediately started to crack, with pieces of rock falling into the chest of the golem. As this happened, larger pieces from the golem's chest then cracked and were sucked within a great darkness in the middle of the golem.
And as the wind started rushing in, Urik found himself being pulled toward the golem by a great wind behind him. As he neared the golem’s chest, he spread out his arms and caught himself, keeping himself from flying into the golem’s chest. Other of the sauropods, first the few nearby dead bodies, then a few of the live ones also found themselves sucked into the hole. As they came flying toward Urik, they each struck his back with force. He managed to hang on as the bodies fell around him into the void within the golem.
Then Morvion lost his footing and was also falling into the void. He tried to catch himself but failed as he bounced first off of Urik and then on into the void.
Acting quickly, Urik closed his eyes and willed time to reverse itself one minute. With the memory fresh in his mind and time reversed, he yelled out, “Don’t attack the golems, it’s death.” And just in time, as Morvion was about to chuck his spear at one.
Finishing up the battle of this room, they continued the battle further down another chamber and ended up killing all the sauropods in the temple. All of the sauropods seemed intent on killing the party as interlopers.
One of the treasures found in the room was an antlered headdress. Examining its magical structures, Aja exclaims, “This is tied to the headbands. I think it is the control piece to all the armbands.”
In the final chamber they found a large pool of water as the centerpiece of the room.
Aja cautiously said, “The magic of transportation is strong with this water, it is another portal I believe.”
As they approached, a mist boiled up out of the water and formed into a large water naga with great feminine alien beauty. Looking down at the party, the naga examines them closely one at a time, her head moving slowly. Before the party can speak the naga spoke with a telepathic thought to each of them, “Greetings travelers. The ways are open, to where shall I send you?”
Urik ignored what the others started discussing and asked, “Where can we go?”
She immediately responded with, "You are bound to a single world. To that world I can send you, or I can open your eyes and send you beyond the veils of your existence."
With a little more discussion, Graykar said, "We wish to go home."
“Granted,” the naga declared. “Enter the pool, you shall enter from the point at which you left. You will arrive moments after you were last there.”
Entering the pool, Urik submerged himself. Just as his head went underwater, he was transported back to the area where the temple plaza used to be. Where Perlachio’s tower had stood along with the entire temple plaza was now a large crater several hundred meters round. As Urik literally appeared where he had last been, he was also about 200’ above the new surface of the crater floor. Falling, he utilized his mythic forces to bolster himself so that he survived the fall.
After he disappeared the Naga added, "You world is already in the maw of a great hunger. Be warned, travel to and from your world will attract its attention."
Aja was next, and being able to fly, she assisted the rest of the party to the ground. Once all were gathered, they took a few minutes to verify that the temple plaza had vanished. The crater was filling up slowly as the six canals which haad attached to the temple plaza drain back into it. Judging from the level of water the crater was taking up, they figured they had only been gone hours at the most.
The magic which had converted the Sarloks into savages was fading, though the individual Sarloks would still require additional magic to regain their normal form. With nothing else to do, the party returned to Chrailis the next day.
Once there, they informed the attending Coterie at the Chrailis Reception Zone of events back at the Sarlok city, also wondering if any aid could be sent there way.
Before heading to Dame Imokan’s, one of the Coterie members tells the party, “We have monitored the situation. You have Si’Nassa’s blessing for your deeds in this matter. We will, as you rest up, prepare to send forth a delegation to help the peoples of the Sarlok. Fear not, though Si’Nassa has refused to let any of draconic bearing within her presence, she has now deemed them to be of reptilian descent and not draconic in nature. And as such, she will heal them and then relocate all of them that are willing to the south of Chrailis in the Black Marshes and place them under her protection as they begin to rebuild their civilization.”