Session 26 - A Call to Aid

General Summary

Unknown

With a soft landing, the sense of gravity returned...although not quite as strong as had been. As the spinning, sparkling motes of sand begin to settle the party heard a voice say, “I told you it would work, the goddess wouldn’t abandon us in our time of need.”

When the whirlwind cleared, the party was clearly somewhere unusual. Rough, red stone walls rose two miles high or more on either side of a wide canyon framing a brilliant blue sky. Huge chunks of amber jut from the walls and the air was filled with the sweet scent of flowers, but also a faint underlying tang of ozone.

The team had been deposited on a large, raised stone platform flanked by four 10ft tall statues facing out into the middle of an odd village. All of the buildings are low ceilinged, wooden huts, although the wood is dark greyish purple. To the left was wide riverbed, although no water is visible from this angle. A stone bridge arched across the water, joining the village with an ornately carved tunnel mouth disappearing into one of the cliff walls.

Three figures stood to one side of the platform. The leader was clearly an elderly gnome wearing loose robes of a muted green with a brightly colored vest covered in pockets, as well as a strange symbol (a fist and antlers) on a cord. He began to approach the group, slipping something into one of the pockets and reach into another to pull out a pair of thick spectacles. Placing them on his nose he steps forward and throws up his hands saying, ““Praise Milani that you champions have arrived. Welcome to Starfall, I do hope that you can do something about the River.”

The four adventurers seemed quite nonplussed at this, until Janora pulled a dagger off their belt and started demanding, "Who are you? And what made you think you had the right to just grab us like that?"

The gnome priest sputtered, "Well..well...I didn't know who it would bring. Just that it would bring champions who would help us in our time of need. You will help won't you?"

The witch scowled, "Well we were in the middle of an important mission of our own, you know."

"We were trying to stop a war," added Denye.

The younger gnome in the welcome party, clearly a bard or minstrel to judge by the instruments pushed forward, "Jakwet, I told you this was a waste of time. Send them back and Citrine and I will take a group to the Temple."

"Now Lus...I told you, you need to have faith," said the old gnome reproachfully.

Janora just grunted, "So you will be able to send us back? That's something at least."

This led to several minutes of bickering between Janora, Ell, and Lus but finally Denye finally stepped in. Spreading her wings to get the combatants attention she said, "This is getting us nowhere. We're here, let's at least hear what it is they need us to do. Maybe it will be quick and we can get back to our actual job."

Jakwet, the gnome priest, adjusted his glasses and said, "Thank you, my dear. It's the River. Over the past ten days the level of the water has been dropped almost two-thirds. It's our only source of water, you see. We would like you to go to the source at the head of the canyon and discover what has happened."

Jilken leaned forward, "Surely you have people enough in this village to do that."

The old gnome sighed heavily as both Lus and the other member of the welcome party, a young halfling, bristled at the comment. "We do and we have, two parties have been sent to the Water Temple, he said, "none have returned. There have also been reports of residents going missing over the last couple of days. That was what made the other elders desperate enough to give permission to blow the horn."

During this short conversation, Ell had pickpocketed the old gnome with his Mage Hand and retrieved the horn. With it safely in his bag, he leaned forward and said, "That brings us back to the original question. How did you summon us? You said something about a horn?"

Jakwet nodded vigirously, "The Horn of Milani. When Starfall was first established it is said she left us the Horn, for a great need. The magic was such that when blown it would summon her champions. So we did and you showed up. Are any of you followers of the Hopebringer? That might account for why it summoned you." None of the party recognized the name and at the shakes of the their heads, the priest shrugged. "Then I am as confused as you. But would you be willing to do this? I promise that your names will be remembered if you can restore the water."

After a few quick telepathic words and looks between the party, Jilken shrugged, "We might as well go take a look. How do we get to this water temple?"

Lus looked up brightly, "There's a door! According to legend it is behind the Waterfall. I could show you." This last was said with a sly look at the elder gnome.

Jakwet sighed and turned to the halfling, "Citrine you better go with them as well. You know how Lus can get."

Picking up their large hammer, the halfling just smiled, "Good...I could do with a good rage."

With that decided the group headed north, following a path along the riverbank. After about an hour or so the odd forest gave way as the cliff wall began to push inward. As they walked, Ell dropped back to Denye and pulled out the horn that he had stolen from the priest. "Can you take a look at this? See if the old man was telling the truth?"

Denye took the horn and spent the next minute or two examining it, both physically and with arcane senses. It was a lovely horn made of ivory with bands of a bluish metal. Swirling arcane runes were stamped into the metal and the horn itself was covered in etched winged fists surrounded by cloud like filigree. Magically it was spent, its virtue fading with the release of power. From the trace remains it was clear that this had been some sort of summoning. It was also clearly divine magic, the tone unknown to the wizard, yet strangely familiar in some small way. Handing it back to Ell, she said, "It's pretty, but I don't think there is any more magic in it."

Ell frowned but nodded and slipped it back into his bag. He was about to say something when they came around an outcropping and found a large waterfall, the source of the river. The water fell from a huge stone pipe into a large basin before feeding the river. The path narrowed and curved around the edge of the basin, the bare stone slick with spray.

Going single file the party made their way around and eventually found a door at the back. Split down the middle and made of the same stone as the walls, there was a silvery disc set in the center. After examining it for traps, Janora touched the plate. As they did so, a flowing script of golden light flared into sight.

The phrase was in Celestial so Janora called Ell over to translate. With only a brief hesitation the young noble read out, "Salty like the sea, I can fall like rain; Herald of joy or sign of pain."

Janora snorted, "That's easy...tears." Their hand was still on the plate and as they said the keyword, the entire disc flashed and the doors swung open revealing a long dark corridor. As the group watched however, strips of a soft purple light began glowing within the walls. These walls and ceiling appeared to be made of a fused glass and appeared seamless, the floor below a matte black metal.

As Jilken pulled out her crossbow and began to step inside, Janora turned to Lus and asked, "Are there traps that we should be worried about?"

The small gnome shook their head, "Nothing in the legends, but I could cast a spell that should tell me if any are around." Closing their eyes, the gnome plucked a few notes on the harp and cast Find Traps. Opening their eyes, Lus shrugged, "Nothing as far as I can tell."

With a chuckle, Jilken began to move forward, the bars of light flickering on at her approach. The other followed twenty feet or so behind, but nothing attacked them. Fifty yards down the tunnel, the blank walls on either side were broken by a pair of murals within the glass.

The mural on the left depicts a large bear, standing on its hind legs, before a river. The image on the right is that of a large fox drinking from a small pool in a woodland glade. The party spent a few minutes looking them over and trying to make connections.

Janora was examining the bear and found a phrase hidden in the image just as Denye squawked, "I found writing." Whipping out her notebook, the Corva read out the phrase, "Quick and fast, I belong near the front of the pack."

Janora added, "The bear says, 'Slow and steady, I bring up the rear'. But what does it mean?"

Denye tilted her head to the side, "Maybe we don't have all the pieces yet. We need more information."

Jilken laughed and brought up her crossbow and started heading further down the tunnel. Twenty feet or so later and they found another pair of murals. This time the image on the left was a large salmon leaping up a river. The one on the right was an eagle, soaring over a coast line.

Armed with previous experience Denye quickly found the hidden phrases. The text from the salmon mural was 'Keep me far from talon or claw' and the eagle said 'When hunting prey, I beat slower creatures to the prize.'

Denye muttered, "Okay we have four. Now what do we do with them?"

Ten minutes later, she had her answer as the party found a door at the end of the hall. The door led into a circular room. In the center of the room was a pedestal with two gemstones embedded in the top. One glowed brightly and had text above it that read Entrance. The text over the dark stone read Main Level. There were also four large iron shepherd's hooks thrust into the stone. Each held a chime and was topped with the shape of one of the four animals.

Denye smiled, "I knew we'd find somewhere where those phrases made sense. Now we just need to figure out the proper order."

It took a few tries, but third times the charm as they say and the second gem began to glow brightly as well. After a quick debate, Ell pushed it with his Mage Hand. The door slid shut and there was a soft grinding sound as the room began to rise quickly. Even so, it was almost ten minutes before the team felt themselves come to a halt and another door slid open.

Exiting the lift, the first thing that catches the groups attention is a statue on the far side. A tall woman with large feathered wings, but without a head it was hard to determine a race. One hand is raised into a fist while the other holds a harp. Two other wall statues are to the left and right. One of a tall figure in a cloak with the hood covering his upper face while the other was a beaming halfling with satyr horns holding a book in one hand and a wine glass in the other. Sets of stairs lead off to the left and right.

Scattered about the room were eight of the missing villagers. Grey skinned, with slack features and milky-white eyes, they were just standing around the room, but all eight turn their heads to look at the party as they enter. Lus was the first to respond, running out and casting Calm Emotions. The spell managed to catch most of the undead villagers, although there was no outward sign of any change. Denye was close behind and called out, "Lus, plug your ears," as a deep hum began to echo in the center of the room before bursting into a thunderclap. The explosion of noise threw several of the gnomes into the walls and left the others weaving slightly.

This seemed to enrage the other gnomes and they ran toward the party. One slashed at Lus with it's claws, leave scratch marks across their. The other attempted to bite Janora, but the witch blocked the attack with their dog staff. Ell poked his head out of the lift and cast Minor Illusion, creating a ghostly image of one of the goblins in an attempt to dissuade the others.

Jilken threw out a handful of sparks, casting Farie Fire. The twinkling lights collected themselves around the two halflings. At the same time Janora sent their St. Bernard forward and with an echoing bark sent one of the dwarfs slamming into a corner. The witch turned to Lus and called out, "I hope you've had your shots," as they cast Healing Word.

Citrine ran forward to protect their friend and sent an arrow at one of the gnomes, but the shot went wide, bouncing off the ceiling. One of halflings, ignoring the ghost, circled around and slammed a club into Lus as the other halfling examined the ghost and recognized that it was an illusion. Meanwhile, the dwarf attacked the giant dog with a vicious slash of his battle axe.

Lus shook their head, "I don't think we are going to get through to them...time to get freaky." With that the bard turned invisible and dashed between the enemy toward the headless statue. Denye ran into the center of the room and cast Thunderwave pushing back the gnome and the dwarf.

The gnome, looking rough, took a reckless attack at Denye leaving a long scratch down her throat. Seeing this Ell yelled, "My friend" and sent an Eldritch Blast into the gnome, knocking it into the air chest charred, before the body landed in a heap. A second blast followed sending a halfling flying back into the unconscious heap of gnomes.

Jilken pushed into the room and slammed her spear into the halfling. As it dropped, she turned and sent a crossbow bolt into the neck of the dwarf. The sound of the battle axe hitting the floor echoed as the party   looked around and realized that all of the enemy were down.

Denye and Janora began examining the bodies and found that each of the corpses had a strange sliver of bone jammed into it's neck. Lus meanwhile had reappeared and spend some time examining the broken statue and the nearby ground, but there wasn't nearly enough rubble for the head.

Ell meanwhile had begun moving toward one of the sets of doors at the top of a flight of stairs. Sending his Mage Hand forward it pushed the doors open. The room beyond proved to be some sort of barracks, with a series of bunk beds. Strangely all of the beds had fresh sheets and pillows. Another staircase led up to a set of double doors.

Looking around, Denye sighed and said, "I don't know about all of you, but I need to sleep and I'm going to take this as a sign." Pulling out her spool of silver thread, she set Alarms on both of the doors. Janora suggested pushing several of the beds together and then casting Tiny Hut over them. As they were moving the beds, the party found a spell scroll as well as a pouch containing a handful of gems.

Security measures in place, the party bedded down for the night and all were soon asleep.

Report Date

29 Jun 2021