[IC] Wandering Star : Heroes of the Middle Reaches (Part One)

[helium3]

The expressions on Petra and Pieter's faces careen between relief, concern and alarm as the young hafling relates her story. Towards the end, just as Charlotte is about to reveal the strangeness surrounding the feather that is now a tooth, Petra makes a strange sideways glance and then a gesture indicating that Charlotte should stop.

His voice drops to a whisper, "My young friends. We should continue this conversation where I can be more sure that we are not being eavesdropped upon." The look on Pieter's face indicates he has no idea what the high priest of Melora is talking about. The old man continues, "I know of such a place. Please follow me. You too, Pieter."

A determined look upon his face, the old man leaves the grotto, stopping once to make sure that you are all following closely behind. He makes a second stop near the front of the temple. There, he converses briefly with one of the guards that are now clustered around the cart where the sobbing hafling and the bound Sea Devil are. In short, the guard is to fetch Gregg Korvus, captain of the Guard Watch, so that the prisoners can be taken to the prison under Half-Sigil Keep.

 

[helium3]

With that taken care of, Petra gives the unconscious Sea Devil a single venemous look, and then turns and heads back into the temple. He leads you through a series of hallways that terminate in an infrequently used portion of the temple. At an inconspicuous, padlocked door he pulls a skeleton key from his sash, opens the lock and pushes the door open.

The room beyond is dark. Petra grabs a guttering torch from a sconce in the hallway outside, ushers you all in and closes the the door behind him. In the flickering light from the torch, the windowless room is haphazardly filled with crates of varying size.

Petra gestures in the direction of a particularly large pile of crates in the corner. "Those need to be moved. Be mindful of the floor underneath. It may be weak." It takes Horto and Zarathas only a few minutes of effort to uncover what he means. Below the stack of empty crates, old dry-rotted boards cover the opening to a flight of spiral stairs. "Move the boards as well, please."

As the two men comply with this additional request, Petra roots around in one of the crates and pulls out a battered, dusty old lantern. He shakes it a few times and it sloshes faintly with the sound of oil. He lights the lantern and hands it to Pieter. "Any other sources of light we can have would be useful. The rooms below should be empty but you can never be sure when dealing with the tunnels."

 

[nerdytenor]

Horto's many adventures, legitimate and otherwise, have taken him to many strange places. But he is clearly uncomfortable with the prospect of skulking around in the dark in some unknown cavern or crypt. He calms himself by imagining he is holding a stiff drink, which, strangely enough, has almost the same effect as the real thing.

Horto prepares to descend - eyes open, mind and heart moving faster than he would like.

 

[Blackrat]

This sort of secresy was not what Zarathas expected from respectable priests but he complied none the less, interested to see what this all was about.

 

[helium3]

Even Pieter Anzalli seems perplexed by the High Priest of Melora's sudden diversion into the abandoned depths of the temple. Apparently noting the hint of concern and confusion in his companion's disposition, Petra launches into a tale that explains the group's destination.

"As you know, 63 years ago a cult dedicated to the worship of the Prince of Tyranny led an uprising and seized power within Helen's Reach. Varan Narenkos, hereditary lord at the time, a number of wealthy citizens and some of the clergy of the major temples were able to flee during the chaos. The rest of the population was enslaved and forced to build a cathedral to the cult's bloodthirsty god.

What is not well known is that as the uprising was unfolding, a triumvirate of paladins collected the town's three holy relics and safely placed them within the confines of the Narenkos family vault.

Five years later, seizing the opportunity presented by the massive destruction of the Great October Storm of '19, the town was retaken by a force led by Simon Korvus of Coopershold, the surviving clergy and Lord Varan. Over the next year, every single known cultist was hunted down, tried and burned at the stake. The cathedral was unconsecrated and converted into what is now the Temple to the Fallen.

When the vault was reopened, the corpses of the paladins were found. With the key to the vault taken to safety on the person of Lord Varran, the paladins had knowingly condemned themselves to a slow death at the hands of thirst and starvation. Shockingly, the Solar Circlet and the Ring of Arr were still within the vault, but the Exarch's Feather was nowhere to be found. What happened to the relic of Melora is unclear. Cultists interrogated on the matter were adamant that they were never able to find any of the relics.

As I explained earlier, without a relic of Melora the protection the Middle Reaches enjoys against the most powerful October Storms is gone. Knowing this, an expedition was mounted and Sekolah's Tooth, the holy relic of Melora possessed by the Sea Devils of Shark Reef, was taken as a replacement. It was stolen right from under the wretched creature's noses and there has never been any indication that they knew who had done the deed or where it had gone.

To protect the relic and to avoid worrying the townsfolk, Sekolah's Tooth was hidden under a powerful illusion that made it appear to all senses to be the Exarch's Feather. That illusion was to persist indefinitely and could only be dispelled if the tooth was handled by a Sea Devil. The relic's natural affinity for that race would cause it to shed the phantasm that obscured its true nature.

I can only assume that since a Sea Devil was involved in the theft, the illusion has been broken. In a small room at the foot of these stairs is a room that contains the original ritual book from which the spell was taken, as well as all the implements, components and focci necessary to cast it again. Our purpose here is to do just that and I shall need your willing assistance."

With that, you reach the bottom of the stone steps. The stairs empty into a large, cylindrical room with high ceilings and a single bricked up exit in the wall immediately opposite the entrance to the stairs. A complex ritual diagram is scribed into the floor, the lines colored with cracked and fading paint. A small padlocked iron chest sits against the wall between the two entrances. Petra walks over to the chest, places the lantern on the floor beside it, pulls the same skeleton key from his sash and uses it to unlock the padlock. He opens the chest and begins to root through its contents.

Without turning to look at anyone in particular he speaks, "I apologize for hiding the truth from all of you. I felt it was necessary and I hope you can forgive me. Please place the tooth in the center of the diagram."

 

[Walking Dad]

Upon mentioning the darkness, Jorje conjure's a glowing ball of light.

After hearing the priest's cofession he is agitated. Helping to recast a permanent illusion would be very enlightening for his studies.

"I will help you as best as I can, High Priest."

[sblock=OOC]

[sblock=Mini stat block]
Jorje
Perception: 12 Insight: 17 Normal Vision
AC 16 Fortitude 13 Reflex 15 Will 15
Hit Points: 24 / 24 Bloodied: 12
Temporary Hit Points: 0
Action Points: 2 Second Wind: 1
Healing Surge: 6 Surges per day: 6 / 8
Encounter Powers: Grasping Shadows
Daily Powers: Phantom Chasm

[/sblock][/sblock]

 

[The Digger]

"Far be it for me to appear mercenary, your worshipfulness but this seems to be getting out of hand. I mean, there was no mention of a fee for returning the feather, but that was all right for a quick errand. I went along with that. But this is a bit over the top."

Charlie sounded more worried than greedy.

"Could we perhaps come to some agreement about some kind of recompense for time spent and dangers undergone and wounds received?"

She looked pleadingly at the others hoping for some kind of support.

 

[helium3]

Petra looks a bit startled for a moment. Then a look of recollection appears on his face and he dips his hand into a pocket inside his priestly robes. He pulls out a small sack and tosses it to Charlotte. "My apologies. In my concern for the relic I forgot about your reward. I hope this is sufficient for your troubles and I'm glad that you've all returned no worse for wear."

Inside the sack is a thick strand of pearls. He clears his throat, "And, as far as I'm concerned, with the exception of the tooth you can keep whatever spoils you took from the vandals. Pieter, do you concur?"

The High Priest of Erathis and the town's primary magistrate looks thoughtful for a moment and then replies, "I do. Perhaps more reward is in order, but we can deal with that tomorrow."

 

[Blackrat]

The paladins back then consented with this? Zarathas asks doubtfully. Theft is a theft even when the "victim" is a vile creature as these. He looks to be thinking about something for a while. I will not condone such action but there is little choice. But when it is done, I demand that an investigation is started to find the real Feather, and once it is found, this tooth must be returned to the creatures with an apology.

 

[helium3]

Pieter looks thoughtful again and then speaks, "I agree. Theft is theft regardless of whether the creature being stolen from is virtuous in nature or not. I shall have to look into the records and see what involvement my church had in this matter. If we cannot recover the feather we will need to need to come to some sort of agreement with the Sea Devils. Surely they will not want to see the protection from great storms fail. They will suffer as much as we, if not more.

As for the paladins, I believe they did not object because they had sacrificed their lives five years earlier in the hopes of safeguarding the relics. Holy warriors such as yourself and Zargesh are not common."