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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1140739" data-attributes="member: 2292">“This isn’t good,” Geoffrey says quietly.  “Can you tell where it goes?”Halgo shrugs.“Hard to say,” he explains.  “I don’t even know how to activate it at the moment.  I’ve got a spell that possibly tell us more, but I'll need some rest before I can cast it.  And even then, it could take days for my magic to find out everything I need to know.”“How many days?” Geoffrey asks.“Three, maybe four.”Geoffrey glares at the dormant gate, then considers the various wounds his comrades bare.  It’ll take at least that long for him to heal everyone.“We’ll make time,” he says.  “Borr isn’t going anywhere, and another few days won’t make any difference to the church.  Selandar’s been rogue for a while now, it's not like they were expecting us to succeed immediately.”The alter to Granak is destroyed as competently as the group can manage, and a small camp is set up in the abandoned cottage on the surface.  Over the next four days, the group settles into an easy ritual – Blarth stands guard, Geoffrey starts dismantling the evil devices in the complex as best he’s able and casts curatives, and Halgo spends the day making notes about the portal and studying the device with object loresight.His magic reveals the following:1) The gate is 1328 years old2) The name of the last creature to touch the object was Laeth, Archeprelate of the Fallorn3) Laeth’s race was Human, albeit tinged with demonic blood.4) The Gate was created by Abanis of the Scallari.5) The object was created by a human.6) The object’s purpose is to provide instantaneous passage between this temple and the grand temple.7) The Portal is made of magically enhanced stone.8) It was created in this chamber, although some lingering sense says that part of its creation occurred elsewhere.9) The own of its most recent owner is Selandar.When his divinations are complete on the fourth day, he gathers his comrades together and explains what he’s learned.“We destroy it then,” Geoffrey says, his voice final.  “I don’t recognize any of the names, but the presence of demonic blood and its presence in a temple of evil....”He leaves the thought hanging.“I don’t know that we can destroy it,” Halgo says, his expression thoughtful.  “Its construction is like nothing I’ve ever seen, and the stonework is exceptional.  It’s not going to be harmed by our weapons, and certainly neither you nor I have the ability to harm it with magic.  I doubt even Y’Dey could dispel it’s magic – the things damned powerful.”“Then we make sure whoever uses it can’t get to the surface,” Geoffrey decides.  “You thought the roof here was unstable, yes?  Then Blarth and his whistle are going to keep that thing underground for years to come.”The task proves easier said than done, especially with the limited use Blarth gets from his whistle.  Six days are spent firing blasts of sound at the roof of the temple chamber, then slowly collapsing the rooms that lead towards it.  In the end, they have reduced the crude complex to a mass of stone and rubble that would require months of excavation to be used again.  With the task done, they send Blarth up a tree to determine the direction and return to the road.The remainder of their journey to Petrev is uneventful, with the next night spent in the relative comfort of a small inn built along the roadside.  They are told tales of some trouble the inn had a few weeks back, a tale about evil fairies kidnapping the patrons and stealing them into the forest, but few of the group are interested enough to enquire further.  Only the inn’s mustard eating contest attracts their attention, with Blarth becoming so enamored of the tage mustards fiery taste that he buys a jar to take with him when they leave.Two days later they arrive in the Holy City of Petrev, a sprawling metropolis of a city that crams itself between the sea cliffs and a giant spire of rock several thousand feet high, along a shelf of land on the coastal edge of the Ironstone hills.  They enter the city without incident, reporting to the Grand Temple of the Saint with news of their victory over the renegade justicar and a request for orders.  When their report is completed, the group is told of the mission to Borr, learning they will be part of the first wave of St Cuthbertite law to sail to the new continent and bring the voice of law to the settlers within.  Arrangements are made for Geoffrey to be sworn in as a full-fledged Justicar, and Blarth turns out to be the most senior of the Drakkarim warriors being sent on the expedition.  The boat is still a month from leaving for the northern continent, however, and the group is given permission to pursue their own goals until such time they are required to make the voyage.Everyone takes some time to themselves.  Geoffrey is put through hours of rigorous training in church dogma, required before he can take his position as an official Arbiter of justice.  Blarth spends his time at the local Chapterhouse of the Drakkarim, honing his skills and learning to better control his psionic gifts.  Halgo spends the time in the city, searching the markets for new scrolls and spells to learn and commissioning a lead-lined box that can be used to hide his payment from Kelpreth from magical detection.  Such time that isn’t spent researching new magic is spent in the temple libraries of the city, trying to find some reference to the strange holy symbol they found in Haggash or the various groups and people uncovered by his divination of the magic gate.  He finds little of use about either.For three weeks, the Copperheads see little of one another, content to pursue their own goals without the presence of their companions.  It isn’t until the third week, when Geoffrey’s mastery of Law and Dogma is considered complete enough to attain the title of Justicar and everyone gathers for the ceremony, that the realization that they crave something more interesting sets in.  They gather in a small tavern in the cities temple district to discuss what they should do to fill in their remaining week, and the decision is made to talk to the church.  Geoffrey is, after all, an officially recognized warrior of the law now and there’s bound to be something the church needs done.A meeting is made with Brother Cadloren, a plump monk that serves in one of the smaller chapels in the city.  Cadloren was a friend of Geoffrey’s mentor, and vouched for the younger priest during the ceremony in which Geoffrey was made justicar.  A middle-aged man with a plump belly, he still manages to maintain the rigid military bearing associated with the Church.“Hmm,” he muses, sorting through a pile of scrolls that litter his desk. “In theory, there’s not a lot we should be sending you here.  Sixteen chapels devoted to Our Lord or his Children in the city usually keeps things pretty quiet, and orders are that none of you should be incapacitated by the time that boat arrives.”He sucks on his cheeks for a few minutes, carefully observing the three eager faces in front of him.“Still, there may be something you three would be suited for.” He pulls out a scroll and lays it flat on the table.“How do you feel about tracking down a cult?”</blockquote>

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