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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 9835187" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 39“Bloody… hells,” Greghan gasped, as Leana worked another of the goblin arrows free.“Gods above, Gregho, how many times did you get hit?” Ravani asked. “I thought the armor was supposed to protect against that?”“Little bastards were good with those bows,” Greghan admitted, as Leana yanked the last arrow out from the gap created when the bugbear had slammed him in the hip. He hoped that Winvarle had a good armorer; the magical suit had already taken a beating.Folgar returned from the passage that led to this latest cave’s entrance. “No sign of the ones that fled,” he said. “I don’t suppose they’ll be back soon,” he added, toeing the severed head of the one that Greghan had decapitated.“I suspect it was yours and Leana’s magic that finally broke them,” Greghan said. “They seemed content to turn me into a pincushion.” Only two of the goblins had ultimately escaped, leaving two of their fellows and the bugbears dead behind them. Given their own heavy wounds from the battle, none of the adventurers had been in a particular hurry to chase them.“Hold still,” Leana said, touching her sigil and invoking the blessing of her patron. Once again divine energy surged at her touch, passing from the holy symbol through her body, then down her arm and into Greghan. The magic eased the pain of his wounds, and he nodded at her in thanks.“I’ll bet the cultists saw those goblins running,” Ravani said. “They probably know we’re here.”“Once again our resources are heavily depleted,” Folgar said. “These last two caves were the most difficult yet.”“Are you saying we should call it a day? Give up and go back to the Keep?” Ravani asked.“It would be the safest option,” Folgar said.“The cult isn’t just going to sit there and wait for us,” Ravani said. “I can’t believe I’m the one advocating this, but maybe we need to stay on the attack.”“Leana, what do you think?” Folgar asked.The halfling considered a moment before responding. “We need a short rest, regardless of our decision. Let’s search this cave, secure the secret door, and keep a close eye on the entrance. Once we do that, we can discuss our options. But first, I’d like a chance to pray.”The companions put the cleric’s suggestions into action. They secured the secret door using one of the bugbears’ hammers, spiking the panel with shivs made from the blades of the goblins’ small swords. Ravani went to give the small complex a thorough going-over, while Folgar joined Greghan in keeping watch over the entrance.Leana chose one of the smaller side-rooms in which to commune with her patron. She avoided the small table and log chairs, which stank of the room’s former occupants, and knelt in a dingy corner. Clutching her sigil, she opened her mind to her god.“Lightbringer,” she said. “I have not yet achieved what I came here to do. I want to bring this cult down, to put an end to their evil… but I don’t want to get my friends killed in the process. Please, guide my steps… show me the way.”She wasn’t used to getting clear responses to her prayers—a cleric’s connection to their divinity didn’t work that way, barring some extremely powerful magic that was far beyond her current reach. But prayer tended to settle her thoughts, to ease the doubts that had been a constant companion in her life, ever since she’d taken up the sigil and joined the fight against the evil and darkness that resided in this world.But as she cleared her mind, using the basic meditation practices that she’d learned back in the monastery in Gyralle, a sudden revelation came to her. She sucked in a startled breath as corridors opened in her awareness, as the nearly-depleted magical reservoir of divine power she carried with her was suddenly augmented by new channels of power. The names of spells she’d only heard of in her studies suddenly burned in her mind, awaiting her call to unleash their power.Even as the shock of that epiphany rocked her, the door to the room opened. She looked up to see Ravani and Folgar there. The elf was holding something in his hand, which gleamed with the light shining from her sigil. “I found this,” Ravani said. “I seems like it was intended for you.”She studied the object as he offered it to her. It was a mace, on the small side, maybe a light horseman’s weapon for a human—or a perfect replacement for her own. It was crafted of some kind of silvery metal that drank in the light until it seemed almost aglow. As she reached for it, the elf turned it slightly in his grasp so that she could see the sigil that was imprinted upon the shaft.A sigil identical to the one on the disk she carried, a stylized torch ablaze with light.As she took the mace, her eyes shifted to Folgar’s. The dwarf was carrying his book, and from the way he clutched it to his chest it seemed that he too had had his long-awaited breakthrough. He simply met her gaze and nodded.“Gentlemen,” she said, fighting back sudden tears as she rose to her feet. “It would seem that our course is set.”Game Notes:The party leveled to third after this chapter. I considered the resources they’d spent already used, since they did not complete a long rest, but they gained additional spell slots and hit points from the level-up.Next time: Cult HQ!</blockquote>

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