[sblock=Temple of Iomedae] Xanfire is led beyond the common prayer area of the Temple, through a set of doors to where the priesthood spends their days. However, they are not headed to the Grand Templar's office.
I'm afraid you timing is impeccable, Xanfire. More than you know, and that's what scares me. The Old Woman sent for you before you and your friends arrived. I think she saw something in her visions, and you know what that means... The paladin left off ominously as you made your way towards the office of the High Cleric of Iomedae.
In the office, going through the doors, you see the High Cleric seated behind a desk, and in front of the desk are chairs, apparently for you and one other: an old woman covered by funeral veils, with a withered hands on her lap. In her hand is a string of beads, and her bony thumb clicks through them one by one.
Despite all your adventures, you've only ever heard of "the Old Woman", a mystic Oracle of immense age and wisdom who spends her time cloistered away from the world. You're not sure where she fits into the hierarchy of the church, or even if she's an Oracle of Iomedae (though she should be, considering the High Cleric is dealing with her). Only that occasionally she gets visions that have to do with you, and that there are some orders from your church that you're sure had to do with one of her visions; these led to adventures, including your participation in events that worked out in strange ways simply because you were there. Even for a master cleric like yourself, that's eerie.
The High Cleric (who you remember showing how to do certain prayers years back; gosh, you've been teaching a lot of these high ups in the Church of Iomedae, and they've done well for themelves) looks at you with a certain awe: the Old Woman was right again!
Xanfire! You're here, I--
The Old Woman cuts in.
The sun rises and sets and you know not why, but this mystery amazes you, strange these High Clerics and their lack of faith. Xanfire, you have arrived with a warning and found only questions. Come and say what you are here to say, but know that great sorrow awaits you at the end of our meeting. She doesn't look at you, but only the click click clack of the beads in her fingers makes any noise in the silence between her words and whatever you say next.[/sblock]
[sblock=Dwarven Weaponers] The door opens, and you enter into the fortress of the Weaponers. Armored guards, all dwarves, escort you through another set of door, to a stiflingly small office.
You find yourselves all too close to a dwarven merchant behind an oak desk. He's got a dark beard and red leather armor on, a pock-marked nose, and a sheaf of papers and a quill in his hands. The three of you are squished into one five-foot space, and a ceiling only just six feet high.
Gentlemen, make yourselves at home. What can I do for you?[/sblock]
[sblock=The Unblinking Eye] Going down the corridor, the eye in the archway does nothing but watch you. Up the walls you feel watched, and small slits for windows can be seen, though not seen through. The corridor is only five feet wide, an alleyway, but enough for simple passage; and not, you note, for a party of adventurers who need more space to assault a door.
The door is open when you turn the corner, popping open with a sound. It is made of old brown wood, polished, and short, just under six feet, so you find the need to duck as you enter.
Entering the chapter house of the Esoteric Order of the Unblinking Eye, you go for a moment in darkness until the door closes behind you. Then the light turns on.
The inside of the house is an extra-dimensional space. There you stand on a small landing made of stone, with a set of steps going up and another set going down, neither set having railings. The steps they branch off into various catwalks and staircases, some ending at doorways, some suddenly taking an angle and folding up so that one would have to walk up walls to use them. Beyond the steps and catwalks, however, you see only swirling colors of fantastics, prismatic lights: an infinite dimensional void. Here and there cloaked and hooded figures walk along the pathways and staircases.
There is a hollow, echoing sound of a clock's tick-tock.
Then a voice speaks to you from nowhere and everywhere. I am the voice of the Unblinking Eye. Why do you enter our domain girded in such powerful sorceries?[/sblock]