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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ormazd" data-source="post: 6029081" data-attributes="member: 24334">We chased the figure we thought was Rhuarc, crossed a river and his trail led to a house on a hill. Heading up the hill we saw him running away. What a surprise.Riding smelly, Merrick and Lumi try to cut him off. Lumi attacks only to realize it is a duplicate and the real Rhuarc shoots her from the balcony and destroys the bridge they're on.Everyone charges into the house trying to reach Rhuarc. Merrick flies in the top window and finds himself trapped in a cage of force with a demon. The others make their way up the stairs as quickly as they can.The seconds tick by. The party cries out for Rhuarc to slow down and talk, but he isn't having any of it. Rhuarc vanishes into thin air, but Karuna is unimpressed. He pleads for Rhuarc to listen. Rhuarc replies that he has vowed to protect the torch with his life.Van is chagrined. "Surely one man can't protect the torch as well as six," he bellows. "Leska seeks the torch and we can't allow it to fall into her hands; If necessary, we will destroy you to keep it safe." Rhuarc refuses to listen to reason. The party tries to defeat him but momentarily he flees again.Everyone goes out the window.Then, Rhuarc jumps off a cliff. Lumi jumps after him and grabs him. They crash to the ground. Lumi is knocked unconscious, but surprisingly, Rhuarc makes sure she isn't dying. He seems impressed by her dedication.As the others make their way down, Shirazade asks him what he wants to do with it, and he explains that he simply wants to keep it hidden.He doesn't think we're good enough to protect it, but after some discussion, Merrick vows to return it to him once their noble purpose is complete. He seems to trust the halfling's pledge and hands over the torch.Rhuarc admits that he is in possession of the soul of Drakus Coaltongue. After some bargaining, and a heartfelt explanation of his lost lover's plight, Rhuarc agrees to give the soul to Van, on the condition that he brings Zofia before him sometime in the future.Rhuarc departs and the party rests. Van disenchants his old Stone of Flame (now in Lumi's possession, after being carried by Alain) and turns it into an amulet that will protect the wearer (and, importantly, his possessions) from scrying. Merrick gets the amulet and holds onto the torch.Then the party headed to the Temple of Echoed Souls, where Rhuarc reportedly separated Trilla's soul from the torch (thereby deactivating it). We hope that her soul might still linger in the temple, allowing us to fix the torch.As we ascended the stairs to the temple, bells began to toll loudly, announcing our presence for miles around. Karuna knocks, and he and Lumi open the large doors. The bells stop tolling.As we enter, facing a large mirror, glowing circles appear beneath us on the floor, and a brown-skinned man in crimson robes appears in the mirror. He warns: "The one called Forty-one controls the temple now, and will destroy you if you enter."</blockquote>

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