Day 22 (S12-14)

Started with Gunther, Ended in Sanctum
Rina 17, 8
This Bodak was Gunther, leader of the Fearsome 5. He knows Darrian - the Leader of the Cat Clan and Rina’s son. Rina acted like she knew this about her son, but was embarrassed that she didn't know - she has not seen him in over a decade.

There was a huge wither-salt bomb in the mountain that Luminus used to make the Saltwater Pond.

Alice turned fish and checked out the pond - it is salt water. At the bottom of the pond she finds a grate, then she swam til she found 2 doors. One was broken open and the other was shut. Through the open door she finds a closet with old clothes in it - many of the same outfit. Each had a thick ribbon in the pocket - possibly a blindfold or something used to tie one’s hands together. Both girls note that it “seems like cult shit.”

In the meantime Rina was Sending to the Salt Slayers: Found Gunther at Mount Ivatim (5). Others of the Fearsome Five are likely dead (8). Planning to head to Castle Frey, Then Vorovni (8). Hope to see you (4). (=25 words)

We decide that we are going to attempt to open the closed door and go inside after clearing rocks, etc. Kin and Aurelius spent some time clearing rocks and debris from the door.

With polymorph & wildshape: Alice, Rina, and Kin dive into the door - Aruleus swims.

We get the door open and get through - it slams shut behind us.

We arrive in a huge room that looks untouched by time.

Our first dungeon.

S13

Arrival in the dungeon, we are in the 2nd room (first had the robes). This room has 3 doors, wood, stone, and stone with a place for a gem to unlock it.

In this room there are 4 Murals:

3 Dragons with sand pouring from their eyes. Red on top, Gold and Black below fighting.
Library with collapsed ceiling and water pouring in, Blue-skinned being inside with strange clothes. Water steams as it hits them. (Therius)
Woman in fetal position at the base of a volcano - she’s burned and the trees are sad and burning Oara
3 scenes: Large eye in a cave surrounded by glowing swords. Woman surrounded by soldiers with swords in a river of glass; horned person running and bleeding from where their horns were cut off. (Phesoi)

Rina and Alice look through the wood door. It was trapped so we both took damage. Inside is a conference room with a table for 12 chairs. On the table is a small crown of vines and plant matter - ancient and magical, but looks as fresh as the day it was made. Rina uses comprehend languages to read something: “Join the resistance, Join the holy war. Gods walk among us. Set Free the shackles of domains.” Rina also reads etched into the table: “Paulod was here, and one day will me again.” Rina believes it is Celestial that she’s reading, and its really old.

Alice also sensed magic in the 2nd room, so we went to check it out.

The stone door had a library on the inside, filled with about 1ft of the salt water. The papers and books here were obviously shredded. Kin finds a writing from Therius in the Niktalia Eternal book, and uses it to speak with him about the Shepherd. Therius says it is a creature that belongs to death, and to send it home. On the far wall there was a painting that was mostly ripped, just some light and a wing is able to be seen. Behind the painting Kin found the gem we need to open the last door.

We backed out of the room so Alice could use her whip to grab the gem and pull it out. After doing so, the rooms both collapsed. This temple used by be above ground. The Withersalt bomb basically buried it here and made everything salty. A dark figure came from here, and a holy one followed.

Using the gem, we opened the 3rd door, it led down a long spiral staircase. Aurelius found a trap on the stairs that we avoided. Alice’s Mirror Stone matches the walls of this place. It seems that the church of Luminus made a Wither-Salt bomb blessed by one of the Cardinals of Luminus, and detonated it here. The explosion sent this small mirror stone all the way to where Alice found it.

As we go down the stairs Kin notices some shadows coming in from the surface, and shuts the door behind him and takes the Gem.

The shadows are able to squeeze through the door by the time we get to the bottom of the stairs. There is rubble, everything is blocked except by a small air shaft. Alice goes down and signals us to also. The floor is wet with the salt water and the wood boards are breaking.

There are dead bodies lined up along the walls of people who have been here for thousands of years. They all have a cup in their hands and it looks like they all committed suicide. This is almost definitely the Eyeless Cult. The robes & blindfolds upstairs are probably theirs, they are all dressed in the same basic underclothing.

We all get down there and we see the Shepherd at the bottom of the sanctum on a stone floor. It is large and pitch black with a shepherd’s hook weapon that looks like its a part of its body. It looks like it’s covered in a layer of cracking obsidian and has spiral horns. The End Medallion is shoved into the leg of the Shepherd, holding it in space and time, it is frozen mid-swing. The shadows that followed us each approach the medallion to try to remove it, moving it only lightly before being destroyed by the Medallion.

Rina moves to the upper level where there is a wooden balcony, falling apart. Kin stays far back, while Alice attempts to remove the Medallion. When she tries, it sticks to her - not letting her let go when she fails to pull it out. Aruleus helps her, and they both are able to pop it out. We begin battle.

Once the Medallion is out, the Shepherd finishes its swing. It tends to attack people who it thinks are the biggest threat.

We hit it a few times, and we also get hit a few times. Rina gets her leg stuck in the old wood of the balcony.

We get it bloodied, or so we think. Then the sloughs off its rigid obsidian skin to reveal a very smooth black body underneath. End session.

S14

We fight the shepherd until Rina’s final Eldritch blast defeated it. It melted into the ground and went back to where it came from. Rina grabbed the Cylinder of Liquid that was hanging from its horn just in time. In its place was a woman, she said “oh… I’m back.” and passed out. She is wearing armor that looks very much like the stuff we see in this temple, maybe just updated. The temple has a lot of Sun, murals, blindfolds. Her stuff is related to this. She has old and mediocre armor.

Rina and Aurelius find a statue with something shiny in its hand. We get it out, it’s a God Compass that is good for a Ranger - Aurelius gets it. There were other spaces for other statues, but this was the only statue in tact.