Return to Sacred Stone Monastery

Our heroes and the traumatized locals they rescued from the slave pens beneath the Sacred Stone Monastery slept like babies. The hidden glade they discovered on the other side of the tunnel apparently provided both secrecy and peace of mind . . . well for most of the large party.

Kahntun's moonlit transformation and the loss of control was terrifying for our half-orc paladin. But perhaps more frightening, it wasn't totally unpleasant.

Kahntun, on the other hand, had a troubling night to say the least. The last thing he remembered was meditating over a prayer as he sat staring at his goddess Selûne in the full bloom of her glory. Next thing he knew, he awoke in the early morning hours, naked . . . and covered in blood. Panicked and terrified by what this foretold and what his companions might come to think of him, he sought out a clear, gently-flowing stream, rinsed off, found his armor and clothing, and sneaked back to the camp site. Pallid and queasy, he passed on the blood sausage and eggs Alexander had whipped up, and as he sat solemnly drinking tea, odd images of rummaging through the underbrush came to his mind, as if in a dream. He seemed to recollect a--not all together unpleasant--sensation of digging gleaming white ivory tusks into the flesh of a small mammal, blood and fur filling his mouth. Then, unbidden, the image of Jolliver Grimjaw, the wereboar, entered his mind's eye leering at him menacingly. "What does this affliction communicate to my goddess? Is not this curse an affront to the purity of her cleansing beams of light?" As he sat pondering the theological implications of his apparent lycanthropy, he felt a growing need to find a cleric who could rid him of the curse. But, in the daylight, he seemed in full possession of himself.

Obviously happy to be alive and free, Bruldenthar seemed even more pleased to learn that the books he had been charged with delivering to Waterdeep yet remained.

With the warm, morning sun on their skin, the former captives felt more themselves. They claimed to be from various settlements around the Sumber Hills, but few seemed to know one another. These commoners had all similarly been abducted by masked monks and dragged off to the dungeons beneath the Sacred Stone Monastery.

As they ate what breakfast they had, Bruldenthar was able to clarify his story. LiKi had it right, he was the Mirabaran diplomat tasked with delivering the important Tomes to Waterdeep. He was also pleasantly surprised by the knowledge that LiKi could account for at least seven of the books (one she had stashed in Red Larch and the other six on the keelboat the party had taken from the pirate water genasi, Shoalar Quanderil.

Cultists helping cultists; cultists ambushing cultists; a fight for domination over the Dessarin Valley? What could it all mean?

Here's what Bruldenthar had to say about the fate of the caravan:

They had been ambushed on the Dessarin Road by earth cultists as they traveled south to Summit Hall.
The earth cultists slayed most of their guard.
The earth cultists and their captives were ferried across the Dessarin River by pirates who received the sage's beloved books as payment.
Bandits flying on giant vultures ambushed the earth cultists somewhere in the Sumber Hills.
A terrible battle was fought, in the end the flying bandits captured Deseyna Norvael, but Bruldenthar and the rest were brought to the Sacred Stone Monastery.
The sage was put to work, but the delegates Rhundorth and Teresiel were taken below to an unknown fate.
The body that the caravan was escorting to Summit Hall to be interned was a Knight of Samular named Narl Elrok.

A Debate and a Plan

The party discussed what to do next. The freed captives begged to each be individually escorted to their settlements, but this would be impossible. They didn't have the time nor the resources to be traipsing all over the Sumber Hills. Plus, this was a very dangerous land and the longer they were travelling, the longer they would be exposed to further ambushes. Even in this secret glade, it seemed that the hills had eyes.

Leopold is on escort duty. It will be a treacherous journey requiring all his cunning and guile.

The party felt as if Leopold who, besides LiKi, possessed the best fieldcraft, might be able to sneak the rather large party along the river down to Rivergard keep. They estimated that it could only be about ten miles south of where they were and knew that if they kept the river in sight, they would be bound to run into the place.

A few of the commoners expressed their desire to help, claiming to have dealt with small threats before. Alexander gave one the commoners his light crossbow, and Kahntun passed out three of his javelins. This would improve the party's chances of reaching their destination, but they would still need to be sneaky. The plan was to get to Rivergard Keep, climb the wall, allow the large group to enter, gather supplies, then lock themselves in Jolliver's hidden bedchamber until the Knights of Samular garrison arrived from Womford or his remaining companions returned from their objective: to investigate Sacred Stone Monastery further, learn more about the cults in this area, find an entrance to the underground kingdom of Tyar-Besil, and punish these mysterious monks.

Before he left, Leopold made Alexander promise to brutalize those "masked freaks" for their mistreatment of his instrument. "What kind of monstrosities hate music?" he mused aloud. "These are Strange Days indeed."

At that Alexander nodded sagely, though it wasn't totally clear whether he was paying attention or not.

Three Adventurers Return to Investigate the Sacred Stone Monastery

At the yawning entrance to the dark, dusty tunnel leading back inside the underground level of the monastery, LiKi pulled a piece of fur out of her mysterious grey bag and threw it on the ground ten feet away. Suddenly, out of a growing whirl of chaotic flying fur, a direwolf took shape, growled ferociously at Kahntun, then moved to LiKi's side. She reached up on her tippytoes and scratched the giant monster behind the ear. It leaned into her touch.

Kahntun

Alexander

LiKi

Although only three of our adventurers returned to the Sacred Stone Monastery, they still entered with a party of four; LiKi pulled out a direwolf from her mysterious bag of tricks! WTF is up with her!?!?

Around noon LiKi, Alexander, and Kahntun returned through the hidden tunnel and reemerged in the underground level beneath the Sacred Stone Monastery. The place was eerily quiet. It didn't seem as if the prison break had been noticed as yet. They wandered around for a bit, then came to a strange staircase.

An ancient, unknown symbol pulses in our adventurers' minds. A terrible keyhole, but to a threshold leading to what?

The passage led to worn stone steps that descended and turned left. This was no mine tunnel--the stonework was near-perfect despite its evident age. It was obvious that whoever wrought this descending staircase did so a long time ago and did it with considerable skill. But an unassailable gate prevented them from descending further.

"This must be an entrance to the ancient city of Tyar-Besil" Alexander observed.

"With the underground river beneath Rivergard keep, it seems we have discovered two of the entrances to Belsimer" Kahntun agreed.

LiKi began, "I wonder if . . ." then trailed off as the strange symbol they had encountered at the other entrance burned into their minds. It had an ominous connotation to it, like an unnamed terror from childhood, and it seemed even more terrifying than when they had encountered it before.

Apparently the party will need to retrieve multiple keys in order to gain access to the ancient Dwarven city of Tyar-Besil.

Once again, the odd key that LiKi had recovered off Jolliver Grimjaw began to pulsate with a dull, teal radiance. As they approached, the previous image in their mind was replaced with the puzzle they had encountered beneath Rivergard keep. It was becoming clear. These locks required multiple keys. They appeared to possess the key associated with water. Alexander, despite his toweringly average intelligence, put two and two together and wagered "I'd be willing to bet a pint of Wizard's Tower Ale that one of these creepy monks upstairs has another one of those keys."

Scowling ferociously, Kahntun growled "Well, I guess we better pay them a visit, hadn't we?"

They donned their disguises and searched for a way up.

Things were quiet as they explored . . . a little too quiet.

They couldn't ascend the way they had come down. The trap was still sprung. After exploring for a bit, noticing that the slaves had in fact been asked to dig for no readily apparent reason, they discovered a stairway leading upward and cautiously lurked along.

An interesting part of the monastery. They found a distilling room. What monks needed with brandy they couldn't determine. They found a locked door (the blue thumbtack), and they also found a dojo!

The party of three went cautiously up the stairs, opened the door to a hallway, noticed it was fairly quiet, and started to explore. Here's what happened:

They came to a room from which they could hear a bubbling sound and the clanking of glassware.
They entered and saw two monks going about their business. The monks stopped what they were doing, then made a strange hand gesture in the shape of a triangle by touching the thumbs and forefingers of both hands together.
Alexander repeated the gesture, then drew his sword. The two monks were quickly bested; they killed one and the other they tied up and questioned.
Apparently the monks used this room as a still to brew a strong, yet not palatable brandy. Alexander still drank some of the burning liquid.
At first their captive wouldn't talk, but when threatened with being doused in brandy and set ablaze, he changed his tune. "To die of fire is an abomination! I shall speak." he mumbled.
He said that his master was the "Abbess of Stone."
The party wondered at this, for they had been led to believe that Qarbo led these reclusive monks.
He said that "the prophet" would bring the return of Ogrémoch and reshape the putrid world in his crushing image.
When asked about "the prophet," he barked out, as if offended at their ignorance, "the seer of stone! the herald of Ogrémoch, the wielder of Ironfang. Infidels. You will never understand."
At this, Alexander shrugged his shoulders, replied "guess not," and cleanly removed the monks head from his shoulders.
They looked out the window to the north and saw an overgrown garden with curious, life-like statues standing here and there.
They then crept outside the door and listened at another door to the east (the blue thumbtack).
LiKi channeled her direwolf's powerful senses of hearing and smell, detecting a weird scratching sound and an odor that could only be described as death wrapped in flowers.
The door was locked, and they agreed to return to bust it open once they had checked the surrounding rooms; they did not want to make a ruckus and raise the alarm. Best to silence any monks who might be about, as they had done with the previous two.

A Dojo, Morning "Meditations," and a Humbling Experience

LiKi had her direwolf sniff and listen at the door to the south of the room with the brandy stills. It smelled the pungent odor of sweat and heard thumping sounds complimented by grunts. LiKi asked her direwolf to guard the door leading eastward out of this room as the party entered the through the northern door, wearing their masks and cloaks. Here's what happened:

They saw a blindfolded woman kicking the shit out of a few hapless sacred stone monks. The monks seemed exhausted and demoralized.
The woman asked in a commanding voice, "who interrupts the Abbess of Stone's sacred meditations? Speak!"
Alexander said that they were new recruits, but were told by Qarbo to prove their worth to the Abbess.
She considered this for a moment, then told them to put their weapons on the rack and spar her one at a time.
Kahntun and Alexander looked at each other, shrugged, then doffed their weapons and shields. After a quick rock, paper, scissors match, Kahntun reluctantly stepped forward and stood before the blindfolded monk.
Shit was on!

Obviously thrilled to have a respite from being pummeled by the Abbess of Stone, Hellenrae, the other Sacred Stone monks cheered excitedly as their mistress put a beat down on first Kahntun, then Alexander.

It didn't go well for Kahntun and Alexander.

After fifteen seconds of combat, Kahntun had received three bone-rattling blows. He wasn't even sure whether they had been delivered by hands, feet, head, elbows, or knees. He just knew that he was in intense pain [and down to 18 hps] and the lady had stepped back and bowed. The grace and power of this warrior impressed him greatly.

She looked to Alexander.

Nervously, he looked back at LiKi and chuckled. LiKi looked away and rolled her eyes.

Twenty seconds later, Alexander had received a treatment similar to the one his paladin companion had received. His head throbbed and he could feel the brandy he had quaffed earlier surging upward from his gut.

Again, Hellenrae stepped back and bowed. But this time she spoke. "Although you did not fair well against my superior martial ability, I am impressed that each of you managed to land a blow. This is not typical, especially from this lot back here. Perhaps after months of deprivation and solitary meditation you will fully relinquish your childish attachments to the material realm and be worthy of training. Perhaps we may even find use for your tiny ball of energy over there. Do not think your supernatural gifts have gone unnoticed young gnome. Leave your weapons and my men will escort you to each of your solitary chambers."

Obviously the party denied this offer. Combat ensued.

Hellenrae put up quite a fight, even once our adventurers had rearmed themselves. The Sacred Stone monks? Not as much. Apparently they had been fairly brutalized by their mistress' morning "meditations."

When combat began, Kahntun drew on the powers of Selûne to heal his wounds.
When Hellenrae sensed this, she delivered a crushing blow to his ribs.
Kahntun responded, casting Hellish Rebuke, surrounding her in hellish flames.
LiKi steadied her mind, probing for insight into Hellenrae's abilities [True Strike], then unleashed a devastating bolt of lighting that engulfed their foe.
Alexander first went about decimating the other monks, dispatching them quickly with his flaming sword, Light Bringer.

Sensing battle was turning against her, Hellenrae did a back flip and landed on a narrow windowsill ten feet up.
When she slipped through the narrow crack, LiKi whistled, her direwolf burst the door down, she mounted it, and leapt through the door leading toward the outside of the monastery.
Hellenrae turned to face the monster and its tiny rider, delivering crushing blows to each.
LiKi almost lost consciousness; her beast was stunned and unable to react.
Mustering her last bit of strength, LiKi unleashed yet another Witch Bolt at the Abbess, ending her life.
It had been a taxing battle, but Kahntun, Alexander, and LiKi had emerged victorious.
They brought Hellenrae's dead body inside and stacked it with the other corpses.
LiKi found a strange key that emitted a dull auburn light. She had a pretty good idea what it might do. She stashed it with its teal-colored counterpart.

After the traumatic events that had transpired, the party decided the best thing to do would be to share a cuddle puddle with LiKi's direwolf (who was also fairly traumatized), and rest for an hour.

After this chance to recover, they ventured out to investigate the mysteriously locked room to the north of the dojo.

But first, Kahntun knelt beside Hellenrae's body and carefully removed her red blindfold, saying a prayer under his breath. Her eyes were open and seemed to stare reproachfully up at the heavens. Her life had been full of bitterness and betrayal. Now she was at peace.

Kahntun wanted to honor her strength and discipline. He tied her blindfold around the hilt of his sword talon.

A Voice from the Past

Holy shit! There's a fucking lich in there! Is it friendly?

They realized that the door had been secured by some soft of arcane lock. Combining their own with the strength of the direwolf, Kahntun and Alexander were able to bust the door open.

This older part of the monastery had been fitted out as a laboratory with work tables covered in alchemical apparatuses and shelves full of strange curios and dusty clay jars. The windows had been bricked up, and cobwebs hung thick in the ceiling corners. As they entered, they noticed an ancient figure perusing a heavy tome that lay open on a small desk, making notes on sheets of parchment covered in arcane writing.

The figure looked up, then mildly annoyed, announced, "I already told you no. Now depart."

Confused, Kahntun stepped forward to take a closer look, removing his mask. At this, the ancient scholar fixed his glowing eyes on our paladin, then down at his shield and its emblem of a pair of female eyes surrounded by seven silver stars.

"Ah yes, Selûne . . . the Night White Lady" he mused. "A worthy goddess indeed." The party looked on as the figure seemed to be lost in centuries of musings, grinning ruefully to himself. He addressed Kahntun directly, "Perhaps I was mistaken about my new visitors. Perhaps you labor under a more noble pretense than these dour monks. Do you serve the Moon Maiden?"

Kahntun nodded that he did. Then, mustering the courage he stepped further forward, knelt, and recited the proper oaths.

"My brothers served a god of their own, Tyr. They fought bravely gaining much renown. I believe one even started an order of knights. But they are lost now, submerged beneath the abyss of time, and yet here I am. Alive . . .and alone." Then laughing suddenly, he added "well, maybe not exactly alive, but you get the idea. Come in, join me."

At that, the shattered bits of the door reassembled, sealing the chamber once again. Candlelight sprung forth seemingly out of nowhere and the lich stood up and bowed.

Putting the pieces together, our scholar LiKi said, "we thank you Renwick Caradoon, the legends of you and your brothers do not do justice to your grace and kindness. We accept your hospitality."

Renwick Caradoon, brother to Samular and Amphail Caradoon, long dead heroes of the second Troll War.

The party would spend the better part of the day and early evening enjoying the lich, Renwick Caradoon's company and consultation. Here's what happened:

LiKi asked if she could peruse his reading materials. Renwick agreed.
Recognizing her as a fellow scholar and magic user, he enjoyed quizzing her and speaking of the esoteric rites. Apparently Renwick was no longer interested in studying magic in search of more powerful spells or artifacts. He was more interested in the philosophy of magic. His studies were purely academic.
However, LiKi did recover a potion of greater healing, a potion of hill giant strength, a scroll of invisibility, and a scroll of Snilloc's snowball swarm.
Renwick enjoyed this conversation immensely as he had spent hundreds of years without anybody to discuss these arcane secrets with. He granted LiKi inspiration.
Renwick told stories about his brothers Samular and Amphail who had fought during the Troll Wars.
He described how Amphail had fed him a potion of eternal life (hence the lichdom) instead of allowing his beloved older brother to die on the battlefield.
When asked, he agreed to let the Knights of Samular retrieve the body of their comrade, Narl Elrok from the ancient crypt beneath his chamber whenever they like.
He said that these cultists were a nuisance, but did not think they were dangerous. But he did admit that messing with the ancient, evil elemental powers was a dangerous business. However, he did not seem knowledgeable or interested in recent history or the troubles afflicting the Dessarin Valley.
He talked with Kahntun for a few hours about the devotion of his paladin brothers. He liked Kahntun so much that he pulled an ancient relic out of a chest and gave it to him: an amulet of health.
He promised to keep more cultists from reoccupying the monastery should our heroes be succesful in driving them out.
The party took a long rest then reemerged from the lich's chambers around midnight.

The Scriptorium

In a candlelit, empty room west of the dojo, the party of four found a room with writing desks beneath three large windows. Dusty tomes, stacks of parchment, and pots of ink cluttered each desk. This was the room within which they had seen masked scriviners silently writing when they stealthily peered in the windows two mornings ago. As the direwolf stood watch at the door, the party investigated the writings. Most of it consisted of the banal ravings of the cult, but they did see evidence of duplication of something called The Personal Testament of Marlos Urnrayle.

Wading through this testament, they learned the following bits of highly sensative information:

Marlos Urnrayle is the Prophet of Earth;
He was drawn to a place called "the Fane of the Eye" by powerful visions. There he found "Ironfang, the Holy Implement of Earth Power," and took it for his own;
Marlos established the Temple of Black Earth in the ruins of a long-abandoned dwarven stronghold that exists below the Sacred Stone Monastery;
He nurtures something called the Black Geode, and when all is ready, "the Evergrowing Mountain shall come and remake these lands in his own image."
This is in reference to the evil elemental god known as Ogrémoch.
"The Sacred Stone Monks" was just a ruse to guard the secret existence of The Black Earth Cult.
Larrahk and the "Bringers of Woe" were attempting to spread the influence of this cult until our adventurers destroyed them in the Tomb of Moving Stones beneath Red Larch (see Chapter 1 Part 1: Arriving in Red Larch).

Alexander was eager to recover the missing keys and descend into this "temple" to further infiltrate the cult. LiKi wondered how this connected with the other organizations they had encountered . . . organizations centered around water and air.

A Final Battle in the Monastery, a New Key, and a Deeper Mystery

Cautious monks.

Cautious monks now ensnared in LiKi's web!

The group crept through the halls of the Sacred Stone Monastery, then they came to a room where they heard some shuffling about. They recognized it as the room they had been held in before their audience with Qarbo (the room where poor Leo's lyre had been smashed to bits). They opened the door and were faced with eight monks. These monks strategically held back, hoping to draw our heroes into the room to fight in close quarters, but they couldn't be lured. Here's what happened next:

Alexander jumped on the direwolf and took off for the distillery; he apparently thought it might be nice to grab a keg of brandy and burn these monks alive.
Kahntun taunted the monks as LiKi picked one off with a well-placed firebolt. But still they would not come out to fight. They stood their ground.
LiKi ensnared several of the monks in a sticky web

Alexander must of thought better of his brandy idea. He returned to the fight just in time. Suddenly, as they continued to whittle down the sacred stone monks, six new dangerous foes suddenly emerged! The duergar had arrived, and they were not in a pleasant mood!

Just when they thought they had the upper hand, our heroes found themselves surrounded by six pissed off, subterranean dwarves with heavy fucking hammers! They seemed to materialize out of thin air, and one of them was twice the size of Kahntun! This larger one brutalized LiKi and her direwolf with blow after blow from its warhammer.

Just as it seemed as if things had turned for the worst, LiKi unleashed a giant fireball that spread around corners and engulfed the hallway and the chamber in deadly fire. But finding greatly enhanced precision with her metamagic [careful spell] abilities, she was able to protect herself and her allies from the licking death of the flames. The druegar caught fire and yelped in pain and anger; the remaining monks died instantly. Kahntun beheaded one of the duergar; Alexander delivered a powerful riposte and a sweeping attack to do for another two. The giant duergar killed LiKi's direwolf. Enraged, she used her inspiration and cast a Witchbolt on it, landing a critical hit and splitting the dour dwarf in two.

The party was badly hurt. LiKi was hanging on by a thread as she kneeled beside her fallen friend. But it appeared that the tide had once again shifted in their favor! That was until the door to the adjacent chamber opened up . . .

. . . and revealed the Black Earth priest Qarbo and two of his guards. The fight was tenuous, as damaged as our heroes were. In the end, they proved victorious. Here are a few highlights:

Kahntun channeled the divinity of his deity, uttering a vow of enmity against the stone priest.
This was fortunate, for as he was slashing away at the villain, Alexander seemed stuck in a time warp, unable to move or react. He seemed slowed to a terrifying degree.
Kahntun struck down the priest, releasing Alexander who then destroyed the remaining duergar and helped Kahntun finish off the guards in the strange stony armor.
The fight was finally over.
They found some loot and rested.
The Sacred Stone Monastery had been cleansed.

Qarbo

Before heading out of the monastery, LiKi, Kahntun, and Alexander traveled back to the ancient stair on the lower level of the complex. The gate was till locked by an unbreakable magic, but as she approached, both the new auburn key and the older teal key pulsated with life. As she suspected, it was clear that they were one step closer to solving the puzzle and gaining access to the ancient dwarven kingdom of Tyar-Besil.

TL;DR:

Kahntun survived transforming into a boar.
The rescued Mirabaran diplomat, Bruldenthar gave some info about this missing caravan.
LiKi pulled a direwolf out of a bag.
Leopold left to escort the freed captives to Rivergard Keep and wait.
The party infiltrated the monastery again and found a locked entrance to Tyar-Besil.
The party killed the "Abbess of Stone."
LiKi found a key on this abbess.
The party met a lich named Renwick Caradoon, brother to the hero of old, Samular, founder of the Knights of Samular.
Renwick gave Kahntun an amulet of health.
The party found a bunch of writings that explained a lot about the "Sacred Stone Monks," who are actually just a front for something called the Black Earth Cult, led by the "prophet" named Marlos Urnrayle, who wields "Ironfang," and nurtures something called the "Black Geode," in a place called "The Fane of the Eye," in hopes of unleashing an elemental power named Ogrémoch.
The party killed some monks, some duegar, the face of the Sacred Stone Monks, Qarbo, and a few of his guards.
The party believes that they need two more keys to unlock the subterranean portals to Tyar-Besil.

The party has more mysterious to solve and more monsters to conquer. What happened with our bard and those they rescued? Did he successfully guide them to Rivergard keep? What will our party decide to do next? Only time will tell! Stay tuned!

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