[Adventure] The Star of Sapphire

Period:
Kythorn 3D2 to Kythorn 3D6, 1372 Year of the Wild Magic.

Characters:
- Alarik
- Aletheia
- Threwyn
- Ezekiel
- Eileen

Particular Encounters:
/

Previously, in AD&D:
Following the trail left by the rogues of the Long Knives, the group chose to follow them, purchasing horses, as time was of the essence.
They encountered goblins on the road but dispatched them easily. Their trip took them at least one full day and half, then they reached the area marked on the notes found in the bandits' secret room. Eileen, the Teu'Tel'Qessir ranger, led the group after a bunch of horses and men tracks that brought them to a clearing where stood a dark temple which shadow cast by the waning moon gave it a sinister appearance.
Eileen and Aletheia, cautiously, signed the group to stay behind, and advanced through the border of the clearing to the opposite side.
They found horses, but as soon as they approached, the sound of a released crossbow's string startled the two of them.
Quick on her senses, Eileen nearly dodged it and fired her bow in the direction the quarrel had sprung. A painful groan made her know that her arrow had found its target.
After looting the small camp made by the rogues, they released the horses and rejoined their companions.
They all faced the temple and the large stairs that led to a double stone door carved with skulls.
Climbing to the top of the stairs, they noticed the left door was slightly open, giving way to a dark and wide room.
Aletheia, brought up by her curiosity, lit a torch and stepped forward into the room.
The room was indeed wide and rectangular, with carved columns lined a few distance away of the side walls which were covered with mosaics depicting some sort of ancient ritual. At the opposite side of the room stood a lectern at the top of a small dais, holding an old book.
The human assassin had reached the middle of the room, her companions standing near the entrance, when the hostile rogues chose to attack from behind the columns, firing their crossbows. A combat followed, which saw the group of adventurers victorious, although some of them had been injured.
They all studied the room with no other apparent exit, from the columns, to the mosaics and the old book.
Ezechiel, the Priest of Kosuth, cast a Detect Evil spell and saw to his surprise that all around was burning with a purple aura, including two of his associates...
After a long time had passed, they finally figured out the riddle that was concealing a trapdoor and a passageway leading below the temple.
The group followed a narrow corridor that gave to a room that prolonged on either sides ending on carvings showing twisted skulls and bones entwined in impossible angles. They seemed to attract and sap of their will those who dared take a look at them. On the opposite side was a double stone door, opened enough to let pass the crawling body of a red-haired human female in black attire. She was covered in her own blood, claws had teared deep wounds into her flesh, and her guts were trailing behind her where her legs should have been. She died an instant later.
The horror that hovered behind and entered the room was fearsome, a quivering mound of bones and flesh with appendices ending in scythes and claws. The fire magic Alarik brought into play prevailed and saw to the destruction of the abomination that was impervious to most of other forms of attack.
A second abomination entered the room, and again the magic of Alarik's Fire Wand dispatched the creature, though it was now depleted of all magic.
They decided to continue and passed the door, they soon arrived to a junction with a corridor on either side, and one ahead.
Eileen heard a noise coming from the corridor on her left. She told the group and they all followed in that direction, arriving in a small room devoid of anything but a square pool of waterish matter as dark and cold as the deepest night in the middle of it. The low-pitched sound came from there. Ezechiel, dropping a pebble into the pool, could see that it disappeared without a sound as soon as it touched the surface of the dark substance.
Meanwhile, Eileen and Aletheia had decided to explore the other corridor to the conclusion it ended with a similar room.
Leaving the pool behind, the gathered at the entrance of the last of the corridors, and followed it to a tall bronze door craved with elongated skulls and large knockers made of bone.
Eklasis and Ezekiel pushed the heavy door and all stepped into a very large room.
The stone in this room was slightly lighter than in the rest of the temple, large spikes-covered columns were lined on either sides. At the opposite stood a second heavy bronze door. Mangled corpses and ripped limbs were scattered everywhere. Hundreds of bones were left at the far left side. At the center of the room was a pure sapphire cut in the shape of a star and resting inside a small hole.
As the group moved forward, they noticed an old man laying on the floor, with grayish shoulder-length hair wearing brown robes: Grevhen.
Suddenly, the door behind them closed shut and green faerie fires illuminated the room, spiraling around some of the columns. Black strips of utter darkness appeared sometimes and danced inside the green fires, absorbing some of the light.
The group approached Grevhen and, to their relief, noticed he was only unconscious, though a bloody wound bared his left temple.
Cautiously, they healed him and interrogated him. He warned the group against the artifact that was the Star of Sapphire, and against the Guardian...
Rattling noises made the adventurers look at the stack of bones some paces away. The bones began to assemble themselves into a tall and large humanoid form, with scything talons. Alarik, recognizing the thing for what it was, cried to his companions "A bone golem!", and quickly searched his bag for a vial he sipped. His form became blurry then disappeared. "Coward!" spat Eklasis as he ran for the entrance door with his associates.
Ezechiel and Aletheia brought a terrorized Grevhen along. They all soon realized with horror that the door was magically sealed, and that the golem was advancing on them.
Meanwhile, Alarik looked at the scene from a grayish landscape. Knowing the effect of his potion would not last long, he decided to pass through the other door in ethereal form, arriving into a smaller room with a stair leading to a platform. On this platform was a pedestal made of three long dark metal skeleton arms. On the opened and outstretched hands rested a black sphere. No light seemed to reflect on its smooth surface.


******
La prochaine aventure demarre a Flamerule 1D6. Comme d'habitude, dites-moi ce que vous faites durant cette decade.

Durant cette petite pause Alarik en profita pour revendre ses moultes richesses et en étudier d'autre qui semblent magique et efficace...
De plus lors de cette aventure Alarik compris que la magie ne fesait pas tout et qu'il fallait qu'il renforce également ses techniques de combat.

Il se perfectionna donc à l'usage de la targe et du fléau afin de mieux affronter les futurs danger et aussi il appris à faire une autre petite chose tant pour faire des petites cachoterie à ses compagnons ou alors inspirer la plus grande des peurs chez ses ennemis MOUHAHAHAHA !!!

Un lot de surprises se préparent,préparez-vous

Eileen, pendant cette décade, s'entraîna plus intensément au maniement de ses lames et de son arc et de quelques autres aptitudes, (je ne sais plus exactement ce que j'ai augmenté, je te dirais ça ce soir, j'ai tout noté sur ma feuille ^^") et se rendit chez des marchands pour vendre ses pierres précieuses ainsi que ses gemmes (là aussi, vu qu'Alarik a tout récupéré alors que c'est dans mon inventaire, je ne sais plus ... et que je comptais marchander, comme prévu...) mais aussi le bracelet en or qu'elle possède depuis un long moment, l'ayant pris lors de la précédente mission, dans l'un des tombeaux. Elle se débarrassa aussi chez un autre marchand de son épée courte devenue inutile, puisque remplacée par une épée courte elfique.

(S'il y a d'autres choses, je prendrais cinq minutes pour en parler, lorsque j'aurai ma feuille de personnage en main)

Pendant ce temps, Ezechiel resta avec son maître à écouter les enseignements de Kossuth, foi supérieure à toutes les autres. Ce temps consacré à la prière lui permit alors de développer son lien avec son Dieu (et donc d'augmenter sa théologie). Comme tout enseignement de son Dieu, Ezechiel savait que cela ne serait pas de tout repos, mais il était prêt à endurer la douleur et braver la difficulté, car il faut mériter ses récompenses.

(Je vérifierai sur ma feuille s'il faut rajouter quelque chose, et prendrai quelques minutes pour effectuer cet acte )