Chapter Six

 Return the Talisman to Aether’s Shrine

Day One 

On the way back to Copry, the party walks a path that meets with a confluence of streams. Ickie recognizes a symbol for one of the Old Gods, Aether. It’s a stone marker, covered in lichen and hard to make out the finer features, but it clearly displays the Watchful Eye of Aether.  Lothriel and Diggles recognize the symbol as one of the relics from Charlatan’s chamber. Lothriel has it and holds it up for comparison. In preparation for some possibility, she uses her forging kit to take a rubbing of the marker. 

The party follows a faint path which carries them over a stream and up into the hills.  As the terrain gets steeper, they find themselves walking through the Dark Wood with increasing patches of rock outcroppings. They take a quick pause and Diggles and Lothriel climb to the top and look around. A Giant Spider wanders nearby. If the spider notices the party, it doesn’t care. The gnome and elf rejoin the party and all follow the path upward, staying cautious as they avoid the spider

As the party continues to climb, they enter a rocky canyon with steep walls and horrible sight lines. Diggles and Lothriel climb the rocks again and look around.  They can’t see much. When they climb down, and the party proceeds through the the canyon, all get caught in a landslide and everyone takes damage. And worse, the rock slide alerts two Basilisks which come to investigate. 

 

The first encounters the party and attacks (most likely to defend its territory). It constantly bites at Lemonbutter until the half-orc takes too much damage and runs from the fray. Lemonbutter consumes a healing potion. Diggles continues the assault on the creature and wears it down while dodging  the beast’s teeth. Meanwhile, however, the other Basilisk comes in to play and circles to the rest of the party. From its advantage above Lothriel and Ickie, it uses its Stone Gaze. The magic doesn’t affect Lothriel but Ickie is paralyzed in place. With feints and dexterous double attacks Lothriel and a freshly healed Lemonbutter beat the Basilisk down without taking too much more damage.

Exhausted and wounded, the party presses forward and exits the deep canyon.  They come to a small narrow lake and take advantage of the relative peace to have a (long) rest. 

Day Two

Refreshed, the party finds themselves at the bank of a long narrow lake nestled in the rock canyon. Two boats rest at the water’s edge. After inspecting the boats for traps or other dangers, they decide to take one boat, but tow the other behind.  They cross the lake, entirely uneventfully, to the opposite shore. Rows of stone columns lead forth from the edge of the lake.  Lemonbutter, in blissful innocence of not knowing what he shouldn’t know, recognizes the similarity of the symbols on the columns to those on the shrine marker and the confluence of the rivers. 

Some of the columns have toppled over through age or rockslides, but they all create a path that leads to a large stone shrine. All seems to be carved from one solid piece. In the front is a large Pegasus stands, wings outstretched. Behind the winged horse is a large dome with a concavity in its center. The concave recess is etched with the Eye of Aether and is roughly the same size as the icon Lothriel carries. 

The party once again searches the area for traps, creatures or anything else of note. But only seeing fallen rocks and and the shrine, the party decides to place the icon into the depression.  A supernatural fire ignites from the dome and the Pegasus glows with its own internal flame. Each member of the party feels an overwhelming sense of inspiration. (Each play may permanently add +1 to one attribute, not to exceed 20 points.)

Not believing that is all there may be at this destination, Lemonbutter and Diggles try to take the icon back from the shrine. The Old Gods will have none of that and the flame explodes, nearly killing both. The party must rest again, and with the aid of some magics and potions, they both recover. 

A little more powerful, the party returns to the confluence of rivers and their cart to continue their journey back to Copry.