Episode 78: All Smiles

Plot
Continuing their battle Aya finishes off another Necrophage with one of her two Eldritch blasts and hits another, while Sarrek continues to be affected by the gasses in the room. He takes aim again, and fires at the last Necrophage. Almost dead the Ooze lobs a ball of acid but misses, leaving it to be bludgeoned by the tentacles of Hadar and finished off by Enkara. Their battle over the rhythmic thuds reverberate within the chamber and the group toy with the idea of investigating, but decide are still unsure it’s source. They continue up the spear after a short rest and Aya gives Sarrek a Shard of Healing, though Enkara slips close to one of the runes and gets shocked, they make it to the roof of the cavern, where the spear meets the 30-ffot long, strange spatial distorting, portal leading up into the cathedral room Enkara saw earlier.

In the room they emerge from only a five foot gap on this side of the portal, and quickly take it all in before spotting the two cultist atop the scaffolding. Aya puts together that the spear and the ground at the portal were prepared similarly as Quinn Tara’s rituals and that the spear and the holder are holding the ritual in place. Aya tells the others her findings and goes into the spear holders mind and discovers at the front of his thoughts is the question “Why has he forsaken us?” Curious she delves deeper and discovers his anxity over why Azi Dahaka has forsaken the cultists, his steadfast loyalty to his high Preist Julian Tivirnius, and questioning where Gloic has gone. Aya returns to her own mind and informs the others of what she found out and her suspicions of the cultists are doing something with the remains of Nzune somehow. As they prepare to leave the group finaly notice the Sunfire Brazier in the reliquary cabinet, while Aya picks up that though the cultists notice them they are too fixated on their mission to intervene and Sarrek barges his wa through the goods in the room and reaches the brazier. Sarrek whispers his secret to the brazier, of his mission by his queen to discover what is going on in the city and that he is also to discover how the dome and its magics can be used in aid of his home city.

As the sunfire brazier goes to ignite Enkara and Aya notice that its magic swirls about the room but fails to coalesce, while the cultist’s ritual continues. Aya immediately fires Eldritch blasts, killing the two priests, and blasting them into the wall. The spear returns to its own size and the portal in the ground seals up leaving an intact stone floor. Aya grabs the spear, noticing the spear head is broken and the brazier is allowed to ignite. They loot the room, picking up 2900 Gold, Potions of Fire Breath and Growth and assorted valuables before splitting up; Sarrek prepares to sneak through the large doors while the others climb the ladder to the hatch on the ceiling. The chanting reaches them as they stand atop the rafters, seeing dozens of worshipers praying below them, led by a man before an alter and Aya calls out for High Priest Julian Tivernius to identify him at the same time Sarrek peeks through the door. The hall goes quiet silent before  everyone erupts in outroar at the interuption