Kaelo's Journal - Day 12

Day 12

While clearing the rubble, Sunshine and Dr Skullcrusher decided to talk with me a bit about the beliefs of the Raian faith. I fear that Sunshine has focused too much on Father Mukawa's role in the great cycle – and even then, ignoring the importance of creating a smooth transition to ease the transition to Father Mukawa's care. I do hope that I can bring her to see the value of Mother Rai's point of view as well.

In the end, we managed to clear the rubble. Inside, we found one of the red spirits waiting for us, ready to lead us deeper into the caves.

Before we could make it far in, Wesley came up, raising hue and cry about some sort of hellbeasts, convincing the others to enter the caves behind us.

It did not take Xerath long to identify the creatures as Batravian Cave Bats, a species that hunts by burrowing into the ground and ambushing its prey. We shall have to be wary upon exiting these caves.

We followed the spirit to the ruins of the great archway that the miner had described to us, where it disappeared. This arch appears to have been a single piece before being destroyed – and it appears it will be quite difficult to repair.

Continuing on, I noticed that the veining in the marble in this area was magical in nature – appearing solid to mundane means of viewing. This veining was constantly shifting, taking on runes and shapes that none of us recognized.

Moving down this magicked pathway behind the ruined arch, we found a large room filled with marble archways, each standing on their own. There were many that were currently active – and each of those showed signs of the miners tampering with them.

Dr. Skullcrusher and Lorelie took a rope each and travelled through one of the active portals. Each of them found themselves in a different scenario – Dr Skullcrusher reporting that he had taken on the role of a mother abandoning her child, while Lorelie found herself in my own past, seeing the loss of Gareth – the very event that drove me to join the Raian faith. This is a very fascinating phenomenon, and will certainly need quite a lot of research to determine the cause.

Before we could determine what had happened to our comrades, Sunshine discovered that there were intruders coming our way. We hastily set up defensive positions, and set to waiting.

It was not long before something – obscured by a mystical fog covering the entrance into the Temple of Doors – set off Sunshine's bear trap, sending us into combat once more.

It was the “paladin” that we had encountered at the Stockade yesterday, alongside a druid that we'd not seen before. It took a concerted effort, but between our combat skills and Avery convincing the druid that we were not her enemy, we finally managed to prevail.

Meanwhile, Dr. Skullcrusher encountered a number of creatures that called themselves the Breakers of the Gates – creatures that the narrowly escaped. Lorelie, on the other hand, encountered a man named Atakite – a man with a great knowledge of the portals and their purpose.

Atakite lead Lorelie back to us before setting his followers to find Dr. Skullcrusher and return him as well. After some discussion – and Dr. Skullcrusher explaining everything he had been through, we followed Lorelie through and met with Atakite and his followers, who explained that something had destabilized the Gate Stones – what he referred to as the Antechambers – which was causing the undead scourge that was sweeping the land. He confirmed that the souls released by my ritual had passed through on their way to their rest, and that they were the first to travel by in quite a long time.

He also requested that we take several artifacts to another of the Arches for safe keeping, as the Destroyers were working to destroy the gates in that location. Included in these artifacts was a manual discussing the Archways – a manual that I intend to read through thoroughly.

With that discussion complete, we returned to find the owner on his way in. We have our report ready for them – and I have a business proposition for the owner that I am quite certain will thoroughly annoy the local churches.

I hope that this land has a ready supply of trustworthy mercenaries to defend this site – if I am not mistaken, once the church has learned what we are doing, they will besiege this site with everything that they have available. I do not think that they will follow the path of diplomacy.